I had an opportunity to look at the Baltimore Orioles minor league stars in an article that Yahoo Contributor Network chose to publish. Give it a look and leave me feedback:
http://voices.yahoo.com/baltimore-orioles-future-star-watch-glance-into-12225537.html?cat=14
Thanks
Rob
WP – W. Chen (4-3) LP – J. Lindblom (1-3)
The Baltimore Orioles got to Josh Lindblom early on in this game. Manny Machado drove in Nate McLouth with a triple to deep centerfield and then scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the third to give the Orioles the early lead. Brian Roberts had an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, bringing Matt Wieters in to score. Nolan Reimold followed Roberts single with a three run blast to deep left field, scoring Roberts and J.J. Hardy.
The six runs were enough to stake Wei-Jin Chen to a lead as he pitched seven quality innings in his return from the disabled list. Chen held the Rangers in check, with only three hits and three walks. Adrien Beltre did manage to score Ian Kinsler from third on a fielder’s choice in the sixth inning. This would be the only run the Rangers managed all night.
Manny Machado went 3-for-5 on the night, giving him his 14th three hit game of the season, that leads the Majors this year. Adam Jones and Reimold both had two hits apiece to round out the hitting. Chris Davis continued to be quiet at the plate, extending his hitless streak to seventeen at-bats.
The Orioles did not need to rely on their bullpen much in this game, something that has been difficult this last week, as the bullpen has cost the Orioles several leads late in games. Tommy Hunter closed the game out, pitching both the eighth and ninth innings.
Josh Lindblom managed to go five and a third innings, giving up all six Orioles runs on nine hits, four walks with one strikeout. Lindblom only got the start due to the injury to Nick Tepesch, getting his second spot start as a long reliever.
The Orioles move to 50-42 on the year and the Rangers drop to 53-38. The Orioles have a chance to split the series tomorrow evening, and then face the Toronto BlueJays for the last series before the All-Star game.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005
WP – G. Gonzalez (7-3) LP – C. Lee (10-3)
The Washington Nationals were able to pound out four solo homeruns off Cliff Lee to beat the Phillies in hopes of splitting this series. Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos hit back to back homeruns in the top of the fifth inning. Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth duplicated their teammates effort in the top of the sixth, crossing the crucial three run mark that seems to dictate when the Nationals will win or lose.
The Nationals fared well against the left-handed Lee after back to back nights of poor hitting against two other Phillies left-handers. They were able to get nine hits off Lee, giving him only his third loss of the season.
Gio Gonzalez went seven strong innings, only allowing a solo homerun to Darin Ruf in the bottom of the seventh. He gave up one run on six hits, two walks while striking out five. Gio lowered his season ERA to 3.03 with his last start before the All-Star game.
The Phillies seemed to have difficulty with Gonzalez off-speed and breaking ball all night. The biggest change from the first two games of the series was that Ben Revere only managed to get on base one time which was a source of most of their momentum in the earlier games.
Carlos Ruiz was the only Phillies hitter to manage more than one hit on the game and only he and Ruf managed to be on base more than once either.
The Nationals managed an extra run in the top of the ninth on an swinging bunt by Denard Span that brought Rendon in to score from third. Tyler Clippard pitched the eighth and Rafael Soriano closed the game out in a non-save situation in the ninth.
The Nationals are now 47-44 on the year, and 42-10 when they manage to score at least three runs in the game. The Nationals now trail the Atlanta Braves by five games in the National League East.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005
I had an opportunity to write an article that Yahoo Contributor Network chose to publish where I discuss why I think it was more significant for the Nationals to get Wilson Ramos back in the lineup than it was to get Bryce Harper back. Give it a look:
http://voices.yahoo.com/wilson-ramos-return-more-significant-than-bryce-harper-12222025.html?cat=14
WP – C. Hamels (4-11) LP – T. Jordan (0-2)
S – A. Bastardo (2)
Cole Hammels came into the game a loser of eleven games and the Washington Nationals hitter made him look like a Cy Young candidate. He pitched eight solid innings, giving up one run on six hits, a walk while striking out four. He gave up a solo homerun to Jayson Werth in the second inning and the Nationals didn’t threaten to score again until the eighth, where Ryan Zimmerman and Werth both failed to capitalize on a bases loaded opportunity.
The Nationals scored off the closer in the ninth inning for the second night in a row but it was too little too late. Wilson Ramos drove in Anthony Rendon with a pinch hit double giving him nine RBIs in the four games since his return.
Taylor Jordan pitched an excellent game again, only to see a second consecutive good start go to waste due to errors. In the fourth inning, Kurt Suzuki was charged with an error when he dropped a perfect throw from Werth at the plate allowing Chase Utley to score. Replay showed that Utley failed to touch the plate but Suzuki never applied a tag as he attempted to throw Domonic Brown out at second base.
In the sixth inning, Jordan got Utley to ground into what should have been an easy double play to Adam Laroche, but Laroche threw the ball off of Jimmy Rollins back, allowing the ball to go into centerfield. Ben Revere scored on the errant throw, while Rollins advanced to third base. Michael Young then doubled to centerfield, scoring Rollins and Utley. This was all the Phillies would need to beat the Nationals for the second evening in a row.
The Nationals continued to struggle against left-handed pitching. They came in batting a woeful .215, tonight they continued this trend, batting .218 against Hamels and Bastardo. The coaching staff has got to figure something out, getting batters to adjust their stance against lefties as they are consistently unable to reach the outside strikes that these pitchers are feeding them. If they do not find an answer for this issue in the second half of the season then it will be difficult to reach the postseason.
The Nationals fall to 46-44, and 5-33 in games they fail to score at least three runs.
Additional: Scott Hairston had a fairly successful debut with the Nationals going 2-for-5 leading off, playing leftfield.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005
I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to write about the Washington Nationals minor league stars according to MLB.com and Yahoo chose to publish the article I wrote, so here is the link:
http://voices.yahoo.com/washington-nationals-future-star-watch-glance-into-12218181.html?cat=14
WP – J. Lannan (2-3) LP – D. Haren (4-10)
S – J. Papelbon (19)
John Lannan, like most other left-handers this season, baffled the Washington Nationals for eight innings. He struck out four while scattering four hits and two walks to keep the Nationals scoreless.
Jonathan Papelbon came on for the ninth and ran into the only challenge Nationals hitters posed on the night. He allowed Bryce Harper to single up the middle and a double to Ryan Zimmerman before Jayson Werth came up just a couple feet short of tying the game with a blast to centerfield. Both runners tagged, scoring Harper. Zimmerman scored on a sacrifice fly by Adam Laroche to center and with two outs pinch hitter Chad Tracy hit a little fly ball to center to end the game.
The Philadelphia Phillies scored early on Dan Haren, getting two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Haren again struggled with control, allowing one of the runs to score on a bases loaded walk. He allowed two or more base runners in three of the five innings he pitched.
The Phillies would add one more run in the bottom of the sixth against Fernando Abad on a single by Jimmy Rollins to center field. Ben Revere pestered Nationals pitching all night, going 3-for-5, with a stolen base and two runs scored.
The Nationals this season have had consistent problems with left-handed pitchers that throw a variety of off speed stuff. The biggest problem is that the Nationals hitters seem to fail to adjust in the batter’s box to be able to consistently hit the off speed pitch on the outside half of the plate with any power. Lannan induced fifteen ground balls from the Nationals tonight keeping them off balance on what pitch was coming all night.
Additional: The Nationals completed a trade with the Chicago Cubs today for Scott Hairston and a player to be named later for a minor league pitcher and a player to be named later.
The Nationals fall to 46-43 on the year, and 5-32 in games that they score less than three runs.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005
WP – S. Strasburg (4-6) LP – R. Erlin (1-2)
On a sizzling afternoon, Ryan Zimmerman crushed a bases clearing grand slam to deep right center, scoring Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond and Stephen Strasburg to lead the Washington Nationals to a sweep of the San Diego Padres. Bryce Harper had three hits, three RBIs and two stolen bases on the day. He had an opportunity to really do some damage in the bottom of the seventh, at bat with the bases loaded and two outs but hit a line drive to the centerfield to end the inning.
Stephen Strasburg picked up the win on a day when he struggled with control in the heat. He pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out nine. Strasburg also hit three batters on the day on a day that he would need 110 pitches to get through six innings. Alexi Amarista hit a two run homerun for the most significant hit off of Strasburg. Strasburg limited most of the Padres other scoring came on little dinks and dunks, moving runners around.
The scoring started early for the Nationals with Bryce Harper singling home Denard Span in the bottom of the first inning. The big inning though was the bottom of the third, where the Nationals scored six runs on Zimmerman’s grand slam and Anthony Rendon hitting a two run homerun, scoring Jayson Werth. The Nationals would tack on four more in the bottom of the fifth on RBI singles from Rendon and Strasburg, along with a wild pitch that scored Harper and a groundout that brought Werth in to score.
The Padres would make a push to make the game close by scoring three more runs in the seventh and eighth off Craig Stammen. This is the third outing in a row that Stammen has had difficulty getting outs. He allowed two runs in the seventh on twelve pitches, all strikes. He failed to record an out in the eighth before being lifted for Drew Storen, who quickly put the Padres down in order. Tyler Clippard pitched the ninth to close out the win.
This is the Nationals first sweep of a series since a two game series against the Detroit Tigers back in the second week of May. The Nationals now take on the Philadelphia Phillies for a four game series.
The Nationals improve to 46-42, moving four games back of the Atlanta Braves, who lost to the Phillies. The Nationals are now 41-10 in games where they score at least three runs. Additional, it was announced that Ross Detwiler would be placed on the 15-Day DL.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.
WP – R. Ohlendorf (2-0) LP – N. Vincent (2-1)
S – R. Soriano (24)
Adam Laroche got the scoring started with a solo homerun in the bottom of the third inning for the Washington Nationals. Laroche went 2-for-4 for the day but arguably made a much more important contribution with his glove, robbing All-Star Everth Cabrera of a game-tying hit to get the last out with a great diving stop in the top of the ninth. Bryce Harper, announced as a starter for the All Star game today, also came up big at the plate going 1-for-2, with an RBI in three different at-bats on a walk with the bases loaded in the fourth, a single in the bottom of the fifth and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh. Harper also had a great diving catch in the outfield that saved a run from scoring.
Denard Span continues to improve his OBP as he went 2-for-3 with a walk. He also stole a base and scored two runs beginning to show what the Nationals expected when they obtained him from the Minnesota Twins before the season.
Jordan Zimmermann was attempting to be the first 13 game winner in the National League and went five and a third innings before being lifted for Ross Ohlendorf. Zimmermann (12-3) gave up three earned runs on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts on the day. The rumor is that Zimmermann is dealing with tightness in his neck, first noticed in his last start, both of which have been his shortest of the year thus far. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and Zimmermann can make his next scheduled start before the All Star game.
Ohlendorf had what is probably his worst outing as a National to date, allowing a three run homerun to Jesus Guzman in his first batter. He clamped down after that and closed out the inning with no more damage and would also pitch the seventh allowing no one else to score. The Nationals would score two runs in the bottom of the seventh to give Ohlendorf the win. This is the second time in three games where a reliever gave up a three run homerun to cost a starter a win, only to end up the winning pitcher.
The Padres starter was Jason Marquis, a former National, who pitched six innings giving up three runs on eight hits, three walks and three strikeouts. He escaped several jams early on, especially in the bottom of the third when the Nationals had the bases loaded with two outs but only managed one run.
Drew Storen had a great outing, retiring the Padres in order on five pitches which had to feel good after two consecutive challenging outings. Rafael Soriano had to overcome some interesting drama to get his 24th save. Soriano allowed two base runners to advance to second and third with two outs before getting Cabrera to ground out to Laroche.
The Nationals improve to three games over .500 at 45-42, and are now 40-10 in games that they score more than three runs.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.
San Diego, California 7/6/2013
Landon Donovan, returning to the United States Men’s National Team for the first time since October, scored his 50th goal in International competition on a penalty kick early in the second half. The penalty came as Donovan was knocked down in the box on a crossing run at about the six yard box. He drove the penalty kick straight down the middle as the keeper leapt to the left. Donovan scored again in the 72nd minute, easily showing why he deserves a spot on the roster for the World Cup team as the US prepares for Brazil in 2014.
Hercules Gomez opened the scoring in the closing minutes of the first half with a solid finish from the right side burying the ball low into the right hand corner. This goal was important as the U.S. finally broke through against a Guatemala team that had basically been playing with a bunker mentality, keeping all 11 men deep in the defensive half of the field.
Chris Wondolowski scored his first International goal for the U.S. in his 12th appearance for the national team. He drove a ball from about 15 yards out to the right hand side of the net. Donovan’s second goal came less than a minute later, easily beating Ricardo Jerez with a drive to the right again. At this point it was 4-0 and the U.S. was actively substituting to get other players a chance with the game out of reach.
Rather than slow the pace and close out the game, the U.S. continued attacking, and Clarence Goodson was able to finish off a corner kick after his first attempt was blocked by driving his second attempt high into the top of the net with bodies littered on the goal line. It was a great finish in close facilitated by Oguchi Onyewu, who returned to the national team for the first time since October 2012. This game was a renaissance and many firsts for the United States.
The final goal came from a hectic back and forth in front of the net that ended with Alejandro Bedoya driving a shot from about 22 yards out that smoked the top of the net. This was Bedoya’s first goal for the United States in International competition. After this goal, you could see the total deflation of effort from the Guatemalan squad, thoroughly discouraged as the United States controlled possession to run out the clock.
Jurgen Klinsmann now has to hope that this team can continue to perform like this during the upcoming Gold Cup competition and that he will have some difficult decisions in deciding who makes the final World Cup roster.
WP – G. Gonzalez (6-3) LP – A. Cashner
S – R. Soriano (23)
The Washington Nationals had a great team effort tonight to beat the San Diego Padres 8 to 5. Gio Gonzalez pitched six and two thirds, giving up three earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. He seemed to have trouble early on controlling his pitches but he settled down and gave the Nationals another solid performance. The Nationals’ hitters were able to get to the Padres starter early and often, led by Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos. Werth went 3-for-4 with one RBI, while Ramos went 2-for-4 with three RBI’s. Denard Span continued to improve on his numbers, going 2-for-5 and two RBI’s as well.
The Padres were led by Carlos Quentin, who hit a three run homerun off of Craig Stammen in the top of the seventh, who gave up two runs and allowed an inherited runner to score on the homerun. The Padres also got runs in the first and third. In the first inning, Chase Headley hit a ground rule double off Gonzalez, scoring Chris Denorfia. In the third, Headley homered to deep left field.
Bryce Harper continued to struggle, going 0-for-4, with a sacrifice fly RBI in the second inning. Davey Johnson after the game discussed how he will likely give Harper the next couple games off to clear his head, as he is 1-for-18, with a homerun and two RBI’s since returning from the disabled list on July 1st.
The Nationals were well below their season average on strikeouts with only three on the night, so this helped to move runners around. The Nationals have improved their team batting average from .232 to .238 over the last six games with their recent hitting improvement.
The Nationals improve to 44-42, and 39-10 in games where they score at least three runs.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.
WP – D. Storen (3-2) LP – T. Gorzellany (1-1)
S – R. Soriano (22)
Wilson Ramos has been missing from the Washington Nationals lineup since May 16th. He returned with a bang, hitting a game winning three run homerun in the bottom of the seventh inning along with a two run single in the sixth, giving him 5 RBIs for the day. Taylor Jordan had a great effort in his pursuit of his first win, pitching five and two thirds innings, giving up two runs on six hits. He was in line for the win as he left the game, unfortunately the bullpen couldn’t keep the lead. This is the second solid performance from Jordan since getting called up from AA with Dan Haren on the disabled list.
Tom Gorzellany, a former National, took the loss this Independence Day for the Brewers, as he pitched the sixth and seventh innings, giving up the homerun to Ramos. He also allowed two runners inherited from Burke Badenhop to score. The Brewers starter, Donovan Hand gave up five runs on five innings pitched before yielding to Badenhop.
Besides Ramos, who went 3-4 at the plate, Ian Desmond, Adam Laroche and Jayson Werth all had multi-hit games. The Nationals need to find a way to consistently deliver this kind of performance at the plate to be able to catch the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. Ian Desmond also stole two bases in this game giving him a team leading 10 stolen bases for the year.
This is the first time in over a month that the Nationals have had what they would consider their whole lineup back for a game, so hopefully with the return of Ramos this team can win more of the games they are supposed to. It was apparent with today’s performance how much of a difference Ramos is at the plate over Kurt Suzuki.
The Brewers have consistently fought their way back into games this series, this time coming back from a 5-2 deficit with homeruns from Yuniesky Betancourt and Carlos Gomez off Drew Storen in the seventh inning. That brought the total runs given up by Storen to seven over the last two innings pitched, compounding the inconsistency from the Nationals bullpen that has plagued them all season. Ramos came to Storen’s rescue in the bottom of the inning with his homerun to put the Nationals in the lead for good.
Bryce Harper continues to struggle since his return. His first at bat back from injury was a homerun but Harper has gone 0-for-15 since then. Opposing pitchers seem to be pitching Harper strictly away, using breaking balls and off speed pitches to keep Harper from pulling the ball.
The win today gave the Nationals a split of this four game series, and brought their season record to 43-42. The Nationals improve to 38-10 when they score more than three runs.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.
WP – K. Lohse (4-6) LP – R. Detwiler (2-7)
S – F. Rodriguez (7)
The Washington Nationals hitting malaise continues to haunt them this season, as they managed only five hits against the Milwaukee Brewers’ Kyle Lohse and Francisco Rodriguez in a disheartening effort all around. This team prides itself on its ability to remain even keeled whether winning or losing, but that even keeled is beginning to come across as lack of passion, as several Nationals had effortless at bats. This team doesn’t seem to have an answer to why it cant consistently hit the ball or advance runners, especially early in the game.
Kyle Lohse pitched eight great innings, striking out seven as he helped the Brewers take a second game in this series. There were a couple of outstanding fielding plays behind him especially Carlos Gomez robbing Bryce Harper of an extra base hit on his second at bat.
Ross Detwiler provided six solid innings of work, giving up four runs but only two earned over that time. The damage was done in the fifth inning, when Sean Halton and Logan Schafer both scored on a Norichika Aoki single that got by the drawn in infield. In the sixth, the Brewers got two additional runs that scored after Bryce Harper made an error in left field on a line drive that he seemed to lose in the lights. Logan Schafer tripled to drive in Aramis Ramirez and Jonathan Lucroy after the Harper error.
The four runs would be all Kyle Lohse needed as he baffled Nationals hitters all night other than a solo homerun given up to Anthony Rendon, who continues to hit with power consistently since his call up last month from the minors. Rendon also had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning but came up just short on a drive to center field off Rodriguez. He finished the game 1-for-4 and his season average now sits at .312 with 2 HR and 9 RBI.
The biggest problem for the Nationals is that the top five batters in the lineup went a combined 1-for-19 in this game. That’s a whopping .052 average for the night. The Washington Nationals are going to have to do something to correct these hitting woes that consistently plague this team. It might take Davey Johnson losing his calm cool demeanor with this team or making a drastic change to the lineup. It might even require changing the hitting coach at this point.
I won’t claim to have the answer but if this trend continues much longer Johnson’s prophetic “World Series or Bust” will most likely be a bust. This team now sits seven games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East, and six back in the wild-card standings, behind the St Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds.
The Nationals are now 42-42, and fall to 5-32 in games where they score fewer than three runs.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.
WP – J. Henderson (3-2) LP – D. Storen (2-2)
Stephen Strasburg threw seven strong innings, scattering three hits, and striking out eight. His record remains at 4-6 but he improves his season ERA to 2.24. He escaped one jam in the sixth inning, allowing the Milwaukee Brewers to get the bases loaded with only one out, partially due to another atypical error by third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Strasburg was able to strike out the next two batters though to end the inning.
Drew Storen proceeded to implode in the top of the eighth, allowing four runs. He gave up back to back singles to Logan Schafer and Rickie Weeks before allowing both runners to score on a double by Juan Francisco. Francisco came in to score on a play ruled a double by Martin Maldonado. The ball was well hit but Bryce Harper in his second game back from injury should have caught the ball as it tipped off the top of his glove. Jeff Bianchi singled to left to score Maldonado which ended up being the last run of the night.
The Nationals looked as if they were going to get things started early, as they had two runners in scoring position in the first and another in the second but were unable to capitalize once again. The see saw nature of the Nationals offense this year was on full display, going from 23 runs in the last two games to a complete shutout.
Wily Peralta pitched an outstanding ballgame for the Brewers, going five and a third innings of shutout pitching before having to leave with an apparent injury sustained throwing a pitch to Ryan Zimmerman. He attempted a second pitch after the initial pain throwing off the mound. He seemed to have something wrong with his hip but I am sure the team will release details at a later time. The Brewers bullpen pitched a solid three and two thirds inning to complete the shutout.
The Nationals looked like they might have one last hope of getting back into the game as Ian Desmond and Anthony Rendon singled back to back to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning, but the rally ended there with Kurt Suzuki watching strike three, pinch hitter Roger Bernadina struck out swinging and Denard Span hit a weak line drive to the shortstop.
Span, Rendon and Zimmerman each had two hits apiece in this losing effort but the team couldn’t put the hits together to get anything more done
The Nationals continued their inability to avoid the strikeout themselves, giving eight outs back without putting the ball in play. Surprisingly the Nationals are only middle of the pack in this category at almost eight per game, not even coming close to the league leading Detroit Tigers who strikeout almost 9.2 times per game.
The Nationals fall to 42-41 overall, and 5-31 in games that they score less than three runs.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.
Nationals 10, Brewers 5
WP J. Zimmermann (12-3) LP: Y. Gallardo (6-8)
Tonight marked the return of Bryce Harper, who wasted no time in announcing his return, smacking the second pitch for his 13th home run of the year. Harper had been out for the last 31 games due to a lingering knee injury. He showed no holdups running the bases, so now we will see how the knee reacts to his first game back.
This was just the beginning for the sluggish Washington offense as they continued some momentum from the game Sunday night where they pounded the New York Mets 13-2, pounding out five runs in the third inning that started with a double from starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, who went 3-3 from the plate, while also pitching six innings, giving up four runs. You have to wonder if all the base running took a little out of the Nat’s starter, who is now leading the National League in wins as we approach the all-star game, as he typically goes a bit farther into games.
This two game explosion of 23 runs on 26 hits is a breath of fresh air for a team that has been batting .232 as a team. Jayson Werth really seemed to enjoy the move back to the two spot in the order, delivering five RBI’s on a 2-for-5 night. Ryan Zimmerman also contributed a couple RBI’s bringing his season total to 43, second on the team to Ian Desmond, who also knocked in one, giving him 49 for the season so far. This was plenty of offense to allow the bullpen to close things out. It was a combination of Craig Stammen, Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard and Fernando Abad to finish off the last three innings.
It was good to see the Nationals take one step closer to being a full roster again. Speculation is that catcher Wilson Ramos, the last remaining starter on the Disabled List, may return as early as Thursday for the 11 am game against the Brewers on the 4th of July. It will be interesting to see the lineup that Davey Johnson chooses to employ once Ramos returns.
At least for this night it all seemed to click for the Nationals who are now 26-19 when Harper plays, and 37-10 when they score more than three runs. Let’s hope that the Nationals can deliver a string of wins over these next thirteen games against the next four teams, all of which currently have losing records. It could go a long way to brining them back into contention with the Atlanta Braves for first place in the National League East.
Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.
REPETE in DC 