Photo by LEGnats for Talknats
Tanner Roark has been the facial hair chameleon for weeks now as he seemingly has gone from the 1960’s ZZ-Top look to an in-between Ken with a 1970’s throwback to the most recent CC Sabathia hairless look after his last 3 starts. Let’s hope Roark doesn’t shave his legs next. The Nationals are now 5-14 in Roark appearances this season going into tonight’s game. Roark has certainly put his team in a position to win 11 of the 25 games he has pitched in, but lately, like the July 3rd disaster where he gave up 9-earned runs and then lasted only 4-innings in his 4-run inefficient 102-pitch start 5-days ago, these are not MLB quality. After the last few starts, Roark each time has told the post-game media that he “felt great” while the paying fans were left “feeling sick”.
The Nats need a gem like Roark threw on April 2nd when he beat the Braves 8-to-1. He has the ability and tonight he faces Noah Syndergaard. That in itself is no easy task except the Washington Nationals current crew has hit Syndergaard well in the past. Maybe this game comes down to who pitches better? That used to be the modus operandi for the Nats success that great starting pitching and a shutdown bullpen equaled a win. There is always the factor that you have to score enough runs to back-up your pitching and that has been another issue since early June for this team.
Last night, the Nats bats got Max Scherzer and his team the win, and today is a new day. What have you done for me lately?
Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
Stadium: CitiField, Queens, NY
1st Pitch: 7:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN; MLB.TV app out-of-network
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Line-ups subject to change without notice:
