Weekly Record: 4-3
Overall record: 43-38
Standings: .5 games behind the Braves for 1st in NL East
The Nats are a half game back of the Braves after being off on Sunday and because they refuse to keep any lead over the Braves for more than a week. They opened up the Brewers series with two great starts from Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman and a bullpen performance that had them go a combined 13 innings with 0 ER. The Nats then proceeded to lose their next three straight games, two to the lowly Cubs. In those three losses their starters gave up 14 ER in 16 combined innings, including a 4.2IP, 7ER performance from Stephen Strasburg. The Nats cannot afford stretches like that, especially when their team BA this week was .209. The Nats still came out on the winning end this week, and winning both a 16 inning marathon in Milwaukee and sweeping the Cubs in a double header on Saturday gives fans hope that this team has enough character to carry them through the summer.
Paste a cut out of Adam Laroche and Gio Gonzalez next to the Amber Ale Dog because they were cruising this week. Laroche hit .333 this week with 3 home runs (11 for the season), 7 RBI's, and hitting .333 with runners in scoring position. Gio got two wins in his two starts where he combined for 13IP, 5H, 0ER, 12K. It was also a week of firsts for the Nats, so all you 21 & overs crack open a Drop Top for Ryan Zimmerman's first home run this week since April 11th, Ross Detwiler's first career save, and Wilson Ramos's first game back since June 10th. Ramos went 4 for 10 in his two starts and hitting his second home run of the season. A nice change of pace from Jose Lobaton who went 0 for 14 this week, and 1 for 26 in Ramos's absence. Please keep Ramos healthy. Finally, big ups to Nate McClouth who started both games in the double header for Werth (Game 1) and Span (Game 2) and hit 4 for 7 with 2 doubles and scoring 2 runs.
After being on the road all week the Nationals finally come home for an eight game home stand. They will host the Rockies and Cubs this week, and they'll prepare for the Battle of the Beltway next week as they host the Orioles. There may even be a Bryce Harper sighting as Matt Williams has stated they are hopeful he comes back this week. The burning question is, who will he replace? The Zimmerman project in left field has proved serviceable at least and there is talk of sitting Span to get Bryce's bat back in the lineup, but there is a more radical option that may prove more lucrative on the offensive side. Sit Danny Espinoza. Espinoza is hitting .217 for the season and has only hit .169 over the last three weeks, and he went 0 for 18 this past week with 11 strikeouts. Sit Espinoza, move Rendon to second base, put Harper in left field, and have Ryan Zimmerman go back to third. It is a defensive gamble considering Zimmerman's recent history at third, but it puts more power in the lineup and could prove to be a useful combination if the Nats find themselves in an offensive hole later in the season. Think of having a line up that has, in no particular order other than they would hit consecutively, Rendon, Werth, Harper, LaRoche, Zimmerman, Ramos. Who can you pitch around? I say sit Danny Espinoza and see how bad of a hit our defense takes with moving Zimmerman back to third. It is not what he wants, but it may prove better for the Nationals who have been prone to offensive lulls this season. It will be interesting to see what Matt Williams does if Harper comes back this week, but whatever he ends up doing lets hope it gets us back in first place.
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