Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
Click here to watch Nats win #25 on MASN via MLB.TV at 6:30 pm tonight with the rest of us. Just a quick reminder of what we are doing if this is your first time: As a group, we are going to be re-watching all 105 wins from the Nats 2019 season in chronological order at 6:30 pm each night. We will all try to sync up to the same point in the game, and this is a work in progress to maneuver to the same point in the game. Feel free to ask in the comments section where everyone is in the game so you can sync up. Many people are joining in at different points, and most people are not commenting — rather just following along.
The MLB.TV library is unlocked and free to everyone for the 2018-2019 season courtesy of MLB. This win #25 came in the 56th game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 24-33 record into this game. This is where manager Dave Martinez started preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned a losing record into a winning record. It took the Nats until June 28th to reach a winning record and they got to 12 games above .500 on August 21st. They dug themselves a deep hole and it took much longer to dig out of it.
After the Nationals dropped the first game of this series in what looked like a favorable matchup with Patrick Corbin going against Tyler Mahle, the Nats needed to take advantage of old friend Tanner Roark who was traded in the off-season to the Reds for Tanner Rainey. Coincidentally, it was Roark and Rainey who would be the pitchers of record in this game. The Nationals sent Erick Fedde to the mound to start this game, and he will got to face the Reds lineup that would have a couple more lefties in there.
On Thursday night, there were several players of both teams attending a Dierks Bentley concert in Cincinnati. According to the reports, Roark was invited to a suite where Nats players were and Roark declined the invitation.
“The [Reds] are my teammates now,” Roark said after the concert. “It was funny to see them there and be in the same place at the same time.”
Sure, there has to be some hurt feelings by Roark when these two teams swapped “Tanners” in that off-season trade that sent him to the Reds and Tanner Rainey to the Nats. It is a very different Roark who is essentially pitching two times through the opposing team’s batting order (5.1 innings on average) and pulled before he breaks a sweat which won’t let him get too far into a pitch count above 98-pitches with few exceptions. While that formula had made Roark look better than last year, he is leaving much of the fate of his games to his bullpen to pitch nearly 4 innings per game.
Steve Mears wrote before that game, “Will manager Dave Martinez add even more lefties into his lineup today with Gerardo Parra? With Roark having his struggles with lefties, the only spot would be Parra in centerfield for Victor Robles with Matt Adams at first base. It would be nice if the Nationals had another tough lefty batter for, say, second base for instance.” Yes, Rizzo saw that too and eventually added the switch-hitting Asdrubal Cabrera!
Yes and yes and Gerardo Parra carried his team again in this game.
Washington Nationals vs. Cincinnati Reds
Stadium: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati, Ohio
