The pressure’s on the pitcher and so are the odds #Nats

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

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An epic 9th inning comeback stalls after the Nats tie the game. Nats lose in 10: Postgame

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals were behind in the bottom of the 9th inning by a score of 3-1. The Mets of course had their closer Jeurys Familia on the mound, and the first batter he faced was Daniel Murphy who hustled out an infield hit to the Mets 2nd baseman. Bryce Harper hit a grounder to Jose Reyes, and Bryce booked it down the line and Reyes rushed his throw and threw it away as Murphy moved up to 3rd base and Bryce to 2nd base.

With no outs, Anthony Rendon singled off of Familia to make the score 3-2, and Bryce Harper was on 3rd and Anthony Rendon on 1st base. Wilson Ramos bounced a single over Familia to score Bryce Harper to tie the game at 3-3. Difo would replace Ramos as a pinch-runner at 1st base. With runners on 2nd and 1st and no outs, Ryan Zimmerman got his turn. Zim tried to bunt the ball on the first pitch but fouled it off. He quickly got into a two strike count and then send a weak flare to the 1st baseman for out number one. Continue reading →

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Game #145 A.J. Cole gets to face Noah Syndergaard: Game Thread

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Last night’s win put the Nationals in a great position towards clinching the NL East sooner rather than later. It certainly will take some pressure off of A.J. Cole who pitches tonight opposite of Noah Syndergaard. Clearly for tonight’s game the Nationals are a steep underdog going up against Syndergaard, and A.J. Cole would like to remind us that on September 2nd, he beat Syndergaard by going 6.0 innings giving up only one run while Syndergaard gave up two runs.

Syndergaard gave up a single to Trea Turner on September 2nd to lead-off the game. With Jayson Werth in the batter’s box, Turner stole 2nd base then stole 3rd base. Turner scored on a Bryce Harper sacrifice fly. Trea Turner is now batting .447 as the first batter of the game with a .469 on-base mark to go with a .681 slugging percentage that any power hitter would be proud of.

The same formula has to be in-play today for the Nationals to win. Clint Robinson has started against Syndergaard in the past which leads us to ponder if Dusty Baker makes some line-up changes tonight.

Continue reading →

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Latos pitched well (left with leg issue) and hit a HR. Nats win 8-1: Postgame

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Washington Nationals took it to the NY Mets tonight behind a 4 1/3 inning one-run performance by Mat Latos who left the game with a hamstring issue. The Nationals moved to a season best 28 games above .500 with an 86-58 record.  The Magic Number moved to single digits at 9.

Pick your offensive star for tonight.  Anthony Rendon only had one hit, but it was a three-run home run to make the score 6-1. Daniel Murphy had three hits, and Trea Turner had two hits and of course led off the game with a single and scored the first run. Wilson Ramos and Bryce Harper each reached base three times in the game. Mat Latos hit a home run, and all the Nationals’ starters reached base tonight via a walk, HBP or hit for a total of 17 on-base. The Nationals were 4-10 in RISP situations.

The Nationals are now 11-6 on the season against the Mets, and the lead in the NL East is now back to double digits at 10.0 over the second place Mets.

The official scorer credited the win to Reynaldo Lopez who finished the game with three scoreless innings. Per MLB rules, Lopez was eligible to be credited with the save since he finished the game with the lead (larger than 3 runs) in a minimum of three innings pitched, but you cannot be credited with the win and the save. Trevor Gott came in to relieve Mat Latos with two runners on-base with one out, and Gott was able to get Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes for the final 2 outs of the 5th inning. The official scorer could have given Gott the win, but chose not to. Gott deserves some credit as that was the Mets best chance to get back into the game and he snuffed out any thoughts of that.

With the Nationals’ 86th win tonight, if the team just plays .500 ball the remainder of the way, the Nationals win the NL East and finish with 95 wins. If the Mets finish the season 18-0, they would only finish with 94 wins.

To view the game recap video, the link can be clicked to view here.

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Game #144 Mat Latos debut as a starter against the Mets: Game Thread

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals are hoping the new beginnings for Mat Latos will resemble the ace performances he put up in April for the White Sox. This is Latos’ first start for the Nationals. The ramifications of this game is larger for the Mets with 19 games to play as they fight for a Wild Card spot, but also for Mat Latos who is trying to resurrect his career as he will be a free agent after the season. The Nationals had a need, and Mat Latos took a chance signing with the Nationals on a minor league deal, and here he is back on the big stage with playoff implications.

Latos had a 0.74 ERA after his fourth start of the 2016 season, and he is hoping to finish this season the same way he started it and earn a post-season roster spot and a big free agent deal.

Dusty Baker said that the decision to go with Latos over another option was a ‘group’ decision coupled with the fact that the Mets have not seen Latos in a while. Latos won’t operate on a pitch count rather what Dusty calls a ‘performance count’.

When Dusty Baker said that the Mets had not seen Latos in a while, the term ‘a while’ is relative as they did face him in an inter-league start this season on May 31st as well as a relief appearance just 8 days ago (sorry for outing you Dusty). Latos was pitching for the White Sox at that time of that May 31st start and held the Mets to two earned runs over 5 innings. In the relief appearance against the Mets eight days ago, Latos pitched an efficient first inning of work, but then got touched up for a two-run home run.

The Mets are in a similar situation as the Nationals as they are starting Rafael Montero who is a fill-in for them. Montero is a small framed 25-year-old from the Dominican Republic. He has a 4.63 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP this season with two prior starts plus his work out of the bullpen.

Washington Nationals and New York Mets
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch:  7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN, SNY, MLB.TV

Line-ups  (subject to change without notice):

  1. Trea Turner CF
  2. Jayson Werth LF
  3. Daniel Murphy 2B
  4. Bryce Harper RF
  5. Anthony Rendon 3B
  6. Wilson Ramos C
  7. Ryan Zimmerman 1B
  8. Danny Espinosa SS
  9. Mat Latos RHP
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The Mets are in DC for their final series of 2016 with the Nationals

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

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19 Games Left and Counting Down to the #Nats in the Post-Season

Posted on September 11, 2016 by DonH

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Nats beat the Phillies 14 games to 5 this season! Postgame

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals won the season series against the Phillies 14-5 this season and take 3 of 4 in this series to move 27 games above .500.  Gio Gonzalez pitched great, and so did Mark Melancon who earned his 11th save as a Nat and his 41st of the season.

A nice 3-2 win by the Nationals where they just did enough to win against a young hungry team. All of this was in front of a crowd that had thousands in attendance from the military on the 15th anniversary of 9-11.

Gio Gonzalez had one of his best pitching efforts of the season where he gave up 1 run over 7 innings while throwing an efficient 92 pitches. Koda Glover relieved him and on 1 pitch gave up a home run. Oliver Perez struck out Ryan Howard, and Blake Treinen induced an inning ending doubleplay to bridge the game to Melancon for the 9th inning save where Melancon struck out the side.

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Game #143 Gio and Adam(s) Morgan on 9-11 (15 years later) : Game Thread

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Fifteen years ago today, America changed forever on 9-11-2001. Baseball became a part of bringing America back together. Baseball is America’s game, and we had no baseball in Washington D.C. at that time as many were probably watching Mike Piazza when baseball resumed.

The Nationals do not have any current players who were in the Major Leagues 15 years ago as Jayson Werth made his debut in 2002. Mike Maddux retired in 2000. Matt LeCroy is the Nats manager for Double-A Harrisburg, and he was a Twins call-up in September 2001. Dusty Baker of course was managing the San Francisco Giants in 2001.

The Nationals will be holding a pre-game ceremony for 9-11. Continue reading →

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The Nationals do another Little League baseball clinic

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Alex Ross

An Awesome Morning at Nats Park with MCLL

By Alex Ross, Age 8, Gaithersburg, MD

This morning I went to Nats Park for a baseball clinic with a bunch of kids from Montgomery County Little League in Maryland. I got to go on the field to play some baseball and learn from the Nats coaches. It was awesome.

alex image 4

When we first got to Nats Park, we went to sit in the stands away from our parents and listen to all the announcements. We had to say all of the coaches’ names. They also said to have fun, and we had a lot of fun. Continue reading →

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