Déjà vu. Second chances, 8 days apart. Bases loaded. Jayson Werth comes in to pinch-hit

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

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Nats finish the season series with the Cardinals with a 5-2 record: Postgame

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Stephen Strasburg improved to 9-0 as this final game of the regular season series against the Cardinals wasn’t a laugher until Jayson Werth blasted a grand slam. The Nats improved to 5-2 against the Cardinals this year, and they won’t face each other in the regular season again until next year.

Dusty Baker was flawless in every in-game decision today as he saved Jayson Werth for a spot like he got in the 7th with bases loaded and 1 out to bring in his bearded righty.

Stephen Strasburg did what Aces do. Baker said, “Stras was good until he ran out of gas.” He became the stopper ending that 2 game losing skid and labored through 6 full innings while only giving up 1 run in a true quality start. Strasburg exited the game with the Nats up 3-1. Felipe Rivero came in once again for a Houdini act with bases loaded and 1 out in the 7th inning. Rivero retired the very hot Matt Adams on a sacrifice fly and then got the Randal Grichuk on a can of corn flyball for the final out of the 7th inning with the Nats clinging onto that 3-2 lead. Continue reading →

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Game #51 Stephen Strasburg again in the #1 role for the Nats: Game Thread

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

No rest for the weary as the Nats have the early scheduled start time at 1:35pm with Stephen Strasburg on the mound for the Nationals as the Nats need to stop this two game patch where the Nats starters have not performed to ‘ace’ standards.

Michael Wacha pitches for the Cardinals and has a 5.04 ERA and has not been good this season.

Today is the day that we had circled on the calendar as the first day Trea Turner could be called up and guarantee an extra year of team control. While Trea Turner is not getting called up today, it should not be much longer. Continue reading →

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Do you want the good news or the bad news? Good news Zim 4-4 2 HRs, Bad news Gio gets crushed: Postgame

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nationals lost this game 9-4 and if we told you that Ryan Zimmerman was 4-4 with 2 home runs and Bryce Harper had a home run you would think the Nationals won this game. Unfortunately Gio Gonzalez gave up 6 runs in only 4 2/3 innings and the game got away early. The Nats did chip away and got within 2 runs until the Cardinals pulled away.

Continue reading →

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Game #50 Gio and Waino meet again: Game Thread

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Back in the 2012 playoffs, Gio and Adam Wainwright were their team’s #1’s and they get to meet again tonight.

The Nats need to get back to consistency in pitching and offense and Wainwright has been hittable.

Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos are both off tonight.

Screenshot_2016-05-28-15-49-30

This game will be telecast on FOX at 7:15pm.

Here are your Nats stats against Adam Wainwright:

 

  1.  Ben Revere CF
  2. Jayson Werth LF
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Daniel Murphy 2B
  5. Ryan Zimmerman 1B
  6. Stephen Drew 3B
  7. Danny Espinosa SS
  8. Jose Lobaton C
  9. Gio Gonzalez RHP
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Max Scherzer had an unusual inning that gave the Cardinals the win: Postgame

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Cardinals scored 5 runs in the 3rd inning in a 6-2 game highlighted by Stephen Piscotty who hit a grand slam in a situation where Max Scherzer needed a doubleplay ball. That was the difference in the game in just 1 swing.

The 3rd inning started off innocent enough with a single by the pitcher Jaime Garcia followed by a walk which was followed by a single to load the bases and then Scherzer had Matt Holliday in an 0-2 count and then ended up walking him to score the 1st run of the game. Piscotty followed that up with a grand slam and that is all the Cardinals needed.

The Nats had big chances to chip away and scored 1 run off of a home run by Danny Espinosa and the big opportunity came in the 6th inning when Bryce Harper led off with a single and was followed by wild pitch and then Daniel Murphy singled to put runners at the corners. Ryan Zimmerman smoked a grounder that turned into a doubleplay as Harper scored and that snuffed out the Nats chance at a big inning.

Back at it tomorrow.

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Game #49 Max Scherzer for the #Nats: Game Thread

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Game 2 of the 4 game series with the St. Louis Cardinals will feature Max Scherzer and lefty Jaime Garcia. The Nats have faced Garcia before and St. Louis native Max Scherzer will once again face his hometown team.

Dusty Baker will set his lineup for the lefty and expect Daniel Murphy to be in there against Garcia.

Here are the Nats stats against Jaime Garcia:

Here is Max Scherzer’s stats against the Cardinals:

Note that Matt Carpenter was not included in the stats since he was on the inactive list yesterday. Matt Carpenter  was batting .500 against Scherzer with a 1.200 OPS in 10 at-bats.

Line-ups (subject to change without notice):

  1. Ben Revere CF
  2. Jayson Werth LF
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Daniel Murphy 2B
  5. Ryan Zimmerman 1B
  6. Anthony Rendon 3B
  7. Wilson Ramos C
  8. Danny Espinosa SS
  9. Max Scherzer RHP
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Dusty Baker wins #1700 and Joe ‘Cool’ Ross gets a well earned Win with Harp/Espi HRs

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The Nats pitching just shutdown the Cardinals team and held them to 1 run as this same Cards team just bashed around Jake Arrieta yesterday and scored 8 runs off of the Cubs.

Joe Ross made some clutch pitches when he had to and worked out of a huge jam in the top of the 7th with 2 on and no outs and struck out Yadier Molina. In strange coincidences the Cardinals had this exact scenario in yesterday’s game against the Cubs with men on 2nd and 1st and no outs and Yadier Molina at the plate and he struck out. Continue reading →

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Game #48 in the first game of the 4 game series against the Cardinals: Game Thread

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

The schedule makers put the 2 Cardinals series for the regular season within the first 2 months of this season which will make this the final regular season series against the Cardinals. The Nationals swept the Cardinals in a 3 game series in St. Louis, and did it without Ben Revere and tonight the starting line-up will be without Daniel Murphy who gets the night off. The Cardinals will be playing without Matt Carpenter who is on the paternity leave list for at least today and most likely tomorrow also.

The projected starters for each team during this 4 game series are:

Game 1 (tonight): Mike Leake and Joe Ross
Game 2 (Friday): Jaime Garcia and Max Scherzer
Game 3 (Saturday): Adam Wainwright and Gio Gonzalez
Game 4 (Sunday): Michael Wacha and Stephen Strasburg

Mike Leake pitches tonight for the Cardinals and has thrown 55 1/3 innings with a 4.07 ERA and in a strange coincidence when he was traded last year to the Giants, he pitched for them 55 1/3 innings with a 4.07 ERA.

Leake was a starter against Strasburg in St. Louis in the first game of that series also and took the loss for the Cardinals.

Here are your Nats stats against Mike Leake:

Here is Joe Ross‘ stats against the Cardinals:

Line-ups (subject to change without notice):

  1. Ben Revere CF
  2. Jayson Werth LF
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Ryan Zimmerman 1B
  5. Anthony Rendon 3B
  6. Wilson Ramos C
  7. Stephen Drew 2B
  8. Danny Espinosa SS
  9. Joe Ross RHP
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In an alternate universe you wouldn’t think 2 teams could have the same 9th inning

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

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