Another third game of a series, and another salvage game to avoid getting swept. This seems like something the Washington Nationals have faced too often this season. The team has their ace, MacKenzie Gore, on the mound to try to get a Curly W for the Nats. After the game, the team will head to Atlanta for a 4-game series, and the first time they face the Braves this season.
Manager Dave Martinez vented after yesterday’s 4-2 loss. But he made no mention of the mistakes made by umpire Laz Diaz that not only resulted in walks by Nats’ starter Trevor Williams, but also walks not awarded to Nats’ batters because Diaz blew calls. Nats batters often chase when umpires have a different zone for them. But where was Martinez? Did he get in Diaz’s face. In the embedded video in the link, you can see assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson yelling at Diaz after he called two balls out of the zone as strikes on Jacob Young who actually saw 5 pitches out of the zone and should have walked — but instead it was a strikeout per Diaz.
“We need to accept our walks. It’s the bottom line. We need to accept our walks – and stop chasing. It’s how we’re gonna get runs. It’s how we’re gonna comeback and win games.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
“We’re young. That’s a big part of it. I think they’ve just got to understand the feel of the game. All of a sudden, we get down 4 runs, don’t just go up there and swing just to swing. I know [Andre Pallante] was good. He was attacking the zone, but make him work a little bit. It needs to happen.”
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +1.4 and MacKenzie Gore +1.3 and followed by CJ Abrams and Mitchell Parker. On the negative side, Josh Bell has fallen to a -0./ at this point and the worst on the team.
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 he hasn’t played in almost a month dating back to April 15. Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped to a -4.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -8.0 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 61 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.
The Nats starting pitchers were the 6th best rotation in baseball on April 25th, and now are the 6th worst. A total 180 degree turn.
“Two things need to happen. We need to stop walking guys and hitting guys.”
— Martinez said
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.40 and 6th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 7.12 and is the worst in MLB.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.88
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 7.20
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.97
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.94
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.33
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 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 89 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
