4th 18-gamer: Good News and Bad News, Mostly Bad News

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Section222

For previous 18 gamers, click here.  And apologies for the tardiness of this post. Life intervenes sometimes.  Plus, it was a crappy set.

First the good news. Remember that asterisk (*) attached to the last 18-gamer? It’s gone. With the completion on June 18 of the suspended game that began on May 15, the Nats’ record for the third 18 game set is officially 13-5.   And Juan Soto, who wasn’t even on the team when that game started, won it with a a gargantuan blast.

https://twitter.com/_JakeRussell/status/1008820844825542656

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Posted in 18GameRecap, AdamEaton, Analysis, DaveMartinez, Difo, DL, Doolittle, Eaton, Espinosa, Fedde, Gio, Harper, Hellickson, Kelley, NLEast, Papelbon, Rendon, Roark, Scherzer, Storen, Strasburg, Taylor | Leave a comment

The Anagram for Gio + Tanner is Ignorant+e; But lately Gio + Tanner = L

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

Two of the most popular players in recent Nationals history are Gio Gonzalez and Tanner Roark. They are the story of perseverance in their baseball careers, and this season the Washington Nationals were counting on the pair to anchor the middle of their starting rotation — and the issue now is the anchor is dragging down the ship at one of the worst times with Stephen Strasburg and Jeremy Hellickson on the disabled list. Continue reading →

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What’s wrong with the Nationals – Part #2: The manager

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Jacob Diament

Where is the media for the Post-game media session?

The Washington Nationals have been the beasts of the east in the NL since 2012. Tragic playoff losses notwithstanding. In the decade where the Phillies’ short reign came to an end, the Braves and Mets have had a couple of good seasons while the Washington Nationals have been the standard of excellence and have carried a combined best record in the majors for the total of 6 years. Despite the fact that Mike Rizzo has built a sustainable contender which shows no sign of decline, he has not managed to bring that consistency to the manager’s position. Continue reading →

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What’s wrong with the Nats? – Part 1 – Injuries

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Jacob Diament

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

On the heels of another pathetic series sweep by a less than a juggernaut opponent, the Nationals are facing the impending half way mark in a few days.

It’s fair to ask: ‘what’s wrong with the Nats?’ The fan dynamic is always to assign blame for poor performance on somebody or many somebodies, and often the answer ‘bad luck’ is just not very satisfying. It also doesn’t give one the opportunity to demonstrate one’s expert knowledge. To be fair there is blame to go around and there are some things to question as long as one remembers that the ‘blame’ and the ‘things’ are one’s opinion not necessarily facts in stone so as I present these ideas. I do so with the provision that everything here is just my opinion, not gospel. Continue reading →

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Game #78 Max Scherzer hopes to be the positive catalyst for his team

Posted on June 26, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Lee Heiman for TalkNats

We will be at the halfway point in the season this weekend, and it is hard to believe that the Nationals had suffered being shut-out only twice leading up to the Dream Gala. The opposite of a dream is a nightmare and it has been that way since June 9th. The very next day on June 10th the listless Nats were shut-out and each week since that day the Nationals have been shut-out. Since the Gala, there have been 5 shut-outs. The Nationals record — a nightmarish 4 wins and 11 losses from June 10th forward.

History has said the day after that Gala has always been an ugly game followed by some lethargic games, but now we are over two weeks removed from that day and what is the excuse now? Yesterday was no surprise that it ended up in a loss. Blake Snell has been the best pitcher in baseball in his home park this year where you would be lucky to get a run off of him, and Gio Gonzalez has been awful in June where he had a 6.20 ERA entering yesterday’s game and now is at 8.44 for the month of June and it is possible he could pitch on June 30th. Continue reading →

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How are the #Nats top prospects doing?

Posted on June 26, 2018 by SaoMagnifico

Carter Kieboom – Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

July is almost upon us, and with it will come…at some point…an updated MLB Pipeline ranking of organizational top-30 prospects.

The Washington Nationals’ list of top prospects has already changed quite a bit from the preseason rankings, and it will soon change even more! Continue reading →

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Game #77 Two game series in Tampa, Florida

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

While you would like to enjoy last night’s win a little longer, the MLB schedule has a game today in Tampa, Florida. The boys touched down in Tampa as the sun was rising. We learned from Juan Soto that he was just getting into bed at 5:30AM, and he is already awake and on his way to the ballpark. The Nationals have a 7:10pm game in Tampa where the Nationals will face one of the best lefties in baseball. Continue reading →

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A big #Nats win to wrap up a tough week 

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Jacob Diament

The tendency after a huge win such as last night is to oversell the positives and assume that the negatives that were all there until the 5th inning are fixed. As they say things are never quite as good or as bad as we think they are in extreme moments.  Continue reading →

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The spirit of game #76 has a great comeback win!

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Kevin Long with Daniel Murphy. Photo by Lee Heiman for TalkNats

Pick your star of the game? Daniel Murphy, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Juan Soto, Anthony Rendon, Michael Taylor, Wilmer Difo, Adam Eaton or Brian Goodwin? Maybe all of them. It was a great team win to rally from 4-runs down to show the national television audience on ESPN’s Sunday Night game that the demise of the Washington Nationals was greatly exaggerated. Continue reading →

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Game #76 needs a spirited #Nats team

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Many people have been commenting on how so many Nationals players since the Dream Gala have been playing with low energy. Who knows, but several players have been playing sick, and while they won’t use that as an excuse, it’s understandable — but the Gala was two weeks ago so you have to think it is more than that. When was the last time we saw Bryce Harper celebrating? Answer: June 9th when he homered off of Ty Blach which happened to be hours before the Dream Gala later that evening. Maybe we should rename it the Nightmare Gala. The Nationals have been atrocious since the Gala with only 3 wins and 10 losses, and Harper hasn’t homered since!  Continue reading →

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