The Washington Nationals came up with a huge win last night at Dodger Stadium tonight on Jackie Robinson Day. It was the MLB debut for left-hander Mitchell Parker, and he did not disappoint Nats’ fans. Tonight it will be the veteran Patrick Corbin who got to watch the newbie dominate with basically just a fastball and a curveball, and the occasional splitter.
The team has kept Parker on the roster so it looks like he will pitch on Sunday against Houston, and we have a good idea how the rotation will look until Josiah Gray returns from his forearm muscular strain. Here’s what we think the schedule could look like:
- Tuesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Dodgers
- Wednesday: Jake Irvin vs. Dodgers
- Thursday: Day-off
- Friday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Houston
- Saturday: Trevor Williams vs. Houston
- Sunday: Mitchell Parker vs. Houston
- Monday: Day-off
- Tuesday: Corbin vs. Dodgers
- Wednesday: Irvin vs. Dodgers
- Thursday: Gore vs. Dodgers
- Friday: Williams vs. Miami
- Saturday: Parker vs. Miami
- Sunday: Corbin vs. Miami
- Monday: Irvin vs. Miami
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Jesse Winker and Hunter Harvey on top at +0.6 WAR with MacKenzie Gore, Trevor Williams, and CJ Abrams at +0.5. The next tier has Luis Garcia Jr. at +0.3. There are eight Nats now at +0.2. Since the season is nearly 10 percent complete, you can extrapolate the numbers and multiply by 10 to dream about Winker and Harvey as +6.0 WAR players, and Gore, Williams and Abrams as +5.0 WAR players. In total, 20 Nats’ players are positive WAR pieces.
Extrapolating and interpolating numbers can be fun although not always realistic. Those numbers would be great if it happened. Williams and Winker would be big trade pieces, and the Nats would be happy with that. All of that assumes those players stay at this pace. Abrams, Gore, and Harvey look like the “real deal” stars of the future for this team.
Dylan Floro and Matt Barnes have both pitched two days in a row from the bullpen. Tanner Rainey hasn’t been seen April 10. It is as if manager Dave Martinez is pitching with seven relievers, and Rainey only used in losing outcomes.
The Nats will face righty Kyle Hurt as the Dodgers’ opener tonight. This should be a long night for the Dodgers’ bullpen. They did callup top prospect Andy Pages who is an outfielder.
“It was great [scoring early]. The guys played with a lot of energy. It was a tough loss for us [in Oakland]. They handled themselves really well today.”
— manager Dave Martinez said yesterday
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 5.49 for 29th in MLB. Obviously sample sizes are miniscule at this point. Still a lot of work for the Nationals to improve in the rankings.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Josiah Gray 14.04
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 8.44
No. 3 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.24
No. 2 Starter: Trevor Williams 3.45
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 2.81
Washington Nationals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Stadium: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
1st Pitch: 10:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, the Nats will be online only, and the opposing team on Channel 188.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
TalkNats is Celebrating the 5 and 100 year anniversaries of World Series Wins by providing Game-by-Game Summaries.
Game 17:
The 2019 Nationals won on 4/18 against the Giants and moved their record to 9-8 on that date. As it goes, Patrick Corbin pitched into the 8th inning in a 1-run gem. Box Score / Standings
The 1924 Senators won on 5/4 against the Philadelphia Athletics resulting in a Senators’ record of 8-9 on that date. Walter Johnson has no earned runs in this one for another gem for the Hall of Famer. Box Score / Standings
