The reinforced Washington Nationals will take on the Los Angeles Angels in a brief two-game series in Anaheim starting on Tuesday. With a couple of veteran relief pitchers added to the staff, the Nationals’ biggest weakness has been addressed, but is it enough? The Angels certainly don’t match up to Washington on offense, but can Mike Trout lead the team to an upset or two?
This series will take place from Tuesday, July 18, 2017 through Wednesday, July 19, 2017 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Wednesday's clash is being shown live on ESPN.
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Pitching Matchups
While Joe Ross was a key part of the Nationals’ rotation of the future, they’ll turn to the past to replace him on the starting staff.
Tuesday would have been Ross’s turn to take the ball, but he’ll be out for the next year with Tommy John surgery. In his place, Edwin Jackson will get the start for Washington, five years after he last threw a pitch for the Nats.
In 2012, Jackson was a solid mid-rotation starter for Washington, making 31 starts and pitching to a 4.03 ERA. Since then, the right-hander’s career has gone off course. He’s shown flashes in the bullpen, but has been inconsistent.
This will be his fourth big league appearance in 2017 after three relief outings for the Orioles where he allowed seven runs—four earned—in five innings of work.
Despite that weak sample, Jackson threw reasonably well at Triple-A Norfolk prior to that with a 3.10 ERA in 12 appearances, including one start. Since re-joining the Nationals’ organization, he made five appearances, including four starts, for Syracuse in the International League. He pitched to a 0.44 ERA in 20.1 innings, striking out 22 while walking 10 and allowing nine hits.
The control is still a bit of a question, but after a three-inning outing on Friday, he’s lined up to take Ross’s spot. Jackson has faced the Angels 11 times, making eight starts, and pitching to a 4.01 ERA.
Going opposite of Jackson is another journeyman swing pitcher: Jesse Chavez.
Chavez’s career has been going a bit better than Jackson’s lately. He’s at least been starting in the big leagues, though the numbers haven’t been good this year. He’s 5-10 with a 4.99 ERA. The FIP of 5.24 indicates he’s been far from unlucky. He’s given up 20 homers in 101 innings of work. Washington should have fun teeing off on him.
This will be the 33-year old right-handers’ first start against Washington in his career, though he’s allowed three runs in 7.2 innings of relief work against the Nats.
Overall, he’s not one to go deep in games and has gone just 15.1 total innings in his last three starts, but has given the Angels a chance to win in each, even though they’re 0-3, as he’s allowed three runs or fewer in each start.
Moving to the finale of the brief two game set, the teams will look to a pair of veterans once again with Gio Gonzalez getting the start for Washington against Ricky Nolasco of the Angels.
Gonzalez was an All-Star snub this year, missing the cut despite an 8-4 record and 2.66 ERA. His 4.06 FIP and 3.8 walks per nine innings tell a story of a less effective pitcher, but he’s avoided damage and gotten the job done.
Gonzo is also coming off his best start of the year, going 8.1 scoreless frames and giving up just four hits in the process. His off-speed stuff really stood out and that’s the secret to his success. If he keeps hitters off balance, he’s going to force weak contact and outperform his peripherals.
On the other side of the field, Nolasco had an outing on Friday himself, going seven innings against the Rays and giving up only one run. He’s also been good against the Nats in his personal history, though much of that came as a member of the Marlins when he was at the top of his game. The last few years have been much less kind to Nolasco.
Overall, the Angels’ veteran right-hander is a meager 4-10 with a 4.82 ERA and 1.348 WHP. He walks fewer batters than Gonzalez, but he’s been very easy to square up, allowing 26 homers in 108.1 innings.
Offensive Comparison
The Nationals have outscored every team not from Houston and are the only other team in baseball to post an OPS of at least .800. The Nats’ team OPS is .820.
Washington’s offense continues to thrive even as the injuries pile up. They’ve scored the third most runs in July, despite only playing 11 games. Their team OPS in the month is .835, better than the season average.
The Nationals have plenty of power, but with just 14 homers in July they can score in other ways, too. There are six Nats players with 140 or more plate appearances and an OBP of at least .367. So, while the offense does generally run through the fearsome foursome in the heart of the order, there are still plenty of supporting players even without Trea Turner, Jayson Werth, Adam Eaton or Michael Taylor.
Basically, it’s four players and some support staff around them for the Nationals. In Anaheim, it’s Mike Trout and the rest.
Andrelton Simmons has been good and Yunel Escobar is serviceable, but they’ve got a .781 OPS and .758 OPS respectively. Washington has four players with an OPS of at least .952.
Trout is likely the best player on the field in this series, even with Bryce Harper in right-field, but there just is not enough around him to contend with Harper, Anthony Rendon, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman.
Bullpen Breakdown
Here is where the Angels had the clear advantage if we looked at this a couple days ago, but now things have evened up quite a bit.
Washington just added Ryan Madson and Sean Dolittle to the league’s worst bullpen to help stabilize things from both the left and right sides.
It’s hard to say that the Nationals’ bullpen is completely fixed. They were the worst in the sports and five of those arms are still in play, but the duo certain provide more viable options for Dusty Baker.
It’s arguable that the Nats still need a closer. Both Madson and Dolittle closed in the past, but neither had that distinction with the A’s. Both would fit in extraordinarily well setting things up in the seventh and eighth innings. This would give Baker more confidence going to the pen early which may be needed with Jackson starting on Tuesday.
While Washington’s pen is worst in baseball, the Angels rank No. 7 against the 30 clubs and that’s a big reason they’ve been able to stay somewhat relevant without Trout and with a well below average rotation.
The names aren’t great for Los Angeles, but the unit has been effective.
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