Washington Nationals: Good, bad, and ugly from Dodgers series
After being swept out of Los Angeles by the Dodgers, the Washington Nationals will take their 1-5 record to St. Louis in hopes of having their roster intact for a three game series against the Cardinals.
Losing several key players to COVID protocols before the first game of the year, the Nationals knew the first couple of series’ were going to be tough. They won in dramatic fashion on “Opening Day” and were in great shape to sweep the Atlanta Braves in a double header the following day. They lost both games.
In three games against the Dodgers, the final scores may lead you to believe the Nats played close in two of them, though didn’t really feel that way.
The good, bad, and ugly from the Washington Nationals three game series against the defending World Champion, Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Good
Joe Ross, who hadn’t pitched since Game 5 of the 2019 World Series was very efficient in his five innings of work in the series opener. He used just 67 pitches to get through five shutout innings, only allowing two hits in the process. With the lack of starting pitching depth the Nationals have, a healthy and effective Ross is drastically needed this year. He got off to a solid start.
Juan Soto tallied five hits and two home runs in the first two games, before taking the collar in the rubber match. Getting him locked in and having him find his power stroke will be crucial, especially once the Nationals get Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber back.
The offense. The Nationals scratched out 30 total hits for the three games series, with 15 coming on day two. Timely hitting was a problem, though throughout the weekend there was no shortage of runners on base for Washington.
The Bad
The offense. Five runs. Five runs? Four of those were meaningless runs after the team was already well behind to boot. The Nationals held the lead for all of 1.5 innings this series. Who were the offensive juggernauts a year ago? Soto and Turner. The team has four home runs this year, who has them? Soto and Turner. True, we are only six games in, but this offense is too good to have been shutout three times already on the year.
Tanner Rainey. After a breakout 2020 season where he struck out 14.2 batters per nine innings, some thought Rainey was ready for the closer’s role if not more high leverage situations. In two games this year he has surrendered two home runs and looks as if he hasn’t fully recovered from a muscle strain which limited him during spring training.
Bullpen usage. Ross was pulled early in game one because allegedly he wasn’t stretched out enough. First reliever in, gives up a run. In game three, Max Scherzer kept his team in the game for six innings before giving way to Rainey. First reliever in, gives up two runs. How often is Wander Suero going to be called upon this year? He’s pitched in 2/3 of the games so far. If you had overs on 120 appearances for him, you might cash it.
The Ugly
The Nationals were coming off of back-to-back shutouts, 16 innings without scoring a run, when they scratched one out in the first inning of the second game of the series. That lead lasted just one inning. Patrick Corbin allowed five runs to the Dodgers in the second inning, and the Nationals offense was stuck playing catchup again. I’ve never played professional baseball before. I have played enough baseball (losing baseball at that) to know how demoralizing it is to work so hard to get a lead, and see it vanish so quickly. Erick Fedde was incapable of holding a lead in the Braves series as well. The Nationals need more shut down innings, after they themselves score runs.
Lack of walks. Yes, the Dodgers sent three pretty decent pitchers to the mound this weekend, but Nationals hitters were only able to coax two walks in 27 innings. One of those was an intentional pass as well. Hopefully, against the Cardinals the lineup can see more pitches and work more free passes.
Next. 3 shocking statistics. dark
Speaking of seeing pitches. Victor Robles had 13 at-bats over the weekend and averaged 3.5 pitches per trip to the plate. We applauded his four walks in the opening series against the Braves, leaving us no choice but to get after his lack of patience this time around. He may have collected a hit each game, but he didn’t make the pitcher’s work enough to help his teammates, or draw any walks.