Going Deep with The Nats

Fernando Rodney (Photo by Tom Cicotello @42skidoo for TalkNats)

There is a saying that you must know your player. Manager Dave Martinez should have known that Fernando Rodney has never had an inning this season in his MLB tenure where he has held a team to no runs when his pitch count was at least 20-pitches and this is the fifth such time he failed in that situation. The 42-year-old has not pitched more than 1-inning this season in the Majors. Why now? After Victor Robles tied the game in the ninth inning with a 2-run home run to hang a blown save on Braves closer Luke Jackson, you need a fresh arm in there given Rodney’s background plus his age. Sure, he was well rested but he had a long 8th inning throwing 17-pitches. He was not going to have a quick inning, but again why push him when you have fresh arms? Rodney finished with 32-pitches and allowed bases loaded before the walk-off single, and he did not retire a batter in that 9th inning. Continue reading →

Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats

The first inning almost knocked out Stephen Strasburg who had to work out of trouble and a 30-pitch first inning in which he only gave up one-run to survive and thrive in this game. After that, Strasburg rolled and was the offensive star of the game also. In the third inning, Strasburg led off with a single and scored the Nats first run on an Adam Eaton triple. The Nationals batted around in that third inning which was highlighted by a Strasburg 420 foot 3-run home run that exited his bat at 105 mph. That smash put the Nats up 8-1 in a game that finished up with a 13-4 win in which all starters contributed with the offense. Strasburg finished with 3-hits and 5 RBIs to lead the offense. How many times does a pitcher drive in more runs than he gave up? More importantly, with this win, the Nationals have pulled to within 5.5 games of the first place Braves. Continue reading →

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

There will be a lot of second-guessing in this one as Erick Fedde exited after the 6th inning with a 2-1 lead but a low pitch count of 66 pitches. Only manager Dave Martinez can give his reasons for pulling Fedde when he did, but the bottomline is Wander Suero blew it in the 7th inning and that is on him. Suero gave up a lead-off walk and some hits and quickly the 2-1 lead was a 4-2 deficit. The rest of the bullpen imploded behind Javy Guerra and Matt Grace who allowed the game to unravel with a 9-2 loss. The Nationals could have picked up a full game on the Braves who lost earlier. This was a day of missed opportunities. For Fedde’s efforts, he lowered his starter’s ERA to 3.53 and his overall ERA which includes work in the bullpen to 3.50. Continue reading →

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals got this win in a blow-out, but it was tense in the first inning when starting pitcher Austin Voth loaded the bases with a walk and two hit-by-pitches with one out. Voth worked his way out of it giving up no runs after a visit by his pitching coach Paul Menhart. Whatever Menhart whispered to Voth worked as he closed out the first inning with no runs surrendered. Voth settled down to go 6.0 innings while giving up only one run in an 8-1 Nationals win for the team’s 50th of the season. Continue reading →

The Nationals clawed back in this game, and got the game to a 3-3 tie but could not get the lead. Instead of going to today’s closer Fernando Rodney, manager Dave Martinez gave the inning  to Matt Grace for the tied game in the 9th inning and he surrendered the walk-off home run to Maikel Franco. The Nats still won this series even though they lost today, and they head to Baltimore after a day-off tomorrow.  Continue reading →