The Nats Craft Beer of the Week

Boy, does this Craft Beer of the Week fit with how the Nationals' week went.  Dark.  It is the Van Dammit Belgian Dark Ale from the Jailbreak Brewing Company in Laurel, Maryland, and while the color can be a metaphor for the week that was for the Nationals, the taste is one that will make you feel a little better.  It is a traditional Belgian Ale, with a sweet taste that comes from figs, raisins, plums, and a complex array of malts that gives it a nice clean finish.  Jailbreak says that this is one of their limited release beers, but it is also one that does not take too much looking around to find.  If you are of age, and you are going to continue to follow the Nationals season, the 9.0% ABV may come in handy, but please drink responsibly and try to only imitate the man on the cover in your head as I'm sure Davey Martinez did many times this week as he saw the Nationals season go off the rails.

The Nationals dug themselves into a hole early this past week, as they dropped the first three games against the Cardinals in depressing fashion.  They were walked off for the second straight game on Monday when they scored 2 runs to tie the game in the top of the ninth, only to see Koda Glover give up an HR to the first batter he faced.  Gio gave up 5 runs on Tuesday, 2 of which came on a 2 run HR to the pitcher (John Gant) who had been 0-30 in his career to that point, and Jeremy Hellickson was placed on the DL after spraining his wrist covering a wild pitch on Wednesday.  The end of the week was no better.  The Marlins broke a 12 game road losing streak and won their first series against the Nationals since 2014 after winning in 10 innings on Saturday, and crushing the Nats 12-1 on Sunday.  What is more depressing is that the Braves and Phillies lost on Saturday and Sunday, so the Nats also lost a golden opportunity to gain ground in the NL East, yet the continue to find themselves 7.5 games back of the Braves.  One big part of that has been the futility of the bullpen.

Koda Glover was the king of futility this past week as he twice lost the lead/game immediately after the Nats had tied the game the inning before.  He lost the game on Monday as stated above, and
on Saturday Adam Eaton hit a game tying solo home run in the bottom of the 9th, only to have Glover give up a two out, bases loaded single that drove in two runs in the 10th.  Glover did get a tough save this week, but he cannot give up those kinds of losses right after the Nats' lineup does their job.  Honorable mention for the futility crown go to Sammy Solis, who in his one appearance on Monday gave up 2 hits and 2 runs without registering an out, and to Tommy Milone who made the debacle on Sunday turn into a massacre as he went 4 innings with 6 hits, 4 ER, and he gave up 3 home runs.  All those number contributed to a collective bullpen ERA of 5.40 and a WHIP of 1.5 for the week, and with no end to this in sight the Nats' playoff hopes look dismal.

The Nats hitters were not immune to this sucking either, as their golden boy Juan Soto hit .181 this week, as did Trea Turner.  Soto salvaged a .344 OBP for the week with six walks, but the top of the lineup was not very productive with those two leading off.  Matt Adams has also cooled off the past few weeks, as he went 0-9 this week, with five of those at bats coming with runners in scoring position.  In fact, Matt Adams in only 9 for his last 57 at bats for a staggering .157 average.  To be fair, the past three weeks he has been put in mostly as a pinch hitter, but this is a far cry from what he was doing earlier in the summer and the Nats miss that big bat coming off the bench.  It was not all bad this week, however, and the Nats still have some ray of hope that they can get back into the playoff race.

Bryce Harper got his 500th career RBI this past week against the Marlins while hitting .379 (5-6 RISP), 8 RBI, and he had an OPS of 1.05.  Over the last month Harper is hitting .538 (14-26) with runners in scoring position, so do not be surprised if teams begin walking Harper in big siutations, especially teams with payoff aspirations like the Phillies.  Rendon and Eaton also hit over .300 this week, but the silver slugger of the week goes to Matt Wieters. He hit .368 this week with 4 RBI, and he had an OPS of .987.  Wieters is 13 for his last 33 at bats, and he is coming on right when the Nats need another bat to make a run at the NL East.  Max Scherzer also contributed by getting his 16th win this week while scoring 2 runs and hitting a double against the Marlins.  Max is now hitting .296 for the season. Not to be outdone at the plate was Tanner Roark who also scored 2 runs in his outing against the Cardinals while going 2-3 at the plate and getting the only win in the series against the Cards.

It will take a herculean effort from all to make up ground in the NL East, but the Nats will have their chance this week as they open up a three game series with the Phillies today, and follow that up with a three game road trip against the Mets.  Roark is pitching tonight, and Stephen Strasburg is set to make his comeback on Wednesday, so here is hoping the Nats can gain at least two games on the Phillies in the wildcard to start the week, and maybe, just maybe, they can start to gain momentum going into the last 30 games of the season.

The Nats Craft Beer of the Week

The play from the National's this week required a strong Russian Imperial Stout for this week's craft beer.  It is Stone Brewing's 2018 collaboration Stone Woot Stout, and it gets the job done in all facets of beer drinking.  The beautiful black color masks a dynamic taste created by pecans, wheat, and rye that gives it a sweet toasted type of flavor.  It was also aged in bourbon barrels, so you also get that bourbon aftertaste that makes you feel like you are having that special me-time moment.  At 11.5% ABV, though, you are definitely coming close to that, so please drink responsibly and if you are lucky enough to find this beer at your local craft beer store pick it up immediately because it will not be there forever.  The 11.5% ABV was necessary at times this week, as the Nationals kept themselves 5.5 games back in the NL East in the most soul crushing way.

The Nats were one out away from being 4.5 games back of the Phillies and Braves last night until Ryan Madson gave up a walk off grand slam to David Bote.  It was a microcosm of the Nats season as Wilmer Difo, who entered in the bottom of the 9th as a defensive replacement, bobbled the exchange from his glove to allow the first base runner and Madson hit two batters to load the bases.  Madson claims that he had back issues that caused his poor command, but that still does not remedy the fact that they squandered a 7 inning/0 ER performance from Max Scherzer.  This was the second game this week that Max had to endure a no decision based on a 9th inning, injury laden, let down from the bullpen.  Kelvin Herrera squandered a 7 inning/1 ER performance from Max in the second game of the double header against the Braves this past Tuesday, where Herrera gave up 2 runs in the top of the 9th and was relieved of duty after complaining of shoulder tightness and is now on the DL.  Hopefully the Nats' training staff can actually talk to the bullpen pitchers this week so they can trot out healthy pitchers to try and close out zero and one run outings from Max Scherzer in the future.

The loss last night also extended the Nats' futility as they have not won a series of three or more games against a team with a winning record since May 10.  Madson's woes also extended the bullpen's woes this week, as his performance gave the bullpen a collective 7.16 ERA and 1.65 WHIP for this week.  The cherry on top was that the Nats' old buddy Brandon Kintzler was let off the hook, as he pitched the 9th inning last night for the Cubs and gave up a two run single to Ryan Zimmerman that extended the Nats' lead to 3-0.  Suffice to say that last night sucked, but all the news was not horrible for the Nats this week.

Ryan Zimmerman came alive this week as he hit .476 with 3 HR, 12 RBI, was 4 for 7 RISP, 1.04 SLG%, and a 1.56 OPS.  Grab a Stone Woot Stout to celebrate the return of Ryan Zimmerman just when the Nats need his bat to try and cut into their deficit in the NL East.  There was another National who hit over. 400 this past week, and the name may be surprising.  Matt Wieters hit .428 this past week, including an OPS of 1.02, and in the second game against the Cubs he reached base in all five of his plate appearances.  The Nats as a team actually out hit the combined efforts of the Braves and Cubs as the Nats' .271 team average outpaced the combined .244 average of the Braves and Cubs.  Contributing to this average were the five Nats hitters who all hit over .300 this week in Zimmerman, Wieters, Daniel Murphy (.370), Anthony Rendon (.315), and Trea Turner (.344).  This was also helped by the Nats' starting pitching that had only Tommy Milone give up more than 2 ER's in their appearances, and Max Scherzer continues to dazzle as he gave up only 1 ER in 14 innings of work this week.  Also, have a Stone Woot Stout for Gio Gonzalez as he got his first win in 11 starts this week, and Tanner Roark is also on a come back tour as he won his fourth straight start.  In those starts he has averaged 7.2 innings with a 1.21 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP.  The Nats will need to keep that kind of streak going as they will continue to face stout competition this upcoming week.

The Nats continue their tour of the midwest as they are in St. Louis in the beginning of the week for the "Battle of the teams that are 5.5 back in the division" series as the Cardinals are also 5.5 games back in the NL Central.  The Marlins come to town to close out the week, and hopefully the Nats can gain some ground in the NL East come this time next week.  There is still time being only 5.5 games out of the division, but time is running out.