The Nats Craft Beer of the Week

In honor of the MLB All-Star Game and festivities being held in DC this week, SweetDCSports is keeping the Nats Craft Beer of the Week local with this wonderful pick from Denizens Brewing Company in Silver Spring, Maryland.  It is their Macadocious Maibock and it has all you can ask for in a summer beer.  It is hoppy for the IPA lovers out there.  It has malts for those who don't want to have that hoppy aftertaste in their mouths, and it has subtle floral hints with a light body that makes you feel like you are drinking summer in a can.  There is a little something for everyone in this beer, so if your're over 21 please support local breweries and pick up a 6-pack as you try to enjoy watching the Nationals who had a little something for everyone this week as well.

If you wanted to see futility there was certainly enough of that to go around.  The Nats split their four game series with the last place Mets, and during that time they gave the Mets their 7th win in 27 home games and allowed Mets pitcher Zack Wheeler to get his first home win in over a year.  Speaking of pitching, most of the Nats starting pitching had a rough week.  The quintet of Scherzer, Gio, Roark, Rodriguez, and newcomer Austin Voth combined for one win, four losses, 24.1 innings, and a 8.14 ERA.  To be fair, Scherzer got the lone win and his 11th hit of the season (tied for first among pitchers), Gio lost a 2-0 decision, Roark hit the first triple by a Nats pitcher since 2007, and 13 of the 22 runs given up were from Rodriguez and Voth, but there needs to be more consistency within the rotation if the Nats intend to make up ground on their new NL East overlords to the north.  The Nats hitters had their own problems, as the Nats saw the return of Matt Wieters this week only to have him reaffirm that the catcher position will be a perpetual black hole this year as he was 2 for 18 with a .150 OBP.  Not be outdone was Trea Turner, who had to face a little bit of regression to the mean this week as he he was only 3 for 26 with an OBP of .178 and an OPS of .331. Those are not the numbers of a lead off hitter, but Turner's OBP each of the last four weeks was over .300, and two of those weeks it was over .400.  Let's just hope this is the universe playing cooler to Trea Turner and he can get back on track after the All-Star break.  It was not all bad news, though, as Nats fans who are fond of relief pitching, dominant starts from pitchers returning from the DL, OPS, and Daniel Murphy were treated this week.

The Nats bullpen has been much maligned since the beginning of June, but this week saw a reversal of fortune.  The Nats bullpen threw 20.2 innings and only gave up 2 earned runs while incurring no losses. Special nods go out to Ryan Madson, who in his three appearances gave up only one hit, one walk, and got the Nats' only save this week, and to Shawn Kelley who had his third straight week of shut out relief.  Kelley has only allowed 3 earned runs in his last 18 innings, and his ERA has dropped from 4.4 in the beginning of June to 2.54.  The Nats also had a pitching bright spot in Jeremy Hellickson.  Hellickson redeemed himself from his 4 inning nightmare last week to give up only 1 run in 2 games and get two of the Nats 3 wins this week.  Have a Maibock in hopes that Hellickson can lock down his starting position as Strasburg continues to rehab. The Nats hitting also had their bright spots as three Nats had an OPS over 1.0 this week.  Anthony Rendon (1.07 OPS), Adam Eaton (1.04 OPS), and Daniel Murphy (1.29 OPS) combined for 11 RBI, 4 doubles, and three home runs (all from Rendon), and honorable mentions go to Matt Adams whose SLG% was a .521 this week with 2 home runs.  Daniel Murphy also gets kudos for going 8 for 15 this week, and getting his 2 RBI's in a bases loaded pinch hitting situation against the Mets.  Now, let's see if he can do that against teams that didn't foolishly let him go in free agency.

Finally, this week saw the return of the legend of Bryce Harper as he won the Home Run Derby in dramatic fashion. Whatever this does for the Nationals season going forward, it has to show the Lerners that they need to start doing inventory on their assets to see how much they can offer Harper at the end of the year.  He is the straw that stirs the drink for the Nationals, and despite some of his numbers being down this year, he will be able to buoy the Nationals in times of need as he showed on Monday night.  It also showed that he wants to be here if given the opportunity, he will play his heart out for this city, and The Home Run Derby also showed that they cannot just let Harper walk without proposing a competitive offer if they want to save face with the fan base.  Harper wore his heart on his sleeve for the first time in a while, and he showed a glimpse of what he could give this city if he is locked up for the long term.  For now, though, lets just hope this inspires the Nats to close the 5.5 game gap with the Phillies once the season gets going on Friday.  Three games with the Braves this weekend and then it is off to Milwaukee to face the Brewers for a four game stretch. 

The Nats Craft Beer of the Week

This rendition of The Nats Craft Beer of the Week stays close to home with 16 Bar Stools from the Brookeville Beer Farm in Montgomery County, Maryland.  This is Brookeville's version of a Belgian Tripel, and while it has the signature sweet taste at the end that all Belgian Tripels have, Brookeville puts their own stamp on this beer to make it great for drinking in the summer.  There are tangy citrus notes to go along with a rich flavor and smooth body that masks the fact that it has an 8% ABV.  Please drink responsibly as the high ABV is coupled with high volume units (it is only sold in 16 oz. cans), and enjoy a unique Belgian Tripel in the hot DC sun.

The Nats certainly could have used a nice refresher early in the week as they were swept by the Red Sox and fell 7 games behind the Braves in the NL East.  The Nats were only able to score 7 runs in that series, which included a shutout in the last game, that led to Max Scherzer calling a players only meeting.  The meeting must have worked because the Nats went 3-1 against the Marlins in their next series scoring a total of 37 runs and coming back from the largest deficit in Nationals history (9-0) in the first game of the series.  The Nats hitters woke up against the lowly Marlins pitching staff, and there were some hitters who had an absolutely monster week at the plate.

Trea Turner and Mark Reynolds both had 2 home run games this week, with Trea Turner doing it in the comeback game on Thursday.  Turner hit his first career grand slam in that game that put the Nationals ahead 10-9, and he registered 8 RBI's in that game.  Turner's weekly OPS continues to be respectable at a .833, and he was even able to go 3 for 7 this week with runners in scoring postion. Not to be outdone was Mark Reynolds who hit 2 home runs this past Saturday in an 18-4 drubbing of the Marlins.  Reynolds also went 5 for 5 in that game with 10 RBI, which is only the fourth time that has happened in MLB history.  Reynolds was not a one hit wonder this week, however, going 10 for 14 (5 for 6 with runners in scoring position) with 12 RBI, 3 HR including a walk off HR on Friday Night, an OPS of 2.26, and he even pitched and got the last out for the Nats in a 10-2 loss on Sunday.

Turner and Reynolds were the leaders of an offensive explosion as all players were able to get at least one RBI this week, except for Michael Taylor, there were five Nats who hit over .300 (Reynolds, Turner, Adams, Goodwin, Taylor), and there were five players who had an OBP of over .400 this week (Reynolds, Adams, Soto, Goodwin, Taylor, Harper).  Harper's OBP this week should be a sign that he needs to be hitting higher in the lineup.  In his last 57 plate appearances he has an OBP of .473, but he has only hit .210 in that same sample size.  Bryce should be hitting either first or second in the lineup in order to get on base for the likes of Matt Adams, Mark Reynolds, and Anthony Rendon who should be in the three or four spot whenever they are in the lineup.  Reynolds' sample size maybe small, but his slugging percentage was a 1.5 this week, and Adams was 0.533.  The Nats will need to generate more runs as the pitching staff continues to suffer; Literally and figuratively.

Erick Fedde had to leave the 3-0 loss to Boston in the first inning with shoulder soreness, and while the MRI came back negative it is not a good sign for the Nats starting pitching when Strasburg's timetable for return in unknown.  That led to a week where the Nats bullpen threw a whopping 29.2 innings this week with some good and some bad.  The bullpen threw four scoreless innings on Friday Night in the 3-2 walk off win, but they also gave up 6 runs in 5 innings in a 10-2 loss on Sunday.  Ryan Madson was the leader in futility going only 0.2 innings with 4 ER on Sunday, and he got the loss on Wednesday against the red Sox.  Since June 4 Madson has thrown 10 innings of relief with an ERA of 8.44 and a WHIP of 2.15.  Madson may have been the works offender this week, but most of the Nats pitching took their lumps this week in their appearances.  Evidence of this was the fact that Shawn Kelley was the only Nats pitcher, starter or reliever, to throw 5 or more innings this week and not give up an earned run.  This may say more about the bullpen than the starting pitching, but the starters were OK at best this week.  Of the three wins the Nats had this week only one went to a starter and that was Max Scherzer on Saturday.  The other starters this week were shaky at best with Gio needing 114 pitches to get out of 5 innings in the 3-2 win on Friday, Jeremy Hellickson made his return this week and was responsible for all 9 runs in the comeback win on Thursday, and Tanner Roark pitched 11 innings this week giving up 20 hits, 13 ER, and he was charged with 2 losses.

Here's hoping that the Nats starters can get it together this coming week considering they are still 5 games back of the Braves, but with Jeffrey Rodriguez getting the start tonight expect a high flying affair.  In Rodriguez's last two starts he threw 9 combined innings and gave up 9 runs, but the Nats won both games.  Lucky for Rodriguez that the Nats have the Pirates for a three game series, and then travel to the Big Apple to face the bottom feeding Mets.  After this week the Nats will have not had a day off since June 27, so grab some 16 Bar Stools and have one for the Nats as they continue to grind and get back into first place in the NL East.

The Nats Craft Beer of the Week

A more familiar face graces this week's Nats Craft Beer of the Week because in times of turmoil you need a friend to tell you everything is going to be OK.  Sierra Nevada's Sidecar IPA does just that.  Sidecar is a variation of Sierra Nevada's classic Pale Ale, but it tones down the hops a tad in favor of a subtle orange flavor that is complimented by hints of malts that makes this a perfect summer beer.  You'll get a little bit of everything without having to be bombarded by an overwhelming hop flavor, and with a 6.8% ABV it will also get the job done where it counts so please drink responsibly.  Hopefully you grabbed a Sidecar while hugging a loved one this past week as you watched a mostly depressing week for the Nationals.

This past week saw the Nationals go 1-5 on the road against the Rays and Phillies, which increased their deficit in the NL East to 6 games.  The Nats also find themselves three games back in the NL Wildcard race, and with a 6-15 record in their last 21 games things are starting to get a little worrisome for the defending NL East Champions.  This week, especially, saw some team stats that are quite depressing.  The Nats had 238 plate appearances counting walks and HBP's.  They struck out in 60 of those plate appearances, which means that every time the Nats went through the order this week they struck out about twice on average.  Those whiffs at the plate were complimented by a .173 average with runners in scoring position this week.  The Nats had their lowest weekly total RISP at bats (46) in June, their lowest weekly RISP hits (8) in June, and four of those 8 hits came in one game, so you can see how the Nats were shut out twice again this week which brought the total number of times the Nats were shut out in June to seven.  The RISP hitting was a symptom of the Nats hitting under .200 in three of the six games this week, and in two of the remaining three games they could not crack .250.  Usually the Nats pitching gets them out of these kinds of funks, but aside from Max Scherzer and Tanner Roark the starters were less than impressive this week.

Scherzer pitched an absolute gem against Tampa on Tuesday, but he felt the Nats hitting futility first hand as the Nats were only able to muster three hits in a 1-0 loss.  Tanner Roark also had a fine outing giving up two runs, one earned, in six innings only to lose 4-3.  Other than those starts, the Nats went from mediocre to horrendous.  Jeremy Hellickson made his first start since being put on the DL June 4th and he gave up 3 runs in 4.2 innings, which is not bad but not great either due to the fact that the Nats could not drive in runs this week.  Even in their massive 17-7 win on Friday, Erick Fedde gave up 5 runs in 5 innings.  Gio Gonzalez, though, had the worst week of them all.  Gio collected two ugly losses this week that saw the return of the classic Gio Gonzalez meltdown.  He had two 40 pitch innings this week where he issued 7 total walks and gave up 9 earned runs.  In fact, over his last 5 starts Gio has pitched only 19.1 innings with a WHIP of 2.12 and an ERA of 9.31.  Lets hope he can get back on track this week because the bullpen also did not do the starters any favors.  Kelvin Herrera was the only reliever to not give up an earned run this week, and have a Sidecar for Justin Miller who gave up the walk off home run to the Phillies on Saturday that capped off a week where he threw 121 pitches in 6.2 innings of relief.  The only Nats pitcher to throw more pitches this week than Justin Miller was Gio Gonzalez, so maybe we see a little more of Kelvin Herrera this week to give Miller a break.  The Nats pitching, though, put them within one run four times this week, but the bats just could not get it done.

The Nats had five hitters (Goodwin, Taylor, Harper, Murphy, and Severino) hit for under .200 this week. Taylor and Severino are the futility winners as they both hit under .100 for the week.  Even the mighty Juan Soto came down to Earth this week, as he hit only .250 with 8 K's and 4 walks.  He still was able to go 2 for 8 in RISP situations, the best average for the Nats, and his 2 home runs this week kept his OPS above .800, but he needs to pick up more of the slack from the struggling line up.  The only two hitters who kept up their hot pace this past week were Anthony Rendon (.333 BA, 1.12 OPS, 5 RBI, 2HR) and Trea Turner (.375 BA, .964 OPS, 2 RBI, 7 Runs), which should give Nationals fans hope that Davey Martinez can adjust the lineup to get more offense going.  Even Bryce Harper, despite his hitting woes, was able to lead the Nats this week with a .481 because of his 10 walks this week, so Davey needs to get these bats going by maybe shaking up the order a bit. 

My vote would be moving Bryce back to lead off and then going Turner (whose average and OBP has been one of the most consistent on the team), Rendon, Eaton (he has hit .333 with runners in scoring position this month), then Soto.  The six through nine hitters seem to be interchangeable, although I will continue to champion Kieboom over Severino at the catcher spot.

Whatever the lineup will be this coming week, the Nats better get in gear as the Red Sox come to town for a three games series followed by the Marlins. Hopefully the Nats can gain some ground on the Braves this week to stay within striking distance.