Roark was the man and the bench guys were 8-12: Postgame

Nats completed an 8-0 shutout over Aaron Nola and improved to a season’s best 14 games over .500, and the Washington Nationals offense has now scored 49 runs over the last 6 games which is 8.2 runs per game. The Nats scored 8 runs today with no home runs.

Tanner Roark pitched a great game in a 7 inning shutout with 7 strikeouts and improved his ERA to 2.93 on a 6 hitter in which contact was weak for most of the day.

Michael Taylor, Clint Robinson, and Stephen Drew all started today in place of Werth, Zimmerman and Espinosa respectively, and the trio did great combining for 7 hits in 11 at-bats. Chris Heisey came off the bench for a pinch-hit and stroked a double to improve The Wolfpack to an 8-12 day. Did Trea Turner have anything to do with ‘The Wolfpack’ nickname for the bench guys as an NC State alumni or was it an homage to Jayson ‘Werewolf’ Werth?

On top of the offense from the bench bats, Ben Revere got 2 hits to finish this game over .200, and Harper, Rendon and Murphy all had big hits. Tanner Roark had a safety squeeze that scored Anthony Rendon which was a key in the 2nd inning.

Not to be lost in a boxscore, Wilson Ramos beat out a groundball that could have been a doubleplay and Clint Robinson in the next at-bat beat out an infield single. Those 2 plays turned the 5th inning into a 3 run frame due to the hustle.

The Nats defense turned to nice Web Gems from Anthony Rendon and Daniel Murphy. The Nats turned in a great effort today in every facet of the game from pitching to hitting to defense to baserunning.

boxscore 6 11 16

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Game #62 Tanner Roark needs to be the man: Game Thread


After today’s game, we can start counting down the regular season from 100 games remaining. Sample sizes are getting to a significant size. Tanner Roark’s sample size is difficult to assess because he has had some great starts and a few that have not been good. Roark has a 3.21 ERA and 6 of his 12 starts have been shutouts or 1 run games. Tanner has to turn the page from his 3.0 inning thumping in Cincinnati, and show that was a fluke.

The last time Roark faced the Phillies in Nationals Park was on April 28th, and Roark threw a 7.0 inning shutout gem. Roark also faced the Phillies a week and 1/2 ago in Philadelphia and pitched a great game picking up a win.

The Nats will face Aaron Nola for the 4th time this year. At this point, everyone is well acquainted with each other.

Here is the Nats stats against Aaron Nola:

Here is Tanner Roark’s stats against the Phillies:


Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, DC
1st Pitch: 12:05pm EDT
TV: MASN, WUSA9, CSN-Philadelphia, MLB.tv

Line-ups (subject to change without notice):

  1. Ben Revere LF
  2. Michael Taylor CF
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Daniel Murphy 2B
  5. Wilson Ramos C
  6. Clint Robinson 1B
  7. Anthony Rendon 3B
  8. Stephen Drew SS
  9. Tanner Roark RHP

A nice pre-game tweet from the Nationals 1st round draft pick:

https://twitter.com/carterkieboom/status/741657400462200832

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Key numbers 10, 16, 37, 1: Postgame

10: Wins by  Stephen Strasburg (10-0)

16: Saves by Jonathan Papelbon

37: Team wins

1: Number of doubleplays that Daniel Murphy has hit into

The Nats effort on defense was tremendous tonight. Danny Espinosa and Jayson Werth had Web Gems behind Stephen Strasburg tonight, and the Nationals Bomb Squad did it again with home runs by Wilson Ramos, Stephen Drew and Danny Espinosa.

Revere had 2 hits and more importantly scored 2 runs. Daniel Murphy had 2 hits and 3 RBIs. Danny Espinosa had 3 hits with his home run. Jayson Werth had a double which drove in 2 runs and collected 2 walks. Stephen Drew had 2 hits with his home run.

The Nationals hitters combined for only 3 strikeouts on the night as contact was the name of the game tonight.

Photo credit: Mitchell Layton for Getty Images

Photo credit: Mitchell Layton for Getty Images

 

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Game #61 Back home with Stephen Strasburg: Game Thread

Home sweet home some would say. Bryce Harper sent out a ‘tweet’ at 5:16AM “Nothing like getting back to DC when the sun is coming up!” Maybe the Nats players got to bed by 6:30am if they were lucky. Ryan Zimmerman might have gone home to the sweet cries of his newborn baby daughter, and Jayson Werth hopefully drove the speed limit back to his lair off of Georgetown Pike where he falls asleep to peace and serenity and the faint sound of the Potomac River going over the falls. F.P. Santangelo reminded us once again of the reality sleep deprivation and of baseball life. Get-away days can be tough and especially when you lose those games.

The good news for Stephen Strasburg was that he was back in bed early in his Virginia residence as is customary he caught an earlier flight back to Washington DC and Strasburg says his calf is better.  Stephen Strasburg once again, and for the 4th time since May 24th, must be a stopper after a Nats loss following Gio Gonzalez in the rotation. Continue reading

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We’ve gone from “He’s my closer” to “This is my line-up” #Nats

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Chisox 3 runs in the 1st is all they needed + MLB Draft Kieboom x2: Postgame

The Nats were in position to steal this game in the 9th inning with the tying runs on-base and Daniel Murphy at the plate, but it was not meant to be. The Nationals who scored 10.33 runs per game during their previous 3 games could only manage 1 run in this game with a reconfigured line-up.

The highlight of tonight’s game turned out to be Gio’s 6 scoreless innings, but unfortunately it was the 3 runs he gave up int he 1st inning was all the White Sox needed. The Nats lose 3-1 with the only Nats run coming from a Daniel Murphy home run. Continue reading

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Game #60 Gonzalez vs. Gonzalez for Chicago finale: Game Thread

The Nationals went wire-to-wire with the win last night in Chicago to secure another series win, and the Nats offense has now scored 31 runs in their last 3 games. The Nats are hoping for a Gio Gonzalez rebound game tonight.

Gio’s current ERA is at 3.94 which is actually higher than his 2015 ERA, and it is due to 3 poor outings in a row where his ERA started at 1.86 before getting tagged with 18 earned runs over his last 15 2/3 innings of work. Gio has taxed the bullpen along the way averaging just under 5 1/3 innings over his last 3 starts.

The White Sox scratched scheduled starter Carlos Rodon for tonight and have inserted Miguel Gonzalez who was DFA’d from the Orioles before the season and picked up by the White Sox.

Both Gio Gonzalez and Miguel Gonzalez have almost identical ERAs and are separated by 0.01 and both pitchers have much to prove for their respective teams.

Gio Gonzalez has Chicago White Sox ties as he was drafted by the Chisox in 2004 in the 1st round, and then traded to the Phillies. Gio was then traded by the Phillies back to the White Sox who then traded him to the Oakland A’s. Gio never played in the Major Leagues for the White Sox. For some reason, Gio has never pitched well against the White Sox and has a career 0-4 record with a 5.23 ERA in 6 career starts. Hopefully this is lucky start #7 for Gio against his former team.

Continue reading

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Today is Draft Day. #Nats will get to add 2 Top Prospects to the Farm

Today is the day when dreams are realized at the MLB Draft. Teenagers and college players will become professional baseball players, and future stars will get their start. Rounds #1 and #2 will be picked tonight with coverage on MLB Network at 7pm EDT.

There is no clear cut #1 pick this year for the Philadelphia Phillies.  Do they go for the college pitcher who could be starting for them next year or Mickey Moniak who is a High School outfielder who will not be ready for the Majors for a while.

Continue reading

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Nats clinch series win in Chicago. Increase record to new season mark: Postgame

The Nats with this win tonight clinch a series win against the White Sox, and improve to a season high 13 games over .500 winning by a score of 11-4 as Max Scherzer pitched a 7 inning shutout. The Nats will go for the series sweep tomorrow for the final game against the White Sox. The Nats now have a 6-2 record on this road trip, and improve to 9-2 in inter-league play.

From the start of tonight’s game, the Nats had a laugher as they knocked out James Shields in his White Sox debut at 2.0 innings as Shields gave up 7 runs. When Robin Ventura removed Shields from the game, he received a round of boo’s from the Chicago fans. Continue reading

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Game #59 is Max Scherzer and the Chicago debut of James Shields: Game Thread

The Nationals won a comeback game last night in Chicago, and Dusty Baker really likes when the team wins the first game in a series. “We were ‘0’ for Chicago before [winning last night’s] game…I like the way we fought back…and kept adding on,” Dusty Baker said. “Good hitting breeds confidence, and confidence is spread around.”

Tonight, the Nats will face James Shields who is making his Chicago White Sox debut. Max Scherzer will face a team that is familiar to him from his time in the AL Central with the Tigers although there are many new faces on this 2016 White Sox team, and while Scherzer has faced 8 of these White Sox players before, the last time Max faced the White Sox on August 30, 2014, only Adam Eaton, Jose Abreu, and Avasail Garcia were in the line-up. The White Sox roster has seen major turnover in the last 2 years. Continue reading

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