WASHINGTON — The goggles to keep the champagne from stinging their eyes sit atop their lockers in the Nationals clubhouse, and masking tape is still on the walls from their last celebration.

Really, everything was set, with President Donald Trump coming in Sunday for Game 5, and the nation’s capital hosting their first World Series games in 86 years.

It was going to be historic, with fans frantically waving their red towels and everyone singing the 'Baby Shark' jingle.

It would be the ultimate celebration, one day telling their grandchildren just what it was like the day that the city won its first World Series title since 1924.

Only the Nats snubbed their own party.

Three games.

Three runs.

Three losses.

The Nats’ World Series hopes, which burned so brightly just a few days ago, now are flickering like an energy crisis.

They are down three games to two to the Houston Astros, losing their three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer before the game, and then the game, 7-1. They became the first World Series team to score one or fewer runs in three consecutive home games.

“It stinks," Nats closer Sean Doolittle said. “We feel bad about it. They came out, they showed up, the city waited 86 years for a World Series. Shoot, man, it’s frustrating, it really is.

“I wonder if we were pressing a little bit just with the atmosphere that was here at Nats Park, how good the fans were. Sometimes, you want to really put that exclamation point on the situation, and bring the crowd to their feet.

“I’m wondering if that played a role in it."

Whatever the reason, the Nats simply weren’t the same team that stunned the Astros in Houston the first two games of the Series.

They scored 17 runs in those games, hitting .307 with five home runs against Cy Young favorites Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.

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They returned home and hit .179 with one homer. They faced Cole again Sunday and produced just three hits and one run.

The Nationals overcome a 19-31 start, were four outs away from elimination in the wild card game, and six outs away in the NL Division Series.

This is a team that had won eight consecutive postseason games, and looked as if they seized control of the World Series with their first two victories in Houston.

They picked a lousy time to lose three games in a row for the time in seven weeks.

“We’re probably as frustrated as it was for them to come here, 0-and-2, and they did OK with that,’’ said first baseman Ryan Zimmerman. “So, maybe we’ll do the same thing.

“We’re all big boys that have played for a long time. We got to turn the page. There’s nothing we can do. We’ve got to go out and win two ballgames.

“We’ve won two games in a row plenty of times."

And no matter the odds the Nats have overcome, no matter how glorious their season has been, they reminded everyone that it will be a gut-wrenching finish if their season doesn’t end with a title.

“Everybody says you’re playing with house money," Nats GM Mike Rizzo said. “Bull ... we want to win the World Series.

“We put this team together not to win the wild card, or the division series, but to win the World Series.

“I think we’re every bit as good as that team. I thought we were every bit as good as the Dodgers. These are super teams, and I think we can play with all of them."

They just have a funny way of showing it, at least in these last three games.

Sure, they got some tough breaks.

They had plenty of hard-hit balls that were outs.

There were some borderline ball-and-strikes that went the other way.

And, of course, there was the gut-punch Sunday morning when Scherzer couldn’t get out of bed, the pain in his neck and back too painful to move, causing him to miss the biggest start of his life.

Scherzer had a cortisone shot, and is hopeful he’ll be ready if there’s a Game 7, but realistically, he’s done for the season.

The Nats can turn to Anibal Sanchez in Game 7. Or Patrick Corbin. Or a combo plate of the entire pitching staff.

“It’s sports — when someone gets hurt, you’ve got to move on,’’ said Zimmerman. “This sport waits for nobody."

Besides, it just goes along with the narrative that defines the Nats’ topsy-turvy season, when every time the Nats looedk like they’re done for the year, they managed to survive.

“Hey, we had our backs against the wall all year,’’ Nats outfielder Adam Eaton said. “This is a battle-tested ship. We’ve been through a lot of storms. It’s the way the season has been all year.

“So why change now?"

This may be the first World Series in Nats’ history, and they’re the decisive underdog against the powerful Astros, but they’ve come too far, they insist, to let it slip away now.

“We’re not happy to just be here,’’ Eaton said. “We want to win this thing."

Who knows, this Series has been bizarre enough already, maybe it will continue.

It’s the first World Series since 1996 that the visiting team has won all five games, and just the third time in history.

And no visiting team has ever won six in a row, let alone seven.

So, what’s a little more history?

Road field advantage?

“Sure, if that’s what it takes," Nats shortstop Trea Tuner said, shrugging his shoulders, and raising his palms in the air. “I don’t believe in all of those things. I’m not sure about that.’’

The only real thing the Nats believe in happens to be their Game 6 starter, Stephen Strasburg.

He has made four starts this postseason, and has won all of them, yielding a 1.93 ERA and .234 opposing batting average. He dominated the Astros in Game 2, giving up just two runs in six innings. He is 5-2 with a 1.34 ERA, with 64 strikeouts in eight postseason games.

So why shouldn’t their confidence remain high to get them to Game 7?

“These guys, they’re not going to quit," Nats manager Dave Martinez said, “I can tell you that right now. I truly believe these guys will get after it. I told them, 'We’re going to play Game 7. I believe that. …

“We fought all year long to get here. We played playoff games all year long to get here. We had a lot of fight in us left.

“I know we do."

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