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| Photo by USA Today |
The Royals have lost five straight games heading into the series, but remain seven games out of the AL Wild Card. This series could, in fact, be the last between the Nats and a team with something to fight for until the second half of September. At 64-62, Kansas City is the only team currently with a winning record the Nats play until they host Atlanta beginning Sept. 16.
Gio Gonzalez (7-6. 3.38) takes the mound for Washington with seven starts against the Royals under his belt. He used to battle them as an American League pitcher and hasn't had a great history. Through 36 1/3 total innings vs. the Royals he holds a 6.44 ERA, 20 walks and seven homers allowed.
Fellow lefty Bruce Chen (5-1, 2.20) will pitch for Kansas City and make his 13th start against the Nationals. Through 12 outings he is 2-2 with a 4.93 ERA with eight home runs given up in 38 1/3 innings. Chen last faced Washington on June 21 in 2010 and went six innings with two runs surrendered.
Denard Span, in particular, has had great success off Chen in his career. Through 21 plate appearances, Span is batting .313 with four walks and two RBI.
Enjoy the game...
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Where: Kauffman Stadium
Gametime: 8:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN 2, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 185
Weather: Mostly sunny, 88 degrees, Wind 10 mph in from LF
NATIONALS (63-64)
CF Denard Span
3B Ryan Zimmerman
RF Bryce Harper
DH Jayson Werth
SS Ian Desmond
C Wilson Ramos
1B Adam LaRoche
LF Tyler Moore
2B Anthony Rendon
LHP Gio Gonzalez
ROYALS (64-62)
LF Alex Gordon
1B Eric Hosmer
C Salvador Perez
DH Billy Butler
RF Justin Maxwell
CF Emilio Bonifacio
SS Alcides Escobar
2B Chris Getz
3B Jamey Carroll
LHP Bruce Chen
UMPIRES
TBA
327 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 327 of 327 Newer› Newest»Let Roark pitch the 9th... Andy sign of trouble, pull him... At least, that is what I would do...
Tymo over the Mendoza line.
throw tanner back out there for the 9th!
WODL, re. yours at 11:11pm, starters & 9 innings, how many starters ever go 9 innings? i get your point but it rarely happens.
Come on Dru!!!
Somebody get Knight some decent sports coats
Plz
Hahahah Scott - you ain't right.. Lol.. But I was thinking how poor the MASN stylist are... Lol...
Don't walk him!
Leadoff walk. The 9th inning can never be easy can it?
What's a Nats game without a little drama...
THROW STRIKES!
Wild - crap
Scott, funny...is it me or does it look like Ray is like 10 feet tall and Johnny is like 3 feet tall?
I am afraid for Johnny!
Come on Storen. Throw strikes.
Bourbon / malox
Spock Brow can rake.
Unh...
Omg
Oh god. Soriano.
here we go, drew you had your chance, get em next time.
Oh god.
Being in Cousins
Bring
That's the exact play that Rendon booted.
Soriano is in!
There goes the farm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So.... Everybody but Drew get the long leash?
As soon as people start calling for Storen to close he becomes the guy that got sent to AAA
Soriano & his location is just awful!!
He's up again. Wish we left Dru in
I'm not nervous... We are going to win this tonight...
Cut bait
oboy
Everything is up.
He looks terrible.
Storen have nothing?
Holy sh*t
I need a Xanax
11 runs and it's a 1-run win???!!!??????
Soriano instant heart attack.
Pheeewww......,
If Rizzo doesn't dump Sorry-Oh-No, he's a fool!!! Other than that, a nice win!
Time to get Davey out as soon as possible. Why did he not continue with Roark and then bring in the closers.You always go with the hot hand
That pitch to contact will grate your nerves.... I never thought we were in trouble...
Soriano was serving meatballs... He has got to get it together.... Bring everything back down...
It's a shame the 9th couldn't be more friendly to us tonight...
Drew just had control issues tonight. We need to let Storen and Clippard back each other up...alternate saves...and forget Sori.
Back at .500. It'd be painful to bare if the team made a run of it now and end up missing the wild card by 3 games or less.
Great comeback. But why oh why is Clipp not pitching? Sorry oh no. Ughhhhh. He can not be trusted with any small lead. He has to go.
You mean this year, right MrsB? It ain't just Soriano, though he's the big culrpit. Strasburg last night. Storen. Soriano. The 9th inning has killed us.
Did I read the box score right? Roark has four wins?
Bryce should ask Soriano if his nephew would have made that catch. 9 th inning I switch channels anymore.
Theo, yes. And he's earned every one of them. This guy wants to be a major-league pitcher.
Clipp pitched three days in a row, couldn't use him tonight. He should be OK for tomorrow. He should do OK with an AL team that hasn't seen him, his deception should play.
Yes DP... I mean I do wonder at this point ifDJ maybe has used Soriano too much (kinda like with Abad, supposedly).
But tonight was Drew's night to get it done and dominate and he didnt... Once he walked the first batter, he lost his sense of what he was doing, it looked like... Drew has got to learn to pitch they adversity... He did the same stuff in that infamous game that I refuse to talk about last year...
Forget that batter... You didnt get him... Focus on the next and throw strikes and get outs...
what a catch by harper!
According to Dave and Charlie, Soriano is having a physical problem.Perhaps the Nats should put him on the DL. Calling up Aaron Barrett in Sept. and using Clippard as a closer in the meantime.
All this and we are only at .500.... Oh well, glad to get this series off to the right start....
We see that the Royals BP is susceptible.... Hopefully, tomorrow, we can knock the SP out early and get to the BP again... Our BP should be available for the most part tomorrow...
Absolutely agree Storen has GOT to learn to pitch with runners on base (his own runners). How many times have we seen Clip put a guy on and get out of the inning? Even two guys.
Would have been 5 but Soriano blew one.
By the way, these guys are putting it out there right now. Desmond slides hard into second (which setup that 7 run inning) and tweaks his back. Harper lays out for a diving catch and hurts something. Don't tell me these guys don't care.
Put Soriano on the DL, call Mattheus back up. He's been fine in Syracuse.
Amen to that 204
Idk about that (Matheus), NL.... You gotta wonder if Sori has the same issue that Haren had...
I'm thrilled to see the Nats back at .500. It's quite an achievement given how badly they've played against the NL elite.
The Nats are 11-28 against the Braves, Dodgers, Pirates, Cardinals and Reds.
They're 53-36 against everyone else.
"No doubles" or not, I don't see why Harper was hugging the wall against Bonafacio, who is a weak sister in any case and worse against LHs.
Feeling my fallibility this evening -- earlier today I said Storen was ready to be the closer again. Johnson and I must be drinking the same Kool-Ade.
Great comeback! Back of the bullpen just ugly.
MrsB, if you mean Sori needs a DL-stint to clear his head and heal his back, I'm for it. He didn't look good running in from the pen.
So if you had a chance to interview Bryce Harper right after the game, what's the one question you'd make sure to ask? What does every single person who watched the end of that game want to know? How about: "How's your knee?" Oh Julie.
Storen was back to laboring between pitches once he put the first guy on. And watch the tape after the first batter. The new big leg kick almost disappeared. Davey showed some confidence sending him out for the 9th, but Drew didn't "clutch up" as FP expected. It's wishful thinking to see him as ready to close again. If you want to replace Soriano, Clipp is the only guy who could do the job.
The story of this game, though, is the Nats not giving up after getting bedhind. Finally, some fight from the bats. Well done.
Theo, regarding Storen you were trying to be positive based on a couple good appearances. I was skeptical as he is bad once he has runners on base. Soriano needs a rest.
Honestly, I would have put Abad in for the 9th. (No, I wouldn't have stuck with Roark, you could blow his arm or shoulder out that way, and he would be on the DL like Ohlendorf was).
I'm so glad we fought back...that's big in itself...
But Sori looks different... Not sure what the hell is going on with him... But yeah NL - I mean it may not hurt...
Drew has got to learn to to pitch they adversity (regardless of how high or low the stress level is)
NL - tonight I would have left Roark in and at the first sign of trouble, taken him out for Drew...
Last night, I wanted SS pulled after the 8th and Clip for the 9th..
I thought Roark was dealing and of course, it helps to save the BP...
Theo - I am with you in thinking screw can do it again... Tonight was big and he fell back into his old habits...
Wade Davis w/ a 6.6+ ERA tomorrow night -- another guy some people on this list wanted to trade for last winter. "Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make."
MsB --
Don't mean to be argumentative but Storen is falling back into his new habits, not old.
The main thing was fighting back from 6-0, and Davey taking Gio out. Davey has GOT to play to win, never mind players' individual stats (pitcher wins, etc.).
According to Bob and FP, Davey said he had "overused" Soriano. Maybe--I don't think so, compared to other late-inning and closer types. But Soriano is not young, I would not be surprised if he has an injury.
Another thing--you could see Drew didn't want to come out of the game, and then Sori gives up three runs. Drew may be thinking "I could have done that, why the quick hook?"
Don't think that way, Drew, or you will be back in Syracuse. Do what you are called on to do, and be glad the Nats won the game.That is what Stras said in his interview...
Did you really think Storen would never give up a run?? Soriano gives them up every single day, in bunches. Every reliever gives up runs every now and then. So we bring in the guy that does it every day? We do not have the offense to overcome this every game so that Mr. Unsuck can earn his bogus saves.
Davey has had a bias against Drew for a long time. It's the opposite of his pets. They get chance after chance after chance, but he never misses an opportunity to trash Drew.
My issue with Drew wasn't the double, it was the walk. You have to go in throwing strikes. I'd have given him a little big of a longer leash than Davey did, but Drew's really not in a position to complain.
Charlie and Dave said we've won something like 10 of the last 13. That may be true, but it sure as hell doesn't feel like it.
swami, of course Storen will give up runs. Thing is, you have to look at him and see if he is going to give up FOUR runs. I've seen Davey do that with Stammen (not recently)--put him in and see after a couple of hitters that he doesn't have it and take him out.
DP, yeah, but if you give Storen one more batter and he loads the bases with none out, then you have a situation where a home run ties the game. I see where Davey was coming from on that.
10 of 14, starting August 9, with the sweep of the Fillies.
I hope we have good JZim tomorrow. A win tomorrow would be huge. Especially since Wade Davis has awful numbers.
2013 Nats have lost some games they should have won and won some games they should have lost. This one falls into the latter category, I believe. So, rather than overanalyze the mistakes, I'm just going to pocket it and hope for more good forture (and timely hitting) tomorrow.
I completely agree NL. Davey saw Drew walk a guy on 5 pitches, and the 4 balls really weren't close. And then he gets behind on the next guy and gives up a gap shot that very easily could have gone out of the park had it been hit a little more solidly. But more important, he was laboring and had almost gone back to his old straight leg delivery. He wasn't confident and he wasn't throwing strikes. Disaster was looming. A quick hook was the right call.
Soriano didn't pitch great, but he got a ground out right away (thank goodness Desi was at SS) and the only hit that was really solid was Butler's single. Both of the flyouts were essentially pop ups. Bryce had to make his fantastic play because of the no doubles defense. So while it wasn't his best outing and certainly doesn't end the concern about him, it wasn't horrible like a few other recent performances. And the end result was better than if Davey had stuck with Drew.
That play that Desi made was the EXACT same as the play Rendon screwed up yesterday. Not surprising of course, but I am amused that Desi got an opportunity the very next day in a similar situation for the exact same play.
We were down 6-0. We came back and won it. That's all that matters in my book. I'm going to pretend that 9th inning didn't matter. We won 7-6 for all I care.
Drew Storen did not have his control from the get-go tonight. Also his slider was not breaking as sharply. All pitchers will have an off night, even Kimbrel. It becomes a problem when every night is an off night. I can't remember the last time Soriano had a 1-2-3 inning.
Davey blasts Storen in the postgame. He's right, Storen should be mad at himself.
I'll have to take a look at Davey's post-game presser. I haven't seen it yet. I do agree with Davey's quick hook. Storen couldn't find the plate and there's no reason to think he would suddenly get his contro..
Anyone else notice per fangraphs that stephen strasburg is now 37th in war among pitchers LOL (2.6)
SonnyG, Soriano had four straight no hit, no walk saves in the beginning of the month, the last on August 13. And the two outings before that he gave up just one hit and no runs. But he's definitely in his roughest patch of the season now, seven straight outings where he gave up a hit, two blown saves and some close calls. It's worth nothing I think that tonight was his fourth straight day of work. That is very unusual for a reliever.
So all the Sori haters will get their wish tomorrow. There is no way that Davey turns to him for a fifth straight day. But Clipp and Krol will be rested. You have to wonder what Drew's role will be.
Krol's not on the team, Sec 222.
Oh what a night! Huge comeback and more bullpen drama.
William Ladson @washingnats
24th August 2013 from TwitLonger
This is why I love Davey Johnson: "[Drew] Storen can be mad at me, but he should be mad at himself because with a four-run lead, make him hit it, go right after him." Johnson had to get Rafael Soriano to finish the game. #Nats #Nationals #MLB
Where is everybody? I'm the last to post last night and the first this morning.
A happy game results email. Niiiice.
Nats 128-- worn out. How many 1-run/extra inning games can we take?? OK, a lot if we WIN THEM.
NatsLady, yep you are worn out. Last night didnt go into extras.
Nats have an excellent closer on the team. Just need Dr. Frankenstein (Douoguih)to combine Drew's stuff with Sorry's calm willingness to throw strikes.
Bryce Harpers at bat with bases loaded was one of his best of the year. He went for the grand slam until he got to 2 strikes than shortened his swing to get that gapper.
128, no, it didn't. But here is the road trip.
L- One-run game
W-Extra-inning game (15)
L-One-run game.
L-Blowout
W-Two-run game
W-Five-run game (wasn't as easy as it looked from the score)
W-Extra-inning game (13)
W-One-run game
Now, it's gonna be a warm night with no rain predicted. Need JZim to forget the last game and locate his stuff. Royals not familiar with him, and, as Harper said, video only goes so far.
If JZ is tired, get Abad in there for an inning or two, then Clip if it's close. (Have no idea if Stammen can go, he's thrown a lot in this road trip). Davey, play to win this one, and the next one, then an off-day and Miami AT OUR HOUSE.
If Soriano is dealing with "physical issues," consider a DL stint and bring Mattheus back up on a short leash.
I was having a classic Fred G Sanford moment in the 9th... "hear that Elizabeth, I'm coming to join ya honey, with 2 big dummies, Drew and soriano"
Guaranteed .500 for a three-city, 10-game road trip, That would have been nice early in the season. Now, need more. Would like to sweep these bums!! GRIND GRIND.
after KC...no teams with winning records until9/16
very doable
Nat can do this
bummed to hear Dean Meminger passed, now he's with Coach Maguire in heaven...all my childhood icons leaving us
" Davey has had a bias against Drew for a long time. . . . [H]e never misses an opportunity to trash Drew."
So? For the first 3 1/2 mos. of the season Johnson covered for all of his underperforming head cases. Then he decided, because he was going to be gone on October 1, he didn't need to hold anything back. Storen is one of a number of players who, given a long leash, have used it to strangle their manager. Yesterday I was eager to give Storen a break, consider that he had gone to Circle-Use and redeemed himself and his motion. Instead, it appears that he is just barely above the Espinosa passive-insubordination intolerability line.
Having now psycho-analyzed Storen, let me vent my frustrations with others on the pitching staff. (Covered Strasburg and Soriano yesterday.)
Zimmermann -- went through a similar flat spell last year, came out of it mid-to-late August, then lost it in the playoffs. Fans have invested him w/ powers he doesn't have. He is not an ace, won't be even a full-season pitcher -- just a guy who runs out of gas after 15-16 wins -- until some manager stops treating him (and others on the staff) like a fragile, crystal vase.
Gonzalez -- I'm not all surprised the A's traded him. He is what they thought he was. Some folks on this list were offended when some baseball guru said he was no more than a no. 3 or 4 starter. Welcome to reality; stop making excuses for him. McCatty wasn't giving him that ass-chewing because of some blister. Like Johnson, McCatty realizes he won't be here next year and decided to let the chips fall where they may.
Haren -- sorry, Danny, we hardly knew ye. Hope you end up the season with 11 wins. Who do you want on the mound for us know? Strasburg and Haren and then who?
Detwiler -- it was said, over and over, from the day he was drafted, Detwiler's motion would lead to injuries. I suspect he should have had back surgery, not left it to rest and conditioning. Can't be counted on for a full season.
Clippard -- Amazing performance. Faltered last year when Johnson overused him. This year Johnson seems to be more respectful, is giving him rest when possible. Hope he can hang on to the end of the season. Survives on guts and a funky motion where the ball comes out from behind his ear and causes the batter to be late picking it up. Not a closer, because of the likelihood of over-exposure.
Taylor -- I've said a dozen times he needs at least another half-season in the minors.
Roark -- It's difficult to hitch your star to a 92 mph guy unless its Matt Cain. But his attitude says, "Gimme the damn ball so I can screw this batter up." Pitchers who throw that many strikes often get beaten up but he's fun to watch.
Mattheus -- not yet ready to be promoted from elementary school.
Krol -- See Jordan.
Abad -- Supernumerary. In the military, an extra officer thrown into combat when another officer is KIA or wounded.
Stammen -- Versatile warrior; another player best when not overused. He and Roark could be a pair.
Ohlendorf -- Better than Zack Duke, which is damning w/ faint praise. Worth having, individually, but not in a pen that also includes Stammen and Roark.
Someone else on this list agreed with me a few days ago that "the window for this staff is only one or two years." They need to start plugging in permanent replacements soon, preferably starting next season.
Mick -- the whole Marquette program of the McGuire era was a golden era for colleges basketball.
Storen already went to Syracuse once for putting himself above the team (IMO). He's about to visit that fair city again if he doesn't just go back in the dugout and cheer for the team like Gio and Stras did.
Coulda used this version of Davey long ago.
P.S., I didn't see Rendon sulking because he got called out by Davey for his play at SS. Just went out and made great plays last night at 2B. Tough kid. Way it should be.
"NatsLady said...
Coulda used this version of Davey long ago."
Interesting comment. Do you think Davey sees .500 and all of a sudden thinks they can sneak into a Wild Card and time to get serious again.
I thought he made all of the right moves last night. Only problem is personnel issues. Cant leave Tyler Moore in for defense late in the game and the no doubles defense is smart however why is Bryce Harper at the fence against Bonifacio.
128, I think Davey was demoralized in July-early August and he let it show. He is a stat-head, and he knew the percentages.
But Werth has seen and been part of these turnarounds. Span is a grinder who wants to do well on his new team. Desi is Desi. Bryce is young. Rendon is talented. Clip has a five-year track record of doing his job, and Zim's shoulder is healing. LaRoche getting a few key hits, the core was waking up.
And then we got a little luck. Had the blowout on a day when travel and stress caught up with us and Samardjiza was pitching a gem. Roark performed, Haren figured it out. Almost the opposite of what Wonk projected--the Top Three lose games, the rif-raff wins them.
Suddenly, Davey has a team to manage. Back up against the wall, low odds, but it's not over. If he wants to prove he's a HoF manager, this is the time.
Theo, have you noticed whenever things dont go well for Storen his dad Mark Patrick puts out multiple tweets and Facebook messages on how his kid was wronged.
I dont know how he was raised and I dont know his family but at some point when your kid screws up you have to stop blaming others.
Relievers ERAs usually dont tell the full story as many times you are emptying the bases on another pitchers ERA. In Drews case his ERA at 5.70 tells you how bad he has been this season.
I think its time to hand the closer role to Clippard. Hes the only one in the bullpen who has consistently proven he can do the job.
I understand about Tyler Moore and his D in LF, but Hairston isn't much better and we, um, let Bernadina and DeJesus go.
Ain't no other outfielders, unless you are willing to lose the DH (which might have been the right choice in the bottom of the 9th). Werth might not have made that play, but OTOH, he wouldn't have been playing so far back and wouldn't have had to.
It's fine to say let Clip close, but who pitches the 8th inning?
My other rant is Spans baserunning. Another caught stealing to go on a week where he also has a pickoff. His steal success rate is 64%. Only 11 steals for him. Last year his steal rate was 74%. Add to that the 5 pickoffs and all of his other baserunning mishaps and you have to wonder what is wrong with him when he gets on base.
Span has a horrible .316 OBP which means you can not afford to get him on base and then off the bases.
I couldnt find his stay on base percentage that someone posted but it has to be under .299.
You cant win consistently with a leadoff man performing that poorly. He should be a #8 hitter.
"NatsLady said...
It's fine to say let Clip close, but who pitches the 8th inning?"
Storen pitches the 8th. Soriano to the DL.
"NatsLady said...
I understand about Tyler Moore and his D in LF, but Hairston isn't much better and we, um, let Bernadina and DeJesus go."
That is why I said its a personnel issue and not Daveys fault. Which is why having 2 poor defensive bench players in Harston and Tracy hurts. In 8 days you get Corey Brown and Eury Perez and in the meantime you can only hope.
Theophilus T. S.
I think your analysis may unfortunately be spot on.
It is harsh but correct
Theophilus T. S.
also, your spot on about Al Maguire.those were the days...I am die hard terp fan, love Lefty and Gary, but big Al was not only a special coach, he was an amazing man for many inner city kids... on the 50th anniversary of Dr King's speech, I ant help but think of Coach Al and his contributions off the court
Today's guy has a 6.83 ERA vs. lefties, 2.06 WHIP. Wonder if we will have the Tracy-at-3B-with-Ryan-Zimmerman DH'ing experiment again.
bottom line...window is 1-2 left for Nats starting pitching..
Clip needs to close in 2014... Storen is just a head case, Soriano maybe you have for middle relief
Agreed with Soriano to the DL and send Tracy also. Corey Brown has been raking the 2nd half in AAA. Killing RH pitching. He has a .930 OPS overall since the break and .313 BA.
come on gang...Nats are not out of this
Mick, if the winning streak can continue the Nats could sneak up quick on the Reds.
Tyler Moore got over Mendoza last night. Batting .203
Nats have averaged 4.85 runs per game in August. That's the magic number for success.
Nats average 6.0 runs per game in wins and 1.78 in losses.
Denard's the man....
Harper!
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