Updated: Trea Turner starts today at 2nd base, Ryan Zimmerman at 1st base

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Updated 11:10AM: Bronson Arroyo was scratched from this start with shoulder soreness and will be replaced by Blake Treinen.  This puts a big halt to Arroyo’s efforts to become the Nats 5th starter.

The bus is on it’s way to Jupiter Florida for a matchup with the Miami Marlins and Dusty once again is taking a roster close to his Opening Day line-up with the exception of Trea Turner starting at 2nd base in place of Daniel Murphy who played yesterday and Michael Taylor in the outfield replacing Jayson Werth who also played yesterday.

Bronson Arroyo, RHP, gets the start against the Marlins and he is expected to go 4 innings. Ryan Zimmerman gets the start at 1st base for his first official Spring Training start in the field.

Here is your line-up:

  1. Ben Revere LF
  2. Michael A. Taylor CF
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Ryan Zimmerman 1B
  5. Anthony Rendon 3B
  6. Danny Espinosa SS
  7. Wilson Ramos C
  8. Trea Turner 2B
  9. Jhonatan Solano C DH

Bronson Arroyo RHP    Blake Treinen RHP Continue reading →

Posted in Arroyo, RyanZimmerman, SpringTraining, Treinen, Turner | Leave a comment

The Mixed Bag of Spring Training Stats for the #Nats

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

We all know the dangers of relying on Spring Training stats; however, they also can’t be totally ignored in some cases. Danny Espinosa for instance shows that he is struggling in a small sample size while Scott Sizemore looks like a Hall-of Famer in his small sample size.

Clearly Danny Espinosa won’t bat .000 in the regular season just like Michael A. Taylor won’t bat .435 in the regular season.

Continue reading →

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#Nats travel back to Osceloa Stadium. Gio vs Collin McHugh

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Gio Gonzalez and the Washington Nationals travel this morning to face the Houston Astros and catch the 9AM bus to Kissimmee, Florida.

Danny Espinosa is back in the line-up and a few starters will also be in this line-up like Daniel Murphy and Jayson Werth. Lucas Giolito is scheduled to pitch today also. Dusty and Rizzo will also get to look at a few potential bench players who will start like Scott Sizemore, Matt den Dekker and Tony Campana. It’s also a big opportunity for Pedro Severino who will catch Gio Gonzalez.

Here’s your starting line-up:

  1. Danny Espinosa SS
  2. Daniel Murphy 1st Base
  3. Jayson Werth DH
  4. Michael A. Taylor CF
  5. Matt den Dekker RF
  6. Stephen Drew 3B
  7. Scott Sizemore 2B
  8. Pedro Severino C
  9. Tony Campana LF

Gio Gonzalez LHP

This game will be televised on the ROOT Network and MLB.TV App at 1:05. Radio will also be through the Houston feed on a delay. A h/t to NatsFan1a for letting us know that the game will also be televised live in MLB Network.

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The January 8th 2016 line-up all appears together on March 13th 2016 #Nats

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

It took exactly a dozen games into the Spring Training schedule for the January 8th line-up to debut. Why January 8th you may ask? That was the date when Mike Rizzo traded for Ben Revere as the speedy lead-off man that his manager Dusty Baker had coveted to complete his vision for this 2016 team.

This was the Nats starting line-up on Sunday:

  1. Ben Revere CF
  2. Jayson Werth LF
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Ryan Zimmerman DH
  5. Daniel Murphy 2B
  6. Anthony Rendon 3B
  7. Clint Robinson 1B
  8. Wilson Ramos C
  9. Danny Espinosa SS

Max Scherzer RHP

The line-up before was only missing Ryan Zimmerman who was the designated hitter on Sunday, thus making this January 8th line-up, a reality.

Here is how the Sunday game got started, Revere – Single, Werth – Single, Harper – Double, Zimmerman – Single, Murphy – Out, Rendon – Single, Robinson – Out, Ramos – Single, Espinosa – Out. That is how the first 9 batters did in their 1st at-bats.  This was all accomplished against a very good pitcher as Michael Wacha was hit hard and often.

With this line-up, the bench seems to also be close to set as Dusty seems to have tipped his hand that Michael A. Taylor will be his 4th outfielder or as Dusty likened him to the 6th man in basketball while also saying he expects him to get a lot of playing time.

The bench almost certainly will include these 4 players:

  1. Jose Lobaton
  2. Clint Robinson
  3. Stephen Drew
  4. Michael A. Taylor

That leaves one spot remaining that will probably come down to either Matt den Dekker or Tyler Moore or a long-shot from the non-roster invitees. There is always a chance Rizzo could pull off a trade to free up a spot.

The starting line-up will include these 3 players:

  1. Max Scherzer
  2. Stephen Strasburg
  3. Gio Gonzalez

The last 3 remaining spots will be taken by 2 pitchers out of Tanner Roark, Joe Ross, and Bronson Arroyo.

The bullpen will have 5 spots sewn up:

  1. Jonathan Papelbon RHP
  2. Felipe Rivero LHP
  3. Oliver Perez LHP
  4. Shawn Kelley RHP
  5. Yusmeiro Petit RHP

The 2 spots that will remain could come from Sean Burnett LHP, Trevor Gott RHP, Blake Treinen RHP, and Rafael Martin RHP.

That leaves 5 spots on the 25-man roster that are still up for grabs if there are no trades and no other surprises. A surprise could certainly come from a shocking move based on these remaining 20 days before Opening Day.

What would happen if Danny Espinosa does not pull out of this offensive funk he is in? What happens if another player steps up and impresses Mike Rizzo and Dusty Baker?

Here is the latest FanGraphs projections:

nats 2016 projections

FanGraphs has added notes about each player when you hover over the pen and paper icon. Worth a read.

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Danny Espinosa is not in today’s starting line-up. Will start Tuesday.

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

There has been rumors lately that Danny Espinosa has been playing hurt, and these just seem to be rumors as some try to explain how Espi is hitless in the entire Spring with just 1 walk and today he is replaced by Brendan Ryan in the revised line-up and listed as a bench reserve.

espinosa bench
This Tweet is a little out-dated at Trea Turner has started to step it up and of course he had a hit taken away on an infield single later changed to an error that was mind-boggling as the 2nd baseman had to charge the ball and speed kills as Trea just beat the throw to 1st. There was no booting the ball or a bobble.

Officially Espinosa is 0 for 14 with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk. Trea Turner now has 3 hits going 3 for 17 with 4 walks and 4 stolen bases however we really want to make it right and say 4 for 17 but can’t.

Certainly there will be more news to follow on this….

The Astros will pitch Cy Young lefty Dallas Keuchel today versus Joe Ross.

Here is your Nats starting line-up:

  1. Ben Revere CF
  2. Anthony Rendon 3B
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Ryan Zimmerman DH
  5. Daniel Murphy 2B
  6. Jayson Werth LF
  7. Clint Robinson 1B
  8. Wilson Ramos C
  9. Brendan Ryan SS

Joe Ross RHP

UPDATED: 11:40AM 3/14/16 Danny Espinosa is set to start tomorrow and lead-off vs Collin McHugh

Posted in Espinosa, InGame | Leave a comment

Book Report: 100 Things #Nats Fans Should Know

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Power Boater

Name the title, author, and the number of pages:
100 Things Nationals Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, Jake Russell, 270 pages

Identify the type of book:
Non-fiction

Identify the main characters:
Bryce Harper, Frank Howard, Alfonso Soriano, Mickey Vernon, Max Scherzer, Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson, Ryan Zimmerman, Clark Griffith, Jose Guillen, Harman Killebrew, Gio Gonzalez, Frank Robinson, and a couple dozen others. With 100 separate stories this book covers all of the major players in DC baseball history. Continue reading →

Posted in Dusty, MASN | Leave a comment

Updated: Scherzer named Opening Day starter; Ryan Zimmerman in the line-up! #Nats Bryce Harper New Gatorade commercial

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

With the daylight savings time change, it feels like 7:30 and the clock has to change to 8:30 which makes that 1:05PM start feel like 12:05.

As Bryce Harper sort of spilled the beans in his interview on MLB Network on Friday, he said Werth, “This is the BEST I have seen JDub. He looks incredible” and Bryce also said that Ryan Zimmerman could play Sunday. Bryce must have known what others didn’t and he would be correct.

Max Scherzer should go 4 innings for the Nationals today against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Here’s the Nats starting line-up:

  1. Ben Revere CF
  2. Jayson Werth LF
  3. Bryce Harper RF
  4. Ryan Zimmerman DH
  5. Daniel Murphy 2B
  6. Anthony Rendon 3B
  7. Clint Robinson 1B
  8. Wilson Ramos C
  9. Danny Espinosa SS

Max Scherzer RHP Continue reading →

Posted in RyanZimmerman, Scherzer, SpringTraining | Leave a comment

Tanner Roark gets the start in Disney! 3/12/16

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Andrew Lang

The Nats will have a game under the lights at 6:05 at Champion Stadium in Disney World against the Braves. Tanner Roark will start against former Yankee top prospect Manny Banuelos.

The Nats will send a travel roster featuring a travel roster that includes the hottest hitter perhaps in the Grapefruit League, Scott Sizemore, who could easily have a few more Home Runs if not for that left field jet stream that has been blowing with some strong gusts into leftfield.
Continue reading →

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When Bryce Harper talks, even the Goose listens! We go behind the scenes.

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

It was like the shot heard ’round the world when ESPN The Magazine published on-line their interview with Bryce Harper. ‘Bryce Harper’ became the number 1 “trending” words on Twitter! His Google Trends soared! Bryce was being quoted as saying, “Baseball is tired.” It sure got Richard “Goose” Gossage’s underwear pulled too tight as he exploded on his own self-imagined images of ‘bat flips’ and verbally attacked Jose Bautista, and Goose Gossage had this to say about Bryce Harper “You’re going to let a young punk like Bryce Harper dictate this game. Are you serious?” ! Sports Talk Radio was monopolized with this subject.

Screenshot from Twitter

Screenshot from Twitter

Continue reading →

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Game Recap 3/11/16 As Charlie Slowes said, “Put a Curly W in the Books”

Posted on March 11, 2016 by ArVaFan aka Laura Peebles

March 11, 2016 Game:  Mets @ Nats, Space Coast Stadium

The game started with the National Anthem as usual—sung by a girl who looked about 6 years old with a great voice and a working microphone.

Strasberg may have been working on stuff today.  But whatever he was doing, he didn’t look as sharp as he has at other times.  So when he left after the 3rd inning, the Nats were behind 1-0. However, the Nats started hitting, and quickly took a 3-1 lead.  The N-A-T-S, N-A-T-S, N-A-T-S, WOO! Team went to work:  after all, fans need Spring Training, too.

There was also some cheering in our section unrelated to the game:  a peanut vendor promised a six-year-old free peanuts if he could catch the pack from seven rows below.  He did:  fan for life.

Ran into a number of Nats fans from DC, both in the park and on the beach afterwards. Nice to be jogging through the sand and hear “Go Nats!”

Also, I now have photographic evidence that “Sendley” does have a stop sign.

laura Sendly

The game continued with Nats minor leaguers and bench players vs. Mets minor leaguers and bench players. The pitch clock was in use, but no one seemed to be paying much attention to it. Then in the eighth inning, a hit-and-error-and-run episode (not to be confused with a hit-and-run) allowed the Nats to score five more runs. The Nats batted around, and the inning finally ended with a play at second that probably would have been overturned on replay.  But I suspect Joe West was ready for the inning to be over, and since the Mets weren’t helping, he decided to take matters into his own hand.

That left matters in Jonathan Papelbon’s hands, who entered to mostly cheers to do something he is unlikely to ever be called upon to do again: protect an 8-run lead. I’m guessing due to recovering from yesterday’s virus, he wasn’t sharp, either.  Let’s face it:  if you’re Jonathan Papelbon, and you can’t get these guys out, when “these guys” are wearing jerseys without names, you’re probably not feeling like yourself. That’s kind of what the look below looks like to me.

laura dusty pulls PAP

 

Dusty did speak with Pap and pat him on the back before sending him to the showers. Dusty got the cheers when he went out to get him.
We did collect a curly W, but remember that it’s Spring Training and the score doesn’t matter.

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