There certainly are things that I would not like to emulate about the Rays. Their payroll is always among the lowest in baseball, their stadium situation has been awful since they joined MLB in the latest round of expansion, and they churn through players while almost never giving their fans to connect to anyone long-term (Evan Longoria being a rare exception). But regardless of who is in charge of the operation, the Rays do a phenomenal job of evaluating and developing talent, both from their own guys that they sign and draft (Brandon Lowe, Josh Lowe, Chandler Simpson, Shane McClanahan), and from other organizations (Junior Caminero, Shane Baz, Yandy Díaz). They also stress quality pitching, situational hitting, aggressive and smart base running, and excellent team defense, continually seeking every small way to win on the margins so that they can compete in the brutal AL East, home to three teams that spend well over twice as much on payroll as the Rays.

Contrast that with the Nationals, who blunder into outs on the bases on a daily basis (Daylen Lile was a culprit yesterday, helping kill a ninth-inning rally), are abysmal at situational hitting (3-for-29 with RISP for the weekend), regularly start only three players who could be considered above-average defenders (Jacob Young, Dylan Crews, and Brady House, none of whom have hit at all this season - their wRC+ is 65, 75, and 55, respectively), and haven’t had a legitimately good performance from a starting pitcher in a week and a half. What are we doing here? Why are the Nationals hanging on to this coaching staff - the same one that they rushed to extend two months before they needed to in 2024 - when they are doing nothing to help players get better and, in too many cases, are letting them get worse as the season goes on? The malaise and acceptance of losing in this organization is unbearable.

I think we can safely say that Brad Lord has slammed headfirst into the rookie wall, which is a shame because he has been one of the few bright spots in this disaster class of a season. After a quick first inning, Lord gave up two clean hits to open the second, one of whom scored on an infield single and a throwing error by third baseman Brady House. Lord then recorded a strikeout before two walks - with several non-competitive misses - made the score 2-0, then struck out leadoff hitter Chandler Simpson to give himself a chance to escape with a close margin. Alas, Brandon Lowe (as in “Ow!”) deposited a thigh-high slider into the Nats’ bullpen for a 6-0 Rays lead, and all of a sudden the game looked out of reach before an inning and a half was complete. Lord surrendered one more run on a triple and a sacrifice fly in the third inning before hitting the showers. The Nats clawed one run back in their half of the third thanks to a House single and Jacob Young double, then scored three in the next inning on two hits, a walk, and an error (that probably should have been ruled a hit) to make the game seem close. But that was it for both teams, as the bullpens kept the rest of the game scoreless, with the Rays and Nats combining to whiff 27 times on the afternoon (16 for the Nats, 11 for the Rays). And now the losing streak has reached eight games, the second-longest such skid of the year.

This afternoon will mark the eleventh (and perhaps twelfth if CJ Stubbs also starts behind the dish) debut for the Nationals this season when Andrew Alvarez takes the hill against the Marlins, filling MacKenzie Gore’s spot in the rotation. Alvarez, a twelfth-round pick out of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in 2021, was the Nats’ minor league Pitcher of the Year two years ago in a season he split between high-A Wilmington and AA Harrisburg.

This year he has exclusively pitched at AAA Rochester, and while he is not going to wow you as a prospect - he’s a junkballing lefty - he has been pretty steady of late for the Red Wings, and just had a very strong August (2.96 ERA across five starts, with 32 Ks in 24.1 innings. Congratulations to Andrew! Get to know Andrew Alvarez.

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