ATLANTA - It took all of one pitch for Ryan Zimmerman to hit the virtual reset button on his difficult season.
Returning to the lineup after a three-week stint on the disabled list with a bruised left wrist, Zimmerman smoked the first pitch he saw tonight over the left field wall. The 394-foot laser off rookie right-hander Tyrell Jenkins left his bat at 111 mph and gave the Nationals an early 1-0 lead over the Braves, though Atlanta would come right back to take the lead with a flurry of hits...
ATLANTA - Ryan Zimmerman has returned from injuries before. Too many times in recent years for his tastes. He has always done so hoping to pick up where he left off before he landed on the disabled list.
This time, manager Dusty Baker wants the veteran first baseman to think differently about his return. He doesn't want him to pick up where he left off. He wants him to hit the reset button.
"I encouraged him to start his season all over," Baker said. "Forget whatever has transpired in the...
ATLANTA - They're not 100 percent healthy, but the Nationals are getting closer. And for the first time in a while, they've got a fully healthy lineup at their disposal. That's because Ryan Zimmerman has been activated off the disabled list (as has Jose Lobaton, for that matter). A.J. Cole and Pedro Severino were optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to clear roster space for both returning players.
Dusty Baker could go with a lineup of regulars tonight against the Braves, but he won't do that...
ATLANTA - Some more thoughts and reactions from Friday night's wild 7-6 Nationals win at Turner Field ...
* It was never going to be the kind of streak that drew national headlines or would be recalled by people at the drop of the hat years from now, so Jayson Werth didn't put more stock in it than it deserved. Still, the end of the veteran's streak of consecutive games reaching base had a slight bittersweet tinge to it.
Werth went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, bringing the streak to a halt...
ATLANTA - Consistent at-bats are hard to come by when you're Clint Robinson. And it's only going to get harder when Ryan Zimmerman returns from the disabled list Saturday, leaving Robinson to pick up an occasional start at first base and then hope to make the most of his pinch-hitting opportunities.
Nights like this, though, remind the Nationals (and perhaps Robinson himself) why he's so valuable to this team. Stick him in the batter's box in a big spot late in a tie game, and the odds are...
ATLANTA - They made it much more complicated than it needed to be, blowing a five-run lead with poor relief pitching and poor defense, but the Nationals managed to overcome their gaffes and still squeak out a 7-6 victory over the Braves tonight at Turner Field.
Clint Robinson delivered a two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield in the top of the ninth, giving the Nationals the lead for good after they had blown it over the previous three innings. The lefty slugger, who likely is...
ATLANTA - Tests on injured reliever Sammy Solis revealed inflammation in the left-hander's shoulder, the same as the Nationals' initial diagnosis earlier this week when Solis was placed on the disabled list.
There is no definitive timetable for Solis' return, but he should be cleared to resume throwing after a brief period of rest, and the Nationals remain hopeful he'll be part of their bullpen for the stretch run.
"He has inflammation in his shoulder, which we're not shocked about,"...
ATLANTA - Ryan Zimmerman hoped to play in tonight's game against the Braves. Instead, the Nationals first baseman settled for discussing how he has been cleared of any alleged drug use by Major League Baseball and how he now hopes to return to the field Saturday night after his latest stint on the disabled list.
Zimmerman said he wasn't surprised by today's announcement that MLB found no evidence he or Phillies slugger Ryan Howard violated the league's drug policy in the wake of Al Jazeera...
ATLANTA - The Nationals look to make it two in a row tonight against the Braves, but they'll do so without the league's leading hitter or their veteran first baseman in the starting lineup. Daniel Murphy gets a rare (but deserved) night off. That's not a huge surprise. But the lack of Ryan Zimmerman in the lineup is a surprise, given that Dusty Baker yesterday said there was a "good chance" he and Jose Lobaton would be activated off the disabled list, not to mention that both players were...
ATLANTA - The Nationals have reacquired Sean Burnett and could give the veteran left-hander a chance to pitch out of their bullpen down the stretch, four years after he last donned a curly W cap for a big league game.
Burnett has been acquired in a trade with the Twins for cash considerations and will report to Triple-A Syracuse today, the Chiefs announced, but he could be in line to join the major league bullpen once rosters expand in September.
A key member of the Nationals bullpen from...
ATLANTA - Major League Baseball has cleared Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman of any violations of the league's drug program, announcing today no evidence of wrongdoing was found during an investigation prompted by Al Jazeera America's controversial report of steroid use in professional sports earlier this year.
MLB also cleared Phillies slugger Ryan Howard of the same allegations, made by pharmacist Charlie Sly in the report Al Jazeera aired in January.
"The Office of the Commissioner...
ATLANTA - There remains much baseball yet to be played - 41 games, to be exact - but the Nationals are sitting in an awfully comfortable position this morning. They're 9 1/2 games up on the Marlins in the National League East, with a 99.4 percent chance of winning the division (according to Baseball Prospectus).
That doesn't, however, mean there aren't still questions facing this team.
There's the back end of the rotation. There's the left side of the bullpen. There's the makeup of Dusty...
ATLANTA - Reynaldo Lopez, to anyone who meets or watches him for a few minutes, is a quiet young man. Inside that calm veneer, however, is a 22-year-old pitcher who wants to take on the world and exudes the confidence necessary to do just that.
Consider Lopez's reply to a question following tonight's 8-2 Nationals victory over the Braves, one in which the rookie right-hander struck out 11 batters over seven superb innings of what was, to that point, a tightly contested ballgame.
"At the...
ATLANTA - Salvation for the Nationals' overtaxed pitching staff came not from either of their aces, nor from an established big leaguer. No, when the Nats really needed a big-time pitching performance tonight, they turned to a 22-year-old flamethrower making his fourth career start.
Reynaldo Lopez overwhelmed the Braves for the better part of seven innings, striking out 11 while allowing only one earned run, leading the Nationals to a much-needed 8-2 victory at Turner Field that was close...
ATLANTA - There is probably some irony in the fact that A.J. Cole made his first appearance in a big league clubhouse of the season at Turner Field, the site of his first career big league appearance, and one that did not go particularly well.
Few remember the details of Cole's debut on April 28, 2015, because they were an afterthought by night's end. The Nationals rookie right-hander was torched for nine runs in two innings, but his teammates got him off the hook with the biggest rally in...
ATLANTA - Ryan Zimmerman and Jose Lobaton are on their way to Atlanta and are expected to be activated off the disabled list in time for Friday night's game at Turner Field, Nationals manager Dusty Baker said today.
Both Zimmerman and Lobaton completed a three-day rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse, emerging with no issues and convincing club officials they're ready to return.
"They're on the way now," Baker said prior to the Nationals series opener against the Braves. "There's a...
ATLANTA - Hello from Turner Field, which is in full countdown mode right now. There are only 22 Braves games left to be played in this ballpark. The bad news: The Nationals will be here for seven of those games, with a four-game series this weekend and then another three-game set next month before they shut down the place for good and move to a new park in the northwest Atlanta suburbs.
The Nats come here reeling a bit from a taxing three days at Coors Field in which the bullpen was forced to...
Even when he's being praised, Tanner Roark often seems to be undersold.
Most have come to realize the right-hander is legitimately one of the best pitchers in baseball. And any who haven't need only see his 13-6 record and 2.81 ERA in 24 starts to realize it.
Few, however, give Roark credit for being a complete pitcher, right down to the part where he field his position exceptionally well.
"He's a good athlete," Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. "Guys kid him because he doesn't look...
Dusty Baker wanted to give Bryce Harper one more day off. His struggling right fielder hadn't played in eight days due to a neck injury that had become the source of significant speculation with each passing 24 hours, but why push it and send him out there on an afternoon in which the heat index registered 107 degrees in advance of a long flight west to Colorado for the start of a long road trip?
Upon seeing yet another Nationals lineup without his name included, though, Harper went into...
Bryce Harper returned to the lineup this afternoon and helped the Nationals take a quick lead on the Braves. Anthony Rendon, who is becoming a consistent force of production once again, later put an exclamation point on a 9-1 thumping of Atlanta on a sweltering hot afternoon in the District.
Harper, playing for the first time in eight days since a neck injury sidelined him, roped an RBI double in his first at-bat and also walked and scored. The struggling right fielder hadn't been in the...