GDT 8/24/25 Washington Nationals (Irvin, J) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Suárez, Ra)

[kikutaro]

Dylan Crews

Foul (96.7 mph sinker)
Swinging strike (95.8 mph sinker)
Batter Timeout.
Foul (97. mph four-seam fastball)
Foul (97. mph sinker)
Ball (88.3 mph sweeper)
In play, out(s) (96.7 mph sinker)

Dylan Crews grounds out, shortstop Trea Turner to first baseman Bryce Harper.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Washington Nationals	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	5	1
Philadelphia Phillies	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0		3	7	0

---

Current Batters

Washington Nationals

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
James Wood DH	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	.258	.353	.478	.831
CJ Abrams SS	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.262	.325	.452	.777
Riley Adams C	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.207	.266	.372	.638
Andrés Chaparro 1B	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.190	.292	.286	.578
Luis García Jr. PH	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	.264	.303	.416	.719
Paul DeJong 2B	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.241	.288	.426	.714
Josh Bell PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.226	.323	.389	.712
Dylan Crews RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.202	.274	.358	.632
Brady House 3B	3	1	1	0	0	1	0	.242	.258	.323	.581
Robert Hassell III LF	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	.230	.248	.320	.568
Jacob Young CF	2	0	2	0	1	0	0	.230	.299	.270	.569
Jake Irvin P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Shinnosuke Ogasawara P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Jackson Rutledge P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Konnor Pilkington P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Clayton Beeter P								.000	.000	.000	.000

Philadelphia Phillies

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Trea Turner SS	5	0	1	0	0	1	0	.300	.354	.449	.803
Kyle Schwarber DH	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.248	.371	.573	.944
Bryce Harper 1B	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.263	.358	.500	.858
Alec Bohm 3B	4	1	1	0	0	3	0	.282	.331	.400	.731
Nick Castellanos RF	4	1	2	0	0	1	0	.258	.296	.414	.710
Brandon Marsh LF	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	.259	.322	.396	.718
Harrison Bader CF	2	0	1	0	2	1	0	.257	.341	.424	.765
Bryson Stott 2B	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	.248	.320	.373	.693
Rafael Marchán C	3	0	1	3	1	0	0	.183	.280	.256	.536
Ranger Suárez P								.000	.000	.000	.000
José Alvarado P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Tanner Banks P								.000	.000	.000	.000
Orion Kerkering P								.000	.000	.000	.000

Current Pitchers

Washington Nationals

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-K	ERA
Jake Irvin	2.1	6	3	3	2	2	0	69-39	5.40
Shinnosuke Ogasawara	2.2	0	0	0	2	2	0	47-26	5.06
Jackson Rutledge	1.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	18-12	6.02
Konnor Pilkington	1.0	0	0	0	0	3	0	16-11	5.52
Clayton Beeter	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	14-8	7.11

Philadelphia Phillies

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P-K	ERA
Ranger Suárez	7.0	3	0	0	0	11	0	90-63	3.07
José Alvarado	0.0	1	1	1	2	0	0	13-5	2.86
Tanner Banks	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8-5	2.88
Orion Kerkering	1.0	1	1	1	0	1	1	17-13	2.92

[Docs]

Nice win! I missed the home run and was surprised by the final score

[LoneStarPhan]

Kerkering gets it done and Ranger gets a well earned win..

Marchan with 3 RBIs, enough to win today.

Phillies win series.

Duran, Strahm, and Robertson not used today and should e ready tomorrow.

On to New York.

[Docs]

Mets down by a run with two on and two outs in the ninth

Mets lose

[Philsmania]

Mets are lucky that the Reds have gone cold at the same time.

[EDmuch]

Up by 7 going into New York.

[VoteForKalas]

Sweep and bury them

[zambonir]

We can probably go 3-4 against the Mets at this point and cruise. But obviously all wins count in the #2 seeding race (if not doubly). That's gonna be a grind.

[Philsmania]

Phillies finish 8-5 against the Nationals which appears to be a handy margin but, proverbially speaking, the season series was closer than the proverbial score indicated.

[zambonir]

What's the XW-L?

[Callison]

The Nats look weak in the standings but they played the Phils tough.

It's real hard to hit liners inches over the 1B bag just inches fair, and usually even harder when facing one of the best relievers in MLB, but the Nats did it twice. Incredible.

Can Suarez stay healthy? One more dominant performance again today, and efficient.

Phils' talent scouts did well to find Banks. Banks is awarded the coveted "Juevitos de Ferro" Award for pitching out of bases loaded, no outs, limited damage to 1.

Best news of the week is that Nola showed up. IMHO, showed signs of his better days, mostly a better level of control.

Vaya con Dios, Zack Wheeler. Do what you have to do. Listening to the Phils recent pitching stats is impressive, though - might somehow pick up the slack.

[EastFallowfield]

Had 'em all the way, Harry!

Same record as last year, one game larger lead in the division.

[zambonir]

Last year on August 25 we were 6 up on the Braves and 8.5 on the Mets. Went 3-1 against Atlanta and 3-4 against the Mets and still finished 6 up on both teams. But couldn't snag the top seed. We were also tied with Milwaukee on August 25 and finished two games up for the second spot.

[Austinfan]

I think both Nola and Ranger need to be "babied," Nola ain't pitching 200 Innings anymore.
Both had increased velocity and that made their secondary pitches more effective.

I'd try to give them extra days off between now and the playoffs, guys like Sanchez and Luzardo are horses who can go 100+ pitches and maintain velocity, but these two seem to wear down.

[zambonir]

But Nola just had three months off. Nobody's getting an extra off day - other than the one we already have on 9/2 - for the next couple of weeks. They should continue to be conservative with both their innings/pitch counts, of course. But that could be as much to win a game in the 6th or the as to preserve their arms.

Same with Luzardo, who is hardly a horse.

[Austinfan]

Luzardo can maintain velocity over 100 pitches, now whether he can hold up over 6 months remains to be seen.
32 starts two years ago, should hit that again this season.
He is as good the third time through a lineup as the first time (gives up more HRs, fewer walks first time through).

[andyb]

I think the Phillies want to limit all their starters to outings below 100 pitches the rest of the way, especially the handful of times somebody is starting on 4 days rest (vs 5 with an off day). Wheeler was really the only guy they should have let go 105-110 pitches.

They have a lead in the division. Maybe things would be different without that lead, but they actually have a decent bullpen now and will add another arm there in a week. Use those extra arms to keep everyone relatively fresh.

[zambonir]

It will be interesting to see how Thomson manages September. Neither he nor Dombrowski (with the various moves around #5 starter options) pushed hard to get the first seed last year because the second was fairly secure. But this year they have to push for #2. With road trips to both Milwaukee and LA along the way too. You want to ease up on your arms but you also don't want to force them to pitch in the WC series.

[dicemen99]

I think it's fairly obvious in all sports that the bye or seeding just doesn't matter as much to a GM, manager, or coach as it does to fans or talking heads.

Once a playoff spot is secured, the #1 priority is to have as strong and healthy team as possible for the playoffs. Byes, homefield, matchups - not a priority ahead of rest.

[zambonir]

I'm not sure that's really true. It's still pretty rare for for an NFL wild card team to win the Super Bowl. And in baseball avoiding the one-game play-in was powerful motivation. Now it's more of a crapshoot, and one that has so far favored the teams which played in the WC.

I would think the Brewers and the Cardinals (if they were in the mix) would very much want to never play a WC series again. I also think managers still very much want Games 6 and 7 at home, even if it doesn't always guarantee you anything (and of course owners want that, more $$$).

Once you're locked in, you actually rest guys - completely (remember who started the last two games of 2023?). But when the seeds are still in play, nobody is getting extra days off or skipping starts. You might take the foot off the gas a little, depending.