Max earned his 175th career win in Game 1; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
The birthday boy, Dave Martinez, got a win he really wanted and he also got to see Max Scherzer record that win. Max finished his 2020 season with a winning record, and he won the 175th of his career.
“For me, it’s executing with location at 110 pitches,” Scherzer said. “That’s what I’m built to be able to do. That’s when you get into mid-season form and you get on a run and you go. I’ve said my body feels like it’s September — but my arm feels like it’s May.”
This will be a 7-inning game, and the Nats will start Anibal Sanchez and the Mets have Max’s old Detroit teammate, Rick Porcello, on the mound.
After the first game, the Mets placed Andres Gimenez on the 10-day IL and called up Ryan Cordell from their taxi squad.
The star of game one was Andrew Stevenson who hit a traditional home run off of Jacob deGrom and also had an inside-the-park home run. Stevenson along with Gomes carried the offense in game one.
Obviously as players have been sitting for interviews they have been talking about Martinez’s multi-year contract extension.
“It’s great that we extended Davey,” Scherzer said. “Very well deserved. Everything from day one to where he has gotten to now, he has grown so much, and he’s really become one of my favorite managers of all. I don’t want to throw any shade to Jim Leyland or Bob Melvin because I really enjoyed playing for those guys [in Detroit and Arizona].”
“But Davey really understands how to manage a clubhouse and manage a team. We saw it in the postseason. He knows how to push the right buttons when everything is on the line. He is everything you want in a manager and that’s why I am happy that the organization was able to sign him back.”
“He just has the feel for the game. He played for 17 years. He understands and has fun with it, and understands that we have to have fun all the time and he does a great job of finding ways to keep us loose, and keep us together. We are pros. We’re going to take the game seriously, but find a way to have our style of flair to it. He does a great job of supporting us and making all the decisions and keeping everybody glued together.”
New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:30 pm EDT
TV: MASN; SNY, MLB App out-of-market
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Line-ups subject to change without notice:
Words not in our dictionary:
Quit
Surrender
CapitulateA word in our dictionary:
#NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/cJy7LUnjZ0
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 26, 2020
