Great curly W- the guys were relentless with the bases loaded. Even though they only got 2 runs out of it, they kept the pressure on the relievers. Maybe today’s effort was enough to burn their bullpen for tomorrow.
Ray has faced the Nats 10 times since 2016. He has an overall 5.13 ERA over 50.2 IP allowing 30 ER. In his last start against the Nats earlier this year (a Nats victory), he allowed 3 ER over 6 IP, and earned the loss. The first 6 games Ray pitched against the Nats in his career, he lost 5 of them and had a no-decision in the other. He has a 3-1 record in the last 4 games, however, dating back to 8/3/2019. I would not say he’s been particularly effective against the Nats, since 2 of his 3 wins came against the Nats in 2025 and 2022, years in which the Nats were not a good team. I, for one, will not be afraid of facing Robbie Ray with our lineup.
"It" doesn't walk 5 batters in 4+ innings. "It" doesn't pitch out of trouble all four of those innings. I like the kid. But let's keep things in perspective. ;)
"it" pitchers dont have a WHIP around 1.5. He is putting way too many runners on and eventually that will bite him in the ass. History is full of guys that came with some great stuff, but didnt stay becuase they couldn't locate it with enough consistency.
Butera clearly looks at the improved approach and process of the underlying numbers. While Crews is definitely w work in progress, Butera isn't going to hide him on the bench.
Just imagine what this team is going to be like once Borgschulte finishes working his magic on Crews like he has on Garcia. And I think it's beginning to happen. Wow!
I’d love you to be right. What gets me about Crews is that a ballpayer with his pedigree and reputation should have innate skills that are obvious to all observers. Instead, he needs to be taught?
No, he needs to be refined. Find the areas where he’s struggling and work with him to improve.
And he has - a .204 BAbip with a 49% hard hit rate and 92 mph EV means when he’s hitting the ball, he’s hitting into a lot of bad luck or great defense. (Edited to reflect current statistics)
A 49% hard hit rate (when his career average is 42%) and 24% LD rate (career 18%) is not indicative of a "raw" player. It shows that he is finally living up to what he was drafted for.
Every young player has areas where he could improve. He is doing that. You are looking at a .182 BA and making the assumption that he's a bust, without looking into underlying data.
He is not. Crews is a very well-developed baseball player with strong defensive skills and a nice swing. He knows the game and has an advanced, professional approach.
Unfortunately... He has not, to date, demonstrated he can recognize first rate breaking balls at the MLB level. Sliders in particular. He doesn't see the spin and chases down and away out of the zone far too often. These pitches are wrapped so much tighter in the big leagues -- much higher spin rates mean the pitch breaks much later (and sharper) and looks like a fastball out of the pitcher's hand. IF -- and it's a big "if" -- he's beginning to pick up the rotation of the baseball and adjusting, he'll do very, very well. His swing is good. At this point he seems to be laying off those middle/out sliders much better. That's step one. That he launched a bomb last week off a slider is also encouraging. Seeing it is one thing, hitting it is another (Step 2!). Clearly, his exit velos are trending up.
The kid isn't raw. But he wasn't ready to hit professional pitching with a wood bat when they called him up. The very fact that he is NOT raw led them to call him up too soon. And he's paying the price.
...And let it not go unnnoticed that the two teams the good guys are tied with for that last Wild Card spot (Diamondbacks and Padres) they just beat two out of three! And they have better run differential than both teams in front of them! Plus one closest that is ahead they host at home soon -- which will make playing the Phillies all the more meaningful than usual than simply shutting up their obnoxious fans!
"shutting up their obnoxious fans!" is ALWAYS FUN!! Even more so when there is more on the line. Reminds me of Take Back the Park when phillie fans started leaving during the 7th and were all gone by the 9th!
Last night the Nats also set a record for the longest seventh inning in the history of seventh innings, according to my admittedly unofficial and highly sarcastic count.
It was so long--how long was it?--San Francisco replaced the seventh inning stretch with seventh inning yoga. It was so long, San Francisco replaced the bullpen cart with a new bullpen trolley. It was so long, both teams signed a new player out of Japan to pitch the eighth. It was so long, they've already called last call for today's game. It was so long, well...you get the point.
Funny all those innings that feel like a life age of the earth always seem to happen versus the Giants. I can remember 5 absurdly long innings and 4 of them were SFG. The other one was Pittsburg. I remember a game in DC before the pitch clock that was so long I started timing the guy the Giants had on mound and he was taking nearly a minute between pitches. I swear the half inning lasted almost an hour.
Emerging young stars having Allstar seasons, vastly improved pitching since May 1, and the number 1 scoring offense in the Majors, that’s why! Crazy things are happening. Just a counter-point, keeping the glass half full.
Nats have only one sweep this season, against the Brewers. They’ve been swept twice. Let’s even that stat up with a sweep 🧹 today! Season series record to date: 12-8-2! That’s what’s called winning baseball! ⚾️
I wasn’t denigrating Davey, I was trying to suggest the possibility he was sending bad voodoo to the team that axed him last season! All in jest, of course. I will forever be grateful for what he did with the team in 2019. I also don’t totally blame him for their record with te rosters he was handed to manage in the following years. I do blame his choice of coaches and lack of focus on analytics.
Got it. Misinterpreted your intent. My apologies. The way you phrased that, it’s even hilarious. But I don’t totally agree with you regarding the analytics, because that was engrained into him from his time as a bench coach and working with Maddon. Maybe not to the level we are seeing now, but I think it’s too easy to subjectively say he lacked focus on analytics, when no one outside of that inner circle truly knows. Just because things don’t go well, it doesn’t mean analytics were avoided. Sometimes analytics are the problem. His choice of coaches though, other than Hickey who was hired because of his resume’ (working with young pitchers) is spot on. I’d actually rather have Hickey right now, with Mathews serving as the assistant. But that’s just me.
Dusty Baker's memoir, "Crossroads," is being released today. The pre-pub reviews are excellent and it appears to be typical Dusty. I think it'll be much more interesting than the usual bio with the standard baseball war stories.
"I think it'll be much more interesting than the usual bio with the standard baseball war stories."
Not a ton of Hall of Famers who were also United States Marines for 6 years. Dusty was a 4 year MLB vet when he finally hung up his uniform as a Marine reservist. Honorably discharged as a Lance Corporal.
Understand that the Nats were willing to part with CJ for B. Eldridge in the offseason. Obviously the new regime thinks highly of Bryce. Turns out it was good for both teams that they weren’t able to finalize a deal. Still think Crews is going to be a massive bust.
I remember people saying the same thing when CJ came to town and wasnt an instant success. You are tainted by that false idea that all top prospects are instant successes. Crews was promoted too early for reasons that likely had little to do with his readiness. Unlike Wood, whose statcast cast data showed there wasnt a AAA level pitch he couldn't do damage on, Crews's statcast data showed he still had things to learn.
That's the thing, right? That pick was consensus across MLB. I trust the Nats are coaching him up (a Spurrierism) to succeed. My theory is we root for Crews like everything depends on us and hope that the Nats and Crews are working like everything depends on him/them. He is our guy. To say, "Go Nats!" is necessarily to say, "Go Crews!" Our guy. Go Nats!
WHAT AN AMAZING SERIES WINNING, MOVING INTO A WILD CARD, BEAST OF A CURLY W!! TOP TEN TEAM! GO NATS!!
Great curly W- the guys were relentless with the bases loaded. Even though they only got 2 runs out of it, they kept the pressure on the relievers. Maybe today’s effort was enough to burn their bullpen for tomorrow.
Keep up that winning dominance against SF with a sweep
Griffin being on the mound means there’s a chance. I don’r recall the Nats EVER beating Robbie Ray, though. Ray usually dominates them.
Ray has faced the Nats 10 times since 2016. He has an overall 5.13 ERA over 50.2 IP allowing 30 ER. In his last start against the Nats earlier this year (a Nats victory), he allowed 3 ER over 6 IP, and earned the loss. The first 6 games Ray pitched against the Nats in his career, he lost 5 of them and had a no-decision in the other. He has a 3-1 record in the last 4 games, however, dating back to 8/3/2019. I would not say he’s been particularly effective against the Nats, since 2 of his 3 wins came against the Nats in 2025 and 2022, years in which the Nats were not a good team. I, for one, will not be afraid of facing Robbie Ray with our lineup.
https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/robbie-ray-game-log-vs-nationals
Statastic
Alvarez has “it.” He’s constantly making hitters look silly.
But he has to work on getting further into his outings. That win should have been his.
"Alvarez has “it.” "
"It" doesn't walk 5 batters in 4+ innings. "It" doesn't pitch out of trouble all four of those innings. I like the kid. But let's keep things in perspective. ;)
Let’s just say that Alvarez was “pleasingly wild”.
"it" pitchers dont have a WHIP around 1.5. He is putting way too many runners on and eventually that will bite him in the ass. History is full of guys that came with some great stuff, but didnt stay becuase they couldn't locate it with enough consistency.
I’m surprised Alvarez is having control problems. He was pinpoint last year.
Butera picked Crews to PH in a key situation. Man, that is living life on the edge. Fortunately it was okay.
Butera clearly looks at the improved approach and process of the underlying numbers. While Crews is definitely w work in progress, Butera isn't going to hide him on the bench.
Just imagine what this team is going to be like once Borgschulte finishes working his magic on Crews like he has on Garcia. And I think it's beginning to happen. Wow!
I’d love you to be right. What gets me about Crews is that a ballpayer with his pedigree and reputation should have innate skills that are obvious to all observers. Instead, he needs to be taught?
No, he needs to be refined. Find the areas where he’s struggling and work with him to improve.
And he has - a .204 BAbip with a 49% hard hit rate and 92 mph EV means when he’s hitting the ball, he’s hitting into a lot of bad luck or great defense. (Edited to reflect current statistics)
You describe a raw player. Is Dylan Crews a raw player?
A 49% hard hit rate (when his career average is 42%) and 24% LD rate (career 18%) is not indicative of a "raw" player. It shows that he is finally living up to what he was drafted for.
Every young player has areas where he could improve. He is doing that. You are looking at a .182 BA and making the assumption that he's a bust, without looking into underlying data.
He has an OPS of .527 and OPS+ of 49 with a minus WAR. He may improve and become an average player.
"Is Dylan Crews a raw player?"
He is not. Crews is a very well-developed baseball player with strong defensive skills and a nice swing. He knows the game and has an advanced, professional approach.
Unfortunately... He has not, to date, demonstrated he can recognize first rate breaking balls at the MLB level. Sliders in particular. He doesn't see the spin and chases down and away out of the zone far too often. These pitches are wrapped so much tighter in the big leagues -- much higher spin rates mean the pitch breaks much later (and sharper) and looks like a fastball out of the pitcher's hand. IF -- and it's a big "if" -- he's beginning to pick up the rotation of the baseball and adjusting, he'll do very, very well. His swing is good. At this point he seems to be laying off those middle/out sliders much better. That's step one. That he launched a bomb last week off a slider is also encouraging. Seeing it is one thing, hitting it is another (Step 2!). Clearly, his exit velos are trending up.
The kid isn't raw. But he wasn't ready to hit professional pitching with a wood bat when they called him up. The very fact that he is NOT raw led them to call him up too soon. And he's paying the price.
Very good. We should expect substantial results from him this season.
You're right. A player with his pedigree and skill set shouldn't look constantly lost at the plate. And he's looked like that going on 2 years.
...And let it not go unnnoticed that the two teams the good guys are tied with for that last Wild Card spot (Diamondbacks and Padres) they just beat two out of three! And they have better run differential than both teams in front of them! Plus one closest that is ahead they host at home soon -- which will make playing the Phillies all the more meaningful than usual than simply shutting up their obnoxious fans!
"shutting up their obnoxious fans!" is ALWAYS FUN!! Even more so when there is more on the line. Reminds me of Take Back the Park when phillie fans started leaving during the 7th and were all gone by the 9th!
As epitomized by Luis, that is the Nats this season: hope the offense outplays the leaky defense!
Don’t let 2-over-.500 be the high-water mark boys, keep going!
Last night the Nats also set a record for the longest seventh inning in the history of seventh innings, according to my admittedly unofficial and highly sarcastic count.
It was so long--how long was it?--San Francisco replaced the seventh inning stretch with seventh inning yoga. It was so long, San Francisco replaced the bullpen cart with a new bullpen trolley. It was so long, both teams signed a new player out of Japan to pitch the eighth. It was so long, they've already called last call for today's game. It was so long, well...you get the point.
“… it made the equator look like a period.”
Funny all those innings that feel like a life age of the earth always seem to happen versus the Giants. I can remember 5 absurdly long innings and 4 of them were SFG. The other one was Pittsburg. I remember a game in DC before the pitch clock that was so long I started timing the guy the Giants had on mound and he was taking nearly a minute between pitches. I swear the half inning lasted almost an hour.
I can almost hear Johnny Carson's audience replying "How long was it?"
Nats Starting Rotation ERA:
Zack Littell, 2.02 (last 7 games, 35.2 IP)
Foster Griffin, 3.63
Andrew Alvarez, 3.70
Cade Cavalli, 3.88
Miles Mikolas, 4.01 (last 7 games, 33.2 IP)
Maintain this, and not such a bad starting rotation.
Why not us!
Youth, shaky pitching, and poor defense.
But crazier things have happened.
Emerging young stars having Allstar seasons, vastly improved pitching since May 1, and the number 1 scoring offense in the Majors, that’s why! Crazy things are happening. Just a counter-point, keeping the glass half full.
Love the optimism. But this feels more like 2005 than 2012 to me. I hope that you are right and I am wrong.
For the sweep today:
Nationals (35-33) versus Giants (27-41)
Foster Griffin LHP (7-2, 3.63 ERA) versus Robbie Ray LHP (4-6, 4.12 ERA).
Nats have only one sweep this season, against the Brewers. They’ve been swept twice. Let’s even that stat up with a sweep 🧹 today! Season series record to date: 12-8-2! That’s what’s called winning baseball! ⚾️
"Winning baseball" - boy, do I like the sound of that!
Since I'll actually be able to watch the game this afternoon, a sweep would be great. (Actually, it would be great even if I COULDN'T watch it! :-)
Go, Nats!!
Dodgers and Marlins?
You win a cookie 🍪! I wonder if the initials of those teams (“DM” — er, Davey Martinez?) have anything to do with it?
The Marlins one was fresh but couldn't remember if the other was LA or Atlanta.
Atlanta took 3 of 4 earlier in the season, so a near sweep. But we’re not playing horseshoes or hand grenades, so close doesn’t count.
Come on man. Dude led this team to the first WS championship this city has had in nearly a century. Have a little more respect.
I wasn’t denigrating Davey, I was trying to suggest the possibility he was sending bad voodoo to the team that axed him last season! All in jest, of course. I will forever be grateful for what he did with the team in 2019. I also don’t totally blame him for their record with te rosters he was handed to manage in the following years. I do blame his choice of coaches and lack of focus on analytics.
Got it. Misinterpreted your intent. My apologies. The way you phrased that, it’s even hilarious. But I don’t totally agree with you regarding the analytics, because that was engrained into him from his time as a bench coach and working with Maddon. Maybe not to the level we are seeing now, but I think it’s too easy to subjectively say he lacked focus on analytics, when no one outside of that inner circle truly knows. Just because things don’t go well, it doesn’t mean analytics were avoided. Sometimes analytics are the problem. His choice of coaches though, other than Hickey who was hired because of his resume’ (working with young pitchers) is spot on. I’d actually rather have Hickey right now, with Mathews serving as the assistant. But that’s just me.
In the totally off topic department:
Dusty Baker's memoir, "Crossroads," is being released today. The pre-pub reviews are excellent and it appears to be typical Dusty. I think it'll be much more interesting than the usual bio with the standard baseball war stories.
"I think it'll be much more interesting than the usual bio with the standard baseball war stories." ---> That's a given!
The write up in the Times gave every indication that this is one to read, all 416 pages.
"I think it'll be much more interesting than the usual bio with the standard baseball war stories."
Not a ton of Hall of Famers who were also United States Marines for 6 years. Dusty was a 4 year MLB vet when he finally hung up his uniform as a Marine reservist. Honorably discharged as a Lance Corporal.
Semper Fi, Dusty.
Should have drafted B. Eldridge instead of Crews. Local Vienna boy who grew up a NAT’s fan. Could have been our first baseman for 10 years.
Right. I’m sure that passing over one of the consensus top two picks in the draft to pick a local HS kid would’ve sat well with the fanbase.
Hindsight is 20/20. Everyone thought Crews was a lock. No one had Eldridge even in the top 10 that year.
Understand that the Nats were willing to part with CJ for B. Eldridge in the offseason. Obviously the new regime thinks highly of Bryce. Turns out it was good for both teams that they weren’t able to finalize a deal. Still think Crews is going to be a massive bust.
I remember people saying the same thing when CJ came to town and wasnt an instant success. You are tainted by that false idea that all top prospects are instant successes. Crews was promoted too early for reasons that likely had little to do with his readiness. Unlike Wood, whose statcast cast data showed there wasnt a AAA level pitch he couldn't do damage on, Crews's statcast data showed he still had things to learn.
That's the thing, right? That pick was consensus across MLB. I trust the Nats are coaching him up (a Spurrierism) to succeed. My theory is we root for Crews like everything depends on us and hope that the Nats and Crews are working like everything depends on him/them. He is our guy. To say, "Go Nats!" is necessarily to say, "Go Crews!" Our guy. Go Nats!
Every GM in baseball would have selected Crews in that spot over Eldridge.
Exactly!
Getting a couple of W’s is great
Surviving CJ going all World Cup and kicking a couple is great
Seeing Brad Lord field his position so well AND survive an injury scare is GREAT!
This roster has been blessed w health and the 1st thought I had when Home Depot went down was not printable….Lord is central to that BP, so important.