Photo by Andrew Lang/TalkNats
The Washington Nationals had a lot to smile about yesterday. To go three innings with no baserunners to score 15-runs over the next five innings was the high octane offense the Nats had been waiting for in the past week. While the final score showed they only needed three runs to win, it was nice to see a laugher by the end in a 15-2 obliteration of the Twins pitching staff.
Today is a chance to win a series and improve on the very disappointing 5-13 record at Nationals Park. A happy flight to Miami after the game would be great to see.
For the season finale against Minnesota, the Nats will start Minnesota’s own, Jake Irvin, who grew up near the Twins home ballpark. Last year, Irvin had one of his best starts against the Twins. Consistency is what Irvin needs as in consistently good.
On the health of Luis Garcia Jr., he won’t start again today. That is four days-off for Garcia unless he enters the game later. The question is, why wasn’t he put on the 10-day IL that could have been backdated? He is considered day-to-day with a sore wrist.
Given the Nats’ pattern of bullpen usage, Mitchell Parker is out for today and Friday. Ribalta should sit another day. Possibly even Paxton Schultz. Everyone else should be ready and fresh. Here is a quick look at the use and usage in the Nats’ bullpen:
The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. This will start to give us a clearer picture in a few more weeks when the sample sizes get larger. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have. We will start adding more statistics as the sample sizes get larger.
Minnesota Twins vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:05 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 185 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
