NEW YORK - Dusty Baker had a logical reason for fielding a lineup entirely of backups and rookies tonight against the Mets. Given the fact the Nationals didn't arrive in New York til 3:30 a.m. following their series finale in Atlanta, the veteran manager thought it would be a good time to let his regulars rest.
Which isn't to say Baker is sacrificing this game. He made that perfectly clear.
"Number one, I'm not putting them in to paint," he said. "I'm putting them in to win."
Baker has...
NEW YORK - You want to see the kids? Well, tonight you get to see the kids.
After playing his regulars three straight nights in Atlanta, Dusty Baker is giving them the series opener against the Mets off, instead going with a lineup full of youth, energy ... and inexperience. We'll see how that pays off against New York right-hander Robert Gsellman, who has been touched up for 13 runs and 20 hits in nine innings against the Nationals this season.
Edwin Jackson, meanwhile, gets the start against...
ATLANTA - Everything was moving along nicely. The Nationals had just scored a run in the top of the eighth, cutting the Braves' lead to 3-2. They weren't necessarily going to complete the comeback and win the game, but neither were they going to incite mass chaos on the field that led to an eight-minute delay ...
Er, maybe they were.
What transpired between the time R.A. Dickey recorded the final out of the top of the eighth and the time Sammy SolÃs threw his first pitch of the bottom of...
ATLANTA - Tanner Roark pitched well, but not well enough to overcome some sloppy defense behind him, a lack of offense from his teammates and a bizarre wholesale lineup change by the Nationals in the eighth inning.
The end result was a 3-2 loss to the Braves, who thanks to R.A. Dickey's pitching gem won the last of the 19 head-to-head matchups between these division opponents for 2017. (The Nats narrowly won the season series, 10-9.)
The Nationals trailed much of the night in this one, unable...
ATLANTA - Stephen Drew knows the odds are stacked against him. He hasn't played in two months, and he still almost certainly needs surgery this winter for a tear in his abdomen.
But the veteran infielder has been able to ramp up his workouts over the last week, and today in addition to taking batting practice he also ran extensively at SunTrust Park. All that leaves Drew with one simple goal in mind: Try to make it back to play again for the Nationals before the end of the regular...
ATLANTA - At this late stage of the season, most matchups against division opponents are going to feature familiar foes on the mound. And tonight is about as extreme an example as it gets: The Nationals are facing R.A. Dickey for the fifth time this year.
The ageless knuckleballer has been one of the few constants in the Braves rotation, but this hasn't been a very good matchup for him. In his four previous starts against the Nats, he's 0-2 with a 5.92 ERA, having surrendered five homers in...
ATLANTA - Just when you thought discussion of the Nationals ending up with the best record in the National League was finished, those wacky Dodgers have gone and brought up the possibility once again.
In losing three in a row to the lowly Phillies, Los Angeles has fallen back into its late season slide. This supposed super-team, which only a month ago was on pace to challenge the all-time record of 116 wins, has now lost 15 of its last 20.
And thanks to the Nationals' three-game winning...
ATLANTA - They labored all night to even give themselves scoring opportunities. Until finally the Nationals figured out the best way to score runs against the Braves pitching staff: Stop swinging.
Four consecutive walks issued by Atlanta's bullpen - three of them via Arodys VizcaÃno with the bases loaded - highlighted a wild, six-run rally in the top of the eighth that turned a tight Nationals deficit into a comfortable 7-3 victory at SunTrust Park.
There were some actual hits during the...
ATLANTA - The way Bryce Harper has progressed and looked in his on-field workouts the last few days, it's only natural to wonder if the Nationals slugger may be on the verge of returning from his scary-looking left leg injury.
That may prove to be the case, but manager Dusty Baker also has some words of caution for those who are ready to throw Harper right back into his starting lineup.
"You don't want to jump the gun too much just because of what we've seen," Baker said. "The tendency is...
ATLANTA - They may not have a realistic shot at surpassing the Dodgers for the National League's best record, but the Nationals do still have a realistic shot at something else before the season is over: the best record in franchise history.
The 2012 club, which went 98-64, currently holds that title. The 2017 club currently sits at 91-59. So in order to set the record, the Nats need to go 8-4 the rest of the way. They'd need to go 9-3 to get to 100 wins.
The process continues tonight with...
ATLANTA - From the moment he made his debut with the Nationals in 2015, Trea Turner seemed destined to one day set the club record for stolen bases in a single season. All the lightning-fast infielder needed were enough time and enough at-bats to break Alfonso Soriano's record 41 steals in 2006.
Turns out Turner didn't even need that much time or that many at-bats to do it.
On Tuesday night, in only his 88th game of the season, Turner matched and then surpassed Soriano's mark. He stole 42...
ATLANTA - Max Scherzer pushed himself into the seventh inning against the Braves with his pitch count up over 110 once again. And this time, the Nationals ace walked away with a win for his extra effort.
Six days after he fell apart while trying to build up his pitch count against Atlanta, Scherzer retired the side in the seventh, walking off the mound having thrown 112 pitches and having helped lead his team to a 4-2 victory at SunTrust Park.
"This is the type of start you do hang your hat...
ATLANTA - Ryan Zimmerman is heating up at the plate again. Perhaps just in time to make it really count.
On the heels of a two-homer performance Sunday night against the Dodgers, Zimmerman opened tonight's game against the Braves with two hits, including a double off the wall in right-center and an RBI single that has helped the Nationals take a 2-1 lead into the fifth inning.
Zimmerman's double to lead off the top of the second struck the brick wall in right-center at SunTrust Park, nearly...
ATLANTA - Bryce Harper faced a couple of live pitchers this afternoon for the first time since he injured his left leg 5 1/2 weeks ago, yet another encouraging development that could allow the Nationals slugger to return in time to play part of the final week of the regular season as a tune-up for the postseason.
Harper participated in a simulated game at SunTrust Park, with a pair of Nationals prospects (Sterling Sharp and Brigham Hill) brought up from the instructional league in Florida to...
ATLANTA - Hello from SunTrust Park, here right smack dab in the middle of Unincorporated Atlanta. Some more development has sprung up around the ballpark since the last time the Nationals played here in May, but the Braves' new suburban home still feels far from complete.
The Nats open their final road trip of the regular season tonight with the first of three games against Atlanta. And the opener features a pitching rematch from last week's series in D.C.: Max Scherzer vs. Luiz Gohara.
That...
It was a particularly cruel way for the streak to end, with a teammate doing everything he could to make a highlight-reel play only to have the ball bounce off his glove and fall to the ground as a runner crossed the plate.
Stephen Strasburg hadn't given up a run in 35 innings. And that's how an opponent finally did it to him?
"Nah, it was going to happen eventually," the right-hander shrugged. "I was just trying to minimize the damage."
Strasburg did minimize the damage Sunday night....
When the Nationals needed big-time performances against a premier opponent to avoid what would have been a discomforting series sweep, they turned to a pair of tried-and-true veterans who desperately want to deliver for this team when it really matters.
Ryan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg delivered tonight to beat the Dodgers. And both would like nothing more than to deliver a couple weeks from now when the calendar shifts to October.
Zimmerman's three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth...
The crack of the bat said it all. This wasn't a sound anyone had heard around the Nationals batting cage in five weeks. This was the sound only Bryce Harper makes when he connects with a ball during batting practice.
And this being Harper's first on-field BP session since his scary-looking left leg injury on Aug. 12, it drew plenty of attention. From general manager Mike Rizzo, hitting coach Rick Schu and other team personnel standing behind the cage. From reporters and photographers watching...
There may not be all that much riding on this weekend's series, but the Nationals certainly don't want to be swept by the Dodgers. That wouldn't be very good for morale, no matter the significance of these games on what will occur next month.
The good news: Stephen Strasburg is on the mound tonight, and nobody in baseball has pitched better than he has over the last month-plus. Strasburg carries a 34-inning scoreless streak into tonight's game, and all those zeroes haven't been fluky. The...
Edwin Jackson has authored one of the best feel-good stories of the summer for the Nationals, an unlikely source of competent pitching when the club desperately needed someone to step in and replace the injured Joe Ross.
Those who have watched the right-hander throughout his long and winding career, though, have known he's always in danger of regressing back into the form that has forced his career to be long and winding.
And over the last few weeks, those fears have come to fruition.
It came...
