Tracy serving as designated hitter as Nats face Tigers

Tracy serving as designated hitter as Nats face Tigers
DETROIT - Hello from the Motor City, where the weather is gorgeous and the city, not surprisingly, just feels empty. This is the first time I've been to Comerica Park, and for what it's worth, I'm really impressed. Nice layout, decent sight lines and lots of concrete sculptures of tigers all over the place. Got to love that. Tonight's Nationals lineup includes Chad Tracy as the designated hitter, with Tracy hitting ninth. Other than that, the lineup remains the same as it has over the...
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Trying to keep it rolling in the Motor City

Trying to keep it rolling in the Motor City
Is it possible that this weekend got the Nationals on track and can set them up for a final push for the postseason over the next two months? Maybe. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I'm done talking about momentum until the Nats prove they can carry it over a period longer than three days. They're on a three-game roll right now and have won four of five, but they haven't put together more than a four-game winning streak since early May. We've seen too many mini hot streaks followed by flat...
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A bond strengthened over baseball and a gesture that touched a community

A bond strengthened over baseball and a gesture that touched a community
This isn't a blog entry about a Nationals winning streak, the upcoming non-waiver trade deadline or Taylor Jordan's improved slider. Those entries can wait. This is a blog entry about a father-son relationship that was strengthened over the Nationals and a Craigslist post that touched a portion of the D.C. baseball community. Like in many parent-child relationships, Kent Wilson and his father Richard bonded over baseball. For years, dating back to 2005, when baseball returned to D.C. and...
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Span on his homer barrage, Ramos on his first grand slam

Span on his homer barrage, Ramos on his first grand slam
Denard Span, homerless in the first 104 games of the season, now has two longballs in as many days. Watch out Chris Davis. "Yeah, just another day at the ballpark," Span said, tongue planted firmly in his cheek. "I told you yesterday I might hit 30, and like you said, I'm on pace to do that, if I can just keep it up. So any more questions?" Nope, that about covers it on the homer front. Span has excelled since moving down to the No. 7 spot in the order, putting up five hits in that...
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Davey updates McCatty's health, discusses Nats' 14-1 win

Davey updates McCatty's health, discusses Nats' 14-1 win
The Nationals got a little bit of a scare early this afternoon when pitching coach Steve McCatty needed to be taken to the hospital after dealing with elevated blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. The good news, however, is that McCatty is fine, according to manager Davey Johnson. "McCatty's doing all right. He's his usual grumpy self," Johnson said with a smile. "Blood pressure went way up and heart rate started going irregular. I know all about it. ... Hopefully he was watching...
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A granny for Ramos (Nats win 14-1)

A granny for Ramos (Nats win 14-1)
The Nationals watched the Mets put up an 11-spot here at Nats Park two days ago. They've countered that with eight runs and nine hits through the first three innings today. The Nats exploded in the second and third innings, leading 3-0 after two and then 8-0 after three. Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Ian Desmond and Denard Span all reached base in front of Wilson Ramos in the third (with Desmond's single bringing in Zimmerman), and Ramos then cleared the bases with a grand slam into the...
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Pitching coach Steve McCatty taken to hospital (game update)

Pitching coach Steve McCatty taken to hospital (game update)
Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty was taken to the hospital before the start of today's game, a team spokesman confirmed. McCatty, 59, was not feeling well and will not be present for today's series finale against the Mets. The Nationals are not releasing any more information at this time and say they will provide an update on McCatty's health later. McCatty is in his fifth season as the Nationals' pitching coach. This is his 18th season as a professional pitching coach, following a...
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Nats sticking with what works

Nats sticking with what works
The Nationals have won two in a row, so why tamper with success? Today's lineup for the finale of a four-game series against the Mets is the same one, minus the starting pitcher, the Nats trotted out last night. The only change is right-hander Taylor Jordan, who's still in search of his first major league victory. Jordan will get a break, with David Wright not in today's Mets lineup. Now, onto today's lineups ... For the Mets: LF Eric Young Jr. 3B Josh Satin 2B Daniel Murphy RF Marlon...
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Haren: "We don't have any time for hitting rock bottom any more"

Haren: "We don't have any time for hitting rock bottom any more"
There have been a number of moments this season where it's felt like things might not be able to get much worse for the Nationals. They've been on the wrong end of too many blowouts, had too many losing streaks, too many games where they've scored one or zero runs and watched another of their starters get stuck with a tough-luck loss. Remarkably enough, they're still not out of things just yet, despite all those defeats. The Nats are three games under .500 at 51-54, and are 8 1/2 games...
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Hearing from Haren and Harper

Hearing from Haren and Harper
Entering today's game, it had been 76 days since Dan Haren was last the winning pitcher in a baseball game. Some of the blame for that long winless streak doesn't fall on Haren. A lot of it does. But Haren has pitched much better since coming off the disabled list on July 8, and today he earned his fifth victory of the season after allowing just one run and three hits over seven innings in a 4-1 Nationals win over the Mets. "It's obviously been a long time since I had that winning...
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Johnson discusses Nats' 4-1 win

Johnson discusses Nats' 4-1 win
Davey Johnson has had many more gloomy postgame press conferences this season than he expected he'd have, days where he's had to sit in front of the cameras and discuss another frustrating loss. Today was not one of those days. A few minutes after the Nationals' 4-1 win over the Mets, Johnson bounded into his chair behind the press conference table with a giant smile on his face and didn't even wait for a reporter to ask a question. "How about (Dan) Haren? How about that?" the giddy...
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Perhaps Haren's finest start of the season (Nats win 4-1)

Perhaps Haren's finest start of the season (Nats win 4-1)
Dan Haren has been significantly better since coming off the disabled list than he was before that DL stint. And today might just have been his best start as a National to this point. Haren went seven innings, allowing just one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out six and threw 103 pitches, 73 for strikes. This was vintage Haren, folks. The veteran right-hander kept the ball down in the zone, had great movement on his offspeed stuff and his splitter, and mixed his pitches...
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Desmond, Span go back-to-back (Haren cruising through six)

Desmond, Span go back-to-back (Haren cruising through six)
The Nationals had scored two runs off Dillon Gee in 18 2/3 innings against the Mets right-hander this season. They scored two runs off Gee in the second inning alone today, and they have a 2-0 lead thanks to back-to-back homers from Ian Desmond and Denard Span. The home runs came on back-to-back pitches by Gee. Desmond's homer was his 16th of the season, giving him the outright team lead. He crushed a 3-2 changeup from Gee into the red seats in center, putting the Nats on the board. Span...
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Rizzo: Nats looking to improve bench before trade deadline

Rizzo: Nats looking to improve bench before trade deadline
We're now four days away from Major League Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline, meaning Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo has been spending a lot of time on his phone lately. Following the Nationals' acquisition of Scott Hairston nearly two weeks ago, Rizzo said that he didn't think the Nats were going to make any "splashy" moves before the deadline. "I still feel the same way," Rizzo said today. That said, Rizzo is still working, trying to tinker with his roster to improve...
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Rizzo on Clippard's comments: "I commend him for having a strong opinion on it"

Rizzo on Clippard's comments: "I commend him for having a strong opinion on it"
You've heard from Davey Johnson on the Nationals' decision to option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse. You've heard from Tyler Clippard on why he takes issue with how the Nats have managed his good friend and teammate. You've even heard my thoughts on the whole situation. Now let's hear from general manager Mike Rizzo, the one who decided to sign Rafael Soriano to a two-year, $28 million deal this offseason and option Storen yesterday. "We felt that (Storen) was struggling - struggling...
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Harper back in Nats lineup

Harper back in Nats lineup
After aggravating his left knee injury in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader, Bryce Harper wasn't in the Nationals lineup for the nightcap, marking the second time he'd been out of the lineup in a four-game span. Harper pinch-hit in the eighth inning of last night's game, however, and he's back in the lineup today as the Nats take on Dillon Gee in the third game of four against the Mets. Gee is 3-0 with a filthy 0.96 ERA against the Nats this season, but that dominance is nothing...
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Thoughts on the Storen demotion and the Clippard comments

Thoughts on the Storen demotion and the Clippard comments
I was asked a number of times on Twitter last night what my thoughts are on both the Nationals' decision to option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse, as well as Tyler Clippard's critical comments about the way the Nats have managed Storen dating back to this offseason. There's no way I could express those thoughts on Twitter in just 140 characters (that might take a couple of dozen tweets), but I certainly can do so here in a much more in-depth way. So let's dive right in. First of all,...
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Hearing from Zimmerman, Ohlendorf and Johnson after 2-1 walk-off win

Hearing from Zimmerman, Ohlendorf and Johnson after 2-1 walk-off win
The news of Drew Storen's demotion to Triple-A Syracuse, while not totally shocking, definitely dominated the postgame discussion with manager Davey Johnson and a couple of Nats players, most notably Tyler Clippard. Ryan Zimmerman has played alongside Storen for the last four seasons, and he was asked his take on the reliever being optioned after the game. "I mean, anytime something like that happens, it's tough," Zimmerman said. "We're all teammates in here and friends in here. Drew...
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Clippard critical of Nationals' handling of Storen

Clippard critical of Nationals' handling of Storen
Tyler Clippard had two questions asked of him after the game, and he spoke for more than four minutes. He spoke with tears in his eyes and his voice breaking a bit at times, and he delivered some forthright and critical comments about the Nationals' decision to option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse and the way that they have managed Storen's role on this team dating back to the offseason. Clippard never once said Rafael Soriano's name, but it's clear that he thinks the Nationals made a...
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Nats option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse (updated)

Nats option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse (updated)
In order to trim their roster from 26 to 25 following today's doubleheader, the Nationals optioned a guy who saved 43 games for them two years ago. Manager Davey Johnson announced after tonight's 2-1 walk-off win that the Nats have optioned Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse. "He needs to get right, mentally and mechanically," Johnson said. "It's that simple. ... This is what's best for him." Storen had a 2.75 ERA and 43 saves for the Nats in 2011 and a 2.37 ERA in 2012 after coming...
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