Comment on this story
comment
The sun was shining, no pitch had been thrown, and the World Series ring on Mike Rizzo’s left hand—about the size of a toaster oven—was a reminder that anything was possible for the Washington Nationals once, and maybe again. If you’re feeling pessimistic in the hours leading up to opening day, well, may the first beer of your season be half empty forever.
With nothing having gone wrong yet, Rizzo was able to appreciate what he had in mind for this group.
“I think our defense, especially our infield defense, has improved and will continue to improve,” Rizzo said. “I think pitchers focus on throwing a lot more strikes, having the guts to throw it over the plate and letting their defenders help them.”
And then the defense and the pitchers played the game.
“I have to get better,” said CJ Abrams, the shortstop who had three penalties.
“Anytime you’re ahead, you get them to get aggressive, get them to chase — that’s been a big thing for us this spring as a group,” said Patrick Corbin, the starter, who was allergic at first seems to be a blow. “I think today we maybe got a little bit away from that.”
Overclocking and rushing hot dog runs: The new, faster MLB is here
There will be plenty of 7-2 losses for these Nationals, which was exactly the result against five-time National League East champions Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park on Tuesday. With the lineup dealing with the Nationals – 3-4 hitters who were unwanted by their original teams and released long before they needed to be – runs are running short. Joey Meneses can only play four or five times a game.
But if these Nationals are playing a brand of baseball apt to be consumed by the masses — and judging by an Opening Day crowd of 35,756, “mass” is open to interpretation — it can’t be the brand of baseball that is that’s how last summer’s aimless stroll of 107 defeats is defined. Yes, this is a 162 question test. But on the first query, the Nats puffed – and badly at that.
“I can tell you that now,” said manager Dave Martinez. “They were a little nervous. I was nervous.”
Fine. It’s opening day. But if there is a formula that can help this team win some games, it is both accurate in its ingredients and the polar opposite of what played out in Game 1.
“The biggest thing we did all spring was laying the basics,” Martinez said. “You know we have to catch the baseball with our pitching staff. We can’t allow teams to get 28, 29, 30 outs.”
Count them by Tuesday. Twenty-eight, 29, 30. Thing, ding, ding!
“For me, it’s about keeping things simple,” Martinez said. “I tell them all the time: do the routine games. … The easy games have to be made.”
And that was before the game.
So straight to Abrams, the 22-year-old from whom much is expected. With an out in the second inning and the Braves runners in first and second, Corbin tricked Atlanta star Ronald Acuna Jr. into hitting a grounder to Abrams’ left. The inning should have ended right there. Martinez’s pregame words jump straight to the front of the brain.
“The doubles have to be done,” Martinez said. “We definitely need to catch the baseball better.”
Abrams didn’t catch the baseball. He booted it. Not only was the double play not shot, the Nats didn’t record an out either. Instead of holding on to an inning run, the Braves scored three points.
There is one in a hundred differences in the game.
“Abrams is out there trying to make every game he can,” Corbin said. “He’s a very talented player. Things like that happen and it’s our job to keep trying to make pitches and trying to find a teammate.”
Braves Top Nationals in a bumpy start to the season for CJ Abrams
Corbin just couldn’t. His struggles since he recorded nine crucial outs in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series — man, how long ago does that seem like — have been sliced open and dissected like an earthworm in a freshman biology class. Pick a meaningful statistical category for the starting pitchers over the past three seasons, and if Corbin isn’t the worst, he can see it from his vantage point.
But he’s still getting the ball for that team every fifth day, and the check with all those zeros is still clearing right into his bank account. So why not be something like a composer? Upon retiring from last season, the entire organization found one primary way to improve their pitching: Having the confidence and guts to throw the ball over the plate. Throw Strike one. Don’t go guys.
Corbin’s torch streak on that score: 20 batter faces, seven first-pitch strikes, three walks, and 85 pitches to go three innings and a batter.
“Maybe not as aggressive in the zone,” he said.
Only one team in baseball allowed more runs than the Nationals in 2022. That total included 70 unearned runs. They allowed seven runs on Thursday – and four were unearned. In a word: yuck.
“Those are going to be some of the growing pains,” Martinez said.
Then we have a watering can and some fertilizer here. Grow.
And the sins don’t end there.
“We’ve got to move the baseball,” Martinez said, which is code for: put in play. But with a run-in, a run-out and a third place in the second race, Luis García struck. The runner was stranded. With an out and a runner in third in the sixth, Alex Call slammed. The runner was stranded.
“Those are the little things we have to do,” Martinez said.
Svrluga: The Nats want their starters to “consistently get 21 outs.” Much luck.
These nats won’t get very many runs. Their rotation is not designed to accumulate innings. Their bullpen might be good enough to hold a lead, but they need to get a lead to hold it.
But the goal here is to make the May games look better than the March games and the August games look better than the May games. It’s about Abrams booting a gift of a double cue ball and making two throwing errors and coming back locked up on Saturday.
“I want the next one,” Abrams said. “I want the next hit for myself.”
That’s the right attitude. After the game, he sat alone in his gym shorts and t-shirt at his locker. There are 161 more ahead of us. There is a front office and a coaching staff who have espoused the idea that the squad is athletic and talented and just needs time.
“I’m not going to get these guys down,” Martinez said. “I’m telling you.”
It was opening day. Let’s hope he can say that in a month or four.