Jordan Zimmermann News

Nats nuggets: bench coach, Guzman, Flores, et al. Just got done speaking to Nationals GM Mike Rizzo and meeting the majority of his new front-office hires -- the amassing of which Rizzo called "the most important part of our offseason." Suffice it to say there is a lot of optimism around the organization these days.

By the end of the summer, the signing of No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg to a record contract and the installation of Mike Rizzo as general manager generated some actual excitement, even with the club headed toward its second straight 100-loss season.

Adam Dunn's single in the bottom of the 11th inning scored Cristian Guzman, as Washington got by the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1, in the opener of a three-game interleague set at Nationals Park.

In 2008, the Washington Nationals had the worst record in all of baseball because they had the worst players in all of baseball.

Nationals principal owner Mark Lerner will be the first to tell you the Lerner Group was not happy that the team finished with the worst record in baseball for the second consecutive season.

Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly said Tuesday the Washington Nationals asked Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti for permission to speak to Mattingly about their managerial opening.

Dana Brown is leaving the Nationals as an amateur scouting director and will join the Blue Jays to become a special assistant to general manager Alexander Anthopoulos.

The Washington, D.C. chapter of the Internet Baseball Writers Association is an organization comprised of Internet writers, online media outlets and bloggers.

As a parting gift, the Washington Nationals delivered pleasure -- no complications. The last scene of the 81st and final home game of the season was unlike any moment that preceded it, perfect and delirious, the one-minute attempt to undo a forgettable year. The manager said, 'There's no way I can explain how good a feeling that is.' And the guy who took the last swing said, 'It's like everything I've ever dreamed of in the big leagues.'

The Nationals, with Wednesday's 7-4 victory against the Mets, won't see Nationals Park again until April, and by then, both the team and its expectations will have a different feel. Until then, the Nationals can cherish the final flashing scenes of an otherwise dreary season. Justin Maxwell at the plate, two outs, bases loaded, closer on the mound. Nationals down one run. Everybody standing. Count full.

Adam Dunn was a major league player for eight years before he came to the Washington Nationals, and he never during that time consistently experienced the thrill of victory.

Leave it to Manny Ramirez to make the case that there is no difference between facing a rookie starting pitcher and a veteran.

At the beginning of the year, it was the key to whether the Washington Nationals would be improved enough to reach the realm of respectability.

Nothing in baseball says 'there is still hope' quite so loudly as the September debut of a fresh-faced kid with a future, the dirt of a couple dozen minor league fields still coating his glove, the spring still in his step despite the late date. Watch him strut around the clubhouse. Look at him zip around the diamond. Get about six more just like him, and maybe you've got something -- yes, even the Washington Nationals.

That was shortstop Ian Desmond on Thursday night, those fresh legs exploding through a hanging curve, then propelling him around the bases as if the ball that just left the park in the fifth inning was rattling around in the corner -- and still having enough left in reserve to push him up the dugout stairs for a curtain call a moment later. That was hope.

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Great, The Washington Nationals are on a pace to finish the season at 56-106, four games worse than last year's woeful effort.

Michael Taylor is back in Reading. While some spec ulated or assumed the Philadelphia Phillies ' hard-hitting outfield prospect would earn a September promotion to the big leagues, the Phillies actually sent the 6-6, 250-pound Stanford product down a level.

Counting time in the Grapefruit League, the International League and the major leagues, Jordan Zimmermann pitched 111 innings this year. Craig Stammen pitched 149 2/3 . Both only stopped when elbow pain became too much to bear.

The ends for both rookies came with similar epitaphs. They spent weeks -- or months, in Stammen's case -- keeping quiet about elbow soreness, and when they finally spoke up, they needed season-ending surgeries.

The growth of the Washington Nationals, with a backbone formed by young pitching, will largely depend on the development of players such as Stammen and Zimmermann. But Washington's blueprint for rebuilding also places extra emphasis on its ability to balance sometimes opposed desires: The Nationals like to see an attitude that allows pitchers to work through pain; they don't necessarily like the consequences of pitchers who do it.

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Great, Over the past couple of weeks, I have been away from BleacherReport.com generally, and the Washington Nationals specifically, as the health and needs of my adopted four-year-old son have taken precedence.

The Washington Nationals opened the final month of another forgettable season Friday night with another forgettable loss.

The Washington Nationals' pitching staff lost another starter to a season-ending injury Friday night when the team learned right-hander Craig Stammen will need arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur in his right elbow.

Nyjer Morgan likes to slide headfirst. The dangerous habit caught up with the Washington Nationals' leadoff hitter.