by Andrew Lang
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
by Andrew Lang
by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears
The 26,719 paid attendance was even larger at Nationals Park for James Wood‘s debut because every player/coach in the Nats’ dugout was a fan last night. Wood’s teammates and coaches all joined in the cheering and ovations as Wood got his first hit in his first career at-bat and danced at 1st base. The storybook ending didn’t finish with Wood scoring the winning run. Instead, it was a heartbreaking L.
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The Washington Nationals have James Wood batting 6th and playing left field in the lineup tonight for his MLB debut. In 2018, manager Dave Martinez penciled in Juan Soto into left field and batting 6th for his first MLB start. Soto faced a lefty starter just like Wood will in this Monday night game just like Soto went through on his Monday night first start.
In Soto’s first at-bat, he took the lefty, Robbie Erlin, deep in an oppo shot as most of you remember. Soto finished 2-4 with the home run and three RBIs and a star was born. Let Wood be James Wood and put good swings on the ball and see what happens tonight. Of course we hope this is a déjà vu moment by two players who will always be intertwined.
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When James Wood joins the Washington Nationals roster on Monday, he will be the third permanent piece of the quintet to make the big league team from the Juan Soto/Josh Bell trade. To be technical, we could include Luke Voit who was the veteran throw-in, and was quickly gone after just 53 games, as the sixth player that came over to the Nats.
The photo above, in one frame, shows Wood batting, MacKenzie Gore pitching, and CJ Abrams at shortstop as 60 percent of the five player haul of youngsters who are up in the Major Leagues on Monday. Note, that is Robert Hassell III who is taking a lead off of second base in that photo, and he is the fourth piece of that blockbuster trade with Single-A flamethrower, Jarlin Susana (not pictured), as the fifth piece. That is quite the quintet.
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The Washington Nationals have been in a need of a game without mistakes, and the only one came on the stadium construction that should have been a pop-up out that turned into a freebie do-over that led to a home run — and the only run that Tampa would score in the game. The Nats were as close to flawless as you could get. Without the do-over, starter Jake Irvin would have had a 6.0 inning no-hitter and a shutout going. Instead, manager Dave Martinez gave the ball to his bullpen after the 6th inning — or should we say — his rested bullpen, to close it out an 8-1 win.
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The Washington Nationals have a lot of work ahead of them as they have fallen to fourth place in the NL East. The mathematical second half of the season begins today. With T-2 days until the arrival of James Wood, here is to new beginnings. Right now, we have to find our optimism in tiny slivers of hope. Do you remember the “Hope Row” story? This is just the beginning as general manager Mike Rizzo said there would be top prospects (plural) called up. You have to think Dylan Crews is enjoying the strike zone and ABS challenge system in Triple-A. He’s pushed his K rate down to nearly 10 percent. Wood will likely head out of Rochester with an OPS over 1.000. Help is on the way from Hope Row.
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There seems to be a reoccurring script to these Washington Nationals games with the same dark comedy. The elements are: 1. The other team takes the lead 2. Bad base running 3. Bad defense 4. One pitch at-bats 5. Bad umpiring leads to a run 7. Lack of hustle 8. Bad luck 9. Nats lose
That script just repeats on a loop to a point of disbelief that this just happens over and over. Sometimes it is the same actor playing the same part which makes this even worse. Some fans are convinced the umpires are out to get the Nationals.
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The Washington Nationals averaged 6-runs scored per game in San Diego, and need keep that up in Tampa tonight as well as the team has to get back to some ace pitching and shutdown bullpenning.
At the end of the game tonight, the Nats’ season is mathematically half completed. The team opens the series at 4-games under .500, and they have to get back to their winning ways.
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One way to improve the product is by replacing the weakest parts with better parts, and you usually do that incrementally. News broke today that the Nats’ top prospect, and a Top-5 consensus prospect in all of baseball, James Wood, will be called up for the Nationals on Monday. Expect Wood to play tonight and tomorrow in Rochester Triple-A as his final tune-up, and then meet-up with the team for his Monday debut against the NY Mets.
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As soon as the Washington Nationals jet flew out of San Diego at 6:45 pm PDT, they turned the page on a miserable series. That series exposed a team that makes too many mistakes. Where is the internal improvement? What you do next is what counts. You must improve your product. No, it was not a happy flight after being swept by the Padres. The Nationals had leads in two of the three games in the series including a 3-run lead in the 10th inning on Monday.
If you had flashbacks to May 16 of last year in Miami, we get it. There are often parallels to other times, and Hunter Harvey had that same moment in both games with Luis Arraez coming up with two outs. This time his manager, Dave Martinez, made the right decision for Harvey and 4-fingered Arraez to take first base. Instead of Jorge Soler stepping into the batter’s box next — it was Jurickson Profar on Monday. Like with Soler, Harvey had him at 2-strikes with 2-outs, and then threw the fateful pitch. But here’s the thing, it’s what happened both times before Arraez stepped to the plate that cost Harvey and his team. The Nats got swept in that Miami series in 2023 after entering that series with an 8-5 record in the previous two weeks.
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The Washington Nationals have averaged 6.5 runs per game so far in San Diego, and that should have been enough to produce two wins if the defense and pitching did their jobs. They didn’t.
The Nationals are the 6th worst defensive team in baseball not counting their catching defense — and if you remove Jacob Young — the Nats are the worst by far. The plays not made are piling up. A flyball to Lane Thomas, a grounder to Luis Garcia Jr., a throw to Nick Senzel, a scoop by Joey Meneses are all recent costly missed plays … in the past few days. The infield has looked like swiss cheese for groundballs finding the fertile green outfield grass for back-breaking hits.
Would you be surprised if you learned that Abrams leads the Nationals in the worst fielding per Statcast, and also most recently in the worst baserunning. You want to be paid like Bobby Witt Jr.? Play a complete game like Witt! Going 3-for-3 then getting picked-off twice won’t get you the massive contract. You have to play all parts of the game, not just hit the ball.
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