Rendon, Strasburg, Doolittle are award winners (Nats up 7-2)

Anthony Rendon's brilliant season might not quite be enough to earn the National League MVP award, but it was plenty good to be honored as the Nationals' best player of 2019.

Rendon was named the Nationals' Player of the Year, one of three end-of-season award winners revealed before tonight's game against the Indians. Rendon joins Stephen Strasburg (Pitcher of the Year) and Sean Doolittle (Good Guy Award) as this season's honorees, selected by local media members.

Rendon was a no-brainer choice for Player of the Year. The veteran third baseman enters tonight's game batting .321 with 34 homers, 43 doubles and a major-league-high 124 RBIs while also continuing to excel in the field.

Selected as an All-Star for the first time this summer, Rendon has turned things up a notch during the second half of the season, hitting .340 with 14 homers, 62 RBIs and a 1.028 OPS since the mid-July break.

This is the second time Rendon has been named Player of the Year in the four years since the award debuted. The winner of the 2017 award, the free-agent-to-be followed Daniel Murphy (2016) and preceded Bryce Harper (2018) for the honor.

Strasburg, meanwhile, earns his first Pitcher of the Year award, an honor that went to Max Scherzer each of the last three seasons. The 31-year-old right-hander was selected for a consistently effective campaign that included an 18-6 record, 3.32 ERA and a career-high 251 strikeouts across a league-leading 209 innings pitched.

Though Scherzer bested his rotation mate in ERA (2.92), WHIP (1.027 to 1.038) and strikeouts per nine innings (12.7 to 10.8), the three-time Cy Young Award winner's reduced workload (only 27 starts) due to a lingering back strain this summer left him a notch below Strasburg in voting.

Doolittle wins his second consecutive Good Guy Award, given to players for "always-professional dealings with members of the media, and for representing the Nationals organization with class both on and off the field." Ryan Zimmerman won the first two Good Guy Awards in 2016-17.

In addition to his consistent willingness to offer thoughtful answers to reporters even as he was dealing with midseason struggles, Doolittle was recognized for his extensive community work away from the ballpark, including the military and LGBTQ community.

Update: The Nationals jumped out to a 2-0 lead tonight, thanks to a clutch hit from a guy who sure needed one. Gerardo Parra, who had been mired in a 3-for-51 slump, ripped a two-out, two-run double to right-center in the bottom of the second, his first RBIs since Aug. 12. That gave the Nats the lead, but Austin Voth gave both runs right back in the top of the third via a pair of hits from Greg Allen and Ryan Flaherty and a couple of sacrifices by Zach Plesac and Francisco Lindor. Voth has otherwise looked sharp, keeping this a 2-2 game after four innings.

Update II: The Nats broke it open in the bottom of the sixth, scoring five runs to take a 7-2 lead. They did thanks to a pair of huge two-out hits. Asdrúbal Cabrera, sent up to pinch-hit for Voth, drilled a two-run double to right, giving him 39 RBIs in 37 games since joining the team. Trea Turner then sent a laser into the left field bleachers for his 19th homer of the season. Just like that, it's 7-2, and the Nats will turn to their bulpen after Voth went six strong innings, allowing only two runs on two hits (both in the third).