Around the NL East: A week of chin music

Photo by USA Today

By Steve Roney

CSNwashington.com

Yeah, the Braves have widened their division lead, which at 16 games is more than double the next most-substantial margin: LA's 7.5-game lead over Arizona. That just sets up the rest of the division to play a very underrated late-summer role: that of the spoiler. Washington, New York, and Philadelphia can still make things difficult for more than a few wild card hopefuls.

Atlanta Braves (76-48)

That's enough, guys. Ryan Dempster grouping four fastballs around Alex Rodriguez's trunk is one thing -- whether or not you agree with plunking batters to send a message, I think it's close to a consensus that if anyone in the major leagues has it coming, it's A-Rod. Bryce Harper, though? The 20-year-old didn't deserve three in his ribs over the course of three games with the Braves. You're 16 games up, Atlanta, a fact that is tearing Harper and his teammates up -- hit him once maybe, but shouldn't that be enough?

Despite their league-best record and the 4-1 week they just completed, the Braves are hurting a tad. Second baseman Dan Uggla landed on the DL in order to have LASIK eye surgery; incredibly, he hopes to be back in the lineup not long after becoming eligible. With a .186 average, anything should help. Brian McCann is also a bit banged up, but if any team can absorb the absence of a catcher it's the Braves, who have Evan Gattis and Gerald Laird in the wings. 

Player of the Week: Justin Upton, OF: 4 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, .333 AVG, .524 OBP

Werth: "I love playing" for Manuel

USA Today Sports Images

ATLANTA — Jayson Werth openly admits he is the player he is today in large because of Charlie Manuel. So when asked today whether he'd like for the suddenly available Manuel to manage the Nationals next season, the veteran right fielder didn't hide his feelings.

"Oh, of course," Werth said this afternoon. "I don't know if he fits into the organization's plan or whatever. But I mean, I love playing for the guy."

Fired by the Phillies today after a 4-19 stretch since the All-Star break, Manuel now finds himself out of work after 12 years managing in Cleveland and Philadelphia, posting a 1,000-826 record, winning six division titles and a World Series. The 69-year-old said he would need some time to contemplate his future, but his name could surface as a candidate to replace Davey Johnson in 2014.

Werth said he spoke to Manuel earlier this season and asked his former skipper about his future plans.

"He guaranteed me he would be managing somewhere next year," Werth said. "This was probably ... I think I was on the DL in May when I talked to him. We'll see. Time changes things. But at the time when I talked to him then, he was adamant he wanted to manage."
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Charlie Manuel out as Phillies manager

Photo by USA Today

Falling short of expectations for a second consecutive season, the Philadelphia Phillies are letting go of longtime manager Charlie Manuel. 

The firing was first reported by CSN Philly’s Jim Salisbury after the Phillies announced an impromptu news conference on Friday afternoon.

Manuel leaves the Phillies after taking them to a World Series title in 2008 and a National League pennant the following season. In nine years with the Phillies he never had a losing season and won at least 90 games four times. This year, however, Philly was sitting in fourth place in the NL East with a 53-67 record.

The Phillies hired Manuel in 2005 after he spent three seasons as manager of the Cleveland Indians. He leaves Philadelphia with a 780-636 (.551) record with the franchise and an even 1000 wins during his career overall.

Around the NL East: Utley stays in Philly

Photo by USA Today

By Steve Roney

CSNwashington.com

An odd pairing has become even more apparent over the past couple weeks, as the Braves have again attained the mantle of the majors' best team, while the rest of the division constitutes baseball's worst. The substantial void between first and second place aside, no other division features just one winning team.

Atlanta Braves (72-47)

Unfortunately, tragedy struck last night in Atlanta, as a man fell some 30-40 feet from the upper deck at Turner Field, and later passed away at Atlanta Medical Center due to the resulting trauma. Rivalries aside, all thoughts should be with the victim's family and loved ones, who are surely enduring the worst moments of their lives. Fatal accidents happen every day, but when associated with a game that bonds and brings joy to so many, the tragedy is almost unthinkable.

Though it feels dwarfed by the events of last night, things on the field for the Braves continue to roll on as efficiently as ever. Though they've dropped a couple of games after reeling off their impressive 14-game winning streak, the Braves' lead now stands at 14 games over the Nationals. Fredi Gonzalez can probably start penciling in his postseason rotation, and use September as a proving ground for the youngsters in Triple-A.

Player of the Week: Jason Heyward, OF: 4 R, 3 2B, 3 RBI, .455 AVG

Werth, Davey leave Nats' win with injuries

Photo by USA Today

Jayson Werth continued his impressive season at the plate on Sunday with his second consecutive three-hit day, raising his average on the year to a whopping .328. But the Nationals’ right fielder later left the game in the sixth inning after banging his right knee sliding into home in the fifth. 

He is now considered day-to-day with a good chance he’ll play Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants.

“It’s okay. Just kinda got caught underneath me on that slide home. Kinda stiffened up a little bit,” he said. 

“Doctors looked at it. I didn’t think it was a big deal. But should be okay. Day off tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll know waking up in the morning, but I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

Werth was treated by team medical director Dr. Wiemi Duougiuh in the game’s later innings and is not expected to receive an MRI. Werth iced it to reduce the swelling and had bandages on the top and bottom of his knee cap afterwards.

"Dr. Wiemi was back there," Davey Johnson said. "Didn't think it was anything other than a pretty good bruise."

Strasburg shuts out Phillies

Photo by USA Today

Stephen Strasburg took the mound on Sunday evening looking to shake off a rocky bullpen session where he didn’t feel he had his best stuff. His catcher, Wilson Ramos, even agreed, calling it a “struggle.”

In the second inning he tweaked his groin and saw trainer Lee Kuntz and pitching coach Steve McCatty meet him at the mound. After seeing Strasburg stumble off the rubber and wince, Ramos thought he would soon leave the game.

And in the fifth inning Strasburg took a 87 mile per hour fastball off his right forearm on a bunt attempt. He stepped out of the batter’s box shaking his wrist to relieve the pain.

But somehow through a variety of obstacles, Strasburg emerged on Sunday with the first complete game of his career and a 6-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Phillies. He struck out ten with just one walk in a true masterpiece, his best outing yet in four MLB seasons. In the ninth and with the shutout near, the crowd of 32,355 gave him a standing ovation and chants of  ‘let’s go Strasburg,’ bringing back memories of his historic professional debut.

While the fastball off his arm may have just plain hurt, the sore groin and bad warmup session might have been blessings in disguise. Not having his best stuff, for instance, helped Strasburg get locked in. He needed only eight pitches in the first inning and all were strikes.

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Game 117: Phillies at Nats

Photo by USA Today

I was talking to a cameraman on the broadcast crew in the elevator up to the pressbox this morning who has been working baseball games for over 25 years, and never has he been to a Sunday baseball game with a 5:05 start. Well, here we go today with a rare evening matchup as the Nats and Phillies face off in a prelude to Sunday Night Baseball.

Stephen Strasburg (5-9. 3.01 ERA) will try and continue his success this season against the Phillies whom he tossed eight innings of one-run ball against on May 26. His career numbers against the Phils aren't quite as pretty with a 4.43 ERA across 22 1/2 total innings. He is making his 23rd start of the season overall.

Pitching for Philly is right-hander Kyle Kendrick who is 10-8 with a 4.36 ERA this season. Kendrick has faced the Nationals three times this season, allowing a combined seven earned runs through 19 2/3 innings. Each of his last outings against Washington (6/19, 7/11) he has lasted at least seven innings with just a run allowed.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the game...

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 5:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 185
Weather: Chance of storms, 84 degrees, Wind 7 mph RF to LF

NATIONALS (56-60)
CF Denard Span
3B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Bryce Harper
RF Jayson Werth
SS Ian Desmond
1B Adam LaRoche
C Wilson Ramos
2B Steve Lombardozzi
RHP Stephen Strasburg

Werth earns well-deserved praise

Associated Press

Jayson Werth has been an easy target for cynical baseball fans, both from within the District and around the sport, since signing a $126 million contract with the Nationals prior to the 2011 season. That contract figure forever will be attached to Werth's name, and even his staunchest supporters will admit he'll never live up to that mammoth number.

Try for a moment, though, to ignore the money and focus simply on what Werth has done on the field for the Nationals, most notably over the last two seasons. His actual contributions have been immense.

"He's doing an unbelievable job leading this team," Bryce Harper said. "It's a lot of fun to watch, being able to see him get hits against unbelievable pitchers and seeing him do his thing."

Washington fans got an opportunity to shower Werth with some well-deserved praise Saturday night when the veteran right fielder reached a personal milestone and delivered the biggest blast of the Nationals' 8-5 victory over the Phillies all with one mighty swing. His two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh highlighted a five-run rally, putting the Nationals ahead for the first time in a game they once trailed 4-0, and represented the 1,000th hit of his career, to boot.

For that, the crowd of 32,676 coaxed Werth out of the dugout for a curtain call.
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Instant analysis: Nats 8, Phillies 5

Associated Press

Game in a nutshell: This one didn't get off to a rousing start from the Nationals' perspective. The Phillies pounced on Taylor Jordan for four runs in the second inning, and the Nationals couldn't get anything going against Cliff Lee early on. But they kept chipping away at the left-hander, scoring twice in the fourth and once more in the sixth to get to Philadelphia's suspect bullpen. Then they really went to work, blasting Jake Diekman and Zach Miner for five runs in the bottom of the seventh, with Bryce Harper notching the tying run on a squeeze bunt and Jayson Werth's putting the Nationals ahead with a two-run homer. Tanner Roark churned out two scoreless innings of relief to earn his first career win. Rafael Soriano then finished it in the ninth, giving the Nationals their second straight win and their first this season when they trailed by at least four runs.

Hitting highlight: It really can't be understated just how good Werth has been over a prolonged stretch. He has now played in 58 games since returning from a hamstring injury on June 2, and

Rendon makes the adjustment

USA Today Sports Images

Throughout his amateur and minor-league career, Anthony Rendon knew he could rely on his natural talent and ability to hit a baseball and thrive at each level of the sport.

But as every rookie major leaguer finds out, talent is only one part of the equation at this level, where pitchers quickly develop a book on every hitter and find ways to exploit weaknesses.

Rendon has experienced this over the last several weeks, and he has embraced the challenge.

"It's been fun. You actually have to put in work," he said. "It's not really just a game any more. You have to figure out how to get better. When you're younger, it comes a little easier for you. But up here they study the game, and that's what's been fun about studying the film, just trying to figure out how to beat those guys."
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Game 116: Phillies at Nats

Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

We don't know exactly when Taylor Jordan's season will come to a premature end, when the Nationals decide to shut down the rookie right-hander just as they did last year with Stephen Strasburg and the year before with Jordan Zimmermann. But the time is drawing close for Jordan, who enters tonight's start against the Phillies sitting on 131 combined innings this season between the majors and minors.

This will be Jordan's eighth big-league start, and perhaps the thing that has stood out most about him to date is his ability to keep the ball in the strike zone. He has issued only seven total walks since arriving in D.C., never more than two in any individual start.

Speaking of control artists, Cliff Lee gets the nod tonight for the Phillies. This is a guy who over his last 111 starts has issued 112 walks. Stop for a moment and think about that. It's mighty impressive.

Updates to come...

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, Ch. 9, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 185
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, Wind 7 mph out to CF

NATIONALS (55-60)
CF Denard Span
3B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Bryce Harper
RF Jayson Werth

The Baseball Show: A wild week

Just because the Nats aren't winning a lot of games, doesn't mean it hasn't been interesting. The last week provided plenty to talk about on Friday's Baseball Show, as Mark, Jim and this week's host Michael Jenkins covered a variety of topics. In the first video above, they talk about Jayson Werth's comments this week and if the Nats should start looking towards next season.

No nostalgia for Lannan in return

Photo by USA Today

After making his return to Nationals Park on Friday night, John Lannan didn’t have much to say about the experience, he wasn’t nostalgic about returning to the mound in D.C. or being in the opposing locker room for the first time in his career.

But if Lannan wasn’t in the mood to talk about those things after his team’s 9-2 loss to the Nationals, that can be understood. The 28-year-old, in fact, put out one of the worst starts of his entire career, allowing a career-high eight earned runs including two homers in the second inning alone. That’s the first time he’s allowed multiple home runs since Aug. 31, 2011 when he was in a Nats’ uniform.

“It just wasn’t a great day,” he said afterwards.

Lannan lasted five innings, surrendering nine hits and five walks. Usually a groundball pitcher who keeps the ball down, Lannan’s fastball kept soaring up in the zone and the Nats took advantage.

Even Adam LaRoche, who entered Friday 0 for 15 against Lannan, got in on the fun. The Nats’ first baseman extended the streak to 16 in the first inning, striking out with the bases loaded and two outs. But he later notched two hits against the deceptive lefty, including an RBI double in the third. 

LaRoche’s second hit was just a two-out single in the fifth, but Lannan saw it as the biggest mistake of the night. LaRoche extended the inning and Lannan promptly unraveled, allowing a total of four runs in the frame, including one on a bases loaded walk to pitcher Dan Haren.

Haren's resurgence continues

USA Today Sports Images

In his absolute lowest moments, Dan Haren never tried to sugarcoat things, never tried to make excuses for his lousy performance, never shied away from the criticism heaped upon him before he was unceremoniously dumped on the disabled list with a dubious physical ailment.

"Baseball is an incredibly humbling game," the veteran right-hander said. "When you're up, it'll just knock you right down. I couldn't have really gotten much lower than I did when I was on the DL. I mean, I was a bad start or two away from getting released, probably. That's just the truth of it, I think. I definitely feel way better the way I'm pitching now. This is more me."

The version of Haren that tossed seven standout innings Friday night during the Nationals' 9-2 thumping of the Phillies, and the version that has consistently pitched well since returning to the active roster one month ago, is exactly the guy the Nats thought they were getting last winter.

It may be too little, too late. But if nothing else, it's restoring Haren's faith in himself, not to mention his teammates' faith in him.
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Instant analysis: Nats 9, Phillies 2

USA Today Sports Images

Game in a nutshell: Maybe the Nationals just need to keep playing sub-.500 teams. Since the All-Star break, they're now 6-2 against the Mets, Brewers and Phillies, but 1-11 against the Dodgers, Pirates, Tigers and Braves. They certainly outmatched Philadelphia tonight, jumping out to an early 4-0 and dealing old pal John Lannan (eight earned runs in five innings) a beating. Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman each homered to get things started, and the hits kept coming after that. Pitching with a big cushion, Dan Haren continued his second-half resurgence, going seven innings to earn the win. The bullpen closed things out with no drama, and the Nationals (and their fans) were able to celebrate a victory once again.

Hitting highlight: The Nationals had two previous cracks at Lannan this season and came away with very little (two runs in 13 innings). But in the first start of his career at Nationals Park in which he wasn't wearing a curly W cap, the left-hander was

Game 115: Phillies at Nats

Photo by USA Today

Tonight the Nationals take on the Philadelphia Phillies to kick off a weekend series, and on the mound will be a familiar face. John Lannan makes his return to Nationals Park, pitching in Washington for the first time since signing a free agent deal with the NL East rivals over the offseason.

Lannan is 3-4 this year with a 4.10 ERA, he's starting to even out to his career averages after starting the season off poorly and dealing with several stints on the disabled list. He's actually facing the Nats for the third time already this season in just his 13th outing of the year. He shut out the Nationals through eight innings in a Phillies' win on July 8 and allowed two runs through five on June 17.

Starting for Washington is Dan Haren who was placed on waivers recently, but remains with the team. The 32-year-old is 5-11 this season with a 5.14 ERA.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the game...

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 183
Weather: Chance of storms, 87 degrees, Wind 13 mph out to CF

NATIONALS (54-60)
CF Denard Span
3B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Bryce Harper
RF Jayson Werth
SS Ian Desmond
1B Adam LaRoche
C Wilson Ramos
2B Anthony Rendon
RHP Dan Haren

Around the NL East: Atlanta surging

Photo by USA Today

By Steve Roney

CSNwashington.com

The Braves have led the division throughout the season, and have enjoyed the biggest division lead in the majors for most of that time -- and now, that lead is twice as large as it has ever been. Only the Nationals, at 54-58, have even the faintest hope of challenging for a playoff spot behind Atlanta.

Atlanta Braves (68-45)

The Braves are blowing everyone out of the water right now, riding the majors' longest current winning streak (11 games) to a silly 13.5-game lead over the second-place Nationals. It's their longest streak of the season, improving their record to baseball's second-best -- just percentage points behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. If the season were a baseball game, Luis Avilan and Craig Kimbrel would be warming in the pen, preparing to slam the door on the rest of the division.

The trends in the lineup remain the same, as Brian McCann, Freddie Freeman, and Chris Johnson continue to bring the wood; early-season feel-good story Evan Gattis has slipped more than a bit, as his 15 home runs are nice, but his on-base percentage has fallen to .299. The loss of Tim Hudson for the remainder of the season hurts a ton, but is not the devastating blow that it would be to most teams, as it almost perfectly coincided with Brandon Beachy's return. Though Beachy has been shaky in his first two post-Tommy John starts, his strikeout rates are right where they need to be, and he should be fine. Atlanta's other alliterative starter, Mike Minor, continues to dazzle, and has been far and away the team's best starter this season.

Player of the Week: McCann, C: 3 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .250 AVG

Miami Marlins (43-67)

You would be hard-pressed to find a more toothless lineup than the one fielded by Miami right now (though, in fairness, they did explode fairly out of nowhere a few days ago in a 10-0 victory over Cleveland). Not a single position player, regardless of the number of at-bats -- whether they have three or 300 -- has an average of .300. The ghost of Placido Polanco leads the regulars with a .257 average, and Giancarlo Stanton -- with just 68 games under his belt -- leads the team with 13 home runs. Only Justin Ruggiano (12) joins him in double digits, and he hasn't hit one in just over a month.

Around the NL East: Deadline time

Photo by USA Today

By Steve Roney
CSNwashington.com

All around baseball, buyers are looking for parts to add and finding few willing trade partners; the second wild card, still a new facet of the game, has widened not only the playoff field but also deepened the pool of teams who believe they have a shot. That likely doesn't apply to most of the NL East, however, as a recent tumble has made Philadelphia realize that it has no business making a run, and also-rans New York and Miami have been out for months already.

Atlanta Braves (61-45)

It's over-simplifying, a bit, to call Atlanta the division's only good team; it's also a pretty fair assumption to make after 100 games have been played. The Braves boast not only the East's only winning record, still, but now lead Washington by nine games. The fat lady isn't warming up her vocal chords just yet, but she's at least going over the sheet music. Atlanta added Scott Downs from the Angels, nabbing that left-handed relief that everyone is looking for at this point in the season and that they sorely needed with Venters and O'Flaherty sidelined. Do they need more help to make the playoffs? No. They should still contemplate a bat, because too many regulars are hitting around .200 for the Braves to truly feel like a championship-caliber club.

One player who is not swinging the cowhide-averse bats apparently favored by the Uptons and Dan Uggla is Chris Johnson, who has manned third base more than admirably for most of the season now. A throw-in at the time, he has been the most productive player acquired from Arizona over the winter, hitting a crisp .338. He offers almost no power for a third baseman, but a .377 OBP forgives a good deal of that. 

Player of the Week: Johnson, 3B: 5 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .476 AVG

Around the NL East: Scuffling starts

Photo by USA Today

By Steve Roney

CSNwashington.com

The Nats aren't the only team that has stumbled out of the second-half gate. Things are worse than ever in Miami, as the Marlins' bats have all but gone on strike, and nobody in the division has fared better than 2-2 since play resumed. The only real action in the standings involves Philadelphia moving into second place ahead of Washington, though their seven-game deficit behind the Braves is a veritable chasm compared with the other division leads around baseball.

Atlanta Braves (56-43)

Freddie Freeman has showed no ill effects from the finger injury that kept him from participating in the All-Star Game, boosting his average with a .400 tear since the meaningful games have returned. Paul Maholm, on the other hand, probably wishes he was still on vacation after he was shelled by several soon-to-be-former White Sox on Saturday, giving up seven earned runs in just three innings. The loss was Maholm's ninth, and he's not the only starter saddled with a relatively high number. Though Atlanta's staff is deep and talented, every member has at least five losses, and only Mike Minor (9-5) has a record much above .500. Odd.

It'll be interesting to see what Atlanta does with the non-waiver trade deadline looming; though they likely don't need more ammo to win the East, they can't reasonably expect to contend for a pennant without an upgrade or two. Lefty relief could be a target, but they may choose to add a bat to help in the outfield. If just one of their current outfield starters plays up to his full potential in the second half, that would more than equate to a major deadline acquisition -- but as it is, they have all underperformed, and 99 games is no longer a small sample size.

Game 92: Nats at Phillies

Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

They hit four homers and knocked out Cliff Lee last night, so the Nationals have to like their chances in tonight's series finale against Kyle Kendrick, right? Well, not necessarily. Though they've historically had success against the Phillies right-hander, they were thoroughly dominated by him only three weeks ago, held to one run and two hits on June 19.

The good news: Jordan Zimmermann starts for the Nationals in his final tune-up before next week's All-Star Game. The right-hander has been brilliant all year, of course, though his last two starts haven't quite lived up to his usual lofty standards (seven runs, 14 hits in 11 1/3 innings).

I am not in Philadelphia for the series finale at Citizns Bank Park. Had to hoof it back to Bethesda for tonight's episode of The Baseball Show, which airs at 11 p.m. on CSN. Hope you'll tune-in, and hope you'll enjoy the conversation here as always...

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Citizens Bank Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 187
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, Wind 7 mph LF to RF

NATIONALS (47-44)
CF Denard Span
SS Ian Desmond
LF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan Zimmerman