recTV subscribers who pay an extra fee, although its sometime

WASHINGTON -- Wilmer Difo hit his first major league homer, and Pedro Severino his second, helping the injury-depleted NL East champion Washington Nationals move closer to clinching home-field advantage in the Division Series by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 at a near-empty stadium on a dreary Thursday.Second baseman Difo and catcher Severino, both rookies, were in the lineup instead of Daniel Murphy (last started 12 days ago) and Wilson Ramos (out for the season), respectively.Last in the NL West, Arizona has nothing at stake the rest of the way. The Nationals, while already assured of winning their division and of facing the Los Angeles Dodgers to open their postseason, still are trying to lock up a higher seeding for that series.Washington began Thursday with a two-game lead over NL West champion LA for the right to host more games in the best-of-five NLDS. The Dodgers, though, hold the tiebreaker because of a 5-1 advantage in the teams season series.Nationals starter Joe Ross, working his way back from a stay on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation, allowed one run in four innings, throwing 90 pitches. Washington wants to stretch him out to be able to start at some point in the playoffs.Reliever Reynaldo Lopez (5-3) was credited with the win. He pitched 3 2/3 innings, letting up Socrates Britos two-run homer in the ninth before being lifted.Mark Melancon got the last two outs for his 45th save.Robbie Ray (8-15) allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings, including solo shots by Severino in the third and Difo in the fifth, along with Michael A. Taylors two-run single in the fourth.TRAINERS ROOMDiamondbacks: RF Yasmany Tomas was a late scratch from the starting lineup because of a stiff neck.Nationals: 2B Murphy (glute muscle) and RF Bryce Harper (left thumb) sat out again. Manager Dusty Baker said he expects to get Murphy back in the starting lineup for Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers on Oct. 7. Murphy last began a game on Sept. 17. He might get a pinch-hit, but I dont want to take him backwards, Baker said. Well probably have an intrasquad game or something to get him some live pitching.Harper, meanwhile, was out of the lineup for a fourth consecutive day, but mainly as a precaution on a wet day. Im still a little afraid. If he hits the ball solid, its not going to hurt. But if he gets rattled or hits one on the end or gets jammed on one, its going to send electric shocks through his body, Baker said.RAMOS STOPS BYRamos, out for the rest of 2016 because of a torn ACL in his right knee, stopped by the home clubhouse before Thursdays game. He is waiting for the swelling in his knee to go down before having surgery. Asked whether he would be around the Nationals during the playoffs, Ramos said: Im going to have to support the team from home, because its going to be very difficult for me to get around with the knee after the surgery.Ramos can become a free agent this offseason, and reportedly turned down a contract offer before he got hurt.If its up to me, he said Thursday, I definitely would like to keep playing for the Nationals and play as long as I can.UP NEXTDiamondbacks: Open a season-closing, three-game home series against the San Diego Padres, with RHP Braden Shipley (4-5, 5.26 ERA) starting for Arizona on Friday. The Diamondbacks and Padres are two of the four worst teams in the NL.Nationals: Their final regular-season series begins Friday against the visiting Miami Marlins. RHP A.J. Cole (1-2, 5.09) is slated to pitch for Washington, but he is waiting to hear the outcome of his appeal of a five-game suspension for throwing at a batter.Swell Levně . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. Swell Lahev . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. http://www.swelllahevcz.com/ . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record.NEW YORK -- For the first time, every single NFL game will be streamed live this season. But watching them all wont be easy.In general, its great that the NFL and its television networks are finally taking this step. Last year, most games televised on CBS werent streamed at all.Things are much simpler this season: All games will be streamed live, regardless of the network. But its still tricky to figure out where to find them online, and in many cases youll need pricey cable or satellite TV subscriptions to actually watch them.Heres a stream-by-stream guide to catching all the online pigskin you can.---NETWORK STREAMSIn general, Sunday afternoon games air on CBS and Fox. Sunday night games air on NBC. These games are free if you catch them on TV with an antenna, but to watch any of the networks online, youll need to pony up and get a cable or satellite TV subscription. Even then, youll be limited to hometown-team games plus a few other contests your local station broadcasts. If you want more games, youll need a DirecTV Sunday Ticket subscription.CBS made a few online games available for free last season and might do so again this year, but most of its games will also require a cable or satellite subscription. The $6-a-month CBS All Access online service isnt true to its name in this case; it wont get you the games.Meanwhile, ESPN owns Mondays, while the NFL Network cable channel televises all Thursday games. You can watch online if youre already paying for a TV package that carries these channels. But some of the Thursday games will end up on CBS or NBC as well -- but to stream those games for free, without a TV package, you need to go to Twitter instead (see below).The NFL Network is also getting a few weekend games , but not Thursday nights season opener or anything over the Thanksgiving holiday.To complicate things even more, most network streams are disabled on phones because of a deal the NFL has with Verizon. If youre a Verizon customer, you can watch for free on the NFL Mobile app or through Verizons go90 service. If not, grab a tablet or a PC, or watch on the big screen with a streaming-TV device like Roku or Apple TV.---TWITTERTwitter will stream 10 Thursday night games live without any device restrictions or sign-in requirements. These are the same games available on either CBS and NBC, not the ones exclusive to the NFL Network. Twitter is expected to provide more details on how to watch closer to the first game on Sept. 15.---PLAYSTATION VUESonys online TV service carries all five networks that show NFL games, but only in a handful of markets. Elsewhere, youll be lucky to find even a few of the broadcast networks on Vue. The service costs $35 or $45 a month with the NFL Network, or $30 or $40 without. The higher price applies to seven markets where Vue offers the best selection of broadcast networks.ddddddddddddRegardless of the market, an additional $40 for the season gets you the NFL RedZone, a channel that switches from game to game to show key plays and scoring.You need a PlayStation or Amazon Fire TV device to sign up. Some games might be available on other devices once you sign up, but none are on phones unless its a game thats exclusive to the NFL Network.---SLING TVThis online TV service from satellite provider Dish offers Fox, NBC, ESPN and NFL Network for $40 a month. (You can cut the bill in half by opting for fewer channels.) But youll only find Fox and NBC in a handful of markets where the local stations are owned by the networks themselves. The NFL RedZone channel costs $5 a month more. CBS isnt on Sling at all.Games are available on a variety of PCs, tablets and streaming-TV devices. Games exclusive to the NFL Network will stream on phones, too.---NFL SUNDAY TICKETThis service from satellite provider DirecTV gives you Sunday afternoon games you cant get on your local TV station, so it typically excludes hometown teams.Its intended for DirecTV subscribers who pay an extra fee, although its sometimes possible to just buy the online package, which costs $200 for the season. To qualify, you need to show that you cant get the regular DirecTV service. For example, you might live in an apartment building or at a location where the satellite signal is obstructed. College students can also subscribe for half price.There are no restrictions on smartphones.---AFTER THE GAMEAll of the requirements and restrictions only apply to live games. Once a game ends, its available for streaming through the NFL Game Pass service, which costs $100 for the season. You can also listen to radio broadcasts live online.---COLLEGE FOOTBALLWhile all four major broadcast networks will televise some college games, the bulk will be on cable channels, including some for specific football conferences. Online policies vary, but a cable or satellite account is typically required.Sling TV and Vue offer ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports Network, SEC Network and beIN Sports, some as part of higher tiers. Vue also has Big Ten and Longhorn networks plus Fox channels devoted to college sports, while Sling TV has Campus Insiders and Pac-12. Neither has the CBS Sports Network. Vue also has Comcast Sports; Sling TV will soon.Some conferences let fans subscribe separately to view games online. College Sports Live, which is owned by CBS, also offers games from more than 50 schools for $10 a month. But these subscriptions typically exclude any game shown on television. ' ' '