Scherzer remains dialed in, dominates Cards again

Scherzer remains dialed in, dominates Cards again
It's only spring training, so all the usual caveats must apply. These games don't count. Different players take different approaches when they're on the field. Objectives aren't the same on March 15 as they will be on April 1. Now, having gotten all that out of the way, this needs to be said: Max Scherzer looks absolutely dialed in right now. With a dominant, four-inning performance today during a 4-2 loss to the Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla., Scherzer built off his two previous exhibition...

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter
Sure, there are some big-name Nationals starting today against the Cardinals in Jupiter. Max Scherzer is on the mound. Trea Turner, Juan Soto and Ryan Zimmerman are in the lineup. But let's talk about the guy who is making his 2021 Grapefruit League debut, because I have a hunch some fans are more excited to watch him than anyone else: Gerardo Parra. Yes, the Baby Shark is back at last. After needing some extra time to get himself into shape following knee surgery last fall, Parra is ready to...

Scherzer ramps up, Soto stays home, Parra plays in B game

Scherzer ramps up, Soto stays home, Parra plays in B game
After using his first start of the spring to make sure his sprained left ankle was healed and his pitching mechanics were still in proper form, Max Scherzer remarked that his objective was to "go out there, get my work in and worry about getting the intensity later." It appears five days counts as "later" in Scherzer's mind. Making his second start of the spring this afternoon in West Palm Beach, Fla., Scherzer looked like a midseason version of himself. He faced nine Cardinals batters and...

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach
The second half of spring training begins today. Yep, 20 days have passed and 20 days remain before the Nationals break camp and head north. So this is about the time when things begin to start ramping up a bit, when pitchers start pitching more, when regulars start playing more. In that vein, Max Scherzer today makes his second start of the spring. He threw 38 pitches over 1 2/3 innings Friday night against the Cardinals. Today, against the same St. Louis squad, he's scheduled to throw 50...

Ankle sprain behind him, Scherzer gets back to work

Ankle sprain behind him, Scherzer gets back to work
Max Scherzer has dealt with sprained ankles before. Both his left and his right, actually. So when it happened about four weeks ago and briefly delayed his spring training debut, the Nationals ace wasn't particularly worried about that. No, what Scherzer was more worried about was a sprained left ankle setting off a chain of events that might lead to an injured right arm. "When you progress through something like this, one little thing can lead to another little thing, and that can lead up to...

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach
Max Scherzer is on the mound tonight for the Nationals, so all is right with the world. At least, as right as is possible these days. The ace right-hander, who sprained his left ankle about two weeks before pitchers and catchers reported to West Palm Beach, Fla., has overcome the injury and built his arm back up to be able to pitch tonight against the Cardinals. In the end, he's actually the first member of the Nationals' projected opening day rotation to start a game this spring. Scherzer is...

In spring debut, Fedde rides 28-pitch roller coaster

In spring debut, Fedde rides 28-pitch roller coaster
The last thing Erick Fedde wanted to do in his first inning of the spring Sunday was get into a bases-loaded jam before recording an out, then watch as Nolan Arenado strode to the plate and received a standing ovation for his first at-bat with the Cardinals. And when he promptly spiked a sinker in the dirt to bring home a run, Fedde's 2021 debut appeared on the brink of collapse. But then, an adjustment. And a flip of the script, turning a potentially disastrous first inning in Jupiter, Fla.,...

A sense of normalcy in Nationals' first spring game with fans

A sense of normalcy in Nationals' first spring game with fans
Normalcy - or, at least, some semblance of normalcy - returned to Florida today. On an 82-degree Sunday afternoon in Jupiter that included abundant sunshine at times and popup showers at others, the Nationals and Cardinals played a baseball game. At 1:05 p.m., Victor Robles dug in at the plate and took a 94-mph fastball from Jack Flaherty for strike one. Trea Turner singled and advanced Andrew Stevenson to third on a hit-and-run. Josh Bell took a 3-2 slider at the knees for a walk, and home...

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter
And away we go ... Yes, there's a ballgame today in Florida. The Nationals are playing the Cardinals in Jupiter, the first of 24 games on the Grapefruit League schedule. And there are a whole lot of starters playing for both clubs. Davey Martinez's lineup includes Victor Robles leading off and Trea Turner batting third (yep, they really are going to test this out this spring). It doesn't include Juan Soto, but it does feature a 4-5-6 of Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Starlin Castro. If you...

Nats ready for nine (possibly shortened) innings and fans

Nats ready for nine (possibly shortened) innings and fans
It's been 154 days since the Nationals last played a baseball game. Exactly 22 weeks since they wrapped up the bizarre 2020 season with a 15-5 thumping of the Mets. As was the case for the entire 60-game campaign, there were zero fans in attendance. So imagine the feeling everyone in uniform has as they wake up this morning, look at the calendar and realize they're not only going to play a ballgame today, but they're going to play it in front of fans. Yep, the 2021 Grapefruit League opens...

What would it take for the Nationals to pull off a miracle?

What would it take for the Nationals to pull off a miracle?
If you're one of those who likes to cling to faint hopes and won't concede anything until it's 100 percent guaranteed, you're in luck. Because the Nationals, despite their ridiculously long odds, are still mathematically alive in the National League pennant race. And pretty much everything they needed to happen Monday night around the league actually happened. The evening began with the Nats having no more margin for error. Their tragic number to be eliminated from contention was two, with...

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 4

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 4
They packed themselves into Nationals Park, nearly 44,000 strong, for a party 86 years in the making. They came to watch a major league team from Washington win a pennant for the first time since 1933. And when the home ballclub stormed out to a 7-0 lead after one inning, all that was left for everyone to do was count down the outs until it was official. Game 4 of the National League Championship Series was not a simple, by-the-book, three-hour party, though. It wound up including a couple of...

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 3

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 3
Postseason games at Nationals Park, generally speaking, have not been celebratory events. They're usually loaded with tension, usually involve contests that go right down to the ninth inning (or more), and usually see the home team desperate to win and keep its season alive. That was the typical scene for the first 14 postseason games played on South Capitol Street, beginning with Game 3 of the 2012 National League Division Series and running straight through Game 4 of the 2019 NLDS. The...

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 2

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 2
Remember that time a Nationals starting pitcher flirted with a no-hitter in the National League Championship Series in St. Louis? No, not the first time it happened. The second time it happened. The very next day. Of all the remarkable things the Nats did during their postseason run last October, the back-to-back no-hit bids by Aníbal Sánchez and Max Scherzer certainly deserve to sit high on the list. Making it all the more remarkable: That same duo did the exact same thing in Games 1 and...

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 1

Home confinement re-watch: 2019 NLCS Game 1
Because the wild card game, the National League Division Series and the World Series were so dramatic, with the Nationals fighting off elimination five times along the way, the NL Championship Series kind of gets lost in the shuffle when you think back to the 2019 postseason. We know the Nats swept the Cardinals in four straight. They never even trailed at any point in any of the four games. It was as one-sided a postseason series as you're likely to see. But let's give the NLCS more credit...

Trio of big name pitchers struggles in blowout loss

Trio of big name pitchers struggles in blowout loss
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The games down here don't count, so the Nationals could afford to brush off tonight's 11-0 trouncing at the hands of a split-squad Cardinals team as insignificant in the grand scheme of things. And that's probably a fair reaction to a blowout loss on March 5. Really, what conclusions can reasonably be drawn from a game like this? Still, it had to be at least a little concerning for Davey Martinez to watch three of his most important pitchers get roughed up by a...

Updates on Eaton, Robles, Thames and Harris (Nats lose 11-0)

Updates on Eaton, Robles, Thames and Harris (Nats lose 11-0)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals are fielding a lineup loaded with regulars tonight. Well, loaded with healthy regulars. A few guys who normally would be playing remain sidelined with nagging ailments. The list includes Adam Eaton, who departed Tuesday's game with a tight left hamstring. The veteran right fielder apparently didn't think the injury was serious and only came out of the game after mentioning it to teammate Howie Kendrick, who then informed manager Davey Martinez. Martinez...

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach

Lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Hello once again from FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. It's good to be back after a brief trip home. Thanks as always to Pete Kerzel for filling in during my break. I'll be here the rest of camp, and hopefully things start to ramp up soon as opening day inches closer. The Nationals, who just enjoyed their first of two days off this spring, are back at it tonight with a lineup loaded with regulars. In fact, this may well give us a clue about Davey Martinez's...

Opposite field remains Soto's best friend

Opposite field remains Soto's best friend
JUPITER, Fla. - It was a home run off a minor league reliever on Feb. 25. It's not going to make Juan Soto any money or help the Nationals win any games that actually matter. And yet it was impossible to watch Soto's blast off Cardinals right-hander Seth Elledge during Tuesday's 9-6 exhibition win and not react with the same astonishment and approval that accompanies any gargantuan blast by the 21-year-old star slugger. Soto's homer, the first by a Nationals batter so far this spring, came...

After strong finish to 2019, Sánchez seeks fast start to 2020

After strong finish to 2019, Sánchez seeks fast start to 2020
JUPITER, Fla. - It's easy to forget now, because - like the Nationals as a whole - Aníbal Sánchez was so good from late May through late October. But you may recall that the veteran right-hander's first six weeks with the club were an abject disaster. When he took the mound on May 16 to face the Mets, Sánchez was 0-6 with a 5.27 ERA. He had allowed 69 batters to reach base in only 41 innings. A skeptic would've called his signing (two years for $19 million) a massive fail by general...