nationals

Who pitches against Mets? (Strasburg placed on DL)

June 26, 2016, 8:58am

MILWAUKEE - When the Nationals scratched right-hander Stephen Strasburg from today's start with a recurrence of his upper back strain and decided to start righty Tanner Roark instead, it threw their rotation for this week's key home series against the Mets into disarray. Instead of starting Roark, then right-handers Joe Ross and Max Scherzer against their division rivals, the Nats are now reassessing their options. They haven't yet announced starters for the series, which begins Monday night...

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How Dusty Baker, Nats are dealing with disappointing skid

June 25, 2016, 6:46pm

Nationals

How Dusty Baker, Nats are dealing with disappointing skid

MILWAUKEE - A couple of hours before Saturday's game - a loss that extended their losing streak to seven games, a season high - the Nationals were sitting at their lockers in the visiting clubhouse at Miller Park, several players nodding their heads and silently mouthing the words to the pulsating beat of a rap tune that was blaring from the speaker in the center of the room. All of a sudden, the music stopped, and a few seconds later, it was replaced by a jaunty country tune. As players...

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Game 76 lineups: Nats at Brewers

June 26, 2016, 6:37am

Nationals

MILWAUKEE - The Nationals will turn to Tanner Roark to halt a season-high seven-game losing streak today, while awaiting further word on the upper back strain that caused scheduled starter Stephen Strasburg to be scratched from his second assignment in a week. The current skid is the Nats' longest since 2009. A 2-7 road trip isn't what they expected when this trek began 10 days ago in San Diego. Roark has worked at least six innings in six of his past seven starts, so the right-hander should...

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Skid hits seven games, Strasburg scratched from Sunday start

June 25, 2016, 4:54pm

Nationals

Skid hits seven games, Strasburg scratched from Sunday start

MILWAUKEE - Just when it felt like the Nationals had absorbed all the frustration they could stomach in one disappointing day - after the Brewers had handed them a 6-5 loss, stretching their season-worst losing streak to seven games - fate delivered a parting gut punch. Stephen Strasburg felt a recurrence of his upper back issue when throwing this afternoon and has been scratched from Sunday's scheduled start, manager Dusty Baker said as he closed his postgame press briefing. Tanner Roark will...

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Brewers knock Gonzalez out after three innings, Nats fall 6-5

June 25, 2016, 1:00pm

Nationals

Brewers knock Gonzalez out after three innings, Nats fall 6-5

MILWAUKEE - Gio Gonzalez usually has good first innings. So today's opening-inning effort by the struggling left-hander was a little out of the ordinary. Or was it, considering that the Nationals are mired in a six-game losing streak. Gonzalez, who has posted a 2.57 first-inning ERA in his previous 14 starts this season, trailed 3-0 after facing five batters. He surrendered an infield single to Jonathan Villar and a single to left by Aaron Hill before getting two outs. On the verge of getting...

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Bullpen session has Papelbon hopeful of midweek return from DL

June 25, 2016, 10:58am

Nationals

Bullpen session has Papelbon hopeful of midweek return from DL

MILWAUKEE - Jonathan Papelbon is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list on June 29, and with a little luck, the Nationals could have their closer back by the middle of next week. Papelbon, who has been on the DL with a right intercostal strain since June 15, threw a 40-pitch bullpen session Saturday afternoon, the first time he's thrown off a mound since being sidelined. Previously, he'd been limited to work on flat ground. "The ball was flying everywhere, but I felt really good,"...

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Game 75 lineups: Nats at Brewers

June 25, 2016, 8:02am

Nationals

MILWAUKEE - The Nationals' losing streak has reached a season-worst six games, and the pitcher they turn to in hopes of halting it this afternoon hasn't won a game in his past six starts. But there is cause for hope. Since beating the Mets at Citi Field on May 18, left-hander Gio Gonzalez is 0-5. He's failed to get to the sixth inning three times in that span, most recently June 19 in San Diego when he gave up six runs (five earned) on eight hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings. Today,...

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Ramos' hot stick has earned trust of Nationals clubhouse

June 24, 2016, 10:06pm

Nationals

MILWAUKEE - As Wilson Ramos keeps chugging along, ripping hit after hit with an authoritative bat, he's pushing an indicator within the Nationals clubhouse to previously unseen heights. A .341/.385/.567 slash line - boosted again after a 4-for-5 night in a 5-3 loss to the Brewers on Friday - is only part of the story. During June, when he's hitting .371 in 19 games while starting exclusively in the fourth, fifth and sixth spots in the lineup, Ramos has done a good job of gaining his...

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Baker bemoans strikeouts, homers again bedevil Scherzer

June 24, 2016, 8:35pm

Nationals

Baker bemoans strikeouts, homers again bedevil Scherzer

MILWAUKEE - The hushed tone of Dusty Baker spoke volumes after a 5-3 loss to the Brewers on Friday night stretched the Nationals' losing streak to a season-worst six games and left a once-thriving offense searching for answers. Baker can live with the occasional skid - it happens to every team at some point during a season, and he didn't think his Nationals would escape baseball normalcy. But the alarming rate at which his hitters struck out against five Milwaukee pitchers - 16 times in all,...

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Scherzer weathers first, wilts in sixth (Nats lose 5-3)

June 24, 2016, 5:08pm

Nationals

Scherzer weathers first, wilts in sixth (Nats lose 5-3)

MILWAUKEE - The Nationals desperately need a Max Scherzer-like outing from Max Scherzer to halt a five-game skid and in the early going at Miller Park, the right-hander was pretty much all or nothing. A weird first inning saw Scherzer strike out the side, walk the bases loaded and surrender a two-run single to Aaron Hill on a 1-2 pitch. The result: a 2-0 Brewers lead. The Nats haven't been able to get anything going offensively against Brewers righty Kyle Davies. Bryce Harper hustled a bloop...

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Ribs back in place, Strasburg on track to start series finale

June 24, 2016, 2:59pm

Nationals

Ribs back in place, Strasburg on track to start series finale

MILWAUKEE - Stephen Strasburg strode into the Nationals clubhouse at Miller Park about three hours before Friday's game, sweat glistening off his face after he threw a lighter-than-usual bullpen session, a necessary hurdle before rejoining the rotation after being scratched from his scheduled Monday start. Strasburg said he felt fine after an upper back strain forced him out of a marquee matchup against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on Monday night, and sounded encouraged that he'd make his...

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Game 74 lineups: Nats at Brewers

June 24, 2016, 12:04pm

Nationals

MILWAUKEE - The Nationals continue their 10-game road trip tonight at Miller Park, and send right-hander Max Scherzer to the mound in hopes of snapping out of a season-high five-game losing streak. Scherzer hasn't seen a lot of the Brewers in his career, but has made three starts against them among his four appearances and carries a 1-0 record and 1.64 ERA into tonight's game. Yep, those are numbers that bring hope to a team with a black cloud circling over it. He'll be opposed by...

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Nats struggling to cobble together bullpen with Papelbon out

June 23, 2016, 10:45am

Nationals

Nats struggling to cobble together bullpen with Papelbon out

When Jonathan Papelbon landed on the disabled list for the first time in his career 10 days ago, it was viewed in some corners as a potential addition by subtraction, given the veteran closer's oft-shaky outings that seemed to feature more hard-hit balls than swings and misses. Dusty Baker knew better. Whatever heart palpitations Papelbon may cause his manager at times, he more than makes up for with experience and the domino effect he has on the rest of the Nationals bullpen. "I think the...

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After disastrous West Coast trip, Nationals try to refocus

June 22, 2016, 11:54pm

Nationals

LOS ANGELES - Michael A. Taylor's game-ending error late last night would have been tough enough for the Nationals to cope with had it come during a long winning streak. That it instead extended their current losing streak to a season-long five games only added to the disconsolation that was felt throughout the visitors' clubhouse at Dodger Stadium at the end of a brutal West Coast trip. "Every loss on this road trip has been devastating," manager Dusty Baker said. "We had the lead in...

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Opposite dugout: Brewers still searching for improvement in tough division

June 23, 2016, 12:12pm

Nationals

Opposite dugout: Brewers still searching for improvement in tough division

Manager: Craig Counsell (2nd season) Record: 32-40 Last 10 games: 3-7 Who to watch: LF Ryan Braun (.320 average, 12 HR, 38 RBIs); 1B Chris Carter (18 HR, 44 RBIs); SS Jonathan Villar (76 hits, 25 SB); C Jonathan Lucroy (.305 average, 74 hits); SP Junior Guerra (4-1, 3.67 ERA); CL Jeremy Jeffress (2.84 ERA, 19 saves). Season series vs. Nationals: First meeting (3-4 in 2015) Pitching probables: June 24: RHP Max Scherzer vs. RHP Zach Davies, 8:05 p.m., MASN2June 25: LHP Gio Gonzalez vs. RHP Matt...

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District 34: About last night ...

June 23, 2016, 9:03am

Nationals

So last night's end to the Nationals-Dodgers series was less than ideal ... Plain and simple: Michael A. Taylor had a bad night at Dodger Stadium (0-for-5, five strikeouts and a three-base error in the ninth inning). But those days happen, and he's not the only one to struggle over this five-game losing streak on the West Coast. Alas, the Nationals must press on ... Meanwhile, Byron Kerr and I get to look back at last night's crazy and unfortunate finish for this week's episode of District...

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David Huzzard: Nats bullpen needs fixing, but don't expect many changes soon

June 23, 2016, 6:19am

Nationals

David Huzzard: Nats bullpen needs fixing, but don't expect many changes soon

They are riding a five-game losing streak and in need of bullpen help. That is the current state of your Washington Nationals. A five-game losing streak is nothing to worry about. It happens. The fact that the Nationals have avoided a prolonged losing streak for this long is a miracle. It's the way the Nationals have been losing. Jonathan Papelbon wasn't the best closer, but the bullpen was built to have him as the closer. Shawn Kelley surpassed all expectations, but he works much better as...

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Young arms dueling at Dodger Stadium (Nats lose 4-3)

June 22, 2016, 7:36pm

Nationals

Young arms dueling at Dodger Stadium (Nats lose 4-3)

LOS ANGELES - After a frustrating few nights trying (and mostly failing) to come up with clutch hits, the Nationals managed to record a couple of them in succession in the top of the second tonight, giving themselves an early lead over the Dodgers. Danny Espinosa and Joe Ross hit back-to-back RBI doubles off 19-year-old phenom Julio Urias, a pair of desperately needed two-out hits with men in scoring position for a Nationals lineup that has struggled mightily to deliver in those situations. The...

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Taylor's game-ending error hands Nats another crushing loss

June 22, 2016, 11:25pm

Nationals

Taylor's game-ending error hands Nats another crushing loss

LOS ANGELES - For a split-second when the ball came off the bat, there was a fleeting thought it could be a double-play ball, one that would wrap up a much-needed victory for the Nationals. But then Yasiel Puig's hard grounder up the middle got past a diving Danny Espinosa, and so everyone inside Dodger Stadium immediately assumed it would be a simple single to center field, extending the bottom of the ninth. But then as he came charging in, Michael A. Taylor's eyes gazed slightly upward,...

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Strasburg throws off flat ground, Ramos moves up to fifth

June 22, 2016, 5:17pm

Nationals

Strasburg throws off flat ground, Ramos moves up to fifth

LOS ANGELES - Stephen Strasburg played catch in the Dodger Stadium outfield this afternoon, the first time he had thrown a ball since an upper back strain left him unable to start Monday night's game. It's still too soon for the Nationals to know if Strasburg will be able to make his next scheduled start Sunday in Milwaukee, and he'll likely need to throw off a bullpen mound one of the next two days to do that. But today's step was an encouraging one. "Yeah, it's an encouraging sign,"...