MLB Power Rankings: Drama at the bottom

Photo by USA Today

By Steve Roney
CSNwashington.com

The Cardinals are holding strong as the top dog in the league, and the Braves are trending back upwards as the Marlins and Astros duke it out to see if there will be a challenger to the '62 Mets. Here's how Nationals Insider Mark Zuckerman, Nats writer Chase Hughes, and I see the rest of the league shaking out:

1. St. Louis Cardinals (29-16; LW: 1) - Zuckerman: Every member of the rotation boasts an ERA under 3.60. That's how you win night in and night out.

2. Texas Rangers (29-17; LW: 2) - Roney: Baseball America No. 1 prospect Jurickson Profar has finally made the show -- it'll be interesting to see if he's up for good.

3. Cincinnati Reds (28-18; LW: 4) - Zuckerman: Shin-Soo Choo might prove to be the most important acquisition of 2013 across the big leagues.

4. Atlanta Braves (27-18; LW: 10) - Hughes: Atlanta is getting hot while the Nats are having trouble. Evan Gattis is back to hitting homers and Kris Medlen is looking like the ace he was last season.

Nats who's hot/who's not-5/23

Photo by USA Today

By Michael Huberman

CSNwashington.com

The Nationals got a much needed win in San Francisco on Wednesday to cap off their longest road trip of the season. Here’s a look at five players who were hot, and five players who were not over the past week.

HOT:

Stephen Strasburg, SP – 1-0/1.20 ERA/15 IP/11 SO/0.93 WHIP

Strasburg started his week off with a bang, beating his hometown Padres and going a career-high eight innings for the win. Then, after pitching seven strong innings of one-run ball against the Giants, Strasburg was in line for his third win before his bullpen blew the lead in the ninth. Either way, over his last 20 innings Strasburg has been dominant, giving up just two earned runs and striking out 18. He has a 2.00 ERA through 27.0 innings thus far this month.

Ryan Zimmerman, 3B – 7-24/2 HR/7 RBI/.414 OBP/.997 OPS

The rest of the team may be struggling to hit, but Zimmerman continues to produce at the plate. Zimmerman had himself a very good series against the Padres, going 5-for-14 with two home runs, six RBI, and two walks. After a slow start to the year Zimmerman has gotten into a groove offensively, and is now hitting .313/.421/.484 in May.

Learning from his mistakes

USA Today Sports Images

Bryce Harper clubbed his 12th homer of the season during yesterday's win.

Contrary to the mythology that has been constructed around him, Bryce Harper actually is human. He has flaws as a baseball player. And he even makes mistakes every once in a while.

Here's the thing, though, about Harper and those mistakes: When he does make one, he learns his lesson and inevitably gets it right the next time around.

We've seen it throughout his brief tenure with the Nationals, and we certainly saw it multiple times during a just-completed, 10-game road trip during which Harper experienced what felt like a season's worth of highs and lows.

He crashed into the wall at Dodger Stadium, nearly decapitating himself and severely banging up his body. This led to all sorts of

Instant analysis: Nats 2, Giants 1 (10)

Associated Press

Bryce Harper is congratulated by Ryan Zimmerman after homering in the sixth.

Game in a nutshell: On the final day of the season's longest road trip, the Nationals desperately needed a big-time pitching performance from Gio Gonzalez and some rare offensive support. They got the former — Gonzalez carried a shutout in the eighth — but they didn't get the latter. Bryce Harper's solo homer in the sixth represented their only run in regulation. Even so, the Nationals had a chance to eke out a 1-0 victory, if only their bullpen could hold the lead. It couldn't. Drew Storen entered with one on and one out in the eighth and immediately walked Marco Scutaro before surrendering the game-tying single to Buster Posey. Never fear, though, because Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless ninth to send the game to extra innings, at which point Harper doubled and later scored on Ian Desmond's clutch single to right field, giving the Nationals the lead again. Rafael Soriano then made up for his blown save last night with a clean bottom of the 10th, and the Nats headed back East with a 24-23 record and relieved to have at least ended this eventful trip on a positive note.

Hitting highlight: Just because you're hitting second doesn't mean you have to hit like a traditional No. 2 hitter. Harper didn't quite

Game 47: Nats at Giants

Associated Press

The Nats try to salvage one win at AT&T Park this afternoon.

So, to recap for anyone who hasn't been paying attention over the last 10 days: Bryce Harper nearly decapitated himself crashing into the fence in L.A., Ross Detwiler and Wilson Ramos got hurt in the same (with Ramos landing on the DL and Detwiler forced to miss at least one start), Jayson Werth suffered a setback in his attempted return from the DL, Ryan Mattheus broke his hand punching his locker in San Diego, Rafael Soriano blew two saves and called out Harper for contributing to the second one and Yunesky Maya gave up a 700-foot, walk-off homer to Pablo Sandoval in San Francisco. Good road trip for the Nationals, huh?

You know what would help make that red-eye flight home later tonight a whole lot more enjoyable? A win in today's series finale at AT&T Park. It won't cure all that ails the Nats right now, but it certainly would put everyone in a better mood. So Gio Gonzalez will attempt to put his team in position to earn that win and the lineup will attempt to cobble together more than a couple of runs and the bullpen will hope to attempt to close out a late lead.

Since we've got a game that's actually being played at a respectable hour on the East Coast, I'll be able to share some thoughts along the way right here. And I'll also have an Instant Analysis post as soon as the game ends, so please check back for all that...

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: AT&T Park
Gametime: 3:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 187
Weather: Sunny, 58 degrees, Wind 15 mph LF to RF

NATIONALS (23-23)
CF Denard Span
RF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan Zimmerman
SS Ian Desmond