We have reached the final weekend of the first half, and you almost wonder if the Nationals wish they could just keep playing next week. Sure, several guys are in need of some rest, but they also have to hope the four days off doesn't kill their mojo. First things first: They've got a chance to cap things off with another big weekend against a beatable opponent.
The Royals are in town, and this qualifies as an extremely rare event. It's only the second time they've ever played the Nationals...
Davey Martinez has been searching all year for viable fill-in closer when Sean Doolittle isn't available. Who knew the answer would come in the form of a 42-year-old reliever who was dumped by the Athletics six weeks ago after posting a 9.42 ERA?
At this point, it's hard to dispute that Fernando Rodney is establishing himself as the Nationals' best Plan B for the ninth inning. A designation Martinez didn't hesitate to place on him after Thursday's 5-2 victory over the Marlins.
"Here's a...
Scant offense til the sixth inning? Baserunning blunders? A piecemeal bullpen that required three arms to get three outs in the eighth and a 42-year-old to close it out in the ninth? The Nationals keep finding ways to win in spite of all of this, and that's no small feat.
Today's 5-2 victory over the Marlins was simply the latest in this staggering stretch of success that has seen the Nats win 26 of 36 and move themselves into playoff position in the wide-open National League wild card...
Nationals starters have averaged more than 6 1/2 innings pitched over the last 11 games, with only one starter failing to at least get through the sixth. That's a good thing, and it's no surprise it has helped this team go 8-3 during the stretch.
But it's also had a domino effect on the bullpen, which could be seen as positive or negative, depending on your point of view.
Needing only a couple of innings every night from his bullpen, and almost always with his team up a handful of runs,...
There is nothing like baseball in Washington on July 4. And when that also coincides with the home team sitting in playoff position for the first time all season ... well, how does it get much better than that?
Yes, the Nationals woke up this morning tied with the Cubs for the second wild card spot in the National League. A mere six weeks after falling to 12 games below .500, the second-worst record in the NL, they now own the fifth-best record in the league. Quite a turnaround.
And they can...
No matter how unimposing the opponent, it's just not that easy to keep winning every single night. Yes, the Nationals are facing an especially fortuitous portion of their schedule. But aside from one hiccup Saturday in Detroit, they are taking care of business like nobody's business.
Tonight's 3-1 victory - made possible by 7 1/3 innings of brilliance from Stephen Strasburg, home runs from Brian Dozier and Matt Adams and late escape acts from both Fernando Rodney and Sean Doolittle - was the...
Max Scherzer is about to add the biggest event yet to his already eventful summer.
With his wife, Erica, due to give birth to the couple's second daughter Thursday, Scherzer has been placed on the paternity leave list. The transaction allows the right-hander to take three days off to be with his growing family without missing a start, and it allows the Nationals to add an extra player (Adrián Sanchez) to their bench in the interim.
Scherzer has been anticipating this event all year, with a...
Two days after he was named National League Player of the Week, Max Scherzer was named National League Pitcher of the Month.
Apparently awards season has come early this year.
Scherzer was honored for his utterly dominant June, during which he went 6-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 68 strikeouts with only five walks. It was a historic performance for a right-hander who has made plenty of history over the years.
Scherzer became the first pitcher in MLB history to strike out at least 68 batters while...
This is a series of rematches. Last night, it was a rematch between Patrick Corbin and Zac Gallen (at least until the storm hit). Tonight, it's a rematch between Stephen Strasburg and Sandy Alcantara, the same two right-handers who squared off Thursday night at Marlins Park, with Strasburg and the Nationals emerging victorious.
That win made Strasburg 10-0 against Miami since late in the 2015 season, but he didn't exactly dominate. The Marlins scored three runs off him in the third, then...
Davey Martinez began his afternoon touting the positives of his logjam at first base, with Ryan Zimmerman back from the injured list to join the already productive Matt Adams and Howie Kendrick at a suddenly overcrowded position.
"For me, this is a great problem to have," the Nationals manager said. "When Zim does play, Matty's on the bench ready to go. We can plop him into any situation at any time and drive in some big runs. Same thing with Howie."
When just such a situation arose...
Patrick Corbin led the Nationals out of the dugout shortly before 7:05 p.m. tonight for what should have been an ordinary start against the Marlins, the opener of the final homestand of the season's first half, an opportunity to continue to lift his team during its slow climb up the standings.
Before he tossed his first warm-up pitch, though, Corbin knelt down behind the rubber and with his index finger wrote the number 45 in the dirt. Astute observers also would have noticed the left-hander...
Anthony Rendon admitted today what has been suspected for several weeks: He's playing through an injury that has kept him from running at full speed all the time. And this undisclosed injury may prompt the Nationals third baseman from skipping his first-ever All-Star Game next week.
Rendon wouldn't offer any specifics about his current physical condition except to acknowledge it has been affecting him for some time and has been noticeable to those who have watched him play at less than 100...
It's a familiar matchup tonight on South Capitol Street, where the Nationals and Marlins meet again, one week after they faced off in Miami. Even the pitching matchup is the same, with Patrick Corbin opposing Zac Gallen for the second time in six days.
Corbin has been outstanding in two starts against the Marlins this season - one run, seven hits, 14 strikeouts in 16 innings - so he certainly figures to have a plan of attack for tonight's matchup. Sadly, the left-hander will be pitching with...
Their 4-2 week against a pair of division rivals was important. But so was their just-completed, 5-1 week on the road against a couple of cellar dwellers.
And all of that merely leads into this final week of the season's first half, in which the Nationals have a golden opportunity to keep up their sustained momentum against some very beatable competition and perhaps even head into the All-Star break in playoff position for the first time in 2019.
On paper, the Nationals' upcoming homestand...
Max Scherzer is National League Player of the Week. And it's probably safe to assume he's about to named NL Pitcher of the Month as well.
Scherzer earned the first of his two likely honors today when Major League Baseball named him the NL's Player of the Week following a pair of dominant performances during the Nationals' just-completed 5-1 road trip. He held the Marlins to one run on five hits in eight innings on Tuesday, striking out 10. Then he returned to Detroit on Sunday for the first...
History doesn't much remember how somebody made it to the All-Star Game, only that he made it at all.
So even though there will always be those aghast that Anthony Rendon finished fifth in fan voting among all National League third basemen, in the end he's an All-Star and it doesn't matter all that much how it happened.
If anything, Rendon might be more touched by the manner in which he was finally selected to his first Midsummer Classic. It wasn't as a result of a popularity contest among...
Ryan Zimmerman's return to the Nationals' active roster will come at the expense of Michael A. Taylor's longstanding place on it.
The Nationals optioned Taylor to Double-A Harrisburg following last night's win in Miami to clear a spot on the 25-man roster for Zimmerman, who will be activated off the injured list before tonight's series opener in Detroit, according to multiple sources familiar with the transaction.
Zimmerman returns nearly nine weeks after he was placed on the 10-day IL...
MIAMI - Stephen Strasburg has looked better. But the right-hander's performance Thursday night was just as integral to the Nationals' 8-5 victory over the Marlins as the fireworks display put on by the Nats lineup.
Strasburg has long dominated the Marlins; he entered this game 9-0 with a 1.23 ERA against Miami since September 2015. But this Marlins lineup proved tougher than previous ones, in part because of its ability to put the bat on the ball, especially on Strasburg's curveball.
Miguel...
MIAMI - When they left New York on the evening of May 23, the Nationals were a defeated ballclub. They were blowing games in every manner possible. Their manager's job security appeared to be shaky. They were 12 games under .500 and facing a long, slow, unlikely climb back into contention.
When they leave Miami late tonight, the Nationals will be flying sky high. They're winning games behind a potent lineup, a dominant rotation and a bullpen that is finding a way to get the job done far more...
MIAMI - Juan Soto had one of the great seasons by a teenager in major league history, and it was only natural to question whether it was possible for the young slugger to be any better this season.
Halfway through the 2019 campaign, the answer is: Yes, it is possible.
There's a long way yet to go, but heading into tonight's series finale against the Marlins (the Nationals' 80th game of the season) Soto is sporting a higher batting average (.302), slugging percentage (.525) and OPS (.925)...