The Washington Nationals have just 29-games remaining on the season. This is the rubber game of this series against the New York Yankees. For the fans of the Nationals, this is au revoir for now to Juan Soto, who spent the majority of his career on this field in Nationals Park. Goodbye for now, and until we meet again. Of course Nats fans want Soto back permanently.
Manager Dave Martinez is giving a day-off to his struggling shortstop CJ Abrams with a team day-off tomorrow. Abrams was 0-4 last night, and actually put the ball in-play and bad luck BABIP got him, but after some good swings and solid defense — he buried a ball in the dirt in the 9th inning that was dug out by first baseman Joey Gallo to save Abrams and the from a costly error as closer Kyle Finnegan was struggling on the mound. Fortunately, Finnegan earned the save thanks to Gallo and some nifty defense from right fielder Dylan Crews.
Abrams has been in an horrific spiral down on offense and defense that started the day after he was named an All-Star on July 7. During that span of 41-games that Abrams has played since that point, he is batting just .169 with a .526 OPS. His BABIP is .200 which says Abrams has been unlucky — but most times, his contact has not been good. Again, what is hitting coach Darnell Coles doing to fix him? Abrams WAR has dropped to +1.8 on the season.
The Nats are underdogs today, at +165 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $165. Bet $10.00 and you win $16.50.
Based on last year’s win total of 71-games, the Nats need to go 12-17 or better to beat that total. To beat the 66-win total from FanGraphs, the Nats need to win 7 more games. There are just 29-games remaining in the season. The team needs to win 7 more games to avoid triple-digit losses.
Nats’ manager Dave Martinez gave the ball to Kyle Finnegan with a 3-run lead, and if it felt like a bad case of déjà vu, we were spared by some spectacular defense — after some bad defense to close out the 8th inning and start the 9th. With one of the most spectacular double play turns by Abrams to Luis Garcia Jr. to Gallo, it was Garcia and Abrams with throwing issues. That’s okay, Gallo saved Abrams, and Garcia’s bad throw only cost one run. Only. It could have been worse. You don’t give teams like the Yankees, extra outs.
A roster move today, the Nats recalled right-handed pitcher Orlando Ribalta from Triple-A Rochester and placed right-handed pitcher Joan Adon on the 15-day Injured List (retroactive to Aug. 25) with a right shoulder biceps strain.
Here is the bullpen usage with Finnegan possibly redlining at this point. With a day-off tomorrow, we will see who gets the hi lev bullpen work today.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward:
- Wednesday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Yankees
- Thursday: Day-Off August 29
- Friday: Jake Irvin vs. Cubs
- Saturday: DJ Herz vs. Cubs
- Sunday: Mitchell Parker vs. Cubs
- Monday: Day-Off September 2
- Tuesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Marlins
- Wednesday: Gore vs. Marlins
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Luis Garcia Jr. atop of the WAR rankings at +3.0, Jacob Young at +2.6 and CJ Abrams at +1.8. In total, 27 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another seven are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“We’re trying to contend again. It’s going to happen. With this core group, it’s going to happen. We’re heading in the right direction. … The next step is that I don’t want to be close anymore — I want to be there.”
— Nats’ manager Dave Martinez said after Monday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.36 and 22nd in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.50
No. 4 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.51
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.26
No. 2 Starter: DJ Herz 3.84
No. 1 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.80
Washington Nationals vs. New York Yankees
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, tune to Channel 180 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 134:
The Nationals won on 08/31 at home against Miami with a record of 76-58. The Nats are in second place in the NL East. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 09/07 at home against the Boston Red Sox resulting in a record of 78-56. The Senators have sole possession of first place and ahead of the Yankees. Box Score / Standings
