PHILADELPHIA – When the Nationals were asked earlier this year what more did James Wood have to prove in the minor leagues to earn his first promotion to the majors, the answer was always the same: They wanted him to hit left-handed pitching better.

Well, Wood did just that in his 52 games with Triple-A Rochester. In 53 plate appearances against lefties, Wood went 15-for-46 with a double, five home runs (half his total), 12 RBIs and seven walks. That added up to a .326/.415/.674 slash line and 1.089 OPS.

He was ready for his call-up.

Then the question was whether or not he could continue that pace. Would the improvements he made translate to the big league level? Or would major league southpaws prove to still be tough for the 21-year-old top prospect?

Forty games and 169 plate appearances into his major league career, we may have our answer.

PHILADELPHIA – No matter what the Nationals did on the mound tonight, they had to get more production at the plate. Even on a good pitching night, three runs is usually not enough to beat this daunting Phillies lineup that scored 13 last night.

The Phillies entered tonight averaging 7.0 runs per game over 47 games against the Nats since the nightcap of a doubleheader on July 29, 2021. So without an absolute gem from the Nats pitching staff, the offense would need to score a lot more.

After suffering through six strong innings from Zack Wheeler last night, the Nats had the pleasure of facing Aaron Nola in the second game of this four-game set. Although they had more chances against this veteran right-hander and their own pitchers did a much better job containing the Phillies hitters, the results looked similar. That was until the ninth inning, when the Nats rallied to score two runs to tie the game.

That rally was in vain, though, because the Phillies scored the walk-off run in the bottom of the ninth to win 3-2 and send the boisterous crowd of 41,067 home happy.

Facing closer Kyle Finnegan, Brandon Marsh, who came in as a defensive replacement in the top of the ninth, hit a deep single to right field. But Alex Call’s throwing error allowed him to reach second easily. Then pinch-hitter Cal Stevenson put down a perfect bunt that wasn’t fielded by Finnegan nor third baseman José Tena due to some miscommunication in a loud Citizens Bank Park.

PHILADELPHIA – With Alex Call’s resurgence at the plate since his call-up from Triple-A Rochester, Nationals manager Davey Martinez has toyed with the idea of platooning him and CJ Abrams in the leadoff spot.

The right-handed Call would lead off against left-handed starting pitchers and the lefty Abrams would lead off against righties.

But tonight, Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola provides the rare exception to that rule. Call will lead off with Abrams hitting second as Martinez tries to exploit Nola’s breaking ball: a knuckle curve he throws 31.8 percent of the time.

“Nola has been tough,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “He's got the good breaking ball. Alex works good at-bats. See if we can get him on base for the other guys up there. But this is just one of those rarities. I do like Alex against lefties up there. But this is one guy that I really feel like the righties could have a little bit better chance just because of that big breaking ball and big changeup he has.”

Nola is 11-6 with a 3.60 ERA and 1.147 WHIP in 24 starts. But he has almost even batting average splits against righties and lefties. In fact, right-handed hitters are getting on-base at a slightly better rate (.288) than left-handers (.284).

PHILADELPHIA – “This one I'm going to flush.”

That was manager Davey Martinez after last night’s 13-3 loss to the Phillies. And yeah, let’s forget about that one.

The Nationals look to bounce back tonight with Patrick Corbin on the mound. There are only a handful of starts left for the veteran left-hander in a Nats uniform, so we don’t need to revisit all of the numbers. But it is worth noting he held the Phillies to four runs over six innings with six strikeouts in a tough-luck 4-0 loss on April 5. He doesn’t have a lot of success at Citizens Bank Park, however, with a 6.50 ERA in nine starts.

After struggling with Zack Wheeler last night, the Nats get a chance to face Aaron Nola tonight. The veteran right-hander is 11-6 with a 3.60 ERA on the year. He held the Nats scoreless over 5 ⅔ innings in that same April 5 game in D.C. Then he kept them to two runs in seven innings here on May 19.

Also, the Nats announced earlier this afternoon that Jordan Weems has cleared outright waivers and they have assigned him outright to Triple-A Rochester.

PHILADELPHIA – The Nationals have made progress this year, no doubt.

For the most part, the young pitching staff has made strides. CJ Abrams was an All-Star. Jacob Young is the favorite to win the National League Gold Glove Award in center field. Luis García Jr. and Keibert Ruiz are having strong second halves. And a crop of newly acquired young talent is getting their shot at the major league level.

Plus, the Nats now boast a top-five farm system, per Baseball America, that has depth at the lower levels of the minor leagues and top prospects nearing their big league debuts.

But although they were on pace to eclipse their 71 wins from last year for much of this season, after last night’s brutal 13-3 loss to the Phillies they have the same record after 122 games as they had in 2023: 55-67.

And last night’s loss underscored the next step the Nats need to take to get where they want to be.

PHILADELPHIA – Mitchell Parker has been the Nationals’ biggest surprise this season. Entering the year, he was a middle-of-the-pack prospect who was called upon to make his major league debut three weeks into the season.

And here he is in mid-August with the second-best ERA in the Nats rotation. That was, however, until tonight.

Parker entered his 22nd major league start with a 3.83 ERA after allowing just two earned runs (four total) in 17 ⅓ innings over his last three starts. But he had yet to face the dangerous bats in the Phillies lineup during his rookie campaign.

The results in the first matchup weren’t pretty as the young left-hander was knocked around over three-plus innings and the Nats defense played sloppy in an eventual 13-3 rout at the hands of a division rival.

"As we talked about earlier today," manager Davey Martinez said after the loss, "two things that can't happen: We can't give away outs and we can't make pitching mistakes. Today, we did both.”

PHILADELPHIA – José Tena has returned to the Nationals lineup for tonight’s series opener against the Phillies after missing the two-game set against the Orioles with a thumb injury.

The 23-year-old infielder, who the Nats acquired from the Guardians in the Lane Thomas trade, couldn’t handle a sharp grounder hit right at him in the fourth inning of Sunday’s loss to the Angels. He was struck while trying to turn a double play and had to depart the game with a towel wrapped around his bleeding right thumb.

X-rays were negative, with no broken bones, but the cut on Tena’s thumb was significant enough to keep the young third baseman out of the lineup for the two games in Baltimore.

But now Tena, who became the first player in franchise history with a walk-off hit in his team debut on Saturday, returns to the field at third base while batting eighth at Citizens Bank Park.

“He's good. He's gonna play today,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame meeting with the media. “He felt better yesterday, so he's in the lineup today. We'll see how he does.”

PHILADELPHIA – After splitting a quick two-game set in Baltimore, the Nationals continue their trip up I-95 to face the Phillies for four games at Citizens Bank Park.

The Nats only have one win in six chances against their division rivals, which came all the way back on April 7 in D.C. They were swept in three games in their more recent meeting here in May. But while the Phils still hold one of the best records in the major leagues, the second half hasn’t been too kind to them as their schedule gets harder to finish the season.

The Phillies entered the All-Star break at 62-34 (.646), but they have gone 8-16 (.333) to start the second half, including losing four of their last five entering tonight. They still have a six-game lead in the National League East, but the Nats can make things more difficult for them with a strong showing this weekend.

Mitchell Parker will try to put that in motion when he takes the mound for his 22nd start. The left-hander has started to regain his groove in the second half, allowing just two earned runs (four total) in 17 ⅓ innings over his last three starts. The 24-year-old has never faced the Phillies, so it will be interesting to see how he handles some of the big bats in their lineup.

On the other hand, the Nats have seen plenty of Zack Wheeler. The right-hander is in the middle of an All-Star season with an 11-5 record, 2.78 ERA and 1.002 WHIP. He gave up two runs in 7 ⅓ innings in a win over the Nats on May 17.

BALTIMORE – Like most Maryland kids, James Wood grew up going to Orioles games at Camden Yards. And like most Maryland kids, he also grew up picking steamed blue crabs.

On Tuesday night, the Olney, Md., native got to relive both childhood memories in the Nationals’ 9-3 rout of the Orioles in Baltimore.

“It was definitely cool coming to Baltimore because, a lot of times, this is where I would watch games growing up,” Wood said after last night’s game. ”It was just a lot of fun out there. I was just enjoying it.”

What was not to enjoy? Wood finished his first game at Camden Yards 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored. His four hits had exit velocities of 99.5, 102.7, 105.8 and 105.9 mph to keep him in the 95th percentile in the major leagues.

After Wood started his night 4-for-4 – already his second four-hit performance in his first 37 big league games – his mom, Paula, tweeted a picture of a young James and his grandfather watching a game at Camden Yards.

James Wood and Jackson Holliday have been dueling all season. Not on the diamond, but in rankings as two of the top prospects in baseball.

In whatever order you put them in as two of the best young players in the sport, Wood and Holliday take center stage as they face off on a major league field over the next two nights for the first time in their promising careers.

Holliday has been the top prospect in the sport for the better part of the last year. The Orioles selected him with the No. 1 overall pick out of high school two years ago. Last year, he claimed the top spot in almost every prospect ranking by playing at four different minor league levels in his first full professional season.

Some expected Holliday to make the Orioles’ Opening Day roster out of spring training. But he started this year at Triple-A and made his major league debut on April 10. Although highly anticipated, he struggled during his first stint in the big leagues.

In 10 games, Holliday went 2-for-34 (.059) with a .170 OPS and 18 strikeouts. He was optioned back to Triple-A on April 26, where he also spent some time on the injured list with left elbow inflammation. He even strictly served as the designated hitter over three weeks when he returned from his injury.

The Nationals have played their fair share of back-and-forth games this week. They saw six lead changes over their last four games, some of which included late-inning dramatics and extra frames.

And so here they were again having to battle through another one in their second matchup against the Angels. But although they saw an early lead change swing in their favor, they couldn’t keep the score of this one from flip-flopping. In the end, the Nats were able to come back for a 5-4 walk-off win in 10 innings in front of 22,183 fans at Nationals Park thanks to a new face.

After Derek Law kept it a 4-4 game with a scoreless top of the ninth while closer Kyle Finnegan was unavailable due to an increased workload over the past two games, the heart of the Nats order couldn’t provide a walk-off hit just yet.

So to extras we went yet again, the Nats’ third straight extra-inning game. Law returned to the mound and pitched a perfect 10th, stranding the automatic runner at third.

Because CJ Abrams was out of the starting lineup with a stiff upper back, he was available to pinch-run for Keibert Ruiz as the automatic runner. José Tena, an infield prospect from the Lane Thomas trade with the Guardians who was recalled from Triple-A Rochester before the game, stepped up as the first batter in the bottom of the 10th.

As we get closer to the end of the season, it’s that time of year when the Nationals will bring up some new players to give them an extended chance at the major league level to evaluate for 2025.

Today is one of those days where a new, young player is getting his shot.

Before tonight’s game against the Angels, the Nats recalled infielder José Tena from Triple-A Rochester 12 days after he was acquired as one of the three players included in the Lane Thomas trade with the Guardians.

The 23-year-old native of the Dominican Republic entered the Nats system with some big-league experience, hitting .200 with a .520 OPS in 21 games with Cleveland over the last two seasons. But he went straight to Rochester only to force his way back to the bigs.

In 10 games with the Red Wings, five of Tena’s seven hits went for extra bases with four doubles and a home run.

The Nationals are coming off a rough couple of days in which they sat through multiple rain delays with a dramatic comeback only to fall in the 10th inning to the Giants on Thursday then a rare extra-inning win against the Angels on Friday. Last night’s 3-2 win was just the Nats’ fourth in 12 games that have gone to extras, but at least they are no longer tied with the miserable White Sox for last in the majors in such affairs.

Now they turn their attention to tonight’s game. A victory against the Halos on Saturday would give the Nats their second series win in their last three and put them in position for a sweep tomorrow morning. (No, I don’t know why they are keeping tonight’s game as a 6:45 p.m. start before tomorrow’s 11:35 a.m. start nationally on Roku.)

Mitchell Parker was charged with two unearned runs over 6 ⅓ innings last night. A similar outing from Patrick Corbin would be much appreciated tonight, especially with the state of the Nats bullpen up in the air. Yes, Corbin leads the majors with 12 losses this season. And yes, he gave up four early runs in his last outing against the Giants.

But he actually battled back to complete six innings on Monday to give his team a chance. Since the offense only scored one run on the night, Corbin is still left in search of his 100th career win.

The Nats offense would love to get to an early lead against Griffin Canning, who is 4-10 with a 5.10 ERA and 1.414 WHIP in 23 starts this season. With Corbin on the mound and closer Kyle Finnegan likely not available after throwing a combined 57 pitches over the last two nights, the more runs the better off the Angels right-hander.

James Wood is an imposing force on a baseball field. The sport’s top prospect stands at 6-foot-7 and 237 pounds in the batter’s box with the ability to hit both righties and lefties to all fields and flex his natural power to hit the ball hard and far.

That much we know for sure over his first 27 major league games. What we haven’t really been able to get a good grasp on is how well he can play the outfield, specifically left field, where he’s lined up in every one of his games with the Nationals since his debut on July 1.

Although he played all three outfield spots while coming up in the minor leagues, he hasn't looked entirely comfortable out in left over the first month of his major league career. He entered last night’s opener against the Brewers with a 0.4 Offensive Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference, but with a minus-0.4 Defensive WAR. He also had minus-3 Defensive Runs Saved, a minus-2.5 Ultimate Zone Rating and minus-4 Outs Above Average in left field, per FanGraphs.

He has shown flashes, for sure, using his large frame and unique athleticism to run down fly balls and throw darts back to the infield. But the lanky 21-year-old hasn’t always been as smooth as some expected. At least not in the way he seems to glide around the bases effortlessly.

“I've just been working with (outfield coordinator Gerardo) Parra a lot. He's been helping me a lot out there,” Wood said. “But yeah, just trying to go more aggressive to the ball and just being ready to make a play every pitch.”

After a rough start to the season on South Capitol Street, the Nationals have actually played better at home than on the road recently. Their .460 winning percentage at Nationals Park outpaces their .441 mark on the road. That bodes well for the remainder of the year, during which the Nats play 31 of their final 53 games at home.

Tonight started their longest homestand of the season, a 10-game stretch against the Brewers, Giants and Angels. To get to benchmarks of an improving season – such as a better overall record (71-91) and better home record (34-47) than last year – having a strong homestand over these next 10 days would go a long way.

But in the opener against the Brewers, who they took two of three against in Milwaukee right before the All-Star break, the Nats came up short to lose their fifth straight game by a score of 8-3 in front of 22,132 fans in D.C.

Jake Irvin appeared to be the right man to send to the mound to begin this three-game set. Although he struggled to end the first half, including being charged with seven runs (six earned) in four innings against these very Brewers at American Family Field, the rest during the break seemed to benefit him entering the second half. He allowed only four runs with 12 strikeouts over 12 ⅓ innings against the Reds and Cardinals, with the Nats winning both of those games.

However, Irvin wasn’t as efficient tonight, leading to an exit with two outs in the sixth due to a high pitch count.

The time has come and passed to trade Joey Gallo, who the Nationals signed to a one-year, $5 million contract before spring training in hopes the veteran slugger could be a chip by the deadline. Now the club is just hoping he can return to the field soon for the final stretch run of the season.

Gallo, 30, has been on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain since June 12. Although the former All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner was only batting .164 with a .606 OPS, five home runs, 11 RBIs and 71 strikeouts to 21 walks, the Nats would like him back as soon as possible to lengthen their lineup and play defense at multiple positions.

Although there were no real injury updates from manager Davey Martinez ahead of Friday’s opener against the Brewers, the closest thing was that Gallo hopefully could start a minor league rehab assignment as soon as next week.

“There's really nothing. Still nothing, no change. Everybody's still the same,” Martinez said of the team’s injury report to start his pregame session with the media. “I'm hoping, honestly, that Joey Gallo this weekend makes some progress and he'll go out on a rehab assignment sometime early next week. So right now that'll be the only change.”

While the slugger struggled at the plate, Gallo was playing solid defense for the Nats at first base, with 6 Defensive Runs Saved in 316 ⅓ innings. He also won both of his Gold Gloves earlier in his career while playing the outfield, so the Nats may have him play more out there over these next two months. Although Dylan Crews’ anticipated major league debut during that time would probably limit opportunities there.

The Nationals just finished a brutal stretch. Over the last week-plus, they have been no-hit by Dylan Cease, lost back-to-back games in walk-off fashion, suffered a club-worst 17-0 loss, traded away three of their most productive players and been swept twice. Now they enter the dog days of August.

After sweeping the Marlins on June 16, the Nats were one game under .500. Since then, they've gone 14-24 with only three days off, plus the All-Star break. But with yesterday’s day off, they have an off-day in seven of the remaining nine weeks. That hopefully will help them finish the season strong.

What would also help them to start this 10-game homestand is another strong series against the Brewers, against whom the Nats won two of three in Milwaukee right before the break. Jake Irvin, who starts tonight, took the mound in that final game looking for the sweep, but was charged with seven runs (six earned) in four innings while taking a loss. But the right-hander has been solid to start his second half of the season, allowing only four runs with 12 strikeouts over 12 ⅓ innings against the Reds and Cardinals, with the Nats winning both of those games.

Frankie Montas makes his second start against the Nats in the past two weeks, this time as a member of the Brew Crew. The right-hander was traded from the Reds to the Brewers for two players on Tuesday before the deadline. This will be his first start for Milwaukee after the Nats got to him for seven runs in 4 ⅔ innings in his penultimate start with Cincinnati opening the second half.

Note that tonight’s game is exclusively on Apple TV+ for a national broadcast.

Sir Jamison Jones walked into the Nationals clubhouse yesterday like many draft picks before him. While still very young in the face, his 6-foot-2, 225-pound frame looked like it already belonged in a major league clubhouse.

While standing next to the 5-foot-11, 197-pound Luke Dickerson, the Nats’ second-round pick who also officially signed yesterday to a record bonus for a non-first-rounder, Jones looked like he was years older than his fellow high school selection.

Jones was the Nats’ 15th-round pick out of St. Rita High School in Illinois. Although he was picked in the later rounds, the 18-year-old had an idea the Nationals were interested in him after a workout with the team a month before the draft.

“I had a workout here in early June and I felt nothing but great about it,” Jones said during a joint introductory press conference with Dickerson yesterday. “I had a really strong feeling that this is a team that really, really liked me. And my agent, he ended up calling me that morning and he was like, 'Well, they have an offer and they're really interested. So this is the offer.' And I was like, you know what, yeah. That's the right opportunity. So I got the opportunity and I'm extremely happy to take it.”

Jones’ signing bonus is reportedly $500,000, which is more than the $150,000 assigned to picks taken after the 10th round. So $350,000 of his bonus counts against the Nationals’ $13,895,100 bonus pool in order to sign him away from his commitment to play at Oklahoma State University.

After never happening in the team’s 18-year existence since relocating to Washington, D.C., in 2005, the Nationals have now been no-hit twice in less than a calendar year.

Two weeks from the one-year anniversary of Michael Lorenzen’s no-hitter against the Nats at Citizens Bank Park, Dylan Cease repeated the feat for the Padres in a 3-0 win in front of 20,755 fans, who saw history while sticking out a 1-hour, 16-minute rain delay at Nationals Park.

After being outscored 16-3 through the first two games this week, the Nats had the challenge of facing Cease for the second time this season. He held the Nats scoreless over seven innings of one-run, one-walk ball while striking out 10 on June 26

Entering today riding a 13-inning scoreless streak, the right-hander extended it to 22 frames by no-hitting the Nationals. It was the first no-hitter of his career and second in Padres franchise history after Joe Musgrove's no-hit the Rangers on April 9, 2021.

Cease kept the Nats off-balance with a great mix of his slider and triple-digit fastball. He got a total of 18 swings and misses with 11 coming against the slider, which he threw 53 percent of the time. And because of the Nats’ aggressive approach, his pitch count remained relatively low throughout the start for his second dominant outing against Washington in a month.

The Nationals introduced two more draft signings this morning after announcing two of their top four picks last week in Seaver King and Kevin Bazzell and their second pick in Caleb Lomavita yesterday. And the two were the Nats’ only selections out of high school in this year’s draft.

Second-round pick Luke Dickerson out of Morris Knolls High School in New Jersey and 15th-round pick Sir Jamison Jones out of St. Rita High School in Illinois both officially signed their first professional contracts with the Nationals.

“It's been an honor getting drafted and everything,” Dickerson said during an introductory press conference with both draft picks. “Just being able to celebrate those times with my family and everything. And just getting to work, I'm super excited.”

“First off, I just want to thank God for putting me in this situation,” Jones said. “I've been extremely happy over the past couple of weeks and just glad that I'm here and I can show what I have. I'm ready to get the work and just start on a long career hopefully, Lord willing.”

Dickerson, a shortstop with a commitment to play at the University of Virginia, signed for $3.8 million, which is a record number for a non-first-rounder since Major League Baseball’s Draft pool system began, per a source familiar with the terms. That is more than $1.5 million more than the $2.122 million slot value for the 44th overall pick.