Getaway games don’t always get a courtesy early start time. Philadelphia has never been known to accommodate competitors. That caused the Washington Nationals to take a late night flight on Thursday out of Philadelphia, and the team arrived at their hotel after 2AM in Cincinnati.
On Friday, the Nats offense were sleepwalking in a 6-1 loss after a long rain delay. The offense had a season-high 17 strikeouts, and once again you wondered if the Nats were lost. On Saturday and today, the Nats offense came alive with some new-look lineups, and won both games to take the series.
With DH Josh Bell nursing a sore groin, manager Dave Martinez inserted Alex Call in left field and shifted James Wood to the DH for the two wins against Cincinnati. For Saturday’s game, Riley Adams was in at catcher with Keibert Ruiz getting the rare day-off, and Amed Rosario took over at third base. The lineup stayed the same on Sunday except Ruiz was back in for Adams. The Nats offense scored 15 runs in the 2-wins, and look like the team we envisioned.
How did that Saturday day-off work for Ruiz? Today, he had two hits with three exit velos ranging from 97.2 mph to 103. Compare that to Friday when Ruiz had two strikeouts, and the one ball he put in-play had an exit velo of only 80.4 mph. Nobody has caught more games than Ruiz so far this season in all of MLB, and Ruiz has played in 31 of the team’s 35 games. You can only hope that the Nationals get Ruiz more rest days going forward.
Washington’s 16-19 record has them in 3rd place in the NL East. If the Nats can win their next 3-series against Cleveland, St. Louis, and Atlanta, the Nats would get above .500. That is the goal of course to get a winning record. A winning record might force Nats ownership to spend with no excuses. That would be a key towards moving to a real contending team.
During the Nationals broadcast on MASN, Ian Desmond was subbing in for the weekend as the color analyst and suggested the Nats should extend the contract of CJ Abrams. Sounds familiar. TalkNats proposed an Abrams extension back in 2022. Reportedly, the Nats had talks with Abrams’ agents at RocNation during Spring Training last year, and never got a deal done. This is the time to try to extend your window of competition by tying up core players. But as general manager Mike Rizzo always says, “It takes two to tango” meaning that players have to agree to an extension.
Of course as we discussed before, the team has been teetering on the jagged edge of not knowing if this team is progressing after some difficult stretches. Top prospect, Dylan Crews, who has now obtained rookie status, has been in two slumps this season and is back below .200 for his batting average. While Abrams, James Wood, and Ruiz have stepped up, Crews is a key to making sure that this core progresses.
“You have to do what you have to do to sustain greatness. … by having a core group of guys who will be with you through those years. … When your [prospect] stars become [MLB] stars — that’s when you take off and [make your star] moves.”
— Rizzo said in January to season ticket holders
That quote from Rizzo right there is a key. If Crews excels, you have the words to hold the Nats accountable on what their GM and President of Baseball Operations said. Words should matter. Words need to turn into action. But first, the Nats must progress.
Of course, everything begins with the starting pitching. In the offseason, the Nats signed corner infielders, Nathaniel Lowe and Paul DeJong who would improve the defense and make the pitching better. That worked, and through April 25th, the Nats starting pitchers as a group were the 6th best in baseball with a 3.41 ERA. Today they are the 11th worst with a 4.20 ERA. The defense wasn’t the cause for the demise, it seemed to be pushing the starting pitchers harder, and more specifically having Mitchell Parker and Jake Irvin pitching into the 8th innings of games over a week ago.
What people have to realize is that today’s MLB starting pitchers are conditioned to throw the league average 86 pitches and about 5 1/3 innings. So if they go past the 6th inning they will also throw 8+ warmup pitches to add to what they throw in the 7th inning. Add another 8+ if they go past the 7th inning. That was the situation with Parker going 8.0 innings on April 22. His 99 pitches was more like throwing 115 pitches. Did we not learn anything from Irvin going 8.0 innings on July 4, 2024? Irvin just pitched into the 8th inning on April 25 and threw 98 pitches so effectively 114 pitches. Then people wonder why Parker and Irvin are now scuffling. Irvin was at a 92 pitch count when he was sent out for that 8th inning on April 25.
Parker has thrown two duds in a row, and Irvin has only had one start since that start on April 25. He is scheduled to pitch Monday night against the Guardians. We can only hope that he can re-find his way. You don’t want to look at what happened to Irvin after his July 4th start of last year.
On Friday, the Nats DFA’d Colin Poche, and signed Andrew Chafin for the bullpen. In baseball, you protect your starting pitchers and lean on your relievers. You keep enough relievers who can give you multiple innings to protect your starters.
Protecting your key players, and not pushing them to physical exhaustion, is as important as coaching them up to improve. Players want to play, and the manager must temper that with the player’s health. As we always say, “You should get more with less.”
