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WASHINGTON - For the second time in three years, the Washington Nationals won the most games in the NL — and then quickly exited from the playoffs. Now comes an off-season of questions about manager Matt Williams decisions and a handful of key roster choices, including what to do about Ryan Zimmerman, whether to sign Jordan Zimmermann and Ian Desmond to long-term deals, and how to upgrade an offence that fell flat in October. The window is not closed, Desmond said after the Nationals season ended Tuesday night with a 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants in Game 4 of their NL Division Series, but it is closing. At 96-66 under rookie skipper Williams, Washington finished first in the NL East by 17 games and had the best record in the league. Its pitching staff led the majors with a 3.03 ERA, as Zimmermann, who threw a no-hitter in the regular-season finale, teamed with Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister, Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark to form as formidable rotation. The lineup lacked superstar numbers, but it managed to finish third in the NL in runs. Then came the post-season. Just like in 2012, when it won 98 games, a top-seeded Nationals club lost to a wild-card opponent in the NLDS. The pitching was fine — Washington and San Francisco each scored nine runs in the series — although Williams use of his relievers will provide fodder for months worth of talk-radio segments. Should he have lifted Zimmermann with two outs in the ninth in Game 2? Should he have gone through Game 4 without ever using Tyler Clippard, Drew Storen, Craig Stammen or an available Strasburg? Should he have picked one of those pitchers for the pivotal seventh inning, when the Giants took the lead for good, instead of Matt Thornton and rookie Aaron Barrett, whose wild pitch let the go-ahead run score? Those are our seventh-inning guys, Williams said. Thats how we set this up. The biggest problem of all in the playoffs, though, was the lack of runs. The only batters who produced against the Giants were left fielder Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon, who replaced Zimmerman as the teams third baseman in 2014. Rendon batted .400 in the NLDS. Harper hit .368 with three homers and four RBIs, which might raise an additional second-guess: Why was he batting sixth? The No. 3-4 hitters, right fielder Jayson Werth and 34-year-old first baseman Adam LaRoche, were particularly off. They went a combined 2 for 35 (a .057 average) with a pair of singles and nine strikeouts. They were hardly alone, though. The No. 1, 5 and 7 hitters — centre fielder Denard Span, shortstop Desmond and catcher Wilson Ramos — were 7 for 54 (.130) with 15 strikeouts, zero extra-base hits and zero RBIs. Its just frustrating to get to this point and not play to our capabilities, Span said. This will stick with me the whole off-season. When the Nationals eventually gather in Florida for spring training in February, the focus will be squarely on why a club so successful in the regular season hasnt been able to follow that up in the post-season. LaRoche might be gone, perhaps replaced at first base by Zimmerman. Second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera, a trade-deadline pickup, can become a free agent, and deposed closer Rafael Soriano could be gone, too. As things stand now, the Nationals have a contract option to keep Span for next season, while Zimmermann and Desmond can become free agents after the 2015 season. Were a good team and we had a goal in mind, reliever Jerry Blevins said. This wasnt it. ___ Freelance writer Rick Eymer in San Francisco contributed to this report. Cheap Spurs Jerseys China . -- Navy football player Will McKamey, who has been hospitalized since collapsing at practice three days ago, has died while in a coma. George Gervin Jersey .5 million contract, according to a person familiar with the deal. Hatcher agreed to terms Thursday, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been signed. http://www.cheapspursjerseys.com/?tag=ch...ce-bowen-jersey. The club announced on Wednesday that Malhotra signed a 25-game professional tryout contract. The 33-year-old suffered a serious eye injury when struck by a puck during a game versus Colorado in March of 2011. Marco Belinelli Jersey . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota (5): He was calm, poised, and looked comfortable all game. Rudy Gay Jersey .com) - The Chicago Cubs reportedly signed recently-acquired outfielder Dexter Fowler to a one-year contract on Friday, avoiding arbitration.TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays relied on their big bats in the first two games of their nine-game homestand. The power game was minimized Friday and it proved costly in a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels that ended Torontos season-high five-game winning streak. Angels leadoff man Erick Aybar tripled to open the ninth inning and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Raul Ibanez. Ernesto Frieri earned his fourth save to end a choppy, mistake-filled game that at times was not pretty to watch. Torontos bullpen struggled after a five-inning effort from starter Dustin McGowan. Sergio Santos left the game in the seventh with the bases loaded and Steve Delabar followed by walking in a run. Brett Cecil (0-3) was uneven in the ninth as the Blue Jays fell back to the .500 mark. "Thats where weve struggled this year -- throwing strikes out of the bullpen," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "If they beat you, make them hit it to beat you." Toronto (18-18) pumped out 22 runs over its two-game mini-sweep of Philadelphia leading into the opener of a four-game series against the Angels. The Blue Jays scratched out runs where they could on this night, scoring twice on wild pitches and getting another run on a Jose Reyes solo homer. McGowan was hit and miss on the mound and did well to escape with just two earned runs allowed. Santos breezed through the sixth inning but gave up a one-out double to Aybar in the seventh. Aybar moved to third on a groundout and after an intentional walk to Albert Pujols and another walk to Ibanez, Delabar threw four straight balls to Howie Kendrick that were well out of the zone. "It was one of those days where I thought it was right there," Delabar said. "When I released the ball, I thought it was in the zone but it was nowhere close." Mike Trout hit his seventh homer of the season for Los Angeles (17-17). Aybar, meanwhile, was 3 for 5 and is hitting .397 over his last 15 games. "Hes swinging the bat nice, he has confidence up there," said acting Angels manager Dino Ebel. "Hes putting good wood on it and he wants to be the guy ... hats off to him getting that big triple there in the ninth inning." Reyes had three hits and scored twice for the Blue Jays, who were outhit 9-7 in front of 21,383 spectators under the roof at Rogers Centre. Los Angeles starter Garrett Richards was wild at times but turned in a solid performance overall, allowing five hits, two earned runs and two walks while striking out six. "Richards is one of the best young pitchers in the game," Gibbons said. "t;He can overpower you.dddddddddddd He shut down a pretty offence too tonight. So that was the key there. "We were in a position to win, we just didnt win it." Richards second wild pitch in the first inning allowed Reyes to open the scoring. Trout gave the Angels a 2-1 lead with his solo shot in the third inning but another wild pitch from Richards allowed Melky Cabrera to tie the game in the bottom half of the frame. The Angels nearly went ahead when McGowan fired a wild pitch of his own with two outs in the fifth inning. The ball bounced back toward catcher Dioner Navarro, who tagged Ibanezs leg as he slid at home plate. Umpire Angel Hernandez ruled him safe but Gibbons challenged the call and the decision was reversed to end the inning. Reliever Joe Smith (2-0) replaced Richards in the eighth and Reyes greeted him by lashing a pitch that barely cleared the wall in right field. It was the third home run of the year for the Toronto shortstop, who has struggled to find a groove after missing time with a hamstring problem last month. "He looks back," Gibbons said. "Hes feeling good, hes bouncing around. He got off to a slow start with the bat but its coming. He can do so many things." The Blue Jays put the potential go-ahead run at second base later in the eighth but Juan Francisco struck out to keep the game tied. Notes: Ebel, the Angels bench coach, will also serve as skipper on Saturday as regular manager Mike Scioscia is away at his daughters college graduation. ... Toronto slugger Jose Bautista singled in the eighth inning and has now reached base safely in a club-record 36 straight games to open the season. Its the longest season-opening on-base streak since Pujols had a 41-gamer in 2008. ... The game took three hours nine minutes to play. ... McGowan allowed seven hits, two walks and struck out a pair. ... The Blue Jays entered play Friday with five players in the American Leagues top 10 in home runs. Bautista and Colby Rasmus were tied for third spot with nine apiece. Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., and Cabrera were tied for ninth with six homers apiece. Chicagos Jose Abreu leads the AL with 12 homers and Pujols is next with 10. ... J.A. Happ (1-0) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday. Fellow left-hander Tyler Skaggs (2-1) goes for the Angels. ... The challenge in the fifth inning lasted much longer than usual. The unofficial time was three minutes 20 seconds. ... Toronto has hit at least one homer in all 15 home games this season. ... The Blue Jays have dropped eight of their last nine games against the Angels. ' ' '