Nationals @ Pirates, Game 1

[Smithian]

Your Washington Nationals
Pitching
Brad Lord R
0-0 1.80 ERA

Lineup
RF Alex Call R
LF James Wood L
C Keibert Ruiz S
1B N. Lowe L
DH Josh Bell S
2B Luis Garcia L
3B Paul DeJong R
CF Dylan Crews R
SS Nasim Nunez S

Someone Else's Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitching
Paul Skenes R
1-1 3.44 ERA

Line-wait-the-Bucs-stumbled-into-a-generational-homegrown-pitching-staff-and-still-didn’t-spend-on-something-better-than-this?-ups
CF Oneil Cruz L
DH B. Reynolds S
RF A. McCutchen R
1B E. Valdez L
3B K. Hayes R
C E. Rodriguez S
LF Tommy Pham R
2B Adam Frazier L
SS I. Kiner-Falefa R

It all starts...... At 6:40 PM ET

[IanRubbish]

4 plate appearances today will get Call to the minimum to qualify for leaderboards.  As of right now, his .500 OBP would make him first in MLB, with a 22 point lead over #2, Aaron Judge.

[imref]

Skenes got lit up in his last start. Here’s hoping for another similar outing.

[imref]

What happened to the catcher? 

[Dave in Fairfax]

I'm going to have to mute this. That music is F'ing annoying. Maybe tolerable if you're in the stadium, but it's like standing in an alley outside a nightclub on the broadcast, only with fewer drunk chicks.

[varoadking]

Is that Eddie Gaedel playing first base for the Bucs?

[Dave in Fairfax]

What happened to the catcher?

Injured by a pitch, but I didn't see where he was hit on the replay.

[varoadking]

Injured by a pitch, but I didn't see where he was hit on the replay.

Right Hand...

[Natsinpwc]

Welp go ahead and pencil this in as a loss. 

[imref]

Welp go ahead and pencil this in as a loss. 

is their bullpen any good?

[Dave in Fairfax]

is their bullpen any good?

Yes

[IanRubbish]

is their bullpen any good?

11th in Bullpen ERA vs. 30th for the Nats

[GataNats]

That’s a good AB by Crews.   Here’s the problem I have with this team.   This team should never have guys like DeJong and Bell playing everyday.  Makes no sense at all.  Especially at positions we are loaded with prospects.   Guarantee if we had House, Barrels, and even Yoyo up we would have a better record 

[Dave in Fairfax]

Also, 5 relievers account for 18 of 23 earned runs. That gives them six arms they can go to who've given up 5 runs in 27 innings so far.

[IanRubbish]

That’s a good AB by Crews.   Here’s the problem I have with this team.   This team should never have guys like DeJong and Bell playing everyday.  Makes no sense at all.  Especially at positions we are loaded with prospects.   Guarantee if we had House, Barrels, and even Yoyo up we would have a better record

House and Hassell are not putting up great #'s in Rochester, though that could change with weather.   Drew Millas could play 1B though and his OBP is over .400 in Rochester in spite of the weather. 

[IanRubbish]

 

[GataNats]

Lowe!

[imref]

Pirates need to upgrade their defense

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Not quite dead yet


2-5

[welch]

Poche or Sims...

But Lowe is a find

[GataNats]

How in the world are both Sims and Poche not gone yet?

[imref]

Nice outing for Rutledge.

[Smithian]

That’s a good AB by Crews.   Here’s the problem I have with this team.   This team should never have guys like DeJong and Bell playing everyday.  Makes no sense at all.  Especially at positions we are loaded with prospects.   Guarantee if we had House, Barrels, and even Yoyo up we would have a better record 

You can convince me on Bell we’d be better with a few different options.

DeJong at least has steadied the infield defense and it’s not hard in any way for me to see any of those players mentioned having a worse stat line than DeJong offensively. Crews is showing it isn’t easy.

[welch]

And Rutledge and Henry seem to have arrived.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Can't Hit Nunez with another hit.