Eaton out to prove he's still an elite center fielder

Eaton out to prove he's still an elite center fielder
Ask anyone who has watched the Nationals through the season's first two weeks to name Adam Eaton's biggest contribution to the team, and you'll get a bunch of answers about his offensive performance. The 28-year-old sports a .326 batting average and .946 OPS and has successfully reached base in all 11 games he has started. Ask Eaton what he believes has been most consistent about his game so far, and you'll get an entirely different answer. "You know what? I don't think there's been much...
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Gonzalez discovers uncharted territory: the eighth inning

Gonzalez discovers uncharted territory: the eighth inning
As Gio Gonzalez took the mound late Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park, his pitch count approaching triple digits and only a couple of empty slots remaining on the scoreboard, he couldn't help but recognize the rarity of this situation. "It was the eighth inning," the left-hander said. "I haven't seen one of those in a while." No, he most certainly hadn't. Gonzalez reached the eighth inning only once in the two previous seasons combined, so he truly was in uncharted waters when he...
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Another magic moment for Harper to bail out victorious Nationals

Another magic moment for Harper to bail out victorious Nationals
Jayson Werth looked at Bryce Harper at some point this afternoon, having already seen his teammate hit one home run and deliver another opposite-field single to beat the opposition's shift. Harper, the 2012 National League Rookie of the Year and the 2015 league MVP, entered the day batting .300 and slugging .500, basically having done just about everything he could by age 24 to establish himself as one of the best players in baseball. Werth, though, is not as easily impressed as others. And...
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Harper's walk-off homer brings Nats back for thrilling 6-4 win

Harper's walk-off homer brings Nats back for thrilling 6-4 win
Their bullpen and their defense had conspired to leave them in position to suffer yet another demoralizing loss late. Then Bryce Harper decided to take matters into his own hands and completely flip the script for the Nationals. Harper's three-run homer on a full count with two outs in the bottom of the ninth brought the Nats back from the dead and gave them a 6-4 victory that already stands as their most inspired of the young season. Trailing by a run when the final frame began, the Nationals...
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Turner ready to return but will defer to Nats' medical decision

Turner ready to return but will defer to Nats' medical decision
Trea Turner went through a full round of pregame drills this morning and suggested he's ready to come off the disabled list Wednesday when he's eligible, but acknowledged the Nationals may want to be more cautious in bringing him back from a mild right hamstring injury. Turner ran sprints in the outfield, took full batting practice and fielded grounders at short before today's series finale against the Phillies. That heavy workout left him optimistic he could return to game action as soon as...
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Game 12 lineups: Nats vs. Phillies

Game 12 lineups: Nats vs. Phillies
You wouldn't have thought the Nationals' toughest opponent through the season's first two weeks would end up being the Phillies, but here we are nonetheless. The Nats have lost three of their five head-to-head matchups so far with their rebuilding rivals from a couple hours up the road, including yesterday's disheartening 4-2 defeat via another late home run off a reliever. The Nationals will try to reverse the trend today, looking to at least take this weekend series and even up their...
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Strasburg goes seven again in latest lengthy start

Strasburg goes seven again in latest lengthy start
His 3.00 ERA, his 1.00 WHIP and his 19-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio all suggest Stephen Strasburg has pitched quite well to begin his season. The stat that the Nationals right-hander takes the most pride in after three starts? The 21 innings he has pitched. "Going out there for the seventh inning, every time," he said. "I think that's something that I want to try, and as much as I can, is go deep into the ballgame and keep it close and give the guys a chance to win the game." Strasburg has...
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Murphy's hittin' and Harper's haulin' give Nationals a big win

Murphy's hittin' and Harper's haulin' give Nationals a big win
Once he had reached out and poked Jeanmar Gómez's sinker to left field, and once he saw the ball safely hit grass and start rolling toward the corner, Daniel Murphy's eyes shifted to the man running the bases in front of him. "I'm watching Bryce," Murphy said. As were 38,664 fans, and everybody else inside a crowded Nationals Park on this rare Friday late-afternoon ballgame. Bryce Harper, who was standing off first at the time of the pitch in the bottom of the 10th, didn't hesitate...
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Murphy's double in 10th delivers 3-2 walk-off win for Nats

Murphy's double in 10th delivers 3-2 walk-off win for Nats
The first two weeks of the Nationals' season have seen multiple games lost late when the bullpen couldn't post zeros and the lineup couldn't deliver a key hit. Perhaps this evening's 3-2 victory over the Phillies will reverse that trend. Daniel Murphy's double into the left field corner in the bottom of the 10th brought Bryce Harper all the way home from first base and provided the Nationals with their first walk-off victory of the season. The clutch hit came after the Nationals got...
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Baker on Ross' return, Strasburg's stretch and Wieters' progress

Baker on Ross' return, Strasburg's stretch and Wieters' progress
Dusty Baker sees the same minor league box scores available to everyone else online, so he knows Joe Ross pitched seven innings of one-run ball Thursday afternoon for Triple-A Syracuse. The Nationals manager, however, isn't so quick to evaluate Ross' performance strictly off his pitching line. Because the setting didn't exactly match what the right-hander would be seeing in the big leagues. "It's a little different pitching down there," Baker said. "You've got to create your own...
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Game 10 lineups: Nats vs. Phillies

Game 10 lineups: Nats vs. Phillies
Fresh from a day off, the Nationals return to action today for a rare Friday matinee against the Phillies. For those asking: No, I don't know exactly why this game is starting at 4:05 p.m. It's Good Friday, which has something to do with it. But nobody with the Nats I've asked over the last week was able to provide an explanation, or was even able to say whether this was something they requested or was unilaterally done by MLB. The Nationals are facing the same Phillies club that took two of...
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After strong Triple-A start, Ross on track to join Nats next week

After strong Triple-A start, Ross on track to join Nats next week
The Nationals should finally have their regular No. 5 starter pitching for them next week. And, barring some unforeseen complication, for many weeks to come. After a strong start for Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday, Joe Ross is now lined up to join the Nationals rotation next week and make his major league season debut Wednesday in Atlanta. Ross tossed seven innings of one-run ball Thursday afternoon at Pawtucket, scattering six hits and striking out six without walking a batter. He threw 85...
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Thursday morning Nats Q&A

Thursday morning Nats Q&A
The first week and a half of the Nationals' season has not lacked for compelling storylines. There have been positives (eight-ninths of the lineup, four-fifths of the rotation) and there have been negatives (injuries to everybody who plays shortstop, struggles by everybody who pitches out of the bullpen). The end result of all of that? A 5-4 record, with series wins at home over the Marlins and Cardinals and a series loss on the road at Philadelphia. The Nationals are off today before...
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Recurring problem areas crop up again in loss to Cardinals

Recurring problem areas crop up again in loss to Cardinals
They are 5-4, with one of the most productive lineups in baseball and a 2.49 ERA among the permanent members of their starting rotation. So let's not write the Nationals off altogether. Having said that, there are without question several areas of concern nine games into the season, areas that have mostly been responsible for their four losses to date and have nearly turned a couple of their wins into defeats. There is the bullpen, which has surrendered a staggering nine home runs already, the...
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No comeback this time from Nationals in 6-1 loss to Cardinals

No comeback this time from Nationals in 6-1 loss to Cardinals
If nothing else, the Nationals have shown through the season's first week-plus they don't easily roll over. Six times in their first eight games, they came from behind to at least tie things up. So it wasn't surprising this evening when, despite trailing by three runs late and showing few signs of life to that point, the Nationals again made things interesting. They couldn't complete the comeback this time, stranding the potential tying runners on base during a furious bottom-of-the-eighth...
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With two shortstops down, Nats now turn to Difo and Green

With two shortstops down, Nats now turn to Difo and Green
Two days after placing their starting shortstop on the disabled list, the Nationals were forced to do the same with their backup shortstop, adding Stephen Drew to a rapidly growing infirmary. Drew was placed on the 10-day DL with a right hamstring strain, an injury he sustained in the fifth inning Tuesday night running out of the batter's box on a comebacker to the mound. The Nationals purchased the contract of Grant Green from Triple-A Syracuse to account for their sudden dearth of healthy...
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Game 9 lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals (Drew placed on DL)

Game 9 lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals (Drew placed on DL)
The Nationals today send Max Scherzer to the mound with a chance to sweep the Cardinals. Now, hit the rewind button 48 hours and ask yourself how that statement would've sounded to you at the time. The Nats have righted the ship a bit here the last two nights, riding a ridiculously productive lineup to a pair of blowout wins and now have their ace pitching this afternoon's series finale. It's been a nice bounceback after a rough weekend in Philadelphia. Scherzer will be facing his hometown...
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Roark pitches around shaky defense, emerges with a win

Roark pitches around shaky defense, emerges with a win
It's not particularly fair to evaluate Tanner Roark based on his final pitching line from last night's game. He gave up five runs (three earned) on seven hits in five innings, throwing a whopping 104 pitches in the process. But that doesn't provide an especially accurate portrayal of his performance. Roark's numbers might have looked a whole lot better had the Nationals infield simply made a string of makeable plays behind him. Officially, there were four errors charged, one to every...
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After dramatic double play, Nats turn clunker into blowout win

After dramatic double play, Nats turn clunker into blowout win
On a night in which the Nationals committed four errors - one a piece by every member of the starting infield - it was strangely fitting that the moment that changed the entire complexion of this game was a brilliant double play turned by three members of that very infield. Two on, one out in the top of the fifth, the Nationals trailing by two runs and teetering on the brink of disaster. Stephen Drew dives to his right at shortstop to make a backhanded snare of Jhonny Peralta's scorched...
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Nationals start ugly, finish strong in 14-6 win over Cardinals

Nationals start ugly, finish strong in 14-6 win over Cardinals
It certainly wasn't easy on the eyes, unless your eyes were closed when they committed four errors and when they squandered a number of opportunities with men in scoring position. But sometimes you just gotta win ugly, and the Nationals won't be apologizing for the lack of style points they displayed tonight in beating the Cardinals 14-6 to snap a two-game losing streak. Especially given how well they finished. Clutch hits by Stephen Drew, Matt Wieters and Adam Eaton provided the offense...
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