Max Scherzer insists he could start as planned Saturday, but the Nationals decided not to take any chances with their ace after he was struck by a comebacker in his last outing, so they've pushed him back to Sunday's series finale against the Pirates.
AnÃbal Sánchez will now start Saturday afternoon, though the veteran right-hander will be on normal rest thanks to the club's off-day in between their just completed road trip and upcoming homestand.
"It didn't affect anything,"...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Howie Kendrick, as expected, will stay back in Florida while the rest of the Nationals break camp this evening and open the season on the injured list while finishing his rehab from a hamstring strain suffered earlier this month.
Kendrick has been taking batting practice and grounders while lightly running the bases in recent days but hasn't yet appeared in a game. He plans to get into minor league games within a few days, then get himself ready to join the active...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Michael A. Taylor plans to take batting practice today, play catch from long-toss range and run on the synthetic agility field that sits outside the Nationals' spring training complex. He'll be doing this exactly one week after he sprained both his left knee and hip making a diving catch, an injury and diagnosis that prompted manager Davey Martinez to declare that Taylor was likely to "miss a significant amount of time."
All of this seems to be catching everyone...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Michael A. Taylor is getting an MRI on both his left knee and left hip today, leaving the Nationals to potentially cope with a thin outfield following Thursday's injury on a diving catch in Fort Myers.
Taylor hurt himself diving to snag a Byron Buxton drive to right-center during the Nationals' 10-4 exhibition victory over the Twins, revealing today the turf was "a little soft and my knee stuck in the ground."
Taylor was still limping in the clubhouse this morning as...
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Michael A. Taylor was forced to prematurely depart today's exhibition game in the third inning, shortly after the Nationals center fielder injured his left knee making a diving catch.
Taylor's impressive catch of Byron Buxton's second-inning drive to right-center drew oohs and applause from the crowd at the Twins' spring training complex, but the reaction turned quiet as Taylor remained on the ground and manager Davey Martinez and director of athletic training Paul...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - An MRI of Koda Glover's elbow revealed a forearm strain but no ligament damage, the reliever said this morning, though he will be shut down from throwing for now while the Nationals map out a plan to try to keep their oft-injured right-hander healthy at last.
"Just a forearm strain," Glover said. "Nothing crazy. UCL was great. That's good news. It's just one of them things where we think maybe some weakness in there or some fatigue. But I'll be fine. I'm really...
What would Sean Doolittle have thought, the Nationals closer was asked today, if told when he first noticed what felt like a minor left toe injury on July 7 that he wouldn't return for two months?
"I would've said you were crazy," the left-hander said. "I was feeling really good, and I was pitching better than I ever have in my career. If you had told me when I came out of that game that night that I was going to have to wait two months to get to do that again, I would've said you were...
MIAMI - Stephen Strasburg rejoined the Nationals today and is extremely optimistic he'll be pitching for them again in the near future after receiving a nerve-block injection in his neck two days ago.
"It's very encouraging," the right-hander said. "I think they've kind of crossed all the boxes now, and it seems like it's something that should be good to go, and I'm excited to get back out there with the guys."
Strasburg thought he was on track to do just that when he returned from a...
MIAMI - The Nationals have received what they believe to be good news about Stephen Strasburg, though it's still an open question when the right-hander will be ready to pitch again.
Strasburg, in Los Angeles on Thursday to have his ailing neck examined by a neurologist, was given a shot and is set to rejoin the Nationals in Miami on Saturday. He'll need to wait 72 hours for the shot to take full effect, but provided he feels well at that point he'll be cleared to resume throwing.
"That's...
The Nationals are going to be without their All-Star closer a while longer than they initially expected.
Sean Doolittle, who hoped the injury to his left foot that sidelined him for the first week before the All-Star break and then prevented him from pitching in the Midsummer Classic at Nationals Park, learned this weekend he'll be out several more weeks after a follow-up MRI revealed a "stress reaction" in the bridge of the foot.
The injury, which is not as severe as a stress fracture, is...
The Nationals got two of their key injured players - Stephen Strasburg and Ryan Zimmerman - back from the disabled list today. They'll have to wait a bit longer for Sean Doolittle to join them on the active roster.
Doolittle, eligible to come off the 10-day disabled list today, has made significant progress in his recovery from a pinched nerve in his left foot, but he said he's not quite ready yet.
"Today was a good day," the Nats closer said. "I did some light jogging, and it was the...
PITTSBURGH - Sean Doolittle knew something wasn't right in his left foot as far back as Friday, but he didn't think it was anything to be concerned about, that all would be fine if he took a couple days off. But by the time Monday arrived and Doolittle decided to see how the foot felt when he threw off a bullpen mound and simulated fielding bunts, he realized this problem was more serious than he initially thought.
And so today the Nationals were forced to place their All-Star closer on the...
Two weeks removed from his last start, Stephen Strasburg is throwing again, his right shoulder inflammation having cleared up enough to allow the Nationals right-hander to get back to baseball activities.
Strasburg has thrown off flat ground in the outfield twice this week, most recently this afternoon. It was only a light game of catch, and there are several steps left for him to take before he could return from the disabled list, but it's nonetheless an encouraging sign that his injury does...
ATLANTA - After watching their bullpen throw seven perfect innings during Saturday's 14-inning win, the last thing the Nationals needed was to have to turn to their relief corps early today. Which is exactly what happened after starter Jeremy Hellickson departed only two batters into the bottom of the first with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
Hellickson hurt himself trying to make a leaping catch of Mark Reynolds' high toss on Ozzie Albies' grounder to first. The ball caromed off...
ATLANTA - The Nationals are getting the first of their key injured players back tonight, with Ryan Madson activated off the disabled list. And more appear to be coming, with Brian Goodwin likely joining the club this weekend and Daniel Murphy and Matt Grace not too far behind.
Madson was added back to the active roster in time for tonight's opener against the Braves, the strained right pectoral muscle that sidelined him for two weeks having healed.
The veteran setup man was able to make it...
When Ryan Madson made three appearances in four days against the Diamondbacks earlier this month, his velocity up from previous outings, the veteran reliever was as encouraged as he had been all season about the way he was pitching and the way his arm felt.
Then on the flight home from Arizona, Madson felt a cramp in his right pectoral muscle. And a week later, having not pitched in a game since, he was placed on the 10-day disabled list.
"I didn't feel it pitching, or during the game,"...
Howie Kendrick, the Nationals and everybody inside the ballpark who watched the veteran left fielder crumple to the ground and grab his lower right leg this afternoon knew this probably was a serious injury. By the end of the night, they all knew just how serious: Kendrick needs season-ending surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon.
That diagnosis was announced by manager Davey Martinez minutes after Sean Doolittle blew his first save of the season, leaving the Nationals scarred from a 5-4...
The Nationals' already thin outfield lost another key player today when Howie Kendrick appeared to suffer a significant right lower leg injury making a catch in the top of the eighth inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Dodgers.
Kendrick retreated to the wall to catch what otherwise was a routine fly ball by Los Angeles first baseman Max Muncy, then threw the ball toward the infield as Justin Turner tagged up from third and scored. Kendrick immediately went down to the ground...
Matt Wieters had surgery Wednesday to repair his left hamstring, the Nationals announced today, a major procedure that figures to sideline the veteran catcher until at least late in the season, if not through the remainder of the season.
The Nationals offered no timeline yet for Wieters' recovery, saying only that they "will provide more information when Matt returns to Washington, D.C. and is evaluated by our medical staff."
Hamstring surgery, though, is a major procedure and typically only...
Adam Eaton has heard the reactions since he woke up from arthroscopic surgery Thursday in Green Bay and the baseball world was informed of the procedure he had to remove a flap of cartilage from his left ankle. Today, the Nationals outfielder sought to allay fears that came with that news by declaring his goal to return to the active roster in six weeks.
"It's going to be soon," Eaton said, seated at his locker with his lower left leg in a cast that was due to be removed later in the day....