Click to Read an Important Member Update Regarding Our Comment System
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.
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Remembering not to cheer in the press box is hard. Last week through an auction that I won, it gave me another opportunity to be in the Washington Nationals press box, and I attended the Brewers and Nationals game that went 14 innings. I almost clapped at a pick-off in the first inning. “No cheering” also extends to “no booing,” so I did not join the crowd in booing Matt Grace as he left the mound. I learned to keep the enthusiasm under the desk (i.e., tapping feet to burn off the nervous energy) Continue reading →
The Cubs “L” flag is raised —- Photo by Michael Daalder for TalkNats
There is a DNA with this team that they never feel like they are out of a game. They just do not get much better than a signature win against a team like the Cubs to sweep a series in Wrigley Field. The Nationals moved to 16-games over .500 and how sweet is sixteen! The Nationals have won a dozen out of their last fourteen games, and they have the best record in baseball since May 24th. The bullpen bent but did not break even after a disastrous 8th inning. Yes, Fernando Rodney had a blown save, but his team picked him up. It could have been easy to just fold after winning the first two games of this series, but this team never gave up and finished this business trip from Pittsburgh to Chicago with a 6-1 record. Continue reading →
Coming into this series, the Nationals had a 70-57 record while the Cubs were just one game behind the Nats at 69-58. If the Cubs swept this three game series, they would have taken over the Nats in the standings, and if the Cubs won two games, these teams would have finished up today tied with identical records. The Cubs had their hottest pitcher going yesterday in Jose Quintana, their postseason star pitcher Jon Lester on Friday, and today they have 4-time All-Star Cole Hamels going. Add to all of that, the Cubs have homefield advantage in Wrigley Field, and they were 44-19 coming into this series which was a remarkable .698 winning percentage. If all of that was not enough, the Nats arrived in Chicago during the middle of the night and had a 1:20 pm (local time) game on Friday while suffering from sleep deprivation of about 5 hours of sleep. You want more? The Cubs have owned the Nats in Wrigley Field. Even when the Nats have had games practically won — craziness like David Bote‘s two-out grand slam walk-off against Ryan Madson actually happened. Here is the difference — this is not that 2018 Nationals team or even 2016 when Cubs manager Joe Maddon played Jedi mind tricks on Ryan Zimmerman. This is not even the same Nats that the Cubs faced in May of this season when the Nationals were just getting healthy. Continue reading →
The Washington Nationals got a scare Monday when Joe Ross was hit in the leg by a comebacker and had to exit the game. But “JR” was back in the fight today against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Continue reading →
Yesterday, the Nationals quieted down many of the doubters as the dominated the Cubs in Wrigley Field from the second batter of the game through the end of the game as Anibal Sanchez entered the 9th inning with a 9-0 game and a one-hitter. As they say in baseball, what are you going to do for me today? The Nats have Joe Ross going as the starter this afternoon in a rotation that brought back Max Scherzer this week, and that put Erick Fedde in limbo in a rotation that is now Scherzer, Patrick Corbin, Stephen Strasburg, Sanchez and Ross. There was pause five days ago when Ross was nailed in the shin by a 110 mph comebacker that sent him to an early exit and a visit to the x-ray room. Fortunately, the x-ray was clean, and Ross stayed on task, and Kyle McGowin was sent to the Minors when Scherzer came off of the 10-day IL, and Fedde for now will be in the bullpen. The Nats need Ross to follow Sanchez’s lead from yesterday. Continue reading →
The sleep deprived Nats got an ace performance from Anibal Sanchez to win 9-3 in this opener in Wrigley where the Cubs had a .698 winning percentage this season. As most teams do when travel goes overnight, they send the starting pitcher ahead, and Sanchez arrived early in Chicago yesterday and well ahead of the rest of his team who got into the hotel at 2am local time after their plane landed at 12:44 AM (Chicago time). He had a one-hit shutout going to the end of the 8th inning as well as a hot bat in the game. “Alejo“, as Sanchez’s jersey nameplate was embroidered for Player’s Weekend, baffled the Cubs all game. He had no-hit stuff and a low pitch count that allowed him to keep going in this game. Alejo is a term Hispanic pitches use for “away” as in pitch him “away” and in this game Anibal went away, up, down and inside. He worked all part of the zone with seven different pitch types and had his pitches dancing. He started the game with an .050 batting average and almost doubled it to .093 with his 2-hits. Sanchez did not have an RBI since April 9th of 2014, and in this 3-0 game he bunted with 2-outs and bases loaded, and the ball stuck to the line for an RBI hit. It was a gutsy move, and it worked. Continue reading →
There are multiple storylines here as the Nationals face the Cubs in another series that seemingly has postseason implications. The Cubs are in a fight for the NL Central division with their rival Cardinals, and at the same time these games could also have a fallback position for them in the Wild Card race with the Nationals to determine home field advantage for a one-game Wild Card. The Nationals have a 70-57 record while the Cubs are just behind the Nats at 69-58. The Nationals have to win at least one game in this series to leave Chicago knowing worst case they have the same or better record than the Cubs. The Cubs have their top three pitchers going in this series. The Cubs send their ace Jon Lester to the mound this afternoon, and the lefty has a 4.23 ERA this season. Don’t let that ERA fool you as Lester gets good run support which is the reason he has a 10-8 record this season. Anthony Rendon, Adam Eaton, and Trea Turner have hit him well in the past, and Nats manager Dave Martinez could go with a similar lineup as the Nats went with last night. Continue reading →
The Nationals got what they needed out of Max Scherzer over four innings as a building block outing, and he exited at 4.0 IP 71 PC 1 ER 4 H 1 BB 3 K for his final line. This was Scherzer’s first outing since July 25th and exactly four weeks since he pitched in a Major League game. He will continue to build up arm strength and improve with each start. Continue reading →
Should that read “He’s back” or “His back” with regards to Max Scherzer‘s return to the mound tonight! After Scherzer has been skipped six times in the rotation due to various back issues, he landed on the 10-day IL in two extended lengths due to separate stints with back issues. The first issue was diagnosed as scapulothoracic bursitis for which kept Scherzer from pitching in the All-Star game. Max received a cortisone shot and then pitched on July 25th after he declared himself at 100 percent ready to go, but after that outing he landed back on the 10-day IL with a rhomboid strain above his right shoulder blade in that same area in his back and received a stem cell shot. Continue reading →
Just when you thought it could not get any better, general manager Mike Rizzo grabbed Asdrubal Cabrera as a DFA’d free agent on August 3rd to add to the mix. He had offers from the rival Mets and the Nats and chose to come back to D.C. In baseball terms, he is a virtual freebie as his old team (Texas) picks up most of the tab. This is the same route Rizzo has gone this year to get Gerardo Parra and Greg Holland. Continue reading →
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.