Nope. It was a Closer. Became one of his things during his short stay. Not the most successful, and even hated by some fans, but one of my favorites because of his character and off the field contributions
He was one of my favorites too. And he was the nextdoor neighbor to one of my best player buddies. And During the off-season Storen invited my buddy (who was a pitcher too) to work out with Drew's off season pitching coach.
Yea something like that I remember them in the booth together talking about something like that. I really liked Clippard he had a great change up pitch that made some very good hitters look foolish.
I love the guy. He visited my boy at children’s hospital, along with Clip and Dez. I had the opportunity to talk to him for a while away from baseball. The guy is such a wonderful human being. Just imagine if the umps didn’t screw him in that playoff game against the Cards. What might have been.
This was almost like watching two different games.
For six innings, the Nats weren’t patient. They helped King out with weak contact and quick outs. In the seventh, they finally made him throw strikes, and everything changed. It wasn’t built on big hits. It was patience, hustle, putting the ball in play, and taking advantage of Padres mistakes.
Mead coming off the bench is starting to look like a real weapon. He gives Butera more versatility, because he can use him in the right matchup and still have a quality bat available late.
Lord was excellent again, too.
The only thing I didn’t understand was not having another reliever ready when Varland started to lose it. Butera has pushed a lot of the right buttons this year, but that was one of the few mistakes I’ve seen from him. Overall, this was a great example of how the process of patience and pressure can completely flip a game.
I thought Mike King had changed his name to Maddux King after 6.... Nats run differential down to -1. With a Curly W tomorrow, at worst it would be even steven....
Huh. Seems fairly obvious? At least to me. I like the analogy. I think it actually started in lacrosse though, which there it makes no sense whatsoever. At least in baseball they have an actual tarp that comes off the field in good weather, so calling the shirt a tarp that covers the body is a great connection to the baseball term.
They were hilarious and by the later innings a fantastic cheering section. It started out with maybe three guys and as the game progressed we saw more guys going over to join them. By the end of the game they'd filled nearly the whole section.
I am a bit of a curmudgeon on the subject (I HATE the Presidents' Race and wish the Nationals would retire it) but for me Tarps Off falls into the same category as the wave and shouldn't be encouraged.
Mead now has 25 RBI in 130 AB. That works out to about 96 RBI over a full season of 500 AB, which is pretty good production.
Maybe he’s just on a hot streak, but all of his hitting numbers look good right now. It would be great if he were a better fielder, but he’s fine as a replacement level defender. Even as a bench player, he can be a real threat because he has extra base power.
Yes, his numbers have taken off since he started playing more regularly. But I still think he can get a lot of meaningful playing time coming off the bench and staying in the game when the right moment comes up.
Baseball lends itself to those key moments, an error, a bloop hit, a walk, a hit batter. Being able to bring someone like Mead off the bench in that kind of spot is a real weapon. He’s hitting both righties and lefties, and in fact he’s shown more power against righties.
That said, you’re probably right that he’ll start more at third for now. He plays it decently, and he has extra base power. At this point, someone may have to take the job away from him.
Mead's go ahead run on a walk also huge. Patience can also work. In fact maybe the most surprising thing in the game was Vivas walk in that inning. The players completely flipped the script in the 7th inning.
Exhilarating win, lots of hustle and “+90 foot” plays late in the game. Great team-wide “Natitude”👍
But yes, I am concerned about Dylan Crews still being a “ground ball Eddie”.
It’s one thing to hit a grounder when you’re down two strikes in the count; it’s another to consistently beat first or second pitches of your at-bats into the ground.
🤞that the coaching staff can help him get out of this (so far) never-ending rut.
Seems it should have been easier for him. But philosophies don’t work for everyone, Long was an example of that, but nothing seems to be working for Crews yet. But if anyone can get him on track, I do have faith in this new hitting coach, based on his overall resume’.
Always glad for a CURLY W! Nice timely hits and quality ABs when it mattered most. SD has the best ranked defense in the league. Speed and aggressive plays put the pressure on them today. Let's win the series tomorrow afternoon! GO NATS!!
The question, however, is how sustainable is his performance? It wasn’t an uneven trade at all. If I’m not mistaken, Boston Smith has been absolutely tearing the cover off the ball in his professional debut, and Catcher is a position of need for us. His power is a reason he was drafted I believe.
Great late inning offense to bury the Padres
The crowd today was the wildest I've heard in DC in a long time. A virtual 10th man.
Great!
Yep. Had 30k and change in the house.
Love it! Wish I was there. Sounds like a 2012 game
Surprisingly, there were Padre's fans making quite a ruckus.
For once, the Nats fans shouted them down. Hopefully we'll hear more of that.
“Attention fans, the bottom of the 9th has been canceled.” Extra points for anyone remembering that marketing slogan with the Nats and who said it.
Was it one of the player who changed the numbers for the winning Lotto sign? I think he and his best friend did that.
Nope. It was a Closer. Became one of his things during his short stay. Not the most successful, and even hated by some fans, but one of my favorites because of his character and off the field contributions
I know who it is, His best friend was Clippard.
Yep! Both of those guys are great.
So, who was it?
Drew Storen. Clip and Save.
Aren't they in business together now? Think they have their own line of bourbon/spirits. Or am I thinking of someone else?
Yes, Field of Dreams Whiskey.
He was one of my favorites too. And he was the nextdoor neighbor to one of my best player buddies. And During the off-season Storen invited my buddy (who was a pitcher too) to work out with Drew's off season pitching coach.
Yea something like that I remember them in the booth together talking about something like that. I really liked Clippard he had a great change up pitch that made some very good hitters look foolish.
I love the guy. He visited my boy at children’s hospital, along with Clip and Dez. I had the opportunity to talk to him for a while away from baseball. The guy is such a wonderful human being. Just imagine if the umps didn’t screw him in that playoff game against the Cards. What might have been.
I remember you telling that story a while ago:))
Wonder if there's an opener before Littell tomorrow?
Probably. I don’t like it, but it seems the be the thing these days with the Nats. And it seems to be working fairly well most of the time, so……..
This was almost like watching two different games.
For six innings, the Nats weren’t patient. They helped King out with weak contact and quick outs. In the seventh, they finally made him throw strikes, and everything changed. It wasn’t built on big hits. It was patience, hustle, putting the ball in play, and taking advantage of Padres mistakes.
Mead coming off the bench is starting to look like a real weapon. He gives Butera more versatility, because he can use him in the right matchup and still have a quality bat available late.
Lord was excellent again, too.
The only thing I didn’t understand was not having another reliever ready when Varland started to lose it. Butera has pushed a lot of the right buttons this year, but that was one of the few mistakes I’ve seen from him. Overall, this was a great example of how the process of patience and pressure can completely flip a game.
Yeah, I was yelling at the TV for Butera to get Varland outta there:))
I heard you!
I thought Mike King had changed his name to Maddux King after 6.... Nats run differential down to -1. With a Curly W tomorrow, at worst it would be even steven....
Note from the boxscore: 0 errors today.
Those guys in the third deck waving their shirts looked like complete idiots...I wish I was with them!
Didn’t see them. The third deck right above home plate? I might know who those guys are. JCC aka dcGuy on other forums is in that area.
right field. Sec 232-ish - 236
I had the sound off so no real idea of what was going on, but it looked awesome!
It's called Tarps Off (I don't know why). I think it started with the Cardinals.
Well, guessing "tarps off" refers to taking the shirt off, yes?
Sure, but why tarp?
Huh. Seems fairly obvious? At least to me. I like the analogy. I think it actually started in lacrosse though, which there it makes no sense whatsoever. At least in baseball they have an actual tarp that comes off the field in good weather, so calling the shirt a tarp that covers the body is a great connection to the baseball term.
OK, if you say so:)) I think it is very funny!
According to AI....
In hockey and Canadian slang, "tarps off" means taking your shirt off.
It’s most famously used in two contexts:
Celebration: Ripping your shirt off to celebrate a big win, a championship, or just an epic party moment.
Confrontation: Stripping off the shirt/jersey before a fight so the opponent can't grab onto the fabric and get leverage.
The phrase was massive popularized in pop culture by the show Letterkenny (e.g., "Tarps off, boys! Let's go!").
It did and the guys who brought it to them were the Stephen Austin baseball club
https://frontofficesports.com/mlb-tarps-off-sfa-club-baseball/
They were hilarious and by the later innings a fantastic cheering section. It started out with maybe three guys and as the game progressed we saw more guys going over to join them. By the end of the game they'd filled nearly the whole section.
Not sure if this works for everyone but there's video and pics here https://x.com/andrewcgolden/status/2060848802261536962?s=46&t=3k7GcWtYd6UmwMTK6mfZJw
Here's a photo I took late in the game.
https://tinyurl.com/bduzvz7e
I am a bit of a curmudgeon on the subject (I HATE the Presidents' Race and wish the Nationals would retire it) but for me Tarps Off falls into the same category as the wave and shouldn't be encouraged.
Mead now has 25 RBI in 130 AB. That works out to about 96 RBI over a full season of 500 AB, which is pretty good production.
Maybe he’s just on a hot streak, but all of his hitting numbers look good right now. It would be great if he were a better fielder, but he’s fine as a replacement level defender. Even as a bench player, he can be a real threat because he has extra base power.
Love watching him hit!!
Hasn’t his numbers really taken off since he became a regular rather than being an occasional starter
Seems like that is the case:))
Yes, his numbers have taken off since he started playing more regularly. But I still think he can get a lot of meaningful playing time coming off the bench and staying in the game when the right moment comes up.
Baseball lends itself to those key moments, an error, a bloop hit, a walk, a hit batter. Being able to bring someone like Mead off the bench in that kind of spot is a real weapon. He’s hitting both righties and lefties, and in fact he’s shown more power against righties.
That said, you’re probably right that he’ll start more at third for now. He plays it decently, and he has extra base power. At this point, someone may have to take the job away from him.
Seaver King solo HR in 3rd inning at AAA tonight
Just looked at the Red Wings’ batting order: Seaver King leading off with a 1.031 OPS, Morales at 1.027, Ortiz .880, House .856, and Pinckney .807.
That’s basically a Murderers’ Row by AAA standards.
A great problem to have
Key hits by Garcia and Mead, ..........again!
Mead's go ahead run on a walk also huge. Patience can also work. In fact maybe the most surprising thing in the game was Vivas walk in that inning. The players completely flipped the script in the 7th inning.
Yes, the walks also helped!
Exhilarating win, lots of hustle and “+90 foot” plays late in the game. Great team-wide “Natitude”👍
But yes, I am concerned about Dylan Crews still being a “ground ball Eddie”.
It’s one thing to hit a grounder when you’re down two strikes in the count; it’s another to consistently beat first or second pitches of your at-bats into the ground.
🤞that the coaching staff can help him get out of this (so far) never-ending rut.
They have worked wonders with our catchers so I have complete faith they’ll get him changing his hit angle
Seems it should have been easier for him. But philosophies don’t work for everyone, Long was an example of that, but nothing seems to be working for Crews yet. But if anyone can get him on track, I do have faith in this new hitting coach, based on his overall resume’.
He is one of the best, I understand.
I wouldn't read too much into today's result. King gets the vast majority of his outs on the ground.
We need to add winning the series to tomorrows list which will erase our current negative 1 in run differential at the same time
Won with little from the two All Stars JW and CJ...a good sign.
Time to let Mr. VIVAS GO..
He had a good AB in the rally in the 7th, though….
Always glad for a CURLY W! Nice timely hits and quality ABs when it mattered most. SD has the best ranked defense in the league. Speed and aggressive plays put the pressure on them today. Let's win the series tomorrow afternoon! GO NATS!!
I have to hand it to the person in the front office who pulled the trigger on the Mead trade. That guy has been a gift from the gods.
The question, however, is how sustainable is his performance? It wasn’t an uneven trade at all. If I’m not mistaken, Boston Smith has been absolutely tearing the cover off the ball in his professional debut, and Catcher is a position of need for us. His power is a reason he was drafted I believe.
Can we stop using Varland in high-leverage situations, please? Tired of watching him pitch himself into stress innings.
I was wondering where Ribalta was.
I agree!