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Showing posts with the label Baseball

The Curious Case of the Washington Nationals

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six managers with varying success signaling the volatility of that franchise." /> Patrick Zeng USA Today For a couple of years now, the Washington Nationals have been the most head scratching team in all of Major League baseball. They have had four 95+ win seasons in the last six years yet only have seven postseason wins in that same period. Most surprisingly, none of those wins have come outside the Division Series. And on Friday, they let Dusty Baker go, a man that had amassed a an average of 96 wins over his two years in charge. In the last ten years, the franchise has had six managers with varying success signaling the volatility of that franchise. So thus another off season of searching has begun for Nationals. Not only searching for a new manager, but for what is the secret to getting over the hump, and why can this team not accomplish that. This past year should have been the one. This was the year where the Nationals were going to have success not just i...

They're still King: Harper & Trout's milestone nights

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Patrick Zeng @Roundtripper891 NBC Sports This is not the first you've heard of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, and it certainly won't be the last. But every so often we all need a reminder of the what we are actually watching. Last night was a stark reminder of the incredible nature of both these players as their careers continue to and forever will be linked to each other. On a first pitch breaking ball from Miami's Odrisamer Despaigne, Bryce Harper destroyed his 29th home run of the season and 150th of his career. In doing so he became the third fastest active player to 150 dingers in terms of games played. Harper reaches the milestone in his age 24 season, becoming the 14th player in baseball history to do so. He joins an elite list that includes the names of Eddie Matthews, Jimmie Fox, Alex Rodriguez and current stars such as Giancarlo Stanton, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout. Harper has already surpassed his home run totals from last year and leads the nation...

Pump the brakes on the Yankees blockbuster move

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Patrick Zeng @Roundtripper891 Southsideshowdown.com Brian Cashman is one of the best general managers in all of baseball. He might even be one of the best general managers in all of professional sports. With some great moves in his back pocket, Cashman was out to make a deal that would help spark a sputtering Yankees team that has the worst record in the MLB since mid June. Last night the Yankees acquired David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle as well as Todd Frazier from the White Sox for Blake Rutherford, Tyler Clippard and two other solid prospects, but don't expect it to be season saving. The Yankees biggest needs have been well publicized at this point in the season. They need a first baseman as well as starting pitching over anything else. The bullpen additions are going to be really good for New York. Robertson helps to give more support to a struggling duo of Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances and gives Joe Girardi another option in the seventh or eight inning. Kahnle cou...

King of the Hill: Scherzer eclipses Kershaw as baseball's most dominant

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By Patrick Zeng @Roundtripper891 📸: Sporting News The 2017 season has seen a changing of the guard when it comes to baseball's dominant ace. DC's coup in the winter of 2014 when Max Scherzer was acquired has been nothing short of marvelous for Nationals. Scherzer has stared in his two plus seasons in the nation's capital compiling 43 wins and a 2.71 era. Whenever pitching and dominance are referenced in today's game, Clayton Kershaw is automatically the first thought. And over their careers, Kershaw will be viewed as the better pitcher in comparison to Scherzer but the 2017 season has been writing a different narrative. Both ace's play for two of the National League's best teams, toeing the rubber as each club's stopper, star and ace. But a dive into the numbers show that this year, Scherzer is baseball's best, not Kershaw.  Coming off a Cy Young season, Scherzer boasts the top ERA in baseball with a 2.06 mark in comparison to Kershaw's  2...