nationals

Lerner on All-Star Game week: "It worked out beautifully"

July 18, 2018, 3:02am

Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner said having the 89th All-Star Game at Nationals Park has been an event he will never forget and he is very proud of the way the organization planned, prepared and executed the event. "Incredible. I mean it's just beyond my wildest dreams," Lerner said during pregame Tuesday. "Glad that it worked out beautifully. It's been a class event top to bottom. The years of work that our staff has put in shows. It has been great working with MLB. The commissioner...

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AL beats NL 8-6 in extra-inning home run fest (updated)

July 17, 2018, 7:57pm

Nationals

AL beats NL 8-6 in extra-inning home run fest (updated)

They came to watch Max Scherzer and Bryce Harper compete on the big stage against baseball's best, to watch American League stars rarely seen in these parts like Aaron Judge and Mike Trout do their thing, to withstand brutal D.C. July humidity and dodge a few raindrops and to perhaps watch the National League actually win a 21st century All-Star Game for a change. What local baseball fans got in the first Midsummer Classic in the District of Columbia in 49 years was a reminder of what Major...

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Strasburg, Zimmerman on track to come off DL on Friday

July 17, 2018, 3:25pm

Nationals

Strasburg, Zimmerman on track to come off DL on Friday

Tonight's All-Star Game - in which he's serving as a member of Dave Roberts' National League coaching staff - is first and foremost on his mind, but Nationals manager Davey Martinez can't help but start thinking ahead to the resumption of the season Friday night. Especially the key players he expects to have back on his active roster for that series opener against the Braves. Stephen Strasburg has been cleared to come off the disabled list and will start Friday night, Martinez revealed this...

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Opponents enjoy one game as teammates of Max Scherzer (AL wins 8-6 in 10)

July 17, 2018, 1:50pm

Nationals

Opponents enjoy one game as teammates of Max Scherzer (AL wins 8-6 in 10)

Right-hander Max Scherzer gets the start in tonight's 89th All-Star Game. National League outfielder Christian Yelich, who now plays for the Brewers, is making his initial All-Star appearance. Yelich played five seasons for the Marlins, an NL East team that faced the Nationals 19 times a season. Yelich is very familiar with Scherzer and is excited he gets to play on the same team with the Cy Young winner. "It's nice to have him on the same team for a night, I guess you could say," Yelich...

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Doolittle enjoying All-Star festivities despite injury, Zimmerman rolls in rehab debut

July 16, 2018, 7:25pm

Nationals

Doolittle enjoying All-Star festivities despite injury, Zimmerman rolls in rehab debut

Despite not being able to play in the All-Star Game because he is on the disabled list with a toe injury, Nationals closer Sean Doolittle was certainly thrilled and honored to be selected as a member of the National League team. This week is the one-year anniversary of the trade that sent the closer from Oakland to the Nationals. So to be named to the NL squad meant a great deal to Doolittle. "A lot. I just got traded over here a year ago, maybe a year ago yesterday," Doolittle said. "Almost...

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Manfred, Clark offer widely different views of state of baseball

July 17, 2018, 12:24pm

Nationals

Manfred, Clark offer widely different views of state of baseball

Monday night's Home Run Derby, with Nationals slugger Bryce Harper front and center in his home ballpark, was a rousing success. On that point, Rob Manfred and Tony Clark are in complete agreement. "Bryce Harper put on one unbelievable show," Manfred said today in the Major League Baseball commissioner's annual Q&A session with members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "Amazing how he engaged the fans here in his hometown." "Last night was phenomenal," Clark, head of...

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All-Star redemption for ex-Nats Treinen, Ramos and VÃ¡zquez

July 16, 2018, 3:48pm

Nationals

All-Star redemption for ex-Nats Treinen, Ramos and VÃ¡zquez

Blake Treinen sat at a table in the club level at Nationals Park, his name emblazoned beneath the All-Star Game logo behind him, his smile wide as he spoke to familiar faces about his first career selection for the Midsummer Classic. Only 20 feet to Treinen's left sat Wilson Ramos, also smiling widely as he discussed his second All-Star appearance, though disappointed a recent hamstring strain will prevent him from playing but nonetheless thrilled to be here. One hour earlier, Felipe...

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With epic show in Derby, Harper finally makes baseball fun again

July 16, 2018, 8:07pm

Nationals

With epic show in Derby, Harper finally makes baseball fun again

The first half of the 2018 season for Bryce Harper was, to put it mildly, a grind. A batting average stuck in the .210s. Strikeouts on pitches he used to crush. A Nationals club that can't seem to get on a consistent roll. And the underlying question of where he's going to be playing in 2019 and beyond. Harper's mood has reflected all of that. The joy and charisma that so defined him when he burst onto the scene as a teenager had all but disappeared, replaced by a gruff, brooding and...

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Scherzer gets third career All-Star Game start (updated)

July 16, 2018, 9:43am

Nationals

Scherzer gets third career All-Star Game start (updated)

For the first All-Star Game in Washington in nearly a half-century, who better to start the game for the National League than a guy who is establishing himself as one of the best pitchers of the last half-century - oh, and who, by the way, also happens to be doing all this for the hometown club? Max Scherzer indeed will start Tuesday night's All-Star Game at Nationals Park, a fairly no-brainer decision for NL manager Dave Roberts, who may have had other worthy candidates for the assignment but...

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Nationals-killer Freeman finally gets his comeuppance in Home Run Derby

July 16, 2018, 6:39pm

Nationals Orioles

Nationals-killer Freeman finally gets his comeuppance in Home Run Derby

Freddie Freeman joked Tuesday that the Nationals Park crowd would be on his side when he went against Nationals hero Bryce Harper in the Home Run Derby. But when Freeman stepped into the batter's box for the first-round match, reality set in: The boo birds came out at Nationals Park. That was normal, more like it. Freeman was happy with that. "That means I've done well here," Freeman said after losing 13-12. Done well against the Nationals is an understatement. In 125 career games against...

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Bryce Harper headlines Home Run Derby (Harper wins 19-18)

July 16, 2018, 3:16pm

Nationals

Bryce Harper headlines Home Run Derby (Harper wins 19-18)

Nationals slugger Bryce Harper is the headliner on his home field tonight as the 2018 Home Run Derby gets underway at Nationals Park. Harper said he decided to participate in the Home Run Derby because it is in D.C. this time around. "I think just being able to do it in D.C., being able to do it in front of the fans, have fun and enjoy that," Harper said. "It's huge being able to run out there knowing you are in your own ball park," he added. "You feel right at home. Definitely weird...

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Bryce Harper says he doesn't feel pressure to succeed after .214 start

July 16, 2018, 1:51pm

Nationals

Bryce Harper says he doesn't feel pressure to succeed after .214 start

Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper held court this afternoon before the Home Run Derby and talked about how much he loves to play baseball. But after 96 games in the 2018 campaign, as his Nationals reach the All-Star break, it sometimes appears like Harper hasn't been loving every day this season. He's hitting only .214, the lowest of any of the National League All-Stars who are preparing for Tuesday's Midsummer Classic. A .243 mark in 2016 was the lowest batting average he ever had to...

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Strasburg pitches into sixth, Zimmerman begins rehab today

July 16, 2018, 3:29am

Nationals

Strasburg pitches into sixth, Zimmerman begins rehab today

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg completed 5 2/3 innings in his second rehab start for high Single-A Potomac on Sunday. He scattered five hits, allowing three runs, none of which were earned. He struck out seven and walked none. Strasburg (0-1) threw 82 pitches, 55 for strikes. The P-Nats lost the game, 5-4, to Frederick. He had thrown 57 pitches over 3 1/3 innings July 10. So if he recovers well this week he is on target to return to the Nationals rotation to begin the second half, which is July...

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Some random thoughts about the All-Star festivities in D.C.

July 16, 2018, 8:36am

Nationals

Some random thoughts about the All-Star festivities in D.C.

Some random observations about the All-Star Game festivities at Nationals Park from a writer covering his first Midsummer Classic ... * Though I really hate it when I see a team's jersey that's not one of the teams playing in a game - say, an interloper in Yankees pinstripes at a Reds-Nationals game - it's been fun to see jerseys from all 30 major league teams already at Nationals Park. I've even seen a few retro throwbacks - think Senators, Browns, Expos, Pilots - for teams who have long...

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Martinez pushes right buttons as Nats win first-half finale

July 15, 2018, 12:51pm

Nationals

Martinez pushes right buttons as Nats win first-half finale

NEW YORK - If you're not going to take a few chances and push some buttons you don't normally push on the final day before the All-Star break, when are you going to do it? Davey Martinez, who on Thursday afternoon spoke of the urgency he and his Nationals needed to show in this weekend's series against the Mets, did just that in today's first-half finale. In the top of the seventh inning of a tie game, the bases loaded and nobody out, Michael A. Taylor at the plate, Martinez called upon...

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Harper, Murphy get day off; Gott replaces Voth on roster (Nats win 6-1)

July 15, 2018, 8:49am

Nationals

Harper, Murphy get day off; Gott replaces Voth on roster (Nats win 6-1)

NEW YORK - The Nationals will close out the first half of their season with a lineup that doesn't include Bryce Harper or Daniel Murphy, and with a couple extra arms in their bullpen in case they're needed. Both Harper and Murphy were given today's game against the Mets off by manager Davey Martinez, who wanted to give each guy a chance to rest, for different reasons. Harper had started 93 of the Nationals' first 95 games and was used as a pinch-hitter in one other. He had started 36...

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Kieboom and Garcia on repping Nats in All-Star Futures Game (updated)

July 15, 2018, 10:54am

Nationals

Kieboom and Garcia on repping Nats in All-Star Futures Game (updated)

If Carter Kieboom looks at home at his stall in the U.S. Team clubhouse at Nationals Park, it's with good reason: He's been there before. Back at the end of spring training, when the Nats hosted the Twins in the final exhibition game before the regular season, Kieboom was in a Nationals uniform, set up in a swath of temporary lockers on one side of the room. Now, as he prepares to represent the Nationals in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, he's in the high-rent district - or roughly at a...

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Nats have squandered chance to make up ground this week

July 14, 2018, 8:49pm

Nationals

Nats have squandered chance to make up ground this week

NEW YORK - When Nationals players held their closed-door meeting following a July 4 loss to the Red Sox, they found themselves one game under .500. They were in third place in the National League East, seven games behind the first-place Braves, 5 1/2 games behind the second-place Phillies. All agreed it was time to get serious, time to start making up some ground. As luck would have it, the schedule was about to get more favorable, as well. After a difficult stretch that included games with the...

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Game 96 lineups: Nats at Mets

July 15, 2018, 6:58am

Nationals

NEW YORK - The first half of the season wraps up today, though as has been pointed out already, the season is well beyond the actual halfway point. Today is Game 96 for the Nationals, and if they want to reach a Game 163 they're going to have to play a whole lot better the rest of the way, beginning this afternoon. Jeremy Hellickson will need to give his team a quality start. And Davey Martinez will need to be willing to have a quick hook on his starter, as he has all season to date. No need...

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Big inning dooms Voth in debut, Nats fall below .500 again (updated)

July 14, 2018, 2:59pm

Nationals

Big inning dooms Voth in debut, Nats fall below .500 again (updated)

NEW YORK - As the bottom of the fifth arrived at Citi Field, Davey Martinez knew what he needed from Austin Voth: one more scoreless inning. One more clean inning, and the rookie manager could pull his rookie starter and be content with the three early runs he allowed, at the very least giving his team a chance to come back from that three-run deficit with four innings yet to play. But as the bottom of the fifth played out, it became apparent that best-case scenario simply wasn't going to come...