Amanda Comak covers the Washington Nationals for The Washington Times.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 8, 2011 Comments
The strained right oblique muscle that forced Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez from the lineup Thursday afternoon may soon land him on the disabled list.
By Nathan Fenno — Published July 7, 2011 Comments
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Washington Nationals right-hander Chien-Ming Wang needed only 43 pitches to take a significant step in his rehabilitation Thursday night.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 7, 2011 Comments
Ivan Rodriguez has been scratched from the Nationals lineup tonight with a right oblique issue and Wilson Ramos will start in his place; Michael Morse finishes fourth in the Final Vote and other pregame notes.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 7, 2011 Comments
Laynce Nix is out of the Nationals lineup today which means that the Jayson Werth hits sixth idea has lasted all of one day, so far. Most likely it's just a routine day off for Nix but we'll find out for sure when we head down to the clubhouse shortly.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 7, 2011 Comments
The Nationals have played 88 games this season and Drew Storen has pitched in 43 of them. He's on pace to appear in 79 games this season, just his second in the majors and first as a closer, and that's not a situation that his manager wants him to be in. It was with that in mind that Davey Johnson thought he'd send Henry Rodriguez out for a second inning -- one that would also be the ninth in a save situation -- on Wednesday night.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 6, 2011 Comments
As he nears the one-month mark of his stay on the disabled list, Nationals right-hander Cole Kimball will travel to New York Friday for a second opinion on his injured shoulder.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 6, 2011 Comments
The Nationals considered skipping Jordan Zimmermann's final start of the first half of the season but after manager Davey Johnson and pitching coach Steve McCatty discussed it, Zimmermann will pitch Sunday. After the break, though, the Nationals will begin using Zimmermann more as a fifth starter.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 6, 2011 Comments
Tom Gorzelanny will face the team that traded him to Washington this offseason with the Nationals first all-regular lineup since last Friday as Nationals manager Davey Johnson has worked to put together lineups while dealing with several players with nagging injuries. Michael Morse, who missed the last three games after taking a fastball off his left forearm Saturday night, was back in the lineup hitting fifth and playing first base. Jayson Werth was dropped to sixth.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 6, 2011 Comments
Tuesday night, Ross Detwiler made his first start in the major leagues since September 29, 2010. He pitched five innings of scoreless baseball, surrendered a leadoff double to Reed Johnson and a one-out, two-run home run to Aramis Ramirez. He also won, something he found has been happening a lot with his major league team when he joined them for the first time this season.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 5, 2011 Comments
When the Nationals began the year, the plan was to phase Wilson Ramos in as the team's every day catcher and transition Ivan Rodriguez to a more traditional backup role. The two first began splitting time, then Ramos was playing three and four days in a row. But on his second day as Nationals manager, Davey Johnson informed Rodriguez that he'd be playing him a bit more than the veteran had been previously. Every third day, Rodriguez will catch and Ramos will continue to get two games in a row between Rodriguez's starts.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 5, 2011 Comments
The Nationals have been planning all season to keep right-hander Jordan Zimmermann on an innings limit. Now just reaching the two-year anniversary of his Tommy John surgery, the Nationals would like to keep Zimmermann to about 160 innings this season. Because of that limit, there's a good chance he will not make another start before next week's All-Star break.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 5, 2011 Comments
The Nationals made official the move to bring up their starting pitcher, Ross Detwiler, for Tuesday's start and in clearing room for Detwiler on the 25-man roster, they designated reliever Collin Balester for assignment.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 5, 2011 Comments
Michael Morse is having the best season of his career. Put it together with the end of his 2010 season and he's already had the best season of a lot of people's careers. But if Morse is going to be recognized as an All-Star at an extremely difficult position -- Prince Fielder and Joey Votto are the National League's other two first basemen -- he's going to need a fan Final Vote to get him there
By Amanda Comak — Published July 4, 2011 Comments
In need of a spot starter for Tuesday night's game against the Chicago Cubs, the Nationals are expected to recall left-hander Ross Detwiler from Triple-A Syracuse and reliever Collin Balester is expected to be optioned.
By Amanda Comak — Published July 4, 2011 Comments
Injury updates on Jayson Werth, Michael morse and a note on tomorrow's pitcher.
'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
