Hey, are they still playing baseball? They are? But they can't be still in it? They are? OK then!
On one hand the Nats are "streaking" in the most modest sense. They've won 3 straight and they've won them convincingly. The offense has been mostly on point since the break though three games of 0, 1 & 1 runs helped kee the Nats from gaining ground, rather than maintaining it. The Nats have a good chance to keep it going with three more against Cincinnati. They should take 2 of 3 and hit, (FINALLY HIT) a goal - going 5-1 over this short stretch of easy teams. The end result should be staying in striking distance going into a four game series with Atlanta that could bring (FINALLY BRING) the Nats back into the race.
As we know the Nats have lucked out recently. While running in place (10-9 since their last full series win) both the Phillies (8-8 since the series before the ASB) and the Braves (10-13 starting with their July 4th series hosting the Yankees) have done nothing of note. If you are an optimist: the Nats should have lost ground playing like they did. They didn't. If you are a pessimist: the Nats should have gained ground with their rivals playing like they did. They didn't. Either way though we're in the same place. In striking distance of getting back into the race with a huge series coming up. But we can talk about that on Monday since the Cincy series lasts all weekend.
The team is hitting. The team is pitching. This is the team the Nats expected to have. They have it
now. Well... honestly they had it like 2 months ago but it's finally
playing like they thought it would. Of course - as you may have noticed
that's still not enough to guarantee a huge run (the Nats have only
picked up a couple of games over the past few weeks) But they have just enough time to get back in the race without hoping for a miracle.
Beat the Reds.
Notes:
I know everything is all Juan Soto all the time with a lot of you now but you know who's hit better than Soto over the past month? Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper (and Mark Reynolds!). And Juan Soto is still hitting very well! Who isn't hitting? The catchers and everyone on the bench that's not Reynolds.
Meanwhile who has pitched better recently? Gio and Roark.
I was surprised to see Murphy's average all the way up in the .270s recently, and even more surprised to see he's been hitting like .350 with some pop for a month plus. Always under the radar, non-Sotos.
ReplyDeleteI wonder with Roark and Gio, how much of it is having an MLB catcher behind the plate? As much as we lament Wieters and wished the Nats would upgrade at the deadline, he's still an upgrade behind the plate over Kieboom and Severino (Gio in particular seemed to hate pitching to Severino).
ReplyDelete@NavyYardSteve I begrudgingly agree about Wieters and his apparent impact on the starting pitching. ugh.
ReplyDeleteI mean, sure, I'd rather have "catcher who is a blackhole offensively but can competently call a game" to "catcher who is a blackhole offensively and terrible behind the plate, too," but I feel like there's a third option....
ReplyDelete@Robot - sure, I would have loved to see the Nats get Ramos or Realmuto. I'm just attributing some of Roark and Gio's not-awful starts lately to Wieters return from injury.
ReplyDeleteNow that Murph's bat is back, the lineup is 7 strong against RHP. And if Wieters is helping Tanner and Gio get back to form, then that's a nice boost to the rotation.
ReplyDeleteStill, so much ground to make up in the standings....
Win at least the next 2 of 3 against Cincinnati (at some point they are going to have to shoot for sweeps and not just series wins. I know 4 games is tough to sweep, even at home, but why not shoot for that), and 3 of 4 against Atlanta. That will get them at least 1 game on Atlanta but hopefully more, and see what happens after that. I don't like how they still have 20 games (I think) left against the Cubs (past couple of years haven't played well), Cards (historically have NEVER played well), Rockies & Brewers, but I think that's why its imperative they finish this stretch well before the first stretch of games start against the Cubs & Cards a week from today, that could be the biggest trip of the season.
ReplyDeleteScherzer is hitting too. His OPS is actually higher than all 3 catchers. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteShould have never let Lobaton go. The guy was a huge defensive asset compared to EVERYTHING we have now, and he for sure wouldn't be any worse at the plate.
ReplyDelete@Sammy
ReplyDeleteNow you are definitely just trolling.
We should have never let [ insert worst player ever here ] go. The guy was a huge asset compared to EVERYTHING we have now, and he for sure wouldn’t be any worse at the plate.
ReplyDeleteI can't be alone in thinking Roger Bernadina would show far more hustle in the field than Bryce Harper. That guy really put it all out there. You'd never see Bernadina pull up at the warning track. And look at Bryce's BA this year, it's .233; Bernadina's a career average .236 guy, so you wouldn't be losing anything.
ReplyDeleteIf we had also kept Dusty Baker, he would have totally coached up Bernadina's killer instinct at the plate. Difo, Severino, Goodwin? Those guys would all be raking under Dusty. He's the Belichick of baseball.
Every team has injuries, stop making excuses.
Boys and girls, I don't troll. I said when we let Loby go that it might be a mistake. Loby passed the eye test. He could steal ten strikes a game minimum with his pitch framing alone. That is a HUGE advantage, especially when your pitchers are a little off or scuffling like ours have been. Y'all do understand that turning balls into strikes and walks into Ks is good, right? He can throw base stealers out, and he doesn't miss the ball on plays at the plate like a certain catcher now in Nats colors does. The pitchers loved pitching to him.... F.P. Santangelo and Dan Kolko both hinted at times that a few guys preferred Loby to Ramos. Though he couldn't hit his weight 1. he had a knack for timely homers and 2. nobody else playing behind the plate is hitting their weight either. Therefore, wise guys, everything I said is 100 percent correct. He IS better defensively than the ones they have now, and he COULDN'T POSSIBLY hit any worse than what we've had this year.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, tell me which of Severino, Kieboom, Wieters, Solano, or Rowdy Raudy Read you think has been a dime's worth better than Jose Lobaton? Sorry, Nope. He hasn't. Wieters maybe a nickel's worth....ooops, dropped another one. Never mind.
I hereby certify that Sammy Kent is NEVER WRONG. Signed and certified by Sammy Kent.
ReplyDeleteAnyone want to argue?
Johnny Callison here, unable to log in to my regular account on the road. Just gotta say that I think Rizzo can make a case for standing pat on the pitching and keeping Bryce, etc. But I am never going to be convinced that the Nats have a respectable major league catching situation. There are still several guys out there who are better than both Wieters and Kieboom. Rizzo made the "I'm relying on the track record of these players to turn it around," and that looks to be happening with Murphy and probably Harper and Roark (not so sure about Gio). But Wieters' track record has not been good for quite a while, so I think he's doing what we SHOULD expect. It's killing the lineup night after night when he and Kieboom are dead weight at the bottom of the order. It's really inexcusable and if we head into the post-season with these guys, I think it will hurt (if we make the post-season).
ReplyDeleteKieboom did have a walk and HBP tonight, and got around to home on a double. But I agree that catcher is a weak spot offensively for the team.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Reds meant to hit Harp tonight. Especially when you see how the pitcher reacted...he looked pretty upset with himself.
So the Nats are signing Greg Holland.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/08/nationals-greg-holland-discussing-contract.html
The risk is low since it's on the Cards' dime. They can be patient for a few weeks while he works with no pressure either in the minors or low leverage situations on the big club.
I like it. It certainly can't hurt.
Anyone know why Rodriguez is starting G1 of the doubleheader instead of Milone?
ReplyDeleteEssentially we have a situation where we unfortunately need 5 pitchers in 4 days (between Saturday and Tuesday).....either way were going to need to use a 6th pitcher somewhere in Braves series unless we want to push somebody to short rest. So our choices are:
DeleteDH Tues: Milone and Max (both on at least normal rest)
Wed: Gio or Hellickson on 3 days rest (they pitched Sat) or Jefry.
OR
We use Jefry one of the games in the DH and then starting Wed everybody’s on normal rest.
To be honest with you, I would personally have gone with Hellickson on short rest Wed. The guy doesn’t throw many pitches per start and these are basically playoff games at this point. We can’t afford to simply give away a Jefry game which is an auto loss.
@BxJ Excellent, that makes sense, thanks for explaining it. I read a few articles about it, and couldn't figure it out. I wasn't thinking about the Wed. game.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Jefry start, how about tandem starting him with Grace? Let the Braves put all of their LH batters in for JRod, and then after the 3rd or so, flip it over to Grace to get through the middle innings?
While we are talking about pitching, we may be due for a 'How Tanny got his groove back' post. If he keeps it up, it brightens the outlook not just for '18, but also for '19.
Looked to me like he got his head where it needs to be and went with the "just pitch" attitude.
DeleteOr maybe he just likes it hotter than hell. It was tough in the stands - in the shade. Can't imagine how it was on the field.
Gio, on the other hand, was psycho Gio and his brain started working when it shouldn't have been.
I read somewhere (most likely twitter) that Tanner's adjustment was pushing more with his back leg instead of relying so much on his arm for power. Always risky to take anyone's words at face value in sports, especially when the question is "why are you good now but bad before?"
ReplyDelete