The Washington Nationals had a day-off yesterday after a weekend sweep of the Reds, and now have to face the Padres. The Nats went to San Diego at the end of June and were flying high until the Padres set the Nats down and knocked the Nats out of the Wild Card picture. Now the Nats are looking to wreak havoc on the Padres in Nationals Park.
The Nats stars of Sunday’s game was James Wood with the big bat, and pitcher Jake Irvin on the mound. It is good to see different players stepping up for the Nats in each game.
The Nationals recalled LHP DJ Herz from Triple-A Rochester, and he will start tonight. To make room for him, the team optioned RHP Eduardo Salazar to Triple-A Rochester
We are now exactly one week before the 2024 trade deadline, and everyone wants to know if general manager Mike Rizzo will trade more of his players or wait a little bit longer in case his team can go on a miraculous run. His team has now won 5-of-their-last-6 games. Not exactly a spectacular run — but let’s see if this team can go on a long winning streak.
Manager Dave Martinez had to cover just 2.0 innings with his bullpen on Sunday. Dylan Floro has not pitched since Saturday when he went 2.0 innings and 29 pitches. It was Kyle Finnegan for the save for a 3-in-a-row, and he needed the rest the most. Robert Garcia and Derek Law have been carrying most of the pitch count burden on this — and keep in mind that the Nats bullpen is now back to 8-pitchers.
The Nationals are the slight underdogs today, at -115 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $115 you would win $100. Bet $11.50 and you win $10.00.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward:
- Tuesday: DJ Herz vs. San Diego
- Wednesday: Mitchell Parker vs. San Diego
- Thursday: Patrick Corbin vs. San Diego
- Friday: MacKenzie Gore vs. St. Louis
- Saturday: Jake Irvin vs. St. Louis
- Sunday: TBA vs. St. Louis
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has CJ Abrams on the top at +2.2 for position players and the team’s All-Star. He is behind MacKenzie Gore at +2.4. Jake Irvin is at +1.9. Jacob Young is at +1.9 as the second best position player. In total, 23 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another eight are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“He wants to learn. He listens. And like I’ve said, writing his name in the lineup makes me feel good, and I know that when he gets up there he’s going to do everything he can to hit the ball hard. I know he’s going to run the bases hard, he does all the little things we ask him to do. He’s going to get better at playing left field, and he’s been better.”
— Nats’ manager Dave Martinez said about James Wood after Sunday’s game
“With him here, our future is looking good.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.20 and 17th in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.35
No. 4 Starter: DJ Herz 5.17
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.20
No. 2 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.90
No. 1 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.494
Washington Nationals vs. San Diego Padres
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 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, tune to Channel 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
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 101:
The Nationals won on 07/24 at home against the Colorado Rockies in a record of 55-46. They won’t drop below .500 the rest of the season. The Nats are in second place in the NL East. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 08/02 on the road against the Detroit Tigers resulting in a record of 57-44. The Senators were in possession of 2nd place. Box Score / Standings
