Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ series opener with the Mets in the nation’s capital... QUICK RECAP - SEE SAW BATTLES ENDS WITH BACKWARDS K: New York Mets’ reliever Jake Diekman gave up a go-ahead, two-run home run in the ninth inning of Sunday’s series finale with the Arizona Diamondbacks in Citi Field, in what was in the end NY’s, “... major league-worst sixth defeat after holding a lead after eight innings,” and in a see-saw battle against the Washington Nationals in the nation’s capital last night they came close to suffering their seventh. Diekman came on and saved the visitors this ti ..read more

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ series finale with the Guardians in Cleveland... IRVIN IN CLEVELAND: Given a 4-0 lead to work with in the top of the second inning of the series finale with the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday afternoon, Jake Irvin pounded the zone throughout a six-inning, 98-pitch, 68-strike outing in which he gave up five hits, one walk, and two earned runs. Irvin struck out six of the 23 batters he faced, collected 11 called strikes, six with curveball, which he threw 41% of the time, up from a season-average of 32.1%, and collected 20 total called strikes, with nine on his ..read more

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ loss to the Guardians on Saturday... SLOPPY: Davey Martinez used the word “sloppy” to describe the Washington Nationals’ 3-2 loss to Cleveland’s Guardians on Saturday afternoon four times in 4:25 of his post game presser MASN posted online. Mitchell Parker struggled with his command early in the second of three for the Nationals in Progressive Field, giving up a single and back-to-back walks in the bottom of the first inning, then he picked up a K for out No. 2, before Guardians’ first baseman Kyle Monzado hit a pop to short left where Nick Senzel, Ildemaro ..read more

Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ 7-1 loss to the Guardians in Cleveland... PITCHING, PITCHING, PITCHING ... AND DEFENSE: Washington’s pitching staff, starters and relievers combined, finished the four-game series in Atlanta with the 11th best ERA in the majors (3.83) and the fourth-best FIP (3.58). Nationals’ starters’ 3.93 ERA was ranked 14th out of 30, with their 3.55 FIP ranked 6th. The relief corps in D.C.’s 3.67 ERA as a group ranked 10th in the majors, while their 3.63 FIP was ranked 6th. “You got guys with good stuff,” GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN ..read more

Notes and quotes from the Nationals and Braves’ series finale in Atlanta’s Truist Park... WILLIAMS GOES 5 2⁄3 IN ATL: Trevor Williams struck out eight in five innings of work against Seattle’s Mariners last week in the nation’s capital, and was at just 85 pitches overall after giving up a leadoff double in the top of the sixth inning when manager Davey Martinez went to the bullpen. Martinez talked before the game about his established pattern of limiting Williams, the 32-year-old starter to 80-ish pitches. And no Williams is not always okay with the quick hooks. “He pushes me,” Martinez ackno ..read more

Notes and quotes from MacKenzie Gore’s impressive outing in Atlanta... GORE IN ATL: Mackenzie Gore struck out 10 of the 22 batters he faced on Wednesday night in Truist Park, without walking one batter, making him just the 11th player in Washington Nationals’ history to manage the feat. Gore joins Josiah Gray, Patrick Corbin, Tanner Roark, Gio González, and John Lannan, who all did it once, with Joe Ross, Jordan Zimmermann, and John Patterson doing it twice, and Stephen Strasburg (10) and Max Scherzer (20) atop the list. MacKenzie Gore had his first 10-strikeout, 0-walk game tonight, joinin ..read more

Notes and quotes from Jake Irvin’s 10-K start in Truist Park... IRVIN Ks 10 IN ATL: Jake Irvin struck out a career high 10 batters last night in Atlanta’s Truist Park, tossing six scoreless frames on 90 pitches, 58 strikes, but Braves’ starter Max Fried held the visiting Nationals off the board through eight in the pitchers’ duel. Washington’s offense was 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position on the night, and were shut out in a 2-0 loss, connecting for seven hits total, all off of Fried, but two outs on the basepaths and four double plays helped the opposing starter. Jake Irvin, K'ing t ..read more

Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports Your home of the world-famous Washington Nationals GameThreads, brought to you since 2007 under the current management here at FBB... Hello. We’re back again for more Washington Nationals baseball. YESSSSSSS!!!!!! And as we did last season, and the year before, we are going to set up one GameThread for the entire 2023 2024 season and we’re going to be leaving it up all summer, so you will know where to go when you want to talk to your fellow Nats fans during the games. We’re going to park this post on the front page (in the No. 2 spot, see pic below) and leave it ..read more

Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ series win in the three-game set against the Mariners... WILL CORBIN BOUNCE BACK?: All things considered, Patrick Corbin was on a nice run before he went up against the Twins last week in the nation’s capital. Corbin, 34, put up a 3.46 ERA, a 3.70 FIP, and not-so-great .294/.354/.480 line against in a five-start stretch between April 23rd and May 15th, but then he struggled with his command and got knocked around by Minnesota, giving up a total of eight runs on nine hits (three home runs), and three walks. The three home runs were one more than he’d allowed ..read more

Notes and quotes from the Nationals’ 3-1 win over the Mariners in D.C. on Saturday... SERIES WIN!!!!: Trevor Williams took the mound on Saturday afternoon with a 2.35 ERA, a 2.80 FIP, 14 walks (2.74 BB/9), 35 Ks (6.85 K/9), and a .220/.276/.274 line against in nine starts and 46 innings pitched on the year, a significant improvement from the numbers he put up in the first year of his 2-year/$13M deal with Washington’s Nationals (5.55 ERA, 5.66 FIP, 3.30 BB/9, 6.92 K/9, and a .300/.359/.533 line against in 30 starts and 144 1⁄3 IP). Perhaps the biggest difference, was the fact he allowed just ..read more