night at FedEx Field, which opened in 1997. ... Despite being cleared from the NFLs concussion protocol, Carolina middle linebacker Luke Kuechly was inactive . ... Newton improved to

WASHINGTON -- The Washington Nationals have had trouble winning games since the All-Star Break. When they have come out on top, its been dramatic. Ryan Zimmerman homered with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, lifting the Nationals to a 2-1 victory over the New York Mets for a doubleheader split. "Just worked into a good count and finally didnt try to do too much," Zimmerman said. "Good win. I mean obviously with Harvey starting its tough to get any runs, but (Ross) Ohlendorf stuck there right with him, and after the way that first game went, that was a huge win." After Washingtons second walk-off win in two days, struggling setup man Drew Storen was sent down to Triple-A Syracuse. The Nationals improved to 2-7 since the break. In the opener, Jenrry Mejia pitched seven scoreless innings in his season debut and Daniel Murphy homered twice and tied a career high with five RBIs as Mets won 11-0. Murphy had two hits for New York in the nightcap and went 6 for 9 in the day-night doubleheader. After Anthony Rendon grounded out, Zimmerman hit a 3-1 fastball from reliever LaTroy Hawkins (3-2) over the fence in right centre for his 12th homer of the year. The Mets wasted another impressive outing by Matt Harvey, who gave up five hits and an unearned run in eight innings. Rafael Soriano (2-2) pitched the ninth, surviving a first and third jam with one out. Jayson Werth added three hits for Washington. Manager Davey Johnson announced Storens demotion. "Theres (been) a lot of discussion about it, even before now, that maybe, hes never had failure, hes never had to deal with failure, and this is kind of a sharp lesson in dealing with failure," Johnson said of Storen. "I mean, we couldve done different things with different players, but I think its going to be best served for him to get it right and get it back." Storen is 3-2 with two saves and a 5.95 ERA. The Nationals activated reliever Ryan Mattheus from the disabled list Friday as the 26th man for the doubleheader. Storen entered the ninth inning of Game Five of the NL Divisional Playoff series in October with a two-run lead and gave up four runs as the St. Louis Cardinals ended Washingtons season. In the off-season, the Nationals singed free-agent closer Rafael Soriano. "I think theres a lot of things that led to this that couldve been prevented," reliever Tyler Clippard, Storens close friend, said. "You know, you basically send a guy a message this off-season for having one bad game that hes not the guy for the job. Hes only human. Its going to get to anybody." Storen was unavailable after the game. "Its one of those things that I think was handled very poorly by the organization, but at the same time, thats the decision that was made, and we have to move forward as a team," Clippard said. "We have great guys in this locker room that are going to get it done, were going to make a playoff push at the end of the season. I have no doubt about that, but you know, this is a tough day." Pitching on the one-year anniversary his major league debut, Harvey struck out seven and walked one. He left after throwing 99 pitches. "I was locating everything pretty well," Harvey said. "The fastball command was right on point. I was keeping everything down." Washington starter Ross Ohlendorf, making his second start of the season, went seven innings. He allowed one run on six hits while striking out eight and walking two. With one out in the fourth New Yorks Josh Satin doubled. Ohlendorf fanned Justin Turner, but John Buck doubled to the wall in left to make it 1-0. The Nationals tied it in the fifth. Werth led off with a single and Ian Desmond walked. After Harvey fanned Steve Lombardozzi, Wilson Ramos hit a grounder up the middle. Turner fielded the ball behind second and shovelled it with his glove to Murphy. Murphy barehanded it for the force and turned and threw to first, but his throw was wide and hit Ramos, allowing Werth to score on the error as the ball rolled into the infield. "I misplayed the only ball that really mattered all night," Murphy said. In the opener, Murphy went 4 for 5 with two homers and a pair of RBI singles. Juan Lagares had three hits and Ike Davis added a three-run homer for New York. Mejia (1-0), who had been on the disabled list since March with shoulder inflammation, allowed seven hits. He struck out seven with no walks. Mejia, 23, was 0-4 for the Mets in 2010. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2011 and spent most of 2012 at Triple-A Buffalo. He was 1-2 with a 6.33 ERA in three September starts for the Mets. Prior to being recalled for Fridays start, the right-hander went 2-0 in a pair of rehab starts at Double-A Binghamton. Jordan Zimmermann (12-6) needed 118 pitches to go 6 2-3 innings. He allowed five earned runs and six hits in picking up his third straight loss. With one out in the first, Murphy hit a 1-1 slider off the second deck facade in right-centre to make it 1-0. In the third, after Lagares doubled with two outs, Murphy put New York up 3-0 when he lined a pitch into the Nationals bullpen for his eighth homer. Murphy has hit safely in 16 of his past 17 games. After Washingtons Bryce Harper singled in the eighth, he was removed for pinch-runner Scott Hairston and was not in the lineup for the second game. Johnson said Harper aggravated his left knee diving for a ball. Harper pinch hit in the second game and grounded out. NOTES: Mets LF Andrew Brown and SS Justin Turner collided and appeared to bump heads while chasing a popup in the first inning of Game 2. Turner made the catch and remained down as the Mets trainer came out. Turner and Brown remained in the game, but Turner left in the seventh with a sore right shoulder. . LF Eric Young Jr. was scratched from the Mets game one lineup after a pregame workout to test his right knee. He injured the knee Wednesday on the play in which Tim Hudson fractured his right ankle and left Thursdays game against Atlanta in the fourth inning. ... New Yorks Dillon Gee (7-7, 4.07) opposes Dan Haren (4-11, 5.79) Saturday.Swell Flaske Marmor . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Swell Flaske Hvit Marmor . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days. http://www.swellflaskenorge.com/swell-flaske-marmor.html . Jeff Green scored 13 points and Kris Humphries 12 for the Celtics, who nearly blew an 18-point, second-half lead. Sullingers 20-20 was the first by a Celtics player since Kevin Garnetts first game in Boston in 2007. Garnett was dealt -- along with Paul Pierce -- to Brooklyn during the off-season. Swell Bottle Norge . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. Swell Flaske Nettbutikk . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday.LANDOVER, Md. -- Kirk Cousins and the Washington Redskins had their easiest path to the playoffs in front of them and they gave it away with another Monday night flop.Cousins threw an interception and lost a fumble near his goal line, and the Redskins lost control of their playoff future with a 26-15 loss to the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers.Washington (7-6-1) could have clinched a playoff berth by winning its final three games but now needs help. Carolina (6-8) kept its astronomical wild-card hopes alive and dealt a serious blow to the Redskins chances with two weeks left in the season.We didnt get it done, said wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who had seven catches for 111 yards. Obviously its frustrating because we knew what we had at stake, we knew what we had on our hands and we cant really talk about playoffs until we handle who we need to handle and play better.After being picked off by Kurt Coleman in the first half to set up a Carolina field goal, Cousins was sacked by Wes Horton and fumbled on the first snap after halftime as the Panthers took over at the 1-yard line. They scored two plays later to take a 20-9 lead.Cousins finished 32 of 47 for 316 yards with far too many missed throws in a game with such high stakes. Cousins and coach Jay Gruden were at a loss to explain how the usually high-powered offense sputtered at such a key moment.We just never got any kind of rhythm whatsoever throughout the whole game, said Gruden, referencing his team going 2 for 12 on third down. Part of it was the running game was atrocious, part of it was we had no deep passing game and then the other part: Carolina was very good today.Reigning league MVP Cam Newton showed no ill effects from a shoulder injury suffered last week, throwing for 300 yards and two touchdowns.He took a little bit of a shot early on, but when he came to the sideline and had a chance to take a breath he was ready to roll, Carolina coach Ron Rivera said.The Panthers took advantage of blunders by the Redskins, who lost their sixth consecutive Monday night home game. It was Washingtons most lopsided loss since being routed 38-16 by Pittsburgh in the season opener, also on a Monday night.ddddddddddddWe didnt play well enough to win, Cousins said. Just didnt make enough plays.FLAGS FOR 15Newton was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct in the second quarter for taunting Redskins linebacker Trent Murphy after scrambling for a 1-yard gain. The penalty took the Panthers out of field goal range, moving the ball from the Washington 26 to the 41.Ive got to be better than that, Newton said. That just cant happen on my part.Redskins tight end Jordan Reed took an even costlier penalty late in the third quarter when he was flagged 15 yards and ejected for throwing a punch at Coleman. That penalty contributed to Washington settling for a field goal when trailing by 14.BLACK AND BLUE REDSKINSThe Redskins lost linebacker Ryan Kerrigan to a left elbow sprain, cornerback Quinton Dunbar to a concussion and special teams contributor Houston Bates to a left knee sprain. They were already without linebackers Will Compton because of a knee injury and Sua Cravens because of an upper-arm injury.NOTEWORTHYPanthers K Graham Gano made four field goals but missed from 38 to end his streak at 13 in a row. ... Cousins broke his own single-season franchise record for passing yards after throwing for 4,166 last year. ... Colemans pick was his 11th interception since the start of 2015, the most by an NFC safety in that time. ... The Redskins are 2-15 on Monday night at FedEx Field, which opened in 1997. ... Despite being cleared from the NFLs concussion protocol, Carolina middle linebacker Luke Kuechly was inactive . ... Newton improved to 21-6 in regular-season games played in December or January. .. Panthers RB Jonathan Stewart had 25 carries for a season-high 132 yards.QUOTABLERivera on the Panthers playoff odds: Without a doubt its minuscule, but it can happen.UP NEXTPanthers: Host the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday.Redskins: Visit the Chicago Bears on Saturday.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL . ' ' '