nationals

Zimmerman, Rendon and Baker react to late game double-switches

October 13, 2016, 10:47pm

Two of the biggest moves Nationals manager Dusty Baker had to make last night in Game 5 of the National League Division Series to get his lineup order were double-switches that took two of his best hitters out of the lineup. First baseman Ryan Zimmerman was replaced by Clint Robinson in the seventh. Then third baseman Anthony Rendon was replaced by Stephen Drew in the eighth. Rendon struggled in the series with runners in scoring position, leaving four on base in this game. But he did have a...

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Revisiting all the key decisions in the Nationals' Game 5 loss

October 14, 2016, 7:54am

Nationals

The sting hasn't worn off yet, and it probably won't for quite some time. The Nationals are dispersing around the country today, going home for the winter instead of going to Chicago for a shot at the pennant. Game 5 of the 2016 National League Division Series was an all-timer, one they'll be talking about for years. Whether the Nationals themselves or their fans will ever be able to appreciate that remains to be seen. Certainly it's not something anyone wants to contemplate today. So much...

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Despondent over Game 5 loss, Scherzer understands Baker's decision

October 13, 2016, 10:21pm

Nationals

Despondent over Game 5 loss, Scherzer understands Baker's decision

Max Scherzer appeared to be cruising along as he pitched six scoreless innings in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. The Nationals were holding a 1-0 lead heading to the top of the seventh. Then everything changed. Joc Pederson got ahold of a 95 mph Scherzer fastball and deposited it over the left-center wall to tie the game at 1-1. Pederson was the final batter Scherzer would face. The Dodgers scored three more runs for a four-run seventh inning. It was enough to lift them to a 4-3...

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Nationals left to process another early October exit

October 13, 2016, 11:00pm

Nationals

Jayson Werth has been through this before, more times than he'd like to remember. No two postseason elimination games are quite the same, and every season-ending loss hurts in its own way. This one, though, this one was ... well, what exactly was it? The final score said the Nationals lost 4-3 to the Dodgers in the decisive Game 5 of the National League Division Series. The winding path it took to get to that final moment, though, that was unlike anything Werth or others in a somber clubhouse...

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Nationals come up short again, lose 4-3 in epic Game 5

October 13, 2016, 8:43pm

Nationals

This one will require some time to fully process. The crowd of 43,936 that sat, stood, roared and groaned through every moment of Game 5 of the National League Division Series knows only that it just witnessed one of the wildest winner-take-all showdowns in baseball history. Someone will write a novel about this one, maybe on the 66-minute seventh inning alone, the critical frame of the game that featured more highs and lows than you could reasonably imagine. The only thing the fans that filed...

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Espinosa lifts Nationals to early lead (Dodgers win 4-3, take NLDS 3-2)

October 13, 2016, 4:55pm

Nationals

Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer benefited from a spectacular diving catch to begin Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the Dodgers. Chase Utley drove a ball deep into the gap of left-center field. Trea Turner raced to his right and dove to make the catch. Scherzer was able to get the next two batters on grounders. For the first time in the NLDS, the Dodgers did not score in the first inning. Scherzer also got the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the second inning. Left-hander Rich Hill...

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Dreamlike sequence ends with Kershaw, Dodgers advancing to NLCS vs. Cubs

October 13, 2016, 10:51pm

Nationals

Dreamlike sequence ends with Kershaw, Dodgers advancing to NLCS vs. Cubs

Closer Kenley Jansen, his goggles pushed up on his forehead, sat on the champagne-soaked hallway floor that leads to the Dodgers clubhouse early Friday morning. He was exhausted and trying to put into words what had just happened. "When I saw that Clayton Kershaw was warming up, I said to myself, 'Am I dreaming?' " Jansen said. "It was unbelievable. It was awesome." And it was a game the Dodgers and their will never forget. They beat the Nationals 4-3 in Game 5 of the National League...

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Baker wants fans positive, says Strasburg won't pitch in NLCS

October 13, 2016, 2:02pm

Nationals

Baker wants fans positive, says Strasburg won't pitch in NLCS

Not that you'd expect anything less from him, but Nationals manager Dusty Baker is particularly relaxed and confident heading into Game 5 of the National League Division Series. And he's been that way all day. "To tell you the truth, I got up, said my prayers like I always do," Baker said when asked what his emotions were like today. "Got a cup of coffee. And then packed for Chicago." The Nationals, of course, will have no need to pack for Chicago if they lose tonight's do-or-die game...

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Longest-tenured National Zimmerman on what Game 5 means to D.C.

October 13, 2016, 1:54pm

Nationals

Longest-tenured National Zimmerman on what Game 5 means to D.C.

First baseman Ryan Zimmerman has seen the Nationals grow up. Zimmerman, then 20, played 20 games with the Nats during their first season in Washington, D.C., when they went 81-81 in 2005.. But the seasons were mostly lean in those early days for Zimmerman, when he was earning the moniker "Mr. Walk-Off" as the face of the franchise. During his tenure in Washington, the Nats have had seasons with 91, 93, 102 and 103 losses over the years. Zimmerman, now 31, met with the media Thursday afternoon...

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NLDS Game 5 lineups: Nats vs. Dodgers

October 13, 2016, 11:49am

Nationals

And so it has come to this. Game 5. Winner-take-all. One team heads to Chicago this weekend for the National League Championship Series. One team heads home for the winter, wondering what might have been. We've experienced this once before during this era of D.C. baseball. The final outcome is one that continues to haunt everyone. Tonight's result could go a long way toward pushing those bad memories aside. This is, quite simply, Max Scherzer's game. He's rested. He's ready. He was brought...

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Baker and veterans have kept dugout calm in face of adversity

October 13, 2016, 3:09am

Nationals

Baker and veterans have kept dugout calm in face of adversity

The calmness in the dugout during the series has been evident. The Nationals have fallen behind 4-0, 2-0, 1-0 and 5-2 early in each game of this series. Three of the four times the club came back to tie or take the lead in that game. In the first game, they cut the deficit to 4-3 and had a few chances to take the lead. Despite 36 strikeouts in the last three games, the Nats have won two of those contests and had Game 4 tied at 5-5 in the eighth on Tuesday. The veteran core of Jayson Werth,...

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Win or lose Game 5, Nationals have proven something this year

October 12, 2016, 4:32pm

Nationals

When they take the field shortly after 8 p.m. tonight, Max Scherzer leading the way, the Nationals will be facing far more than the Dodgers in a do-or-die baseball game. They'll be facing their own demons, the demons of two previous postseason failures, the demons of two other regular season failures during this five-year run of excellence, the demons of Washington's entire sports existence that have prevented any of the city's major pro clubs from so much as reaching the final four of its...

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District 34 podcast: NLDS Game 5 preview

October 12, 2016, 3:36pm

Nationals

District 34 podcast: NLDS Game 5 preview

It all comes down to this: Game 5 of the National League Division Series between the Nationals and Dodgers. The winner-take-all game doesn't start until 8 p.m. at Nats Park, so Byron Kerr and I have a preview episode of the District 34 podcast to get you ready for tonight's showdown. With a chance to advance to face the Cubs in the NLCS, the Nationals need just one more over the Dodgers after splitting the first four games of this series. So how did we get here? What have the Nationals done...

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Nats need offense to keep rolling to advance Thursday

October 12, 2016, 3:58am

Nationals

Nats need offense to keep rolling to advance Thursday

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals lost Game 4 of the National League Division Series, but their offense showed life again. Despite a 6-5 loss to the Dodgers, the Nationals made a big comeback from being down 5-2 to tie the game at 5-5 in the seventh. In the last three games, the bats have clicked to score 18 runs. Players like Jayson Werth, Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner and Danny Espinosa are contributing. Jose Lobaton had a three-run shot in Game 2 that...

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Scherzer looks forward to the "biggest start of my life"

October 11, 2016, 10:11pm

Nationals

Scherzer looks forward to the "biggest start of my life"

LOS ANGELES - Max Scherzer didn't even pause to think about it when asked Tuesday night about the significance of what takes place Thursday night in D.C. "Yep, this is probably the biggest start of my career," he said. "Biggest start of my life. I've said that a handful of times throughout my career. How you handle that, going out there and using the emotion of that scenario, that everything's on the line ... I'm not gonna shy away from it. This is the biggest start of my...

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Treinen on Utley's decisive hit, focusing on Game 5

October 11, 2016, 6:24pm

Nationals

Treinen on Utley's decisive hit, focusing on Game 5

LOS ANGELES - The Dodgers found a way to stay in the National League Division Series thanks to a big hit by Chase Utley. His eighth-inning two-out RBI single plated the go-ahead run and led the Dodgers to a 6-5 victory over the Nationals, forcing a decisive NLDS Game 5 on Thursday in D.C.. The series is now even at two games apiece. The feeling postgame was more about how impressive a swing Utley put on the ball versus the pitch that reliever Blake Treinen threw to him. After the Nationals had...

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"It's win or go home - it's time to win"

October 11, 2016, 7:03pm

Nationals

"It's win or go home - it's time to win"

LOS ANGELES - It was the kind of sequence that championship clubs so often put together in October. Trailing late in a critical postseason game, facing one of the best in the sport, somehow finding a way to string together several quality at-bats and produce an inspiring rally. The Nationals did all that in the top of the seventh today at Dodger Stadium, and after Daniel Murphy's two-out, two-run single brought home the tying run, it was perfectly appropriate to wonder whether this would be...

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Late rally not quite enough for Nationals in tense Game 4 loss

October 11, 2016, 4:49pm

Nationals

LOS ANGELES - The seventh-inning rally, featuring so many quality at-bats and a little bit of good fortune, had brought the Nationals back from the brink, improbably giving them five runs off Clayton Kershaw and leaving the fate of Game 4 of the National League Division Series hanging in the balance. But the Dodgers weren't totally deflated, despite their best efforts to melt down in front of 49,617 of their fans. They clawed their way back, plating the decisive run in the bottom of the eighth...

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Strasburg has "a little discomfort" during bullpen session

October 11, 2016, 12:17pm

Nationals

Strasburg has "a little discomfort" during bullpen session

LOS ANGELES - As the Nationals attempt to finish off the National League Division Series this afternoon, Stephen Strasburg continues to attempt to return from an elbow injury and pitch for his team at some point later in the postseason. But Strasburg's road back to game action remains littered with speed bumps and potholes, and he hit one of them Monday while throwing in the bullpen at Dodger Stadium. Strasburg was scheduled to throw 35 pitches, building off the 25-pitch session he had three...

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Baker on how scheduling affects his pitching staff for Game 4 and beyond

October 11, 2016, 11:03am

Nationals

Baker on how scheduling affects his pitching staff for Game 4 and beyond

LOS ANGELES - One major theme of this National League Division Series has been scheduling and how it has affected the players, managers and coaching staffs. Major League Baseball eliminated its scheduled off-day Sunday when Game 2 was postponed in Washington, D.C., due to inclement weather on Saturday. Game 2 was rescheduled and played Sunday in blustery conditions at Nationals Park. Both clubs then ventured 2,300 miles to Los Angeles and arrived around 11 p.m. PDT Sunday night. Game 3 was...