Heading home:
The Washington Nationals took two of three wins from the Cardinals in St. Louis and, after losing their first two games against the Diamondbacks, have a chance to finish the road with a 3-3 record heading into the series finale in Arizona yesterday.
“We had a chance to go 3-3 on this trip,” coach Davey Martinez said after Tuesday night’s 17-0 loss, “which says a lot, so we’re going to come back tomorrow. July is over and it’s a new month, so let’s go for a 1-0 tomorrow.”
Before the game, Martinez said he and his players, who remained with the Nationals after the 2024 trade deadline, were happy to get through an emotional few weeks and focus on baseball for the two-plus months remaining in the season.
Photo: Scott Tetch/Getty Images
“Let’s play baseball. I’m happy with the guys we have now and we can focus on baseball,” the seventh-year coach said. “It’s a tough time for the guys. When your name is all over the place, it takes away from focusing on what you’re trying to do. It really is.”
“Once it’s over and they’re there, they breathe a little sigh of relief,” he continued.
“Now we have a chance to go out there and try to finish the next two months strong.”
Martinez’s team lost the third game to the Diamondbacks, 5-4, and though they managed to rally three runs in the final two innings, they couldn’t come back again.
“We just wanted to get the ball in the zone, we really did,” said the captain after a 2-4 road trip that saw him give up 10 hits, four runs and just 2-for-12 at-bats with 11 runners in scoring position. “When we got the ball in the zone, we hit it pretty strong. Win or lose, I’m always proud of the effort they put in to get 27 outs. We went out there and fought and like I said, we were one hit away from taking the lead. We’ve got tomorrow off, a long flight tonight and we’ll be back on Friday ready to go.”
He said what he’d like to see going forward is for the team to put together more at-bats like they did in the final few innings Wednesday afternoon.
“I had some good at-bats. I tried to get the ball in the zone. That’s something I’ve got to focus on from the first innings. When I get the ball in the zone, I’m going to get some good hits.”
Given that they traded Hunter Harvey earlier this month and Jesse Winker, Lane Thomas and Dylan Floro before the deadline, Martinez said he’s glad to see the team stay together.
“Guys lost friends, they lost teammates, a lot of stuff happened. We batted really well the first couple days on the road and then we didn’t bat again yesterday,” he explained. “… And then we batted a lot better today. So we just have to be consistent. That’s the biggest thing right now. Just be consistent, pitch well, play good defense and go from there. That’s who we are. There’s still a lot of baseball left and we want to finish the season on a really positive note, but we understand that it’s one day at a time and we’ll come back on Friday and go 1-0 on Friday.”
Lewis leaves the match:
Keivert Lewis left Wednesday’s game shortly after being hit in the groin by a skipping ball.
Of course, Lewis suffered a similarly serious injury in 2022 that forced him into a hospital stay as a catcher, so hopefully this injury won’t be as severe as the last one.
Manager Davey Martinez was asked after the game about Luis’ condition.
“We don’t know yet, but we got hit a lot so we’ll see how it goes in a little while,” the manager said, acknowledging concerns about the catcher, drawing similarities to two years ago.
“I’m a little bit worried,” Martinez said. “I’ll talk to my trainer and see what’s going on. I’ll let you know on Friday.”
Deadline Rizzo talks about Junkie:
General manager and president of team operations Mike Rizzo spoke at length with reporters after the 2024 trade deadline and said the Nationals made a number of moves to add depth to their organization.
Wednesday morning, Lizzo spoke with 106.7 the FAN at DC’s Sports Junkies. He talked about how he thought things went at the deadline and where the team was after the trades and prospect acquisitions they made in exchange for the veterans they ultimately traded.
“I think we’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel,” Rizzo said of the possibility that a multiyear restart of the capital could come to fruition in the near future.
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Photo: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
“I think anybody who has closely watched and critiqued the team can see that we are close to winning.
“You have a group of young starters and young players emerging, and then you add some more young players and you add some good free agent signings, and I think the team is in good form.”
“Some teams are constantly rebuilding, but we’re not. We rebuild once, have eight or nine years of success, then rebuild again.”
“But in that time we won four divisions, earned a wild card and even won a world championship, something that a lot of other teams in the rebuild don’t get to do.”
