Daniel Murphy And The Nationals Destroy The Royals, Now Move On To Chicago For A Huge Series Against The Cubs
Daniel Murphy and the Nationals must’ve really wished that they could have had 3 extra outs on Tuesday because they came out guns blazing against Kris Medlen and the Royals yesterday. While we were at work or in class, 6 runs were scored in the first and another 4 were tacked on two innings later – practically everything that could go right, did go right (Daniel Murphy’s Law) and the offense made sure that there would be no way for Papelbon to blow this 13-2 victory.
Murphy had himself a day – 4 hits, a homer, and 4 runs scored. He’s now batting .398 and has been the Nats most consistent bat in the lineup since Opening Day. What a signing he has been so far. To go along with Muprhy, Bryce Harper broke out of his week-long slump and went 2/4 including his 10th homer of the season.
Wilson Ramos continues to impress as well- he is now hitting .364 and it really seems like his LASIK surgery had a real effect. His BABIP is not substantially higher than his batting average and, while Ramos isn’t walking much (not that he ever did), it doesn’t matter as long as he’s continuing to play as well as he is. Production like this from a catcher is few and far between in the league, Ramos is a gem for this team.
I don’t know that I even have to talk about Strasburg because he just keeps doing what I said he would do: tossing quality starts and winning games (he is now 5-0 with a 2.36 ERA). Stras is going to get paid huge in the offseason, and well deserved. He is dominant.
I will, however, give my thoughts on Jonathan Papelbon- He should be demoted from the closers role. I don’t care if the demotion is temporary and hinges only on him showing performance improvement but his ego is just too high and his performance is way too mediocre to continue closing games for the Nats. Two options to replace Pap are Shawn Kelley who has been used interestingly this season but has not allowed an earned run in his first 8.1 innings this season. The other option is 24 year old Filipe Rivero who was excellent in his rookie year last season and has been lights out so far this season. A third option is what I like to call “anyone besides Papelbon who can throw a ball”.
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Now the 19-8 Nats are in Chicago to face the 20-6 Cubs for 4 games of what should be awesome baseball.