What a difference four days make. On Monday, the Nationals were surging. They had just taken two out of three from the Phillies and were four games under .500 for the first time since April. But then the Rockies came to town. When the dust settled, bullpen coach John Wetteland may have been the only one to lose his job, but the damage had been done. For the first time since arriving in Washington,…

A few weeks ago, the Nationals were down and out, battling to stay in front of the Florida Marlins. Now, after a weekend sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee, the Nationals, led by Alfonso Soriano’s hot bat, are on the rise. Winners of three in a row and 12 out of their last 17, the Nationals face off against their NL East rivals this week in a set of six games that could make or…

While watching two fourth-place teams duke it out over a weekend is rarely exciting, the Nats and the Orioles made a good show of it in the first Battle of the Beltways. In the end, the Nationals got the upper hand by taking two of three from the now tied-for-last-place Orioles. The weekend started like many others this season for the Nationals: with a loss. Alfonso Soriano provided the only offense for Washington with…

After 22 straight scoreless innings, things looked bleak for the Nationals. With their highly-anticipated Battle of the Beltway on tap, the Nats had to beat the Cubs and Kerry Wood making his first start of the season. Well, a little bit of lineup shake up did the trick as four players, including Damian Jackson and Marlon Anderson, homered in a 5-3 victory over the Cubs. Firmly in fourth place, the Nats can now look ahead…

Just two days after Ken Griffey, Jr., and the Reds overcame a three-run 11th inning deficit to stun the Nationals’ bullpen, the Braves terrorized the Nats beleaguered pen. This time, Jeff Francoeur beat Chad Cordero in grand style Saturday night to send the Nats to what was then their fourth straight loss. The Nats headed into the 9th on Saturday with a two-run lead, but the usually reliable Cordero struggled from the start. He…

You gotta give The Kid points for style. After nearly a month on the DL, Ken Griffey, Jr. returned to the Reds last night with a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th. Unfortunately, the Nationals were the unlucky victims of Griffey’s 539th career home run. With Alfonso Soriano mired in an 11-for-58 slump and on the bench, the Nats scored three in the 11th to pull ahead 4-1. Three relievers tried…

It’s been eight months since their last home series win, but the Nationals finally captured two out of three at RFK from their opponent as they downed the Pirates yesterday afternoon. For the Nationals, these games were as much much-win games as any team 10 games under .500 ever plays. Coming off a disastrous two-game home sweep at the hands of the lowly Florida Marlins, the Nats faced the Pittsburgh Pirates, off to their…

With a disastrous April in the books, is the honeymoon over for the Nationals and their fans? Over the weekend, the Nats dropped two out of three to Albert Pujols and the red-hot St. Louis Cardinals. The team has now lost seven out of its last eight, the lone victory coming Friday. For Nats fan who could actually watch the games on TV, the biggest story was Albert Pujols’ 14th home run of the month….