At some point in the next three days, Tom Milone will join the Nationals and their starting rotation. And in the immediate days to follow more and more of his Triple-A teammates will find their way to Nationals Park as well. But don't expect them to all arrive at the stroke of midnight on Sept. 1. Published August 31 2011
The Nationals have, for lack of a better word, owned the Braves recently. The Braves have lost 24 of the last 35 contests to the Nationals, Tuesday's 9-2 blowout included. The Nationals have a track record of tailing off down the stretch -- as an infusion of prospects, along with the realization that they're playing out a string can tend to set in. That's not what they're hoping for this season with a potential winning record still well within their reach. Published August 31 2011
It's not every day the Nationals hit four home runs in the same game. In fact it's only happened on three other occasions. Twice when they hit four each on back-to-back nights against the St. Louis Cardinals in Ryan Zimmerman's first series off the disabled list in June, and when they hit six in a 17-5 thrashing of the Orioles in May. So let's focus, for a few minutes, on the four players who hit those home runs tonight. Published August 31 2011
Livan Hernandez reached a career milestone Tuesday night with his 50,000th pitch. It got him thinking about the future -- a future he has discussed with Nationals GM Mike Rizzo for 2012, and one that could include him transforming himself into a long reliever. Published August 31 2011
The Arizona Fall League rosters were announced Tuesday with the news that Nationals top prospect Bryce Harper and Angels top talent Mike Trout roaming the same outfield taking top billing. Harper will be joined by four of his Nationals teammates and, likely, two of the Nationals 2011 draft picks. Published August 30 2011
Stephen Strasburg will make his final minor league rehab start Thursday, Sept. 1, for Double-A Harrisburg. If all goes well, Nationals manager Davey Johnson said, Strasburg would then slot into the Nationals' major league rotation for his first post-Tommy John major league start on Tuesday, Sept. 6. Published August 30 2011
The Atlanta Braves haven't played a game since Friday but they'll send Jair Jurrjens to the mound tonight to face Livan Hernandez and the Nationals. They'll do so against a Nationals lineup that will be missing Jayson Werth, features Laynce Nix in right field and Chris Marrero at first base. Published August 30 2011
A few notes about the Nationals' middle infielders... Published August 29 2011
The Nationals announced this afternoon that Stephen Strasburg will make his next rehab start, as expected, Thursday, Sept. 1 for Double-A Harrisburg. If all goes according to plan, this will be Strasburg's last stop before his return to the Nationals' major league rotation. Published August 29 2011
It didn't end the way he would have liked, Jordan Zimmermann's final act of the 2011 season walking off the mound with the bases loaded in the fifth inning -- after issuing a bases-loaded walk -- but it didn't spoil an otherwise stellar 2011 season for the Nationals' 25-year-old righty. Published August 28 2011
Nationals manager Davey Johnson was ejected in the seventh inning of Sunday afternoon's 5-4 14th inning loss to the Reds in the middle of Michael Morse's at-bat against Reds' right-hander Johnny Cueto. Pat Corrales was also ejected, shortly after the Nationals took the lead in the top of the ninth, after uttering from the dugout that a pitch in the ninth inning was high. Published August 28 2011
Alex Cora knows exactly how long it's been since he last started a game for the Nationals. One month and one day, to be exact. He knows this not because he's bitter or because he thinks he should be playing over any of the Nationals other infielders, but just because he knows. He's been in games since July 27, sure. He's served as a pinch hitter in 14 games and as a defensive replacement in two (once at shortstop and once at first base). Published August 28 2011
Jordan Zimmermann will take the mound this afternoon with 157 innings under his belt in the 2010 season. Once he completes his third inning today against the Reds, he will have hit is 160-inning limit for his first full season after Tommy John surgery. Published August 28 2011
It's one of the quirks of baseball that the ball seems to find the one person on the field who's still getting their feet wet. Put in a guy at a position he's not familiar with, chances are the first ball put in play will come his way. Or, in the case of Chris Marrero Saturday night in Cincinnati, the first batter of your major league career will send a grounder your way. Marrero couldn't handle the grounder off the bat of Brandon Phillips, and it turned into a run later on. He settled in, but a second error in the third led to a disastrous three-run inning for the Nationals, en route to a 6-3 loss to the Reds. Published August 28 2011
About a month ago, Jayson Werth walked into Davey Johnson's office and told his manager 'If you need somebody in center field, I'm your man.' Published August 27 2011
Triple-A Syracuse manager Randy Knorr and first baseman Chris Marrero know one another well. Knorr has traversed the minor leagues as a manager along a similar path of that of the Nationals 2006 first-round draft pick. He's watched Marrero grow from a 17-year-old fresh out of high school with an unsure defensive position into a poised 23-year-old hitter and competent first baseman. It was a special moment for the two, then, when Knorr opened the door to his office in Syracuse Friday afternoon about an hour before the Chiefs were set to begin a doubleheader and summoned Marrero into his office. The topic, Marrero thought, would be Knorr informing Marrero that he wasn't going to play in the nightcap. Instead it was the news he's been waiting to hear all his life. Published August 27 2011
Chris Marrero has arrived in Cincinnati and Nationals manager Davey Johnson wasted no time slotting him into his starting lineup. Marrero won't have much time to adjust to the major league life. He's hitting seventh and playing first base tonight against Reds right-hander Mike Leake. Published August 27 2011
The future, as they say, is coming and the Nationals will begin the official transition to getting a glimpse at the next wave of that future when they welcome Chris Marrero into the visitors clubhouse at Great American Ball Park this afternoon. More will come next week and in the days of September that follow, but Marrero is the first. Published August 27 2011
The symbolism dripped thick with irony: the Nationals had two men on for what seemed like the umpteenth time in the last four games, their cleanup hitter at the plate in a duel with the other team’s starting pitcher. And then, the lights went out. Published August 27 2011
The Nationals first-round draft picks in recent years have been so publicized, so drenched in high expectations, that it's easy to forget one of their first. But Saturday, when he joins the Nationals in Cincinnati to replace injured right-hander Ryan Mattheus on the roster, 2006 first-round pick Chris Marrero will get his first big league call-up. Published August 26 2011
By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
