If you’re reading the pages of this website, it’s hard to believe that you missed the fracas that broke out in the 8th inning of the Nationals 3-0 win against the San Francisco Giants on Memorial Day. Well today, the news broke that Hunter Strickland was suspended six games for his beaning of Bryce Harper, who himself got four games from his helmet chucking charge of the mound.
Continue Reading Were the Harper and Strickland Suspensions Fair?
On Monday, the Washington Nationals begin a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Here are a few a few storylines to watch:
Welcome back to the latest in a series, in which we review the previous week in Nationals baseball and power rank the players according to their performance. This is an extremely unscientific exercise; at no point should it ever be confused with actual baseball analysis. Don’t worry, I will do my best to make sure that is obvious. Without further ado: your Washington Nationals, ranked according to power.
There’s nothing quite like narrowly escaping a sweep by the Atlanta Braves to really put life, love, liberty, and the Washington Nationals off-field happenings into perspective.
Continue Reading Off-the-Field Recap: Jose Marmolejos Is In This One
Pain. As we reach the quarter point of the season, the Nationals have hit their first real rough patch, losing four of six to teams that are a combined 12 games under .500. The Pirates, who have the second-worst offense in MLB, scored 20 runs over the three-game series. The Braves were one of the most power deficient offenses in the league—especially so without Nat-killer extraordinaire Freddie Freeman. Atlanta hit six home runs in their two victories before Strasburg dealt them the Ace of Spades and shut them down over 7.2 IP. For all the good the Nationals have, there are some cracks in the foundation. For the starting pitching, the bullpen, lineup, and bench, we will look at the areas of concern, and how significant they are.
Continue Reading Nationals Recent Losing Streak Highlights Deficiencies
Welcome back to the latest in a series, in which we review the previous week in Nationals baseball and power rank the players according to their performance. This is an extremely unserious exercise; at no point should it ever be confused with actual baseball analysis. Don’t worry, I will do my best to make sure that is obvious. Without further ado: your Washington Nationals, ranked according to power.
The chance to see adorable letters written by small baseball fans in hopes of persuading their favorite teams’ general managers to do their bidding is one of the best things about the advent of social media. (Though, it was not as cute when a kid asked the Giants to sign Mark Melancon. Never forget.) It’s a modern day Dear Abigail, but with more desperation.
Saturday afternoon, little Natalie spoke for all Nats fans when her mom posted a picture of a letter she sent to Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, asking him to pull out all the stops to sign Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth. She even slipped him a 20 (plus one) to make it happen.
Continue Reading Little Nats Fan Asks Rizzo to Re-Sign Bryce, Werth
At about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, your phone might have been buzzing off the table with notifications of Bryce Harper and the Nationals agreeing on a $21.65 million deal to avoid arbitration for next season. It’s the largest deal for an arbitration-eligible player in MLB history because Harper and big numbers go hand in hand.
Big numbers like two walk-off homers against the Phillies in the last month. Harper sent his bomb out on a 0-1 pitch, straight out to centerfield to land atop of his big pile of money like the cherry on top it was.
Continue Reading Bryce Harper and the Amazing, Wonderful, Not Bad, Very Good Day
Even though it’s only a little over a month into the season, baseball analysts love trying to predict who is going to have an MVP-caliber season or who might win the MVP in the fall. And yes, I occasionally take part in these activities. Usually, I’d take a look at all of the best players in the National League and try to pick four or five who have the best shot at riding their good seasons to the end and at bringing home some hardware. Last year, I had some pretty good predictions. (In my top five, I had Daniel Murphy, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Nolan Arenado, and Corey Seager, who all finished in the top five in MVP voting.) But this year I can’t even pick through the Nats. With so many players currently having torrid seasons, I’m going to look at potential MVP candidates on the Nationals instead of looking at potential MVP candidates in the National League.
It was a week like any other week. Max Scherzer took another no-hitter into the sixth inning, the Nationals played sub-par games against the Orioles, the Washington Capitals were eliminated in the second round… But from beyond the DL, Adam Eaton led the charge to break up the monotony that led to off-field highlights of the week.