Craft Beer of the Week (7/28)

Since the Nationals have been away all week, I figured I could fight the homesickness by giving them a taste of home for the Craft Beer of the Week.  It comes from Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland.  It is called Agave Cerveza and it is the perfect summer beer. It has a light body with a lime taste to it, but not in a way that feels like you're drinking rancid lime soda like a Bud Light Lime.  The agave gives it a nice bitter sweet flavor to go along with the lime to make it a nice tasty beverage.  The refreshing taste, along with the 4.3% alcohol content, means that you should enjoy this beer as a nice summer refresher on hot barbecue days.  Get this beer while you can, though, as it is in limited release.  If you miss this beer make sure to try Flying Dog's Gonzo Porter, or another limited release made by Flying Dog and Evolution Brewery called Natural Selection Ale.  The Nationals may not need any tastes of home as they completed a successful road trip this past week.

Weekly Record: 4-2
Overall Record: 57-45
Standings: 1st place in NL East, 1.5 games ahead of Braves

This was an interesting week for the Nationals in terms of style of play.  The beginning of the week saw the Nationals in  Colorado where they faced one of the worst team ERA pitching staffs in the league.  They proceeded to hit .290 or better in all three games, and they needed it because the Nats' pitching staff had a relatively mediocre performance.  Jordan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg both gave up four earned runs in their starts against the Rockies, but Zimmerman was lucky enough to get the run support.  Strasburg was not so lucky, which gives him a 4-6 record with a 4.28 ERA in June and July, and he has lost 6 of his last 8 starts.  Couple that with the fact that he is 1-5 in his last 6 starts against teams with winning records (his last win against a winning team was June 9th against the Giants) and it may be time for the Nats to start getting him in the right frame of mind if they expect to make the playoffs.  But overall the Nats took two out of three games from the Rockies, and they had a chance to win the third game in the bottom of the ninth. The Reds series was quite different.

The Nats faced a much tougher pitching staff in Cincinnati and the hitting stats showed it.  The last two games in the series saw the Nats hit .148 and .161, respectively, but instead of beating the tar out of the ball the Nats were able to win on solid pitching and by getting on base.  The Nats starters (Tanner Roark, Gio Gonzalez, and Doug Fister) gave up a combined 2 ER through the entire series, and the only regular starters who had below .300 OBP this week were Adam LaRoche (.286 OBP) and Ryan Zimmerman who went on the 15 day DL after two games.  Even though they were more patient this series, the Nats still look out of sorts when trying to manufacture runs in tight games.  The second game in this series was a text book example of this manufacturing anxiety.  The Nats were down 1-0 with a chance to tie in the 9th with Ian Desmond taking a rare walk in the opening at bat.  Matt Williams decides to bunt with Bryce Harper (Cue Jimmy Dugan), who was already having a horrendous game running the bases, and who proceeded to pull up on a bunt that got Desmond thrown out stealing 2nd.  Harper struck out looking on the next pitch, Ramos struck out looking on the next at bat, and a great start from Gio Gonzalez went for naught. The Nats did come back the next day to win 4-1 on only five hits, but there needs to be more prudence in tight games.

Raise your hand if you had Tanner Roark and Doug Fister being the first two 10 game winners for the Nats, and Fister having the best ERA (2.69) of all the starters through the month of July.  Right.  If we can get Strasburg and Zimmerman back on track we may not need Denard Span to hit .434 and have a .551 OBP every week.  Span had the best hitting week of anyone by far and has silenced the detractors who were saying he should be replaced as our lead off hitter.  Keep it up Denard.  And kudos to Danny Espinosa for breaking his 0-26 slump by going 4-14 this week with 2 RBI's and a stolen base. 

The Nats continue their road trip in Miami for three games before coming home for a four game stint against the Phillies this week.  Hopefully they can pick up a few more games on the Braves who will be in California all week to face the Padres and Dodgers.  So all you 21 and overs go get some Agave Cerveza to celebrate another week atop the NL East. 

Craft Beer of the Week (7/21)

A strong welcome back from the All-Star break is in order for the Craft Beer of the Week.  It comes from the Weyerbacher Brewery in Easton, Pennsylvania and it is called Blithering Idiot.  The beer lives up to it's name by having an 11.1% alcohol content so be careful when drinking it lest yee wishes to become a blithering idiot.  Do not let the potency dissuade you from trying a really good beer that is sweet to the taste, smooth going down, and gets you tipsy in no time flat.  Please drink it responsibly while you celebrate a fruitful, although abbreviated, week for the Washington Nationals.

Weekly Record: 2-1
Overall Record: 53-43
Standing: Tied for 1st in the NL East with the Braves

The Nationals proved they can hang with the tops of the National League by taking two of three from the Brewers this weekend.  They had two hard fought games, and one that they ran away with, but it is good to see them come out on top in a series that was being heralded as a possible playoff matchup.  There was still some All-Star hangover for some, especially the pitching staff.  Gio Gonzalez's missed flight back from the All-Star break translated into three earned runs in three and a third innings yesterday which gave him an early exit.  Rafael Soriano blew his third save of the year yesterday when he gave up a tying run in the top of the ninth, and Stephen Strasburg picked up his fifth loss in seven appearances on Friday.  The Nats didn't necessarily give Strasburg the necessary run support going 1-10 with runners in scoring position, but this is the third time Strasburg has given up 4ER or more in his last seven starts.  Over those seven starts he has a 4.64 ERA, so it may not be time to push the panic button but it is cause for concern. 

Luckily, the Nats bats were cracking in this series.  The Nats hit .327 as a team for the series and they got 11 or more hits in every game.  Jayson Werth continues to show his clutch hitting with a walk off double to win the game on Sunday, and Ryan Zimmerman's performance this series proves why he gets paid the big bucks.  He was 6-12 with 5 RBI's, 1 HR, 2-3 RISP, and a .500 OBP. Keep it up Zimm.  It was also a pleasant return for Bryce Harper and Denard Span.  Harper went 5-10, Span wen 7-13, and both of their OBP's were above .500.  With Werth and Zimmerman hitting as well as they are, and with Ian Desmond continuing to drive in runs every time he makes contact (3 more RBI's this week to give him 60 for the season), it is good to see that these guys can have Span and Harper on base to make their hitting more damaging to the opposition.  The one hitter that may need a little more time to get back in the groove is Anthony Rendon.  Rendon followed up the All-Star snub buzz with a 1-14 performance against the Brewers.  If Span is getting on base at the rate he is going, we need Rendon to return to form. 

It is only a three game sample, and the Nats still find themselves in first place in the NL East, so no reason to panic yet., but the NL Wildcard situation should give us motivation to keep pace with the Braves.  There are now four teams tied for the NL Wildcard: Washington, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco; Two teams that are a half game back (Milwaukee and St. Louis); One team that is two games back (Pittsburgh); and one that is three games back (Cincinnati).  That leaves 8 teams for two wildcard spots.  Lets keep it going this week on the road against Colorado and Cincinnati and put some distance between us and the rest of the NL.

Grunfeld Gives Porter the Truth

          The signing of Paul Pierce has caused a mass hysteria of conjecture here in DC.  Pierce’s arrival, coupled with Trevor Ariza’s departure to the salary tax Shangri-La that is Houston, had Wizards fans immediately assessing whether or not Pierce could replace Ariza’s production on both ends of the court.  Once they figured out that Ariza had the best statistical season of his career last year (35.4 min, 14.4 pts, 6.2 reb, 2.5 asst.), and Pierce had his worst (28.0 min, 13.5 pts, 4.6 reb, 2.4 asst.), and they were more or less identical with Pierce averaging seven less minutes per game, people became a little less anxious.  But that was merely prima facie analysis used to provide instant fodder for the talking heads.  Wizards fans began to do their best Dave Kujan impression when the bigger picture came into focus.  Pierce’s contract allowed the Wizards to offer Kevin Durant a max contract in two years.  The Homecoming Part 2 set in DC starring Kevin Durant was already being written and it was all thanks to the Paul Pierce signing.  Pierce’s signing, though, may have more intangible significance to this team in the short term, especially in the development of Otto Porter.  Porter saw limited time last season due to injury and an unexpected boon of small forward talent on the roster, but Pierce could provide Porter with the tutelage he needs to become a key contributor to the Wizards in the future. 

          This idea of Pierce being a mentor to Otto Porter comes from the fact that they have similar styles of play.  Both are well rounded players who use basketball IQ rather than raw athleticism to break down their opponents.  Evidence of this can be seen in their sophomore year stats at Kansas and Georgetown.  Comparing stats between these two players is hard due to Porter’s small professional sample size and Pierce playing a third year of college ball that made his career stats at Kansas more imposing, but a comparison of their sophomore year stats looks like this:

   Pierce = 28.1 min, 48.8 FG%, 16.3 pts, 6.8 reb , 2.1 asst

   Porter = 35.4 min, 48.0 FG%, 16.2 pts, 7.5 rebs, 2.7 asst

 These stats are nearly identical except for the minutes, and within those minutes is where Pierce’s mentorship could help Otto Porter.  The knock on Porter has been that he can be too passive at times and waste offensive possessions because he has trouble creating scoring chances.  Passive has never been a word to describe Paul Pierce.  It is that fierce competitiveness coupled with Pierce’s ability to create his own shots, both off the dribble and in the post, that can help Otto Porter develop into the player the Wizards expected when they drafted him third overall in 2013.  Their similar style of play may allow for a small learning curve that can allow Otto Porter to emulate Pierce’s ability to create his own shot, create chances off the dribble, and draw fouls in the post.  This mentorship opportunity is what Ernie Grunfeld may have had in mind when he pursued Pierce in the first place.

          It is nice to have a small forward that can fill the void left by Trevor Ariza, and it is nice to save future cap space to try and sign Durant in 2016, but having Paul Pierce as a mentor in invaluable.  Grunfeld knows that he needs Otto Porter to be a part of the long term plan for the Washington Wizards.  That entails having Porter evolve as a basketball player, and who better to facilitate that evolution than a player with an identical playing style, superior skills, and a wealth of NBA wisdom to impart on the young mind of Otto Porter.  Paul Pierce’s narrative in Washington is already being linked to whether or not he can adequately fill Trevor Ariza’s shoes (and doesn’t that seem insulting to someone like Paul Pierce?).  What the narrative should be is whether or not he can help Otto Porter become a more complete basketball player by helping him develop a more dynamic offensive game.  If Pierce fails to do this in the next two years, there’s always a chance we can get Kevin Durant to come home. 

Craft Beer of the Week (7/14)

The Craft Beer of the Week comes from California, and it is a dandy of an amber ale.  It is the Red Rocket Ale from Bear Republic Brewing Company.  The color in the picture says it all, and the smooth sweet taste will make you forget that you paid about $15 for the six pack.  It is definitely worth a try, as are all the other beers that Bear Republic produces, so break one open if you are over 21 for the Nats finishing the first half of the season tied for first with the Braves. 

 

 

Weekly Record: 4-3
Overall Record: 51-42
Standing: tied for first place in the NL East with the Braves

The Nationals are exactly where they want to be at the All-Star break; Tied for first in the NL East, although this week saw its ups and downs.  The bullpen got hammered in a few games, giving up six runs in the top of the 11th to Baltimore last Monday and failing to bail out Jordan Zimmerman on Friday when he left the game with arm pain.  More specifically, Craig Stammen got hammered this week giving up 9 hits and 7 earned runs in only 4 innings of performance.  The Nationals still have the lowest team ERA in all of baseball, but Stammen needs to buck up after the All Star break.  Luckily, the Nats had another great outing from Rafael Soriano who made sure that Ryan Zimmerman's 2-out RBI in the top of the 10th on Saturday became the game winning hit by picking up his 22nd save of the year.  Soriano's ERA is now 0.97, and that will be greatly appreciated as the Nats enter the second half of the season.

The Nationals' hitting also saw its ups and downs as well.  Their weekly average got bailed out yesterday in a 10-3 win over the Phillies where they hit .324 as a team, but that could only bring up their weekly average to a paltry .224.  The Nats were also hitting 6-35 with runners in scoring position throughout the week, until yesterday when they went 6-7.  Adam LaRoche and Bryce Harper have been the main batting average killers this week going 3-24 and 2-19, and Wilson Ramos went 0-6 this week with runners in scoring position.  These three players combined to hit 1-13 with runners in scoring position, which comprised a third of the Nationals RISP at bats this week.  We could have used some of those runs, especially when Ramos flies out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th in a 4-3 loss to the Orioles.  Not all was lost this week, however.  Jayson Werth hit 4 home runs and had 10 RBI's this week.  Werth has now hit as many home runs in July (6),as he has the rest of the season.  Ryan Zimmerman's aforementioned game winning hit on Saturday was a huge two out at bat, and Anthony Rendon continues to make the case for Nationals fans to complain about the All Star voting.  Rendon had the highest weekly batting average on the team (.346) to go along with 3 RBI's, 7 runs scored, and an OBP of .392.

The Nats don't play again until Friday when they start a three game series against the Brewers, so enjoy a Red Rocket Ale on your days off, boys, and come back ready to keep pace with the Braves. 

 

Craft Beer of the Week (7/7)

The craft beer of the week is a homegrown Maryland beer.  It is the Lucky 7 Porter from Evolution Brewery in Salisbury.  You will be hard pressed to find a better dark beer for the price.  Although it is not a light summer beer it is worth a try when eating any type of red meat.  It has a nice rich taste without being too heavy, and it is flavorful without losing the sense that you are drinking a beer and not some rancid milkshake.  Support Evolution Brewery if you are over 21, and open one up to celebrate the evolution that Nationals seem to be going through.

Weekly Record: 5-1
Overall Record: 48-39
Standings: .5 games behind Atlanta for first in the NL East

The Nationals found themselves in the midst of a five game win streak this week, and they have won seven of their last eight games.  Unfortunately, they are still a half game back of the Braves who had their nine game win streak broken on Sunday by the Diamondbacks.  This week saw a little bit of everything, which makes us hope that these wins are building character within the clubhouse.  The Nats won in a 13-0 drubbing against the Cubs on Saturday, they had to come from down 3-0 to beat the Rockies on Wednesday, and they were able to win a pitching duel 2-1 on Sunday in the bottom of the 8th on a 2 out double.  A big reason for this new found resiliency could be the new lineup with a familiar face that came back this week.

The Nats bats came alive with the return of Bryce Harper.  Harper only went 4 for 21 with a team high 9 strikeouts, but he adds an element to the lineup that allowed the Nats to have one of their best team offensive performances of the season.  They out scored the Rockies and Cubs 35-13 while hitting .302 as a team, and .369 with runners in scoring position.  The Rockies and Cubs are not necessarily the class of the National League, and the Nats had trouble with the bats on Sunday when they faced a tough pitcher in Jake Arrieta, but the big guns have come alive in a big way.  Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman brought the wood this week.  Werth went 9 for 20 with 2 HR, 9 RBI, and he hit .625 with runners in scoring position.  Zimmerman continues to come up big hitting 11 for 21 with 6 RBI's, three of which came with two outs, and one that gave the Nats the lead in the bottom of the 8th against the Cubs on Sunday.  Ian Desmond hit over .400 this week and now leads all MLB shortstops with 53 RBI's.  This overview would not be complete without mentioning Gio Gonzalez who got his third win in four appearances this week, and he has now pitched 22 consecutive scoreless innings. 

This week was really about who performed the least best.  Adam LaRoche cooled off a bit this week only hitting 3 for 21, but he got his 12th HR of the season against the Rockies.  Tanner Roark gave up 4 ER for the second straight appearance and received the only pitching loss of the week.  The Nats just need to keep the bats hot as they split a four game series with the Orioles this week before going on a three game road trip to Philly.  This will be the last week before the All-Star break, so lets hope the Nats finally break the Braves and go on break in first place.