The Nationals put Roy Halladay in an unfamiliar position Monday afternoon. They forced the formidable right-hander to look over his shoulder three times and watch as a Washington hitter turned one of his pitches into a souvenir.
For all of the offensive ineffectuality — all of the runners left stranded or erased on double plays — the Washington Nationals looked up Saturday afternoon in the eighth inning and found themselves within one run of the San Diego Padres.
The persistent thumping from the Miller Park clubhouse attendants banging the Washington Nationals' cleats off as they packed up from a brutal road trip was the only sound to be heard while the players solemnly collected themselves Wednesday afternoon.
When a team is "fortunate" enough to have the No. 1 pick in back-to-back years, with once-a-generation prospects available in back-to-back drafts, we shouldn't be surprised if good karma is scarce afterward. Few franchises are fortuitous enough to ever draft a Stephen Strasburg a Bryce Harper; snagging both within a 12-month span was like winning the Powerball on consecutive drawings.
There aren't too many scenes from the Washington Nationals' most recent road trip that they'll be playing on highlight tapes. Their one victory in the past eight games aside, it was a trip that began with offensive futility and ended with maddening all-around inconsistency.
Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo and catcher Ivan Rodriguez were penalized by Major League Baseball on Monday for verbally confronting umpires in a stadium tunnel after a disputed call last week.
At least the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles have each other. It's been years since either franchise had a whiff of a pennant race, but they can get together twice a year for a three-game set and, well, pretend it's for the Chesapeake Bay championship.
Music blared through the speakers in the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards late Friday night, breaking a silence that had seemed to extend for days around the Washington Nationals and their anemic offense.
These days there isn’t a more fortuitous matchup for a struggling offense than Javier Vazquez.
