Nationals vs White Sox, Game 2

[imref]

Kyle is scuffing, but a win is a win.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Spot on

The CHIEF 2.0

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Kyle is scuffing, but a win is a win.

the leadoff rope was a rope. The rest was a little hard luck. Moncada had 2 strikes and hit a nice pitch through a hole. The walk was weird. Nice k for the 2nd out. Nice one not to collapse under

[aspenbubba]

the night after he homered.

As for Thomas, he's a little too aggressive lately. Can take a pitch when it is in a place you can't elevate

Most of Smiths homers have been in garbage time in blow out losses. I can’t recall one that was significant.

[imref]

Post the already

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Done.  Welch is a little out of shape because we've not had practice at winning GDTs all that much.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

With the posted, we honor our friend Old Chelsea with the traditional post that tracks the Nats wins to date, in Anglophile style.

THE RACING PRECEDENTS: Comparative dates on which the Nationals notched their 67th win of the season, each season:

2012 - 7th August (110th match of season)
2017 - 9th August (112th match)
2016 - 10th August (113th match)
2014 – 15th August (120th match)
2019 - 18th August (123rd match)
2005 - 26th August (128th match)
2013 - 28th August (132nd match)
2018 - 28th August (133rd match)
2015 - 2nd September (132nd match)
2011 - 11th September (144th match)
2007 - 17th September (150th match)
2023 - 19th September (152nd match)
2006 - 22nd September (153rd match)
2010 - 26th September (156th match)
---
2022- finished 55-107 (.340)
2009 - finished 59-103 (.364)
2008 - finished 59-102 (.366)
2021 - finished 65-97 (.401)
2020 - finished 26-34 (.433)

The Nats next win milestone is 2010 (69). Niiiiiiice.

2006 was a 71 win season, 2007 the Nats won 73.  So it's 2 wins to match 2010, 3 to reach 70 wins, and 4 to tie 2006.

[aspenbubba]

For fun, I pulled up the the play log for the games with his 10 homers. Thankfully, it's easier than doing this for Aaron Judge or Matt Olson I'll post the score and situation, as well as the change in win probability (I'll give the % change).  Right away, your recollection is spot on for homer #1 and #10.

#1 - 4/29, 9th inning, 1 out, Pirates lead 16-0. Solo.  Win Prob %=0%
#2 - 6/11, 6th inning, 1 out, Nats lead 4-2. 2 runs, change in win probability=13.1%
#3 - 6/26, 2nd inning, 2 outs, Mariners lead 1-0. Solo. 12%
#4 - 7/1, 2nd inning, 1 out. 0-0 with the Phillies. Solo. 10.6%
#5 - 7/9, 5th inning, no out. 0-0 with the Rangers. Solo. 14.1%
#6 - 8/23, 9th inning, 2 out, 9-0 NYY. Solo. 0%
#7 - 9/2, 5th inning, 1 out, 9-1 Marlins. Solo. 0.8% (from 1.1% to 1.9%).
#8 - 9/11, 6tb inning, 1 out, 4-1 Nats leading pirates. Solo. 6%.
#9 - 9/13, 6th inning, 0 out, 7-3 Pirates. 2 runs. 9.8%.
#10 - 9/18, 9th inning, 2 out, 6-0 White Sox. Solo. 0.1%.

Remarkable collection of no-impact homers. 4 out of 10 with less than 1% impact. Also, as a general matter, his power surge is largely in September, when the Nats are playing out the string rather poorly. In fairness, 4 are also in the stretch from 6/24 - the end of August when the Nats were well above .500.

I believe you missed game # 6 which was also in the 9th inning. What astounds me is they were mostly solo HR's. He is freakin' useless. Could you post this in the clubhouse under the title "Why We Shouldn't Re-sign Smith" and you can attribute your research to me if you choose . Thank you.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I believe you missed game # 6 which was also in the 9th inning. What astounds me is they were mostly solo HR's. He is freakin' useless. Could you post this in the clubhouse under the title "Why We Shouldn't Re-sign Smith" and you can attribute your research to me if you choose . Thank you.

I think I have #6 on the table. It's the 9th inning vs. NYY.

I'm going to put this in the 2024 roster speculation thread rather than start a new thread. There's probably a few others that are "smith is useless," etc... . We don't need threads on each player