Ross Detwiler News

Thank goodness the Washington Nationals are finally acting like a real Major League Baseball team.

The baseball dominoes are beginning to fall, and it wona TMt be too long before the Washington Nationals know which free agent will bolster their starting rotation.

Numbers don't always tell the whole story. If they did, fans of the Nationals might not have much reason to feel optimistic, after their big league team suffered through its second consecutive 100-loss season .

When the first round of last summer's amateur draft came to an end, the Washington Nationals had significantly improved themselves by selecting pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Drew Storen.

Add the Washington Nationals to the list of teams interested in signing right-hander John Lackey as a free agent.

Down to the final weekend of a miserable season, with players across the board banged up and limited in availability, the Washington Nationals have picked an odd time to start playing their best baseball of the year.

Although the Braves are no longer in the playoff race, there is a good reason to watch Saturday's game on FOX: the Nationals.

ATLANTA, Oct. 1 -- On Sept. 15, Justin Maxwell -- hitting .204 at the time, looking overmatched against big league pitching -- found himself in the Washington Nationals' starting lineup against Phillies ace Cliff Lee.

Hitting coach Rick Eckstein and first base coach Marquis Grissom approached the outfielder with a suggestion. They'd studied other tall hitters -- Alex Rios, for instance, and Dave Winfield. All, when batting, started their swings with their hands at chest level. The 6-foot-5 Maxwell started his swing with his hands almost behind his ears.

Since the Mets put a mid-summer scare in the Rockies, they have won three of 17 series, one against the Cubs, the one they completed on Sunday in Miami and one against the Nationals during their most recent homestand.

Jerry Manuel still walks through the Mets' clubhouse with a smile and his head high, confident that ownership will honor its word by bringing him back as manager next year.

Mike Morse homered for the third straight game and Ross Detwiler earned his first career win as the Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets 2-1 on Monday night.

Interim Nationals manager Jim Riggleman admitted on Saturday that he made the mistake of not finding playing time for infielder Mike Morse, but it has been a different story during the past two games.

The former Philadelphia Phillies starting pitching prospect, selected in the second round of the 2002 amateur draft , is now a Washington reliever.

The way the first five innings unfolded for the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night - basically, the way their entire season has unfolded - it would have been wholly predictable for them to match five innings of offensive futility with a sleepy four-inning coda and politely trudge to their 100th defeat for the second straight season.

Left-hander Ross Detwiler, the Nationals' No. 1 pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, gets his 12th start of the season at Nationals Park on Wednesday, vying for his first career win.

Cole Hamels is again pitching like Philadelphia`s October ace. Hamels took a perfect game into the sixth inning, masterfully using his changeup while matching a season high with 10 strikeouts and leading the Phillies to the win over the Nationals on Thursday night.

As Cole Hamels battled through his struggles this season, pitching coach Rich Dubee and others in the Phillies organization thought the young left-hander might be hitting a wall.

Like so many fans have, you've spent most of the season worrying about Cole Hamels.

Flores has a torn labrum, tests revealed this week, and will undergo surgery Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala.

The Nationals have decided to start left-hander Ross Detwiler on Thursday night against the Phillies, pushing right-hander J.D. Martin back to face the Mets at Citi Field on Friday night.