nationals

Trying to keep it rolling in the Motor City

July 30, 2013, 3:34am

Is it possible that this weekend got the Nationals on track and can set them up for a final push for the postseason over the next two months? Maybe. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I'm done talking about momentum until the Nats prove they can carry it over a period longer than three days. They're on a three-game roll right now and have won four of five, but they haven't put together more than a four-game winning streak since early May. We've seen too many mini hot streaks followed by flat...

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A bond strengthened over baseball and a gesture that touched a community

July 28, 2013, 9:49pm

Nationals

A bond strengthened over baseball and a gesture that touched a community

This isn't a blog entry about a Nationals winning streak, the upcoming non-waiver trade deadline or Taylor Jordan's improved slider. Those entries can wait. This is a blog entry about a father-son relationship that was strengthened over the Nationals and a Craigslist post that touched a portion of the D.C. baseball community. Like in many parent-child relationships, Kent Wilson and his father Richard bonded over baseball. For years, dating back to 2005, when baseball returned to D.C. and...

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Ted Leavengood: A bull market analysis

July 30, 2013, 5:40am

Nationals

The weather has been remarkably cool and crisp for late July, as if a hand reached out and parted the humid air to allow fans a better ending to the last homestand of July. On Sunday, before the team went to Detroit, there were little kids running the bases. Surprisingly, there were Nationals running them as well, and with almost as much joy and abandon. It was a perfect day in D.C., almost too perfect, like one of those television shows that paints a Washington political scene so much more...

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Span on his homer barrage, Ramos on his first grand slam

July 28, 2013, 2:41pm

Nationals

Span on his homer barrage, Ramos on his first grand slam

Denard Span, homerless in the first 104 games of the season, now has two longballs in as many days. Watch out Chris Davis. "Yeah, just another day at the ballpark," Span said, tongue planted firmly in his cheek. "I told you yesterday I might hit 30, and like you said, I'm on pace to do that, if I can just keep it up. So any more questions?" Nope, that about covers it on the homer front. Span has excelled since moving down to the No. 7 spot in the order, putting up five hits in that...

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Dave Nichols: Breakout over weekend gives hope for the stretch

July 29, 2013, 10:51am

Nationals

Dave Nichols: Breakout over weekend gives hope for the stretch

The good news: The Nationals have won four of their last five games. The bad news? They trail the Braves by 8 1/2 games heading into play this week. Some more good news: The Nats still have nine games head-to-head with Atlanta before the end of the season. By getting the deficit back under that nine games, the Nats still kind of control their destiny. It's a tough road, but it looks better than before the series with the Mets over the weekend, which started with the Mets clobbering the Nats...

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Davey updates McCatty's health, discusses Nats' 14-1 win

July 28, 2013, 2:19pm

Nationals

Davey updates McCatty's health, discusses Nats' 14-1 win

The Nationals got a little bit of a scare early this afternoon when pitching coach Steve McCatty needed to be taken to the hospital after dealing with elevated blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. The good news, however, is that McCatty is fine, according to manager Davey Johnson. "McCatty's doing all right. He's his usual grumpy self," Johnson said with a smile. "Blood pressure went way up and heart rate started going irregular. I know all about it. ... Hopefully he was watching...

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A granny for Ramos (Nats win 14-1)

July 28, 2013, 10:46am

Nationals

The Nationals watched the Mets put up an 11-spot here at Nats Park two days ago. They've countered that with eight runs and nine hits through the first three innings today. The Nats exploded in the second and third innings, leading 3-0 after two and then 8-0 after three. Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, Ian Desmond and Denard Span all reached base in front of Wilson Ramos in the third (with Desmond's single bringing in Zimmerman), and Ramos then cleared the bases with a grand slam into the...

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Jordan finally rewarded with first major league win

July 28, 2013, 2:03pm

Nationals

Jordan finally rewarded with first major league win

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...