Last night, the #Nats trailed 4-3 with bases loaded and Robles due up…

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

Managerial strategy is part of the chess game, and sometimes an early move is your best move. Can a manager pinch-hit in the fourth inning of a game based on a pitching change from the opposing team? Would it make a difference if I told you this game was being played in an American League city? What if you had bases loaded and your batter was in a deep slump the last week (.154) and only hitting righties at .196 on the season? Analytics are there for a reason. The due-up batter was Victor Robles. The reliever brought in to face Robles with bases loaded was Anthony Castro. There was one out in a one-run game. A productive out ties the game. Continue reading →

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Game #20 takes Ryan Zimmerman to his 34th MLB stadium!

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

For Ryan Zimmerman, he has seen a lot of history since he entered the league to make his debut in 2005. This will be the 34th stadium for Zimmerman to play an MLB game once he officially enters a game at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Washington Nationals were in Dunedin only once when the team played a Spring Training game there in 2009. The Nats ace to start that season was John Lannan  who faced Roy Halladay in that game in 2009 in Dunedin. That was at a time before Jordan Zimmermann would pitch in his 2009 debut for the Nats.  Continue reading →

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Early parity in the NL East is keeping every team in it

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Most of the odds-makers had the NY Mets or Atlanta Braves running away with the NL East, and so far the Mets are just treading water with a small lead of 1.0 to 2.0 games separating them from the other four teams. There is a 3-way tie for third place right now. The Phillies are by far the healthiest team followed by the Mets, and the Braves are missing their top-2 starting pitchers, and the Washington Nationals have been decimated by injuries in key spots on their roster. Continue reading →

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Game #19 wraps up the first series with the Mets!

Posted on April 25, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals wrap up their first series of the season with the Mets, and the winner of this game gets the bragging rights for the first series. The NL East is separated by only 1.0 game of 1st Place for each team. Another fact, the Miami Marlins are the only team in the NL East with a positive run differential. In 2019, the Nats were 9-10 at this point in that season. The Nats enter this game at 8-10. While the Mets are healthy except for Noah Syndergaard, the Nats are missing several key players like Juan Soto, Stephen Strasburg, Jon Lester, Will Harris, and Wander Suero.  Continue reading →

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Joe Ross beats Marcus Stroman to move the Nats within 1.0 game of 1st place!

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

This afternoon, Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez said that he wanted his team to score early, and the Nats did just that against the rival Mets to score early and often with a season-high 7-runs in this one en route to a 7-1 win.

“I think we need to start scoring earlier in the games,” Martinez said before this game. “We’ve been scoring runs late. We need to start scoring runs early to take a little bit of pressure off our starting pitching, and see where that takes us. … When you’re playing from behind, or the game’s 0-0 going into the fifth or sixth inning, things kind of change a little bit. Let’s try to score a point or two early, and then go from there.”

The Nats improved to 7-5 with their “A” lineup and 3-1 without Juan Soto which is mind-boggling to figure out how they did that. Maybe the key is great starting pitching and timely hitting?  Continue reading →

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Game #18 Nats add all the lefties they can to the lineup!

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

For Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez, his lineup is certainly challenged with Juan Soto on the 10-day IL. Add in the issues with Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber, and you have .147 and .186 for batting averages in the key clean-up and fifth spot in the batting order. Martinez has added every left-handed bat he has today to the lineup. That put Yadiel Hernandez and Alex Avila into the lineup if you assume that Andrew Stevenson was going to start anyway. Victor Robles and Yan Gomes will be on the bench today. Continue reading →

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Game #17 opens the first game between the Nats and Mets in 2021!

Posted on April 23, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Erick Fedde; Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

When COVID postponed Opening Day for the Washington Nationals, it scrapped the entire first series of the season against the NY Mets. Twenty-two days later, the Nats and Mets are set to face each other for the first time since Spring Training. This three game series at CitiField has implications on first place in the NL East. Sure it’s early in the season, but this is a big series at this point in the season. Continue reading →

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Optimism before a tough weekend series against the Mets aces!

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Winner’s Circle; Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

The Nats are 6-4 since April 12th when they got all of their position players back from the COVID IL list. That’s the second best record in the NL East behind the Marlins who were 7-3 in that span. There is a little more optimism today surrounding the Nats even after Juan Soto went on the 10-day IL two days ago with shoulder inflammation. But optimism only seems to last when the going is good, and the team won both of those games without their 22 year old star outfielder. Continue reading →

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Nats win another series and get Max Scherzer win #176 of his career!

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats

Of the Washington Nationals seven wins this season, four of them (57.1%) have been by one run margins. Today’s win was a 1-0 final score and the 176th win of Max Scherzer‘s career. He improved his ERA to 1.80 for the season which ranks him 6th in the NL. Over Scherzer’s last three starts, his ERA is a miniscule 0.47 in that span. The one run scored by the Nats was from an RBI double from Max’s battery mate Alex Avila who actually had two doubles in the game which is the first time he has done that in nearly four years.  Continue reading →

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Game #16 has Scherzer in the season’s finale with the Cardinals

Posted on April 21, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

The schedule makers put together some odd pairings early in the season and by mid-April, the Washington Nationals and Cardinals will not see each other again until Spring Training of 2022 unless both of these teams were to meet in the 2021 postseason. This season’s finale has Max Scherzer on the mound for the Nats. He is looking at more history today as he enters with 2,808 career strikeouts and just five away from tying Mike Mussina for 21st all-time on the career strikeout list. Of course, Scherzer’s main goal is to put the Nats in the Curly W column. Continue reading →

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