The Washington Nationals are back in the D.C. area and will have a short commute for a weekend series in Baltimore in the continuation of the Battle of the Beltways. This might feel like a battle of two struggling teams with the Nationals ahead of the Orioles in the overall MLB standings. The only difference is the O’s were not supposed to be in a rebuild.
Yesterday, manager Dave Martinez watched a lazy throw by Jose Tena turn into an unforced error and a long inning for his starter Trevor Williams. It what had been a 0-0 game turned into 11 extra pitches thrown and one unearned run on Williams. By the 5th inning in that 1-0 game, Williams unraveled. Maybe those extra 11 pitches did him in. The Nats didn’t help themselves at all. Other than CJ Abrams coming through with a home run, the Nats seemed checked out once again. No momentum brought forward from Wednesday night’s win.
What is strange is that Tena at third base had turned last year’s negative defense into a positive. He was a +1 OAA before yesterday’s error, and now is back to even. Did the move for two games to second base have a negative effect? Who knows. But as general manager Mike Rizzo said this week, the Nats cannot afford making mistakes.
“When your margin for error is smaller, you have to play a cleaner brand of baseball.”
— Rizzo said on Wednesday on 106.7 The Fan radio
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with CJ Abrams at +1.6 and James Wood at +1.4 followed by MacKenzie Gore and Mitchell Parker. On the negative side, Josh Bell has fallen to a -0.8 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 this season defensively 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. With as little as Amed Rosario has played, he is at -5.0 OAA this season and the worst on the team. Per Statcast, his defense has cost the Nationals four runs. Is his offense good enough to make up that deficit?
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good — but the gap is widening.
“We had a chance to go ahead early, and just could get the job done. In those situations, we got to keep that line moving. We talked about that all the time. [Yesterday], it didn’t happen and big double plays killed us today.”
— Dave Martinez said after Thursday’s game in Atlanta
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.52 and 6th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 6.75 and no longer the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.91
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 6.43
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.32
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.00
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.59
Washington Nationals vs. Baltimore Orioles
Stadium: Orioles Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
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 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
