It has been one year. June 23, 2011, fresh off a hot streak, Jim Riggleman resigned as manager of the Nationals, and Davey Johnson was asked to take over. The Nationals were 38-37. After that day, the team finished 42-44 and have gone 82-72 since Riggleman resigned. Flash forward 365 days. Under the direction of Davey Johnson, the Nationals have gone 40-28 this season and are 80-71 since that stunning Thursday. "It was a very sad day for me," Johnson recollected. "I like Jimmy. I hate to...

The Major League Baseball league office has spoken. Joel Peralta has been suspended eight games for having an illegal substance in his glove Tuesday night. The Rays reliever will appeal the suspension, meaning he's still available to be used tonight in the series finale against the Nationals. Peralta faced two hitters last night and retired them both. Keeping on the reliever topic, Nats closer Drew Storen has now thrown a handful of bullpen sessions, the latest of which was yesterday....

In Tuesday night's loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Nationals manager Davey Johnson had a simple request of home plate umpire Tim Tschida: Enforce the written rules of baseball. Johnson knew that Rays relief pitcher Joel Peralta "liked a little pine tar" - that is, Peralta hid the sticky stuff in and on his glove in order to help him grip the baseball better and, therefore, have better control over his breaking pitches. Pine tar is one of those classic foreign substances that is specifically...

The whole messy affair with Rays reliever Joel Peralta's ejection for toting a glove loaded with pine tar to the mound Tuesday night just won't go away. The subject has been debated for two days now and an interesting war of words between Rays skipper Joe Maddon and Nationals manager Davey Johnson, two renowned baseball scholars, has only fanned the flames. Major League Baseball shares some of the blame, too. If Peralta's glove was confiscated Tuesday night and immediately shipped to MLB...

In this entry, I'll have quotes from the Nationals general manager, who responded to quotes from the Rays manager, who responded to quotes from the Nationals manager, who responded to quotes from the Rays manager. GloveGate just keeps on going. Shortly after Rays skipper Joe Maddon came down on the Nationals (again), saying that if he was a player, he'd think twice before signing with the Nats after last night's pine tar incident, Rizzo responded to that take. "I don't agree with it,"...

The war of words in Pine Tar Gate escalated following Tuesday's incident where Rays reliever and former Nationals pitcher Joel Peralta was ejected for an "excessive amount of a foreign substance in or around his glove", according to the umpiring crew. The umpires were tipped off when Nationals manager Davey Johnson asked that Peralta's glove be checked for pine tar. Apparently, Davey found out through someone in the Nationals dugout that Peralta may have pine tar in his glove, which is...

Davey Johnson's 15-minute pregame session with reporters this afternoon sure didn't lack substance. Johnson announced that Chien-Ming Wang will be moved to the bullpen and Ross Detwiler will be inserted into the rotation. He also took aim at Rays manager Joe Maddon, who last night called out Johnson for having Joel Peralta's glove inspected on suspicion of Peralta using a foreign substance. Maddon called Johnson's decision "cowardly", "bush" and even dropped an expletive in there, as...

Too bad nothing exciting went down in last night's 5-4 Nationals loss to the Rays. All we had was a Nats starter (a two-time 19-game winner, mind you) pitch his way firmly onto the rotation bubble, his competition for the No. 5 starting spot dominant in relief, a former Nationals pitcher get called out as a cheater by someone on his old team, and the Rays manager toss expletives in the direction of the other clubhouse. Just a nice, quiet little Tuesday night interleague game. For what it's...

You've seen the quotes from the Rays' side about the Joel Peralta ejection due to illegal use of pine tar, courtesy of MASNsports.com's Pete Kerzel. Now let's hear from the Nationals. Manager Davey Johnson said postgame that he had gotten word from people within the organization that Peralta (who pitched for the Nats in 2010) is fond of putting pine tar in his glove, which can help create a better grip on the baseball during a hot night like tonight. "He pitched here. I don't think...

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon opened his postgame session with reporters after Tuesday night's 5-4 Rays victory over the Nationals - a game in which one of his relief pitchers, ex-Nat Joel Peralta, was ejected after umpires discovered pine tar in his glove - with a zinger that was equal parts tone-setter and a no-doubt-about-it retaliatory verbal punch at the losing team for what Maddon perceived as a breach of baseball etiquette. "Heads up," he warned reporters, wiping a clearly clean spot...

Weird, wild stuff is happening here in D.C. as we get ready to start the eighth inning of a 5-4 ballgame. Rays reliever Joel Peralta, who pitched for the Nationals during the 2010 season, was ejected for having an "illegal substance" on or in his glove. The ejection happened before Peralta threw a single pitch in the eighth inning. All four umpires came out to the mound, as did the entire Rays infield and manager Joe Maddon. The umpires, including crew chief and home plate umpire Tim...

Nationals reliever Joel Peralta is excited about the opportunity to get to pitch at the Major League level again and certainly seems ready for the challenge. While at Syracuse, Peralta dominated at throwing strikes and getting the first batter he faced out. Peralta got the first man out 20 of the 26 chances at Triple-A. It continued Tuesday night in his first Nats appearance when he induced a double play off the bat of the Royals Jose Guillen. The 5'11", 195-pound right-hander from the...