Washington Nationals

You may already know the name, but for those that do not, in the months leading up to the 2010 MLB draft, you will hear it many times: Bryce Harper.

The master plan for the Washington Nationals is finally falling into place.

Play possum for two years and set yourself up to draft, possibly, the two most highly regarded picks in the history of the game, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.

Obviously, very impressive.

One thing I noticed watching the highlights on espn.com a few minutes ago is that Stephen Strasburg used his curve ball as his strikeout pitch.  It’s obviously an extremely effective pitch against hitters who have not seen much of him (it was only his second AAA start) and very hard to adjust to after seeing his big fastball early in the count.

Batter of the Week - Steven Souza, 3B, Hagerstown

As we will do each week throughout the season, we will today take a look at Accuscore's playoff forecaster to see how the previous weeks games influenced the division's playoff race. The Nationals tremendously improved their chances to make the playoffs last week as the club went 4-2.

With this their projected playoff chances jumped from 10.5 percent to 23.8 percent. Disappointingly, their chance to win the division only grew 4 percent to 10.1 percent as the Phillies continue to play great baseball.

After his previous start that yielded six runs and five walks to the Atlanta Braves in 5.1 innings, many thought that Washington Nationals rookie starter Luis Atilano may be starting to unravel.

He shut those detractors up last night, however, as he threw 5.1 shutout innings helping the Nats topple the New York Mets to improve to second place in the National League East.

Deception was the key to Atilano's success Monday night, as young right-hander improved to 3-0 by earning the win on his 25th birthday.

On a day to thank mom for everything she has done, the Washington Nationals attempted to give all the mothers of National Nation a present. Looking for the Nats' sixth series win of the season, Livan Hernandez took to the hill at Nationals Park against the ever troublesome Florida Marlins.

Washington Nationals top prospect Stephen Strasburg successfully completed his first Triple-A start Friday night in front of a sold-out Syracuse Chiefs crowd.

The 21-year-old simply dominated the Gwinnett Braves on the mound, and even drove in two runs at the plate. Dave Shenin wrote in Nationals Journal:

On Friday night at Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse, NY, Stephen Strasburg made his first AAA start on his road to the big leagues. With a sellout crowd in attendance to see his Chiefs debut, Strasburg continued to show why he is rated by Baseball America as the top pitching prospect in baseball.

From the first pitch, it was clear Strasburg was far superior to his competitors. He displayed a healthy mix of velocity and location, hitting 99 mph on the radar gun while only walking one. Strasburg also featured a 90 mph change-up and a curve ball ranging from 80 to 85 mph.

Willie Harris's bottom of the ninth walk-off single wasn't one of the most exciting moments of the Nationals 3-2 victory last night. No, that came from the Nationals starting pitcher, Scott Olsen.

Olsen's previous two starts had been an indicator that perhaps the 26-year-old starting pitcher was bound for a strong comeback this season. But no one expected what happened last night.

The Nationals left-hander who had been left off the opening day roster took the mound in the top of the eighth after having struck out eight Braves batters.