Five Braves Pitchers Combine to Shut Out the Nationals

One of the many things I love about baseball is its inconsistency. You just never really know what’s going to happen from one game to the next. You may think you know and maybe place a bet or two on that supposed knowledge acquired through pod casts and tip lines and prediction markets, or whatever you may call them. But no one is right every time. Everyone ends up losing more than they win. That’s what keeps these sites in business. The only people getting rich in Vegas are the casino owners. That’s just the way it works.

So, after winning five of their last six games and looking good against the Atlanta Braves last night, a Washington Nationals’ fan might think that we’ve turned a corner. There are better days ahead. I still think that’s true even after the Nats were shut down by the Braves this afternoon 9-0. But remember, there’s always another game…at least until the end of the season.

Here’s what happened…

The game was actually scoreless through the first five innings. Those five innings were interrupted by an hour and a half rain delay between the third and fourth. The pitching was obviously stellar by both teams.

It all went sideways for the Nats in the top of the 6th. Ronald Acuna singled to left field and then stole his 20th base of the year. With two outs Michael Harris was intentionally walked. Sean Murphy then hit a 3-run homer to left field, his 3rd of the year. 3-0 Braves

The Braves doubled their score in the top of the 7th. With one out Ha-Seong Kim doubled to left field. Drake Baldwin followed with a walk. Ronald Acuna then smacked a 3-run bomb to center field, his 14th of the season. It was Acuna’s 200th career home run. Congrats, Ronald. 6-0 Atlanta.

In the of the 8th, Atlanta’s Sean Murphy walked. Mike Yastrzemski followed with a double to left

field. Austin Riley then singled to left scoring Murphy and Yastremski. 8-0 Braves.

The Braves added one more run in the top of the 9th. Ozzie Albies singled to right. Brewer Hicklen then drew a walk. Sean Murphy sent Albies home with a single to left field.

And that’s how it ended. 9-0 Braves. The Nationals managed just two lonely singles.

Grant Holmes started for the Braves, throwing 3 scoreless innings before being replaced by Dylan Dodd who tossed another scoreless frame. It turned out Holmes was not sent back to the mound due to the extended rain delay. Three more relievers all did their part in continuing to stymie the Nationals’ offense.

Brad Lord started for the Nationals and went 3 1/3 innings giving up no runs on 2 hits and striking out 6. Riley Corelio replaced Lord after the rain delay and went 2 2/3 innings surrendering 3 runs on 3 hits. Max Kranick replaced Corelio and gave up 5 runs on 4 hits. Designated hitter Jose Tena, who wasn’t in the starting lineup and isn’t a pitcher, came in to toss a few in the top of the 9th. He did pretty well, giving up 2 hits and 1 run. Way to help out the team, Jose.

Catcher Keibert Ruiz suffered an unfortunate injury in the top of the 4th. He was struck in the jaw by a foul tip that led to his leaving the game. Ruiz was shifting his position behind the plate to make a throw to 2nd base on a steal attempt. That left part of his jaw exposed and sure enough that’s just where he was struck by the foul tip.

So, all in all it was a tough afternoon for the Nationals. They have a much deserved day off tomorrow and then start a six-game road trip to the West Coast, playing three against the Dodgers and three against the Padres. September in California. Sounds good to me. Let’s hope it’s good for the Nationals.

Dave’s Dime…Records that will never be broken.

Now most people might think that records were made to be broken. We’re not talking about vinyl records from the good old days, but sports records. Baseball is a sport and here are a few records that will almost certainly never be broken.

As far as pitchers are concerned, two records set by the immortal Cy Young will never be touched. Young ended his career with 511 wins. He averaged 20 wins a year for over 25 seasons. That’s crazy.

Of course, by pitching that long, Cy Young also holds the record for the most loses during a career with 315. That’s a total of 826 pitching wins and losses. Amazing. And that doesn’t even count all the times he didn’t get a win or a loss but still pitched.

Nolan Ryan’s career 5,714 strike outs doesn’t stand a chance of being broken. Today’s pitchers don’t stay healthy long enough to pitch into their 40’s. Ryan was a machine, like the Terminator.

Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Vander Meer, in 1938, threw back-to-back no-hitters. Now someday someone might tie it. Highly unlikely. But could you ever imagine anyone throwing three no-hitters in a row in order to break it? I could never imagine that.

As far as hitters are concerned, Cal Ripken Jr’s. 2,632 consecutive games played will never be broken. Not a chance. In today’s game, I don’t think most of the players go even a season without at least missing a game or two. I just looked it up, and only six MLB players did not miss a game last year. Six! And that’s only for a year. Ripken’s record spans over sixteen seasons!

Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak will never be broken. With so many relief pitchers in today’s game, a batter rarely sees a pitcher more than once or twice during a game. And then some 100mph flame-thrower comes in to finish up. It’ll be tough to break this one for sure. But whenever someone goes on a hitting streak of 20 games or so, everyone does get excited.

Pete Rose and his 4,256 career hits is a record no one will ever touch. Remember, he was active for 24 seasons. No one plays that long anymore. Also, strike outs are up due to the “home run or strike out” mentality in today’s game. Singles aren’t sexy.

Here’s a more recent record that most likely will never be touched: Ichiro Suzuki’s single season record of 262 hits. He accomplished this record-setting feat in 2004. Once again, most players just swing for the fences. They don’t even choke up on the bat when they have two strikes. It’s all about the long ball. Last year’s hits leader, Bobby Witt Jr., had 184.

So, there you go…records from the good old days when the game was so different than it is today. But that’s the world we live in. Things evolve, they change, they sometimes devolve. But sports are still exciting and energizing and make people happy. And that’s why we watch them all. Except for maybe professional pickleball. I’ll pass on that one.

Have a great holiday weekend,