In a weak year among NL powers, the Nats will seldom have a smoother path to a pennant. Look at the pitching hegemony the Nats would have brought to bear in the postseason when all teams use four starters. They’d have four of the top 15 in ERA among all starters in the NL. Only one NL team has more than one such pitcher (the Giants).
Also, the Nats would send out four of the top 15 NL starters in WHIP (walks and hits per inning), as well as four of the top 21 in lowest OPS (on-base-percentage plus slugging).
Finally, the Nats would have an overpowering staff with four of the top nine average-fastball-velocities in the NL. That’s almost insane.
On top of all that, the Nats would finally, if they stay intact, have their best seven hitters at the top of their lineup and their entire seven-deep bullpen all healthy at the same time. All season the Nats have waited for this full complement of top players. All in all, it’s a mighty powerful mixture.
Too bad: After 79 years waiting, we’re left with “might have beens.”
Oh, I’m sorry. I seem to have made a minor mistake in my calculations. The team I have just described is the Nationals without Strasburg.
Uncharted autumn waters on the Potomac? Boz says even without Stras, the good ship Curly W should sail just fine, thank you.
TerpNats
Posted: September 03, 2012 at 08:25 AM |
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1. JE (Jason Epstein)There have been recent murmurs that Zimmermann's pitching shoulder is giving him some discomfort, which he denies, of course. Gio runs on pure sugar it seems, so he'll be OK. E-Jax is a roller coaster ride and I believe Detwiler is over his head at this point in the season.
But what do I know?
If the Nationals win the Series (!) without Strasburg, Rizzo will reach legend status here.
Look. Exactly what I've been saying all year.
Even if his hitting is a bit off, Harper can make an impact in the field and on the base paths. He's still a work-in-progress, but a true 5-tool talent.
Once he gets on base, look out defense because he's a terror on the base paths. This is gonna be fun.
Even from the perspective of a lifelong Yankee fan, that matchup would be the sporting event of my lifetime, though I wouldn't bet on the O's to get by any of those three ALW teams and probably not the Rays.
But if by some miracle an O's-Nats WS did take place, it might actually perform the even greater miracle of pushing the goddam Redskins off the front page of the Post for at least four straight midweek days.
(Okay, two days, anyway. I don't want to exaggerate.)
Oh my God, he's only the third best 19 year old in the history of baseball? Execute him!
By the way, both B-R and Fangraphs are in agreement that Harper is now the second best teenager by Wins Above Replacement in MLB history, behind only Mel Ott.
During that long slump, what had happened was he was trying to adjust to the steady diet of slop he was getting on the outside corner. For a long time he had the highest % of offspeed pitches thrown to him of any batter. He just wasn't seeing fastballs.
Then once he became so outside conscious, he was susceptible on the inside pitch. He started getting more inside fastballs and either was freezing on them, or hitting them weakly.
Over the last 2-3 weeks, he's gotten a handle on those pitches. So he's learned how to work both sides of the plate and has a better handle on what types of things to expect in certain situations. It really has been cat-and-mouse all year... but the more types of pitches and types of scenarios he sees, the better he's going to be able to handle the ensuing adjustment pitchers make.
Were I Davey, I'd consider skipping Zimmerman for a start. Throw ol' Wang out there to get pounded. We've got a massive lead and Zimmerman looks tired.
This doesn't sound right on several levels.
Harper looked pretty good last night albeit against the Wichita Cubs staff.
It's good to play the Cubbies.
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