Jason Marquis signed a two-year contract with the Nationals this past offseason, but has been disappointed in his first season in Washington so far. Aside from struggling for much of the first month of the season, Marquis had his first surgery as a professional in 2010. Bob had a chance to catch up with Marquis and they talked about the Nats' rotation for next
Up and down go the Nationals, from suffering a sweep at home to the Cubs, to winning a scintillating 3 out of 4 from the Cardinals, to losing 2 out of 3 at Florida. Now it's on to Pittsburgh, and the Nats need to win a road series, something they haven't done since May in New York. Try to figure out the game of
The Washington Nationals' rookie shortstop, Ian Desmond, has been moved up to second in the lineup and has been getting more hits in that slot. Ian's's defense has also been improving for much of the second half of the season. Bob sat down with Ian and asked him what's changed for him since he has moved up in the batting order. Ian also touched
There's no doubt it's been a difficult season for Willie Harris, hitting under .200 and playing sparingly. Fans, writers, and broadcasters have been critical of his play this year - easy to do when a player is hitting 80 points under his career batting average and making few contributions to a team that's in last place. Thursday in Atlanta, it all changed for Willie
The last time a Nationals starting pitcher didn't allow runs in the first two innings was last Saturday at Los Angeles, when Livan Hernandez gave up one earned run in seven strong innings. Alas, after Ryan Zimmerman's first-inning, two-run home run, the Nationals couldn't score and lost to the Dodgers 3-2 in 10 innings. At least it was a competitive game, and possibly would
Thoughts from the four-game Arizona series, a split that left the Nationals at 19-38 (.333 ball) on the road this year: The Diamondbacks have to be one of the strangest offensive teams in baseball, going into the series ranked 12th in the NL in batting average, fifth in runs, third in home runs and eighth in stolen bases. But, they make less contact than
There were no slugfests, no double digit scores, no walk-off hits or homers, but the Nationals' series win over the first-place Braves this week was crisp, fundamental and exciting baseball the way both leagues used to play. They were the kind of games Jim Riggleman talks about frequently, calling it "clean" baseball with good pitching, solid defense and enough timely hitting to take two
When the Nationals landed in Milwaukee at 6:00 p.m. Central Time Thursday evening, serious storms were blowing in. A minute before landing, the chartered jet took a hit from turbulent air and dipped suddenly, only to recover and land safely. Once out of the plane and on our short walk to the buses, we marveled at eerie black and gray skies that were about
Before the All-Star break, Bob Carpenter got the chance to sit down with Stephen Strasburg and talk about his Major League experience so far. In the interview, Bob and Stephen talked about a few of his starts and what it's like to be a part of the Washington Nationals. Also, watch to find out what Tony Gwynn meant to Stephen's career and what he learned
With the All-Star break upon us, it's a good time to look back on the first half of the season, speculate on the second half and evaluate our Nationals at this important juncture of the season. Satchel Paige once said, "Don't look back. Someone might be gaining on you!" I believe you have to look back before you can look ahead. April was solid
