Max Scherzer would've liked the outcome to be better. He would've liked to last more than five innings. He would've liked to give up fewer than three runs. He would've liked to not be pulled after only 86 pitches.
But all of that from Thursday's start was secondary in Scherzer's mind to the more pressing takeaway: He felt healthy for the first time in three weeks. And as long as he still feels healthy when he gets up today and heads to Nationals Park to play catch, he'll be satisfied...
After getting an abbreviated start from Max Scherzer, yet another clutch hit from Gerardo Parra, a tack-on homer from Matt Adams and six outs from Tanner Rainey, Tony Sipp and Wander Suero, Davey Martinez reached the top of the ninth this evening with the Nationals holding a one-run lead over the Rockies. But now the second-year manager had to answer the most pressing question of the day: Who was going to pitch the ninth?
This isn't a difficult question the vast majority of the time. Sean...
Growing up a baseball fan in Northern Virginia in the '90s, Ali Krieger was an Orioles fan. Given the fact there was no major league team in Washington at the time - not to mention the quirky fact her aunt grew up with and actually dated Cal Ripken Jr. way back when - this was understandable.
Once baseball returned to town in 2005, Krieger was all-in on the Nationals. And that still holds true today, even as the soccer star travels the world winning World Cups and returns home now to Orlando,...
The Nationals' fifth-starter carousel is going to be without one of its members for a while.
Austin Voth, who was beginning to establish himself as a viable back-of-the-rotation option for manager Davey Martinez before landing on the injured list earlier this week, has been diagnosed with shoulder tendinitis and has been shut down from throwing.
Voth was tentatively scheduled to start last Sunday in Atlanta, taking over with Max Scherzer not yet ready to return from his own injury. But the...
The last time Max Scherzer was on the mound for the Nationals, he was wearing an Expos uniform. And he was on fire. With seven scoreless innings of 11-strikeout ball against the Royals, Scherzer had capped off a brilliant seven-start stretch that included a 7-0 record, 0.87 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and 79-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Scherzer, of course, hasn't pitched since then because of a back injury, finally diagnosed as an inflamed bursa sac underneath his right shoulder blade. He's back at last...
When the Nationals hit their low point back on May 24, more than a few publications wrote off their chances of winning in 2019. Why, a certain longtime beat writer declared it would be "nearly impossible to turn the entire season around."
Ha ha ha. What a moron.
Guess what the Nationals proceeded to do. They turned their entire season around.
There's still a long way to go, and they haven't clinched anything yet. But what the Nats have done just to this point to get back into the thick of...
The stands were mostly empty, the prospect of a long day and night of baseball was looming and the Nationals and Rockies had to conjure up the energy to get through today's doubleheader opener on their own.
That made for what at times was a sleepy afternoon of baseball on South Capitol Street. In the end, the Nationals managed to engage themselves just enough at the right moments to walk away with a 3-2 victory and give themselves an opportunity to sweep the doubleheader when Patrick Corbin...
Matt Adams has been in this position before. It happened last year. It happened earlier this year.
Adams has known throughout his tenure with the Nationals that his playing time would be limited when Ryan Zimmerman was healthy. But he's also known he would need to step in and become a regular if and when Zimmerman suffered injury, an all-too-frequent occurrence in recent years.
So when Zimmerman went down Sunday night with a recurrence of the plantar fasciitis that sidelined him two months...
After a thrilling Tuesday night at the ballpark - thrilling, at least, once Trea Turner completed his second career cycle in the bottom of the seventh - the Nationals are right back at the park this morning for what promises to be a long day and night of baseball. Monday's rainout - did it ever actually rain during the evening hours? - forced them to schedule a day-night doubleheader today.
The good news: The Nats were able to avoid burning up their bullpen during an 11-1 win over the Rockies....
The first time he did it - on a frigid, 43-degree Denver night in April 2017 - Trea Turner's accomplishment could perhaps be chalked up in part to the conditions. Yes, he hit for the cycle, but he did it at Coors Field, where nine different major leaguers have done it in the ballpark's 25-year history.
"For me, it's hard to get that triple," he said. "And at Coors Field, it's a little bit easier."
This time, however, Turner did it on a comfortable, 77-degree July evening at Nationals...
Barring any setbacks in the next 48 hours, the Nationals plan to activate Max Scherzer off the injured list for Thursday's series finale against the Rockies, a decision they are admittedly making in part because it would then line him up for several key starts the rest of the season ... including a potential wild card game in October.
Yep, they've extrapolated the schedule out that far, just to make sure. More on that in a moment.
Of more immediate consequence, Scherzer continues to pass...
And we're back. The Nationals got an unexpected (but probably needed) night off with Monday's postponement (rain optional) so now they're rested and refreshed for tonight's delayed start of a four-game series with the Rockies. They better have caught up on their sleep, though, because they've now got to play four games in the span of about 51 hours.
It begins tonight with Stephen Strasburg (tonight's originally scheduled starter for the Nationals) against Peter Lambert (Monday's...
ATLANTA - As he tries to navigate his way through these final days before the July 31 trade deadline, Mike Rizzo has to cope with the following realties:
* The Nationals need bullpen help.
* Their list of desirable prospects isn't nearly as long as it has been in the past.
* They can't afford to take on much more salary without surpassing the league's luxury tax threshold, something the organization is openly saying it won't do.
* Almost every contending team is also in the market for...
ATLANTA - If the streak was going to end, this probably felt like the night it would happen, with the backup to the backup starter on the mound. If a member of the Nationals rotation was going to take a loss for the first time in 28 games, Joe Ross was a good candidate.
And yet tonight's 7-1 loss to the Braves can't really be pinned on Ross, who did all the Nats could have asked of him under the circumstances. He gave them a chance to win.
"He looked good," manager Davey Martinez said. "He...
ATLANTA - Ryan Zimmerman's return from plantar fasciitis appears to have lasted only three weeks.
Zimmerman winced as he ran down the first base line for an infield single in the top of the second inning tonight at SunTrust Park and had to depart the Nationals' series finale against the Braves.
The Nationals didn't immediately announce a reason for Zimmerman's departure, but it appeared he aggravated the same right heel injury that sidelined him from late April through late June.
The...
ATLANTA - The Nationals are preparing for Max Scherzer to return to the rotation Thursday afternoon and start their series finale against the Rockies.
Scherzer, who hasn't pitched since July 6 due to an inflamed bursa sac underneath his right shoulder blade, continues to feel better from a cortisone shot he received earlier in the week. Manager Davey Martinez said the right-hander is scheduled to throw a full bullpen session Monday afternoon at Nationals Park.
"We'll see how that goes,"...
ATLANTA - The Nationals have a chance to take three of four from the Braves with a win in tonight's series finale. They would've loved to have Max Scherzer on the mound for this one, as originally hoped, but that won't happen. They planned to have Austin Voth on the mound, but that won't happen either. The right-hander has been placed on the 10-day injured list with right biceps tendinitis. So it's Plan C, and that's Joe Ross.
It's been a weird season for Ross, to say the least. He's...
ATLANTA - Sean Doolittle, still on something of an emotional high after notching a five-out save Saturday night, was asked about the significance of extending himself beyond his normal workload for this particular game.
"I think just where we're at right now in the season - the standings, against the Braves, especially after losing a tough one last night - I don't know if tonight was necessarily a must-win game, but it was definitely a big win for us," he said. "It was kind of all hands on...
ATLANTA - Davey Martinez wasn't willing to use Sean Doolittle in the ninth inning Friday night. He was willing to use his closer in the eighth inning tonight.
And the Nationals manager was rewarded for his aggressive pitching maneuver with a nip-and-tuck victory that ensures his team will at worst split this weekend's series against the division leaders.
Doolittle, making his first appearance in a week, recorded five outs to preserve the Nationals' 5-3 win over the Braves, a tense affair...
ATLANTA - Austin Voth may not be able to make his start in place of Max Scherzer on Sunday night, but Scherzer's chances of starting later in the week jumped up significantly after the Nationals ace was able to throw off a bullpen mound today for the first time since he went on the injured list.
Since it became clear Scherzer wouldn't be ready to return from his back injury in time to face the Braves this weekend, Voth has appeared to be the logical candidate to start Sunday night's series...