by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
Erick Fedde; Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
They call St. Louis the Gateway to the West, and the Nats need to open that gateway to some much needed W’s. The team enters play today with the worst winning percentage in baseball with a record under Mendoza at .167. The Washington Nationals open this three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals in a rematch of the 2019 National League Championship Series. Continue reading
WEST PALM BEACH, FL; Josh Bell batting; Photo by Tom Sileo for TalkNats
Baseball is finally back! After having their opening series postponed due to a Coronavirus outbreak, the Washington Nationals wrapped up their trip to LA today and did not avoid a sweep. Outside of Opening Day, the Nationals’ season has been disappointing to say the least. Obviously it’s too early for overreactions, but the last 5 games do highlight an important flaw in their roster. The Nationals have weak depth on the team, and it’s killing them. Continue reading
Photo by Warning Track Power for TalkNats
Two of the best pitchers of their generation are on today’s mound in Los Angeles for the season finale in Dodgers’ Stadium. This is a salvage operation for the Washington Nationals as they lost the first two games of this series to fall to 1-4 on the season and the worst winning percentage in baseball.
Between Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, there are a combined six Cy Young awards on the mound this afternoon. For Scherzer, he is looking for a bounceback start after he gave up four solo home runs on Opening Day. Continue reading
Photo by Tom Sileo for TalkNats
Players win and lose ball games, and manager take a lot of the blame for decisions. In the first four games of the season, the Nats are off to another disappointing start at 1-3 on the season. The offense is sputtering with just 12 runs scores. On the other side of the ledger, pitching and defense has yielded 15 runs. The per game differential is ¾ of a run per game. The pythagorean which calculates a fair W/L from the run differential thinks the Nats should be 2-2. If you look at each loss, there are 1-2 glaring plays that count in the “little things” as the difference between being 1-3 and 4-0 on the season. Continue reading
Washington Post headline as the Nats beat the Dodgers in the 2019 NLDS in Los Angeles
It was 544 days ago when the Washington Nationals were seen in Los Angeles. On that day, they were celebrating the Howie Kendrick grand slam to beat the Dodgers in the finale of the NLDS. It was the Howie Wowee. A defining moment for the franchise to progress past an NLDS and get off that schneid. Minutes earlier, the Dodgers thought they had a walk-off by Will Smith that Adam Eaton caught in front of the rightfield wall. The bounces finally went the Nats way.
Hello, LA.
It’s been a minute.#NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/AwgPHpsIvb
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) April 9, 2021
This afternoon, the Nats will play the Dodgers and witness their team hoisting their 2020 World Series banner. It is their Opening Day. But winning a World Series in that COVID season of just 60-games was like winning a sprint. A regular baseball season is a marathon. The Dodgers didn’t even run a half-marathon. To many, the Nats still hold the crown. But there is no denying that the Dodgers have been the best team overall in the past four years. They deserve credit for their success and over the past 10 years, the Dodgers and Nats are the two best franchises in baseball. Continue reading
Sam Clay striking out Freddie Freeman; Photo by Jordan Smith for TalkNats
WASHINGTON D.C. — Major League Baseball debuts for relief pitchers are generally spots made for low lev situations. That was not the spot you would expect to signal in a newbie to face the former Rookie of the Year, Ronald Acuna Jr., reigning MVP, Freddie Freeman, and two-time All-Star, Marcell Ozuna. But that is exactly what Washington Nationals’ manager Dave Martinez did when he handed the ball to Sam Clay in a one-run game. The 27-year-old lefty was only up with the team because of the decimated roster that was riddled with COVID-19 that required a total of 9 replacement players. Clay was officially called up on Opening Day, and now has the opportunity that dreams are made of.
The kid from Georgia grew up a fan of the Braves and had to focus at the task at-hand while putting aside any boyhood fan allegiances. The lefty knew that he would be facing the face of the Braves’ franchise who was third in their order. Clay did the unthinkable. He struck out Freeman on an 86.4 mph inside slider that caught him looking. Last year, Freeman had a 2.5:1 BB/K in 3-2 counts.
That strikeout was magical and gave the reliever enough confidence to then go after Ozuna. To start that at-bat, Clay dotted a perfect 93 mph sinker above Ozuna’s knees, and over the inside corner. But the newbie was bilked by homeplate ump Lance Barrett who called it a ball. It didn’t matter as Clay kept his composure and stuck with his plan. Veteran catcher, Jonathan Lucroy, was on the same page to get Ozuna on chase pitches below the zone. Clay threw Ozuna a low sinker for a swing and miss, and then a slider below the knees, that looked like another fastball. Clay induced a filthy swing and miss to end the inning with his second strikeout, and put a much needed zero up on the board. Continue reading
The enjoyment that one gets with sports outdoor is like nothing else. There are tons of sports that can be played outside such as baseball, basketball, football, soccer, cricket, tennis, and street hockey, etc. These are all major sports, so surely, the element of fun and thrill is next level with them. However, these are also sports that require a lot of space, and not every locality can fit one of these fields in. Worse yet, currently going outside to play may not be the safest idea. Continue reading
Photo by Lynn G for TalkNats
The series is now knotted at a game each between the Washington Nationals and visiting Braves. Both games decided by just one run. The Nats won the first game on a walk-off and threatened in the first game of this doubleheader for another walk-off. Continue reading
Opening Day had a lot of heart and hustle on display; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Today’s slate of games starts with the first leg of a doubleheader to make up for Monday’s postponement between the Nationals and the Braves. These are the 7-inning “variety” doubleheaders that MLB instituted in 2020. The teams will play 3 games in less than 24 hours. We will see the same lineup as yesterday for this first game of this doubleheader. Continue reading
Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
The first pitch of the game was a Max Scherzer meatball that landed in the outfield seats for a Braves lead. The visitors ran the score to 4-0 on four solo home runs. The Nats’ roster on this Opening Day was depleted but certainly not defeated. With 10-players added to the injured list officially today, nine due to COVID, a team that had Hernan Perez playing second base, Andrew Stevenson in left field to face a lefty starter, and unemployed catcher Jonathan Lucroy signed off of his couch, all sprung into action and each contributed to this win.
“It was a good win, given all the circumstances,” Lucroy said. “I hadn’t seen live pitching in a week and some change.”
The Nats clawed back on a Nats’ debut 2-RBI double by Lucroy followed later by a Trea Turner 2-run home run. Remember, it was Turner who was not seen at the team practice on Monday and was presumed my many to be caught up in the COVID mess. Turner looked like his timing was off at times until he squared up that home run. The Braves took the lead in the 8th and Stevenson hung a blown save n the Braves’ bullpen to knot the score at 5-5. In the 9th inning against the Braves closer Will Smith, it started with a Victor Robles oppo single, followed by a Turner HBP, and then in a 3-0 count, Juan Soto ripped a single for the walk-off winner — the first walk-off of any kind in his young career. Continue reading
"Opening Day should be a National holiday"
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.