Phillies

It Seems the Washington Nationals Have Quit on the 2018 Season

By Bob Wankel

Published: Aug 21st, 2018 · 3:02 PM EDT

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The Phillies will open up a critical three-game set in Washington this evening against an underachieving Nationals team that was thought to be making a last-ditch effort to remain alive in the NL East. Instead it appears they are already dead. Wave the white flag:

Sources: Cubs and Nationals are believed to be close to a deal for Daniel Murphy.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 21, 2018

Well then.

Washington’s decision to move Murphy is a bit of a stunner, and it will certainly should make things easier for Phillies pitchers this week. Murphy was hitting .340 with a .904 OPS since the All-Star break. Also on the move is first baseman Matt Adams who is hitting .257 with 18 homers this season, despite hitting .061 in 33 at-bats this month:

Sources: Nationals are dealing Matt Adams to the Cardinals.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 21, 2018

What about Bryce Harper, you ask?

sources: waivers have expired on Bryce harper. he is staying with nats.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 21, 2018

The Dodgers likely had no intention of trading for Harper, but were simply attempting to block him from going elsewhere, like Philadelphia. Meanwhile, this tweet shows that whoever is running 97.5 The Fanatic’s Twitter account has absolutely no idea how August waiver trades work:

https://twitter.com/975TheFanatic/status/1031973658280042496

Bang up job over there.

Anyway, the Nationals entered the season having won three of the last four NL East titles and were widely considered the division’s overwhelming favorite coming into this season, but they have sputtered to an uninspiring 62-63 record and sit 7.5 games out of first-place. The Phillies, meanwhile, enter the night only a game out of the division lead behind the Braves. While it appears the Nats are punting on this season, the enigmatic Phillies are coming off a weekend dick punch courtesy of the lowly Mets, so I wouldn’t mark down a series win just yet. The Phillies’ offense looks to rebound after mustering only two runs off Mets pitcher Jason Vargas and his 8.10 ERA on Sunday night. They will try to cool off a red-hot Tanner Roark who is 5-0 with a 1.77 ERA over his last five starts. Godspeed.