On a night when hardly anyone in the Nationals lineup did anything of consequence, Jesse Winker did more than anyone else. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t able to play the team’s last game after hurting his knee.

Winker went 2-for-3 in the Nats’ 5-0 loss to the Diamondbacks, recording the team’s lone extra-base hit (a fourth-inning double) as well as a single in his final at-bat. The veteran left fielder did so with no apparent lingering issues in his right knee.

Winker hurt himself rounding second base and slamming on the brakes to dive back into the bag Saturday against the Marlins. He went to get an MRI that night, hoping it wasn’t anything serious but a bit worried it could have been something bad.

When the MRI came back clean, Winker and the Nationals were relieved. He sat out Sunday’s game, then enjoyed the team’s day off Monday before returning to work Tuesday, back in the lineup batting third and playing left field.

Winker ran the bases fine and had no problems in the field. Afterward, he was asked if he thinks he can jump right back into playing every day, or if he might need to manage his knee a little and take some days off.

Voting for the annual Baseball Writers' Association of America awards has always seemed like a distinguished honor. And at times a difficult one.

Needless to say, I was very surprised and grateful when I learned I had been assigned a ballot for this year’s National League Rookie of the Year Award in my first season as a BBWAA member.

At first, I was intimidated by the daunting task. How could I – a humble D.C.-area kid who grew up to be fortunate enough to cover his hometown baseball team – be given such an important task as to vote for one of the sport’s most prestigious awards and by so doing become a part of the sport’s incredible history? Again, while in my first year as a member, nonetheless?

Thankfully, this year’s NL Rookie of the Year decision ended up being sort of a no-brainer instead of one of the highly debated awards.

In fact, entering last night since 2003, four NL Rookie of the Year awards have been won unanimously, with a majority of the others winning by a landslide. Only four races for this award over the last two decades were actually close, the latest coming in 2012 when Bryce Harper took home the hardware for the Nationals by narrowly beating the Diamondbacks’ Wade Miley by a score of 112-105 (Harper was awarded 16 first-place votes, eight second-place votes and eight third place votes while Miley was awarded 12 first-place votes, 13 second-place votes and six third place votes on a 5-3-1 scoring system).