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On Wednesday afternoon, the Washington Nationals announced two major roster moves after their exciting walk-off win against the Brewers. The Nationals have requested an unconditional release waiver on veteran outfielder Corey Dickerson and have optioned infielder Luis García to Triple-A Rochester in a move that shocked many in the baseball world. The truth is, since June 22, Garcia is only hitting .210 with a .250 OBP and a powerless .269 slug for just a .519 OPS, and when you couple that with some uninspiring second base defense that has been negative at a -3.0 OAA, you can see why general manager Mike Rizzo made the move. In the corresponding moves, a source told Talk Nats that Washington will call up outfielder Blake Rutherford. Subsequently, Jesse Dougherty gave the fourth move in the complicated puzzle that the team would also promote Jeter Downs.

In late news, CF Derek Hill was scratched from the Rochester Triple-A lineup which could be related to another roster move, a possible roster move, or just unrelated to the big league roster. The Nats have a day-off tomorrow, and Downs and Rutherford will join the team in Cincinnati for the weekend series against the Reds.

The Washington Nationals are back to business as usual. That was the message that general manager Mike Rizzo conveyed after the nervous days and weeks that led up to the annual trade deadline. The trepidation that built-up to 6:00 pm yesterday might have caused some sleepless nights, and in the end Manager Dave Martinez told players at 6:01 PM last evening that nobody was traded that day.

The Washington Nationals made no trades today. The trade deadline came and went with only Jeimer Candelario traded yesterday. The fans are split in how they feel about the lack of action. Basically you either trust your general manager to make the best deals for the team -or- you don’t. Rizzo had plenty of offers to consider — but in the end the only one he took was the Candelario deal.

The Washington Nationals officially traded Jeimer Candelario just before the start of this game to the Cubs. The last time the Nats and Cubs did a deadline trade it was Daniel Murphy for Andruw Monasterio. The irony is that Monasterio did not even stay two weeks in a Nats’ uniform, and today he is starting for the Brewers in today’s game against the Nats. Of course Monasterio was then traded with Daniel Johnson and Jefry Rodriguez to Cleveland for Yan Gomes.

The Washington Nationals offense came alive last night with 11-runs scored, and that was a welcomed sign leading into this afternoon finale of this 4-game series. The Nats are looking for a split as the team waits to see if they will be facing Justin Verlander — or will he be traded before the game starts?

The Washington Nationals offense disappeared in the first two games against the Mets. One run in each game is all the Nats could piece together. MacKenzie Gore had a shutout going into the fifth inning with two outs until he was victimized by Pete Alonso. For Gore, he has looked so good at times but seemed to run out of stamina in that fifth inning with two walks and a hanging slider that took a 0-0 game to 3-0.

The Washington Nationals have a tall task tonight facing old friend, Max Scherzer, tonight in New York. The Nats will pitch lefty MacKenzie Gore, a night after the Nats got a gem from Josiah Gray who moved up to the 12th best ERA in all of baseball at 3.27. The Nats offense was back to run support issues behind Gray with only one run scored.