Photo by Kevin Nibley for TalkNats
The trip to Arizona was like a trip and fall as the team lost a game started by a member of the team’s “Big Four” which it had not done since June 15th when Stephen Strasburg lost to Arizona in Nats Park. Now, the team has lost two games in a row which included yesterday’s loss started by Patrick Corbin. Manager Dave Martinez will look to Erick Fedde to be the “stopper” as the Washington Nationals begin a three game series in San Francisco.
For the Giants, they were surging for much of July and until the last week when they came back down to earth after the trade deadline and their aspirations for a Wild Card took a big hit. They have lost six of their last ten games and are at .500. The Giants had a chance to cash-in on some trades as both Will Smith and Madison Bumgarner would have returned some top prospects. Instead they traded from their middle relievers, and acquired Scooter Gennett.
Tonight, the Giants send the big righty Jeff Samardzija to the mound, and he has certainly been inconsistent in the past but got on a roll in July and pitched to a 2.09 ERA in six starts which dropped his season’s ERA to 3.75. You never know which Samardzija you will face, and the Nats hope it is his April 17th version that they beat 9-6 in Nats Park. Matt Adams has three home runs off of the Giants pitcher in his last fifteen at-bats. In fact, all Nats batters have a strong history against him except Brian Dozier, Anthony Rendon, and the Nats two catchers. Even Andrew Stevenson tagged Samardzija for a 2-4 with two RBIs. Adam Eaton is 3-5 and Gerardo Parra is 11-27 so how can Martinez stack his lineup accordingly?
There does not appear to be any roster moves today, and the question for the Nats manager is how will he pencil in his lineup. According to reports, the recently DFA’d lefty reliever, Tony Sipp, cleared outright waivers, but he declined a minor league assignment from the Nationals and will now be a free agent.
Washington Nationals vs. San Francisco Giants
Stadium: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
1st Pitch: 9:45 pm EDT
TV: MASN2, NBC Sports Bay Area, MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
