The Nationals’ just-completed West Coast trip simultaneously featured some of their best performances of the season and some of their worst.

There were back-to-back deep starts in Colorado by Erick Fedde and Patrick Corbin, the latter authoring the team’s first complete game of the year. There were offensive explosions in San Francisco, Colorado and Anaheim, with the team scoring seven or more runs in five of the nine games played. And there was at times dominant relief work from several members of a suddenly thinner bullpen.

On the flip side, there was a continued lack of power from a lineup that has totaled only 20 homers in 30 games this season. There were periods of atrocious defense. And, of course, there was Tanner Rainey’s blown save in the bottom of the ninth Sunday in Anaheim.

The end result of all that: a 4-5 trip that represented clear progress from where this team resided just before it, yet still felt short of what truly was possible.

“It would be a great road trip,” Davey Martinez said prior to Sunday’s finale against the Angels. “We’re playing a lot better than we have in the beginning. And we have an opportunity to win another series today.”

With the Nationals off on Monday as they return home from a three-city West Coast road trip, let’s wrap up our three-piece minor league miniseries from last week’s conversation with Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser on the “MASN All Access Podcast.”

We already discussed Luis García’s hot start at Triple-A Rochester and Cade Cavalli’s potential to impact the major league level later this season.

Further down the farm system, Brady House is putting together an impressive start to his first full pro season with low Single-A Fredericksburg. On a tear over the first 21 games of the season, the No. 2 prospect in the Nats system is hitting .326 with five doubles, two homers, 24 RBIs and 10 walks.

We knew he had the potential for a lot of power, as he was touted as the best hitting high school prospect in the 2021 draft. But last year’s first-round pick has flashed the ability to hit for average and get on base as well.

“He's been incredibly impressive,” Glaser said of House. “I highlighted him in spring training as a prospect scouts were very, very high on. There was never any doubt about his power. He had some of the best power in his draft class. There were just some questions about how much contact he would make. And that's the case for a lot of high school draftees. It's a huge jump going from high school to professional baseball. But he's answered them pretty loudly. And now you really don't find any doubts about his bat whatsoever.” 

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Many years ago, earlier in his career, Nelson Cruz learned a valuable lesson about dealing with a slump at the plate.

“I used to have a coach who said if you don’t hit, you better play defense,” Cruz said.

He immediately laughed, recognizing the folly of that philosophy for a full-time designated hitter.

“So, if I don’t hit,” Cruz continued, “I better do something good.”

These days, that means doing good for others on the roster. Cruz may not be producing much as the Nationals’ DH – he ended the weekend batting a paltry .157 with three homers, 14 RBIs and a .495 OPS – but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still making a difference for others.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – On paper, the heart of the Angels batting order looks as intimidating as any in baseball. Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon are as accomplished a 2-3-4 trio as you’ll find in the sport, and even if they haven't been collectively performing up to their usual standards this season, there’s no denying the presence each has when he steps into the box.

For 26 innings this weekend, the Nationals pitching staff did just about everything it could to hold that fearsome trio in check.

They just couldn't do it in the 27th inning.

Needing one more out to complete a Sunday afternoon win and a series victory, Tanner Rainey gave up a game-tying double to Ohtani, then the game-winning single to Rendon that handed the Nats a gut-wrenching, 5-4 loss.

"I thought we did well pitching to those guys all series," manager Davey Martinez said inside a quiet visitors' clubhouse. "You’re playing with fire when those guys come up in the middle of that order, and you saw what they can do really quick.”

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross will take another key step in their return from injury this week when they pitch in a simulated game at the Nationals’ spring training complex, one of their final tune-ups before both right-handers are likely to be cleared to begin rehab assignments for minor league affiliates.

Strasburg and Ross each threw live batting practice twice last week, so this is the next step in their program. Each will now pitch two simulated innings to teammates in West Palm Beach, Fla., beginning the process of building up their arms.

“They’re both going to pitch two innings and we’re going to progress them,” manager Davey Martinez said prior to the Nats’ series finale against the Angels. “And if this goes well, they’ll get on a five-day rotation and we’ll start building them up.”

Strasburg, recovering from last summer’s thoracic outlet surgery, has been tracking to make his season debut sometime in June, if there are no more setbacks along the way. Ross, who had arthroscopic surgery in early March to remove a bone spur from his elbow, has been on a rehab schedule similar to the one his fellow right-hander has been on, and thus could be about a month away from making his season debut as well.

The progression for both Strasburg and Ross now would include a build-up of their workloads in these simulated games while still in Florida. If all goes well, they would then prepare to join a minor league affiliate to begin a rehab assignment, the final step in the rehab process.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – It’s been a long, strange trip for the Nationals. They headed west mired on an eight-game losing streak, then won two of three in San Francisco with a surprising offensive explosion, then lost two of three in Colorado, then split the first two games of this series with the Angels. What that means: Today is the rubber game, not only of the series but of the entire trip. Given what they’ve been through, a 5-4 record would be quite an achievement, no?

The Nats have put themselves in this position thanks in large part to a resurgent rotation that has performed far better of late than it did earlier in the season. Their starters have allowed three or fewer earned runs in six of the eight games to date on the trip. And they’ve averaged nearly 5 2/3 innings per start, a significant improvement from April.

Erick Fedde is among those most responsible for that change in directions, having tossed seven innings of one-run ball at Coors Field in his last start, arguably the best of his career. The Nats will be asking for more of that from Fedde today against a really good Angels lineup, though one that has mostly been held in check so far this weekend.

The Nats lineup also has enjoyed a strong trip, producing an average of 6.8 runs and 12.1 hits per game, batting a collective .330/.384/.497 out west. That group will try to do it one more time this afternoon against Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval, who has been outstanding early this season (1.29 ERA, zero homers allowed in 21 innings).

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there watching and reading, and especially to the most important moms in my life: Lois Zuckerman and Rachel Zuckerman!

ANAHEIM, Calif. – To beat the Angels tonight, the Nationals simply needed to get home runs from Josh Bell, Yadiel Hernandez and Nelson Cruz, two clutch hits from Maikel Franco, 5 1/3 solid innings from Josiah Gray and effective work from a bullpen that turned to none other than Erasmo Ramirez for the most high-leverage situation of the game.

Hey, whatever works, right?

This 7-3 victory on a lovely Saturday evening in Orange County may not have gone by the book. But at this point, the Nationals can’t afford to stick to a book that at times during the season’s first month hasn’t worked.

Contributions can come in a variety of ways, from a variety of players. On this night, that included a much-needed power display from the slumping Cruz and two big innings of relief from a guy who spent the season’s first two weeks at Triple-A Rochester and until now had only pitched with the Nats trailing, except for one appearance with them leading by eight runs.

That would be Ramirez, the 32-year-old journeyman reliever who was entrusted with the seventh and eighth innings tonight, stared down the heart of the Angels’ imposing lineup and lived to tell about it. The right-hander got into a two-out jam in the seventh when he surrendered back-to-back singles to Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, but he proceeded to get Anthony Rendon to fly out to left on the next pitch, leaving the former Nationals star third baseman 0-for-8 in the series.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Dee Strange-Gordon made the Nationals’ opening day roster because of his ability to get on base, his ability to wreak havoc once he’s on base and his ability to play a multitude of positions.

Tonight, Strange-Gordon is needed most at a new position. With struggling starter Alcides Escobar sitting on the bench, he finds himself in the lineup and at shortstop for the first time this season.

“I wanted to get him in there,” manager Davey Martinez said. “It’s been a good matchup for him. He’s been taking a lot of ground balls. On his rehab assignment, we had him play shortstop and he looked good. So I wanted to get him out there today.”

Strange-Gordon hasn’t played shortstop yet for the Nationals, but as Martinez noted, he did make several appearances there during his rehab stint with Triple-A Rochester while recovering from the undisclosed illness that left him on the injury list for 2 1/2 weeks.

The 34-year-old does have considerable experience at shortstop during his career, having first come up with the Dodgers at that position before shifting to second base and more recently learning his trade in the outfield.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – What happened to the Nationals’ lineup? A group that averaged 7.8 runs on 13.8 hits through the first six games of this road trip was shut out on four hits Friday night by Angels rookie Jhonathan Diaz and four relievers. They had a couple good scoring chances early, then practically nothing of consequence late.

They’ll need a more consistent approach and some results tonight against Angels right-hander Michael Lorenzen, who nearly tossed a complete game in his last start, holding the White Sox to three runs over 8 1/3 innings. There aren’t many Nationals hitters with consequential experience against Lorenzen. Josh Bell is 7-for-21 with a homer, and Dee Strange-Gordon is 5-for-10 in his career. Otherwise, nobody has more than five plate appearances against Lorenzen.

Josiah Gray faces one of the toughest tests of his young career tonight in the Angels’ formidable lineup. We saw Joan Adon shine at times Friday night, despite a couple of costly mistakes. Gray’s challenge tonight will be to get ahead in the count with his fastball, put away hitters with his breaking balls and avoid giving up the longball that has often been his Achilles heel in the big leagues.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES ANGELS
Where: Angel Stadium
Gametime: 9:07 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 69 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

NATIONALS

We’re continuing our miniseries of minor league entries from this week’s conversation with Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser on the “MASN All Access Podcast.”

In the first edition, we looked at Luis García’s hot start to the season at Triple-A Rochester while wondering when he’ll get the call back to the majors and what’s holding him back now.

Along with García in Rochester is the Nationals’ top prospect in Cade Cavalli. After flying up the ranks in his first professional season last year, the former first-round pick is now trying to find sustained success at the highest level of the minor leagues before making his highly anticipated major league debut later this summer.

Cavalli is 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA in 22 innings over five starts with the Red Wings. He has held opponents to a .259 average while striking out 19 and walking 11.

“He has some of the best pure stuff in the minors,” Glaser said of Cavalli. “It's explosive, explosive stuff all the way around. The one thing that has kind of been the issue dating back to his days in college was despite how his stuff read on a radar gun, it was always a little more hittable than you expected. And we're seeing that now at Triple-A against some of the top-level talent in the minors. He struggled there last year, he's actually struggling there so far this year as well. The strikeout-to-walk ratio is not great.”

ANAHEIM, Calif. – There are going to be nights during this Nationals season when the end result is going to cause immense frustration but the ultimate takeaway is going to be decidedly encouraging.

Such is life for a rebuilding ballclub, with individual performances at times carrying more weight than the final score. That may be a tough pill for some to swallow, but get used to it, because there were will more nights like this.

Nobody wants to get excited about a 3-0 loss to the Angels in which the lineup squandered some early scoring opportunities and then went mostly silent the rest of the evening. But take a deep breath and ask yourself what the most important development of the day was for the Nationals, and your answer will include the name Joan Adon.

"A lineup like they have, which is obviously a very great lineup, it gives me the excitement to try to prove myself," the 23-year-old said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "It's such a great lineup, and if I can hold my own out there and do what I need to do, I can show people that I belong up here."

Though he was charged with the loss, having allowed three runs over five innings, Adon went toe-to-toe with the Angels’ star-laden lineup and more than held his own. The rookie right-hander certainly won over a few more supporters in the visitors’ dugout. He might’ve even impressed a few guys on the home side.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The question was kind of a set-up. Anyone who knows Anthony Rendon knew how he’d answer when asked if he’d be sentimental at all playing against the Nationals this weekend.

“No,” the Angels third baseman said with a smirk. “I mean, maybe if it was back in D.C. Then it would probably be a little different, with the fans and whatnot and being familiar with that surrounding. But here, not so much.”

Two and a half years since he last wore a Nats uniform, you’ll be relieved to know Rendon hasn’t changed at all. Well, that’s not entirely true. Now a 31-year-old father of four, not to mention recipient of a seven-year, $245 million contract, he admits he’s a more mature person and recognizes he needs to be a clubhouse leader for the first time in his career.

But deep down, he’s still the same Tony Two Bags who was drafted by the Nationals in 2011, made his major league debut two years later and then over the course of seven seasons established himself as one of the best all-around players in baseball, not to mention one of the most important contributors to the franchise’s first World Series title.

Rendon, believe it not, is already in his third season in Anaheim, and 2019 can feel like a lifetime ago. Especially when he looks across the field tonight and sees Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Patrick Corbin, Tanner Rainey and … well, nobody else who played alongside him in the World Series.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Hello from the Happiest Place on Earth. Or, more technically, right down the street from the Happiest Place on Earth. The Nationals are here facing the Angels for the first time since July 2017, a series that featured the club debuts of Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson following their acquisitions from the Athletics.

During that series, a Nationals third baseman named Anthony Rendon hit a home run. Tonight, Rendon will be facing the organization that drafted him for the first time as a member of the Angels. It’s hard to believe this is already Rendon’s third year in Anaheim, and the Nats roster he’ll see across the way tonight doesn’t include a whole lot of faces he’ll be familiar with. Nonetheless, it’ll be strange to see him going up against them as a member of a very potent Angels lineup.

It’s a sizeable challenge for rookie Joan Adon, who struggled his last time out in San Francisco, giving up four runs on four hits, three walks and two hit batters in four-plus innings. Adon will have to find a way to keep the ball in the zone tonight and avoid the big innings that have plagued him over the last month.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES ANGELS
Where: Angel Stadium
Gametime: 9:38 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 70 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
2B César Hernández
RF Juan Soto
1B Josh Bell
DH Nelson Cruz
3B Maikel Franco
LF Lane Thomas
C Keibert Ruiz
CF Victor Robles
SS Alcides Escobar

As the Nationals wrap up their West Coast road trip by starting a three-game series tonight in Anaheim, we took a look at some of the headlines back east on the farm system on the “MASN All Access Podcast.”

Kyle Glaser, a national writer for Baseball America covering the top prospects in the country, joined Amy Jennings and me on the show to discuss some of the top names on the Nationals farm.

We started with the big question surrounding the Nats, which was also the main focus of the episode: When will Luis García get the call back to the majors?

García, a graduated former top prospect, is raking at Triple-A Rochester, while Nationals shortstops have floundered at the big league level.

The 21-year-old infielder is slashing .351/.406/.649 with a 1.055 OPS, five doubles, three triples, six home runs, 16 RBIs and nine walks in 23 games with the Red Wings. He went 2-for-4 with a triple and a home run while scoring both runs of a 2-0 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees) last night.

DENVER – Josh Rogers is the only left-hander in the Nationals bullpen right now, a product of Sean Doolittle’s elbow injury and the inconsistent performances of Sam Clay and Francisco Pérez, which resulted in the recent demotion of both relievers to Triple-A Rochester.

Rogers is pitching out of the bullpen for the first time in his career, having been moved out of the rotation because of his struggles there. So all this is new for the 27-year-old.

If there’s one thing the Nats want from Rogers in this role, though, it’s for him to consistently get left-handed batters out. And in that regard, he’s been excellent. Lefties are a measly 1-for-21 against him this season, equating to a miniscule .048 batting average.

Rogers is not, however, the old-fashioned left-handed relief specialist from days of yore. With all relievers now required to face three batters (or finish an inning), he has no choice but to square off with some right-handed batters as well. And the results have not been pretty: Righties are batting a robust .327 (16-for-49) off him.

Three of those 16 hits have been home runs, including the killer, three-run shot Brendan Rodgers produced at a critical moment during Thursday’s 9-7 loss to the Rockies.

DENVER – For 48 hours, the Nationals experienced Coors Field like they’d never experienced it before. Quality pitching. Quick games. No late-inning drama. Nothing about the first two games of their series against the Rockies felt typical for this unique baseball setting.

Ah, but you can’t leave the Mile High City without experiencing the true Coors Field at least once. And sure enough, today’s sun-splashed series finale provided a far more typical affair.

It took 3 hours, 25 minutes to play 8 1/2 innings. It featured five combined homers. And it ended in a 9-7 loss to the Rockies that was defined both by the Nationals’ inability to keep the ball in the yard and their inability to do the little things right.

"Two costly mistakes," manager Davey Martinez lamented.

Those two mistakes each resulted in a three-run homer, with Garrett Hampson taking starter Aaron Sanchez deep to left in the second and Brendan Rodgers taking reliever Josh Rogers deep to center in the fifth.

DENVER – Nelson Cruz is out of the Nationals lineup for the second straight day, though manager Davey Martinez said the 41-year-old designated hitter’s lower back is feeling better.

Cruz hasn’t played since Lane Thomas pinch-hit for him in the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s series opener against the Rockies, hampered by lower back stiffness. He sat out Wednesday night’s game, only the second time he hasn’t been in the lineup this season.

Martinez said Cruz suggested he could have started today’s series finale, but the manager didn’t want to take a chance of him needing to depart early again, given the fact he only has three players on his bench at the moment.

“We’re at the point now where if we utilize him as a pinch-hitter, as far as just getting him out there, it’s great,” Martinez said. “I don’t want him to stiffen up during the game. So we thought we’d give him another day. For me, especially with our bench only being a couple guys, if we can use him later in the game, instead of putting him in and something happens … hopefully he’ll be in there tomorrow.”

Cruz has been mired in a season-long slump, entering the day with a .143 batting average and .442 OPS (both second-worst among qualified National League hitters).

DENVER – After a cold, rainy Wednesday night here at Coors Field, it’s a beautiful Thursday afternoon for the series finale between the Nationals and Rockies. The Nats have a chance to win their second straight road series, which would be no small feat under the circumstances.

They’ll hope to get the bats going again after getting shut down by left-hander Austin Gomber on Wednesday. Today they face right-hander Antonio Senzatela, who has only a bit of experience against Nationals hitters during his career. César Hernández (3-for-9, double), Josh Bell (3-for-5, double, two walks) and Maikel Franco (2-for-5, triple) have enjoyed the most success against Senzatela.

Aaron Sanchez, meanwhile, makes his third start since joining the Nats rotation. The 29-year-old right-hander faced the Giants each of his previous outings, losing to them once and then beating them in the follow-up game. Today he faces a Rockies lineup that really hasn’t done much so far this series, scoring five of its seven total runs in the bottom of the fourth Tuesday night, an inning that would’ve ended with a zero on the scoreboard if not for Alcides Escobar’s error on a tailor-made double play grounder.

Friendly reminder: Today’s game is available only on YouTube. It’s free and requires no login, only a computer, tablet, phone or smart TV of your choice. Here’s the link to watch it.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 3:10 p.m. EDT
TV: YouTube
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 62 degrees, wind 8 mph in from center field

DENVER – There may be no more tried-and-true axiom in baseball than the one that stipulates a team’s No. 2 catcher will almost always start a day game after a night game. Managers don’t want to run their starting catchers into the ground, so they summon their backups to work anytime there’s a quick turnaround from one game to the next.

And for the better part of the season’s first month, that’s exactly how Davey Martinez has used Riley Adams. Five of Adams’ first seven starts behind the plate came in day games that followed night games. The lone exceptions: April 9 (a Saturday night game) against the Mets and April 19 (the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Diamondbacks).

Then on Wednesday night came a new twist: Adams started a night game following another night game, in advance of a day game. Why? Because Patrick Corbin was pitching, and right now it seems that will dictate Adams’ playing schedule more than anything else.

“They work well together,” manager Davey Martinez said prior to Wednesday’s game. “Patrick feels comfortable throwing to him, and he’s actually done well catching him. So another good opportunity for them to work together. And if it does work out well, we may have to leave him catching Corbin, if Corbin feels comfortable throwing to him, which I know he does. We’ll see how that plays out, but I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

After Corbin went eight innings allowing three earned runs and throwing only 94 pitches Wednesday night against the Rockies, Martinez may have no choice but to keep pairing up the two batterymates.

DENVER – You can’t assume the double play. It’s a time-honored baseball fact, meant mostly as guidance for official scoring but having worked its way into the sport’s lexicon.

So under that longstanding principle, Patrick Corbin was responsible for three of the five runs he surrendered tonight during the Nationals’ 5-2 loss to the Rockies.

If we’re using common sense, of course, we’d point out Corbin wouldn’t have been charged with any runs if Alcides Escobar hadn’t booted what sure looked like a 6-4-3 double play off the bat in the bottom of the fourth.

If Escobar makes that play, the inning is over with nary a run crossing the plate. But because he didn’t, a chain of events was set into motion that culminated with five Colorado runners scoring. Those would prove to be the only five runs the Nats would allow on this cold, rainy night. But they were enough to produce a loss, an odd one at that, given the fact their starter actually tossed the team’s first complete game of the season.

"We’ve got to catch the ball. We’ve got to catch the ball," an animated Davey Martinez said afterward. "And we didn’t do that today. It’s upsetting because of what Patrick did. ... The story today should be about Patrick. For me, he’s back. If he continues to do that, he’s going to help us win a lot of games. He was lights out today.”