Nationals get some Relief in 7-3 win over theRockies

Game time tonight is 8:40 ET at Coors Field in beautiful downtown Denver, Colorado.

Andrew Alvarez, with 2 wins and 3 loses and an ERA of 4.04, is starting for the Nats.

Kyle Freeland, who has been with the Rockies for all 10 of his MLB seasons, is starting

tonight. He currently has a record of 2 wins and 8 losses with an ERA of 7.36. Believe me

when I say Kyle has been through it all.

Top of the 1st the Nationals are off and running with a walk to James Wood followed by a

single off the bat of Curtis Mead. Andres Chaparro then smacked a 3-run homer to left

field. 3-0 Nationals.

The Rockies tied it up in the bottom of the 3rd. Jake McCarthy led off the inning with a single

to right. Cole Carrigg later singled to right. sending McCarthy to 3rd. TJ Rumfield walked,

loading the bases. A clutch 2-out double to center field off the bat of Willi Castro cleared

the bases. 3-3 game tied.

There was a brief dugout clearing incident in the top of the 5th. Andres Chaparro, who had

just flied out, walked across the pitcher’s mound on his way back to the Nats’ dugout. Kyle

Freeman, the Rockies pitcher who had earlier given up a 3-run home run to Chaparro,

evidently didn’t like him entering his space and let the National’s player know about it. The

incident didn’t escalate; no one was tossed and the game resumed. No harm, no foul.

The contest stayed tied until the top of the 6th when Jacob Young led off the inning with his

437-foot home run to left field, his 9th. 4-3 good guys.

Washington added on a couple more runs in the top of the 7th as CJ Abrams hit a 2-run

dinger to center field, his 22nd, scoring Daylen Life who was on 1st base on a fielder’s choice.

6-3 Nats

One more run in the top of the 9th when Daylen Lile tripled to deep center field, scoring

James Wood who was on 1st due to a force out. 7-3 Nationals win.

Andrew Alvarez had a decent start for the Nationals, pitching into the 5th inning and giving

up 3 runs on 6 hits. The bullpen did a great job finishing the game. Riley Cornelio, newly resigned Matt Krook, and Tom Cosgrove shut out the Rockies through the final 4 2/3 innings,

needing only 18 pitches to get the final 9 outs. I kid you not…

Game 2 of the series is tomorrow, same time, same stadium.

Dave’s Dime…Odds & Ends…

Last week’s news…but still news worthy…

Baseball pundits are mainly focused on the July 30th trade deadline. It’s coming soon…just

a week from this Thursday.

The biggest disappointments for the year, according to those who do this sort of thing for a

living, are the Padres. Blue Jays, and Mariners. Will they be buyers or sellers?

Bryce Harper made kind of a crazy claim following the Home-Run Derby. He believes the

baseballs used for the Home Run Derby last Monday were “juiced.”

James Wood had a rough series over the weekend against the A’s, batting .071 with 10

strikeouts in 15 plate appearances. In limited action, Luis Garcia Jr. went 0 for 5. He didn’t

play in Friday’s game, supposedly because the A’s started a left-hander on the mound. He

went 0 for 4 on Saturday with 3 strikeouts, and 0 for 1 on Sunday.

The Nationals signed their #11 first round draft pick Chris Hacopian and a $5.7 million

dollar signing bonus certainly helped. He’s a second baseman who played two years of

college ball at the University of Maryland. He’s a local prospect, having attended Winston

Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland. Good luck, Chris.

The Nationals made a couple of interesting/questionable roster moves over the past few

days.

On Sunday, the team re-signed reliever Matt Krook who earlier in the year had been

designated for assignment, chose free agency, and cleared waivers two days later. Krook

has been around since being drafted by San Francisco in 2016. He’s 6’4”, 225 pounds, and

31 years old. He appeared in 8 games before his reassignment, going 0-1 in 6.1 innings with

an ERA of 11.37. He was re-signed after P.J. Poulin landed on the 15-day injured list.

Richard Lovelady was placed on the 60-day injured list to make room for Krook on the

roster. Desperation time? Good luck to you, too, Matt.

Another head-scratcher was the trading of top outfield prospect Robert Hassell III to the

Pirates for cash or a player to be named later. That transaction took place this past Friday,

the 17th. Originally drafted in the first round in 2020 by the Padres, Hassell was once a key

part of the Juan Soto blockbuster deal in 2022 that brought him to the Nats along with CJ

Abrams and James Wood. Evidently, Hassell had a tough time in Triple-A Rochester this

year and the thought was a change of scenery would do him some good. At least we

obtained a couple future all-stars out of the deal. Happy trails, Robert.

These last two transactions are obviously quite minor, but what’s going to happen between

now and the 30th of July? Is Washington going to be a buyer or a seller? Are they willing to

stand pat and basically go forward with what they have? I’m sure all we rabid fans are

anxiously waiting to find out.

Remember, the Washington Nationals are sitting at .505 with 51 wins and 50 losses, and

only 1 ½ games out of a wildcard spot. Well, believe it or not, there are 3 teams, Arizona,

Miami, and Pittsburgh sitting with a .515 winning percentage and a game ahead of the Nats.

It can’t get much closer than that.

What makes this all even more interesting is that before the playoffs were expanded to six

teams per league, in 2022, a lot of these games wouldn’t matter right now.

We baseball aficionados know that from 1903-1968 only the winners of the American and

National Leagues went on to the World Series. In 1969 both leagues expanded to 10 teams

and 4 teams made the playoffs. In 1994 after the league again expanded, another division

was added to each league. Well, with 3 divisions, a wild card team was needed to keep

things even, so there began an 8-team playoff. In 2012 a single wild card game was added,

making 10 teams eligible for a playoff spot. In 2022 the 12-team playoff we all know and

love today came into existence.

We also all know and love why these major sports leagues have so many playoff

games…the almighty dollar. How else are they going to pay these huge salaries? The

players certainly benefit monetarily, and the true fan, and even a few casual fans, surely

benefit from the extra games and the extra excitement. It’s just a sports thing, and I’m a true

fan.

Stay tuned…

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