The first half of the 2016 season was full of compelling storylines for the Nationals, most of them positive but not all. The end result: a 54-36 record and a six-game lead in the National League East at the All-Star break.
Now the real work begins. The Nats have put themselves in position to win another division title, but in order to do that they've got several issues to address over the remainder of the regular season.
Here, then, are five top storylines for the second half ...
1. Can Ryan...
The Home Run Derby and All-Star Game have come and gone, but now we've got the long, two-day wait without any baseball until the second half of the season opens Friday night at Nationals Park.
So we'll spend these two days looking back at what has transpired so far and looking ahead at what may transpire the rest of the way. Tomorrow, we'll break down the top storylines of the second half for the Nationals. First up today, though, we look back at the first half and hand out grades for the...
All four of the Nationals' eligible players appeared in tonight's All-Star Game, and three of them did their part to try to help their league emerge victorious. The fourth, unfortunately, came up short in his one key at-bat, and the rest of the National League squad didn't have enough offense to overcome a tough American League team that took an early lead and held on to win 4-2 in San Diego.
Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy combined for three hits, and Max Scherzer dominated during one inning...
Any discussion of Wilson Ramos' offensive breakthrough this season naturally begins with the obvious: his eyes.
Ramos had LASIK surgery in March after his annual spring training exam suggested his vision could be improved. And almost instantaneously, the 28-year-old catcher began seeing the ball like never before. Those sliders off the plate he used to flail helplessly at now are clear as day, so he just lets them go by, waiting instead for a pitch over the plate he can hit.
But ask Ramos the...
NEW YORK - Tanner Roark didn't know what to expect when he headed down to the bullpen early yesterday afternoon at Citi Field, other than to make sure he was ready in case he was needed to pitch the Nationals' first-half finale against the Mets.
Only four days after throwing 99 pitches in a win over the Brewers, Roark knew he wouldn't be starting another game until next weekend at the earliest. So he made himself available to pitch in relief for this one, not sure if or when or how he would...
NEW YORK - The situations weren't identical, they never are from one season to the next. Rosters change, injuries happen, guys who had good years come back with bad years and vice versa.
But if nothing else, there was a sense of familiarity when the Nationals arrived in Queens on Thursday for the opener of a key July series against the team directly behind them in the National League East standings. They led the Mets by four games, with four games to play at Citi Field.
Not quite one year ago...
NEW YORK - Daniel Murphy supplied the big blast once again, but this time it was Gio Gonzalez and a surprise member of the bullpen pitching the Nationals to victory over the Mets.
Gonzalez held the depleted New York lineup in check for 5 2/3 innings before handing things off to none other than Tanner Roark, who in his first relief appearance of the season tossed another 2 1/3 innings of perfect ball to help lead the Nationals to a 3-2 win at Citi Field.
Murphy's two-run homer in the top of the...
If the Nationals are playing the Mets, Daniel Murphy must be driving in runs. It has been occurring with such regularity, astrophysicists are nearly ready to declare it a new law of the universe.
When Murphy stepped to the plate in the top of the first this afternoon with a man on base, the question wasn't whether he would drive in the runner. It was how he would do it.
How does a two-run homer off the second deck in right field at Citi Field sound to everyone?
With that blast off left-hander...
NEW YORK - When he saw Dusty Baker walking to the mound with two outs in the seventh inning last night, Max Scherzer assumed what all starting pitchers assume when their manager walks to the mound.
"I thought he was going to take me out," the right-hander said.
Baker, however, hadn't yet made up his mind.
"When I went to the mound, I didn't know what exactly what I was going to do," the manager said. "Usually, I know what to do."
Scherzer had just walked Alejandro De Aza, prolonging the...
NEW YORK - And so we have reached the first-half finale of what has been a most interesting season so far for the Nationals. They are guaranteed to go into the All-Star break at least four games up in the National League East, possibly six if they can beat the Mets again this afternoon.
It'll be Gio Gonzalez on the mound for this one, and though he has been erratic for most of the last two months, he has dominated at Citi Field over his career (7-1, 1.53 ERA in 12 starts). Fellow left-hander...
NEW YORK - Daniel Murphy will never admit it, but make no mistake how much he is enjoying tormenting a Mets organization that made no serious effort to re-sign him last winter despite his consistent track record and historic postseason performance that helped lead the franchise to its first pennant in 15 years.
Murphy hides his emotions well, and he expertly refuses to take the bait whenever he's asked to comment on his individual exploits, let alone when he does it to his former team as he...
NEW YORK - Two things you can pretty much count on when the Nationals play the Mets: Daniel Murphy will drive in runs and Max Scherzer will pitch well.
Both, of course, came true during tonight's 6-1 victory at Citi Field. Murphy homered and drove in four runs to lead the Nationals' offensive attack and give Scherzer some cushion to go after the New York lineup en route to his latest victory over his division rivals.
Murphy delivered an RBI single in the top of the third, then an RBI double...
NEW YORK - Daniel Murphy has done damage against just about everybody he's faced this season, but he has saved some of his best work for his former employer. And he's doing it again tonight.
Murphy has driven in one of the Nationals' three early runs off right-hander Logan Verrett, lacing a one-out single up the middle to give his team a 3-1 lead over the Mets.
It was Murphy's 16th RBI in 12 games this season against the same New York club that drafted and developed him, the same one he...
NEW YORK - Blake Treinen knows his biggest strength as a reliever: the ability to induce ground balls, often in key situations that demand a double play. So he knew why manager Dusty Baker summoned him with one out and two on in the bottom of the eighth inning last night, the Nationals clinging to a 3-1 lead over the Mets.
It's one thing to know your job, though, and another thing to actually perform it. And Treinen performed to near-perfection, getting Juan Lagares to ground to second baseman...
NEW YORK - It's another gray afternoon here at Citi Field, with a chance for more rain late tonight. Hopefully that doesn't impact the third game of this weekend's series between the Nationals and Mets, though with our luck lately don't be surprised if it does.
On the heels of a 3-1 victory last night behind Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals send co-ace Max Scherzer to the mound tonight, looking to expand their lead in the division to five games. Scherzer, named Strasburg's All-Star...
NEW YORK - A starting pitcher's win-loss record is a reflection not only of his own individual performance but also of his team's performance, and so Stephen Strasburg could not have improved to 12-0 last night without the help of some other members of the Nationals who made their 3-1 victory over the Mets possible.
Like Clint Robinson, who for the second straight night started at first base in place of the injured Ryan Zimmerman and for the second straight night homered. Robinson took...
NEW YORK - There was the no-hit streak, which extended a full 10 2/3 innings between two starts before Asdrubal Cabrera homered in the bottom of the fifth. And there is the record, now 12-0 heading into the All-Star break.
For Dusty Baker, though, the most impressive thing Stephen Strasburg did tonight during the Nationals' 3-1 win over the Mets came in the bottom of the seventh, his final inning of the game. Facing potential disaster after walking Brandon Nimmo with two outs on a questionable...
NEW YORK - Stephen Strasburg may not be pitching in next week's All-Star Game as a precaution for the back injury that sidelined him late last month, but the right-hander sure looks healthy and dominant when he does take the mound these days.
On the heels of his 6 2/3-innings of no-hit ball against the Reds on Sunday, Strasburg picked up right where he left off tonight against the Mets, tossing seven innings of two-hit ball to lead the Nationals to a much-needed, 3-1 victory at Citi...
NEW YORK - Trea Turner's second stint on the Nationals roster this season will last longer than his first. There's no guarantee he'll get considerably more playing time, though.
Promoted from Triple-A Syracuse along with Michael A. Taylor to replace the injured Ryan Zimmerman and just-demoted Lucas Giolito, Turner will give manager Dusty Baker plenty of options, particularly now that he has begun working in center field. But Baker suggested today he'll still pick his spots for using Turner,...
NEW YORK - General manager Mike Rizzo confirmed his confrontation with members of last night's umpiring crew following the Nationals' 9-7 loss to the Mets, calling it "unfortunate" but more a reflection of frustration over the inconsistent implementation of Major League Baseball's new takeout slide rule than the specific call that went against his club in the top of the ninth inning.
According to a New York Daily News reporter who witnessed the confrontation outside the umpires' clubhouse...