Wire Taps: Washington Nationals 20 Games Over .500... No Seriously, 20 Games Over .500.

• With last night's win over the Milwaukee Brewers, the Washington Nationals won their sixth-straight (a season-high), went 20 games over .500 and tied the New York Yankees for the best overall record in the majors. "Those guys deserve it," Nats' skipper Davey Johnson said, with "those guys", of course, the Nats. "They've hung in there when times were really tough and we got a little healthy, the middle of the lineup got healthy... and shoot, we've earned it." The win on Thursday night was the Nats' first in Milwaukee since 2009. They improved to 31-20 on the road and 15-7 in July. All of which amounts to? Not much, really according to their manager. "Every game is a big game as far as I'm concerned," the Nationals' manager said, "And that's the way they look at it, and that's the way I look at it. We haven't done nothing." It would probably be hard to convince Nationals fans of that fact. The trade deadline's approaching and the Nationals aren't worried about whether or not to sell off assets. In fact, they're not expected to do much of anything... but maybe folks who think that are understimating D.C. GM Mike Rizzo's desire to win? We'll see. The deadline is Monday. Game two of four with Milwaukee is tonight at 8:10 pm EDT. For now... it's the Links and lots of them... RIGHT NOW!!!

• THE BIG STORY!!!:

• "They had been intrigued by the idea of adding a starting pitcher, but that seems to have lost steam, with the price too high for their liking..." - "Nationals front office prepares for trade deadline in Milwaukee" - Adam Kilgore, Nationals Journal - The Washington Post

• NATS BEAT:

• "'(Preparing to trade [Zack] Greinke) is probably one of the reason they've got eight pitchers in the bullpen,' Johnson said. 'Although we have eight -- but we're not making a move.'" - "Johnson not expecting Nationals to face Greinke" - Amanda Comak, Washington Times

• "But the Nationals should take a second - just a second - and appreciate where they are at this point." - "Nationals Pastime: The view from the top" - Dan Kolko, MASNSports.com

• "There is a lot less chatter about Espinosa hitting from the left side now, and even less talk about whether the natural shortstop can go back to his old position without a hitch." - "Espinosa driving force to Nationals' recent upswing" - Byron Kerr, MASNSports.com

• "The Washington Nationals' loaded rotation bears no resemblance to those of the past." - "Top Five: Worst Nats rotations" - Kevin Dunleavy, WashingtonExaminer.com

• "As far as Davey Johnson is concerned, he can't go wrong filling out the fourth and fifth spots of his lineup card." - "LaRoche and Morse producing for Nats" - Adam Berry, nationals.com: News

• "We've moved past the point where anyone should consider this a fluke. Guess what, folks: These guys are for real, and they aren't done yet." - "Reaching for new heights" - Mark Zuckerman, NatsInsider.com

• "After Adam LaRoche hit his third home run in as many days to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the second inning, the bottom of the order kept the inning alive." - "Nationals Pastime: Jackson getting it done in all three phases (Nats win 8-2)" - Dan Kolko, MASNSports.com

• "These Nationals don’t appear to have much time for the undignified history of their predecessors." - "Twenty games over .500, Nationals now tied for MLB's best record" - Amanda Comak, Washington Times

• "They had been intrigued by the idea of adding a starting pitcher, but that seems to have lost steam, with the price too high for their liking..." - "Nationals front office prepares for trade deadline in Milwaukee" - Adam Kilgore, Nationals Journal - The Washington Post

• "Stephen Strasburg is, by all means, having an excellent season. Through 20 starts (117.1 innings pitched), he boasts a 31.8% strikeout rate -- by far the highest mark of any qualified starter in the majors." - "Stephen Strasburg Is Having An Even Better Season Than You Think" - Julian Levine, Beyond the Box Score

• "Milwaukee's seventh straight loss came on the day general manager Doug Melvin acknowledged he was working to trade ace Zack Greinke..." - "Lombardozzi's triple lifts Nationals past Brewers" - WashingtonExaminer.com

• "'I don't see us really going out there and doing a whole lot unless somebody really cherishes somebody we've got,' [Davey] Johnson said." - "Johnson expects quiet Deadline for Nats" - Adam Berry, nationals.com: News

• "But the Nationals should take a second - just a second - and appreciate where they are at this point." - "Nationals Pastime: The view from the top" - Dan Kolko, MASNSports.com

• "At 59-39, they moved to 20 games over .500 for the first time since baseball returned to Washington. (A Washington club last stood so far over .500 when the 1945 Senators finished 87-67.)" - "Nationals vs. Brewers: Washington equals best record in MLB with rout of Milwaukee" - Adam Kilgore, The Washington Post

• "He threw 11 pitches. Only three were strikes. His first six were balls, bringing pitching coach Steve McCatty out to chat." - "Henry Rodriguez’s wildness sets off alarms" - Amanda Comak, Washington Times

• "But with the second half well under way now, Detwiler, the No. 6 overall pick in 2007, has established himself as a key piece going forward..." - "Detwiler's finally found his spot with Nationals" - Brian McNally, WashingtonExaminer.com

• "'I think he's settling in, knows who he is,' manager Davey Johnson said. 'Kind of like some of these other young players -- kind of like [Ian] Desmond, [Danny] Espinosa.'" - "Washington Nationals at Milwaukee Brewers - July 27, 2012" - Mike Fiammetta, MLB.com Preview

• "'We're in a great position. I don't think you're going to hear anybody say, 'OK, we've arrived. This is what we wanted. Let's shut it down,' added first baseman Adam LaRoche." - "Washington Nationals at Milwaukee Brewers - July 26, 2012" - Adam Berry, MLB.com WSH Recap

• "In [Ross] Detwiler’s five starts since rejoining the Nationals’ rotation, the Nationals have gone 4-1 and he has a 2.35 ERA." - "What’s behind Ross Detwiler’s recent hot streak?" - Adam Kilgore, Nationals Journal - The Washington Post

• [CHOMP!!]:

• NATS MINORS:

• Class-A Short Season Auburn: "The Nationals will be more careful with [Anthony] Rendon because of the severity of the ankle injury. Normally, you want to speed up recovery for players on rehab to get them back to their club as soon as possible." - "Rendon to start at third base tonight for Auburn" - Byron Kerr, MASNSports.com

• Class-A Short Season Auburn: "The Doubledays broke the 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a two-run single by catcher Spencer Kieboom, which gives him nine RBI on the season." - "Doubledays get another one-run win over Lake Monsters" - Eli Pearlstein, Auburn Doubledays News

• Class-A Short Season Auburn: "The first pitch Anthony Rendon saw in the New York-Penn League was an inside fastball." - "Rendon impresses right away" - Ben Meyers, The Auburn Citizen

• Class-A Hagerstown: Suns 8, BlueClaws 6 - Caleb Ramsey - 2 for 4, HR, 2 R; Taylor Jordan - 4.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's - Hagerstown Suns Scoreboard

• Class-A Potomac: "Starter Nathan Karns was excellent again for Potomac as they defeated Lynchburg 3-1 to split a four-game series at City Stadium." - "Nasty Nate: Karns Dominates Again in Potomac Win" - Potomac Nationals News

• Double-A Harrisburg: "Thursday night's series opener between the Trenton Thunder and Harrisburg Senators has been suspended before the bottom of the second inning due to rain with the Senators leading 3-1." - "Senators and Trenton Thunder Suspended Thursday Night" - Terry Byrom, Harrisburg Senators News

• Triple-A Syracuse: "The Syracuse Chiefs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, unleashed an offensive explosion on Thursday morning in a 17-9 win over Rochester." - "Offensive explosion leads Chiefs past Red Wings" - Syracuse Chiefs News

• Triple-A Syracuse: "Line of the Day: Austin Bibens-Dirkx, SP - 4.0 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 HR, 4.93 Season ERA. Making a spot start, ABD didn’t have his best stuff, but was helped out by the offense." - "You just have to see this box score..." - Ben Meyers, The Auburn Citizen

• "Friday’s News & Notes" - Luke Erickson, NationalsProspects.com

• NATSTOWN:

• "If you love amazing Washington Nationals videos, this is your lucky week." - "Nats send Bar Mitzvah greetings" - Dan Steinberg, DC Sports Bog - The Washington Post

• "You have to go back to a different Senators franchise, the one that moved to Minnesota in 1961, and even a few decades before that, to find a Washington team that could lay claim to the best record in baseball at such a late date." - "Remembering your grandfather's Nats and the last time Washington led the majors" - Nationals Buzz: Marty Niland, MASNSports.com

• "Mike Rizzo with a fan in a 'Don't be a Clown, bro' shirt" - Nats Enquirer

• "July 27, 2009 - Josh "The Hammer" Willingham accomplished a very rare feat when he became only the 13th player in major league baseball history to hit two grand slams in one game." - "This Day in D.C. Baseball History – Willingham’s Two Grand Slams" - Mark Hornbaker, D.C. Baseball History

• "Do you know how many NL teams 20 games over on July 27th have failed to make the playoffs in the Wild Card Era? Zero. (Last team to do it was the 1993 SF Giants)..." - "Print them out, dammit!" - Harper, Nationals Baseball

• "Boots on their Throats" - Chris Needham, Capitol Punishment

• "Sorry Nyjer, but you should know best of all to not hit to CF when there is a hungry shark out there." - "Shark Bites Nyjer Morgan!"- Sharkadina

• "The Bryce Harper bat (& other Nationals goodness)" - Kristen, Win For Teddy

• NL EAST UPDATES:

• Mets: "Matt Harvey’s heat could have killed a cactus. The Mets rookie owned the desert Thursday night..." - "Matt Harvey strikes out 11 in his major league debut to lead the New York Mets to a 3-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks" - Mike Puma, NYPOST.com

• Braves: "He’s on pace to play 99 of the Braves’ 162 games, or about 25 fewer than Chipper Jones had in mind when he reported to spring training." - "At 40, Chipper excels as hitter and (unofficial) coach" - David O'Brien, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

• Marlins: "[Ozzie] Guillen identified a veteran and an up-and-comer in Jose Reyes and Logan Morrison. This may be Reyes' first true opportunity to be the guy." - "Miami Marlins need a new face of the franchise to replace Hanley Ramirez" - Juan C. Rodriguez, South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

• Phillies: "For a 32-year-old guy who has kicked around the minor leagues for more than a decade, who was driving a 1988 Dodge D50 until it finally gasped its last breath just a few weeks ago, it all seemed so out-of-body." - "Kratz living out his long-imagined big-league dream" - Sam Donnellon, Philly.com