Nationals Weekend Review

By Dave Carter – Contributing Writer – Capitol Times Media

Rays begin ten-game homestand with 5-2 victory over our Washington Nationals.

(6-19-26)

The Washington Nationals looked good early Friday afternoon in Tampa thanks to C.J.

Abrams’ solo home run in the top of the second, his 15th, and even better with Luis Garcia’s 10th dinger in the top of the third. By the way, Abrams currently sits third in the National League with 55 RBIs.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game belonged to the Rays.

Jonathan Aranda’s three-run homer in the bottom of the 3rd put Tampa ahead to stay 3 - 2 - Taylor Walls added an rbi single in the 4th, and Jonny DeLuca ended the scoring for the Rays with a home run in the bottom of the 8th

Tampa limped back to Tropicana Park on Friday after going 1-5 on their trip to California. Fortunately for them, they continue their homestand for nine more games where they have an MLB best 25 and 9 record.

Nationals win close one over Tampa Bay 4-3. (6-20-26)

Clutch hitting from the Nats and some baserunning blunders courtesy of the Rays led to a hard-fought victory for our Washington Nationals on Saturday afternoon.

The Nats fell behind early as Junior Caminero’s sacrifice fly gave Tampa a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st

C.J. Abrams’ 16th home run tied it in the top of the second. You might remember that Abrams also rounded the bases in yesterday’s game. Nasim Nunez smacked an RBI double in the same inning putting the Nats up 2-1.

Tampa’s Chandler Simpson tied it 2 - 2 in the bottom of the 3rd.on an RBI single --

An RBI groundout by Andres Chaparro gave the lead back to the Nats in the top of the 6th.and Dylan Crews solo home run in the top of the 9th gave the Nats a two-run lead going to the bottom of the 9th --

Yandy Diaz brought the Rays a run closer with an infield single in the bottom of the 9th. However, Clayton Beeter shut the door with a final strike out…game over…Nationals win 4 - 3 !

Unfortunately, Nationals center fielder Jacob Young left the game in the 8th inning after crashing into the outfield wall while running down a deep fly ball off the bat of Tampa’s Victor Mesa, Jr. Young is considered day-to-day. Let’s hope for the best.

Rays take two out of three from the Nationals with Sunday afternoon's 4-3 victory.

(6-21-26)

The Nats started the scoring in the top of the third when Jose Tena walked, went to third on a single by Nasim Nunez, and scored on James Wood’s sacrifice fly to deep center field.

Tampa tied it up in the bottom of the inning with back-to-back two-out doubles courtesy of Taylor Walls and Yandy Diaz.

Washington took back the lead in the top of the fourth after Dylan Crews doubled to left center, scoring C.J. Abrams who had also doubled two batters earlier.

Our man C.J. Abrams extended the Nationals lead in the top of the 6th with his 17th home run to right field-- his 3rd Home Run in the series put Washington up 3-1.

Ryan Vilade got one back for Tampa with a shot to center field in the bottom of the 6th.

Then came the fatal blow in the bottom of the 7th courtesy of Jonny DeLuca’s two-run dinger to left field that followed a single from Yandy Diaz.

The Nats series star was C.J. Abrams who smacked a home run in all 3 games -- Unfortunately, all his homers were solo shots.

Washington starts a crucial four-game series tomorrow afternoon with their National League East division rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. Philadelphia sits seven games behind the division leading Atlanta Braves with the Nationals and Marlins trailing by nine. ----The game starts at 6:45 EST in Nationals Park.

Dave’s Dimes…

As I’m sure you’re all aware, the men’s World Cup soccer tournament is currently going on with games in eleven USA cities, three Mexico municipalities, and two locations in Canada. I’ve been reading everywhere about the tremendously positive responses from the visiting fans concerning the ambiance, the Scottish fans drinking all the beer in Boston, and just the overall fondness for the food options, in particular Buc-ee’s, Taco Bell, and Waffle House. Of course, this isn’t that hard to believe when you consider people in Scotland eat haggis and England’s national dish is pork and beans on toast.

I watched the first half of Friday’s game between the good old US of A and Australia. An Aussie player actually scored our first goal by deflecting a pass into his own open net. But that’s all I could handle. I turned over and watched round two of the PGA’s US Open.

When we last hosted the World Cup in 1994, soccer was considered a relatively minor sport in America. But that year saw tremendous growth in soccer’s popularity with an average attendance of 69,000 fans per game. This year’s crowds have been close to that number and soccer overall has taken over third place, behind football and basketball as the favorite spectator sport of American citizens. Baseball is now in fourth place.

I personally don’t get it. I’m just giving my own opinion here, obviously, but I’d much rather watch a baseball game, even during the long regular season, than any kind of soccer match. The low-scoring games, the players writhing in pain and turning twenty-six somersaults after brushing against an opponent, the endless off-sides calls and yellow cards; it’s just not that entertaining.

When I taught high school years ago, I was the announcer for the girls’ lacrosse team. They were actually pretty good and were state champions two times during my tenure as the voice of the team. When push comes to shove, I think I’d rather rewatch those lacrosse games than anything soccer has to offer. Please don’t hate me…it’s just that when I’m watching any form of what the rest of the world calls “football”, I catch myself sleeping with my eyes open.

Now baseball isn’t perfect either. It’s getting to where the batters either strike out or hit a home run. Fundamentals are a thing of the past. But as the true fan knows, the MLB has made a few rule changes over the last couple of years that have added greatly to the watchability of the game and it is still number one in my eyes. Soccer is about twenty-fifth on my list just behind a monster truck rally. But, of course, I truly hope the USA wins the cup.