Butera cost us this one. Alvarez was having a stellar outing and after one mistake pitch to Lindor, Butera then decides to use the two worst bullpen options in a 1-1 game. I don’t get it.
I completely agree. We keep pulling the starter in the 5th or 6th when they have a low pitch count just because they have run into a little trouble. I’ll take Alvarez every day vs our C level bullpen.
Traveling today. Just got to the hotel. Had to listen on SiriusXM which meant hearing the Mets broadcasters. Brother! Sure made me appreciate Charlie and Dave even more than I already did! I honestly thought there was only one guy in the booth for the longest time. Yakkety Yak Yak Yak.Apparently he thinks he is required to fill every single millisecond with chatter and half of it had nothing to do with the game or even baseball! Please we must never lose Charlie and Dave. NEVER EVER.
Sometimes I just listen to them instead of watching on tv and I literally can visualize the game based on their description… I wonder if this is something the try to do or if they are so good that it just works like that.
I agree, they need a new TV team apart from Alexa who I think is pretty good. I will put in yet another vote for Mad Max as color man should he retire after this season.
I have Sirius and when I listen to other teams games it really hits home how good Charlie and Dave are. There are a handful of good teams, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow (this is the latter's last year) with the Giants, and Jon Miller is their Radio voice. John Rooney for the Cardinals is good, as is Rick Monday for the Dodgers. But Charlie and Dave really paint a picture of the game and you can see it in your mind.
Max will be a good choice. He really knows the rule book and so he’ll give insights that others can’t see. A good example was the “4th Out” play earlier this week. He was giving Schneider the idea that the Homeplate umpire was waving the players off the field so it really wasn’t a time play and Toronto should have been allowed to get the runner at third out.
Max would be the ultimate choice but if wants to be a broadcaster- think he would work nationally with a lighter workload. He has a large young family and am guessing he is going to be there for them as much as he can…
Of course on the mlb app , Nationals TV, which is the only way I can watch them, you have a broadcast option if you scroll down, Tv , Frannie and Kolko or 106.7 The Fan, Charlie and Dave. I always pick C &D
What on earth do all of you people have against Dan & Franny...??
Charlie & Dave are great, I agree... but you all act like Dan & Franny are unlistenable... They're fine... no... they're better than fine... I enjoy their chemistry and I'm quite happy with them!
I'm sorry, but someone needed to speak for Dan & Franny!
I really like Dan. He has been an excellent host and sideline reporter for much of the Nats time here. And during the WS run he had some of the great moments caught on camera watching the Nats win improbably. I don’t think he has established himself and a play by play announcer, though I still find him likable.
Twice in a row the skipper has pulled Alvarez at 73 pitches and brought in the worst pitchers in the bullpen who allow an inherited runner on first base to score.
Why in the world would you think Bird or Kranick is a better option than Alvarez with two outs in the inning?
As for Abrams, I think he and the team handled this reasonably well. The Nats realized he’s not an effective shortstop and made the move in time to get others a few reps at the position.
Abrams isn’t happy about the move - and that’s OK. He’s a proud man, a first round draft pick and a two-time All-Star. To Abrams’ credit, he gave measured responses. He didn’t burn down the house.
This further solidifies my view that Abrams will leave in free agency. As the Nats eye Willits, King, Fitz-Gerald, Cruz and Hacopian he was never going to be the long-term shortstop.
I don’t know when, but I won’t be surprised if the Nats deal Abrams, targeting a frontline starting pitcher.
Bird has a different arm slot than the other pitchers. He also throws different pitches. The RH relievers throw 4seam and Slider Combos. Bird’s combo is a sinker/sweeper. Bird’s job last night was to get out Robert. Robert has a .750 OPS + against LHP and a .609 OPS+ against righties. But Robert this year has been hitting sinkers / sweepers well and last night he wasn’t hitting 4 seamers or Sliders. Beeter pitched the other day so he was out. Lord is scheduled to start today. Williams would not be a good choice because he throws 4S/sinkers/sweepers. Like I said Robert is hitting sweeper/sinkers well this year and so against Luis Robert , Williams will be a one trick poney. (Throwing a 4 seam fastball to a MLB player who’s expecting it is not a good idea). So I suppose at that time he could have gone with Ribalta, Kranick or Cruz ( Kranick did get Robert out later in the game) . An aside:Cruz was shellacked the last time he pitched. Cruz throws hard and has nasty stuff but his fastball has no spin so until he can get his changeup working he has only one pitch: his slider.
( N.B. Bird had to continue pitching until he either got that 3rd out or he faced a minimum of three batters. So this is why I think the intended strategy was: Bird gets Robert out. The next inning Dion comes in).
But this is 20/20 hindsight. And since Lord is pitching today you figure they’re going to need alot more relievers for this game. Really tough call. Glad I’m not a manager.
They are “stretching out” Alvarez. Alvarez’s throw into the ground instead of first base showed how tired he was by that point.
As far as Bird goes, they got him, so they want to see how he does. Baseball pros don’t cut people as instantly as some fans seem inclined to do. If he doesn’t do better soon, though, he may well be optioned at least. I believe he still has an option remaining.
This was a game that showed ho much the The Child Manager is out of his depth when it comes to bullpen usage. And really why are you moving Abrams to second if your answer at SS is NUNEZ and why why why why why is Vivas still in the line up ? Call up the future and stop pretending you are a Pro Baseball team instead of the Company Annual Picnic Team
The problem with Seaver King is alot of people thinks he’s better at 2B/3B/OF ( see MLB.com for an example). His metrics at Harrisburg were awesome. His metrics at ROC haven’t been. Though his exit velo and Launch angle are still like it was at HBurg, he’s chasing more balls out of the zone. He has an out of the zone chaseof 34% at ROC, it was ~24 % at HBurg. MLB average is 26%. For comparison, Luis out of zone rate is 39%, Crews & House are both over 30%. King’s ROC groundball rate is ~48% , at HBurg it was mid-30%… you would like to see this number like it was at double-A , somewhere mid 30ish %. FanGraphs is putting his FV at 40 which translates to a future fWAR of 0.5 to 1.5. I would like to see him hit MLB pitching before handing him the starting SS position.
At this point, I think their strategy is to throw crap against the wall in the bullpen to see what sticks. I don’t think Bird sticks for long. Same with Crash Kranick.
It’s sad to us fans and the players involved with the promising start to the season, but management’s purpose the rest of the way is to see which pieces fit and are worth keeping for next season and the future. Wins dont really matter any more. That is all.
Always keeping an eye on our farm hands. Seaver King is hot in Rochester, batting .296 and rising. I’d like to see a lot of him at SS in September. Also, Ben Grable has made 4 appearances in AA since arriving in early August and he has yet to walk a batter or give up a run. He better be promoted to AAA before the season ends.
And by the time CJ goes the free agent, Willets should be ready to step in or Hacopian or both. Succession planning and the Nats appear to be doing it well.
I would like to see this. And as for Nunez, he does make many great plays but still seems to miss some of the basic plays. I think he is the one player on the team that would be best served as a small ball hitter - bunting situationally, more of a slap (control) type of hitting instead of over swinging with pop ups and soft fly balls.
A few observations, although I must admit I didn't actually watch the game. I followed on my phone since I've learned that it is sometimes difficult to watch baseball and stay married at the same time.
1) Having anointed Ortiz as the greatest Nats left handed first baseman ever on Thursday, this morning I would say he may be better than Mike Epstein.
2) Several of us referenced the 1963 song "The Bird is the Word" by The Trashmen last night actually Surfin' Bird). Hopefully we will not have the opportunity to do this again given Bird's pitching woes. Plus you really don't want that song stuck in your head.
3) If they move CJ to second base and keep playing House at 3rd and maybe bring up King, I would prefer that they keep Tena over Vivas solely because of the way Tena wears his hat, or cap for purists, sideways.
I’m a geezer and I thought I knew songs from the 60s pretty well. But I had to go to YouTube to find and listen to The Bird is the Word. Honestly, I never heard it before.
Butera cost us this one. Alvarez was having a stellar outing and after one mistake pitch to Lindor, Butera then decides to use the two worst bullpen options in a 1-1 game. I don’t get it.
I completely agree. We keep pulling the starter in the 5th or 6th when they have a low pitch count just because they have run into a little trouble. I’ll take Alvarez every day vs our C level bullpen.
Then Butera sticks with bird for much too long after he gets in trouble. Doesn’t make sense.
Raise your hand if you’ve seen enough of Jake Bird.
Ditto for Jorbit Vivas, who gets my vote for DFA when Wood returns.
Lile’s unfortunate decision to bunt was the turning point for me.
Admittedly, there goes my unrealistic vision of getting back to .500 this weekend.
Agree.
Agree about Bird and Vivas. When I saw Bird warming up I thought it was the end of the game.
Agree on Bird. Plenty of other people they could have used there. Why not Dion?
Traveling today. Just got to the hotel. Had to listen on SiriusXM which meant hearing the Mets broadcasters. Brother! Sure made me appreciate Charlie and Dave even more than I already did! I honestly thought there was only one guy in the booth for the longest time. Yakkety Yak Yak Yak.Apparently he thinks he is required to fill every single millisecond with chatter and half of it had nothing to do with the game or even baseball! Please we must never lose Charlie and Dave. NEVER EVER.
C and D are really good and work well together.
Been watching the games while listening to Charlie and Dave. Very enjoyable.
Sometimes I just listen to them instead of watching on tv and I literally can visualize the game based on their description… I wonder if this is something the try to do or if they are so good that it just works like that.
I agree, they need a new TV team apart from Alexa who I think is pretty good. I will put in yet another vote for Mad Max as color man should he retire after this season.
I have Sirius and when I listen to other teams games it really hits home how good Charlie and Dave are. There are a handful of good teams, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow (this is the latter's last year) with the Giants, and Jon Miller is their Radio voice. John Rooney for the Cardinals is good, as is Rick Monday for the Dodgers. But Charlie and Dave really paint a picture of the game and you can see it in your mind.
Max will be a good choice. He really knows the rule book and so he’ll give insights that others can’t see. A good example was the “4th Out” play earlier this week. He was giving Schneider the idea that the Homeplate umpire was waving the players off the field so it really wasn’t a time play and Toronto should have been allowed to get the runner at third out.
Max would be the ultimate choice but if wants to be a broadcaster- think he would work nationally with a lighter workload. He has a large young family and am guessing he is going to be there for them as much as he can…
Yes! Sooo good! And their segues into commercials are top notch too!
Of course on the mlb app , Nationals TV, which is the only way I can watch them, you have a broadcast option if you scroll down, Tv , Frannie and Kolko or 106.7 The Fan, Charlie and Dave. I always pick C &D
That is such a nice option to have.
What on earth do all of you people have against Dan & Franny...??
Charlie & Dave are great, I agree... but you all act like Dan & Franny are unlistenable... They're fine... no... they're better than fine... I enjoy their chemistry and I'm quite happy with them!
I'm sorry, but someone needed to speak for Dan & Franny!
I really like Dan. He has been an excellent host and sideline reporter for much of the Nats time here. And during the WS run he had some of the great moments caught on camera watching the Nats win improbably. I don’t think he has established himself and a play by play announcer, though I still find him likable.
Yankees? There's your problem. You had the wrong game! 😉
Omigosh! Glad you caught my goof! Duh. Just corrected myself. 🙄
Twice in a row the skipper has pulled Alvarez at 73 pitches and brought in the worst pitchers in the bullpen who allow an inherited runner on first base to score.
Why in the world would you think Bird or Kranick is a better option than Alvarez with two outs in the inning?
As for Abrams, I think he and the team handled this reasonably well. The Nats realized he’s not an effective shortstop and made the move in time to get others a few reps at the position.
Abrams isn’t happy about the move - and that’s OK. He’s a proud man, a first round draft pick and a two-time All-Star. To Abrams’ credit, he gave measured responses. He didn’t burn down the house.
This further solidifies my view that Abrams will leave in free agency. As the Nats eye Willits, King, Fitz-Gerald, Cruz and Hacopian he was never going to be the long-term shortstop.
I don’t know when, but I won’t be surprised if the Nats deal Abrams, targeting a frontline starting pitcher.
Bird has a different arm slot than the other pitchers. He also throws different pitches. The RH relievers throw 4seam and Slider Combos. Bird’s combo is a sinker/sweeper. Bird’s job last night was to get out Robert. Robert has a .750 OPS + against LHP and a .609 OPS+ against righties. But Robert this year has been hitting sinkers / sweepers well and last night he wasn’t hitting 4 seamers or Sliders. Beeter pitched the other day so he was out. Lord is scheduled to start today. Williams would not be a good choice because he throws 4S/sinkers/sweepers. Like I said Robert is hitting sweeper/sinkers well this year and so against Luis Robert , Williams will be a one trick poney. (Throwing a 4 seam fastball to a MLB player who’s expecting it is not a good idea). So I suppose at that time he could have gone with Ribalta, Kranick or Cruz ( Kranick did get Robert out later in the game) . An aside:Cruz was shellacked the last time he pitched. Cruz throws hard and has nasty stuff but his fastball has no spin so until he can get his changeup working he has only one pitch: his slider.
( N.B. Bird had to continue pitching until he either got that 3rd out or he faced a minimum of three batters. So this is why I think the intended strategy was: Bird gets Robert out. The next inning Dion comes in).
But this is 20/20 hindsight. And since Lord is pitching today you figure they’re going to need alot more relievers for this game. Really tough call. Glad I’m not a manager.
They are “stretching out” Alvarez. Alvarez’s throw into the ground instead of first base showed how tired he was by that point.
As far as Bird goes, they got him, so they want to see how he does. Baseball pros don’t cut people as instantly as some fans seem inclined to do. If he doesn’t do better soon, though, he may well be optioned at least. I believe he still has an option remaining.
This was a game that showed ho much the The Child Manager is out of his depth when it comes to bullpen usage. And really why are you moving Abrams to second if your answer at SS is NUNEZ and why why why why why is Vivas still in the line up ? Call up the future and stop pretending you are a Pro Baseball team instead of the Company Annual Picnic Team
Really??
The answer at SS is not Nunez. It’s Seaver King and we’ll see him at SS a lot in September.
The problem with Seaver King is alot of people thinks he’s better at 2B/3B/OF ( see MLB.com for an example). His metrics at Harrisburg were awesome. His metrics at ROC haven’t been. Though his exit velo and Launch angle are still like it was at HBurg, he’s chasing more balls out of the zone. He has an out of the zone chaseof 34% at ROC, it was ~24 % at HBurg. MLB average is 26%. For comparison, Luis out of zone rate is 39%, Crews & House are both over 30%. King’s ROC groundball rate is ~48% , at HBurg it was mid-30%… you would like to see this number like it was at double-A , somewhere mid 30ish %. FanGraphs is putting his FV at 40 which translates to a future fWAR of 0.5 to 1.5. I would like to see him hit MLB pitching before handing him the starting SS position.
That was my first thoughts as well, but CJ’s move to 2B erased it. Letting King play every day at SS in September should answer that question, eh.
Please explain Bird’s unique value to our team. I don’t get it.
At this point, I think their strategy is to throw crap against the wall in the bullpen to see what sticks. I don’t think Bird sticks for long. Same with Crash Kranick.
Another lackluster performance by a demoralized core.. Just when it feels like they are holding it together, they lose it..
Agree. The Trade deadline killed the spirit of the team: Garcia gone, Griffen and Mead.
The trades did not just demoralize the team, it also demoralized us, the fans.
It’s sad to us fans and the players involved with the promising start to the season, but management’s purpose the rest of the way is to see which pieces fit and are worth keeping for next season and the future. Wins dont really matter any more. That is all.
To bring this musical interlude full circle: “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” is a 1956 Buddy Holly tune.
I think we can safely say that indeed Bird is not the Word.
Let's get a Curly W this afternoon. And some runs! 1 for 8 with RISP last night.
Hope the guys can do some searching and find the good O with timely hits. LET'S GET A CURLY W THIS AFTERNOON!!
Always keeping an eye on our farm hands. Seaver King is hot in Rochester, batting .296 and rising. I’d like to see a lot of him at SS in September. Also, Ben Grable has made 4 appearances in AA since arriving in early August and he has yet to walk a batter or give up a run. He better be promoted to AAA before the season ends.
What is the word? Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow
So here's my thinking about the Nats infield. 1st base - Ortiz/Morales, 2nd base - Abrams, SS - King, 3rd base - House
Nunez is a great fielder and can't hit. First base combo could be awesome. House is proving he CAN hit righties.
And by the time CJ goes the free agent, Willets should be ready to step in or Hacopian or both. Succession planning and the Nats appear to be doing it well.
Totally agree
Reports are that Hacopian is a bad defender although a strong hitter. The Nats may have trouble finding him a position besides LF or DH.
We could use a good long term DH and it sounds like he is a good candidate for the role.
I would like to see this. And as for Nunez, he does make many great plays but still seems to miss some of the basic plays. I think he is the one player on the team that would be best served as a small ball hitter - bunting situationally, more of a slap (control) type of hitting instead of over swinging with pop ups and soft fly balls.
A few observations, although I must admit I didn't actually watch the game. I followed on my phone since I've learned that it is sometimes difficult to watch baseball and stay married at the same time.
1) Having anointed Ortiz as the greatest Nats left handed first baseman ever on Thursday, this morning I would say he may be better than Mike Epstein.
2) Several of us referenced the 1963 song "The Bird is the Word" by The Trashmen last night actually Surfin' Bird). Hopefully we will not have the opportunity to do this again given Bird's pitching woes. Plus you really don't want that song stuck in your head.
3) If they move CJ to second base and keep playing House at 3rd and maybe bring up King, I would prefer that they keep Tena over Vivas solely because of the way Tena wears his hat, or cap for purists, sideways.
"...Several of us referenced the 1963 song "The Bird is the Word" by The Trashmen last night actually Surfin' Bird)..."
Was wondering if some of the other geezers here picked up on it. -:)
It would be appropriate to play as "walk out" music (if there was such a thing) for our own pitching coach, aka Surfer Joe.
I think a few of us geezers did but I expected that many would not. It's fun to do anyway.
I’m a geezer and I thought I knew songs from the 60s pretty well. But I had to go to YouTube to find and listen to The Bird is the Word. Honestly, I never heard it before.
I used to have a CD of "Frat Rock" tunes. Surfin' Bird was a big one.
Tenas is also a better PH and they’re playing him at LF and RF.
Tena is a better pinch hitter than Vivas. Also hoping to see King soon.