CJ Abrams leads the Nationals to a Victory over the Tigers
I recently read somewhere that CJ Abrams wasn’t having that great of a second half of the
season. If you agree with that statement then just keep on reading and see if this changes
your mind.
The Nationals struck first in tonight’s contest as CJ Abrams led off the top of the second
inning with his 32nd home run of the year. 1-0 Washington.
That’s the way it stayed until the Tigers tied it up in the bottom of the 6th. Kevin McGonigle
led off the inning by striking out but reaching first base on a wild pitch. That’s a little
unusual. Eduardo Valencia then forced McGonigle out at second. Ben Malgeri forced
Valencia out at second with another fielder’s choice. Max Clark then singled to right field
sending Malgeri to third. A wild pitch then sent Malgeri home. 1-1 tie. I think that’s a lot of
words to type for just one measly run…
CJ Abrams struck again in the top of the seventh. After Dylan Crews beat out an infield
single, Abrams stepped to the plate and hit his second home run of the game and his 33rd of
the season giving the Nationals a 3-1 lead.
And that’s the way it ended. Nationals 3 and Tigers 1. As simple as that!
I would think it’s obvious who the hitting start of the game might be.
CJ Abrams went two for four with two home runs that accounted for all three runs. He now
has 33 home runs with 102 RBIs and 33 stolen bases. He currently sits with a .261 batting
average. Quite the year for this young star.
Abrams joins the exclusive 30-30-100 club with only twenty-one other MLB stars. Barry
Bonds achieved this feat five times. More notable would be the 30-30-100-100 club, with
100 runs scored added to the achievement. However, Abrams might have a little trouble
reaching that goal by the end of the season. Only four more games and CJ has scored 93
runs this year. But, hey, this is still an awesome achievement and something for all
Nationals’ fans to celebrate.
Riley Cornelio was the Nats designated starting pitcher for tonight’s game. He lasted two
and two-thirds innings, giving up just one hit and no runs while walking three and striking
out four Tigers.
Jackson Kent took over for Cornelio and went four innings giving up just one run on six hits.
He walked two and struck out three.
Jack Sinclair took the mound to finish the bottom of the seventh for the Nationals and
pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Erik Tolman finished things up by striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth.
One of the great things about baseball…the Nationals hurlers didn’t do so well last night
but looked almost unhittable tonight. Same two teams, same one stadium, same starting
time, but an entirely different outcome.
Let’s see what tomorrow may bring. An earlier starting time in that third game of the series:
1:10 ET.
Dave’s Dime…look at these stats…
I found an article that tried to say a few good things about teams that won’t make the
playoffs.
As far as the Nationals are concerned, the most silver of the silver linings would be how
many runs we’ve scored this season.
Even though Washington cooled off quite a bit after the trade deadline, they still made
significant progress with their offensive output. Here’s a few stats for you…as of today…
Out of all 30 MLB teams:
Team Batting Average: 11th
Team Home Runs: 5th
Team RBIs: 3rd
Team Runs Scored: 3rd
Team Hits: 7th
Doubles: 3rd
Triples: 5th
Not too shabby for a team without a playoff spot.
Now pitching stats tell a different story.
Team ERA: 26th
Team Complete Games: tied for 19th with 0…MLB leaders: the Royals and Phillies with 2
Team Shut Outs: 25th with 5 shutouts thrown
Team Saves: 18th with 39 saves this season
Team Save Opportunities: 1st with 81
Let’s stop right there…that might be the most telling statistic for the Nationals out of all the
statistics a person could statistically come up with.
The Nationals had 81 save opportunities this season. And ended up with 39 saves. That’s a
41% success rate. Another way you could state this would be that the Washington
Nationals were ahead in the later innings of 81 games with an opportunity to win those
games, but only were victorious 41 per cent of the time. And they still won 74 games this
year. That is crazy.
Let’s say the Nationals were successful just fifteen more times. What if the Nationals had
54 saves instead of 39. Their record right now would be 89 wins and 69 losses. They would
now be heading to the playoffs as the National League’s first wild card team.
I know what you’re saying…who cares? Why would I bring up something like that? “What
if’s” don’t amount to anything. They don’t change anything. They just make you more likely
to put yourself in a grumpy mood than you’d be if you hadn’t heard this “what if?”.
Relax…I’m just trying to make a point. And that point is seriously obvious to any
Washington Nationals fan: we need better relief pitchers.
That should be the main goal of the front office this off-season.
If that goal is achieved, even a little bit, then we will not have to come up with that many
“what if’s” at the end of next season.
Voila! You’re welcome.
