Phillies Opposition Roadblock: Washington Nationals
As the Phillies leave a disappointing performance behind in Cincinnati, the roadblock series continues with a look back at the Cincy predictions. It also takes a look at the next team on the docket. Welcome home, Phillies. It is only the NL East favorite, Washington Nationals waiting in your driveway.
The Phillies dropped two out of three from the Reds in the opening series of 2017. As you know, I chose Brandon Finnegan and Joey Votto as the roadblock duo for Cincy. Below, you will find their stats for the series.
Finnegan (7 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 1 walk, and 9 strikeouts) was dominant against a staggered Phillies offense. At one point, the lefty retired 19 straight Phillies hitters. They looked completely different from the team that we saw on Opening Day. After forcing the 23 year old to throw 25 pitches without scoring a run in the first, the Phillies abandoned the approach immediately. I wrote about avoiding deep counts in his favor for fear of his slider and changeup, but he did not need either. He lived on his fastball all night and the Phillies could not adjust at any point.
Phils Grade: F
Votto (2-11, 1 homerun, 1 strikeout, 1 walk) continued to struggle overall against the Phillies. However, it was one of his two hits that make this prediction successful. Jerad Eickhoff made two mistakes, both with his curveball, on Wednesday evening. One of those was a 1-0 pitch to Votto to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning. And he deposited it into the right field seats to give the Reds there first lead of the series. He added another hit in the series finale. Sometimes the best player in the park only needs one hit to impact an entire series.
Phils Grade: B
The Team: Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals. The team that what seems like yesterday was the pushover the Phillies dominated on a monthly basis. They were the team the Phils beat in 2007 and 2008 that last weekend to put them on top of the Mets in the division standings.
Now, they are simply the team. They are absolutely loaded. The offense is one of the absolute deepest in all of baseball. On opening day, the Nationals trotted out the following lineup against the Miami Marlins:
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SS, Trea Turner
CF, Adam Eaton
RF, Bryce Harper
2B, Daniel Murphy
1B, Ryan Zimmerman
LF, Jayson Werth
3B, Stephen Drew
C, Matt Wieters
There are stars throughout that entire lineup, and they were missing one of their best hitters, Anthony Rendon, who returned Wednesday night to the Washington lineup after battling a sore calf. While there are aging veterans throughout the roster, there are enough young bucks to balance it all out in the nation’s capital.
In the arms department, they are not what you would describe as “lacking.” We will get to Max Scherzer in a bit, but the other four, the oft-injured Stephen Strasburg, the erratic Gio Gonzalez, workhorse Tanner Roark, and young buck, Joe Ross will look to consistently hold off offenses on a nightly basis. The bullpen could get shaky at times, but it appears Blake Treinen will assume the closer role. After solid seasons out of the pen in 2016, Shawn Kelley and former Phil, Joe Blanton will be key components.
The Nationals are off to a solid start after winning of two of three from the Marlins, and are once again a media darling for an October push. They have not delivered yet, and I am unsure there is much time left for this group to achieve what they sought out to do at the beginning of their push.
Most people expected to see Bryce Harper, but I had it easy in the first series. I thought this would be a much more interesting pick for the 2017 homecoming series at CBP. Trea Turner is one of the most exciting players in baseball, and no one even realizes it quite yet.
Let me put this into perspective for all of you (who I appreciate taking the time to read this). Turner began his career as a 22 year old kid. He went through Washington’s system as a shortstop. When he got to the big club, the brass decided they had a larger need in centerfield. No big deal. Just move Trea out there.
What did the kid do as he switched from one of the most difficult positions to play on the field to an equally important one? Glad you asked. In just a hair over 300 at bats, he slashed .342/.370/.567 with 13 homers out of the leadoff spot. He crossed homeplate 53 times and swiped 33 bags along the way.
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Call to the Pen
Even worse? The speedster shredded Phillies pitchers to the tune of .320/.346/.600 with two bombs in 25 at bats. He has not done enough yet to be given the title, “Phillies Killer” like his teammates Harper, Murphy, and Zimmerman, but the kid is off to a pretty solid start on his way to becoming one.
He did all of this with a position switch. Now, he is back to his comfort zone and, with hitting at the top of the order in front of the likes of Eaton and Harper, he will have more pitches to hit. If he finds himself on base, teams have to worry about his speed, but at the same time, can’t lose sight of a dangerous Eaton, an MVP candidate in Harper, and the 2016 NL batting champ runner up (by a point), Daniel Murphy.
The Phils have to keep him off base. The righty loves hitting the ball the other way. He likes fastballs on the outer part of the plate. If the Phils want to beat him with fastball, it should be in on the hands. Mixing breaking and offspeed stuff to keep Turner off balance should help, but his struggles on fastballs on his hands should stabilize him this weekend.
Packed with star power, the Nationals will be depending on this kid to get them going every night. The Phillies will be focused on holding the 23 year old at bay.
When I saw Washington’s rotation lined up for this weekend, I was stunned to see what appeared on my computer screen. Max Scherzer is pitching the fourth game? Why? It made no sense.
At first, I credited it too the revenge factor. Back when the Phils were the dominant team, fans would create an ocean of red at National’s Park. I thought maybe the Nats wanted to make the Phillies pay by putting their true ace on the bump for the opener. I talked myself out of it.
The righty was having trouble with a knuckle on his throwing hand, so the team thought they would hold him off a couple of extra days. Now, they will have Scherzer and Strasburg on back-to-back days for the foreseeable future. Whatever the reason, the home opener that is normally reserved for pomp and circumstance will be filled with nerves and the possibility of complete dominance.
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FanSided
Scherzer is not just your run of the mill ace. He is a guy with a legitimate chance to shut a team out or force a team hitless on any given night. In 2016, his age 31 season, the righty dominated to a 20-7 record, 2.96 ERA, and a ridiculous 0.97 WHIP in 228.1 innings. It was good enough to land him fifth place on the Cy Young ballot.
The 2015 Cy Young winner boasts a fastball, slider, changeup, curveball, and cutter. Hitters have the most luck against his fastball. Their average? .218 and no, that is not a joke. He earned 145 of his 284 strikeouts using the fastball, but was able to use his slider, change, and curve for an additional 154 K’s. And in case you are wondering whether or not he walks a ton, he doesn’t. He walked only 54 batters in those nearly 230 innings.
I wish there was some theory or secret on how the Phillies can best Scherzer this Friday. The only hope is to catch the few mistakes he does make and deposit them in the bleachers. Scherzer has shown aptness to the long ball since coming to the NL. It will not be easy to work counts into their favor, but if he gets ahead of hitters, Scherzer is incredibly lethal.
Other than that, all I’ve got is…good luck, boys.