I love the chaos drills. That's real important for honing skills. I have no idea if this is completely new or just a new approach to something they were doing.
The Nats have committed little league at best mistakes over and over the past handful of years, the Chaos drill is the first concrete step I have heard taken to improve situational awareness. Look forward to hearing more about this drill and any other being used to get the team fundamentally sound by the new coaching staff.
One of the many reasons I subscribed to Nats Journal is that I learn something new nearly every time I read an entry. Until today I had no idea what a chaos drill is, but given what I saw last year with base running, I'm all in favor of injecting as much chaos as possible into this year's spring training.
We are underway. It's officially 60 degrees, but it feels much colder than that. Seriously.
Jake Irving got through a scoreless top of the first, though it required 21 pitches and some good defense behind him. With a runner on second and one out, Irvin got a grounder to short, with CJ Abrams throwing Adolis Garcia out trying to advance to third. Joey Wiemer then made a diving catch of Garrett Stubbs' sinking liner to right to end the inning.
To share this Just learned about 4 acronyms related to why we strongly root at the success of others in sports or continue even when they fail and even if it's all the time. Of the four 2 really describes Nationals Fans BIRGing Basking in Reflective Glory and BIRFing Basking in Reflective Failure
Let's just hope this year, with better pitching, hitting, and fielding and baserunning fundamentals we have a more competitive team so that we don't go from BIRFing to BARFing. i am choosing to be optimistic, albeit with a touch of caution.
The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, getting a leadoff walk from Dylan Crews and an RBI double from Drew Millas down the right-field line, with Crews racing all the way around to score. Millas, unfortunately, was then picked off second by Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, a bad look.
Jake Irvin, meanwhile, has completed his two-inning start on 43 pitches. He walked two, driving up his pitch count a bit. But he struck out two, including Bryan Rincon on a changeup to end the top of the second. Velocity-wise, his fastball was in the 90-91 range, which is perhaps a bit concerning but perhaps not given it's still February and it's a cold night.
I was tracking Irvin’s fastball velocity and, unfortunately, it appears it dropping is still an issue. Started 92/93 and ended 89/90. I was hoping they would find a fix for this
Brad Lord should have thrown two scoreless innings in relief of Irvin, but he cost himself in the top of the third. With two outs and an 0-2 count on Edmundo Sosa, he allowed an infield single. Then after getting Otto Kemp to tap a grounder back to the mound, Lord fired the ball well beyond first baseman Abimelec Ortiz's reach for a killer, two-base error that brought home a run. Lord wound up throwing 35 pitches over his two innings, with a fastball that hit 94-95 mph.
The top of the sixth turned into a mess for the Nats and reliever Andre Granillo, who gave up four runs (though none of them was earned). The inning included two errors, one on a bad throw by second baseman Kevin Made, one on a dropped catch by Matt Mervis of Granillo's throw to first. That preceded a three-run double off Granillo, turning this game decidedly in the Phillies direction.
At the plate, the Nationals have only two hits tonight, with all of the starters now out of the game. It's 5-1 Phillies in the 7th.
Wouldn't you know it, the Nats scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh, getting a Trey Lipscomb double, a Mervis walk and a T.J. White infield single. That cut the deficit to 5-3. And then they tied it up in the eighth thanks to a Mervis drive to the gap in right-center, a two-run double. Nice bounce-back from that earlier error by the first baseman.
And this game ends in a 5-5 tie. Neither Blake Butera nor Rob Thomson wanted to play extras tonight. So, the Nats remain undefeated this spring at 3-0-1.
Didn’t like seeing Irvin’s velocity dip in his second inning
I thought Lord pitched well, error notwithstanding
Very impressive outing by Davian Garcia! Missed a lot of bats and got it up to 97 in his second inning. He looks like a good one. I can’t wait to see the advanced data in his stuff.
It was a groundout but Glasser hitting a ball 108mph is notable. He’s old but all he has done is hit since being drafted
Pretty bad defense by the starters so far this Spring. Four errors tonight across the full team. Rough. Needs to be cleaned up.
I really like Sam Petersen. He’s a player, and he’s going to zoom up prospect rankings if he can stay healthy
I love the chaos drills. That's real important for honing skills. I have no idea if this is completely new or just a new approach to something they were doing.
The Nats have committed little league at best mistakes over and over the past handful of years, the Chaos drill is the first concrete step I have heard taken to improve situational awareness. Look forward to hearing more about this drill and any other being used to get the team fundamentally sound by the new coaching staff.
This is the sort of thing that gives me hope for a much better season. The defense last year was at times downright embarrassing!
The first thing I look for is whether a team is giving away outs and bases regularly. It’s a big reason the Nats are a last-place team.
One of the many reasons I subscribed to Nats Journal is that I learn something new nearly every time I read an entry. Until today I had no idea what a chaos drill is, but given what I saw last year with base running, I'm all in favor of injecting as much chaos as possible into this year's spring training.
We are underway. It's officially 60 degrees, but it feels much colder than that. Seriously.
Jake Irving got through a scoreless top of the first, though it required 21 pitches and some good defense behind him. With a runner on second and one out, Irvin got a grounder to short, with CJ Abrams throwing Adolis Garcia out trying to advance to third. Joey Wiemer then made a diving catch of Garrett Stubbs' sinking liner to right to end the inning.
How bad did pickoff of Milas at 2b look?
To share this Just learned about 4 acronyms related to why we strongly root at the success of others in sports or continue even when they fail and even if it's all the time. Of the four 2 really describes Nationals Fans BIRGing Basking in Reflective Glory and BIRFing Basking in Reflective Failure
Let's just hope this year, with better pitching, hitting, and fielding and baserunning fundamentals we have a more competitive team so that we don't go from BIRFing to BARFing. i am choosing to be optimistic, albeit with a touch of caution.
The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, getting a leadoff walk from Dylan Crews and an RBI double from Drew Millas down the right-field line, with Crews racing all the way around to score. Millas, unfortunately, was then picked off second by Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, a bad look.
Jake Irvin, meanwhile, has completed his two-inning start on 43 pitches. He walked two, driving up his pitch count a bit. But he struck out two, including Bryan Rincon on a changeup to end the top of the second. Velocity-wise, his fastball was in the 90-91 range, which is perhaps a bit concerning but perhaps not given it's still February and it's a cold night.
I was tracking Irvin’s fastball velocity and, unfortunately, it appears it dropping is still an issue. Started 92/93 and ended 89/90. I was hoping they would find a fix for this
Hilarious intro! Bundle up, Mark.
Brad Lord should have thrown two scoreless innings in relief of Irvin, but he cost himself in the top of the third. With two outs and an 0-2 count on Edmundo Sosa, he allowed an infield single. Then after getting Otto Kemp to tap a grounder back to the mound, Lord fired the ball well beyond first baseman Abimelec Ortiz's reach for a killer, two-base error that brought home a run. Lord wound up throwing 35 pitches over his two innings, with a fastball that hit 94-95 mph.
Sure looks like a lot of swings outside the strike zone.
The top of the sixth turned into a mess for the Nats and reliever Andre Granillo, who gave up four runs (though none of them was earned). The inning included two errors, one on a bad throw by second baseman Kevin Made, one on a dropped catch by Matt Mervis of Granillo's throw to first. That preceded a three-run double off Granillo, turning this game decidedly in the Phillies direction.
At the plate, the Nationals have only two hits tonight, with all of the starters now out of the game. It's 5-1 Phillies in the 7th.
Given Trey’s early success, I have to ask where the nickname Trey came from. He’s not LaVictor Antwain Lipscomb, III, is he?
Wouldn't you know it, the Nats scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh, getting a Trey Lipscomb double, a Mervis walk and a T.J. White infield single. That cut the deficit to 5-3. And then they tied it up in the eighth thanks to a Mervis drive to the gap in right-center, a two-run double. Nice bounce-back from that earlier error by the first baseman.
And this game ends in a 5-5 tie. Neither Blake Butera nor Rob Thomson wanted to play extras tonight. So, the Nats remain undefeated this spring at 3-0-1.
Good rally after that messy 6th.
Thoughts on this one:
Didn’t like seeing Irvin’s velocity dip in his second inning
I thought Lord pitched well, error notwithstanding
Very impressive outing by Davian Garcia! Missed a lot of bats and got it up to 97 in his second inning. He looks like a good one. I can’t wait to see the advanced data in his stuff.
It was a groundout but Glasser hitting a ball 108mph is notable. He’s old but all he has done is hit since being drafted
Pretty bad defense by the starters so far this Spring. Four errors tonight across the full team. Rough. Needs to be cleaned up.
I really like Sam Petersen. He’s a player, and he’s going to zoom up prospect rankings if he can stay healthy
Fair enough for Lord, but I wouldn't exactly call Made, Lipscombe, or Mervis starters.
Definitely. I was referring to the Spring in totality, with regard to the sloppy play.
The pitching has been very impressive. The offense has been fine. The defense has been really rough.
Interesting game, despite the typical ST use of 88.5 players (on average)!