The Washington Nationals got another ace performance from Mitchell Parker last night, but it went wasted as the offense stalled after the first inning, the infield defense was horrific, and the bullpen buckled. But seriously, what is up with the defense and why is Jose Tena still playing at 3rd base? This is the definition of insanity. The game would have been tied if not for the unearned runs.
In all, there were three infield errors, one by Tena, one by CJ Abrams, and one by Luis Garcia Jr. Totally avoidable, and these are becoming the norm. It’s the balls they don’t get to, and the plays they don’t make that are ruled as hits that are costly too. The good news is the Gold Glove defense being played in the outfield.
A couple of other notes were that CJ Abrams got his 29th stolen base last night and with one more steal, he would join the 20/30 club as the second member with Alfonso Soriano. As a team, the Nationals stole their 200th base of the season, and that is the best in the Majors. That set a new modern mark since the Rickey Henderson days. In conparison, the Washington Senators of 1913 stole 287 bases in fewer games. Baseball was different back then.
The Nats need to go 7-9 or better to beat their 2023 win total. How great would that be to finish in the mid-70’s for a win total? After this 4-game series with the Marlins, the Nats will only face teams in competition for the postseason.
The Nats are favorites today, at -145 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $145 you would win $100. Bet $14.50 and you win $10.00.
Nats’ manager Dave Martinez got a deep start from Parker, and unfortunately Derek Law blew the save and took the loss.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward, and the plan is to get Trevor Williams back into the rotation and finish the final week-and-a-half of the season with a 6-man rotation:
- Friday: DJ Herz vs. Marlins
- Saturday: Patrick Corbin vs. Marlins
- Sunday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Marlins
- Monday: Jake Irvin vs. Mets
- Tuesday: Mitchell Parker vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Herz vs. Mets
- Thursday: Corbin vs. Cubs
- Friday: Gore vs. Cubs
- Saturday: Irvin vs. Cubs
- Sunday: Parker vs. Cubs
- Monday: Day-off September 23
- Tuesday: Herz vs. Royals
- Wednesday: Corbin vs. Royals
- Thursday: Gore vs. Royals
- Friday: Irvin vs. Phillies
- Saturday: Parker vs. Phillies
- Sunday: Herz vs. Phillies (Final Game of the Season)
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Jacob Young at +2.8, Luis Garcia Jr. at a WAR of +2.8, and CJ Abrams has sunk all the way back to +1.6. In total, 29 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another seven are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
— Nats’ manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
“We came out swinging, scoring first, then we stopped swinging. I don’t know what to say. And our defense … our defense today was not good. We’ve got to play better defense.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.43 and 22nd in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.60
No. 4 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.34
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.29
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.19
No. 1 Starter: DJ Herz 3.82
Washington Nationals vs. Miami Marlins
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 176 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 147:
The Nationals lost on 09/14 at home against Atlanta with a record of 81-66. The Nats are in second place in the NL East. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 09/21 on the road against the St. Louis Browns resulting in a record of 87-60. The Senators have sole possession of first place and ahead of the Yankees. Box Score / Standings
