District Daily: Nationals’ starting rotation well-armed for future, Matt Williams reflects on first season

Oct 3, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher

(37) pitches against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of game one of the 2014 NLDS playoff baseball game at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit:

-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning DoD readers! Start off your day with some great Washington Nationals articles from around the web in our District Daily:

Washington Nationals’ starting rotation is well-armed for future

(Adam Kilgore, Washington Post)

Each day, we’ll be taking stock of every Washington Nationals positional group. Part 1 of 5: The starting rotation.

Season review

The Nationals returned their stellar core of Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez, and they found two stalwarts in sudden star Tanner Roark and trade acquisition Doug Fister.

The result gave the Nationals perhaps the best starting pitching in the major leagues.  They led the majors with a 3.04 ERA, ranked second with a 4.05 strikeout-to-walk rate and 17.6 wins above replacement and finished fifth with 1,0021 / 3 innings pitched. The 2014 Nationals were strong across the board, but their strongest piece was their rotation. Read full article here.

Matt Williams reflects on first season, looks ahead

(Adam Kilgore, Washington Post)

In the week since the Nationals were eliminated from the playoffs, Manager Matt Williams briefly became a tourist. He bought a home this summer in suburban Maryland, but the churn of the baseball season never allowed for sight-seeing. He took his wife Erika and his daughter Madison to the Smithsonian, the Air and Space Museum and Mount Vernon, to give them all a sense of where they now live. “It’s been busy,” he said, “but fun.”

The process of getting back to work already has started. The sting of the Nationals’ early exit following his 96-win managerial debut stays with Williams, but he has started to move on to next season. Read full article here.