washington-nationals Page 3 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers Choke Away Game 5 In Stunning Fashion
Oh man. The Dodgers absolutely cruised through seven innings at home against the Nationals Wednesday night, in Game 5 of their divisional series. Walker Buehler was once again dominant. Postseason beast Max Muncy and Kiké Hernández pounced on opportunities presented by Stephen Strasburg’s early comm...

Kurt Suzuki Leaves NLDS Game 5 After Taking Deflected Fastball To The Face
Washington Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki was taken out of Wednesday night’s Game 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers when a high-and-tight fastball from Walker Buehler deflected off his wrist and into his face in the top of the seventh inning. The impact was audible, and Suzuki crashed to the ground a...

Grunting Max Scherzer Gave The Nationals Everything He Had, And Just What They Needed
Davey Martinez and the Washington Nationals didn’t resort to another bullpen appearance from a starting pitcher Monday night, thank God. That’s a gimmick that was bound to fail the more it’s used, either spectacularly and all at once, or cumulatively, or both. It already blew up in their faces Sunda...

The Nationals Can't Possibly Keep This Up
It would be nice, albeit utterly ridiculous, if the Washington Nationals decided to have Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer pitch every inning in the team’s series against the Dodgers, but considering how the two performed in Game 2 of the NLDS, fans would be forgiving for wanting something akin to ...

Trent Grisham Isn't Going To Forget This One For A While
Trent Grisham, welcome to October. The 22-year-old midseason call-up, who was such a big part of the Brewers’ postseason push, especially after Christian Yelich went down, learned quickly and the hard way that the reason the crowds are bigger and louder is that every play’s import is magnified, and ...

Nationals Eliminate Brewers Thanks To Brutal, Brutal Outfield Error
The Milwaukee Brewers had it. They had it! For seven-plus innings, their pitchers successfully shut the Nationals down with a steady diet of high heat, and preserved a two-run lead that started to feel like 50 or 100 runs as the game progressed. The Brewers got to Josh Hader in the bottom of the eig...

Athlete Yearns For Return To Warm, Encouraging Embrace Of Philadelphia Sports Fans
In a sign that the universe still has a couple utterly unprecedented tricks hidden up its sleeves, an athlete announced Wednesday that he is eager to be back among Philadelphia sports fans because of how appreciative and encouraging they are, as a group, relative to another set of sports fans....

Find Something You Can Enjoy As Much As Brian Dozier Enjoys Twerking While Soaked In Budweiser
The Nationals clinched a National League Wild Card berth Tuesday, via a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies. It’s not exactly a towering accomplishment—it earns them one do-or-die game and nothing more—but it’s worth remembering that the Nationals were at one point 19–31 on the season and looking tot...

Even In Defeat, Bryce Harper Owns The Hell Out Of Hunter Strickland
A funny moment occurred in the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s game between the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies. Bryce Harper, pinch-hitting in the night game after starting the first leg of today’s doubleheader, came to the plate to face Nationals reliever and personal nemesis ...

Mets Ninth-Inning Bullpen Implosion Special Even By Mets Standards
My God, the Mets. Phew. The hell they entered Tuesday night is a special, Mets-only hell. There are excruciating losses, and then there’s watching in horror as a sure-fire victory leaps out of the bag and lays waste to the dwindling hopes of your fading season. ...

Baseball Maniac Hunter Strickland Broke His Nose With A Barbell To The Face
Last time we checked in on Nationals pitcher Hunter Strickland, he was sending himself to the injured list for two months after punching a wall. While not as self-evidently stupid, his most recent injury is just as bizarre: in the run-up to Tuesday’s game against the Pirates, Strickland got hit in t...

Surly Baseball Fan Jack White Returned To Watch Nationals-Brewers In Extra Innings After Leaving To Play A Concert
Jack White is currently on tour with his band The Raconteurs and their show on Saturday was in our nation’s capital. As he is wont to do, White went over to Nationals Park with his bandmates to catch the early portion of Brewers-Nats, but had to leave as the time for his concert approached. The show...

Stephen Strasburg's Mighty Batsmanship Overwhelms The Braves
Stephen Strasburg pitched five-plus innings Thursday night in the first game of an important four-game series in Atlanta against the NL East-leading Braves. It was a solid outing, especially considering the competition: Strasburg struck out seven and allowed three earned runs, and got the win, in la...

What A Foul Ball Can Do
Laura Cusick and her husband Richard loved baseball. They loved it so much for so long that it became a part of their marriage. When they had kids, they taught them to love the game, too: to root for the home team (the Braves), and learn the players names, and to stretch in the seventh inning. They ...

Adam Eaton: Actually, The Financial Struggles Of Minor League Players Are A Good Thing
Kelyn Soong of Washington City Paper recently covered the lives of a couple players on the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate: the Potomac Nationals. The story focuses on the financial difficulties that minor league ball players face while trying to chase their dreams of making it in MLB. It’s a not-so-f...

The Nationals Have Finally Freed Themselves From The Curse Of Trevor Rosenthal
If you listen closely with your ear towards a swamp-like city near the mid-Atlantic, you’ll be able to hear the faint sounds of mild optimism returning to the minds and spirits of the dozens of Nationals fans in the DC-metro area. The reason for this is because of Washington finally getting rid of t...
![Wild Man Max Scherzer Is Pitching With A Huge Shiner One Day After Breaking His Nose [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/wwu2mpkix8wsr0ou04tc.png)
Wild Man Max Scherzer Is Pitching With A Huge Shiner One Day After Breaking His Nose [UPDATE]
Tuesday afternoon Max Scherzer broke his nose during batting practice, while working on his bunting. Among the many reasons this was unfortunate is poor timing: Scherzer was scheduled to pitch Wednesday evening, in the second game of a day-night doubleheader. The Nationals brought a pitcher up from ...

Max Scherzer Breaks His Nose While Bunting, During Practice, For Crying Out Loud
Bunting is cool! It’s cool to surprise an infield. It’s cool to humiliate a shifted defense. It’s cool to make a noble sacrifice to advance a teammate. It’s cool to drive dipshit purists insane by bunting your way on to break up a lousy combined no-hitter. Possibly nothing in baseball is cooler than...

Home Plate Umpire Takes A Backswing To The Head In Nationals-White Sox
For the second week in a row, the home plate umpire at a Washington Nationals game has suffered a wound in a freak accident. Last Tuesday umpire Mike Everitt took a 95-mph fastball directly to the chest and eventually had to leave the game. Tonight umpire Chad Whitson had his head gashed open by th...

Nobody Tells Max Scherzer To Leave The Mound Except Max Scherzer
After throwing 117 pitches and striking out 14 batters, Max Scherzer did not feel like he was ready to leave Sunday’s game against the Reds. He made those feelings known to Nationals manager Dave Martinez, who tried to take out his streaking ace in the bottom of the eighth right as Joey Votto got to...