We Shouldn't Be Here. Should We? NLCS EDITION

WOW! We shouldn't be here. Should we?

NLCS EDITION

Friday 11 October to Tuesday 15 October 2019

Sneaking into the playoffs the Nationals beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card game and went on to beat the 106 game winning Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. To be painfully honest, the Nationals should NOT be in the position they wound up in. They started off the 2019 season dismally in what looked like it was going to be another sub par season. After 50 games and some early injuries always the injuries at inopportune times, they were a measly 19-31. Hardly a team that could make it to the playoffs. Then...

They started following skipper Dave Martinez's policy of going 1-0 every game. Don't worry about last night's loss, don't anticipate tomorrow's win just concentrate on the here and now one game at a time and "Stay in the Fight" and have fun. From mid May to the end of the season (and into the Playoffs) the Nationals got RED Hot and finished the regular season 93-69 and got the number one Wild Card spot with a 4 game lead ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Nats beat the Brewers in the Wild Card game 4-3 in a very unorthodox way with a Juan Soto bases clearing single with the help of a fielding error. They then beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best of 5 NLDS 3-2. Game 5 was saved by a Howie Kendrick Grand Slam in the top of the 10th inning. Now they face the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, who beat the NL East Leading Atlanta Braves 3-2 in their NLDS (the 2 and 3 seeds). The Cardinals were 91-71 in the 2019 season 2 games worse than the Nats but in 7 regular season games they bested the Nats 5-2. Again the Nats are up against a team that had beat them not just in the regular season but in previous postseasons. The Cardinals stole the 2012 NLDS away from the Nats in a comeback game 5. The Cardinals had been down by 6 runs. In the 9th several times the Cardinals were down to their last strike and managed to gain a base, then tied it up and ended up winning 9-7.

Game 1: Friday 11 October 2019: Miles Mikolas vs Anibal Sanchez
Game one started off a bit slow, top of the first the Nats struck out swinging with a lone single by Anthony Rendon. The Cardinals strike out swinging, ground out and fly out during their half of the inning. Second Inning the Nats get things going. Howie Kendrick starts the inning off with a double, Ryan Zimmerman grounds out, Michael Taylor strikes out, Yan Gomes doubles Kendrick scores Nats on top 1-0. Anibal Sanchez grounds out. Then things settle down for a few innings. Top of 7th: Trea Turner lines out, Adam Eaton triples, Rendon intentionally walked. Two men on base. Pitching change Andrew Miller on mound Juan Soto strikes out swinging. Cardinals change pitchers again to John Brebbia, Kendrick singles Eaton scores Rendon to second. Score now 2-0 Nationals. Zimmerman walks bases are loaded. Taylor flies out. Bottom of the 8th pinch-hitter Jose Martinez gets the Cardinals their first and only hit of the game. Anibal Sanchez went 7.2 hit-less innings, Sean Doolittle came in and finished the game. Nationals win 2-0.

WIN: 2-0
SERIES: Nationals lead 1-0

Game 2: Saturday 12 October 2019: Adam Wainwright vs Max Scherzer
Game 2 an amazing Pitching match-up Adam Wianwright vs Max Scherzer. The scoring wouldn't get started until the top of the 3rd Michael A.Taylor hits a lead off homer to put the Nats on top 1-0. The game settled down to basically a pitching duel. The Nats got a couple of hits in the 5th and 6th innings but no runs. The Cardinals got their first hit bottom 7th. Then during the 8th some more action happens. With one out and men on 1st and 2nd  Adam Eaton doubles scoring Matt Adams and Trea Turner Score 3-0 Nationals.Bottom 8th Sean Doolittle comes in to pitch. Cardinals have 2 outs and a runner on first Jose Martinez hits a double scoring is Paul Delong. Score is 3-1 Nationals. Fort the 9th both teams change pitchers and get a 1,2,3 inning. Nationals win 3-1 Wow Nationals take the first two games of the series on the road.

WIN: 3-1
SERIES: Nationals lead 2-0

Game 3: Monday 14 October 2019: Stephen Strasburg vs Jack Flarhety
Series moves to DC Stephen Strasburg starts on the mound. The scoring fun starts bottom of 3rd. Victor Robles gets a lead off single, Stephen Strasburg sacrifices Robles to 2nd, Trea Turner strikes out swinging, Adam Eaton singles Robles scores 1-0 Nats. Anthony "Two Bags" Rendon doubles sending Eaton home score now 2-0. Juan Soto draws a walk, Howie Kendrick up to bat a wild pitch puts Rendon on 3rd and Soto on 2nd, Kendrick doubles Rendon and Soto score 4-0 Nationals. Ryan Zimmerman grounds out to end inning. 4th inning Cardinals make some noise with back to back two out singles but next batter flies out. Bottom 4th Kurt Suzuki singles but only gets as far as 2nd base on a Strasburg sacrifice. Bottom 5th Eaton grounds out, Rendon singles, Soto flies out, Kendrick doubles Rendon Scores 5-0 Nationals. Zimmerman doubles Kendrick scores 6-0 Nationals. Suzuki pops out ends inning. Bottom 6th Robles lead off homer Nats up 7-0. Strike out, ground out and fly out ends inning. 7th inning Cardinals make a little more louder noise, 2 singles a swinging strike out, followed by another single, runners advance bases loaded Jose Martinez scores on Juan Soto throwing error. Score now 7-1 Nats. Cards strike out two more times. Bottom 7th Kendrick doubles with two outs, Zimmerman singles Kendrick scores 8-1 Nationals, a Suzuki strike out ends the inning. A quick 1,2,3 top of the 8th, only a walk in the bottom of the 8th and another 1,2,3 top of the inning (the 9th) ends it. Final score 8-1 Nationals win now lead 3-0.

WIN: 8-1
SERIES: Nationals lead 3-0

Game 4: Tuesday 15 October 2019: Patrick Corbin vs Dakota Hudson. 

First inning Cardinals top of the inning complete strike out. Bottom of the 1st Nationals: Trea Turner lead off single, Adam Eaton doubles Turner to 3rd, Anthony Rendon sack fly Turner scores 1-0 Nationals, Juan Soto doubles Eaton scores 2-0, Howie Kendrick intentionally walked, Ryan Zimmerman reaches 1st on a fielding error Soto to 3rd Kendrick to 2nd bases loaded, Victor Robles singles Soto scores, Kendrick to 3rd Zimmerman to 2nd, score 3-0, Yan Gomes singles Kendrick and Zimmerman score Robles to 2nd, score 5-0, Patrick Corbin sacrifices Robles to 3rd Gomes to 2nd, Turner singles Robles and Gomes score 7-0 Nationals, Eaton lines out ending inning. Top 4th Yadlier Molina gets two out homer score 7-1 Nats. Top of the 5th Cardinals make more noise Lead off walk from Harrison Bader, followed by a Kolten Wong single moving Bader to 3rd. Dexter Fowler walks loading the bases, Tommy Edman grounds out, Bader scores, Wong to 3rd Fowler to 2nd, Score 7-2, Jose Martinez doubles, scoring Wong and Fowler.Score now 7-4 Nats still on top. Cardinals strike out swinging two more times to end inning. Bottom of the 6th baby shark appearance Geraldo Parra pinch hits and singles, no runs scored. Nats get another hit in the 7th the Cardinals hit in the 8th. No more runs scored. Nationals win 7-4 to win and SWEEP the Series.

WIN: 7-4
SERIES: NATIONALS WIN 4-0

The NATIONALS WIN THE NLCS!

We are the NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS! Nationals WIN FIRST NL PENNANT in team and franchise history! The last time a DC baseball team won a Pennant was 1933 Senators in the American League. They lost the World Series though to the New York Giants.

NLCS MVP: Howie Kendrick

So it is on to THE WORLD SERIES. Next Opponent Houston Astros.

Nats Win 3rd Division Title Within 5 Years: With 3 Different Managers

The Nats are going back to the playoffs!

On Saturday 24 September 2016 The Washington Nationals notched their 90 win of the season by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. They were not quite in the playoffs yet, their magic number was down to 1, but only for about a half-hour. The 2nd place team the New York Mets last year's NL East Division Champs were still playing their game with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets were behind but were rallying for a comeback. They didn't succeed and so the Nationals celebrated their Division Championship Clinch, in the visitors locker room at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Hard to believe someone got them to stand still long enough for a group photo.

One again Bryce Harper wears interesting headgear for the celebrating. This year it was a Katie Ledecky USA Olympics Swim cap.

Sort of a repeat of the 2014 Division Clinch in Atlanta.

Harper's Headgear of choice was a Fire Fighter's Helmet.

The 2012 Celebration started an odd even year tradition in the Nation's Capital. Harper went with the standard backwards commemorative "Playoffs" hat like the rest of the team. He hadn't started his unique stylized trend yet.

When they won the division in 2012 it was the first time since 1933 a Washington Baseball team had been to the playoffs. The Nationals have won the NL East Division three times in the last five years.That is a mighty impressive achievement, although what makes it even more impressive is that they have done it with three different skippers at the helm. Davey Johnson, Matt Williams and Dusty Baker. Both Johnson and Williams won NL Manager of the Year the year they took the Nats into the Playoffs.

 2012 the salty dog Davey Johnson led the Nats to the stromy NLDS seas:

1975 Topps Baseball 57 Dave Johnson Braves

2014 saw the good ship Nationals sail into the rough seas of the playoffs with Matt Williams:

 1995 Fleer Ultra Baseball 247 Matt Williams Giants

This year 2016 the Captain at the helm is Dusty Baker:

 1981 Fleer Baseball 115 Dusty Baker Dodgers

The Nats need to start playing like they want to go deep into the playoffs. As of this posting there are four games left in the regular season and the Nats are only at 92-66. In 2012 they went 98-64 in the regular season and lost the NLDS 3-2 vs The Cardinals. 2014 they went 96-66 regular season and fell in the NLDS 3-1 vs The Giants.

This year even though they have the division they seem to have spun around and are backing into the playoffs. NOT GOOD. At least the other two times they seemed to be going forward into the post season.

Related Links:
CSN MidAtlantic - WASHINGTON NATIONALS CELEBRATE NL EAST TITLE

ESPN - Nationals clinch NL East -- now comes the hard part

ESPN (another blog post) - Another even year, another NL East title for Nationals
MLB - Nats jump on Bucs, wait out Mets, clinch NL East

USA Today - Nationals clinch NL East title with win and Mets loss

Washington Post - Nationals clinch third NL East title with win over Pirates, Mets’ loss to Phillies

Senators Singles: Cardinal Whitey Herzog

Whitey Herzog: Cardinals Manager

OK so here is a single that is not specifically a DC card, but a player turned manager Whitey Herzog. Whitey played for the Senators 1.0 from 1956 - 1958 and is a Hall of Famer. I got this card from a 30 card repack purchased from a dollar store. This is a duplicate as I have many of the 1988 set (but my set is still incomplete).

1988 Topps Baseball 744 Whitey Herzog MGR Cardinals

(Front and Back)

When Coach Was A Rookie

Well we all gotta start somewhere, managers don't appear out of thin air, well maybe the first few dozen when baseball was in its infancy. Most of them did some time in the trenches way back when. The Nats current skipper Davey Johnson began his major league career as a player starting with the Baltimore Orioles. He played from 1965-1978, then in 1984 began his managing career starting with the New York Mets. It has been announced that the 2013 season will be his last, he is the current oldest active manager at age 70, but not the oldest ever.

Anyway here is how he looked 47/48 years ago when he was a Rookie.

1966 Topps 579 Orioles 1966 Rookie Stars:

Frank Bertaina, Gene  Brabender and Dave Johnson

(Front and Back)

For those who like to hear about these things I got the card form Ebay for $7.99 + $1.95 shipping, actually this card has an interesting story of how I got it. First the Seller didn't mark it as shipped so I didn't know it was in the mail yet and wasn't sure when it would come. It came as part of a 3 package day (well 1 box, 1 package, 1 typical sportslot PWE but whatever) this came in a small 100ct card box. I didn't recognize the address and it felt real light so I knew it wasn't from one of my recent group breaks I was in (the package was some group break cards). Of course the box had tons of clear postal tape around it at first I tried just pulling it, but got a little tired and cut some of the tape away. I open the box, I really hate those small 100ct boxes because I think the opening should be on the wide side not the narrow side. Anyway there is a bunch of wadded up newspaper Sunday Comics actually and off to the left side one lone card in its penny sleeve. With a business card advertising some baseball related book from I guess the seller.

I am timing the publishing of this post to appear at noon eastern time on the day of the final game of the regular season, which is a late Sunday afternoon game in Arizona. At the time I write this the Nats are still under .500 by two games, 14 games behind Atlanta and about 8 games back in the wild card race. I'm just hoping they can finish the season at or slightly above .500. at 82-71 YAY a WINNING SEASON. They are about 8 games back of Atlanta and 5 back in the Wild Card for the second WC. They most likely will not be in the playoffs. And they didn't make the Playoffs thanks to their loss to St. Louis with 5 more games to go in the season. So much for pre-season expectations. At 84-73 (+5 more games to play) at least they have their second consecutive Winning Season.

Frankly Friday: Managing Minor Leauge

FRANK ROBINSON:

Managing in the minors

As many may know Frank Robinson in addition to being a Hall of Fame player he was also a Manager for several teams including being the transitional manager of the Expos into the Nationals. One of his stops as a manager was with the Baltimore Orioles and their minor league affiliate the Rochester Red Wings. The Red Wings began as a minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals then after 30some years became an affiliate of the Orioles and in 2003 became an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.
 
Here is Frank in his Red Wings Uni. The card back interestingly gives his right handed batting and throwing, plus mentions the Cleveland Indians the last team he played on and first he managed, and mentions his coaching for the California Angels. Ah they are probably hinting at his player-manager role while with Cleveland, that must be why the player info. Frank doesn't look to happy here.

1978 TCMA 25 Frank Robinson MGR Rochester Red Wings (Orioles)
(Front and Back)

Tis The Season: Awards 2012

Wow Congrats to the Nats on the very cool individual awards that have been received for the 2012 season. I'm getting to this about a week late or so because I was lazy with the scanning (plus I didn't have some 2012 cards of some of the players so I had to improvise) So without further ado and little pomp here they are:

First Baseman Adam LaRoche received his first Golden Glove Award:

 2011 Topps Allen and Ginters 167 Adam LaRoche Nationals

Adam also received his first Silver Slugger Award for NL first basemen:

Adam is the second National to double-dip the Golden Glove with the Silver Slugger. Back in 2009 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman double-dipped. Z-Man also got a Silver Slugger in 2010. This year for 2012 he was awarded the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award.

2012 Topps Heritage 494 Ryan Zimmerman Nationals

LaRoche wasn't the only Silver Slugger for DC this past season:

Shortstop Ian Desmond won his first Silver Slugger despite the injuries that kept him out for part of the season:

 2012 Topps Heritage 149 Ian Desmond Nationals

So they thought they'd shut him down huh? Well even with having a September Shut Down - September is supposed to be for Call Ups - Right-handed bullet slingger Stephen Strasburg won the Silver Slugger for Pitchers and yep it's his first ever.

2012 Topps Heritage 291 Stephen Strasburg Nationals

Hey even an Ex-Nat won his first Silver Slugger. Josh Willingham who is now on the Twins.

2010 Upper Deck Baseball Series 1 Season Biography

SB-132 Josh Willingham Nationals

The Nats also received two big big awards:

Not only did 19 year old Bryce Harper end up being a Rookie All-Star he won the coveted NL Rookie Of The Year Award:

2012 Topps Update WalMart Blue Variation 

US183 Bryce Harper Nationals

And Skipper Davey Johnson got the NL Manager Of the Year Award. It is his second MOY Award his first was 15 years ago for the AL when he was skipper for the Orioles.

2012 Topps Heritage 402 Davey Johnson Nationals

The 2012 Season saw the Nationals win First Place in the NL East sending them to their First Ever Playoffs in the NLDS (OK so back in 1981 The Expos went to the Playoffs and went as far as the NLCS but lost that one). Unfortunately they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals.


Related Links:
Two from MASN Sports Nationals Pastime Blog
Five Nationals Receive MVP Votes
Gonzalez finishes third in NL Cy Young voting


Nationals mentioned in this post:
Ian Desmond
Bryce Harper
Davey Johnson
Adam LaRoche
Stephen Strasburg
Josh Willingham
Ryan Zimmerman

Bryce Harper - All-Star?

Bryce Harper All-Star? Clown Question?

(From April 2012 GQ Interview - modified)

First off let me say that Rookie Phenom Sensation Bryce Harper is super awesome for the Nationals. Ever since being the first draft choice expectations for him have been high, and so far he has lived up to them and excelled beyond them. At the beginning of the season when fans were discussing what to do about him, I was in the camp of "hold off calling him up til September" he won't be ready. I had a small amendment of if the DL was full and required early call-ups. I was WRONG Totally Wrong.  Bryce was called up early in late April when Ryan Zimmerman was put on the DL for a shoulder injury. Fortunately the injury wasn't too severe (unlike Jason Werth's broken wrist) Ryan bounced back.

(2012 Topps Archives - 241 Bryce Harper RC Nationals)

[On my Top Wants List]

Since his call up from his short "fast tracked" time in the Minor Leagues, Bryce has been unbelievable. Not only is he a hitting sensation, he is a super fielder. He just what the Nats needed in center field. heck the Nats needed a Center-fielder. I don't want to knock the guys who have been in center-field for the Nats before Bryce, but most of them were not the best match for that position. Another Rookie sensation has been Tyler Moore who was called up in early May a week after Bryce was called up. Tyler doesn't play everyday, but when he does 'Bang Zoom'.

Even though he was called up early Bryce was not up early enough to make the official ballot for the All-Star Game. He had to be a write-in by the fans. Apparently enough fans thought him worthy enough he is in the competition for the last roster spot.

(Getty Images - 12 May 2012 vs. Cincinnati Reds)

Bryce has certainly shown he is good enough to be an All-Star so it is not a question of his ability. It might be a question of "Should he be in the All-Star Game this season"? As a Nats fan I say that is a "Clown Question". Is it too soon? My biggest fear I guess is what if he doesn't make it (The All-Star Game) and then his career crashes into a downward spiral?  I don't think that will happen but it could.Is this his one and only chance? I don't think so. If he continues to excel in all areas of the game and avoids long-term serious injuries he could make many All-Star Game appearances during his career.

UPDATE: I just saw via facebook that the final All-Stars were: AL - Yu Darvish Rangers and NL - David Freese  Cardinals. BIG BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Dang now my whole post is almost pointless. :(

Related Links:

MLB All-Star Rosters 2012: Why Bryce Harper should Be Voted in by Fans
Mike Trout, Bryce Harper Spur Debate
Bryce Harper is not getting many fastballs or strikes to hit
5 Holes in Bryce Harper's Game Heading into the Second Half
Is Baseball Ready For Bryce? (GQ April 2012 Interview contains some foul language.)

Nationals Mentioned in this Post:
Bryce Harper
Tyler Moore
Jayson Werth

Ryan Zimmerman