Game #23 needs Patrick Corbin to be aces!

Posted on May 1, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Ryan Zimmerman was ready; Kyle Schwarber took care of business! Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

Last night’s game had the original Mr. Walk-Off, Ryan Zimmerman, ready to pinch-hit for Alex Avila. But Kyle Schwarber made sure that nobody else had to bat in that game. He took care of business and has to be Mr. Walk-Off 2021 after he put the final stamp on last night’s game for his second walk-off homer of this young season. But the Nats need to find a way to less drama, and more of those easy wins like they had on Wednesday in Dunedin. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

The Nats have won 30% of their games via the Walk-off!

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Washington Nationals have won 30 percent of their games via the walk-off, and two of those (20%) on Kyle Schwarber walk-off monster home runs. The Nats leftfielder crushed that Rawlings baseball with an exit velocity of 115.4 mph on a cold and windy night when nothing before that came close to home run distance in this game. With a 2-1 final score that was at 0-0 in regulation, Schwarber did his thing in extra innings with his team trailing 1-0. The baseball they say traveled 454 feet which was 9 feet shorter than his walk-off homer exactly two weeks ago. Continue reading →

Posted in Recap | Leave a comment

Game #22 is Jon Lester’s debut with the Nats!

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by the Washington Nationals

After COVID struck the team just before Opening Day, it wreaked havoc on Jon Lester who had to go back to Spring Training mode to ramp his arm strength back up. Here we are 30-days later, and Lester is ready to make not only his 2021 debut, but also his debut with the Washington Nationals. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

Lucky Game #21 is a Fedde nice Nats win!

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

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals had lost two games in a row, and needed this win and got it. With a gem from Erick Fedde, the Nats powered to a 8-2 win for a happy flight back to Washington, D.C. and a day-off tomorrow. Fedde went 6.0 innings with only one run given up, and his offense put up 8-runs for him with production from just about every player. Continue reading →

Posted in Recap | Leave a comment

Game #21 wraps up this 2-game series in Dunedin

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

WEST PALM BEACH, FL; Josh Bell batting; Photo by Tom Sileo for TalkNats

The lineup cards are changing daily these days. Tonight’s card has Hernan Perez in rightfield and batting in a game for the first time in 9 days. Starting pitchers bat with more regularity than Perez has this season. Manager Dave Martinez also pushed the struggling Josh Bell down to the six spot in the order. With no pitcher in the lineup, there are still four Mendoza batters in the lineup from Perez at .071 to Bell at .109 to Schwarber at .196 and Robles at .200.  Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Feature | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Feature | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Recap | Leave a comment