Zim’s 30th HR in the 9th inning breaks up the shutout; Nats lose 7-2

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Photo Credit Marlene Koenig‏ @royalmusing

The Washington Nationals accumulated three hits in this game and were shutout at the 2 out point in the 9th inning when Ryan Zimmerman jacked a 2-run home run to make it the final score of 7-to-2. Craig Counsell‘s instincts of skipping Matt Garza and going with a bullpen staff today worked.

Edwin Jackson gave up 5-runs and made 5 bad pitches today which the Brewers did not miss. The Nats offense on the other hand was stymied most of the day. The Nats had a few chances but couldn’t put together the big hits early even though the Nats were 1-for-4 in RISP — that one hit was an infield dribbler by Zim who had 2 of the 3 hits and Trea Turner had the other which was a double off of the outfield wall.

The Nationals lost 3 of the 4 games in this series, but the offense never really showed up as Murphy and Rendon in the middle of the line-up have continued to struggle. Murphy left 2 runners on base and Rendon left 3 runners on base.  Continue reading →

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Game #136 EJax wants to even things up for the Nats!

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

After last night’s win, the Nationals can even up this series 2-to-2 if the Nats can tally up a win today in Milwaukee before the team flies to Miami. With EJax on the mound, he will have a chance to make a statement against a potential playoff team that he deserves a spot on the Nationals post-season roster.

Matt Garza will not start this game against the Nationals as his manager Craig Counsell most likely was concerned about his pitcher’s August ERA which was 7.67 and a 1.963 WHIP. Instead, Counsell will turn to Brent Suter, who is no relation to hockey legend Brent Sutter, but is a hockey fan and attended Harvard University which is known more for their hockey than baseball. Counsell seems to be ready to use his September expanded roster to turn this into a bullpen type of game if Suter can’t go far into the game.

“[Suter has] pitched once in the last couple of weeks, so we’re not going to get deep into the game with him,” Brewers’ manager Craig Counsell said. “We’ll just kind of read the situation and see where he’s at.”

The Nats not only have their injured players they want to get back like Bryce Harper, but they also want their hot hitting All-Star Daniel Murphy back — to form. Daniel Murphy is slashing a poor .222/.321/.306/.627 in the last month. In the past few games, you could see Murphy is swinging at balls over his shoulders and on Friday night Murphy struck-out on a pitch almost a foot above the strike zone.

While Murphy got a seeing eye soft liner single yesterday through the infield, he inexplicably tried to leg it into a double and was tagged out hurdling the middle infielder before reaching the base. What was he thinking? What was he doing? Where was he going? There were no outs in a 0-to-0 game. Continue reading →

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Another pitcher’s duel tonight and this one goes the #Nats way!

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

“The Firm” is back together, and while Sean Doolittle usually makes it interesting, he got the save (by a few feet) in a nice Nats win with a final score of 3-to-2. Max Scherzer was hit on the calf by a hard grounder in the first inning and stayed in the game for 5 innings and exited in a 1-1 game. It was an ambush home run by Michael Taylor and a Trea Turner RBI double off the centerfield wall that made the Nats a winner.

In the 4th inning, Ryan Zimmerman got an RBI single to put the Nationals up 1-to-0, and in the bottom of the 4th inning the Brewers tied it up. Scherzer was limping and in obvious pain and he exited after the 5th inning. Ollie Perez came in for the 6th inning and he was victimized by some poor fielding and an unearned run was charged on “Keystone Cops” type of play on a chopper over Zimmerman’s head which Daniel Murphy bobbled and it then got by Jayson Werth in rightfield to score the runner from first base.

Ryan Madson pitched the 7th inning and he looked great on his return from the disabled list. Brandon Kintzler got the 8th inning and got them 1-2-3, and Sean Doolittle got the first two batters in the 9th inning and then gave up a single with 2 outs. Pinch-hitter Manny Pina then sent a long flyball to the wall in centerfield, and Michael Taylor made a jumping catch to squeeze the last out. Continue reading →

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Game #135 It’s Max Scherzer Day

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Washington Nationals have a two-gane losing streak to stop, and the Nats have their “King of Stoppers” on the mound tonight in Max Scherzer. The Brewers pitchers in the first two games of this series have out-pitched the Nationals so far. Zach Davies and Jimmy Nelson showed that they are good pitchers themselves.

Buster Olney tweeted this morning that the 2016 NL Cy Young winner is actually ahead of his dominating pace from last year in his first 25 starts of the season.

If you want to know about the Brewers starting pitcher, Brandon Woodruff, we give you analysis from Dusty Baker “Nothin”:

In other news, Matt Wieters will get another day off as he nurses his bruised right knee. Dusty Baker expects Wieters to be available to start tomorrow. Continue reading →

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Nats strikeout 17 times and lose 1-0; Nats had their chances in this pitcher’s duel

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

It was a pitcher’s duel between Tanner Roark and Jimmy Nelson. Yes, both made some mistakes and worked out of bases loaded jams unscathed. Roark hung a curveball that was hit out for a home run and that was the difference in the game.

In the 3rd inning, Trea Turner walked to lead-off the inning — stole second — took 3rd on a passed ball and stood at 3rd base waiting for a batter to get him in. It never happened. In fact, Daniel Murphy, Howie Kendrick, and Jayson Werth all struck out and Nelson only had to throw 5 pitches in the zone to those 3 batters as they got themselves out by swinging at balls out of the zone. Werth was in a 3-2 count with the bases loaded, and Nelson took his chances on a slider way out of the zone that Werth chased. A walk would have tied the game and extended the inning. Continue reading →

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Game #134 Which Tanner Roark will pitch tonight?

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Washington Nationals are still waiting for the consistent Tanner Roark to show up this year. Roark is at a 4.63 ERA and still struggling to keep it going late in games. Roark had a shutout against the Mets last weekend when he entered the 6th inning and then he gave up 3 quick runs. Roark entered the 6th inning in that game at 87 pitches, and it took him 23 pitches to complete the 6th inning and consider that he was not facing the Mets normal line-up on that outing. He faced names like Smith, Reynolds, Nimmo, Lagares, Reyes, and Flores in that 6th inning. The sad fact is that none of those players were even in the Mets starting lineup on Opening Day on 4/3/2017 except for Jose Reyes who is bottoming out in his career and took the injured David Wright’s spot at 3rd base on Opening Day. Reyes is batting .232 this season.

Many feel that Roark will still get the 4th spot in the post-season rotation over Edwin Jackson, but you never know what Dusty Baker and Mike Rizzo will decide.

In tonight’s game, Roark will face-off against Jimmy Nelson who is coming off of a 4-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers last week. Nelson has a strong 3.75 ERA this season, and in the past has pitched well against the Nationals. Continue reading →

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Press for a Day: August 30 at Nats Park

Posted on September 1, 2017 by ArVaFan aka Laura Peebles
DISCLAIMER: all quotes are paraphrases—I was not recording the conversations.

As I think I mentioned, I won the MLB charity auction for Shannon Forde Field fundraiser, which was “press for a day.” Actually, it was more like “hang out with the press for a day,” since I didn’t actually get to ask questions or go into the clubhouse. But I did get a full media guide, and a whole bag of Nats swag (unfortunately, not P-Nats swag, so no Werth/Kolko). Continue reading →

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Trea Turner was the offense tonight; Gio Gonzalez unfortunately was not Cy

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

What a night for Trea Turner who drove in a run and manufactured two more runs on a night where he was a home run away from hitting for his second cycle of the season. Unfortunately Trea’s offensive heroics were not enough to save this game as Gio Gonzalez was touched for 5-runs over 6 innings while walking 3 batters including the Brewers’ starting pitcher to lead-off an inning.

Gonzalez was vying for a Cy Young award and the last 2 outings he wasn’t crisp in his process. Gio faced the Mets over the weekend who were playing with few regulars and Gio gave up only 2-runs but he was missing spots in that appearance also. If you go back to the start before that, Gio threw 121 pitches in that outing. Tonight he threw 115 pitches and only 65 for strikes.

The Nationals only managed 7 hits tonight as the Brewers had some innovative defensive shifts especially straight up the middle that shutdown Adam Lind and Matt Wieters. Besides Turner’s 3 hits, Michael Taylor had 2 hits, and Zimmerman and Rendon had one apiece for the rest of the offense. Continue reading →

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Game #133 #Nats begin a 4-game series in Milwaukee

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals are about to send their next class of prospects to the Arizona Fall League in a month. That class is highlighted by top prospect Victor Robles.

This is the final game of August before teams can expand their rosters on September 1st and call in the reserves from the Minor Leagues for the final 29 games of the season. Each call-up must be on the 40-man roster.

Tonight’s game in Milwaukee begins the first of a four game series against the Brewers who are fighting for their post-season lives. The Nationals will start Cy Young hopeful Gio Gonzalez and the Brewers will counter with rightie Zach Davies.

The Nationals have as close as they have been in months to a full line-up and are just missing Bryce Harper and Adam Eaton. Their replacements are essentially Adam Lind and Michael Taylor. Continue reading →

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Waiver-trade deadline at midnight; Will Mike Rizzo make one final move?

Posted on August 31, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Today is the last day to acquire a player who can be eligible on the acquiring team’s post-season roster. This waiver-trade deadline expires tonight at the stroke of midnight in New York City.

The biggest names out there as trade bait are Justin Verlander, Justin Upton, and Giancarlo Stanton and Upton makes the most sense to be traded today — the big names just become good fodder for those “what if” articles that have popped up this week.

Perhaps one of the biggest names discussed here on the waiver wire was Reds shortstop Zack Cozart who was actually claimed and subsequently pulled off waivers according to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Heyman was not able to identify the team who claimed Cozart, and he believes the claim was made strictly as a strategy of blocking him from other contenders. If the Reds had any designs on trading the soon-to-be free agent All-Star, they blew their chance. Continue reading →

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