Nats Start Home Stand the Right Way

Friday, August 7th

The Washington Nationals combined good fielding, hitting, and pitching for a 5-3 victory over the visiting Cincinnati Reds. Cade Cavalli got the win for the Nats, going 6 innings and giving up 7 hits and 3 runs with 8 strike outs. All the scoring for the Reds was courtesy of 3 solo home runs. Washington had a great performance from three relievers. A welcomed change. Yovanny Cruz, Orlando Ribalta, and Clayton Beeter shut out Cincinnati over the last 3 innings. Way to go, guys! You may remember that Cruz was one of the relief pitchers obtained from the Yankees in the Luis Garcia Jr. trade. Orlando Ribalta was called up from Triple A Rochester earlier this month. And Clayton Beeter recorded his 12th save of the year. The Nationals started the scoring in the bottom of the 1st. CJ Abrams led off with a single to right. Abrams took 3rd on an infield grounder off the bat of Brady House that turned into an error by 3rd baseman Elly De La Cruz. House safe at 1st. Daylen Lile then smacked his 15th home run to right field, scoring House and Abrams. 3-0 Washington.

The Reds got one back in the top of the 2nd off Eugenio Suarez’s solo home run, his 15th, to left field. 3-1 good guys. Cincinnati tied it up in the top of the 3rd off consecutive solo home runs from Matt McLain, his 10th , and Elly De La Cruz, his 20th of the season. 3-3. The Nats took back the lead in the bottom of the 4th. Daylen Lile doubled to right field. Two battlers later, Harry Ford blasted a home run to center field, his 2nd, scoring Lile. 5-3 Nationals. And that’s it… Good fielding, hitting, pitching, a 3-run homer…if only we could bottle that. Next game is tomorrow same time, same stadium.

Washington Makes It Two in a Row

Saturday, August 8th The Washington Nationals looked great today in defeating the Cincinnati Reds 8-2. Andrew Alvarez went the first 5 1/3 innings for the Nats, giving up 1 run on 3 hits. And our relief corps looked good for the 2nd game in a row. Max Kranick, Yovanny Curz, Clayton Beeter, and Tom Cosgrove went the final 3 2/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 2 hits. Chase Burns started for the Reds. He went 5 1/3 innings surrendering 5 runs on 6 hits. This broke Burns’ 12-game winning streak. His last loss had been on April 10th. The Nationals struck first in the bottom of the 3rd. Jose Tena singled and went to 3rd on a double from CJ Abrams. Abimelec Ortiz then singled to left field, scoring Tena and Abrams. 2-0 Washington. The Reds tied it up in the top of the 6th. Sal Stewart ran out an infield single and later scored on Eugenio Suarez’ 16th home run to center field. The Nats regained the lead in the bottom of the inning. Dylan Crews doubled to left and came home on Daylen Lile’s single. Keibert Ruiz followed with a double to center, sending Lile to 3rd. Andres Chaparro then doubled to left, scoring Lile and Ruiz. Jacob Young then scored Chaparro with a single to center field. 6-2 good guys. The Nationals tacked on a couple insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th as Jorbit Vivas walked and later came around to score courtesy of a single from Andres Chaparro. Jacob Young was then hit by a pitch. CJ Abrams followed with a single to center scoring Chaparro. 8-2 Washington. And that’s all the scoring for the day. CJ Abrams led the way with 2 hits and an RBI. Abimelec Ortiz had a hit and 2 RBIs. Andres Chaparro went 2 for 2 driving in 3 runs. Great game, guys!

Nationals Sweep the Reds

Sunday, August 9th The Washington Nationals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 7 to 1 this afternoon to sweep the 3-game series at home. Four pitchers combined to check the Reds, giving up a single run on only 4 hits while striking out 9. Brad Lord, Will Dion, Trevor Williams, and Jake Bird paved the way to victory. The Reds managed their only run in the top of the 2nd. Tyler Stephenson singled to center and advanced to 2nd base as Eugenio Suarez was hit by a pitch. The runners advanced a base on a ground out off the bat of Hector Rodriguez. Stephenson then scored on a sac fly from Dane Myers. 1-0 Cincinnati. Washington took the lead in the bottom of the 2nd as Dylan Crews led off with a single to left. Jorbit Vivas also singled sending Crews to 3rd. Keibert Ruiz hit the 3rd single of the inning, scoring Crews. Jacob Young followed with a sac fly to left field scoring Vivas. 2-1 Nats. The Nats added a run in the bottom of the 3rd off Abimelec Ortiz’ home run to left field, his 2nd. 3-1 Nationals. In the bottom of the 7th, CJ Abrams singled to right and later scored on a single to center by Daylen Lile. 4-1 Nats. And they were at it again in the bottom of the 8th. The Nats loaded the bases on singles by Jorbit Vivas and Nasim Nunez and an intentional walk to Keibert Ruiz. Jacob Young’s force out scored pinch-runner Andrew Pinckney. Andrews Chaparro later doubled to right scoring Young and Ruiz. 7-1 Washington. And that’s the way it ended. Keibert Ruiz went 3 for 3 today, with a run and an RBI. A great three-game sweep for our Nationals. The team seems to be assembling a great group of relief pitchers who all contributed to this weekend’s success. Yovanny Cruz and Orlando Ribalta have looked great. And Brad Lord recently returned from the injured list and did well in today’s game, as did Jake Bird who was just promoted to the active roster. The Nationals get a well-deserved day off tomorrow after playing 17 days in a row. They start a 3-game series on Tuesday against the visiting Chicago Cubs. Game time is 6:45 ET.

Dave’s Dime…the Dead Ball Era

I’ve always been a fan of history; I even managed to obtain a B.A. in the subject. I still enjoy reading and learning about the past. And I still remember many interesting facts, at least in my mind, that others might find trivial or useless. Like the name of the twelfth President of the United States. Or what the thirteen strips on the American Flag signify.

And I have heard those same old adages that all of you have, such as “History repeats itself,

first as a tragedy, second as a farce,” from Karl Marx; and “Those who cannot remember the

past are condemned to repeat it,” said by George Santayana.

And, I truly believe that those two quotes are quite accurate. Anyone who knows even a

little bit about our past can agree with that. But that’s politics, wars, stupidity, the

unwillingness to learn…to change.

But, in my opinion, the world of sports isn’t like that at all. Maybe that’s one reason why I’ve

always loved that kind of competition. The willingness to adapt, to improve, to appeal to

the fans.

And as I grow older and realize that the human race will never evolve when it comes to

matters of politics, it seems to me that sports tend more toward adjustments and

correcting obvious short-falls as far as rules and inconsistencies are concerned.

I think that’s a pretty good segue into our ongoing study of baseball. So far, we have seen

how quite a few things have changed. From Union and Confederate soldiers playing a form

of the game during the Civil War and having no strike zone and getting batters out by

throwing the ball at them, and players sharing their gloves, to the formation of the first

professional baseball leagues in 1901.

What we know today as the National League first came into existence in 1900. The original

eight franchises were the:

Boston Beaneaters

Brooklyn Superbas

Chicago Orphans

Cincinnati Reds

New York Giants

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates

St. Louis Cardinals

And in 1901, the original Western League changed its name to the American League and

became a rival of the National League.

Those first eight franchises were the:

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Americans

Chicago White Stockings

Cleveland Blues

Detroit Tigers

Milwaukee Brewers

Philadelphia Athletics

Washington Senators

And both the National and American Leagues stayed at eight teams apiece until 1960.

The names and locations of some of these franchises changed almost every year.

But, if you notice, a few of them are still the same today. Pretty cool…and kind of amazing.

And the two leagues agreed to play a season ending “World Series” beginning in 1903.

Those first few years, from 1901 to 1919, are commonly referred to as the “Dead-ball era.”

Pitchers dominated the game. But there was more to it than just who pitched the ball.

Baseballs back in that time-period were quite expensive. Their three-dollar price tag in

1901 would be equal to one hundred and sixteen dollars in today’s economy. That’s a lot of

dough for just one ball.

Modern baseballs are purchased in bulk and cost about seven dollars apiece. Negligible,

to say the least, considering the amount of money spent by today’s Major League

franchises.

Anyway, since balls back in the early 1900’s were so expensive, everything was done to

keep a baseball in play for as long as possible. In fact, it was not unusual for a single

baseball to last an entire game; and to even be used the following day!

By the end of the game that poor old baseball would be covered in grass stains, dirt, mud,

tobacco juice, and no longer round.

Of course, if a ball was hit into the bleachers and not retrieved, that could cost a franchise a lot of money. So, teams actually hired security guards whose only job was to retrieve balls hit into the stands. That’s kind of nuts but understandable at the same time.

So, because the game ball was usually a misshapen mess, not very many runs were scored. Home runs were quite rare, with bunts, stolen bases, and hit-and-run plays being the way to bring players home. However, there were quite a few amazing hitters during this time. The best of the best was Ty Cobb, known as the “Georgia Peach”. He played from 1905 to 1928 and finished with a career batting average of .366. A record that will never be broken. The most home runs by an individual player between 1901 and 1918 was sixteen in 1902 by Socks Seybold. Remember that so you can use it the next time you play Trivial Pursuit. Of course, that little bit of trivia might be even too trivial to include in a board game.

Well, the Dead-Ball Era ended in 1919 when one of the greatest of all-time came onto the scene. The one and only George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr. To be continued…

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