Murphy, Scherzer help Nationals sweep Mets with 4-2 win

Matz will have to have the spur removed at some point, Alderson said. The closer will continue his rehab at Double-A Harrisburg, where he’s expected to pitch in back-to-back games starting Friday.

“That’s our plan tonight, sweep this series since we’re in this position”.

“Big game tomorrow and we can push it back to where we started on that awful road trip, which is our plan”, Baker said. We will monitor the level of discomfort. Matz and Syndergaard are proof of that; both are on a start to start basis between here and organizational collapse. If his elbow starts to bother him, he backs off those secondary (pitches) because of the wear and tear that it takes to throw them. “We had him looked at again this morning by Dr. (David) Altchek, including an MRI, and there are no issues with the ligament”, Mets assistant general manager John Ricco said.

Last season Scherzer tossed a no-hitter facing the Mets and in his only start against them this season he went six innings and gave up two earned runs, but received no support in a 2-0 Washington loss.

Washington erased the early 4-0 deficit against Syndergaard (8-3), who had won six consecutive decisions and had not lost since May 6.

“Dusty told me: ‘You can be anxious”.

I’m starting to think that I cursed them.

“I just wasn’t able to locate”.

“There’s not much difficulty there just because the doctor is really confident that nothing structurally is wrong”. Surgery to remove the spur would sideline him for about three months, GM Sandy Alderson said, effectively ending his regular season even if he had the procedure immediately.

A bone spur is a “reactive formation of bone” that appears where two bones rub against each other, said Dr. Bradford Parsons, an orthopedic surgeon at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The Long Island native said he has talked to veteran pitcher Bartolo Colon, whom Matz has talked to regarding his condition.

“Yeah, I was talking to Bartolo”.

“I don’t know”, Murphy said about his power surge. “I obviously want to do the same thing, but it’s up to the higher-up guys, whatever they want is whatever they want and I’m just going to go out and compete whenever I’m given the opportunity”. We’re going to put this behind me, we’re going to keep it in mind, but we’re going to try to keep the rotation in order. That’s ultimately up to them, but that’s my mindset too. “And then I was very surprised to see how relaxed his composure was out on the mound”. The right-hander underwent an MRI between starts, but said the elbow wasn’t the cause of Monday’s shaky performance. Strasburg was scratched from his last two starts with an upper back strain and was placed on the DL on Sunday.

“He’s a confident kid”, GM Mike Rizzo said Monday (via The Washington Post).