By Yours Truly
https://throneberryfields.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-following-pogrom-is-brought-to-you.html
Harper survived the non-waiver
trade deadline, and the Nats
celebrated by nuking the
Mets . . .The night and the hours before the non-waiver trade deadline passed got a speculative shot of rocket fuel when the rumour mill began grinding hard that the Nationals were thinking the heretofore unthinkable, a stretch drive if not a future without Bryce Harper. But the deadline passed Tuesday afternoon, and Harper remains a National for now, at least.
It must have done something for the Nats' team morale, considering that what they did to the Mets Tuesday evening in Washington could provoke the Mets to bring the Nats before the Hague on charges of human rights violations.
"[General manager] Mike Rizzo said he believed in his team" by not dealing Harper, ESPN's Website said after the deadline passed. "Should you?" Maybe they should have waited to ask after Harper and the Nats launched depth charges against the Mets good for a 19-0 score . . . after five innings.
There was a rain threat over Washington as the game progressed. Even the Nats might not have objected if the umps used the threat to stop the game after five. They'd never have to know the umps decided even these mixed-up, muddled-and-mutilated-up, shook-up Mets were entitled to mercy. The 25-4 final score said maybe they were.
The Harper trade speculation in fairness arose as stories seeped forth that the Nationals were something of a mess beyond their disabled list. When Harper appeared to endorse the thought of the club making a move on the Marlins's J.T. Realmuto, after Realmuto ended a game in a Nationals loss with a base hit, it was almost the lesser concern that the endorsement might have criticised the front office.
Pitchers Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg had a dugout argument after Strasburg came out of a rough outing. That disabled list has been a mess almost worthy of that which has plagued the Mets and the Angels, to name two, this year and the last couple. And rookie manager Dave Martinez has been called into question for a clubhouse lacking designated veteran leadership but thought to be abundant in malcontent among players who aren't the team's established stars.
Replacing Dusty Baker in the skipper's chair is a day on the river compared to even thinking about moving the pending free agent Harper.
There was out-loud thinking that the Nats might trade Harper for a package of prospects and a major league-ready part or two, then romance him back during the off season to come. (The rumour mills had it that the Indians had a serious bead on Harper.) There was further out-loud thinking that the Nats might decide to swallow the lump of life without Harper no matter what and deal him while the return could still be blue chip despite Harper's struggling season.
And there's still the risk that keeping Harper proves an exercise in futility especially if the Nats don't rehorse and make a strong stand for a postseason entry, in the event he still decides his future lay elsewhere as a free agent. His free agency would give the Nats nothing better than a single fifth-round or lower draft pick, presuming he spurns a qualifying offer, nothing even close to what a trade would have returned.
But Sports Illustrated's Jon Tayler isolated another more acute risk: if the Nats dealt Harper at or just before the non-waiver trade deadline, it might be "a waving of the biggest white flag ever made, and might spur clubhouse mutiny or a fan base revolt." Even so, Tayler believes a Harper trade at the deadline would have fortified the Nats' core of youth even further, maybe even to the point that they could thrive yet in a post-Harper era.
The banged-up, almost-leaderless Nats are rolling serious dice holding onto Harper. Harper's been struggling with hitting consistency (a .220 batting average) while still producing runs (25 home runs, 62 runs batted in, and a league-leading seven sacrifice flies) and reaching base otherwise. (He leads the National League at this writing with 84 walks and twelve intentional walks.)
But that disabled list looks grave enough with (at this writing) eight incumbents including Strasburg and jack-of-most-trades Howie Kendrick. Kendrick went down near the end of May with a ruptured Achilles tendon requiring season-ending surgery, after starting the season hitting decently enough, but the Nats have probably missed his vocal motivations just as much.
Baker and the now-retired Jayson Werth are probably missed even more. Baker may have his flaws as a game tactician but as a motivator who kept his team's eyes on the series at hand while refusing to hit any panic buttons---and managed a Nats team that never had a losing month under his leadership.
He's missed almost as much as Werth, who did the most to keep the Nats' clubhouse on message and on point while endearing himself to just about everyone wearing the uniform. Werth knew when to loosen things up and when to drop an occasional hammer. This is also Harper's first major league season without Werth as a teammate.
"He's somebody I looked up to," Harper said during spring training. "Every single day I came into this clubhouse I wanted to talk to him and see what he had for me. One of the best teammates I've ever had through my whole life, so I'm going to miss him."
Him and maybe every other Nat. Scherzer and others made points in spring of saying they'd all been through it together and had any number of guys ready to step up if and when needed. But when enough of them prefer leading by example alone, who's going to drop the hammer when it's needed once in awhile?
Adam Eaton tried to diffuse the clubhouse speculation. "I've been on some dysfunctional teams," he told ESPN writer Eddie Matz. "This ain't it." Maybe it took awhile and trade rumours involving their struggling franchise face to open a way for them to prove it on the field---with Harper going nowhere but into his uniform against the Mess (er, Mets).
The following pogrom is brought to you in living colour on N-A-T . . .
The carnage only began with the seven-run assassination of Mets starter Steven Matz in the first, with Harper starting it by sending a hanging sinker to the rear end of right field to drive home Trea Turner. Two RBI singles and two measly outs later, Nats starting pitcher Tanner Roark joined the fun with a three-run double, and a base hit later Anthony Rendon singled Turner home. Turner even stole second and third before Harper shot him home.
Second inning---Two-run homer (Daniel Murphy, one of the wounded earlier this season) and RBI single. (Matt Wieters.)
Third inning---Three-run homer. (Murphy, who continues doing his level best to convince his old club how foolish they may have been to let him go despite his defensive liabilities.)
Fourth inning---RBI double (Harper) and an immediately-following two-run homer. (Ryan Zimmerman.)
Fifth inning---One-out walk, two-out single, a bases-filling walk, and a three-run double. (Rendon.)
And they sent runs home on two outs in every inning but the second up to that point. Roark could afford to be generous when Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil hammered a two-out solo bomb in the top of the seventh. Had he not been lifted for Drew Smith after a full six, Roark could have afforded to set up a Barcalounger on the mound and toss the Mets meatballs and not broken a sweat or his teammates' backs.
Mets relievers Jerry Blevins and Drew Smith threw back-to-back shutout innings. Leaving the Nats one more chance to add some insurance runs. They got it when the Mets sent Jose Reyes, infielder, out to pitch the bottom of the eighth, obviously determined not to waste either Robert Gsellman or Sean Lugo, their usual back-of-the-pen men, in a living burial.
The good news was Reyes actually seemed to know how to hit the corners. The bad news was that he was throwing pink grapefruits up to the plate. Reyes got Zimmerman to fly out to right on what was called a changeup, after a couple of what were called curve balls. Then Juan Soto wrung him out with several fouls before doubling. And Matt Adams whacked a 2-0 pitch to the back of right center to send home Soto with the twentieth Nat run.
Then back-to-back walks and pinch hitter Mark Reynolds hitting a three-run homer. Jose, I'm telling you, they're just
sitting on that changeup.
Then an RBI triple with two out (Wilmer Difo), a hit batsman (Zimmerman), and an inning-ending fly out (Soto). Somehow, the Mets snuck three runs home in the top of the ninth on a run-scoring infield out and a two-run homer by Austin Jackson (a signing after the Rangers released him earlier in July) before the Nats completed the burial.
If a conquest like that on top of not losing Harper to the trade market doesn't yank the Nats all the way back together again, they're hopeless. But save that for tomorrow. They have a lot to enjoy tonight.
------------------------------------------
@Polly Ticks @Machiavelli @Applewood @Bigun @corbe @Cyber Liberty @DCPatriot @dfwgator @Freya @GrouchoTex @musiclady @mystery-ak @Right_in_Virginia @Sanguine @Slip18 @truth_seeker @WarmPotato 
