Game #112 The Nats need Mikolas to be the stopper!
Published by
Stephen “Ghost” Mears
on
Photo by Marideth Sandler/Nats.Talk
The Washington Nationals open today at 2.5 games from a Wild Card slot and trailing the Philadelphia Phillies for that final Wild Card spot. The Nats look to their unlikeliest pitcher, Miles Mikolas, to be the stopper on this 3-game losing streak.
Timing for a losing streak comes at the worst time as the Nats were hoping to be buyers at the trade deadline set for Monday, August 3ʳᵈ, at 6 pm, and we are now exactly two days away.
Manager Blake Butera has to get his offense going. The top offense in baseball has been mostly limited to home runs for their offense. The team is a combined 0-17 in RISP over the first two games in this series.
One of the Nats best hitters exited last night’s game, and the immediate trembling through the fan base was that Luis Garcia Jr. was traded. In fact, we later learned that he slipped coming out of the batter’s box and felt some pain in his knee. Butera thinks he will be fine.
❝He slipped a little bit coming out of the box in his first at-bat. [It was] more precautionary than anything. Soreness, should be good to go tomorrow. That’s the plan.❞
On offense, the Nats have the 1st in MLB for the most runs scored this season at 602 runs, and that is an impressive 5.45 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.78 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +23 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. Atlanta Braves
Stadium: Truist Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia 1st Pitch: 7:15 PM EDT TV: Nationals.TV Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
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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