Game #86 Toboni and Butera go back to Boston for a 3-game series!
Published by
Stephen “Ghost” Mears
on
Photo by Sol Tucker/Nats.Talk
The Washington Nationals are once again back in the Wild Card discussion at 1-game above .500. The team has another series against an AL opponent and this time it is the Boston Red Sox. Both President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, and manager Blake Butera have ties to Boston. Butera attended Boston College and starred on their baseball team, and Toboni was a VP in the Red Sox front office for several years until the Nats hired him away.
Many of the current Red Sox were drafted with input by Toboni, and he knows most of these players well. He also traded LHP Jake Bennett to the Red Sox, and fortunately the Nats won’t have to face him after he just went 6 1/3 innings of 1-run baseball against the Yankees on Saturday. The Nats will also miss Sonny Gray who pitched last night.
The Nats won’t miss LHP Ranger Suarez who is due to pitch tonight. Butera will have a few more right-handed bats in there.
The Nats are set with Mile Mikolas for the first game in Boston. The bullpen will have a new look as both LHP Mitchell Parker and LHP Richard Lovelady will both go to the 15-day IL with arm injuries — severity unknown at this time. Because these were injuries, the Nats could bring back LHP Carson Palmquist and RHP Riley Cornelio without waiting the full 15-days.
Also, Luis Garcia Jr. as expected, won the NL Player of the Week honor. Congratulations to him on one of the best weeks of baseball we have seen in a long time.
❝It’s work that we put in every day and in the cage, and right now, Keibert Ruiz and I have a competition going for the most walks, so I think that’s also kind of motivation to work on that. … I think it started like three weeks ago during a hitters meeting. They were going over who had the least amount of walks and most contact, so that was the two of us. So the hitting coaches came up with the competition.❞
— Garcia said after Sunday’s game
On offense, the Nats are at the top of MLB for the most runs scored this season at 449 runs and that is an impressive 5.28 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.69 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +5 run differential on the season.
The FanGraphs WAR chart is now large in its sample size. You can certainly start to extrapolate the numbers for the full-season. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.
Washington Nationals vs. Boston Red Sox
Stadium: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts 1st Pitch: 7:10 PM EDT TV: Nationals.TV Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
thinking about ben affleck and matt damon WHICH COULD MEAN NOTHING
I said that my goal is to make the Nationals the envy of sport.
To me, that means an organization defined by our relentless pursuit of excellence, strengthened by our connection to each other and fueled by our positive energy. As a result, we become an organization that players and staff are itching to join because they know it’s where they will develop and thrive most; a place that energizes our loyal fans and attracts new ones, and where success is achieved – and sustained – over time.
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