Photo courtesy of Kelly Collis for TalkNats
As a person, you have to love Nationals’ manager Dave Martinez, and while he has his critics, the respect starts for Martinez as to who he is. Yesterday afternoon, he left the dugout and was taken to the hospital with chest pains which required a cardiac catheterization. The procedure went well according to General Manager Mike Rizzo who spoke to Martinez and said he was “upbeat.” Martinez will remain in Washington, D.C., and in St. Louis, Chip Hale will be taking over as manager, Tim Bogar as his bench coach, and Joe Dillon as the first base coach. Our sincerest thoughts and prayers to Davey on a speedy recovery.
The last time the Nationals faced the Cardinals was in a four-game series in D.C. at the end of April, and the Nationals had what we described as a “split-squad line-up.” There was no Trea Turner, no Anthony Rendon, and Juan Soto went on the 10-day IL in the middle of that series. Without Soto, Victor Robles was shifted to rightfield which was a position he had not really played before, and Adam Eaton went to leftfield. It was a mistake we discussed at the time that you don’t change positions when your leftfielder cannot play — you just insert a new leftfielder. The net result was three losses of the four games at the end of April and into May against the Cardinals. The one game the Nationals won was from who Stephen Strasburg bested Dakota Hudson in a 2-1 game, and that is tonight’s matchup.
The starting lineup on that day was:
- Adam Eaton LF
- Victor Robles RF
- Howie Kendrick 3B
- Matt Adams 1B
- Yan Gomes C
- Brian Dozier 2B
- Wilmer Difo SS
- Michael Taylor CF
- Stephen Strasburg RHP
The right-handed Dakota Hudson has been pitching well for the Cardinals, and this will be a tough game without Dave Martinez at the helm. The lineup looks like the one we just saw with Ryan Zimmerman back at first base. Now Zim is batting 1.000 against Hudson although the sample size is just one at-bat. Hoping for the best for the Nats and get the win for Davey!
Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals
Stadium: Busch Stadium II, St. Louis, Missouri
1st Pitch: 7:45 pm EDT
TV: MASN, FOX Sports Midwest, MLB Network (out-of-market), MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
- Trea Turner – SS
- Adam Eaton – RF
- Anthony Rendon – 3B
- Juan Soto – LF
- Asdrubal Cabrera – 2B
- Ryan Zimmerman – 1B
- Victor Robles – CF
- Yan Gomes – C
- Stephen Strasburg – RHP
