\n| 5+<\/td>\n | 2-0<\/td>\n | Hand (2x)<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n (Note: a “5+” pitcher means a starter who was not on the opening day roster for a team. \u00a0We’ll see a ton more 5+’s as more starters go down with injury and are replaced by minor league call-ups).<\/p>\n Not all #1 starters are made the same, nor are #5 starters. \u00a0The team actually holds a winning record against opposing team’s #1s and #2s (which you normally do not see), but scuffled against other team’s #4 starters. \u00a0Of course,\u00a0Shelby Miller<\/strong> and\u00a0David Hale<\/strong> are not ordinary #4 starters, but you’d have liked to have seen wins against the likes of\u00a0Clayton Richardson<\/strong> and\/or\u00a0Eric Stults.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe team got a great win over\u00a0Jose Fernandez<\/strong> but lost twice to Atlanta’s ace\u00a0Julio Teheran<\/strong>. \u00a0Not the end of the world, but they need to do better (obviously) against Atlanta pitching.<\/p>\n
\nOpponent intra-Rotation Ranking Stats<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n <\/colgroup>\n\n\n| Starter #<\/td>\n | Record<\/td>\n | Opposing Starter in Wins<\/td>\n | Opposing Starter in Losses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 1<\/td>\n | 2-4<\/td>\n | Fernandez, Cashner<\/td>\n | Teheran (2x), Wainwright, Richards<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 2<\/td>\n | 2-4<\/td>\n | Gee, Wood<\/td>\n | Wood, Harang, Koehler, Skaggs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 3<\/td>\n | 4-1<\/td>\n | Colon, Wacha, Koehler, Hand<\/td>\n | Kennedy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 4<\/td>\n | 4-1<\/td>\n | Wheeler, Oberholzer, Miller, Erlin<\/td>\n | Hale<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 5<\/td>\n | 3-2<\/td>\n | Weaver, Cosart, Alvarez<\/td>\n | Lynn, Stults<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 5+<\/td>\n | 1-0<\/td>\n | Hand<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n In other words, the Nats are 2-4 against opposing teams’ best pitcher at the time of the series, 2-4 against the opposing team’s 2nd best performing pitcher at the time of the series, etc. \u00a0 This is a slightly better way of seeing how the Nats perform against the opponent’s hottest hand at the time. \u00a0Notice here that\u00a0Aaron Harang<\/strong> is given much higher credit for his 2014 performance than his rotation order rank may merit him.<\/p>\nThe team (as one would expect) is struggling against the best and 2nd best guys on opponent’s teams, but are beating up on the rest of the rotation. \u00a0This is a good sign frankly; you need to win when you go against the other team’s struggling starters. \u00a0As the season goes along the team should stabilize and be able to hold its own against the best guys on other teams.<\/p>\n
\nOpponent League-Wide “Rank”<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n <\/colgroup>\n\n\n| Starter #<\/td>\n | Record<\/td>\n | Opposing Starter in Wins<\/td>\n | Opposing Starter in Losses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 1<\/td>\n | 2-1<\/td>\n | Fernandez, Wacha<\/td>\n | Wainwright<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 2<\/td>\n | 1-2<\/td>\n | Weaver<\/td>\n | Teheran (2x)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 3<\/td>\n | 5-2<\/td>\n | Cashner, Wood, Colon, Wheeler, Miller<\/td>\n | Wood, Kennedy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 4<\/td>\n | 3-2<\/td>\n | Gee, Oberholzer, Cosart<\/td>\n | Hale, Lynn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 5<\/td>\n | 2-4<\/td>\n | Erlin, Alvarez<\/td>\n | Richards, Harang, Skaggs, Stults<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| 5+<\/td>\n | 3-1<\/td>\n | Hand (2x), Koehler<\/td>\n | Koehler<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n In other words, the Nats are 2-1 against MLB “Aces,” 2-1 against MLB “near aces” or #2’s, etc.<\/p>\n This table really shows how the team has truly done against the elite pitchers in this league. \u00a0We can argue in the comments section about my subjective ranking of pitchers as being #1s, #2s, or whatever. \u00a0\u00a0For comparison purposes with our own team talent-wise, I have Strasburg as a league-wide #1, Gonzalez and Zimmermann as #2s, Fister as a #3, Roark and Jordan as #5s. \u00a0Aces are few and far between; you’re far more likely to see a bunch of #4s and #5s on opposing teams. \u00a0It is of note that a 5+ starter can be a complete crapshoot; he could be a 4-A pitcher just giving the team innings or he could be the team’s #1 starter prospect and can be as effective as a #2 starter right off the bat.<\/p>\n So far, the team has beaten a couple of aces and had expected losses versus the likes of Adam Wainwright<\/strong> and Teheran. \u00a0Slightly concerning is the record against what I consider #5 pitchers in this league, though to be fair\u00a0Harang\u00a0and\u00a0Tyler Skaggs<\/strong> certainly are not pitching like #5s right now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nPerformace against Expectations by Advantage<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n <\/colgroup>\n\n\n| By “Advantage”<\/td>\n | Record<\/td>\n | Matchups in Wins<\/td>\n | Matchups resulting in Losses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Wash<\/td>\n | 10-6<\/td>\n | Gio-Colon, Stras-Gee, Stras-Miller, Zim-Oberholtzer, Gio-Cosart, Stras-Erlin, Gio-Alvarez, Stras-Koehler, Zimm-Hand (2x)<\/td>\n | Stras-Teheran, Zimm-Hale, Zimm-Lynn, Gio-Harang, Zimm-Stults, Stras-Koehler<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Even<\/td>\n | 3-1<\/td>\n | Gio-Weaver, Jordan-Wood, Roark-Wheeler<\/td>\n | Jordan-Skaggs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Opp<\/td>\n | 3-5<\/td>\n | Roark-Fernandez, Roark-Cashner, Gio-Wacha<\/td>\n | Roark-Teheran, Jordan-Wood, Roark-Richards, Jordan-Kennedy, Jordan-Wainwright<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n In games where I thought Washington had the clear starting pitching advantage head-to-head, the team went 10-6. \u00a0 I’ve listed the match ups for each case so you can decide whether we really had the advantage.<\/p>\n In games where I thought the pitching matchup was even, the team went 3-1; this is a good sign. \u00a0Three of these four matchups involved Roark or Jordan.<\/p>\n In games where I thought our opponent had the clear advantage heading into the game, the team went an expected 3-5. \u00a0Most of these matchup involved either Roark or Jordan.<\/p>\n It is interesting to note that Jordan struggled .. but he also had a number of very tough matchups in April. \u00a0He had to go against Alex Wood<\/strong> twice, Ian Kennedy<\/strong>, Adam Wainwright<\/strong> and Tyler Skaggs<\/strong>. \u00a0 For a guy with just a handful of starts, that was a tough slate of matchups.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nPer-Starter Matchup Listing<\/span>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n <\/colgroup>\n\n\n| Nats Starter<\/td>\n | Opponent Makeup<\/td>\n | Nats Record under starter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Strasburg<\/td>\n | two Aces, a #4 and three #5s<\/td>\n | 4-2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Gonzalez<\/td>\n | an Ace, three #2s, two #3s<\/td>\n | 5-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Jordan<\/td>\n | an Ace, three #2s and a #5<\/td>\n | 1-4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Roark<\/td>\n | three Aces, a #3, a #4<\/td>\n | 3-2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| Zimmermann<\/td>\n | two #3s, two #4s, two #5+s<\/td>\n | 3-3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| <\/td>\n | ttl for month:<\/td>\n | 16-12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n So, as discussed above, Jordan has had some tough matchups. \u00a0But Roark had to go against three staff Aces in April and still came out with a winning record. \u00a0Despite a couple of shaky outings the team was 5-1 when Gio pitched. \u00a0Lastly we can see that Jordan needs to be replaced; the team was just 1-4 in his outings and you’d have to think that they wouldn’t have a losing record when Fister throws.<\/p>\n
\nApril Conclusion<\/span><\/p>\nThe Nats have beaten up on weak teams and faltered against good teams. \u00a0And it only gets tougher from here; they’ll face Philadelphia’s 1-2-3 in order in early May, then entertain Los Angeles and their two Cy Young winners. \u00a0Later on this month they visit the cavernous Oakland stadiums and go up against three different playoff calibre teams in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Texas. \u00a0Lots of good pitching matchups to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ok people, how about getting back to talking some baseball, not arging whether or not we need to fire the manager after 28 games. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42 Here’s a monthly feature that I like to do, breaking down the Nats rotation performance and analyzing matchups for the previous month. Starter “Grades” for the MLB Rotation: Grade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[345,346,1912,2399,2304,241,1782,385,243,43,1886,1913,1333,38,77,24,1856],"class_list":["post-8847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral","tag-aaron-harang","tag-adam-wainwright","tag-alex-wood","tag-clayton-richardson","tag-david-hale","tag-doug-fister","tag-eric-stults","tag-gio-gonzalez","tag-ian-kennedy","tag-jordan-zimmermann","tag-jose-fernandez","tag-julio-teheran","tag-shelby-miller","tag-stephen-strasburg","tag-tanner-roark","tag-taylor-jordan","tag-tyler-skaggs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8847"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8859,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8847\/revisions\/8859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} | | | | |
![\"Strasburg's](\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/StrasburgStephen_Landing_unk-via-thewifehatessports.com_.jpg\")
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