CHICAGO - We've seen no shortage of wacky and wild stuff this summer from a Nationals team that seems to vacillate from contender to pretender on a daily basis. So who knows which version we'll see tonight on Sunday Night Baseball. But we do know we're going to see a marquee matchup: Max Scherzer vs. Cole Hamels.
Yes, it's Cy Young Award vs. World Series MVP winner, with the fate of this weekend series at stake. Scherzer is trying to make a case for his third straight (and fourth overall)...
CHICAGO - When Tanner Roark walked off the mound following a scoreless bottom of the seventh Saturday afternoon, he was greeted at the top of the dugout steps by Davey Martinez, who proceeded to have a conversation with the pitcher.
When that conversation ended, Roark got a fist-bump from his manager and went back into the dugout. He didn't get a handshake or any hugs from teammates.
In the current etiquette of baseball, this could only be deciphered to mean one thing: Roark was coming back to...
CHICAGO - There are few hitters havens in baseball like Wrigley Field, provided the wind isn't blowing in and the temperature isn't 43 degrees. But there's no park in the majors that has haunted Ryan Zimmerman like the Friendly Confines on the corner of Clark and Addison, at least in recent years.
Ever since he became manager of the Cubs in 2015, there is no member of the Nationals lineup Joe Maddon has been more willing to pitch to than Zimmerman. So much so that he once walked Bryce Harper...
CHICAGO - The Bryce Harper-Ryan Zimmerman 1-2 punch doesn't exactly have a storied history at Wrigley Field. This, of course, is the venue where two years ago the Cubs did everything they could to avoid pitching to Harper and instead go after Zimmerman, who simply could not make them pay for the strategy.
So when Anthony Rendon was scratched from today's game with a bruised left wrist, it may have surprised some that Davey Martinez decided to tweak his lineup by moving Harper into the No. 3...
CHICAGO - When Anthony Rendon was hit by a pitch on his left hand in the top of the first Friday afternoon, the Nationals third baseman waved off a trainer and remained in the game.
Rendon played all nine innings of the Nats' 3-2 loss to the Cubs. He batted three more times, driving a ball to the warning track in left field that was caught. He made three plays in the field.
All appeared to be fine. But after the game ended, Rendon could be seen leaving the visitors' clubhouse at Wrigley...
CHICAGO - Another day, another opportunity for the Nationals to change the script of a season that has pretty much followed one path. And not the path this team wanted to follow.
After their latest agonizing loss, the Nats will try to reverse the trend this afternoon at Wrigley Field and take the second game of this weekend series. They'll be hoping Tanner Roark can continue his recent reversal of trends - 3-0, 0.82 ERA his last three starts - and do his part to help beat the Cubs. It's...
CHICAGO - For all the difficulty Sammy SolÃs and Greg Holland had in the sixth and seventh innings, ultimately costing the Nats the game, Koda Glover and Wander Suero pitched exceptionally well after that. And in doing so may have earned their manager's trust to start pitching in big situations like the ones SolÃs and Holland failed in at Wrigley Field.
After Holland walked in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh, manager Davey Martinez summoned Glover to enter from the bullpen...
CHICAGO - The stakes perhaps felt a little higher, given the opposition, the location and all the familiar faces that have worn both clubs' uniforms in the last two seasons. But today's series opener at Wrigley Field felt remarkably familiar for a Nationals team that has found itself in situations just like this all summer long and consistently has shown itself unable to emerge victorious.
Early offense, but a bunch of squandered opportunities to tack on needed runs later? Check.
Dominance...
CHICAGO - The Nationals are hitting singles and doubles against Kyle Hendricks so far today, and reaping the benefits of it. The Cubs are trying to hit homers off Jeremy Hellickson, and paying the price on a windy day at Wrigley Field.
Four innings into the opener of a key weekend series, the Nationals hold a 2-0 lead thanks to six hits off Hendricks (five singles and a double) and zeroes off Hellickson (despite two deep drives that probably would've been homers under different weather...
CHICAGO - Stephen Strasburg is ramping up his throwing program, but the right-hander still appears to be at least two weeks away from rejoining the Nationals rotation.
Strasburg, who has made only one start since June 8 due to shoulder and neck ailments, is slated to throw a "heavy" bullpen session Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field. If that goes well, manager Davey Martinez said he'll throw a simulated game on Wednesday in St. Louis. And then if that goes well, he'll make a minor league...
CHICAGO - It's a warm, sunny day at the corner of Clark and Addison, but the wind's actually blowing in, a rarity at Wrigley Field given the other conditions. That could help keep the ball in the park, which of course benefits the pitchers in today's series opener between the Nationals and Cubs.
Jeremy Hellickson is the kind of pitcher who looks for groundballs, so he won't complain about the conditions this afternoon. The right-hander still faces a stiff challenge, of course, in the Cubs...
There were any number of reasons the Nationals lost to the Braves on Wednesday night, and any number of ways they could have made up for those reasons and actually pulled off an impressive comeback that would've changed the entire outlook of this critical series.
But the primary focus from many corners afterward was on Juan Soto's sixth-inning ejection, so it's worth revisiting that sequence, as well as all the principal participants' postgame comments.
In the bottom of the fourth, Soto was...
The Nationals showed some much-needed emotion tonight during a critical game against the Braves. Unfortunately, it only came after they trailed by a hefty margin and after their youngest star was ejected for the first time in his life.
After Tommy Milone dug his teammates into a six-run hole, and the Nats tried to claw their way back while also watching 19-year-old slugger Juan Soto and hitting coach Kevin Long get ejected during a wild bottom of the sixth. In the end, the fiery emotions...
Koda Glover was extraordinarily excited to be in the Nationals clubhouse this afternoon, back on an active big league roster, healthy and available to pitch for the first time in 2018. Given what the high-energy reliever has been through the last two years, can you blame him?
"You have no idea. It was way worse than Tommy John, anything like that," he said. "But like I said, trust in the medical staff, and they did an excellent job."
Glover, who had Tommy John surgery on his elbow before he...
Kelvin Herrera is now on the disabled list, and though the Nationals hope his stay won't be long, they also know any time lost to injury right now is a detriment to their chances of catching up in a pennant race that is running out of days.
Herrera, who had to depart Tuesday night's game after giving up two runs and three hits in the top of the ninth to the Braves, received results of an MRI this afternoon that showed a rotator cuff impingement in his right shoulder. Manager Davey Martinez...
As if the sting of Tuesday night's 3-1 loss to the Braves in the second half of their day-night doubleheader wasn't enough, today the Nationals learned they've now lost Kelvin Herrera to a shoulder injury. Herrera, who had an MRI this morning, has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with a right shoulder impingement. We'll get more details - and, hopefully, an estimated timeline for his return - shortly, but in the meantime the Nationals bullpen has yet another new face: Koda Glover....
The sting of Tuesday night's 3-1 loss to the Braves in the nightcap of a significant doubleheader was still fresh in everyone's mind, but if the Nationals were looking for reasons to remain optimistic the day and night Ryan Zimmerman had the plate was a good place to start.
Zimmerman was a one-man wrecking crew with the bat on a long day at the ballpark. He went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a homer in the opener (an 8-3 Nats win) and then he followed that up by going 3-for-3 with a double and...
It was right there for the taking, a doubleheader sweep and a chance to make a definitive statement that they intend to thrust themselves into the mix of the National League East's three-team pennant race right now.
Instead, the Nationals squandered yet another golden opportunity to win a close ballgame, and because of that a long and exhausting day and night at the ballpark wound up as nothing more than a push. No ground gained, no ground lost. Which is not what they need right now.
A 3-1...
With each passing day, Juan Soto does something else that makes you pause to remember just how remarkable the Nationals rookie's season has been. No matter his age.
Soto added to the growing legend tonight when he homered in the bottom of the first. To the opposite field. Off a left-hander. On an 0-2 pitch.
This, of course, has become commonplace for the 19-year-old since he burst onto the scene 2 1/2 months ago and started doing things few (if any) 19-year-olds have ever done before on a...
And we're back for the nightcap of today's doubleheader. The Nationals did what they needed to in the opener, riding five strong innings from Jefry Rodriguez and a pair of four-run rallies to an 8-3 victory that moved them to within five games of the Phillies and 3 1/2 games of the Braves. There's still an opportunity to either gain or lose ground the rest of the evening, with Philadelphia playing late at Arizona.
The Nats have to like the fact they've got Max Scherzer on the mound tonight,...