Lobaton shakes off ankle injury, but Severino making a case

Lobaton shakes off ankle injury, but Severino making a case
When he was trying to shake off the pitch that caught him square on the left ankle in the bottom of the second inning Thursday night, Jose Lobaton was asked by Nationals director of athletic training Paul Lessard if he could walk. In that moment, Lobaton honestly couldn't, so he told Lessard he needed to come out of the game. That justifiably had the Nationals concerned about the long-term health of their No. 2 catcher, but those fears were alleviated when X-rays on Lobaton's ankle came back...
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Game 147 lineups: Nats vs. Dodgers

Game 147 lineups: Nats vs. Dodgers
The Nationals haven't played any truly meaningful pennant-race games in mid-to-late September in any of the last six seasons. They've always either clinched the division or been too far back to have a realistic chance, leaving these last two weeks of the regular season to relatively meaningless ball. This weekend, then, provides the closest thing we may experience to exciting pennant-race baseball. The Dodgers are in town, and so this is a showdown between the National League's top two...
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Not a lot at stake, but Nats' series vs. Dodgers will draw attention

Not a lot at stake, but Nats' series vs. Dodgers will draw attention
It's been looming on the schedule for months, a late-season clash between the teams that have held the National League's top two records nearly the entire year. But when the Nationals and Dodgers open their weekend series tonight, there won't be as much on the line as there might have been not long ago. The combination of the Nationals' recent surge and the Dodgers' recent slide came together to take some juice away from this series. The Nats, of course, already clinched the NL East title...
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Nationals ride rookies, Roark to 5-2 win over Braves (updated)

Nationals ride rookies, Roark to 5-2 win over Braves (updated)
In an effort to give many of his regulars a well-deserved breather, Dusty Baker has fielded several lineups recently featuring more rookies and backups than veterans and starters. Not that it has hurt his team's chances of winning. Quite the contrary. Tonight's "B" lineup was plenty effective at the plate against the Braves, and with Tanner Roark tossing another quality start before handing the game over to his bullpen, the Nationals earned a comfortable 5-2 victory to avoid a series sweep...
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Harper ramps up rehab, runs around warning track

Harper ramps up rehab, runs around warning track
Bryce Harper sightings on the field at Nationals Park these days generate the kind of attention usually reserved in this town for a baby panda at the National Zoo. You never know for sure when they're going to happen, and when they do everybody scrambles for their phones to take photos and video of this rare event. So it was this afternoon when Harper emerged in the right field corner during Nationals batting practice, alongside Harvey Sharman, the club's director of medical services. The...
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Game 146 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 146 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
The Nationals tonight are trying to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Braves, not to mention falling to 7-9 overall against them this season. All of that would be a surprise, given the respective state of clubs, but it does show you that Atlanta is making some strides in its rebuild and the Nats (for whatever reason) haven't enjoyed as much success against these guys as other division foes. It'll be Tanner Roark's job to pitch well enough to help change that downward trend. Roark has been...
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Stacking up the NL Cy Young Award contenders

Stacking up the NL Cy Young Award contenders
Max Scherzer and Dusty Baker have offered up their explanation for what happened in the seventh inning Wednesday night at Nationals Park. Whether you want to accept their explanation for pushing Scherzer to 116 pitches, even though it might have cost the Nationals the game and may have extended their ace too far, is up to you. We're not going to debate that again here this morning. The purpose of this post is to examine how that decision may impact Scherzer's chances of winning his second...
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Why the Nats let Scherzer throw 116 pitches in a September loss

Why the Nats let Scherzer throw 116 pitches in a September loss
It's easy to look at the final three weeks of the regular season, with a division title already wrapped up and a heavy emphasis on ensuring everyone's healthy for the postseason, as a meaningless string of games for the Nationals. Max Scherzer vehemently disagrees with that notion. And tonight's game, which ended as an ugly 8-2 loss to the Braves, provided evidence of his point of view. Not in spite of the fact he threw 116 pitches, the last 19 of them after he easily could have been pulled...
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Disastrous seventh inning sends Nats to 8-2 loss to Braves

Disastrous seventh inning sends Nats to 8-2 loss to Braves
Dusty Baker has left Max Scherzer on the mound deep into games more than once this season, justifying his decisions based on the fact the league's reigning Cy Young Award winner is better than anyone he could summon from his bullpen. Earlier this year, given the state of the Nationals' relief corps, it was a defensible decision. And during a pennant race, there's logic to the move. But with the Nats having already wrapped up a division title and now just trying to keep everyone healthy...
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Harper begins running, taking light swings; Werth returns

Harper begins running, taking light swings; Werth returns
Bryce Harper has taken a few more small but important steps in his return from a significant knee and calf injury, offering a more encouraging outlook for his chances to return to the Nationals in time for the postseason. Harper has begun light hitting and running drills, according to manager Dusty Baker, adding to his earlier throwing sessions as his first attempts at baseball activities since he injured himself Aug. 12 trying to beat out a groundball to first base. "He's hit some off the...
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Game 145 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 145 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
Last night was a stinker, plain and simple, for the Nationals. They looked pretty lifeless during an 8-0 loss to the Braves. Afterward, they all insisted there was nothing to read into it, it was just a bad game and not a reflection of a team suffering from a letdown after Sunday's clincher. We'll find out tonight if that's true, or if it really is tough to get yourself hyped up again when you've already clinched and still have three weeks of the regular season to go. It doesn't hurt to...
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Five Nats who still have something to prove before October

Five Nats who still have something to prove before October
There are team-oriented objectives for the Nationals over the season's final three weeks, but there also are individually oriented objectives that will help determine how this team looks once it reaches the postseason. With that in mind, let's take a look at five players for whom this final stretch carries some extra weight, even with the Nationals having already clinched the division crown... WILMER DIFO The dynamic infielder is going to make the postseason roster; he has earned that spot...
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In post-clinch daze, Nationals lay an egg vs. Braves

In post-clinch daze, Nationals lay an egg vs. Braves
The Nationals sent their regulars out to face the Braves tonight, hoping they'd still play with the same edge they displayed over the weekend while locking up another division title. They wound up getting one of their worst clunkers of the season. With Gio Gonzalez laboring and that lineup of regulars flailing away against Julio Teheran, the Nationals were trounced 8-0 in the first of 19 games left on the schedule before the postseason. Technically speaking, the Nats don't need to put forth...
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Nats will keep foot on gas pedal for final three weeks

Nats will keep foot on gas pedal for final three weeks
And on the day after, Dusty Baker played his regulars. Though their latest division title has already been secured, the Nationals don't appear to taking their foot off the gas pedal anytime soon. Baker's lineup for tonight's series opener against the Braves - all the currently active regulars are starting except for Jayson Werth, who is dealing with a sore left shoulder - is evidence of that, as are the manager's answers when asked how he plans to handle the final three weeks of the regular...
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Game 143 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 143 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
And now ... it's time to play out the string. Or possibly not. The Nationals take the field tonight for the first time as 2017 National League East champs, so technically nothing is at stake. Except for those wacky Dodgers, who have lost 11 in a row and now only lead the Nats by 3 1/2 games for the best record in the league. Which means there may be more at stake over these final 19 games than anyone expected. Up first, it's tonight's opener of a three-game series against the Braves, who did...
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Nationals open 2018 in Cincinnati, host Yankees and Red Sox

Nationals open 2018 in Cincinnati, host Yankees and Red Sox
The Nationals will open the 2018 season earlier than usual, on a different day of the week than usual and in a venue they've never opened at before. Major League Baseball announced next year's schedule this afternoon, and it features the Nationals opening March 29 in Cincinnati. That opener, on a Thursday, comes as MLB moves opening day up four days across the league, a wrinkle in the new collective bargaining agreement with players to provide for more off-days over the course of the season,...
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Tuesday morning Nats Q&A

Tuesday morning Nats Q&A
So, anything interesting happen this weekend? I have to admit, I was not looking forward to waiting out the end of the Braves-Marlins game Sunday afternoon, along with the Nationals and a few thousand fans, thinking it was either going to result in an anti-climactic division clinch or a bunch of wasted time with the magic number staying stuck on one. I was wrong, though, because the scene at Nationals Park when Lane Adams hit his walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th at SunTrust Park was one...
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Fourth division title in six years was no small achievement

Fourth division title in six years was no small achievement
Because they have done this four times now in the last six years - and because each of the three previous times was followed by a first-round playoff exit - there's a tendency to downplay the significance of what the Nationals have accomplished. Yes, everybody hangs banners to commemorate division titles. But who really remembers or celebrates those in the long term? It's October success that makes real memories, and until the Nationals enjoy that they will feel like they have accomplished...
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Long, strange wait doesn't dampen Nats' latest celebration

Long, strange wait doesn't dampen Nats' latest celebration
The Nationals have this division-title thing down pat at this point, having now done it four times in six years. What they have not yet perfected is the art of clinching a division title on the field in front of their home fans. The 2012 National League East crown was achieved when the Braves lost in Pittsburgh while the Nats played the top of the ninth against the Phillies. The 2014 NL East was wrapped up with a win on the road in Atlanta. The 2016 NL East title wasn't official until the Mets...
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Strasburg's latest gem, Braves' dramatic win make Nats champs

Strasburg's latest gem, Braves' dramatic win make Nats champs
The Nationals clinched their fourth division title in six years late this afternoon, and all it took was Stephen Strasburg extending his scoreless innings streak to 34, a lineup of rookies and second-stringers pulling off a 3-2 win over the Phillies and the Braves rallying with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the Marlins and ultimately win in the 11th as several thousand fans celebrated 641 miles away on South Capitol Street. Suffice it to say, this wasn't your typical clinch. But...
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