Allgemeine Themen » NOTES: DE Stephon Tuitt (elbow) was limited

The Washington Nationals‘ bats finally came alive Friday night. They hope that offense shows up again Saturday as the Nationals attempt to win two straight games for the first time in more than three weeks.

After a 17-7 rout on Friday night http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/kaleb-mcgary-jersey , the Nationals can pull even with the Philadelphia Phillies for second place in the National League East with a win Saturday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Washington hit seven home runs against the Phillies on Friday, including two by rookie Juan Soto and the 20th of the season from Bryce Harper. The team scored 17 runs on 18 hits in the win after combining for three runs on 12 hits in its previous three games.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Nationals, who are 9-15 in June and have not won consecutive games since June 5-6. Still, they are 42-38 on the season and one game behind the Phillies in the division.

Right-hander Vince Velasquez (5-8, 4.69 ERA) will try to keep the Phillies in second place on Saturday.

With one exception, Velasquez has been reliable for the Phillies over the last two months. The hard-throwing righty has allowed fewer than three earned runs in seven of his last 10 starts. He allowed 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 8 but has a 2.73 ERA in his other nine starts dating back to May 5.

Velasquez, who averages 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings, had seven strikeouts in six innings against the Yankees on Monday. He gave up two runs on three hits and four walks in the outing and took the loss as the Phillies’ offense struggled in the 4-2 defeat.

“I had a couple walks here and there, and I had to pitch around some guys Kendall Sheffield Jersey ,” Velasquez told reporters after the game. “It’s a tough lineup to face.”

Saturday’s start will be Velasquez’s sixth in his career against Washington. He is 2-2 with a 5.33 ERA and 1.333 WHIP in his first five starts. This season, Velasquez held the Nationals to one run on one hit and four walks over five innings in a May 5 start in which he got the win.

Jeremy Hellickson is expected to be activated off the disabled list and make the Saturday start for the Nationals. Hellickson (2-0, 2.28) strained his right hamstring in a June 3 start and has not pitched since.

He made a rehab start for Class A Potomac last Sunday and gave up 11 runs in 4 2/3 innings. But he said he felt healthy after the outing.

“Physically, I felt fine,” Hellickson told the Washington Post last week. “I mean, obviously not how I wanted it to go, but I felt fine. Felt my stuff was pretty good. Just command was a little shaky, but (my) hammy was 100 percent.”

Hellickson was solid before the injury. He posted a 1.30 ERA and .548 opponent OPS in five starts during May, and the Nationals won each of those outings.

Hellickson pitched for the Phillies in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In his only career start against Philadelphia http://www.atlantafalconsteamonline.com/john-cominsky-jersey , Hellickson did not allow an earned run in eight innings while with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2015 season.

This was always part of Le’Veon Bell’s business plan, the one that the Pittsburgh Steelers running back put together over the summer when he decided to skip training camp while waiting to sign his franchise tag tender.

Bell’s eyes weren’t focused on August but January. No camp meant less wear and tear on the legs that are pivotal to his team’s Super Bowl hopes.

Even after a season in which his 406 touches were 60 more than any other player in the league, Bell insists he’s ”100” as the kids say heading into Sunday’s divisional round game against Jacksonville.

”I feel great, especially not playing these last two weeks, not going to camp earlier in the year,” Bell said Wednesday. ”I can’t complain. I like where I am. This is the freshest I’ve ever been going into the playoffs so we’ll see how it goes.”

Bell missed the 2014 and 2015 playoffs with knee injuries and after practically carrying the Pittsburgh offense through the second half of the season in 2016, the groin problem he spent weeks trying to ignore flared up early in the AFC championship game.

He managed just 20 yards on six carries before leaving in the second quarter of a 36-17 loss to New England and spent the rest of the game watching from the sideline, helpless amid the blowing snow.

A year later, the memory lingers. Bell knows Pittsburgh’s best chance to finally unseat the Patriots is with his No. 26 featured prominently.

It’s one of the main reasons why he waited until Sept. 4 to sign the franchise tender that made him the highest-paid running back in the league Qadree Ollison Jersey , a decision that briefly alienated the fan base, but one his teammates understood completely.

The running back and part-time rapper considers himself unlike any other player in the league. It’s not a coincidence that he mentioned ”$17 million” during one freestyle session over the summer.

If anything, the $12 million he’s earned this season looks like a bargain. Bell earned first-team All-Pro honors at the ”flex” position, a testament to his unique skillset.

He finished third in the league in yards rushing (1,291) and 10th in receptions (85) despite sitting out the regular-season finale with a first-round bye already clinched.

”He wanted to get paid $17 million, but that’s because of what he does,” guard Ramon Foster said.

”He catches and runs the ball, he blocks. He does everything. That’s right up his alley. To be honest, I’m happy for him because he made himself into that. You can’t just be a running back anymore and he’s proven that.”

Yet Bell is at the point in his career where what happens from September through December is no longer the point.

On a team loaded with talent Brian Burns Jersey , he’s well aware the one thing he’s missing on his resume is the one thing that a massive payday and all the regular-season touches in the world can’t buy.

”I honestly don’t care about records or things like that,” Bell said. ”I just want to win a championship. I think everything else kind of comes with it.”

And Bell isn’t afraid to speak his mind to make sure Pittsburgh’s season ends in Minneapolis next month. He didn’t hesitate to question his relatively light workload during a 30-9 loss to Jacksonville on Oct. 8. He carried just 15 times for 47 yards against a team that came into the game ranked last in the NFL against the rush.

”We didn’t necessarily stick to our game plan, we had to start playing catch-up a little bit so we couldn’t really run the ball as much as we wanted to,” Bell said. ”We’ll see how the game goes. We want to be balanced.”

For the Steelers that often means making sure Bell is a vital part of the process. Pittsburgh is 6-0 this season when Bell has 30 touches or more.

It sounds like a lot because it is a lot.

Yet Bell also hasn’t crossed it since a win over Green Bay the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Compare that to a year ago, when he needed a painkiller shot before the AFC title game just to play, a patchwork solution that failed spectacularly.

The first time the Patriots hit Bell, the throbbing in his groin returned. There will be no shot necessary on Sunday.

”I don’t go into a game feeling achy or sore,” Bell said. ”I’m going there and literally feeling like it’s new, like I haven’t played in a minute http://www.carolinapanthersteamonline.com/greg-little-jersey , I want to get back out there.”

The proof can be heard on the practice field, where Foster says Bell keeps yelling ”Tempo! Tempo!” in an effort to get his teammates to pick up the pace, not always an easy task more than five months into the season.

”His sense of urgency is higher than I ever seen it,” Foster said. ”He’s eager about it. When you’ve got a guy like him that’s eager to do it … you’ve got to believe in those guys.”

NOTES: DE Stephon Tuitt (elbow) was limited in practice on Wednesday. … DB Artie Burns (knee) was also limited. … WR Antonio Brown (left calf) was listed as a full participant.

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