Just realized that the Nats have one lefty starter and one lefty reliever. They really are banking on their starters going deep or else they are in a shit ton of trouble. Dodgers continuing to work counts will be huge in this series.
May looked good after settling in and elite in his last few outings working 98-99 and a shit ton of run. His tunneling of his FB and Cutter will cause a lot of problems if he can stay out of the middle of the plate. Gonsolin lost serious MPH's when he worked b2b days and did not look good in the process.
my lineup would be: Freese Pollock Bellinger Turner Seager Muncy Taylor Smith then you put in Joc the first moment Freese faces a righty
Could hit Pollock lead off and have Joc sub for him instead... Then again, committing fully to Freese in the post means Lux will be on the bench and Muncy will be playing a lot of 2B.
I think they need to ride the Freese train until it runs off the tracks no matter who he is facing. 1.100+ OPS vs RHP'ing this year. You gotta go with the hot hands in the playoffs and he may be one of them.
Nats only have ONE lefty in the bullpen and it’s Doolittle who is made of glass so they can’t over use him. Corbins weakness is his walks so we gotta stick to what we’ve done all year: take walks then hit bombs
Nats only have 3 LHP on their entire 40-man roster, so it makes sense that they are light in that department. The formula for this series is simple. Make the starters work and blowup the bullpen.
Glad I'm not the only one. I understand the regular season sparse use of Freese But with all the built-in off days in October and his ability to hit RHP, I do not understand the strict platoon of his services. His offensive line is unreal this year and with his playoff history, I think you gotta let him play as much as possible. If it comes at the expense of Lux, that's fine to me. I like Freese's steady, clutch, RH bat in the lineup.
Glad to see that Floro was left off because he stunk in the second half of the season, but it's sad too since he was probably our most consistent reliever in April. Not sure why he slid so much, because his pitches seem to me to have a lot of movement. Anyhow, as someone pointed out, we ended the season with the best bullpen ERA in the NL (Nats were dead last), so hopefully these other guys who finished strong can stay reliable in the playoffs. Speaking of the Nats BP ERA, as others have said, let's take pitches and make sure we see a lot of their pen.
Would rather keep Freese in if he is rolling. IMO he was not paid for his reg season contributions because we are deep. He is here for this time of the year. If we are losing but Freese is playing well I would rather take out Taylor and move Muncy down to 2B. If we are winning and Freese is rolling I keep Joc on the bench in case we need him later. If are losing and Freese has not looked good then I put in Joc for Freese. Having Joc off the bench is an awesome luxury to have.
Considering pulling my kid from football practice and shooting to the game. Found reasonable tix but still unsure. I would almost rather drink beers and chill in front of the big screen at the pad. IDK
I might go to Game 1 or 2 of the NLCS IF the Dodgers and Cardinals make it. I have a coworker who is a Cardinals fan who is interested.