It's taken Jayson Werth a little while to build his plate appearances up to the level needed to qualify among the league leaders, but he has finally gotten there.
And he now finds himself in the top three among National League players in three major categories.
Werth's .325 batting average ranks third in the National League behind just Yadier Molina (.330) and Chris Johnson (.326). His on-base percentage (.402) ranks third, behind Joey Votto (.434) and Shin-Soo Choo (.410). And Werth ranks...
Since returning from the disabled list in early July, Dan Haren has been one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.
He's put up a 2.53 ERA in 10 games since that DL stint in late June, and held opposing hitters to a .208 batting average in that span.
That batting average against is going to rise quite a bit after tonight.
Haren is done after just 2 2/3 innings of work tonight, already on the hook for five runs. He retired just eight batters and allowed nine hits, six of which came in...
The Mets beat the Nationals 3-2 Friday night, thanks, in part, to a critical base hit by Andrew Brown in the eighth inning.
With two outs and a man on second, Brown's liner down to third base was fielded in foul territory by Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who whirled and fired to Adam LaRoche at first base.
LaRoche had to come off first base to make the play and then bobbled it a bit. Daniel Murphy, who started the play on second base, never stopped running and slid safely into home...
Bench coach Randy Knorr had some critical comments in regards to Bryce Harper's hustle, or lack thereof, on an eighth-inning groundout to second base in tonight's 3-2 loss to the Mets.
Knorr said that even if Harper sprinted out his grounder at Daniel Murphy with two outs in the eighth, Murphy probably collects the ball after his initial bobble and throws Harper out. But in Knorr's mind, Harper gets frustrated when he doesn't perform at times, which affects his effort level.
Knorr went...
A couple of hours after the Nationals fell to the Mets in a tight 3-2 ballgame last night, the Reds also lost, keeping the Nats 6 1/2 games back in the National League wild card chase.
Does the Nats' loss sting even more knowing that they could have made up more ground on Cincinnati with a victory last night, or do you find yourself just breathing a sigh of relief that the Reds didn't pick up another game on the Nats yesterday?
With just 28 games remaining on their schedule, the Nats need...
Nationals manager Davey Johnson left the dugout around the fourth inning of tonight's 3-2 loss to the Mets due to dehydration, although Johnson said afterwards that he'll be fine.
The 70-year-old Johnson had been feeling under the weather today, and when he started feeling light-headed a few innings into tonight's game, he decided to head up into the Nats' clubhouse to get some medical treatment. Bench coach Randy Knorr took over the Nationals' managerial duties from there.
"I think...
For whatever reason Dillon Gee has the Nationals' number.
Gee has a career 3.94 ERA. He's a solid pitcher, for sure, and has put together a nice season for the Mets.
But when Gee faces the Nationals, he turns into Cy Young.
The Nats have just two hits and a run off Gee through five innings tonight, and they've gotten just three balls out of the infield. The right-hander has now gotten 13 of his 15 outs on groundballs (if you count a 6-3 double play as two outs on the ground), and just one...
Unfortunately for Tanner Roark, his two dominant scoreless innings of work last night will prevent him from making his first major league start on Sunday.
Nationals manager Davey Johnson had thoughts about tabbing Roark as his starter for Sunday against the Mets, pushing Ross Ohlendorf to the bullpen, but with the 'pen being pretty worn down lately, Roark was needed to close out yesterday's 9-0 Nats win by delivering two innings of relief.
As a result, Ohlendorf will stay in the rotation...
This recent strong run by the Nationals, who are 14-5 in their last 19 games, has started to bolster the confidence of the guys in the Nats clubhouse.
That's not to say that they had ever lost confidence, per se, or that they'd given up on the season. It's not to say that they're blind to the 6 1/2-game deficit they face in the race for the final wild card spot in the National League.
But the positive vibes have seemingly returned for the time being, the result of the best stretch this...
You wonder whether hitting is contagious?
Through their first 114 games of the season, the Nationals were averaging just 3.67 runs per game. They were batting a collective .240 as a team, had a lowly .299 on-base percentage and were slugging just .384.
Over the last three weeks, things have turned in a major way.
In their last 19 games, the Nats are averaging 5.53 runs per game, a jump of nearly two runs per night over their previous season average. They're hitting .300 as a team, have...
Gio Gonzalez finally got another win at home, a place where he has been consistently solid. Prior to Thursday, however, a victory had evaded him since July 5 at Nationals Park.
He had gone 0-1 with a 1.99 ERA in his last four home starts and was 0-3 since July 10.
On Thursday, Gonzalez went seven innings and did not allow a run to earn his eighth win in a 9-0 Nationals rout of the Marlins, capping a three-game sweep.
Early on, though, he allowed three walks and a couple of hits. It appeared...
After finishing off a three-game sweep over the Marlins, who occupy the cellar in the National League East, the Nationals welcome the fourth-place Mets to town. Then it's off to Philadelphia for three against the third-place Phillies.
The tour of mediocre division opponents continues.
The Mets come to D.C. having lost 11 of their last 17. They'll send right-hander Dillon Gee to the mound tonight, a guy who has had plenty of success against the Nats recently.
Gee has gone 3-1 with a 2.10...
It probably isn't stretching things to say that this is the most upbeat the Nationals clubhouse has been in months.
The Nats picked up their 14th win in 19 games tonight with a 9-0 rout of the Marlins, finishing off a three-game sweep and getting back to three games over .500 for the first time since July 10.
After tonight's win, the Nats trail the Reds by 6 1/2 games for the final wild card spot in the National League. Still a ways out with just 29 games to go, for sure, but the Nats are...
Mark Sept. 9 on your calendars - that's the day we'll get an indication about how serious officials from Lee County and Fort Myers, Fla., are about courting the Nationals across the state to conduct spring training.
According to Spring Training Online, that's the day the Nationals will meet in D.C. with representatives of Rockford Construction, a developer interested in building a mixed-use development that would have City of Palms Park as its centerpiece and also include retail and office...
It's a party at Nationals Park tonight, and Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond are providing the fireworks.
Each guy has homered tonight, with Harper's two-run shot putting the Nats on the board, Werth's three-run bomb pushing that lead to 5-0 and Desmond's moonshot making it a 9-0 Nats advantage.
Desmond's homer came in the seventh, and it was a sky-high blast that seemed like it was in the air forever. When it finally came down a handful of rows into the left field bleachers,...
A recent hot streak has gotten Bryce Harper's batting average and on-base percentage moving in the right direction.
But Harper's power numbers have shot up over the last couple weeks, as well.
Harper lifted an opposite-field two-run homer off Marlins right-hander Tom Koehler in the fourth, giving the Nationals a 2-0 lead.
It's Harper's 19th homer of the season, and second in his last four games. He also has eight extra-base hits in his last 11 games, pushing his slugging percentage back...
Despite some talk from manager Davey Johnson about Stephen Strasburg possibly getting moved up in the rotation and starting Sunday after his rain-shortened start last night, Johnson said today that Strasburg will stay on his current turn and pitch Monday against the Phillies.
As for Sunday's starter, Johnson isn't able to settle on a guy just yet, needing to see how things play out tonight. Ross Ohlendorf seems to be the most likely guy to get the start for the Nationals against the Mets on...
It might have gotten overlooked a little bit last night because of some of the weird plays that went on in the Nationals' 4-3 win over the Marlins, but Jayson Werth continued to rake, homering again to give him 20 longballs on the season.
It also might have gotten overlooked because, well, Werth raking is pretty much just commonplace at this point.
After his effort last night, Werth is now batting .324 with a .403 on-base percentage and .530 slugging percentage this season, leading the Nats...
The Nationals are fielding the same lineup for tonight's series finale against the Marlins with one exception.
Anthony Rendon is back at second base instead of Steve Lombardozzi. Rendon has struggled of late, going 5-for-29 (.179) over his last nine games after recording hits in 13 of his previous 14 contests.
Gio Gonzalez is on the mound looking to rebound from one of his worst starts of the season. The Nats lefty allowed seven runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings on Friday in Kansas...
After a huge Nationals win, MASN will show you postgame interviews with players, in which reporters ask about a big inning or a huge home run. Following a loss, you will hear players being asked some tough questions, maybe about pitch selection or a costly error.
Either way, you often hear players answering serious, game-related inquiries. However, we know that you have other burning questions for the players. Maybe you were curious about which National was the best golfer. Have you ever...