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Katie Ledecky’s First Pitch Ruled

2016 Articles Leave a Comment

The assumption has been always been that Bryce Harper is and should be a baseball player. Okay, fair. But Wednesday night Katie Ledecky may have revealed his true calling, discovering just how good he is at proudly displaying her five Olympic medals, the proof of her mermaid-dom.
Fresh off dominating and demoralizing the souls of the best swimmers in the world at the Rio Olympics, Ledecky — a Maryland native and likely a descendant of Ariel herself — took on Nats Park to throw out the first pitch. After decorating Harper with the medals like the Christmas tree he was always meant to be, she threw a strike that would at the very least have Renee Rivera swinging with the MVP standing tall next to her.

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Nats Keep Dominating Braves

2016 Articles Leave a Comment

Life is full of surprises. It’s also full of things that aren’t surprising. One of the things that has recently moved into the latter category is the Nationals crushing the collective soul of the Atlanta Braves. Friday night’s 7-6 win – keyed off by a two-out Clint Robinson RBI single in the ninth inning – is only the latest in what has become a pattern of dominance exerted by the Nats over their division rivals.

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Can the Nationals Trust Gio?

2016 Articles Leave a Comment

As every Nationals fan knows, some days the team gets Good Gio and some days it’s Bad Gio on the mound. In Gonzalez’s 23 starts coming into Tuesday’s game, he’s actually allowed three or fewer runs 15 times. That’s not to say he hasn’t had a couple of clunkers, though, as he’s had three starts of allowing over five runs. Those big blow ups have resulted in a disappointing ERA of 4.24 and frayed the nerves of Nats fans.

Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg are two of the top pitchers in all of baseball. Thanks to his ability to induce soft contact, Tanner Roark has solidified his hold on the #3 spot in the rotaion. With Joe Ross still on the DL, the question then becomes, can the Nationals rely on Gio Gonzalez down the stretch?

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Where Trea Turner Could Stumble

2016 Articles Leave a Comment

Andrew laid out a solid case for why Trea Turner could live up to the lofty expectations Nationals’ fans have set for him. Everyone is certainly pulling for him to be the star he has looked like so far this season. But baseball is hard, especially for rookies. The history of the league is littered with rookies who made big impacts right off the bat, only to come crashing back to earth after the league made a few adjustments. The honeymoon phase is starting to wind down on Turner, and he’s going to have to prove he can adjust to the league’s approach to him.

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Can Trea Turner Stay This Good?

2016 Articles 2 Comments

Trea Turner notched his third consecutive multi-hit game Sunday, knocking a single and a double in five at-bats. A pair of hits is practically mundane for him, as he has shredded expectations with a .319/.347/.540 line this season. Though he was a highly touted prospect, his 133 wRC+ while learning center field on the fly is jaw-dropping. How has the young shortstop-turned-second-baseman-turned-outfielder become so good, so fast?

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Papelbon and the Nats Were Never Meant to Be

2016 Articles Leave a Comment

Perhaps the most succinct way to describe Jonathan Papelbon’s time with the Washington Nationals is that it was never meant to be. On Saturday, reports surfaced that the Nationals informed Papelbon of their plans to designate him for assignment, leading him to ask for his release instead. In a sense, any outcome that leads to Papelbon’s departure is not a hard a decision, given the circumstances faced by both team and player.

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Don’t Forget About Max Scherzer

2016 Articles Leave a Comment

Lost in the midst of the Nats’ disappointing loss to the Indians was another solid outing from Max Scherzer. He took a no hitter into the seventh inning and ended up allowing only three hits and one run over seven innings, leaving with a loss as the lineup failed to provide any semblance of run support. Scherzer was on the cusp of a transcendent outing and though it may not feel like, that has been the norm this season.

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