nationals

Mooneyham signed, Storen happy with throwing session (first pitch set for 8 p.m.)

June 22, 2012, 3:17pm

Davey Johnson sat down in the visitor's dugout at Camden Yards and cracked a big smile. "This looks familiar," Johnson said. "Little different angle from here." The Nationals' skipper seemed legitimately happy to be back in Baltimore, shaking hands with Jim Palmer and Rick Dempsey and soaking in the atmosphere at the park he once managed in. Johnson will also be happy to know that the Nats have signed Stanford left-hander Brett Mooneyham, their third-round pick in this year's...

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Zimmerman's struggles continue, Desmond's hustle continues (updated)

June 22, 2012, 5:29pm

Nationals Orioles

Zimmerman's struggles continue, Desmond's hustle continues (updated)

Boy, Ryan Zimmerman is in a bad way right now. The third baseman has gone 0-for-2 so far tonight, grounding out to short in the first and striking out looking in the fourth. His average now sits at a lowly .224, the lowest it's been since May 9. Zimmerman has struck out in four of his last six at-bats, three of them looking. He went down on three Jason Hammel pitches in the fourth inning tonight, with strike three coming on a ball right down the middle. He doesn't have an extra-base hit...

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Nationals' Burnett and Clippard pose an unstoppable 1-2 punch in win over Rays

June 21, 2012, 8:18pm

Nationals

The quiet assassins, that is what they are. Sean Burnett and Tyler Clippard. This is their fourth season together in the same bullpen. That experience with the Nationals, side by side in the bullpen, is now paying dividends. There is something about how they go about their business - quietly, smoothly and efficiently - that shortens every game they pitch in. They seem to play off each other, and the rest of the staff - even the starters - feed off that inner drive. The pair combined to...

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Johnson believes Desmond is All-Star quality

June 22, 2012, 2:34pm

Nationals

Johnson believes Desmond is All-Star quality

Manager Davey Johnson said he voted for shortstop Ian Desmond as a National League All-Star on his ballot for the Midsummer Classic in Kansas City this July. With all the outstanding shortstops to choose from, does Johnson really think Desmond is deserving? "I do," Johnson said. "He made my ballot, so that should tell you something." His batting average isn't eye-popping, but he has shown good power numbers. His error total is about on pace with last year's 11. His fielding average is...

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Johnson back in Baltimore (plus rehab updates)

June 22, 2012, 10:44am

Nationals Orioles

Johnson back in Baltimore (plus rehab updates)

Making his second rehab appearance for Triple-A Syracuse last night, Henry Rodriguez walked two batters but worked a scoreless ninth inning in the Chiefs' win over Pawtucket. This comes after Rodriguez delivered a scoreless frame for Syracuse on Tuesday, but tossed a pitch to the backstop. The control issues will need to get worked out at some point before Rodriguez works meaningful, high-leverage innings for the Nationals again. The righty landed on the DL on June 7 with a strained right...

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Postgame thoughts from Espinosa, Mattheus, Desmond

June 21, 2012, 8:38pm

Nationals

Postgame thoughts from Espinosa, Mattheus, Desmond

Danny Espinosa isn't going to lie. When the Rays intentionally walked Adam LaRoche to get to the Nats second baseman with two outs in the sixth inning, he took it as a bit of a smack in the face. "I definitely take it personally in the sense that I want to get 'em," Espinosa said. "I want to make 'em pay for what they're doing. I definitely don't gear up and try to do anything that I can't do. Just try to have a good at-bat and get a good pitch to hit." He sure did, ripping a 1-1...

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Marty Niland: Nationals' transformation mirrors Rays' progression

June 22, 2012, 6:03am

Nationals

The Nationals have to feel good about taking two of three games form the Tampa Bay Rays this week. Tuesday night's pine tar dust-up aside, the Nats can take pride in bouncing back from a tough series against the Yankees and beating a very good team. If the Nationals could look into a mirror and see themselves in a few years, they might look just like the Rays, but with red jerseys instead of blue. In fact, as an organization, the Rays are everything the Nats want to be. From 2005 to 2007,...

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Johnson talks after Nats take the series from Rays

June 21, 2012, 8:00pm

Nationals

Johnson talks after Nats take the series from Rays

After the top of the sixth inning, Davey Johnson walked up to Gio Gonzalez and told him he was done for the night. The Nationals' starter wasn't thrilled with that decision. "Gio worked up a big anger on me," Johnson said with a smile. "And once we got the runs to go ahead, he forgave me." The Rays had tied things up at 2-2 in the top of the sixth. But the Nationals immediately responded, scoring two runs in the bottom half of the frame on Danny Espinosa's two-out double, which served...

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Espinosa comes through in the clutch (Nats win 5-2)

June 21, 2012, 5:37pm

Nationals

Espinosa comes through in the clutch (Nats win 5-2)

Danny Espinosa has gotten a handful of big hits this season. Not many of them have come when he's been hitting left-handed. The dramatic difference in Espinosa's lefty/righty splits has been well-documented, but tonight, the Nationals second baseman came through with a monster hit in the sixth inning, plating two runs with a double to right. And the go-ahead knock came from the left side of the plate. It gave the Nats a 4-2 lead as we go to the seventh, and put Gio Gonzalez in line for the...

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Peralta suspended, Storen to face hitters tomorrow

June 21, 2012, 2:21pm

Nationals

Peralta suspended, Storen to face hitters tomorrow

The Major League Baseball league office has spoken. Joel Peralta has been suspended eight games for having an illegal substance in his glove Tuesday night. The Rays reliever will appeal the suspension, meaning he's still available to be used tonight in the series finale against the Nationals. Peralta faced two hitters last night and retired them both. Keeping on the reliever topic, Nats closer Drew Storen has now thrown a handful of bullpen sessions, the latest of which was yesterday....

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Nationals reliever Cole Kimball to rehab in Hagerstown, DeRosa playing third for P-Nats

June 21, 2012, 2:48pm

Nationals

A club source confirmed that Nationals right-handed reliever Cole Kimball will be reporting to low Single-A Hagerstown on Friday. Kimball had a solid outing with the Gulf Coast League Nationals, going one inning and allowing no runs, one hit and one strikeout on June 19. I visited with several Potomac Nationals today at batting practice in Woodbridge, Va. Shortstop Ricky Hague said he will play short and second with the arrival of shortstop Jason Martinson from Hagerstown. Martinson said he...

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Nady back in lineup, Moore at first (Meyer to play in Futures Game)

June 21, 2012, 11:36am

Nationals

Nady back in lineup, Moore at first (Meyer to play in Futures Game)

Facing Rays lefty Matt Moore, Xavier Nady is back in the Nationals' lineup tonight, playing left field and hitting seventh. The veteran outfielder will look to improve his .143 average on the season. Adam LaRoche will also get a day off, with the right-handed hitting Tyler Moore starting at first base. LaRoche has been nursing an oblique issue for much of the season and also fouled a ball off his right foot a little over a week ago. Against a lefty, manager Davey Johnson apparently feels...

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Detwiler, Wang react to rotation change

June 21, 2012, 1:55pm

Nationals

Ross Detwiler was minding his business before yesterday's game when pitching coach Steve McCatty approached him. McCatty had some news. Detwiler was being reinserted into the Nationals' rotation. "Hey, this is what's going to happen," Detwiler recalls McCatty saying. "Be aggressive." That last word - aggressive - might be the key for the left-hander now that he finds himself back in the starting rotation. In his final two starts before being moved to the bullpen on May 26, Detwiler...

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Don't call him the stopper, but that's what he is

June 20, 2012, 10:52pm

Nationals

Don't call him the stopper, but that's what he is

Stephen Strasburg doesn't want to be referred to as the Nationals' stopper. He's not a fan of that term. Strasburg isn't interested in being painted as the top dog on the Nats' pitching staff, the guy that bails the team out of trouble or stops losing streaks in their tracks. He would prefer to just be labeled one of the guys, one piece of an excellent Nationals rotation that is doing incredibly impressive things this season. The problem for Strasburg is that with each and every start,...

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Nationals' Harper and Lombardozzi showcase bat and glove to topple Rays

June 20, 2012, 7:31pm

Nationals

The Nationals' young tandem of left fielder Steve Lombardozzi and center fielder Bryce Harper haven't had that much time to play together in the outfield, but their defensive play and timely early offense was enough to lift the Nationals past Tampa Bay 3-2, snapping a four-game skid. Might be hard to believe the duo has played all of 69 games in the outfield at the major league level, with 63 starts. Harper has made 45 starts this season with 109 putouts, one assist, one double play and four...

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Dave Nichols: Managers feuding over interpretations of baseball's unwritten rules

June 21, 2012, 7:59am

Nationals

Dave Nichols: Managers feuding over interpretations of baseball's unwritten rules

In Tuesday night's loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Nationals manager Davey Johnson had a simple request of home plate umpire Tim Tschida: Enforce the written rules of baseball. Johnson knew that Rays relief pitcher Joel Peralta "liked a little pine tar" - that is, Peralta hid the sticky stuff in and on his glove in order to help him grip the baseball better and, therefore, have better control over his breaking pitches. Pine tar is one of those classic foreign substances that is specifically...

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Playing within the rules, using strategy to your advantage

June 21, 2012, 7:37am

Nationals

Playing within the rules, using strategy to your advantage

The whole messy affair with Rays reliever Joel Peralta's ejection for toting a glove loaded with pine tar to the mound Tuesday night just won't go away. The subject has been debated for two days now and an interesting war of words between Rays skipper Joe Maddon and Nationals manager Davey Johnson, two renowned baseball scholars, has only fanned the flames. Major League Baseball shares some of the blame, too. If Peralta's glove was confiscated Tuesday night and immediately shipped to MLB...

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Rizzo supports Johnson's decision to have Peralta checked (plus game update)

June 20, 2012, 3:55pm

Nationals

Rizzo supports Johnson's decision to have Peralta checked (plus game update)

In this entry, I'll have quotes from the Nationals general manager, who responded to quotes from the Rays manager, who responded to quotes from the Nationals manager, who responded to quotes from the Rays manager. GloveGate just keeps on going. Shortly after Rays skipper Joe Maddon came down on the Nationals (again), saying that if he was a player, he'd think twice before signing with the Nats after last night's pine tar incident, Rizzo responded to that take. "I don't agree with it,"...

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Nats lean on their "true No. 1" yet again

June 20, 2012, 7:36pm

Nationals

Nats lean on their "true No. 1" yet again

Stephen Strasburg's outing tonight started in a somewhat bizarre fashion. As the Nationals ace was preparing to step onto the mound and throw his first pitch to the Rays' Desmond Jennings, home plate umpire Jeff Nelson came walking out to the mound. After all that went on yesterday with GloveGate, Strasburg assumed that Nelson was going to check his glove for a foreign substance. Turns out, the ump just wanted to see if the ball in Strasburg's hand had been scuffed up on catcher Jesus...

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Clinging to a late-inning lead (Nats win 3-2)

June 20, 2012, 5:19pm

Nationals

Clinging to a late-inning lead (Nats win 3-2)

As Joel Peralta starts to get loose in the Rays bullpen ... Yes. That's actually happening. Peralta still hasn't been suspended yet, and is eligible to pitch tonight. I'm sure his glove is squeaky clean. The Nationals have a 3-2 lead as we go to the eighth inning, even though they haven't recorded a hit since the first. Washington struck for three runs on three hits in that first inning, battering Rays rookie Chris Archer, who looked shaken and uncomfortable. That didn't last long,...