nationals

Jordan finally rewarded with first major league win

July 28, 2013, 2:03pm

Although he didn't get a game ball yet, right-hander Taylor Jordan pitched well enough in his sixth major league start to earn his first big league victory. Jordan was asked who he was going to give the game ball to after the Nationals crushed the Mets 14-1. He said he hadn't procured a game ball yet. At least he didn't think he had one, as he looked into his locker at baseballs from other games. "The ball? I don't have one," Jordan said. "Oh, do I have one? No, these are just...

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Rizzo: Jordan will get opportunity to compete for 2014 starting role

July 28, 2013, 7:49am

Nationals

Rizzo: Jordan will get opportunity to compete for 2014 starting role

Right-hander Taylor Jordan deserves a win today. He has been solid in every start so far in the majors, but has an 0-3 record. This will be his sixth start of his major league career. Nationals general Mike Rizzo was asked if Jordan would be on the same 160-inning limit that Stephen Strasburg was in his recovery from Tommy John. "We have parameters in mind for Taylor Jordan," Rizzo said. "When we feel he is done pitching, we will shut him down." Rizzo also said Jordan will get the...

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Haren: "We don't have any time for hitting rock bottom any more"

July 28, 2013, 6:00am

Nationals

Haren: "We don't have any time for hitting rock bottom any more"

There have been a number of moments this season where it's felt like things might not be able to get much worse for the Nationals. They've been on the wrong end of too many blowouts, had too many losing streaks, too many games where they've scored one or zero runs and watched another of their starters get stuck with a tough-luck loss. Remarkably enough, they're still not out of things just yet, despite all those defeats. The Nats are three games under .500 at 51-54, and are 8 1/2 games...

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Pitching coach Steve McCatty taken to hospital (game update)

July 28, 2013, 9:56am

Nationals

Pitching coach Steve McCatty taken to hospital (game update)

Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty was taken to the hospital before the start of today's game, a team spokesman confirmed. McCatty, 59, was not feeling well and will not be present for today's series finale against the Mets. The Nationals are not releasing any more information at this time and say they will provide an update on McCatty's health later. McCatty is in his fifth season as the Nationals' pitching coach. This is his 18th season as a professional pitching coach, following a...

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Nats sticking with what works

July 28, 2013, 8:07am

Nationals

The Nationals have won two in a row, so why tamper with success? Today's lineup for the finale of a four-game series against the Mets is the same one, minus the starting pitcher, the Nats trotted out last night. The only change is right-hander Taylor Jordan, who's still in search of his first major league victory. Jordan will get a break, with David Wright not in today's Mets lineup. Now, onto today's lineups ... For the Mets: LF Eric Young Jr. 3B Josh Satin 2B Daniel Murphy RF Marlon...

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Span on his first Nats homer: "Hopefully, it will happen more often than once a year"

July 27, 2013, 3:40pm

Nationals

Span on his first Nats homer: "Hopefully, it will happen more often than once a year"

Center fielder Denard Span finally did it: hit his first homer in a Nationals uniform, his first homer since October of last year while with the Twins. "Felt good to get the monkey off my back," Span smiled. "It hasn't taken this long to hit a home run in a while, probably since A ball. But it felt good. "It has been a long season for me offensively. Just felt good to get one over the wall. My home trot was definitely a little rusty." Left fielder Bryce Harper, who hit a two-run shot...

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Hearing from Haren and Harper

July 27, 2013, 4:04pm

Nationals

Entering today's game, it had been 76 days since Dan Haren was last the winning pitcher in a baseball game. Some of the blame for that long winless streak doesn't fall on Haren. A lot of it does. But Haren has pitched much better since coming off the disabled list on July 8, and today he earned his fifth victory of the season after allowing just one run and three hits over seven innings in a 4-1 Nationals win over the Mets. "It's obviously been a long time since I had that winning...

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Johnson discusses Nats' 4-1 win

July 27, 2013, 3:46pm

Nationals

Davey Johnson has had many more gloomy postgame press conferences this season than he expected he'd have, days where he's had to sit in front of the cameras and discuss another frustrating loss. Today was not one of those days. A few minutes after the Nationals' 4-1 win over the Mets, Johnson bounded into his chair behind the press conference table with a giant smile on his face and didn't even wait for a reporter to ask a question. "How about (Dan) Haren? How about that?" the giddy...

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Perhaps Haren's finest start of the season (Nats win 4-1)

July 27, 2013, 1:08pm

Nationals

Perhaps Haren's finest start of the season (Nats win 4-1)

Dan Haren has been significantly better since coming off the disabled list than he was before that DL stint. And today might just have been his best start as a National to this point. Haren went seven innings, allowing just one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out six and threw 103 pitches, 73 for strikes. This was vintage Haren, folks. The veteran right-hander kept the ball down in the zone, had great movement on his offspeed stuff and his splitter, and mixed his pitches...

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Desmond, Span go back-to-back (Haren cruising through six)

July 27, 2013, 11:41am

Nationals

Desmond, Span go back-to-back (Haren cruising through six)

The Nationals had scored two runs off Dillon Gee in 18 2/3 innings against the Mets right-hander this season. They scored two runs off Gee in the second inning alone today, and they have a 2-0 lead thanks to back-to-back homers from Ian Desmond and Denard Span. The home runs came on back-to-back pitches by Gee. Desmond's homer was his 16th of the season, giving him the outright team lead. He crushed a 3-2 changeup from Gee into the red seats in center, putting the Nats on the board. Span...

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Rizzo: Nats looking to improve bench before trade deadline

July 27, 2013, 11:19am

Nationals

Rizzo: Nats looking to improve bench before trade deadline

We're now four days away from Major League Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline, meaning Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo has been spending a lot of time on his phone lately. Following the Nationals' acquisition of Scott Hairston nearly two weeks ago, Rizzo said that he didn't think the Nats were going to make any "splashy" moves before the deadline. "I still feel the same way," Rizzo said today. That said, Rizzo is still working, trying to tinker with his roster to improve...

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Rizzo on Clippard's comments: "I commend him for having a strong opinion on it"

July 27, 2013, 10:40am

Nationals

You've heard from Davey Johnson on the Nationals' decision to option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse. You've heard from Tyler Clippard on why he takes issue with how the Nats have managed his good friend and teammate. You've even heard my thoughts on the whole situation. Now let's hear from general manager Mike Rizzo, the one who decided to sign Rafael Soriano to a two-year, $28 million deal this offseason and option Storen yesterday. "We felt that (Storen) was struggling - struggling...

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McCatty details changes Nats want to see in Storen's delivery

July 27, 2013, 10:14am

Nationals

McCatty details changes Nats want to see in Storen's delivery

Nationals pitching coach Steve McCatty gave some insight on what wants Triple-A Syracuse pitching coach Greg Booker and minor league pitching coordinator Spin Williams to work on with Drew Storen as the right-hander works on several mechanical issues in his attempt to get back to the nationals. Storen was optioned to Syracuse following Friday's doubleheader against the Mets. McCatty spoke with Storen after he received the news and described as a tough, but thorough sitdown. McCatty was asked...

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Harper back in Nats lineup

July 27, 2013, 9:40am

Nationals

After aggravating his left knee injury in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader, Bryce Harper wasn't in the Nationals lineup for the nightcap, marking the second time he'd been out of the lineup in a four-game span. Harper pinch-hit in the eighth inning of last night's game, however, and he's back in the lineup today as the Nats take on Dillon Gee in the third game of four against the Mets. Gee is 3-0 with a filthy 0.96 ERA against the Nats this season, but that dominance is nothing...

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Thoughts on the Storen demotion and the Clippard comments

July 27, 2013, 4:42am

Nationals

I was asked a number of times on Twitter last night what my thoughts are on both the Nationals' decision to option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse, as well as Tyler Clippard's critical comments about the way the Nats have managed Storen dating back to this offseason. There's no way I could express those thoughts on Twitter in just 140 characters (that might take a couple of dozen tweets), but I certainly can do so here in a much more in-depth way. So let's dive right in. First of all,...

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Clippard critical of Nationals' handling of Storen

July 26, 2013, 7:04pm

Nationals

Tyler Clippard had two questions asked of him after the game, and he spoke for more than four minutes. He spoke with tears in his eyes and his voice breaking a bit at times, and he delivered some forthright and critical comments about the Nationals' decision to option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse and the way that they have managed Storen's role on this team dating back to the offseason. Clippard never once said Rafael Soriano's name, but it's clear that he thinks the Nationals made a...

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Hearing from Zimmerman, Ohlendorf and Johnson after 2-1 walk-off win

July 26, 2013, 8:10pm

Nationals

Hearing from Zimmerman, Ohlendorf and Johnson after 2-1 walk-off win

The news of Drew Storen's demotion to Triple-A Syracuse, while not totally shocking, definitely dominated the postgame discussion with manager Davey Johnson and a couple of Nats players, most notably Tyler Clippard. Ryan Zimmerman has played alongside Storen for the last four seasons, and he was asked his take on the reliever being optioned after the game. "I mean, anytime something like that happens, it's tough," Zimmerman said. "We're all teammates in here and friends in here. Drew...

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Nats option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse (updated)

July 26, 2013, 6:49pm

Nationals

Nats option Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse (updated)

In order to trim their roster from 26 to 25 following today's doubleheader, the Nationals optioned a guy who saved 43 games for them two years ago. Manager Davey Johnson announced after tonight's 2-1 walk-off win that the Nats have optioned Drew Storen to Triple-A Syracuse. "He needs to get right, mentally and mechanically," Johnson said. "It's that simple. ... This is what's best for him." Storen had a 2.75 ERA and 43 saves for the Nats in 2011 and a 2.37 ERA in 2012 after coming...

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Zimmermann on the two pitches to Murphy that wound up home runs

July 26, 2013, 1:48pm

Nationals

Zimmermann on the two pitches to Murphy that wound up home runs

Right-hander Jordan Zimmermann thought he was pitching better than his line indicated. Zimmermann (12-6) lasted 6 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on six hits with three walks, eight strikeouts and two home runs - his third straight loss. The two sliders that Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy unloaded upon were the ones remembered from this loss, at least early on, before it got real ugly in an 11-0 rout. In the first, Murphy hit a slider off the second-level advertising banner above section...

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Harper out of Nats lineup for Game 2

July 26, 2013, 2:17pm

Nationals

Bryce Harper's ailing left knee has knocked him out of the Nationals' starting lineup for the nightcap of today's doubleheader against the Mets. Harper banged the left knee when diving to make a catch on a Daniel Murphy sinking liner in the fifth inning of this afternoon's 11-0 Nationals loss. He was removed for a pinch-runner in the eighth inning. This is the second time in four days that Harper has been out of the Nats' lineup because of left knee issues. He'll miss out on facing...