The Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets up in Citi Field this afternoon, claiming a 13-2 win in the series finale with their NL East divisional rivals. After the game the District Sports Page's Dave Nichols, FBB's Doghouse and I talked about the win which lifted the Nats back up over .500:
FBB's Patrick Reddington:"Nice to see the offense kind of get going. And especially Denard Span at the top of the order going 3 for 5 was really nice to see. Anthony Rendon broke an 0 for 17 streak with a two-out double in his last at bat, so really good to see a good offensive output from the Nats even if it was mostly probably due to the opposing pitchers."
DSP's Dave Nichols:"Right. They broke out for another six runs in the top of the eighth inning, and almost all the damage was done after two outs. Jayson Werth had a one-out double. Ian Desmond lined out and then Roger Bernadina doubled, on a ground-rule double, to bring in Werth. Then Kurt Suzuki homered. Chad Tracy drew a walk. Denard Span doubled. Anthony Rendon doubled, like you just mentioned, all of this against reliever Brandon Lyon and then they brought in Scott Rice to take over for Lyon and Zimmerman closed out the scoring at that point for the inning with another line drive single. And then in the top of the ninth, [the Mets] threw the backup catcher out there to throw a little more batting practice.
"Taking a look at the quick offensive numbers. The Nats had 13 hits, 13 runs, four walks, six strikeouts. Jayson Werth - 2 for 3; Ian Desmond - 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Kurt Suzuki - 2 for 5 with three RBIs. You mentioned Denard Span's three-hit day. Do you think Suzuki is getting hot here with Wilson Ramos looking over his shoulder?
FBB's Doghouse: "You've got to think Kurt Suzuki is finally looking forward to getting a day off or two. I think if you look at his performance early in the season when he was really hitting well, he seems to be a guy that benefits from getting a little more rest."
• Fact Check:"First 27 games before Wilson Ramos went on DL on 5/15: .247/.326/.407, 5 2B, 2 HR. Since 5/15 when Ramos went on DL: 32 G, .204/.252/.248, 5 2B, 0 HR before today. Ruling: True!!
DSP's Dave Nichols:"He's a player that likes to pride himself on catching every day, and I think I read a stat earlier on in the season that in the last six years, he's caught like the second most games to [Yadier] Molina in St. Louis, but you're right, I think that having a couple days off and having another credible major league hitter on the roster is only going to benefit Suzuki and the Nationals."
• Fact Check:True! Kurt Suzuki's 737 games are second to Yadier Molina's 753 from 2008-2013 before today.
FBB's Patrick Reddington: "Yeah, and [Suzuki] put together a really good stretch at the end of the year last year when he was catching every day once he came over to the Nationals, but he looked a little tired out there and outside of the good day today he's been having a tough time at the plate, so I think it will benefit him and the Nationals to have Wilson Ramos' big bat back in there soon..."
• LISTEN TO THE REST OF THE SHOW HERE:
#Nats Nightly: Doghouse from FBB joined @NationalsDSP and @federalbaseball to talk about the #Nats' big win in NY: http://t.co/6fUe6lTaTQ
— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) June 30, 2013