MIAMI - Max Scherzer spent a good portion of his postgame session with reporters laughing and bragging about the three-run homer he launched in the top of the second inning tonight at Marlins Park.
The fact he was able to do that should tell you how little he's worried about the reason he had to remove himself from the game in the bottom of the second: neck spasms.
"I slept on it wrong," the Nationals ace said in the verbal equivalent of a shoulder shrug. "Sometimes you wake up in the...
MIAMI - Max Scherzer abruptly pulled himself from tonight's start against the Marlins after throwing an errant warmup pitch before the bottom of the second inning, immediately motioning toward the Nationals dugout that he could not continue.
Scherzer, who had tossed a perfect first inning and then launched the first home run of his career in the top of the second, jogged to the mound to begin the bottom of the second and appeared to be fine.
But after a warmup toss sailed wide of catcher Matt...
MIAMI - Last week's rainout in Washington has left the Nationals in a quandary, needing to call up a pitcher from their system to start Wednesday's series finale in Miami. But thanks to the long-term domino effect of the rainout, Sunday's doubleheader and Wednesday's one-time call-up, the Nats will have the ability to set their rotation however they like for this weekend's series in Chicago.
What that all means ...
A.J. Cole is expected to be promoted from Triple-A Syracuse to start...
MIAMI - The last two times they've played at Marlins Park, the Nationals have seen their starting pitcher carry a no-hitter into at least the eighth inning. What does Max Scherzer have in store tonight?
Scherzer, of course, was on the mound for one of those previous no-no attempts, reaching the bottom of the eighth on June 21 before a little chopper over the mound sent the Marlins on their way to a stunning 2-1 victory. Scherzer remained on the mound as that inning devolved, in large part...
MIAMI - Gio Gonzalez was the talk of Little Havana on Monday night. And he was more than deserving of all the attention, considering the man carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the ninth at Marlins Park.
But the Nationals' 1-0 victory would not have been secured had Sean Doolittle not been able to take over once Gonzalez surrendered his lone hit of the night and then record the game's final three outs, all while facing the heart of Miami's lineup with no margin for error.
Doolittle was...
MIAMI - When it was over, when Dee Gordon lined his 1-1 curveball cleanly into left-center field to open the bottom of the ninth to end his flirtation with history, Gio Gonzalez knew it was time to call it a night.
There were still three outs to go before the Nationals could secure a 1-0 victory over the Marlins, and Gonzalez's pitch count was a manageable 106. But this wasn't about workload or trying to go the distance. Emotionally speaking, the lefty was done.
"I'll be honest with you: It...
MIAMI - Imagine the emotions Gio Gonzalez must have felt when he took the mound tonight at Marlins Park. He was pitching in his hometown, with family and friends in attendance. He was pitching in the ballpark that hosted the All-Star Game three weeks ago, a game the left-hander desperately wanted to participate in. And he was pitching on what would have been José Fernández's 25th birthday, a melancholy reminder of a baseball friend who was lost too soon.
Now imagine how Gonzalez managed...
MIAMI - Michael A. Taylor began a rehab assignment with Single-A Potomac this evening, the first of several much-anticipated steps for the Nationals as they try to get their starting lineup healthy again.
Taylor, who has been out since July 7 with a strained right oblique muscle, led off and served as designated hitter for the Potomac Nationals in his first game action in nearly four weeks.
Taylor had just recently been cleared to resume full baseball activities after being limited to light...
MIAMI - As the clock wound down to today's 4 p.m. trade deadline, the Nationals were still in discussions with several teams over several late-inning relievers. "A lot of balls in the air," general manager Mike Rizzo said. "You've got a lot of options."
When it came time to say yes to one of the deals on the table, the Twins' proposal to send Brandon Kintzler to Washington in exchange for Single-A left-hander Tyler Watson sat best with Rizzo. And so it was that in the final minutes...
MIAMI - The Nationals have pulled off a deadline deal for the Twins' Brandon Kintzler, adding another late-inning arm to their reconfigured bullpen for the season's final two months, according to a source familiar with the trade.
In exchange for Kintzler, who converted 28-of-32 save opportunities with a 2.78 ERA this year, the Nationals are sending Single-A left-handed Tyler Watson to Minnesota, according to the source.
Whether Kintzler takes over ninth-inning duties for the Nationals remains...
MIAMI - It has been pouring most of the day here in South Florida, with a tropical storm sweeping through much of the state. Fortunately, the roof at Marlins Park is closed (and hasn't sprung a leak) so the Nationals and Marlins are good to go for tonight's series opener.
Gio Gonzalez takes the mound, making yet another start in his hometown. It's the left-hander's 14th career start in Miami, and he has been excellent (7-3, 2.19 ERA).
Right-hander José Ureña starts for the Marlins....
MIAMI - It's officially July 31, and that means we're now talking about the non-wiaver trade deadline in terms of hours instead of days. The final countdown to 4 p.m. Eastern time has begun.
The Nationals, like all 30 clubs, will be engaged in conversations all day, seeing if there's a last-minute deal to be made. But let's be honest: They've probably already made their biggest trade of the summer.
The Ryan Madson-Sean Doolittle deal, which was finalized 15 days ago, may not have...
In a perfect world, the Nationals wouldn't have sent Erick Fedde to the mound to make his major league debut in this particular situation.
A Sunday doubleheader, with the league's second-most productive lineup on the other side of the field? That's not exactly putting a guy in the best possible position to succeed.
"If we had to pick a first time out for him, we probably wouldn't have picked Colorado," manager Dusty Baker said. "That's just how it was."
Yes, the Nationals didn't have...
Ryan Zimmerman now stands alone as the greatest home run hitter in Washington baseball history.
With a three-run, opposite-field shot in the bottom of the third this afternoon, Zimmerman recorded his 238th home run with the Nationals, surpassing Frank Howard's record for a D.C. major league ballplayer.
Zimmerman, the Nationals' first draft pick in 2005 and the longest tenured member of the organization, set the mark in his 1,501st career game. Howard, who clubbed 382 homers in a 16-year...
A busy week of transactions continued this morning when the Nationals tweaked their roster for their doubleheader against the Rockies by officially promoting top pitching prospect Erick Fedde, releasing veteran outfielder Chris Heisey and making a necessary procedural move involving catcher Pedro Severino.
Fedde's contract was purchased from Triple-A Syracuse, allowing the 24-year-old right-hander to start today's opener and make his major league debut. Because Fedde wasn't already on their...
It's a beautiful day for a ballgame. Let's play ... well, you know. Yes, it's a doubleheader day at Nationals Park, with the Nationals and Rockies meeting in their regularly scheduled contest at 1:35 p.m. and then making up Friday night's rainout at 7:05 p.m. And there's no shortage of interesting storylines to come.
The big one for the opener, of course, is the debut of Erick Fedde, who gets promoted from Triple-A Syracuse and will be on a big league mound for the first time in a couple...
The Nationals added another veteran to their bench tonight, acquiring utilityman Howie Kendrick from the Phillies for minor league left-hander McKenzie Mills in a deal that will help alleviate recent injury concerns while providing manager Dusty Baker with more options later this season after his roster is closer to 100 percent healthy.
Kendrick is hitting .340 with two homers, 16 RBIs, a .397 on-base percentage and .851 OPS this season, but the 34-year-old has played in only 39 games due to...
Ian Desmond has never been one to try to hide from his emotions, so he wasn't afraid to circle this weekend on his calendar and psyche himself up over the idea of returning to Nationals Park for the first time as a visiting player.
And when the 31-year-old former-National-now-Rockie arrived at the park this afternoon and walked through the hallways he called home for seven seasons, he couldn't help but feel the emotions stir up inside of him.
The only thing missing: an opportunity to actually...
You've probably seen the forecast here, not only for tonight but for most of the day tomorrow. If you haven't, it's not good. That creates a problem for the Nationals and Rockies, who don't face each other again after this weekend and need to do everything humanly possible to play three games before either club leaves town. As always, you'll know when we know.
Tonight's series opener between a division leader and a wild card leader features Tanner Roark on the mound for the Nationals,...
Any child who has ever picked up a bat has dreamed of recording his or her first big league hit. And anybody fortunate enough to become a professional ballplayer starts dreaming of that moment in more realistic terms, wondering when, how and against whom it will occur.
Andrew Stevenson is no different than any other young ballplayer. He had envisioned what his first major league hit would look like. And this ... was not it.
"No," he said. "It was off a position player. But it still goes down...