{"id":12180,"date":"2016-05-02T09:12:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T13:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=12180"},"modified":"2016-05-02T09:12:40","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T13:12:40","slug":"operation-first-tough-stretch-of-the-season-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=12180","title":{"rendered":"Operation “First tough stretch of the season” underway…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Loved<\/a>

Loved the Robinson homer … even it if cost me in fantasy. Photo via minorleagueball.com<\/p><\/div>\n

We all know the Nats had a cream-puff schedule in April.\u00a0 And they delivered; despite a somewhat inexplicable sweep at home to Philadelphia, they finished 14-7 in their first 21 games against basically a collection of teams that aren’t really trying in 2016.<\/p>\n

14-7 is a nifty 108 win pace by the way.\u00a0 Just saying \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

We all were looking at this first road trip as the first true test; they havn’t played the Mets\u00a0 yet, they havn’t really had much of a struggle (outside of a couple of pretty good Philadelphia young arms).\u00a0 They were going to their old nemesis St. Louis (where they’ve always struggled, year over year), then 3 games at the defending WS champs (and in an AL park with their inherent DH advantage), and then to top it off 4 games in Chicago against a team that looks more and more like its gonna win 110 games (hyperbole, if only slightly; they’re 17-6 right now and that’s a ridiculous 120 win pace).<\/p>\n

I didn’t think the Nats would win three games this entire trip.\u00a0 Imagine my surprise that they frigging SWEPT St. Louis, in St. Louis, in three games that honestly weren’t really that close?\u00a0 Strasburg<\/strong>, Ross<\/strong> and Scherzer<\/strong> pitched like bosses (no pun intended), and gave up a combined 3 earned runs in their 20 innings.\u00a0 They won a game yesterday where Harper <\/strong> struck out four times.\u00a0 They got great clutch hitting from unlikely sources (Espinosa<\/strong>, Robinson<\/strong>, Taylor<\/strong>) and they got a turn-back-the-clock Saturday from Werth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What does this mean?<\/p>\n

Well, for one, I think this already bumps up their projected win totals on the year.\u00a0 You know the adage; dominate the bad teams and break even with the good ones.\u00a0 I’ve got a little spreadsheet where I have projected Win\/Loss totals for the season and it goes like this:<\/p>\n