The Washington Nationals took a bus down I-5 from Los Angeles to San Diego last night. A promising start to yesterday’s game was replaced by angst as the Nats gave up their 3-0 lead against the Dodgers en route to a blowout loss. A year ago in San Diego, the Nats entered that game with a 9th inning lead and a chance to get back to .500. Let’s just say that was the series that put the Nationals in a nose-dive with the realization the Nats were going to be sellers at the trade deadline.
Nats’ manager Dave Martinez‘s team was in every game in Los Angeles and split the season series with the Dodgers at 3-games each. The Nats open with lefty Mitchell Parker as the starter. For CJ Abrams, James Wood, and MacKenzie Gore, this brings them back to where it all began as San Diego Padres’ draft picks.
“I liked the matchup with Ryan Loutos down at the bottom [of the Dodgers’ lineup]. We had to use Cole Henry up at the top when we got there. But I liked Loutos at the bottom.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
Here is the bullpen usage:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.3 and MacKenzie Gore at +2.76 followed by CJ Abrams.
On defense, the stats are clear as to what his defense is all about. Jacob Young is the team’s OAA leader and James Wood got to a +1.0 on his OAA, and that is a good sign from where he had been early in the season. One of the newest Nats, Daylen Lile, is already at a -4.0 OAA and that is unsustainable as that is one of the worst marks in baseball if you extrapolated it for a full-season.
Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped this season defensively to a -7.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -12.0 OAA. That is the worst middle infield in baseball.
Another defensive 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 64 percent which must improve. His OAA is at 1.0 now. With as little as Amed Rosario has played on defense, he is at -7.0 OAA this season and the worst on the team. Per Statcast, his defense has cost the Nationals 5-runs. Is his offense good enough to make up that deficit if he plays the field? Keibert Ruiz, per Statcast, has a -8.0 OAA also. The Nationals were supposed to be better on defense. That clearly isn’t the case.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good.
“The count was 2-2, so I had to go with a fastball. I couldn’t throw a secondary pitch because we had one out and guys on-base.”
— Jose A. Ferrer said after yesterday’s game regarding the grand slam he gave up
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.41 and 24th best in MLB. You might be surprised at the team just ahead of the Nationals in the rankings. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.67 and now only the second worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.54
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.06
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.59
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.18
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.19
Washington Nationals vs. San Diego Padres
Stadium: Petco Park, San Diego, California
1st Pitch: 9:40 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 182 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
- CJ Abrams SS LH
- James Wood LF LH
- Luis Garcia Jr. 2B LH
- Nathaniel Lowe 1B LH
- Josh Bell DH SH
- Brady House 3B RH
- Daylen Lile RF LH
- Keibert Ruiz C SH
- Jacob Young CF RH
