The second half starts off with a Strasburg shutout!

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

Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals started their second half of the season with a nifty 4-0 win behind the arm of Stephen Strasburg and some small ball by his teammates. The Nationals home run streak ended tonight, and who cares as Victor Robles showed you can get two RBIs on a single. Strasburg also received some nifty defense behind him with Juan Soto robbing extra bases at the top of the wall, and Brian Dozier flashed the leather too. Fernando Rodney had to face the meat of the Phillies order in the eighth inning in a 3-0 game, and he responded with some big pitches to get Harper and Jay Bruce on an inning ending doubleplay. Continue reading →

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Game #90 The Nats open the second half up I-95

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

Leading into this game, the Nationals have 73-games remaining in the regular season, and they open up baseball’s second half of the season against the rival Phillies in Philadelphia. General manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez have set-up their rotation with Stephen Strasburg in the number one spot in the rotation, Patrick Corbin in the number two spot, and Max Scherzer will get some much deserved extra rest and pitch in the number three spot followed by Anibal Sanchez. In a series of moves that raised some eyebrows, Rizzo also assigned a trio of number five starting pitchers to Double-A Harrisburg.  Erick Fedde, Austin Voth and Kyle McGowin will all be closer to Washington, D.C. and could be used on a rotating group of number five pitchers. Per MLB rules, an optioned player has to spend ten days in the Minor Leagues. With three players the Nats could essentially move in fresh arms into the rotation then option them back. That would also allow the team to bring up an extra player in four game stints between the time that a number five pitcher will be used again. The Dodgers have used a system like this before to much success. Continue reading →

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It’s time for an All-Star Skills Competition

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

Baseball players are judged by their tools at every step of their youth from travel baseball to showcases on the 20-80 scale. The 5-Tool player is the most coveted by teams that want the complete athlete who can excel in every aspect from the hit tool, defense, baserunning, throwing and exhibit power. The Nationals had that for a season with Alfonso Soriano who put together a 40-40 season for the ages although we can debate his defense as he learned leftfield. Baseball has a chance to showcase these athletic marvels like the NBA does with their athletes. Continue reading →

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Baseball; A Delicate Balance

Posted on July 11, 2019 by Ray Wyvill

“Babe Bows Out” June 13, 1948

There have easily been more than a billion photographs taken of the various aspects of baseball.  From that large supply only a scarce few  are truly indelible.  Nathaniel Fein’s Pulitzer Prize winning photo of Babe Ruth bidding farewell on June 13, 1948 is one of them.  Celebrating the Silver Anniversary of Yankee Stadium Ruth’s number 3 was being retired.  He was dying from a rare form of cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, had undergone pioneering chemotherapy, and was horribly frail.  Dressing in the Visitor’s Locker Room he borrowed a bat from Cleveland’s Bob Feller to use as a cane.  Staring out at a big crowd, the rafters were filled with banners from triumphs gone by the ways.  The crowd sang “Auld Lange Syne” as Fein captured the moment.  Two months later — Ruth would pass.  Today that site is a collection of sandlot baseball fields dubbed, “Heritage Fields” with few markings to indicate the history of the spot.  Towering nearby the haunts of “The House that Ruth Built” is the new Yankee Stadium disparagingly referred to as “The House that Greed Built.”  It is a safe bet that the youngsters running the bases on the sandlot fields have dreams of making it to that bright and shiny park.  Few things frame the cycle of life more effectively than baseball.

Continue reading →

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The Nationals bullpen is trending in the right direction

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

With all of the changes to the Nationals bullpen, they are trending in the right direction after the May meltdown. Sure, the 6.08 overall ERA is still the worst in the Majors but this is a bullpen that posted a 4.54 ERA in June and 3.12 in the first week of July. For blown saves, the Mets lead the Majors at 21 followed by a three-way tie for second place at 18 with the Nationals, Red Sox, and Mariners. The worst bullpen WHIP belongs to the Orioles followed by the Nationals at 1.55. The Nats bullpen OPS is fourth worst and tied with the Phillies at .808. Suffice it to say that bullpen issues are chronic in the Majors. The NL average bullpen ERA is 4.61 which means the Nationals are 1.47 over the average. Since the beginning of June, the Nationals are better than the league average.  Continue reading →

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The pitching matchups for the first 9-games of the second half! #Nats

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

Photo by Lynn G for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals have lined up their rotation which moves Max Scherzer to the #3 spot in the reconfigured ordering for the start to the second half of the season. It was revealed that Scherzer was dealing with some back pain which is why he was pushed back to Sunday as well as the reason he did not pitch in the All-Star game. The Nationals will face the Phillies on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with a day-off on Monday.  This also will set-up the “Big Four” for the crucial four-game series against the the Atlanta Braves next weekend. The Braves have no off-days next week which should have Dallas Keuchel pitching against the Brewers on Wednesday afternoon. The Phillies have a four-game series against the Dodgers from Monday to Thursday. Continue reading →

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Umpiring and technology and pay the best

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Manassas Nats Fan

In recent years, there has been more clamoring by many critics for MLB to do something about the Homeplate umpiring that has seemed to get worse yearly in accurately calling balls and strikes. Whether or not that is accurate or just based on recency bias can be debated, but there seems to be ball and strike mistakes that are critical in some games that should concern MLB. The game should be free of bias as well as total incompetence, and the technology should be accurate enough to use or at the very least more accurate than the human element. Tennis adopted the Hawk-Eye system to decide challenges after a succession of blown calls in a 2005 tournament enraged players and fans. Hawk-Eye Smart Replay® is actually used by MLB teams to review plays in their internal decisions of whether or not to challenge a play.  Continue reading →

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Baseball’s second half and improving the roster

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

With the All-Star break upon us, the Washington Nationals will begin baseball’s second half in second place in the NL East and first place in the NL Wild Card. Mathematically, the Nats only have 73 games remaining, and they amazingly have 14 head-to-head games against the first place Atlanta Braves. The Nationals have been playing at a .718 winning percentage since May 24th, and if they finish the season at a .630 winning percentage, they would win 93 games for the season. The key word is “if” and the Nationals are at a record of 47-42 before they play their next game on Friday against the Phillies. Continue reading →

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Another starting pitcher’s gem plus Victor Robles on defense and offense!

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

As general manager Mike Rizzo said, “We have a very good Big Four” as a sincere compliment to his starting pitchers of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, and Anibal Sanchez. Many people have referred to them as the “Big Three” which excluded Sanchez and was an old term for the American auto makers, and Rizzo made it a point to let everyone know this starting rotation from 1-to-4 is excellent. With Patrick Corbin’s 7.0 inning shutout gem today, the Nationals have shown they are one of the best in the Majors. Corbin’s “win” evaporated after a blown save by Sean Doolittle, but then the Nats bats were awoken and Doolittle vultured the 5-2 win on this final game before the All-Star break. Continue reading →

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Game #89 Nationals have Corbin to get the Nats into the All-Star break!

Posted on July 7, 2019 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

The Nationals have their final game before the All-Star break, and the team’s opportunity to get rested up for the final 73 games of the season. For this game, Patrick Corbin gets the start to against the Royals. With Max Scherzer going deep in Saturday’s game, he was able to get his bullpen mates some extra rest. Speaking of Max Scherzer, he will fly to Cleveland for his 7th consecutive All-Star game, and Anthony Rendon will stay behind in Washington, D.C. for daily treatment on his left leg.  Continue reading →

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