Highs:
I attended my first game in person this year. Saw the loss in Colorado on Tuesday night and then also the win on Wednesday. Since the All-Star break, we have gone 4-2, taking the series against both the Athletics and the Rockies. While I had hoped for at least one sweep, it is clear that pitching is still the major issue standing in the way.
Two starters are putting up great numbers. Foster Griffin is the big surprise. He is now 11-2 and he set a new franchise record in Sacramento on Sunday with his 8th consecutive start allowing one run or less. Cavalli is also kicking it on the mound. Wednesday in Denver he threw 6 innings with no runs and 8 strikeouts.
Andres Chaparro crushed a 467 foot home run out of the ballpark in Sacramento. In the 23-4 win over the Athletics he also hit another home run and had 8 RBI. Prior to that game he had a total of 7 RBI over the first half of the season. Chaparro’s 467-foot blast was the fourth longest home run by a National in the Statcast Era (2015-pres.):
Andres Chaparro – 467 feet – 7/17/2026 at ATH
Michael A. Taylor – 493 feet – 8/20/2015 at COL
Ian Desmond – 477 feet – 8/15/2015 at SF
Bryce Harper – 473 feet – 5/4/2018 vs. PHI
Chaparro will get a lot of playing time this weekend against the Diamondbacks and hopefully can recreate the magic.
Abrams had a four hit game against the Rockies on Wednesday. Keep it up CJ!
Lows:
PJ Poulin was doing a pretty good job as an opener for the struggling Mikolas and Littell (2.7 ERA) but is now on the 15-day IL. We sure missed him in Denver on Tuesday when Palmquist opened and gave up four runs in 1.2 innings. The Nationals were never able to recover and dropped the game to the Rockies 8-7.
James Wood is struggling since the All-Star break, batting .148 (4-for-27) over his first six games back. He also needs to smile occasionally.
The Nationals continue to have the most errors in all of MLB. The Nationals sit at the bottom of the league with roughly 0.78 errors per game.
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The series with the Diamondbacks, starting today in DC is huge for determining what might happen at the trade deadline. The Dbacks currently hold the third wild card spot and are two games ahead of the Nationals. Too many times the Nationals have come off a good road trip and killed the vibe by underperforming at home. They are 20-31 at Nationals Park this year. That is the worst home record in all of baseball. This team will have to change that if they want to go on a real playoff push; the players know that and know that Toboni will be watching what happens this weekend to determine whether to buy or sell at the deadline. If the Nats drop this series, selling the likes of Foster Griffin and Luis Garcia Jr. will become inevitable. It could even pave the way for a CJ Abrams trade if the right offer comes. We need to win!
Let’s be the envy of sports!
#thenatslady #theswarm
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