(Photo by Kevin Nibley for TalkNats)
The Washington Nationals flew into Milwaukee late last night and arrived at 1:17 AM EDT, and into their hotels rooms just after 2:00 AM (1:00 AM local time). Clearly not a happy flight after the team got blown out in St. Louis and lost another series. It was really the poor play that started in the 6th inning when it was just a 2-0 game that ended with an 8-1 loss.
Tonight’s game will feature Mitchell Parker going up against DL Hall, a lefty, who could be in there more as a short-starter.
“[Miles Mikolas] mixes up the ball very well. He keeps the ball down, too. Good sinker, good slider, a really slow curveball, and he really kept us out off-balance today. He made some pitches we couldn’t handle, and you’ve just got to tip your hat to him. He pitched well. It goes like that sometimes.”
— interim manager Miguel Cairo said
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.9, MacKenzie Gore at +3.1 CJ Abrams at +2.9, and . Add those up, and you get a total of +9.9 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier.
On defense, the stats are clear as to what his defense is all about. Jacob Young is the team’s OAA leader at +6.0 and Brady House is now on the list at +1.0. James Wood is at +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 -13.0 OAA. That is the worst middle infield in baseball and entirely unacceptable.
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 65 percent which must improve. His OAA is at -0.4 now, and that just makes the situation even worse. With as little as Amed Rosario has played on defense, he is at -8.0 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 or should he only DH and PH? 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.
Both CJ Abrams and Miguel Cairo address the issue in the 8th inning where Abrams forgot how many outs there were and didn’t hustle to first base.
— Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game
“After the play got overturned, I thought there were two outs still,” Abrams said. “I’ve got to be more aware than that.”
“He apologized,” said Cairo. “At least he knew what he did. I respect that. We’re on the same page here. They’re playing hard. I’m always going to respect that. They’ve been battling every day. The good thing is, he came to me, and he told me what he did. We learn from our mistakes, and it’s good he recognized that.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.72 and 26th 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 5.83 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 6.21
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.35
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.72
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.78
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.02
Washington Nationals vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Stadium: American Family Field, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1st Pitch: 8:10 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 183 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
