Wire Taps: Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, Sean Doolittle are All-Stars; Tanner Roark out of answers; Nationals’ rotation a disaster

Sometimes, things feel like they’re going really well, and then life throws you a metaphorical—or physical—curveball.

That’s why Mark Reynolds is around to throw knuckleballs.

Tanner Roark doesn’t have any answers as Nationals drop series finale to Marlins (WaPo)
Tanner Roark felt like nothing was wrong yesterday. He still allowed fifteen base runners over just four innings. He has no answers, but is trying everything from shaving his head to changing his walkup music. It's doing nothing.

Harper, Scherzer, Doolittle named to NL All-Star Game team (WaPo)
Trea Turner could join if he wins the "Final Vote" against Brandon Belt, Jesus Aguilar, Max Muncy, and Matt Carpenter.

Harper, Scherzer, Doolittle are selected to All-Star Game (MASN)
Scherzer is excited to pitch in front of the home fans at what will be the biggest event Nationals Park has ever been host to.

Harper, Scherzer, Doolittle are All-Stars (MLB.com)
Harper--who plans to participate in the home run derby--and Scherzer--who lines up well to start-- will get their sixth nods to the team, while Sean Doolittle will get his second shot.

Trea Turner is the biggest snub on the NL All-Star roster (NBCSN Washington)
Trea Turner has been the best shortstop in the NL by fWAR, walk rate, baserunning war, offensive war, and pretty much all other types of WAR. There's no reason he shouldn't be on the roster, if not the starting lineup. Now, he'll be subjected to a final vote agains three players from large markets.

Bryce Harper can’t afford to be the Jeb Bush of baseball (NYPost)
Long before the 2016 election actually happened, everyone assumed that it was Jeb’s time -- and then things flopped colossally. The metaphor seems similar to Bryce Harper.

The Season’s Turning Point? (The Nats Blog)
The Nationals had a team meeting. Then they went down nine to nothing. Then they came back to win. Maybe things will be better from here, despite the colossal disappointment that was Sunday’s loss.

The Nationals’ starting rotation is a disaster, and it may ruin their season (WaPo)
Stephen Strasburg went down with an injury a month ago. In that month, every starter not named Max Scherzer has a 7.82 ERA, and nobody has been able to go more than a few innings, meaning the bullpen is incredibly taxed. To get everything back to normal, Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark--the chief sources of the problem--have to start producing again, and need to take on some accountability.

Nationals catcher Matt Wieters could return as early as today (WaPo)
Wieters played a second rehab game with Harrisburg yesterday, and felt healthy and was able to run. Now, the question is how often he'll play when he's back in Washington -- and, more importantly, how well he'll play, given that his offensive production was rather mediocre before he went down injured.

Then and Now: How These Nats Compare to Last Year’s Team (The Nats Blog)
The Nats were 50-34 after July 4th last year. This year, they're barely over .500. Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, and Daniel Murphy were dominating. The bullpen survived. This year, things are a whole lot different.