by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Andrew Lang
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
The Washington Nationals have had their best rotation span this season with just four runs given up by the starters in their previous five games, and that equates to just0.80 runs per game. Unfortunately, the offense has been struggling with pushing runs across. The team has only scored a measly 81-runs over 22 games this season and that is 3.68 runs per game. Not good enough. Five Nats’ starters are batting well below the Mendoza divide.
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One of the highlights for the Washington Nationals early in the 2024 season has been the play of shortstop CJ Abrams. The centerpiece of the Juan Soto trade has continued to build off of a promising end to the 2023 campaign. He’s certainly made it clear that he intends to be Washington’s shortstop of the future.
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The Washington Nationals start their longest span of games today without a day-off as they have 13-games in a row until their next day-off on May 6. The Dodgers are in D.C. for three games to finish up their season series.
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You want to get optimistic on your Washington Nationals knowing that Patrick Corbin pitches in the next game with his 8.06 ERA against James Paxton and his miniscule 2.81 ERA. A Nats’ win, and they are back to .500. A Nats loss, and that weekend optimism might get tainted. That is the life of a baseball fan. The Nats today are on a 77-85 pace on the season based on their current .476 winning percentage. Lose tomorrow and the team drops to a 73-89 pace. The baseball season is a marathon. We are 1/8th complete on the season. That is just a furlong in a thoroughbred race.
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Last week, when Mitchell Parker checked into the team hotel at the Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons 5-star property, he knew something was different in his new life. In his near-term future, no more Holiday Inns of year’s past or postgame meals when the team bus stops at the Chipotle near Erie, Pennsylvania. The pregame and postgame spreads at the MLB level, and the charter flights on the team’s new American Airlines jet are just part of the reasons you want to stay on the Major League roster.
Forget about the 5-digit paychecks as big as your zip code — that even a newbie playing on the MLB minimum makes — it is the the accomplishment of calling yourself an MLB player that Parker wants. He is a simple and humble guy from Albuquerque, New Mexico. What motivates him is winning and improving on his craft.
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The Washington Nationals walk-off win yesterday got many people talking about some of those exciting and improbable wins of 2019 and that feeling of déjà vu. Dave Jageler from the Nats’ radio booth said, “Shades of 2019 rallies here in 2024.” On Friday night, Joey Meneses was in a spot where he could have been the walk-off hero. While it didn’t happen then, he got a do-over on Saturday and took care of some RISP business in the 10th inning of a tie game.
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The Washington Nationals started off their homestand with a 5-3 loss after two unsuccessful shots to walk-it-off. It is hard to hit a sprinkler head on a strikeout. Manager Dave Martinez was ejected from the game in the eighth inning which was like déjà vu back to Game 6 of the 2019 World Series — and once again was correct on his argument. The Nationals have been on the wrong side of critical calls all season it seems. The Nats record fell to 8-11 in this young season with last night’s loss.
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The Washington Nationals return from a long and successful road trip on the West Coast, and this weekend celebrates the 5-year World Series win against today’s Nats opponent, the Houston Astros. Many Nats’ alumni are returning for this weekend of celebration. Each day will have some added features for the fans in attendance. With the COVID health crisis in 2020, the Nats were not able to celebrate with their fans. This might be the closest they will come to it this weekend.
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Looking at Dave Martinez‘s face, you usually cannot tell what happened that day. He is an optimist, and also a man of mystery. Humble and caring about others, he recognizes a friendly from dozens of feet away. He is trying to do what few managers have ever done — win a second championship after a rebuild. Most managers don’t survive rebuilds after success. Look at Bruce Bochy and the Giants.
Last week, the Washington Nationals went west for a 9-game road trip that some thought a 4-5 W/L would have been a likely result given that the only easy series was going to be against the Oakland A’s. What if we told you the Nats went 1-2 against the A’s? Right. The Nats would be lucky to go 3-6 facing the San Francisco Giants and the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers. Then if we told you that the first game of the road trip, the Nats would be facing the reigning NL Cy Young winner, Blake Snell, you might think 2-7. Well, the Nats and Trevor Williams beat Snell and the Giants, and the Nats won that series. Then in the Dodgers series, the Nats had an MLB debut with starter Mitchell Parker and won that game, and Jake Irvin and the Nats’ bullpen collared the Dodgers with their first shutout of the season — leading to a Nats’ series win. It was quite the road trip going 5-4.
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The Washington Nationals came out swinging last night, and one terrible decision quickly derailed everything. Once again a miss-sized batting helmet cost the Nats. Instead of stopping at third base, CJ Abrams was a costly out at homeplate because he tried catching his batting helmet that popped off his noggin as it does every single time he runs the bases. Discretion is the better part of valor, and they make batting helmets in 1/8th sizing increments!
If Abrams stopped at third base with no outs, and trusted in his teammates, who knows what happens. That Abrams mistake as manager Dave Martinez called it, just changed everything in an instant. Jesse Winker‘s two-run homer a few innings later couldn’t save the Nats from another horrendous start from Patrick Corbin who walked four Dodgers to go with nine hits that included a booming home run. A 2.053 WHIP won’t cut it. This is Groundhog Day with Corbin who somehow saw his ERA improve to 8.06 from 8.44. That is a tongue-in-cheek joke. Corbin gave up five earnies over his 6 1/3 innings — and truth be told, the defensive and defensive positioning saved Corbin who gave up an eye-popping 66.7 percent hard hit rate. Compare that to the Dodgers’ Ryan Yarbrough who averaged 28.6 percent on his hard hit rate.
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