Nationals Baseball: Monday Quickie - promise kept by me

Monday, September 17, 2018

Monday Quickie - promise kept by me

Max.

It was Max that couldn't keep the promise for you dreamers. The Nats would win the second and third game but with the loss of the first the situation shifted.  It could have been a 'tragic number' of 8 with 12 left. Now it's 6*. Sorry. Blame him. Nats go 9-3 and Braves 3-9? Not good enough.  Call me when the gap gets to three (iow 2019) 

Speaking of Max here's the Cy Young battle as it stands

Max : 17-7  2.53  0.915 WHIP, 12.1K/9, 2.1BB/9, 0.9 HR/9
deGrom :  8-9 1.78  0.950 WHIP, 11.2K/9, 2.0BB/9, 0.4 HR/9

(I could give you Nola's stats but I don't see the point. Maybe if the Phillies were taking the East but they are most certainly not)

I don't see how Max is winning this but I've been wrong before.


In good news though Soto took the weekend over Acuna, dominating the last two games after Acuna won the first.

Soto : .305 / .421 / .532,  20 HR, 72 R, 64 RBI, 5 SB
Acuna : .292 / .368 / .574,  25 HR, 71 R, 55 RBI, 14 SB

This is back to being anyone's award. 

*If you are curious it's 7 for the WC but it's 7 looking at three different teams.

26 comments:

ssln said...

Bro

Like I said last night and while it isn't going to happen there are some interesting series out there.

Mets v Phils
Cubs v Diamondbacks
Braves v Cards
Dodgers v Rockies

Nats need to sweep the Marlins. We need Mets, Cubs, Braves and Dodgers to win series by 2-1 or better. Then it gets interesting. Braves and Dodger series are the key.
Miracles do happen, just not to Washington sports teams.

Silver Fox is Drunk said...

So you're saying there's a chance. At least there's a chance and who knows. However, part of me wishes they'd start tanking and get better draft picks.

G Cracka X said...

deGrom now has an 8 to 6.8 fWAR lead over Max. Max hurt his case with his last outing, but I think he still has a chance. I think, if I am reading the schedule correctly, he could pitch three more times, vs. deGrom only gets 2 more. Also, two of his starts will be at home against the Mets and Marlins (and maybe if Colorado has clinched by the last day, they will rest regulars?). Plus, deGrom will face the Nats once, so the team has the opportunity to help Max by trying to get to deGrom.

If I were voting right now, though, I'd vote for deGrom. Breaking the MLB all-time record for most consecutive starts with 3 runs or less allowed is quite impressive. On the other hand, if Max gets 300Ks and becomes a 20-game winner and deGrom ends the season with a losing record.......

Anonymous said...

What do we (or Harper) have to do to end the bizarre/creepy "bro" references? I've never seen anyone stick to a joke (humor is subjective to one person, obviously) for this long.

billyhacker said...

Soto now has more bWAR and fWAR than Harper in just 70% of the PA. 3.0 to 1.8 and 3.8 to 3.4 respectively. Rendon is better than both. Unfortunately, Acuna is amazing.

Robot said...

I think the single-digit W column and sub-.500 record might hurt deGrom in the minds of some CY voters, but it should be deGrom's to lose at this point.

That said, Max has 2, 3 starts left to do something amazing. Recall that second no-hitter he threw on the last day of 2015? A Yunel Escobar error away from perfect.

Rob said...

I thought I read somewhere that it'll be close if Soto has the required number of plate appearances or not for ROY. Am I wrong?

Josh said...

There is no place appearance requirement for ROY or MVP, just voting. You must be thinking of batting title, which it looks like he does not currently qualify for.

Josh said...

Plate* appearance

PotomacFan said...

How good are Soto and Acuna? Here are the top 4 in OPS in the National League: 1. tie between Goldschmidt and Soto at 0.954; 3. Acuna at .942; 4. Yelich at .937.

Goldschmidt could win MVP, although I think Carpenter will win if the Cards make the playoffs and the Diamondbacks do not. Yelich could be #3 in the MVP voting.

ssln said...

Anon

I stick to the bro reference only because it irritates you. If it didn't bother you I would have given it long ago. Therefore, we have no one to blame but you for the continued reference.

Dave said...

Such trollery. Time for a new blog.

Max David said...

Phillies lose
D'Backs are losing in the 9th
Rockies are losing big (but are losing to the Dodgers so a wash)
Braves lost (but lost to Cards so a wash there).
What do the Nats do to these gifts that the NL keeps giving them?? Repackaging them and returning them to sender! No, we don't want to make the playoffs, we just want to blow a 4-0 5th inning lead to the Marlins and give up 8 runs in the final 4 innings the Marlins bat!

Beyond frustrating, why even bother at this point?? And I don't care that it's Fedde pitching or our shit relievers GET SOME %$#$ING PEOPLE OUT!!!!!!!!!!! You got people out in the Phillies series and the Braves series, did it not board the plane to Miami or something??

BxJaycobb said...

the bWAR number on Harper just makes no sense. The guy has a .900 OPS, 34 bombs, basically a .400 OBP stole 12 bags ,and has played the whole year. I’m sorry but he may be a sub par fielder but 1.8 WAR just doesn’t strike me as the common sense ballpark at all*.

BxJaycobb said...

Yelich or Baez will win MVP. Money on whoever finishes better. Yelich is white hot right now and has highest wRC+ among people with qualifying ABs.

BxJaycobb said...

@Harper: I don’t think it’s anybody’s award. In order for Soto to win he’s going to need to have a hot rest of year and Acuña is going to have to cool off rest of year. The fact is they are basically equal at the plate (similar OPS/wRC+....Acuna has more power, Soto more OBP)....except Acuna has advantage in: base running (he’ll finish with almost 20 SBs), defense, and intangible team success. In order to win the award Soto has to finish with not just marginally better hitting stats but indisputably better IMO. Which is not the case right now.

TwoGloves said...

The Nats got what they hoped for last night and still couldn't take advantage of it. What else in new!!

Robot said...

Yeah, I gotta agree with BxJaycobb on Soto/Acuna. Soto needs to catch on fire these last couple weeks to have a chance. Nearly equal at the plate + better defense and base-running + winning team = ROY Acuna.

Plus, we have no idea how old Juan is, which just casts a pall over the whole thing, right?

Anonymous said...

@ BxJaycobb I pretty much agree with that but one interesting wrinkle is WPA. Soto has basically done what you'd expect given his overall production and earned over 3.2 wins for the Nats. Acuna has bee extremely anti-clutch and earned about half that. I agree that's not enough to make up for those other advantages, especially the one where he is a key player on a playoff team, but if the Nats and the Braves were neck and neck, I could see that easily being the meaningful difference.

Ric said...

@TwoGloves said: "The Nats got what they hoped for last night and still couldn't take advantage of it. What else in new!!"

Take advantage of what?!? The Nats were out of it a month ago. Even if the Nats close out 11-0 (they most definitely will not), the Braves would have to go 3-9(they will not).

For goodness sake. We have to put up with @MaxDavid with the pie-in-the-sky scenarios. Don't be a @MaxDavid.

Anonymous said...

Will Soto get the at-bats he needs to qualify for stats standing in the MLB this season? He isn't listed in the Nats stats leaders, even though he has a better AVG than Rendon at .300 Will Soto get there by seasons end and if he doesn't qualify with enough at-bats for the season, do they count expect on baseball cards??

Sammy Kent said...

Pet Peeve: sportscasters referring to someone as "Acuna Junior" or "Love The Third" or similar as if the baseball player's last name is "Acuna Junior" or the golfer's last name is "Love The Third." It isn't.

Please, Bob and F.P., if you want to call him by his full name, "Ronald Acuna Junior," fine; but if you're going to call him by his last name only, it's Acuna, not Acuna Junior. He's Ronald Junior. The golfer's last name is Love. He is Davis The Third. It is correct to say "Swing and a miss, and Acuna strikes out." It is not correct to say "Swing and a miss, and Acuna Junior strikes out."

It's almost as bad seeing it in print. The dumbass Braves have "Acuna Jr." on his uniform. CBS routinely shows the golfer on the leaderboard as Love III. Why does this drive me dippy? BECAUSE IT'S STUPID!!! I am very happy to see that 99% of the posters on this blog are smarter than that.

OK, I feel a little better now. Not much, but a little. What the heck...... FIRE KEVIN LONG!!!!! FIRE DAVE MARTINEZ!!!

PotomacFan said...

502 Plate Appearances are required to be eligible for the batting title, assuming the Nats play all 162 games.

Soto is at 449 Plate Appearance. He would need 53 more PAs. The Nats have 11 games left. That would get Soto another 44 PAs (assuming he plays all of the games, and gets 4 PAs per game). He might not play all of the games, although he could get 5 PAs in some games. It looks like he is going to fall just short.

Robot said...

So what you're saying, PotomacFan, is that we need a few 15-inning games to make this happen.

Max David said...

Hey Ric, if the Phillies & Braves continue to lose, it's not so much of a pie-in-the-sky scenario....


...I do expect the Braves to at least split this weekend while the Mets likely take at least 1 game.

Ric said...

@MaxDavid said: "Hey Ric, if the Phillies & Braves continue to lose, it's not so much of a pie-in-the-sky scenario... "

Max, that's the very definition of "pie-in-the-sky".

Pie in the sky: something that is pleasant to contemplate but is very unlikely to be realized.

The Braves are 9-8 in September. 6-4 in their last ten. To think they are going to lose out (and that the .500 Nats are going to go 10-0) is, wait for it...

"Pie-in-the-sky" thinking.