Craig Stammen News

Major League Baseball announced that former All-Star Bob Boone and front-office executive Johnny DiPuglia will represent the Nationals at the upcoming 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

Ryan Vogelsong was as good as any pitcher in baseball last October. He's confident that he can be that guy again, even after surgery on his broken finger.

Fernando Abad was eating in a restaurant in Toledo, Ohio on Monday night when he got a call from Triple-A manager Tony Beasley.

Ryan Vogelsong had just completed his first season as a full-time major-league starting pitcher when he went to Venezuela in late 2004 to play winter ball.

The goal for the Washington Nationals remains unchanged, and if they overcome the bewildering first portion of their season to reach it, they may look back on Monday night and wonder: how did they ever get so lost on the way to the World Series? When the Nationals gathered in spring training and the baseball world anointed them favorites, they ... (more)

Where the Nationals could afford to make change, though, is the structure of their bullpen.

The Nationals' Zach Duke and the Giants' Ryan Vogelsong both are in need of solid starts as they get ready to square off in the opener of a three-game series Monday night at AT&T Park.

Left-handed long reliever Zach Duke will get the spot start in place of Ross Detwiler on Monday in San Francisco as Detwiler deals with a right oblique strain and the Nationals gauge how long he may need to recover.

Catcher Wilson Ramos pulls up lame at first base after lacing a single in the fourth inning, his second hit in as many at bats.

The Washington Nationals come to Los Angeles Monday and the team that many prognosticators placed first in the NL East find themselves in second place with a 20-17 record, but trailing the Atlanta Braves by only one game in their division.

Washington Nationals' manager Davey Johnson has been talking for some time now about what Ross Detwiler needs to do to continue to develop as a starter and as the Nats' skipper told reporters after last night's game, he may have seen his left-hander take the next step... "At some point," Davey Johnson explained after Ross Detwiler's April 28th ... (more)

If one more batter reached, the Cubs would have the game-tying run at the plate and Johnson would have turned to Soriano.

At the hairiest junctures of a Washington Nationals game, pitching coach Steve McCatty emerges from the dugout and trudges to the mound.

Shortstop Ian Desmond made adjustments at the plate and drove in three runs to help the Nationals pound the Cubs, 7-3, at Nationals Park on Friday night.

Ian Desmond's three hits included a two-run homer and an RBI double, and Danny Espinosa and Kurt Suzuki also drove in runs with doubles, helping the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 7-3 for their season-high fifth consecutive victory.

But because of the excellence of the starting pitching, one group of the team has been largely ignored: the bullpen.

After a rough 2 1/2-week stretch, the Washington Nationals have picked up the pace thanks in part to a dominant bullpen.

Nationals right fielder Jayson Werth has started taking antibiotics to treat a stomach illness that may be contributing indirectly to his ailing right hamstring, manager Davey Johnson said on Thursday.

Right-hander Christian Garcia, who is on the disabled list because of a right forearm strain, is throwing from the mound, according to manager Davey Johnson.

At the hairiest junctures of a Washington Nationals ' game, pitching coach Steve McCatty emerges from the sanctuary of the dugout and trudges to the mound.