Jim French Stepstool

This is so typical of a stretch when you feel like you're never going to win another game. Scored 7 & 6 Sunday & Yesterday, couldn't get big outs or make plays, and lost both. Then get about as good an outing as you can expect from Patrick & can't score. Luck was involved in the 8th, but I'll take Hamilton putting the ball in that spot every time. And I'm not sure how much luckier it was than Uribes' inning Tuesday (in reverse) when the Jays scored a run highlighted by two high-school level fly balls that weren't hit well enough to carry out to Mitchell. Small victories. Contreras didn't hit the ball well in the 8th but the approach was beautiful, looking to go to RF the whole time. And Perkins actually had one of the best ABs of the night when he PH. Would definitely have him in vs the lefty tomorrow.

Is the bigger jinx the new city connects (0-3) or Brian Anderson (0-4)?

Time to return to the profile of run prevention. The lack of offense going back to last week understandably received a lot of attention, but even a moderately acceptable performance from the defense & staff and the last two games are wins. Fortunately the approach that did them well the first ten games seems to be returning--lengthier ABs, getting people on base. Really at a loss to explain Rengifo. His numbers wouldn't look nearly as putrid had some well-struck balls found holes but he still looks really lost; pressing. I've watched him a number of times with the Angels. Never seen him look this bad at the plate.

Yeah all things considered their depth is OK, but not OK enough to lose the hitters they've lost & not be affected. A team like the Dodgers can lose their 2, 3, & 5 hitters, move up the people normally hitting 5, 7, & 8 and still look like most teams (or better) in the interim. Wherever he's placed in the order, Frelick needs to figure things out. And I'll maintain Rengifo has more in him than he's given so far. A big problem is going to be when a LHP appears late & you have Bauers, Hamilton & Mitchell looming. If Sanchez sees a lot of time at DH that eliminates an option.

Totally agree. Hell, if it's a DH role they even could've rolled the dice with Ramon Rodriguez.

He can fly, like a lot of the people in the organization. But he Ks quite a bit which I'm sure is a large part of the reason why he's only had two very brief cups of coffee in the bigs.

I never knew he learned the change from Willie Mueller. That's interesting because Mueller (from West Bend) was a big boy & hard thrower; hardly the type you'd think would have changeup moxie. 302 Saves after age 30, That's really something.

First off, I seldom if ever have strong expectations, good or bad. Too much randomness in baseball for me to comfortably do that year to year. Obviously health issues are a big factor, made bigger if Yelich is out for any amount of time. And no one has been consistently hot enough with the bat to cover for that. Contreras has been OK, not red hot. Turang has been so-so, hopefully Sunday launches him into something better. Sanchez has been productive but isn't out there every day. Mitchell has been productive at tines but that's tempered by never knowing if he's going to even touch the ball. Frelick & Rengifo are people that can help pick up some slack; their career numbers prove it. But they've both been poor. I think the pitching will be, for the most part, fine. Part of what happened this weekend is attributable to Washington putting up a ridiculous number of smart, effective ABs at just the right time, helped along by uncharacteristically poor defense. Credit to them. And part of the issue is the farm. You have people in AA who are performing but most likely aren't 'there' yet, and the ones theoretically closer (Williams, Pratt) aren't hitting right now. Lara is as hot as can be but after only 13 games at the AAA level & age 21 it would take quite a leap of faith to call on him. I feel OK about their ability to weather the storm until they get healthier IF hitters reach their norm & we get back to the 'woodpecker' mentality, and pitch & field at a level we're more accustomed to.

Good post; a lot of this is indeed data-driven & it's hard to argue with the results. But there are also times when you break from that, go "by the gut" which Murphy has admitted to doing at times in the past. I strongly feel Sunday should have been one of those times re Woodruff. Not only was the pitch count more than manageable but he threw a very effective & efficient sixth inning. That said, you're correct that they've definitely earned the respect of fans in the vast majority of what they do regarding in-game, personnel etc, particularly w/the position player group considering how they're hamstrung right now.

He's becoming the "Deputy Commissioner for Strategy" in the B10. I'm sure critics of Mac can make much better jokes out of that title than I can at the moment. There were some questionable folks in that role over the years. Ade Sponberg (Don Mortons' boss) comes to mind. Elroy Hirsch was a beloved figure in university circles but I'm not sure how good he was at his job, save for schmoozing at fundraisers. Despite those two, I don't think there was close to the angst I've heard directed toward Mac over the last few years. Him wanting to book it out of Madison isn't surprising. Maybe his finding an administrative gig in athletics is, though. Troy Vincent would be an awesome replacement, but I think that's pretty unrealistic. Michael Finley, maybe more plausible.

Six in a row, June of 2023. Remember being swept at home by that terrible A's team? That was part of it. Later that same year we went into Arlington & swept the eventual WS champs on the road. Baseball can be really odd sometimes.

Never happened.

I've always found that hilarious. One or two in particular, it's as if they receive notices on their phone whenever the team loses 3-4 in a row: "Time to hit Brewerfan & do my half-critical, half-try-to-be-funny schtick". What bothered me today was Woodruff getting pulled after six. The postgame comments seemed to indicate that the philosophy is to always defer to the BP if it's rested & guys are available. Woodruff throwing a strong 6th inning & still at a decent pitch count apparently had nothing to do with it, and IMO that's a horrible mistake. I was really, really hoping Uribe pitched a clean 7th because I was going to b**** about the decision even then; now it sounds like hindsight. But the moment I saw him in "I'm relaxing, I'm done" mode in the dugout after working the 6th I was severely ticked off. This, after you get 2.1 innings from your opener on Friday & STILL need to go to the pen in the 6th, and get a scoreless 4 innings Saturday but need to go to the pen with one out in the 5th. That's stuff that would be much more likely to derail long-term success than offensive struggles IMO.

Easily the biggest concern when looking big picture. The closer we can get to 6 innings per start (not saying we'll average that; just wondering how often they can get to that target) the more games you'll be in, and the better off the BP will be. Getting back to full strength is obviously important also.

Schroeder & Anderson mentioned this weekend how the Nats seem to be taking a page out of the Brewers' book regarding their approach and yeah, other teams have also done a terrific job of not chasing, so I agree. I think Rengifo has had rotten batted-ball luck. Not that he hasn't had bad ABs but he's hit 6-7 balls hard that were caught. That's stuck out to me; not sure about the rest of the team.

Looks a lot like many of the in-game threads from last April & May. You know, the year they won 97 games? And I'm NOT saying they're better, worse, or the same as last season. I AM saying that if that team can play mediocre baseball through one-third of the season, I'm pretty sure this group (or anyone else) is susceptible to the same. Especially when they lean left-handed & proceed to lose two RHHs right off the bat. Tonight, Sproat wasn't great IMO, but he was much better so that's a positive. Ortiz vs the RHP was a better matchup than Hamilton vs the lefty, which is what Washington would've gone to. A great matchup? No. But a better one. Unless you wanted Matos vs the righty, and he isn't even picking up the baseball when a lefty is throwing. Ashby still hasn't thrown back-to-back days, even though he's more than capable of it. But the stale jokes continue to be rolled out. Worst part is, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point this year he has an IL stint; in 2024 almost 80% of the IL cases were pitchers. And if/when that happens, OMG. Malpractice. Murphy doesn't know what he's doing. Why does he get used EVERY DAY??? (never mind that he doesn't). They currently have four pitchers on the 40-man that are on the IL, and I'm pretty sure none of them are there due to their arms falling off from overuse. Pitchers put an amazing amount of strain on their legs, their shoulder, elbow, wrist, etc. Often they get hurt. It happens. I just hope that gets kept in mind if it happens w/Ashby.

I know Griffin has been starting for Wash, but I wonder if it's going to start looking like the Yankees teams of the late 70s where opponents were pulling LHP out of AAA, their bullpens & random street corners just to start games against them. Until Chourio & Vaughn return to provide some balance it'll be a challenge. Nice 9th inning for the Nats last night. It looked kinda Brewer-ish, not simply that they bunted but they put pressure on the defense & we responded poorly. They say you can't steal first base. In the last inning Washington did exactly that, sort of. After a couple poor games we need to get back to that. Extended ABs, foul off tough pitches, put pressure on the base paths, maybe a bunt when it's unconventional. As I said the other day, they're in survival mode, the same survival mode as when they were 8-2. They just did a better job of it then. The tight games put a real strain on the BP, unfortunately. I almost had to laugh last night. I mean, you use an opener, he gets you into the 3rd inning, and you STILL can't get through the 6th w/o going to the pen. Not that it wasn't the right move, it's a one-run game & Zerpa got you out of the mess. But you need to create a little more breathing room so you don't constantly ask for 10-12 outs from the late guys. Whether it's from the offense creating more breathing room or in the case of last night Ashby coming out stronger. He finished well but it took him 20-25 pitches & two runs to get there.

Watched Wilken last night. He's really stuck in a bad place re swing decisions, and made a terrible throw from third on a very routine play. This bad start is in his head, unfortunately. Might be time for Jobu.

Despite the lack of #s in his first handful of ABs, 7 walks drawn in 10 games fits the profile you come to expect from Williams. And Lara is right behind. They fit this organization well.

Six HRs now, and yet to see his 30th AB. If this power translates as he climbs he's extremely dangerous because his power extends to all fields & compared to a lot of power guys the swing seems pretty effortless.

Nice!!!!!😄

'Wisco' is a compromise from the use of 'Wisky' which never would've flown, not in this day & age. I too like the Barrelman shoulder logo. Bottom line, I'm fine with the unis if they win in them, which is another way of saying I'm in my 60s.

Not quite yet IMO but you're at the point now where there are options in Biloxi, so you could exchange him if the struggles continue. Gotta feel for him. Losing developmental time due to some strange injuries.

3-Run bomb for Adamczewski. Oppo!!!!!

I expect Rengifo to revert to his norms. So far no dice, but I'm not going to jump off a bridge over his first 38 PAs or whatever it is. We'll see.