Patrick Reddington: The Nats' MVP, if not the National League's

Patrick Reddington: The Nats' MVP, if not the National League's
After going 3-for-4 with a three-run home run in last night's 9-0 win over the Miami Marlins, right fielder Jayson Werth has a .329/.406/.540 line with 13 doubles and 21 home runs in 101 games and 411 plate appearances in the third year of his seven-year deal with the Nationals. Since returning from a disabled list stint June 4, the 34-year-old outfielder has a .355/.441/.595 line with 11 doubles and 17 home runs in 74 games and 304 plate appearances. The 11-year veteran, to the surprise of...
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Off the field, Zimmerman, Span and Gonzalez answered your questions in MASN's live chat

Off the field, Zimmerman, Span and Gonzalez answered your questions in MASN's live chat
After a huge Nationals win, MASN will show you postgame interviews with players, in which reporters ask about a big inning or a huge home run. Following a loss, you will hear players being asked some tough questions, maybe about pitch selection or a costly error. Either way, you often hear players answering serious, game-related inquiries. However, we know that you have other burning questions for the players. Maybe you were curious about which National was the best golfer. Have you ever...
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Andrew Stetka: The future of Brian Roberts

Andrew Stetka: The future of Brian Roberts
The Orioles are going to have a couple of interesting decisions to make going into the offseason. I'm not for a second proclaiming the Birds out of the running for a postseason berth, but whether there is October baseball in Baltimore or not, the offseason will come about. The lineup seems pretty set for this team going into 2014. Aside from finding an everyday designated hitter (if that's something the team wants to do), only two positions are really up in the air - left field and second...
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David Huzzard: Impressions of Syracuse and the forgotten Danny Espinosa

David Huzzard: Impressions of Syracuse and the forgotten Danny Espinosa
Last night was the first Nationals game I watched since Thursday, and that isn't because I have been so frustrated by the season I've given up on baseball. It is because I spent the last five days on a whirlwind tour of minor league ballparks. This trip was to include two of the Nationals affiliates, but short-season Single-A Auburn was rained out. Luckily for us, it was called early enough that it gave us time to make it to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in time for the second inning of the second...
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Neal Shaffer: A tale of coming close

Neal Shaffer: A tale of coming close
If given the choice, how would you want to fail? Failing miserably - which is to say not even being in the mix for whatever you're after - sucks. On balance, though, it's better than coming up just short. Failure itself is absolute. The final marker is always either "you did" or "you didn't." Within that construct, however, there exists a hierarchy. One that has little bearing on the end results but plays a major role in how we feel about them. Coming close hurts because it teases...
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Nationals recall right-hander Ryan Mattheus, option left-hander Xavier Cedeno

Nationals recall right-hander Ryan Mattheus, option left-hander Xavier Cedeno
The Washington Nationals today recalled right-handed pitcher Ryan Mattheus from Syracuse of the Triple-A International League and optioned left-handed pitcher Xavier Cedeno to Syracuse. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Mattheus is 0-1 with five holds and a 6.26 ERA in 23 games with Washington this season. The 29-year-old allowed just one earned run with three strikeouts (no walks) in 5.1 innings during his five-appearance stint...
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Zach Wilt: Make or break stretch ahead for O's

Zach Wilt: Make or break stretch ahead for O's
On Friday, I opened up my mailbox to see an envelope from the Orioles with my season ticket holder postseason order form. This was both exciting and nerve-racking as a guy who has experienced the many highs and lows of the 2013 season to date. I want my money to go toward more games this season, not a down payment for 2014. It's funny how quickly spoiled the Orioles have made me after having such low expectations for the majority of my life. This time last year, I was counting down the games...
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Ted Leavengood: Finally making a game of it

Ted Leavengood: Finally making a game of it
The Nationals have started to dig out of the hole. The mark of the good ballplayer and the good team is competing consistently, going out and playing to win day-in and day-out. Washington has been consistently competitive in recent weeks. Even when they have been down early in games, they have punched and clawed their way back to key wins against the Royals and Phillies. Had they not lost six of seven games against the Braves during August, the Nationals would be 12 of 16 for the month,...
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Dave Nichols: A defeat emblematic of the season's struggles

Dave Nichols: A defeat emblematic of the season's struggles
The Nationals took two out of three over the weekend from the Kansas City Royals to keep their dwindling playoff hopes just barely alive. Starting play Monday, the Nats sit 8 1/2 games behind Cincinnati, with just 32 games remaining, for the last invitation to the playoff party in the National League. The loss on Sunday halted a five-game winning streak, matching the longest the Nats have had all season long. If they're to get back in this thing, they are going to have to take advantage now...
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Domenic Vadala: Making adjustments at the right time

Domenic Vadala: Making adjustments at the right time
If the Orioles end up going to the postseason, Wednesday's victory over Tampa Bay might be looked back upon as one of the bigger wins of the year. First off, it goes without saying that the entire series was tough on the Orioles and on the fans. Dropping two of three to a team that you're chasing in the standings is never a favorable result. The mere fact that the Orioles salvaged one game was a moral victory. However, that game should be looked upon as one where the Orioles finally stepped...
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Gonzalez, Span and Zimmerman on-deck for Wednesday's tripleheader live chat

Gonzalez, Span and Zimmerman on-deck for Wednesday's tripleheader live chat
This Wednesday at Nationals Park, we will be hosting our first live video chat of the season, which will stream live on the homepage of MASNsports.com. The chat will be a tripleheader as Denard Span, Ryan Zimmerman and Gio Gonzalez will be participating and answering your questions live. In order for this to be successful, we need your help. Submit your questions on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #NatsChats or leave a comment in the section below. We also want to reward our "Touch...
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Span, Zimmerman and Gonzalez will answer your questions

Span, Zimmerman and Gonzalez will answer your questions
This Wednesday, we will be hosting our first video chat of the season, live on MASNsports.com. We will be have a tripleheader as Denard Span, Ryan Zimmerman and Gio Gonzalez will all be participating and answering your questions. In order for this to be successful, we need your help. Submit your questions on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #NatsChats or leave a comment in the section below. We also want to reward our "Touch 'Em All" participants with 15 bonus points for those taking...
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Nationals recall catcher Jhonatan Solano and left-hander Xavier Cedeno from Syracuse

Nationals recall catcher Jhonatan Solano and left-hander Xavier Cedeno from Syracuse
The Washington Nationals today recalled catcher Jhonatan Solano and left-handed pitcher Xavier Cedeno from Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Solano is a career .239 (17-for-71) big league hitter with five doubles, two home runs and eight RBI in 28 games for the Nationals. He debuted with Washington last season and impressed both offensively (five extra-base hits in 12 games) and...
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Patrick Reddington: It's just not Strasburg's year

Patrick Reddington: It's just not Strasburg's year
It's just not Stephen Strasburg's year. It was supposed to be, but it's not. Strasburg was efficient Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field. He was pounding the zone. He was striking batters out, with eight Ks. He was inducing ground balls, with eight groundouts. He had seven scoreless innings on 86 pitches. He gave up a leadoff home run by Brian Bogusevic on the first pitch of the eighth. That ended Strasburg's bid for a shutout, but he got the next three outs on 10 pitches to finish the...
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Nationals acquire right-hander Dakota Bacus from Athletics in exchange for catcher Kurt Suzuki

Nationals acquire right-hander Dakota Bacus from Athletics in exchange for catcher Kurt Suzuki
The Washington Nationals today acquired right-handed pitcher Dakota Bacus from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for catcher Kurt Suzuki. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Bacus, who will report to Hagerstown of the Single-A South Atlantic League, joins the Nationals after going 9-5 with a 3.56 ERA (48 ER/121.1 IP) in 26 games/21 starts for Beloit of the Single-A Midwest League. Bacus ranked among Athletics farmhands in ERA...
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Matthew Taylor: Rewritten history shouldn't be forgotten

Matthew Taylor: Rewritten history shouldn't be forgotten
Chris Davis has tied Jim Gentile for third on the Orioles' all-time single-season home run list. Barring injury or an unimaginable power outage, Davis will hit his 47th homer and push Gentile further down the list he once topped. This is familiar territory for Gentile, who established at least a half-dozen team records in 1961. The past half-century has been an extended exercise in removing pieces of that magical 1961 season from the record books, one by one. Rather than diminishing the...
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Rachel Levitin: Acquiring DeJesus an example of Nats trying to maintain first-place roster

Rachel Levitin: Acquiring DeJesus an example of Nats trying to maintain first-place roster
When I got a text message from a Cubs fan friend of mine on Monday night, I can't say I was surprised by the what he had to say: "Look for me at the game. And David DeJesus is a good pickup." While I didn't see that friend on my television set, I did shoot him a message back in agreement. It's this move - a veteran pickup for the Washington bench - that continues to demonstrate that the Nationals organization is willing to make changes when changes need to be made. They showed that when...
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Andrew Stetka: These O's are better than last year's version despite what you may see

Andrew Stetka: These O's are better than last year's version despite what you may see
If there is one part of the 2013 Orioles that has been steady from the start, it's without question been defense. The O's are on pace to break records for both fielding percentage and fewest errors in a season. Of the three major elements in baseball - pitching, hitting and defense - the latter is the one part where there are simply no worries. It's those other two that have had ups and downs throughout the season. Whether it's the starting pitching, the bullpen arms, or the inconsistent...
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Nationals reinstate Ross Ohlendorf from disabled list, option Ian Krol to Triple-A Syracuse

Nationals reinstate Ross Ohlendorf from disabled list, option Ian Krol to Triple-A Syracuse
The Washington Nationals today returned from rehab and reinstated right-handed pitcher Ross Ohlendorf from the 15-day disabled list and optioned left-handed pitcher Ian Krol to Syracuse. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Ohlendorf is the Nationals' scheduled starting pitcher tonight at Wrigley Field. The 31 year-old Ohlendorf is 2-0 with one hold and a 1.85 ERA (7 ER/34.0 IP) in 10 games/two starts in his first season with the...
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Nationals launch its first-ever season plan eCash reward incentives for 2014

Nationals launch its first-ever season plan eCash reward incentives for 2014
Renew your expiring Season Plan or become a new Season Plan Holder now and you are eligible to receive up to 15% in Bonus eCash rewards loaded directly onto your Ultimate Ballpark Access Account to use at concessions and for merchandise Plus, receive loyalty points for free tickets, upgrades, parking and access to one-of-a-kind experiences with your new purchase of a season plan Washington Nationals fans who renew their expiring season plan or purchase a new 2014 season plan can earn Bonus...
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