Mark Zuckerman

Nats' thoughts on Marlins, Strasburg throws, Roark returns

July 27, 2020, 9:30pm

Some news and notes on this Tuesday morning ... * Baseball can be a respite from world events. Right now, it's also a respite from baseball. After spending all of Monday morning and afternoon consumed with the news of the Marlins' coronavirus outbreak, the Nationals went out and played their own game. They went on to lose, 4-1 to the Blue Jays, but nobody was attributing their performance to the distraction of that far more important development. "Honestly, once the game starts you get so...

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Blue Jays' blasts beat Nationals' bloops and blunders (updated)

July 27, 2020, 5:06pm

Nationals

A flurry of singles and well-struck balls should have portended a good night at the plate for the Nationals. It didn't. Ten singles and a double by the home team only produced one run, and that wasn't nearly enough to make up for the four solo homers the Blue Jays launched off AnÃbal SÃ¡nchez during a 4-1 victory at Nationals Park that only served to add to the defending champs' frustration during the opening stretch of this unusual season. The four blasts off SÃ¡nchez - two by...

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Game 4 lineups: Nats vs. Blue Jays

July 27, 2020, 11:20am

Nationals

As we're quickly learning, much of the morning and afternoon right now is spent dealing with serious news stories involving people's health, and then the evening arrives and we remember there's a ballgame to be played. Strange times, and I'm not sure we'll ever get used to this daily ritual. The Nationals, after dropping two of three to the Yankees in frustrating fashion, now host the Blue Jays for four games at Nationals Park. Er, sort of. They're hosting the first two games of this...

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Nats add veteran utilityman Harrison, send Read down

July 27, 2020, 11:04am

Nationals

Nats add veteran utilityman Harrison, send Read down

The Nationals formally signed Josh Harrison to a major league contract today and will have the veteran utilityman in uniform for tonight's series opener against the Blue Jays. Harrison, 33, was released by the Phillies last week before playing in a regular season game for them. The nine-year veteran and two-time All-Star is a career .273 hitter with 53 homers, 277 RBIs and a .714 OPS, the vast majority of his time coming with the Pirates. The Nationals had expressed some interest in acquiring...

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Hitters need a crash course in timing at the plate

July 26, 2020, 8:39pm

Nationals

Hitters need a crash course in timing at the plate

It was kind of understood that pitchers would be ahead of hitters during baseball's first weekend of 2020. Even though pitchers had precious little time build their arms up during a three-week summer camp, hitters had even fewer opportunities to hone their timing against live pitching. The result hasn't been surprising. Thirty-three times already, a team has been held to two or fewer runs. "I've seen so many strikeouts over the whole league. You can tell guys aren't really ready,"...

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Nationals let game, series slip away late (updated)

July 26, 2020, 12:16pm

Nationals

In this shortened, 60-game season, the outcome of any tight ballgame is going to be magnified, all the more so when the lead flips late. Under normal circumstances, the Nationals might not feel terrible about a 3-2 loss to the Yankees in a well played game between two powerhouse clubs that could've gone either way. But these are not normal circumstances. Every win is precious, especially those that were right there for the taking. Despite getting a dominant start from Patrick Corbin in his...

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Game 3 lineups: Nats vs. Yankees

July 25, 2020, 10:21pm

Nationals

If someone told you neither Juan Soto nor Stephen Strasburg would appear in the Nationals' opening series against the Yankees but they'd still have a chance to win the series, what would you have thought? To their credit, the Nats have given themselves an opportunity to do just that, if they can win this afternoon's finale on South Capitol Street. The good news: They've got Patrick Corbin on the mound to make his first start of 2020. The Syracuse native and childhood Yankees fan broke a lot...

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Unexpected stars shine in Nats' rout of Yankees (updated)

July 25, 2020, 6:29pm

Nationals

Unexpected stars shine in Nats' rout of Yankees (updated)

No Stephen Strasburg? No worries, because Erick Fedde was ready for his emergency start. No Juan Soto? No worries, because Victor Robles, AsdrÃºbal Cabrera and the rest of the Nationals lineup more than made up for the continued absence of the club's best hitter. And if those two developments during tonight's 9-2 blowout win over the Yankees weren't surprising enough, Davey Martinez managed to get five scoreless innings from his bullpen without using any of his top three arms. It might...

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Game 2 lineups: Nats vs. Yankees

July 25, 2020, 12:23pm

Nationals

A lot has happened over the last 72 hours, only some of it having to do with actual baseball. Hopefully, though, baseball takes center stage this evening and remains there for the foreseeable future. If nothing else, the Nationals would love to be able to play a full nine innings for the first time since October. The good news: Tonight's forecast looks much better. There's still a slight chance of storms, but nothing like we saw earlier in the week. Stephen Strasburg was supposed to make his...

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Strasburg scratched, Fedde to start, Soto awaiting results

July 25, 2020, 12:10pm

Nationals

Strasburg scratched, Fedde to start, Soto awaiting results

The Nationals had to take the field opening night without their star slugger in the lineup. Now they'll have to take the field tonight without their World Series MVP on the mound. Stephen Strasburg has been scratched from his scheduled season debut against the Yankees due to a nerve issue in his right hand and thumb, manager Davey Martinez revealed this afternoon. Erick Fedde, who was supposed to serve as the long man in the Nationals bullpen, will start in Strasburg's place. So, no Juan Soto...

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Barrera suspended 80 games after positive PED test

July 25, 2020, 5:39am

Nationals

Barrera suspended 80 games after positive PED test

Tres Barrera, who made his major league debut for the Nationals last season and was in camp this summer competing to make the opening day roster as the club's third catcher, has been suspended 80 games without pay by Major League Baseball after testing positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, a performance-enhancing drug. Barrera, who denied having ever knowingly taken a banned substance, appealed his positive test, but MLB's independent arbitrator upheld the decision. He must begin...

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Entire series with Blue Jays will be played at Nationals Park

July 24, 2020, 9:34pm

Nationals

The Nationals won't have to leave South Capitol Street for their first road series of the season. Though the Blue Jays finally found a replacement home in Buffalo, the Triple-A ballpark in Western New York won't be ready for play until next weekend at the earliest. So their first scheduled home series, July 29-30 versus the Nats, will be played at Nationals Park, a source familiar with the decision said. The Nats and Jays already are playing a two-game series in D.C. from July 27-28. They...

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Friday morning Nats Q&A

July 23, 2020, 8:27pm

Nationals

Well, opening day certainly proved to be eventful, if not exactly satisfying for the Nationals. They learned Juan Soto had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and couldn't open the season on the active roster. They raised their World Series flag and pennant in an empty stadium with no fans to cheer them on. They joined the Yankees in kneeling on the field following a recorded video on racial justice before standing for the national anthem. Then they got to play only five full innings...

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Rain-shortened loss caps sad day for Nationals (updated)

July 23, 2020, 6:51pm

Nationals

It should've been a glorious day, a chance to celebrate what happened at the end of the 2019 season and begin the 2020 season with a marquee matchup. Alas, July 23, 2020 will not be remembered fondly by anyone in these parts. Unless you're a Yankees fan glad your team was awarded a rain-shortened 4-1 victory over the Nationals to cap off an evening that didn't go according to anyone's plan. The Nationals lost their season opener after managing one hit (Adam Eaton's first-inning homer) in...

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Game 1 lineups: Nats vs. Yankees

July 23, 2020, 11:57am

Nationals

And so it begins. The strangest season in baseball history gets underway with the strangest opening night in baseball history. The defending champion Nationals will raise a flag and a pennant and face the sport's most-storied franchise, even though it comes from the American League. It will be televised nationally, with artificial crowd noise pumped through the otherwise empty stadium's public address system. And the Nationals' star slugger won't be in the lineup after he tested positive...

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Soto tests positive but shows no symptoms, placed on IL (updated)

July 23, 2020, 11:07am

Nationals

Soto tests positive but shows no symptoms, placed on IL (updated)

The Nationals' season-opening roster will not include the team's best and brightest young star. Juan Soto was not included on the Nats' initial 30-man roster and will not be active for tonight's opener against the Yankees after testing positive for COVID-19, general manager Mike Rizzo announced this afternoon. Soto, like others on the team, was tested Tuesday. He is asymptomatic, but early this morning his test result came back positive, said Rizzo, who added all other tests taken by...

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2020 Nats media season predictions

July 22, 2020, 8:10pm

Nationals

The 2020 Major League Baseball season begins tonight, and did you ever think those words would mean what they do right now? This promises to be a season unlike any other, and we don't know yet if that will be for positive reasons, negative reasons or a little of each. It may be different, but that doesn't mean it won't include a few familiar traditions. Like this one. For 11 seasons now, members of the Nationals beat have graciously agreed to make season predictions, publish them and then...

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Nats, Yanks hope to set example for American team sports

July 22, 2020, 1:36pm

Nationals

Nats, Yanks hope to set example for American team sports

When they take the field Thursday night for the first time in 2020, the Nationals will do so as defending World Series champions, having just raised a flag and pennant minutes earlier. They'll be sending their potential future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer to the mound. The opponents, the Yankees, are merely baseball's most-storied franchise, one sending its new ace, Gerrit Cole, to the mound in its first step toward competing for its 28th World Series title. This would be a blockbuster event...

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Suero, ElÃas throwing but won't make opening night bullpen

July 22, 2020, 10:48am

Nationals

Suero, ElÃas throwing but won't make opening night bullpen

Though Wander Suero and Roenis ElÃas have rejoined the Nationals and have been cleared to work out with the club, neither reliever will be ready to open the season on the active roster. Suero and ElÃas were among the group of 11 players who were not initially cleared to participate in summer training at Nationals Park, either because they tested positive for COVID-19 or were exposed to someone else who did. Both were placed on the 10-day injured list July 13. ElÃas, though, was cleared...

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Ready or not, exhibition season is over for Nationals

July 21, 2020, 5:28pm

Nationals Orioles

Ready or not, exhibition season is over for Nationals

Are the Nationals ready for what awaits them Thursday night, when the atmosphere inside Nationals Park will be no different than it was for tonight's exhibition finale - a rain-shortened, 6-4 victory over the Orioles - but the stakes will be ramped up by a factor of 10? It's impossible to know at this point, but here's what we do know after three exhibition games played in empty ballparks: * Many pitchers' velocity is down, some to concerning levels. * Some hitters are locked in despite the...