Nationals’ Late Rally Falls Short Against the Dodgers

Friday, August 4th

There are just those games you see on your schedule at the beginning of the year and say maybe a couple of things. Number one…I hope we’re still in the running for a playoff spot so this game or series will mean something….and number two… These are going to be some difficult games for us because this is a great team, and we never play that well against them.

So that’s where we stand this weekend with our three-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. This will be only the second time we’ve seen the Dodgers this year. We played a three-game series here in Washington D.C. back in April. The Dodgers defeated us 13-6, 10-5, and 5 to 3.

Obviously, with the Dodgers having one of the best records in the Major Leagues and with the Nationals struggling to stay relevant, this series doesn’t mean as much as we hoped it would. But the Nationals are professionals and have their pride and are ready to play.

Well, game one last night didn’t go too well. With the Dodgers’ Blake Snell starting the game, Los Angeles was definitely in control through the first six innings. Snell held the Nats in check allowing no runs on five hits while striking out seven.

Snell has been out most of this season after undergoing left elbow surgery to “remove loose bodies”. Those three words strung together just makes me cringe. His procedure took place this past May, and he just returned to the lineup in August. Tonight’s win brought his season record to 3-1 with a 1.97 ERA. He has 43 strike outs in 32 innings. Sounds to me like his surgery was successful. However, I’m sure that’s why he was taken out of the game after those six innings. The Dodgers want to be careful with one of their top pitchers.

Four Dodger relief pitchers held the Nationals in check until the ninth inning when the Nats were able to mount a bit of a rally that at least made the game interesting.

It all started for the Dodgers’ offense in the bottom of the third. With the Nationals’ Jackson Kent on the mound, Los Angeles pushed across three runs. Kyle Tucker and Enrique Hernandez both walked to start the inning. One out later, Mookie Betts singled to center,

scoring Tucker. Teoscar Hernandez followed with a double to center field, scoring Hernandez and Betts.

The Dodgers added a run in the bottom of the fourth. Alex Call led off with a double to left center. Kyle Tucker’s ground out pushed Tucker to third. Call then scored on a fielding error by Nasim Nunez. 4-0 L.A.

The Dodgers tacked on their final run in the bottom of the sixth when Kyle Tucker hit his 12th home run to center field. Dodgers 5-0.

Kent went on to pitch five innings for the Nats, surrendering three earned runs on four hits while walking four and striking out four.

Like I said, the Nationals made it interesting in the top of the ninth. Brady House led off the inning with a double to left field. Abimelec Ortiz then singled to center scoring House. Jose Tena then singled to right sending Ortiz to third. Jorbit Vivas grounded out to second base, sending Ortiz to the plate and Tena to second. James Wood followed with a double to deep center field scoring Tena. 5-3 Dodgers. Too little too late.

The Nationals outhit the Dodgers ten to five. It’s just stringing those hits together that’s been the problem. Game two is tomorrow night, same time same place. See you then.

Washington Loses Early Lead…Fall Once Again to the Dodgers

Saturday, August 5th

The result was the same. The way it happened was just a little different.

After a ninth-inning rally fell short in Friday’s game, the Washington Nationals got an early lead behind their ace pitcher, Cade Cavalli. But, alas, that lead evaporated after Cavalli’s exit. The Los Angeles Dodgers rallied late to defeat the Nats 6 to 5.

The Dodgers scratched out a couple of runs in the bottom of the first. With one out Freddie Freeman was hit by a pitch and made it to second on Mookie Betts’ single to center field. Kyle Tucker advanced both runners with a force out to first base. Teoscar Hernandez singled to left, scoring freeman. Hunter Feduccia also singled, scoring Tucker. 2-0 Los Angeles.

The Nationals got one back in the top of the second. CJ Abrams led off with a single to right. Abrams stole second and made it to third off a deep fly ball from Brady House. Jose Tena then brought Abrams home with a sac fly to center field. 2-1 LA.

The Nationals took the lead with a couple runs in the top of the fourth. Brady House led off with a single and advanced to second on a ground out. With two outs Keibert Ruiz Singled to right, scoring House. Dylan Crews followed with a double to deep left, scoring Ruiz. 3-2 good guys.

Washington added to its lead in the top of the seventh. Dylan Crews led off with a double and advanced to third when James Wood grounded out to shortstop. Daylen Lile then doubled to left, scoring Crews. 4-2 Nats.

And then something quite familiar to the Nationals this season happened again. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Alex Freeland walked. With two outs Enrique Hernandez singled to left sending Freeland to second. Tommy Edman then stroked a three-run homer, his sixth, to right field. 5-4 Dodgers.

Los Angeles added a run in the bottom of the eighth. Mookie Betts led off with a single to left and advanced to second as Kyle Tucker drew a walk. Teoscar Hernandez moved up the runners on a ground out. With two outs Alex Freeland walked, loading the bases. Alex Call was then hit by a pitch, scoring Betts. 6-4 LA.

That eighth inning run was needed as the Nats were able to narrow the lead in the top of the ninth. With two outs, James Wood singled to right and later stole second base. Daylen Lile then singled to center scoring Wood. Andres Chaparro doubled to left field, Lile advancing to third. And then CJ Abrams struck out, ending the game.

Cavalli had a bit of a rough start to tonight’s game but still pitched a great six innings, giving up those two first-inning runs on four hits while striking out eight Dodgers. Clayton Beeter then came in to relieve Cavalli and gave up three runs on two hits in two-thirds of an inning.

Tyler Glasnow pitched the first six innings for the Dodgers, giving up four runs on six hits while striking out eight. Alex Vesa got the win in relief.

James Wood has been hitting the ball fairly well since his return to the line up this past Wednesday. He’s 4 for 13 with 2 RBIs.

Another tough loss for the Nationals. The final game in the series will be played tomorrow night at 9:10 ET.

Nationals Blow Another Late Lead in Three-Game Sweep vs. Dodgers

Sunday, September 6th

The Washington Nationals lost their third in a row to the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight 7 to 5. What’s especially disconcerting about these losses is that the Nats held a late lead in two of the three games. Here’s what happened this time…

Los Angeles started the scoring in the bottom of the third. Max Muncy doubled to start off the inning. With one out Tommy Edman singled, sending Muncy to third. Muncy then scored on a ground out from Mookie Betts. 1-0 Dodgers.

The Nationals tied it up in the top of the fourth as CJ Abrams led off with his 30th home run to center field. Brady House and Daylen Lile both singled before Harry Ford doubled them home. Jacob Young then singled to center scoring Ford. 4-1 Washington.

Andrew Alvarez started the game for the Nationals. He lasted 4 1/3 innings while giving up four hits and three runs with five strike outs.

Justin Wrobleski lasted just three innings as the starter for Los Angeles, giving up eight hits and four runs with six strike outs.

The Dodgers tied it up in the bottom of the fifth. Max Muncy led off with a single. With one out Tommy Edman doubled to left field, scoring Muncy. With two outs Will Smith singled to center, scoring Edman. Freddie Freeman’s single sent Smith to third. Smith then scored on a single courtesy of Teoscar Hernandez. 4-4 tie.

The Nats again took the lead in the top of the sixth. Daylen Lile led off the inning with a triple to center field. Harry Ford walked. Lile was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Nasim Nunez. James Wood walked loading the bases. Dylan Crews was then hit by a pitch sending Ford home with their fifth run. 5-4 Washington.

And then it happened. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Alex Call singled to center field and Tommy Edman walked. Then Mookie Betts sacked a three-run homer to center field, his eighteenth. 7-5 Dodgers.

And that’s how it ended. A three-game series sweep for the Dodgers.

The Nationals have now lost thirteen games when leading after the seventh inning. They lead the league with thirty-seven blown saves. And that’s our season in a nutshell.

No rest for the weary as our Nationals travel to San Diego tonight to start a three-game series with the Padres tomorrow at 5:10 Eastern Time.

Dave’s Dime…What’s Left to Play For?

The season is quickly coming to an end. The Nationals are sitting with 67 wins and 78 losses with 17 games left on the schedule.

When we look back over the year there are certainly some disappointments. Washington was in the wild card race until the end of July. They reached as high as three games over .500 in mid-June and were still two games over on July 29th. Then came that eight game road trip to Atlanta and Philadelphia. From July 30th to August 6th, the Nationals lost seven out of eight games. That was the turning point. I know we’ve talked about this before…sorry to bring it up again, but

I’m trying to make a point.

When we look back at the beginning of the season and check the so-called experts, the consensus was that the Washington Nationals would win between 62 and 65 games. The official over/under was set at 65.5 games won in 2026. Well, we’ve already topped that number, so there’s at least one positive. I know it’s not much of one when we look back to our better-than-expected start to the season. But at least it’s something encouraging.

So, let’s look at a few things this team should still strive toward achieving as we wind down this 2026 season.

For starters, we fans should hope that CJ Abrams can achieve a few milestones: like hitting at least 30 home runs, with 110 or more RBIs, and 30 or more stolen bases. Now that would be a season to remember. As of Sunday, September 6th, Abrams sits with 29 home runs and 94 RBIs. He also has stolen 28 bases. With 18 games remaining, CJ could certainly reach those goals just mentioned. That gives us something to look forward to, right?

By the way, CJ did hit his 30th home run in tonight’s game. He now has 95 RBIs.

As we are well-aware, the Nationals play in a tough division. Atlanta and Philadelphia will both make the play-offs, the Braves as division winners and the Phillies as the first wild card. Miami has been decent and currently sits at .500. The Mets have been a huge disappointment, and that couldn’t make me happier.

So, I would think that a season where we win at least 75 games would be something to be proud of. It’s about 10 more wins than we were predicted to win. So, let’s go with that.

And now that James Wood is back in the lineup and performing well, we can certainly look at that as a plus. And his presence will certainly help our team reach that 75-win goal.

Now let’s look at our team leaders so far this season in pitching and hitting statistics:

Cade Cavalli sits in 7th place in MLB with 185 strikeouts. Cavalli is 10th with an ERA of 3.12 and is tied for 10th with 12 wins. Cade is also tied for 1st in games started with 30.

Here’s a stat for you: in Major League Baseball this year, ten pitchers are tied with the most complete games for the season. The number of complete games? One.

As far as hitting is concerned, James Wood is our team leader and tied for 7th in MLB with 30 home runs. Pretty good considering he missed about three weeks in August. Wood also leads the team in battling average at .267. That’s tied for 27th overall. Wood is also in 2nd place in walks with 91. Wood is still in second place with 101 runs scored, and he’s tied for 18th with 28 doubles.

CJ Abrams sits at 94 RBIs, which is 5th in the Major Leagues. Abrams is in 7th place with 28 stolen bases. He’s also tied for 9th in home runs with 29.

Daylen Lile is tied for 6th with 6 triples, and he’s tied for 10th with 142 games played.

As far as team stats are concerned, the Nationals are tied for 2nd place with the Yankees with 193 home runs. The Cubs lead with 201. The Nationals are in 7th place with a team battling average of .249. Tampa Bay leads at .260. Washington is still in 2nd place with 704 team RBIs.

The Cubs lead with 724. The Nationals trail only the Cubs with 743 runs scored. Chicago has 768. The Nats are 7th in team hits with 1222. Milwaukee leads both leagues with 1253. Washington is 5th overall with 243 doubles. The Red Sox lead them all with 261 two-baggers.

I think that’s enough stats for today.

I guess my point is that even though we may feel a little disappointed with how things are turning out this season, we still have something to be thankful for, and a reason or two to look forward to bigger and better things in the seasons to come. Let’s keep a positive attitude.

There’s enough negativity in the world today. Sports are our outlet. Remember that.

Have a great Labor Day,