KANSAS CITY - They did everything right yet again, getting power and clutch hits from their lineup, a quality start from their hurler and effective work from their setup men.
But when Jonathan Papelbon couldn't seal the deal in the bottom of the ninth, the Nationals saw their perfect road trip come to an ignominious end.
Papelbon blew a two-run lead, giving up four singles and then Lorenzo Cain's game-winning drive past a diving Michael A. Taylor in left-center, turning a 6-4 lead into a 7-6,...
KANSAS CITY - The Nationals scored in the top of the first inning, keeping with their usual theme. But then their starting pitcher gave it right back (and then some) shortly after, completely bucking recent trends.
Despite homers from Anthony Rendon and Daniel Murphy, the Nats find themselves trailing 3-2 after four innings at Kauffman Stadium after the Royals strung together a three-run rally against Tanner Roark.
First, the good news: Rendon finally hit his first homer of the season, a...
KANSAS CITY - Any discussion of how the Nationals can improve their offensive production almost certainly starts with two struggling lineup members who have track records of success: Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman. The two infielders have lagged behind others through the season's first month, combining for just one home run and nine RBIs (eight of them via Zimmerman).
There are signs of encouragement, though. Or, at least, signs of bad luck that may change.
Rendon, in particular, has been...
KANSAS CITY - Road interleague games present teams with the DH dilemma: Who to use, whether to pull a guy off the bench or whether to give one of your regulars a semi day-off by not playing the field.
Last night, Dusty Baker went with a bench guy, Stephen Drew. Tonight, he'll go with a regular, Jayson Werth. (The tentative plan for tomorrow is to use Ryan Zimmerman.) Werth has been hitting the ball harder of late; perhaps a chance to focus solely on offense for one night will help get him...
KANSAS CITY - With his team holding onto a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning last night against a Royals lineup that won last year's World Series thanks in large part to its ability to string together big rallies late in games, Nationals manager Dusty Baker could have gone the paint-by-numbers approach with the back end of his bullpen.
Felipe Rivero in the seventh. Blake Treinen in the eighth. Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth. That, on paper, is the way the Nationals have drawn up the final three...
KANSAS CITY - There were moments during tonight's game that looked all too familiar to Gio Gonzalez, moments when the left-hander could have been on the brink of disaster and too often in the past succumbed to the pressure.
A 28-pitch first inning that featured tough at-bat after tough at-bat from the Royals. A two-on, two-out jam in the third with the heart of the lineup at the plate. A two-on, one-out jam in the sixth as his pitch count approached and then topped the century mark.
Each time,...
KANSAS CITY - They marched into St. Louis and won three straight, pulling off their first sweep at Busch Stadium. Now they've marched into Kansas City and taken the opener of their interleague series against the defending World Series champs.
Behind another highly effective pitching performance from Gio Gonzalez and another early offensive explosion, the Nationals took a quick 2-0 lead on the Royals and made it hold up the rest of the night.
Gonzalez wasn't as sharp as he had been in several...
KANSAS CITY - The Nationals continue to do damage in the first inning, even if Bryce Harper isn't contributing to it.
With Harper mired in a sudden slump, the Nats have had to turn to others for offense. They delivered all weekend during a three-game sweep in St. Louis, and they delivered again in the top of the first tonight in their interleague series opener in at Kauffman Stadium, scoring two quick runs to take an early lead.
Michael A. Taylor and Anthony Rendon set the table with a leadoff...
KANSAS CITY - The Nationals gave Shawn Kelley a three-year, $15 million contract over the winter because they believed he was a guy they could trust to pitch in big spots late in ballgames.
And they couldn't have found a much bigger spot to throw Kelley into for his first assignment this season: a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the bottom of the eighth inning of a tie game on opening day.
So when Kelley proceeded to walk that batter (Atlanta's Adonis Garcia) on four pitches (all of them at...
KANSAS CITY - Hello from beautiful Kauffman Stadium, maybe baseball's most underrated ballpark. This is only the Nationals' second trip here; they took two of three in 2013, but this is a far different Royals team they're facing now than they did back then. The defending World Series champs are off to a bit of a ragged start, but they remain an imposing foe, making this a marquee matchup for the next three days.
The Nationals are flying high after their three-game sweep in St. Louis, their...
KANSAS CITY - Bryce Harper was named National League Player of the Month for April this afternoon, further confirmation of the reigning league MVP's torrid start to the 2016 season.
Harper hit .286 with nine homers, 24 RBIs, five stolen bases and a 1.120 OPS in 23 game for the month, which the 23-year-old actually ended in a 1-for-13 slump. He was hitting .328 with a 1.274 OPS as recently as April 26 before falling into his current skid (which included an 0-for-11 weekend in St....
ST. LOUIS - Wilson Ramos ambled onto the field at Busch Stadium yesterday morning, his Nationals teammates having already been out there for a little while taking batting practice, and began the process of returning to his professional life after a five-day break to take care of his personal life.
Ramos, who had gone home to Venezuela following the death of his grandfather, admittedly was still grieving but found solace in putting on his uniform again and preparing for yesterday's game against...
ST. LOUIS - That the Nationals just swept the Cardinals at Busch Stadium for the first time ever was notable enough. That they did it despite Bryce Harper going hitless in all three games this weekend was downright scary.
Scary for future competition.
"That tells me that somebody's in trouble," manager Dusty Baker said. "Somebody's in trouble because Bryce ain't going hitless for too long a period of time. Whenever you can do that without your star having a good series ... we picked him...
ST. LOUIS - With a big-time bounceback performance from Max Scherzer and back-to-back homers from a couple of previously slumping hitters, the Nationals beat the Cardinals yet again this afternoon, pulling off their first-ever series sweep in St. Louis.
The Nationals' 6-1 victory at Busch Stadium, on the heels of 5-4 and 6-1 triumphs, capped off an impressive weekend and kicked off a daunting road trip in a manner few could have reasonably foreseen only three days ago.
Scherzer set the tone,...
ST. LOUIS - Max Scherzer looks like his old self so far today. And that must be bringing some semblance of relief to any Nationals fan who might have started worrying about their previously struggling ace.
Scherzer mowed through the Cardinals lineup in his first crack this afternoon, striking out four and displaying much better command than he did in his last two troublesome starts.
Pitching in his hometown, Scherzer took the mound sporting an uncharacteristic 4.35 ERA that was far and away the...
ST. LOUIS - Wilson Ramos rejoined the Nationals this morning and was activated off the bereavement list, making the veteran catcher eligible to play in today's series finale against the Cardinals.
Ramos had been away from the team five days following the death of his grandfather, Jesus Campos, missing the Nats' entire series against the Phillies and then this weekend's first two games in St. Louis.
It wasn't immediately clear whether Ramos would be activated today or not, but he emerged...
ST. LOUIS - In their 11-plus seasons of existence, the Nationals have never found themselves in this particular situation: a chance to sweep a series in St. Louis. Shoot, they had only taken two of three once before at either version of Busch Stadium, back in 2007 when Manny Acta's club pulled it off.
Today, though, the Nats are in position to do it. They won Friday night's game 5-4. They won yesterday's game 6-1. Now they'll send St. Louis native Max Scherzer to the mound in an attempt to...
ST. LOUIS - The calendar has shifted at last, the baseball season has entered its second month and the Nationals (unlike a year ago) are thrilled to have no reason to be shouting "Mayday!" right now.
April could not have gone much better for the Nats, who at 16-7 are off to the best start in club history and the best start by any Washington ballclub since 1932.
Sure, much of their success came against the likes of the Braves, Marlins and Twins. But they've kicked off one of the most daunting...
ST. LOUIS - He had thrown a grand total of two innings in the last 15 days. He hadn't pitched at all in 10 days. And he was facing one of the toughest lineups in baseball.
Potential recipe for disaster? Not for Joe Ross, who hadn't been fazed by any situation he'd faced so far in the major leagues and wasn't about to start now.
"Hey, man, there's nothing finer than a young pitcher that gets confidence and knows that he belongs here," Dusty Baker said. "And he certainly has confidence....
ST. LOUIS - The Nationals have been coming to this version of Busch Stadium for a decade now, and there may be no ballpark in America that has been less welcoming to the club from Washington than this one.
That storyline may finally be changing. With a 6-1 win over the Cardinals this afternoon, the Nationals have now won two in a row and clinched their first series victory in St. Louis since 2007.
And they've made it look relatively easy so far this weekend. Their 5-4 win Friday night was a...