Notes and quotes from the first two stops on the Nationals’ road trip….
In the first 80 games of the 2023 campaign, the Nationals have traveled to Colorado, to Anaheim, Arizona, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Seattle. They’ve spent a whole lot of time on the Left Coast, and on the road overall this season, Washington has played pretty well, comparatively, with a 19-21 record after they won 4 of 6 games in their series with the Padres and Mariners. At home, they’re 14 games under .500 at 13-27.
How have they handled all the travel they’ve had to endure in the so-called “first-half”?
“They’ve been good, they really have,” manager Davey Martinez said before the finale with the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon in T-Mobile Park.
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
“They get it, they understand. We have come to the West Coast quite a bit already early in the season, but they’ve handled it really well. They understand that, ‘Hey, we got a game to play today, let’s get up for this game today and hopefully get out of here with a victory and move on and get back to the East Coast.’”
Martinez’s club did just that, beating the Mariners 4-1 on the strength of seven scoreless by starter Patrick Corbin and RBI hits by Jeimer Candelario, Keibert Ruiz, and Ildemaro Vargas.
“Like I’ve said before, they’re relentless,” the sixth-year skipper said of the effort his ballclub put forth in taking 2 of 3 from the M’s. “They come out, they play hard, they play hard for 27 outs. I love the way they’re playing the energy has been great, so we got to continue to do that.”
Martinez pointed to Corbin and the rest of the Nationals’ starters and the work they’ve done as one of the keys to their successful West Coast swing.
“I always say before it starts with our starting pitchers. Our starting pitchers keep us in the game, we got a chance to do some things, and our starting pitching has been really good so far.”
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
What was Corbin able to do in what was one of if not the best starts he’s put together to this point this season?
“It was an unbelievable start,” Martinez said.
“I mean, his four-seamer was good today, his two-seamer was good, and his slider was really, really good. So he kept the guys off-balance.”
And, as Martinez always loves to see, Corbin pounded the strike zone in the 102-pitch, 68-strike outing.
His young starters, Martinez said, could learn a lot from what Corbin was able to do on the mound in Seattle.
“He threw 20 out of 26 first-pitch strikes,” Martinez reiterated. “I think they need to learn from that, go after the hitters. It’s hard to hit in this league, it really is, so Patrick today knew exactly what he wanted to do, he attacked hitters, he got ahead, and he finished hitters off. So it was an unbelievable game and I’m proud of him, because like I said, we needed a big start from him today, and he did that.”
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
It wasn’t just Corbin, as noted, it was a full team effort from the club.
“They’re relentless. They’re playing together. They’ve got that one heartbeat,” Martinez said.
Up next? It’s the Nationals’ first three games of the year in the City of Brotherly love…