Hard Days Night In Nationals Park

It was clear that James Paxton was not himself. You could see it in his eyes. He didn’t feel it. He looked uncomfortable and he couldn’t get through two innings. Quite frankly, he set the tone of for the team. They didn’t seem comfortable.  And so it was a hard days night in Nationals Park, but there’s always tomorrow.

“Michael King, one of the candidates to start/open tomorrow’s game, is warming in the #Yankees bullpen. James Paxton already at 40 pitches,” tweeted Bryan Hoch during the broadcast last night.  Wouldn’t have been smarter to bring in a long reliever? And if you are going to bring in King, who held the Nats over several innings, why not have Jordan Montgomery with you? I didn’t agree with the decision to keep him off the roster for this big opening weekend. You can read that story here. Remember Paxton is coming off surgery. This is his first outing. Maybe a bit more careful planning?

The one guy that looks locked and loaded is ironically the guy that has looked and felt uncomfortable over the last year or so.  That guy blasted his second home run of the season last night. That guy is Giancarlo Stanton. His 483-foot blast halted everyone and the outfielders were frozen as the Stantonian home run blazed over them. “To put in perspective, it’s one of the most authoritative home runs of the Statcast era (i.e., since 2015),” reported CBS Sports. As a matter of fact Stanton’s home run last night was second on the list to his own back in 2018. So, poor start for Paxton, hot start for Stanton.

Unfortunately, a hot Stanton did not cancel out a rough start for Paxton. The tone was set and the Nationals took advantage of the Yankee pitchers as the Yankee bats went silent.  I hope this is not the kind of repeating behavior we will see in the coming days. Let’s hope it is just a hard days night in Nationals Park and a better is ahead of the Yankees this afternoon.  Let’s Go Yankees!