The Eye: Live updates and best of 4th of July

The Washington Nationals, obviously re-enacting a famous Revolutionary War battle through the muse of baseball, jumped all over Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants with three runs in the first inning. Michael Taylor hit a home run on the first pitch, Yunel Escobar hit a double on the second pitch, and Bryce Harper lined a two-run homer a few pitches later. The Giants have been on the East Coast for a few days, but it was still about 8:30 in the morning back in the Bay Area. Bruce Bochy probably hasn’t even had his coffee yet by then, c’mon.

Until we can find a better way to show you, here’s Taylor’s home run. And Harper’s came with a patriotic-looking bat (video here):

Bryce Harper homered with a stars-and-stripes bat on Independence Day. (Getty Images)

Just like John Adams used to do it.

On the other rubber, Stephen Strasburggot off to a roaring start, but he had to come out of the game in the fourth inning with an injury, apparently to his side. Nationals broadcaster F.P. Santangelo suspects a pulled oblique muscle. Until that bummer, the Nationals had gotten the Fourth started with a bang. Tanner Roark takes over on the mound.

Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell notes:

Playing it safe, but in the meantime Strasburg’s out again. He’s due for some good luck, but at this rate it won’t come until 2016.

What else do we have? The sexiest pitching matchup, probably, is Matt Harvey of the Mets vs. Zack Greinke of the Dodgers. We have another pitcher returning from Tommy John — Patrick Corbin of the Diamondbacks. And the Detroit Tigers try to get by without slugger Miguel Cabrera, who heads to the DL for the first time in his career.

The full slate for July 4 (all times ET) (Full Scoreboard)

Milestone Watch

They can get there from here.

Daily Awards

We’ll award those deserving.

Injuries, News & Rumors

Stuff happens, and you probably want to know about it.

Looking ahead to the not-as-patriotic July 5:

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