Tag: Stephen Strasburg

Nats and their fans get the celebration they deserve

We partied like it was 1933. For the first time in several generations, Washington baseball fans celebrated a championship  the right way: on their home field after a win. It hadn’t happened in Washington since Sept. 21, 1933, when the original Nats beat the St. Louis Browns, 2-1 at Griffith Stadium. After Lefty Stewart tossed …

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3 Keys to success for the Nationals in 2017

Washington sports fans are a demanding lot. We’re not satisfied with merely winning. We are disappointed if our teams don’t improve. We’re not entitled like New Yorkers, who expect to contend for a championship every year. But neither do we feel cursed, like Cubs fans before their team broke its 107-year record of futility last …

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Nats deserve serious All-Star consideration

Time is running out to cast All-Star ballots, and for the first time in several years, more than one member of the Nationals deserves consideration for a starting spot. The National League team has included two Nats in each of the last three seasons, as well as in 2005, the Nats’ first season in Washington. …

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Streaks to remember: Stras and the Big Train

Stephen Strasburg has been in great company while streaking through this season, blowing past franchise marks for consecutive victories set by Pedro Martinez, Dennis Martinez and Livan Hernandez, and matching Jake Arietta for the major league lead in wins. If that’s not enough, the Nationals star now stands shoulder-to-shoulder with arguably the greatest pitcher of …

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Strasburg’s better (No, really, he is)!

So where are the Stephen Strasburg trolls now? A year ago, they were out in force, but a guy who was once seen by some as a first-round bust seems to have quieted them, maybe for good. Remember last year, when Strasburg was lifted from a game in Cincinnati after just batter into the second …

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Remembering Tom Cheney, who deserved better

Max Scherzer’s 20-strikeout performance against the Detroit Tigers was certainly one for the ages, the highlight of one of the most remarkable weeks in the history of the Washington Nationals. But Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg, whose contract extension was a key part of that week, owe a debt of gratitude to a man who might …

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Nats playing loose, getting the job done

Even with Sunday’s extra-inning loss to Philadelphia, courtesy of a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon, the Nationals are still doing quite well, thanks. At 9-2 and four games ahead of Philadelphia, they have the best record and biggest division lead in all of baseball. That seems light years ahead of last season, when they struggled …

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Five questions the Nationals need to answer this season

Many Nationals fans are still feeling the sting of disappointment from 2015, when preseason World Series predictions dissolved in a cloud of injuries, disappointing performances and clubhouse dissension. The Nats finished out of the postseason and watched as the NL East rival New York Mets stole their division, playoff and pennant dreams. For all but …

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Injuries, big and small, aren’t helping Nats at all

A day off on Monday has to be a welcome relief for a Nationals team that has dropped three straight series and eight of its last 10 games. After a torrid 18-9 May, the Nats could not help but come back down to Earth. In the major leagues, .667 baseball just isn’t sustainable. The Nationals …

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Fans need to show patience with Strasburg

The Nationals are flying high, winners of eight straight series, all alone in first place, 2 ½ games up on the New York Mets in the National League East – but it seems all the fans want to talk about is Stephen Strasburg’s pitching troubles. On talk shows, Internet message boards and Facebook groups, there’s …

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