The Washington Nationals have their Star Wars weekend celebration going today with a Kyle Finnegan Star Wars bobblehead. What might have been a sell-out will be another game dampened by rain that will keep the crowds away from outside activities today. Last night was chilly and the rains held-off just long enough to get the game in before the skies opened up after midnight around the DMV. What a comeback win last night. The Nats are now tied for the MLB lead with 11 come-from-behind victories.
There were no roster moves needed after Jacob Young was taken out of Friday’s game with back spasms. However there were spasms in the Blue Jays clubhouse after they blew a 3-1 lead in the 7th inning and lost 9-3. Toronto sends the inconsistent Kevin Gausman to the mound, and the Nats have Jake Irvin going for the home team.
Manager Dave Martinez has Eddie Rosario back into his starting lineup a day after he took Jesse Winker out of the starting lineup yesterday against a lefty starter. Martinez said to the media in the pregame on Friday, “Definition of insanity, right?” Well, meet insanity even though the Law of Averages have to be on Martinez’s side eventually that Rosario will get a meaningful hit, right? He is in an 0-27 downward swirly with an .086 BA and a .290 OPS for the season.
On the MASN broadcast, Alex Avila, a member of the 2021 Washington Nationals, will make his MASN debut subbing for Kevin Frandsen today.
With plans to get Josiah Gray back into a rehab assignment, you have to wonder if he can make it back in the month of May. Here’s what we think the schedule could look like going forward:
- Saturday: Jake Irvin vs. Toronto
- Sunday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Toronto
- Monday: Day-off May 6
- Tuesday: Trevor Williams vs. Orioles
- Wednesday: Mitchell Parker vs. Orioles
- Thursday: Day-off May 9
- Friday: Patrick Corbin vs. Red Sox
- Saturday: Irvin vs. Red Sox
- Sunday: Gore vs. Red Sox
- Monday: Williams vs. White Sox
- Tuesday: Parker vs. White Sox
- Wednesday: Corbin vs. White Sox
- Thursday: Day-off May 16
- Friday: Irvin vs. Phillies
- Saturday: Gore vs. Phillies
- Sunday: Williams vs. Phillies
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has CJ Abrams at the top at a +1.2 WAR followed byHunter Harvey, MacKenzie Gore and Trevor Williams at +0.9. Mitchell Parker is at +0.8 WAR, and Jake Irvin and Jacob Young are at +0.7. In total, 21 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another five at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“If I didn’t believe in you, I wouldn’t play you. … We just have to keep him going, and keep him engaged. … This guy can run off 20 home runs for us. He’s just really pressing all around.”
— manager Dave Martinez said about Rosario
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.40 and tied for 23rd in MLB. Obviously the sample sizes are still small at this point considering we are just under the 20 percent completion mark in the season. The Nats have been slowly moving up in the rankings. At this point in the season, the ERA movement is in smaller increments due to the total innings increasing well over triple-digits.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 6.45
No. 4 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.28
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.19
No. 2 Starter: Mitchell Parker 2.53
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.27
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN
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 on Channel 180, and the opposing team on only online.
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 33:
The Nationals lost on 05/05 on the road resulting in a record of 14-19. Anibal Sanchez gave up no earned runs but Matt Grace gave up five. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 05/28 at home against the Yankees resulting in a record of 15-18. Box Score / Standings
