You would think a pitcher making his first start since September 2008 because of shoulder surgery would be a little nervous, rusty or wild.

You would be wrong.

Jeff Francis, a former 17-game winner for the Colorado Rockies, returned to the mound for the first time since late 2008 and threw seven innings of one-run ball, defeating the Washington Nationals 2-1 before 42,874 on a beautiful Rocky Mountain Sunday afternoon.

The loss hands the Nationals their first three-game losing streak of the season, and drops their record to 20-18.

It was also something of a moving day for the Nats as well.  Before the game, Mike Morse was activated from the 15-day DL and Willy Taveras was designated for assignment. 

After the game, 2009's No. 10 overall draft pick Drew Storen was summoned from Triple-A Syracuse and Brian Bruney, who has struggled all season long, was designated for assignment as well.

Storen has a 1.08 ERA in 16. 2 innings, allowing 15 base runners and striking out 15 between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse in 2010.

Bruney has been, in a word, brutal this season.  He went 1-2 with a 7.64 ERA, giving up 18 runs, 21 hits and 20 walks in 17.2 innings.  He struck out 16, but the appeal of having a potential strikeout arm in the pen was more than overshadowed by the constant walks and good contact made against him.

Bruney was acquired in the off-season from the New York Yankees for the rights to the first pick in the Rule 5 draft, and was expected to be a main cog in Manager Jim Riggleman's bullpen.  Instead, his poor pitching forced the Nats hand to promote Storen, probably early enough that he will qualify for "Super 2" status, reaching arbitration and earning his free agency a year earlier than the rest of the Class of 2010.

"This is a results orientated game," Bruney said afer the game.  "When you don't produce, obviously you're going to think about that."

"I don't feel like I'm a minor league pitcher, so we'll see what happens. Maybe somebody else doesn't feel that way, either. As it sits now, I'm going to go home."

As for the game, the Rockies scratched out a run off Tyler Clippard in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie, and Manny Corpas made the run stand up, giving reliever Matt Belisle (1-0, 2.28) the win.

Francis was sharp in his first start in over a year and a half.  He gave up seven hits and two walks in seven innings, allowing just one earned run.  He struck out six Nats batters.  Francis threw 67 of this 106 pitches for strikes, and used a variety of off-speed pitches to keep the Nats off-balance.

On the other side, Nats starter Scott Olsen kept his team in the game, despite his admission of not being as sharp as he had been earlier this month.  He went six and two-thirds, allowing five hits and one walk, striking out three. 

Though the numbers look good, Olsen said after the game he did not feel very comfortable on the mound, but felt better as the day went along.

Clippard, who bailed Olsen out in the seventh retiring Clint Barmes with two on and two out, couldn't keep the game knotted in the eighth.

He walked the leadoff hitter, Seth Smith, and allowed a single to Carlos Gonzalez, moving Smith up to second.  After a sacrifice, Brad Hawpe lofted a fly ball to deep left field, and Smith trotted home with the tie-breaking--and winning--run.

Clippard dropped to 7-2 this season, taking his second loss in a week.

Washington got their lone run of the game with the first out of the game.  Nyjer Morgan led off with an infield single, Ian Desmond doubled to left, and Cristian Guzman hit a sac fly to plate the run.  That was the extent of the Nats offense against Francis.

Desmond's double was the Nats' only extra-base hit of the game.

Colorado took the final three games of the four game series, the last two by one-run margins.

It's a quick turnaround for the Nats, who play Monday in St. Louis.  Craig Stammen (1-1, 5.84) faces Kyle Lohse (0-3, 5.68) at 8:15 EDT.

NATS NOTES:  Morse and Guzman had two hits apiece. 

Ryan Zimmerman, hitting the clean-up spot, went 0-for-4.

Adam Dunn was given the day off due to flu-like symptoms.

Nyjer Morgan went 1-for-4, but struck out three times, including in the seventh inning when the Nats had runners at first and second with one out.

Tuesday night, the Washington Nationals took a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning.

It didn't last that way.

Relievers Brian Bruney and Tyler Clippard combined to allow six runs--five earned--on six hits to surrender what seemed like a comfortable lead, and the Nats fell to the New York Mets 8-6 before 31,606 at Citifield in Queens.

There's a lot of hand-wringing in NatsTown this morning after the loss.  Bloggers and fans are calling for the head of Brian Bruney, after he allowed all three batters he faced to reach base without recording an out in the frame.

Bruney has been fairly terrible this season, pitching to a 6.89 ERA with more walks than strikeouts.  And if he'd been hit hard, or walked a couple people, I would be on the bandwagon driving him out of town. 

But last night wasn't that case.

Jason Bay led off with a ground ball that got through the infield.  It happens.  A few feet one way or the other and it's an out.

David Wright, a right-handed batter, was late on a fastball, but he got enough of it to slice a line drive into the right field corner.  A few feet more and it would have been a harmless foul ball.

Rookie Ike Davis, who did narrowly miss a three-run home run on a foul ball, hit a routine ground ball that shortstop Ian Desmond mishandled, then made a poor throw on to allow Davis to reach safely and bring Bay into score.

So, scapegoat Brian Bruney all you want, but last night wasn't really his fault.  He didn't get hit hard.  He didn't walk anyone.  He did what management wants:  he pitched to contact, and a couple balls got through and his shortstop made an error.

These things happen.

Oh, and the score was only 6-3 when he was pulled from the game.

Clippard, on the other hand, was rocked.

He maanged to strike out Jeff Francouer for the first out of the inning, but then in succesion gave up a bomb to Rod Barajas that almost cleared the fence in left field, a bunt single to Alex Cora that he has no one to blame for but himself, a clean single to right field by Angel Pagan and a double to right field by Chris Carter, making his Mets debut.

Clippard has been living in such luck so far this season, it's not surprising that things would catch up to him.  You just wouldn't expect it all in one appearance.

Carter's two-RBI double gave the Mets the lead, and after Miguel Batista intentionally walked Jose Reyes to load the bases to set up a double play, he then unintentionally walked Jason bay to force in the insurance run.

That's something to get mad about.

So my suggestion to NatsTown:  brush this one off.  The Nats have been living right so far this season, with an 8-3 record in one-run games.  They've gotten better-than-expected performances from some unlikely sources, and they are still tied for second in the division.

I fear that the unsustainable early season success has some folks around here printing playoff tickets in their minds, but the Nats are still too seriously flawed to really be competitive this season.  Nats fans need to enjoy the journey to respectability, not expect it all at once.

Losses happen.  It might be tougher to take when it happens in a game the you think they should win.  But if you take a look at the results so far this season, you just might find a game or two where the Nats were able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat themselves.

Back off the ledges, people.

NATS NOTES:  Adam Dunn hit a three-run home run in the top of the first, his seventh of the season.

Cristian Guzman was 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored.

Ivan Rodriguez hit a two-RBI single in the Nats fifth inning.  Desmond drove in the other run with a single in the same inning.

Starter Scott Olsen had another good result on a night he didn't have his best stuff.  He went five and one-third innings, allowing two earned runs on nine hits and one walk.  He struck out two.

Tyler Walker and Doug Slaten combined for one and two-thirds scoreless innings.

Jason Marquis made a rehab start for Class-A Potomac Tuesday night.  He went three and two-third innings, allowing three runs, six hits, one walk and one hit batter, striking out three.  He threw 54 pitches, 36 for strikes, and according to Nats Director of Player Development Doug Harris, Marquis had no health related problems in his appearance.

by Anthony Amobi, Staff Writer

WASHINGTON – After a thrilling come-from-behind win last night, the Washington Nationals opened up their three-game set with the Florida Marlins in the loss column, defeated 4-2, before 20,161 at Nationals Park.

Despite a solid night by Washington starter Craig Stammen, his bullpen mates could not hold off their opponents. With the score tied at two in the eighth inning, Brian Bruney – who had come into the game in relief of Stammen in the seventh – continued a string of erratic and uneven performances.

He managed to get through the seventh inning unscathed; however, the Marlins would get him in the eighth. Bruney allowed a leadoff single to Bryan Petersen--his first career MLB hit--to start the frame, and then allowed Chris Coghlan to reach on an error.

Moments later, Gaby Sanchez would inflict the damage with an RBI-single that broke the tie to plate Petersen. After an intentional walk to Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu would plate Coghlan with a sacrifice fly to raise Florida’s score to 4-2.

The Nationals made things interesting in the ninth inning against Marlins closer Leo Nunex.  Adam Kennedy – who pinch hit for pitcher Tyler Walker – singled, and then with two outs in the frame, Willie Harris looked to bring his team within a run of the lead with a stroke to right field. However, Harris’ apparent hit was in foul territory and was mere inches from the foul line.

With another chance to keep the Nationals alive, Harris unfortunately ground out to the shortstop to end the game--another comeback win averted.

Stammen bounced back from a horrible start against the Marlins last weekend and on Friday night looked as good as he’s been all year. He gave up two runs – one earned – on eight hits, striking out eight and walking none. 

Bruney (L, 1-2, 6.00), who pitched the eighth inning where the Marlins decided the game, took the loss.

Meanwhile, Chris Volstad (W, 3-2, 4.12), who started the game for Florida on the mound, earned the win. Closer Nunez finished the game to earn his fifth save.

Washington got on the scoreboard first in the opening inning as Josh Willingham plated Cristian Guzman with an RBI fielder's choice. Florida tied the game in the second inning off a Cody Ross RBI-double scoring catcher Jeff Baker.

The Nationals retook the lead in the sixth inning, as Ryan Zimmerman hit his fifth homer of the season--a solo shot.  However, the Marlins struck back and tied the game as Jorge Cantu hit a solo shot of his own – his seventh homer of the season – to tie the game at two.

Game two of the weekend series it Saturday at 1:00 pm.  Matt Chico is expected to be recalled from Double-A Harrisburg for the start for Washington, taking the rotation spot of John Lannan who is nursing a sore elbow.  Chico will face Josh Johnson (3-1) for the Marlins.

After the game, Justin Maxwell was sent down to Triple-A Syracuse to make room for Chico on the 25-man roster.

Willie Harris after his two fantastic catches

Roger Bernadina diving for a foul ball

All Photos 2010 © Cheryl Nichols Photography/Nationals News Network. All Rights Reserved.

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In other news, Friday night was also an important one for the future of the Washington Nationals as Stephen Strasburg made his Triple-A debut for the Syracuse Chiefs.

Much like Strasburg did during his brief tenure with the Harrisburg Senators, he impressed and delivered with Syracuse.

The Chiefs earned a 7-0 win over the Gwinnett Braves as Strasburg went six shutout innings.  He fanned six, walked one, and also showed some prowess with the bat, driving in two of Syracuse's seven runs.

His outing on Friday against Gwinett was not a fair fight at all. In fact, Strasburg was flat out dominant.

Starsburg threw 65 pitches, 45 for strikes and lit up the radar gun – hitting 98 miles per hour at points with his blazing fastball, plus using an impressive repertoire of off-speed pitches to stymie his opponents.

If all goes well, fans of Nationals may not wait that much longer to see the phenom come up to the majors.

It's widely recognized that Strasburg should make his major league debut as a member of the Nationals in early June, if all goes well with his stint in Triple-A.

by Anthony Amobi, Staff Writer

The Washington Nationals suffered a heart-breaking loss Monday night as reliever Brian Bruney walked Aramis Ramirez with the bases loaded in the tenth inning, and the Chicago Cubs took the first contest of a three-game set, 4-3, on a cold, blustery evening in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field.

With the score tied at three in the ninth inning, Chicago's Ryan Theriot started things off with a single, and then Bruney would strike out Jeff Baker for the first out.

However, things would further unravel for the Nationals as Derrek Lee singled and Marlon Byrd followed with a floater over the head of Cristian Guzman. That brought Aramis Ramirez up to the plate, and Bruney, who struggled with his command the entire appearance, walked him on four pitches.

In the end, an ineffective Bruney (L, 1-1, 5.59) took the loss for Washington.  Carlos Marmol (W, 1-0, 0.84) was the pitcher of record for Chicago.

The Nationals are 10-10 on the season and back at the .500 mark.

The Cubs have won their fourth in a row and are also 10-10.

Washington got a solid effort from John Lannan, who started the game on the mound. He went six innings and gave up three runs, but his outing started off rocky before settling in.

The Cubs would get on the scoreboard in the second inning against Lannan as they plated two runs on an Aramis Ramirez RBI-double and a bases-loaded walk to pitcher Carlos Silva.

They upped the lead to 3-0 as Marlon Byrd drove in a run with an infield single; however, in the middle innings, Washington would inch their way back into the game.

For the first third of the game, pitcher Carlos Silva, who has started the season of strong after a disastrous stint in Seattle, breezed through the Nationals lineup.

However, in the middle innings, he ran into trouble.

Washington got a pair of runs in the fourth inning as Josh Willingham earned a bases-loaded walk off Silva that plated Nyjer Morgan and then Adam Kennedy drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

The Nats tied the game at three thanks to a Wil Nieves RBI-single.

All told, Silva went go seven innings and give up three runs.

In the eighth inning, the Nats had a chance to break open the game with a potential rally, but could not make anything of it.

With one out in the frame, Adam Dunn and Willingham hit back-to-back singles.  The inning would quickly come to an end though as Kennedy popped out to the shortstop and reliever Carlos Zambrano fanned Nieves for the final out.

Int he loss, the Nationals pounded out ten hits, three of which came from the bat of Adam Dunn. The three-some of Morgan, Ian Desmond and Willingham had two hits each.

Ryan Zimmerman again didn't start the game due his injury, but did pinch hit in the ninth inning, flying out to right.

NATS NOTES:  Nationals C Ivan Rodriguez was scratched from the lineup because of lower back tightness.

Tyler Walker pitched one and one-third scoreless innings of relief.  He gave up one hit and had one strikeout.
 
The Nats turned three double plays.
 
Washington struck out four times and walked once.

Despite my little hiatus, I was paying attention.  The Washington Nationals, over the last few weeks, have made a series of significant moves to try to bolster the 2010 team in advance of some home-grown talent arriving in 2011 or 2012.

Stephen Strasburg.  Drew Storen.  Derek Norris.  Danny Espinosa.  Chris Marrero.  Brad Meyers.  Definitely some upside there.

Maybe by then this organization will actually be in a position to compete within the division, something they haven't been able to accomplish since Frank Robinson's inaugural team of 2005 was in first place in the N.L. East as late as July 24 before succumbing and finishing at an even .500 at the end of the season.

The big question is:  How much will Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Marquis, Matt Capps and Brian Bruney actually help the product on the field?

All of the four players come with a certain amount of bona fides, but all come with caveats as well.

Pudge is a 14-time all-star and 13-time Gold Glove winner, but it's been several years ago that he garnered either accolade.  He's 38, and he hit .249/.280/.384 in 121 games last season.  If you look at his splits, he had a couple of decent months at the plate, but several atrocious ones as well.

If he's coming in as a backup/mentor to Jesus Flores, great.  But this signing will blow up if the Nats have to look at 500 at bats from a 38 year old catcher.

Marquis, 31, is a veteran sinkerballing workhorse.  Again, he'll be counted on as a mentor to a very young starting rotation.  He's coming off an all-star season, one in which he was much better in the first half of the season than the second, though his K/9 actually went up in the second half along with his ERA and WHIP.

It's indicitative of his career numbers though, as he wins at a 60 percent clip before the all-star berak and 43 percent after. 

And of course, in 2006 he had an ERA of 6.02 and led the league in allowing home runs and earned runs--in St. Louis.

Matt Capps is a 26-year old fireballing closer.  The Nats got him for one year.  Bully.  He's a good gamble to take, as he's has some good success in the role in Pittsburgh, and I guess his agent, by insisting on the one-year deal, figures he'll return to form.  Because last season, he stunk, despite the gaudy saves total.

Let me throw some 2009 numbers out and I'll let you decide which player you'd rather have closing games.

Player A:  4-8, 5.80 ERA, 1.656 WHIP, 7.6 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 in 54.1 IP

Player B:  1-4, 4.78 ERA, 1.672 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 4.8 BB/9 in 64.0 IP

Player A is Capps.  You've probably guessed by now Player B is former Nats' reliever Joel Hanrahan.

Brian Bruney?  He is most famous for starting a fight with Francisco Rodriguez.  He was left off the Yankees playoff roster in favor for a third catcher.  All he's done since being traded for a Rule 5 pick is talk about how he wants to be the closer.  In his only experience at closing games, he had a 7.43 ERA with Arizona in 2005.

You might think by now that I'm tearing the Nats down for signing these players.  Back at the begining of December I wrote that if I were Mike Rizzo, I wouldn't spend $20 million on free agents just because I had it.  And I'm not implying thats what he's done.  All but the Pudge move were done efficiently and relatively cheaply.

All I'm saying is that when you read the Nats' press releases on these players, and listen to the talking heads about how the Nats are doing things "the right way", just keep in the back of your mind these other things they aren't reminding you of.

I guess we'll find out as the season goes just how much these players help the Nats.  If Marquis can avoid injury after pitching so many innings, if Capps returns to 2007-2008 form, if Flores is healthy and can keep Pudge off the field for four days a week, and if Bruney actually proves an upgrade over Saul Rivera, then the Nats shold be better off in the ledger at the end of the season.

Let's just say I'm skeptical of all those things happening at once.  Hopeful, but skeptical.

• Non-tendered RHRP Mike MacDougal and LHSP Scott Olsen.
• Offered arbitration to C Jesus Flores, OF Josh Willingham, C Wil Nieves, RHRP Jason Bergmann, RHRP Brian Bruney and LHRP Sean Burnett.
• Signed RHRP Ryan Speier to a minor league contract.
• Signed LHSP Scott Olsen to an incentive-heavy free agent contract.

There are a couple of expected moves in the above list, and a couple of surprises.

First, the expected.  The Nats' non-tendering of MacDougal and Olsen.  Both players stood to make a pretty big payday with arbitration, and figured they could re-sign both -- if they wanted -- after non-tendering.

They were right about Olsen, as he was a free agent less than one day, signing a $1 million contract, with incentives that could push the total to just under $4 million.  Olsen is coming off of season-ending labrum surgery, and according to GM Mike Rizzo, he is ready to start getting into baseball shape.

Whether Olsen returns from the surgery to be a valuable member of the Nats rotation is a story for another day, though, because we won't know until well into spring training how his shoulder responds to the procedure.

MacDougal has to be considered questionable at this point to return, though MASN.com's Byron Kerr indicates talks are continuing. 

MacDougal led the team in saves last season, and was third in the league in save percentage last year, but his underlying stats tell a different story.  He hard-throwing righty posted a career low K/9 at just 5.6, while his walk rate for the Nats was the same 5.6.  His overall WHIP was 1.520, much higher than one would expect for the No. 3 save percentage closer in the game.

His gaudy save total (20-for-21) though would have driven an arbitration salary through the roof of what the Nats would have wanted to pay him.

And it was completely expected that the Nats would offer arbitration to Flores, Willingham, Bruney and Burnett.

On to the (mild) surprises:  bringing back Nieves and Bergmann, and the signing of Justin Speier.

All off-season, the Nats have maintained their need to upgrade at backup catcher.  Primary to the point, the signing of Ivan Rodriguez.  That the club decided to retain Nieves, a player at a position they were vocal about upgrading from, has to be considered a bit surprising.

The team has been very careful not to name names when talking about addressing their needs at catcher, but Rizzo didn't want to go into the season with Nieves as the main backup again, that much is clear.  But offering him arbitration now indicated to me that he will indeed be the primary backup, this time to Rodriguez, at least to start the season.

Everything the Nats have done at the catcher spot (signing Rodriguez, who made it clear he's ready to play every day, bringing back Nieves and Jamie Burke), indicates to me that Flores is not only not going to be ready in spring training, but probably well into the regular season.

Bergmann's return surprised me as well, his quality down the stretch last year notwithstanding.  Overall, though, his season numbers were less than inspiring, and with his track record with the team, I thought this was going to be the season they let him test the free agent waters. 

But we can now expect Bergy to be one of the known elements to a bullpen in flux going into spring training, along with Burnett, Bruney and Tyler Clippard.

Ryan Speier is an interesting case.  A local kid from West Springfield High, he has a lifetime 3.99 ERA in 90 appearances, all for Colorado.  He doesn't strike a lot of guys out, and puts his fair share of runners on base, but manages to mostly keep them off the scoreboard.

He only pitched five and two-thirds innings on the big league level last season, and wasn't particularly impressive in AAA, but he does have a track record and getting out of the "mile high" air of Colorado could help him out.

In the first deal of the 2009 Baseball Winter Meetings, the Washington Nationals traded a player to be names later to the New York Yankees for RHRP Brian Bruney.  To make room on the 40-man roster, the Nats unconditionally released veteran RHRP Saul Rivera.

Bruney, 28, went 5-0 in 44 appearances covering 39.0 innings for the Yankees last year.  He had a 3.92 ERA and 1.513 WHIP, striking out 8.3 per nine innings.  For his career, he has a 4.27 ERA in 221.3 innings.

Bruney immediately threw his hat into the ring for the available closer job, telling Nationals Journal: 

"I love closing ballgames.  There's nothing better than that in my opinion. I felt like New York was a good stepping stone with lots of pressure-filled situations. But to be honest, I had talked to my agent and I said, 'I can't wait to get to the place where I can try and close somewhere.' "

Bruney (6'3", 219) has 13 career saves in six major league seasons, 12 of which came in one season, 2005 with Arizona.

This past June, Bruney criticized New York Mets closer Francisco Rodriquez after a game and the two needed to be separated the following day during batting practice when "K-Rod" confronted Bruney prior to the game.

 
Rivera was a dependable part of the Nationals bullpen for parts of four seasons, but had a 6.10 ERA in 30 appearances last season and spent part of the year in the minors.  Rivera turned 32 today.