Stephen Strasburg Gray Jersey

The Nationals’ 2022 season began exactly two months ago, and it began with an uninspired loss to a Mets club that has proceeded to win eight of the 10 head-to-head matchups between the two division foes so far.

Along the way, there hasn’t been much reason to get excited about these Nationals. Even after winning three of four over the weekend against an equally struggling Reds team, they own a 21-35 record. At this pace, they would finish 61-101.

But for many, the losses haven’t even been the most frustrating part of the season to date. Many could stomach the losses if they were the product of a young roster learning and growing on the job together. But that’s not what this roster has looked like the last two months.

Though there are a handful of young players who could and should be part of the organization’s long-term plan, most of the guys in uniform have been veteran placeholders. Guys who are only going to be here until the real future of the franchise arrives, whether internally from the minor leagues or externally from other organizations or upcoming drafts and international signing periods.

Slowly but surely, though, that’s going to change. For the first time this season, we are beginning to see potential long-term pieces to the puzzle supplant short-term fillers. With the promise of more to come this summer.

NEW YORK – Though he’d never admit it publicly, Mike Rizzo knew what this season likely had in store for the Nationals. From the moment he dealt away eight veterans at last July’s trade deadline and made only modest acquisitions to account for it last winter, the longtime general manager signaled 2022 would be less about wins and losses and more about rebooting a franchise that sorely needed it.

Two months in, though, with his team owning one of the worst records in the majors, Rizzo admits he’s less than satisfied with what he’s watching. Not necessarily because of the record. But because of the way the Nats are playing.

“I think that the discouraging thing is that we’re not playing good defense, and we’re not running the bases well,” Rizzo said in the visiting dugout at Citi Field prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Mets, an eventual 5-0 loss that featured several shaky defensive moments. “And those are fundamental mistakes that shouldn’t happen at the rate that they’re happening now. So that’s the biggest takeaway I’ve seen from the beginning of the season.”

Don’t confuse Rizzo’s frustration with the current manner of play from the Nationals as any concession his grand plan isn’t going as planned. He will immediately point to a revamped farm system that has performed better than the big league club, the development of prospects throughout that system and the promise of it all translating into more wins in D.C. sooner rather than later.

“I think setting expectations was important when we started this process with the ownership group and with the fan base,” he said. “I think a lot of people understand it, where we’re at, and I really believe that the reboot is in full-go, and I think that we’re in a better position than we were in 2009. A few short years later, we won the division, and I think we're in a better position now because our minor leagues are much better now than they were then.

NEW YORK – Mike Rizzo was discussing the Nationals’ ragged opening two months to this season about an hour before first pitch of today’s series finale at Citi Field and on multiple occasions singled out his team’s poor fundamentals for making life even more difficult than it already is on a struggling pitching staff and lineup.

“We’re a team that the margin for error is small,” the longtime general manager said. “We can’t be giving extra outs on defense, and running into outs on the basepaths. To me, walks and errors have been the Achilles’ heel of the start.”

By day’s end, Rizzo had seen that very scenario play out and contribute to yet another loss. The Nats’ 5-0 defeat at the hands of the Mets, completing a three-game sweep, perhaps was inevitable regardless because the lineup was shut out for the second straight day and has now gone 21 consecutive innings without scoring a run. But it’s also not inaccurate to say four of the five runs they surrendered were a direct result of shaky defense and two of the five walks their pitching staff issued.

"The walks and the defense: Two bad combinations," manager Davey Martinez said. "We've got to play better on defense,and we've got to limit the walks. I've always said the hitting comes and goes. That's part of the game. But you've got to do three constants: Play defense, run the bases well and pitch well. And today, two of the three things we didn't do well."

This team, as Rizzo noted, simply can’t afford to make fundamental mistakes because it simply doesn’t have enough consistent offensive firepower or an accomplished enough pitching staff to make up for it. Perhaps it could’ve been overlooked today, but only if they had produced at the plate to offset the other stuff.

NEW YORK – The Nationals waited the last two months for Luis García to prove to them he was ready to be called back up to the big leagues. But sometimes other developments force the issue, and when Alcides Escobar injured his right hamstring during Tuesday night’s loss to the Mets, the organization knew it was time to promote their 22-year-old infielder.

García was officially recalled from Triple-A Rochester this morning, with Escobar placed on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain that’s not serious enough to sideline him long-term but was significant enough to sideline him for a little while.

“He said he was still sore. And the position he plays, it’s tough to play when your hamstring is bothering you,” manager Davey Martinez said prior to today’s series finale against the Mets. “We decided the best thing to do is just let it heal, let it get right. Hopefully it only takes 10 days, 12 days, but we’ll see where he’s at.”

The Nationals could’ve called up a short-term replacement for Escobar, such as utility infielder Lucius Fox. But García has long been considered a potential long-term part of the organization’s rebuilding plan, and his performance over the last two months at Triple-A – most notably a .314/.368/.531 offensive slash line – convinced the team’s decision makers the time was right to promote him.

“It made sense, because we have a shortstop on the (IL),” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “We thought he was very close, and when Escobar went down it made it a fairly simple decision to make.”

NEW YORK – The Nationals haven’t been good at many things this season, but they have been good at avoiding sweeps. Six times already they’ve found themselves needing to win a series finale to avoid getting swept, and in four of those instances they’ve found a way to win (including their last three such instances).

So that’s the challenge facing the Nats today here at Citi Field, with an extra twist added in: They’re sending a kid to the mound to make his major league debut. Evan Lee, a 24-year-old left-hander, has been called up from Double-A Harrisburg and will start against the Mets, hoping to do what Erick Fedde and Patrick Corbin could not do the previous two nights and hold down this potent lineup.

Davey Martinez is purposely setting the bar low for Lee, saying Tuesday night he’s only looking for three or four innings from his starter. The bullpen isn’t in terrible shape, all things considered, with Josh Rogers the most likely option to pitch multiple innings at some point and perhaps even Paolo Espino available for some work after tossing three scoreless innings during Monday’s blowout. Tanner Rainey, Kyle Finnegan and Victor Arano all have yet to pitch in this series, as well.

The Nationals could certainly help Lee out and provide some run support. They’re facing Carlos Carrasco for the third time this season, and they haven’t had much success against the right-hander to date: three runs scored in 12 1/3 innings. They’re probably going to need to do better than that today if they want to again avoid a series sweep and at least get out of town feeling better about themselves.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 1:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (outside D.C. and N.Y. markets), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy, 67 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

NEW YORK – The Nationals couldn’t really afford to be picky when it came time to choose their starter for today’s series finale against the Mets. They had to take whomever was most available for this game.

They hoped that would be Josh Rogers or Paolo Espino, but both were needed out of the bullpen after Erick Fedde lasted just 1 1/3 innings during Monday night’s series opener. So that knocked each of them out of the equation.

In a perfect world, Stephen Strasburg would’ve been ready by now, but he’s not quite there yet. The news has been very encouraging on Strasburg, who tossed five hitless innings in a rehab start Sunday for Single-A Fredericksburg, but he needs at least one more tune-up Friday at Triple-A Rochester to build his innings and pitch counts up before coming off the injured list at last.

Cade Cavalli and Cole Henry each was dominant in his last start, Cavalli tossing seven scoreless innings for Rochester, Henry pitching four perfect innings for Double-A Harrisburg. But neither top prospect is deemed ready quite yet. And besides, neither was on the right schedule after starting Sunday.

So that left two remaining options from the Nationals’ farm system who were both on the right five-day scheduled: Jackson Tetreault and Evan Lee.

NEW YORK – Indignity for the Nationals came in multiple forms tonight.

It came in another lousy start for Patrick Corbin, who recorded only one more out (13) than hits allowed (12).

It came in another feeble offensive showing against a moderately accomplished opposing starter: the Mets’ Trevor Williams, who shut them out over five innings before his bullpen finished the job.

It came in the sight of Maikel Franco getting called out when Dee Strange-Gordon’s scorched liner struck him on the back as he led off first base.

And it came in the loss of Alcides Escobar to what appeared to be a serious hamstring injury suffered making a fine play in the bottom of the fourth, leaving the Nats thinking they might need to search for another shortstop before learning later Escobar appears to be fine.

NEW YORK – Desperate for some fresh arms out of the bullpen after Monday night’s 13-6 trouncing at the hands of the Mets, the Nationals promoted Jordan Weems and Francisco Perez from Triple-A Rochester, moves that cost Andres Machado and Austin Voth their jobs.

Voth was designated for assignment, potentially ending the right-hander’s nine-year relationship with the organization. A fifth-round pick in the 2013 draft, he made his major league debut in 2018 and enjoyed his best run of success in 2019 but progressively struggled more and more since.

In 19 appearances this season, Voth compiled a gaudy 10.13 ERA and 2.143 WHIP. Over 92 total appearances since making his debut, he had a 5.70 ERA and 1.453 WHIP.

“I was more frustrated, because I sat down with him daily to try to figure it out,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We looked at all kinds of stuff, all kinds of numbers. We tried some things with him, and he was open to them. You saw some signs that maybe this was going to work, and unfortunately it didn’t. It’s tough. I really believe he was going to get through it, and it just didn’t happen.”

Voth, who was out of options, can either be claimed off waivers by another club or be traded. If he goes unclaimed, he’ll have the ability to decide whether to report to Rochester or sign a minor league contract with another organization.

NEW YORK – Monday night’s series opener was a miserable one for the Nationals, who got down 12-3 after four innings and never had a chance during what wound up a 13-6 loss to the Mets. If that was merely a one-off, with no lingering effects, it would be one thing. But the fear is that that lopsided loss will have a carryover effect, because of what it did to the Nats pitching staff.

When Erick Fedde was knocked out after only 1 1/3 innings, then Andres Machado and Austin Voth lasted only 1 1/3 inning each in relief, then Paolo Espino had to go three innings in mop-up duty before Josh Rogers pitched the final frame, the Nationals left themselves in a precarious pitching position for the rest of the series.

With that in mind, the club made a couple of roster moves today to bring in a couple of fresh arms. Right-hander Jordan Weems and left-hander Francisco Perez were called up from Triple-A Rochester and will be available out of the bullpen tonight. Each has some prior big league experience. To create roster space for them, the Nationals optioned Machado back to Rochester only three days after he was recalled and designated the long-struggling Voth for assignment, potentially ending his time in the organization.

The best thing the Nats could do to help avoid more problems tonight, though, is get a quality start out of Patrick Corbin. Corbin finally earned his first win of the season when he allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings to the Rockies. He shut out the Mets over five innings earlier this month and held them to two runs in four innings on opening day.

The Nationals also will try to keep their quietly improving lineup producing tonight against Trevor Williams. Williams has faced them twice in relief this season, allowing two unearned runs in 4 2/3 innings. He’s making only his third overall start, having yet to exceed 65 pitches in total. Nelson Cruz, who had to leave Monday night's game after getting hit by a pitch on his left ankle, is not in the lineup but could be available off the bench.

NEW YORK – Look strictly at his numbers – 2.28 ERA, 1.141 WHIP, 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio – and you can’t help but think Paolo Espino must be among the Nationals’ primary bullpen options for high-leverage situations.

And then you look at his individual games this season, and you realize every one of Espino’s 17 appearances to date has come with the Nats either trailing by three or more runs or leading by four or more runs, with 14 of those 17 appearances coming in the eighth or ninth inning.

Not once this year has Espino pitched in a close ballgame. Which would leave you wondering if it’s tough for the veteran right-hander to maintain a certain level of intensity when he takes the mound.

“Not really,” he insisted following Monday night’s 13-5 loss to the Mets. “In my head, it’s always a tie game, or a close game. I don’t let the score determine how I’m going to go out there. Today, they were ahead by a lot, but I still went out there to pitch my game, to pitch like it was a tie game. That’s the way I go out there every outing.”

Leading by a bunch, trailing by a bunch, it doesn’t matter to Espino. He arguably has been the Nationals’ most consistently reliable pitcher, always willing to take the ball whenever asked, never one to complain about the fact he never gets a chance to pitch in a situation of real consequence.

NEW YORK – The Nationals sent Erick Fedde to the mound at Citi Field tonight, first and foremost, in an attempt to win their series opener against the Mets. They also sent Fedde out there, second and furthermore, in an attempt to get enough innings from their starter to help set the stage for the rest of the series, knowing they need somebody to make a spot start Wednesday afternoon.

If Fedde – and Patrick Corbin on Tuesday – could provide enough depth to keep the bullpen from being overworked, manager Davey Martinez could then use long men Paolo Espino and Josh Rogers in tandem on Wednesday, negating the need to summon an inexperienced minor league starter for one game.

It took less than two innings tonight for that hopeful plan to go up in flames.

Fedde was rocked by the Mets for six runs and eight hits in only 1 1/3 innings, setting the Nationals on a runaway path toward a lopsided 13-5 loss and leaving the organization in an unenviable position as it now tries to figure out who’s going to pitch the next several days.

"It's brutal," the right-hander said. "It lets the whole team down. If anything, if you're able to at least go six (innings) and give up a bunch of runs, you put the team in a better position going forward. But today was just really unacceptable in a sense. I feel bad for the guys in the bullpen. I put them behind the 8-ball probably for the next week or so."

NEW YORK – Watching Kyle Finnegan labor through the top of the eighth Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park, Davey Martinez felt like something didn’t look right with the Nats reliever.

The results certainly weren’t up to Finnegan’s standards: He retired only one of the five batters he faced, allowing three singles and a double, letting two Rockies runners score and trim a 6-3 lead down to 6-5. Ultimately, Martinez felt he had no choice but to summon Tanner Rainey to clean up the mess in the eighth and then also pitch the ninth for the first multi-inning save of his career.

What, though, was going on with Finnegan? After studying some video Sunday night and earlier today, the Nationals noticed his legs were spread wider than normal as he came set to throw each pitch. A seemingly minor discrepancy actually caused a significant drop in performance.

As Martinez and the club’s coaching and analytics staff realized, the spin rate on Finnegan’s fastball was down 10 percent Sunday from his season average. Suddenly, that upper-90s pitch was more hittable than it’s been all year.

“We talked a little bit. I noticed that his legs were a little bit wider on his setup,” Martinez said before tonight’s series opener against the Mets. “We talked to him about it. He was going to come in today, we were going to look at some numbers. His spin rate was down because of it, which I kind of figured. But we’re going to correct it.”

NEW YORK – The Nationals have won four of their last five. As such, they’ve improved to 18-31 on the season. Which means if they win tonight’s series opener against the Mets, they’ll be 19-31. And we all know what that means.

OK, so it probably wouldn’t mean what it meant three years ago when the Nats got swept in this very ballpark to fall to 19-31. If anything, this time it would represent a significant improvement over the way things had been going. Not that anyone here would be celebrating it if it does happen.

The challenge the next three weeks is tough, facing a Mets club that has been comfortably leading the division most of the season to date, despite injuries to Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer. They’ll send left-hander David Peterson, owner of a 2.14 ERA in five games, to the mound tonight to face a Nats lineup that doesn’t have a ton of regular season experience against him. (Though they’ve faced him several times in spring training.)

Erick Fedde starts for the Nationals, and he quietly has turned into the most consistently effective member of their rotation. Over his last six starts, Fedde has a 2.23 ERA, allowing two or fewer earned runs in five of those outings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB Network (outside D.C. and N.Y. markets), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 80 degrees, wind 11 mph out to left field

Stephen Strasburg was already in the home clubhouse at Nationals Park by the time Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the Rockies was completed, the traffic on northbound Interstate-95 apparently not nearly as awful as you’d typically expect it to be on a holiday weekend.

While the Nats were hanging on to beat Colorado and earn their first home series win of the season, Strasburg was making his second rehab start for Single-A Fredericksburg. And unlike his uneven first outing Tuesday night, this time he dominated his far-less-experienced opponents.

Strasburg tossed five no-hit innings. He retired the first 14 batters before finally surrendering a walk with two outs in the fifth. He struck out six. He did all this in only 58 pitches (38 strikes). Suffice it to say, it was about as best-case scenario as you could draw up under the circumstances.

And most importantly, it moves the 33-year-old one step closer to rejoining the Nationals and finally making his 2022 debut.

Manager Davey Martinez has said he’d like Strasburg to be able to complete six innings and/or throw 90 pitches before coming off the injured list. After going five innings Sunday, he should be cleared to go six in his next outing. The pitch count progression might lag a bit behind; it’s tough to imagine the organization would let him throw more than 75 or so pitches next time out. But as efficient as he was in this one, it’s entirely possible he could complete six frames around that total.

No team in the National League has hit fewer home runs than the Nationals, who entered today’s series finale with only 30 of them through the season’s first 48 games and lengthy individual power droughts by some of their biggest power hitters.

Through it all, manager Davey Martinez has been positive the homers will come, as hitters get their timing down, elevate the ball and take advantage of warmer summer weather.

And then on this warm, 80-degree Memorial Day Sunday afternoon on South Capitol Street, Martinez and the Nats began to see signs of it finally happening, most importantly from their most important hitter.

Juan Soto’s first homer since May 12, a span of 16 games, put the Nationals up early. And then Lane Thomas’ homer in the sixth provided some insurance they wound up needing to secure a 6-5 victory over the Rockies and a rare series win.

It got a bit hairy late, with Andres Machado allowing two runs in the seventh and Kyle Finnegan allowing two runs in the eighth before Tanner Rainey locked things down. But at the end of the day, the Nats took three of four from Colorado and four of five overall to end this homestand with their first series victory since late April in San Francisco, their first home series victory of the year.

Saturday night’s decision to designate struggling right-hander Aaron Sanchez for assignment was prompted by the Nationals’ need to clear a 40-man roster spot in order to account for the fill-in starter they’ll need Wednesday in New York.

Manager Davey Martinez said the club will have someone not currently in the rotation start Wednesday’s series finale against the Mets, an outing that became necessary due to Friday night’s rainout and Saturday’s subsequent day-night doubleheader against the Rockies.

Martinez insisted the decision hasn’t been made yet and likely won’t until Tuesday, but acknowledged it played a role in Saturday night’s DFA decision with Sanchez.

“We felt like we’re going to need a spot here next week,” the manager said prior to today’s series finale against Colorado. “We felt like right now was a good time to start thinking about what we’re going to do for Wednesday. I can tell you right now, we have a lot of different options and things we’re thinking about. We won’t have a decision until probably Tuesday.”

The schedule does limit the team’s options to some extent. The organization’s top two pitching prospects, Cade Cavalli and Cole Henry, each had dominant starts Saturday night, with Cavalli tossing seven scoreless innings for Triple-A Rochester and Henry pitching four perfect innings for Double-A Harrisburg. Neither would be ready to come back and pitch Wednesday, though, removing them from the equation for now.

It’s been a while since the Nationals last won a series. You have to go back to April 29-May 1 in San Francisco to find the last time they took two of three against an opponent. So a win today, which would make three in four games against the Rockies, would be quite a welcome development for a ballclub that could certainly use some positive vibes.

Josiah Gray gets the ball for the Nats, and he needs to get himself back on track after a ragged start earlier in the week against the Dodgers in which he gave up seven runs in three innings, with three homers surrendered. The home run has become a problem again for Gray, who has served up nine of them over his last four starts after allowing only three in his first five outings. Unsurprisingly, his ERA has risen to 5.44.

A Nationals lineup that beat up on Colorado left-hander Austin Gomber in the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader will face another lefty today in Kyle Freeland, who has been pretty good of late. In five starts this month, Freeland had a 3.54 ERA and only two homers allowed in 28 innings.

COLORADO ROCKIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:35 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 80 degrees, wind 4 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
LF Lane Thomas
RF Juan Soto
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Josh Bell
3B Maikel Franco
C Riley Adams
SS Alcides Escobar
CF Victor Robles

Maybe the worst thing the Nationals could have done before tonight’s game was score 13 runs in this afternoon’s game.

Though that hefty output in the opener of their doubleheader with the Rockies represented the sixth time this season they’ve scored 10 or more runs – tied with the Yankees, Dodgers and Cardinals for the major league lead – they’ve almost always followed those performances with tepid ones at the plate. In four of the previous five instances, they scored four or fewer runs their next game.

So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when the Nationals, presented with countless opportunities to drive in runs in bunches tonight, failed to deliver during a 3-2 loss to Colorado that snapped their season-high winning streak at three games.

Those two lone runs came via Nelson Cruz’s first-inning double (the team’s only hit in 16 tries with runners in scoring position) and Yadiel Hernandez’s sixth-inning solo homer (the team’s sixth during the last three Saturdays, with zero homers on any other day during that bizarre stretch).

"We just couldn't get that big hit with guys on base," manager Davey Martinez said. "That's part of it. These doubleheaders sometimes go sideways on you a little bit."

As if today hasn’t already been jam-packed with enough action, we’ve still got another game to play on South Capitol Street. The Nationals and Rockies, after a quick break to shower, nap, snack or whatever else guys do between games of a day-night doubleheader, are back at it for Game 2 of the twinbill.

After watching Aaron Sanchez get knocked out in the fourth inning of the opener, manager Davey Martinez surely would like more length from his starter tonight. So the pressure’s on Joan Adon to at least complete five innings, if not more. Alas, the rookie has done that in only two of his nine starts to date this season. He will have the element of surprise in his corner, though, having not appeared in the Nats’ series at Coors Field earlier this month.

Chad Kuhl also didn’t pitch in that previous series, but a few members of the Nationals lineup do have experience against the right-hander from his previous days with the Pirates, led by Maikel Franco (5-for-10 with a double) and César Hernández (3-for-8). And Josh Bell was Kuhl’s longtime teammate in Pittsburgh, so he probably knows a thing or two about his repertoire and approach.

COLORADO ROCKIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS (Game 2)
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 9 mph out to right field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
C Keibert Ruiz
RF Juan Soto
DH Nelson Cruz
1B Josh Bell
LF Yadiel Hernandez
3B Maikel Franco
SS Dee Strange-Gordon
CF Victor Robles

They say you can start drawing legitimate conclusions about a ballclub on Memorial Day, with nearly one-third of a season’s worth of data available by then. So as we commemorate this holiday weekend, here’s one thing we can say with some certainty about the 2022 Nationals: When they win, they score a bunch of runs.

The Nats don’t have a great lineup. They don’t hit for power. They don’t consistently cross the plate night in and night out.

But when they do cross the plate, they do it in droves. And today’s 13-7 victory over the Rockies in the opener of a split doubleheader was merely the latest evidence of it.

The Nationals, who now have their first three-game winning streak of the year, have won only 11 of their last 34 games overall. But in those 11 wins, they’ve scored an average of 8.8 runs, blasting the competition and rarely needing to sweat those victories out.

And would you believe they're one of only four teams in the majors (joining the Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals) to score 10 or more runs six times this season?