Let’s make a deal. Trading Desmond, prospects might put Nats over the top

A banged-up, scuffling Nationals team has gotten up off the mat to win back-to-back games for the first time in almost three weeks and stay within spitting distance of the equally banged-up and scuffling New York Mets in the National League East. Now it’s time for general manager Mike Rizzo to show us what he …

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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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Nats could benefit from “old school” baseball… but not THAT kind

With two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the seventh inning on Friday came the pitch felt round the Natosphere. Reds reliever Tony Cingrani drilled Nats slugger Bryce Harper in the back – right between the numbers — with a 94-mile-an-hour fastball. No matter whether it was intentional, Harper was not …

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The 2015 Firpo Marberry Award Nominee

Perhaps the greatest relief pitcher that the old Washington Nationals ever sent out to rescue the game was Firpo Marberry. Forty-five years before the “Save” became part of baseball nomenclature, Firpo was saving some of the most important games in DC Baseball history. In 1924, Marbery recorded 15 Saves in a season in which he …

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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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Solid Scherzer is Nats’ anchor

Lots of people thought the Nationals already had the best starting pitching in the major leagues before Jan. 21, when Max Scherzer joined the team with a seven-year, $120 million free-agent deal. Some might even have thought it was a superfluous move by the Nats, an investment that might have been better made in another …

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Bryce and Frank

Frank Howard was Washington, DC’s most prodigious home run hitter, leading the American League in long balls in both 1968 and 1970, but his best year was 1969 when he hit 48, though he finished second to Harmon Killibrew that season who hit 49 to lead the Majors. When Bryce Harper hit three home runs …

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Pitchers take over as Nats find footing

This is the Washington Nationals’ pitching staff we’ve been waiting to see. Since coming back from 9-1 and 10-2 deficits to beat the Braves 13-12 last Tuesday, in a game that may well be remembered as the defining moment of the 2015 season, the Nats have won four of five games behind starting pitching that …

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A veteran club like the Nats shouldn’t be playing like this

There are many ways to break out of a losing streak. A good way to extend one, however, is to make silly plays, something the Nationals have gotten good at during their current five-game skid. Let’s review the fun, shall we? On Wednesday, after the Nats rally to tie the Cardinals at 5-5 with a …

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Welcome back Mr. Span

Two weeks into the 2015 season, the Washington Nationals’ lineup as it was envisioned at the start of spring training is beginning to take shape. The most recent addition – and the most welcome so far – was the return of leadoff man and center fielder Denard Span on Sunday. With all due respect to …

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