The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

The Washington Nationals have activated Reynaldo Lopez for this game in what is thought to be a one-game ‘spot’ start for the Nats. It is Lopez’s second career start. Wilson Ramos will get a rare rest day, and Daniel Murphy will nurse his sore hamstring.

The Giants start Jake Peavy who has been struggling in the second half of the season, and the last 7 hits Peavy has given up includes 5 home runs. Hunter Pence returns from the DL after he tore his hamstring and was expected to be out for the entire 2016 season. The first 20,000 fans who attend today’s game at AT&T Park will receive a Buster Hugs Mug™ and the irony is that it has been the Nats who have been giving and receiving the hugs and high-fives in the first two games of this series.

Last night the Nationals turned a baseball rarity in a 3-3-5 triple-play started by Ryan Zimmerman that StatCast® measured Zimmerman’s throw to Anthony Rendon at a maximum velocity of 36 mph!

Just for fun… Here's a @statcast breakdown of the @Nationals first triple play. pic.twitter.com/U0AeOiOnSI

— Daren Willman (@darenw) July 30, 2016

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Tonight marks the 60 day sprint to the end of the season as games come off of the calendar. A team that has 55 wins right now would have to go 35-25 to finish the season just to reach 90 wins. The Marlins are at 55 wins, and the Mets are at 53 wins. The math starts making each win and loss crucial to the teams with playoff aspirations.

There are only two teams in baseball with 60 wins or more, and they are the Cubs and Nationals. Continue reading →

The line-ups are in and Trea Turner is starting in centerfield with Ben Revere on the bench. This was a surprising move in a ballpark that requires a team’s best right-side defense due to that monster sized and difficult rightfield configurations. Revere statistically is rated as the Nationals best defensive centerfielder, and Trea Turner the best defender at second base.

Another curious move is Wilson Ramos will catch tonight as Jose Lobaton had been catching Tanner Roark for most of his starts in the past month as Ramos shifted to catch Gio Gonzalez. Continue reading →

It was the Stephen Strasburg and Trea Turner show today. Strasburg with a 7 inning shutout on his way to a 4-1 win padded by three Trea Turner RBI’s.

The Nationals bullpen was a little shaky as once again Dusty Baker does not have the feel for his relievers and Felipe Rivero gave up a 1 out walk followed by 2 singles to put the tying run in the batter’s box, and BABIP worked for the Nats as Blake Treinen relieved Rivero and got the doubleplay ball to end the game.

The inconsistencies in how relievers are treated is what speaks to how Solis was pulled with 2 outs after he gave up a single, but Rivero was allowed to stay in with only 1 out after a walk. This game easily could have become a disaster as Rivero then gave up 2 straight singles as a run scored and he left the game leaving two inherited runners on base with a score of 4-1, but Treinen made his pitch to get the game ending doubleplay for his first career save.

The Nats offense worked the Indians’ starter Carlos Carrasco hard and ran his pitch count up as Ben Revere kept the 2nd inning going after a twelve pitch walk to load the bases in a 0-0 game with 2 outs as Trea Turner came through with a clutch 2 RBI hit to open the scoring at 2-0.

Daniel Murphy added a home run to go with a double as Turner and Murphy had five of the Nationals six hits today. Stephen Strasburg improved to 14-1 on his W/L record for the season.

The Nationals defense was not challenged much today, and the only negative was a throwing error by Anthony Rendon. The offensive challenges continue for Bryce Harper, Danny Espinosa and Ryan Zimmerman as they continue to leave men on base. Zimmerman was credited with a single on the glove of Kipnis to salvage his game, but this trio of batters left a combined 8 men on base, and none were successful in RISP spots. In fact the Nationals were 2-12 today in RISP spots and both of those hits were from Trea Turner.

Here is a recap video.

The Nationals should have been looking to make this two wins in a row and now must fight to split this two game series with Stephen Strasburg facing Carlos Carrasco.

Stephen Drew heads to the 15 day DL with a bout of vertigo and Wilmer Difo the speedster replaces him on the roster. Continue reading →