Washington Nationals re-claim first position on National League East Division table - MLB Update
Making Roy Halladay, the Philadelphia Phillies’ ace, face another bad outing of the season, the Washington Nationals rush back to the top position on the table. Earlier Atlanta Braves took over that position and gave an impression that they will never allow
the Nationals to restore their spot.
Bryce Harper and Ian Desmond accepted the challenge and launched a bombastic come back. With massive hits in last two games, not only they fetched top spot on table, a stigma that the Nationals’ offence has not been scoring enough in the season was somehow
negated.
In their latest outing against the Phillies, the Nationals generated an uncanny power and managed to rough up legendary pitcher Halladay.
As Halladay was scheduled to start in the game, the Nationals were wary of his pitches and his ability to exploit the strike-zone. With this, it was assumed that winning the game and re-instating position on table will be tough.
The manager Davey Johnson however had made special plan to counter him. By teaching players to go and show aggression against him, he was able to generate enough potency from the offence that Halladay was made to struggle right away.
“Anytime you’re facing a Hall of Fame-caliber pitcher that doesn’t make many mistakes when he pitches, you’ve got to be aggressive,” Johnson said. “He’s going to be hitting the corners and use the whole strike zone. You better be up there swinging.”
Johnson still considers the Phillies a great side despite their dismal ranking on the table at the moment. For him, conquering them is a tremendous achievement.
“The Phillies, as far as I’m concerned, are still the king of the mountain,” Davey Johnson said. “Nobody’s really knocked them off that mountain. My guys know if we want to play with the best, we’ve got to beat these guys. And we’ve been doing a pretty good
job.”
In order to keep top position intact, the Nationals will be fixing their weak-areas. As their bullpen has been ordinary in the season, the manager will be focusing on this and will make sure issues with it are resolved as soon as possible.
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