by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stan4Nats
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Andrew Lang
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Stan4Nats
The Nationals knocked the Cubs ace, Jon Lester, out of the game in the 4th inning as the Nationals cruised to a 9-4 win in Wrigley field behind some fine pitching by Tanner Roark and the power from two Ryan Zimmerman home runs and 6 RBIs and a 2-run home run from Daniel Murphy. Continue reading
No more excuses — just win! After manager Dave Martinez has faced the media following 57 losses this season, he’s becoming a regular on answering the media as to why the Nationals lost. We have heard a variety of reasons that are starting to sound like excuses like “they played hard” and “they played well”. Continue reading
The Nationals lost another one-run game falling to 11-19 in those outcomes this season. This one particularly stings because Jeremy Hellickson was throwing a no-hitter when he was removed from the game at 5 2/3 innings, and he handed over bases loaded to Sammy Solis after Hellickson walked three-in-a-row, and immediately Solis gave up a 2-run single and eventually was charged with another run earning him a blown-save and a loss. The opportunities were there early and often for the Washington Nationals, but the key hits scored only one run each. The Nationals had 9 hits, 1 HBP, plus 2 walks and only scored 2 runs. It is the same old story of missed opportunities and questionable managing/coaching. Continue reading
Photo by Luis Albisu for TalkNats
Nationals’ manager Dave Martinez returns to Wrigley Field for the first time as a visitor in a few years. Martinez was Cubs’ manager Joe Maddon‘s bench coach from 2006 to 2017 and Martinez was Maddon’s bench coach in Chicago from 2015 to 2017. Many years before that, Martinez made his MLB debut as a player for the Cubs in 1986. Continue reading
Photo Credit: Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE
The Nationals had to find a way to win this game, and Gio Gonzalez’s results were positive in this Nationals big win to even this series 2-2. The Braves Anibal Sanchez looked great to start the game as he only gave up a single to Trea Turner in this one, but exited the game with a 1-0 lead when a slow comebacker off of the bat of Michael Taylor hit Sanchez’s calf. That was all it took for Sanchez to exit the game and the Nationals got 6-runs off of two Braves pitchers who were making their MLB debuts. It should have been a bigger offensive showing by the Nationals who were swinging at 3-0 pitches and playing this like it was a Spring Training game. Luckily enough balls went the Nationals way including contact off of Gio Gonzalez. Continue reading
On October 12, 2017, Dusty Baker had a choice who to start on the mound between Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark with the season on the line. Gio was staked to a 4-1 lead but quickly gave back 2-runs and departed after the 3rd inning leaving his bullpen to cover 6 innings. We will never know if Roark would have done better. Today, Dusty’s replacement, Dave Martinez, had a similar decision when setting up his rotation for this week. Because Saturday was a doubleheader with both Jeremy Hellickson and Gio Gonzalez pitching, each would be available today on regular rest. Martinez chose Gonzalez over Hellickson. We will see how this unfolds in real-time today at Nationals Park and on Facebook Live for those watching the broadcast. Continue reading
Sure, the umpiring was absolutely embarrassing that Major League Baseball allows the amateur hour in an MLB game. Homeplate umpire Greg Gibson should be suspended as this is one of those times integrity comes into play here on the egregious strikeout calls. Even with an 8-3 loss, the Nationals can only blame themselves in questionable managing, pitch selection, pitch execution, plate discipline, approach, and the extreme lack of clutch hitting. The Nationals were 1-for-16 in RISP hitting tonight. The team stranded 11-runners. That is unacceptable. Continue reading
Juan Soto Batting Practice; Photo by Don Henderson for TalkNats
On the Vegas line, the Braves are the overwhelming favorite tonight as you can imagine with Atlanta’s All-Star righty Mike Foltynewicz on the mound against lefty Tommy Milone who was a Triple-A regular just three weeks ago. This game just feels like a “must win” game for the Washington Nationals probably because it really is. Continue reading
A different type of walk off; Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
Last night, the best player in the world was in the line-up for the Washington Nationals. Not only was Max Scherzer pitching, he was also batting 9th as a .290 hitter and maybe on this night Scherzer should have been batting 8th ahead of the .197 hitter. Scherzer extended his hitting streak to 6-games and is now batting .300. The reigning Cy Young pitcher is also an amazing teammate and personal coach to the pitchers on the staff. When Scherzer goes on the mound, you expect the Nationals to win. Yesterday was the second game the Nationals lost this season when Scherzer gave up 1-run and went 7.0 innings. Add to that the 4-games the Nationals have lost when Scherzer gave up 2-runs, and you have 6 losses that fall into that category of missed opportunities. Continue reading
This game was 1-1 into the 9th inning and the Nationals had opportunities earlier to add-on runs and they did not. Instead they left themselves no margin for error, and Kelvin Herrera gave up what looked like a double that Bryce Harper played into a triple with little urgency and two runs scored as Harper nonchalantly threw the ball in. Bryce’s effort there could have loomed large if the Braves were held to just 1-run in the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 9th inning, the Nationals had two runners on and one out and Matt Wieters lined-out hard to 3rd base and Ryan Zimmerman who was the offensive star in the game was doubled off of second base. Very unlucky. That is a game ending gut punch double play. The Nats lose 3-1. Continue reading
