Game #3 NLCS The heavyweight matchup of Flaherty vs. Strasburg; Robles is back!

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo courtesy of Andrew Ross for TalkNats

Since the NLDS games were decided on Wednesday, we have known that this game would matchup two of the hottest NL pitchers in Stephen Strasburg and the righty Jack Flaherty. Tonight of course is the first home game in the Nats history for an NLCS game. Back in the lineup for the Washington Nationals is centerfielder Victor Robles. Moves like adding Robles back when Michael Taylor had done well offensively is the type of move that could work great or backfire. We will see how Nats manager Dave Martinez does on that move while also playing Ryan Zimmerman against a tough righty. On the other side, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt just downgraded his overall defense to add Jose Martinez to his lineup, but he kept the struggling part of the top of his lineup the same and much to the dismay of Cardinals fans. Nats fans can commiserate with their lineup experiences from the 2017 NLDS. Continue reading →

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You’ve been here all year while others jump on the Nats bandwagon! Welcome!

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Some fans have been tried and true all year like Kelly Collis of the The Tommy Show

When a member of the media like Kelly Collis gets into the stadium with a Nats Plus pass and e-tickets at the centerfield gates instead of a press pass, you have to be impressed. The Nats Plus pass signifies that you are a season ticket holder. Collis is an unapologetic and positive Nats fan who happens to work in the media on the popular Tommy Show. Kelly and her husband pay for their own season ticket plan, and are often seen around the ballpark in their custom Nats jerseys. They don’t have to jump on any Washington Nationals bandwagon because they never left. When the team was 19-31 on May 23rd, Collis did not lose faith. On her radio show with fellow Nats fan Tommy McFly, they talk a lot of Nats baseball on a radio show that is a music format station, and sometimes more than the sports talk stations. It is strange but tue. Continue reading →

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Scherzer almost matches Anibal’s gem as the Nats take Game 2 to go 2-0!

Posted on October 12, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

“Anything you can do I can do better,” seemed to be the song Max Scherzer was humming as he tried to one-up Anibal Sanchez who was four outs from a no-hitter yesterday, and Scherzer got close taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning and it ended on a misplay by Juan Soto in leftfield. In the end, all that mattered was the Nationals won this key game to take a 2-0 lead in the NLCS as the team will fly back to Washington, D.C. tomorrow for game three. Continue reading →

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Game #2 NLCS Nats have a chance for something even more special today!

Posted on October 12, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

From @Nationals Instagram

The minimal goal for the road team in the first two games of a postseason series is to win at least one game in a split. For the Nationals, they accomplished that minimal goal with a win last night. Using manager Dave Martinez‘s mantra of go 1-0 today, the Nationals now could head back home with home field advantage at either 2-0 or 1-1 worse case. To pitch your number four pitcher last night in Anibal Sanchez and get a win sets up the Nats today to go with Max Scherzer on regular rest.  Continue reading →

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“Cy” Anibal Sanchez throws the one-hit near-no-no! Nats win 2-0!

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals shocked the Cardinals to take game one of this NLCS behind a near-no-hitter from Anibal Sanchez that ended with two outs in the 8th inning. Sanchez cruised in this game, and made big pitches when he had to. Manager Dave Martinez pulled him after the hit was surrendered at 103 pitches. In the entire game per Statcast, Sanchez only gave up one hard-hit ball which is measured at contact in play at over 95 mph. In his career, Sanchez has thrown a no-hitter before so he thought he had another when he got a clutch Web Gem from Ryan Zimmerman in that 8th inning on a diving catch that few first basemen could make. Being close still put Sanchie in the history books for the furthest any pitcher has gone in a postseason LS/LCS except for Roy Halladay who finished the only non-World Series no-no. Continue reading →

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Game #1 NLCS The road starts here and the roster in this series!

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

That man must lead this squad of 25 in the Nats first NLCS in team history!

Baseball is at it’s Final Four. It is prestigious when you get to this LCS as the winners of both series in the AL and NL will face off at the World Series. The NLCS rosters have been carefully analyzed and assembled as Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez has chosen with general manager Mike Rizzo and the analytics group the 25 players that will form their NLCS roster. While this is the first time for most here, Martinez has been in the dugout before for championship series. Same with players like Max Rizzo who went with Detroit. A seven game series takes a slightly different set of strategies, and especially because there is no scheduled rest day between game four and game five if the best-of-seven series goes longer than four games which most do. Continue reading →

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The NLCS experience is new for everyone!

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The NLCS is new for everyone! This is so special for us Nats fans who have heard the team we follow as “chokers” for never winning a series (prior to yesterday), and told even in September that the Nats cannot beat the good teams. Guess what, these 2019 Nats proved all of them wrong including those in the local media who bet against them and were calling the game as over in the 4th inning. The NLCS is new territory for many of us. This will be the first best-of-seven series the Nationals have played in. The strategies are different, and fortunately manager Dave Martinez has been there before as a bench coach. Continue reading →

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7 unanswered runs to win the NLDS as Nats come from behind to advance!

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Washington Nationals needed to stay in the fight and wait for their moments — and they did and finally got over the proverbial hump to advance past the NLDS. This NLDS squad capitalized on future Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw who entered as a reliever, and the Nats came from behind and attacked him with Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto crushed back-to-back home runs off of him to tie the game and send Kershaw to the showers. The Nats kept it tied until the 10th inning when they loaded the bases off of reliever Joe Kelly and Howie Kendrick crushed a grand slam to dead-center through the marine layer air in Dodgers Stadium for the 7-3 winner. Baseball is a game of redemption,  and Howie erased all of his three errors in the series, a crushing doubleplay and 3 strikeouts with the greatest home run in Nats history. The Nationals slayed the 106 win Dodgers to advance to their first NLCS after most of the national media gave the Nats no chance. Continue reading →

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Game #5 NLDS Winner take all game!

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Strasburg gets the K in Game 2; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

All Washington Nationals fans know the numbers that the four previous times this team has been to the postseason, the Nats exited in the NLDS with disappointment. There are few common threads from those previous teams to this team so why push a connection or a narrative. This team is totally unique to their predecessors, and as Nats manager Dave Martinez says so simply — just go 1-0 today. Continue reading →

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The odds-makers have these NLDS Game Fives as a coin flip!

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Strasburg gets the K in Game 2; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

At this point, all you can ask for in the postseason is a chance in each series to win and pop champagne. The Nationals have that opportunity in a game that is scheduled to start in about 20 hours. It was just about five hours ago that the Nats plane landed in California, and it was two years ago that Nats manager Dave Martinez was the bench coach watching Stephen Strasburg dominate his ex-team in Game #4 of the 2017 NLDS. If the Nats won that next game in 2017 and beat the Cubs in that NLDS, the irony is that Martinez probably would never be the manager of the Nats as his predecessor, Dusty Baker, most likely would have remained the manager. There is a divine line of destiny in Martinez’s life that has brought him to this point to take the Washington Nationals to a level they have never achieved.  Continue reading →

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