The Washington Nationals (2005-), 2019 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS! W00000000000T!

[Al Dente]

23 runs on 23 hits! That's one crazy stat.

[lovehockey]

Fastest game of the year:  2:29.  10-1 against the Mariners and the 10 were scored against the starting pitcher (poor guy), in the rain.

---

Jayson Werth (Pat)

[Al Dente]

Hellooo? Helllllooooo?

The last post in this thread was from 5/23. WTF? We have a contender here! Well, if the bullpen gets their shit together.

[TedE]

On 5/1/2017 at 11:07 AM, TedE said:

With Eaton out the chance is pretty much off the table (and with 170 runs in April, the 10th highest ever, I still contend it's a possibility).  A lead off man's OBP is a strong determinant of runs scored over the course of a season.  Unless Trea (maybe) or Taylor (unlikely) can pick up the slack.  It's a huge loss.  I guess now their chance is to have a game like yesterday every other week to pad the stats!

On pace for 894 runs at the break.  Having lost their lead off man in the first weeks, and now their other lead off option recently, that is pretty impressive.  The offensive drop off in the past few weeks is probably indicative of where they will end up in the 875+ range (but they also have 14 games left with Mets/Phillies, and have been feasting on bad pitching, so I expect a few more of those 12-16 run outbursts).  Who knows when Werth returns, but his replacement platoon of Raburn/Goodwin have held their own.  I bet even when he comes back he'll get more days off for pitching match ups.  The relief corps is still dreadful, but has flashed signs of competence recently. 

[Pat]

Joe Ross is having Tommy John surgery Wednesday  per Jorge Castillo's twitter.  

Infinite sadness. Good luck, Joe.

[DonRocks]

2 hours ago, Pat said:

Joe Ross is having Tommy John surgery Wednesday  per Jorge Castillo's twitter.  

Infinite sadness. Good luck, Joe.

Poor guy.

[TedE]

Two arms added to the bullpen over the weekend.  These are a move to get relief back to stability, but I don't think this was THE move.  They need a more options for a closer, not some guys who *could* fill in the role.  I think Doolittle can be more than advertised, though. 

Offense is clearly not going to be a problem!  OI wouldn't want to have been within arm's reach of Scherzer on Saturday, though.  He walks off the mound with a 10-0 lead, and in the ninth they had the tying run on deck.  If that game had been 2-0 and Dusty came out to pull him I think you would have seen Mad Max go off and demand to stay in the game.

 

Edit: 4-0 with no outs top of 1st just now.  Yeah, feasting on mediocre pitching.  I think they are now on pace for 919(?) runs after 3.1 games of this series.  FOUR batters in the top 11 of all MLB for average (Murphy, Harper, Zimm, Rendon).  On Saturday they briefly had the 1-2-3 leading batters in the NL!  Buster Posey's weekend nudged him up to #2.

[TedE]

Over the span of the 3rd and 4th innings this afternoon the Nats:

- Sent 21 batters to the plate

- Went 13-for-18 with 3 walks (2 issued to Scherzer)

- Hit 7 HRs including the 5 by the first 6 batters of the 3rd inning (Murphy was the slacker after they started off 4-4 in the inning)

- Scored 13 runs

They've scored 22 runs over the last 5 innings including last night.  Fun baseball is fun!

[DonRocks]

2 minutes ago, TedE said:

including the 5 by the first 6 batters of the 3rd inning

This must at least tie an MLB record.

[TedE]

3 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

This must at least tie an MLB record.

I think the 4-in-a-row to start the inning does, unless somebody has done better since 2010

[TedE]

2 minutes ago, TedE said:

I think the 4-in-a-row to start the inning does, unless somebody has done better since 2010

And apparently the 5 total also ties the record for most HRs in an inning!  It's funny, I would have thought that number would be higher over the course of baseball history.

[DonRocks]

25 minutes ago, TedE said:

And apparently the 5 total also ties the record for most HRs in an inning!  It's funny, I would have thought that number would be higher over the course of baseball history.

Yes, but not with only one out!

(If 4-in-a-row to start the inning ties the record, then 5-out-of-the-first-6 by definition at least ties the record, and maybe breaks it.)

I assume Scherzer will pick up the win today?

Wait a minute, do they have *8* home runs so far?!

[saf]

3 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Wait a minute, do they have *8* home runs so far?!

Yes, that is what they ended up with. A team record, but the MLB record is 9.

And Max did not make any outs.

[DonRocks]

A couple of important facts:

"Ryan Zimmerman Passes Frank Howard for Most Home Runs in Washington History" by Tyler Conway on bleacherreport.com

"Nationals Land Twins' Kintzler in Deadline Deal" by Noah Frank on wtop.com

In Tom Boswell's chat today, someone asked, "Should the Nationals prioritize a reliever or starter?" I breathed a sigh of relief when Boswell answered, "Closer, closer, closer." The Nationals may have given up more than Kintzler is worth on the open market, but right now, Kintzler is what you need.

[dracisk]

Gio Gonzales with a no hitter in the bottom of the 8th against Miami. Bryce Harper just made a great catch battling the lights to keep it going.

3 hours ago, dracisk said:

Gio Gonzales with a no hitter in the bottom of the 8th against Miami. Bryce Harper just made a great catch battling the lights to keep it going.

... and it's done in the bottom of the ninth. Oh, well.

[MC Horoscope]

That was exciting! And the Miami crowd really responded well to Gio. I was in the crowd at Nationals Park when Randy Johnson got his 300th win, and the reaction from the crowd was similar to what we saw last night.

[dracisk]

42 minutes ago, MC Horoscope said:

And the Miami crowd really responded well to Gio.

He's from Miami (Hialeah), so it makes sense that the crowd would be particularly interested in his success!

[lovehockey]

Tonight's game, delayed 3 hours, has brought a new addition to the DL (and I personally wouldn't be surprised if it's for the rest of the season) after Harper slipped on 1st base at full speed in the bottom of the 1st.  Legs are not supposed to move that way.  He couldn't put any weight on left his leg as he left the field.  I'm sure there are tears in some of his knee ligaments.

[DonRocks]

12 hours ago, lovehockey said:

Tonight's game, delayed 3 hours, has brought a new addition to the DL (and I personally wouldn't be surprised if it's for the rest of the season) after Harper slipped on 1st base at full speed in the bottom of the 1st.  Legs are not supposed to move that way.  He couldn't put any weight on left his leg as he left the field.  I'm sure there are tears in some of his knee ligaments.

Thank goodness it's just a bone bruise, and not a ligament or tendon tear. Still, bone bruises can *hurt like hell* - I fell on my knee in January (wet kitchen floor), and I was howling for about ten minutes on the ground - I thought *sure* I had cracked my kneecap, but I guess I didn't. The pain died down in about two weeks.

[DonRocks]

Jul 29, 2017 - "Nationals Acquire Howie Kendrick from Phillies" by Daniel Rapaport on si.com

Aug 15, 2017 - "Howie Kendrick Hits Two Home Runs for Nationals against Former Team" on csnmidatlantic.com

Kendrick has homered in 3 of his last 4 at-bats, including a walk-off, 11th-inning, Grand Slam on Sunday against San Francisco.

Gio Gonzalez lowered his ERA to 1.79 tonight - the best ERA in the major leagues.

There's something to be said for depth.

[TedE]

14 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Gio Gonzalez lowered his ERA to 1.79 tonight - the best ERA in the major leagues

With Scherzer's continued dominance, angst around yet more Strasburg time on the DL and the abysmal bullpen, Gio has been having himself a hell of a year in the shadows.  I think it suits him well.  The dig on him over the past several seasons since his stellar stretch in 2012 has been that he lets the pressure get to him when things go awry in the early innings and tends to unravel.  No reason to think that wouldn't apply to being in the constant spotlight, either.  When he's just allowed to go out and pitch while the news focuses on seemingly every National not named Gio Gonzalez he's at his best.

[TedE]

15 hours ago, DonRocks said:

There's something to be said for depth.

As a friend pointed out the replacements for the entire starting outfield have posted a combined 4+ WAR (the literal "replacements" in Wins Above Replacement are outperforming themselves!).  We may not see a projected starter in the outfield until the end of this month, even next month without a division race to worry about (whenever Werth comes back).  If healthy (a HUGE "if" this season) a Harper, Werth, Goodwin/Taylor/Kendrick outfield is an incredible luxury.

[Al Dente]

16 hours ago, DonRocks said:

There's something to be said for depth.

 

I've heard it's more about girth.   

[TedE]

Your runaway NL East champions!  If you'd said we'd be thinking about catching the Dodgers for top seed just 2 weeks ago I would have laughed.  The series this weekend is now going to say a lot about that.  Consensus is the Nats don't *want* the best record in the NL and would be better off seeing the Cubs in the NLDS.  Diamondbacks are surging with a strong rotation, and the defending champs are not.  The next 3 weeks is shaping up to be a doozy for the rest of the NL.

Interesting to see all of the replacements out there for the clincher today (Turner was the only regular starter).  That's the line up you usually see the day AFTER they clinch, when the regulars get a day off to nurse their hangovers.  Robles certainly showed he belongs at this level, but I wonder if we see him on the playoff roster as a direct AA call up.  That probably depends on how Harper/Werth are actually doing when the time comes. 

Rendon - Quietest MVP caliber season I can remember seeing (which is why he won't get the votes ...).  Leads the entire NL in most calculations of fWAR.

Strasburg - Holy crap!  Including today, 34 straight scoreless innings.  Since the All Star break and coming off the DL: 0.61 ERA.  If Scherzer gets the rest he needs, and Gio continues his come back season, that is a scary starting postseason roster.  Roark hasn't exactly been a slouch, either.  Aside from Doolittle the 'pen so far has been ... better.

[Pat]

It was fun being there when they clinched yesterday, worth the extra 90 minutes watching the 7th - 11th innings of the Marlins - Braves game on the Jumbotron.  (Also VERY odd to be rooting for the Braves. The folks in the stands doing the tomahawk chop really went above and beyond...) There weren't a whole lot of us left when the players came back out on the field wearing their division champion shirts, but we were enthusiastic.  It was cool having the players throw swag up to us, even though I'm sure they'd rather have been popping corks instead. I ended up with some curly W beer coozies .  Harper looked good out there, seemed to be moving fine.  (Or maybe  that's just my willful delusion.)

Strasburg pitched really well, just those two hits to Franco, but appeared to be cramping again.  To his credit, Lively was also very good, even if he wasn't pitching to our top players. It was a pitcher's duel for a good long time and a fast game. The depth of the team is amazing, when they can field mostly 2nd and 3rd stringers and perform so well.  All three of the starting outfielders began the season in AA. The future is now, I guess. 

I cannot believe how fast Robles is.  He's got to be faster than Turner, which in itself is astonishing.  I looked back in towards the infield after he hit that ball to the outfield, expecting to see him approaching second base and he was already 1/3 of the way to third! Too bad he couldn't stay on the base.

Turner's home run landed very near us, the closest I've ever been to a home run ball.  That turned out to be the difference in the game, a homer from the only Opening Day starter in the lineup. That factoid alone doesn't come close to representing the game, though. 

I heard somewhere yesterday (it may have been Bob Carpenter being piped in over the PA) that this was the 6th fastest a team has ever clinched its division. He said something about the '75 Reds, so they must have been the fastest, given that those were the peak years of The Big Red Machine.

I hope the Nats enjoy their day off today, after 21 games in 20 days. 

[DonRocks]

I notice that nobody posted after Game One. 

"Bryce Harper Wakes Up Nationals' Bats To Even NLDS with Cubs" by Eddie Matz on espn.com

[Pat]

Last night's was a great game to be at, worth the cost of the tickets. I was pumping my fists the second the ball left Harper's bat. The Zim one was more of a holding-your-breath kind of thing. That came so close to being caught.  I still don't have my voice back.

Chelsea Janes noted on her Twitter feed that Matt Albers had the most career appearances of any active pitcher before pitching in a postseason game yesterday, and Adam Lind had the most games of any active player before playing in the postseason. They both acquitted themselves well, and  Harper couldn't have tied the game without Lind getting it started. He's magic off the bench.

[MC Horoscope]

I was so glad for the crowd! Going home after losing would have been grim!

[TedE]

Just shoot me now and get it over with .....

There are two lines of thought on tonight's potential rain out:

1) The Nats *want* to face Arietta.  Supposedly still dealing with a hamstring problem, several weeks off, not the ace he used to be and in sub-optimal pitching conditions.  Nats counter with Roark who has been heroic in these situations before.

2) Nats hope for a full rain out today and play tomorrow where they can start Strasburg again on almost full rest.  But then we likely get Hendricks again.

Of course none of this matter if they continue to not hit the damn ball.  Or If Dusty keeps leaving our revamped bullpen on the bench with, I dunno, the whole season on the line. I've grown tired of screaming at the TV.

[Al Dente]

I'm going to be an optimist and buy a ticket for Thursday's game.

Update: Got a ticket from StubHub in the gallery 307, the first row for $160. Not a bad deal. Now I just hope there's reason to attend!

[Pat]

5 hours ago, TedE said:

Just shoot me now and get it over with .....

There are two lines of thought on tonight's potential rain out:

1) The Nats *want* to face Arietta.  Supposedly still dealing with a hamstring problem, several weeks off, not the ace he used to be and in sub-optimal pitching conditions.  Nats counter with Roark who has been heroic in these situations before.

2) Nats hope for a full rain out today and play tomorrow where they can start Strasburg again on almost full rest.  But then we likely get Hendricks again.

Of course none of this matter if they continue to not hit the damn ball.  Or If Dusty keeps leaving our revamped bullpen on the bench with, I dunno, the whole season on the line. I've grown tired of screaming at the TV.

Dusty is going with the lineup order that has scored the most runs this season for Game 4. It's an odd bit of chemistry, but Werth and Harper back-to-back at #2 and 3 has an extra spark and Rendon seems to do better at #6. [Turner, Werth, Harper, Zimmerman, Murphy, Rendon, Wieters, Taylor, Roark.] That is, if he rain lets up enough so they play today.

[TedE]

1 hour ago, Pat said:

Dusty is going with the lineup order that has scored the most runs this season for Game 4. It's an odd bit of chemistry, but Werth and Harper back-to-back at #2 and 3 has an extra spark and Rendon seems to do better at #6. [Turner, Werth, Harper, Zimmerman, Murphy, Rendon, Wieters, Taylor, Roark.] That is, if he rain lets up enough so they play today.

Reshuffling the lineup, or deck chairs on the Titanic?

It doesn't matter where they bat, hitters have to hit.  Trea has to get on base and be a threat.  Their offensive woes of this past week go deeper than ordering calculus.  I was one of those people moaning about Werth getting the start over Kendrick yesterday, but at least he did something (a hit and a walk).

Our two aces have taken no hitters past the 5th twice, and the Nats have lost both of those games.  Those are games you just have to win.  It's the 2014 Giants series all over again.

[DaveO]

1 hour ago, TedE said:

Reshuffling the lineup, or deck chairs on the Titanic?

It doesn't matter where they bat, hitters have to hit.  Trea has to get on base and be a threat.  Their offensive woes of this past week go deeper than ordering calculus.  I was one of those people moaning about Werth getting the start over Kendrick yesterday, but at least he did something (a hit and a walk).

Our two aces have taken no hitters past the 5th twice, and the Nats have lost both of those games.  Those are games you just have to win.  It's the 2014 Giants series all over again.

Oh man.  I think post season baseball is a crap shoot.  Always has been.  Some players rise to the occasion.  They are always the exceptions and always noted.  But its a pure crap shoot.  Everyone is trying, everyone is talented....but how will they perform???  Nobody knows.

This series....so tough.  Best pitching in the post season so far by the Nats 3 starters...and we are down 1-2.  Hitters aren't hitting for the most part as you note above.

I think its always magic.  As I recall Big Poppy from Boston was dynamite in a bunch of series and crapped out in his last post season.

Pray for the baseball gods to shine on Washington.

[Lobozooma]

Don - 

Following up on twitter comments on why starting Stras matters more for game 4 since they will need to win game 4 and 5 to move on...

They need to get to game 5. That's the entire goal...the ONLY goal. You have to give yourself the best chance to even make game 5. You cannot win without getting to game 5. Game 4 is basically their Game 5 and they have to play like it. This is where the Nats have blown it before. In 2014 the Nats lost the series with the following arms on the bench: Strasburg, Storen, Clippard. What were they waiting for? Who cares if they all had to throw 2-3 innings to win that game 4. If they lose, the team has 4 months to rest. If they win...you go with whatever you can to just move on. This is where Bruce Boche is so great...he gets this better than most managers. You have to manage the playoffs to get ever win...anyway you can. The Astros just did it. They pitched Verlander in game 4 as a reliever. If they lost that game, who knows who the starter would be but their manager went all out. Dusty needs to do the same. 

Re: lineup - For the last few weeks of the season a large % of the Nats runs came from HRs. It was alarming and it's been basically the same in the postseason. Turner is the key...if he doesn't get on they won't win.  

I'm hoping for a miracle but don't feel confident. 

[DonRocks]

4 minutes ago, Lobozooma said:

Don - 

Following up on twitter comments on why starting Stras matters more for game 4 since they will need to win game 4 and 5 to move on...

They need to get to game 5. That's the entire goal...the ONLY goal. You have to give yourself the best chance to even make game 5. You cannot win without getting to game 5. Game 4 is basically their Game 5 and they have to play like it. This is where the Nats have blown it before. In 2014 the Nats lost the series with the following arms on the bench: Strasburg, Storen, Clippard. What were they waiting for? Who cares if they all had to throw 2-3 innings to win that game 4. If they lose, the team has 4 months to rest. If they win...you go with whatever you can to just move on. This is where Bruce Boche is so great...he gets this better than most managers. You have to manage the playoffs to get ever win...anyway you can. The Astros just did it. They pitched Verlander in game 4 as a reliever. If they lost that game, who knows who the starter would be but their manager went all out. Dusty needs to do the same. 

Re: lineup - For the last few weeks of the season a large % of the Nats runs came from HRs. It was alarming and it's been basically the same in the postseason. Turner is the key...if he doesn't get on they won't win.  

I'm hoping for a miracle but don't feel confident. 

Yes, this makes perfect sense - you have to leave it all on the field during game 4, and if you can somehow make it to game 5, you do whatever you need to do in order to shimmy, limp, or crawl to victory, even if it means using your aces twice in a row?

I long for the days of yore, when teams would use their 20-game-winners as relief pitchers, and then start them the next day - barring serious injury, you toss all concepts of "conservation" aside ... I like it!

[Lobozooma]

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

Yes, this makes perfect sense - you have to leave it all on the field during game 4, and if you can somehow make it to game 5, you do whatever you need to do in order to shimmy, limp, or crawl to victory, even if it means using your aces twice in a row?

I long for the days of yore, when teams would use their 20-game-winners as relief pitchers, and then start them the next day - barring serious injury, you toss all concepts of "conservation" aside ... I like it!

At least for one night, we are doing better than the USMNT...too soon?

[TedE]

10 minutes before first pitch Baker and Rizzo will stand in front of Strasburg and Roark and make them play rock, paper, scissors for the start.  If they don't score 4+ runs it probably won't matter.

What a bizarre 24 hours it's been.

[Pat]

2 hours ago, TedE said:

10 minutes before first pitch Baker and Rizzo will stand in front of Strasburg and Roark and make them play rock, paper, scissors for the start.  If they don't score 4+ runs it probably won't matter.

What a bizarre 24 hours it's been.

This whole drama has been ridiculous.  They could have simply said yesterday at the press conference upon postponement that they didn't know who was pitching today. That wouldn't have been so hard. Instead, Dusty tripped all over himself trying to fake people out, and it was an embarrassing mess for the team.  Then all the different "sources" were talking to the reporters and giving different angles and it got worse and worse.

I was saying to people yesterday that having Roark start Game 4 would make it very clear to the position players that they had to score a handful of runs to be in the game.  He's a solid pitcher but has been off and on this season. He usually pitches well at Wrigley.  I was fine with him starting Game 4, perfectly confident, especially given that the only other game we've won was started by Gio. Psychologically, especially when they're struggling, thinking one run can win it is counterproductive, and when you go into a game with Strasburg or Scherzer pitching, that's always a possibility.

This was an avoidable mess.

[DonRocks]

22 hours ago, Lobozooma said:

Don - 

Following up on twitter comments on why starting Stras matters more for game 4 since they will need to win game 4 and 5 to move on...

They need to get to game 5. That's the entire goal...the ONLY goal.

21 hours ago, Lobozooma said:

At least for one night, we are doing better than the USMNT...too soon?

6 hours ago, TedE said:

10 minutes before first pitch Baker and Rizzo will stand in front of Strasburg and Roark and make them play rock, paper, scissors for the start.  If they don't score 4+ runs it probably won't matter.

What a bizarre 24 hours it's been.

4 hours ago, Pat said:

This whole drama has been ridiculous.  

Well, after six innings, Strasburg has been mowing them down - I didn't realize Arrieta was slated to pitch today.  The Cubs started the 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner, and their reliever was the 2016 NL Cy Young Award runner-up (to Max Scherzer).

Okay, well, I guess it's pretty obvious why you have to throw the heavy artillery into this game - because even if you don't, the opposing team will.

I wonder if this whole thing was a ruse to get the Cubs thinking that they wouldn't have to see Strasburg today - he hasn't "pitched sick," but seeing him in the top of the 8th, sitting in his windbreaker, he looks pretty haggard.

And what a *perfect* bunt Strasburg laid down the first-base line - that was a thing of beauty.

---

ETA - Okay, it's the bottom of the 7th, and it's rainy and windy - they need to call this game. 

---

ETA - 12 strikeouts after 7 innings?! 

[DonRocks]

A GRAND SLAM!

[DonRocks]

Going to the bottom of the 9th, up 5-0, I have a fascinating question: Assuming the game ends at 5-0, who is the Nationals' Player of the Game: Strasburg, or Michael Taylor?

I have to go with Strasburg for his sustained excellence in the worst of conditions.

---

I also want to mention that Sean Doolittle is *not* a hipster.

[MC Horoscope]

Strasburg. After years of being called soft by fans who don't know better I think he can look back at this one proudly! He just got a lot of cred in his clubhouse!

[Pat]

27 minutes ago, MC Horoscope said:

Strasburg. After years of being called soft by fans who don't know better I think he can look back at this one proudly! He just got a lot of cred in his clubhouse!

I just hope he didn't catch pneumonia pitching this game. He went well above and beyond.  It's nuts they played in that driving rain and cold.  I'm happy with the result, though. 

[Pat]

On October 10, 2017 at 9:42 AM, Al Dente said:

I'm going to be an optimist and buy a ticket for Thursday's game.

Update: Got a ticket from StubHub in the gallery 307, the first row for $160. Not a bad deal. Now I just hope there's reason to attend!

Good call on buying that ticket. You'll get to see Michael Morse throw out the first pitch. Such a good guy with such hard luck.

[TedE]

12 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I have to go with Strasburg for his sustained excellence in the worst of conditions.

Not just excellence, complete domination.  If you haven't yet, read Boswell's run down this morning of what he has done in the back half of the season.

I also loved his come back to a reporter's question about the madness surrounding the lead up to that game (I'm paraphrasing): "What drama?  You guys created the drama."

[Al Dente]

Last night, my 7-year old daughter had pajama night and a book fair at her school. Teachers were reading stories to the kids in several classrooms, so I "encouraged" her to attend as many of these as possible over the next hour so that I could sit in the back and track the game on the MLB app. When the following popped up on my phone, I pumped my fist but remained quiet.

"Michael A. Taylor hits a grand slam to right center field. Daniel Murphy scores. Anthony Rendon scores. Matt Wieters scores."

I could see some other parents look at me and smile as they realized something good was happening with the Nats.

See ya at the game!

Al

[DonRocks]

1 hour ago, TedE said:

Not just excellence, complete domination.  If you haven't yet, read Boswell's run down this morning of what he has done in the back half of the season.

“He throws that fastball, and it rises,” said the Cubs’ Rizzo, “and the change-up falls off the planet.”

You know who had those *exact* same two pitches, and not much else?

Sandy Koufax (note the third post in that thread ).

I saw Strasburg throwing a pitch last night that was something like a screwball (reverse curve-ball), except that the release came, not from rotating his wrist counter-curve-wise, but from letting his elbow dip down a bit, letting his hand drop to a 45-degree angle, and then throwing it almost just like his rising fastball (which became a rising screwball-with-velocity because of the angle of release) - instead of rising straight up, it curved up-and-in on right-handed hitters.

[DonRocks]

On 10/11/2017 at 8:03 PM, DonRocks said:

Going to the bottom of the 9th, up 5-0, I have a fascinating question: Assuming the game ends at 5-0, who is the Nationals' Player of the Game: Strasburg, or Michael Taylor?

I have to go with Strasburg for his sustained excellence in the worst of conditions.

On 10/11/2017 at 8:18 PM, MC Horoscope said:

Strasburg. After years of being called soft by fans who don't know better I think he can look back at this one proudly! He just got a lot of cred in his clubhouse!

11 hours ago, TedE said:

Not just excellence, complete domination.  If you haven't yet, read Boswell's run down this morning of what he has done in the back half of the season.

Well, given that Taylor just jacked a three-run Gherkin, how about MVP of the series if the Nats pull this out tonight?

[MC Horoscope]

Yes! Series MVP!

[DonRocks]

21 hours ago, MC Horoscope said:

Yes! Series MVP!

FWIW, the HBP (where Jon Jay jogged down the first-base line backwards) *clearly* hit Jay's bat first, then caromed off Jay's body. Not only did they miss the call, they didn't even mention this happened on television. Everyone was talking about whether Jay's wrist broke, and whether the pitch may have been a strike, but nobody even noticed that the HBP was actually a *foul ball*. 

Didn't anyone else besides us see this? This cost the Nats a run, as it came with the bases loaded.

If this turns out to be a one run game, this blown call is huge.

ETA I saw this play incorrectly - read on for more details.