Month: July 2017

After a grueling West Coast road trip and time off during the All-Star break, this was not the homecoming the Nationals had hoped for upon returning to the District in yesterday’s home opener against the Brewers.

With Edwin Jackson starting his 2^nd game in replacement of the injured Stephen Strasburg, the Nats hoped E-Jax could build on the success he had last week in Anaheim and continue the momentum of a 7-2 road trip. But Jackson labored through 5 innings and wasn’t nearly as sharp yesterday as he was in Anaheim last week. E-Jax gave up seven hits, three walks, three home runs, and seven runs total (3 ER), throwing 112 pitches in what ended up an 8-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Meanwhile, the bats the Nationals had relied on so heavily for their recent success went silent at home as Zach Davies held the Nationals in check over 7 ²⁄₃ scoreless, efficient innings of work in, giving up three hits and three walks in his longest start of the season. Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman both went 1 for 4 with a single each, as Zimmerman continues to struggle to get his early season groove back. On a bright note, Bryce Harper singled in the 8^th inning to keep his hitting streak going at 17 games.

After the game, manager Dusty Baker seemed unfazed by Jackson’s rough start and showed confidence in the veteran. “His pitch count got up high,” Dusty Baker said, “and he didn’t have the command that he had last time. He was wild high and away.” It a perfect summary statement, Baker added, “It was a rough night for Edwin tonight.”

In spit of his struggles in the loss, Jackson will get another opportunity to start next time his turn in the rotation comes around. “He’s not on a pitch-by-pitch, performance-type thing,” Baker said. “That can happen to anybody. So, sure, I don’t see why not.”

Luckily, before the game, Baker had reassured the assembled press who had gathered for his pregame presser that Stephen Strasburg’s issues seemed to be minor and not long term, and that he would be making his next start. That piece of news ended up being the best news of the night for a Nats team who hopes to rebound tonight with Gio Gonzalez on the mound. All eyes will be on him tonight literally, as the entire baseball universe will be tuned in to see the 2018 All-Star logo which will be on display over his right shoulder throughout the game as well.

*Note: Congratulations are in order to Dusty Baker for being inducted into the USMC Sports Hall of Fame. The officially ceremony took place last night prior to the first pitch at Nationals Park. Thank you Dusty, from all of us!

On a beautiful night at Nationals Park honoring our brave men and women of the U.S. Marine Corps, a nice surprise greeted all the servicemen and women who had gathered behind home plate. To the naked eye, Jayson Werth crushing baseballs 400 feet during batting practice before a mid-summer game isn’t anything to write home about or stop the presses. But Werth has been on the DL since June 3^rd with a toe injury and foot fracture and was moved to the 60 day DL on July 23^rd to clear a spot on the 40 man roster. So it was quite a surprise to those around the ballpark when Werth came out for BP and crushed ball after ball after ball into the left field bleachers.

We caught up exclusively with Jayson after his BP session and he was in high spirits and very positive about his progress and rehab. When asked about a possible return in the near future, Werth responded, “Should be any day now.”

Werth’s position in the Nationals batting lineup has proven hard to replace. The coveted, and precious #2 spot has seen a revolving door of participants hoping to match Werth’s production, including Wilmer Difo, Stephen Drew, Michael A. Taylor, and Ryan Rayburn. While the bench players have produced admirably, none have matched Werth’s production before he went down. In 47 games, he was batting .262 with 8 hrs and 18 RBIs and had been just starting to find his rhythm after a slow start.

Only time will tell you how Jayson will respond to the long layoff and come back and find his niche in a Nationals lineup that is best in the MLB this season. While Werth is participating in baseball activities, but he still hasn’t been cleared to sprint and will go on a rehab assignment before rejoining the National League East-leading Nationals.

While Jayson was gracious enough to talk to us exclusively about his injury, one topic he was more than willing to discuss was our Game of Thrones recaps and his analysis of the season so far. He was quite intrigued with Arya’s reunion with Nymeria and predicts that Nymeria will meet up with her again and wreak havoc on the Army of the Dead. So I don’t know what will happen, but we’re going with the guy who’s got a beard that would put Tormund to shame.