You've already seen Jordan Zimmermann's quotes where he denied that he was feeling tightness in his neck, as manager Davey Johnson had indicated.
So if it wasn't the neck, why was Zimmermann so off tonight, allowing seven hits, two walks and two runs in just four innings of work?
"I had really, really good stuff today," Zimmermann said. "I just either was 0-2 and I let them back in the count or I fell behind 2-0, 3-0 and I had to battle. Get it back to full count, they fouled a few...
Prior to tonight's 6-3 loss to the Braves, a defeat that resulted in the second Atlanta sweep at Nationals Park this season, Davey Johnson threw his back out. He appeared fine after the game, but in the 70-year-old skipper's mind, that injury was symbolic of how this season has gone for his club.
The Nats came into this series against Atlanta hoping to, at the very least, take two out of three games and give themselves a shot to possibly claw back into the division race.
Instead, they...
Tanner Roark outpitched Jordan Zimmermann by a wide margin today.
Baseball can be a funky game.
Making his major league debut, Roark, who was called up from Triple-A Syracuse yesterday, pitched two scoreless innings, keeping this game tied 2-2.
Roark worked a 1-2-3 fifth inning, his first in relief of Zimmermann (who left after allowing seven hits over four frames), and after surrendering a leadoff bloop single in the sixth, the right-hander needed just two batters to get out of the...
Dating back to last night, the Nationals are 0-for-their-last-15 with 10 strikeouts.
Somehow, some way, it keeps finding a way to get worse.
The Nats trail 1-0 after three innings tonight and have been set down in order by Kris Medlen to this point.
Nine up, nine down. Four strikeouts, five groundouts. Not a single ball hit out of the infield.
How much of that is Medlen, who has really looked sharp? How much of it is the Nationals, who continue to scuffle regardless of who is on the mound?...
A day after Bryce Harper was drilled on the thigh by a Julio Teheran fastball and voiced his displeasure with what he felt was an uncalled-for plunking and saw both benches empty, the chatter about the incident continues.
Nationals players continue to believe that Teheran intentionally hit Harper two innings after Harper took Teheran deep and made a slower-than-usual trot around the bases. That hasn't changed in the last 20 or so hours.
"No doubt in my mind," one player, who noted that he...
Denard Span is back leading off for the Nationals as manager Davey Johnson produced yet another lineup this afternoon.
Ryan Zimmerman will hit second.
The Braves are 9-3 against the Nats this season and 5-0 at Nats Park. The Nats will try and take a stand in the home-field advantage department tonight.
Jason Heyward is back in the Braves lineup tonight after leaving yesterday's game in the first inning with a strained neck muscle.
For the Nationals
CF Denard Span
3B Ryan Zimmerman
LF...
Is this what the game has come to?
Are we really at the point in today's game that when a player looks at a home run for a second or two before running around the bases, he gets drilled the next time he comes to the plate? Or the following week? Or two months down the road?
Don't confuse my intentions by writing this. I'm not whining about Bryce Harper getting drilled in the thigh by a first-pitch Julio Teheran fastball last night. I'm not specifically standing up for Harper and I'm not...
A reporter asked Davey Johnson after tonight's 2-1 Nationals loss, a loss that dropped the Nats to 54-59 on the season and left them averaging a paltry 3.68 runs per game, what can be done about the lack of offense.
Johnson let out a deep sigh.
"I'm asking you," Johnson responded. "Either they're pitching that good, or we just ... I don't know. I don't have an answer."
The Nats left the bases loaded in the seventh when Adam LaRoche grounded out to first to end the threat, and then...
Following tonight's 2-1 Nationals loss to the Braves, Bryce Harper calmly answered questions about being hit by a first-pitch, 94 mph Julio Teheran fastball in the fifth inning, a pitch that led to Harper taking a couple of steps towards the mound and shouting a few choice words at the Braves right-hander.
Harper felt the pitch was payback for his home run in the third inning, a solo shot that gave the Nats a 1-0 lead. Harper took a second or two to admire the homer and then tossed his bat...
Things got interesting in the bottom of the fifth inning, when benches cleared following Bryce Harper being drilled by a first-pitch, 94 mph fastball from Braves righty Julio Teheran.
Harper took exception to the hit-by-pitch, which he clearly felt was intentional following his home run off Teheran in the third inning. Harper took a couple of steps toward the mound and gestured at Teheran, but was moved down the first base line by home plate umpire Joe West.
Braves catcher Brian McCann got a...
Bryce Harper has a new look today, having rid himself of the full beard that he's been sporting for much of the season.
All that's left in the facial hair department is a mustache, and it apparently has brought some luck.
Harper smoked a one-out solo homer to dead center in the third inning, his 17th longball of the season, giving the Nationals a 1-0 lead over Julio Teheran and the Braves.
After Teheran struck Harper out in the first, the Braves righty left a 91 mph two-seam fastball over...
Davey Johnson is going with a new-look lineup tonight, with Bryce Harper leading off, Ryan Zimmerman starting in the two-hole for the first time in his career, Wilson Ramos hitting sixth and Anthony Rendon eighth.
Essentially, Johnson has just gotten rid of a leadoff hitter and moved of his middle-of-the-order hitters up a spot.
What was the rationale for that alignment?
"It's just something," Johnson said, smiling and giving a shake of the head. "I don't know. ... I was just throwing...
Jayson Werth is back in the Nationals lineup tonight against the Braves after being scratched from starting on Monday because of a strained groin.
Werth pinch hit in the seventh of yesterday's loss to Atlanta, but returns to the lineup as the Nats seek their first win in three games.
Also, Ryan Zimmerman is making his first career start in the No. 2 spot in the batting order. He has one career at-bat and two plate appearances batting second, but no starts.
For the Braves
RF Jason Heyward
LF...
The Nationals made a series of roster moves today, selecting the contract of right-hander Tanner Roark from Triple-A Syracuse, optioning left-hander Xavier Cedeno back to Syracuse and transferring lefty Ross Detwiler to the 60-day DL.
Optioning Cedeno to Triple-A clears a spot for Roark on the 25-man active roster, and moving Detwiler from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL opens a spot for Roark on the 40-man roster.
Roark has gone 9-3 with a 3.15 ERA in 33 games (11 starts) this season with the...
Ready for a few mind-numbing stats?
Stephen Strasburg has a 2.14 ERA in four starts against the Braves this season. He's allowed just five runs and struck out 26 in 21 innings against Atlanta. Yet, Strasburg is 0-1 in those four starts.
The Nationals have scored two runs or fewer in 45.5 percent of their games this season. This season, the average major league team has scored two runs or fewer 29.1 percent of the time.
For what it's worth, the Nats are 6-45 in games where they score fewer...
It doesn't make the defeat any easier to stomach, but while the Nationals have had losses this season where the bats were nearly completely silent, at least they stuck the ball well tonight. That was something that Davey Johnson pointed out as a minor glimmer on a relatively dark night for the home team at Nats Park.
"That's been happening a lot lately," Scott Hairston said. "All we can do is square it up, and it seems like that's been a pattern. A lot of lineouts and not too many...
Another tight ballgame, another strong pitching performance, another night where the offense isn't able to deliver.
Tonight's 3-2 Nationals loss feels like so many before it.
The Nats took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, got seven strong frames from Stephen Strasburg and then watched things slip away. Justin Upton's solo homer leading off the eighth off Tyler Clippard gave the Braves the lead, one they didn't relinquish.
After the first inning, the Nationals went 0-for-9 with runners in...
In six of the seven innings played so far tonight, the Nationals have put the leadoff man on base.
In those six innings, they've gone 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
The Nats have struggled again in big spots tonight, and we saw an example of that when they had a golden chance to take the lead in the seventh after Scott Hairston doubled to left leading off the inning.
Jayson Werth, pinch-hitting for Stephen Strasburg, struck out. Bryce Harper lined out to right. Ian Desmond's...
Prior to borrowing Jayson Werth's bat out in Milwaukee, Adam LaRoche was in a 1-for-28 slump and had just three extra-base hits in his last 53 at-bats.
Since trying out Werth's lumber during his third at-bat Saturday night against the Brewers, LaRoche is 4-for-8 with two homers and a double.
That bat won't be leaving LaRoche's locker anytime soon, you can count on that.
Actually, this appears to be a different, two-toned version of Werth's bat, as compared to the all-black one LaRoche...
We've covered the Biogenesis story from a couple different angles, with reactions to Gio Gonzalez being cleared of wrongdoing and 13 players being suspended for purchasing/taking performance-enhancers.
Now how about a non-PED blog entry for the first time in a while? Sounds good to me.
The Nationals enter this three-game set with the Braves tonight well-aware of where things stand with 51 games remaining on their schedule. They're 12 1/2 games back of Atlanta in the National League East and...