NEW YORK -- After letting a big chance to tighten the NL East race slip away, New York Mets manager Terry Collins was looking forward to taking a break.Taking a break from facing Daniel Murphy was bound to help, too.Murphy kept answering the Citi Field boos with booms, hitting his seventh home run this year against the team that let him go last winter and leading the Washington Nationals over the Mets 3-2 Sunday.The Mets won the opener of the four-game set, then dropped three in a row to fall six games behind the Nats going into the All-Star Game. Not even two home runs from leadoff man Jose Reyes was enough in the series finale.Were still in the race. The state of the team is were banged up, Collins said.Weve been in this situation one year ago where things looked bleak. We end up playing in the World Series, he said. So were upbeat, were going to take the rest and get ready for the second half.Murphy tops the majors with a .348 batting average at the All-Star break, boosted by the damage hes done to the Mets. He homered three times and drove in 10 runs in this series.I dont think its just against us. Hes hitting like .350, losing pitcher Steven Matz said.I dont have any answer, he said.Murphy lined a two-run drive off the facing off the upper deck in the first inning. Overall, he is 22 for 52 (.423) with 21 RBI vs. his old club.If theres any consolation for Collins, hell soon have Murphy back on his side, albeit for just a day -- Collins is guiding the NL team in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in San Diego, and Murphy is on the squad.The Nationals posted their 54th win, matching the 1994 Montreal Expos for the most in franchise history before the break.Reyes homered in his first two at-bats. His next time up, he took three wild swings and struck out.Gio Gonzalez (5-8) pitched into the sixth as the Nats beat the Mets for the ninth time in 13 matchups this year.Tanner Roark made his first relief appearance of the season, replacing Gonzalez and retiring seven straight batters. He went seven innings last Wednesday for a win.Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 19th save in 21 chances.Matz (7-5) fell to 0-4 in his last eight starts. He gave up an RBI single to All-Star Wilson Ramos in the third that put Washington ahead 3-1, and left after the seventh.It took Murphy less than two months to go from valued ex-player to villain at his former home. Murphy drew two standing ovations and got a video tribute when he returned for the first time in mid-May.The longtime second baseman whose playoff slugging helped the Mets reach the World Series last year got jeered every time he came to the plate on this afternoon. He managed to make at least one new fan, however -- after chasing down a popup that landed in foul territory, he pointed to a young person in the stands and tossed the souvenir that way.TRAINERS ROOMMets: OF Yoenis Cespedes (strained right quadriceps) hasnt started since getting hurt Friday night. Collins said it was unlikely the slugger wouldve been able to pinch-hit. ... OF Alejandro De Aza twice knocked himself down with foul balls in the fourth. He got checked and stayed in.RAISING REYESReyes hit his 22nd career leadoff home run, including 17 with the Mets that tied teammate Curtis Granderson for most in team history. Reyes liner to left in the third gave him his eighth career multihomer game and first since 2011.Its always a surprise for me when I hit a homer because I dont hit too many, he said.UP NEXTNationals: Open a nine-game homestand next Friday, starting with Pittsburgh. The Dodgers and Padres later visit Washington.Mets: Start a three-game series at Philadelphia on Friday. RHP Noah Syndergaard, who left his last start with arm fatigue, will pitch at the back end of the rotation coming out of the break, Collins said. Wholesale Rangers Jerseys .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Stitched Rangers Jerseys . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. https://www.cheaprangersbaseball.com/ . Only three players drafted by NHL clubs were included on the Czech selection camp roster on Wednesday. Those players were Dallas Stars 2012 first-rounder Radek Faksa, Winnipeg Jets 2013 fourth-rounder Jan Kostalek and Phoenix Coyotes 2012 seventh-rounder Marek Langhamer. Texas Rangers Gear . Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front. Custom Texas Rangers Jerseys . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. LEVI, Finland -- Even with less pre-season slalom training than usual, American skier Mikaela Shiffrin keeps dominating her favorite discipline.The Olympic and world champion shifted her focus in practice to super-G and even downhill, but her reign in the slalom discipline has remained unaffected.Shiffrin held on to a comfortable opening-run lead to win the first womens World Cup slalom of the season on Saturday.She finished in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 52.71 seconds, 0.67 ahead of Switzerlands Wendy Holdener. Slovakias Petra Vlhova came 0.75 back in third.Now I almost feel like I wish there was more time before the next races so I could train more and improve more, Shiffrin said about increasing the number of speed events on her schedule.The rest of Saturdays field trailed Shiffrin by at least a second, while Swedens Frida Hansdotter, who was runner-up after the opening leg, failed to finish her second run.I am never confident, really, said Shiffrin, who has won all nine slaloms that she has competed in since February 2015. However, Hansdotter took the slalom title last season as Shiffrin missed five races because of a knee injury.Shiffrins ninth consecutive win left her one short of Janica Kostelics record. The Croatian great won 10 straight slaloms that she competed in between December 1999 and February 2001.Still, Shiffrin wouldnt take anything for granted, referring to the strength of her challengers.Frida went out, and Wendy skied really strong but she had a huge mistake the first run, the American said. Without that mistake she would have been even faster, and Petra was really good as well.The victory in northern Finland earned Shiffrin an usual prize -- a reindeer. Shee got one from her previous win here in 2013 and called him `Rudolph.dddddddddddd. This time she was going to call him `Sven -- after the reindeer from the movie Frozen.It was Shiffrins 21st career win and 20th in slalom, matching Kostelics number of wins. Only Austrias Marlies Raich (35) and Swiss pair Vreni Schneider (34) and Erika Hess (21) won more slaloms.Racing down the slope in the orange glow of the setting Arctic sun, Shiffrin took a 0.72-second lead over Hansdotter and Holdener, who shared second place after the opening run.While Holdener put pressure on Shiffrin with a near-flawless second attempt, Hansdotter straddled a gate when she entered the steep pitch and failed to finish.Shiffrin wasnt clean from the start of her final run and had lost 0.13 on Holdener at the first split, but the American accelerated to extend her lead to 0.92 before avoiding risks in the final part of her run.The victory gave Shiffrin, who placed second in the season-opening GS last month, the lead in the overall standings with 180 points, 80 clear of Lara Gut.The overall champion from Switzerland won the race last month but usually does not compete in slaloms.The 18-year-old Melanie Meillard of Switzerland, who was competing in her fourth World Cup race, started in 40th but finished sixth, 1.87 off the lead.Austrias Bernadette Schild, younger sister of retired slalom great Marlies Raich, failed to qualify for the second run after damaging the edge of a ski early in her run and finishing 3.92 seconds behind Shiffrin.A mens slalom on the same course is scheduled for Sunday. 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