Nationals Baseball: Don't get swept take whatever

Friday, September 13, 2019

Don't get swept take whatever

You get all worried and then I get all worried you are going to be like "you told us not to worry!" This is no way to spend the end of a baseball season!

The Nats are fine. With the two wins in the Minnesota series they can't really slow drip out of the playoffs any more 1-2, 1-2, 2-1, 2-3, 1-2? That's 88 wins. I suppose the Cubs and the Brewers could both finish the season 11-5.  I suppose. Or the Mets race to.. 13-3? Come on now.

No, the only way the Nats miss the playoffs now is a tank, pure and simple. Get swept by the Braves, get swept by the Cardinals, lose the series to the Marlins?  Now you are talking. So that's why simply not getting swept here is the goal.  Like I've been saying 4-6 is the likely outcome. Hit that and they CAN be in trouble but basically only if they get swept by STL - which is the start of a tank. Don't get swept and they hit that 4-6 at least.

The Braves still have a little to play for though as home field isn't completely decided and should be up for this series across the board. 

The East?  IT'S BEEN CALLED. Forget about it.  Even a sweep here gets the Nats only to 5.5 with 14 to play.  Nats bullrush to 10-4 finish? Braves can sleepwalk to 4-7 and still take it. It's OVER.

While you were fretting over the Nats series the Mets swept the Diamondbacks which has set them up as a big WC2 contender. The Phillies took 2-3 to stay in there. Milwaukee keeps winning and is tied with Chicago. Arizona brings up the rear.  What to watch this weekend? There's so much! This is where baseball gets fun.  Any game with any of these guys would be a fun watch but specifically there is only one important H2H matchup and it's over in the AL. With those two losses the Nats gave the Twins Cleveland got to 3.5 back and they play each other this weekend. Cleveland MUST win this series to have a chance at the Central AND to keep them in the WC race as Oakland and Tampa are winning.  I'd suggest Pirates/Cubs at 4, into Twins/ Indians, going over to Brewers-Cardinals is it gets out of hand early or Reds-Dbacks if that gets out of hand late. Then finish up with Rays/Angels to see Mike Trout in games that matter to somebody

What should Nats fans want?  STL to sweep MIL (makes STL a near lock for Central and gives them more incentive to start resting guys). PHI to lose to BOS and then ATL (knock Philly down far enough that they can win a couple vs CLE and still come into Nats series with nothing to play for).  Why win a couple vs CLE? So Cleveland can come into those last games out of it. This would set up the Nats with no teams that are fighting for anything which is a good way to ride into the playoffs. Even if Boz wants some pressure packed games to some how forge a winner. Doesn't work that way. Plenty of teams that impressively went through a September crucible lost just as quickly as the Nats have. Just get in and hope.

27 comments:

coolsny said...

You are soulless, automaton.

G Cracka X said...

Fun Fact: Since the dawn of Statcast in 2015, who has hit the longest HR for the Nats?

Bam-Bam?
Tony Two Bags?
Daniel '7 percenter' Murphy?
Triple Trea?
Mr. Walkoff?
The Childish Bambino?
Truck?
J-Dubs?
Willllllllllllllsooooooon?
Big City?
Adam Lind?
The SherifF?
Desmond? Espi? Uggla?

Nope.

It's this guy: https://www.mlb.com/video/statcast-taylor-s-mammoth-homer-c393491683

Carl said...

Trout actually hasn't played in a week (some kind of foot problem). That's wonderful news for those of us who own him in fantasy baseball and are in the playoffs now.

Cautiously Pessimistic said...

Update to the chaos. MAKE IT HAPPEN BASEBALL GODS

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/team-entropy-2019-hanging-in-there/

Sammy Kent said...

One last shot at the Braves. I don't want any more of this lose the series then blow them out by ten runs in the finale bullcrap. SWEEP THEIR SORRY ARSES OR TURN IN YOUR MAN CARDS, DANGIT!

Harper said...

COOL - I guess I'm not completely soulless as apparently your collective worry bothers me.

GCX - And off an 84MPH offspeed pitch. Of course it's in Colorado...
hows the ave HR distance work out for the team?

Carl - dammit! Don't watch Rays Angels then. Get some sleep I guess.

CP - hope this keeps up a week from now. Cubs/Cards have 7 games left in last two weeks and Nats play that 5 game set vs PHI so it's likely we won't be able to see ALL these teams tied (OK it's likely this doesn't work out at all but the longer it keeps up the more fun)

Harper said...

Sammy - I misplaced my man card. Where do I order a replacement?

Natitude said...

With Max not up to speed and likely not to go more than 6, Voth starting game 2, and Sanchez in the finale, an Atlanta sweep is not out of the question. Hopefully the bats will remain hot and we can win one.

Mr. T said...

@Nat, who says Max is not up to speed? Didn't he throw 100 pitches last time, and shut down ATL?

Zed said...

Just notice Philly is off on a Friday night. After a home game with travel all the way to... Boston? I don't recall ever seeing a scheduled Friday off day.

Natitude said...

Mr. T - He threw 98 and went 6 innings gave up 2 hits and 1 earned. But I doubt they will let him go any further than that at this point. Just my opinion. That leaves the bull pen to get nine outs.

Chris said...

@Natitude, Scherzer batted in the top half of the 7th. They were prepared to keep him in, even at 98 pitches. It just so happened that we added on a bunch of runs and so they went ahead and let the pen finish it off.

Mr. T said...

Asking this bullpen to get nine outs in the postseason...man.

I better stock up now on Maalox and cannabinoids.

Cautiously Pessimistic said...

@zed it's happened a few times this season (i recall at least once for the giants). It's all due to interleague play and the 2&2 home-away series. sometimes those two games have to fall on a weekend

BxJaycobb said...

The thing that’s stupid about “longest home run” stuff IMO is that in order to officially be a super long homer, you have to hit the ball in a stadium/ direction where it can come all the way down. So like no Harper homer to right field at Nats park has the chance to go that far because it hits the facing of deck. It’s always shots to center field or at a stadium with nothing to stop it like dodger stadium, or if it’s nats Park it has to be to center-left center. Because honestly I bet many of the longest homeruns are actually shots people pull, but they never get properly measured. So to me it’s more than Taylor happened to hit a bomb in the right place and direction.

BxJaycobb said...

@Harper re the 84mph pitch, one of the most common of common misconceptions is that a ball off a 95 mph pitch vs a ball of an 85 mph pitch will go further in a non negligible way. Actually the reality is that once a pitch is 80 mph and above, it doesn’t make much difference at all. I’m not entirely sure about the physics of why that is, but if u look up the longest homers of the year, just as many are off speed apparently. (Think about the home run derby and batting practice...those pitches are coming in at literally like 70 mph. Doesn’t stop hitters from hitting 500 foot bombs (of course they’re also swinging harder and balls in derby maybe bouncier.) but in any event, apparently that’s largely nonsense which absolutely everybody believes and u hear repeated constantly by people like FP on air.

Sammy Kent said...

Well, firetruck! The Braves are just better than the Nationals this season. I hate it, but that's the truth. Get Rendon signed.

Harper said...

bx- apparently so. I mean technically the longest HR will come from the fastest bats hitting the fastest pitches but bat speed is apparently multiple of times more important

Max David said...

This weekend has been embarrassing. Since Sunday, they've lost a game and a half to the Cubs and Brewers. Cubs still have a couple difficult series left (Reds and looks like Luis Castillo & Sonny Gray are starting for the Reds), and Cards twice and still can't win on the road. Brewers, even without Yelich have an absolute cake schedule to end the year as this series with the Cardinals are the last team they'll play in the regular season that is currently over .500. D'Backs, despite losing 6 in a row have 3 of their final 4 series at home and still get to play 6 games against the Padres and 3 against the Marlins, along with these last 2 home games against the Reds, and the Mets after the Dodgers leave Queens on Sunday evening have the Rockies, Reds, Marlins, and a Braves team that will be division champs on the docket. All MUCH easier schedules than playing the Cards, Phillies, and Indians for 11 games. That's why the Nats could be 5 up right now and I wouldn't be confident just because of how easily they could go 4-7 in those 11 games, the Brewers go 9-1 against the Padres, Reds and Pirates and boom all of a sudden that 5 game lead is gone. So, the fact it is only 1.5 on the Cubs for homefield and 2.5 on the Brewers for the second spot is very alarming.

And IF they do blow this which isn't out of the question, they can look at their struggles against the Braves & Mets as to a big reason why: They've played 12 series against those teams and I believe they are only 3-1-8 in those 12 series against those 2 teams. Yes, the 19-31 start to the season doesn't help, but they had most of the Braves games after June 1 (17 I believe??) when they started to turn their season around and they STILL couldn't beat them, especially when it counted in September.

Ole PBN said...

0 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 3

Sometimes the box score alone tells you all you need to know. Thanks bullpen!

Sammy Kent said...

There's also this:

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Can't score runs. Bullpen is awful. Either one results in a loss. Together they make an embarrassing blowout.

I'd happily forfeit any chance at the post-season to know that Rendon, Stras, and Dusty would all be in Nats unis next season.

PotomacFan said...

Sorry to say, but deGrom is going to win the NL Cy Young. Last night against the Dodgers (not exactly a bunch of slackers) he pitched 7 innings, gave up 3 hits, no walks and struck out 8. Of course, he got a no decision. A well-rested Ryu also pitched 7 innings, gave up 2 hits, now walks and struck out 6. Max would have to pitch a no-hitter to have a shot at the Cy Young.

billyhacker said...

Sold out Nats Park was dead Friday night. Just dead quiet. Maybe players were tired.

Anonymous said...

Ugh. Cardinals did us no favors. Knock on wood the winds of luck start getting behind us again. The headwind the last few weeks has been brutal.

DezoPenguin said...

Well, we didn't get swept, and the Phillies, Diamondbacks, and Mets are falling off the pace. Meanwhile, the Brewers are red-hot and the Cubs are also moving closer, so with their easier schedules it looks like the Central is going to be the major source of threats as we wrap up the season, particularly with the Brewers' cupcake schedule.

A poor game for Max is worrying, but good games for Voth and Sanchez are enheartening. There's nothing else to it: we must take care of business against Miami and Philly and at least split, but preferably 4-2, the St. Louis and Cleveland series. Fortunately we miss Flaherty in the Cardinals series, but the margin for error is gone.

The Cubs have seven games with the Cardinals, which helps our cause (in addition, Rizzo's ankle sprain last night has to help us going forward). The Brewers definitely have the inside track for one of the Wild Card spots, though, being only one game out and a thirteen-cupcake schedule featuring all the worst non-Miami teams in the NL. (Though to be fair, I'd much rather face the Brewers in a WC game than the Cubs or Mets; they simply don't have that ace-level pitcher and Yelich being out takes a huge slice out of their offense, so they're the best matchup out of the contenders.)

No ifs, no ands, no buts. The Nats either win or go home; it's that simple.

Ole PBN said...

I'd still prefer the Cubs over the Brewers, even if Yelich is gone. That Cubs lineup is fairly easy to navigate with a lot of long swings. Basically if Schwarber scares you and you think he's a beast (which the media love to push), then you fear the Cubs. If you're like me and think Schwarber sucks and is way over-hyped, you want to face this team because Bryant, Baez, Rizzo, Schwarber, Heyward are all different versions of the same player. Potential for the long ball, but not a tough lineup to navigate. And Lester has been a shell of his former self. I could see us roughing up Lester more than I can see us performing well against some nobody from Milwaukee. 5 years ago, I wouldn't be saying any of this.

Not going to get there if we don't do what Dezo said. Get it done.

Sammy Kent said...

WHY DO THE CHOKIN' FREAKIN' DOGS WAIT UNTIL THE LAST GAME OF EACH SERIES TO PLAY BASEBALL????