There was a time not too long ago when the Nationals were being given 100/1 odds to win the World Series.
At the All-Star break this year, the Nats' odds of being the last team standing are 11/1, according to Bovada.
The Nationals are behind only the Yankees (9/2) and Rangers (5/1) when it comes to overall odds to win the World Series. Bovada has the Nats' odds of winning the National League pennant at 9/2 and has them the clear favorites to come away with the NL East, putting them at 4/5...
Was I the only one less than wowed by last night's Home Run Derby?
Sure, Prince Fielder put on a show, and it was fun watching Mark Trumbo demolish a few baseballs, especially since I hadn't gotten much of a chance to catch the Angels outfielder doing his thing out west in the first half of the season.
But Robinson Cano and Matt Kemp - the two derby team captains - combined to hit just one home run, and my sleeper pick to win the competition, Andrew McCutchen, was eliminated in the first...
The break has arrived.
Sleep in past the alarm. Play some golf. Hit up the beach and improve that tan.
OK, maybe not you. You might end up losing your job if you decide to just not show up these next four days.
The Nationals, however, get to enjoy a well-deserved break after playing 83 games over the last three months. They enter this relaxation period on a bit of a sour note after yesterday's loss to the Rockies, but had no reason to hang their heads leaving the home clubhouse last night....
The Nationals are certainly frustrated with how today's game finished and the fact that they cost Jordan Zimmermann another win.
But two guys in the Nats clubhouse feel that today's loss might actually benefit the team in the long-run.
"I look at it as good timing," Tyler Clippard said. "You know, I think you don't ever want to get too comfortable or too confident out there, so this is a little, maybe, check for ourselves. We can kind of regroup and move forward with a new beginning in...
The worst part of today's 4-3 loss to the Rockies from Davey Johnson's perspective was that it wasted a fantastic outing from starter Jordan Zimmermann, who allowed just one run over seven innings.
Zimmermann lowered his ERA to 2.61 on the season, the ninth-lowest total in the majors among pitchers with at least 15 starts. Despite that low ERA and the fact that Zimmerman has gone at least six innings in all 17 outings, the righty goes into the All-Star break with just five wins.
His shot at...
The numbers keep getting more impressive by the day.
Ian Desmond is 2-for-2 today, and his two-run home run to the red seats in left-center in the fourth inning has given the Nationals a 2-1 lead over the Rockies.
The All-Star shortstop now has 17 home runs and 51 RBIs on the season. A day before the All-Star break.
Oh, and he added his 10th stolen base of the season this afternoon, as well.
Desmond leads all shortstops in homers, RBIs, doubles and slugging percentage. He's tied for...
Davey Johnson isn't a big fan of team meetings.
He doesn't feel he needs to stand up in front of his squad like a football coach and deliver a pep talk.
But Johnson did walk around the Nationals clubhouse early this afternoon, talking to each player, giving out handshakes and wishing everyone well over the All-Star break.
"I just talked to all the players individually, congratulated them on their first half," Johnson said. "Want them to relax. No horse riding, no jet skiing, no crashes...
While he'll have to see how things play out in the All-Star Game, Davey Johnson has set what he's calling his probable rotation after the All-Star break.
That rotation has Jordan Zimmermann working the first game after the break, which will come Friday in Miami. Zimmermann will be followed by Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Edwin Jackson and Ross Detwiler.
Johnson said there's "a little better probability than 50 percent" of that rotation coming to fruition. He'll wait to see how much...
The Nationals close out the first half today with a 1:35 p.m. game against the Colorado Rockies and right-hander Jeremy Guthrie. Here are the lineups for today's game:
For the Rockies:
CF - Dexter Fowler
2B - Marco Scutaro
LF - Carlos Gonzalez
RF - Tyler Colvin
1B - Todd Helton
3B - Jordan Pacheco
SS - Jonathan Herrera
C - Wil Nieves
P - Jeremy Guthrie
For the Nationals:
LF - Steve Lombardozzi
CF - Bryce Harper
3B - Ryan Zimmerman
RF - Michael Morse
1B - Adam LaRoche
SS - Ian Desmond
2B -...
We know Bryce Harper was named to the All-Star Game.
We know Ian Desmond has opted out of the All-Star Game.
Now, let's discuss the actual game which was played at Nationals Park today.
Gio Gonzalez went six innings, allowing just one run on three hits in the Nationals' 4-1 win over the Rockies.
"Gio pitched an outstanding game," manager Davey Johnson said. "He was going to fight me again after throwing 100 pitches in a tie ballgame, he didn't want to leave the game tied. I said,...
After learning that he'd been selected to the All-Star Game for the first time in his career, Ian Desmond took a few days to decide how to proceed.
He was honored to be chosen for the National League team by NL manager Tony La Russa, but given that he's been battling a sore left oblique recently, Desmond also wanted to use the All-Star break to get some rest.
He talked things over with Nationals manager Davey Johnson, spoke to general manager Mike Rizzo, and then called La Russa to inform...
Bryce Harper will be on the National League All-Star roster after all. Harper will replace Miami Marlins All-Star Giancarlo Stanton, who was forced to drop out following a knee injury that will require surgery. NL manager Tony La Russa hand-picked Harper following Stanton's injury.
Harper is the fourth Nationals player named to the All-Star team, along with teammates Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg and Ian Desmond. However, Desmond was forced to pull out of the game Saturday with a sore left...
The Rockies are not an incredibly talented or fundamentally sound baseball team.
That's why they entered today 19 games under .500.
The Nationals didn't see that Rockies team yesterday. They saw a squad which got a very strong performance from its starter and put up five runs in a game started by the Nats' ace.
Today, at least for an inning, the Rockies played like they're the second-worst team in baseball. They threw the ball around in the bottom of the sixth, essentially giving the...
For a few weeks now, Ian Desmond has been battling a sore left oblique.
It hasn't been enough to cause him to miss any game action, but it has bugged him. And so, instead of risking further aggravating the oblique by coming off the bench during the All-Star Game, Desmond has decided to skip the Midsummer Classic. He'll instead get some time to rest over the break.
This decision was made after conferring with Nationals team doctors, management and the manager of the National League All-Star...
Today is Photo Day at Nationals Park, which allows a group of fans to line the warning track all the way around the field and shake hands and pose for pictures with Nats players.
What a perfect day for both players and fans to be standing outside for a lengthy period of time.
Temperatures of 103 degrees with a heat index of close to 110 degrees? Just lovely.
Bryce Harper and Ryan Mattheus came prepared to help the fans keep cool, as they brought a bag of freeze pops and tossed them out to...
Yeah, it's a little bit warm in the nation's capital today.
I don't envy Gio Gonzalez or Jeff Francis, the two starters who will be trying to fight through this heat at Nationals Park. It's bad enough trying to unstick myself from my chair in the press box, much less get a grip on a curveball.
Here's the Nationals lineup today against Francis, who held the Nats in check in Denver last week:
2B Danny Espinosa
CF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan Zimmerman
RF Michael Morse
1B Adam LaRoche
SS Ian...
Those pesky Rockies.
They have the second-worst winning percentage in baseball and have a winning record against just three teams this season.
Those three teams: the 32-52 Astros, the 39-44 Brewers and the 48-33 Nationals, who own the best record in the National League.
Colorado has now won three of the five games it's played with the Nats this season. Surprisingly, two of those three wins have come against Stephen Strasburg, who has registered losses in three straight starts.
Strasburg...
The overwhelming feeling in the Nationals clubhouse after tonight's game was simple: We let one slip away.
Rockies rookie Drew Pomeranz had a good fastball tonight. It sat in the low-to-mid 90s and had some cut to it at times, and the lefty was able to both work the ball in on hitters and get some tailing action away.
But when 91 percent of a guy's pitches are fastballs, you'd think it wouldn't be too hard to see the ball and drive it. The Nationals just couldn't do that this...
First things first - after tonight's 5-1 loss to the Rockies, Davey Johnson clarified some earlier comments in which it sounded like he planned on pushing Stephen Strasburg back in the rotation coming out of the All-Star break.
Turns out, what Johnson meant was that he'll decide when Strasburg will start next based on how much the righty works in the All-Star Game. Same goes with Gio Gonzalez, who also is a part of the National League All-Star roster.
"I'm going to base when I pitch him...
Tyler Colvin had never faced Stephen Strasburg coming into tonight's game.
Colvin has now seen Strasburg twice. He's homered off him in both at-bats.
The Rockies have a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, and it's entirely thanks to Colvin, whose solo home run in the second inning and two-run shot in the fourth have provided all the offense so far tonight.
The second-inning home run wouldn't have happened if catcher Jesus Flores had been able to squeeze a foul pop up behind the plate two...