Today was quite a day for Nationals baseball. After an up-and-down game for the team that ultimately culiminated in a 7-6 victory over the Mets, the Nationals officially sent Ryan Zimmerman to the 15-day disabled list with a hamstring issue and recalled top prospect Anthony Rendon. 

You may recall that it was Zimmerman's shoulder issues last April that resulted in Bryce Harper's call up, and that turned out pretty well for the Nats. In 14 games early this season in Double-A Harrisburg, Rendon has an impressive .292/.462/.500 slash line with two home runs.

The only reason it makes sense for Rendon to be called up here is to be the every day starter at third base. He is in the stage of his career where he needs to rack up at bats. Both Davey Johnson and Mike Rizzo have stated that Rendon will likely be sent back down to the minors once Zimmerman is healthy enough to rejoin the team.

It also means you'll probably be able to see Rendon start on Monday when the Nats get back to DC to face the Cardinals in a series that will draw on lots of 2012 emotions for many Nats fans. Sounds like a good day to get to the ballpark.

Ryan Zimmerman was a scratch for the second consecutive game today, and he's getting an MRI on his hamstring. Never a good sign for the Nats franchise third baseman. The game itself was a roller coaster ride of a game throughout on the way to a Nats 7-6 victory.

The Nats offense was able to get off to a quick start. Ian Desmond hit his third homer of the year on a first pitch fastball, which seems perfectly appropriate for Desi, in the second inning for the early 1-0 lead. Bryce Harper followed up with his own home run in the third, a two-run shot for his sixth on the season, which gave the Nats a 3-0 lead.

Through that point in the game, Gio Gonzalez had been pitching a gem. He had only allowed two base runners through the first three innings. The wheels totally came off in the fourth inning, though. Gio faced 10 batters in that disastrous inning, which wound up being the end of his day. He was unable to control his pitches with any consistency as his outing totally unraveled in the five-run inning, putting the Nats behind 5-3.

That deficit didn't last long, though. Adam LaRoche hit his third homer of the season, a three-run shot, which put the Nats back on top 6-5.

Craig Stammen had what was probably his best outing of the season in long relief of Gio. He pitched the fifth and sixth inning, and he struck out five of the six batters he faced. He didn't allow a base runner, and it was truly incredible to watch. He was one of the the unsung heroes in today's game.

Ryan Mattheus gave up a run in the seventh on a John Buck double, which scored Daniel Murphy, who singled earlier in the evening. Mattheus was unhappy with his performance, and he let the Gatorade cooler in the dugout know his displeasure as he threw the cooler to the ground. The Mets had, once again, tied the game. This time in the seventh inning.

That did not last long, as Harper came up to bat to lead off the eighth and obliterated a first-pitch fastball to right center field for his seventh home run of the year and his second of the game. Harper ended the day 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a walk on top. Not a bad day. The Nats had the lead once again, and it was one that they would not relinquish.

Rafael Soriano closed out the game for his sixth save in a 7-6 victory for the Nats' 10th win of the season. It sets up the rubber game at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon before the Nats return home to face the St. Louis Cardinals in what will be a closely watched series following last season's NLDS between the two teams.

Stephen Strasburg lost Friday night’s pitching duel to Matt Harvey in the Washington Nationals’ 7-1 loss to the New York Mets. The Nats still have yet to find their rhythm, as the game was punctuated by the inconsistencies that have plagued them of late.

Laboring early in the game, Strasburg threw 28 of his total 111 pitches in the first inning and allowed two unearned runs to score, after an Ian Desmond error and a wild pitch. He struggled with command throughout, and though he kept the game close – the score was 4-0 when he exited after six innings – he was not pitching up to the ace standard Nats fans have come to expect from him.

Strasburg gave up two home runs in the bottom of the sixth to Ike Davis and Lucas Duda, his second and third of the season. Drew Storen gave up two more in the eighth, again to Davis and Duda. Nats pitchers have now given up the fourth-most home runs in the National League, though last year only one NL team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, surrendered fewer. It isn’t any fun watching the opposing team go yard against the Nationals, but once their pitching settles into a rhythm, those numbers should start to slow down.

Though his performance on the mound was less than spectacular, Strasburg made sure that Harvey – who posted a stellar line of seven innings pitched with one earned run and seven strikeouts – wouldn’t completely outshine him by breaking up his no-hitter himself with a double in the top of the third.

That was about the sum of the Nats offense for the night though. Their bats were asleep against Harvey, and they only managed four hits and three walks the whole night, leaving men on base without scoring in four innings.

The offense was most disappointing in the seventh inning, when the bases were loaded against a tiring Harvey, and the Nats totally let him off the hook. They scored their sole run in that inning, when Chad Tracy drove home Adam LaRoche who had walked to lead off the inning. They then loaded the bases on a throwing error, but a Kurt Suzuki strikeout, a Roger Bernadina foul out, and a Denard Span ground out ended the inning on a flat note.

Zach Duke took possession of the one shining moment of the night, as he used just ten pitches, seven of which were strikes, in a 1-2-3 seventh to keep the Nationals in a position to make a comeback.

Unfortunately, the Nats were not able to execute that comeback, but as always, the great thing about baseball is that there is another game today, with another opportunity to put a curly W in the books. 

In the last stop on their six-game tour through the NL East, the Washington Nationals (9-6) will play the New York Mets (7-7) at Citi Field with a marquee pitching matchup in the series opener.

The Mets are currently third in the NL East, and have won three of their five series. Their offense has been hot to start the season, with the third-highest team batting average in the MLB (.269), the fifth-highest on-base percentage (.344) and the sixth-highest slugging percentage (.443). They have hit 17 home runs on the season, and by failing to hit one out of the park in the second game of their double-header against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, they ended their franchise-best streak of 12 consecutive games with a home run.

The Nationals are 70-75 overall against the Mets, and won 14 of 18 matchups in 2012.

Cy Young Preview?

Two pitchers who are already being mentioned in the 2013 Cy Young conversation will face off in a rubber match on Friday night: Stephen Strasburg and Matt Harvey.

Harvey, who posted a 2.73 ERA with 70 strikeouts through 10 starts as a rookie in 2012, has had a great start to his 2013 campaign. In three starts this season, he has a nearly nonexistent 0.82 ERA, and has given up only six hits with 25 strikeouts.

Strasburg and Harvey are similar types of pitchers, which should make Friday’s game especially exciting to watch. The two flamethrowers lead the majors in average fastball velocity so far this season, with Strasburg in first at 95.7 mph, and Harvey in third at 94.2 mph.

Last September was the only time the Nationals’ hitters have faced Harvey in a 2-0 loss. They managed to score one run on five hits against him, but Harvey struck out 10 hitters in his dominating start.

Defensive Doldrums

The Nats and the Mets are having similar defensive struggles, considering two of the teams’ most reliable players in the field have been inconsistent lately.

Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada has committed six errors in 14 games, though he committed only 12 in each of the last two seasons. Similarly, Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, a 2009 Gold Glove winner, has committed four errors in 15 games.

However, neither team is ready to hit the panic button for their infielders.

Mets manager Terry Collins is encouraging Tejada to stay aggressive, while Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo thinks Zimmerman just needs to readjust to his throwing mechanics after having shoulder surgery in the offseason.

One MLB scout said Zimmerman has “The Thing,” according to The Washington Post, and thinks his issues are mental rather than a sign of the health of his arm. Zimmerman and Tejada both will have the opportunity to try to overcome The Thing during series in New York, and hopefully as the season continues to progress Zim will regain confidence in his capability to make the superb plays we have seen him complete in his last eight years in Washington.

Injury Update

Danny Espinosa is not in the lineup for Friday’s game, which will be the fourth game he has missed because of bruising in his forearm from being hit by a pitch last weekend against the Braves.

Zimmerman will sit out the first game of the series with a sore hamstring. 

In The Zone

Kurt Suzuki is still swinging a hot bat. He went 2-for-3 with a home run in Wednesday’s win over the Miami Marlins.

Who’s Hot?

David Wright (3B) .450 AVG, .542 OBP, .900 SLG, 2 HR, 10 RBI (last five games)

Daniel Murphy (2B) .429 AVG, .435 OBP, .619 SLG, 4 2B, 5 RBI (last five games)

Who’s Not?

John Buck (C) .167 AVG, .167 OBP, .333 SLG, 1 HR, (last five games)

Ike Davis (1B) .176 AVG, .300 OBP, .176 SLG, 0 HR (last five games)

Probable Starters

4/19, Stephen Strasburg (1-2, 2.95 ERA, .233 BAA, 15 SO) vs. Matt Harvey (3-0, 0.82 ERA, .088 BAA, 25 SO)

4/20, Gio Gonzalez (1-1, 4.50 ERA, .224 BAA, 15 SO) vs. Jeremy Hefner (0-2, 7.20 ERA, .310 BAA, 6 SO)

4/21, Jordan Zimmermann (3-0, 2.45 ERA, .256 BAA, 11 SO) vs. Dillon Gee (0-3, 8.36 ERA, .333 BAA, 8 SO)

If the measure of an ace is their ability to come in and completely dominate a game for his team when they need it most, then Ross Detwiler was certainly the Nats’ ace last night. The 27-year-old starter came up big in the club’s 6-1 win, pitching seven innings, allowing just one earned run, and no walks, while striking out five batters.

This is the Ross Detwiler we expected when he was drafted sixth overall in 2007. The lefty found success by relentlessly attacking the strike zone with a combination of two seam and four seam fastballs. In total, Detwiler threw 107 pitches, 80 of which were strikes, resulting in a total of 14 groundball outs. He now stands at 1-0 on the season, with a miniscule 0.90 ERA through three starts.

Helping charge the Nats offense last night was a stomach-flu battling Bryce Harper, who, despite vomiting several times in the clubhouse during the game, managed to go 4 for 5 with a double, run, RBI and an infield hit. The 20-year-old is now pacing the Nats with a .364 average, five home runs, and 11 RBI.

Some Thoughts:

-       It is clear that Ross Detwiler has bloomed under pitching coach Steve McCatty’s tutelage. The traits McCatty emphasizes to his pitchers are mental toughness, courage, and attacking the strike zone, which are all clearly embodied in Detwiler’s approach to the game.

-       Steve Lombardozzi is making the most of his opportunity to fill in for an injured Danny Espinosa. Last night he went 2-5 with an RBI, and has recorded two hits in the past three consecutive games.

-       Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth, despite it not being a save situation. The right-hander hadn’t pitched since he earned the save against the Chicago White Sox April 11. This marked the first appearance since April 1 where he allowed no base runners.

-       Kurt Suzuki was just a single and a double shy of the cycle, as the catcher recorded a rare triple in the first inning, and a homer in the second. He also provided the Nats a sacrifice fly in the game. The triple was his first since 2010 with the Oakland A’s.

The Nationals were coming off of the high of trouncing the Marlins 10-3 in Monday's series opener, which was a much needed win after a rough sweep at the hands of the Braves at home the previous weekend. Dan Haren was on the mound looking to turn the page to become the pitcher that the Nats thought they'd get when they signed him this offseason. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way as they lost 8-2 in an ugly one in Miami.

Haren started Tuesday's contest strongly, retiring 10 of the first 11 batters he faced, allowing just a single to Juan Pierre in the first inning. He was getting his fastball in the 90-91 mph range, and he looked sharp, again issuing no walks and keeping the ball down in the zone through the first three and one-third innings. That started to come apart with just one big mistake.

On a ball he had way too much time to handle, Ryan Zimmerman threw a ball to Adam LaRoche at first base on a Placido Polanco routine grounder. It trailed off of the bag toward the base runner, and drew LaRoche off the bag for Zimmerman's fourth error of the season. It seemed to lead to the meltdown of Haren on the mound. He immediately gave up back to back singles followed by a three-run home run over The Clevelander by Adeiny Hechavarria to give the Marlins a 4-0 lead.

Haren only recorded one out in the fourth inning before being pulled in favor of Craig Stammen. He ultimately gave up seven runs, three of which were earned due to the throwing error by Zimmerman. It was definitely not the positive move in the right direction the Nats were hoping for from their starting pitcher. Stammen was effective in relief, and the only other run given up by a Nats pitcher in the game was, perhaps not surprisingly, by Henry Rodriguez.

The offense was also pretty lethargic against Marlins starter Alex Sanabia. However, only four of the Nats eight Opening Day starting position players were in the lineup due to various illnesses and ailments. That's not an excuse, but it is definitely worth noting regarding the offensive shortcomings. Sanabia gave up two runs on six hits through six effective innings.

The Nationals are too good to have one incident like the Zimmerman error derail a game like it did in this one. It may have simply been coincidental, but it isn't the first time that an error has caused big issues for the Nats and their pitchers

Just remember:

It's only 14 games into the season, and the Nats are 8-6. It's definitely not a bad spot for them to be in. The thing that is killing them now is downright inconsistent play. With a few more weeks of games under their belts, the comfort level will increase and the silly errors will go away. It's way too early in a 162 game season to worry about a game like this, but that doesn't make it any more fun to watch.

It's been a rough start to 2013 for Dan Haren, who was a major offseason acquisition for the Washington Nationals. He's under contract for just one year at $13 million based on a track record of significant success over the course of a 10-year career. In seasons where he's pitched 30 or more games, and there are eight of them, Haren only posted an ERA over 4.00 twice. One of those times was last season, when he posted the highest ERA of his career (4.33) when pitching a full season.

Early this year, some raw numbers seem to indicate Haren isn't off to a much better start, and perhaps, he's on his way to a worse season. In two games, he's given up nine earned runs and 19 hits in nine innings. His first start of the season in Cincinnati was atrocious for the entire team, including the bullpen, on the way to a 15-0 loss for the team. His second start against the White Sox at home went better, even though he gave up 10 hits. His 22.2% home run per fly ball ratio is also worrisome early.

Looking at those facts, it's easy to be concerned. However, with all of those negatives, there are still a number of positives to take from Haren's early performances on the mound.

- Walks: While Haren has faced 48 batters in just two games and nine innings, he hasn't walked a single one of them. He may still struggle a little bit with pitch location in the zone, leaving too many pitches up, but he hasn't allowed a single walk. He has hit two batters, though.

- Strikeouts: Haren is averaging 10.00 K/9 early in the season. He's not known as a strikeout pitcher, but he's getting enough movement on his pitches to generate quite a few swings and misses. His K/9 ratio will come down, but it's still encouraging to see him missing enough bats to chalk up 10 strikeouts in two games.

- BABIP: Haren's Batting Average on Balls In Play is an astronomical .469 early on this season. League average is somewhere around, or just shy of, .300. With the kind of defense the Nationals have once the infield starts to limit their errors, which will happen, he is bound to have far more luck than he's had so far. That translates into fewer hits, fewer runs, and better overall stats.

-xFIP: xFIP measures what a pitcher's ERA should have been while taking into account factors like dealing with balls in play and ballpark size. Haren's early xFIP is 4.26, which graded on the ERA scale, is below average, but not terrible for a back of the rotation starter. It's certainly far and away better than his 9.00 ERA would indicate.

- Velocity: Fastball velocity was a huge concern for Haren last season with the Angels, averaging 88.5 mph on his fastball, which was the slowest in his career. It's not a huge jump so far this season, but he is averaging 89.3 on that pitch so far. The slight uptick may be a result of a small sample size early in the season when his arm is still strong, but it also may be that he is healthier than he was last season.

As Haren toes the rubber today against the fledgling Miami Marlins, who Jordan Zimmermann and the Nationals beat 10-3 yesterday, he has a significant opportunity to make this a turning point for his season. He's pitching in one of the friendliest stadiums for a pitcher in the country, and he's facing a terrible offensive lineup. I'd watch closely to see what he's able to do tonight in Miami.

After a rough ending to the homestand against the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Nationals traveled to Miami on Jackie Robinson Day to face the Marlins. It was a dominant performance as the Nats put up a 10-3 victory to improve to 8-5 on the season.

The Nationals decided to put the stink on their series with the Braves in the past with a massive first inning against Marlins starter Wade LeBlanc. They started the game single, single, walk, RBI single, double, RBI single to take a 4-0 lead. Bryce Harper walked in that third at bat of the game, but then he got thrown out at third base on Ryan Zimmerman’s single, which he’s done a few too many times this year. Zimmerman looked to have some sort of lower body issue going on around the bases, clearly visibly wincing as he rounded the bases, but he stayed in the game.

The offense came back alive in the third inning as Ian Desmond, Tyler Moore, and Steve Lombardozzi hit back-to-back-to-back doubles in a two-run inning giving the Nats a 6-0 lead. LeBlanc got two outs in the fourth inning before getting pulled to avoid facing Zimmerman, who then hit a two-run first-pitch home run, his first of the year, against John Maine. Zimmerman’s lower body looked just fine, here.

In the fifth, Lombardozzi and Kurt Suzuki got on base, and Denard Span drove them both home with a two-RBI single to give the team a 10-0 lead. The lead was good enough to pull Jayson Werth out of the game to get some rest in favor of Roger Bernadina.

While the offense was doing this, Jordan Zimmermann was completing an all around masterful pitching performance. Through five innings in this game, he had thrown just 48 pitches. It was a model performance for pitch efficiency in the early innings. He started to struggle a bit in the sixth, giving up two runs, and then he gave up a run on four base runners in the seventh, making it a 10-3 game.

Zimmermann made quick work of the Marlins in the eighth on 14 pitches, allowing him to make the first ninth inning appearance of his career. He finished the ninth inning on just five pitches, earning him the first career nine-inning complete game on just  six hits and 103 pitches. He threw an eight-inning complete game in 2011 in his first year back from Tommy John surgery.

There are two major things to draw from Monday night’s game. First, the Marlins may be worse than I expected. Any team can get trounced in a game or two (see Nats losses to Reds and Braves already this season.) However, they’re 2-11 on the season and may compete with the Astros for the worst record in baseball by the end of September. Second, Zimmermann dominated a team he should have, and the offense owned a pitching staff they’re supposed to own. That’s actually a big deal. Good teams have to put a hurt on bad teams in order to pad their wins and become great. The Nats have been able to do that this year.