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Deficit back to 8 as the Nats lose the half game. Martin Prado hit a 2 run homer in the 1st, Ian Desmond tied the score with a 2 run homer in the second, Marlins got 4 runs in the 4th or 5th (I had relatives in from Arizona, so I was out to dinner with them at the time), so I forgot what inning it actually was. Nats got 2 back in the 8th and had the bases loaded in the 8th but Marlins closer AJ Ramos struck Taylor out on 3 straight pitches. I'm actually heading down to Washington this weekend, hopefully going to the games Friday, Saturday & Sunday, so I'll do a weekend recap if nobody gets to it first.
Friday's scheduled matchup is Jose Fernandez for the Marlins vs. Max Scherzer for the Nats with a 7:05 start time.
Saturday has Justin Nicolino of the Marlins taking on Jordan Zimmermann for the Nats with a 4:05 start time.
Sunday I has Brad Hand for the Marlins taking on Stephen Strasburg for the Nats. After this series Marlins go home to begin their season ending 6 game home stand: 3 vs. the Phillies starting on Tuesday, and then 3 vs. Atlanta next weekend; Nats stay at home for the second installment of the Beltway battle as the Orioles will be @ Nats Park Monday to Wednesday.
Stay to go to Monday's game. It is Calvin Coolidge Bobblehead Day. No, I'm not kidding.
This game was awesome from Max Scherzer basically telling Williams to go $^%k off when he tried to remove him from the game. I was sitting in RF literally right next to the foul pole so I couldn't tell exacrly what was going on, but I was talking to the people around me wondering why he came out to the mound, and then left so quickly. It wasn't until I was out later watching MLB Network that I got the answer, and then Werth getting bloodied on the game winning sac fly when Marlins catcher JT Realmuto dropped the throw from Christian Yelich. Papelbon blew his second save of the season.
Saturday:
Marlins 2 @ Nats 5.
Marlins scored 2 runs in the first inning for the 3rd straight game as Yelich doubled home Ichiro, and then Justin Bour singled home Yelich. Nats took the lead for good in the 5th: Tyler Moore got the Nats to within 1 with a homer to LF, NL MVP Harper tied the game with a sac fly, and Desmond added a bases loaded walk for the lead. For good measure the MVP crushed a shot to RF for the 5-2 margin.
Sunday:
Marlins 3 @ Nationals 13.
Escobar & Harper were a combined 7-8 with 4 RBI's and 6 runs scored, while Strasburg became the first National pitcher with 10+ strikeouts in 3 straight games. He's also tied with Clayton Kershaw for the most strikeouts in a 3 game span this year with 37 bested by only 38 also done by Kershaw this 38. Tyler Moore blew the game open hitting a 3 run homer in a 7 run 6th inning which saw the Nats send 12 batters to the plate and saw them go from up 1 (3-2) to up 8 at the end of the inning (10-2). They tacked on 3 in the 8th, with third string catcher Pedro Severino hitting a double in his first major league plate appearance, scoring on a single by Escobar.
Monday begins the second battle of the beltway as the Orioles come to town for 3. Ubaldo Jimenez takes the ball for the Orioles who will be opposed by Gio Gonzalez for the Nats. Game time scheduled for 7:05 PM.
Heavy rains in Washington postponed the opener of the Beltway battle. Last night was now their final day off of the year as this game will be made up on Thursday afternoon, which was a mutual off day for both teams. The Nats also have a postponed game to make up vs. Cincinnati next Monday the 28 which was also originally scheduled as an off day. Mets shut out Atlanta 4-0, go to 6.5 up in the division and now have a magic number of 7 for the division. All the Nats can do is keep winning games, and hope they get some help from Atlanta & Cincinnati this week.
Monday's starters will now pitch Tuesday which are Ubaldo Jimenez for Baltimore and Gio Gonzalez for Washington with a 7:05 first pitch, and it looks like all the starters will be pushed back a day, though if I were Williams I'd keep Scherzer on schedule for Wednesday: by pushing him back to Thursday that'll mean the starters for the Mets series will be Gio, Tanner Roark & Scherzer while if we keep him on schedule for Tuesday we can get Zimmermann his last start in a Nats uniform on Sunday. Of course, who knows what will even happen if the Mets clinch the division beforehand, we could start AJ Cole, Taylor Hill & Doug Fister those 3 games, and I'm sure if the Mets go on a 4/5 game losing streak Williams will skip a half turn for Scherzer/Stras/Zim to have them pitch the games vs. the Mets.
Of course they only need to get it down to 3 in the next week or so since they have the opportunity to sweep NYM. Then again, they'll probably lose another game to Baltimore before having easy division games.
Of course they only need to get it down to 3 in the next week or so since they have the opportunity to sweep NYM. Then again, they'll probably lose another game to Baltimore before having easy division games.
Wiping out 3.5 games is brutal, as Mets schedule is easy. 1 more with Braves, 4 with Reds, 3 with Phils.
If the Mets simply went 5-3, Nats would need to go 9-0 in their games before that final series. Then they would need a Citi Field sweep plus winning a game 163. A 13 game win streak required.
Unlike the Mets we haven't taken advantage of the NL dregs this year (outside of September) so knowing us they'll lose to the Phillies or Braves probably both anyways. I highly doubt they go 6-0 against them anyways, I think we are only 3-3 in Atlanta this year.
Few division winners do so without handily beating the 2nd tier teams. Doesn't matter the league or division. Pirates were horrible vs 4/5 in central, thus they are a WC team, not a division winner.
Not much to see here as both teams are playing the string out on disappointing seasons. Both pitchers struggled with control early on, but only the Orioles were able to take advantage as the Nats couldn't hit water if they fell out of an oil tanker sailing through the Pacific, as they finished the game with only 3 or 4 hits I believe. Mets lost, so deficit remains at 6.5 games, and from here it's pretty much win out. After game 151 in 2007 (Mets have 11 games left, we have 12), the Mets were only up 2.5 games, and ended up losing 3.5 games in 9 days when they fell to 1 back of Philly after game 160. This would be the biggest collapse in baseball history if the Mets lost this one, but they have to win, losing is not an option anymore.
Wednesday concludes the series: Chris Tillman starts for Baltimore and he will be opposed by Max Scherzer for the Nats after all. Maybe Williams reads this after all....
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