Starting lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in West Palm Beach
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals are playing a rare day-night, split-squad doubleheader today, with half the club facing the Cardinals at home this afternoon and the other half facing the Marlins in Jupiter this evening. If you're in town and trying to decide which game to attend ... come to The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. As you can see below, all the regulars are in the lineup here. The lone exception is Daniel Murphy, who along with Tanner Roark has reported back to camp following...

Scherzer makes spring debut, goes 4 2/3 innings (Nats lose 6-1)

Scherzer makes spring debut, goes 4 2/3 innings (Nats lose 6-1)
NATIONALS QUICK WRAP Score: Cardinals 6, Nats 1 Recap: Max Scherzer made his first Grapefruit League start of the spring and went 4 2/3 innings, throwing 73 pitches against a Cardinals lineup featuring six regulars. The right-hander, whose debut was delayed by a stress fracture in his ring finger, allowed two runs on five hits and struck out four. One of the runs charged to Scherzer came after he departed in the fifth, when reliever Joe Nathan surrendered three straight RBI hits to pad the...

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter
JUPITER, Fla. - You wouldn't have thought it would take until March 22 for Max Scherzer to make his first Grapefruit League start of the spring, but here we are nonetheless. The Nationals ace was delayed by a stress fracture in his right ring finger, one that forced him to alter his grip and progress on a slower path than the other starters in camp. But Scherzer at last is ready to go, having successfully pitched three innings in a minor league game last week. He'll face the Cardinals today...

Lee injury in ninth puts damper on otherwise clean game

Lee injury in ninth puts damper on otherwise clean game
JUPITER, Fla. - This was shaping up to be an entirely positive afternoon for the Nationals, who got three scoreless (and efficient) innings from Gio González and then five more scoreless innings from a parade of relievers to carry a 1-0 lead over the Cardinals into the bottom of the ninth at Roger Dean Stadium. And then things took a decided turn for the worse. St. Louis' Patrick Wisdom launched a game-tying home run to left to lead off the inning, leaving the game suddenly tied 1-1. Then...

González tosses quick three innings vs. Cards (it's a 1-1 final)

González tosses quick three innings vs. Cards (it's a 1-1 final)
NATIONALS QUICK WRAP SCORE: Nationals 1, Cardinals 1 Recap: Gio Gonzalez cruised through three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk and using two double-play grounders to help him record nine outs on only 29 pitches. Wilmer Difo produced the game's first run thanks to a single, two bases advanced on Lance Lynn's wild pickoff throw and Grant Green's RBI groundout. The Nationals bullpen put up more zeroes to protect the 1-0 lead, with Joe Nathan, Matt Albers, Jimmy Cordero and...

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter

Starting lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals in Jupiter
JUPITER, Fla. - It's another windy day in South Florida, and just like yesterday in West Palm Beach the wind is blowing straight in from center field. Pitchers love it. Hitters and fielders, not so much. The Nationals face the Cardinals for the second straight day, merely moving the venue 15 minutes north to Roger Dean Stadium. There aren't many regulars on the trip, but Ryan Zimmerman is in the lineup for the second straight day, this time serving as designated hitter. Clint Robinson, who...

Strasburg ditches windup and likes the results

Strasburg ditches windup and likes the results
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - It may look a bit odd - pitching from the stretch, not a full windup, when there's nobody on base - but in Stephen Strasburg's mind, if that unconventional tweak can help make him a healthier and more effective pitcher, why not give it a shot? "I'm not trying to reinvent myself," the Nationals right-hander said today after debuting his windup-less delivery during an impressive two-inning start against the Cardinals, "but trying to simplify things as much as I can...

Sans windup, Strasburg cruises in spring debut (Nats split a pair)

Sans windup, Strasburg cruises in spring debut (Nats split a pair)
NATIONALS QUICK WRAPScore: Nationals (ss) 8, Marlins 5 Recap: Jhonathan Solano's two-run single capped a four-run seventh inning as the Nationals rallied past the Marlins. ... Right-hander A.J. Cole started and was battered for six hits and four runs (three earned) in three innings, with his ERA zooming to 13.50. Need to know: Wilmer Difo, a career infielder, made his first appearance in the outfield when he subbed for center fielder Adam Eaton. The Nationals are hoping to increase Difo's...

Starting lineups: Nats split-squad vs. Cardinals and Marlins

Starting lineups: Nats split-squad vs. Cardinals and Marlins
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Nationals play their first split-squad games of the spring today, with one team staying home to face the Cardinals while another team makes the short drive up to Jupiter to face the Marlins. The home game features three notable Grapefruit League debuts: Stephen Strasburg on the mound, Ryan Zimmerman at first base and Pedro Severino behind the plate. Strasburg and Zimmerman's debuts were merely held back because of the long spring; Severino was dealing with a minor...

Roark on pitching in the WBC, Turner on homering vs. Cards

Roark on pitching in the WBC, Turner on homering vs. Cards
JUPITER, Fla. - When Tanner Roark was offered a chance this winter to pitch in the World Baseball Classic, the right-hander didn't have to think twice before saying yes. Never mind whatever concerns others may have about the injury risk of pitchers participating in the quadrennial international tournament. This was an opportunity to wear the uniform for Team USA and face elite competition, and Roark wasn't about to turn that down. "That's one hell of a thing, to represent where you're...

Roark tosses three scoreless in tune-up for WBC (Nats lose 5-4)

Roark tosses three scoreless in tune-up for WBC (Nats lose 5-4)
NATIONALS QUICK WRAP Score: Cardinals 5, Nationals 4 Recap: Tanner Roark cruised through three scoreless innings, striking out four and needing only 37 pitches to do it against a Cardinals lineup featuring mostly regulars. Trea Turner launched his first homer of the spring, a solo shot to left off right-hander Jack Flaherty. Chris Heisey, Jhonatan Solano and Derek Norris hit successive singles in the bottom of the second to produce a run. Brandon Snyder drove in two more later to extend the...

Ramos parlays video study with daughter into big day at plate

Ramos parlays video study with daughter into big day at plate
Wilson Ramos was playing with his 20-month-old daughter Saturday night, impressed with her ability to operate an iPad. Somehow, she managed to change the cartoon she was watching into a video clip of a certain Nationals catcher hitting a home run at Wrigley Field earlier this month. "For some reason, she was pointing it out and saying: 'Daddy! Daddy!' " Ramos said through interpreter Octavio Martinez. "Kind of like saying: 'This is you.' For whatever reason today, I took that same...

Harper, Ramos deliver during three-run rally (Nats win 10-2)

Harper, Ramos deliver during three-run rally (Nats win 10-2)
The Nationals have nearly been no-hit by Michael Wacha before. They certainly didn't want to find themselves in that same boat today, so it's safe to say they breathed a sigh of relief when Michael A. Taylor broke up the right-hander's shot at history before things started to get too serious. And then it's safe to say they were downright giddy when Taylor's double in the bottom of the fourth set the table for a three-run rally that has given them a 3-1 lead. Taylor's leadoff double...

Game 51 lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals

Game 51 lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals
Since the Nationals have lost only three series this season, this isn't a familiar position for them today, needing to beat the Cardinals to salvage a four-game split and avoid a 2-5 homestand. So there's a little bit of pressure on them this afternoon after back-to-back losses. The good news: Stephen Strasburg is pitching for the Nats, and he has been fantastic, with eight quality starts in 10 tries this season. In seven of those starts, he has allowed two or fewer earned runs. Five times he...

Gonzalez down on himself for inability to give bullpen a break

Gonzalez down on himself for inability to give bullpen a break
Pitchers can live with the hits they surrender, even the home runs. What they can't live with are the walks they issue that drive up their pitch count and prevent them from reaching the game's latter innings. So when Gio Gonzalez was upset with himself following the Nationals' 9-4 loss to the Cardinals tonight, it wasn't so much because of the six runs he surrendered via a flurry of two-out hits (including one by opposing pitcher Adam Wainwright). It was because he couldn't even complete...

Cardinals pile up early runs off Gonzalez (Nats lose 9-4)

Cardinals pile up early runs off Gonzalez (Nats lose 9-4)
As he walked off the mound following a dominant top of the first, having struck out all three batters he faced on 15 pitches, Gio Gonzalez had the look of a pitcher primed for a big night. As he walked off the same mound following a disastrous top of the second, having allowed four runs on 40 pitches, Gonzalez had the look of a pitcher primed for a long night. Suffice it to say that things escalated quickly here at Nationals Park, where the Cardinals lead 5-2. The Cardinals rocked Gonzalez...

Nationals hope Rendon stays red-hot after rare day off

Nationals hope Rendon stays red-hot after rare day off
Dusty Baker likes to plan days off for his regulars well in advance, giving them plenty of time to prepare. So there was nothing unusual about Baker's conversation with Anthony Rendon at the start of the week, during which the Nationals manager told his third baseman he'd be getting Saturday night off. "I told him Monday or Tuesday. I told him he'd be off Saturday," Baker said. "So I said: 'Give me all you've got until your day off on Saturday.' And he did." Did he ever. Rendon has...

Game 50 lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals

Game 50 lineups: Nats vs. Cardinals
It's a hot, muggy Saturday here in the District, as sure a sign as we've experienced yet that summer has arrived. Which, the Nationals can only hope, means the ball is going to fly out of the park tonight. Dusty Baker has insisted all along he thinks he's got a warm-weather lineup. We saw it earlier in the week when the Nats hit five homers on another warm night. We'll see if it holds true tonight. That Nationals lineup will be facing an ace in Adam Wainwright, though this isn't the...

Baker, Scherzer take exception with ump's late timeout calls

Baker, Scherzer take exception with ump's late timeout calls
Max Scherzer likes to try to disrupt the timing of opposing batters and baserunners. He's perfectly content to hold the ball in the set position for three, four, even five seconds, hoping to catch somebody napping. Because of that, Scherzer has become quite accustomed to the opposition calling for time, stepping out of the box and hitting the reset button. And he takes no issue with any batter who does that. He did, however, take exception with plate umpire Alan Porter's decision twice during...

Walks, grand slam define Scherzer's latest confounding start

Walks, grand slam define Scherzer's latest confounding start
Max Scherzer's postgame media sessions so far this season can easily be separated into two groups. He's either asked: 1) What allowed him to be so dominant on that particular night, or 2) Why does he continue to give up significant home runs at the worst possible time? There has been precious little middle ground with Scherzer through the first two months of 2016. Sometimes he looks like the best pitcher on the planet. Sometimes he looks like the most-hittable pitcher on the planet. He rarely...