Game #147 Scherzer will try again for #17: Game Thread

As Danny Espinosa and his wife Sara welcomed their baby boy Ty into this world, the team is expecting to be without Danny Espinosa, and he will join the team tomorrow. Dusty Baker is back at the helm of the Nats tonight after he had a death in the family per the team’s report, and bench coach Chris Speier flawlessly (except for a missed defensive shift Speier confessed to botching) led the Nats to a 1-0 win over the Mets to put the Nats in a very comfortable situation for the remaining sixteen games this season as the 87-59 Nationals now hold a 10.0 game lead in the NL East with a Magic Number of 7.

Max Scherzer is pitching for the Nationals tonight in his hopes for win number 17 that eluded him 6 days ago. Continue reading

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8th 18-gamer: Feasting on the NL East and Tuning Up for the NLDS

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Trea Turner is in a club of his own. Speed and Power!

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Flashback: The Mother’s Day reality when the Mets were in 1st Place

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Deja Vu 1-0 Roark/Ramos win!: Postgame

It’s as if we just rewatched the Nats beat Bumgarner again in a 1-0 game on a Wilson Ramos home run and a Tanner Roark gem. The only thing missing was no Web Gem from Ben Revere.

There were a few hundred Mets fans in attendance today at Nats Park that are self-named as the 7 Line Army who were very boisterous to start the game, and Tanner Roark and Wilson Ramos gave them nothing to cheer about as they were sent back to Queens, New York dejected with a tough 1-0 loss. Continue reading

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Game #146 is the season finale with the Nats and Mets: Game Thread

They Nationals will get another try to get the better of rookie Robert Gsellman today in this season finale with the New York Mets. Tanner Roark will start for the Nationals, and Chris Speier will manager this game as Dusty Baker has left town to mourn the death of a person close to him.

The winner of this game will win this series, but the Nationals had already clinched the season series even before this series started on Monday and is now 11-7 in favor of the Nationals. Continue reading

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

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

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

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

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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