MIAMI - Max Scherzer returned to the dugout after the second inning this afternoon, four runs already having crossed the plate against him, said a few words to Mike Maddux and then headed down the tunnel toward the clubhouse with his pitching coach for a few minutes, trying to figure out what exactly was going wrong in this game against the Marlins.
When Scherzer returned for the third inning, he did look like a different pitcher. He retired six straight batters on a total of 21 pitches and, if...
MIAMI - When Bryce Harper launched his latest in a torrid string of home runs in the top of the first inning this afternoon, the Nationals had every reason to be optimistic about the early tone of their series finale against the Marlins.
But when Max Scherzer took the mound for the bottom of the first and promptly served up a towering, three-run shot to Marcell Ozuna, the entire complexion of this game changed in a hurry. And it never tilted back in the Nationals' favor.
Behind that...
MIAMI - Bryce Harper took Tom Koehler deep yet again. Unfortunately for the Nationals, somebody took Max Scherzer deep yet again, too, leaving them in an early hole and leaving Scherzer in a heap of trouble.
Harper blasted a solo home run off Koehler in the top of the first inning of this afternoon's series finale at Marlins Park, sending the first pitch he saw over the recently shortened fence in center field.
It was Harper's eighth homer of the season, temporarily leaving him tied with...
MIAMI - Jayson Werth is out of the lineup for the Nationals' series finale against the Marlins, though that was planned before the veteran left fielder felt tightness in his left hamstring and had to depart last night's game in the fifth inning.
Both Werth and manager Dusty Baker continue to downplay the injury as minor and don't expect him to miss any significant time.
"I think it was more precautionary than anything," Baker said this morning. "I didn't see it on the (daily injury)...
MIAMI - Hello one last time from Marlins Park, where the roof actually is open as I type this. (Don't worry, it'll be closed up in time for first pitch at 1:10 p.m. Wouldn't want to play a ballgame in, you know, sunlight, would you?)
The Nationals and Marlins wrap up their four-game series, with the Nats looking to win three out of four and improve to a major league-best 12-3. They'll have Max Scherzer on the mound, looking to improve to 3-0 in his first start of the season against Miami....
MIAMI - Some leftover thoughts and observations to bridge the gap between last night's 3-1 victory and this afternoon's series finale at Marlins Park ...
* Yusmeiro Petit got most of the attention last night, and deservedly so for his four innings of relief after Joe Ross departed with a blister on his middle finger. But let's not overlook the rest of the Nationals bullpen, which finished what Petit started.
Oliver Perez retired the side in the seventh, striking out Giancarlo Stanton with a...
MIAMI - It's a thankless job, one that rarely places a guy in position to be the star of a ballgame. Yusmeiro Petit has made a good living out of long relief, though, and nobody takes more pride in doing that job well than the 31-year-old right-hander.
So when he does get the rare opportunity to make a difference like he did tonight during the Nationals' 3-1 victory over the Marlins, tossing four innings of one-run ball after starter Joe Ross departed with a blister, Petit deserves all the...
MIAMI - Jayson Werth departed tonight's game at Marlins Park in the fifth inning with left hamstring tightness, an injury both the veteran left fielder and his manager downplayed as minor.
"I'm fine," Werth said as he walked out of the Nationals clubhouse following a 3-1 victory over Miami. "I'll be fine."
Neither Werth nor manager Dusty Baker specified how exactly the injury occurred, but Werth did cover a good amount of ground while tracking down two tough fly balls early in the game....
MIAMI - They lost their starting pitcher after two innings, then their starting left fielder after four innings. No matter, the Nationals still went about their business and beat the Marlins 3-1 tonight, thanks to some early clutch hits and some impressive relief work.
Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper each delivered two-out RBI doubles to stake Joe Ross to an early lead, but the right-hander had to depart after that due to a blister on his right middle finger. Three innings later, Jayson Werth...
MIAMI - Joe Ross departed his start tonight against the Marlins after two scoreless innings after a blister developed on his right middle finger, the Nationals announced.
Ross showed no obvious ill effects of the blister during his abbreviated, 33-pitch outing. He allowed one hit, one walk and hit one batter, but never let a Miami runner reach second base.
Ross was allowed to hit for himself in the top of the third inning and wound up drawing a walk, then scoring on Bryce Harper's two-out...
MIAMI - Ben Revere has begun running and taking light swings, his first baseball-related activities since straining his right oblique muscle on opening day 2 1/2 weeks ago.
Revere, who suffered the injury on his very first swing with the Nationals, ran in the outfield at Marlins Park this afternoon, then also took some light, right-handed swings in the cage to test his side. He emerged feeling confident about his recovery, albeit sore from the layoff.
"Everything felt good. I just need to get...
MIAMI - Two trends to watch tonight as the Nationals face the Marlins in the third of this four-game series under the roof: Can Joe Ross continue the rotation's dominant start to the season, and can this lineup continue to thrive against left-handed pitching?
We'll start with Ross, who has been lights-out through his first two starts of the season (2-0, 0.61 ERA, .160 opponents' batting average). It's easy to forget the right-hander is only 22, with 15 big league starts on his resume,...
MIAMI - Stephen Strasburg was utterly dominant last night against the Marlins, tossing eight innings of scoreless, three-hit ball.
This, however, shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone who has watched Strasburg pitch so far in 2016. He's now 3-0 with a 1.25 ERA, after all.
But, if you've really been paying attention to Strasburg for a while, you still shouldn't be surprised by all this. Because he has been this good since last summer.
In 16 total starts since returning from the neck...
MIAMI - The first home run was a laser off Jayson Werth's bat, a line drive that made a beeline for the gaudy sculpture that sits beyond the fence in left-center at Marlins Park and required some deft work by stadium workers to retrieve. ("Did it lodge in one of the dolphins?" Werth asked later.)
The second home run came before anyone could point out that Werth's blast was the 200th of his career. Wilson Ramos pounced on the very next pitch Adam Conley threw in the top of the seventh,...
MIAMI - What for six innings was shaping up to be a classic pitchers' duel between Stephen Strasburg and Adam Conley instead turned into the most dramatic barrage of home runs the Nationals have ever hit during a stunning top of the seventh that propelled them to a 7-0 thumping of the Marlins.
Jayson Werth, Wilson Ramos, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman all homered during a stretch of eight batters in the decisive top of the seventh, Harper's coming with the bases loaded. It's the first time...
MIAMI - Stephen Strasburg's early season mastery is continuing early on tonight at Marlins Park, but Adam Conley is matching his counterpart pitch-for-pitch, leading to a scoreless game through four innings.
He put one man on base in each of his first three innings, but Strasburg kept the Marlins from stringing together anything remotely resembling a rally. He pitched around a two-out walk of Christian Yelich in the bottom of the first, battling back to strike out Giancarlo Stanton with a 2-2...
MIAMI - Trea Turner's red-hot start to the season has ignited one of the biggest hot-button topics facing the Nationals early in 2016: When will the organization promote the young infielder to the majors?
The answer to that question, though, is more complicated than it might appear at first glance. And it involves matters beyond his actual playing performance at Triple-A Syracuse.
Turner was named Monday as the International League's first Player of the Week after hitting .433 with a homer,...
MIAMI - The Nationals tonight find themselves in a position they have not yet faced this season: Trying to halt a losing streak. OK, so it's only a two-game losing streak, but this is new ground for them in 2016. The good news: They've got Stephen Strasburg on the mound and they'll get a rare opportunity to bat against a left-hander.
Strasburg is seeking his third victory in as many starts this season, his 11th victory in his last 15 starts dating back to last June. Marlins Park, however,...
MIAMI - Dusty Baker wasn't worried the game had changed at all during his two-year hiatus between managerial gigs. Well, except for one new wrinkle: expanded instant replay.
Baker acknowledged that baseball's new challenge system (instituted in 2014 shortly after he was fired by the Reds) would take some getting used to, especially for a man who spent nearly five decades as a big league player, coach or manager without ever having to consider such a tact.
Well, 12 games into his first season...
MIAMI - There was no one singular moment that defined the Nationals' 6-1 loss in the opener of a four-game series at Marlins Park. But compile a list of small moments throughout the 2 hour, 43 minute affair, and you'll wind up with a detailed account of a ballgame that might have looked far different than it did.
Like Christian Yelich's hard grounder that squirted through the Nationals' drawn-in infield to bring home the night's first run. Or the risky double play first baseman Ryan...