A quick summary of “what if it hadn’t happened”:
Patrick Corbin gave up three runs in the first two innings on the road at Dodger Stadium last night, but Jesse Winker hit a full-count curveball. dodgersIn the top of the third inning, left-hander Ryan Yarbrough hit a 429-footer to right-center field to bring the visiting Nationals within one point, 3-2 Los Angeles.
It was Winker’s second home run of the season, and his .482 OBP on 2-of-3 in Los Angeles was tops among major league hitters, and the 30-year-old veteran reached base in 13 of 15 games played in Los Angeles. Year. After Monday’s game, he ranks fifth in the National League in AVG (.354), seventh in OPS (1.004), leads the Nationals in hits (17) and second in walks (9). Ta. Not bad for a non-roster player invited to spring training.
Corbin calmed down and held on until the fourth inning after a blinker explosion led to a one-run lead, but in the fifth inning, Kiké Hernandez hit a 431-foot home run from the Nationals’ left-handed hitter to center field, giving the Dodgers another run. Lead, 4-2.
After Winker’s home run, Yarbrough led the Dodgers into the seventh inning with 14 consecutive hits, and after the home team extended its lead into the bottom of the inning at 5-2, right-hander Joe Kelly gave up two more runs, but C.J. Abrams walked and walked. With two outs in the 8th inning, the Nationals’ streak ended at 16. Winker had a hit in his next at-bat, giving Lane Thomas a potential tying run, but the inning ended with a grounder to third base.
Mookie Betts (5-for-5) added another run in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Dodgers won 6-2, setting up a rubber match this afternoon.
Meneses sits:
On August 12, the day after Joey Meneses hit a single in the first inning in Oakland, he then hit a double play and grounded out twice (The first of two ground balls with a runner on third base and two outs.), Nationals captain Davey Martinez talked about the 31-year-old slugger’s struggles with the bat thus far, as well as his ground out from Meneses earlier this season.
“He’s jumping on the ball,” Martinez explained. “We had to get him to relax a little bit and step back and use his hands a little bit more.
“He’s been working really hard in his lower body, so give him a day today. He’s going to work on some things in the cage and he’ll be available later as a pinch hitter, but we’re going to give him a day. I need to stay back. “
Meneses, who made his major league debut in 2022 at the age of 30, destroyed opposing pitchers with 14 doubles, 13 home runs, and a batting average of .324/.367/.563 in 56 games and 240 games. He took the turn at bat, but after that he struggled to show his power (and 154 games, 657 PA, 36 doubles, 13 home runs, batting average of .275/.321/.401) Will the pressure be on in 2023 given his slow start and “unconventional” career path to the big leagues?
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
“I’m worried about a lot of players,” Martinez admitted. “This game is more mental than physical, and when you’re not feeling well and you don’t feel like you’re doing well, you get tired, but I try to get the players to relax. There are only 14 games left, so let’s forget what happened in the past and focus on today, staying in our shoes and trying to win 1-0 today.”
Meneses went 1-for-3 in the final game against the Athletics in Oakland the following day, but was not selected in the lineup for either of the first two games this week at Dodger Stadium.
Meneses finished his final game against the Athletics 10-for-49 (.204/.298/.225) on the year with 57 PA in 13 games, one extra-base hit (double), five walks, and 13 Ks in 13 games. finished.
“I believe Joey can hit,” Martinez said last night before the second of three games in LA. Quoted by Mark Zuckerman of MASN.
“Right now, he’s struggling. We’re trying to get him some early batting practice. He’s going to get back in there. But I think with young players like Jacob Young, getting up to bat, I’m thinking more about the players who need to play, and the defense as well, and Jacob really helps out in the outfield. [Jessie] Winker is swinging the bat really well. ”
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Photo by Lauren Elliott/Getty Images
So for now, Meneses is sitting, but he hasn’t done much since his debut.
“I don’t want to sit too long with Joey. I want to get him back in the field and get some at-bats,” Martinez told reporters. “For me, it’s a good problem and you can do different things in combination. I talked to him and said, ‘This is not a punishment. I want you to get it right. He’s been good for us the last few years. I want him back there.”
Parker takes control of his emotions in his debut novel:
Mitchell Parker, the Nationals’ 24-year-old 2020 fifth-round pick, will make his MLB debut Monday night at Dodger Stadium, hoping it will be the game he has worked so hard to dream of. Ta.
“Everyone thinks about what it’s going to be like when they go out for the first time,” he admitted upon arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday. “I hope this exceeds everything we dreamed of. So it should be fun.”
He pitched 81 pitches over five innings against the Dodgers lineup, struck out four, allowed just four hits and two earned runs, becoming the first Nat since Stephen Strasburg in 2010 to win in his MLB debut. It was probably a huge accomplishment considering he was a rookie. It was like he dreamed of it coming true.
“It was a really good lineup and all of them were very good,” Parker said later. Quoted by Sara Wexler of MLB.com.
“So this whole game is probably going to stay with me for a long time.”
When evaluating Parker’s pitching, manager Davey Martinez said he was confident beforehand, but added, “After the first inning, he seemed to calm down a little bit, and by the fourth inning he was like, ‘Okay, let’s go. I felt like, ‘This is it.'” The southpaw will withstand pressure and do well in difficult assignments.
But it wasn’t without its challenges, as Martinez and his starters tried to manage all the adrenaline, emotion and excitement that comes with their MLB debut.
“I think sitting between innings, I think I started to get a feel for him a little bit. And then in the fifth inning, we went to him and to see how he was doing, he wanted to come back. That says a lot, but I had to be smart and I thought 80 pitches was enough. He let us pitch five innings.”
Why was the seventh-year captain so confident that Parker could handle difficult conditions?
Martinez noted that Parker seemed unfazed by the challenges in spring training and thought the left-hander was ready for the opportunity.
“The key was after the first inning,” Martinez said of facing the Dodgers’ brutal top three of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
“He was going to be nervous, but he did really well. I had known for some time that the child’s heart rate was very low.
“And he doesn’t seem to be fazed by anything. He’s going to go attack the zone… and he’s started to use his breaking ball really well, and that’s really helped him.”
“It’s a difficult team to play against, but he did a really, really good job.”
After all, did the real experience match what he dreamed of?
“It’s one thing to imagine it and it’s another thing to actually experience it,” Parker explained. Quoted by Mark Zuckerman of MASN. “It was a special experience.”
