Going Deep with The Nats

On paper, the Nats looked like the better team, but it did not matter as the Nats only scored one-run and Anibal Sanchez gave up four solo home runs to take the loss. The Nats hit into four doubleplays including a line drive where Victor Robles did not freeze and he was thrown out for one of the doubleplays. There was also a costly baserunning mistake by veteran Eric Thames who set-up for a tag-up with one-out on ball Robles hit off of the right-center wall. Instead of Thames going half-way and scoring and Kurt Suzuki running to third base and Robles with a double — it was a long single due to the baserunning gaffe by Thames. He didn’t score in the inning. Did that cost the Nats the game? No, but it was part of “the little things” that added up. Continue reading →

When you waste an ace start like the Nats did with Patrick Corbin‘s gem, with a blown save and loss in the bullpen, it magnifies the issues we saw in April and May of last season. Sure, the Nats didn’t get much offense from the middle and end of the order, but you have to save these ‘playoff’ type games and put them in the ‘win’ column. Newbie to the Nats, Will Harris, gets the blown save, and Sean Doolittle took the loss.

This tweet is a big part of the story,

The story of the game so far is that Patrick Corbin went 6 1/3 innings & only yielded 1 run. Davey Martinez’s “A” bullpen came in & went 1 2/3 innings and gave up 2 runs for a blown save. That is what cost the Nats in Apr/May 2019 and one of the big reasons they were 19-31. pic.twitter.com/itfQxPctrm

— Talk Nats ⚾ (@TalkNats2) July 26, 2020

The rest of the story was not cashing in on the Yankees mistakes. The Nats had Trea Turner on 3rd base with one out and Starlin Castro struck out. Eric Thames had one RBI hit earlier but left five runners on-base.

Maybe the biggest play was Emilio Bonifacio overslid third base on a steal with no outs in the 9th inning.

Overall, the biggest question mark continues from Spring Training to Summer Training to today’s 2020 debut for Doolittle, what is wrong with him? His velo was up but he was not sharp, and was saved by some perfect positioning by his defense when Aaron Judge lined a baseball that was clocked at 101 mph right at Michael Taylor. In 2/3 of an inning he gave up a lead-off walk, two hits, and the winning run before he was pulled.

Besides Patrick Corbin being so great, the other positive was Trea Turner getting off the schneid with a home run, infield hit, and forcing an error to get on-base three times. Adam Eaton remains hot.

Tough luck for Roenis Elias who is all but done for the season.

The Nats will be without Roenis Elias for most, if not all of the season, as he has been diagnosed with a left flexor elbow strain and placed on the 45 day IL. That opens up a second spot on the 40-man roster. One spot could go to Josh Harrison if he is signed.

— Talk Nats ⚾ (@TalkNats2) July 26, 2020

The Nats fall to 1-2 on the young season.

When it was announced that Stephen Strasburg was scratched, and Erick Fedde was making a spot start, the sportsbooks went nuts for the Yankees. Well, there’s a reason we play the games. Fedde was excellent even though there were four errors behind him, and his only mistake was grooving a 3-0 fastball to Giancarlo Stanton that he obliterated for the only earnie on his ledger. Fedde, who exited with 4.0 innings in the books and a lead, was the star of the game. This game could have been disastrous with Juan Soto still in the COVID protocol, Strasburg scratched, and only 1-hit in the Nats first game. The Nats bullpen shutdown the Bronx Bombers, and Victor Robles bombed the Yankees for 4 RBIs on a 3-4 game as the offensive star. Continue reading →