The Nats showed they had plenty of energy and fight in them last night as the 9th inning was as exciting as you would hope when you’re behind by 2 runs. Bryce Harper got a spinning single followed by a single by Daniel “Hits” Murphy and Harper sprinted to 3rd base to set up a clutch RISP hit by Wilson Ramos. The next batter was Anthony Rendon who loaded the bases with a walk, and the Nats were in business (or so they thought) with no outs.
That was then and this is now. All the talk about this team being tired on the first or second day on a road trip certainly wasn’t seen as it was the substitute players in Heisey, Robinson, and Lobaton who had the key defensive miscues which turned the game, and by the way could use some review by the official scorer. Joe Ross was charged with a throwing error which was a perfect throw on a pick-off and Ross was charged with a wild pitch on a changeup that never hit the ground and hit the catcher’s mitt.
No excuses today as the Nats just need to take care of business the old-fashioned way by scoring lots of runs, early and often, and getting great starting pitching. Max Scherzer takes the mound in the final game of this NL East road trip. The Nats will face another of the Marlins’ lefty starters with Adam Conley who they have faced a few times before.
Here are the Nats stats against Adam Conley:
Here is Max Scherzer‘s stats against the Marlins:
Line-ups (subject to change without notice):
- Ben Revere CF
- Jayson Werth LF
- Bryce Harper RF
- Daniel Murphy 2B
- Ryan Zimmerman 1B
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Wilson Ramos C
- Danny Espinosa SS
- Max Scherzer RHP
A pre-game RISP update and this goes to the discussion that Ray Knight had today on who do you use between Jayson Werth or Stephen Drew against A.J. Ramos. It looks like Dusty made the right decision and it just did not work out as Werth was 2-6 in bases loaded situations this season before last night.
The Nats rank 18th in the Majors in RISP BA and 17th in Bases Loaded situations. MLB average is .253 in RISP BA and the Nats are at .245. You can see where the Nats must improve.
