Chris Marrero, playing his first game this season with the high Single-A Potomac Nationals, smacked the game-deciding single with two outs in the second inning Friday night, as Potomac downed the Salem Red Sox 5-4 in Woodbridge, Va.Marrero went 2-for-3 in Game 1 of the doubleheader and did not play in Game 2.He had played two games in low Single-A Hagerstown earlier this week. After getting hit by a pitch on his thumb in that first game, Marrero took a day off and then returned Thursday. He went 1-for-3 in that second game with a double.Team doctors checked out the thumb, and he was good to go. Marrero was then moved up to Potomac, where he was the designated hitter Friday. Marrero had not played in a professional game in almost eight months as he recovered from a torn hamstring suffered in winter ball. A shoulder issue slowed his progress in early May until he finally returned this week.With his play last September in Washington, manager Davey Johnson had envisioned Marrero as a potentially important right-handed bat off the bench for the Nationals this season. But the hamstring injury delayed those plans.Chad Tracy is out with a right adductor strain, and he was a potent left-handed bat who could play first base. Tyler Moore is back with the big club and is a right-handed power bat who can also play first base and the outfield. Marrero offers another solution as a right-handed bat, first base substitute and utility hitter off the bench. Hopefully the three hits in the last two days are a good indication that Marrero is back fully healthy and that he can get to the point where he could be that option. Now after serving as the DH Friday, the next step is to get Marrero in the field and see how the hamstring and shoulder absorb the test on defense.
Bryce Harper's back kept him out of the starting lineup yesterday.
Today, Harper and his back are back.
The 19-year-old returns to the Nationals' lineup today as Washington opens a three-game series against the Blue Jays. Tonight, they'll face Toronto righty Brandon Morrow, who is off to a very strong start to the 2012 season, going 7-3 with a 2.90 ERA.
Manager Davey Johnson said after yesterday's game that he will be giving Roger Bernadina some more playing time in the coming days, and...
In the baseball world, interleague play is like the designated hitter: It creates controversy and debate, and it doesn't appear either is going away any time soon.
Ever since becoming part of the landscape in 1997, players, managers and coaches have never liked the interleague format, which is based more on marketing and ticket sales than scheduling integrity.
For example, they don't understand the fairness in the Braves having to play two interleague series against the Yankees while the...
If you couldn't tell by his actions in the ninth inning yesterday, when he was ejected with his team one strike away from being swept, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine wasn't too pleased with the umpiring over the weekend.
"I've got guys battling their butts off and it's not right," Valentine said after yesterday's game. "Good umpires had a real bad series this series, a real bad series. And it went one way. There should be a review."
I doubt a review is coming, and personally, I...
BOSTON - This has been a season where the Nationals have been able to make a number of statements to the baseball world.
They've sat in first place in the very tough National League East for much of the season. They've won both of their series with the Phillies, the reigning five-time division champs. They've now moved to 12 games above-.500, rare territory for this organization.
Was this weekend's sweep over the Red Sox, at Fenway Park, another statement of sorts?
"Absolutely," Tyler...
As Bryce Harper pumped for all he was worth to score the winning run on Roger Bernadina's clutch double Sunday afternoon, the Fenway Park faithful had probably seen all they wanted of the Nationals and their young prodigies. Harper, Strasburg, and the rest of them. Espinosa, Clippard, Desmond, Gonzalez, they all had a hand on the broom that swept clean the old park on Lansdowne Street, "the little bandbox of a ballpark," as John Updike lovingly called it.
With Yankee Stadium lost forever,...
I'm disappointed, Nationals fans.
Disappointed in you.
Here we sit, only a month away from this year's All-Star Game, and when I look at the current vote totals, no Nationals players are above fifth at their respective position.
I'd shake my head if it didn't result in so many typos on my part.
Fortunately, there is still time to redeem yourselves and help send your favorite Nationals players to the National League starting lineups for this year's festivities in Kansas City on July...
Left-handed prospect Matt Purke is set to make his third start of the season today at 5:05 p.m. for the low Single-A Hagerstown Suns at the Kannapolis Intimidators.
Purke is 0-1 with a 6.52 ERA in two starts. He has walked eight batters and has nine strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings. The 96th overall selection in the 2011 amateur draft said it will take time for him to build back to where he was before the two extra months of extended spring training he had to undergo due to an undisclosed...
BOSTON - Bryce Harper came to the plate with one out in the ninth, after having sat around for much of the afternoon.
Not an ideal situation for a guy who has been an everyday player his entire life. What had the 19-year-old - who was getting the day off because of a tight back - been doing for the previous eight innings?
"Just blowing bubbles with my bubble gum," Harper said. "I was just sitting there trying to stay in the game as much as I could, just in case I had to pinch hit against...
BOSTON - He might not be thrilled about it - or happy about it at all - but Bryce Harper will be on the bench for today's series finale against the Red Sox.
Manager Davey Johnson has decided to give his 19-year-old outfielder a day off to ease some tightness in his back. Johnson had bench coach Randy Knorr and a trainer come to him and inform him that Harper has been receiving treatment on the back, and with Harper having played in all of the 37 games the Nationals have played since his...
BOSTON - There was a time not too long ago when the Nationals' middle infield defense was considered a liability.
OK, their defense as a whole was a liability, with the team leading the majors in errors in both 2009 and 2010. But up the middle, the Nats struggled mightily.
This season has been a different story. Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa have been exceptional defensively, making the routine plays and the fancy ones, as well.
Today, both guys flashed the leather, with Desmond ranging...
BOSTON - He might not be able to lay down a sacrifice bunt in a key spot, but Roger Bernadina can rip a go-ahead, ninth-inning RBI double to break a tie and give the Nationals a 4-3 win.
What an interesting ballplayer.
Bernadina's huge double off Alfredo Aceves with two outs in the ninth inning scored Bryce Harper from first and gave Washington a one-run lead in the ninth.
Harper came on as a pinch hitter with one out, and drew a five-pitch walk off Aceves, laying off three straight...
BOSTON - The Nationals have been punchless against Red Sox starter Jon Lester today, putting up just one run and three hits through six innings.
Would things be different if Bryce Harper was in the lineup? We'll never know.
We do know that without their top hitter (it's still a little unbelievable that a 19-year-old is the Nats' best position player right now) the Nats haven't been able to get anything going today.
Their 2-5 hitters are a combined 0-for-11 with six strikeouts, three of...
BOSTON - Since getting called up to the majors on April 28, Bryce Harper had started all 37 games that the Nationals had played.
That streak ends today.
With the Nats looking to earn the sweep of the Red Sox, Harper will get the first day off of his major league career. Roger Bernadina will start in center, with Tyler Moore in left and Xavier Nady in right.
Johnson said after Thursday's game that Harper had been dealing with some "tenderness" in his back, and there was a chance that the...
BOSTON - For the ninth time this season, the Nationals put up five hits or fewer and still won.
This is what happens when you have the level of starting pitching, and pitching in general, that the Nationals do.
Gio Gonzalez and four Nats relievers combined to hold the potent Red Sox lineup in check today, allowing just two runs and five hits in a 4-2 Washington win.
Gonzalez gave up just two hits through six innings, but he allowed three of the four hitters he faced in the seventh to reach...
BOSTON - Bench coach Randy Knorr joked before today's game that the Nationals have rarely had a game this season where they've been leading big in the late innings and could calmly roll to a win.
The 10-2 victories this season have been very few and very far between.
A 4-2 win might put more strain on the bullpen - and the manager - but it is still a win. And the Nats will gladly take today's 4-2 win over the Red Sox.
Adam LaRoche hit a solo homer, Michael Morse drove in a run with an RBI...
BOSTON - One of the Nationals' team buses got stuck in some heavy traffic in downtown Boston today.
It just so happened to be the bus carrying manager Davey Johnson.
The skipper didn't arrive at Fenway Park until sometime around 2:45, less than 90 minutes until first pitch. As a result, bench coach Randy Knorr handled today's pregame session with reporters.
What a treat that must've been for him.
It was a little bit surprising to hear Stephen Strasburg say last night that he's been...
BOSTON - In the second inning of today's game, I looked down at the stat sheet beneath my scorebook here in the press box.
Gio Gonzalez's 2012 numbers jumped off the page and smacked me in the face.
The lefty entered today with a 7-2 record and a 2.31 ERA on the season.
I obviously knew Gonzalez has been exceptional this season. After all, he was named National League Pitcher of the Month for May. But the stats Gonzalez has posted this year have been fantastic.
They've only gotten...
For whatever reason, last night was as loose and joyous I've seen the Nationals' clubhouse after a game this season.
Maybe it was the fact that they had just thoroughly out-played one of baseball's most tradition-rich organizations in that team's own house. Maybe it was the manner in which the game was won, with the Nats shooting line drives all over Fenway Park and getting fabulous starting pitching and highlight-reel defense. Maybe it was the glimpse-into-the-future performances of...
BOSTON - With right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound for Boston, Steve Lombardozzi is back in the leadoff spot. Gio Gonzalez (7-2, 2.31 ERA) will take the mound, and Michael Morse will DH for Game 2 at Fenway Park.
Rick Ankiel will be in the starting lineup today, making the first time he's gotten a start since May 29.
For the Nationals:
LF Steve Lombardozzi
RF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche
DH Michael Morse
SS Ian Desmond
2B Danny Espinosa
CF Rick Ankiel
C Jesus...