3 Run Rally in 9th Sinks Nationals

Leading into the All-Star break, the New York Yankees, the Bronx Bombers came to

Nationals Park for a 3 game series.

The Yankees have been without Aaron Judge since May 31st and Giancarlo Stanton since

April 24th. They’ve been through a rough stretch lately and have lost 11 of their last 14

games. But they’re still a formidable team and sit at 51-42 in the American League East,

four games behind the Tampa Bay Rays.

And now for game one…

Ben Rice started things off for the Yanks in the top of the 1st with his 29th home run of the

season. 1-0 NY.

In the bottom of the 3rd, James Wood’s double and Curtis Mead’s single put men on first

and third. Dylan Crews’ double play ball scored Wood. 1-1.

Jasson Dominguez hit his 5th home run in the top of the 4th giving the lead back to the Yanks.

Keibert Ruiz’s solo home run, his 7th, in the bottom of the 7th tied it up again, 2-2. James

Wood followed with his 26th of the year giving the Nats a 3-2 lead.

Top of the 9th…3-2 lead Washington…and then disaster struck. Jasson Dimingues singled

to center field. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a two-run homer giving the Yankees the

lead. Two batters later Austin Wells smacked his 6th home run of the year over the center

field wall…5-3 Yankees.

Three Washington ground-outs in the bottom of the 9th…New York wins. 5-3.

Another tough day for the Nationals’ bullpen. They drop to one game over .500 for the

season. Something to ponder…the Nationals are 20 wins with 30 losses at home…hmmm

4 Run Rally in 8th Sinks Nationals Again

Saturday, July 11, 2026

The Nationals started off great with a leadoff home run by James Wood, his 27th. Curtis Mead followed two batters later with his 16th dinger of the season. 2-0 Washington. And the game stayed 2-0 Nats until the top of the 8th. And disaster struck again… Ryan McMahon finally got the Yanks on the board with his 9th home run of the year. Ben Rice walked and Trent Grisham followed with a two-run homer, his 10th, giving the Yanks their first lead. Paul Goldschmidt followed Grisham with a home run of his own, his 15th. 4 2 Yankees. And that’s how it ended.

PJ Poulin, Miles Mikolas, and Thomas Cosgrove shut out the Yankees through the first 7 innings. Then in the 8th, Orlando Ribalta gave up the homer to McMahon and the walk to Rice before being replaced by Clayton Beeter. Beeter then surrendered the home runs to Grisham and Goldschmidt. All Yankees’ runs through these first two games have come via the home run.

The Yanks and Nats rank 1-2 in home runs in the MLB. The Yanks have 135 and the Nats with 132. Washington leads the league with 27 blown saves…27? They’ve been unsuccessful in half their save opportunities. Well, there’s always the next game… Yanks Sweep Nats with Another Late Inning Rally

Sunday, July 12th

Once again, the Nationals got off to a great start when James Wood hit his 10th leadoff home run, setting a franchise record. It was his 28th of the season. That early lead lasted until the top of the 5th when Cody Bellinger doubled to left and was later sent home when Jazz Chisholm singled to right. Later in the inning,

Austin Wells singled to right, scoring Chisholm. 2-1 Yanks. The Nationals tied the score in the bottom of the 6th off Curtis Mead’s 17th home run to center field. Washington took the lead in the bottom of the 7th when a throwing error by Jazz Chisholm allowed Nasim Nunez to score the go ahead run. 3-2 good guys. And if you have been paying attention to the summaries of the first two games of this series, you can pretty much guess what happened next…

With two outs in the top of the 8th, Max Schuemann singled to center and Trent Grisham

followed with a walk. Ben Rice then tripled off the center field wall scoring Schuemann and

Grisham, putting the Yankees back on top 4-3.

New York scored an insurance run in the top of the 9th off Cody Bellinger’s single to right,

followed by a double off the bat of Jazz Chisholm. 5-3 Yanks.

The Nationals went 0 for 6 over their last two innings giving the Yankees a sweep of the

three-game series.

Cade Cavalli had a decent start this afternoon, going 6 innings and allowing 2 earned runs

off of 4 hits while striking out 6 Yankee batters. And then the bullpen let us down one more

time. Andrew Alvarez gave up the lead, pitching the next 2 innings giving up 4 hits resulting

in 3 earned runs and a Yankees victory.

That loss put Washington below the .500 mark at the All-Star break with a record of 48 wins

and 49 losses leaving them 7 ½ games behind the division leading Atlanta Braves.

All-Star game this Tuesday…

Speaking of the All-Star game, it’s this Tuesday the 14th in Philadelphia. Your Washington

Nationals have three representatives: Shortstop CJ Abrams was voted onto the starting

lineup by his fans. He’s the first Nationals’ representative to start an All-Star game since

Bryce Harper in 2018. James Wood was most deservedly voted into the game through the

player voting process, and Foster Griffin was just added today as a late replacement for the

Pirates’ Braxton Ashcraft. Foster should have most definitely been on the original roster

with 10 wins and just 2 losses.

Monday, the 13th, features the Home Run Derby with some changes to the rules that sound

intriguing. In round one each of the 8 participants get 20 swings. No time limits. The top 4

with the most home runs advance to the second round. The 4 are seeded with 1 vs 4 and 2

vs 3 in the semi-finals. The 2 winners advance to the finals. Batters get 15 swings in both of

these rounds. These new rules limit the number of swings involved, which should lead to

less strain and pain on the participants and a shorter time period for the Derby. Sounds like

a must watch to me.

As is the game itself.

When it comes to grading the All-Star games for the 4 major sports, there’s no doubt that

the MLB puts on the most meaningful and realistic game. I haven’t bothered to watch an

NBA, NFL, or NHL all-star game for years. But I did take the time to see what they’ve been

up to.

The NBA did a three-team round robin thing this past February. I found a rules page and

started to read it, but I don’t have a PHD in statistics, so I kind of dozed off.

The NFL now plays flag-football and that counts as its All-Star game. Enough said.

The NHL didn’t have an All-Star game in 2026 due to the Winter Olympics. Their game in

2027 is supposed to be some type of three-on-three format.

Home Run Derby streaming on Netflix Monday night at 8 ET.

2026 All-Star game on Fox Tuesday night at 8 ET.

Dave’s Dime:

All-Star time…a couple days ago we discussed the origin of the MLB All

Star game and some of the contest’s more memorable moments such as Babe Ruth’s

home run in the first ever game in 1933, the playing of two all-star games a season from

1959 through 1962, and Pete Rose running over Ray Fosse at home plate in 1970.

I’ll leave you with one final All-Star moment that’s a joy to behold. Ted Williams, the last

man to bat over .400, hit a three-run home run to lead the American League to a 7-5 victory

in the 1941 All-Star game in Detroit. You can find a video of this feat on YouTube that

shows just how excited and exuberant Ted was. Clapping his hands, skipping and hopping,

it’s like he’s floating around the bases. It’s a delight to see.

This was also the season Williams hit .406. Some of you may have heard the story of Ted

sitting with a .39955 average, which would have been rounded up to .400, going into the

final day of the 1941 season. So, Williams could have sat out those last two games and

a .400 season batting average would have been his. Instead, he played in both games,

went 6 for 8 and finished the year with a batting average of .406. Wow. Oh, and he

achieved all of this at the age of 22.

Another interesting fact is that sacrifice flies were counted as times at bat back when

Williams played. This rule was in place from 1940 to1953. Ted had 8 sacrifice flies during

his record setting 1941 season. If this rule hadn’t been in place, his final season batting

average would have been .413.

Ted’s career was interrupted by stints in the Navy, first in World War II and later in the

Korean War. He served his country as a Naval Aviator.

Williams retired in 1960 but later came back to baseball and managed the Washington

Senators from 1969 to 1970 and relocated with the team to Texas in 1971.

One last little bit of interesting knowledge concerning Ted Williams…he died in 2002 and

his body was cryonically preserved in some after-life foundation in Arizona. There was a big

feud between his children concerning what took place. Do a little research if you want to

learn more. Once again…truth is stranger than fiction.

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