Photo by Sol tucker for TalkNats
The Washington Nationals are mired in another losing streak. This one is 5-games, and the Nats need their ace, MacKenzie Gore, to pitch like one tonight and lead Washington to victory. The Oakland A’s are in town for this 3-game series before the Nats head back west another road trip. The season is getting close to finished with just 50-games remaining.
On Sunday night, I had a really nice chat with Gore. He said he was relieved that he wasn’t traded. I said to him that I was surprised to hear that. His face changed with an expression and his response after a perplexed look was to ask why I said that. My reply went back to the trade deadline when someone commented on TalkNats that 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen said that Gore didn’t like D.C., and with that Gore said that was just not true. He said his girlfriend was from the area, and his family is a decent drive from North Carolina. He reiterated that he likes D.C. and was glad he wasn’t traded. That all makes sense. Gore said it wouldn’t even be worth responding to that type of thing from the media. We talked for a while longer, I appreciated the conversation. He is a really good guy.
Another player that I had a long conversation with was CJ Abrams. When we did introductions, I kid you not, he knew the article I wrote about him in early February, and he told me he appreciated it. He said too many people want to focus on the negative in the media instead of the positive. He told me he loves his team and that he had to wake up early the next morning for a camp he was doing for the kids on Monday. Nice to see CJ giving back to the community on his day-off. By the way, he got James Wood to join him at that camp.
Before today’s game, the Nationals made three more roster moves with bringing up two relievers with PJ Poulin and Clayton Beeter. The corresponding moves were to send Zach Brzykcy to Triple-A. RHP Ryan Loutos had been optioned on Sunday. For Poulin, the first time he enters a game will mark his MLB debut. He was acquired through a waiver claim with the Tigers, and Beeter was acquired in the Amed Rosario trade with the Yankees.
“Nothing is going to be given to anyone. So like I said before, you got to come to work. You gotta make sure you do the thing the right way and get good at-bats. Do the little things that make you a good player and a winning player. That’s the culture that I’m going to make. You got to play to win. You got to expect to come to the ballpark and win a game.”
— Miguel Cairo said over the weekend
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with CJ Abrams at +3.0, James Wood at +2.9, MacKenzie Gore at +2.6. Add those up, and you get a total of +8.5 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier.
On defense, the OAA stats give you a good picture of the team’s overall defense which is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good news is that besides Nathaniel Lowe, the defense under interim-manager Miguel Cairo has drastically improved. All of a sudden, Luis Garcia Jr. looked Gold Glove in the month of July.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good. The issue is the consistency on this team.
“”That’s what a winning team looks like. They beat us — simple as that.””
— Cairo said after Sunday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.93 and that places the starters at 3rd from last in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.89 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: TBD
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 5.35
No. 3 Starter: Brad Lord 3.42 (starting/relieving)
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.89
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.80
Athletics vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 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 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
