What a crazy week?
1) The top 3 issues for the Nats right now are: A) Injuries B) Injuries C) Injuries.
2) I was convinced before this week that the Nats will win the division comfortably. I haven’t changed my mind. Of course at this rate of injuries, all bets are off and if we can’t get somewhat healthy, we won’t make the playoffs.
3) Michael Taylor is a disaster and you just hope last night gets him restarted, but calling for his benching is a waste of breath given the lack of any reasonable alternatives. Andrew Stevenson aka “Stevo” isn’t an alternative and having 3 or 4 players switch positions is a recipe for disaster. Most teams have at least 1 dead spot in the lineup, MAT is ours and he plays great defense.
4) The latest injury blows are significant. Howie Kendrick was solid as a rock and it puts another AAA player in the lineup and worse on the bench. Ryan Madson is critical.
5) Wander Suero didn’t use his opportunity well yesterday. Given a 1 run deficit he quickly made it 3 which is what everyone else has been doing. The shame of it is that he got beat on a curve ball. No one was hitting his cutter.
6) We need to bring up Justin Miller from Syracuse. He may be a flash in the pan but in 13 innings he has given up 2 hits and 3 walks and struck out 18. I don’t think we have roster issues with all the major injuries requiring 60 day DL’s.
7) Juan Soto needs to start every game. He has struggled for about 2 games a piece every time he has moved up and so far so good after he made all of the highlights last night. We gotta let him play and when Brian Goodwin returns we can judge if he’s better off here on if more seasoning is required. Sitting on the bench makes no sense. We could have used Moises Sierra to do that.
8) Offensively it has to start with Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon who are 3 of the last 4 regulars standing (MAT is the other).
9) Stephen Strasburg is doing OK but we don’t need him to do OK — we need him to be Stras. No need to analyze Stras too much. Here is the issue: Last year he gave up 13 home runs all year. He is up to 10 on May 20th this year.
10) Sammy Solis pitched great to Bellinger on Sunday with 2 on and 2 out down by 1. Why couldn’t he do that on Saturday up by 2 with the bases empty?
Happy Shavuoth !!
