Around the NL East: Breakups at the bottom

   USA Today Sports Images

By Steve Roney

CSNwashington.com

Atlanta Braves (51-38)

Would you have picked the Braves to lead the NL East for pretty much the entire first half of the season, and yet produce only one All-Star? Stranger things have happened, sure, but unless first baseman Freddie Freeman can continue to hold off Dodger wunderkind Yasiel Puig in the Final Vote, Craig Kimbrel will be the lone Brave in New York for the Midsummer Classic. Still, outside of Freeman and Mike Minor, there aren't many with legitimate gripes. So far, the sum is greater than the parts in Atlanta.

The outfield for the ages that hasn't yet materialized, though they will likely earn a bit of ignominy, as both Upton brother are almost a lock to hit 100 strikeouts by the All-Star break. Second baseman Dan Uggla more than beat them there, currently sitting with 111, though he does lead the team with 16 home runs. Chris Johnson continues to be a nice surprise, and Brian McCann is mashing like it's 2009 since his delayed debut. 

Player of the Week: McCann, C: 6 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .500 AVG

Around the NL East: Walk-off wins

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By Steve Roney
CSNwashington.com

Though the standings remain unchanged, the dogfight between the Nationals and Phillies for second place is perhaps the most intriguing story in an otherwise underwhelming division. Can the Nats finally shape up and pull away? How long can Domonic Brown prop up the Phillies? Both teams could still catch the first place Braves, of course, but as the mercury rises neither team really feels up to the challenge.

Atlanta Braves (42 - 28)

Freddie Freeman's two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth last night gave the Braves a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Mets, as well as a three-game winning streak after dropping four straight. Oddly enough, the Braves have lost in bunches this season, with five losing streaks of at least three games, though they've counterbalanced those skids with winning streaks of ten, eight, and five games. And yes, if you throw out their 13-2 start, they're just 29-26 since -- but those first 15 games count for just as much as the last 15, and the lead they have is the biggest in baseball. They say that what matters most is how your finish, and not how you start...but if you sprint out of the gate faster than anyone else, sometimes you can coast to the finish line. Ask Usain Bolt.

Aside from Freeman, who has proven to be far and away Atlanta's best hitter, the catching duo of Evan Gattis and Brian McCann has been impressively powerful (a combined 21 home runs and 51 RBI), and Chris Johnson has given them good production at third. The expected boost provided by starter Brandon Beachy will have to wait a bit, however, as word came today that he's been scratched from a doubleheader start against New York this afternoon. An MRI was negative, showing only fluid in his surgically repaired elbow, but the Braves can wait to debut Beachy with five good-or-better starters already in the mix.

Around the NL East: Brown breaking out

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By Steve Roney
CSNwashington.com

After a brief hiatus last week, the NL East roundup is back, with much to cover. While there's been some minor action in the standings, with the Phillies briefly overtaking the Nats for second place only to concede it again days later, the big stories are the individual ones, the most notable of which concerns an outfielder in Philadelphia who really digs the long ball.

Atlanta Braves (39-25)

After a mid-spring lull, the Braves have fully regained their commanding lead, lording a seven-game advantage over the rest of the division -- the biggest margin between first and second place in the major leagues. Big bat Evan Gattis has tied Justin Upton, who's bat feel completely silent in the month of May, for the team lead in home runs with 14, and Dan Uggla has continued his all-or-nothing ways with 13 homers and a .195 average.

After tinkering with his swing a bit, B.J. Upton has "broken out" by upping his season totals to six home runs and a .165 average, a 20-point improvement since the dawn of June. His mate in the outfield, Jason Heyward, has begun to warm as well, raising his totals to five and .207, respectively. While they provide a boost to the offense (however long that may last), Atlanta's impressive rotation will benefit even further from the return of Brandon Beachy, set to come off the DL and make his season debut on June 18 in a doubleheader against the Mets -- barring any setbacks in his final rehab start in Triple-A Gwinnett between now and then.

Player of the Week: Heyward, OF: 6 R, 2 HR, 2 R, .414 AVG

State of the Nats-5/6

Photo by USA Today

Team Record: 17-15 (8-8)

N.L. East Standings

Offensive Game of the Week: Ryan Zimmerman 5/4 vs. Pirates – 1-for-2 with 3 R, 3B, 2 BB, HBP

Pitching Line of the Week:  Jordan Zimmermann 5/1 vs. Braves – 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 8 SO, 107 pitches (72 strikes)

Top Storylines

Jayson Werth’s hamstring – Last year it was obliques that Nats

State of the Nats-4/15

Photo by USA Today

Team Record: 7-5 (3-3)

N.L. East Standings

Offensive Game of the Week: Adam LaRoche 4/9 vs. White Sox – 2-for-4 with 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Pitching Line of the Week: Ross Detwiler 4/12 vs. Braves – 7.0 IP, ER, 5 SO, 4 H, 2 BB, HR, 90 pitches (58 strikes)

Top Storylines

Wilson Ramos pulls hamstring – In the second game of their series with the Braves, the Nationals suffered their first injury to a major contributor this season. Ramos pulled his left hamstring running out a groundball for the third out of the eighth inning. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list as the Nationals brought up Jhonatan Solano from Triple-A Syracuse. The team is lucky to have Kurt Suzuki in store ready to start in his absence.

VIDEO: Predicting the NL and AL East

On Thursday night's The Baseball Show Mark, Rob Carlin, and Jim Duquette made their predictions for how the N.L. East will shake out. And because the show also covers the Orioles, they took a stab at the A.L. East as well. Check it out and let us know if you agree.

Most significant moments: The clincher

Photo by Bob Youngentob / CSNwashington.com

Even in defeat, the Nationals clinched the NL East title on Oct. 1.

As we count down the final days of 2012, we're also counting down the Nationals' five most significant moments of the year. It all culminates on Dec. 31 with your vote for the most significant moment of 2012. Today we focus on Moment No. 3: The Nats' clinching of their first NL East title...

This city waited 79 years to experience something like this, the local ballclub popping champagne corks and celebrating a championship. So when it finally happened Oct. 1, it mattered not one bit to the Nationals nor their fans that it happened in spite of a loss.

Decades from now, few will remember that the Nationals clinched their first NL East title -- the first baseball title of any kind for a Washington major-league team since 1933 -- by virtue of the Braves losing 2-1 to the Pirates only moments before the Nats were shut out by the Phillies, 2-0.

"The way it happened tonight, it doesn't matter," a soaked Ryan Zimmerman said on the field at Nationals Park some 45 minutes

Evaluating the NL East

USA Today Sports Images

R.A. Dickey's trade to Toronto makes the Mets better down the road, but not in 2013.

We're roughly halfway through the offseason, and though there are still plenty of significant decisions to be made before pitchers and catchers report for spring training, most teams' rosters already resemble something close to what they will in 2013.

It's been a particularly eventful Hot Stove League so far in the NL East, with all five clubs making major moves to reshape their rosters (some for the better, some for the worse).

The Nationals, actually, have been the least active team in the division, their only big-league acquisitions so far coming in the forms of Dan Haren and Denard Span. Of course, no team in the East entered the offseason with as few question marks, who were aggressive in plugging two of their only roster holes.

The Braves and Phillies have been a bit more active, trying to make the additions that will catapult them ahead of the division's new powerhouse. The Mets and Marlins, meanwhile, have been in

Beast of the East

Associated Press photo

Mike Rizzo and his Nationals celebrate after clinching the NL East title.

Updated at 1:35 a.m.

They stood out there on the field during the top of the ninth inning, trying to keep their focus on whichever Phillies player had stepped into the batter's box. Really, though, everyone with the Washington Nationals -- and everyone in the crowd of 35,387 -- was focused on the upper left-hand corner of the out-of-town scoreboard in right field, where their true fate was being determined.

Two hundred forty-six miles away in Pittsburgh, the Atlanta Braves were down to their final out, unexpectedly trailing the Pirates 2-1 and desperately trying to rally, a man on first and Brian McCann at the plate during an at-bat that seemed to take 79 years to be completed.

"We were out there for the top half, and it flashes up there that there's two outs with a man on first," right fielder Jayson Werth said. "And we played the whole inning with two outs and a man on first!"

Then Drew Storen got Domonic Brown to ground out to second just as Jared Hughes got McCann to tap a comebacker for the final out at PNC Park, and suddenly a wild celebration was underway in Washington, even though the home team was on the verge of a 2-0 loss to its hated rivals.

"We came in the dugout, and all the fans were going nuts," Werth said. "So we started going nuts. I don't know if we even knew."
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Nats, 'Sun Monster' get revenge

Photo by AP

Playing at home against the Brewers with the Atlanta Braves enjoying a day off, the Nationals were given a chance to create some separation and lower their magic number to win the division to five. The previous day they had lost to Milwaukee with the help of a few unfortunate encounters with the sun on outfield fly balls. But on this day, it was the Brewers who felt its wrath.

“You know, you gotta be lucky. We were lucky today. It really probably cost them the game today and cost us the game yesterday,” Jayson Werth said.

“I don't remember a worse sun field, worse sun conditions. Left field in San Fran is tough, but this borders on ridiculous. I’ve never seen anything like it. You almost don’t have a chance out there as the game goes on.”

Not only was Werth one of the Nationals players who lost a ball in the sun in Sunday’s loss, it was he who hit the fly ball that Carlos Gomez lost in Monday’s 12-2 win. 

Werth stepped to the plate in the fourth inning to face Brewers starter Marco Estrada with Jordan Zimmermann on second and Kurt Suzuki on first. He popped a towering fly ball to center field where Gomez jogged in to get under it. Gomez sidestepped slowly before realizing he had lost it and ended up diving in a last attempt to catch the ball. Both men on base scored as the Nationals took a 4-1 lead.

2nd half storylines: The pennant race

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Will the Nats get to celebrate D.C.'s first postseason berth since 1933?

The Nationals open tomorrow what promises to be the most compelling second half to a season since the franchise arrived in town in 2005, owners of the NL's best record but saddled with several major questions that need to be answered.

Today we're counting down the five most significant storylines to the remainder of the Nationals' season. Last up is storyline No. 1: The race to reach the postseason for the first time since the franchise arrived in town...

At what point does a pennant race truly begin? When is it OK to start watching the out-of-town scoreboard? To start calculating magic numbers?

This is uncharted territory for the Nationals, who haven't found themselves even on the fringes of contention since their inaugural 2005 season. And it's completely uncharted territory for just about any fan of Washington baseball, unless there's anyone still around who remembers the 1945 Senators, the last D.C.-based club to miss the postseason by