by Andrew Lang
by Andrew Lang
Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
The Nationals had a 4-3 lead heading into the 8th inning, but set-up man Justin Miller couldn’t hold the lead that turned into an extra innings loss. The Nationals had their chances to win this game in the 8th inning with men on 3rd and 2nd base with one-out and it was not meant to be. The early runs came off of the bat of Mark Reynolds on a booming two run home run and a Rendon RBI double and a Trea Turner RISP single. Continue reading
Murphy and Adams by USA Sports
This 4-game series will highlight the new-and-improved Daniel Murphy. The Nats fans will see the difference. Murphy is like a new player. With the Nats, he homered in 3.1% of his at-bats and with the Cubs he is bashing the ball and homering in 7.0% of at-bats. On top of that, Murphy is diving for baseballs on defense and tracking balls with an extra pep in his step. Murphy’s slugging percentage with the Cubs is the 2nd best of his career at .579. Maybe all of this is just a coincidence, but some of Murphy’s newfound power and defensive range seems like some extra motivation playing on a team with legitimate World Series aspirations. Continue reading
Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
In the first of our series looking at the current roster with an emphasis on projections for next season, we will take a look at Michael A. Taylor. MAT has been bouncing between a full-time every day player, the bench 4th outfielder, late inning defensive replacement, pinch-hitter, and pinch-runner type for a couple of years now. At this time, we have a pretty good idea of who MAT is and what he brings to the table. Continue reading
The Nationals battled back in another game that began with a deep deficit. The Nationals had to make up a 6-run hole they dug for themselves and clawed back and made it to 7-6. The Nats had a great chance to win this game in a walk-off as they put on their first two runners to start the 9th inning but Ryan Zimmerman who could have been the hero as he already had 3 RBIs in his pocket from an earlier clutch hit but this time he struck out in the 9th and did not move up the runners. Zim quickly moved from the penthouse to the outhouse in the game which ended with Michael Taylor never seeing a ball in the zone but he swung and missed at 3 of them. This game became the carbon copy of so many losses and this was another disturbing one-run loss. Continue reading
Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
The Nationals and Cardinals finish their season series tonight, and this 3-game set is tied at a game each right now with tonight’s game determining the series winner. Finally it looks like Miles Mikolas will pitch tonight after reports said that he was pitching on Monday then Tuesday then Wednesday. Tanner Roark was always scheduled for today. Continue reading
Austen Williams photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
If you are into high scoring, and a lot of action — this game was for you. The Nationals starter, Erick Fedde, gave up 4-runs and the Nationals tied the game up and got Fedde off the hook. Austen Williams came in to relieve Fedde and he gave up 3 home runs in the 6th inning. The Nationals scored one back. In a 2-run game, Sammy Solis gave up a grand slam in the 9th inning to Yadier Molina on an 0-2 count that put the Nationals 6-runs behind and the Nationals rallied back in the 9th inning to score 3 quick runs and had the tying run in the batters box but it was not meant to be. Continue reading
Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
Most expected top prospect Victor Robles would be part of the Nationals sooner than later in 2018, but an elbow injury in mid-April suffered on a dive in the outfield buckled his arm and forced Robles into a lengthy 3-month DL stint with a hyper-extended elbow. It could have been worse for Robles as many feared after seeing that video of the injury. On July 7th, Robles headed to the Gulf Coast League to rehab then to his Triple-A Syracuse team on July 27th. With a little over a month with Syracuse, Robles finished up his Triple-A season yesterday with a slash of .278/.356/.386/.742. Now the question is: How will Nationals manager Dave Martinez get Robles playing time in a crowded outfield? Continue reading
Photo by Kevin Nibley for TalkNats
This past week was very representative of what the Washington Nationals season has looked like in the 2nd half. There were some nice wins bookended with ugly losses. The team continued to struggle getting consistent starting pitching in games not started by Max Scherzer although Tanner Roark and Stephen Strasburg have mostly been able to keep the team in games. The bullpen continues to be “pot luck” with some heroic effort coupled with blah performances. Put all that in a mixer and you get .500 baseball. Continue reading
Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
With the Nationals trailing by 2-runs in the 9th inning, Bryce Harper crushed a 3-1 meatball from the Cardinals’ closer, Bud Norris, to deep centerfield onto the grassy knoll which was measured at 451 feet. That bomb tied the game up, and at the very least, took a looming “L” off of starting pitcher Max Scherzer. In the 10th inning, Harper stepped up to the plate again — this time with a chance to win it via a hit or a productive out with the pinch-runner Michael Taylor on 3rd base and one out. Harper hit a deep flyball in a 2-2 count to leftfield for the walk-off sacrifice fly. Nats win 4-3. Continue reading
With each game, there is a pre-game and post-game presser with manager Dave Martinez. We learned yesterday that Martinez had a lesson for his starter Jefry Rodriguez. The Nationals manager wanted “…to see [Jefry Rodriguez] go through those struggles because if he’s going to pitch here, he’s got to do that. It’s the bottom of the order.” At what point do you end a lesson? The 25-year-old pitcher had never thrown beyond 97-pitches. Pitch #95 was a 3-run home run, pitch #96 was a single, and the next 4 pitches ended in the culmination of a 4-pitch walk on pitch #100. At that point, stating it was the “bottom of the order” trivialized the situation which really did not matter when a pitcher is on fumes. Continue reading
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