Nationals: 3 Takeaways From 8-2 Win Over Marlins
The Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 8-2 Sunday afternoon to take the series and end their six-game road trip on a high note. What were the biggest takeaways from the Nats’ commanding victory?
After splitting the first two games of their weekend series in Miami, Dusty Baker and the Nationals sent Max Scherzer to the hill to put Washington (27-17) back in the winning column. Scherzer (5-3, 3.80 ERA) did just that, throwing eight strong innings in which he allowed two runs on six hits, walked no one, and had eight strikeouts. His only blemish came in the seventh, when Justin Bour took the Nats’ right-hander deep to left field for a two-run homer.
Ben Revere had a day offensively, going 3-5 with two RBIs, two runs scored, and a pair of stolen bases (his first of the year). In his his last three games, Revere is an encouraging 7-for-14 with a triple and four RBIs after hitting .096 through his first twelve games this season.
Anthony Rendon drove in three runs, bringing home Daniel Murphy with his tenth double of the season in the third and two more in the ninth on a triple into the right field corner. Wilson Ramos continued his torrid start to the season with a couple of hits and two walks, raising his season slash line to .347/.389/.525.
Oliver Perez and Blake Treinen combined to pitch a scoreless ninth, closing out the game to put Washington ten games over .500. They remain in first place in the National League East, a game and a half above the second place New York Mets.
With that being said, check out my three takeaways from yesterday’s 8-2 win.
Next: Don't Give Up on Revere
Have Faith in Ben Revere
When Nationals GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo traded for Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Ben Revere in early January, the team in the nation’s capital acquired a high-contact, speedy leadoff man capable of getting on base and moving into scoring position in order to set the table for the rest of the offense. After straining his oblique on Opening Day, the Nats were forced to place Revere on the DL before the home fans could even hear his walk-up song.
Revere missed 27 games, nursing the injury while the Nats jumped out to a strong start. A major concern for the offense, however, was the lack of production coming out of the leadoff spot. Michael Taylor had been the primary holder of that role, and was struggling to the tune of a .186 batting average. The lineup needed a steady presence at the top of the order, and upon his activation on May 6th, Revere was expected to seamlessly slide right in and provide immediate production.
What happened instead hasn’t been easy for Nats fans to stomach. Revere struggled even more than Taylor did. He has only two weeks of playing time under his belt, but there is already clamor for Baker to explore other options at the top of the order. Despite the pressure, the veteran manager has stuck to his guns and penciled in Revere day after day, waiting for the .292 career hitter to find his stroke. Well, the wait may finally be over.
Now, three games of solid performance are nothing to get worked up about. Anyone can get hot and have an impressive weekend of play, even a bench player. However, Ben Revere is no bench player, and there are strong indications that his luck could be beginning to turn.
Through 15 games this season, Revere sports a .214 batting average on balls in play (BABIP, courtesy of Fangraphs). That figure is the worst mark of his career, and drastically lower than his career number of .322. This is a result of some bad bounces that haven’t gone the center fielder’s way, despite his career-high hard hit percentage of 25 percent.
After closing out the road trip with an impressive three-game stretch in which he went 7-for-14 with a triple, four RBIs, and a couple stolen bases, Revere could just be getting started. If he has finally managed to push himself into Lady Luck’s favor, then he will be everything the Nats hoped for and more at the top of the lineup.
Next: Scherzer's Home Runs
Max Scherzer is Still Giving Up Home Runs
Max Scherzer may have struggled out of the gate to start the season, but he seemed to have everything working for him Sunday afternoon. Mad Max struck out eight Marlins hitters, walked none and only gave up six hits across eight innings of work. The only problem was, one of those hits ended up in the second deck above right field.
Scherzer’s struggles with the long ball are well-documented, as his 40 home runs allowed over the past two seasons are tied with James Shields for the most in baseball over that span. While he may be the only pitcher that has given up more than 28 homers in the last two years to do so with an ERA under 3.40, his tendency to give up the home run is still concern.
The Nats’ ace is going to rack up the strikeouts. He doesn’t let many baserunners come around to score, limits the free passes, and above all else, wins baseball games. Only six pitchers in the NL have compiled more wins since Scherzer signed with the Nationals, and half of them have won a Cy Young.
Since the end of the 2013 season, opponents’ slugging percentage on Max Scherzer fastballs has risen every single year. In 2016, the figure sits at an alarming .513 (Brooks Baseball). Eight of the fourteen home runs Scherzer has allowed this season have come in two-strike counts. What’s Max’s go-to pitch with two strikes? 43 percent of the time, it’s his four-seamer.
Whether he lacks overall fastball command or has simply become predictable is still up for debate. However, the evidence suggests that at least one of these is a factor. Hopefully, with Mike Maddux leading the way, correcting these issues is only a matter of time.
Next: Ramos is Finally Coming Around
Wilson Ramos Just May Actually Be Who We Thought He Was
The Nationals traded for Wilson Ramos right ahead of the trade deadline during the 2010 season, acquiring whom they believed was their future franchise catcher. A year later, Ramos hit 15 home runs and 22 doubles in a D.C. uniform at the age of 23. He was going to be behind the plate for years to come, and might even contend for a Silver Slugger one day.
Then, in early May of the 2012 season, Ramos tore a ligament in his knee and missed over 130 games. He would return the following season, only to see a nagging hamstring injury limit him to 78 games. 2014 would not be too kind either, as he broke a bone in his hand on Opening Day and sat out half the summer.
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Entering last season, common thinking proposed that, if given a full season, Ramos would rise to the level of stardom that so many believed he was capable of early in his career. Ultimately, he finally got that full season, but the numbers just weren’t there. Ramos played in a career-high 128 games, yet struggled to a .229/.258/.358 slash line.
Now, in the final year of his rookie contract, Ramos may finally be putting things together. After undergoing eye surgery to correct his vision during Spring Training, Wilson Ramos has gotten off to an impressive start. He has an .885 on-base plus slugging percentage with four homers and eight doubles while sporting the lowest strikeout percentage of his career of 12.7 percent (Fangraphs).
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Will Ramos sustain these numbers? After all, he did have a 19-game hit streak early last year yet still managed to finish the season hovering around the Mendoza line. Between his low strikeout rate and career-high line drive percentage of 22.5 percent (Fangraphs), the numbers certainly suggest that Ramos is seeing the ball better. Not only is he making more contact, but he’s making better contact. Only time will tell, but for now, the Nats have a pretty damn good No. 7 hitter on their hands.