Game 104 lineups: Nats at Marlins

Game 104 lineups: Nats at Marlins
MIAMI - It has been pouring most of the day here in South Florida, with a tropical storm sweeping through much of the state. Fortunately, the roof at Marlins Park is closed (and hasn't sprung a leak) so the Nationals and Marlins are good to go for tonight's series opener. Gio Gonzalez takes the mound, making yet another start in his hometown. It's the left-hander's 14th career start in Miami, and he has been excellent (7-3, 2.19 ERA). Right-hander José Ureña starts for the Marlins....

Game 102 lineups: Nats vs. Rockies (Heisey released)

Game 102 lineups: Nats vs. Rockies (Heisey released)
It's a beautiful day for a ballgame. Let's play ... well, you know. Yes, it's a doubleheader day at Nationals Park, with the Nationals and Rockies meeting in their regularly scheduled contest at 1:35 p.m. and then making up Friday night's rainout at 7:05 p.m. And there's no shortage of interesting storylines to come. The big one for the opener, of course, is the debut of Erick Fedde, who gets promoted from Triple-A Syracuse and will be on a big league mound for the first time in a couple...

Game 101 lineups: Nats vs. Rockies (game rained out)

Game 101 lineups: Nats vs. Rockies (game rained out)
You've probably seen the forecast here, not only for tonight but for most of the day tomorrow. If you haven't, it's not good. That creates a problem for the Nationals and Rockies, who don't face each other again after this weekend and need to do everything humanly possible to play three games before either club leaves town. As always, you'll know when we know. Tonight's series opener between a division leader and a wild card leader features Tanner Roark on the mound for the Nationals,...

Game 99 lineups: Nats vs. Brewers

Game 99 lineups: Nats vs. Brewers
The Nationals will try to even their series with the Brewers tonight, and right fielder Bryce Harper will try to extend his 17-game hitting streak, which is already a career high. He's 28-for-64 (.426) with six doubles, one triple, seven homers, 17 RBIs, 12 walks and 23 runs scored during the streak. Harper is also in the midst of a 25-game on-base streak, the second-longest of his career. During that span, he is slashing .398/.496/.724. The Nats send left-hander Gio Gonzalez to the mound...

Game 98 lineups: Nats vs. Brewers

Game 98 lineups: Nats vs. Brewers
There's only one National League team the Nationals have yet to see in person this season. That will change tonight when they take the field to face the Brewers in the opener of a three-game series. It's been a surprising year for Milwaukee, which took advantage of the Cubs and Cardinals' struggles to lead the Central Division for most of the last 3 1/2 months. Things have begun to slide, though, and now the lead over the Cubs is down to a half-game, with the Pirates lurking three games back...

Game 97 lineups: Nats at Diamondbacks (with roster moves)

Game 97 lineups: Nats at Diamondbacks (with roster moves)
PHOENIX - It's another scorcher outside Chase Field, but thankfully the roof is closed inside and it'll be another comfortable day inside the big hangar for a ballgame as the Nationals and Diamondbacks wrap up their weekend series. There's plenty of intrigue to this one, with the Nats scrambling to get enough healthy outfielders on site to field a starting lineup. No official word yet on the moves, but Ryan Raburn is heading to the bereavement list following his grandfather's death and...

Game 95 lineups: Nats at Diamondbacks

Game 95 lineups: Nats at Diamondbacks
PHOENIX - Hello from Chase Field, where the roof is closed and the air conditioning is cranked up (thank God). It's a scorcher here in the Valley of the Sun, with temperatures actually below normal (101 degrees, as we speak) but the humidity unusually high. Welcome to monsoon season. No, seriously, you can look it up. Anyway, the Nationals wrap up their long and winding road trip with a weekend series against a very good Diamondbacks club that currently holds the top wild card spot in the...

Game 94 lineups: Nats at Angels

Game 94 lineups: Nats at Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Did you know the Nationals haven't lost a baseball game in 11 days? OK, so that's a bit misleading when you consider four of those days included the All-Star break. Nevertheless, the Nats will carry a six-game winning streak into tonight's contest against the Angels, seeking to sweep this abbreviated, two-game interleague series. They'll attempt to do so without Bryce Harper in the lineup. As both the right fielder and Dusty Baker explained last night, they collectively...

Game 93 lineups: Nats at Angels

Game 93 lineups: Nats at Angels
ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Nationals have made only two previous trips to Angel Stadium in their history, and boy were they eventful. In 2005, Frank Robinson (with some help from Jose Guillen) fought Mike Scioscia. In 2011, Davey Johnson returned to a big league dugout for the first time in a decade. Now, in 2017, Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson officially join the Nats, and Edwin Jackson officially rejoins the Nats after five years away. The club announced its flurry of roster moves this afternoon....

Game 92 lineups: Nats at Reds

Game 92 lineups: Nats at Reds
CINCINNATI - The Nationals have selected the contract of right-hander Jacob Turner, who takes Blake Treinen's spot on the 25-man roster as a long-relief option out of the bullpen. Edwin Jackson is still in line to start Tuesday's game in Anaheim. To create a 40-man roster spot, right-hander Koda Glover has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list. Turner is 2-3 with a 5.08 ERA in 18 games (two starts) for the Nats this year. Glover's move to the 60-day DL is a signal that he's nowhere...

Game 90 lineups: Nats at Reds

Game 90 lineups: Nats at Reds
CINCINNATI - For a pitcher prone to the home run ball - and Nationals ace Max Scherzer certainly qualifies - pitching in a bandbox like Great American Ball Park can be a challenge. Though he's turned in one sterling start after another this season, the right-hander has still yielded 13 homers through 128 1/3 innings. That's an improvement over the pace that saw him serve up 31 gopher balls in 228 1/3 frames last year during his Cy Young season, but more than Scherzer would like. At least...

Game 89 lineups: Nats at Reds (Ross heads to DL)

Game 89 lineups: Nats at Reds (Ross heads to DL)
CINCINNATI - The Nationals open the second half tonight with the first of four games against the Reds at Great American Ball Park in the second 2017 meeting between the teams. The Nationals have gone 38-42 against the Reds since moving from Montreal to D.C. before the 2005 campaign, and haven't won a season series against them since 2011, when they went 4-2. Since then, they're 16-17 against the Reds. Last season, Washington won two of three games on the shores of the Ohio River and dropped...

Game 88 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 88 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
The final day of the first half of the 2017 season has arrived, and while it may feel like this day has come quickly, it also comes at the end of a particularly difficult portion of the schedule for the Nationals. They had 37 games scheduled in the last 38 days - one of those was Wednesday night's game that was postponed - and during this time they've seen Jayson Werth, Trea Turner, Michael A. Taylor, Koda Glover and Shawn Kelley all land on the disabled list. The Nationals' record during...

Game 87 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 87 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
The Nationals and Braves resume their four-game series later this afternoon, with Stephen Strasburg on the mound for his final start of the season's first half. Strasburg is headed to the All-Star Game after this, but it'll be interesting to see if he ends up pitching Tuesday night in Miami on only two days' rest. It may depend on how far he goes today. Julio Teheran starts for the Braves, and that typically has been good news for the Nationals (who have had a lot of success against him) and...

Game 86 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 86 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
The sun is shining, the tarp is all rolled up, everybody is (sort of) refreshed after sleeping in this morning and the Nationals and Braves are preparing to play the second game of their four-game series tonight. The Nationals have issued a public apology for their handling of last night's (non-)rain delay and have begun to take some other steps toward appeasing those who were impacted by their decisions. They still have more to do to make things right. In the meantime, the Nats and Braves...

Game 85 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 85 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
Let's cut right to the chase: No, I have no idea if they're going to be able to play tonight's game. As was the case last night, the forecast doesn't look good, maybe even worse. But that doesn't mean the Nationals and Braves won't try to get their series opener in. In other words: Stay tuned. As soon as we know, you'll know. If they do play, it'll be Gio Gonzalez on the mound for the Nationals, who elected to skip Tanner Roark's spot after last night's rainout and keep Gonzalez, Max...

Game 85 lineups: Nats vs. Mets

Game 85 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
The Nationals are going for a sweep of the Mets tonight, but in order to pull that off they'll need not only to beat Jacob deGrom but to do it without Bryce Harper in their lineup. Harper is getting a rare day off, only his second this season for a reason not involving minor injury or suspension. We'll find out shortly from Dusty Baker if there's anything else going on, but Harper certainly is deserving of getting a breather if that's all it is. Brian Goodwin takes over in right field, with...

Game 84 lineups: Nats vs. Mets

Game 84 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
Good morning to you from the nation's capital, where the Nationals and Mets will celebrate the national pastime with the traditional 11:05 a.m. Independence Day ballgame. The early start time always catches visiting teams and media by surprise, but I've always found this to be a cool tradition, and I sense fans like it as well. What better way to spend your Fourth of July than with baseball early and plenty of time afterward for barbeques and fireworks? The Nats and Mets will be a bit...

Game 83 lineups: Nats vs. Mets

Game 83 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
We begin today with sad news: Longtime Washington, D.C.-based Major League Baseball official scorer David W. Vincent died Sunday evening after a long bout with stomach cancer. The Centreville, Va., resident was 67. Vincent was a member of the Society of American Baseball Research and a founding secretary of Retrosheet, which works to collect and archive box scores and play-by-play accounts of every major league game. He had scored Nationals games since the team's arrival from Montreal for the...

Game 82 lineups: Nats at Cardinals

Game 82 lineups: Nats at Cardinals
ST. LOUIS - The Nationals need a win tonight to avoid getting swept by the Cardinals and dropping their sixth game in the last eight days. The good news: They have Max Scherzer on the mound. The bad news: They'll be facing Carlos Martínez, with something less than their "A" lineup. Scherzer brings his league-best 2.06 ERA, 0.783 WHIP and 151 strikeouts to his hometown, looking to carry his dominant success from June into July. He has pitched quite well against the Cardinals during his...