...And Whoever's Playing the Nationals

[Centerfield]

Facing Jose Fernandez tonight. Next year we will hate him, but for tonight...

JOSE...JOSE JOSE JOSE!

JO-SE!

JO-SE!

[Frayed Knot]

And he'll face off against Scherzer ... but what! the Nats are 5-9 in Scherzer's last 14 starts (vs 10-5 in his first 15 starts of the year)

[Benjamin Grimm]

Miami jumps to a quick 2-0 lead in Washington,

[Zvon]

Nats threatening in the 10th. Whoa.....yikes, anyone see that missed DP?!

[Frayed Knot]

Nats win

[Zvon]

DAMN! that cost em. Nats win on a sac fly in the 10th.

[Zvon]

That Fish backstop never even took off his mask. Wtf. And those new rules screwed up a good play at the plate.

[G-Fafif]

4:05 start today. Nicolino vs. Hand.

[Frayed Knot]

G-Fafif wrote: 4:05 start today. Nicolino vs. Hand.

An intersquad game?

[Frayed Knot]

Frayed Knot wrote: 4:05 start today. Nicolino vs. Hand. An intersquad game?

So anyway, the one of the above who is actually pitching for the Marlins today (Hand) has the Nats scoreless thru 3, while the one actually pitching for the National people (Zimmermann) gave up 2 in top 1st to the Marlin people.

[Frayed Knot]

Nats hosting Baltimore for three while we're busy with Atlanta.

Tough to figure out the Birds this year. Mostly hanging around .500 (3 games under for the year, 10-8 in Sept) and no chance of repeating last season's surprise division winner. Mostly their pitching has let them down and the Nats are hitting right now. One can only hope that Buck and his boys manage to steal at least a game or two because after that it's a steady diet of Braves (3), Reds (1) and Phils (3) for the Washingtonians en route to the final series and it's smelling like they could run that table with a minimal number of breaks.

[G-Fafif]

Frayed Knot wrote: 4:05 start today. Nicolino vs. Hand. An intersquad game?

For the record, Nicolino was the original probable, Hand replaced him and when I went to edit, I deleted the wrong pitcher. Turns out the Marlins were self-defeating anyway.

[Frayed Knot]

G-Fafif wrote: For the record, Nicolino was the original probable, Hand replaced him and when I went to edit, I deleted the wrong pitcher.

aka: The Marlins gave you the Hand Jive

[G-Fafif]

Frayed Knot wrote: For the record, Nicolino was the original probable, Hand replaced him and when I went to edit, I deleted the wrong pitcher. aka: The Marlins gave you the Hand Jive

He turned out to be their Nicolino patch.

[Edgy MD]

Orioles and Nats delayed by rain.

Nats in clubhouse, cheering for Murphy.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Baltimore is named after a Catholic proprietor. Maybe the Pope can swing by and give the Orioles a blessing before their three game set with the Nats.

[Chad ochoseis]

O's doing their part tonight, as Ubaldo Jimenez (!) drives in a run to make it 1-0 good guys (broadly defined).

[Benjamin Grimm]

At the moment, identical scores in New York and Washington. Mets and Nationals both losing 4-1. Nationals have two out in the bottom of the 6th and the Mets are about to come to bat in the 7th.

[Edgy MD]

One down and one on in the ninth for Washington.

[Edgy MD]

Deux.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Clippy, Clippy, Clippy...

[Edgy MD]

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Orioles 4 Nationals 1

Magic Number 6

[Frayed Knot]

The O's did everything they could to lose that game but weren't able to. They handed the Nats 6 walks plus 3 errors and dropped/missed two catchable pop-ups (one fair, one foul) in the 9th inning alone.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I can't be happy about magic numbers after watching
three hours of that.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I would prefer the Mets win games to clinch their spot in the playoffs, rather than counting on the Nationals to lose. However, with most of the starting pitchers suddenly arm weary and less effective of late and the offense suddenly being ineffective, I feel compelled to accept any and all help in clinching a playoff spot.

[Frayed Knot]

And this is why you build big leads, to be able to absorb the inevitable speed bumps along the way.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Slump now, peak in the playoffs.

(Just don't over-slump).

[Edgy MD]

Manny Machado, American hero.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Machado with a no doubter to left center field. Two run blast gave Orioles a 4-3 lead and just importantly knocked Scherzer out of the game and got into the Nats pen.