With their lead in the National League East a comfortable 8 1/2 games and their magic number at 16, there is some, but not a ton, of drama left to the Nationals' season. While the actual end result of every game does matter most in the end, at this point you could argue there are more important individual matters still at stake over the final 24 games.
And among the most important individual matters is the return of Stephen Strasburg, which begins tonight at Nationals Park.
After a 16-day...
ST. PETERBURG, Fla. - Chris Davis is not in the starting lineup for today's series finale. Davis left last night's game in the fifth inning with soreness in his left hand, though manager Buck Showalter said the move was just a precaution. Steve Pearce will start at first base.
Michael Bourn and Drew Stubbs are making their first starts since joining the Orioles. Bourn will bat second and start in left field, while Stubbs will bat eighth and start in right field.
The Orioles are trying for...
It hasn't drawn a lot of attention, but Gio Gonzalez has been pretty darn consistent over the last month and a half, righting a season that had threatened to go off the rails. In nine starts since the All-Star break, the left-hander is 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA. Six of those have been quality starts. And in five of his last starts, he has issued zero or one walk.
The Nationals certainly hope Gonzalez will keep this up through the final stretch, beginning tonight when he takes the mound against the...
ST. PETERBURG, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter is starting Steve Pearce in left field and Mark Trumbo in right tonight against Rays right-hander Jake Odorizzi.
Pedro Alvarez is batting second again as the designated hitter.
The Rays fired hitting coach Derek Shelton and promoted minor league hitting coordinator Chad Mottola, who appeared in six games with the Orioles in 2004. Mottola will join the Rays on Friday.
For the Orioles Adam Jones CF Pedro Alvarez DH Manny Machado 3B Mark Trumbo...
The Nationals finally come home after being on the road for most of the latter stages of August. Even with a series loss in New York, the Nationals still maintain an 8 1/2-game lead over the Mets for first place in the National League East with 25 regular seasons games remaining.
The Nationals still are 39-18 against NL East opponents. That is the most wins in the major leagues by any team against its own division. The Nationals are 11-2 against the Braves, tied for the most wins against a...
NEW YORK - So, about that massive hurricane that was supposed to wreak havoc with tonight's series finale at Citi Field ... yeah, that was a whole lotta nothing. As I type this from the press box, staring out at the stadium, there isn't a cloud in the sky. There's a bit of a breeze, but hardly anything of consequence.
In other words, the Nationals and Mets will be perfectly good to go tonight on Sunday Night Baseball. This is the Nats' lone Sunday night appearance of the season, which is...
NEW YORK - They took last night's series opener in impressive fashion. Now the Nationals try to take the series from the Mets and expand their growing lead in the National League East beyond their current 10 1/2-game cushion.
It'll be Tanner Roark on the mound tonight at Citi Field, and he has been awfully good against the Mets this season (one earned run, five hits in 9 1/3 innings). Rookie Robert Gsellman (whose name apparently is pronounced like "Gazelle-Man") makes his second career...
NEW YORK - The Nationals clubhouse at Citi Field is going to much more crowded than usual today, what with seven players added to the roster in the first round of September call-ups. And several of these guys (ie. Sean Burnett, Trevor Gott, Matt Grace) could get some significant opportunities down the stretch, potentially making their cases for spots on the postseason roster.
As for tonight's series opener against the Mets, it's A.J. Cole getting a chance to pitch on the big stage against a...
PHILADELPHIA - The end of the Nationals' stretch of 20 games in 20 days has arrived, with one more game to play tonight against the Phillies before they'll enjoy their first off-day since Aug. 11. This has been a long, difficult stretch for many players, perhaps none more so than Trea Turner, who has started 29 consecutive games.
That streak ends tonight, though, with Turner given a well-deserved night off. It'll be Michael A. Taylor getting the start in center field and leading off, with...
PHILADELPHIA - Max Scherzer has faced the Phillies seven times over the last two years. In those seven starts, he's 5-0 with a 1.94 ERA, 55 strikeouts and 10 walks. Needless to say, the Nationals have fair reason to expect more good things tonight when Scherzer takes the mound at Citizens Bank Park.
Dusty Baker has his entire regular lineup out there for the second game of this series. That includes Ryan Zimmerman, who sat out last night's game after working extensively in the cage earlier in...
Steve Pearce is leading off tonight and Nolan Reimold is in center field while Adam Jones sits out another game with a strained left hamstring.
Manager Buck Showalter said Jones is "very close."
"Still feels just a little bit with one movement," Showalter said.
Pedro Alvarez is getting a rare start against a left-hander, Blue Jays 17-game winner J.A. Happ. Alvarez is batting second.
Showalter said Chris Tillman may throw off a mound by the weekend, but starting on Sept. 9 or 10 no longer...
PHILADELPHIA - Hello from Citizens Bank Park, where the Nationals wrap up this 20-games-in-20-days stretch with one final series against the Phillies. And there's plenty going on here already.
The Nats have made a roster move: Michael A. Taylor was recalled and Lucas Giolito was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. That gives the team a full bench again. With an off-day Thursday, the club can afford to go with four starting pitchers for the moment. And remember, players who are sent down at the end...
With Trea Turner doing Trea Turner things, hitters 2-3-4 in the Nationals lineup are settling in for good at-bats. The opposing pitcher is preoccupied with the speed and havoc Turner provides on the basepaths. That allows Jayson Werth, Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper to be themselves.
The trio delivered six RBIs in the Nats' 8-5 series opening win over the Rockies. Werth has hit homers in two straight games. Murphy reached 500 career RBIs. Harper has hit safely in 11 of his last 13...
After the excitement and drama of the four-day, two-city Beltways Series, the Nationals get back to business this weekend with the Rockies in town.
Max Scherzer saved the bullpen last night with his dominant eight-inning performance. But in order to keep that bullpen from getting burned up again, Gio Gonzalez will need to follow up his rotation mate with a strong start of his own tonight.
Gonzalez will be working with Jose Lobaton, a pairing that has enjoyed plenty of success in the past. That...
The Nationals didn't expect to find themselves in this position, needing to beat the Orioles tonight to avoid a four-game sweep, but here they are nonetheless. They'll ask Max Scherzer to stop the bleeding and give this team the dominant start it so desperately needs.
No word yet if the newly acquired Marc Rzepczynski - I'm getting good at spelling his name without having to check first - will be here in time to be activate for tonight's game. At this point, the Nats haven't announced a...
WASHINGTON - The Orioles still haven't announced that they've placed Chris Tillman on the disabled list and brought up a pitcher. However, we've got tonight's lineup against the Nationals.
Hyun Soo Kim is in left field and batting second, Mark Trumbo is in right field and batting fifth and Matt Wieters is behind the plate.
Kevin Gausman is 5-0 with a 1.57 ERA over his last five starts at Camden Yards. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last Orioles pitcher to go 5-0 with an ERA that...
The Beltways Series has moved down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway - has anyone ever pointed out you don't need to take either town's beltway to drive from one ballpark to the other? - for the next two nights. The Nationals can only hope the results improve from the last two nights at Camden Yards.
The good news: Tanner Roark and Max Scherzer take the mound for these two games against Wade Miley and Ubaldo Jimenez (filling in Thursday for the injured Chris Tillman). Whether the Nationals can...
BALTIMORE - It's another beautiful day here at Camden Yards, a far cry from the heat and humidity everyone has been dealing with for weeks. The Nationals and Orioles return for the second of their four head-to-head games this week, the Nats needing a win tonight to even up the series after last night's 4-3 loss.
Reynaldo Lopez gets the start, and if the rookie pitches anything like he did his last two times out, the Nationals will like their chances. Those starts, of course, both came against...
BALTIMORE - Well, tonight's opener of the annual Beltways Series has an entirely new and unexpected storyline, huh?
If you missed the news earlier, the Nationals have placed Stephen Strasburg on the disabled list with right elbow soreness and recalled A.J. Cole from Triple-A Syracuse to start tonight in his place. We will certainly be getting more information shortly, but first some background to the situation: Strasburg went through all of his normal between-starts routines over the weekend...
ATLANTA - It's another steamy day at Turner Field, with (of course) a chance for rain this afternoon as the Nationals and Braves wrap up their four-game series. The Nats, who are already 11-1 against Atlanta this season, are going for a rare, four-game sweep.
Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth are getting the day off. For Rendon, it's his first since July 19. He had started 28 consecutive games at third base. That was necessary in part because Stephen Drew has been on the disabled list, and...