According to the Athletic, the Washington Nationals are calling up RHP Riley Cornelio from Rochester to join the team Friday in Chicago as the Nats open a series against the Chicago White Sox. Let’s hope that Cornelio’s presence, along with the upcoming series’ against the Sox and the struggling Mets helps the team spell R-E-L-I-E-F, after dropping 3 of 4 to the Braves at home.
The Braves are a good team and deserve to be in first place in the NL East. The Nationals will have to seriously improve their pitching to compete with the Braves.
As noted in my mid-February post, “good pitching beats good hitting.” Boy are we observing that now. The Nationals are killing it at the plate. Toboni recently noted, in an interview with Dave and Charlie in the booth, that the offensive surge has exceeded his expectations by far. The Nationals are second only to the Braves (with 150) in runs scored this season (with 144). Wood is tied for second with 10 home runs. Nuñez is tied for second with 10 stolen bases. So many good stats.
But, the Nationals have given up the most runs in all of MLB at 162 and have the second highest ERA as a pitching staff at 5.63.
Thanks largely to the precipitous crashes of the Mets and Phillies, the Nats are hanging in third place in the NL East. The Phillies have now lost their last 9 games, while the Mets lost 12 in a row before winning their last 2. The Nats are 11-15 but look to significantly improve that record over the next six games.
Perhaps Cornelio will help lead the charge for an improved record. Cornelio had a great year last year and was named the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year, posting a 3.28 ERA over 134 1/3 innings. He carried that success into this year as he was 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in four starts, striking out 27 in 18 1/3 innings.
Perhaps Cornelio will challenge Foster Griffin’s status as the most reliable Nationals pitcher this season. Griffin is 3-0 with a 3.38 ERA. Cavalli also had a fairly good game in his most recent start on Thursday, striking out 10.
If we don’t improve our pitching, and fast, we can’t hope to win games.
Still kicking around Southeast Asia, most recently in Cambodia, where I showed off the team colors at a visit to a very interesting Wat with trees growing out of the temple.
Let’s be the envy of sports!
#thenatslady #theswarm
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