The Washington Nationals got snowed out yesterday in Colorado. The hope is that they will not have any weather issues this afternoon for today’s game or tomorrow’s doubleheader. The Nationals enter this game at 7-12, and the Rockies are 3-15.
The Nats offense went to sleep in Pittsburgh while scoring just one run in the final two games against the Pirates. Colorado could be the answer to the Nats’ slumping bats.
“The key was we couldn’t score any runs. We started swinging the bats late in the game, but our bats didn’t show up today.”
— Martinez said after the game
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with MacKenzie Gore taking back the team lead just ahead of James Wood, Mitchell Parker, and Keibert Ruiz. On defense, Paul DeJong is your OAA leader, and Amed Rosario who barely plays is a -2.0 already. Unfortunately Luis Garcia Jr.‘s defensive struggles are back, and he is also a -2.0 OAA on defense. Here are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good — but the gap is widening.
The Nationals have three daily starters who are well below the .200 batting average line known as the Mendoza Line. The season is now just over 10 percent completed, and the early results are worrisome based on underlying statistics such as chasing balls out of the zone. Luis Garcia Jr., Josh Bell, and Dylan Crews are all on the Mendoza list. Each have started most of the season. Bell has the lowest exit velo of his career, and his in-zone misses are as troublesome as the out-of-zone misses. Bell will sit today.
Baseball is a team sport with 26-players. It is important to manage rest for pitchers and the starting catcher. Keibert Ruiz sat for only the second game of the season on Thursday after going on a 1-14 skid since Sunday. The Friday weather postponement might have helped Ruiz most of all to get two full days off.
“Look, I think we’re playing great baseball, and we all believe in ourselves and believe that we can take it to the next level. We hold each other accountable, and we hold each other to a higher standard. We’re going to keep putting our head down, because the only way through this is through.”
— starter Trevor Williams said after Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh
A surgeon’s thoughts on Paul DeJong‘s facial injury after he was hit in the face by a 92.7 mph fastball. We did a Q&A with Dr. Brian Polsky, surgeon at The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics. He believes that if it was a simple nose fracture that DeJong will be able to return in a few weeks. Here is that interview:
What is your thinking about Paul DeJong‘s facial injury?
“It sounds like he has a nasal fracture, and the immediate things you have to worry about are any kind of internal bleed – so you have to rule out a concussion – and then you also have to make sure there’s no fractures around the eye orbit, because [the hit] was very close to [the eye] too. [Team physicians] are going to want to make sure his vision is okay before he can return to play. When you get hit like that, you have to think about multiple things at the same time, and that’s what [team physicians] have been evaluating.”
What does the recovery process look like assuming it is just a nasal fracture with no other complications?
“They’re going to evaluate how bad the fracture is – if he has what we would call a displaced fracture, where his nose was moved to the side – he might potentially need a surgical procedure. Now, from what I’ve read, it doesn’t sound like that. So, it sounds like a fairly minor, stable fracture. And if that is the case, it’ll still take 6-8 weeks to completely heal… but if it’s stable and he can breathe okay, there’s no bleeding or headaches or anything like that, then they’ll probably let him play.”
How does this impact his future playing abilities?
“[If there is no concussion], once it heals, he should be normal again, there shouldn’t be any increased risk of anything. Now, he’s a professional, but he might have some mental anguish over this and be hesitant to get out there [for fear of being hit by a pitch]. That’s a different issue, but physically, he should be fine.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 3.96 and 15th best in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 6.86 and is the worst in MLB by over a full run per game.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.95
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 7.20
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 1.85
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.91
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.52
Washington Nationals vs. Colorado Rockies
Stadium: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
1st Pitch: 4:10 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 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
