Marathon men

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ATLANTA — Their starting pitcher had departed some 4 1/2 hours earlier, ejected after plunking a batter in the first inning and then losing all semblance of his command in the second. Their manager had been ejected, too, not to mention their left fielder later in the evening.

Eight relievers (one of them actually a starter) had cobbled together 14 innings of work, though the last six of those innings wouldn't have been necessary had their closer recorded one more out in the bottom of the ninth.

Their star 20-year-old, scratched from the lineup earlier in the day with a bruised left triceps muscle after getting drilled by a pitch the previous night, had been forced into action late.

Then again, pretty much everyone in uniform was forced into action for this 5-hour, 29-minute marathon, with 44 of the 50 active players on the two rosters appearing in the game.

So when it finally ended, when Adam LaRoche had homered in the top of the 15th and Dan Haren had pitched the bottom of the inning — in the rain — to earn the first save of his 11-year career, the Nationals could only sit back and enjoy the feeling that comes only after you pull off an 8-7 victory over your fiercest rivals.

"Golly," LaRoche sighed. "What a battle."
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All-too-familiar result

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At the end of a brutally frustrating, brutally long and brutally hot Saturday night at the ballpark, one that concluded with an all-too-familiar-result for the home ballclub, the question seemed less to be how the Nationals lost yet another low-scoring game but how they intend to keep themselves from imploding to the point this season no longer becomes salvageable.

It's one thing to lose baseball games. It's another to keep losing them over and over and over in the same fashion, wasting brilliant pitching performances and squandering scoring opportunities left and right.

Add Saturday's 3-1, 10-inning loss to the Dodgers to the ever-growing list of candidates for "Most Frustrating Loss of the Year." Just don't expect the Nationals to succumb to the frustration and take it out on each other.

"I think we're doing fine," shortstop Ian Desmond when asked about the state of clubhouse morale. "I don't think you could do any better than what we're doing. I think a lot of teams, under the situation that we're in, would probably be a little bit more distressed inside the clubhouse than what we've been. I think we're doing a pretty good job, and I think that will pay off in the end."
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Nats who's hot/who's not-7/3

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Record: 3-3

Runs per game: 5.3

Opponent runs per game: 3.8

Team ERA: 3.09

HOT:

Stephen Strasburg, SP - 0-0, 1.29 ERA, 2 ER, 9 H, 12 SO, 14.0 IP

Strasburg has seen the worst run support of any starter in the majors this season and it's not even that close. On Tuesday he turned in another fantastic start, but came away with a no decision. Against the Brewers he pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out eight, lowering his season ERA to 2.24. That's the fifth best mark in the majors and should put Strasburg into prime position for his second All-Star selection, regardless of his record.

Gio Gonzalez, SP – 2-0, 1.35 ERA, 2 ER, 12 H, 11 SO, 13.1 IP

Gonzalez, much like Stephen Strasburg, has quietly recovered from an uncharacteristic start to the season. After sitting with a 4.20 ERA

A gut-check win

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Craig Stammen retired all 12 batters he faced to earn the win.

ATLANTA — Already missing their best young player, their veteran leader, their top catcher and one member of their rotation, the Nationals took the field Friday night at Turner Field understanding how much was, and is, at stake this weekend against a Braves club that entered play with a 5 1/2-game lead on them in the NL East.

And then Stephen Strasburg departed after only two innings with a strained right oblique muscle, and suddenly a Nationals club that had been furiously trying to tread water for two months now looked on the verge of sinking below sea level.

The best ballclubs, though, have to overcome adversity somewhere along the way, and what better place for the Nationals to start than right here and right now, their season on the brink of major calamity?

So it was that Craig Stammen produced an emergency relief appearance for the ages — 12 batters faced, 12 batters retired — and a struggling lineup manufactured three early runs and a maligned bullpen hung on for dear life over the final three innings to pull out a 3-2 victory that felt like something far more significant than a run-of-the-mill win on the final day of May.

"It was an outstanding effort, and a big win," manager Davey Johnson said. "We needed it bad."
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Instant analysis: Nats 3, Braves 2

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Denard Span slides into third base on one of his two triples tonight.

Game in a nutshell: The opener of a crucial series for the Nationals against a Braves team standing in its path in the NL East got off to what looked like a disastrous start from Washington's perspective. Stephen Strasburg was pulled after two innings with what a source familiar with the situation called a "muscular issue in his lower back." Strasburg clearly wasn't happy when told by manager Davey Johnson and pitching coach Steve McCatty he would be leaving the game,but the club decided not to take any chances. That put a tremendous strain on the Nationals bullpen, but Craig Stammen saved the day with four perfect innings in emergency relief of Strasburg. A pair of triples by Denard Span, a pair of sacrifice flies by Steve Lombardozzi and a manufactured runs in the bottom of the second gave the Nationals a 3-1 lead entering the seventh. Tyler Clippard made things very interesting when he allowed one run before loading the bases, only to strike out Dan Uggla and Chris Johnson to escape the jam. Drew Storen then pitched a scoreless eighth, setting the stage for Rafael Soriano to finish this off in the ninth. With that stress-filled victory, the Nationals climbed back over the .500 mark and drew to within 4 1/2 games of the Braves.

Hitting highlight: Too often, the Nationals have tried to generate offense with power. Tonight, they decided to manufacture their

Detwiler on track; bullpen concerns

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Ross Detwiler threw a bullpen session on Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park, keeping him on track to return on Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles. The lefty has been sidelined with a mild oblique strain after aggravating the muscle on May 15 against in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

Detwiler took the field around 2:45 to stretch, threw some longball, and then went about his bullpen session as if it were any other.

“It was a normal bullpen session. The only difference was I sat down halfway through there for about five minutes to simulate an inning, and then I got back up and threw and everything was good.”

Detwiler feels fine, no soreness or pain to report on. He missed one start, but is ready to slot right back into the rotation.

“Any time you get healthy again it’s definitely going to be a relief. But the thing [is] I kind of went and threw a little harder today than I normally would just so I wouldn’t have any, I wouldn’t hold back anything. I proved to myself that I was healthy and I’m ready to go.”

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From potential devastation to pure elation

Associated Press

Craig Stammen and Wilson Ramos celebrate the end of a wild victory.

CINCINNATI -- The line between a postgame clubhouse thumping with music, laughter and good vibes following a big win and a postgame clubhouse silent with players mulling around while questioning their ability to bounce back from a bad loss is razor-thin.

The scene underneath the third-base stands at Great American Ball Park late Saturday afternoon could have been one of dismay, of soul-searching, perhaps even underlying panic. The Nationals, fresh off a record-setting, 15-0 thumping at the hands of the Reds, had just blown a 5-1 lead late and were on the verge of dropping their second straight game in demoralizing fashion.

But the moment Craig Stammen got Jay Bruce to whiff at a curveball with the tying run on second base in the bottom of the 11th inning of a wild afternoon on the banks of the Ohio River, none of that mattered. Inside the clubhouse minutes later, the music blared, everybody was in a joyous mood and whatever blemishes there were during this 7-6 victory seemed insignificant in the bigger picture.

What if the Nationals had lost?

"I don't even want to think about that," right fielder Jayson Werth said. "Obviously, it would be drastically different. What I liked about the game is we continued to fight."
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VIDEOS: A different Nats in 2013

In this video Mark reports on the Nationals entering 2013 with a new perspective after making the playoffs and falling short in such dramatic fashion. He speaks with Jayson Werth, Jordan Zimmermann, and Steve McCatty among others on how much the young players learned from their first experience in postseason baseball.



In this second video, Mark called in to Geico SportsNet Central to compare and contrast the personalities of Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg. He goes into how Harper is already beginning to transcend baseball and could become the player everyone associates with the Nationals.

Please also check out these stories from CSNwashington.com:

**Danny Espinosa: 'The shoulder feels unbelievable'
**Nats to face Nolasco on Opening Day

Five unsung heroes

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Ryan Mattheus should be a key contributor out of the bullpen again this year.

There will be no shortage of star power inside the clubhouse or on the field at Space Coast Stadium once spring training commences for the Nationals next week. Stephen Strasburg. Bryce Harper. Ryan Zimmerman. Jayson Werth. Gio Gonzalez. Ian Desmond. Adam LaRoche. Dan Haren. This team certainly isn't lacking in notoriety.

Davey Johnson, though, takes every opportunity he gets to point out the importance of all 25 men on his roster contributing to a winning ballclub. And as we saw last season, there were all sorts of key role players without whom the Nats would not have won their first NL East title.

With that in mind, let's focus today on five guys who won't draw nearly as much attention as their big-name teammates this spring yet all could play significant roles on a club with realistic World Series visions...

ROGER BERNADINA
The longest-tenured player in the organization -- he was signed out of Curacao way back in 2001, when the franchise still called

6 of 7 arbitration-eligible players sign

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Ross Detwiler agreed to a one-year, $2.3375 million contract.

Updated at 4:03 p.m.

It's deadline day for all arbitration-eligible players to either come to terms on 2013 contracts with their clubs or else submit competing offers to Major League Baseball in advance of hearings next month.

Which isn't to say this is a hard-and-fast deadline, because the two sides are still allowed to negotiate with each other before those hearings ever take place. But there will some significant motivation to get deals done today and avoid the whole, messy arbitration process altogether.

The Nationals have seven arbitration-eligible players this season: Drew Storen (who signed a $2.5 million contract with incentives last night), Ross Detwiler, Jordan Zimmermann, Ian Desmond, Tyler Clippard, Craig Stammen and Roger Bernadina.

Detwiler became the first member of the group to sign today, agreeing to a one-year, $2.3375 million contract that also includes incentives, according to his agency (CAA, which also represents

Detwiler, Stammen join USO tour

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Ross Detwiler caught Gen. Martin Dempsey's pitch before Game 5 of the NLDS.

When newlyweds Ross and Keri Detwiler boarded a plane for Hawaii last week, neither could have anticipated a development that would force them to cut their honeymoon short.

Certainly not a development that included a seven-day, four-country tour of military bases alongside the most powerful general in the U.S. Army.

"When I got the phone call, I just said: 'I'm going to drop everything I can and make sure I can go on this,'" Detwiler said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You never know if you're going to be able to do something like this again."

The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? A chance for Detwiler and fellow Nationals pitcher Craig Stammen to join Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other celebrities on the

Nats breakout stars of 2012

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As the true breakout team of the 2012 MLB season, the Washington Nationals benefitted from a lot of players performing above expectations. The Nats saw injuries to nearly every key player early in the season and had to rely on depth and in some cases guys who weren’t intended to play major roles.

Along the way, several Washington players had what can be called breakout seasons. Some played above what was expected of them, and some finally reached the potential people always thought they had.

Here are a few that legitimately became break out stars for the Nationals:

SS Ian Desmond - .292/.335/.511 – 25 HR – 73 RBI – 72 R – 21 SB

The talent was always there with Desmond, but the shortstop didn’t put it all together until 2012. He cut down his errors in the field to become one of the game’s best defensive shortstops and raised his offensive numbers all around. Desmond lost out on the Gold Glove award, but won a Silver Slugger award and may get MVP votes. A case could also be made he was the best overall shortstop of the 2012 campaign.

SP Ross Detwiler – 10-8 – 3.40 ERA – 105 SO – 1.223 WHIP – 164.1 IP

Detwiler was the 6th overall pick in 2007 and before 2012 hadn’t established himself as the reliable starter Washington had hoped he would be. He wasn’t expected to be in the rotation at the beginning of the season and spent time in the bullpen, but through the year proved consistent and sometimes even dominant. His stellar playoff performance in Game 4 of the NLDS further guaranteed his spot as a core player for the Nationals in the future.

OF Bryce Harper - .270/.340/.477 – 22 HR – 59 RBI – 98 R – 18 SB

Considered a ‘can’t miss’ prospect, Harper was expected to be a good major league player. But being called up in April and thriving from the start was not predicted by many. The former number one overall pick immediately showed he belonged and finished the season as the National League Rookie of the Year. He had perhaps the best season ever for a teenage position player and could reach another level as soon as next season.

Position analysis: Bullpen

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Drew Storen will try to bounce back from his blown save in Game 5 of the NLDS.

As we transition into offseason mode, we'll start by breaking down the Nationals' roster by position (infield, outfield, catcher, rotation and bullpen) this week and examine where things stand at season's end and where things might stand moving forward. Today's position: The bullpen...

RHP DREW STOREN
Stats: 3-1, 2.37 ERA, 4 SV, 30.1 IP, 0.989 WHIP, 7.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9
0.7 WAR
2012 salary: $498,750
Contract status: Arbitration-eligible (Super 2), free agent in 2017
Where he fits in: Everything was going swimmingly for Storen, who had finally made it all the way back from his elbow surgery and had pitched brilliantly down the stretch. Over a 17-inning stretch from Sept. 3 through Game 4 of the NLDS, he allowed one run on nine hits, walking only one batter while striking out 17. But then came his disastrous ninth inning in Game 5, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth for the winter. Can Storen bounce back from that crushing loss? He certainly seems to have the right mindset to do it. And the Nationals certainly have confidence in the young right-hander to return to form.

RHP TYLER CLIPPARD
Stats: 2-6, 3.72 ERA, 32 SV, 72.2 IP, 1.156 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, 3.6 BB/9

Who starts on Sunday?

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Craig Stammen is a candidate to start Sunday's game against the Brewers.

Perhaps the most significant domino effect of yesterday's doubleheader against the Dodgers is the fact the Nationals will need to find a fill-in starter for Sunday's game against the Brewers.

Not wanting to bring back either Jordan Zimmermann or John Lannan on short rest, manager Davey Johnson has said he'll use someone out of his bullpen, almost certainly a right-hander (to combat Milwaukee's right-handed-heavy lineup).

The two prime candidates, then, are Chien-Ming Wang and Craig Stammen, creating a bit of a dilemma for Johnson.

Wang, obviously, has more experience as a starter, both over his career and over this season. But the veteran has been plagued by injuries and until last night hadn't appeared in any game at any level since a

Nats bullpen reads Fifty Shades of Grey