Losing Adam Dunn to the White Sox left the Nationals with a hole to fill at first base, and no clear answer as to how to do so. One theory was to move Mike Morse out of the crowded outfield rotation and see how he performed -- and after devoting a sizable chunk of payroll to Jayson Werth, a personnel shuffle didn't seem too far-fetched. Instead, the Nationals did the unthinkable and went and got another free agent, signing veteran first baseman Adam LaRoche to a reasonable two-year contract. If you're not excited yet, I've designed a three-step plan for any Nationals fan to get pumped about our new first baseman. more ›

The Strasburgasm finally cometh on Tuesday, and the Nationals are busy trying to make sure it's a total sell out. more ›

The back and forth about when the Nationals' first-overall draft pick, Steven "the Savior" Strasburg, would be called up from Triple-A Syracuse has officially come to a close: the Nationals have announced he will get the start on Tuesday, June 8th against the Pittsburgh Pirates. more ›

When exactly did peanut allergies become such a big deal? I can't recall anyone freaking out about giving me a peanut butter sandwich when I was a little kid, but friends with children assure me that has all changed. Peanut Paranoia is in full effect across the nation, thanks to stern warnings from doctors about the potential for deadly allergic reactions in young children. more ›

If you managed to score tickets to opening day at Nationals Park, you're in luck: President Barack Obama will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals home opener on Monday, April 5. more ›

The Nationals released outfielder Elijah Dukes today, ending what was, at times, a tumultuous two seasons with the team. Mark Zuckerman notes that Nats manager Jim Riggleman will likely choose from the trio of Willie Harris, Justin Maxwell or Mike Morse to fill Dukes' starting spot in right field this season. Dukes hit .250 last season, with 8 home runs and 58 RBIs in 107 games. more ›

Sports writers use a lot of hyperbole. It's kind of the nature of the job. Think about it: let's say you're on the hometown baseball beat for a major metropolitan media outlet for two years. That means watching 324 games of baseball (not counting spring training, and potentially the World Baseball Classic and the postseason), many of them completely indistinguishable from the rest; all of which you are expected to summarize in a completely unique way, often times needing to finish immediately after the last pitch is thrown. So yeah, hyperbole kind of wades its way into the prose more than some might prefer. more ›

The man upon whom many Nationals fans have placed all their future hopes, rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg, is set to make his spring training debut today in an exhibition game against the Detroit Tigers down in Viera, Florida. more ›

The Nationals announced this morning that individual tickets to 2010 home games will go on sale tomorrow, March 2 at 10 a.m. To buy single game tickets, follow this link after 10 a.m. on Tuesday. more ›

Are you a nerd? Do you really like baseball? Have you often considered that a life completely controlled by robot simulators might actually be preferable to all this "free will" jazz you hear so much about? If your answer to all three of those questions is yes, then yesterday was probably a big day for you: Baseball Prospectus, the hardball geek's bible, released its annual Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm -- or PECOTA -- projections for players and teams for the upcoming season. And guess what? They actually think that the Nationals will be decent. Like, over .500 decent. The Prospectus projects that the Nats will finish 82-80, which, in a somewhat-depleted National League, would be only three games out of the Wild Card slot. Three games out of the playoffs, people! more ›

We couldn't help but notice that perennial loser Teddy Roosevelt was absent from the Presidents Race during the Nationals' game against the Marlins on Saturday. Given how badly the game went, it was just another disappointment among many for Nats fans that night. But what happened? Had Teddy finally succumbed to the crippling depression of never winning? Did he run off to establish another national park? more ›

It took a little bit longer than expected, but Manny Acta is officially no longer the manager of the Washington Nationals, as first reported by ESPN Deportes and confirmed by the Associated Press. It was certainly time for the Nationals to make the switch: between a downward spiral of poor performances, color commentators (usually some of the game's biggest cheerleaders) questioning the team's effort, local media fondly reminiscing about the old manager, the dismissal of the team's pitching coach, and the jettisoning of several underperforming players, there was simply no one left to take the bullet for the team's recent run of form. That the Nationals (aside from Ryan Zimmerman, who'll be in St. Louis for the All-Star Game) will get a full three days to digest the change helps to explain the timing. more ›

Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been named to the 2009 National League All-Star team. Every team gets an All-Star, and Ryan Zimmerman is the Nationals'. As the face of the franchise, Zimmerman is the perfect representative for the Nationals: much like the team, he is both hitting better than last year and has a lot more errors. Fans still have the chance to vote shortstop Cristian Guzman into the final National League All-Star slot. more ›

Let's engage in a hardball hypothetical, shall we? Player A is a 25-year-old outfielder, hitting .244 with 6 HR, 30 RBI, and 18 runs. Not the greatest stats, but Player A is generally appreciated by the fans, and has moderate-to-good defensive capabilities, even though he might be slightly late to practice once in a while. On the other hand, Player B is a 29-year-old outfielder on the decline. Player B is currently batting .197 with only 3 HR and 16 RBI in 58 games, even though he has a reputation as a power hitter -- somehow, this power hitter's slugging percentage is lower than his poor on-base percentage. Player B is a defensive liability most of the time acceptable defensively, but strikes out nearly a third of the time he comes to the plate. Player B is also generally understood to be grossly overpaid. more ›

After winning four straight, including two out of three against the Yankees and the Blue Jays, the Nationals returned to Fenway South last week to face the Red Sox, who promptly extinguished any hope the dozens of Nationals fans may have had that the season would turn around. The team went 2-5 over the last week, and are in the middle of a series against the Marlins. The Nats are 0-7 against Florida this year, and 29-49 against the Marlins since coming to the District, so don't expect things to get better any time soon. Overall, the team is 22-52, but importantly are on pace for around 46 wins, which would avoid 120 losses or more. more ›

Ideally, this column is scheduled to run on Mondays. We held it until today because after this report by Fox Sports, and the Nationals subsequent non-denials, we were certain that Manny Acta was going to be fired yesterday. Well, he wasn't. It still seems likely that he will be, it is more a matter of when at this point. If it happens before Sunday, you can expect Bethesda Big Train Baseball's Nationals Night with Manny Acta bobblehead dolls to be the hot ticket of the season. more ›

It is the week of the baseball draft, and in what looks like a yearly tradition, it is time to see what the Nationals organization does with the first pick. Everyone expects them to draft pitcher Steven Strasburg. Strasburg is a talent so great that only a team as incompetent as the Nationals would fail to draft and sign him. It should be an interesting Tuesday. Strasburg is represented by hated agent Scott Boras, so the team is a long way away from introducing the next Ben McDonald to the world. more ›

Ryan Zimmerman's hitting streak ended the same day as the Capitals season, leaving the Nationals without any positive story lines right when people are going to start paying attention to them. To those local sports fans, let us implore you to turn your eyes towards D.C. United. They are tied for first in the East, with three wins, one loss, and six ties. more ›

The Nationals may still be the worst team in the Major League, but at least they can hit. They currently lead the National League in OPS with .808, and are in the top three in the league in Batting Average, OBP, and Slugging. Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman are at the top of the National League in most offensive categories, with Elijah Dukes, Nick Johnson and Jesus Flores not far behind. more ›

Before yesterday's game against the Mets, Filip Bondy wrote in the NY Daily News that "any result other than a sweep must be considered a setback." Well, things aren't looking too good in Queens, as the Nats managed an 8-1 victory yesterday, avoiding the series sweep. Take that, Gothamist! more ›

The Nationals have announced a date for their rescheduled game against the Philadelphia Phillies after an April 15 matchup was rained out. The game will now take place at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday, May 16 as part of a doubleheader. A second game will take place that night at 7:05 p.m. Those of you with tickets to the original April 15 game can use your tickets for the May 16 afternoon game, or you can exchange your ticket for any other regular season home game, with the exception of the June series against the Boston Red Sox. The rescheduled game will also mark a celebration of Jackie Robinson Day, when players from both teams will wear Robinson's number, 42. Originally, the teams had planned to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day on April 15. more ›

It's never good when a team is swept in a series. It's also never good when a team gives up a 9th inning lead. It takes a special team to get swept in a series by giving up three straight 9th inning leads. This rare feat was accomplished by the Nationals over the weekend, as they dropped three games to the Marlins. The result is that three pitchers from the bullpen, Saul Rivera, Steven Shell, and Wil Ledezma, were sent down to the minors after Sunday's game. To replace them, the team called up Jason Bergman, Garrett Mock, and Kip Wells. This is a dramatic move, and sends the message that there's a degree of losing that even the Nationals organization cannot tolerate. more ›

With no relief in sight from today's downpour, the Nationals have gone ahead and postponed their second home game of the season tonight against the Philadelphia Phillies. The make-up date has yet to be announced, so there won't be a double header tomorrow. Ticket holders for tonight's game should keep their tickets, which may be used either for the TBA rescheduled game, or in exchange for tickets for the same priced seat at any future 2009 Nationals home game, excluding the June series against the Boston Red Sox. Thursday night's game is still on, set for 7:05 p.m. more ›

The DC Creates Public Arts Program and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities unveiled several new pieces of public art at Nationals Park on Wednesday. The pieces include sculptures of Washington Senators players Frank Howard and Walter Johnson, and Homestead Grays player Josh Gibson, all created by Omri Amrany, and The Ballgame, a suspended artwork created by D.C. artist Walter Kravitz. DCist photographer Meaghan Gay stopped by to get a closer look. more ›

Construction crews on Friday hustled to put the finishing touches on a number of new features at Nationals Park, as the team gets set to kick off its second ever season at the stadium this month. It was hard to believe yesterday, amid the plastic tarps and forklifts, that everything would be spic and span in time for tonight's pre-season exhibition against the Orioles -- but Nationals president Stan Kasten expressed confidence that his ballpark would not only be ready, it would be much improved over last year. more ›

This is just kind of sad. While it has yet to be officially announced by the team, it's long been reported that, schedule permitting, President Barack Obama will throw out the first pitch at the Nationals home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, April 13. Yes, the home opener is a weekday afternoon game (3:05 p.m.), but considering the one-two punch of the Nats playing the world champion Phillies and the promise that the wildly popular Obama will be there, you'd think our pathetic little baseball franchise wouldn't have any trouble selling tickets to at least this one game. You'd think that, but you'd be wrong. more ›

Forget acquiring free agents – the Washington Nationals need a stylist. The team unveiled the good, the bad, and the ugly with their new uniforms for the 2009 season yesterday. more ›

If the thing weren't solidly anchored to the ground, we might expect to find the District's new baseball stadium hiding somewhere in a corner. After all, the last few months have seen enough bad news for Nationals Park to make even the most confident of publicly financed ballparks a little glum. more ›

Baseball season comes to its end over the next week, as the World Series is set to unfold between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies. Here in D.C., we celebrate by freaking the eff out all over again over the cost of the brand new Nationals Park. Not only did hardly anyone go to Nats games in their new ballpark this year, but now we're hearing about how the whole endeavor actually cost over $690 million, quite a bit more than the regularly quoted $611 million figure. No one, and we mean no one, who followed the lengthy debate over the new baseball stadium could possibly be surprised by this news, but it's still causing quite a bit of consternation in some corners of the D.C. Council. more ›