Washington Nationals

Washington Nationals' leadoff man Denard Span singled to start last night's game with the San Francisco Giants. When Bryce Harper stepped up in the two-hole against right-hander Matt Cain, he bunted Span over, setting Ryan Zimmerman up with a runner in scoring position Zim drove in for an early 1-0 lead. "Bryce is still learning a lot about the game," Ryan Zimmerman said, "He's trying to do what he can to get us in a position to score runs, which you can't fault him for that." - Ryan Zimmerman on 106.7 the FAN in D.C. With the Nats up 2-1, Span doubled to start the eighth, and Harper once again sacrificed himself to move the leadoff man over to third. The Giants walked Ryan Zimmerman in the next at bat for a favorable lefty on lefty matchup between Javier Lopez and Adam LaRoche, and LaRoche, who entered the game 0 for 6 with 6 Ks vs Lopez in his career was 0 for 7 with 7 after he struck out looking. A groundout by Ian Desmond ended the inning and the threat, and left the Nationals with a one-run lead they ended up blowing. "So was Harper bunting on his own?" Nationals' manager Davey Johnson was asked after the game. "He was," Johnson said, "He looked over there [to the dugout] and I said, 'Just pull the ball,' but he's not seeing the ball, I guess, that good either, so he's just trying to help." Asked if there were any linering physical issues that might be causing the Nats' biggest offensive threat to take the approach he took, Johnson said, "No. I think he's all right." "The second [bunt] is, if you think a few batters down the line, it probably wasn't the best idea, because with the lefty up, they're obviously going to walk me and then use the lefty to pitch to [LaRoche]..." - Ryan Zimmerman on 106.7 the FAN in D.C. on Harper bunting in 8th Ryan Zimmerman said much the same when asked about watching from the on-deck circle as Harper bunted twice in last night's loss. "Bryce is still learning a lot about the game," Harper's 28-year-old teammate told 106.7 the FAN in D.C.'s Holden Kushner and Danny Rouhier this afternoon. "He's trying to do what he can to get us in a position to score runs, which you can't fault him for. The second [bunt] is, if you think a few batters down the line, it probably wasn't the best idea, because with the lefty up, they're obviously going to walk me and then use the lefty to pitch to [LaRoche], but [Harper's] just doing all he can to help us score runs. And I think sometimes people forget that Bryce is 20 years old and still learning how to play the game." "But, like you said," Zimmerman continued, "when your team is struggling a little bit and trying to score runs and doing anything we can for a win, sometimes you do things that are out of character, or I guess, dire circumstances call for things that don't usually get done, but the most important thing is everyone on our team and everyone just needs to take a deep breath. Importantly us. I think, last year, we've seen this in the past couple years, it's not the team that's best in April or May that usually ends up winning the World Series. I mean, the last couple years, the Cardinals, the Giants last year and last year the Tigers were under .500 at the All-Star Break and ended up playing for the World Series." "Do we want to do that?" Zimmerman asked rhetorically. "No. But sometimes during the season you go through some hardships and you have to play through those and we will. We have four months left and we're going to play it out and I think we still have a really, really, really good team that has a really good chance to do something special this year." • Harper's back in the two-hole today. Here's the lineup for the Nationals' series finale in AT&T: Today's lineup at SFG: Span CF, Harper RF, Zimmerman 3B, Desmond SS, LaRoche 1B, Moore LF, Espinosa 2B, Suzuki C, Gonzalez P — Nationals PR (@NationalsPR) May 22, 2013

Associated PressThe Nats try to salvage one win at AT&T Park this afternoon.So, to recap for anyone who hasn't been paying attention over the last 10 days: Bryce Harper nearly decapitated himself crashing into the fence in L.A., Ross Detwiler and Wilson Ramos got hurt in the same (with Ramos landing on the DL and Detwiler forced to miss at least one start), Jayson Werth suffered a setback in his attempted return from the DL, Ryan Mattheus broke his hand punching his locker in San Diego, Rafael Soriano blew two saves and called out Harper for contributing to the second one and Yunesky Maya gave up a 700-foot, walk-off homer to Pablo Sandoval in San Francisco. Good road trip for the Nationals, huh?You know what would help make that red-eye flight home later tonight a whole lot more enjoyable? A win in today's series finale at AT&T Park. It won't cure all that ails the Nats right now, but it certainly would put everyone in a better mood. So Gio Gonzalez will attempt to put his team in position to earn that win and the lineup will attempt to cobble together more than a couple of runs and the bullpen will hope to attempt to close out a late lead.Since we've got a game that's actually being played at a respectable hour on the East Coast, I'll be able to share some thoughts along the way right here. And I'll also have an Instant Analysis post as soon as the game ends, so please check back for all that...WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTSWhere: AT&T ParkGametime: 3:45 p.m. EDTTV: MASN, MLB.tvRadio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 187Weather: Sunny, 58 degrees, Wind 15 mph LF to RFNATIONALS (23-23)CF Denard SpanRF Bryce Harper3B Ryan ZimmermanSS Ian DesmondRead more »

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So Rafael Soriano took the opportunity to rip Bryce Harper last night for misplaying Gregor Blanco's game-tying triple in the ninth inning. Via USA Today Sports: "With two outs and the tying run at first, you have to play the outfield so the ball doesn't go over your head,'' Soriano said in Spanish... "It may not have been a catch-able ball, but if we're positioned the right way, there might have been a different outcome. With two outs, I could tell my four-year-old son, 'You know where you need to play,' and he would go to the right spot to make the play. It's not an excuse, and I'm not speaking badly about anybody, but I think that's how you play the game.'' The hits just keep coming for the Nats... (Screencap of Soriano during his postgame interview via MASN video.) Befriend Nats Enquirer on Facebook. Follow on Twitter.

Photo by USA TodayNats closer Rafael Soriano was one strike away from the save on Tuesday night before a Gregor Blanco triple sailed over the head of Bryce Harper in right field, sending the game into extra innings and setting up a walkoff win for San Francisco. Soriano took the blown save, his second in as many outings, but afterwards decided he wouldn’t take full ownership of what happened.Soriano instead cited Harper’s mistake, saying the young outfielder should have been in position to make the play. Harper flinched and held up right before the wall, an apparent reaction stemming from his collision with the wall at Dodger Stadium last week.Here is what Soriano told USA Today about Harper’s misplay in the outfield: "With two outs and the tying run at first, you have to play the outfield so the ball doesn't go over your head,” he said.Read more »

Though Bryce Harper would admit just a few minutes later that running into the wall was definitely a concern as he attempted to track down Gregor Blanco's two-out, game-tying triple in the ninth inning of last night's game in AT&T Park, Washington Nationals' manager Davey Johnson wasn't sure it was an issue for his 20-year-old outfielder though even he noted it might have been in his head. "He's playing back for doubles and preventing doubles," Johnson said, "and the ball was hit well. I mean, he could have had another one of those deals where he ran into the wall... but..." "I though he went after it hard," Johnson said, "and got close and then jumped for it, but the ball was hit well, so..." Harper told reporters it was definitely in his mind as he tracked Blanco's hard hit ball toward center: Bryce Harper said to put the loss on him. Felt he should've caught Blanco's triple and admitted collision w wall entered his mind. — Amanda Comak (@acomak) May 22, 2013 Harper jarringly honest. Said he felt the wall and blamed himself for the loss. "It's something I got to get over," he said. — Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) May 22, 2013 Blanco's triple, on a 1-2 slider up in the zone, scored Buster Posey's pinch runner, Andres Torres, all the way from first two outs after the Giants' catcher reached on an infield single that bounced off Nats' closer Rafael Soriano's glove and died in the grass to the side of the mound. "When you got two outs when you play away," Soriano told reporters, "you're supposed to, you know, a guy hit a ball, it's got to be in front of you, not like what happened tonight." USA Today's Jorge L. Ortiz quoted Soriano explaining further in Spanish what he thought of that particular play: "'With two outs and the tying run at first, you have to play the outfield so the ball doesn't go over your head,'' Soriano said in Spanish. "It may not have been a catch-able ball, but if we're positioned the right way, there might have been a different outcome. With two outs, I could tell my four-year-old son, 'You know where you need to play,' and he would go to the right spot to make the play. It's not an excuse, and I'm not speaking badly about anybody, but I think that's how you play the game.'' • Blanco's Game-Tying Triple: Your browser does not support iframes. Of course, as Davey Johnson explained, the Nationals shouldn't have been in the position they were with a one-run lead. There were plenty of opportunities for the Nats' offense to give the team some breathing room. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Kurt Suzuki grounded into a force at home in front of starter Stephen Strasburg to waste an opportunity to add to Washington's 2-1 lead. Denard Span doubled to start the eighth, took third on a sac bunt by Harper and was stranded there two outs later. "We didn't get the hits when we needed to," Johnson told reporters, "when we had the table set and had the right guys up there. We just didn't get it done and then we didn't hold them. Stras had a rough start and threw a lot of pitches early, but gave us a good strong seven innings and we were in a position to win that and we didn't win it. It's tough." The Nationals' manager explained that if Strasburg's early inning issues hadn't cropped up again, raising his pitch count up to 108 pitches after seven, he might have been able to go deeper. "If he hadn't struggled the first couple of innings, I mean, I think he had over 40 pitches or something after two. I probable would have even gone further with him, but he pitched a great game, set up for our pen and our pen just didn't hold it."

Following the Nationals’ 4-2 10th-inning loss Tuesday to the San Francisco Giants, Bryce Harper blamed himself for the game-tying run in the ninth. With two outs and two strikes on Gregor Blanco, a former Nationals farmhand, closer Rafael Soriano tossed … Continue reading →

Running into that fence knocked some sense into Bryce Harper; he said doesn’t want to do it again. There’s only one problem: He still has to play the outfield. Harper found himself caught between making a catch and making sure of his own safety Tuesday night, and his indecision might have cost the Washington Nationals a ballgame. With two outs in the ninth inning, Harper pulled up short in pursuit of a fly ball that fell in for a score-tying triple by Gregor Blanco. Closer Rafael Soriano had blown the save, and the San Francisco Giants won 4-2 in the 10th on a home run by Pablo Sandoval. A strong performance by Stephen Strasburg had meant nothing, the Nats fell to 23-23 on the season and the experience revealed that Harper has his confidence shaken. Quoted by reporter Adam Kilgore in the Washington Post , Harper said: “I don’t want to hit the frickin’ wall full-on,” Harper said. “Of course that crosses your mind after you jam into a wall. It doesn’t really feel very good. It [stinks] that I couldn’t make the play. I totally put that loss on me.” Blanco’s triple was an echo of another play Harper failed to make May 14, when he famously slammed face-first into the right-field fence at Dodger Stadium, dazing himself and needing 11 stitches to close a gash in his chin. Many had wondered why Harper — who has displayed a sixth sense in other ways on the baseball field at age 20 — turned around so late after reaching the warning track, just before impact. A combination of inexperience and fearlessness was Harper’s undoing. Well, now he has some experience. And he’s afraid. It’s a mental barrier Harper says he must overcome, or else. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Washington Nationals News

.500. May 22nd. Not season ending by any means (the Tigers were 3 games under .500 on July 3rd last year) but they've certainly dug themselves a shallow hole they need to get out of. How did this happen to a team that was the WS pick for like 40% of all predictions?Before the season I came up with two scenarios. A dream scenario where the Nats challenged for the best record ever, and a nightmare scenario where the Nats miss the playoffs. Since the nightmare scenario is playing itself out (for the first 30% of the season at least) let's take a look at what I said and what is happening.To summarize I said that assuming the Nats got a full season of Werth (even at diminished expectations) and Bryce continued to develop, they needed everyone else to regress to their normal offensive and pitching production, have Dan Haren fail and have a big injury or surprise flameout. Right away we see one problem. The Nats aren't getting a full season of Werth, so that opens up a door. We also know that Dan Haren is failing. Now we're left with just regression and surprise injury/flameout to take the Nats down. Let's lookOPS+Suzuki - 2012 (Nats) 97; 2013 - 95 KEPT UPLaRoche - 129, 89 FLAMEOUTEspinosa - 94, 30 FLAMEOUTDesmond - 127, 112 REGRESSIONZimmerman - 122, 124 KEPT UP (Was at normal)Werth - 126, 95 FLAMEOUT Span - 104, 87 REGRESSIONBryce - 120, 165 Bench - I don't have to calculate this for you to know FLAMEOUTBryce has progressed so that's good. But outside of that only Kurt Suzuki is keeping up a level you might not think he's capable of. Espy is an obvious flameout as is the bench, but both LaRoche and Werth are performing well below expectations taking the year as a whole. Desmond has regressed (and it's more meaningful than just this number as his defense went from surprise plus to his usual negative). Span regressed to normal and good ol' Ryan Zimmerman keeps hitting like Ryan Zimmerman does. ERA+Gio - 136, 94 FLAMEOUTZNN - 133, 231 BREAKOUT!Stras - 124, 141 KEPT IT UPDet - 115, 136 BREAKOUT!Haren - 88, 68 FLAMEOUT Relief - ~120, ~88 FLAMEOUTPitching is a mixed bag. Both ZNN and Detwiler have improved, while Gio and the relief core as a whole are well underperforming. The thing is the Nats were so high last year that this kind of mild disappointment still puts them as one of the better staffs in the NL. It's just not team carrying anymore.What's the current count then?1 expectedly good performace (factored in) - Bryce3 unexpectedly good performances - Suzuki, ZNN, Det3 expected normal performances - Zimm, Ian, Stras7 unexpectedly bad performances - Espy, LaRoche, Werth, Bench, Gio, Haren, ReliefThat'll do it. Up until this point the Nats performances that have been unexpectedly good have been more than doubled by the performances that are unexpectedly bad. I don't expect this to continue. LaRoche is a notorious slow starter. Gio's had a little bad luck (it is ERA we're using) and has pitched much better recently. But at the same time is ZNN going to challenge for a Cy Young? Is Detwiler a below 3.00 ERA pitcher? There's pushback either way. I'm guessing more on the positive side for the Nats than the negative.But is it enough? If Haren, Espy, and Werth all drastically underperform this year due to injury/flameout that puts the Nats behind the 8-ball. They'll need more than a great year from ZNN to account for that. Strasburg will have to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. Someone offensively will have to break out and have a big year. There will need to be enough big positives to counter these big negatives to keep the Nats in the hunt for a division title. Playoffs? That's low hanging fruit with the 2nd WC now. All these bad things would have to keep happening (or more would have to come up) for the Nats not to be in the hunt come season's end.

So what happened on that deep fly ball by Gregor Blanco that went over Bryce Harper's head in the 9th inning that turned into a game-tying triple? Harper appeared to flinch as he approached the wall and misplayed the ball (see video here). Turns out Harper was thinking about running into another wall: "I don’t want to hit the frickin’ wall full-on. Of course that crosses your mind after you jam into a wall. It doesn’t really feel very good. It sucks that I couldn’t make the play. I totally put that loss on me." (Bryce Harper, via Washington Post, 5/22/2013) "I better figure it out soon. Or I’m going to be in Triple-A. That’s how I feel." (Bryce Harper, via Washington Times, 5/22/2013) (Screencaps via MASN/TV) Befriend Nats Enquirer on Facebook. Follow on Twitter. Related articles Video: Davey Johnson on Bryce Harper's crash into Dodger Stadium wall Bryce Harper runs into Dodger Stadium wall, leaves game shaken up and bleeding... Bryce Harper likely to sit the rest of the weekend with a bruised left knee Bryce Harper felt carsick today, but was most upset about having to shave his beard Video: Bryce Harper discusses his health after Wednesday night's loss. He's back tonight.