The Washington Nationals are mired in a five-game losing skid and hope to find the same magic they found last year on April 21 in L’Étoile du Nord against the original Washington Senators, now known as the Twins. A month ago from today, the Nats were celebrating a walk-off against the Astros and a march towards the .500 mark. The starting pitching isn’t the problem here. Every starter on the mound for manager Davey Martinez did enough to be the stopper in the last time through the rotation, and it was some combination of either the defense, baserunning, the bullpen, or the offense that could not get it done to push a game into the W column.
You could call the issues part of the “Little Things.” What is Martinez, the front office, and the coaching staff doing to better this team? When hustle becomes an issue, you got a real problem. Several people pointed out yesterday that Eddie Rosario had once again stopped running after a flyball, and CJ Abrams grounded out and, at best, slow-jogged about 60 feet up the baseline. Sorry, the problems started with a pickoff last weekend, an outfield drop of a flyball, and an inexcusable TOOTBLAN by the same player — and he remained in the lineup. That doesn’t send the right message. But hey, what do I know?
So Mitchell Parker gets the start today, and he might be fighting for a roster spot with Josiah Gray and Cade Cavalli readying themselves. Neither will be ready for a while, but see that start on June 5 with Parker’s name next to it? That might be it for him if he doesn’t show that he belongs. Maybe Patrick Corbin should be sweating it out.
Here’s what we think the schedule could look like going forward:
- Monday: Mitchell Parker vs. Twins
- Tuesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Twins
- Wednesday: Jake Irvin vs. Twins
- Thursday: Day-off May 23
- Friday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Mariners
- Saturday: Trevor Williams vs. Mariners
- Sunday: Parker vs. Mariners
- Monday: Corbin vs. Atlanta
- Tuesday: Irvin vs. Atlanta
- Wednesday: Gore vs. Atlanta
- Thursday: Williams vs. Atlanta
- Friday: Parker vs. Cleveland
- Saturday June 1: Corbin vs. Cleveland
- Sunday: Irvin vs. Cleveland
- Monday: Gore vs. Mets
- Tuesday: Williams vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Parker vs. Mets
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Trevor Williams at +1.3 WAR followed by CJ Abrams at +1.2, and Jake Irvin and MacKenzie Gore at a +1.1 and +1.0 respectively. In total, 20 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another six at a neutral 0.0 WAR. Unfortunately, Keibert Ruiz has moved to the -1.0 WAR line at the quarter-pole of the season, and Joey Meneses not too far behind him. Can they turn it around like Eddie Rosario?
“We’ve got a checklist of stuff we want to see [Lane Thomas] do, and we’ll see how he comes out of it after all that. Hopefully there’s no soreness, he feels good, and he can go out there and play again tomorrow.”
— manager Dave Martinez said today about the Thomas plan to begin his rehab assignment
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.05 and 15th in MLB. The Nats are now 21 points from 13th best in baseball. The team has been slowly moving up in the rankings it seems week by week.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.59
No. 4 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.91
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.30
No. 2 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.09
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.35
Washington Nationals vs. Minnesota Twins
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 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 online, and the opposing team on Channel 177.
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 46:
The Nationals lost on 05/19 at home against the Cubs resulting in a record of 19-27. The epic slide for those 2019 started in that game. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 06/11 on the road against the St. Louis Browns resulting in a record of 22-24. Box Score / Standings
