Rendon continues with rehab assignment; Span's knee still sore (game postponed)

Anthony Rendon was back at Nationals Park for a full workout this afternoon after spending the weekend playing for Double-A Harrisburg. Rendon has yet to take the field for the Nationals this season after being sidelined initially with a sprained left MCL and, more recently, a strained left oblique.

The 24-year-old was 1-for-4 with an uncharacteristic three strikeouts while playing seven innings at second base on Friday night. He was able to ramp it up to nine innings at second base on Saturday while going hitless in three at-bats with a walk. Rendon appeared as the designated hitter yesterday, going 1-for-4 with a double.

Nationals manager Matt Williams indicated that Rendon is not quite ready to make his Nationals season debut. Rendon is scheduled to return to Harrisburg on Tuesday to resume his rehab process.

"He still feels like he's a touch off," Williams said. "But he's only had a limited number of at-bats, so the more at-bats he has, he's a fairly quick study in that regard because there aren't a whole lot of moving parts and he's short. It comes quickly for him, but it's important for him to get at-bats and keep going with it and so he'll get more of those in the days to come."

Denard Span is out of the lineup tonight as he continues to receive treatment on his sore right knee, which caused him to leave yesterday's game in the eighth inning.

"He banged it in Chicago," Williams said. "You keep playing on it and if you've got a bruise in there or a little swelling in there, it doesn't allow it to get out so. So, giving him the day will allow that to happen and hopefully he's back in there tomorrow."

Span opened the season on the 15-day disabled list, missing the first 12 games of the season while he recovered from core muscle surgery. Since his return, Span has picked right up where he left off last season when he tied for the National League lead in hits with 184.

Span's .314 batting average is ninth best in the NL, and his five homers in 33 games already match his total for all of last year.

Update: The start of tonight's game has been delayed due to stormy weather in the area.

Update II: Tonight's game has been postponed. It will be made up as part of split doubleheader tomorrow, with Game 1 starting at 1:05 p.m.