Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
The Washington Nationals shocked the New York Mets who blew a 3-run lead as the Nats scored 9-unanswered runs. There is a new positive vibe for Miguel Cairo‘s team. As always, the question is whether the Nationals can continue with this new positivity.
Based on the .556 winning percentage since Dylan Crews returned to the team, the Nats have themselves on a pace to finish the season at 20-15. That seems lot a crazy thought. Get 11 more wins and the Nats avoid a 100-loss season that felt like a certainty just two weeks ago. If the Nats won 20+ more games, they would actually finish exactly where the Vegas lines had them. Again, highly improbable to beat the 71-wins from last year.
The other crazy stat is that the Nationals have been playing .500 baseball when Crews is in the lineup at 26-26 this season. That seems almost silly to think that a +0.1 fWAR player could make a difference on his team when he is straddling the Mendoza line and has an OPS that is 31 points lower than the player who was DFA’d to make room for him on the roster. Sometimes intangibles outweigh those stats as an X-Factor player. Of course the hope is that Crews can have a 3-hit game and get above Mendoza and build towards a decent season like Josh Bell was able to do.
❝Every day I just want to come here and win — no matter what. … I want to bring this team to a new culture — and win every single day.❞
— Dylan Crews said after Wednesday’s game
❝Anytime you can win a one-run ballgame is huge. That’s what makes great teams great. … That’s a huge win for us right there, and we couldn’t have done it without the bullpen.❞
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with James Wood at +3.1, CJ Abrams at +3.0, MacKenzie Gore at +2.7. Add those up, and you get a total of +8.8 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier, and of course the negative tier after them of which many of those players are off the roster.
On defense, the OAA stats showed some improvement with a good defensive game yesterday. Jacob Young leads the team at +12, and CJ Abrams is on the opposite end at -9. That is actually quite the improvement over last year’s -18 for Abrams who is on pace to finish at -12.
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.
“It was beautiful. … Woody, he’s getting his timing, too. And it’s been a team [effort]. They’ve been playing together, and they’re picking each other up. In the bullpen, in the field, offense, and defense. Believe me, they want to go there, and they want to work. They’ve been working, and it’s paying off.”
— Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 5.05 and that places the starters at 2nd from last in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.71 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Cade Cavalli 2.20
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 5.83
No. 3 Starter: Brad Lord 3.46 (starting/relieving)
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.30
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.04
Washington Nationals vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Citizens Bank Park
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 176 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
