The Nationals bullpen went from bad to very good!

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

“The Firm” by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

The metrics to judge bullpens is multi-faceted. You have final inning saves, blown saves, WHIP, and runs given up. In April, there were issues with the bullpen in defining roles and acclimation with manager Dave Martinez and pitching coach Derek Lilliquist. It took a while using trial and error, and slowly we have seen improvement with this evolving bullpen that is now looking like a strength with the promotion of Justin Miller and the return of Ryan Madson from the disabled list. Continue reading →

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Bullpen blows it after Jefry Rodriguez pitches a 4 2/3 shutout!

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

From yesterday’s great come from behind 14-inning win, to a 7th inning blown save by Shawn Kelley who came in to start the 7th inning guarding a 2-to-1 lead. The game stayed tied until the 9th inning and manager Dave Martinez called in Tanner Roark for the 9th inning to help out the depleted bullpen. He gave up a double quickly that should have been a single and pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson hit a no-doubter home run left over the middle of the plate inside for the walk-off loss. If you missed the game, Nats starter Jeremy Hellickson tweaked his hamstring on an errant throw to 1st base as Hellickson was covering on a ground ball.  Continue reading →

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Game #59 Nats have a chance to pull-off the split in this 4-game series finale!

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo from Nationals official Instagram

These four-game series give a team a chance to split a series that mathematically they cannot do in the traditional three-game series. In those three-game series, there’s always a series winner and a a series loser, and luckily for the Nationals, this four-game series won’t be decided until the 27th out.  Continue reading →

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Max Scherzer is the complete ballplayer

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Andrew Lang

Rookie Juan Soto knew who to watch!

With two outs in an inning, you are taught as a baserunner to run on contact. Max Scherzer is a complete baseball player, and he knew about running on contact with two outs. When Wilmer Difo connected in the 14th inning, the runner on 1st base was Max Scherzer who entered the game as a pinch-hitter and singled raising his season batting average to .310. Scherzer ran on contact the near 270 feet from 1st to homeplate in 10.89 seconds with a sprint speed of 26.89 ft/sec according to Statcast™ when Difo connected for the key extra base hit in the right-field gap.

Max Scherzer’s positional value according to Fangraphs rose to an impressive +0.5. That statistic includes all non-pitching facets of the game from baserunning to fielding your position to batting value. Scherzer’s positional value is higher than a dozen 2018 positional teammates. We won’t name names of who Scherzer has surpassed in positional value, but suffice it to say two of them are former All-Stars. Overall Scherzer is worth +3.7 according to Fangraphs of which +3.2 is from pitching. Continue reading →

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A signature win for the #Nats and Max Scherzer’s pinch-hit was the difference!

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

This was a Disney type of ending to this 14-inning game that was won by the Nationals as Max Scherzer got a pinch-hit single and scored from 1st base on a Wilmer Difo triple. They don’t get much bigger than this in the month of June. This was a signature win, and possibly a game you look back on later in the season as to the significance on the whole season. Continue reading →

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Game #58 Gio Gonzalez needs to keep doing what he’s been doing!

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears


This season is still young with over 100 games remaining — but it would be real nice for the Nationals to win a game today to have a chance at splitting this four-game series tomorrow. For today’s Nationals starter, Gio Gonzalez, he is making a case for being named an All-Star (again).  Yes, All-Star ballots are open — however the pitchers are not voted in by the fans, rather they are voted in by the players and the manager. Last year Gio was not chosen and was certainly worthy. The All-Star game was in Gio’s hometown Miami and he said it would have meant a lot to him to be chosen. This year ESPN is already projecting Gio to be an All-Star in his home stadium at Nationals Park. Gio will have today’s start and another 6 to 7 starts to show he is an All-Star. To that we say “GO GIO”. Continue reading →

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3rd 18*-gamer: A Breakout Set, Even With an Asterisk

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Section222

Click here for links to previous 18-gamers.

When the umps stopped the Nats’ first scheduled game against the Yankees on May 15 because of rain, little did they know what havoc they had wreaked on my 18-gamer. With the score tied at 3-3, the game won’t be completed until June 18, much to the disappointment of some famous fans.

But with five innings complete, the stats for that partial game are “in the books” as Charlie Slowes would say.  And the stat site that matters, at least for my purposes (i.e., Baseball-Reference.com) says the Nats have played 54 games. So their record in the third 18 game set stands at 12-5, with one game unfinished, or as I’ve seen in a few places – 12-5-1.

What is this, soccer?

Continue reading →

Posted in 18GameRecap, BudBlack, Bullpen, DaveMartinez, Difo, Doolittle, Eaton, Fedde, Gio, Harper, Hellickson, Kelley, Kendrick, Murphy, NLEast, Rendon, Scherzer, Severino, Stammen, Starters, Strasburg, Taylor | Leave a comment

Game #57 Strasburg is on the mound to start a new streak!

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by LEGNats for TalkNats

The Nationals have done a good job at shaking off a loss like they did on May 23rd when they lost by 2-runs then went on a 6-game winning streak. Yesterday was just one of those 2-run losses that teams endure in a long season. Tonight, the Nationals have Stephen Strasburg on the mound, and he has pitched well at SunTrust Park to a 2-and-0 record with a 2.45 ERA and a .204 batting average. Continue reading →

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Nats winning streak comes to an end.

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

Tonight was that tale of missed opportunities and misplays which added up to a loss. The Nationals were 1-for-9 batting with runners-in-scoring-position. Tanner Roark was not sharp tonight as he gave up 7-hits and 5-walks on his outing while being tagged for 4-runs in this 4-to-2 loss. Continue reading →

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Game #56 This 4-game series in Atlanta starts tonight!

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

This series in Atlanta has the top two teams in the NL East standings going head-to-head. Yes, if you are just waking up, the Washington Nationals are in 1st place in the NL East by a ½ game over the Atlanta Braves. While this series could change things in the short-term, the season still has about two-thirds of the season remaining which is over 100-games.  Continue reading →

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