This time, there have been boos as Patrick Corbin walked from the Nationals Park mound to the dugout, an entire seven-run deficit behind him. The scoreboard confirmed an 11.20 ERA via 13⅔ innings of a season that’s trying very like the previous two for the Washington Nationals’ struggling lefty. The eventual loss, 7-1, to the San Francisco Giants, was simply one other crooked mark on Corbin’s shoulders.
Washington
Nationals keep scrambling as Patrick Corbin has another nightmare start
The primary inning was high quality, although a bit up and down. Corbin struck out the Giants’ first two batters, yielded a stroll and a single, then induced a flyout to flee unscathed. However bother instantly stirred within the second, starting with Brandon Crawford’s leadoff double.
Then the dam broke, and bother wouldn’t cease.
“Clearly upset with simply how numerous this has been enjoying out,” Corbin mentioned. “However you’ve received to maneuver on and attempt to deal with the subsequent pitch. I’m pissed. I’m upset. I’m attempting to do every thing I can to get higher. I’m actually simply nonetheless looking out somewhat bit.”
After Corbin struck out Mauricio Dubón within the second, Joey Bart labored a stroll. Mike Yastrzemski singled on a low-and-away slider, and Crawford scored on the hit as soon as Victor Robles bobbled it in middle. Austin Slater adopted with a three-run homer to right-center. Wilmer Flores adopted with a single. Corbin struck out Brandon Belt swinging. Darin Ruf adopted that with a scorched single, 112.1 mph off his bat. Thairo Estrada adopted with a stroll. Crawford adopted with one other double, this one clearing the bases. And Supervisor Dave Martinez adopted that by coming to take the ball.
Corbin recorded 5 outs, leaving 22 for the bullpen. Erasmo Ramírez, who was known as up Thursday and threw 23 pitches in a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, logged 3⅓ scoreless innings on 43 pitches (17 fewer than Corbin, who issued three walks, too). Ramírez handed the sport to Francisco Pérez, who handed it to Patrick Murphy, who handed it to Paolo Espino, who quietly completed the defeat.
Different pitchers once more have been taxed as a result of Corbin was hooked within the early innings. When, then, do his quick begins grow to be untenable for the Nationals’ already overworked relievers? And if that time arrives, what are the workforce’s choices to take away him from the rotation? Might it make him the league’s most well-paid lengthy reliever (a median annual worth of about $23.3 million for this yr and two extra)? Give him a reset masked as an injured record stint?
If Washington isn’t already confronting these questions, Friday actually inched the membership nearer to them. Corbin has yielded extra earned runs than some other pitcher because the 2020 season started. He additionally leads the majors in losses and has the worst ERA amongst starters in that stretch. So if nothing modifications — and modifications shortly — one thing else could must.
“He’s going to pitch each 5 days,” Martinez mentioned, including that Corbin left too many pitches up within the zone and will have been overthrowing his fastball. “His stuff is nice. We simply received to get him to grasp what he must do with it.”
Why was Alcides Escobar yelling on the Giants’ dugout after the highest of the ninth? With two outs within the inning, Thairo Estrada took off from first on Espino’s 0-1 pitch and tried to attain on Crawford’s bloop single. Escobar, the Nationals’ veteran shortstop, threw him out by a great margin. After which Escobar appeared to take exception to the aggressiveness, which might be the second time this season the Giants have been a part of an “unwritten guidelines” spat.
These guidelines would discourage a workforce from attempting to steal a base up six runs. After the sport, although, Martinez wouldn’t say a lot, and Escobar, 35, declined an interview request via a workforce spokesman.
“They did some issues that we felt like was uncalled for,” Martinez mentioned. “However you guys can ask Gabe Kapler about that.”
He didn’t need to broaden in any respect.
“No. I’m finished with it,” Martinez mentioned. “I talked to the workforce about it, so we’re going to play baseball the best way we play.”
“We scored seven runs in an inning tonight. With Josh Bell and Juan Soto and Nelson Cruz in the midst of their lineup, we all know they’re able to scoring seven runs in an inning as effectively,” the Giants supervisor instructed reporters. “So for all the identical causes we talked about earlier than, that is the best way that we expect makes essentially the most sense to assault sequence. It’s not about one recreation for us. It’s positively not about operating up the rating.
“We felt like we’re respecting our opponents and we’re going to respect our opponents at each flip. That is about utilizing each software at our disposal to compete.”
Slater constructed on Kapler’s logic, saying a run or two from the Nationals means the Giants would have needed to get at the very least certainly one of their high-leverage relievers heat. Slater known as Escobar stalking towards San Francisco’s dugout “somewhat over the road.” A number of Nationals rushed out to both stand with Escobar or usher him off the sphere. No Giants ever got here to satisfy them.
Who will begin Saturday and Sunday for the Nationals? Aaron Sanchez is being known as up from the Class AAA Rochester Crimson Wings and can be part of the workforce Saturday, in response to two individuals with data of the scenario. The 29-year-old was signed to a minor league take care of an invitation to spring coaching in March. He began for the Crimson Wings on Sunday and allowed one run on seven hits in six innings. He is sensible to fill the open rotation spot — particularly after Espino, as soon as a viable choice, was used for the eighth and ninth of this newest bullpen scramble.
The Nationals must make room for Sanchez on the lively and 40-man rosters. This puzzle was created by them throwing Josiah Grey and Joan Adon in a doubleheader sweep of the Diamondbacks on Tuesday. As for whether or not Grey or Adon will begin Sunday’s sequence finale right here, Martinez deferred to answering that Saturday. The odd man out shall be pushed off schedule and face the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on Tuesday. Anybody dizzy but?
What’s the most recent with Stephen Strasburg and Joe Ross? Each right-handed starters threw roughly 30 pitches in bullpen classes in West Palm Seashore, Fla., on Friday. Strasburg, nonetheless set again by the thoracic outlet syndrome surgical procedure he underwent final summer time, is formally on the 10-day injured record. Ross, who had a bone spur faraway from his elbow in early March, is on the 60-day IL. Martinez instructed reporters they may every start going through hitters quickly.
The reviews weren’t as encouraging for reliever Will Harris or third baseman Carter Kieboom. Neither has thrown since being sidelined throughout spring coaching. Harris, 37 and within the remaining season of a three-year, $24 million deal, is on the 60-day IL and recovering from proper pectoral surgical procedure. Kieboom, 24, is on the 60-day IL with a flexor mass pressure in his proper forearm.
Why did Washington promote Ramírez on Thursday and never, say, Tyler Clippard? “We needed somebody that might give us a number of innings,” Martinez mentioned Friday of selecting one veteran reliever over one other. When the membership signed Clippard in mid-March, it appeared the 37-year-old had an opportunity of getting recalled early on. However when the Nationals wanted an eleventh reliever this week, as soon as Hunter Harvey went to the 10-day IL with a proper pronator pressure, they tapped Ramírez as a substitute of the acquainted face. The choice was then validated by Ramírez, 31, full-on sporting it for Corbin.
“Erasmo’s finished it. He’s finished it like 3 times already,” Martinez continued of Ramírez twice recording six outs for the Class AAA Rochester Crimson Wings. “We felt like we would have liked that proper now. Clippard not too way back threw back-to-back days. The primary day was nice, the second day didn’t work out so effectively, so we simply need to construct him up.”
Washington
New law: Maryland highway safety change in effect Jan. 1
If you speed in a Maryland highway work zone, be prepared to pay a hefty fine.
A new tiered system of fines will go into place Jan. 1, and drivers could pay as much as $1,000.
Maryland lawmakers passed the Road Worker Protection Act after a driver crashed into a construction zone in Baltimore County in 2023, killing six workers.
“The speeding has got to stop,” said John Seng, who chairs Safe Roads Maryland
That’s what lawmakers are hoping will happen. The new tiered system of fines will be based on how much the driver exceeds the speed limit.
For example, if you’re going between 12 and 15 miles per hour over the speed limit, the fine will be $60. Fines get progressively higher from there — for super speeders going 40 or more over the limit, the fine is $500, if workers are present, it’ll cost you a grand.
“When it’s a work construction zone with a concentration of people simply trying to do their jobs, it sends the message to people that, again, enough is enough,” Seng said. “Well, you pay and you’re going to pay until you slow down.”
The law also requires signs and blue flashing lights when workers are present so drivers will have plenty of warning the work zone is ahead.
“We want everyone to travel safely through our work zones,” said Teri Soos of the State Highway Administration. “Travel at a safe speed, move over when possible and really pay attention to those barrels and those lights and those signs.”
The new law also allows for more cameras in larger work zones and better camera technology to detect speeders.
Advocates say the point is to slow drivers down, but if they won’t, they’re hoping the fines will encourage them to let off the gas.
Last year, nearly 336,000 citations were issued for work zone speed camera violations in Maryland.
Washington
The Atlantic snags Washington Post staffers as it prepares to 'rigorously' cover Trump
Progressive outlet The Atlantic has snagged some of The Washington Post’s top political journalists ahead of the new year.
According to a new report from The New York Times, the outlet is looking to boost its political coverage for the second Trump presidency.
The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, told The Times, “We want to cover the incoming administration rigorously. I want to build our team with the best political reporters and editors I can find.”
WAPO STAFFER UNSURE PAPER CAN RECOVER AS BEZOS-OWNED OUTLET SHEDS 250,000 SUBSCRIBERS OVER ENDORSEMENT FIASCO
The outlet’s political expansion made waves after it recently snagged two prominent Washington Post reporters for its own roster – The Post’s senior national political correspondent Ashley Parker and national political reporter Michael Scherer.
The Times mentioned that the two prominent journalists will “join a formidable political team at The Atlantic that includes Elaina Plott Calabro, McKay Coppins and Mark Leibovich.”
The outlet wants to hire “roughly a dozen new reporters and editors to beef up its politics coverage,” The Times wrote, citing an Atlantic spokesperson.
The Atlantic is in talks to hire even more Washington Post reporters soon, the outlet said, citing sources familiar with the discussions. It also hired Washington Post national security reporter Shane Harris earlier this year.
The hiring spree comes after a year of success and growth for the liberal publication. The Atlantic announced that it had surpassed one million subscribers earlier this year and has since added over 100,000 more.
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Billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, has a controlling interest in The Atlantic through her ownership of Emerson Collective. She is also a Democratic megadonor and close friends with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, The Post has endured a year of turmoil.
Executive editor Sally Buzbee left the outlet in June in a surprise move that was followed by a newsroom restructuring that insiders have described as “head-spinning” and “poorly handled.”
This all happened as financial woes continued to plague The Washington Post, which has struggled to remain profitable in recent years. The paper lost over $70 million and half of its audience in 2023.
The paper is on track to lose $77 million in 2024.
Just before the election, The Post lost 250,000 paid subscribers, multiple editorial board members and editor-at-large Robert Kagan after owner Jeff Bezos prevented the paper from endorsing a 2024 presidential candidate. The paper was set to endorse Harris before Bezos intervened.
The Washington Post did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Washington
Louisville vs. Washington: Predictions, odds and how to watch the Sun Bowl
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Reporters from USA Today share what they think the biggest controversy in sports was in 2024.
Sports Seriously
The college football bowl season continues on New Year’s Eve with the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl featuring the Louisville Cardinals facing off against the Washington Huskies.
The Cardinals, who finished the regular season with an 8-4 record and placed fourth in the ACC standings, are on a mission to redeem themselves after a disappointing performance in last year’s Holiday Bowl against USC. Their quarterback, Tyler Shough, leads the offense and was one of three recipients of college football’s Comeback Player of the Year Award, having bounced back from injury to throw for 3,195 yards and 23 touchdowns this season.
Under the guidance of first-year coach Jedd Fisch, the Huskies have embarked on a new journey, finding themselves in a different postseason bowl after reaching the national championship game last season. Washington will now look to freshman quarterback Demond Williams Jr. to lead the offense. In the few games he played, he achieved an impressive 76.6% completion rate, throwing for 570 yards and four touchdowns. Williams Jr. is supported by a solid running back, Jonah Coleman, who recorded 1,011 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns this season.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of kickoff for the Sun Bowl.
Sun Bowl predictions: Louisville vs. Washington
USA TODAY Sports: Majority pick Louisville
- Scooby Axson: Louisville
- Jordan Mendoza: Louisville
- Paul Myerberg: Washington
- Erick Smith: Louisville
- Eddie Timanus: Louisville
- Dan Wolken: Washington
ESPN: Louisville 33, Washington 24
Adam Rittenberg writes: “Louisville certainly wants to avoid a repeat of the 2023 Holiday Bowl, when it allowed 42 points, 372 passing yards and six touchdowns to USC and Miller Moss. The Cardinals certainly could have contended for the ACC title and a potential CFP spot this season, and boast a nice young core with running backs Isaac Brown and Duke Watson. Washington has an eye toward the future after a predictably rocky first season under coach Jedd Fisch. The good news is running back Jonah Coleman will return, and promising quarterback Demond Williams Jr. will get another chance for valuable experience. Other than the Stanford debacle, Louisville played very well down the stretch and should have enough offense to handle Washington.”
College Football Network: Washington 27, Louisville 20
Staff writes: “Washington isn’t facing the same issue, but it will turn the keys of the offense over to true freshman Demon Williams Jr., who has shown flashes in spurts throughout the season. While typically, you wouldn’t want to put money on a true freshman, Williams has the dual-threat ability to mitigate processing issues under center. Would you rather bet on Louisville’s backup redshirt freshman Pierce Clarkson, who has appeared in just two games this year, completing 3 of 4 passes for 11 yards? I expect Williams and Co. to put up enough points to leave the Sun Bowl with a dub over the short-handed Cardinals.”
Tickets to the Sun Bowl with StubHub
Sun Bowl odds, lines: Louisville vs. Washington
The Louisville Cardinals are favorites to defeat the Washington Huskies, according to the BetMGM college football odds.
Odds as of Friday, Dec. 20 afternoon.
- Spread: Louisville (-2.5)
- Moneylines: Louisville (-140); Washington (+120)
- Over/under: 49.5
How to watch Louisville vs. Washington in the Sun Bowl
- Date: Tuesday, Dec. 31
- Time: 2 p.m. ET
- TV: CBS
- Stream: Fubo
- Where: Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas)
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