nationals

Zimmermann becomes winningest pitcher in Nats history

May 01, 2014, 4:50am

Once the Nationals offense got going, right-hander Jordan Zimmermann had no trouble becoming the winningest pitcher in team history. Anthony Rendon had four hits, including a home run, and three RBIs, and Zimmermann combined with three relievers on a shutout as the Nats completed a two-game sweep with a 7-0 victory over the Astros on Wednesday night. Zimmermann posted his 45th victory for the Nats, breaking a tie with Livan Hernandez atop the team's all-time wins register. He scattered seven...

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Barrett's solid start is making people take notice

April 30, 2014, 4:18pm

Nationals

Barrett's solid start is making people take notice

As April winds to a close, Nationals right-hander Aaron Barrett has to be pretty pleased with his first month in the majors. There is still one game to go, but he has been able to post solid numbers. He allowed a run on two hits against the Angels on April 23 and two walks with the bases loaded against the Padres April 27. Overall, Barrett is 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in nine games over 7 2/3 innings. He has given up four hits, one run and five walks in that span, and has struck out 11 batters. He...

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LaRoche and Werth just keep on raking

April 30, 2014, 12:15am

Nationals

HOUSTON - Here's Adam LaRoche's average slash line in March/April for his career: .223/.318/.400/ Here's Adam LaRoche's slash line through 25 games in March/April this season: .312/.413/.495. LaRoche is traditionally a slow starter. That's no secret to anyone who has followed the Nationals the last few seasons. That only makes the way that LaRoche has started the 2014 season that much more impressive. After going 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs in last night's win over the Astros,...

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Souza gets first start, LaRoche takes a seat, Werth at DH

April 30, 2014, 4:11pm

Nationals

Souza gets first start, LaRoche takes a seat, Werth at DH

HOUSTON - Steven Souza Jr. will get his first major league start tonight when the Nationals wrap up a quick, two-game series with the Houston Astros. He will play right field and bat eighth. First baseman Adam LaRoche is sitting with a tight quad. Combined with tomorrow's scheduled off-day, LaRoche hopes to be ready for Friday's game at Philadelphia. With LaRoche out, shortstop Ian Desmond moves into the cleanup spot. Jayson Werth is listed as tonight's designated hitter, since the Nats are...

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Clubhouse reactions to Span's grab, Frandsen's blind stab and more

April 29, 2014, 9:05pm

Nationals

Clubhouse reactions to Span's grab, Frandsen's blind stab and more

HOUSTON - Two ridiculous defensive plays were made by Nationals outfielders tonight. One of them resulted in an out. The other only temporarily held one runner from scoring, but was still just baffling. Denard Span's basket catch while falling to the ground on the hill in center and Kevin Frandsen's blind backhanded pick of a ball off the scoreboard in left are the two plays I'm describing. And those plays were blowing up social media during tonight's game. Your browser does not support...

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Rachel Levitin: Questions in the infield

April 30, 2014, 4:53am

Nationals

Rachel Levitin: Questions in the infield

When Danny Espinosa was sent down to the minor leagues during the 2013 season, it was clear he had to demonstrate true worth and production value or run the risk of not playing in the big show down the line. His replacement at second base, Anthony Rendon, settled into the new role nicely with few growing pains and looked quite comfortable on the right side of the diamond as opposed to third base. It's 2014 now, and Espinosa is back at second. The only way to get Esipnosa back at second was if...

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Williams on Harper's surgery, Jordan's demotion, Fister's upcoming return

April 29, 2014, 3:03pm

Nationals

Williams on Harper's surgery, Jordan's demotion, Fister's upcoming return

Bryce Harper underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb, and Nationals manager Matt Williams received his first chance to address it before his team's series opener at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Williams isn't sure exactly when Harper will be back, but had only positive news to report about the procedure. "It's hard to tell how much time (he'll miss), but it was successful, doctor reporting that everything went fine and we got a little message from Bryce...

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Williams discusses Nats' 4-3 win over Astros

April 29, 2014, 8:41pm

Nationals

Williams discusses Nats' 4-3 win over Astros

HOUSTON - Another comeback win. That makes eight on the season. Ho, hum. The Nationals trailed 3-2 heading to the eighth inning tonight, but they came back on the Astros with a couple of rallies, both times leading to Adam LaRoche RBI knocks. His double off the wall in left-center scored Jayson Werth (who got a great read on the play) from first and LaRoche then gave the Nats the lead in the ninth with a run-scoring single to center, bringing in Denard Span (who had reached on a leadoff walk...

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Werth blasts off in first at Houston (Nats win 4-3)

April 29, 2014, 4:19pm

Nationals

Werth blasts off in first at Houston (Nats win 4-3)

Well, that didn't take long. Three batters into Tuesday's series opener, Jayson Werth crushed his fourth homer of the year, a two-out shot to left, to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in Houston. Werth, serving as the Nats' designated hitter tonight, has tremendous success in his limited time filling that role. In six career appearances as a DH, Werth is now batting .417 (5-for-12) with two homers and five RBIs. His latest blast has given the Nats the early upper hand at Minute Maid...

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Werth to DH, McLouth in right, Frandsen in left

April 29, 2014, 12:14pm

Nationals

Werth to DH, McLouth in right, Frandsen in left

HOUSTON - It seems a bit weird, but the Astros are an American League team now, which means the Nationals get to utilize the designated hitter during this brief two-game set in Houston. Tonight, the Nats' DH will be Jayson Werth. Manager Matt Williams will have Nate McLouth play right field tonight, and Kevin Frandsen will play left, replacing Bryce Harper, who will be out for around two months after having surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb today. Harper tweeted out this...

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Mattheus on his return to the Nats

April 29, 2014, 3:01pm

Nationals

Reliever Ryan Mattheus is back with the Nationals for the first time since the club left Viera, Fla., in March. The Nats called up Mattheus and sent starting pitcher Taylor Jordan to Triple-A Syracuse. Mattheus found out last Thursday that he would be returning to the Nats after he was ejected from a game. Mattheus threw one pitch against Indianapolis in the eighth inning. The ejection came one night after Syracuse and Indianapolis exchanged bean balls with one another. "It caught me a...

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As injuries mount, Nats rely on "next man up" mentality

April 29, 2014, 4:46am

Nationals

As injuries mount, Nats rely on "next man up" mentality

HOUSTON - In the NFL, there's a saying that is used quite frequently when a team has to deal with a key player getting injured. "Next man up," is what coaches, general managers and players will often utter when a valuable contributor heads to the trainer's room. That's a mentality that the Nationals have needed to adopt this season as one player after another has landed on the disabled list for weeks on end. When Wilson Ramos went down, Jose Lobaton and Sandy Leon had to step up and...

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Nats recall Ryan Mattheus, option Taylor Jordan to Triple-A

April 29, 2014, 10:08am

Nationals

Nats recall Ryan Mattheus, option Taylor Jordan to Triple-A

HOUSTON - The Nationals announced this afternoon that they've recalled right-handed reliever Ryan Mattheus from Triple-A and optioned right-hander Taylor Jordan to Syracuse. The move almost certainly means that the Nats will go with a four-man rotation for now, skipping what would have been Jordan's turn on Sunday against the Phillies, and they will have an eight-man bullpen with the addition of Mattheus. Off-days in the schedule yesterday and Thursday will allow the Nats to skip...

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Nationals recall right-hander Ryan Mattheus, option right-hander Taylor Jordan to Triple-A Syracuse

April 29, 2014, 9:57am

Nationals

The Washington Nationals today recalled right-handed reliever Ryan Mattheus from Syracuse of the Triple-A International League and optioned right-handed starter Taylor Jordan to Syracuse. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Mattheus, 30, joins the Nationals after pitching in eight games for Triple-A Syracuse, working in both short relief as well as multi-inning appearances. In 10 innings of work, Mattheus has struck out eight batters...

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Stuart Wallace: For LaRoche early returns are familiarly unfamiliar

April 28, 2014, 11:30am

Nationals

Stuart Wallace: For LaRoche early returns are familiarly unfamiliar

The offensive start to the 2014 season by the Nationals has been mildly surprising. Second in the National League in runs scored per game at 4.42 (behind the Rockies' 5.38 runs per game), this early-season surge in scoring has been paced by some surprising sources of production. With five players in the top 50 in National League weighted on base average (wOBA) with a minimum of 80 plate appearances, the Nationals have displayed a potent lineup, even with the musical chairs approach to lineup...

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McLouth's value rises as Harper goes down to injury

April 28, 2014, 8:10am

Nationals

McLouth's value rises as Harper goes down to injury

Outfielder Nate McLouth had a nice breakthrough late in Sunday's game when he hit a solo shot, his first homer for the Nationals. McLouth said the homer might be a signal that he is starting to feel good in each at-bat. "I felt good all day," McLouth said. "For the most part, I felt halfway decent at the plate. Just wasn't getting any results. It happens sometimes like that. You can't change your approach. You got to just trust your process." McLouth said they tried several tactics to...

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Bryce Harper to undergo thumb surgery, miss around two months

April 28, 2014, 2:13pm

Nationals

Bryce Harper to undergo thumb surgery, miss around two months

HOUSTON - The second opinion that Bryce Harper received on his injured left thumb provided more bad news to an already injury-depleted Nationals team. Harper will need surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in the thumb, a source confirms, and Harper could be out for around two months. ESPN first reported that Harper would need surgery. Harper injured the thumb sliding into third base on a triple in Friday night's win over the Padres. He remained in the game initially, but came out...

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Some off-day talk

April 27, 2014, 9:47pm

Nationals

HOUSTON - Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, Wilson Ramos, Doug Fister and Scott Hairston are all already on the disabled list. Denard Span spent time on the seven-day concussion DL earlier this season. Taylor Jordan battled through four innings yesterday while dealing with a bout of the flu. Danny Espinosa has a sore knee after taking an Ian Kennedy curveball off his right kneecap. The blows just keep on coming. But as the Nationals have said in the past, and will continue to say, no one will feel...

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Matt Williams on Jordan's fever, Espinosa's knee and his relievers

April 27, 2014, 2:15pm

Nationals

Matt Williams on Jordan's fever, Espinosa's knee and his relievers

Right-hander Taylor Jordan made it through four innings Sunday but then was pulled from game. The bullpen was unable to keep the game within reach and the Padres defeated the Nationals 4-2. Manager Matt Williams said Jordan had been feeling under the weather since late last night. "He showed up this morning running a fever," Williams said. "I don't know if it was the flu or what. There was some question as to whether he would even start. But we gave him a bag of fluids and he ate something...

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Marty Niland: Guys like Roark, who come out of nowhere, are what's great about baseball

April 28, 2014, 5:45am

Nationals

Marty Niland: Guys like Roark, who come out of nowhere, are what's great about baseball

The #Nats sector of the Twitterverse was abuzz Saturday as Tanner Roark stroked the canvas that was the mound at Nationals Park. When he had finished his masterpiece, a complete-game, three-hit shutout of the San Diego Padres, the accolades came quickly and lasted longer than the 2 hours, 19 minutes it took the 27-year-old to dispatch the Padres. The most prescient among those followed here came from @TheNatidude, who tweeted, "You can see Harper, Stras & Rendon coming a mile away, but...