NEW YORK - The Nationals came to Flushing at the start of the week believing they had an opportunity to get their season back on track with a four-game series against a Mets club in complete disarray and with a manager in danger of being fired.
They left town this afternoon having been swept in embarrassing fashion, having fallen to depths this franchise hasn't experienced in nine years and with serious questions about the status of their own embattled manager, who let all of his frustrations...
NEW YORK - There's only one regular member of the Nationals lineup still on the injured list, but it looks like he might be there a while longer.
Ryan Zimmerman, who had been progressing in his rehab from plantar fasciitis, has backed off after feeling pain in his right foot while attempting to run in recent days.
Davey Martinez stopped short of referring to it as a setback.
"No, just the normal soreness," the manager said. "We told him to back off. He's been getting extensive treatment on...
NEW YORK - Quick turnarounds are always tough. Quick turnarounds after devastating losses during agonizing seasons are even tougher. But the Nationals have no choice but to come right back to Citi Field for today's 12:10 p.m. series finale, hoping the result will be different than it was last night. And the night before that. And the night before that.
Stephen Strasburg gets the start, and he's been excellent. Over his last six starts, he's got a 2.13 ERA and 0.83 WHIP while averaging more...
NEW YORK - On the heels of a crushing loss that saw their bullpen blow a late lead, the Nationals gathered everyone together inside the visitors' clubhouse at Citi Field and held a team meeting. The message was simple: Even during these trying times, everyone needs to stick together. No finger-pointing. Get through this as a collective unit, not as individuals.
All of this happened before Wednesday's crushing loss to the Mets. The Nationals were responding to Tuesday's crushing loss to the...
NEW YORK - Davey Martinez got five outs from three relievers before deciding he couldn't take any more chances. He walked to the mound with two outs in the eighth, signaled for the only reliable arm he has in his bullpen and asked him to protect a one-run lead against the bottom of the Mets lineup.
And Sean Doolittle couldn't do it.
If the only member of the Nationals relief corps who has been remotely effective all season can't get the job done, what else can Martinez and Co. do?
"I'm...
NEW YORK - Matt Adams took batting practice at Citi Field on Tuesday, sending pitch after pitch into the bleachers. So when the Nationals had to decide today whether to send the big slugger (whose strained left shoulder has now healed) on a brief minor league rehab assignment or just activate him off the injured list now, they didn't hesitate to activate him and put him right in the heart of tonight's lineup against Mets ace Jacob deGrom.
"He's ready," manager Davey Martinez said. "He...
NEW YORK - Last year, a matchup between Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom was must-see TV for the implications it had on the Cy Young Award race. This year, it's simply a game both the Nationals and Mets desperately need to win as a team, regardless of the men on the mound.
Neither Scherzer nor deGrom is pitching at a Cy Young caliber right now, though you could argue Scherzer would be in the thick of the early race if not for the Nationals' defense and bullpen. (Hence the massive disparity...
NEW YORK - Erick Fedde intended to pitch as long as he could Tuesday night, but the right-hander knew in his head how many innings he realistically could expect from himself when he took the mound to make his first big league start of 2019.
"I honestly was really hoping for five," he said. "I think in the last month or so I've only gone three. But I was really glad to get us through five and give the guys in the 'pen a chance to finish the game off."
The guys in the 'pen, of course,...
NEW YORK - A hanging curveball to a guy who crushes curveballs. A towering drive over the foul pole ruled a home run after an inconclusive review. Two key insurance runs stranded in scoring position. And a two-hopper to short that could've sent the game into extra innings but instead sent the Mets into celebration and the Nationals into yet another demoralized dugout following yet another loss by the slimmest of margins.
Flip any one of those critical moments in the final three innings of...
NEW YORK - Javy Guerra was hanging out in Toronto with his 2-year-old son Monday afternoon when he got a call from a Blue Jays official, informing the veteran reliever he had just been claimed off waivers by the Nationals.
"Just hanging out," he said. "And before you know it, you find out that you have to get down here and be ready to play tomorrow."
Guerra, now pitching for his sixth franchise in nine years, has learned how to deal with the uncertainty of this profession.
"You just kind...
NEW YORK - The Nationals have touted Erick Fedde as a potential long-term piece of their rotation since the day they used a first round pick on him in 2014. The right-hander will get his latest opportunity to prove he's ready for that responsibility tonight when he takes the mound at Citi Field.
Pressed into starting duties after AnÃbal Sánchez landed on the injured list with a strained hamstring, Fedde makes his first big league start of 2019, the 15th of his career. He has pitched well...
NEW YORK - Just as their lineup is returning to health, the Nationals rotation is losing pitchers to injury.
Jeremy Hellickson became the latest Nats starter to land on the 10-day injured list this afternoon, sidelined with a strained right shoulder in a transaction that opens up a roster spot for newly acquired reliever Javy Guerra.
Hellickson had not previously revealed any arm trouble to reporters, but the veteran right-hander said today he has been dealing with minor discomfort for several...
NEW YORK - More on some little things that may have been lost in the shuffle during Monday night's 5-3 loss to the Mets, plus the latest ruckus between Adam Eaton and Todd Frazier:
* It wasn't the difference in the game, but the insurance run the Mets scored in the bottom of the eighth was plenty significant. And it came about in large part because of the Nationals' inability to do some little things right.
Trying to keep their deficit at one run, Joe Ross struck out Frazier but then walked...
NEW YORK - They'd never admit it publicly, but the Nationals had to arrive at Citi Field this afternoon, see the utter chaos taking place across the way in the Mets clubhouse, and think to themselves this was shaping up to be a good opener to a four-game series that could help jumpstart their own ragged season.
And then they dug themselves into an early hole and weren't able to climb all the way out of it in time, ultimately trudging off the field with a 5-3 loss that really felt like a blown...
NEW YORK - Javy Guerra won't join the Nationals bullpen until Tuesday at the earliest. But once he does, the club hopes the versatile veteran will help stabilize the majors' worst relief corps.
Guerra, claimed off outright waivers from the Blue Jays earlier today, wasn't able to make it to New York in time for the Nationals' series opener against the Mets. Manager Davey Martinez, who spoke to the right-hander over the phone, hopes to have him available for Tuesday's game.
"If he gets here...
NEW YORK - After spending all but the first couple days of the season without their complete lineup, the Nationals are inching closer to the day when they get the two remaining regulars on their injured list back on the active roster.
Ryan Zimmerman and Matt Adams each have taken significant steps in recent days in their rehab from injuries, and both first basemen could come off the IL by week's end.
Zimmerman, on the IL with plantar fasciitis since April 28, ran on the field Sunday in his...
NEW YORK - The Nationals are by no means in great shape right now, but at least they're not the Mets. New York is a mess at the moment, having lost five straight, with rumors swirling about manager Mickey Callaway's job security. They couldn't even figure out who was going to start tonight. After announcing earlier this afternoon it would be right-hander Drew Gagnon, they pulled that announcement back and instead said it'll be Wilmer Font (who gave up five runs in 2 1/3 innings to the...
NEW YORK - As they prepare to open a four-game series against a reeling Mets club, the Nationals are remaking their bullpen on the fly again.
The Nats have activated left-hander Tony Sipp off the injured list while also claiming veteran right-hander Javy Guerra off outright waivers from the Blue Jays. Dan Jennings, an in-season acquisition who never found his footing, was designated for assignment to clear one roster spot. They'll need to clear another spot on the 25-man roster for Guerra once...
A lot happened Thursday before, during and after the Nationals' 7-6 victory over the Mets. And a lot of it matters heading into this weekend's series against the Cubs, then into next week's road trip to New York.
So let's run through several key developments and what it means tonight and beyond ...
* Trea Turner is probably coming back tonight.
Though Davey Martinez was noncommittal Thursday about the possibility of Turner coming off the injured list, it already seemed likely before the...
The double blow of AnÃbal Sánchez walking off the field with a hamstring injury in the top of the second and Erick Fedde then giving up four runs in the span of two pitches in the top of the third this afternoon had to send shivers up and down South Capitol Street.
Just when you thought the Nationals might be on their way to their first back-to-back wins in a month, here they were dealing with yet another key injury and yet another bullpen implosion.
And then the home team did something...