The Washington Nationals finished off their weekend in Cincinnati with two impressive wins, and came home Sunday night on a happy flight. Weather permitting, the Nats planned on sending Jake Irvin to the mound on Monday and the game was rained out. Today we get a traditional one-ticket = two games for the price of one admission. With an extra day of rest, what version do we get today of Irvin?
On April 25, Irvin had a 7.0 inning shutout going with a pitch count of 92 and a 3-0 lead. For some reason, manager Dave Martinez brought Irvin out for the 8th inning with Jose A. Ferrer warmed up in the bullpen. The lefty Jeff McNeil was the first batter due-up. Why go to Irvin again and face the lefty? Irvin threw his eight warm-up pitches, and you already knew that Irvin served up a single to McNeil. Irvin stayed in to face the next batter, a righty, and got him out and exited the game. What was gained? A lot was lost and that inherited runner scored and the lead eventually evaporated.
In Irvin’s next start last week, he gave up 6 earned runs in a blow-out game. It was deja vu from July 4th and July 9th of last year. Almost the exact same line with 6 earnies and 2 home runs given up. You just have to hope that Irvin doesn’t follow his line from July 14th. But why didn’t Martinez learn from Irvin’s past? Well of course not, because Martinez did the same thing on September 16th of last year. Pushed Irvin into the 8th inning then got the same thing in the next start of a blowup start of 5 earnies and 3 home runs given up followed by another clunker to finish Irvin’s 2024 season. Why do the same mistakes get repeated over, and over, and over? Same thing with Mitchell Parker who has followed the same pattern the past two weeks.
Some say, no, this is regression to the mean. Maybe. But if you look at Irvin last year, he had a 2.80 ERA in the first week of July last year and should have been an All-Star until that July 9th disaster. He had a 3.19 ERA before last week’s meltdown. Maybe he’s just a good pitcher who gets pushed too hard? That’s a possibility too.
There should be no more excuses on how these starting pitchers are handled. You either pitch to the analytics or you ignore it and risk ruining your pitchers. The Nats bullpen is reacting better lately. The newly acquired Andrew Chafin put together a nice Nats’ debut. The Nats seem to be establishing a back of the bullpen with Jose A. Ferre, Jorge Lopez, and Kyle Finnegan.
“[MacKenzie Gore] was adamant about wanting to finish, and he did a great job. I don’t think, when you’re out there competing, the weather really matters. You’re going to get through it, and he got through it.”
— manager Dave Martinez said about Sunday night’s game
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with MacKenzie Gore followed by James Wood, CJ Abrams and Mitchell Parker.. On the negative side, Josh Bell has fallen to a -0.7 at this point.
On defense, the stats are starting to give you an idea of what this defense is all about. Paul DeJong is your OAA leader , and Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped to a -4.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -6.0 OAA. Another issue that we have discussed is the positioning of Nathaniel Lowe at first base as he is too often out of position to make a play — and OAA has his chance at success at only 59 percent which must improve.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good — but the gap is widening.
“I can’t say enough about what MacKenzie did in those [rainy] conditions. … He kept us in the ballgame, and then Jorge Lopez came in and really shut the door down, and we able to score some runs.”
— said Dave Martinez after Sunday night’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.20 and 19th best in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 6.55 and is no longer the worst in MLB. The Angels now hold that distinction of dishonor.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.86
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 7.20
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.48
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.01
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.33
Cleveland Guardians vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 3:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 177 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
