When MASN’s Dan Kolko reported during yesterday’s Washington Nationals broadcast that Juan Soto “might” get today’s day-off, it turned out that it is Bryce Harper getting the day-off. Soto is a career 3-for-5 against Steven Matz “MATZY” who is pitching today for the Mets. Even in the midst of a 3-game scoring drought, manager Dave Martinez decided to sit the player who is supposed to be the team’s best hitter today. Michael A. Taylor will take Harper’s spot in the outfield. What has Taylor done lately? He has not had a hit since August 15th and is recently 0-7 with 5 strikeouts. Maybe Taylor has dominated Matz? Well, he’s batting .222 head-to-head with a home run in 18 at-bats. One of the more curious non-moves is that Mark Reynolds who has the second best stats (.364 BA) is not starting while Ryan Zimmerman (.143 BA) is at first base today.
We will see how this line-up works for the Nationals who begin the day at 27.0 innings of scoreless offense. As the Players’ Weekend finishes today, the fans’ season of watching their Nats team under-perform continues. For three days in a row, the Nationals starting pitching has been mostly excellent. Today the Nats send rookie Jefry Rodriguez “PIZON” to the mound with a well rested bullpen behind him.
The Nationals made no roster moves today which has a way of sending the message that the status quo is acceptable. Many players have not been stepping up. They know who they are, and the people who watch the game know. The Nationals already called up Andrew Stevenson who was the hottest hitter at the time batting .350 in Syracuse Triple-A where top prospect Victor Robles is now the Chiefs’ hottest hitter in the last week. Robles is the type of player who brings high energy.
In the past week, @Victor__Robles at @SyracuseChiefs has had 5 multi-hit games going 4-6, 2-4. 2-5, 2-5, and 2-4 with 2 walks. That is 12-31 which is a .387 batting average and a .424 OBP which would be best on the #Nats team. Trea Turner at .316 (6-19) and Adam Eaton .421 OBP.
— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) August 26, 2018
Here is our Players’ Weekend nickname guide:
Wilmer Difo: “EL DE”
Sean Doolittle: “DOC”
Adam Eaton: “SPANKY”
Erick Fedde: “FEDDECCINI”
Koda Glover: “BEAR”
Gio Gonzalez “DOUBLE G”
Matt Grace: “GRACEY”
Bryce Harper: “MONDO”
Jeremy Hellickson: “HELLY”
Kelvin Herrera: “K 40”
Greg Holland: “HOLLY”
Howie Kendrick: “TRUCK”
Spencer Kieboom: “BOOMER”
Ryan Madson: “BLEST”
Justin Miller: “J. MILLZ”
Tommy Milone: “TOMASO”
Anthony Rendon: “ANT”
Mark Reynolds: “SHERIFF”
Tanner Roark: “T-RO”
Joe Ross: “JR”
Max Scherzer: “BLUE EYE”
Sammy Solis: “BIG ANGUS”
Juan Soto: “JUANJO”
Wander Suero: “THE ANIMAL”
Andrew Stevenson “STEVO”
Stephen Strasburg: “STRAS”
Michael A. Taylor: “MIGGY”
Trea Turner: “TRIPLE TREA”
Matt Wieters: “MAUI”
Ryan Zimmerman: “ZIM”
For the Mets, here are some of their nicknames:
Tyler Bashlor: “BASH”
Jose Bautista: “JOEYBATS”
Jerry Blevins: “JER-RY JER-RY JER-RY”
Jay Bruce: “BRUUUCE”
Michael Conforto: “SCOOTER”
Travis d’Arnaud: “LIL d”
Jacob deGrom: “deGROM”
Phillip Evans: “BARREL”
Wilmer Flores: “CATIRE”
Todd Frazier: “TODDFATHER”
Robert Gsellman: “G-MAN”
Luis Guillorme: “LUISMI”
Austin Jackson: “A-JAX”
Seth Lugo: “QUARTERRICAN”
Steven Matz: “MATZY”
Jeff McNeil: “JT”
Devin Mesoraco: “ROCKO”
Rafael Montero: “MONTERO”
Tomas Nido: “NIDO”
Corey Oswalt: “OZ”
Kevin Plawecki: “PLAW DAWG”
AJ Ramos: “JUNIOR”
Jose Reyes: “LA MELAZA”
Jacob Rhame: “RHAMROD”
T.J. Rivera: “T-BUTTA”
Amed Rosario: “EL NIÑO”
Paul Sewald: “PAULIE”
Dominic Smith: “BIG D”
Drew Smith: “SMITTY”
Anthony Swarzak: “T-SWEEZY”
Noah Syndergaard: “THOR”
Jason Vargas: “VARGY”
Bobby Wahl: “PEANUT”
Zack Wheeler: “WHEELS”
Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
Stadium: CitiField, Queens, New York
1st Pitch: 1:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN2; MLB.TV app out-of-network
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Line-ups subject to change without notice:
- Adam Eaton “SPANKY” RF
- Trea Turner: “TRIPLE TREA” SS
- Anthony Rendon: “ANT” 3B
- Ryan Zimmerman: “ZIM” 1B
- Juan Soto: “JUANJO” LF
- Michael A. Taylor: “MIGGY” CF
- Wilmer Difo: “EL DE” 2B
- Spencer Kieboom “BOOMER” C
- Jefry Rodriguez “PIZON” RHP
