Mark Zuckerman

Game 73 lineups: Nats at Dodgers

June 22, 2016, 2:27pm

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals need a win tonight, plain and simple. They certainly don't want to leave the West Coast on a five-game losing streak before heading to Milwaukee for the weekend. So they'll need a strong offensive performance against 19-year-old phenom Julio Urias, still seeking his first big league victory in his sixth try. The left-hander has electric stuff and hasn't been giving away free passes (he has 22 strikeouts and only three walks in his last three starts), but he also...

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Wednesday Q&A from Los Angeles

June 21, 2016, 10:24pm

Nationals

LOS ANGELES - This has turned into a more eventful trip - certainly more negative events - than the Nationals would have liked when they first arrived on the West Coast six days ago. After two well-played victories in San Diego to get the road trip started, they have now dropped four straight, two of them in games they led by multiple runs in the eighth inning. Stephen Strasburg was scratched with an upper back strain. The bullpen is in a bad place right now with Jonathan Papelbon on the...

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Nats waste opportunities, watch Dodgers seize theirs

June 21, 2016, 10:16pm

Nationals

Nats waste opportunities, watch Dodgers seize theirs

LOS ANGELES - The fateful bottom of the eighth - specifically Yasmani Grandal's towering, game-changing, three-run homer off Tanner Roark - will show up in every highlight reel late tonight and into tomorrow. And certainly it deserves that treatment, because it was the obvious difference in the Dodgers' 3-2 victory over the Nationals. But the less obvious difference in this game, the overriding factor that left Roark in position to lose the game on one swing, came during the previous 7 1/2...

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Harper homers to the opposite field again (Nats lose 3-2)

June 21, 2016, 7:09pm

Nationals

Harper homers to the opposite field again (Nats lose 3-2)

LOS ANGELES - It took Bryce Harper 2 1/2 months to hit his first opposite-field homer of the season. It took him only five days to hit his second. Harper took Scott Kazmir deep to left field in the top of the first inning tonight at Dodger Stadium, giving the Nationals an early 1-0 lead with yet another encouraging sign the once-slumping MVP is getting his stroke back. Harper went the other way on Kazmir's 2-1 pitch, sending it beyond left fielder Howie Kendrick's leap and beyond the fence....

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Nats won't wait until last minute to make decision on Strasburg

June 21, 2016, 5:07pm

Nationals

Nats won't wait until last minute to make decision on Strasburg

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals don't know yet if Stephen Strasburg will be able to make his next scheduled start, but they don't intend to wait til the last minute to make a decision the way they did Monday night when they scratched the right-hander about 90 minutes before first pitch with an upper back strain. For now, the Nationals are hoping Strasburg will be able to go Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee, slotting back into his original spot in the rotation. But for that to happen, they'll likely...

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Game 72 lineups: Nats at Dodgers

June 21, 2016, 2:18pm

Nationals

LOS ANGELES - It is a full 20 degrees cooler this afternoon at Dodger Stadium than it was yesterday at this time. Which means it's only in the mid-80s. Still remarkably more comfortable for the second game of this series, which finds the Nationals trying to snap a three-game losing streak. They'll be facing their third straight left-handed starter tonight, this time in the form of Scott Kazmir, who is no Clayton Kershaw, as evidenced by the fact he hasn't lasted more than five innings in any...

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Nats find out the hard way how tough it is to beat Kershaw

June 20, 2016, 10:37pm

Nationals

Nats find out the hard way how tough it is to beat Kershaw

LOS ANGELES - Against Clayton Kershaw, you can't expect to score runs. You can only hope to give yourself as many opportunities to score runs as possible. So Dusty Baker couldn't find fault with the approach his Nationals lineup had last night against the Dodgers ace. He just wished his guys had found some way to make the most of one of the opportunities they had, which might well have altered the course of what became a 4-1 loss at Dodger Stadium. "All you can get are opportunities," Baker...

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Strasburg hopeful of making next start after L.A. scratch

June 20, 2016, 10:10pm

Nationals

Strasburg hopeful of making next start after L.A. scratch

LOS ANGELES - Stephen Strasburg first felt what he described as "a little pinch" in his upper back Saturday while lifting weights in San Diego, but over the course of the next 48 hours, the Nationals right-hander and his club held out hope he'd still be able to make his scheduled start tonight against the Dodgers. It wasn't until sometime after 5 p.m. PDT, less than two hours until first pitch, when Strasburg realized the treatment he had been receiving wasn't going to be enough to allow...

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Petit trying to hold his own vs. Kershaw (Nats lose 4-1)

June 20, 2016, 7:06pm

Nationals

Petit trying to hold his own vs. Kershaw (Nats lose 4-1)

LOS ANGELES - The highly anticipated Stephen Strasburg vs. Clayton Kershaw matchup didn't happen, but Yusmeiro Petit is doing what he can to at least keep this thing interesting. Forced into emergency duty when Strasburg was scratched with a strained upper back, Petit faced the daunting challenge of matching up with perhaps the best pitcher on the planet and holding the Dodgers lineup in check along the way. Three innings in, Petit has made just one mistake. That mistake, though, sailed over...

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Strasburg scratched with upper back strain, Petit to start

June 20, 2016, 5:06pm

Nationals

Strasburg scratched with upper back strain, Petit to start

LOS ANGELES - One of the season's most anticipated pitching matchups won't happen after all. The Nationals were forced to scratch Stephen Strasburg from tonight's outing against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers with an upper back strain. Reliever Yusmeiro Petit will now start in his place, facing a stiff challenge on short notice. The change was announced less than 90 minutes before first pitch at Dodger Stadium. Strasburg had arrived at the ballpark earlier in the afternoon, walking into the...

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Game 71 lineups: Nats at Dodgers (Strasburg scratched)

June 20, 2016, 2:36pm

Nationals

Game 71 lineups: Nats at Dodgers (Strasburg scratched)

LOS ANGELES - Hello from the one and only Dodger Stadium, still beautiful after all these years, even when it's 107 degrees. Yes, you read that right. It's 107 degrees as I sit here in the open-air press box preparing tonight's lineups thread. I've been to L.A. in the summer countless times in my life - we used to come here almost every summer when I was a kid - and I cannot ever remember it being anywhere close to this hot. The good news, if there is any: It'll be dropping back down into...

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Marquee pitching matchup tonight at Dodger Stadium

June 19, 2016, 8:00pm

Nationals

Marquee pitching matchup tonight at Dodger Stadium

Some thoughts before I board my flight to Los Angeles, where the Nationals and Dodgers open a three-game series late tonight... * If you like marquee pitching matchups, they don't get a whole lot better than tonight's showdown at Dodger Stadium. Yes, it's Stephen Strasburg vs. Clayton Kershaw. How good are these two guys? Let us count the ways. Strasburg is 10-0 this season, Kershaw is 10-1. Strasburg has 118 strikeouts and only 24 walks this season. Kershaw has 133 strikeouts and - good...

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Nats settle for series split after another shaky Gonzalez start

June 19, 2016, 4:13pm

Nationals

Nats settle for series split after another shaky Gonzalez start

What was shaping up to be an impressive weekend to start the Nationals' first West Coast trip of the season instead ended on a sour note, with back-to-back losses in San Diego resulting in a four-game split at Petco Park. Another shaky start by Gio Gonzalez this afternoon turned into a 6-3 loss to the Padres, the Nationals' second straight after two strong wins to begin the long weekend series. Gonzalez gave up six runs (five earned) over 5 1/3 innings that got progressively laborious as his...

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Four-game stretch vs. lefties begins today (Nats lose 6-3)

June 19, 2016, 11:03am

Nationals

Four-game stretch vs. lefties begins today (Nats lose 6-3)

The Nationals are about to get a serious helping of southpaws, including one of the best baseball has seen in decades. Beginning with today's series finale in San Diego, the Nationals are scheduled to face four consecutive left-handed starters: the Padres' Drew Pomeranz, then the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir and Julio Urias. Kershaw, owner of a mere 1.87 ERA over the last four seasons and a 133-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio this season, looms large Monday night at Dodger Stadium....

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Game 70 lineups: Nats at Padres

June 19, 2016, 8:27am

Nationals

On the heels of perhaps their worst loss of the season, the Nationals will try to bounce back this afternoon and close out their four-game series in San Diego on a high note. Three out of four anywhere ain't half-bad, and the Nats would happily take that before making the short trip up the coast to Los Angeles, where Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers await Monday night. Gio Gonzalez needs a bounceback performance of his own today after a rough stretch that has seen the left-hander go 1-4 with a...

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Rivero's struggles coming to a head for Nationals

June 19, 2016, 5:45am

Nationals

The Nationals have long seen in Felipe Rivero a dynamic left-hander with the kind of overwhelming stuff that suggest he could become a big league closer some day in the not-too-distant future. That may yet happen, but at this particular moment, Rivero looks like a pitcher in need of a major overhaul. "He's in a bad state right now," manager Dusty Baker told reporters in San Diego following last night's 7-3 loss. "Nothing's really going his way." That's an understatement. Rivero has...

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Eighth-inning meltdown turns late lead into 7-3 loss

June 18, 2016, 9:58pm

Nationals

Eighth-inning meltdown turns late lead into 7-3 loss

Thanks to some timely hits, a dominant-at-times start from Max Scherzer and a couple fortuitous breaks, the Nationals found themselves in prime position to win their fourth straight game tonight and expand their ever-growing lead in the NL East. Instead, an eighth-inning meltdown by reliever Felipe Rivero turned a well-played victory over the Padres into perhaps the Nats' worst loss of the season. Rivero failed to retire any of the six batters he faced during a calamitous bottom of the eighth...

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Recently potent lineup tries to stay red-hot (Nats lose 7-3)

June 18, 2016, 2:29pm

Nationals

Recently potent lineup tries to stay red-hot (Nats lose 7-3)

The Nationals have been waiting 2 1/2 months to see if their entire lineup is capable of coming together at the same time and producing like one of the best lineups in the majors. That time may finally be arriving. The Nationals have turned into a consistent offensive force over the last couple of weeks. They've scored an average of 6.8 runs over their last 12 games. Not surprisingly, they've gone 10-2 during this stretch. And production isn't just coming from one or two sources. After...

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Game 69 lineups: Nats at Padres

June 18, 2016, 12:44pm

Nationals

Do the Nationals have another late-night win in them? They've already taken the first two games of this series in San Diego, piling up 15 total runs and launching five homers. Now they'll try to make it three in a row, once again facing the Padres late tonight at Petco Park. Max Scherzer gets this start for the Nationals, looking to duplicate his dominant outing in San Diego last season, when he tossed seven scoreless innings, striking out 11. Right-hander Colin Rea takes the mound for the...

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Baker has no choice but to mix and match in bullpen for now

June 18, 2016, 6:06am

Nationals

Baker has no choice but to mix and match in bullpen for now

When Dusty Baker named Shawn Kelley his interim closer late Thursday night, the chosen replacement for Jonathan Papelbon while the latter endures through the first DL stint of his career, he did so with a caveat. "We think he's best suited for that until Pap gets back," Baker told reporters in San Diego. "But again, he's thrown two days in a row, and I doubt if he'll be in that situation again tomorrow. He'd love to do it again. He'll never not take the ball, but sometimes we have to...