WASHINGTON — With their fate as a team sealed
Chris Sale Jersey , there are still a number of individual goals in play for the Washington Nationals, who meet the Miami Marlins in Game 2 of their series Tuesday night at Nationals Park.Nationals’ right-hander Max Scherzer (17-7, 2.57 ERA), for example, opposes right-hander Jeff Brigham (0-3, 5.84) with Scherzer gunning for his third consecutive National League Cy Young award.Scherzer leads the National League in strikeouts (290) and in batting average against (.188) and is tied for the lead in wins. He’s third in ERA (2.57) behind front-runner Jacob deGrom (1.77) and Aaron Nola (2.45).Article continues below ...In his last five starts Scherzer has struggled a bit — for him — giving up three earned runs four times and six the other as his ERA has climbed from 2.13. Last time out he allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings in a no-decision against the Mets. He struck out 13, moving him closer to becoming the third pitcher in the past 16 seasons to reach 300, joining Chris Sale in 2017 and Clayton Kershaw in 2015.“You’re aware of it, but that’s not why you go out there and pitch,” Scherzer told mlb.com. “You go out there and pitch to win. I wanted to come in today and win a ballgame, and unfortunately, we lost. You’re always thinking about all those things you weren’t able to do to help your team win.”Outfielder Juan Soto has five more games to impress voters for the NL Rookie of the Year award, which appears to be a two-man race with Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna
Rusney Castillo Jersey , Jr.Soto leads NL rookies with 66 RBIs and 74 walks and is near the top in batting average, home runs and on-base percentage.Outfielder Bryce Harper achieved a personal milestone in Monday’s 7-3 win when he drove in his 100th run of the season, the first time in his career he’s done so.“For me it’s just going out there and trying to score runs and doing the things I can. If I can get 100 runs, 100 walks and 100 RBIs it’s pretty cool,” said Harper, who has 126 walks and 99 runs scored. “I’ll take that any day of the week.”Harper’s previous high was 99 RBIs in 2015, the year he won the NL Most Valuable Player Award.Since their elimination from post-season contention Saturday, Nationals manager Dave Martinez has continued to use his regulars.“I’d like to win the rest of these games,” he said. “I really would, and I think the players want to do the same.”The Marlins stranded 10 baserunners Monday night, including five in the first two innings against Stephen Strasburg, who left after four innings.“Yeah we had a lot of chances,” manager Don Mattingly said. He threw close to forty (pitches) in the first and (we) had guys out t s. Not sure what the issue is but obviously we can work on that.”Brigham (0-3, 5.84) makes his fourth major league start Tuesday and first against the Nationals. Last time out he allowed two runs on three hits with four walks and six strikeouts over five innings of a loss to the Reds. Christian Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers think the best way to duplicate their success from last season is to forget it happened altogether.Milwaukee won the NL Central last year for the first time since 2011 and made it all the way to the NL Championship Series before losing to the more experienced Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games. Yelich earned his first NL MVP award after nearly winning the Triple Crown, and Josh Hader and Jesus Aguilar each had a breakout performance.Barreling toward a season with considerable expectations, Yelich and Co. have little interest in revisiting the past.“I think our message is nothing that happened last year means anything going into this year,” Yelich said. “It’s a new year. It’s a new team. We got the same goal, but you can’t think just because you did it last year it’s just going to happen all over again. You’ve got to have that drive and the hunger to get back to that point.”Milwaukee has never won the World Series. Only once before have the Brewers even made consecutive playoff appearances, back when they won the AL East in 1981 and 1982.They are well-positioned to enjoy more success this year.Yelich, Aguilar and Lorenzo Cain lead a versatile offense that bashed 218 homers last seas July trade with Kansas City and provided a steady presence at third base during Milwaukee’s playoff run. But the Brewers plan to play him at second even though he has never played the position in a major league game. Travis Shaw is the starter at third for now after he hit a career-high 32 homers for Milwaukee last year.NEW FACESWhile Manny Pina and Erik Kratz were an effective duo in the playoffs last October, Milwaukee upgraded its catching situation when it signed Yasmani Grandal to an $18.25 million, one-year contract in January. Grandal batted .241 with 24 homers and 68 RBIs in a career-best 140 games last year with the Dodgers. He has hit at least 20 homers in each of the past three seasons. The addition of the 30-year-old switch hitter makes Milwaukee’s lineup even more dangerous.STILL GOINGRyan Braun made some changes to his swing after he hit .254 with 20 homers and 64 RBIs in 125 games last season. The 35-year-old Braun isn’t the player he once was, but the 2011 NL MVP remains a key figure for the Brewers.WORTH WATCHINGJeremy Jeffress made the All-Star team for the first time in 2018, teaming with Hader and Corey Knebel to form a dominant trio at the back end of the bullpen at the end of the season. But the 31-year-old Jeffress set career highs for appearances (73) and innings (76 2/3), and then was slowed by right shoulder weakness during spring training. Any sort of prolonged health issue for the dynamic Jeffress could affect the Brewers’ pitching plans.CARRYOVERThe Brewers are hoping Orlando Arcia can carry over his strong finish into this season. The 24-year-old shortstop struggled for much of last year, and he had a big September and then hit .333 with three homers and four RBIs during Milwaukee’s run to the NLCS.
