Mark Zuckerman

Corbin still searching, Lester still building, AvilÃ¡n lands on IL

April 16, 2021, 12:28pm

Davey Martinez stayed up late Thursday night, stayed at Nationals Park til 12:30 a.m., went home and then stayed up until 2 a.m. pondering the state of his team, specifically his pitching staff. The Nationals manager was simultaneously trying to figure out what's going on with Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg and how to get both veteran starters back into a recognizable form while also making sure the rest of his staff was prepared and available for tonight's game against the...

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Game 11 lineups: Nats vs. Diamondbacks

April 16, 2021, 12:09pm

Nationals

The Nationals have slogged their way through a few clunkers in the last week. The good news: They've bounced back in each case to play well the following day and win. So perhaps that portends better things tonight when they face the Diamondbacks and try to erase all memory of Thursday night's fiasco. It starts, of course, with Max Scherzer, who is desperately needed tonight not only to pitch well but to pitch as deep into the game as possible after Patrick Corbin was knocked out two innings...

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Friday morning Nats Q&A

April 15, 2021, 9:47pm

Nationals

It's been far too long since we've done one of these. But now that we're 10 games into the season, with no shortage of topics to discuss, it seems like a good time open up the phone lines and hear what you have to say about the Nationals and their not-so-ideal start to the 2021 campaign. What's happened so far? Well, there was the COVID-19 outbreak, which postponed the first four games and sidelined five players for the opening series and four more for the next series as well. There have...

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Another ragged start by Corbin leaves Nats in a lurch (updated)

April 15, 2021, 6:31pm

Nationals

Another ragged start by Corbin leaves Nats in a lurch (updated)

Once was perhaps cause for concern but potentially forgivable. Twice is cause for alarm and potentially disastrous for a Nationals club that is built to win behind a dominant rotation but has now seen two of its top three starters get rocked in the last week, one of them twice. Stephen Strasburg, for the moment, isn't the Nats' greatest concern. Patrick Corbin is after another cringe-inducing start tonight in which the left-hander was battered for 10 runs in only two innings during a 11-6...

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Cabrera excited to "come back home" to D.C. with D-backs

April 15, 2021, 12:47pm

Nationals

Cabrera excited to "come back home" to D.C. with D-backs

When AsdrÃºbal Cabrera was picked up by the Nationals in early August 2019, he figured he'd finish out the season in D.C. and then probably call it a career. "I told my family: Probably this is going to be my last three months," the veteran infielder said today during a Zoom session with reporters. "I'm just going to try to have fun here and see what happens. And we made it to the World Series, and we won the World Series. "I'm never going to forget that year." Neither will Nationals...

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Game 10 lineups: Nats vs. Diamondbacks

April 15, 2021, 11:29am

Nationals

After an eventful road trip, the Nationals are back home tonight and will be here each of the next seven days. First up, it's a four-game weekend series with the Diamondbacks. Then it's three more with the Cardinals. And with capacity restrictions eased up for this homestand, there should be roughly 10,000 fans in the park now, which will be much appreciated by everyone. Tonight's opener against the Diamondbacks represents an important start for Patrick Corbin, who labored in his delayed...

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Nats survived roller coaster to begin season, now can settle in

April 14, 2021, 8:30pm

Nationals

Nats survived roller coaster to begin season, now can settle in

The Nationals flew home from St. Louis on Wednesday night, owners of a 3-6 record. It's not a record anyone is going to brag about, nor should it be, but neither is it a record anyone should be afraid to acknowledge. Given all they've been through already during a roller coaster couple of weeks to begin the season, 3-6 hardly feels like a disaster. The Nats were missing nine major league players during their opening three-game series against the Braves. And perhaps the three most important...

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Nats ride Ross' zeros, Zimmerman's homer to victory (updated)

April 14, 2021, 12:28pm

Nationals

Nats ride Ross' zeros, Zimmerman's homer to victory (updated)

Nine games into a season that already has featured a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows, the Nationals have plenty of questions that still need answering, particularly within a rotation that was built to carry this team. Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin did not look good during this just-completed road trip. Jon Lester is still trying to build his arm back up after landing on the COVID-19-related injured list. Here, though, is one starter nobody in a Nats uniform needs to be worried...

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Nats go with Turner-Soto combo atop lineup for first time in 2021

April 14, 2021, 7:58am

Nationals

Nats go with Turner-Soto combo atop lineup for first time in 2021

Davey Martinez has mentioned more than once his interest in batting Juan Soto second at times, and his interest in batting Victor Robles ninth at times. For today's series finale in St. Louis, the Nationals manager decided to try out both in those spots. With an early-afternoon matchup against Cardinals veteran Adam Wainwright, Martinez wanted to get his two best hitters as many at-bats as possible and give them a chance to get on the board early. So it's Trea Turner leading off with Soto...

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Game 9 lineups: Nats at Cardinals

April 14, 2021, 7:10am

Nationals

As bad as things went Tuesday night in St. Louis, the Nationals still woke up this morning with a chance to win the series and come home with a 3-6 record in spite of everything that's happened to this team. Maybe it's grasping at straws, but it feels like a win today would go a long way toward boosting everybody's mood. To pull it off, the Nats will need another solid start from Joe Ross, who tossed five scoreless innings against the Dodgers in his season debut. Ross should be good to build...

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Harrison glad to be active, glad to be an everyday player

April 13, 2021, 10:03pm

Nationals

Harrison glad to be active, glad to be an everyday player

Josh Harrison had been through this before. Sort of. Upon signing with the Nationals shortly after opening day in 2020, the veteran utility man had to wait several days for his intake screening test - a test he says initially was lost - to be processed before he could actually join his new team. "I had to stay in my room a few extra days 'cause my test got lost," he said during a Zoom session with reporters Tuesday. "So I've been in this situation before, not as long as this one was. But I...

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Questions about Strasburg abound in blowout loss (updated)

April 13, 2021, 7:11pm

Nationals

Questions about Strasburg abound in blowout loss (updated)

The red flags appeared to be there right from the get-go. Stephen Strasburg's first pitch of the night was a 91 mph fastball. There were more of them throughout a first inning that saw one ball leave the yard, then plenty more in the tortured innings that followed. Strasburg clearly didn't seem to feel right. That seemed obvious based on the numbers - eight runs allowed, five batters walked, three homers surrendered, two or three miles per hour reduced on all of his pitches - but also on what...

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Lester to throw simulated game, Harris not on mound yet

April 13, 2021, 2:47pm

Nationals

Lester to throw simulated game, Harris not on mound yet

The Nationals' lineup and bench are now complete with Monday's activation of Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison. The Nationals pitching staff, however, is still not at full strength and won't be until two veterans - Jon Lester and Will Harris - are ready to make their season debuts. Each is making progress toward that goal, but it appears each still needs some more time to get there. Lester, who was among the nine major leaguers who had been in quarantine after either testing...

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Game 8 lineups: Nats at Cardinals

April 13, 2021, 12:38pm

Nationals

If it worked last night, might as well see if it works again tonight, right? The Nationals liked what they got from their finally full-strength lineup in the opener of their series in St. Louis, so manager Davey Martinez is sticking with the same one through seven hitters in tonight's game at Busch Stadium. The only change among position players: Alex Avila is behind the plate instead of Yan Gomes. It's Avila's Nats debut, and in the process he becomes the team's fourth different starting...

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On Fedde's turnaround, Castro's RBIs and Hand's pitch count

April 12, 2021, 10:06pm

Nationals

On Fedde's turnaround, Castro's RBIs and Hand's pitch count

The 2021 debuts of Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison, and the effect they had on the Nationals lineup, were the dominant storyline to Monday night's game. But this 5-2 victory was made possible by several other players and several other developments worth exploring a bit deeper ... * Fedde's 180 After Erick Fedde was rocked by the Braves in his season debut five days earlier, who saw this coming? The right-hander completely reversed course against the Cardinals, allowing just one...

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Newly activated regulars deliver late to end skid (updated)

April 12, 2021, 7:06pm

Nationals

Newly activated regulars deliver late to end skid (updated)

It was appropriate - probably wise - to temper expectations when the Nationals emerged from visitors' dugout tonight in St. Louis and for the first time in 2021 had their entire lineup active. As much as everyone hoped Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison would make an immediate impact, logic suggested it was too much to expect in their first game of the season after being stuck in COVID-19-related quarantine. And for a few innings, that was indeed the appropriate sentiment. The three...

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All Nats personnel cleared, most were vaccinated today

April 12, 2021, 2:51pm

Nationals

All Nats personnel cleared, most were vaccinated today

Josh Bell tried to hit miniature Wiffle balls coming at him in all sorts of directions from a pitching machine. Kyle Schwarber used a virtual reality mask to take swings against simulated pitches only he could see. Both did whatever they could to follow their Nationals teammates through the season's first week while stuck at home in quarantine. "It wasn't ideal," Schwarber said. "But you still have to make the best of your time. And I still wanted to make sure I was all the way in tune - I...

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Game 7 lineups: Nats at Cardinals

April 12, 2021, 12:39pm

Nationals

For the first time in 2021, the Nationals will field their full starting lineup. Now it's up to that reinforced unit to actually produce and help end a five-game skid. Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison all were activated from the COVID-19-related injury list today and all three are in manager Davey Martinez's lineup for the series opener against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Bell will hit cleanup and provide protection for the already-red-hot Juan Soto, with Schwarber behind him...

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Bell, Schwarber and Harrison activated, Lucroy designated

April 12, 2021, 12:07pm

Nationals

Bell, Schwarber and Harrison activated, Lucroy designated

The Nationals activated Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Harrison from the COVID-19-related injured list and will have all three veterans available for tonight's series opener in St. Louis. Bell, Schwarber and Harrison were cleared to return today after completing their league- and city-mandated protocols. All had been quarantined since mid-to-late last week after either testing positive for COVID-19 or being deemed close contacts to someone else who did. Manager Davey Martinez hasn't...

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Despite delay, Hand encouraged by Nationals debut

April 11, 2021, 7:38pm

Nationals

When Brad Hand signed with the Nationals and envisioned his first appearance with his new club, the veteran reliever probably pictured himself trotting in from the bullpen at Nationals Park in the season's opening series against the Mets, looking to close out a one-run game. But pitching the eighth inning with his team trailing by three runs at Dodger Stadium, in the sixth game of the season? Uh, something would've needed to go terribly wrong for that scenario to play out. Something indeed...