After this past weekend's series loss to one of the worst teams in baseball and a pair of losses in Los Angeles this week, the Nationals continue to battle in their pursuit of meeting the expectations imposed upon them. But here's the thing: For all the hiccups this team has encountered, they're still just one game behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East. To me, this season is all about perspective for the Nationals and their fans. Who could have ever predicted the...

Just as Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth appear to be closing in on a return to action, the Nationals have to deal with two more players making their way into the training room. Manager Davey Johnson told reporters last night that catcher Wilson Ramos reinjured his left hamstring in the Nats' 3-1 loss to the Dodgers, and left-hander Ross Detwiler had back spasms knock him out of yesterday's game after just three innings. Ramos' injury appears to be the more serious of the two, according to...

Wilson Ramos is heading back to the disabled list yet again. Manager Davey Johnson told reporters in Los Angeles that Ramos injured his left hamstring in tonight's 3-1 loss to the Dodgers, the same hamstring that Ramos strained back in April. The Nationals' opening day catcher missed 15 games with the hamstring injury the first time around. He returned to action April 30 in Atlanta but played in just eight contests before injuring the hamstring again. This time, he'll likely be out a...

The Nationals have lost both members of their battery to apparent injuries in the fourth inning. Wilson Ramos came out after singling with two outs in the top of the fourth. Ross Detwiler also made his way down into the Nats' clubhouse with a trainer by his side, his night done after just three innings of work. I'll start the injury-filled blog with notes on Ramos, who just cannot seem to catch a break. After smoking the ball twice in two at-bats tonight, resulting in two hits, Ramos left...

He is one of baseball's best pitching prospects. He is a pitcher the Orioles like a lot. He has an ERA of 1.85 over his last four Double-A starts. Despite all that, the message the Orioles seemed to be sending this week was that Kevin Gausman may make the O's roster this year, but not in the very near future. The Orioles rotation is springing some leaks right now and two members of that rotation, Wei-Yin-Chen and Miguel Gonzalez, are currently on the DL, but it's not Gausman's time yet,...

The Nationals last scored a run in the fifth inning Monday night. Since then, they've gone 16 scoreless frames. Yeah, for the bulk of those innings they've faced Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, two of the top arms in the majors. But there haven't been many quality at-bats during that 16-inning stretch, and the results have shown. The Nats trail 2-0 after three innings tonight, as the Dodgers have scored single runs in the first and second innings. The second run off Nats starter Ross...

Nate McLouth smoked a ball in the first inning yesterday that dissolved into another out, with Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera soaring to his right to make a sensational diving catch. Nick Markakis smoked a ball in the fifth inning that turned into an infield hit when the ball clanked off Cabrera's glove as he attempted to make another diving catch. McLouth sat in the dugout as Markakis reached first base and laughed at the fickle nature of baseball. McLouth really needed Cabrera to miss...

WOODBRIDGE, Va. - Right fielder Jayson Werth completed the first game of his rehab from an injured hamstring Wednesday for the high Single-A Potomac Nationals at Pfitzner Stadium. Werth made the most of the four innings he played, going 1-for-2, getting in a rundown on the base paths that enabled a run to score and throwing a runner out at home plate from right field. But the biggest concern on this night was a true-game situation test of his tight hamstring, which has kept him out of the...

Triple-A Norfolk infielder Jonathan Schoop, the Orioles' No. 3 prospect according to Baseball America, has been out the last few days with a lower back strain, according to Orioles vice-president Dan Duquette. Duquette said via text tonight that Schoop "is resting a few days." Schoop last played on Sunday for Norfolk when he had three hits, including a homer and three RBIs. Schoop is 5-for-9 over his last two games. On the year, in 34 Norfolk games, he is batting .268 with six doubles,...

The Nationals will have to play another day without Bryce Harper. Harper, the Nats' leader in pretty much every major offensive statistical category, is out of the lineup for the second straight day after colliding with the right field wall Monday night. The collision left Harper with a bruised knee and shoulder, and he'll get another day to rest those - among other - ailments. Denard Span is back in Davey Johnson's lineup tonight after getting most of last night's game off. Steve...