The Washington Nationals began their three-team, eight game road trip by taking two of three in San Diego. The 37-41 Padres are under .500 despite owning the third-highest payroll in the Majors (the 35-42 Mets have the highest payroll).
Combining the bats of Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatís Jr. and Xander Bogaerts (13 All Star games between them) has produced an offense that ranks just 21st in scoring.
The pitching staff that includes one-time All Stars Blake Snell, Michael Wacha and Josh Hader might own the fifth best ERA in the bigs, but thirteen blown saves stands out like a sore thumb on the stat sheet — and undercutting the Padres’ +31 run differential is a 5-13 record in one-run games and 0-6 mark in extra-inning affairs.
Sometimes, just getting the right ingredients isn’t enough when building playoff contenders. Where’s the oregano when you need it?
Digesting the Division: Atlanta (50-27) has won nine of ten to become the first team in the NL to reach the half-century mark. The Braves’ six game lead is the largest in MLB — for contrast, NL Central teams are within six games of division-leading Cincinnati.
Miami (45-34) is getting prime production from rookie pitcher Eury Pérez: the six-foot-eight-inches starter is 5-1 with a 1.34 ERA after tossing six scoreless innings in Sunday’s shutout of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia (40-37) took two of three from the New York Mets (35-42) over the weekend with the series finale being decided by an eighth inning bullpen implosion. While the Mets’ relievers (4.22 ERA) rank 22nd in the majors, their starters (4.95 ERA) are 26th in the bigs.
The Nationals (30-47) begin the final week of June sitting 20 games out of first place.
Break up the Birds: The Baltimore Orioles (47-29) went toe to toe with Tampa Bay and split their two-game miniseries. The O’s then took two of three games to pull within four and a half games of the Rays (who may own the best record in baseball but have lost eight of fifteen to appear semi-mortal).
How will they handle surprising NL Central-leading Cincinnati this week?
Last Week’s Heroes: CJ Abrams hit .417 at the bottom of the lineup, and his solo homer put the Nats on the board in their sweep-averting win over St. Louis. Lane Thomas batted .385 with two homers and four RBI, while Jeimer Candelario went .308 with six RBI. Trevor Williams tossed six scoreless innings in his lone start, while Jake Irvin allowed one earned run over six frames in his outing. Kyle Finnegan threw 3.1 scoreless innings over three outings.
Last Week’s Humbled: Chad Kuhl is the latest reliever to be designated for assignment after allowing four runs over two innings (his ERA for the year is 8.45). Carl Edwards Jr. (18.00), Paolo Espino (13.50) and Thaddeus Ward (10.80) also posted double digit ERAs, while Patrick Corbin allowed seven runs over five innings in his one start. Keibert Ruiz hit .120, and while his production isn’t paramount at catcher, it is for designated hitter Joey Meneses (.208) and first baseman Dominic Smith (.136).
Game to Watch: On Saturday, the Nats are in Philadelphia, and MacKenzie Gore (4-6, 3.89 ERA) is coming off his first win since April 26. Can he begin July with another solid outing? The Phillies counter with Zack Wheeler (6-4, 3.76) who has made 29 starts in his career against the Nats (more than any other team).
Game to Miss: On Monday and Tuesday, the late-night start-times are back! The Nationals are in Seattle, and rookie Jake Irvin (1-4, 4.71 ERA) pitches against the Mariners’ Bryan Woo (1-1, 5.09). Even with the game-pace quickened up this year, this matchup has late-night written all over it.
