Right-hander Erik Davis joining Nationals

Right-hander Erik Davis joining Nationals
ATLANTA - This incredibly eventful night in Nationals land just won't end. Right-handed reliever tweeted that he's getting called up to the big leagues. At this late hour, I'm not confident that I'll be able to get confirmation on the particulars of the roster move, but I can tell you there were rumblings that Davis was an option to get called up earlier in the week. The two most likely candidates to land on the disabled list to make room for Davis on the Nationals' 25-man roster are...
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Hearing from Johnson, Stammen and Suzuki after Nats' thrilling 3-2 win

Hearing from Johnson, Stammen and Suzuki after Nats' thrilling 3-2 win
ATLANTA - This is why sports are so great. You look at the line score from tonight's game and see that the Nationals won 3-2 and might assume that it was a nice, quiet, uneventful ballgame. Uh, not exactly. The Nationals lost their ace to an injury after two innings; they had a reliever retire all 12 batters he faced; they had their leadoff hitter smack two triples; they had another reliever hit two batters in an inning; they had their catcher feel like he might have broken his collarbone...
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Strasburg has strained right oblique

Strasburg has strained right oblique
ATLANTA - Stephen Strasburg will leave the Nationals in Atlanta and fly back to D.C. after he was diagnosed with a strained right oblique, an injury that knocked him from tonight's 3-2 Nats win after just two innings. It turns out that Strasburg has been feeling discomfort in the oblique for a few starts now, but while it had improved as he got deeper into his past outings, his right side only tightened up more as he went deeper into tonight's game. He finished off the second inning and then...
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Clippard goes into, and out of, a massive jam (Nats win 3-2)

Clippard goes into, and out of, a massive jam (Nats win 3-2)
ATLANTA - The Nationals' bullpen has put itself in a number of tough spots this season. Tyler Clippard might top the list with his effort tonight, but somehow, Clippard managed to right the ship and allow the Nats to keep clinging to a 3-2 lead after seven innings. Called upon to work the seventh and protect a two-run advantage after Craig Stammen had thrown 49 pitches and retired all 12 batters he'd faced, Clippard got into quite a pickle. He allowed an infield single to Ramiro Pena...
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Strasburg leaves after two innings (with injury update)

Strasburg leaves after two innings (with injury update)
ATLANTA - This can't be good. Stephen Strasburg has been pulled from tonight's game after just two innings with an apparent injury. Craig Stammen is now on to work the third inning for the Nationals, who will now have to deal with another injury issue, this one to their ace. Strasburg faced the minimum in the first inning tonight, getting a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Justin Upton to end the inning. He then surrendered a long solo home run to Freddie Freeman leading off the second,...
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Harper likely out through the weekend, could land on DL (with Werth update)

Harper likely out through the weekend, could land on DL (with Werth update)
ATLANTA - The Nationals have played 11 games without Bryce Harper in the starting lineup this season and have gone 2-9 in those contests. They could now be without Harper for a more extended period. Harper is out of the Nats' lineup for the fifth straight game with bursitis in his left knee, and because the condition hasn't improved much over that five-day span, manager Davey Johnson said Harper might need to land on the disabled list. "It's bothering him," Johnson said. "We've got to...
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Harper still out, Lombardozzi in left

Harper still out, Lombardozzi in left
ATLANTA - Bryce Harper is out of the Nationals lineup for the fifth straight game because of bursitis in his left knee, leaving manager Davey Johnson to again try and piece together an outfield alignment featuring multiple bench players and a batting order that includes multiple guys with batting averages below the Mendoza Line. Johnson has opted to sit Tyler Moore for tonight's series opener against the Braves, instead going with Steve Lombardozzi in left field and Roger Bernadina in...
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Turning to the ace

Turning to the ace
ATLANTA - Hello from lovely Atlanta, where you'll have trouble finding a Pepsi anywhere and the tomahawk chop plays seemingly every 27 seconds at Turner Field. The Nationals open a big three-game set with the Braves tonight, and given that Davey Johnson's boys come into this series already 5 1/2 games back of their first-place hosts, this could be a relatively big weekend, at least as a May-June series goes. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but things won't be affected too much if the...
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Searching for change

Searching for change
The only time that the Nationals were at or below the .500 mark all of last year was four games into the season, when they were the owners of a 2-2 record. That's not to suggest that the Nats' ride in 2012 didn't have some bumps along the way, because it definitely did. But one thing is certain - the first third of this year's ride has been a heck of a lot more turbulent than what we saw during the 2012 regular season. The Nationals are 27-27 after their first 54 games of the 2013...
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Nats fall back to .500, know "it's time to turn it on"

Nats fall back to .500, know "it's time to turn it on"
BALTIMORE - After a 2-0 loss to the Orioles,= in which his team managed just three hits and played some shaky defense, Nationals manager Davey Johnson didn't have a whole lot to say. Johnson wasn't by any means curt with reporters after tonight's game, but he was brief when discussing the latest frustrating loss shouldered by his team, which now owns a .500 record. How brief? Johnson's postgame press conference lasted just 84 seconds. "We got a bunt and a broken-bat hit and one hard...
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A much more tame start tonight (Nats lose 2-0)

A much more tame start tonight (Nats lose 2-0)
BALTIMORE - Through the first five innings of last night's ballgame, the Nationals had put up six runs and smacked eight hits. They'd slugged four home runs - three of which came off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman - and had a nice 6-2 lead. Through the first five innings tonight, the Nats have yet to score and they've managed just two hits off Orioles starter Freddy Garcia. Garcia has struck out five Nats hitters - including Zimmerman once - and the Orioles have a 1-0 lead. Over their last...
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Harper could return tomorrow, Werth likely to miss Atlanta series

Harper could return tomorrow, Werth likely to miss Atlanta series
BALTIMORE - Tonight will mark the fourth straight game that the Nationals have been without Bryce Harper and the 24th straight game they've been without Jayson Werth. The Nats don't expect to be down two of their starting outfielders much longer, but there's still some uncertainty surrounding when both Harper and Werth will be able to return to action. Manager Davey Johnson said today that Harper has made a little progress as he rehabs the bursitis in his left knee, and Harper did some...
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Tracy at first, LaRoche DHing

Tracy at first, LaRoche DHing
BALTIMORE - Davey Johnson will go with the same batting order as last night and make just one position change on the diamond, with the exception of the starting pitcher. Chad Tracy will play first base for the Nationals today, with Adam LaRoche getting a bit of a breather, serving as the designated hitter. The Nats will take their hacks against veteran right-hander Freddy Garcia, who has gone 1-2 with a 4.61 ERA in five starts since getting called up by the Orioles. Garcia hasn't allowed...
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Some of this, some of that

Some of this, some of that
If you were surprised to see the Nationals blow a three-run lead in the late innings last night with Jordan Zimmermann on the mound and Tyler Clippard coming in behind him, well, you weren't the only one. "It's surprising in the sense that those games, traditionally, we're going to win," Clippard said. "We got a lead early and felt good about things. Jordan was throwing the ball well. But again, (the Orioles) have a good lineup. This is an offensive park and they took advantage of some...
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Zimmermann, Clippard on the seventh-inning blow-up

Zimmermann, Clippard on the seventh-inning blow-up
BALTIMORE - Facing the Orioles, pitching in Camden Yards, things can get ugly in a hurry. Case in point: The seventh inning of tonight's ballgame. A 6-3 Nationals' lead became a 9-6 deficit seemingly in the blink of an eye. Jordan Zimmermann looked to be in good shape when the bottom of the seventh inning began, having thrown just 75 pitches to that point. You give the ball to Zimmermann with a three-run lead in that situation 100 times, and he probably gets the job done 95 of them. Not...
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Johnson: "That one hurt"

Johnson: "That one hurt"
BALTIMORE - With Ryan Zimmerman having smacked three home runs and Jordan Zimmermann, the Nationals' ace through the first two months of the season, on the mound, this ballgame looked well in control after five innings. The Nats held a 6-2 lead after five and had gotten into the Orioles' bullpen, while Zimmermann - he of the 1.71 ERA entering tonight - still had plenty of gas left in the tank. Things then took a major turn for the worse. Zimmermann failed to retire a batter in the seventh...
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Big O's seventh, late offensive shutdown leads to Nats' 9-6 loss

Big O's seventh, late offensive shutdown leads to Nats' 9-6 loss
BALTIMORE - Through the first five innings tonight, the Nationals crushed four homers and put up six runs. Then the Orioles' bats woke up and the Nats' shut down. The Nats' 6-2 lead, procured on the back of Ryan Zimmerman, disappeared in a hurry tonight. Despite having Jordan Zimmermann on the mound to start the game, the Nats allowed seven unanswered Orioles runs, six of which came in the seventh inning, and dropped the first game of this two-game set in Baltimore 9-6. After giving up a...
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Zimmerman putting on a show in Charm City (Nats suddenly trail)

Zimmerman putting on a show in Charm City (Nats suddenly trail)
BALTIMORE - Have a night, Ryan Zimmerman. Have a night. Zimmerman has stepped into the batter's box here at Camden Yards three times tonight. He's launched three home runs. The first went out to left-center, a frozen rope in the first inning that got out of here in a hurry. The second was a high flyball to dead center in the fourth that flew well over the wall. The third was a shot to right-center in the fifth, one that landed a couple rows deep. Zimmerman now has six homers on the season...
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Back-to-back homers on back-to-back nights (instant update)

Back-to-back homers on back-to-back nights (instant update)
BALTIMORE - If you were looking for some consistency out of the Nationals' offense, you've gotten it over the last two days. Small sample size, sure. But it's a step in the right direction. The Nats have smacked back-to-back homers for the second straight game, and their three solo home runs through the first four innings tonight have given them a 3-1 lead. Ryan Zimmerman got the party started in the top of the first with an absolute laser beam that flew out over top of the Orioles'...
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Notes on Espinosa's return to the lineup and Werth's rehab assignment

Notes on Espinosa's return to the lineup and Werth's rehab assignment
BALTIMORE - The Nationals' starting second baseman tonight will be playing with a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder and a broken bone in his right wrist. Danny Espinosa came into spring training determined to play through the rotator cuff injury, insisting that after a winter of strength training focusing on the muscles around the rotator cuff, he could still be effective even with the injury. Espinosa now is determined to play through the broken wrist, even if there's still a chip...
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