Josh Land

Ted Leavengood: Finally making a game of it

Ted Leavengood: Finally making a game of it
The Nationals have started to dig out of the hole. The mark of the good ballplayer and the good team is competing consistently, going out and playing to win day-in and day-out. Washington has been consistently competitive in recent weeks. Even when they have been down early in games, they have punched and clawed their way back to key wins against the Royals and Phillies. Had they not lost six of seven games against the Braves during August, the Nationals would be 12 of 16 for the month,...
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Josh Land

Dave Nichols: A defeat emblematic of the season's struggles

Dave Nichols: A defeat emblematic of the season's struggles
The Nationals took two out of three over the weekend from the Kansas City Royals to keep their dwindling playoff hopes just barely alive. Starting play Monday, the Nats sit 8 1/2 games behind Cincinnati, with just 32 games remaining, for the last invitation to the playoff party in the National League. The loss on Sunday halted a five-game winning streak, matching the longest the Nats have had all season long. If they're to get back in this thing, they are going to have to take advantage now...
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Josh Land

Domenic Vadala: Making adjustments at the right time

Domenic Vadala: Making adjustments at the right time
If the Orioles end up going to the postseason, Wednesday's victory over Tampa Bay might be looked back upon as one of the bigger wins of the year. First off, it goes without saying that the entire series was tough on the Orioles and on the fans. Dropping two of three to a team that you're chasing in the standings is never a favorable result. The mere fact that the Orioles salvaged one game was a moral victory. However, that game should be looked upon as one where the Orioles finally stepped...
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Josh Land

Patrick Reddington: It's just not Strasburg's year

Patrick Reddington: It's just not Strasburg's year
It's just not Stephen Strasburg's year. It was supposed to be, but it's not. Strasburg was efficient Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field. He was pounding the zone. He was striking batters out, with eight Ks. He was inducing ground balls, with eight groundouts. He had seven scoreless innings on 86 pitches. He gave up a leadoff home run by Brian Bogusevic on the first pitch of the eighth. That ended Strasburg's bid for a shutout, but he got the next three outs on 10 pitches to finish the...
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Josh Land

Matthew Taylor: Rewritten history shouldn't be forgotten

Matthew Taylor: Rewritten history shouldn't be forgotten
Chris Davis has tied Jim Gentile for third on the Orioles' all-time single-season home run list. Barring injury or an unimaginable power outage, Davis will hit his 47th homer and push Gentile further down the list he once topped. This is familiar territory for Gentile, who established at least a half-dozen team records in 1961. The past half-century has been an extended exercise in removing pieces of that magical 1961 season from the record books, one by one. Rather than diminishing the...
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Josh Land

Rachel Levitin: Acquiring DeJesus an example of Nats trying to maintain first-place roster

Rachel Levitin: Acquiring DeJesus an example of Nats trying to maintain first-place roster
When I got a text message from a Cubs fan friend of mine on Monday night, I can't say I was surprised by the what he had to say: "Look for me at the game. And David DeJesus is a good pickup." While I didn't see that friend on my television set, I did shoot him a message back in agreement. It's this move - a veteran pickup for the Washington bench - that continues to demonstrate that the Nationals organization is willing to make changes when changes need to be made. They showed that when...
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Josh Land

Andrew Stetka: These O's are better than last year's version despite what you may see

Andrew Stetka: These O's are better than last year's version despite what you may see
If there is one part of the 2013 Orioles that has been steady from the start, it's without question been defense. The O's are on pace to break records for both fielding percentage and fewest errors in a season. Of the three major elements in baseball - pitching, hitting and defense - the latter is the one part where there are simply no worries. It's those other two that have had ups and downs throughout the season. Whether it's the starting pitching, the bullpen arms, or the inconsistent...
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Josh Land

David Huzzard: David DeJesus and the Nats' 2014 bench

David Huzzard: David DeJesus and the Nats' 2014 bench
Sometimes the best moves a general manager can make are the ones that look confusing at first. Keep in mind general managers are allegedly smarter than the media and bloggers, and should be a couple of steps ahead of us. One the surface, the David DeJesus trade looks weird. The Nats don't need him for this season and his $6.5 million option is a lot to pay for a bench player for 2014, but let's look at the Nationals bench, or let's not because H.P. Lovecraft couldn't describe a monster as...
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Josh Land

Neal Shaffer: Sky isn't falling, but O's need to step it up a notch

Neal Shaffer: Sky isn't falling, but O's need to step it up a notch
Anyone who has read even a handful of my work here or over at The Loss Column (where I'm not posting as much as I want to), knows that I'm bullish on the Orioles. Not optimistic per se, but certainly inclined to point out when the sky is not falling. I also do my best to be honest. Just because the sky's not falling doesn't mean all is well. Right now, all is not well. There comes a point toward the end of every season - usually around now - when you get a feeling about things. The...
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Josh Land

Ted Leavengood: Can Nats compete without more international signings?

Ted Leavengood: Can Nats compete without more international signings?
As an organization, the Washington Nationals have largely eschewed big international signings. Last week, they paid $900,000 for Anderson Franco and the front office has said it will be more aggressive in international markets moving forward. Prior forays have been disappointing at best. They got nothing except legal fees for the $1.4 million they paid to Dominican phenom Smiley Gonzalez in 2006. They tried again in 2009 when they landed Cuban emigre, Yunesky Maya, who commanded a four-year, $8...
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Josh Land

Zach Wilt: Baseball is a funny game

Zach Wilt: Baseball is a funny game
I'm sure you've heard people say "baseball is a funny game." It's typically the cliche saying that fans throw out when they can't explain the outcome of the three-hour sporting event they dedicate their life to over the course of 162 days between April and September. For me, that inexplicable nature is part of the reason I love this game so much. Though, I can certainly understand it driving some people absolutely bonkers. On Tuesday night, the Texas Rangers clobbered the Houston Astros...
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Josh Land

Dave Nichols: Strasburg shows backbone standing up for Harper

Dave Nichols: Strasburg shows backbone standing up for Harper
It was a wild weekend in Atlanta. Not so much for the actual baseball content, as the Nationals dropped another series to the Braves, setting their season record against the division leaders at 4-12. Rather, after Bryce Harper was hit by pitches twice Friday night, the Nationals - at least their top starting pitcher - decided enough was enough. Harper, a player who will forevermore wear a target on his back with the Braves, was hit twice Friday night by two different pitchers, the second time...
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Josh Land

Domenic Vadala: Hoping for a repeat performance

Domenic Vadala: Hoping for a repeat performance
I think it'll be a long time before people forget last August and September at the yard. I would submit that those games were about as much fun for Orioles fans as we've ever seen. Granted, that was only the third playoff season for the Birds since they moved into Camden Yards in 1992, but in both 1996 and 1997, there wasn't the potential for the Orioles' fate to be decided in the last days of the season, as happened last year - and also potentially this year. They were far ahead of the...
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Josh Land

Patrick Reddington: Dan Haren's tidy narrative

Patrick Reddington: Dan Haren's tidy narrative
Dan Haren told reporters this winter he was surprised by the concerns about his health when he hit the free agent market. After all, the 32-year-old right-hander had made just one trip to the disabled list in his 10-year major league career. The Los Angeles Angels put the pitcher on the DL in July 2012 with what was described then as a lower back issue. In Haren's third season in Los Angeles following a 2010 trade from Arizona, he started 6-8 with a 4.86 ERA, 24 walks (2.08 BB/9) and 86...
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Josh Land

Matthew Taylor: Jim Johnson, meet Don Aase

Matthew Taylor: Jim Johnson, meet Don Aase
The Orioles are coming off a demoralizing three-game sweep at the hands (actually, the bats) of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who won each game in walk-off fashion. I don't need to tell you that Jim Johnson recorded blown saves in the final two games of the series. Johnson currently ranks as the major league leader in both saves (39) and blown saves (nine). In the same season that he tallied his club-record 35th consecutive save, Johnson appears to be on the verge of setting an ignominious team...
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Josh Land

Rachel Levitin: That pesky thing called perspective

Rachel Levitin: That pesky thing called perspective
When it comes time to reflect on the Nationals' 2013 season, my thought is that this one will be all about managing expectations. After last night's victory against the San Francisco Giants - the Nats' fifth win in a row - I found myself on the Metro amid the postgame foot traffic. While sitting there, I gathered nuggets from people's conversations and took notice of those who were wearing curly W attire. The general consensus, as far as I was able to infer, is that the big issue people...
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Josh Land

Andrew Stetka: The good, bad and ugly from O's West Coast swing

Andrew Stetka: The good, bad and ugly from O's West Coast swing
A whole lot will be written and even more will be said following the Orioles' recent 4-4 road trip to the West Coast. There was a whole lot that went down on the field that led to a 4-1 start to the swing but saw it finish with three devastating walk-off losses to the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Let this be a bit of a break from all of the on-the-field talk and chatter. I was able to attend four out of the eight games on the trip and had an outstanding experience everywhere I went. As an...
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Josh Land

David Huzzard: A few thoughts on hope

David Huzzard: A few thoughts on hope
The Nationals' four-game winning streak is a small glimmer of hope, faint light from a far off place. In "The Dark Knight Rises," Bane shows Batman the means to escape his prison. It is a one-in-a-million shot. One person out of all the prisoners had done it and it was a mystery as to if that were fact or fiction. It is the nature of hope. Hope cannot exist without despair. The 2013 Nationals have been full of despair and this small glimmer of hope shouldn't excite anyone. The Nationals...
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Josh Land

Neal Shaffer: There but for the grace of the baseball gods ...

Neal Shaffer: There but for the grace of the baseball gods ...
Today, let's talk about a team. A team with more than a couple of young, All-Star-capable players and an overall talent level that grades out better than average. One with a decorated, veteran manager. They were very bad for a long time but they made a playoff run last year and, in doing so, laid the foundation for a strong future. We're talking, of course, about the Washington Nationals. Maybe you're one of those Baltimore fans who harbors a weird hatred of D.C. I'm not. I loved watching...
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Josh Land

Ted Leavengood: Playing for pride

Ted Leavengood: Playing for pride
Stephen Strasburg's complete-game shutout on Sunday was an exclamation point at the end of a weekend statement that the Nationals have found their sense of pride. It was the best game of Strasburg's young career. He has said many times that he wants to go deeper into seasons, deeper into games and it doesn't get much deeper than a complete-game shutout. Coming at the end of the weekend sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies, it emphasized Davey Johnson's assertion that the team needed to play...
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