The first ball the Nationals hit out of the infield today came off the bat of their pitcher, Gio Gonzalez.
Gonzalez's line shot up the middle in the third inning also got the Nats in the hit column for the first time today.
That's where this offense is at right now.
The Nationals' 1-8 hitters are 0-for-9 with a walk and five strikeouts in the first three innings this afternoon. Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner has looked really sharp - especially in the first inning when he struck out...
I was thinking about writing another "Taking the good with the bad" blog post this morning, but I realized there wasn't enough good to match up with all the bad we saw last night in the Nationals' 4-2 loss to the Giants.
On the same night that the Braves tied their game in the bottom of the ninth inning and then won it with a walk-off in the 10th, the Nats saw their 2-1 lead disappear in the ninth and then were sent home in the 10th when Pablo Sandoval demolished a Yunesky Maya changeup...
There is no possible way to make it sound good that the Nationals' offense has scored only 3.41 runs a game and OPS'd a measly .654. In most offensive categories, they are better than only the Marlins. The Nats have faced a lot of good pitchers and good teams early in the season, and that has something to do with the poor offense, but that doesn't make it this dreadful.
In April, the issue was that the Nationals got no offense from the third and first base positions as they put up an OPS...
The Nationals were a strike away from putting an end to their two-game funk and giving Stephen Strasburg his third win of the season.
Instead, we keep playing.
Rafael Soriano blew his third save of the season, and second in as many chances, with Gregor Blanco's RBI triple with two outs in the bottom of the ninth plating Andres Torres and knotting this game, 2-2.
Soriano left a two-strike pitch a little up and over the middle of the plate, and Blanco - the former Syracuse Chief - struck it...
After notching just three hits all of last night, the Nationals have three hits and two runs through their first inning tonight.
The Nats have handed Stephen Strasburg an early 2-0 lead over the Giants, with Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond both tallying RBI doubles off Giants right-hander Matt Cain.
Denard Span got it all started with a hot-shot single up the middle and, after moving into scoring position on a Bryce Harper sacrifice bunt, he came around on Zimmerman's double to the...
Davey Johnson has been searching for a serviceable No. 2 hitter ever since Jayson Werth needed to be moved out of that spot and then landed on the disabled list.
Instead of continuing to rotate guys with paltry on-base percentages and minimal power production into the two-hole, Johnson has decided to just bump everyone up a spot.
Bryce Harper will hit second tonight, marking the first time that Harper's name has been written into the No. 2 spot all season.
Harper hit second in 117 of his...
The Nationals will have two new faces in their bullpen tonight when they take on the Giants in game two of this three-game set in San Francisco.
Well, one of the faces will be new. To those who have followed the Nats for a few years now, the other should be familiar.
Right-hander Yunesky Maya and left-hander Fernando Abad will be activated by the Nats prior to tonight's game out west. Maya, who signed a four-year, $6 million deal with the Nats in 2010, has appeared in 15 games (10 starts)...
The Washington Nationals today placed right-handed pitcher Ryan Mattheus on the 15-Day DL, retroactive to May 20, with a fractured right hand, optioned outfielder Eury Perez to Syracuse of the Triple-A International League, recalled right-handed pitcher Yunesky Maya from Syracuse and selected left-handed pitcher Fernando Abad from Syracuse. Nationals Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcements.
Abad, 27, joins the Nationals after...
The frustration is building. And it's not being put to a productive use.
As if yesterday's 8-0 loss wasn't enough, a loss that dropped the Nationals to a 23-22 on the season, manager Davey Johnson told reporters after the beatdown at the hands of the Giants that reliever Ryan Mattheus, one of the Nats' key setup guys, broke his right hand Sunday evening when he punched a locker.
Mattheus had allowed five runs in an inning of work Sunday, more than doubling his ERA, sending it to 4.96. He...
The end of a tough road trip may not be the right moment, but the time is coming for the 2013 Nationals to fish or cut bait. The basic facts were laid out in a USA Today article Monday that cited the Nationals' offense as 29th in batting average and OBP, and 27th in runs scored among major league teams. It did not get better last night as another struggling pitcher, Ryan Vogelsong, found his A-game against the Nationals, crafting a three-hit shutout over five innings before leaving with a...
Losing two home games against the Chicago Cubs is disheartening and, after the excellent game Friday night, it was as if a switch just flipped and the progress of the prior week vanished in the flash of a Stephen Strasburg meltdown.
There wasn't much to like on Saturday and Sunday unless you are a ticket rep for the Nationals. They are selling ducats like snow cones in 100-degree heat. Sky-high expectations bring in the fans and despite the cool weather and the failure of the real Nationals...
Sunday's game was pretty ugly. This one rivaled it.
The Nationals dropped a 13-4 decision to the Padres on Sunday and followed that up with an 8-0 blowout loss to the Giants tonight in the first game of a three-game set.
Zach Duke gets stuck with the loss after allowing four runs over 3 1/3 innings in a spot start, but he was far from the only Nationals player to underperform tonight.
Craig Stammen surrendered two runs on seven hits over 2 2/3 frames. Henry Rodriguez gutted his way through...
Making his first big league start since July 10, 2011, Zach Duke could go just 3 1/3 innings tonight, and as we go to the fifth inning, Duke and the Nationals trail the Giants 5-0.
Duke didn't pitch incredibly poorly tonight, allowing just one extra-base hit in his spot start, but the Giants just base-hit him to death.
They put up seven hits on Duke, knocking the veteran left-hander from the game. Craig Stammen came in to relieve Duke and allowed three runs (two of which were charged to...
Tonight's Nationals lineup will feature Bryce Harper. It will not feature Danny Espinosa or Kurt Suzuki.
Harper returns to the Nats lineup after missing the last two games with a sore left knee, an injury suffered during his collision with the right field wall in Dodger Stadium a week ago.
The 20-year-old will return to his normal No. 3 spot in the order and will play right field.
Steve Lombardozzi will hit in front of Harper and will play second base. Lombardozzi will replace Danny...
The Nationals don't have a lefty reliever in their bullpen, and the division-rival Braves are running out of bullpen lefties as well. The Braves will be without lefties Jonny Venters and Eric O'Flaherty, their main setup guys for All-Star Craig Kimbrel.
In addition, the Braves are without Jordan Walden, the right-handed reliever they acquired in a trade with the Angels, and ex-Oriole Luis Ayala, who is on the disabled list with an anxiety disorder. Walden should be back next week, but...
The first quarter of the Nationals' 2013 season has been marked by some pretty dramatic inconsistencies.
Their record currently at a decent but disappointing 23-21. The Nationals have had stretches where it looked like they were ready to put it all together and begin playing to their potential, like during their five-game winning streak two weeks ago.
The vibe in the clubhouse would begin to change, the momentum would seem to start picking up and you'd start thinking that the Nats would...
For as ice cold as Adam LaRoche was a few weeks ago, he's that scorching hot right now.
LaRoche is on a 16-game hitting streak, with his seventh-inning RBI single extending that run. During those 16 games, LaRoche is hitting .382 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. His on-base percentage is .462.
Yeah, that would qualify as being on fire.
He's not the only one.
Ryan Zimmerman is 2-for-4 with three RBIs today, and he also notched an RBI single in the seventh.
Over the last 11 games,...
After a couple days out of town, I'm back in action.
Who missed me?
Thanks to the MASNsports.com crew for filling in for me recently. Looks like I missed a couple impressive pitching performances.
Anyway, enough about me and on to the stuff that matters. Bryce Harper is out of the Nationals lineup again today, missing his second straight contest with a bruised left knee. Ian Desmond will also sit out today, but his absence is merely due to a scheduled day off.
This will be the first game...
Six Nationals have come to the plate so far today. All six have been retired by Padres starter Andrew Cashner.
Eleven Padres hitters have come to the plate thus far. Five reached base off Dan Haren, and three came around to score.
The Nats trail the Padres 3-0 in the finale of this four-game set, which doesn't bode well for Davey Johnson's club, given the lineup the Nats have in play today and the way that this club has struggled scoring runs late in games.
Four of the guys in the Nats...