nationals buzz

Rachel Levitin: Scouting the perfect seating locations at Nationals Park

May 09, 2013, 5:49am

The Nats are looking good right now. They're coming off a three-game win streak with Jordan Zimmermann holding his own as team anchor and the under-.500 Chicago Cubs coming into town for a three-game series for Mother's Day weekend. With warmer temperatures on the way, school wrapping up for the kids and summer truly around the corner, now's the time to get to the ballpark ... or at least that's what my friends keep telling me. I'm at the ballpark often enough, catching games and writing...

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David Huzzard: Stephen Strasburg and approach versus results

May 08, 2013, 5:13am

Nationals

David Huzzard: Stephen Strasburg and approach versus results

Stay within yourself, don't try and do too much, and let the game come to you are all baseball clichÃƒÂ©s Nationals fans have become accustomed to over the early part of the 2013 season. They aren't easy concepts to understand until you see players not doing it. Up until the recent 7-4 run, the Nats weren't doing any of these things and were quite a frustrating team to watch. In baseball, approach is much more important than results and many Nats players had poor approaches at the...

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Ted Leavengood: Winning a championship, one series at a time

May 07, 2013, 2:55am

Nationals

Ted Leavengood: Winning a championship, one series at a time

There was too much Sterling Marte and A.J. Burnett in Pittsburgh, too little Bryce Harper. Yet the Nationals still looked like the better team when all was said and done. The Pirates are capable of beating anyone. They won their series against the Nationals in 2012 and recently swept the Atlanta Braves. Pittsburgh has an obvious weakness in their bullpen, however. They lead the league in bases on balls and a good team will exploit that. On Saturday night, the Nats' veteran hitters took the...

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Marty Niland: Veterans, bench finally getting into the swing of things

May 05, 2013, 6:45pm

Nationals

Marty Niland: Veterans, bench finally getting into the swing of things

It's not conventional wisdom for a major league team to "get healthy" on the road, and even less conventional for it to happen against a hot team, but that's just what seems to have happened to the Nationals as they wrapped up their 4-3 road trip. In Pittsburgh, where the Nats have not won a series since 2010, the Nats took two games from a Pirates team that had won six of nine, including a series win over St. Louis. And they did it behind several players whose contributions this season...

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Rachel Levitin: Unassuming Zimmermann the stopper the Nats need

May 02, 2013, 5:46am

Nationals

Rachel Levitin: Unassuming Zimmermann the stopper the Nats need

Jordan Zimmermann's 2-0 win over Atlanta last night helped the Nationals snap the team's nine-game losing streak against the Braves. It's already apparent that the Nats have a few growing pains in their transition from the 2012 season to 2013, but that's the thing about baseball - you never quite know exactly how a singular game is going to shake out, let alone an entire season, until it's all said and done. What's great about Zimmermann's success this season thus far is that his work...

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David Huzzard: Advanced metrics place Harper in select company

April 30, 2013, 7:08pm

Nationals

David Huzzard: Advanced metrics place Harper in select company

As a disappointing 13-14 April comes to an end for the Nationals, the only thing that went right was Bryce Harper. An April OPS of 1.150 is only so impressive on its own, but consider that the tops in all of baseball last season was Miguel Cabrera with .999 and the only regulars with better than that in April 2012 were Matt Kemp, Bryan LaHair, Josh Hamilton and David Ortiz. Harper is off to a hot start, but there are signs that it won't be ending anytime soon. Watch Harper at the plate....

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Ted Leavengood: In Span, Nats have a glove of a different kind

April 29, 2013, 6:31pm

Nationals

Ted Leavengood: In Span, Nats have a glove of a different kind

Denard Span is no Michael Morse. Morse had the kung-fu warm-up cut - immortalized in his bobblehead - and there was his A-Ha walk-up music. Span had large shoes to fill on many levels. It did not get easier when Morse ripped up the Cactus League for nine home runs and a .357 batting average in spring training. It was reminiscent of the 2011 spring when he had his breakout season, hitting .303 with 31 home runs. There were more than a few call-ins to radio shows bemoaning the loss of Morse and...

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"Bryce Begins" to air on ESPN on Tuesday, April 30

April 29, 2013, 3:57pm

Nationals

"Bryce Begins" to air on ESPN on Tuesday, April 30

What were you doing when you were 19? Chances are you weren't roaming the outfields of major league ballparks like Bryce Harper was. Harper, the young Nationals phenom, skyrocketed to superstardom during his rookie season. His accomplishments include earning a trip to the All-Star Game and winning the 2012 National League Rookie of the Year Award. His play helped the Nats win the NL East for the first time since the franchise returned to Washington D.C., in 2005. ESPN will air a one-hour...

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Marty Niland: For Harper, here's hoping best is yet to come

April 28, 2013, 3:49pm

Nationals

Marty Niland: For Harper, here's hoping best is yet to come

Of all the red-letter days in Washington's baseball history, Nationals fans may well look back on April 28, 2012 as the most important date of all. It was on that date that a 19-year-old rookie named Bryce Aron Max Harper made his major league debut, amid the media spotlight of Los Angeles. He singled and drove in a run for a Nats team that was struggling offensively, and while Washington would fall to the Dodgers, both Harper and the Nats would soon heat up and not look back. Harper...

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Cast your ballot to send your favorite Nats to the All-Star Game

April 26, 2013, 1:18pm

Nationals

Cast your ballot to send your favorite Nats to the All-Star Game

Which Nationals hitters deserve to be voted into the starting lineup for the All-Star Game at Citi Field on Tuesday, July 16? Maybe you favor youth, and figure left fielder Bryce Harper, all of 20, should be starting after making it as a 19-year-old reserve last year. Or you think first baseman Adam LaRoche and his Gold Glove defense can help the National League win the Midsummer Classic. Or you just want right fielder Jayson Werth and his scruffy beard standing on the base line for pregame...

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Rachel Levitin: Can Goon Squad affect turnaround for Nats?

April 25, 2013, 4:56am

Nationals

Rachel Levitin: Can Goon Squad affect turnaround for Nats?

Three weeks into the 2013 season and the Nationals are struggling to get their 2012 groove back. Fact is, though, it's only April and there are months of baseball still to be played. The biggest factor haunting the Nats in present day is high expectations associated with coming off a successful run last year. "We've been pressing," outfielder Jayson Werth told MASNsports.com's Dan Kolko. "We've been trying to do too much. That's a common side effect. It's just one of those things....

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David Huzzard: The Espinosa-Lombardozzi debate isn't much of one at all

April 24, 2013, 5:11am

Nationals

David Huzzard: The Espinosa-Lombardozzi debate isn't much of one at all

The Danny Espinosa/Steve Lombardozzi debate highlights many fascinating aspects of baseball fandom. It is tools vs. grit, slash line vs. batting average, and strikeouts vs. productive outs. The main issue is that in every meaningful category for their careers, Espinosa is a better player. Look at the two slash lines. Espinosa, for his career, is at .236/.311/.407 and Lombardozzi is at .273/.314/.352. While the increase in contact rate is aesthetically pleasing, it is close to meaningless...

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Ted Leavengood: DÃƒÂ©jÃƒÂ vu all over again

April 22, 2013, 6:46pm

Nationals

Ted Leavengood: DÃƒÂ©jÃƒÂ vu all over again

There was something eerie watching Drew Storen work a perfect eighth inning against the Cardinals last night. More uncanny is the similarity of Ryan Zimmerman going on the DL on both April 20, 2012 and April 21, 2013. Zimmerman was hitting a lusty .224 with a single home run and seven RBIs last year and fast forward to Sunday, and Zimmerman is hitting .226 with a single homer. Last year, Bryce Harper was summoned just a week later. He was well ahead of schedule and started slow. But he caught...

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Marty Niland: Keep expectations realistic for Anthony Rendon

April 22, 2013, 5:28am

Nationals

Marty Niland: Keep expectations realistic for Anthony Rendon

Welcome to the big leagues, Anthony Rendon. Making his major league debut Sunday against the New York Mets, the Nationals' 2011 first-round draft pick went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts, including one to end a 2-0 loss. He made a nice foul catch in the first inning, but like the rest of the Washington offense, never got comfortable at the plate against Mets starter Dillon Gee. That might seem disappointing, but it's probably typical for a rookie who has fewer than 60 games of minor...

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Harper leads extra-base barrage as Nats win 7-6

April 20, 2013, 12:41pm

Nationals

Harper leads extra-base barrage as Nats win 7-6

The Nationals treated Mets right-hander Jeremy Hefner like a guy with a 7.20 ERA, and had an lead to show for their efforts. Ian Desmond led off the second inning with his third homer of the season and Bryce Harper crushed a two-run homer into the left field stands at Citi Field in the third, staking the Nats to a 3-0 lead. But it's now 5-3 Mets in the fourth, as the Mets have battled back and taken advantage of some wildness that led to a troubling lack of composure from lefty Gio...

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Zimmerman still missing from Nats lineup, but Espinosa returns (updated)

April 20, 2013, 8:53am

Nationals

Zimmerman still missing from Nats lineup, but Espinosa returns (updated)

Ryan Zimmerman's sore left hamstring remains an issue, and the third baseman is again out of the lineup for today's 3:05 p.m. game against the Mets at Citi Field. The game will air nationally on FOX. Zimmerman has not played since being removed from Wednesday's game against the Marlins in Miami, and Chad Tracy is again at third base in his place today. The Nationals, however, get second baseman Danny Espinosa back for today's game. Espinosa missed four games after being struck in the...

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Patrick Reddington: Facing Stephen Strasburg

April 19, 2013, 6:17am

Nationals

Patrick Reddington: Facing Stephen Strasburg

Then-27-year-old 2001 first-round pick Gavin Floyd downplayed the significance of facing a then-21-year-old Stephen Strasburg when the two first-round picks met for the first time during the Nats' 2009 No. 1 overall selection's rookie campaign in 2010. "It's the last thing you need to worry about, is the opposing pitcher," Floyd told MLB.com before the game in the nation's capital, "You're facing their lineup, not the opposing pitcher." The match-up brought the best out of the White...

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Rachel Levitin: Racing Presidents bring something extra to Nats' fan culture

April 18, 2013, 5:17am

Nationals

Rachel Levitin: Racing Presidents bring something extra to Nats' fan culture

Last Friday night, I found myself surrounded by native Chicagoans and fellow D.C. transplants at a bar near Union Station when a group of Braves fans walked in. I hadn't been able to watch the Nats-Braves game that night and didn't check my iPhone for any scores, so I decided to do the easy thing and ask those Braves fans, "Who won the game?" They cheerfully obliged my question by saying, "The Braves," with a smile on their faces. My group grabbed a table by a few folks donning Nationals...

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David Huzzard: For starters, Nats battling tougher early schedule in 2013

April 17, 2013, 4:52am

Nationals

David Huzzard: For starters, Nats battling tougher early schedule in 2013

Through 14 games last season, the Nationals were 10-4 coming off an 11-4 loss to the Houston Astros in their 14th game of the season. It was a hot start - and an important one, as the Phillies were missing key pieces, the Marlins weren't playing up to expectations and the Braves were missing Tim Hudson. The Nats' hot start catapulted them into a division lead they would only relinquish once during the rest of the season. It was an impressive start, but it came against the eventual 101-loss...

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Ted Leavengood: Dark cloud removed, could Zimmermann earn "Smiley" nickname?

April 16, 2013, 5:03am

Nationals

Ted Leavengood: Dark cloud removed, could Zimmermann earn "Smiley" nickname?

Baseball has a way of evening out the numbers over time. For the past few seasons, Jordan Zimmermann has been known as a hard-luck pitcher, the kind who cannot buy a run when he needs it, whose run support every time he takes the mound seems to be wanting. Or at least that is the way it used to be. In 2011, he was the best pitcher in the Washington rotation with an ERA of 3.18, but he had a losing record, only eight wins against 11 defeats. His 2012 statistics suggest a pitcher who should...