Click to Read an Important Member Update Regarding Our Comment System
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.
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2018 is not yet through the month of April, but as anticipated, Bryce Harper is already the story which is dominating Washington Nationals news. The volume of Harper news will only pick up as we move through the summer months and into October and the first few days after baseball wraps up the post-season and Bryce Harper officially becomes a free agent — it will move to a fever pitch. The Nats are facing a decision which will define the franchise for years to come. While there are extremely strong and passionate feelings on either side of the equation — make no mistake about it — this is an extremely complicated set of decisions for the organization and the direction to take is not straightforward or obvious. Continue reading →
When opportunity knocks, you have to take advantage. The Nats had chances from two Giants errors that put men on 3rd and 2nd with one out and couldn’t score a run. They lose 4-to-2 and fall three games under .500 as the Nats have now only scored 5-runs in this 3-game losing streak. The team was 0-for-7 in RISP and Matt Adams left 5 men on-base. There were 10 Nationals baserunners in this game proving that there were plenty of opportunities to drive in runs. Continue reading →
The Nationals begin a 3-game series in San Francisco to complete this road trip. With Gio Gonzalez on the mound, he gets to play the role of stopper and get the Nats back to winning ways. The Nationals will face a right-handed pitcher in Chris Stratton after a steady diet of lefties over the weekend in Los Angeles.
Expect a few Dusty Baker references in this series because Dusty is back with the Giants in an advisory role. Baker had been estranged from the Giants for 16 years after Baker’s Giants blew a Game 6 in the World Series and ultimately lost and Dusty was fired in something that has never happened where a manager was fired after taking his team to within a game of winning it all.
Because of current Nationals manager’s Dave Martinez‘s struggles with handling his bullpen and the inexplicable over-use of Ryan Madson, there were immediate comparisons to Dusty Baker‘s handling of Jonathan Papelbon pitching 3 consecutive days in July of 2016 as well as other usage issues like Trevor Gott last year and other mishandling depending on your point-of-view.
The big difference is on the won/loss records. Under Martinez, the Nationals have spent several days below .500 while Dusty Baker‘s Nationals teams were never below .500 in the regular season — only in the post-season. The lesson to be learned here is that you will never get to the post-season at the pace the Nationals are currently at which is why frustration is growing in NatsTown.
Another bit of drama looms in the shadows of the Giants bullpen where Hunter Strickland could be summoned into the game and enter to face Bryce Harper. The last time they faced each other a brawl ensued.
There is much work to be done. Dave Martinez has to get this team going and that has been challenging given the numerous injuries on this team. The Nationals have several key players on the disabled list including Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, Adam Eaton, and Brian Goodwin for the position players. Add to that, there are several injured pitchers like Joaquin Benoit, Koda Glover, Matt Grace, Joe Ross, and we now have some concern that Ryan Madson who had not pitched in four days was not available yesterday.
These late night games for those to the east will be a tough one to follow live based on the time difference.
In some expected good news down on the farm, the Nationals have promoted 19-year-old Juan Soto from Low-A Hagerstown to High-A Potomac. Soto has been obliterating the baseball with 5 home runs in just 59 at-bats while slashing .373/.486/.814/1.300. Those stats would be great in a competitive softball league which did not go unnoticed by the Nationals or the talent evaluators where Craig Mish told us during Spring Training that he thought Soto would be a Top-15 prospect in mid-season reports.
Here are the outfield prospect rankings and expect Ohtani (yes, not really an OF) and Brinson to come off of the prospects list based on their MLB service time:
Washington Nationals vs. San Francisco Giants Stadium: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California 1st Pitch: 10:15 pm EDT TV: MASN2; MLB App out-of-market Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
The Nationals had a 3-run lead and watched that lead evaporate and turn into a 1-run deficit, and that 1-run difference stood up for the Dodgers to snatch this game from the Nats in the 3-game finale. The Nationals had opportunities in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings and in fact had runners on 2nd base and 1st base in the 9th inning with no outs but stranded them en route to a 1-for-10 with RISP. Continue reading →
Reading over comments about the Washington Nationals over-use of the bullpen, it just is not factually true as the Nationals have the 3rd lowest usage of the bullpen at 3.0 innings per game. The only teams that are less are the Astros and the Cleveland Indians at 2.8 and 2.7 innings respectively. The Indians have had 3-complete games which has kept their relievers fresh. While Ryan Madson has appeared in 11 games, that is the 15th highest of any reliever for the number of appearances. For reliever innings, Matt Grace leads the Nationals in most innings at 10 2/3, and he ranks only the 41st for most relief innings. The issue seems more to usage and statistical match-ups rather than over-use except for the case of Ryan Madson. Continue reading →
The Washington Nationals were shut-out on a combined 2-hitter tonight and lost 4-to-0, but it was a one-run game through 6 2/3 innings. Stephen Strasburg threw 107 pitches on this night and gave up 2 solo home runs. One of the home runs was given up in the 7th inning when he was pitching on fumes after darting 28 max-effort pitches in the prior frame. We can debate whether Strasburg should have hit the showers after he allowed bases loaded in the 6th inning then worked his magic and struck out 3 in a row to keep it at a 1-to-0 game. Carlos Torres made his Nationals debut and quickly put the game out of reach after he served up a 2-run home run for the final score of 4-to-0. Continue reading →
Stephen Strasburg (top left) and Mike Leake (top, fourth from left) led the San Diego Sting into the 11-under nationals in 1999. Thomas Neal (top, second from left) and Brett Bochy (bottom left) are/were also professional ballplayers. (Photo by Vicky Polk)
When Stephen Strasburg grew up in San Diego, he was only 2 hours from Dodgers Stadium, and he was a die-hard Padres fan and particularly Tony Gwynn. In Strasburg’s childhood neighborhood, many of his friends were Dodgers fans idolizing Mike Piazza. When you live in SoCal, you have choices, and the Dodgers won the World Series the year Strasburg was born. Continue reading →
Forget all of that history that Max Scherzer has never won against Clayton Kershaw because that just changed. The Nats tagged Kershaw for 4-runs on their way to a 5-to-2 victory. Both bullpens looked shaky when they entered, but it was Sammy Solis who once again saved the Nats in relief. Brandon Kintzler and Sean Doolittle had 1-2-3 innings respectively for the hold and save making this ending a no-drama production in Tinseltown after guns were a-blazing early. Continue reading →
When Rich Hill got scratched for tonight’s game, the Dodgers penciled in Clayton Kershaw to face Max Scherzer making this the match-up of the Cy Young winners of 2013 and the aces of all aces. Scherzer has won the last two Cy Young awards and in 2013 Scherzer was the AL winner while Kershaw took the honor in the NL that year. Each pitcher has earned 3 Cy Young’s a piece and will compete again this year for the honor. In the early race for ERA leaders, Scherzer is ranked 3rd and Kershaw is ranked 7th. This is a rare match-up indeed as it is only the 10th time in Major League history that two 3-time Cy Young winners have faced-off. Continue reading →
If you’ve visited Nationals Park anytime since last season, or if you’ve watched games on television, you’ve probably noticed the banners on the top of a building across the street from the Centerfield Gates. Sporting slogans such as “Bob and FP 2020,” “October is coming,” and “We like our Ws Curly,” they have attracted a lot of attention from Nats fans and the MASN broadcast, and even the Nats beat writers will often mention what they say on Twitter. Continue reading →
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.