by Andrew Lang
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
The Washington Nationals had their backs up against the wall early with a 9-0 deficit and then Trea Turner hit a solo home run to make the score 9-1. It seemed like an insurmountable score, but then the Nats got the score to 9-6 with bases loaded and Trea Turner cracked a grand slam. He tied an MLB record of 8 RBIs for a lead-off man, and he was the catalyst in this game. Continue reading
Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
You can’t change the past — but you can change the future making this the first day of the rest of your life. The Nationals enter tonight’s game at one game under .500 and facing a Miami Marlins team that has low expectations. After the National had a team meeting last night, you hope this is a more inspired Nationals team that shows up for the 85th game of this season. Continue reading
The legendary Manager Connie Mack 53 Years of managing the Pirates and the Philadelphia Athletics. Mack made his playing debut as a Catcher with the Washington Nationals in 1886.
We look at the various professions across the landscape with a mixture of acknowledgement and respect. A Physician papers the walls with certificates and diplomas. That age-old practice isn’t there for the Doc’s ego. It’s to impress upon you that this is someone who knows what they are saying. No certificate display is needed by the Welder high up in the air joining beams on the construction site. Using electricity to melt metal together is a skill and knowledge set possessed by a tiny portion of the population. Even the die-hard DIY warrior will eventually run into a job beyond their comfort zone. It’s time to then call in the Licensed Master Plumber or Electrician. The combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills these various professionals have accumulated grants them “Expert” status with all the attendant respect. The odd profession of Major League Baseball Manager is another story altogether. If his team is under-performing he will be widely considered to be as dim-witted and unschooled as a barnyard duck. Continue reading
This was a team loss, and you will never win a game when you are shut-out so immediately you have to wonder why the Nationals could not score on Eduardo Rodriguez who entered the game with a medicore 4.11 ERA. The game started off in disastrous fashion as Erick Fedde was pulled with no outs in the 2nd inning with right shoulder stiffness. America’s birthday party scored a sweep for the Red Sox as the Nationals fell below .500 with a 42-43 record with this loss. Continue reading
Happy July 4th to everyone on this Independence Day. This day has been greeted with happiness since 1776 for Americans, and it is fitting that MLB has the Washington Nationals kick-off this special day with a mid-day classic. There is always the question of who goes home happy today as there is only one team that wins in these games of skill. The Washington Nationals have their backs against the wall and will need to come close to a 48-30 finish to the season for any legitimate chance to winning the NL East. It’s possible, but highly improbable if they keep playing like they have recently. Continue reading
They say that the key to a bad game is having a “short memory.” Tanner Roark has mastered that well as he exited “stage right” after the show last night. He stuck around for the post-game interview and stood up to the microphones, and gave one of his classic Tanner Roark post-game speeches after bombing out in another game. He didn’t say he felt fine — he actually said:
“It’s the best I’ve felt in a long time.”
He actually continued in the interview and said, “all my stuff was down”. Maybe we have a different definition of “down” and “up”. We can play with semantics here or we can play with reality. The pitches that were put in play — and there were many of them — were up. Continue reading
We have all been waiting for the pretenders to leave so the contenders can appear. It has been a month of some of the worst baseball that Nats fans have seen since the NLDS. Everyone has an opinion and those who want to place blame can find many to blame. Last night, Tom Boswell at the Washington Post was at the post-game presser, and he asked the question as to how this team has lost exactly 2/3rds of their one-run games. It is remarkable because if the Nationals had won 2/3rds of the one-run games they would be in first place. Continue reading
The Nationals mounted a comeback, but came up a run short in a 4-3 loss. The story is the same as the Nationals had one play that turned the game. This time that “one play” came against the opposing pitcher with 2 outs and an 0-2 count and bases loaded — Max Scherzer had Rick Porcello right where he wanted him — and Max threw a fastball inside that Porcello turned on and hit to deep leftfield to clear the bases for a 3-run double. Scherzer knows that he would have had him swinging at a pitch above or below the zone, but Max wanted to blow him away with a heater and missed his target. It was the first at-bat of the entire season for Porcello. Continue reading
We trust Max Scherzer, but how much do we trust that a 19-year-old can handle the grind? Juan Soto has shown he is not devoid of making mistakes. He went first ball swinging in a key spot in the game and has not shown his normal patience. His bat has looked tired the last 2-games and has not had a rest since he got his first start. Maybe a rest day would be wise after his weekend finished on a 0-10. Manager knows best, right? Soto is back in the line-up in the 3-hole. Continue reading
* Worst stretch for the Nats since the Mets swept us in late August 2015.
* Nats fans waited for 3 months for Adam Eaton and Daniel Murphy to return from injury. They are back but they are nowhere near 100%.
* Rizzo gambled by not repairing the catching position with Miguel Montero as his #2 catcher. Now it looks more and more that he’s just waiting for Matt Wieters to return. This doesn’t make sense to me in a “win now” year.
* In trying to incorporate Adam Eaton back into the lineup the Nats relegated a hot Michael Taylor to part time duty. I am not sure that this has yielded the expected results.
* The pitching rotation has stabilized a little during the last time through but not much. They are still unable to give the needed length.
* Dave Martinez is looking more and more like Matt Williams. He messes with the lineups daily but seems mostly paralyzed during the games. There is absolutely no innovative thinking when the team needs one run. We have looked for the one big hit during the past four 1 run losses and it never came.
* We have to give credit to Alfaro for absolutely stopping the Nats running game.
* Pedro Severino’s unwillingness to even offer at a bunt in a critical spot was likely his low point. There also appears to be quite a bit of problems with the communications between him and starting pitchers which had been discussed by F.P. Santangelo during yesterday’s game broadcast.
* There’s a reason the Nats have a strong winning record when Wieters catches despite the fact that he is a lousy hitter, a mediocre arm and deadly slow.
* The Nats are in real trouble in the standings. 6 games out half way trough is not trivial. There’s an army of injured players returning soon, but as we have seen with the last group we shouldn’t expect the returnees to be in mid-season form upon their return.
