WASHINGTON — In the seventh inning of a one-run game, in the opener of the most important four-game set that Nationals Park has seen in a long time, the most valuable pitcher on the Washington Nationals reached for the PitchCom on his hip.“Every starting pitcher, you’re gonna have 30 to 35 starts — there’s only gonna be four to five where you’ve got everything,” veteran lefty Foster Griffin said after Monday night’s 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. “I would say tonight was one of those nights.”Griffin dotted six pitches at the edge of the zone before Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott reached for a pitch he could not touch — the reliable cutter that Griffin finally decided to throw far off the plate. Griffin’s ninth strikeout of the night punctuated his seven innings, which then became a career-high 7 1/3 when Nationals manager Blake Butera sent him back out to the mound in the eighth at 99 pitches.If there is indeed a postseason future in Washington — and that premise has made the team’s trade deadline plans a whole lot more complicated than they were supposed to be at the start of the year — Monday night’s victory made it as clear as ever that the Nationals cannot reach it without Griffin.Washington’s front office has plenty to weigh over the next six weeks leading up to the trade deadline. The National League wild-card race is congested. Monday’s win moved the Nationals back into a tie for the final wild card spot. There has been no definitive declaration about which direction this team will take.