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
Photo from WTOP
Rain is the worst. It gets the back of my pants all wet, causes my windshield and my glasses to fog up, and, when combined with high winds, has caused leaks in my roof. But perhaps worst of all, it messes with baseball. And that, my friends, is unacceptable. Continue reading
Rain, rain go away — come again another day — Daddy wants to play. If Brooklyn Scherzer could talk — she would probably sing that song for her father, Max Scherzer, who is the scheduled starting pitcher tonight for the Washington Nationals. Did you chant those first eight words when you were a kid and your Little League game was hanging in the balance by Mother Nature? I did many times. Mother Nature could be so cruel when you were a kid hoping for some sunshine to play that cherished game. Well, game forty-three was officially a suspended game due to weather against the Yankees in a 3-3 tie, and game forty-four against the Yankees was a postponed game due to weather, and both of those games have been rescheduled for June 18th. Continue reading
Norman Rockwell painting
It’s supposed to be April showers bring May flowers not May showers bring baseball rain-outs. That does not even rhyme! The highly anticipated 2-game series against the Yankees on Tuesday and Wednesday became casualties of Mother Nature’s wrath moving both games to June 18th beginning at 5:05 pm. The Nationals will be returning from a Father’s Day game against the Toronto Blue Jays the day before, and the Yankees will be traveling a much shorter distance from N.Y.C. for these games. Continue reading
You see the name of this large Texan, Gabe Klobosits, and you know there’s a story behind it. Sure enough, the origins of the Klobosits family name come from Austrian lineage. You know, Austrian like Arnold Schwarzenegger — not Australian like Crocodile Dundee which is what his friends in Texas thought. Now Gabe Klobosits can laugh about it. The pronunciation of his name will continue to get botched and that’s okay for the 23-year-old (happy birthday) from Katy, Texas. They will get his name right when he gets to the Major Leagues as the announcers get the game notes with the phonetic pronunciation. Continue reading
Photo by John Caulfield for TalkNats
When the Washington Nationals signed Matt Adams, we were encouraged to hear from his college baseball coach, Jeff Messer, that “Big City” was in the best shape of his career and Pilates was the main reason behind his new and improved body. What we learned was Adams had gone through a body transformation that has been a work in progress that he started with his Pilates instructor Kim Wallis in St. Louis. Continue reading
Photo from Nationals Instagram
Like a scene out of “The Natural” it was fittingly described to what we watched dramatically unfold last night. Mark Reynolds channeled his inner Roy Hobbs and hit two mighty majestic blasts after waiting a long time for his chance to play baseball again as he was staring at early retirement a little more than a month ago. Mark Reynolds spent all of the off-season and then some not knowing the next MLB franchise he would be calling home after a stellar 2017 season in Denver where he hit 30 home runs and drove in 97 runs for the Colorado Rockies. With few options, Reynolds joined other unemployed free agents at the Player’s Union camp in Bradenton, Florida through March 9th which was when the camp was closed and then players were on their own to stay in shape and hope to catch on with a Major League team. Like the fictional Hobbs, the real-life Mark Reynolds has known frustration as he didn’t get his MLB debut until the ripe age of twenty-six. Continue reading
Trea Turner is no longer batting 6th; Photo by @PippiNatsTalking for TalkNats
While the media has not mentioned this, we will make note that Trea Turner according to Fangraph’s WAR is the top shortstop in the National League as well as the top positional player for the Washington Nationals as the “Nationals Trea-sure” is distancing himself from other players. Continue reading
Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
1) Keep in mind: You are never as bad as you appear to be when things are going poorly but you are never as good as things appear to be when things are going well.
2) Dave Martinez has slowly figured out his bullpen personnel, and when to push and when to back off. Most of the time he has hit the right buttons since the notorious Ryan Madson game in NY.
3) Dave Martinez has landed on a logical lineup alignment mostly based on: Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Matt Adams and Howie Kendrick — 1 through 5 and Wilmer Difo 9. Then mixing and matching 6 and 7.
4) Our injury situation is no better than the Dodgers yet we seemed to have stabilized our ship, and they haven’t yet stabilized theirs. Don’t count the Dodgers out just yet even though they are 8-games under .500. The DBacks are good but they aren’t invincible as we just saw.
5) Mark Reynolds is light years ahead of Moises Sierra as a right-handed threat off the bench. Despite yesterday’s game, he is not quite Aaron Judge.
6) It doesn’t look like DM has much faith in Wander Suero. I would like to see him given a couple of opportunities in high lev situations before we give up on him. We already know who Trevor Gott and Carlos Torres are. Let’s find out about Suero.
7) Jeremy Hellickson is already better than anyone we had in the 5th slot last year. Huge shot in the arm. Kudos to general manager Mike Rizzo for bringing him on board and to Sao for calling for him.
8) Juan Soto looks to have found a challenging level (based on a small number of games) and that’s a good thing. It’s fun to see a prospect post video game numbers but it’s better for a prospect to confront challenges and improve.
9) Carter Kieboom is well on his way to figuring out High-A pitching with the Potomac Nationals. He may well end up in Double-A with Soto in the summer.
10) Austin Voth and Erick Fedde are a real cause for concern. They are both getting their clocks cleaned lately by Triple-A hitters in the warmer weather. They have not just been bad, they have been horrid and this is especially perplexing for Voth who was lights out for a month.
11) Gio Gonzalez is having a better year this year than last. When people instinctively accuse him of nibbling they need to keep in mind that his top fastball is 90 mph and he can’t exactly attack the middle of the strike zone. Fact is, he has gotten results for years, and I for one would try hard to keep him beyond this year.
12) Tanner Roark has been terrific. Stephen Strasburg has taken a bit of a step back compared to last year. Both are still excellent.
Bonus) Congrats to all Caps fans. I hope it keeps going your way.
Bonus) Belated happy mothers day to all the great moms.
Photo from Nationals Instagram
Some of these games lately seem fictional like watching “The Natural”. When Mark Reynolds was called up, we knew about his prodigious power — but who expected him to jack two home runs in his first game and win the game for the Nationals? Reynolds did his best Roy Hobbs imitation without the exploding light tower or lightening in the background. Has there ever been a more impressive debut game in Nationals history? Stephen Strasburg still owns that honor but Reynolds takes it for position players. For just yesterday, FanGraphs scored Reynolds’ debut as worth a +0.3 WAR.
This game was seemingly in-hand and Brandon Kintzler just didn’t have his best stuff tonight and blew it in the 7th inning and gave up the 3-run lead. Then in the top of the next inning Reynolds hit the game-winning 2-run bomb to centerfield against the pitcher, Archie Bradley, that the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball crew was describing as the Diamondbacks MVP so far this season. Yes, odd they would say that given that Bradley’s teammate, A.J. Pollock, has looked like the NL MVP. Continue reading
When the Washington Nationals opened this 4-game series with the Arizona Diamnondbacks, there was a precedent set in that the Diamondbacks had not lost a series all season. Winning two games of the four games in this series would not get the job done. The Nationals would have to win at least three games to spoil the D’Backs streak, and it was mission accomplished last night for these Nats as they took the first 3 games in this series and now go for the rare 4-game sweep that the Nats had already done to the Pirates in this young season when the Pirates were in first place. Continue reading
