Victor Robles bounded into the Nationals clubhouse this afternoon, bursting with the kind of energy that can mean only one thing: The injured outfielder is in a good mood about the current state of his body.

“Much better, thanks,” Robles said when asked how he’s feeling before making a beeline for Davey Martinez’s office to update the manager on the condition of his back.

Robles has played in only 36 games this season, only five since May 6 when he suffered his initial back injury sliding into second base in Arizona. After rehabbing that injury and returning to the active roster about six weeks later, he reinjured himself trying to make a lunging catch in center field before crashing into the wall.

That was five weeks ago. Robles has spent the bulk of that time at the Nationals’ spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Fla., rehabbing and getting treatment. He still hasn’t progressed to the point where he’s doing any baseball activities, but the team is moving his home base back to D.C. to keep a closer eye on him and monitor his progress in person.

“I talked to him for a little bit in my office and he said he feels much better,” Martinez said. “We want to get eyes on him, get him moving around a little bit, and then we’ll go from there. He always has that bubbly energy, but it’s good to see him here.”

Anything interesting happen over the weekend? Sheesh, you take a few days off for a quick family vacation, and look what happens. The Nationals sign and introduce first-round pick Dylan Crews, then go and pull off their first three-game sweep in more than two years. At this point, I’m just hoping they let me back in the ballpark today.

The weekend sweep came against a good Giants team. Next up is a three-game series with the Rockies, the worst team in the National League. That guarantees nothing, of course, but the matchup on paper should favor the home team.

The Nats lineup really produced against San Francisco and will now try to continue that trend against a Colorado pitching staff that ranks last in the league in most categories. Right-hander Jake Bird will open tonight’s game, but based on past usage don’t expect him to go more than an inning or two.

Patrick Corbin gets the start for the Nationals, who would love to get at least six innings out of their veteran left-hander. Corbin was excellent for five innings last week against the Cubs before faltering in the sixth.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

Dylan Crews will soon arrive at the Nationals’ spring training facility in West Palm Beach and start getting acclimated to his new organization. It will be a two-way street of him getting to know his new coaches and the coaches getting to know their new player.

Someone who already knows Crews well as a player and as a person is his college coach: LSU head coach Jay Johnson.

Johnson, who attended Crews’ introductory press conference on Saturday donning a purple sports coat, was beaming while talking about the second of his former players who went Nos. 1-2 overall in this year’s draft.

“I think it’s the combination (of) that's an elite player, that’s an elite person,” Johnson said of Crews to a group of gathered media members at the conclusion of the press conference. “I think if you stack up his three seasons of college performance, you’d be hard pressed to find anybody any better. But there’s this humility that he plays with, this edge that he plays with, this ability to lift everybody up and make everybody else around him better on top of these baseball tools that show up every single day to help his team win. I mean, it’s a truly special player. After not going number one, there was really no decision, probably, for Washington to select him.”

Johnson’s first head coaching job came in 2014 at the University of Nevada. After two seasons with the Wolfpack, he accepted the gig at the University of Arizona, where he coached for six seasons before leaving to become the head coach at LSU in 2021.

It was not a taboo word around the Nationals clubhouse. In fact, in talking to members of the team before today’s finale against the Giants, no one was really too concerned about it.

But it had to be noted how long it has been since the Nationals last swept a three-game series. You have to go back more than two years to June 14-16, 2021 against the Pirates for the last time they accomplished that feat. And per STATS, the Nats have not swept a series in their last 96 attempts, which is the longest streak of series without a sweep in major league history after passing the Philadelphia Athletics’ 89 straight series without a sweep between 1914-1917.

Alas, they finally did it, sweeping the Giants in three games this weekend with a 6-1 win this afternoon in front of 23,404 fans at Nats Park.

"This weekend we played like I thought we'd play throughout," said manager Davey Martinez after the game. "With a lot of energy, it was a lot of fun. It was a great weekend for us. So I was proud of the boys. You saw us go first to the third, you saw us turn double plays when we needed to, make some good plays, steal some bases, get big outs. Everybody was on point. So it was a fun weekend.”

As they did in each of the past two nights, the Nats jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back, the new top of the lineup once again leading the charge.

Nationals fans are aware of it. It may even bother them a little. But doesn’t seem to have an effect on the players and coaching staff in the clubhouse.

The Nationals have not swept a three-game series since June 14-16, 2021 against the Pirates. They have not swept a series in their last 96 attempts, expanding the longest streak of series without a sweep in major league history after surpassing the 89 straight series without a sweep by the Philadelphia Athletics from 1914-1917, per STATS.

Today, they have a chance to sweep the Giants after winning the first two games by a combined score of 15-4. But for the Nats, it’s just another chance to win a ballgame.

“Nah,” manager Davey Martinez said when asked if the team thinks about their sweepless streak during his pregame meeting with the media. “Like I said, we try to be where our feet are. Try to go about our business, go 1-0 today. What I can tell you is these guys will come out today and they'll compete. They'll play hard. If everything aligns, we'll come out, we'll win and it's just another victory for us.”

Jake Irvin and Josiah Gray led the Nats to their first two victories this weekend, pitching a combined 13 ⅔ innings and allowing four runs.

Is today the day? Will it finally happen? Can this unfathomable streak be ended?

Once again, the Nationals are seeking their first three-game series sweep since June 14-16, 2021 against the Pirates. This will be the Nats’ fourth opportunity to sweep a three-game set this season.

They were able to win the first two games behind strong starting pitching from Jake Irvin and Josiah Gray, the young right-handers combining to allow four runs over 13 ⅔ innings against the Giants.

Now it’s MacKenzie Gore’s turn in his 20th start of the year. The 24-year-old lefty is 5-7 with a 4.59 ERA, 1.448 WHIP and 10.7 strikeouts-per-nine-innings. Gore was able to gut out 6 ⅓ innings in his last start against the Cubs, but he was charged with five runs, including two home runs. He didn’t face the Giants when the two teams met in San Francisco back in May. He did, however, go 1-1 while giving up nine runs in 9 ⅓ innings over two starts against them as a member of the Padres last year.

The Nationals offense will look to stay hot against Giants pitching, outscoring the visitors 15-4 over the first two games.

Today was one of those days where, in the grand scheme of things, the result of the Nationals’ game against the Giants didn’t really matter. The franchise introduced Dylan Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, as one of the “keystone” pieces for the future.

Many were thinking about the next competitive Nationals team a few years down the line. But the players in the home clubhouse were not.

On the day the Nats celebrated Crews, they also celebrated a victory as they cruised to a 10-1 win over the Giants in front of 32,504 fans who came out to welcome the newest prospect and watch a ballgame.

And what a ballgame to watch if you were supporting the team wearing the cherry blossom uniforms, who won their second straight to take this series against the Giants.

"Yesterday was good, today was really good, so I like the trend," manager Davey Martinez said.

It was another monumental day for the Nationals franchise and its future.

After making the signing official, the organization officially introduced No. 2 overall pick Dylan Crews as its latest highly touted prospect.

“Another exciting day here at Nationals Park,” said general manager Mike Rizzo to begin the introductory press conference in front of members of the Lerner family, Crews family and local media. “Over the years that I've been here, we've been here many times and few occasions can match the excitement that we have today. To get into the organization one of the most decorated, accomplished, winning-type of players in collegiate history to join the Washington Nationals is a special occasion for us.

The Nationals made the LSU outfielder the No. 2 selection of the 2023 MLB Draft two weeks ago. Crews reportedly signed a deal worth $9 million, the highest ever given to a position player in the bonus slot era of the draft. His college teammate, Paul Skenes, set the overall record with a $9.2 million bonus as the Pirates’ No. 1 overall pick.

Jim Callis of MLB.com reported the final number.

While much of the attention today surrounds Dylan Crews’ introductory press conference, the Nationals still have a game to play tonight.

The Nationals won their third straight series opener last night. Now they’ll look to win their first series since the All-Star break.

Josiah Gray makes his second start since his first All-Star Game appearance. He was roughed up Sunday in St. Louis to the tune of four runs and 10 hits over five innings in a loss to the Cardinals. On the year, the right-hander is 6-8 with a 3.59 ERA and 1.472 WHIP. He had an impressive outing when he faced the Giants back in May, completing seven innings and allowing just two runs and five hits.

Logan Webb starts for San Francisco. He is 8-7 with a 3.11 ERA and 1.083 WHIP on the season, but has been pitching really well in July. Over his last three starts, he has a 1.59 ERA, including a complete-game shutout of the Rockies right before the break. The righty held the Nats to one run with seven strikeouts over seven innings on May 9, though he did surrender nine hits.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 83 degrees, wind 5 mph out to left field

As we await the official announcement that Dylan Crews has signed his deal with the Nationals, some top prospects are anxiously awaiting to welcome the No. 2 overall pick into the minor league system.

The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported yesterday that Crews agreed to a deal worth about $9 million, which is over the slot value of $8,988,500. Now it’s just a matter of the team making the announcement.

While in Bowie this week, some of the top prospects in the organization with Double-A Harrisburg were excited to see the Nats select the Golden Spikes Award winner in the first round.

“I thought it was awesome. I was watching it,” said Brady House, the Nats’ No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline and 2021 first-round pick. “I did a couple of events in high school that were like (Team) USA and all that stuff that Dylan was part of too. So I watched him all throughout his college career especially. I did a lot of watching LSU baseball this year. So I love to see it and I'm happy that he's with our organization.”

Crews is already ranked by some outlets in the top five of their top 100 prospects lists, joining the Nats’ current top prospect James Wood as two of the highest ranked outfielders in the game.

The Nationals have had success in series-opening games in July. Entering tonight’s opener against the Giants, they had won three of their last five opening games, outscoring their opponents 16-11.

It’s the other games in series that have caused them trouble to start the second half of season, as they've been outscored by the Cardinals and Cubs 42-16 in such affairs. But we’ll worry about those later this weekend.

As of now, that positive part of the trend continued with tonight’s 5-3 win over the Giants as the Nats were welcomed back home for the first time since the All-Star break by 26,062 fans on South Capitol Street.

“Very good game. The boys played well," said manager Davey Martinez. "All around it was a very, very good day. I loved the way we played today.”

The Nationals displayed some power early, thanks to their new top of the lineup.

There was serious cause for concern when Hunter Harvey saw his fastball velocity drop and then reported soreness in the back of his triceps on Saturday in St. Louis.

Given his injury history and importance to the back end of the bullpen, the Nationals were extra cautious with their closer, sending him home early to get an MRI on his right elbow.

The results showed a mild right elbow strain, which was considered the best-case scenario by the team. When speaking with reporters for the first time since he landed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to July 16), Harvey didn’t seem too concerned with his latest setback.

“Just getting a little more sore than normal,” Harvey said in front of his locker before tonight’s series opener against the Giants. “The only good thing about being hurt as much as I have been, you kind of know the difference between normal soreness and stuff you don’t want to have. It’s something we jumped on early, which is good because I didn’t jump on it early last year and it cost me a couple months. So these few weeks should be good.”

The 28-year-old right-hander has dealt with his fair share of injuries throughout his career. This is his fifth trip to the major league injured list since 2020. He had a handful of injuries before his big league debut in 2019 with the Orioles, including Tommy John surgery in 2016.

The Nationals return home for the first time since the All-Star break with a six-game homestand, starting with three against the Giants.

The Nats won the first game in each of their two series since the break. However, they weren’t able to win either set against the Cardinals or Cubs, dropping the second and third games in each series.

Jake Irvin will try to make it three straight series-opening wins tonight. The young right-hander had a rough outing in his first start after the break, giving up four runs in just three innings Saturday night in St. Louis. In 13 starts this season, Irvin is 2-5 with a 4.96 ERA and 1.492 WHIP. He did have his most impressive outing in his second major league start against the Giants with 6 ⅓ scoreless innings back in May in San Francisco.

Alex Wood gets the start for the Giants. The veteran left-hander is 4-3 with a 4.53 ERA and 1.528 WHIP in 14 appearances (10 starts). He didn’t face the Nats back in May, but is 6-5 with a 3.17 ERA and 1.159 WHIP in 15 career starts against Washington.

Davey Martinez has his right-handed-heavy lineup in tonight against Wood, with Michael Chavis playing first base in place of Dominic Smith.

BOWIE, Md. – The Nationals have added another top prospect to Double-A Harrisburg’s roster. If you squint really hard, you can see the potential lineup of the next competitive team in Washington.

Just over a month after he reached High-A Wilmington for the first time, Brady House was promoted to Harrisburg earlier this week.

“It was an awesome feeling getting the call up,” House said ahead of his second Double-A game against the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) on Wednesday. “I'm sure everyone is happy and excited whenever they get the news that they're moving up somewhere. Just getting here and getting used to things and figuring things out and how they work around here, it's been nice so far. It's been a lot of fun so far.”

The Nats’ No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline and No. 3 per Baseball America, House needed only 16 games with Wilmington before earning his next promotion. Over his two weeks in High-A ball, he slashed .317/.368/.540 with a .908 OPS, five doubles, three home runs, 13 RBIs and three stolen bases.

He wasn’t even there long enough to realize how quickly he moved on.

CHICAGO – Rarely does a team deal away two stars, one of them a surefire Hall of Famer, in one trade deadline transaction. Now consider how rare it is for a team to do that two years in a row.

Suffice it to say, the Nationals’ 2021 and 2022 trade deadline moves were highly unusual. Teams just don’t generally put the likes of Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Juan Soto and Josh Bell all on the trade block in the span of 12 months. Whether they should’ve done that or not is an old debate at this point. It’s too late now to change history.

What isn’t debatable is the significance of the Scherzer/Turner deal to the Dodgers in 2021 and the Soto/Bell deal to the Padres in 2022. Those two moves alone netted the Nationals four current young major leaguers, one of the highest-rated prospects in baseball, two more who could reach the majors in the coming years and two others who to date haven’t panned out.

“I think we impacted our franchise greatly,” general manager Mike Rizzo said this week when asked to look back at his last two deadlines. “I think that we put the rebuild process in overdrive. And I think that we’re further along than if we hadn’t done those two trade deadlines.”

We’re now 12 days away from this year’s trade deadline (Aug. 1), and this much is clear: While the Nationals do have a few quality players who could be attractive to contenders, they don’t have anyone who compares to the aforementioned fabulous four. There are no franchise-altering deals to be made this time, only some calculated transactions and some interesting decisions to be made on a few guys who still could or could not be part of the Nationals’ long-term plans.

CHICAGO – With a chance to win another road series, with a chance to use their few remaining reliable relievers late, the Nationals yet again put themselves in position to emerge victorious.

This time, despite an inspired rally to tie the game in the eighth, they watched as one of those few trusted relievers gave up the eventual winning run minutes later. Then they watched as one of the unproven relievers turned this game into another rout in a matter of seconds.

Mason Thompson, entrusted with a tie game in the bottom of the eighth, was the pitcher of record in what finished as an 8-3 loss to the Cubs. Cory Abbott gave up the grand slam that blew things wide open after Thompson was pulled with the bases loaded later in the inning.

Through injuries, demotions, promotions and a flurry of transactions in recent weeks, the Nats bullpen has devolved into a mess in its current incarnation. There's no immediate help coming. They have no choice but to keep putting the same group on the mound and hope things will finally click.

"It's still the same game," Thompson said. "At the end of the day, we've just got to go out there and do a better job of helping the team win."

CHICAGO – The Nationals made yet another bullpen move today, calling up recently acquired right-hander Rico Garcia from Triple-A Rochester and placing Paolo Espino on the 15-day injured list with a flexor strain in his right ring finger.

It’s the club’s 10th bullpen change in six weeks, evidence of a revolving door unit that has dealt both with injuries and poor performances from those who have tried to fill the void.

Garcia only joined the organization one week ago when he signed a minor league deal after getting released by the Athletics, for whom he posted an 8.31 ERA in seven appearances. The 29-year-old wound up pitching only twice for Rochester before getting the call he was reporting to Chicago to join the big league staff.

“Everything kind of happened so quickly,” Garcia said. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be here.”

The 5-foot-9 Hawaii native has endured through a winding professional career that has included major league stints with the Rockies, Giants, Orioles and A’s. In total he’s pitched 27 big league games, producing a 6.89 ERA and 1.837 WHIP.

CHICAGO – As ugly as Tuesday night – and oh boy was it ugly – the Nationals still arrive at Wrigley Field today with a chance to win this series and head home with a 3-3 record on the second-half-opening trip. Even better news: The two semi-reliable relievers they still have are both available.

Kyle Finnegan and Mason Thompson are good to go if the situation presents itself in the late innings. So is Jordan Weems, who hasn’t appeared since Sunday in St. Louis. So the key, then, is for Trevor Williams to at least provide five (ideally six) quality innings and give his a team a chance, which is basically what he’s done all year. Williams is plenty fresh, because his last start was cut short after 2 2/3 innings due to rain. So there’s no reason he can’t reach, or even top, 100 pitches tonight if he’s performing well enough.

Veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks starts for the Cubs, and he has allowed nine runs, 18 hits and six homers over his last 10 1/3 innings after pitching quite well prior to that. Hendricks isn’t an overpowering guy; his changeup is his go-to pitch. It’s imperative for these Nationals hitters to stay patient with him and not get jumpy at the plate.

The Nationals announced some roster moves this afternoon, selecting the contract of right-hander Rico Garcia from Triple-A Rochester, placing Paolo Espino on the 15-day injured list with a flexor strain of his fourth right finger and transferred Israel Pineda (right finger fracture) to the 60-day IL.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CHICAGO CUBS
Where: Wrigley Field
Gametime: 8:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 76 degrees, wind 7 mph right field to left field

CHICAGO – It's been quite an eventful start to the second half of the season. The Nationals experienced three rain delays in St. Louis, winning a suspended game in extra innings before dropping the other two. They saw their closer land on the injured list and their best trade chip suffer an injury that fortunately didn't linger for long.

Since arriving in Chicago, the Nats have won a game behind the efforts of their two remaining reliable relievers, then lost the next night after the rest of that bullpen allowed 14 runs in two innings. Yes, that's 14 runs in two innings.

On the minor league level, they promoted one of their top prospects to Double-A, they signed a bunch of recent draft picks (including two guys well above slot value) and are now just trying to lock up their No. 1 pick before next week's deadline.

Oh, and the trade deadline is fast approaching, as well.

Given all that, this seems like a good time to take your questions. Submit them in the comments section below, then check back throughout the morning for my responses ...

CHICAGO – Davey Martinez knew it was probably going to come to this tonight. With Mason Thompson and Kyle Finnegan having both pitched 1 1/3 innings in order to seal Monday night’s win over the Cubs, the Nationals manager was going to have to entrust some high-leverage situations to young, untested relievers in this game.

So it was no surprise when the bullpen door underneath the right field bleachers opened up in the sixth and seventh innings of a tight ballgame and out trotted Amos Willingham and Jose A. Ferrer. Sadly, it may not have surprised many when those two rookies – and then journeyman Paolo Espino – imploded before everyone's eyes, combining to allow an astounding 14 runs and turn a tight ballgame into a farcical, 17-3 loss.

This is the current state of the Nationals bullpen. With Hunter Harvey (elbow strain) and Carl Edwards Jr. (shoulder inflammation) on the injured list, Martinez has only two semi-proven late-inning options in Thompson and Finnegan. And when he needed those two to record the final eight outs of Monday’s 7-5 win, he left himself with no choice but to see how these newcomers might handle a big moment.

It did not go well.

Willingham, a 2019 17th round pick who hadn’t pitched above Single-A before this season, got out of a sixth-inning jam but did not retire any of the four batters he faced in the seventh. Patrick Wisdom homered to open that inning, and three singles followed before Martinez pulled the 24-year-old.