The Dodgers weren’t willing to see if Howie Kendrick could bounceback

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Los Angeles Dodgers were trying to do some housekeeping and dump Howie Kendrick and his $10 million salary after the worst season of his career slashing .255/.326/.366/.691. The Phillies came calling and it was one of the first trades made after the World Series on November 11th of 2016.

One the bizarre parts of the trade was that the Dodgers received Darin Ruf and Darnell Sweeney and both players are off their roster now. Ruf is in Korean baseball and Sweeney was purchased by the Reds.

For Kendrick, he had never played for a team outside of Los Angeles before the trade to the Phillies. The issue for the now 34-year-old Kendrick was staying on the field due to injuries. The Phillies were hoping to trade Kendrick for a haul, but the fish weren’t biting. Kendrick had an oblique injury that landed him on the DL then a hand injury at the time he was traded to the Nationals. He had only accumulated 156 plate appearances with the Phillies before the trade to Washington. Continue reading →

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Gio with the shutout; Howie with 2 homers; “The Firm” closes the case!

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Tonight, Gio Gonzalez moved into the upper echelon of pitchers in baseball leapfrogging over Chris Sale in ERA.  Gio threw a 6-inning shutout and had a no-hitter going into the 6th inning when Cameron Maybin got an infield hit. Gio’s ERA was lowered to 2.49, and the combination of Matt Albers, Brandon Kintzler and Sean Doolittle (9th save for the Nats) finished the game in a 3-1 win.

Gio’s ERA in Nats Park this year is 1.79, and that dominance would be wonderful in a home start in the post-season. Dusty Baker made a good decision to go to the bullpen for the 7th inning even though Gio was at 91 pitches.

The scoring offense was mostly provided by two solo home runs from Howie Kendrick and his first home run was a milestone #100 in his career. The Nationals had many other chances to push across runs but went 0-for-9 in RISP spots. Anthony Rendon had 3-hits and Daniel Murphy added 2 hits. Wilmer Difo was 1-for-3 with a walk.

For the Nats, this game was won with another split-squad looking line-up and they played without Brian Goodwin tonight. The starting outfield was Kendrick, Michael Taylor and Andrew Stevenson. Continue reading →

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Game #117 First of Two Games with the Angels

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

All of a sudden the Los Angeles Angels are in the Wild Card hunt and sporting a winning streak. What is different with these Angels? They are playing with a renewed sense of urgency. They also made some roster changes and one of those changes was a DFA and full release of Danny Espinosa who then became a free agent.

The Nationals made some roster moves today by optioning pitcher AJ Cole back to Triple-A Syracuse for catcher Pedro Severino. It was also reported that Brian Goodwin won’t play today and he could go on the 10-Day DL with an injured groin. Dusty Baker just needs healthy bodies right now as he is playing with a short bench. The healthy position players on the 40-man roster are few, but calling up another player would require a roster move. Mike Rizzo still has to make room on the 40-man roster once Jayson Werth and Koda Glover are brought back up. The Nationals will also need to clear a roster spot when they recall Stephen Strasburg on Saturday to start in San Diego.

Tonight it is the battling lefties between Gio Gonzalez and Tyler Skaggs. There are only two Nationals players who have faced Skaggs before — Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rendon.

Other significant news is Trea Turner took live batting practice on the field today. We were told by a source that Trea Turner will head to the Nationals facility at West Palm Beach on Wednesday night to continue his rehab before he is sent to a minor league facility. Continue reading →

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The PNats have location, location, location

Posted on August 15, 2017 by Andrew Lang

A real estate agent learns quickly about the key to location, location location. The Potomac Nationals would make Mister Rogers proud with his “It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood” as the PNats were conceived from the original 1978 Alexandria Dukes which came 10 years after Mister Rogers first television show. There was no professional affiliated baseball in those parts after the Washington Senators left. Who knew that one day MLB baseball would be back in Washington, D.C., and the Potomac Nationals would take over the affiliation in 2005 from the Potomac Cannons who were a Cincinnati Reds minor league affiliate.

Immediately, there was an important relationship due to the close proximity of the PNats stadium location, and the Washington Nationals could take advantage of that for any rehabbing players. The list is long of Nationals stars who have made appearances for the PNats, but also there has been the lengthy list of top prospects who have been regulars for the PNats and most recently the Nationals number 1 prospect, Victor Robles, was just promoted from there last month. Daniel Johnson and Jakson Reetz who are both top prospects were just promoted from the Low-A Hagerstown Suns to the PNats.

Continue reading →

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A slippery slope on-base changes the course of Bryce Harper’s season

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Andrew Lang

Before Bryce Harper‘s unfortunate slip and fall in the 1st inning of Saturday’s 3 hour 1 minute rain delayed game that actually got underway at 10:06 pm while rain was falling, he had aspirations for another great full-season leading his Washington Nationals’ team to the post-season and playing healthy.

Maybe winning his second league MVP was in the back of his mind. How could it not be? Long before he went 5-for-14 last week against the World Series champion Chicago Cubs and raising his OPS the week before that to 1.087 to lead the Majors at the time; Harper was being discussed as the MVP throughout the media. Now being on the DL will chip away at his stats and could derail any chances at winning that award. Harper made it clear in a press conference yesterday that his sights are set on getting healthy and being ready for the post-season.

“The World Series is definitely on my mind, the playoffs, things like that,” Harper said. “But one award is on my mind as well, if you guys know what that one is. It’s a big one to me. So definitely team accolades and things like that come in front of my own, but it’s what I’m striving toward.”

Continue reading →

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Adam Eaton Charity Car Show

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Erika C.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, I willingly put on real pants (a rarity on a weekend) and left my house at the crack of dawn to attend Adam Eaton’s Rev Up the Park charitable event at Nationals Park, and it was totally worth the effort. The event brought together hundreds of car lovers, Nats fans, and Eaton’s teammates Gio Gonzalez and Howie Kendrick to enjoy some coffee and conversation while raising money for the Dragonfly Foundation.

The Nats rehabbing centerfielder had the idea for a cars and coffee charity event during spring training and with the Dragonfly Foundation and the Washington Nationals lending their support and the newly named “Geico Garage” formerly known as “Garage B” in leftfield they set in motion this first event that hopefully will be an annual event.

“Getting together with Jayson [Werth] and a few other guys,” Eaton said. “I knew that there was a very vibrant car fanbase here, so I thought ‘let’s try to do cars and coffee.’ We started talking about it in spring training and throughout the season it started to amount to something. [The Nationals] did a great job helping me put this on. It all just came together, and it actually turned out way better than I thought it was going to. I was hoping for 100 cars, and I think we got 200 and I don’t even know how many. You can have all these events all you want, but if you don’t have the people, it doesn’t matter. People really showed up, and I’m very thankful for all the money we’ve been able to raise. That’s really the key to success.”

Rev Up the Park was a benefit for the Dragonfly Foundation, a non-profit charity dedicated to helping children and young adults with cancer and their families. Continue reading →

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Can you believe what we just saw! A walk-off Howie Kendrick grand slam!

Posted on August 13, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

This game ends on a grand slam Walkoff by Howie Kendrick in the 11th inning! He hit it far and deep, and it was a no-doubter game winner — the only question was whether it would clear the outfield fence. With Daniel Murphy standing on 3rd base, he was going to score with the outfield playing shallow as Kendrick’s blast was certainly over the outfielder’s heads.

This was also the first grand slam of Howie Kendrick‘s long career, and he certainly has made an impact with his new team with a little over 2 weeks of tenure with the Nats.

The Nationals scored all of their runs via the home run with solo home runs by Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman and of course the grand slam by Howie Kendrick. The 11th inning rally started with a Murphy single followed by a Zimmerman bloop single on which Murphy read it and scampered to 3rd base forcing Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy to intentionally walk the bases loaded with Anthony Rendon and pitch to Howie Kendrick with no outs. Kendrick worked the count with Giants reliever Albert Suarez to a 2-2 count before he crushed the game winning walk-off grand slam. Continue reading →

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Game #116 The season finale with the #Nats and Giants

Posted on August 13, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

There will be few fond farewells when these San Francisco Giants leave town. Players like Hunter Strickland and Jeff Samardzija were booed this weekend by the Nationals faithful because of the brawl started when Strickland nailed Bryce Harper.

Tonight’s game will also settle this series which is now tied 1-1. The Nationals lead the season series 4-1 because the Nats swept the Giants in San Francisco at the end of May. Continue reading →

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You can’t win them all; Nats drop first game of doubleheader

Posted on August 13, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

For 6 2/3 innings, Chris Stratton frustrated the Nationals offense yielding no-runs and exited the game with a 3-0 lead. This was Stratton’s third career start for the Giants and he struck-out 10 Nats batters. Hunter Strickland entered the game to a serenade of boos, and he surrendered a 2-run home run to Anthony Rendon. The game ended at that 4-2 score. The Nationals had their opportunities today.

AJ Cole took the loss going 6.0 innings and giving up 3-runs. Cole struggled all day with the 8-hitter Gorkys Hernandez who set up the second inning when the 3-runs scored. Cole was able to go deep enough in the game to keep the bullpen fresh as Dusty Baker pitched Sammy Solis for an inning and Matt Grace for two innings.

The Nationals did get 7 hits and Andrew Stevenson, Brian Goodwin, and Anthony Rendon each had 2 hits in the game. Daniel Murphy came in as a pinch-hitter with 2 runners-on-base and he flew out.

Brian Goodwin was pulled in the 9th inning with some groin pain. The Nationals are off tomorrow and he will be evaluated then.

Continue reading →

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Game #115 First game of doubleheader with only 2 regulars; Bryce Harper escapes serious injury!

Posted on August 13, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

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There was an 11 AM press conference this morning with Washington Nationals general manager, Mike Rizzo, and there were no leaks beforehand as to Bryce Harper‘s condition. Mike Rizzo delivered some very good news on Bryce Harper that there was no ligament, tendon or structural damage to Bryce Harper’s leg. The official diagnosis changed from the preliminary “knee hyper-extension” to a severe bone bruise.

Mike Rizzo would not give a timetable for Bryce Harper’s return rather that he seemed to optimistically vow that Bryce Harper would return in 2017. That should be a big sigh of relief for Bryce Harper, the Nationals and baseball fans.

“There is no ligament or tendon damage, which is pretty remarkable in my mind, seeing the type of injury [Bryce Harper] had,” Mike Rizzo said. “There is a significant bone bruise when he hyperxtended the knee. We felt we dodged a bullet with no long-term ligament and tendon damage.”

“The bone bruise is something of significance. We’re going to treat him cautiously. We’re optimistic that he should be back by the end of the year. We have no timeline. We’ll treat it day to day, treat it cautiously and will continue down that road.”

The Nationals have used 12 outfielders this year due to all of the injuries with a league low of only 6 errors. Last night, rookie call-up Andrew Stevenson stepped up and in Bryce Harper’s spot hitting two balls that he was robbed on at 1st and 3rd base, but more importantly you saw more evidence of Stevenson’s advanced defense with incredible range based on instincts and speed as he chased down a flyout in the left-center gap by the visitor’s bullpen and made it look easy. Continue reading →

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