MILWAUKEE - The Nationals will give their starting pitchers an extra day of rest this week, summoning a young right-hander to pitch tonight's series opener against the Marlins in Miami. Just not the young right-hander most expected.
A.J. Cole will be on the mound tonight at Marlins Park, not Erick Fedde, manager Dusty Baker revealed following Sunday's 7-2 loss to the Brewers.
Baker didn't offer up any more expansive explanation for the decision, but it does suggest the organization has some...
MILWAUKEE - Even when they lost a host of key regulars to injury over the season's first 4 1/2 months, the Nationals managed to make up for it, thanks to consistent production from the heart of their lineup and the performances of several replacements.
And so, on Aug. 12 this team ranked second in the majors with 5.44 runs per game, second with a .275 batting average and third with a .340 on-base percentage. But in the 22 games they've played since, the Nationals have seen their offensive...
MILWAUKEE - The prospect of a game against a starter restricted to three innings and then a parade of relievers should have been enticing for the Nationals. Instead it led to even more frustration for a lineup that seems to have lost its way.
Left-hander Brent Suter and four Brewers relievers combined to toss a three-hitter and hand the Nationals a 7-2 loss at Miller Park to cap a rough weekend for Washington.
The Nationals lost three of four in this series and thus lost the season series to...
MILWAUKEE - Matt Wieters is out of the Nationals lineup for the third straight day, though the veteran catcher said it's not because of the foul ball he took off his right knee Thursday night but rather a tight back that has been bothering him for a little while.
"The knee's fine," Wieters said. "Just bruises. No problem coming into play. I've been having a little bit of a tight back to go with it, so it's kind of more just trying to get it completely freed up and loosened up before we...
MILWAUKEE - On the heels of a come-from-behind win Saturday night, the Nationals now try to salvage a four-game split with the Brewers this afternoon, and in the process win the rubber game of the season series between the two clubs. (It currently stands at 3-3.)
In order to pull that off, the Nats will need another strong outing from Edwin Jackson, who took one of his three losses to the Brewers in July in D.C., giving up seven runs (three earned) in five innings. That remains one of only two...
MILWAUKEE - Sean Doolittle threw the pitch - a thigh-high, 97 mph fastball - and saw Manny Piña make good contact. But he didn't spin around to watch the play. Instead, the Nationals closer's eyes remained fixated on the Brewers batter, even after contact, trying to gauge whether he had just recorded the game's final out ... or a served up a walk-off homer.
"In the dome, a lot of times everything sounds loud, so it's tough to really get a read on how good he got it," Doolittle said....
MILWAUKEE - Max Scherzer knew he couldn't run. His labored attempt to get out of the batter's box after tapping a groundball in the top of the fifth confirmed that.
But Scherzer also knew he could pitch without suffering any ill effects from the comebacker that struck him in the left calf way back in the bottom of the first tonight at Miller Park. Perhaps nobody on the Nationals roster is as honest and forthcoming with the staff about his physical state than the ace right-hander, so Dusty...
MILWAUKEE - Max Scherzer seemed to get through the neck issue that briefly landed him on the disabled list. But when a comebacker struck him in the lower left leg during the bottom of the first inning tonight at Miller Park, the Nationals ace suddenly found himself compensating for a new physical ailment.
And the result wasn't all that pretty to watch.
Showing obvious effects of from the ball off his leg, Scherzer lasted only five innings against the Brewers, pulled despite allowing only one...
MILWAUKEE - Matt Wieters is out of the Nationals lineup for the second straight night, still dealing with a sore left knee that was injured late in Thursday's game at Miller Park.
Wieters took a foul ball off that knee during the Nats' 6-2 loss to the Brewers in their series opener, and though he finished the game he has been held out of the lineup each of the last two nights.
Manager Dusty Baker doesn't expect his veteran catcher to miss any more time.
"He's doing OK," Baker said. "He...
MILWAUKEE - When Ryan Madson had to cut short a warmup session in the bullpen at Nationals Park three weeks ago, he assumed something was wrong with his index finger. Why else would that digit hurt when he tried to throw, not only that night in D.C. but four days later in San Diego when he tried to play catch?
Madson wound up on the disabled list with a sprained finger. Turns out, though, the issue was in his lower forearm, just above the wrist.
Madson discovered this thanks to a visit to his...
MILWAUKEE - Not that their life depends on it or anything, but the Nationals certainly would like to win tonight's game at Miller Park. They've already dropped the first two games of this series to the Brewers. Now they send Max Scherzer to the mound against rookie Brandon Woodruff, so you have to this is a good a matchup as any to get back on track.
Scherzer looked like his old self Monday night, showing no ill effects from the neck injury that forced him to the disabled list. He already...
MILWAUKEE - Yes, they still need to win games over the season's final month so they can wrap up their fourth division title in six years. But at this point, given their comfortable standing, the Nationals can afford to look not just at each individual game, but at the larger picture, especially for those players who are trying to best position themselves to be in peak form come October.
In that regard, few members of the roster are positioning themselves better right than Tanner...
MILWAUKEE - Tanner Roark did just about everything he could, aside from one bad pitch in the bottom of the first. Who knew that one bad pitch would prove the entire difference in the game for the Nationals?
Unable to solve Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson or a pair of relievers, who combined to record 17 strikeouts, the Nationals wasted perhaps Roark's best outing of the season and were left to stew over a 1-0 loss at Miller Park.
"Very rarely does it happen," said Roark, who had taken the loss...
MILWAUKEE - The Nationals are giving themselves plenty of opportunities to get on the board against Jimmy Nelson. They just aren't making anything out of those opportunities so far.
Despite six baserunners in three innings - four of them reaching at least second base - the Nationals have posted nothing but zeroes against the Brewers, making for a frustrating start to tonight's game.
Nelson has baffled them, in particular with a curveball that he is rarely throwing in the strike zone but is...
MILWAUKEE - Ryan Madson is back on the Nationals active roster. Whether he's ready to pitch quite yet remains to be seen.
Madson was one of five players added to the roster before tonight's game against the Brewers, joining fellow pitchers Enny Romero, Austin Adams and Erick Fedde, plus catcher Raudy Read as the club's first round of September call-ups. All technically are eligible to appear in games immediately, but Madson may need a bit more time.
Out since Aug. 14 with a sprained index...
MILWAUKEE - It's September at last, and not a moment too soon for a Nationals club that has been playing the waiting game for quite some time now, another division title all but wrapped up, a host of injured players slowly but surely returning to the active roster. There's still one more long month to go, but for the first time the finish line is now within reach.
September also means expanded rosters, and the Nationals have added five players today: relievers Ryan Madson, Enny Romero (both...
MILWAUKEE - The Nationals' 6-3 loss to the Brewers on Thursday night really featured only one significant, positive development. But it was a big one.
Trea Turner, in his third game back from the disabled list, put together a very Trea Turner kind of game. He went 3-for-4. He beat out a bunt single. He stretched another single into a double, then stole third base. He tripled off the right field wall. And he scored a pair of runs, almost entirely without the assistance of anyone else.
"Oh...
MILWAUKEE - An uncharacteristically erratic start by Gio Gonzalez was too much for the Nationals to overcome tonight in a series-opening 6-3 loss to the Brewers.
With Gonzalez surrendering five runs during six labored innings, the Nationals faced an uphill climb, one made even tougher with Milwaukee starter Zach Davies once again on his game. Davies, who shut out the Nats last month in D.C., went seven strong this time to lead his team to victory at home.
"Boy, he's been tough on us,"...
MILWAUKEE - The lineup Dusty Baker scribbled out for tonight's series opener against the Brewers was as close as he's going to get to his best-case lineup for the postseason. The only regular missing: Bryce Harper, who may or may not be back to 100 percent in time for October.
Notable, then, was Baker's choice for No. 2 hitter: Jayson Werth. With Trea Turner back atop the lineup as well, the Nationals have their 1-2 combo together again.
Baker may not, however, stick with that pairing down...
MILWAUKEE - Major league clubs typically use their allotment of September call-ups to get a first look at prospects who may figure into the long-term plan, ensure depth at positions where it's needed and reward a few guys for great minor league seasons.
The Nationals find themselves in a different situation as the calendar flips from August to September. They'll be expanding their roster not so much to get a look at young guys but to restock their roster with players who have been hurt and to...