Nats walk-off magic in Game #35

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Honorary Sky Chiefs: Severino, Bautista, Difo, Stevenson (not pictured)

The Sky Chiefs won this game in the 9th inning for the first Nationals walk-off of 2018. Matt Wieters started the 9th inning with an infield hit — yes, you read that correctly. Wieters hustled down the line at his top speed and ignited his team. Instead of pinch-running with Pedro Severino, manager Dave Martinez went with speedster Rafael Bautista right away instead of waiting to see what unfolded with the next at-bat as many managers do with a short bench.

Phillies closer Hector Neris tried to pick-off Bautista and threw an errant throw and Bautista sprinted with no hesitation to 3rd base setting up the tying run. Howie Kendrick was then hit-by-pitch. Michael Taylor walked the bases loaded after showing bunt three times which seemed to unnerve Neris. Then the real fun began and the managerial wheels started to really move. Continue reading →

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Game #35 Cy Youngs square off in the rubber game of this series!

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Lee Heiman for TalkNats

Get your food and favorite beverages ready for this game as the reigning Cy Young, Max Scherzer, and former Cy Young, Jake Arrieta, square off in the final game of his weekend series between the Washington Nationals and the Phillies. Continue reading →

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Victor Who?

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Luke Erickson

By now, you may have heard about Juan Soto. But if you haven’t you may be F.P. Santangelo, here’s a quick summary: Believe the hype. Continue reading →

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Bryce Harper Field will be a standing symbol of youth baseball in Washington, D.C.

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Andrew Lang

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

Bryce Harper Field was officially dedicated on Saturday morning and will serve as a lasting symbol of youth baseball thanks to DC Parks, the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation, and Bryce and Kayla Harper’s own contributions. The field is situated in Ward 4 in the  Takoma neighborhood, NW Washington, D.C. in an area that was in need of better baseball fields and now they have one of the best. Continue reading →

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Back to even for the Nats in 3-1 loss

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Not today. The Nats could not get the clutch hits but avoided the shutout thanks to a Wilmer Difo home run.

Continue reading →

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Game #34 Nats have 80% of the season remaining to do their thing!

Posted on May 5, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

All of a sudden the Nationals’ manager is being lauded as a genius by some for moving Bryce Harper into the lead-off spot. Since he moved there in the 9-to-3 configuration with Wilmer Difo in front of him and Trea Turner and Matt Adams after him — the Washington Nationals have gone on a run. The season is now 20% completed with 80% to go in the regular season, and the question is how long Dave Martinez continues with this line-up? Continue reading →

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Nats back over that even mark with their 6th W in a row!

Posted on May 4, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

The Nationals have now won 6-games in a row and get back above that even mark on the season for the first time since April 10th. They also pick up a game on the entire NL East due to losses by every other team in the division. Gio Gonzalez started off with a bases loaded situation and wiggled out of it and then rolled from there until a 40+ minute rain delay which shortened his night to 5 innings. Gio gave up no runs but was also saved by several great defensive plays by Trea Turner and a real gem highlighted by a piece of robbery when Matt Adams went above the left field bullpen wall to bring back a potential 2-run home run. Gio left with a shutout and had 7-runs of support as the Nationals knocked Nick Pivetta out in the 2nd inning. Continue reading →

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Game #33 First series with the new-age Phillies; Sky Chiefs Nats are new-age also!

Posted on May 4, 2018 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals and Phillies meet for the first time this season for the first of nineteen head-to-head match-ups. Both teams have new-look managers with Dave Martinez and Gabe Kapler. Both teams have new players, and the Nats have the Phillies killer, Matt Adams, who is hitting the Phillies pitchers well. If we highlight the pitchers Adams could see in this series (no Nola or Eichoff), he is mashing them at a .368 bating average and a .424 OBP. The Nationals also have their “Sky Chiefs” making contributions to this line-up.  Continue reading →

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Nats make a little history with this 5+ game winning streak; Great pitching and a clutch Trea 2-run missile.

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

When the Pittsburgh Pirates rolled into town, they were in 1st place in the NL Central and on a 5-game winning streak. The Nationals not only halted their streak but also pushed them out of 1st place while it is the Nationals who now have a 5 game winning streak. The Nationals won this nailbiter that was scoreless through the 5th inning on the arm of Jeremy Hellickson who went 5 2/3 of scoreless baseball. In fact, the Nationals defeated the Pirates hottest pitcher and clobbered two home runs in the 6th inning for all of their scoring. It was Trea Turner‘s two-run home run that opened the scoring and later in the inning Ryan Zimmerman added a solo shot. Continue reading →

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Game #32 Nats are looking to make some history

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

From Nationals official Instagram

Bryce Harper needs 80 more lead-off home runs to tie Rickey Henderson in the record books, but the Nationals can set a team record today for matching losing streaks with winning streaks of at least 4 games in their first 32-games of the season as the Nats have had losing streaks of 4 games and 5 games. The Nats have had now two winning streaks of 4 games, and if the Nationals win today, they would have at least a 5 game winning streak. Continue reading →

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