Robles playing in Dominican, Nolin heading to Korea

Robles playing in Dominican, Nolin heading to Korea
Whether spring training starts on time or not, Victor Robles will report to West Palm Beach with some game experience already under his belt this winter. Robles is now playing in the Dominican Winter League, added to Aguilas Cibaeñas' playoff roster earlier in the week and already making the highlight reel in the outfield. The Nationals center fielder threw out a runner at second base in his debut game, retrieving a drive off the wall and making a perfect throw to the delight of the crowd...

Nolin, Baldonado, Fuentes dropped from 40-man roster

Nolin, Baldonado, Fuentes dropped from 40-man roster
The Nationals removed three players off their 40-man roster this afternoon, assigning pitchers Alberto Baldonado, Steven Fuentes and Sean Nolin outright to Triple-A Rochester. Baldonado and Fuentes remain in the organization. Nolin, who previously in his career had been outrighted to the minor leagues, elected to become a free agent. Baldonado and Nolin ended the season in the Nats bullpen, while Fuentes spent much of the summer on the 60-day injured list with a right shoulder strain. The...

Why the Nats could really use a multi-inning reliever or two

Why the Nats could really use a multi-inning reliever or two
Nationals relievers have thrown a total of 545 1/3 innings this season, which works out to roughly 3 1/2 innings per game. It's actually the fifth-lowest total in the majors, which may come as something of a surprise given how much it feels like their starters have struggled to pitch deep into games. Here's a bigger problem, though: The Nationals have totaled 540 relief appearances this year, 12th-most in the majors. And that also works out to nearly 3 1/2 appearances per game. It doesn't...

MLB suspends Nolin five games, Martinez one game (updated)

MLB suspends Nolin five games, Martinez one game (updated)
Major League Baseball has suspended Nationals pitcher Sean Nolin five games and manager Davey Martinez one game after determining Nolin intentionally hit Braves slugger Freddie Freeman with a pitch Wednesday night in Atlanta. Nolin, who was also fined an undisclosed amount, initially appealed his suspension and was to remain on the active roster until his case was heard, but the Nationals later announced the lefty dropped his appeal and began serving the suspension tonight. Martinez is serving...

The domino effect of Wednesday's incident

The domino effect of Wednesday's incident
Sean Nolin's ejection eight pitches in Wednesday night added some drama to what might otherwise have been an insignificant ballgame in Atlanta. But it also set in motion a link of falling dominoes that would impact not only that game but tonight's series finale and perhaps some portion of this weekend's series in Pittsburgh. For those who missed it: Nolin was ejected by plate umpire Lance Barksdale after twice throwing fastballs at Freddie Freeman - the first one sailed behind his head, the...

Nats send message, then topple Braves (updated)

Nats send message, then topple Braves (updated)
For Sean Nolin and the Nationals, the message (standing up for a star teammate against an opponent that appeared to hit him on purpose the previous night) superseded all else. If it meant the rest of the pitching staff would face an extreme uphill battle from that point on, so be it. The message, even if nobody would publicly admit it after the fact, was more important. And when Nolin intentionally threw at Freddie Freeman on successive pitches in the bottom of the first tonight in Atlanta,...

Game 139 lineups: Nats at Braves

Game 139 lineups: Nats at Braves
What's the best thing the Nationals could do to give themselves a better chance of winning tonight against the Braves? How about a quality performance from their starter, allowing them to avoid falling into an early hole yet again and asking their lineup to battle back just to make it interesting late? As impressive as the offense has been with all these rallies of late - they've come back to at least tie the game six straight times - the task would be so much simpler if they weren't giving...

Nats rally in ninth, but fall 6-2 in 10 innings (updated)

Nats rally in ninth, but fall 6-2 in 10 innings (updated)
A last-of-the-ninth rally nearly made up for eight innings of Nationals offensive struggles, but an out-of-contention club playing only for pride (and to stay in fourth place in the National League East) opened a five-game holiday weekend series with another loss. The Mets tallied four times in the 10th inning off Austin Voth for a 6-2 victory that extended Washington's losing streak to six games. "The guys are competing," manager Davey Martinez said in his postgame Zoom session with the...

Game 133 lineups: Nats vs. Mets

Game 133 lineups: Nats vs. Mets
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Sean Nolin (0-2, 6.57 ERA) will take the hill tonight to face the Mets.Since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester on Aug. 11, the lefty has made three starts, two of them against the Mets, against whom he's gone 0-1 with a 6.48 ERA and a 1.680 WHIP, allowing six runs on 14 hits with no walks, three strikeouts and three homers yielded in 8 1/3 innings. The way things are going, the Nationals would be thrilled to get some length out of Nolin, whose...

Bullpen can't finish the job this time, Nats lose 5-3 (updated)

Bullpen can't finish the job this time, Nats lose 5-3 (updated)
Having already used up four young relievers to win Friday's game by the slimmest of margins, Nationals manager Davey Martinez had little choice but to turn to another group tonight after getting a solid start from Sean Nolin, hoping these bullpen arms could likewise protect a one-run lead against the Mets. That proved too tall a task for Ryne Harper and Mason Thompson, who combined to allow three runs during the decisive bottom of the seventh that sealed the Nats' fate in a 5-3 loss at Citi...

Game 128 lineups: Nats at Mets

Game 128 lineups: Nats at Mets
Friday night proved to be a fun, and arguably important, win for the Nationals, who got to see four inexperienced relievers thrive in a pressure situation and hang on to beat the Mets, 2-1. Tonight? Well, it might require a bit more offense to emerge victorious again. That's because Sean Nolin takes the mound for his third start for the Nats, his second against the Mets. The journeyman left-hander hasn't exactly dazzled since his promotion from Triple-A. He gave up four runs on eight hits in...

Martinez on Robles' return and weekend rotation plans

Martinez on Robles' return and weekend rotation plans
Victor Robles returned to the Nationals lineup for tonight's finale of a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins, playing center field and batting leadoff. It's the first start since Aug. 20 for Robles, who ceded center field to newcomer Lane Thomas in the interim. Robles had battled an illness recently and Thomas' 8-for-19 stretch over the past five games made it difficult for him to crack the lineup. "He's moving around pretty good," manager Davey Martinez said in his pregame...

With flurry of walks, Nats hand series finale to Brewers (updated)

With flurry of walks, Nats hand series finale to Brewers (updated)
An inexperienced pitching staff is going to make mistakes. Davey Martinez understands and accepts that. What the Nationals manager has a harder time accepting is a pitching staff that is killing itself not by getting hit by more accomplished hitters, but by handing them free bases over and over and over. It happened during Saturday's loss in Milwaukee, and it happened in even more mind-numbing fashion during today's 7-3 loss to the Brewers. Five Nationals pitchers combined to issue 11 walks...

Game 123 lineups: Nats at Brewers

Game 123 lineups: Nats at Brewers
The Nationals' winning streak ended Saturday in Milwaukee, but they've still got a chance to win the weekend series if they can bounce back in this afternoon's finale. All things considered, that's not a bad position to be in. They're going to need to get some quality innings out of Sean Nolin, who gets the start as Joe Ross' replacement for now. Nolin, the 31-year-old journeyman left-hander, made one other start for the Nats 10 days ago in New York and gave up four runs on eight hits in...

Nolin will get Sunday's start as Ross' rotation replacement

Nolin will get Sunday's start as Ross' rotation replacement
The Nationals didn't need to utilize a fifth starter until next weekend, but they've decided to go ahead and plug Sean Nolin into their rotation now. Nolin, the 31-year-old left-hander who has been available out of the bullpen for the last week since making one spot start against the Mets, will start Sunday's series finale against the Brewers, manager Davey Martinez said. Nolin takes over the rotation spot that opened up with Joe Ross had to be shut down for the rest of the season with a...

Rainey has work to do before Nats bring him back (game delayed)

Rainey has work to do before Nats bring him back (game delayed)
Tanner Rainey's return to the Nationals bullpen Thursday was as brief as it was disappointing, but it didn't change the club's intentions for the right-hander. Rainey, who had been optioned to Triple-A at the start of the month, was called up as the Nats' designated 27th man for their doubleheader against the Mets. Then, after giving up a two-run homer to Jonathan Villar in the sixth inning of what wound up a 5-4, seven-inning loss, he was optioned back to Rochester. That decision wasn't...

Nats go quietly in opening loss to Mets (updated)

Nats go quietly in opening loss to Mets (updated)
The recipe for success for the Nationals the rest of the way this season is going to be one of two things: keep the score close, take a late lead and hope to hold on, or explode for a lot of runs early and win in a blowout. Neither of those scenarios took place in today's 4-1 doubleheader opening loss to the Mets. Let's start with keeping the score close. The Nationals did get a gutsy effort from Sean Nolin in his first major league appearance since 2015. But the left-hander served up a...

Pitching plans laid out for Thursday's doubleheader

Pitching plans laid out for Thursday's doubleheader
The past few days have not been easy on Nationals manager Davey Martinez and pitching coach Jim Hickey. A suspended game Tuesday night then a postponement last night has led to today's doubleheader against the Mets at Citi Field, while also throwing the Nats' pitching plans into chaos. Good thing they're in the city that never sleeps. After a confusing 40 hours or so, Martinez was able to lay out his pitching plans for today's two games: Sean Nolin will start the opener and Erick Fedde will...

Game 114 lineups: Nats at Mets (Nolin starting)

Game 114 lineups: Nats at Mets (Nolin starting)
It's been a weird week for the Nationals in New York leading up to this afternoon's series finale against the Mets. The coaching staff rejoined the team on Monday's off-day. Tuesday's game was suspended in the second inning. In Wednesday's resumption, the Nats blew a 4-1 lead, then went up 7-4 and blew that lead before finally losing 8-7. And then yesterday's regularly scheduled game had to be rescheduled as a part of an early doubleheader today. Let's hope everything goes smoothly for...

Thursday doubleheader planned after another rainout

Thursday doubleheader planned after another rainout
When a major storm cell barreled through New York on Tuesday night, the Nationals' series opener against the Mets had to be suspended in the second inning, then completed this afternoon. When another major storm cell was preparing to barrel through New York tonight, they didn't take any chances. The Mets delayed the start of the nightcap of the scheduled doubleheader, then an hour later postponed it altogether. And so despite spending many hours over the last two days at Citi Field, the...