Going Deep with The Nats

The Washington Nationals came out swinging last night, and one terrible decision quickly derailed everything. Once again a miss-sized batting helmet cost the Nats. Instead of stopping at third base, CJ Abrams was a costly out at homeplate because he tried catching his batting helmet that popped off his noggin as it does every single time he runs the bases. Discretion is the better part of valor, and they make batting helmets in 1/8th sizing increments!

If Abrams stopped at third base with no outs, and trusted in his teammates, who knows what happens. That Abrams mistake as manager Dave Martinez called it, just changed everything in an instant. Jesse Winker‘s two-run homer a few innings later couldn’t save the Nats from another horrendous start from Patrick Corbin who walked four Dodgers to go with nine hits that included a booming home run. A 2.053 WHIP won’t cut it. This is Groundhog Day with Corbin who somehow saw his ERA improve to 8.06 from 8.44. That is a tongue-in-cheek joke. Corbin gave up five earnies over his 6 1/3 innings — and truth be told, the defensive and defensive positioning saved Corbin who gave up an eye-popping 66.7 percent hard hit rate. Compare that to the Dodgers’ Ryan Yarbrough who averaged 28.6 percent on his hard hit rate.

The Washington Nationals came up with a huge win last night at Dodger Stadium tonight on Jackie Robinson Day. It was the MLB debut for left-hander Mitchell Parker, and he did not disappoint Nats’ fans. Tonight it will be the veteran Patrick Corbin who got to watch the newbie dominate with basically just a fastball and a curveball, and the occasional splitter.

The Washington Nationals left Las Vegas Oakland a lot poorer. The Nats were just 11 outs from victory, but had a blow-up in the 6th inning that turned a 6-1 lead into a 7-6 deficit against the Oakland A’s. All of that turned into a tough luck loss. A game of inches. What could have been. The team got another good start from Trevor Williams who departed in that 6th inning with one-out and two runners on-base. He finished with three earnies on his record.

Today is a new day and the Nats woke up in Los Angeles to play at Dodger Stadium tonight on Jackie Robinson Day. Tonight will be the MLB debut for left-hander Mitchell Parker. We have seen him through the years from his humble beginnings in Fredericksburg.

The Washington Nationals got on top and stayed on top with a wire-to-wire win last night in Oakland. Today, the two teams wrap-up their season in a rubber game matchup, and the final time the Nats will play in the Oakland Coliseum.

After an 11-K performance last night by MacKenzie Gore over his 5.0 scoreless innings and 90-pitches, the bullpen only gave up one-run in the remaining 4.0 innings of work to seal the win. The Nats got 2-hit games from CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia Jr., Riley Adams, and Jacob Young. The team was a poor 2-for-12 in RISP spots last night, and are 2-for-22 in the series. They obviously have to improve, and at least take advantage with productive outs.

The Washington Nationals were down to their final swings in the 9th inning by a score of 1-0, and received a gift from Jesse Winker in the form of a game-tying home run that erased a possible shutout and took away an L from starter Jake Irvin who pitched six brilliant innings, surrendering just one run. Winker had a 4-4 day, and was the clear star for the Nats along with Irvin who notched the first quality start of the season for the Nats.

Unfortunately, the Nats were 0-10 in RISP spots and could not score any other runs in the game. Once again, consistency was lacking in an offense that had numerous opportunities. An early Nats run was reversed on a video review which might be the play of the night. A baserunning mistake in the 10th inning might be circled as the biggest blunder, but the lack of execution with RISP spots really was the difference. That baserunning TOOTBLAN was a mistake by the recent callup, Trey Lipscomb, who was the ghost runner in the 10th inning at second base and was thrown out trying to advance to third base on a hard ground ball to the first baseman that turned into a 3-3-5 double play. The A’s needed a single in the bottom of the 10th inning to score their run, and they got it with one out to walk-it-0ff.

The Washington Nationals went from San Francisco to a short trip across the bay to Oakland. With Oakland’s planned move to Sacramento before landing in Las Vegas, this could be the final series for the Nats in the Oakland Coliseum. The Nats are coming off of a nice series win in San Francisco. They have a chance to get above .500 in this series, and as they say, it all begins with a Nats’ win tonight.

The team made the expected roster move adding Amos Willingham as an extra arm in the bullpen as they decide what to do with a starter that could be needed on Monday or Tuesday unless they decide to pitch a bullpen game. Also, when the team optioned Drew Millas back on Wednesday evening, they found out that Keibert Ruiz is not feeling better from a bout with the flu. Your backup catcher tonight is Ildemaro Vargas.