Every time that Stephen Strasburg shuts down another team, you hear the same two words: “as advertised.” That was certainly the case today, as the young ace of the Nationals’ staff shut out the New York Mets at CitiField, yielding two hits over six complete innings, while striking out nine. The Nats went on to victory, with a 4-0 win over the Mets — and leaped precariously into first place.

So it is: Strasburg has, in fact, been “as advertised.” His ERA for the 2012 campaign (we know, it’s early), stands at .069. More importantly, he gives the Nationals a better-than-good chance at victory every time he takes the mound. Coupled with an absolute lights out effort from Ryan Mattheus, Sean Burnett and Henry Rodriguez (three innings total, giving up just one hit), the Nats are now able to enjoy Opening Day in D.C. They return to their Southeast digs with a 4-2 record and victories in their first two opening series.

Once again, the Nats showed some lumber, though it’s obvious that not every hitter is in mid-season form. Ian Desmond pounded out two more hits, along with bench addition Xavier Nady. Mark DeRosa got his first hit of the season, and walked three times.

As good as Strasburg was, Nats’ hitters feasted on the very so-so Mets’ bullpen  — which all but collapsed for the second game in a row. Mets’ relievers gave up seven walks, to go along with the three issued by New York starter Johan Santana. Santana, who might have pitched well enough to win, gave up a single earned run in five innings, and struck out six.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: We’ve been keeping up on the Nats’ blogsphere, and welcome the addition of “Bang! Zoom!” to our blogroll (we’re late on this, they’ve actually been around for some time), “The Zimmerman Telegram” (a nifty name, donchaknow), Nationals Arms Race (a less nifty name, but effective — and around since 2010), Natstradamus (creative, that) and Chatsports — which takes “social networking” (or perhaps it’s sports networking) seriously . . . If we’ve left anyone out, just drop us a line  . . .

We also belately note, with some sadness, the passing of Nationals Daily News which, we would have bet, would have hung in there for the long haul. The site was up on Opening Day of the Nationals’ first season, but as Ian Koski wrote in NDN’s “Obituary,” the pressure of having to actually make a living took its toll . . . we know what he means . . . That said, Nationals Daily News was around for six years: a damned good run . . .

In another tardy bit of news, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of D.C. came out with its pre-season poll back on April 4. The survey of participants yielded some interesting, and some predictable results: that Ryan Zimmerman would lead the team in batting average, and Jordan Zimmermann in wins . . . that sounds about right . . .

Ian Desmond’s ninth inning shot to right field scored Brett Carroll with the go ahead run, and the Washington Nationals went on to beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 on Opening Day at Wrigley Field. With the wind blowing in, this was a pitchers’ tussle, with both Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth launching bombs that, on any other day, would have gone out of the park. But the game was a beaut, with the Nationals notching their first victory, and their first come-from-behind victory of the season.

If the Cubs had won the squeaker, Ryan Dempster would have undoubtedly garnered all the headlines, taming the Nationals with 7.2 innings of two hit, ten strikeout baseball. And while Washington ace phenom Stephen Strasburg piched well, Dempster outdueled him through seven. Washington’s hitters finally stood up, waiting out pitches from reliever Kerry Wood, and tying the game on three successive walks (to Zimmerman, LaRoche and Werth — in the 8th) , allowing uber set-up man Tyler Clippard to notch the win and closer Brad Lidge to nail down the save.

Surprisingly, it was Ian Desmond who provided the offense for the Nationals, going 3-5 and getting the game winning RBI. But Adam LaRoche struggled against Dempster, whiffing three times in three at bats (nailing down his bad-for-April tag),  and leaving five on base. Chad Tracy came off the bench to provide a solid ninth inning at-bat, stroking a double into right field to set up the winning run. The Nats are happy with the win (of course), but they dodged a bullet. A sharply hit grounder in the ninth might have scored Chicago’s Joe Mather, but Ryan Zimmerman got him at the plate. It was all Lidge then, as he put down Marlon Byrd on strikes.

You would think that if anyone knows the history of the Washington Nationals, it must be Davey Johnson. And yet, immediately after the Nationals clinched a 3-1 last game victory against the Marlins, Johnson told the press that finishing third was not his idea of a great season. He’s right of course, but for many of the rest of us, the 2011 season is accounted a spectacular success — especially when you compare it to where we’ve been.

The best example of the Nats’ improvement came on Wednesday, with rehabbed righty Stephen Strasburg pitching six more-than-solid innings (he held the Marlins to a single hit, while striking out ten), and the Nationals scoring just enough to get their 80th win. That’s eleven more than last year, when the Nats were dead last. If third is “no great shakes,” then just imagine what fifth feels like.

Of course, Nationals’s fans don’t have to imagine it — they’ve lived it. But now, it seems, the era of blanket franchise apologies and the constant talk of building the bankrupt farm system (it’s built), are history. Third place? We’ll take it. Two years ago, at a CFG confab in Houston, we proudly wore our Curly W hats into a local bar, plunging into the midst of a group of Astros fans, who tittered away at our expense. “What does it feel like to root for the worst team in baseball?”

No more. Now that particular honor belongs to the Houston nine, who finished the year with 106 losses. The Nationals are, finally, a good team — even a very good team. They are better than the Marlins or Mets, better than Colorado, or Pittsburgh or Cincinnati or Chicago. You never compare yourselves to losers, the pundits say, but to the best. Yeah, okay. But if 2011 is any indication (and it is), being the best is not that far off.

Let’s Not Get Carried Away: The Nationals need hitting, and in the worst way. Their close-out 3-1 victory came against a last place team that looked like they didn’t wanna be there. How many hits did these “no great shakes” Nats get? Five. That’s the same as the night before. There are free agents to be had, with big bats, but the solution is at home . . .

(more…)

. . . because, while the Nationals keep winning in Philly, they still have seven games to play and, no matter what they do, will finish no better than third. We’re not just being killjoys: while it’s wonderful to see our Anacostia Nine play so well (especially at “Nats Park North”), there are some among us who (in the middle of the 7th inning last night — and then again in the 8th) stood up and screamed — “that’s just great, but where were you in June?”

The answer oughta be obvious: trying to find a pitching staff. That the Nats have now won consistently, when it counts the least, is evidence that (finally), that seems to have been done. John Lannan didn’t pitch brilliantly last night, but he fought hard and well (he’s not the same pitcher we saw last year), and a whole handful of other arms have now emerged: Milone and Peacock, and Wang and Detwiler — not to mention Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg (and, just maybe, Livan Hernandez). And those are just the starters.

Then too, the bats have nearly ended their slumber: the Nationals pounded out ten hits last night, which included home runs from Danny Espinosa (his 21st, setting a Nationals rookie record), and the vastly underrated Wilson Ramos (who hit his 14th, which is none too shabby). More importantly, the Nats shook off their disturbing habit of serving tea to men on base — eight were left on base last night, but that number is going down, and they’ve damned near returned to the league mean.

As important (we think) is that the Nationals are now 9-8 against their in-division rivals — with the bonus that Nats fans have started to stream north. That an indication (perhaps), that Nats fans are anticipating what might (might) happen next year. “It’s a fun time,” Danny Espinosa said of his visit to the not-so-friendly confines of The Bank. “It’s a fun game to play against them. I want to play them hard because I know we can beat them. We are showing that. For myself, personally, I enjoy playing against the team.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: We’ve decided to change the description of the New York Mets — they’re no longer “the chokes.” That description more aptly fits the Atlanta Braves, who barely showed up to play the Marlins last night in Miami, and lost to the stinking Fish. It wasn’t even close. Now they know how it feels. The Braves now lead the Cardinals (who woulda thought — and certainly not us), by a single game and some spit. The Cardinals surprised everyone (including their own fans) and rallied to beat the Mets in St. Louis, 6-5 . . .

(more…)

Light-hitting Donnie Murphy took a Collin Balester offering deep into the bullpen in the 13th inning on Saturday, leading the Florida Marlins to a 4-1 victory over the Nationals at Nationals Park. The Murphy homer ended a solid string of relief innings for the Nats’ bullpen, accounting for the second straight loss to the Marlins in as many nights.

Once again, the Nationals could not seem to find a way to hit Marlins’ pitching — scattering six hits over 13, and scoring just once. The lone piece of good news at the plate came when Nationals’ catcher Wilson Ramos connected in the fifth inning off of Chris Volstad for his thirteenth home run of the year.

Of course, the big news of the night was the start of Stephen Strasburg, who pitched brilliantly through six innings, giving up four hits, striking out three, and walking none. Strasburg’s outing provided further evidence that the young righty is on track for a solid 2012, and is continuing his successful rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Phillies clinched their fifth straight N.L. East title with a 9-2 laugher over the St. Louis Cardinals. That the Phillies captured the flag is hardly a surprise, as their victory on Saturday showed. Roy Oswalt threw seven and struck out seven, with Shane Victorino and Raul Ibanez homering . . .

While everyone is tuned into the Rays-Red Sox match-up in Boston, the San Francisco Giants have been quietly sneaking up on the Diamondbacks. Last night, the McCoveys held off the Rockies for their seventh straight, while Arizona fell to the Friars. But Arizona’s lead might be too big to overcome: they lead the Giants by five games with ten to play . . .

(more…)

The Washington Nationals broke out the lumber at Nationals’ Park on Sunday, spraying twelve hits and hitting back-to-back-to-back home runs to down the visiting Houston Astros, 8-2. The hit parade was led by Ian Desmond, who was 3-5 with two RBIs. Ryan Zimmerman, Chris Marrero and Danny Espinosa claimed two hits each, with Rick Ankiel, Jayson Werth and Laynce Nix each collecting one. The win meant that the Nationals took the series, two games to one.

“I think the nicest thing about all that is we finally had the lead,” Desmond said following the victory. “All series and the last two series, we have been behind and defensive. So today, we all wanted to make sure that we stayed aggressive. We weren’t so passive, giving a pitcher a strike, whatever it may have been. We wanted to make sure we were in the driver’s seat all day. That worked out for us.”

The Nats’ win dampened the headlines that were sure to be dominated by Stephen Strasburg, who pitched three innings — but was taken out by Davey Johnson after throwing 57 pitches. Johnson noted that Strasburg had thrown a lot of pitches in the first inning, and he didn’t want to extend him further: ” I explained to him, ‘I don’t want to [take you out during an inning]. As far, as I’m concerned, it’s like your second time out in Spring Training. That’s enough for me. You are not going to go five.’”

The Nats home run trifecta took place in the third inning, when Ian Desmond hit his eighth homer, Rick Ankiel followed with his ninth and Ryan Zimmerman followed with his 12th. The back-to-back-to-back home runs were the first time the Nationals had accomplished that unique feat since 2009. Once again the Nationals bullpen was superb: Tom Gorzelanny, Sean Burnett and Henry Rodriguez held the Astros scoreless, with Doug Slaten giving up an unearned run in the ninth.

The Wisdom of Section 1-2-9: The by-now traditional end-of-year conversation dominated the talk of the section, nearly from the beginning of the game — determining who would (and who would not), be with the Nationals next year. The yakking started with Rick Ankiel. “Definitely gone,” one opinionated fan said. “What? Seven, eight home runs? We can do better.”

(more…)

Just a little over one year from Tommy John surgery, Stephen Strasburg returned to the mound in Washington, threw five complete innings — and left the game with the Nationals in the lead, 3-0. It almost looked as if the young righty had picked up from where he left off: he threw 56 pitches (40 of them for strikes), while giving up just two hits and striking out four.

Unfortunately for Strasburg, who was in line for the win, the Nationals’ bullpen could not hold the 3-0 lead, and the Los Angeles Dodgers went on to outslug and outscore the Nationals, 7-3. Despite the loss, Strasburg was the story. His fastball topped out at 99 mph, and he seemed in control and comfortable on the mound.

The Nationals had to be pleased with Strasburg’s outing, as it was right on schedule after one year of rehab. The righty will now follow the agenda laid out for Jordan Zimmermann (who also underwent Tommy John surgery), that Nats’ fans are familiar with: four starts to finish the season, an off-season of rest, followed by a closely monitored innings count for the 2012 campaign.

Despite this, tonight’s outing charted a way back, and now sets up a Nationals’ rotation with Strasburg as the number one starter, followed by Jordan Zimmermann and John Lannan. The Nationals actually have a lot to choose from, as Davey Johnson tests out the young arms this September. Brad Peacock made his major league debut in relief of Strasburg tonight, throwing a serviceable 1.1 innings — but Johnson is also taking a good look at Chien-Ming Wang, who has looked impressive and Ross Detwiler.

(more…)