Matt Grace saves a Gio gem with a 5-0 win! Nats dominant in this one!

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Yes, you read that title correctly. The Nationals won a 5-0 game on a 113-pitch 8 1/3 inning gem from Gio Gonzalez and mathematically there was a save opportunity per MLB rules on a one-pitch groundball out. With the bases empty, Matt Albers gave up 2 bloop hits and a swinging bunt and with 2 outs and the bases loaded Dusty Baker brought in his bullpen ace, Matt Grace, to record the final out for a one-pitch save.

In the Opening Day for the second half of the MLB season, Bryce Harper crushed 2 long home runs and 3 RBIs to lead the offense.

“I want to stay in the lineup,” Bryce Harper said. “Every single day I’m in there — I can do something. Do damage. If I’m not in there, I possibly could have got a ribbie or hit a homer or something like that. If I had the day off today, I wouldn’t have hit the two homers that I wanted to hit.”

Dusty Baker rested Daniel Murphy today who along with Harper and Zimmerman started the All-Star game. The All-Star snub Anthony Rendon started hot just like he was before the All-Star break and raised his OBP to .411. Matt Wieters had 2 key hits in the game, and his days off this week seemed to give him back some strength in his legs.

Every position player except Ryan Zimmerman and Chris Heisey had hits. Zimmerman who was the hottest hitter in baseball for the first 45 days of the season is one of the coldest in the game this month batting .192 with just one RBI batting 4th in the Nationals order. Ray Knight was in the MASN booth for the game and thought Zimmerman was pulling off some balls which we have noted especially in RISP spots where Zim’s head drifts off the ball.

Baker once again penciled Wilmer Difo into the starting line-up at shortstop, and Difo singled in front of Harper’s first home run while also playing solid infield defense. The Nationals are now 19-5 when Difo starts.

Gio Gonzalez was brilliant on the mound, but he was also helped by Web Gems by both Anthony Rendon and Brian Goodwin. With this shutout, Gio lowered his ERA to 2.66.

It was a team win in all facets of the game, and Matt Albers pitched well and was bit by weak contact that found green grass. The game ended on a nifty defensive play by Stephen Drew who dove to his left to snag a grounder ticketed for rightfield.

The Nationals have tied their season-high going 17 games above .500 with this win improving to 53-36.

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Game #89 Baseball is back! #Nats are on the clock!

Posted on July 14, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Many machinations just took place over the All-Star break to get some extra arms to Dusty Baker’s bullpen until a 5th starter is needed on Tuesday. All indications will be that Edwin Jackson will be activated and start that game on Tuesday after an easy 3-inning tune-up last night for Triple-A Syracuse. In the meantime, Dusty Baker will have an 8-man bullpen for the next 4-days as Trevor Gott and Austin Adams with the 7.3 BB9 were both brought in to take Joe Ross’ spot who was put on the 10-Day DL with an elbow injury and Sammy Solis was optioned back to Triple-A.

Austin Adams has 6 walks in his last 5 games in Triple-A against 8 strikeouts, but he has only given up 1-run in the last 30 days.  Adams, who is right-handed, has really been a righty killer this year holding opponents to a .167 batting average, but don’t let him around lefties who have a 2.31 WHIP against him.

The Nationals return from the All-Star break and will be playing without Daniel Murphy. It could be a “rest day” for Murphy so we will have to see what’s what. Last year at this time, Murphy returned from the All-Star game with a leg injury.

Tonight’s starters are Gio Gonzalez against righty Tim Adleman. The Nats have never faced Adleman before.

Nationals’ general manager Mike Rizzo can use this time in Cincinnati to talk to Reds’ general manager Dick Williams about doing a deal. The Reds have several players who could solve some of the Nats more pressing issues.

As we mentioned over a month ago, Raisel Iglesias is an under-the-radar closing candidate. The Nationals also need a back-up catcher who can hit off of the bench and Tucker Barnhart could be that player. He comes with team control, and hits at Nationals Park better than any other ballpark in the Majors where he has a .571 batting average in a sample size of 23. Yes, small sample size, but regardless Barnhart is a .273 hitter this season and could be a starter for about 20 teams including the Nationals. Also consider that Matt Wieters has an opt-out after this season and Barnhart is team controlled for a few more year. In addition, Zack Cozart is having one of the best seasons for any shortstop and just played in the All-Star game and the Reds must trade him before he leaves for Free Agency. With Cozart, the Nationals could move Trea Turner back to a rover spot to play some centerfield and also available if needed in the infield. With Turner’s right wrist injury, playing centerfield will be easier on his throwing arm.

Washington Nationals at Cincinnati Reds
Stadium: Great American Ball Park,100 Joe Nuxhall Way, Cincinnati, OH 45202
1st Pitch:  7:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, FOX Sports Ohio, MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® XM 186 Sirius 134  (Internet 869)

Line-ups (subject to change without notice):

  1. Brian Goodwin CF
  2. Wilmer Difo SS
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Ryan Zimmerman 1B
  5. Stephen Drew 2B
  6. Anthony Rendon 3B
  7. Matt Wieters C
  8. Chris Heisey LF
  9. Gio Gonzalez LHP
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The Nats Win! Latest MASN Appeal Goes Our Way!

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Power Boater

As most of you have probably already seen, the New York Appellate Court ruled in the Nationals favor today, that the Nats broadcast rights also known as the annual rights fees, should be decided by the MLB Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee (RSDC) and not by an independent arbitration panel as requested by Peter Angelos and the Orioles. As noted elsewhere, this is a mixed victory for several reasons:

1) The Nats “won” the right to go back to the RSDC. However, the new panel is not necessarily going to decide the same fees as the previous panel, so the Nats might end up with a worse annual rights fee, a better annual rights fee, or one close to the previously determined fee by the original RSDC panel (this is true for both the Nats and Os and regardless of whether an MLB panel or independent arbitrator make the final decision).
2) The Os “won” their appeal that the first decision should be thrown out. This was not a decision that the Nats were thrilled with but they were willing to accept.
3) Another round of appeals will be allowed for Angelos based on the 3-2 decision against them, so at a minimum there will be further delays as you can expect Angelos will use every legal maneuver he can find to delay the inevitable as long as he can.

An oldie but a goodie

Continue reading →

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The trade winds are blowing amidst the hot July sun for the #Nats

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

Many contending teams will be making trades starting today, will the Nationals be one of them?

Last year at this time, the Nationals were not in a hurry to make trades although the need for a lefty man in the bullpen was evident. Then it happened — Jonathan Papelbon was used for three games in a row and crumbled in the late July heat. Some were wondering if he had heat stroke while others wondered if he had an arm injury. If that wasn’t enough with 58 pitches thrown in that 3-day span, Papelbon returned for one more appearance within a 5-day span and threw 18 more pitches on his arm to get up to 76 pitches and took the loss and only his 3rd blown save of the season. If the outing 2-days prior didn’t finish off Papelbon’s career as an elite closer, July 26th of 2016 certainly did. Papelbon would never be given a chance to close a game after that and he appeared for just 2 2/3 innings of relief work and was released in early August, never to pitch again with a relayed message that he was dealing with family issues.

Mike Rizzo had no choice last year but pay dearly for an elite closer as he had to trade Felipe Rivero plus Taylor Hearn for Mark Melancon on July 30th before the trade deadline. Felipe Rivero of course is the top reliever in baseball right now, and the Nationals bullpen is still in a state of flux waiting for some reinforcements in a case of deja vu, here we are again in the same spot even though the route to this point was different from last year. Continue reading →

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Trea Turner went from teaching kids to playing like a kid on a special day!

Posted on July 12, 2017 by Erika C.

Do you remember that afternoon game on June 24th when Trea Turner went 5-for-5 with 4 runs scored? Hours before first pitch, Trea was at Georgetown University at a Celebrity Sports baseball camp featuring Trea and several other players. Also in attendance were catcher and all around OPS stud Taylor Gushue and RHP Dakota Bacus from the Potomac Nationals, LHP Ty Madrigal and OF Matt Green, both college all-stars playing for the Cal Ripken summer collegiate wood bat league Bethesda Big Train, and former National (and Met, but we’ll forgive him for that transgression) LHP Mike O’Connor as well as Georgetown University head baseball coach Pete Wilk plus over a dozen volunteers from the popular fan group the Half Street Irregulars. The camp was held in the actual football stadium at Georgetown University while also using the batting cages outside of the stadium. You can check out this video. Continue reading →

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The Washington Nationals dominate the N.L. All-Star starting line-up

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The All-Star game will be played with designated hitters which put Giancarlo Stanton in as a starter tonight with Marcell Ozuna from the Marlins and 4 Nationals players. That makes for 60% of this NL All-Star line-up from the NL East and 40% from the Washington Nationals. In a traditional 9 man starting line-up, the 4 Nats starters would make up an astounding 44.4% of the line-up. If Max Scherzer looks over his left-hand shoulder before the first pitch (assuming no shifts), he will see all Nationals players.

The Nationals had 5 players named to  last year’s All-Star team, and this year sets a Nationals franchise record for the most starters (four). Bryce Harper led all players in votes again this year which again leads to those reports leading into Bryce’s 2015 MVP season of “overrated”.

 “I’m humbled by it,” Bryce Harper said of his 5th selection. “This will be great to be part of.”

Continue reading →

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All-Star Ryan Zimmerman in 2009 didn’t know he would be surrounded by his future teammates in St. Louis

Posted on July 10, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

“I always felt bad for a guy who is the only All-Star [representative] from his team,” Max Scherzer said about going to another All-Star game surrounded by four teammates.

There were many years the Nationals only had one player on the All-Star roster. Major League Baseball has a requirement that every team has at least one All-Star representative. When you are on your way to losing 103 games in the 2009 season as the Washington Nationals were — you know that you are fortunate to get your one player on that All-Star roster. Ryan Zimmerman was that reserve chosen for that 2009 All-Star team as the token Nat. He was probably lonely. He wasn’t married then, and he took Jon Will as his guest and was accompanied by ownership’s Ted and Annette Lerner. The Nationals were going through turmoil and Manny Acta would be fired during the All-Star break and replaced by Jim Riggleman. The mood was near an all-time low in Washington, D.C. baseball after a 102-loss season the year before.

Zimmerman would arrive in St. Louis and in the locker room on that All-Star team are now familiar names with Nats fans like Jayson Werth, Dan Haren, and Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez, and on the American League side was Jonathan Papelbon and Edwin Jackson.

In 2010, Zimmerman was the best player on the Nationals team by the end of the season but he was batting in the .280’s when that All-Star roster was put together and closer Matt Capps would be the Nationals lone representative that year. Capps would be traded shortly afterwards to the Twins for Wilson Ramos.

As the Nationals got better, Zimmerman faded as the Nationals star player and never got back to his .899 OPS of 2010 until this season where he was the hottest player in baseball for the first 6 weeks of this 2017 season, and that hot start has propelled him to the All-Star break with a .969 OPS. Continue reading →

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The Nationals go into the All-Star break with a nice win!

Posted on July 9, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The final score of 10-5 does not tell the full story of how close this game was when Joe Ross exited the game in a 3-3 game with an injury which we hope is not serious. Joe Ross walked off the mound with one out in the 4th inning with the medical staff. Ross’ velocity had dropped to 86 mph on his fastball.

The story with Joe Ross can probably go back to 5 days ago when he threw a career high of 114 pitches which was 10.7% higher than his previous highest count of the season. Ross has an injury history.

“[Joe Ross] has some tricep tenderness and is in taking an MRI right now so we don’t know the results yet,” Dusty Baker said.

Matt Grace relieved Joe Ross and got the Nationals out of the 4th inning, but in the bottom of the inning was a huge managerial decision. Grace’s spot came up against the lefty Newcomb with runners on 3rd and 2nd base with no outs. The Nats had just scored a run to make the score 4-3 on a Heisey double and Grace indeed stepped in for his first at-bat of the season and fought at the plate before he struck out. Baker did in fact have Enny Romero available to pitch today after 7 days which gave Baker almost a full bullpen with a 4-day All Star break in front of them. After the Grace strikeout, it was followed by a Goodwin strikeout and a Difo strikeout to move the game into the 5th inning. Grace did throw a scoreless 5th inning and did a really good job t that point, but with a lead that grew to 6-3, Grace came out for the 6th inning and immediately surrendered a long home run to Johan Camargo. The next batter was Freddie Freeman who hit a single that ended up turning into a single plus a 2-base error on Bryce Harper. Freeman scored to make it a 6-5 game. Continue reading →

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Game #88 moves the #Nats to the All-Star Break

Posted on July 9, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

After today’s game, the Nationals will have only 74 regular season games remaining. That is 16 games until the sprint to the finish and the July 31st trade deadline. Not only will Mike Rizzo be acquiring at least one impact bullpen arm, he will also have to make some decisions about the August roster heading into September 1st roster expansion.

Photo by Sol Tucker for Talk Nats

The Nationals All-Star players will all head onto a private jet after the game with their families and head to Miami. This year the Nationals need a another large jet as Ryan Zimmerman will be joining the All-Star regulars of Daniel Murphy, Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Last year the Nationals had 5 players make the All-Star team also as Wilson Ramos was part of last year’s roster.

Time is ticking away for any last minute chance for Gio Gonzalez and Anthony Rendon being added to the All-Star roster. Both players are deserving, but there are snubs every year.

Continue reading →

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Nats get shutout for the first-time

Posted on July 8, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Washington Nationals got shutout for the first time this season. Stephen Strasburg was pulled after 3 innings as he was behind 6-0 on 3 unearned runs, and he was victimized by poor defense including his own error in this one and groundballs that constantly found holes.

Strasburg was struck by a comebacker on his hip in the 3rd inning and completed the inning and then was replaced by Tanner Roark.

Roark worked 5 innings in relief and looked as good as he has in a long time. He gave up 3 runs but only 2 hits had hard contact. Continue reading →

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