The Morning Briefing: August 28

Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, August 28.

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Welcome to the Morning Briefing!

Leading this Morning's Briefing: Crews Collects First Hit

In his first trip to the plate last night, Dylan Crews ripped a double off of the wall in front of the visitors' bullpen in left field, and later added a single and his first run. He also played a strong right field and happened to catch the last out of the game, so I'm guessing he took the ball with him wherever he and his 43-strong traveling party that came to watch his debut series went for dinner afterwards. I'm guessing it was someplace nice - after all, Thurman Thomas is a close family friend.

Last Game Out

Crews's first big league hit wasn't the only milestone of the evening. A day after Aaron Judge robbed him of his first home run in front of the red seats, Andrés Chaparro pulled one out of Judge's or anyone else's reach and got to put on the Uncle Slam hat for the first time in his career. That home run had to feel extra special coming against his original franchise. José Tena followed with a home run of his own above the out-of-town scoreboard on the very next pitch, and it proved to be the decisive run in what ended as a 4-2 Nats victory with two men on base and old friend Juan Soto looming in the on-deck circle. Any Nats fan who tells you that they felt comfortable with Soto facing Kyle Finnegan with what would have been juiced bases is lying to your face. Also, Giancarlo Stanton hit a 457-foot foul ball (!!!) that screamed over and past all three decks of seats down the left field line - does anyone know where it landed? I hope no one was hurt ordering tater tots in the left field corner.

Nationals Headline of the Day:

Just in case you missed it yesterday (or even if you already saw!), check out the video of Chaparro and Tena going back-to-back for their first and second career home runs, respectively, off of only one of the five or so best pitchers in baseball today, Gerrit Cole.

Down on the Farm

Tyler Stuart's second AAA start did not go nearly as well as his first, as he gave up six runs to the division-leading Scranton Wilkes-Barre Rail Riders and failed to get out of the second inning. Andrew Pinckney got two hits in his Rochester debut taking over center field for Crews, so there's that. Andry Lara had a strong pitching performance in a blowout win for the AA Harrisburg Senators, and Robert Hassell III hit his first home run since returning from his lengthy IL stint. Seaver King went 3-for-5 in Fredericksburg's win while Alex Clemmey struck out seven Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (say that five times fast).

Featured Baseball Story of the Day

This is also Nats-related, but any of you who subscribe to The Athletic (or, I suppose, the New York Times) should read David Aldridge's take on Crews' debut, calling for more commitment by the Lerners. I will give you this quote: "Second, consider that Juan Soto, who was supposed to be the Nationals’ Luke Skywalker, is playing instead for the First Galactic Empire, hitting in front of Aaron Judge. For 2024, anyway."

Former National of the Day

Even though his brief tenure during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season wasn't great (and turned out to be the end of his up-and-down major league career, I'm going to give a little love to the most recent player from my alma mater of Pepperdine to make any noise on the field in the majors, Eric Thames. A hulking 5'11", 235-pound first baseman who has a serious argument as the most jacked National in team history, Thames had to go to the KBO to get right from 2014-16, and boy did he. He had his own theme song there that you definitely will hum to yourself all day long. After 72 bombs in three seasons with Milwaukee upon his return from Korea, Thames signed with the Nats for the 2020 season but struggled in 41 games, hitting just .203/.300/.317.

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