by Stan4Nats
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Andrew Lang
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stan4Nats
by Andrew Lang
There is perhaps not a more polarizing player on the Washington Nationals than Ryan Zimmerman. I sometimes struggle to understand why a player who was drafted by the team, and became its original star player gets so much of a mixed reaction. Zim has been a loyal employee for 13 years for the Nats. Continue reading
The Washington Nationals find new ways to lose with a lack of execution with a man on 3rd base and one-out in a walk-off situation and Mark Reynolds at the plate and he struck out. In the same situation, Jose Lobaton cashed in with the productive out sacrifice fly in a 2-strike count in the 11th inning with the game winner for the Mets. Max Scherzer started this game and went 7-innings and set a record for strikeouts in a season for the Nationals and finished with 290 strikeouts on this night with possibly two more starts to go for 2018. The Nationals record in extra inning games went to 4-10 and 18-24 in one-run games. Continue reading
While the Nationals players will be dispersing to their off-season homes in two weeks barring a miracle of biblical proportions, there is still great baseball to see as Max Scherzer is pitching tonight with a chance to do something spectacular to win another Cy Young award. Many wanted to see Scherzer and Jacob deGrom face-off but that didn’t match-up on the calendar. DeGrom is supposed to start tomorrow against Joe Ross. For Nats fans, they not only get to see Scherzer tonight — they also get to see Victor Robles and Juan Soto in a glimpse into the future. The Nats have 7 home games remaining this season, and these could be the last 7 games to see Bryce Harper in his Nationals home white uniform. Continue reading
Harper signed his pro contract in 2010 at the ripe age of 17
The kid was 17-years-old when he was drafted in 2010 at #1 overall by the Washington Nationals. Bryce Harper a.k.a. “Baseball’s Chosen One” met those expectations in 2015 when he won the MVP award. If you think of a baseball contract like a marriage, the end of it sometimes feels like a divorce. It is easier to say goodbye when the relationship is not going well — you know — like when Bryce was batting .209 back in June. Now Harp is showing us that he still has that MVP fire burning inside, and all he needed was a spark to get that flame ignited. That happened at the Home Run Derby in Nationals Park this year, and the former Rookie of the Year has been en fuego ever since. It would be tough to say goodbye to Harper now, but in any relationship both sides have to want to stay together. Continue reading
Ted Williams‘ coaching helped Ed Brinkman raise his average 79 points in one season
The very nature of baseball is the absence of frenzy. It is our only major sport without a game clock. So it should be no surprise that the game takes its sweet time doing things. Since the introduction of a second tier of playoffs in 1969 the traditional approaches to managing a team have been largely untouched…until now. Change is never easy. But, making change in the Byzantine business of baseball is akin to using oarsmen to move an ocean liner. Eventually any organism with a pulse, however slow, responds to continual stimulus. Continue reading
The Nationals batters in the first through fourth spots in the line-up were on-base 14 times in this game, and they got Stephen Strasburg 4-runs in support of a nice victory against the Marlins. Strasburg went 6-innings of 2-run baseball with 11 strikeouts as Stras was one K away from averaging 2 strikeouts per inning. Strasburg’s change-up, curveball, fastball combination kept the Marlins batters off-balance all night. Continue reading
Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
The Nationals gave away a game last night and now look to split this 2-game series in Miami. Stephen Strasburg gets the start tonight, and he wants to continue what he has been working on since he returned from the DL a few weeks ago. Continue reading
John Smoltz has correctly predicted 29 of the last 30 Cy Young awards. His system used to be based on 6 statistical pitching categories, and now he has eliminated wins and it is only a tie-breaker while still using the other 5 categories. The 5 categories are: ERA , K, K/9, IP, WHIP and BAA (batting average against). Continue reading
Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
The Nationals grabbed an early 4-0 lead thanks to Victor Robles first career home run that flew 427 feet, and Anthony Rendon added a 2-run home run. Erick Fedde exited in the 5th inning with a 4-2 lead, and then the Nationals bullpen gave up 6-runs. At one point, the Marlins were up 5-4 and the Nationals tied it up, but then Koda Glover fell apart on the mound walking 2 batters along with 2 hits to turn it to a 7-5 deficit on the way to a final score of 8-5. Continue reading
Photo by Kevin Nibley for TalkNats
With the Nationals in Miami, the team finally gets to face a team without playoff aspirations, but like the Nationals, the Marlins have played spoiler recently. The Marlins have been playing a lot of call-ups plus a few familiar faces and playing a brand of aggressive baseball. Continue reading
