Game #2 Rescheduled. Same line-up, same formation in a must-win game: Game Thread

Posted on October 9, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

When you ask how a future weather forecast can say 100% probability since weather rarely is 100% accurate proved to be an a debateable point after MLB Commisioner Manfred postponed the Nationals game based on a weather forecast he called 100%. The rain stopped as reported by many media outlets around 5pm and didn’t rain again for the remainder of the evening in the Washington, D.C. region. So much for 100%.

As we stated yesterday, in a best-of-five series, the second game of the series has to be a must-win situation for the team that comes in with the 0-1 record. Today it is the Nationals with a must-win situation.

The weather will be a factor today with a windy and cold day, and this game certainly looks like it will start on time with a scheduled 1:08pm first-pitch.

Today’s scheduled starters are the same with Tanner Roark and Rich Hill who was a Syracuse Chief for 117 days in 2015, and the Nats released him in the middle of the 2015 season. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

9th and Last 18 gamer: Time to take the next step

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Section222

You must be a TalkNats Subscriber to access this content. Subscribers have access to exclusive content on the TalkNats website and can engage in discussions with other Nats fans.

Click here to become a subscriber.

First two weeks are free and then you will be billed $3.99/month. Cancel anytime. Secure payments using Stripe.

If you are already a subscriber, simply log in using the form below.

Posted in 18GameRecap, Analysis, NLEast, PostSeason | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

UPDATE: Postponed Game #2 A must-win situation. Weather or weather not: Game Thread

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

In the best-of-five series, the second game of the series has to be a must-win situation for the team that comes in with the 0-1 record. Today it is the Nationals with a must-win situation. The weather will be a factor today, and the game looks like it will not start at the scheduled 4:08pm first-pitch.

Today’s scheduled starters are Tanner Roark and Rich Hill who was a Syracuse Chief for 117 days in 2015, and the Nats released him in the middle of the 2015 season. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

Scherzer gets bombed giving up 4 & Espinosa leaves 6 on-base in 3 ABs (all K’s): Postgame

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals lost this game 4-3, and now are in a must-win situation tomorrow with Tanner Roark pitching.

If you knew Clayton Kershaw would struggle and give up 3 runs over only 5 innings, you would like the Nationals chances, but Max Scherzer gave up 4 runs over 6 innings on giving up 2 home runs. Both bullpens did not allow a run.

All Nationals position players got on-base safely via a hit or walk except Danny Espinosa, and the Nationals had 12 baserunners during the game, but innings stalled during Espinosa’s 3 at-bats as he struck out all 3 times with a chance to break the game open as he left six men on-base.

Dusty Baker did eventually pinch-hit for Espinosa but he did it with bases empty in the 8th inning. Alternative thinking as mentioned in the comments section is seeing the opportunity to get back in the game and pinch-hit earlier for Danny when runners were in scoring position. The Nats have a bench of 6 and with Trea Turner’s positional flexibility the Nats have three players who can play shortstop other than Espinosa: Trea Turner, Stephen Drew and Wilmer Difo.

Max Scherzer never got above 96.5 mph on his fastball and many fastballs were in the 92 to 93 mph range. It appeared the wear of the season had caught up with Scherzer on Sunday against the Marlins, and it was a much tougher outing tonight. Max averaged 95.5 mph on his fastball in the month of September compared to  averaging 94.3 tonight. He never had his reachback fastball as a weapon tonight.

“The big hit escaped us,” Dusty Baker said, and possibly he forgot about Anthony Rendon’s two-RBI single, but the fact is it did most of the night as the Nationals were 1-10 in RISP spots.

“Espinosa can turn around and hit the next pitch out of the park,” Dusty Baker said. “That’s what’s kind of frustrating…his swing was long tonight.”

Posted in Recap | Leave a comment

Game #1 The 2016 post-season starts now!: Game Thread

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

In Spring Training, few analysts were giving the Nationals a chance, and we scientifically created the Dusty Baker Effect chart that proved out to something very close to the pythagorean of this team. Dusty Baker led this 2016 to the NL East crown. All the analysts were not willing to give WAR credit to a manager. Now he must take all of this goodwill he built up with the players and get big results back. Today starts the chess match. We don’t want to analyze what could have been, and we want to analyze good results based on great execution. Continue reading →

Posted in InGame | Leave a comment

UPDATED: MAT is in! CRob is in! The #Nats post-season roster is set!

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

You must be a TalkNats Subscriber to access this content. Subscribers have access to exclusive content on the TalkNats website and can engage in discussions with other Nats fans.

Click here to become a subscriber.

First two weeks are free and then you will be billed $3.99/month. Cancel anytime. Secure payments using Stripe.

If you are already a subscriber, simply log in using the form below.

Posted in Analysis | Leave a comment

Tomorrow, the new season begins for the #Nats

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

You must be a TalkNats Subscriber to access this content. Subscribers have access to exclusive content on the TalkNats website and can engage in discussions with other Nats fans.

Click here to become a subscriber.

First two weeks are free and then you will be billed $3.99/month. Cancel anytime. Secure payments using Stripe.

If you are already a subscriber, simply log in using the form below.

Posted in Analysis | Leave a comment

The playoff roster and production

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

You must be a TalkNats Subscriber to access this content. Subscribers have access to exclusive content on the TalkNats website and can engage in discussions with other Nats fans.

Click here to become a subscriber.

First two weeks are free and then you will be billed $3.99/month. Cancel anytime. Secure payments using Stripe.

If you are already a subscriber, simply log in using the form below.

Posted in Analysis | Leave a comment

Trea Turner’s family has a special code they used 19 times this year!

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Andrew Lang

You must be a TalkNats Subscriber to access this content. Subscribers have access to exclusive content on the TalkNats website and can engage in discussions with other Nats fans.

Click here to become a subscriber.

First two weeks are free and then you will be billed $3.99/month. Cancel anytime. Secure payments using Stripe.

If you are already a subscriber, simply log in using the form below.

Posted in Analysis | Tagged | Leave a comment

NLDS times are set for Games 1 and 2 for Nationals/Dodgers

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

You must be a TalkNats Subscriber to access this content. Subscribers have access to exclusive content on the TalkNats website and can engage in discussions with other Nats fans.

Click here to become a subscriber.

First two weeks are free and then you will be billed $3.99/month. Cancel anytime. Secure payments using Stripe.

If you are already a subscriber, simply log in using the form below.

Posted in Analysis | Leave a comment