IGT 08/05 -- NY Mets at DC Gnats

[Guest d'Kong76]

NY Mets at Washington
When: 7:05 PM ET, Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Where: Nationals Park, Washington, District of Columbia

[Frayed Knot]

[u:2qyr02nt]What's Gnu with the Gnats[/u:2qyr02nt]

They're starting to pull away on top of the NL East (currently a 3 game lead) but that says a bit more about the Braves then it does the Nats. Atlanta faltering on the west coast has allowed Washington to gain ground even while going just 4-6 over their last 10 games. And with a +76 RS/RA they should really be much further ahead of the Braves and their measly +9 but, for the second year in a row, the Nats as a whole seem to be less than the sum of their parts.

- 3B/LF Ryan Zimmerman out with a severe hamstring pull so we won't see him in this series or the one next week, or quite possibly for the rest of the season. This means Rendon permanently at 3B

- former Cleveland SS Asdrubal Cabrera was a trade deadline acquisition who'll play 2B more or less every day for them. This means Danny Espinosa back to the bench

- C Wilson Ramos is out on paternity leave (he's looked pregnant to me for a while) and will miss this entire series

- OF/PH/disappointment Nate McLouth has been DL'd. Prospect Steven Souza Jr has been called up. Apparently a power threat. 1 for 8 in ML so far.

Hot:
Jayson Werth -- NL PotM in July
Anthony Rendon -- probably their best hitter going forward and may already be
Denard Span -- OBA shot from .317 in early July to .354 now upping their leadoff position from Suck to Not-Suck

Not:
Adam LaRoche -- .159/.238/.227 w/1 HR in July
Bryce Harper -- yeah he missed all of May & June, but still only 3 HRs all season in 200 ABs and without power hes really kind of average and his occasional primo donna quirks become less cute and more annoying



Rotation:

Tues -- Gio Gonzalez (6-7, 3.38, 1.26) vs Wheeler.
Up and down season for a guy who was battling for a CY two years back

Wed -- Doug Fister (10-3, 2.68, 1.09) vs Niese.
After missing the first two months of the season, Fister has been their best starter

Thurs (12:35) -- Jordan Zimmermannnnn (7-5, 3.00, 1.17) vs deGrom.
Zimm recovered quite nicely following the sprain of his 'I don't want to go to the ASG' joint a few weeks back.

[Guest d'Kong76]

NY Mets at Washington When: 7:05 PM ET, Tuesday, August 5, 2014 Where: Nationals Park, Washington, District of Columbia

SportsDirect Inc.

Having defeated the New York Mets in five of six matchups this season, the Washington Nationals look to continue their success against their NL East rival when the teams begin a three-game set in the nation's capital on Tuesday.The Nationals have averaged nearly six runs per game against the Mets this season, although the teams have not met since mid-May. Washington's Gio Gonzalez and New York's Zack Wheeler will square off Tuesday in a matchup of pitchers who sit below .500 despite sub-4.00 ERAs.

The Mets lost three of four against the San Francisco Giants in their most recent series, including a 4-3 setback on Monday afternoon. Daniel Murphy was the offensive bright spot for New York, drilling a two-run homer among his two hits, marking the sixth time in nine games that he has recorded at least two hits. The Nationals were topped by the Baltimore Orioles 7-3 on Monday in a one-game makeup despite a home run from Wilson Ramos.

TV:
7:05 p.m. ET, SNY (New York), MASN2 (Washington)

PITCHING MATCHUP:
Mets RH Zack Wheeler (6-8, 3.60 ERA) vs. Nationals LH Gio Gonzalez (6-7, 3.88)

Wheeler has worked at least six innings while giving up two runs or fewer in each of his last six starts. He gave up two runs in 6 2/3 frames in Wednesday's win over Philadelphia, although he did allow a home run for the third straight outing. Wheeler has faced the Nationals twice this season, going 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA.

Gonzalez has no wins to show for his last four outings and has failed to escape the fourth inning in two of his last three starts. He was charged with five runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 frames against Philadelphia his last time out and struck out only two batters - two shy of his previous season low. Veteran outfielder Curtis Granderson is 2-for-19 against Gonzalez with seven strikeouts.

WALK-OFFS:
1. Mets C Travis d'Arnaud is 1-for-18 over his last six games.
2. Gonzalez is 6-2 with a 3.10 ERA and a .195 opponents batting average lifetime against New York.
3. Washington OF Denard Span has reached base via a hit or a walk in 30 straight games.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Losing 3 of 4 to the Giants was pretty bad for the SHaMs' march to the SHaCk (second half championship).

Not to put any pressure on the SHaMs, but they need to win all 3 of these.

[Frayed Knot]

Not sure about a sweep, but with 6 of the next 10 coming against the Nats, and 13 of the final 50, we will have to take a big chunk of those.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Tonight is Jason Werth Garden Gnome Night!

Span, CF
Rendon, 3B
Werth, RF
LaRoche, 1B
Desmond, SS
Harper, LF
Cabrera, 2B
Lobaton, C
Gonzalez, P

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Frayed Knot wrote: Not sure about a sweep, but with 6 of the next 10 coming against the Nats, and 13 of the final 50, we will have to take a big chunk of those.

Ten would be nice.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Juan Lagares - CF
Daniel Murphy - 2B
David Wright - 3B
Lucas Duda - 1B
Eric Campbell - LF
Travis d'Arnaud - C
Chris Young - RF
Ruben Tejada - SS
Zack Wheeler - RHP

[Edgy MD]

Your time is now, Juan Lagares.

Exciting to see Duda and Campbell in the same lineup.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

So far, we're doing a decent job of death-by-paper-cut-ing Gio.

But cripes, Wheeler seems intent on doing the same to himself in the second, here. I mean... how does one even walk Desmond?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Criminy. Can you imagine what the Nats would have done there if they'd had a hit in that inning?

[Frayed Knot]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Criminy. Can you imagine what the Nats would have done there if they'd had a hit in that inning?

Technically they did as the hit-the-runner play is scored as a hit for the batter and a putout for the closest fielder (Tejada).
But, on a more general point, yeah - no Nat even got the ball out of the outfield (in either inning) until Gonzalez flied to CF on the final pitch.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

So it's to be a quick-tops-of-innings kinda night, then.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Ah, so... the down-the-middle approach this inning.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Rendon's gone full-on evil-magician Van Dyck with the facial hair. Refreshing in an era of Grizzlies, sorta.

[Lefty Specialist]

Wheeler showing less control than Honey Boo-Boo at a Hershey factory.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

All over the place he is, like Honey Boo Boo attempting an ad-libbed physics dissertation.

With Desmond, though, he's more like Bear Grylls-- effectively wild.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Guest

[Lefty Specialist]

But he escapes after throwing 97,479 pitches.

[Lefty Specialist]

2/3 of the earth is covered by water, and the other third is covered by Juan Lagares.

[Frayed Knot]

I think Wheels finished that inning with fewer than triple-digit pitches.

[Lefty Specialist]

It just seems like teams give up early runs to the Mets before realizing, "Hey, wait a minute, these are the METS", and then proceed to shut them down the rest of the way.

[Zvon]

What's all this then?
Looks like a good game. Ouch, Werth doubles. Well, it was. Catching up and on the list of replays at MLB.tv there is one that's like 2 minutes long and concerns the Nats broadcasters talking about Werths gnome night. Just them talking about the give-away. Wassup w/that?


WERTHS OUT @ the plate! Good throw Soupy.


Hunter Pence is...oh, he's gone. Honey Boo Boo was....

[Frayed Knot]

I'm starting to think that every single play at the plate from now on is automatically going to go under review.

[Frayed Knot]

Lefty Specialist wrote: It just seems like teams give up early runs to the Mets before realizing, "Hey, wait a minute, these are the METS", and then proceed to shut them down the rest of the way.

I almost think it's more like the Mets saying; Hey wait a minute, we're the Mets, and then quickly cease all scoring.

[Edgy MD]

Bloaded for Daniel Murphy. I can work with that. Elevate, Daniel.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm encouraged by the Mets not-losingness so far. Last year Wheeler would be out of the box in the 3rd.

[Frayed Knot]

Ooooh, I think that one went off Cabrera's asdrubal.

[Frayed Knot]

In addition to the low calls from the other day, we've been screwed on some half-swings lately.

[Zvon]

That was a nice break with CYoung.

Ugh, not with Wright. Sheesh. These umps.

[Zvon]

Baseball is a game of breaks. We just got another on Duda's perfect pop.

I think even calls by umps were considered "breaks" back in the day. Like a bad call was a bad break.