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.

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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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Game #87 Stephen Strasburg likes low humidity!

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

Last night was a night to remember as a great team win complete with a walk-off celebration. Today is Stephen Strasburg’s turn to put his mark on the calendar before he heads to Miami for the All-Star game.

Right-hander Julio Teheran gets the start for the Atlanta Braves in this match-up. The Braves will need to work around their bullpen issues as Jim Johnson won’t be available today after throwing 30 pitches last night. Jose Ramirez threw 20 pitches last night and might not be available.

The Nationals bullpen last night had to throw a combined 2 1/3 innings with 4 relief pitchers, and they threw less combined pitches than Jim Johnson labored through in his 2/3 of an inning of work.

Speaking of the bullpens, the Nationals lefty reliever, Enny Romero, has not been seen on a mound since July 2nd after he had thrown 3 games in a row and 46 pitches in the series against the Cubs and struggled in the 3rd game in a row and then again on July 2nd giving up 2-runs and 3 hits including a home run. It has been a continued debate over the usage of the relievers including Jacob Turner, Koda Glover, and Trevor Gott.

We checked in with a source who indeed confirmed that Enny Romero had arm fatigue which they had hoped a few days of rest would cure. Today is the sixth day. Trevor Gott went through a similar pattern and needed 11 days off before pitching again. Koda Glover wasn’t as fortunate as he had to be placed on the disabled-list, and we learned the real issue was rotator cuff inflammation.

In other sourced news that came second-hand from a reliable team source and quoted here verbatim from a text message, “Max asked to be taken out after 7 Dusty said No”. This gives some credibility to what we heard after the game that Max Scherzer was not pleased. Scherzer went 120 pitches and labored into the 8th inning and walked Ender Inciarte after he was ahead 0-2 in the count and then gave up a single to Brandon Phillips with 2 outs. Scherzer was pulled and Oliver Perez promptly gave up a 2-run single to Freddie Freeman which tacked on 2 more runs onto Scherzer’s statline for a total of 4-runs in the game. Emotions run high in games like this, and the main hope is that Max Scherzer is healthy.

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The Nats walk-off to score 4 runs in the 9th and 10th!

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Another Disney ending to a Nats win on a Daniel Murphy walk-off! These endings defy believability and that is what makes sports so incredible. Max Scherzer was charged with 4-runs and the Nats were in a 4-1 hole in the 9th inning. It was the Braves bullpen that imploded after a 3-run blown save 9th inning by the Braves closer Jim Johnson to move the game tied 4-4 into the 10th inning. Matt Grace put on 2 runners in the 10th inning and was rescued by Matt Albers who induced a Matt Kemp doubleplay ball to end the 10th tied 4-4.

“What stands out was the key doubleplay that Albers did on Kemp,” Dusty Baker said.

Rookie call-up Adrian Sanchez scored the winning run after he got his first career hit to start the 10th inning. Ryan Zimmerman moved Sanchez to 3rd base with a single and Daniel Murphy crushed the winning walk-off hit over the leftfielder’s head.

That was the Nationals 7th walk-off win to tie with the Angels for the most in the Majors.

“That was a big win for us just as far as kind of stopping a little bit of momentum for them,” Ryan Zimmerman said. “We’re pretty banged up and tired right now to be honest with you and I know everybody is and that’s not an excuse but that is a huge win for us.”

One of the banged up players is Matt Wieters, who at times has looked like he has nothing left in his legs, entered this game batting .237, but he showed he still has some magic left in his bat as he knocked in the first run of the game on a single and then tied the game in the 9th on a sacrifice fly on a curveball against a sinkerball pitcher who was searching for a doubleplay ball. Ryan Zimmerman has been scuffling himself lately and put together a key walk in the 9th inning and that single in the 10th to push the winning run to 3rd base. Continue reading →

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Game #86 Max Scherzer in his usual spot; R.A. Dickey for the Braves

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

It just seems that Max Scherzer is the pitcher you need to turn fan unrest and distress into joy and happiness. The Nationals swung and missed on the 3 hour and 5 minute rain delay dilemma as well as turning a one-run game into a 3-run loss within minutes.

Max Scherzer’s value extends into his ability to almost divert the fans away from the on-going issues behind the scenes and concentrate on his performance. Scherzer approaches these games with surgical precision and a competitiveness that is unmatched. John Smoltz today said that if he had to choose from Chris Sale, Clayton Kershaw or Scherzer to start a key game he would choose Scherzer.

The Braves go once again with R.A. Dickey, the knuckleballer, as their starter. The Nationals have seen him plenty in the past. Continue reading →

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Nats 9-inning home game ends at 1:20AM; Nats lose 5-2

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The long rain delay of 3 hours and 5 minutes was one for the ages because there was only a trace of rain as the storm split when it got to Arlington and left Nats Park mostly dry. Gio Gonzalez gave up 3-runs, but didn’t have stellar defense behind him while also watching his offense stall and his bullpen give up a couple more. Gio exited the game after the 6th inning in only a one-run deficit.

Sammy Solis came in from the bullpen to pitch the 7th inning and gave up 2-runs quickly to finish the scoring in the game at 5-2.

The Nationals had 11 hits on the night, and were a disappointing 0-9 in RISP situations. Brian Goodwin was 3-for-5 with a home run, and Wilmer Difo was 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

Michael Taylor was pulled early in the game with a mild oblique strain.  Taylor will go on the DL and will be replace by Chris Heisey.

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Game #85 Yesterday’s rainout allows #Nats to skip Roark and go to Gio

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Yesterday’s game was rained-out and today’s line-up looks very different. Bryce Harper was getting a day-off yesterday and Adam Lind was set to play leftfield and Stephen Drew at shortstop, and Tanner Roark was set to pitch. This line-up for the Nationals has Gio Gonzalez going as was scheduled for today, and the Nationals will get Tanner Roark some extra rest, and we will see if Roark pitches Sunday or after the All-Star break as Sunday’s starter will either be Roark or Joe Ross.

This 4-game set against the Atlanta Braves is the last series before the All-Sar break. The Braves are in 2nd place in the NL East trailing the Washington Nationals. You will see a new-look Braves line-up also as Freddie Freeman is playing 3rd base against right-handed pitching however Freeman will be at 1st base against the lefty Gonzalez tonight with Matt Adams on the bench. Continue reading →

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The supply/demand on the trade market for closers #Nats

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The daily discussion among Nationals fans is the Nats need for a shutdown closer. The media has covered some of the names, but nobody has discussed that there does not seem to be a playoff calibre team in the division lead who needs a closer except for the Nationals. There could be some need among the Wild Card contenders like the Diamondbacks.

Last year there was a major need for closers at the trade deadline and the Yankees capitalized and traded Andrew Miller to the Cleveland Indians and Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs. The Nationals snagged Mark Melancon from the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Francisco Giants didn’t get the top closer they coveted. Each team paid dearly for their acquisitions. Continue reading →

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Game #85 Tanner Roark’s last start before the All-Star Break

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Redemption is a dish best served with quality pitches darted over it. That 17 inch pentagonal shaped dish has been Tanner Roark’s nemesis for the last 30 days when he had one of his worst professional months of baseball with a June ERA that was over 9.00 for the month pushing his 2017 ERA to a poor 5.27.

Roark has sheepishly been giving postgame interviews after each of the last 5 losses saying he feels great and his issue is mechanics. We’ve seen this before when the body won’t do what the mind wants it to do. Pitchers like Dan Haren and Doug Fister both went through that phase, and pushing velocity is not the answer — finesse is. Movement and locating pitches is what Roark’s success was built on not throwing 95 heaters, and it took Gio Gonzalez a while to learn that he is no longer a power pitcher. Gio is now winning with an 89-91 mph fastball.

The Mets are starting righty Jacob deGrom who clearly is their best pitcher once again.  Brian Goodwin will lead-off in another Dusty Baker lineup variation with Michael Taylor in the 2-hole with Daniel Murphy taking over the 3-hole to give Bryce Harper a day off.  Ryan Zimmerman will bat cleanup followed by Adam Lind who will be in left field followed by  Anthony Rendon and  Matt Wieters with Stephen Drew in the 8-hole and playing shortstop.    Continue reading →

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Joe Ross goes 7 strong; Harper/Murphy put up 7 RBIs/7 hits; Nats win 11-4

Posted on July 4, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals reached the 50 win mark in this season joining only the Astros, Dodgers and Diamondbacks who have reached at least 50 wins at this point in the season.

Sevens were spinning wild on the Nationals own slot machine. Joe Ross gave up just 2 runs in 7 strong innings for his team today and exited with a 7 run lead with another impressive amount of run support. Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy went back-to-back combining for 7 combined hits and one walk and 7 RBIs. This Independence Day had a lot of fireworks off the Nats bats! Every Nationals starting position player had at least one hit today. Continue reading →

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