General manager Mike Rizzo publicly insisted that he believed in this squad, and his actions backed it up.
The Nationals lineup repaid that confidence hours later by ripping into the poor New York Mets to the tune of 16-0. By the third inning.
Everyone got into the hit parade, with every National recording a hit in his first three at-bats, pushing the lead to 19-0 in the fifth inning.
Some of the highlights included:
- Trea Turner hitting a single, then stealing his way to third base;
- Tanner Roark hitting a bases-clearing double that scored Matt Wieters from first base;
- Daniel Murphy hitting a home run each in the second and third innings for six RBIs;
- Ryan Zimmerman collecting career hits 1,695 and 1,696 to take the Expos/Nats franchise record for hits.
Come for Daniel Murphy's 2nd inning HR.Stay for Daniel Murphy's 3rd inning HR. pic.twitter.com/EHkGSTTVli
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals)
August 1, 2018 The Nationals face long odds of making the playoffs at this point, but Tuesday is the perfect validation for anyone who still believes in the team. It's justifiable to believe that this team can make a deep playoff run without adding anyone, and it's hard to subtract before this team is truly elminated.
Going into Tuesday, the Nationals are 5.5 games back of the Phillies for first place in the National League East and 5.5 games back of the second Nationals League Wild Card, with 58 games to go. If they can score a week's worth of runs in one night, who knows how many they could win down the stretch?
