washingtonnationals Page 11 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Ryan Zimmerman Shimmies Around To Miraculously Avoid Tag
Ryan Zimmerman showed off his scrambling skills to somehow avoid what should have been a pretty straightforward Brian McCann tag at home plate in today’s spring training game against the Astros: ...

Nobody Seems To Want Andrew McCutchen
There might be a gas outage in Pittsburgh this week because the stove, my friends, appears to have gone freezing cold for Andrew McCutchen and the Pirates....

The Nationals Are All-In On Chris Sale
From multiple media reports, the Nationals appear to be the team most likely to land White Sox ace Chris Sale in a trade this offseason—possibly as soon as this week’s Winter Meetings. The only thing that might scuttle the deal? If the Nats get Andrew McCutchen instead....

It's Bryce Harper Contract Panic Season Because Baseball Is Good
Bryce Harper won’t be a free agent until after the 2018 season, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early for everyone to start stressing the hell out over how much money he is going to cost. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Nationals have already started discussing a possible extension with...

Dusty Baker Panicked
Dusty Baker had a choice to make heading into the seventh inning of last night’s NLDS finale, and both options would have been defensible. Nobody would have blamed him for keeping Max Scherzer, who had thrown 99 pitches and worked himself through some high-stress situations at that point, on the ben...

The Seventh Inning Of Dodgers-Nationals Was Insane And Made Me Feel Insane
The seventh inning of the Dodgers’ eventual 4-3 NLDS Game 5 win was the wildest single inning of baseball since a certain other seventh inning of a division series Game 5 played exactly one year ago today. Where do we even start? Well, we start by saying that if it seemed like everything happened in...

Clayton Kershaw Saves The Day; Los Angeles Dodgers Advance To NLCS
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals, 4-3, this evening to take the NLDS and set up a date in Chicago with the Cubs. L.A. trailed for most of the game until a four-run seventh put them ahead. Starter Rich Hill got chased in the third inning, but the bullpen held it down (perhaps ill...

Did Julio Urias Commit A Balk When He Picked Off Bryce Harper?
Julio Urias got out of the fifth inning of tonight’s game against the Nationals with a brilliant pickoff of Bryce Harper. He spent most of Jayson Werth’s at-bat trying to get Bryce Harper out at first, and after a few tries, he finally got him. ...

Daniel Murphy Stomps Down Opening Run
After Daniel Murphy stole second, Danny Espinosa sent a single to right field. Murphy tried Josh Reddick, whose throw reached Yasmani Grandal too late to get the out. Murphy then made sure he touched ‘em all and stamped down his run....

The Nationals Are Stuck With Danny Espinosa Tonight, Unless They Opt For The Only Thing Worse
Washington’s Danny Espinosa problem is inextricably linked to its long-running center-field problem. If they had a credible fourth outfielder on the roster, Danny Espinosa would be nailed to the bench, and we would all be spared his nightly terribleness....

The Washington Nationals' Bullpen Finally Cracked
A Nationals starter hasn’t thrown a good game yet during the NLDS, but they managed to jump out to a 2-1 series lead thanks in part to a dominant bullpen. Tonight, they looked human for the first time....

Danny Espinosa Has Zero Hits In The NLDS, But Has Been Hit By Pitch Three Times
Nationals shortstop Danny Espinosa has yet to put a ball in play through three NLDS games between the Nationals and Dodgers. He has zero hits, has struck out six times, but has been hit by pitch three times. He is batting .000 in the series, but has a .300 OBP. He has no walks or sacrifice flies....

The Dodgers Were Completely Hapless With The Bases Loaded Sunday
The Los Angeles Dodgers jumped out to an early lead in Sunday’s Game 2 of the NLDS, with a solo shot from Corey Seager putting them on the board in the first inning....

Root For The Nationals In The Playoffs
Bottom line for the 2016 postseason: A Nats title would accomplish what Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both promise but could never actually deliver. It would change the culture of Washington....

D.C. City Council Owns Self
“What have you done for us, D.C. City Council?” asked the Nationals fan. “Well,” said the City Council, “we’ve ponied up over $700 million dollars to buy a stadium for a billionaire.”...

Benches Clear After Nationals' A.J. Cole Throws Behind Pirates' Jung Ho Kang
The third inning of the Nationals-Pirates game featured—in order, each resulting from the one before—a fake tag, a Bryce Harper injury and a bench-clearing brawl....

Look At Bryce Harper
Maybe this is weird to say, but I don’t think any player in baseball is as visually captivating as Bryce Harper. The home runs and helmet-ditching sprints from home to second—all produced by that loopy, torquing swing of his—are an easy sell, but there’s also just something about the way Harper look...

Intentional Walks Can Be Hard
One of the strategies that’s been suggested for speeding up baseball is eliminating the pitches in intentional walks. Which would be a shame, because then we’d all miss out on glorious fuck-ups like this:...

Katie Ledecky Turned Bryce Harper Into A Medal Rack
Strong-as-hell swimming champion Katie Ledecky is from Washington D.C., and the Nationals invited her to come throw the first pitch tonight before their game against the Orioles. She arrived, as well she should, decked out in all five of her recently-acquired Olympic medals. Thankfully, Bryce Harper...

Jonathan Papelbon Subjected His Teammates To Terrible Pro-Trump Music
If there’s one thing you can say about Jonathan Papelbon, the ass-faced former Nationals closer who moves through life like an angry 14-year-old with a boner, it’s that he is always exactly who you expect him to be....