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Photo for TalkNats by Lynn G

As good as the bullpen was yesterday and for a few weeks, the  mid-April version of the bullpen showed up tonight and blew a 4-run lead while yielding 9-runs in total.  It was an absolute meltdown that began with Trevor Rosenthal‘s three consecutive walks in the 7th inning to allow a Nationals 4-run lead to evaporate. Tanner Rainey was able to finish the 7th inning and kept the game tied at 8-8. Then the Nats scored in the bottom of the 7th inning to go ahead with a score of 9-8, but that lead disappeared quickly. Who was going to pitch the 8th inning was the question to be answered with Rainey already used and Wander Suero unavailable. Manager Dave Martinez went to Joe Ross who gave up 4-runs to make the score 12-9, and Matt Grace gave up the final run of the game to make it 13-9 as the five game winning streak came to an end. Continue reading →

Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats

Who says baseball is boring? Stephen Strasburg departed with a 4-3 lead and handed the bullpen the ball to get the final nine outs with a one run lead against one of the hottest teams in baseball. Getting those nine outs were must-see baseball. The issue at-hand was that manager Dave Martinez did not have most of his bullpen available due to the heavy workload necessitated by the doubleheader two days ago and a taxing 5 1/3 innings the bullpen had to cover  yesterday due to Erick Fedde‘s short outing. The term “bullpen save” had multiple meanings in this game. Saving and redemption have a much deeper meaning. Maybe Trevor Rosenthal did not literally rise up from the ashes like some mythological character, but this could be the start of his save. Continue reading →

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals got to Phillies starter Nick Pivetta early and again at the end of his outing to add to his Nats Park misery with 6 earned runs in 5 1/3 inning which is a 10.19 ERA that actually improved his career ERA against the Nats to 10.80 over 9 career games. It is Pivetta’s worst showing against any team he has faced more than three times, and it happens that these failures come against the team that drafted Pivetta in the 4th round in 2013. Unfortunately,the Nationals starting pitcher, Erick Fedde, was not sharp and had to be pulled in the 4th inning which caused the bullpen to cover 5 1/3 innings in this Nats win. Continue reading →

From @Nationals Instagram

With a broken nose and an unbroken spirit, Max Scherzer gutted his way through 7.0 innings of shutout baseball with the fractured beak and dark swelling around his blue eye that he sustained — yesterday — on his way to secure this win and move into legendary status. For mere mortals, they would have been down-and-out and placed on the 10-day IL, but Scherzer took a page from the gridiron and most notably quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who was the last player who broke his nose and played through the game. While Scherzer downplayed the injury, it just adds to the book on this future Hall-of-Famer. To sweep a doubleheader from the Phillies under these conditions is just incredible. With this win, the Nationals moved back to 3.0 games under .500 and into sole possession of 3rd place in the NL East. Continue reading →

Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats

After two consecutive rain-outs and managerial gamesmanship, the Nationals won the opening game of this series behind Patrick Corbin who gave up a first inning home run and then settled down to get six scoreless innings in this 6-2 win. It was Gerardo Parra who delivered the go-ahead run for Corbin — then on defense Parra made the play of the game. With no-outs in the sixth inning, he threw out Bryce Harper at third base with when Harper attempted to go first-to-third on a single. Parra barehanded the ball and threw a strike to Anthony Rendon to erase the ultra-aggressive Harper by inches. The Phillies challenged the call, and it was not overturned. Corbin exited after 7.0 innings giving up just the one run on 101 pitches with 8 strikeouts, and the only issue was the three walks. Continue reading →