The Washington Nationals have lost the first two games against the Mets in this three game series — and while execution is certainly at fault, just look at the managerial decisions in sending a fatigued DJ Herz out on the mound for the 5th inning. Quickly, the 2-0 deficit became 4-0. The Nats chipped away, and scored three runs — but even in the 9th inning, the struggling Keibert Ruiz who fell below the Mendoza mark again, batted for himself, while Luis Garcia Jr. sat on the bench in the 9th inning. Winnable games just flushed away.
For the bullpen, manager Dave Martinez used his closer, Kyle Finnegan, with a three-run deficit. He also had nobody warming in case he only wanted Finnegan to face the minimum of three batters. The Nats were able to not use Robert Garcia, Dylan Floro, and Hunter Harvey on Tuesday. It was Jordan Weems who pitched two scoreless innings with 3 Ks on Monday, and you probably don’t want to pitch him again today. Clearly, Derek Law is down after pitching three innings last night, and Jacob Barnes pitched on Tuesday also.
Hopefully with no more rain delays, Patrick Corbin can pitch deep into this game.
With Corbin’s two-run quality on Friday night, he has most likely solidified his spot once again in this rotation — or at least until Cade Cavalli and/or Josiah Gray are ready. Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like going forward:
- Wednesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Mets
- Thursday: Mitchell Parker vs. Braves
- Friday: Jake Irvin vs. Braves
- Saturday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Braves
- Sunday: DJ Herz vs. Braves
- Monday: Day-off June 10
- Tuesday: Corbin vs. Tigers
- Wednesday: Parker vs. Tigers
- Thursday: Irvin vs. Tigers
- Friday: Gore vs. Marlins
- Saturday: Herz vs. Marlins
- Sunday: Corbin vs. Marlins
- Monday: Day-off June 17
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Trevor Williams at +1.7 WAR, and Jake Irvin at +1.5, and MacKenzie Gore at +1.3 WAR. Jacob Young is at the top spot with +1.2 for position players. Hunter Harvey and Mitchell Parker are all at the +1.0 mark. In total, 20 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another sever at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.09 and 16th in MLB.
“I really think that we swung at the right pitches. We missed a lot of pitches. We beat the ball in the ground today. I looked back during the game at some of the pitches we swung at. They were over the heart of the plate. We just hit them in the ground. I don’t mind being aggressive when you’re swinging at strikes. It’s chasing, swinging at balls. We just couldn’t get the ball in the air today for some reason.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.83
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.60
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.57
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.39
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.22
Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 pm EDT (Rain Delay)
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 opposing team will be online and the Nats broadcast will be on Channel 180.
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 61:
The Nationals won on 06/05 at home against the White Sox resulting in a record of 28-33. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 06/27 at home against the Philadelphia Athletics resulting in a record of 34-27. Box Score / Standings
