The Morning Briefing: September 11

Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, September 11.

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Welcome to the Morning Briefing!

Leading this Morning's Briefing: Tena has Work to Do

José Tena is performing pretty well at the plate in his first extended MLB opportunity at the age of 23, but he remains a butcher in the field, committing his ninth error in just 24 games at the hot corner, one which contributed to Atlanta's first big inning of the night. If Tena is indeed going to hold down third base until such time as Brady House or Cayden Wallace or Yohandy Morales is ready for the majors, he simply has to get better over there.

Last Game Out

Bad defense snowballed into a couple of rough innings for MacKenzie Gore, who allowed seven runs (two earned) while recording just eleven outs in a 12-0 loss to Atlanta. Only one of the five relievers who followed Gore, Zach Brzykcy, had a scoreless appearance.

Nationals Headline of the Day: Nats Make History in Loss

With Andrés Chaparro stealing a base yesterday (while trying and failing to bait the Braves into what would have been a totally inconsequential rundown to score James Wood from third), the Nats became the first team in 107 years to have 23 different players steal a base, joining the 1917 Pittsburgh Pirates. Honus Wagner was a 43-year-old first baseman on that Pirates club.

Down on the Farm

The FredNats won the first game of their three-game series against the Carolina Mudcats yesterday, a seesaw affair that ended 7-6 for the good guys. Tomorrow they will send Travis Sykora, the best pitcher in the Carolina League, to the hill to hopefully clinch the series and move to the league championship series next week. Sykora, a top-100 prospect in the sport, has a 2.33 ERA, 0.906 WHIP, and 129 strikeouts in 85 innings across 20 starts this season, all at low-A.

Featured Baseball Story of the Day

Over at MLB.com, Anthony Castrovince ranks the most interesting playoff and award races, leading off with the National League Wild Card. It feels like years ago, not months, that the Nats were hanging around the fringes of that race.

Former National of the Day

With every signing of a Nelson Cruz or a Joey Gallo or whomever, it feels like the Nats are trying to recapture the "magic" of having a guy like Josh Willingham on the roster. The Alabama Hammer hit forty home runs across 2009-10 for the Nats, including becoming the thirteenth player to hit two grand slams in a game, which he did on July 27, 2009 against the Brewers. Overall Willingham hit a very respectable .263/.377/.479 in his two seasons here.

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