Going Deep with The Nats

The Washington Nationals suffered a season-ending injury with Stone Garrett who broke his left fibula on a freak play as his spike got caught in the outfield wall as he jumped to try to rob a home run ball. Garrett had just taken over as a full-time player from his previous role as a platoon bat. Loved by all with his great smile and kind words, Garrett will hopefully be healthy in plenty of time for Spring Training next year. To take his roster spot, Jeter Downs is back up again. Because the team has players like Ildemaro Vargas, Joey Meneses, and Jake Alu who can all play the outfield — there was no need to call up a pure outfielder at this time. With Victor Robles still not able to come back, the only remaining outfielder on the 40-man roster is Jeremy De La Rosa.

The Nats could have made a move to add Jacob Young or Travis Blankenhorn to the roster, or even Drew Millas to move Riley Adams to DH, and Meneses to the outfield — but the team went the easiest route. Garrett was only put on the 10-day IL, and could have gone directly to the 60-day IL. The team could also do the same with Carl Edwards Jr. who is still on the IL. But until the team needs the 40-man roster spots, they won’t make those moves.

The Washington Nationals had three runners thrown out at second base yesterday, and a starting pitcher who threw more balls than strikes — and somehow, some way, the Nats still won the game against the New York Yankees. Sometimes you need a lot of luck to win a game in sports. As they say, “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.” That balances out with a game you lost when you played great.

The Washington Nationals open up a 3-game series in Yankee Stadium tonight, and the biggest story might be that Dylan Crews was officially promoted to Double-A today and joins an outfield with James Wood and Robert Hassell III as well as a lineup that has third baseman Brady House and infielder Trey Lipscomb. Also, team owner Mark Lerner sent out a press release today on the official extension of Dave Martinez‘s contract. The only thing missing is general manager Mike Rizzo’s extension is not completed.

The Washington Nationals were honored to be chosen to play in the sixth annual Little League Classic game in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. They will play on national TV on ESPN with a lot of pride on the line, and if Trevor Williams can step up and deliver a gem for his team — the Nats can win this series and show the world that they are indeed on the upswing as a team!

The Washington Nationals pulled off another improbable comeback from five runs down to beat the Phillies last night in the opener of this weekend series that will finish up at the site of the Little League World Series in a Sunday night game known as the annual Little League Classic. While last night was an amazing win from the surging Nats, it comes with the price of more stress having to cover too many innings in the bullpen. This is a bullpen that is pitching a man short since the team elected to go with a 6-man rotation and a 7-man bullpen. They may need to rethink that because of all of the days off coming up. Also, September 1 is less than two weeks away, and the Nats can add an additional pitcher to the staff.

The Washington Nationals have the Phillies in town for a weekend series; however, the series heads to Williamsport, Pennsylvania as a “home game” for the Nats in the Little League Classic for Sunday. Tonight and tomorrow will be played in Nats Park, and the Nats have their three worst starters pitching as ranked by ERA.