John Matthews
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) To borrow a phrase from Washington’s football history, for the Nationals, the Future Is Now.
With less that eight weeks left in the season, the team has to close a 5 1/2 game gap between themselves and the front-running Philadelphia Phillies, which did its part Monday night by falling in the Arizona desert to the Diamondbacks in 14 innings.
If Washington is going to stand a realistic chance, it has to make up that ground by beating the teams in front of it, and that task begins Tuesday, with a day/night doubleheader at Nationals Park against the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves begin the day 4 1/2 games ahead of Washington, in second place in the NL East. If the Nationals manage to sweep Atlanta, they could close that gap to just a half-game. Conversely, if Washington chokes like dogs, their season could effectively end this week, mired 8 1/2 games back in mid-August.
Both the Braves and Nats have been enjoying hot streaks of late. Atlanta has won 6 of its last 7 games, while Washington is on a 8-for-11 clip, bolstered by suddenly-timely hitting and a bullpen that’s been up to the task of holding late-game leads.
If there’s one concern for the Nationals, it’s their starting pitching.
Max Scherzer, baseball’s only 15-game winner, has been a beast, and he will pitch in Tuesday’s night cap. But with two would-be starters – Stephen Strasburg and Erik Fedde – on the disabled list, and suddenly hot Tanner Roark not scheduled to pitch again until Friday, the Nats will hold their breath and pray a bit.
Tuesday’s matinee will be started by rookie Jefry Rodriguez, who made his major league debut earlier this season in a relief role against the Braves, holding them scoreless for 4 2/3 innings. Since then, however, Rodriguez has given up 15 runs in 14 innings. Not a great confidence-builder for Washington.
On Wednesday, the Nats will go with journeyman Tommy Milone, who impressed in his last outing, giving up just ione run on three hits last Wednesday against the Mets, but Thursday will bring back Gio Gonzalez, who can’t seem to shake his reputation for riding the rollercoaster. Two starts ago, Gio went seven innings and gave up one run, but Saturday, the Reds chased him in the fourth inning after he coughed up six runs on 10 hits.
If the Nats’ pitching doesn’t hold up, the Nats’ bats are at least well-positioned to score some runs. Bryce Harper has been on fire since the All-Star break, and so has teenage phenom Juan Soto, as well as the resurgent Daniel Murphy in the middle of the lineup.
The next three days will not decide the season on its own, but if the Nationals are going to make a move in the standings – either for the division or the Wild Card race – it’s time to get a move on.
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