OMG! It's the Nats' top 10 quotes from the first half of the season

The Nationals clubhouse is loaded with a wide spectrum of personalities - from the quirkiness of guys like Gio Gonzalez and Jose Lobaton to the intensity of Max Scherzer and Bryce Harper. As the Nationals prepare to ramp back up for a run at a second straight National League East crown, we take a look a back at the top 10 quotes from the season's first half.

10. June 27, Gonzalez: "This rain kinda caught us all off-guard. I mean, we didn't know it was coming for, like, three days."

This was Gonzalez bringing blatant sarcasm into a highly frustrating situation after the left-hander threw just one inning in Philadelphia. A massive storm was bearing down on the East Coast, yet the Phillies insisted on playing. The teams made it through the top of the second before the predicted heavy rains began to fall, forcing a postponement and, more importantly, burning Gonzalez after only 18 pitches. The Nationals split the doubleheader the following day at Citizens Bank Park.

9. June 25, Doug Fister: "I do not know the exact score and honestly when I'm at my best I have no idea what inning it is."

After Fister's best start of the season, the tall right-hander revealed how zoned he is on the mound. The Nationals plated six early runs in the 7-0 win over the Braves but Fister went about his own business, tossing seven scoreless inning while yielding only four hits.

8. May 4, Yunel Escobar: "This is the best game of my career."

Tied 4-4 with the Marlins in the eighth inning, Escobar delivered a clutch two-out, two-run single. Not only did it stand as the game-winner, but the base knock was Escobar's fifth on the night, the first time he accomplished the feat in his nine-year career. The hot-hitting 32-year-old didn't wait so long for his next. Six days later, Escobar went 5-for-5 again, this time in an 11-1 win over Arizona. Escobar, whose .321 batting average is fourth-best in the NL, added his third five-hit game in a loss to Tampa Bay on June 18.

7. May 25, Denard Span to reporters: "I think I'm just getting my old-man strength. It's coming in in the beard, and I think it's starting to show on the field now."

Span's leadoff homer at Wrigley Field helped the Nationals to a narrow 2-1 win over the Cubs. At the time, it was the 31-year-old's fourth homer of the season in just his 28th game. The next night, Span blasted his fifth home run, equalling his total from all of last year. The power surge has cooled down since possibly due to Span's ailing back. He hasn't homered in the last 30 games, but his .304 batting average remains 11th-best in the NL.

6. April 14, Matt Williams: "It's the same recipe, you guys. We can go over it a million times. At this point, all I've got for you is, if you put the same ingredients together like we have in the last two games, we're gonna get the same meal. It doesn't taste very good."

Williams was understandably frustrated after three errors led to a three-run seventh inning for the Red Sox as the Nationals were defeated 8-7 at Fenway Park. The loss left the World Series favorite Nationals at 2-6 just over a week into the season, mostly due to shoddy fielding.

5. May 20, Harper: "I don't think 40,000 people came to watch him ump tonight."

Coming off back-to-back NL Player of the Week honors, Harper was tossed by home plate umpire Marvin Hudson in the third inning during his second at-bat against the Yankees at Nationals Park. Hudson ejected Williams for defending Harper moments later. "Doggone it, he's our best player and arguably the best player on the planet right now," an emotional Williams said after. "And we need him in the game. And I don't feel as if there was any need to throw him out."

4. June 20, Harper: "I wanted to cry, to be honest with you. To be part of a perfect game would've been awesome."

This was Harper's reaction after Max Scherzer's slider nicked Jose Tabata's elbow with two outs and two strikes in the top of the ninth, ending a shot at the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. Of course, Scherzer was able to get Josh Harrison to fly out one batter later to secure his first career no-hitter in the Nationals' 6-0 win over the Pirates.

3. May 17, Lobaton: "Oh, my God? I'm gonna say O-M-G. That's it. It's unbelievable. How can you explain that? Go oppo whenever he wants. Pull the ball. Hit a homer. Hit doubles. Triples. I don't know. It's good to have somebody like that on your team. Like you know the people are gonna get scared."

Lobaton's face lit up in the clubhouse at Petco Park when asked about Harper's 3-for-4 perfomance, which included a three-run homer, a triple and four RBIs in the Nats' 10-5 win over the Padres.

2. April 27, Dan Uggla: "It's not about catching a break. You know, weird things happen in this game. We just gotta take it upon ourselves to turn it around. We can't wait for things to start to go our way. We just gotta sack up, you know, and make it turn around. I think everyone in this clubhouse feels the same way. I know after playing against these guys for so long that we have the makeup to do it."

Mired in an early six-game losing streak which left them 7-13, the Nationals were already searching for answers after falling 8-4 to the Braves. Then Uggla delivered these words. It didn't seem to matter much as the Nationals found themselves trailing by eight runs the following the night. The rest is history. A furious comeback ensued, the biggest in team history, capped off by Uggla's three-run homer in the top of the ninth to give the Nats a 13-12 win. It started a run of 21 wins in 26 games.

1. Feb. 25, Harper: "I just started laughing. I was like, 'Where's my ring?' You know what I mean? It's stupid. It's absolutely stupid how good our staff is."

Upon his arrival at spring training, Harper began grinning from ear to ear when asked about his reaction to the Nationals signing Scherzer. The well-circulated quote is certain to resurface as the Nationals' season heads down the stretch.