Official Washington Nationals Thread

[7express]

A surprising 2-3 in this 5 game week. Despite not scoring a single run in 18 innings against Baltimore, they went to Minnesota and won 2 out of 3. Mets for 3 in Queens starting on Tuesday, and then they head home to play 3 against the Pirates who are leading the NL Central at the moment.

[BobNJ1960]

Has Strasburg thrown his last pitch ever? 3 yrs, 105 million left past 2023.

Washington does not have Disability Insurance on him, as they did not want to add more cost to his $245 million contract.

[7express]

Best case scenario: This looks to be fairly obvious a non-playoff team, so hopefully the kids can make appearances this season: Dylan Crews (second overall pick last year) and James Wood (Juan Soto trade) should come up to the majors in the second half. Cade Cavalli, and Jackson Rutledge could also see some time in the majors too.

Worst case scenario: This team isn’t good, and if that’s not bad enough the organization waits until next year to promote the kids all at once so the folks in DC get a bunch of bland, boring baseball.

Prediction: The future is definitely not know but setting up for 2025 and 2026. This team will take lumps, most of the time it won’t be pretty, but they get themselves ready for the next wave of contention as early as 2025 hopefully! Last place finish with a 62-100 record. First of 3 games in Cincinnati to open the season starts on Thursday: Josiah Gray (8-13, 3.91 last year) gets the nod for the Nats while the Reds give the ball to Frankie Montas (1-0, 0.00) who appeared in only a single game for the Yankees last year and hasn’t started a game since September of 2022 with first pitch slated for 4:10.

[7express]

Nats 2 @ Reds 8.
Jesse Winker in his return to Cincinnati where he had the best years of his career so far had a 2 out single in the first but got thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. Jake Fraley had a leadoff single in the second, stole second on an Elly de la Cruz strikeout, Spencer Steer singled to score Fraley, Nick Martini made it 3-0 with a home run, Tyler Stephenson singled following an out Will Benson doubled moving Stephenson to 3rd before Christian Encarnacion-Strand fouled out to end the inning. Fraley had a 1 out double in the 3rd, de la Cruz walked, Steer had a RBI double, and Martini basically put the bow on the game with his second home run in as many innings to put the Reds up 7-0. Ildemaro Vargas had a 2 out single in the 5th an advanced to 2nd on an error, but Luis Garcia Jr. grounded out to end the inning. Joey Meneses lead off the 7th with a single, and 3 batters later Eddie Rosario had the only 2 Nats RBI’s on the afternoon with a 2 run home run. De la Cruz singled to start the 8th, Steer was hit by a pitch, after a pop out de la Cruz & Steer pulled off a double steal, and Stephenson added the final RBI of the afternoon on a fielders choice ground out. Josiah Gray (0-1) allowed 7 runs on 8 hits (2 home runs) with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in 4 innings. Frankie Montas (1-0) had 4 hits allowed with 4 strikeouts in 6 scoreless innings.

The teams get a nice day off in Cincinnati on Friday, with game 2 of the series scheduled on Saturday. Hunter Greene (4-7, 4.82 last year) gets the start for the Reds while the Nats give the ball to Patrick Corbin (10-15, 5.20 in '22) with game tie slated for 4:10. With the Mets, Phillies and Braves all postponed on the day, the only East team in action was the Marlins who blew a 5-2 lead in an extra inning loss to the Pirates, so after day 1 the Braves, Phillies, Nats, Mets and Marlins are all tied for first, all tied for last, and all tied for 2nd, 3rd & 4th as well.

[7express]

Nats 7 @ Reds 6.
Keibert Ruiz had an RBI infield single in the 4th to put the Nats in front 1-0 before Jeimer Candelario tied it up in the bottom half with a home run. Joey Meneses had a sac fly in the 5th to put the Nats back up 2-1 before Luke Maile had a 2 run homer in the bottom half and Jonathan India had a RBI single to put the Reds up 2. CJ Abrams scored on a wild pitch in the 7th, and Ruiz tied it up at 4 in the 8th with a solo home run. Nick Martini had a 2 run double in the bottom of the 8th before the roller coaster ride ended with the first Curly W of the season with a 3 run top of the 9th; Jesse Winker singled to score a run, Ruiz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for a RBI, and Eddie Rosario had the game-winning RBI on a sac fly. India was 2-4 with a RBI, pinch runner Bubba Thompson scored a run, Candelario was 1-3 with 2 runs scored, a RBI and a home run, Martini was 1-1 with 2 RBI’s, Stuart Fairchild was 2-4 with a run scored, Maile was 1-3 with 2 RBI’s a run scored and a home run, and Will Benson was 1-3 with a run scored. Hunter Green allowed 2 runs on 5 hits with 4 walks and 7 strikeouts in 4.2 innings, Fernando Cruz (1st hold) allowed 1 run on 1 hit with 4 strikeouts in 1.1, Lucas Sims (1st blown save) allowed 1 run on 2 hits (1 home run) with a strikeout in 1 inning, and Alexis Diaz (0-1, 1st blown save) allowed 3 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks (a hit batter) and a strikeout in 1/3 of an inning. Abrams was 1-2 with 3 runs scored, Winker was 2-4 with a RBI and run scored, Victor Robles scored a run as a pinch runner, Meneses was 2-4 with a RBI, Nasim Nunez scored a run as a pinch runner, Ruiz was 3-4 with 3 RBI’s, a run scored, and a home run, and Rosario was 1-4 with a RBI. Patrick Corbin allowed 4 runs on 7 hits (2 home runs) with a walk and 2 strikeouts in 4.1, Hunter Harvey (1-0) allowed 2 runs on 2 hits with a walk and a strikeout in 1 inning, and Kyle Finnegan (1st save) had a walk and a strikeout in a hitless 9th inning.

The rubber game of the series is on Sunday. Jake Irvin (3-7, 4.61 last season) starts for the Nats opposed by Nick Martinez (6-4, 3.43 in ’23 with the Padres) makes his Reds debut. First pitch scheduled for 1:40. In other East action from Friday and Saturday: the Mets lost 2 games to the Brewers, the Marlins lost 2 games to the Pirates, and the Braves won 2 games against the Phillies. The Braves are 2-0, the 1-1 Nats are 1 back, the 0-2 Phillies and Mets are 2 back, and the 0-3 Marlins are 2.5 back.

Nats 5 @ Reds 6.
CJ Abrams homered in the 3rd to put the Nats in front. Jonathan India had a RBI ground out, Will Benson had a RBI double in the bottom half to put the Reds in front and then Spencer Steer had a RBI single in the 4th for a 3-1 Reds lead. Lane Thomas had a 2 RBI single in the 5th to tie the score before Trey Lipscomb had his first career home run to put the Nats in front 4-3. Thomas had a sac fly in the 8th to put the Nats up 5-3, but the Reds had back to back home runs in the 9th to walk it off: Benson had a 2 run shot to tie it up at 5, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand followed with a walk off. Abrams was 1-4 with a home run, Thomas was 1-4 with 3 RBI’s, Jesse Winker was 2-3, Eddie Rosario was 1-4 with a run scored, Luis Garcia Jr. was 1-3 with a run scored, and Lipscomb was 2-3 with 2 runs scored and a home run. Jake Irvin allowed 3 runs on 7 hits with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts in 5 innings, Dylan Floro (1st hold) had a walk, hit & strikeout in a scoreless inning, Hunter Havey (1st hold) had a hit and strikeout in a scoreless inning, and Kyle Finnegan (0-1, 1st blown save) allowed 3 runs on 3 hits (2 home runs) in 2/3 of an inning. India was 1-4 with a run scored and RBI, Benson was 3-5 with 3 RBI’s and the game-tying home run, Encarnacion-Strand was 1-5 with the game-winning RBI; the walk off home run, Jake Fraley finished 3-4, Elly de la Cruz was 1-4 with a run scored, Spencer Steer was 2-3 with a run scored and RBI, and Nick Martini was 1-3 with a run scored. Nick Martinez allowed 3 runs on 6 hits (1 home run) with a walk and 3 strikeouts in 5 innings and Lucas Sims (1-0) pitched a perfect 9th for the win.

The Reds head on the road for a mini 3 game series in Philadelphia that begins on Monday. The Nats head home for their home opener on Monday against the Pirates who are coming in off a 4 game sweep in Miami. Marco Gonzalez (4-1, 5.22 in ’23 with the Mariners) makes his Pirates debut against Makenzie Gore (7-10, 4.42 last year) with first pitch scheduled for 4:05. In other divisional action on the day: the Phillies beat the Braves, the Mets lost to the Brewers, and the Marlins lost to the Pirates. The Braves are in first at 2-1, the Phillies and Nats are tied for 2nd and 1 back at 1-2, the Mets are in 4th and 2 back at 0-3, and the Marlins are in last at 2.5 back at 0-4.

Pirates 8 @ Nats 4.
Michael A. Taylor had a sac fly in the 2nd to put the Pirates up 1-0, and Bryan Reynolds had a RBI groundout later in the inning. Lane Thomas had a single in the 3rd to make it 2-1, before Connor Joe gave the Pirates the 2 run lead back with an infield single in the 6th, but Riley Adams had a 2 run homer in the 7th to tie the score at 3. The Pirates put it away in the 8th; Joe & Ke’Bryan Hayes each had RBI doubles, Andrew McCutchen added a run on a single, and Reynolds added the final 2 runs in the 9th on a double, while CJ Abrams had the last RBI with a single in the bottom of the 9th. Joe went 2-4 with 2 RBI’s and a run scored, Reynolds went 2-5 with 3 RBI’s, Hayes was 1-5 with a run scored and what turned out to be the game-winning RBI, McCutchen was 2-4 with a RBI, Henry Davis was 2-4 with 2 runs scored, Oneil Cruz was 1-4 with a run scored, Taylor was 3-4 with 2 runs scored and a RBI, and Alika Williams was 2-4 with a run scored. Marco Gonzalez allowed 1 run on 4 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts in 5 innings, Roansy Contreras (1-0, 1st blown save) allowed 2 runs on 2 hits (1 home run) with a walk and 3 strikeouts, Ryder Ryan (1st hold) allowed 1 run on 2 hits with a walk and 3 strikeouts in 1.2 innings, and Aroldis Chapman (1st save) retired the only batter he faced for his first save of the season. Abrams finished 2-5 with a RBI, Thomas was 1-4 with a RBI, Trey Lipscomb went 2-4 with a run scored, Ildemaro Vargas was 1-3 with a run scored, Adams was 1-4 with a run scored, 2 RBI’s and a home run, and Victor Robles was 0-2 but scored a run. Makenzie Gore allowed 3 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in 5.1, and Robert Garcia (0-1) allowed 1 run on 1 hit with a strikeout in 2/3 of an inning and took the loss.

The teams have an off day in DC on Tuesday before resuming the series on Wednesday; Mitch Keller (0-0, 6.35) starts for Pittsburgh while Trevor Williams (6-10, 5.55 last season) starts for the Nats with game time scheduled for 6:45. In other East action on Monday: the Mets lost to the Tigers in 10 innings, The Braves shut out the White Sox in a rain-shortened 8 inning game, the Phillies lost to the Reds in extra innings, and the Marlins lost to the Angels 7-4. The Braves are in first at 3-1, the Phillies and Nats are 2 back at 1-3, the Mets are 3 back at 0-4, and the Marlins are last at 3.5 games back.

[7express]

Went 3-3 this week, losing 2 of 3 at home to the Phillies and winning 2 of 3 in San FRan to start the 9 game West coast swing. They surived a bases loaded-0 out situation on Tuesday to sneak away with that win. 3 in Oakland on Friday before 3 in LA to finish the trip. Anything at or above 3-3 is a successful week.

[7express]

Well, that was pretty good. They got to my goal of 3-3, but got a different way then I thought. I figured after the Dodgers lost to the Padres they'd put the hammer down this week, but it was far from the case. They travel home and have an off day and than get 3 at home against Houston for a weekend celebrating the 2019 champs, have another off day on Monday, and than get the Dodgers for 3 at home starting on Tuesday.

I'll put another 3-3 as the barometer for this week. The Astros stink so far this year even though Altuve has been hitting the ball very well, and they are a good series away from getting back on track. Justin Verlander is supposed to be back this weekend too which will be a good boost for them. And than the Dodgers, this will be the first series out East, and last year the Pirates took 6 of 7 games from than, so I guess it's possible the Nats can get another series.

[7express]

Won the series vs. Houston, but then face planted against the Dodgers. The top of the lineup (Abrams, Winker and Garcia) are doing pretty good, the rest of the squad is awful and boring. Joey Gallo had 7 official AB's in the series....he struck out 6 of the 7 times. He has 4 times as many strikeouts as hits (40 to 9). It's time to end this experiment and bring up James Wood to get his ABs. At least Wood has potential and is going to be a fixture on future teams, so might as well bring him up now and see what you got!

7 games this week. A wraparound 4 game weekend series in Miami and than 3 in Arlington to face the defending World Champs. Miami has beat them around like a pinata the last 2 seasons, but only the White Sox who are historically bad have fewer wins than they do in the league. So I'd probably go 3-4. Get a split in Florida and than get 1 in Texas?? That would probably be the most optimistic scenario, so let's set the goal at 3-4.