Photo by Lynn G. for TalkNats
Last night’s game between the Nationals and Phillies showed how evenly matched these teams are, but the Nationals are playing without one of their stars, Trea Turner, and a bullpen that is trying to find their way. The Phillies have everyone healthy and it showed. The game did not have a playoff feel as the Phillies did not have a big crowd on-hand on a perfect night for baseball as it was unseasonably warm and no precipitation. Maybe the fans are waiting for tonight’s heavyweight bout between Stephen Strasburg and Aaron Nola.
Last week, the Nats really took it to Nola. The Nats scored 6-runs in just 3 innings off of the Phillies ace and sent him to the showers early. Strasburg is coming off of the best start of the Nats young season as he threw a 6 2/3 inning shutout against the Mets.
Much of the Nationals bullpen got rest last night except for Wander Suero, Justin Miller, Kyle Barraclough and Tony Sipp. While “Everyday” Matt Grace warmed up along with Sean Doolittle, neither reliever made it into the game.
One of the promising signs in last night’s game was Brian Dozier‘s home run. He squared up a pitch from Pat Neshek and sent it over the wall in deep centerfield. If Dozier could heat up, it would be a real plus for this team that got production from most of the batting order. The issue was putting together long innings that scored runs.
In other news on the MASN lawsuits, there is this article in the Hollywood Reporter claiming MASN withholding payments to the Nationals dating back to last year. This is quite the read:
Wow, a new wrinkle in the MASN dispute—and now the Nats apparently are getting no TV money at all (previously they were getting like 40-45 million but not what the MLB committee had ruled they should have been getting https://t.co/VWEdVc5rgo
— Eric Fingerhut (@ericfingerhut) April 9, 2019
Washington Nationals vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Stadium: Citizens Bank Ballpark, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1st Pitch:7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN; MLB App out-of-market
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Line-ups subject to change without notice:
- Adam Eaton RF
- Brian Dozier 2B
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Juan Soto LF
- Ryan Zimmerman 1B
- Yan Gomes C
- Wilmer Difo SS
- Stephen Strasburg RHP
- Victor Robles CF
