Harper Can't Stay Healthy

The Nats' Bryce Harper has just come back from an injury to his toe and now this.

Bryce Harper hit the scoreboard wall face-first while tracking a ball hit by A.J. Ellis in the outfield over his left shoulder. He never looked at the wall and when he finally turned, he was on top of it. The impact sent Harper's cap flying as he bounced off the wall and crumpled to the ground, with Ellis getting a triple.

Harper didn't come back to the game as the Nats' won by a score of 6-2 over the Dodgers. 

"As the ball kept going, I was like, 'Is he going to stop?'" Nationals center fielder Denard Span said. "He looked like he didn't get a good jump at all, like he was surprised the ball was hit to him. I thought he was going to jump and brace himself. As soon as he ran into it, his body locked up."

Harper laid on his back for minutes which seemed like hours due to the wonder of pain he was in. 

Bryce Harper Out of Line-up

The Nationals are missing possibly their two best outfielders in Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth. Harper sat for two straight games including Saturday due to an ingrown toenail removal process. Werth was placed on the 15 day disabled list with a strained right hamstring.

Werth's roster spot was taken by outfielder Eury Perez, who was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse before Washington hosted the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

Harper posted two images to Twitter, one of his toe with no nail and very bloody. The other was of a full toenail not attached to his foot at all.

Harper was expected to play in today, Saturday's, game by manager Davey Johnson of the Nationals but, Harpers toe was still 'tender'.

After Friday night's 7-3 victory over Chicago, Werth said: "It's one of those things I feel bad; the team has been playing with 24 guys for over a week now. We feel like we're close and I feel like it's really not that severe. But it's one of those things you go out there with the way it is, and you might make it severe pretty quickly. Erring on the side of caution, but at the same time at this point I think it's necessary.

The replacement for Werth, Perez, has been excelling in triple-A for Syracuse with 17 runs, a .346 batting average, as well as 7 steals all in only 23 games.

Perez appeared in only 13 games for the Washington Nationals in the 2012 season getting only 5 at bats with 1 hit.

Braves Third Straight Sweep

The Braves have taken three out of three games from the Washington Nationals, that is their third straight sweep and they haven't lost a series yet. They just swept the Marlins in the series before they played the Nationals and they are on fire with a first place 11-1 record as the Nats drop to 7-5.

The Braves Evan Gattis continues his hot streak with a batting average of .324, 4 homers, and 10 RBI's. He had 1 hit and 2 RBI's this game, Atlanta's B.J Upton had a 3-5 day with 2 runs scored out of the lead-off spot, and the Braves Chris Johnson with a 4-5 day and 2 RBI's.

The Nationals had a terrible day in all with 2 errors and only 4 hits, half of their hits were courtesy of Kurt Suzuki who went 2-3. Chad Tracy were the only other 2 players with hits and they were pinch hitters! This was a sad day for the Nationals as they lost 9-0 being shut out!

The win went to the Braves Paul Maholm who now is 3-0 on the season and the loss was Gio Gonzalez's who gave up 7 runs compared to Maholm's no earned runs in 7.2 innings.

By David B.

Bryce Harper: Breaking Records

The Washington Nationals' 20 year old outfielder, Bryce Harper, has just broke the record for the youngest player to homer twice on opening day. Today he delivered two solo shots in his first two at bats against the Miami Marlins' Ricky Nolasco.

The first home run came in the first inning to right field sailing over the Out of the Park sign. The second bomb was just to the right of the first shot, but in the fourth inning.

The record was formerly held by Don Money going yard twice on April 8th, 1969 for the Philadelphia Phillies.

This will hopefully be the first of many homers for the youngster this year, and maybe leading to the M-V-P, which is what the fans at Nationals Park were chanting when Harper hit the second long ball.

By David B.