Johnson talks after Nats' 4-2 win

Johnson talks after Nats' 4-2 win
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...

Nats top Red Sox 4-2, earn another series win

Nats top Red Sox 4-2, earn another series win
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...

Ankiel's experience paying dividends with Nats' phenoms

Ankiel's experience paying dividends with Nats' phenoms
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...

More of the same from Gonzalez (Red Sox make it a ballgame)

More of the same from Gonzalez (Red Sox make it a ballgame)
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...

About last night

About last night
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...

Gonzalez on mound, Morse serving as DH

Gonzalez on mound, Morse serving as DH
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...

Marrero shows positive progress with two hits in return to high Single-A

Marrero shows positive progress with two hits in return to high Single-A

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.

First-place Nats overpower last-place Red Sox

First-place Nats overpower last-place Red Sox
If you had read that headline two years ago, would you have thought I was headed for a mental ward? How the tables have turned. All Stephen Strasburg did tonight was strike out 13 hitters over six innings of two-run ball, allowing just four hits and retiring 11 in a row at one stretch. All Bryce Harper did was go 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, a walk and three RBIs. I'm no scout, but I feel like those two have bright futures ahead of them. "That was fun watching," manager Davey...

Giolito pick draws rave reviews

Giolito pick draws rave reviews
After being selected by the Nationals in the first round of the First-Year Player Draft, I'm told Lucas Giolito received a congratulatory text message. That text was from none other than Bryce Harper. Quite a classy, veteran-like move by the 19-year-old former first-round pick, if you ask me, welcoming the 17-year-old Giolito to the organization. At right is a picture of Giolito taken last night and passed along by the right-hander's high school coach, Matthew LaCour. Apparently when...

A heck of a six innings for Strasburg (Nats beat Sox 7-4)

A heck of a six innings for Strasburg (Nats beat Sox 7-4)
BOSTON - A career-high 119 pitches. A stretch of 11 straight hitters retired. A span of 12 outs in which 10 were strikeouts. A ridiculous 13 strikeouts in six innings. A K of Kevin Youkilis to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. Yeah, it was an eventful evening for Stephen Strasburg. The Nationals' ace put up a double-digit strikeout performance for the fifth time in his career, and tonight's 13 strikeouts is the second-most he's recorded in a game. The highest Strasburg...

Clippard officially named closer, Lidge to set up

Clippard officially named closer, Lidge to set up
BOSTON - File this in the "duh department," but Tyler Clippard is the Nationals' closer. That's been perfectly clear considering the way manager Davey Johnson has handled his team's save opportunities since he announced he was going to a closer-by-committee two-and-a-half weeks ago. The Nationals have had five save chances, and all have gone to Clippard. But today, for the first time, Johnson actually referred to Clippard as his closer. The Nats' skipper also said that Brad Lidge, who...

A complete effort at the Fens

A complete effort at the Fens
BOSTON - The Nationals seem to be enjoying their time in Beantown. Through four innings tonight, the Nats have six extra-base hits - five doubles (two of which are from Danny Espinosa) and a home run. They lead 6-2, having put up three runs in both the third and fourth innings, and seemingly everything Red Sox lefty Felix Doubront serves up is getting smoked out to the gaps. The hardest-hit ball of the night came off the bat of (who else?) Bryce Harper, who absolutely demolished a Doubront...

Lineups from a damp Fenway Park

Lineups from a damp Fenway Park
BOSTON - Literally as soon as I stepped foot in the press box at Fenway Park, the grounds crew pulled the tarp over the infield. I'm pretty excited to be here for this series (my first time at Fenway in a professional capacity), and I'm not going to let Mother Nature rain on my parade. Actually, they're only calling for a brief thunderstorm here shortly and then possibly another sprinkling later on. Nothing too big, it seems. With the Red Sox throwing two lefties this series and having...

Chris Marrero to Potomac, starts at DH tonight

Chris Marrero to Potomac, starts at DH tonight
Chris Marrero, recovering from a torn hamstring, played two games with low Single-A Hagerstown this week. Now he is headed to high Single-A Potomac, according to club sources. It was the first baseman's first pro action since he tore his hamstring in winter ball. His recovery was slowed a bit this year because he also had to battle shoulder soreness, spending more time in extended spring training. The right-handed hitter finally returned to the field for two games with the Suns this week,...

Hagerstown's Nieto out with ab strain, hopeful for SAL All-Star game

Hagerstown's Nieto out with ab strain, hopeful for SAL All-Star game
Low Single-A Hagerstown Suns catcher

Shippin' up to Boston

Shippin' up to Boston
For whatever reason, the Nationals have no problem winning games early in series this season. Ten times this season, they've gone into the series finale with a chance to earn a sweep. Only once (not including a two-game, rain-shortened series win over Miami) have they actually brought out the brooms and finished the job. Kind of a quirky stat that is tough to explain, but as Ryan Zimmerman said last night, the fact that the Nats have had 10 shots to sweep means they're winning a good...

Arm slot an issue in Wang's latest shaky outing

Arm slot an issue in Wang's latest shaky outing
As Davey Johnson puts it, when Chien-Ming Wang is throwing from the correct arm slot, his stuff is "almost unhittable". The problem was, Wang was rarely throwing from the proper arm slot today. As a result, he was very hittable. Wang allowed 12 baserunners (eight hits, three walks and a hit-by-pitch) during his 5 1/3 innings against the Mets today, and while he only gave up two runs, it wasn't the type of outing the Nationals were looking for. Since returning to the Nats' rotation eight...

Dickey's varying speeds on knuckleball befuddled Nationals' bats

Dickey's varying speeds on knuckleball befuddled Nationals' bats
There is a reason Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey has nine wins already this season: His knuckleball is very good, and Dickey can throw more than one variation of it. His best is a hard knuckleball that caused the Nationals serious trouble in a 3-1 setback Thursday at Nationals Park. In Dickey's first meeting with Bryce Harper, he threw the young phenom seven straight knuckleballs that varied in speed from 75 mph to 81 mph. He then struck out Harper on the eighth pitch, a 63 mph,...

Harper nursing sore back, insists he's fine

Harper nursing sore back, insists he's fine
Bryce Harper gave Nationals fans a scare when he dropped to his knees following a failed attempt at a diving catch in the top of the ninth inning this afternoon. Manager Davey Johnson made things sound even scarier when he said that Harper has been nursing a tender back lately, and that there's a chance the 19-year-old might need to miss tomorrow's game at Boston as a result of the injury. Harper brought the panic level down a few notches during his session with reporters. During that...

Kline: Two of Nats' top four picks already agreed to terms, Rizzo will work on Giolito deal

Kline: Two of Nats' top four picks already agreed to terms, Rizzo will work on Giolito deal
Nationals director of scouting Kris Kline met with reporters via conference call Thursday to discuss the draft, which wrapped up earlier in the week. The Nationals selected right-handed pitcher Lucas Giolito, out of Harvard-Westlake High School in Calif., at No. 16. The 6-foot-6, 230 lb., hurler has an explosive fastball and a power curve. Kline said general manager Mike Rizzo will handle negotiations with Giolito's representatives in hopes of getting him signed before the July 13 deadline at...