All’s fair game for tricky Nationals

In response to your question — “What the devil are the Washington Nationals doing using their superstar starting pitchers out of the bullpen” the answer is now clear. The sneaky make-up-our-own-rules Nats are trying to steal a fivegame series from the imperial Los Angeles Dodgers.

Like a pirate ship sweeping up on a stately frigate with treasure in its hold, the

Nats have no intention of playing fair in this National League Division Series or acknowledging any big-league code of conduct or unwritten rules of fair play.

They want the gold, the diamonds, and, blimey, the pearls, too.

Thanks to the bizarre, and probably unfair, dynamics of baseball’s five-game Division Series - with those five games spread generously over seven days - it is possible for a team with three fab starting pitchers who are game for the heist to come along aside and, “arrrrr,” board a mightier ship.

Right now, the Dodgers, tied at a game apiece in this series after the Nationals’ 4-2 victory in Friday night’s Game 2, are wondering where Washington got these scary skull-andcross-bones relievers.

Avast, there Nationals, you’ve already used Stephen Strasburg (Tuesday) and Max Scherzer (Friday) in relief — as keys to two vital victories. Who’ll be swinging down from the rigging next?

Well, if Aníbal Sánchez starts Game 3 on Sunday at Nats Park, as Nats manager Dave Martinez intimated he probably would late Friday night, and the Nats have a lead in the middle innings, then you better expect $140-million lefty Patrick Corbin will be swinging aboard that pretty Dodger Blue vessel.

Someone get Corbin an eye patch and a dagger to put between his teeth.