The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Tonight, Max Scherzer will have tough shoes to follow after that gem pitched by Tanner Roark last night in Philadelphia. The 11th best pitcher in ERA is now Tanner Roark who leadfrogged over Jacob DeGrom, Drew Pomeranz, and Max Scherzer last night in ERA. Roark came into last night’s game at a 2.99 ERA and tied with Aaron Sanchez and lowered his ERA to 2.87 to nestle in at the #11 spot in the Majors and #8 in the NL. Max Scherzer is 0.05 behind Roark and if Scherzer can throw up zeros, he could overtake Roark and leapfrog some players himself.

NL ERA Leaders

Campaigning has already begun for Tanner Roark as his teammates are sporting t-shirts for his Gold Glove candidacy, but what about his Cy Young candidacy? Roark most likely has little shot of winning it, but he deserves some top votes as he now leads the Majors with eight shutouts through inning number 7. That is impressive.

https://twitter.com/chelsea_janes/status/770366491006996480

Tonight Scherzer will be pitching against righty Jerad Eickhoff of the Phillies. Both pitchers are familiar with the line-ups they will face tonight although there are some players who expect to change their luck tonight like Bryce Harper who was struck out 3 times in 3 at-bats by Eickhoff. Lefties overall (.276 vs. .244) have hit Eickhoff better than right-handed batters, but no Nats lefty hitter has been able to get on-base on him yet although the sample sizes are very small.

Here is the Nats stats against Eickhoff:

Here are Max Scherzer’s stats against the Phillies:

In other news, Tim Tebow rated as a 50 runner (on the 80/20 scouting scale) in the 60 yard drill which is the distance to run from home to 2nd base. We were told Mike Rizzo had an area scout there to watch this session which goes against Svrluga’s report that said the Nationals were not participating. Mike Rizzo was not personally attending.

Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
1st Pitch:  7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, CSN-Philadelphia, 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. Max Scherzer RHP

The Nationals made the short-trip up to Philadelphia for their last series in this grueling 20 day schedule without a day off. The Nationals play 3 games in Philadelphia then will travel to New York City on Wednesday night where they will get a rare off-day on the road.

Tonight the Phillies will start Jake Thompson against the Nationals’ Tanner Roark. It is a good match-up for Tanner Roark as he knows these Phillies’ hitters, and the Nationals have never faced Thompson before.  Thompson has a 9.78 ERA in his 4 career starts, and Thompson has never gone past 5 innings. Thompson is a finesse pitcher who will throw both a four-seam and two-seam fastballs, and mix in change-ups and sliders and a few curveballs.  The two-seamers and sliders are the balls to beat Thompson on. Also don’t be surprised if a Nats player smashes a curveball. Thompson’s slider is his best pitch but also his pitch that he hangs often.

Trea Turner could be the hottest rookie in baseball, and last night Jayson Werth spoke highly of his teammate.  “Don’t tell anybody, but I think he’s our secret weapon,” Jayson Werth said.

Next Thursday September 8th, Captain Morgan will be at Nationals Park for their push for a constitutional amendment to allow a President of the United States to be younger than 35 years old. Bryce Harper for President anyone? Sign the petition here. It might also be a good night for TalkNat’rs to meet after the game for some Captain Morgan rum!

Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
1st Pitch:  7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, CSN-Philadelphia, 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. Clint Robinson 1B
8. Danny Espinosa SS
9. Tanner Roark RHP

Lucas Giolito’s promising 1st start in the Major Leagues was interrupted by a lengthy rain delay as he only gave up 1 hit and no runs in that game, but Mother Nature cut his outing short at 4.0 innings. Now it is exactly 2 months to the day of his MLB debut, and Mike Rizzo and Dusty Baker want to get Giolito back on the mound.

There are complications here as Giolito did not go deep in the games in his next two starts, and we can only hope that the third time is the charm as this bullpen is taxed. It is quite possible that the Nationals will be forced to bring up a long-man today as Yusmeiro Petit will not be available as well as others. Continue reading →

The Nationals have a rare early afternoon start today, and A.J. Cole gets the mound today in Nationals Park.

Bryce Harper in the 2 weeks since coming back from neck (not shoulder) injury: .400/.492/.660/1.152, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 8 XBH, 9 BB, 8 K. The prodigious long-ball power is not there like it was in April, but the overall results are impressive.

Here is Trea Turner‘s hot August night’s splits. The most impressive number might be his RBI and Runs Scoring figures which is incredible that Turner is averaging 1.14 per game. Yes, Turner leads the Majors in Runs Scored in August.

Bryce Harper on Trea Turner’s contributions to the team, “I was thinking tonight, imagine if he was up in May, June, or July…We might’ve already ran away with this thing.”

Many people probably agree with Bryce as Trea Turner is the hottest leadoff man certainly East of the Mississippi and probably East of the Pacific Ocean if not for a debate about Charlie Blackmon.

Continue reading →