The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Photo Credit: Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE

The Nationals had to find a way to win this game, and Gio Gonzalez’s results were positive in this Nationals big win to even this series 2-2. The Braves Anibal Sanchez looked great to start the game as he only gave up a single to Trea Turner in this one, but exited the game with a 1-0 lead when a slow comebacker off of the bat of Michael Taylor hit Sanchez’s calf. That was all it took for Sanchez to exit the game and the Nationals got 6-runs off of two Braves pitchers who were making their MLB debuts. It should have been a bigger offensive showing by the Nationals who were swinging at 3-0 pitches and playing this like it was a Spring Training game. Luckily enough balls went the Nationals way including contact off of Gio Gonzalez. Continue reading →

Sure, the umpiring was absolutely embarrassing that Major League Baseball allows the amateur hour in an MLB game. Homeplate umpire Greg Gibson should be suspended as this is one of those times integrity comes into play here on the egregious strikeout calls. Even with an 8-3 loss, the Nationals can only blame themselves in questionable managing, pitch selection, pitch execution, plate discipline, approach, and the extreme lack of clutch hitting. The Nationals were 1-for-16 in RISP hitting tonight. The team stranded 11-runners. That is unacceptable. Continue reading →

This game was 1-1 into the 9th inning and the Nationals had opportunities earlier to add-on runs and they did not. Instead they left themselves no margin for error, and Kelvin Herrera gave up what looked like a double that Bryce Harper played into a triple with little urgency and two runs scored as Harper nonchalantly threw the ball in. Bryce’s effort there could have loomed large if the Braves were held to just 1-run in the 9th inning. In the bottom of the 9th inning, the Nationals had two runners on and one out and Matt Wieters lined-out hard to 3rd base and Ryan Zimmerman who was the offensive star in the game was doubled off of second base. Very unlucky. That is a game ending gut punch double play. The Nats lose 3-1. Continue reading →

In this doubleheader, manager Dave Martinez needed a starter for today’s first game. They called up Jefry Rodriguez for the critical Game 1 start. JRod didn’t disappoint. He went 5-innings of one-run baseball and probably could have gone deeper in this one as he earned his first MLB win in this 8-3 game. Rodriguez on the season now has gone 9 2/3 innings against the Braves and given up only one-run.

This was a huge win for the Nationals with two innings where they scored four-runs. Trea Turner and Ryan Zimmerman each had 3-hits a piece and Bryce Harper and Juan Soto had 2-hits each. Soto added 3-walks for a perfect day at the plate while reaching all 5 times. Continue reading →