Any game you win this year with Littell winning is like found money. I think the wind really helped him tonight. Alvarez pitched very well and Varland and Lovelady stepped up when they needed too. Nice feel good win in a close game and no errors.
Yo Yo Morales went 2-for-2 and is now hitting .362. If he starts pushing .400, don’t you almost have to give him a shot?
What I found interesting was House being taken out for defense, with Vivas moving to third. That seemed a little strange to me. Physically, I think House has the tools to be the better defender, but he does still make some questionable decisions. So is Butera showing that he doesn’t fully trust him yet, or does he just see him as a work in progress?
As for Morales, I don’t see many write ups about his defense, so I’m assuming that’s not his strongest area. And with the team scoring runs right now, maybe you don’t want to upset the apple cart too much. But if Morales keeps hitting like this, it’s going to be hard to ignore him.
He’s a really BAD fielder at 3B ( Fielding percentage .969) and 1B (.971). The Nats rank 26th in Defensive Runs Saved. Their starting pitchers are not strikeout artists. Do you really want to promote a bad defensive infielder who may or may not be able to hit in the Bigs?
You have to be careful when evaluating a AAA player’s hitting stats. There’s a huge talent divide between AAA and MLB. There’s also a huge talent divide among AAA players. It’s pretty much assumed that AAA players already completed their minor league development and can’t learn much more in AAA. So to continue their development they get promoted to the Big Leagues. Excluding the players who are on rehab assignment there are two types of AAA players: 1) the MLB ready player who’s fine tuning his skills or 2) the player who reached his ceiling ( I’ll call him AAA ceiling). To get a better picture of Morales you need to see how he hits against the MLB ready player vs the AAA ceiling player. If he crushes the AAA ceiling player but does poorly against the MLB ready player then chances are his batting stats won’t translate in the Bigs.
Let’s be honest the Nats are playing way above everyone’s expectation. I know the relievers were told to expect to be shuttled. I’m not sure what the position players were told especially the ones who are out of options ( Vivas, Wiemer and Tena). Despite the hate Tena is one of the best pinch-hitters this year and Wiemer ranks high defensively in the outfield. Their infield defense ranks among the worse . It doesn’t make sense they’ll option their one elite defensive infielder , their one elite base stealer and their one elite base runner ( IOW Nunez) to make room for player who’s essentially unproven. As mentioned previously Vivas is fielding better than House plus Vivas can also play third. That leaves House. When House was at Rochester he was also excelling at bat AND in the field. Morales doesn’t have a strong reputation in defense either at 3B ( which goes back to college) or at 1B ( he was moved back to 3B for Ortiz and Chaparro). There’s no guarantee that Morales would be a good hitter in the big leagues . Club house chemistry is a big deal and I don’t think if you’d mess with it right now. At this time I only see Morales coming up if :1) there’s an injury, 2) there’s a big trade, or 3) the Nats go into a major losing streak.
I don’t really disagree with any of that, and thanks for the link. The House move does seem to show that Butera may not fully trust him defensively yet. Vivas is probably the better defender right now, either because he has better baseball instincts or because the game just moves a little slower for him. That said, I still think House has more upside at third base long term.
I could see Vivas getting more time at second when they rest Nunez or C.J.. Right now, though, the team is scoring runs at a rate that seems almost impossible to sustain given the overall talent level, so until there’s a real problem, there’s no reason to create one.
Tena is having an outstanding year as a PH, so I wouldn’t be quick to move him. Wiemer is probably the player more on the bubble, especially if Crews is able to turn things around. So yes, it’s hard to find an obvious spot for Morales right now, and AAA numbers don’t automatically translate to the majors.
Still, it’s hard not to imagine what a hard hitting right handed bat like Morales could add to this lineup. Good to see he’s forcing the issue, and I hope it continues.
I'm gonna charge this team for my heart medication, but another Curly W is in the books!!
Too close for comfort but they earned it!
Luck was a Lovelady tonight!
Well said.
“That’s all the offense the Nats mustered on Hot Dog Night.”
Wocka Wocka
And the O’s couldn’t catch up.
Any game you win this year with Littell winning is like found money. I think the wind really helped him tonight. Alvarez pitched very well and Varland and Lovelady stepped up when they needed too. Nice feel good win in a close game and no errors.
No errors?!?! 2nd game in a row!
Two games in a row without an error......
Holy cow!!
Doesn't the team always win when Littell is the winning pitcher?
uh oh...
the Nationals are within a game of .500... that might raise some hackles.
Yeah, don’t fetishize on it too much. Wouldn’t want to come off as churlish. /s
Littell got the win. Words I did not expect to type.
What a game. Go, Nats!!
Amazing atmosphere down here at the Park!
I am hoarse.
As my buddies say, "most tensest."
Curly Dub.
Always nice to see when the Nats fans show Baltimore that we have Real Baseball Fans here…
Yeah, that quote by Cuban Pete was one of the dumbest lines ever uttered.
I was a fan of the Orioles until that moment.
How was the crowd split? Was it loud when they did the O thing in the national anthem? I'm just watchhing the game now, and im going tomorrow.
Plenty of O's fans there. I'd guess it was 70/30 split in favor of the home team. Yeah, the O was loud and lusty.
But the visitors were very quiet until the 9th. -:)
"That’s all the offense the Nats mustered on Hot Dog Night." But the Os couldn't catch up!
catsup. :-)
🌭🌭 Ketchup? NOT ON A HOTDOG!
I agree unless you are under 8 years old. I thought you were making a pun.
I was!!
all depends on your taste... me? mustard ketchup relish and onions. (shrug)...
now, if you wanna argue what goes on a pizza...
lol. No food wars here. Totally about personal preferences!
I’ll relish this victory. Bullpen really got out of a 9th inning pickle.
mustard
I relish this discussion!
Any CURLY W IS A GOOD CURLY W, but beating a so called rival is always more funner!
As the Christmas song says, "gee, the traffic is terrific."
Finding a bar stool to let things subside.
Morales now hitting .362, just saying.
Yo Yo Morales went 2-for-2 and is now hitting .362. If he starts pushing .400, don’t you almost have to give him a shot?
What I found interesting was House being taken out for defense, with Vivas moving to third. That seemed a little strange to me. Physically, I think House has the tools to be the better defender, but he does still make some questionable decisions. So is Butera showing that he doesn’t fully trust him yet, or does he just see him as a work in progress?
As for Morales, I don’t see many write ups about his defense, so I’m assuming that’s not his strongest area. And with the team scoring runs right now, maybe you don’t want to upset the apple cart too much. But if Morales keeps hitting like this, it’s going to be hard to ignore him.
A couple of comments about YoYo. Yes he's batting over .360 but his OPS is over 1000!! What else does he have to do?
He’s a really BAD fielder at 3B ( Fielding percentage .969) and 1B (.971). The Nats rank 26th in Defensive Runs Saved. Their starting pitchers are not strikeout artists. Do you really want to promote a bad defensive infielder who may or may not be able to hit in the Bigs?
https://www.milb.com/player/yohandy-morales-691002
https://archive.fieldingbible.com/TeamDefensiveRunsSaved
You have to be careful when evaluating a AAA player’s hitting stats. There’s a huge talent divide between AAA and MLB. There’s also a huge talent divide among AAA players. It’s pretty much assumed that AAA players already completed their minor league development and can’t learn much more in AAA. So to continue their development they get promoted to the Big Leagues. Excluding the players who are on rehab assignment there are two types of AAA players: 1) the MLB ready player who’s fine tuning his skills or 2) the player who reached his ceiling ( I’ll call him AAA ceiling). To get a better picture of Morales you need to see how he hits against the MLB ready player vs the AAA ceiling player. If he crushes the AAA ceiling player but does poorly against the MLB ready player then chances are his batting stats won’t translate in the Bigs.
His strike out rate has gone way up in AAA..27%. Still chasing too much and I agree, they may not want to rock the boat right now.
From what I’ve read the brass is not high on Morales’s defense
The metrics show that Vivas ( DRS-1)is fielding better than House (DRS -4)
https://archive.fieldingbible.com/DRSLeaderboard
Let’s be honest the Nats are playing way above everyone’s expectation. I know the relievers were told to expect to be shuttled. I’m not sure what the position players were told especially the ones who are out of options ( Vivas, Wiemer and Tena). Despite the hate Tena is one of the best pinch-hitters this year and Wiemer ranks high defensively in the outfield. Their infield defense ranks among the worse . It doesn’t make sense they’ll option their one elite defensive infielder , their one elite base stealer and their one elite base runner ( IOW Nunez) to make room for player who’s essentially unproven. As mentioned previously Vivas is fielding better than House plus Vivas can also play third. That leaves House. When House was at Rochester he was also excelling at bat AND in the field. Morales doesn’t have a strong reputation in defense either at 3B ( which goes back to college) or at 1B ( he was moved back to 3B for Ortiz and Chaparro). There’s no guarantee that Morales would be a good hitter in the big leagues . Club house chemistry is a big deal and I don’t think if you’d mess with it right now. At this time I only see Morales coming up if :1) there’s an injury, 2) there’s a big trade, or 3) the Nats go into a major losing streak.
I don’t really disagree with any of that, and thanks for the link. The House move does seem to show that Butera may not fully trust him defensively yet. Vivas is probably the better defender right now, either because he has better baseball instincts or because the game just moves a little slower for him. That said, I still think House has more upside at third base long term.
I could see Vivas getting more time at second when they rest Nunez or C.J.. Right now, though, the team is scoring runs at a rate that seems almost impossible to sustain given the overall talent level, so until there’s a real problem, there’s no reason to create one.
Tena is having an outstanding year as a PH, so I wouldn’t be quick to move him. Wiemer is probably the player more on the bubble, especially if Crews is able to turn things around. So yes, it’s hard to find an obvious spot for Morales right now, and AAA numbers don’t automatically translate to the majors.
Still, it’s hard not to imagine what a hard hitting right handed bat like Morales could add to this lineup. Good to see he’s forcing the issue, and I hope it continues.
That’s all the offense the Nats mustered on Hot Dog Night.....
I see what you did there
Our Mark is very clever!
" Ain't the beer cold?!"
Phillies were down 8-3 to the Pirates going into the 7th... now leading 11-8 in the tenth.
Mets are down 5-1 to the Yankees in the ninth with the ghost of Daniel-san on the mound... only run on Juan's sixth homer of the year.
How hot is Schwarber? 5-6 homers in 3 games?
Kyle's a favorite of mine... he kinda looks like a big jock dummy, but he's an astute observer of the game. I wish the Nationals could've kept him.