Photo by Marlene Koenig for TalkNats
When Erick Fedde was called up as a fill-in for the beleaguered bullpen, he adjusted well to his new role on the team. He said that he found success in the bullpen because he was aggressive in the strike zone, and his 0.00 gave some hope that maybe he found something that was working for him. As soon as you believed that the 26-year-old had found the magic elixir, he was called upon to relieve the injured Anibal Sanchez just five days ago and Fedde stumbled giving up 4-runs in 2 2/3 innings. He lacked the putaway pitch on left-handers that plagued him before. Fedde had previously had a 0.00 ERA in 8.0 innings of work before last week’s issues. His ERA today is 3.38. He will face this same Mets team tonight that he faced 5-days ago. The big difference today is that if the Nationals lose they would fall an unthinkable 10-games below .500. The last time this team was 10-games below .500 was on September 11, 2011.
The furthest the Nats have been below .500 since the “losing years” is now. Everyone remembers those dark years of 2006 to 2011, and that is why there is so much riding on the Nats today since they lost Sunday’s game against Chicago, and last night’s game against the Mets. The “try hard” Nats really have no excuses left to give since all of their key players are back. The returning players of Trea Turner, Juan Soto, and Anthony Rendon all had a positive impact yesterday, but other players could not help this team to get the lead. In the Nats’ last win on Saturday, Stephen Strasburg put the team on his back and went 8.0 innings allowing 1 earned run to deliver the win. Some days the offense has to pick it up for their pitcher.
Tonight’s matchup is against Zack Wheeler who the Nats beat 5 days ago in Washington, D.C. The time is now for this Nationals team to go on a run or else it will be the end of an era of the winning years. While last year was disappointing, the team still finished with a winning record and a plan for improvement. No more excuses — win now!
Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
Stadium: CitiField, Queens, New York
1st Pitch: 7:110 pm EDT
TV: MASN2; MLB App out-of-market
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Line-ups subject to change without notice:
