The Washington Nationals will be in search of a new third base coach this offseason. Bo Porter, who currently holds that position, has been named the Houston Astros manager for the 2013 season, first reported by Ken Rosenthal. Porter will stay with the Nats through the postseason, and according to Adam Kilgore, that was a sticking point for the new Astros manager. You can hardly blame him for wanting to see the Nats magical season through its conclusion, whenever that comes.

Porter interviewed for the Miami Marlins position late last season before Ozzie Guillen was given a four-year contract. It looks like Guillen will barely make it through one year of that deal in Miami, and Porter was a logical chose for the job there. He'd also drawn interest from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the recent past. The Astros clearly wanted to act and bring in the 40-year-old Porter for his first managerial gig.

It will be quite the transition for Porter, who has been a base coach and bench coach throughout his career in the National League. Houston will be transitioning to the American League West next season to even out the AL and NL at 15 teams. The Astros, currently one of the worst teams in baseball, will face an uphill battle in an extremely competitive AL West.

Porter has worked closely with Nats outfielders and baserunners during his tenure with the team. In spring training 2011, he had outfielders carry footballs while tracking down fly balls to help them close on balls. It was a fun drill, but also one to make a point to his guys. He's well respected in baseball, and the Nats will certainly miss his presence next season.

With a magic number of five for the Washington Nationals (93-60) to clinch the division title, and a not-so-magic number of four for the Philadelphia Phillies (77-76) to be eliminated from wild card contention, the faceoff between these teams this week could bring each of them closer to an unfamiliar end of season fate.

For the past five years, the Phillies have won the National League East while the Nationals haven’t even come close. Their roles are very likely to be reversed this year though, as the possibility of the Phils winning the division has already been eliminated, and the Nationals continue to whittle away at their magic number.

Nats are 5-7 against the Phillies this season, and are 2-4 at Citizens Bank Park after the Phillies swept them the last time they visited. However, if the Nats returned the favor and swept the Phils this trip, they could potentially clinch the NL East in Philadelphia, in a storybook-worthy stroke of poetic justice. Although it’s not entirely likely (the Atlanta Braves would have to go, at most, 1-2 against the Miami Marlins to expedite the Nats’ clinching process), many people associated with the Nationals, players and fans alike, would surely like nothing more than to shut Philadelphia down after the way they have walked all over the Nationals in the last few years.

Holding on to postseason hopes

Five games behind the St. Louis Cardinals, who are currently positioned to claim the second wild card spot, the Phillies would need to go 9-0 through the final nine games of the season if they hope to make it to the playoffs. Even so, the Cardinals would need to go 2-7 through those nine games for the Phillies to even tie them.

Despite it becoming an increasingly likely reality that the Phillies will be sitting out the postseason for the first time in five years, manager Charlie Manuel is clinging to optimism.

"The noose is getting tight, but we're still there," Manuel said, according to MLB.com. "We haven't stopped breathing yet.

"We still have a heartbeat. We still have a chance. At the same time, we're getting in a tough position. It's getting tighter. But we can do it. As long as you're playing for something, we'll just keep going."

A much improved second half

The reason the Phillies are able to hold onto any glimmer of postseason hopes is because of a much improved second half, which can be largely attributed to getting back Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Roy Halladay from extended stints on the disabled list. The Phils went 37-50 in the first half and have gone 40-26 in the second half. For some perspective, the Nats have gone 44-26 in that period, or only two full games better in the standings. The Phillies aren't the punching bag they were before the All-Star Break.

Hitting Hamels

Current Nats are batting .242 off Cole Hamels, who is 2-1 against the Nats this year. The last time Hamels and Ross Detwiler went head-to-head, the Nationals came out on top in a 3-0 victory on August 2.

However, Hamels has made eight starts since that outing without earning a loss, going 4-0 with a 2.50 ERA. Detwiler has been equally as impressive over his last five starts, pitching for a 2.43 ERA with a 3-0 record. As Hamels goes after his career-high 16^th win, Detwiler will be working on making it tough for the Phillies’ offense to provide run support for the leader of their rotation.

Worth noting

Roy Halladay will miss his start Thursday, which is good news for the Nats. Halladay is 12-2 in starts against the Nats franchise in his career, according to Dan Kolko.

Who's hot?

Chase Utley (2B) .318 AVG, .419 OBP, .500 SLG, 1 HR, 9 RBI (last seven games)

Juan Pierre (OF) .375 AVG, .423 OBP, .500 SLG, 2 RBI (last seven games)

Jonathan Papelbon (CL) 0.00 ERA, .087 BAA, 12 SO, 5/5 SV/SVO (last seven games)

Who's not?

Domonic Brown (OF) .188 AVG, .235 OBP, .188 SLG, 4 SO (last five games)

John Mayberry (OF) .174 AVG, .174 OBP, .174 SLG, 7 SO (last six games)

Probable starters

Ross Detwiler (10-6, 3.10 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (15-6, 3.05 ERA)

John Lannan (3-0, 4.43 ERA) vs. Kyle Kendrick (10-11, 3.89 ERA)

Gio Gonzalez (20-8, 2.84 ERA) vs. TBD 

Both Jordan Zimmermann and Ryan Zimmerman had great games in the series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers as the Washington Nationals slaughtered their opponents 12-2, lowering their magic number to five. The Nats and Brewers split the four game series, and both teams had some sun-assisted defensive struggles in the series.

Zimmermann spun a gem against one of the best offenses in the National League in Monday’s contest, giving up just one run on four hits in six and two-thirds innings. He walked just one and struck out seven while lowering his ERA to 2.90. It was his second-straight start giving up just one earned run in six or more innings of work, which is good news for the Nats No. 2 starter as October quickly approaches. After a rough patch in late August and early September, he looks to have turned things around.

Ryan Zimmerman also had a nice 3-for-4 day with a line drive three-run home run to right center in the fourth that blew the game wide open. The homer came after a Jayson Werth double that CF Carlos Gomez lost in the sun that scored two runs. It turns out it isn’t only Nats outfielders that have trouble with the sun at home.

Zimmerman’s homer blew it wide open to a 7-1 game. All told, it was a four RBI day for the Nats franchise player, who raised his batting average to .286. It’s not the best season Zimmerman’s ever had, but he was hitting .218 on June 23, the lowest point of his season. He’s hit .332 since then.

Ian Desmond threw together a nice day, too. Despite going 0-for-3, he drew two walks and became just the second player in Washington Nationals history (since 2005) to have a 20 home run and 20 stolen base season. The only other was Alfonso Soriano’s miraculous 40/40 season in 2006 when he went 46/41. He is one of only four players in MLB history in that group.

It was a more positive defensive day for the Nats, most notably when Bryce Harper plowed into the wall on a great catch to end the first inning. Here’s some video:

It’s an off day for the Atlanta Braves, so the Nats magic number won’t go any lower this evening. However, the Nats victory means the Braves would have to go undefeated in their remaining nine games just to tie the division if the Nats go 4-5 in their last nine. That magic number is getting awfully close.

The Nats have one more game in Washington, DC before going on a road trip to Philadelphia, where it's possible they can clinch the NL East division title. Now if that wouldn't be poetic justice...

Celebrate the Road to October with your fellow Nats fans and some fall beer as the Nats take on the Phillies this Thursday.

Road to October-Fest

What?: Nats Tweet-Up/Viewing Party for Nats @ Phillies

When?: Thursday – Sept. 27th 7pm

Where?: The Ugly Mug – 723 8th St. SE DC

Beer?: Happy Hour specials on Dominion Octoberfest (For my money, the best Octoberfest out there.)

We have more details coming soon on a postseason viewing party coordinated with a few of your other favorite Nats blogs. Stay tuned.

Sunday’s Washington Nationals game turned into a bit of a disaster for the home team, and it actually had little to do with Chien-Ming Wang’s start. Wang put together a pretty good outing for his first start since June 19, but the Nats defense was full of rare miscues in a 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The sun was the main reason for the Nats defensive debacles. Yes, you read that right. The large star in the sky. Bryce Harper lost a Ryan Braun flyball in the sun to lead off the fourth inning. It’s at least the third time this season that Harper has done that. That run later scored as one of just two runs given up by Wang in his final inning of work. In the seventh inning, Jayson Werth lost a Carlos Gomez flyball in the big fiery ball in the sky that allowed Aramis Ramirez to score.

And those were the misplayed balls that were ruled hits. There were also to errors charged late in the contest. Norichika Aoki reached on an error by Steve Lombardozzi, who was a late replacement for Danny Espinosa on a double switch. Rickie Weeks singled up the middle in the eighth, and Harper tried to barehand the ball that got passed him. It moved Aoki to third and allowed Weeks to move to second. Aoki scored on a Braun sac fly with the next batter.

So, there were four huge defensive missteps, and every one of them cost the Nats runs. It’s hard to win baseball games when you make mistakes and almost impossible to do so when you commit this many. These games happen to the best of teams, and the Nats still have some of the best defenders in the game. There’s nothing to be concerned about long term.

Since I lambasted Wang in a post just before the game, it’s worth noting that he looked pretty good in his first start in more than three months. His sinker did a decent job of sinking, and quite a few of his eight hits surrendered were just BABIP raisers, seeing eye singles, or whatever you want to call them.

Ryan Mattheus had the roughest outing of them all though. He gave up three runs on four hits in just one inning of work. Sure, one of those runs scored when Werth lost the ball in the sun, but he let himself get into a jam early in the inning and even got a gift call from second base ump Tim McClelland when he called Rickie Weeks out on a throw from Ryan Zimmerman.

If you were going to draw one great defensive aspect from this game, it would have to be Kurt Suzuki's incredible barehanded grab on the Jean Segura popup on a bunt attempt. You can watch it here.

The Nats only mustered two runs of support, both in the fifth inning, from Ian Desmond, who walked and later scored on a Chad Tracy single, and Danny Espinosa, who doubled and later scored on a Werth sacrifice fly. All-in-all, it’s probably a game the Nats want to forget about and move on, which is exactly what they’ll do.

I've mentioned several times on this blog that Stephen Strasburg has the nastiest changeup on the the Washington Nationals pitching staff. Quite frankly, it's not even close. But, it turns out, FanGraphs believes his changeup is the single nastiest pitch by a starter in baseball.

Below is a GIF is Strasburg's changeup in all its nastiness from Baseball Prospectus:

Today, Chien-Ming Wang will take the mound for the Washington Nationals in game three of four in this series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Nats needed someone to fill the spot after a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, and Wang got the call. It will be his first MLB start since June 19, which was a bit of a clunker. He hasn't had much success since then, even at the minor league level.

Wang will take on an extremely potent Brewers offense that scores the most runs per game of any team in the National League. Combine that with his "pitch-to-contact" stuff and ERA close to 7.00 in the majors this year and little success while rehabbing, it could be a very long day.

If Wang is able to keep his sinker down in the zone and work in his slider effectively, he has a chance to keep the Brewers bats at bay and help lower the Nats magic number. His sinker has averaged below 90 mph this season though, and if it isn't sinking at 90 mph or he's leaving the pitch up in the zone, he'll get knocked around the Park. That's the problem, or one of the problems, with pitchers that have "pitch-to-contact" stuff.

It's time to hope against all hope that Wang can have an anomaly of his 2012 season, and unfortunately an anomaly this year is a good start for the Taiwanese pitcher. Just remember, there's a very deep bullpen with a few long relievers, including Craig Stammen, Tom Gorzelanny, and Zach Duke, that can spell Wang if Davey detects disaster. It will be an interesting day at Nats Park, if nothing else. I hope you'll watch, despite this depressing post you've just read.

Gio Gonzalez put together a great outing to earn his 20th win of the season. He was the first pitcher in baseball to hit the 20-win mark this season as he continues to push toward the front of the NL Cy Young pack. The Washington Nationals offense supported his cause with 10 runs of support as they beat up on the Milkwaukee Brewers 10-2, which lowers their magic number for the division to six pending the Atlanta Braves game this afternoon.

Gonzalez had his great curveball working and had Brewers hitters guessing through seven innings of baseball. He threw 90 pitches and gave up just two unearned runs on three hits. With 20-win status under lock and key and a 2.84 ERA and an identical FIP, Gonzalez is moving toward frontrunner status for the NL Cy Young Award with every outing. His manager, Davey Johnson, believes his number one starter should win the Cy Young. When asked if Gio’s a Cy Young winner this year, Davey said, “Hands down.”

Gio struck out his 200th batter of the season in the fifth inning, which made him the first DC pitcher to hit the 200 mark since Walter Johnson did it for the Washington Senators in 1916. That’s some good company.

The offense did it’s part in getting the Nats a big lead to help Gio in his quest for 20 wins, too. In the third and fourth innings, the lineup batted around and put up nine of their 10 runs. The three-run third inning ousted starter Wily Peralta after just two and two-thirds innings, which brought in former Nationals pitcher Livan Hernandez.

In the fourth, some Nats got to their former teammate when Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond both put up three-run home runs in the inning. Davey mentioned that when you play in the infield behind a pitcher for a while, you get to know him.

“Being a middle infielder, anytime you play behind somebody, you know what they’re gonna throw, ‘cause you live it,” Davey said. “I’m sure Desi knew every sequence that was coming.” He said he respected Livo but didn’t feel bad for lighting him up for six runs.

Bryce Harper stole third base in the third inning when he got a bit too far off of second base, prompting a throw from Martin Maldonado. Harper broke for third on the throw and made it easily. “That’s a typical Harper move, trying to make something happen," Davey recalled. "As he is in everything, overly aggressive.” 

Later, in the sixth, Harper misplayed one ball and then didn’t make the catch on a challenging catch going back on a line drive and was charged an error. “That shoulda been a hit,” the Nats skipper said. “although, that’s an earned run, so I’d rather it be an error,” alluding to it not counting toward Gio’s ERA.

With their 92nd win, the Nats retain their hold on best record in baseball and move ever closer to the NL East division title. It was a sellout crowd of 40,493 at the Park, largely due to the Dieks Bentley post-game concert, but it was still an electric atmosphere before a huge crowd. It’s just a preview of what’s to come in October.