Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
Click here to watch Nats win #43 on July 2nd 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 #43 came in the 84th game in the 2019 season, and the Nats took the a 42-41 record into this game. Manager Dave Martinez was preaching “Go 1-0 every game” and eventually the Nats turned their 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. Now the Nats were believing they could be a postseason team.
As the calendar turned to July, the Nationals were now looking to the trade deadline as buyers instead of sellers. That Nats were closing in on the Atlanta Braves whose lead in the NL East shrunk to 4.5 games after they were shutout by the Phillies, and the Nats found themselves just 6.0 games out with 78 games left to play.
It was an emotional Patrick Corbin on the mound after the death of one of his best friends, Tyler Skaggs, and while the game didn’t start off great for Patrick, he finished strong. While Corbin got the no-decision in this one as Wander Suero could not hold the 2-1 lead that pushed the game in a tie to the 9th inning, it was Trea Turner who struck again for his third walk-off of the season. This one was not a home run walk-off, but hit well enough to win it for the Nats.
There were six games remaining for the Nationals before the All-Star break, and this game was the first game in this six game homestand. The Nationals had a much needed day-off before this game which certainly gave at least two days of rest to every reliever except for Sean Doolittle who was the only bullpen arm needed in Max Scherzer‘s win in Detroit.
The Marlins went with their rookie righthander Zac Gallen who the Nats faced the week before and the Marlins left Gallen in for the sixth inning, and the Nats pounced on him and knocked him out of the game with one-run in and two runners on-base when the Big City Matt Adams connected for a 3-run blast to put the Nationals up by a score of 4-1. Would Matt Adams start again versus Zac Gallen? Nope, Ryan Zimmerman was back from his long IL stint and would start in this one.
Miami Marlins at Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
