Sean Burnett's recent struggles might be injury related.
Davey Johnson said today that his left-handed reliever has been dealing with some irritation in his throwing elbow, the same issue that he went through earlier this season.
The plan for now is to rest Burnett for a couple days and hope that the elbow improves. Johnson said Burnett will not undergo an MRI.
"He's had a little bit of irritation in there," Johnson told reporters. "So we're staying off of him."
Burnett, who had...
Both Jayson Werth (hamstring cramp) and Adam LaRoche (sore back) are in the Nationals' lineup for this afternoon's game against the Cubs.
Werth was pulled in the ninth inning of Saturday's game after feeling his hamstring cramp up, and he was a late scratch from the lineup yesterday. LaRoche has been battling a sore back the last three or four days and was held out of the lineup yesterday, although he did pinch-hit in the sixth inning.
The Nationals will face Cubs righty Jeff Samardzija,...
When the Nationals showed up in their clubhouse today before the start of a four-game series against the Cubs, there were two new arrivals to pitch in during the stretch run.
The Nats selected the contracts of right-hander Christian Garcia an left-hander Zach Duke from Triple-A Syracuse. To accommodate them on the 40-man roster - which stood at 39 before the additions - right-hander Henry Rodriguez was transferred to the 60-day disabled list.
Garcia, a longtime Yankees farmhand who joined the...
Outside the Nationals' clubhouse, the decision to shut down Stephen Strasburg has been met by many with a mixture of shock and disgust.
Inside the Nationals' clubhouse, word that Strasburg will only get two more starts before his 2012 season is brought to an end was largely met with shoulder shrugs.
Are some guys a little frustrated that Strasburg won't be there with them as they make the final push for the postseason? Sure. Are some guys disappointed they won't have their ace if and when...
Today's actual game might get lost in the shuffle amidst the news that Stephen Strasburg will make two more starts this season before getting shut down.
Let's just say I don't anticipate too much talk about Kurt Suzuki's offensive performance on ESPN or MLB Network tonight or tomorrow when the Nationals are mentioned. But the game itself was a thrilling battle between two playoff-caliber teams, one which the Nationals won 4-3 despite some hiccups in the late innings.
Thanks to six...
Stephen Strasburg threw six scoreless innings against the Cardinals this afternoon, striking out nine and upping his season innings total to 156 1/3. It was another dominant performance from the Nationals' ace, and his season ERA now sits at 2.94.
Immediately after the game, we learned that Strasburg will only get the ball twice more this season.
Manager Davey Johnson announced that Strasburg will have two more starts before he's shut down, barring some change of plans. That means...
Sean Burnett is still in the midst of a career season.
He'd just prefer to forget the last 2 1/2 weeks.
After an appearance on August 10, Burnett had a 1.81 ERA. He hadn't given up a single run and had allowed just three total baserunners over his previous 10 appearances, spanning nine innings.
Since then, things have turned for the worse.
Burnett has a 7.50 ERA over his last eight appearances, but even more concerning are the number of baserunners he's allowed. Of the last 35 hitters...
The Nationals have made two errors behind Stephen Strasburg today, both of which left him in jams with runners at the corners and two outs.
Both times, Strasburg worked out of trouble to keep the game scoreless. The Nationals' ace can thank Bryce Harper for helping bail him out of the second such situation.
Three batters after Ryan Zimmerman airmailed a throw into the stands to allow Allen Craig to reach on a two-base error in the fourth inning, Bryan Anderson lifted a fly ball to medium...
Sitting down with Randy Knorr in the dugout late this morning, I told the Nationals' bench coach I'd like to talk about his team's issues with holding and throwing out runners.
"Favorite topic," Knorr said sarcastically, a smile creeping across his face.
This is a bit of a tired subject for Knorr, who has been preaching the importance of holding runners to Nationals pitchers and catchers this entire season with little success. Knorr, a former catcher who played parts of 11 seasons in the...
We're less than two hours away from first pitch and are still waiting for the Nationals to send out their lineup for today's game against the Cardinals.
The holdup is almost certainly related to Jayson Werth, who was pulled from last night's game in the ninth inning due to a hamstring cramp.
Werth didn't sound concerned about the hamstring after the game and said that he hoped to be able to play today. But with it being a day game after a night game and the Nats not wanting the hamstring...
As off of his game as Jordan Zimmermann was today, the Nationals still held a lead in the eighth inning and were five outs from their third straight win over the Cardinals.
That didn't stop Zimmermann from putting the full blame for today's loss on his own shoulders.
"I just felt like the offense did a great job. You've got to tip your cap to those guys," Zimmermann said. "They give you six runs, and you do all you can to keep the team in the game and you can't hold it down. So this...
Davey Johnson said after today's 10-9 loss to the Cardinals that Jayson Werth was pulled from the game in the ninth inning because of cramping.
Werth later said the cramps were in his hamstring, and while he hasn't dealt with that type of a thing during a game in four or five years, he hopes to be able to play tomorrow.
Werth and the rest of the Nationals' hitters did their job today, putting up nine runs and battling back to regain the lead in the sixth after the Cardinals had jumped on...
The Nationals and Cardinals have played six innings.
Seventeen runs have been scored in that time. Five pitchers have been used. Those six innings have taken a whopping 2:22.
The Nats led 4-0 and 6-2. The Cardinals then led 8-6. Now the Nationals have the lead yet again, after a three-run sixth inning put them up 9-8.
The play which gave the Nationals the lead was as strange as this game has been as a whole.
With Jayson Werth at second, Bryce Harper at first and two outs in the sixth,...
The Nationals held a 4-0 lead over the Cardinals when Jordan Zimmermann took the mound for the top of the second inning.
The guy who led the majors in ERA just a few starts ago proceeded to give up eight runs over his next 2 2/3 innings of work.
Zimmermann was pulled after just 3 2/3, making this by far his shortest outing of the season.
It was also by far his worst. He allowed eight runs on eight hits, walked one and hit two batters.
The Nationals now trail 8-6 as we go to the middle of...
When he's stationed at the hot corner, Ryan Zimmerman has the tendency to do the remarkable.
I can't even count the number of head shakes Zimmerman has gotten from those of us in the press box this season after another ridiculous stab of a sharp grounder, dive to snag a hot shot or web gem on a tapper down the line.
Every now and then, however, Zimmerman gloves a ball, and with plenty of time to make a throw to first, he sprays the throw off-line.
Often times, the hurried throws - ones...
Xavier Nady had six RBIs in 40 games with the Nationals this season.
He already has three RBIs in his first game since getting called up by the Giants.
The veteran outfielder, who signed a minor league deal with the Giants after getting his outright release by the Nationals, has made an early impact with his new team. Who knows, the guy might end up getting playoff shares from two separate teams in the same season.
The Nationals clubhouse got a little more crowded today, as John Lannan,...
Rosters have expanded and the Nationals have added four players to their active roster.
Left-hander John Lannan, catcher Sandy Leon and outfielder Eury Perez have been officially recalled, while outfielder Mark DeRosa has been activated off the 15-day DL.
The Nats also announced that catcher Jhonatan Solano has been reinstated from the DL and optioned to Double-A Harrisburg.
More to come.
Here's the Nationals lineup for this afternoon:
RF Jayson Werth
CF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan...
When reporters entered the Nationals' clubhouse after last night's 10-0 shellacking of the Cardinals, the Braves-Phillies game was showing on every TV in sight.
As we huddled around Ryan Zimmerman, asking the third baseman about a third straight Nats win, Phillies outfielder John Mayberry crushed a fly ball to deep left in the 10th inning of a tie game. Shouts came out from different parts of the clubhouse.
"Get him! Get him!" one player yelled, as the ball traveled towards the left field...
Over the last two nights, the Nationals have outscored the defending World Series champion Cardinals 18-1.
A dormant offense has come alive. The top-notch starting pitching has returned, as have the smiles.
Tonight, it was Gio Gonzalez wearing the smile for the Nats. To be truthful, Gonzalez always wears the smile, but tonight it was well-earned. The lefty threw the first shutout of his career, allowing just five hits and three walks over his nine sterling innings, striking out...
Adam Wainwright, who as I mentioned earlier had pitched to a 1.74 ERA and gone 6-1 over his last eight starts, didn't make it out of the third inning tonight.
Gio Gonzalez, on the other hand, didn't allow a baserunner through his first three innings of work.
The Nationals lead 6-0 after three, and frankly, the Cardinals are lucky that margin isn't even more lopsided.
Two Nats runs came around in the first on Adam LaRoche's single to left, giving the Nationals first baseman 81 RBIs on the...
