The third time’s the charm. Yesterday, Jordan Zimmermann was named National League’s July pitcher of the month, joining Stephen Strasburg (who won in April) and Gio Gonzalez (who won in May).

The Nationals are the first team to have three different pitchers recognized since the 1979 Astros.

During the month of July Zimmermann’s gone 4-0 in six starts with a .97 ERA and led the Nationals pitching with the lowest ERA at 2.28 with the most innings pitched (134 1/3).

Teammate Ryan Zimmerman put together an impressive campaign for NL’s player of the month, but was beat by Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen.

In case you missed it…

• It’s Werthmas! Jayson Werth made his triumphant return from his broken wrist yesterday. And against his old ballclub, no less. The outfielder hit a single and drove in a run in his return.
• With Werth’s return, Henry Rodriguez is headed to the DL (again) with a lower back issue.
• Ross Detwiler helped the Nationals salvage a game last night by shutting down the Phillies.

One thing is always consistent when the trade deadline comes around: we all expect craziness. We look forward to the scramble, the drama, and the excitement. It rarely lives up to the hype, and yesterday the Nats were part of that lack of motion.

And they’re possibly a better team for it.

The Nats are 2.5 games ahead of the Braves for first in the NL East. Their 61-41 record is second in the league (and majors) behind Cincinnati, who has just one more win at 62-41. They are ahead of the 60-43 Yankees.

Since Michael Morse has returned to the lineup and Steve Lombardozzi found his stride, the once putrid offense has become consistent (save for last night). The pitching has continues to be superb, and it more than good enough to make a deep playoff run.

There were two areas the Nats could have improved on before 4 p.m. yesterday: a strong bat for offensive insurance and veteran playoff experience to potentially guide the team in the fall. Both of these things, however, would have cost the Nats more than they were worth.

Unlike years past, the Nats could’ve lost at the deadline. They had pieces that if traded, could’ve put their season in jeopardy. They also weren’t desperate. Being in first place means you can afford to be cautious. In fact, it means you can’t afford not to.

Everyone always wants their team to make a dramatics move, to shake everything up and bring in a big player. But Mike Rizzo probably made the best move possible…by not making one.

With the added wild card team, more teams are in the playoff race. That means fewer sellers at the deadline, as everyone is nervous to make a move that would cost their team the post season. There were fewer players on the table this season, and the price for those players available was higher because of it.

This team is good. They’ve proven that through 4 months of play. Rizzo is right to let this group play it out, and work for the playoffs to complete the turnaround together.

The Nationals are in an unusual spot at this years deadline: they are in first.

A bat to help solidify the offense and a starting pitcher to fill in when Stephen Strasburg is shut down would be good pickups, but there is no move that the Nats just HAVE to make before the trade deadline.

What do you think will happen? Will the Nats pick up a rental or two for the push? Who should the target? What are the latest rumors? Discuss in the comments!
» Continue reading “Nats Trade Deadline Live Blog and Open Thread”

With Ian Desmond on the DL, Corey Brown has been promoted from AAA-Syracuse.  Here are some snippets to get familiar with the new guy.

Working out…

» Continue reading “Getting to Know Corey Brown”

John Lannan was supposed to be the fifth starter in the rotation for the Nationals this season. Davey Johnson changed his mind last minute, giving the spot to Ross Detwiler.  That left Lannan to twiddle his thumbs in AAA…until now.

According to Mark Zuckerman, Lannan will return to the Nats for a start on Saturday.  However, with Stephen Strasburg on an innings limit and Chien-Ming Wang’s health what it is, we could see Lannan on a regular basis down the road.

Just when the Nats won’t want him.

Rumors say the Nats are shopping for another starter, something they seem to have an abundance of already.  But when Strasburg is inevitably shut down, they will need another arm, and the options they have aren’t great.

Barring a trade and a remarkable health turnaround for Wang, the Nats could turn to two main sources: Lannan or Tom Gorzelanny. Yeah, that’s the situation we’re dealing with.

» Continue reading “Lannan’s Return…Not Too Exciting”

The series finale before heading up to New York should be full of pine tar.

Start time: 7:10 p.m. EST

Starting Pitchers

Nationals: Jackson

Marlins: Zambrano

Enjoy and keep it classy kids!

There seems to be something about the Nationals, Florida, and pine tar because they can never seem to get away from the stuff, which always inevitably proves to make an interesting story. Add Ozzie Guillen–who has a known volatile personality–to the mix and you’re bound to end up with something crazy with a slight mix of an explosive feeling.

During yesterday’s game at the Miami Marlins, while Bryce Harper was at-bat in the top of the first inning, Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen didn’t take a liking to how much pine tar the 19-year old rookie had on his bat. The umpires had Harper change his bat, and when he came to bat in the top of the fourth inning Harper pointed his bat to the Marlins dugout.

Guillen apparently didn’t like Harper directly addressinghimwith the issue. He began yelling at Harper, then manager Davey Johnson and grabbed a bat, shaking it at the direction of Harper and the Nationals. Somewhere in between Guillen’s antics, he spewed profanities at Harper and the Nationals as well.

» Continue reading “Pine tar, we meet again.”

Want to cheer? Want to bitch? Share it here in our first live game thread!

Start time: 1:10 EST

Starters

Nationals: Strasburg

Marlins: Nolasco

Enjoy and keep it classy, everyone!

Coming into the 2012 season, there was something the Nationals were used to having to deal with: expectations.

With big off season moves, the impending debut of Bryce Harper, and the momentum the Nats took into the off season at the end of 2011, everyone was expecting an improvement.  To say anyone expected the Nats being in first place at the All-Star Break (and having been in that position most of the year) would be crazy.

Yet that’s where we stand.  The Nats are not only first in the NL East, but they have the best record in the National League at the halfway point of the season.  Here’s a look at what the top stories of 2012 have been.

Pitching

» Continue reading “Nats At The Half”

We’ve been saying it over and over this season: the Nationals’ pitching has been superb, and the only thing standing in the way of dominance is the inconsistency of the offense.  Well, after sweeping a series against the top 3 Giants starters, coming back twice, that time may have come.

The Nationals scored a combined 24 runs against the Giants over the three games.  In game two, they went down 3-0 in the first before roaring back to a 9-4 victory.  Last night, during throwback night, they rallied from a 5-1 deficit to walk-off with a 6-5 victory, courtesy of clutch hitting by Bryce Harper and Adam LaRoche.

This series changed the book on the Nats.  Earlier in the season, opponents could take comfort in the fact that if they got the Nats down a few runs early, they wouldn’t be able to come back.  They used to be the Lindsay Lohan of the league, but now they are closer to J. Lo’s revived music career.

» Continue reading “Look Out NL…The Nats Can Come Back”