The Chalk Talk with Dan and the Dawg

On June 8th, 2010, Washington Nationals' right-hander Stephen Strasburg debuted before a raucous home crowd of 40,315 fans. The excitement surrounding the young prospect was electric; Sports Illustrated deemed the San Diego State product as being "the most hyped and closely watched pitching prospect in the history of baseball." Given his pedigree and history of collegiate success, it should come as no surprise that Strasburg did nothing but dazzle in his first major league start. Strasburg's fourteen strikeouts over seven sparkling innings seemed to be a proverbial turning of the corner for a franchise that had spent much of the 2000's as perennial cellar dwellers. However, it wasn't supposed to be this way. Five years prior to Strasburg's debut, there was another right-handed power pitcher who took Washington D.C. by storm and seemed set to become the face of the new Washington franchise. John Patterson: the face of the new Washington franchise. ...

The wait is nearly over! In less than twelve hours, the first pitch of the 2017 World Series will scream across home plate and one of two teams will begin the process of dismantling their own respective streaks. Will the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate their first World Series title since 1988? Or will the Houston Astros prevail for their first championship ever and continue to help rebuild their home city struck by disaster earlier this fall?  Central to the efforts of the winning club will be the work done behind home plate. The Astros and Dodgers will deploy a quartet of sluggers that were lights-out in the regular season, but have nearly all struggled to some degree in the postseason. Which duo will emerge as the superior battery-mate?  The Case for the 'Stros (Brian McCann & Evan Gattis) The Houston Astros will most likely employ the power hitting duo of Brian McCann and Evan Gattis behind home plate for this year’s World Series. I say most likely because t...

Justin Verlander has pushed the Astros to the brink of the World Series. Six days after twirling a brilliant complete game effort that resulted in a 2-1 walk-off victory, longtime major league hurler Justin Verlander took the mound on October 20th and shut down the visiting New York Yankees to force a decisive Game 7. Verlander sprinkled five hits over his seven scoreless innings of work, racking up another eight strikeouts in the process and further endearing himself to the Houston Astros fan base. The start continued Verlander's run of utter dominance in an Astro's uniform, particularly during the 2017 postseason. In four games (three starts), Verlander has an unblemished 4-0 record. With just seventeen hits and six walks allowed over his 24.2 innings of work, Verlander's WHIP (walks & hits per innings pitched) stands at 0.93, an excellent indicator of just how dominant he has been. Essentially, he is giving up less than a single baserunner per inning pitched. Wh...

The predominant story line of the 2016 MLB playoffs was the evolution of how managers handled their bullpens. At the forefront of the conversation were Indians relievers Andrew Miller and Cody Allen as well as Chicago Cubs fireman Aroldis Chapman. Convention would dictate that managers hold off to the ninth inning to slot in their respective closers. Keep your best bullpen arm in reserve until you get a lead going into the final inning and unleash him for those final three outs.  It is a tried and true formula.   However, as we saw in last year’s post-season, major league managers were more willing to   shed some of those pre-existing concepts of what a pitchers role was coming out of the bullpen. It’s not entirely an alien concept to MLB. Long relief aces were once one of the defining characteristics of championship caliber teams (the 1990 “Nasty Boys” being an excellent example). In recent years, former Nationals hurler Tyler Clippard made a name for himself as a ...

Phillies rookie Rhys Hoskins acknowledges the crowd after his record breaking home run. This past Sunday, Phillies rookie wunderkind Rhys Hoskins hit his record breaking eleventh home run in just eighteen career games. It was the young slugger's fifth straight game with a home run and it served as an insurance run in the Phillies' eventual 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Since his promotion to the major league club, Hoskins has hit posted a .297 batting average, 11 home runs, and 24 RBI. In the history of major league baseball, no player has reached eleven home runs in a shorter amount of time. While Aaron Judge may have been the talk of baseball prior to the All-Star break, it is hard to argue that there is a bigger story in all of baseball over the past few weeks than Rhys Hoskins. In breaking down Hoskins' performance, a few particular stats leap out that lend me to believe that he will not be a flash in the pan. Obviously, power is a big part of Hoskins'...

Custom jerseys featuring player nicknames will be worn throughout the weekend. Starting today and running throughout the weekend, major league ball players will be wearing alternate uniforms seemingly inspired by those worn by little leaguers all across the county. In addition to the vibrant new designs, the jerseys won't bear the player's surnames on their backs, but rather individual nicknames, a proverbial tip of the cap to their adoring fans. While it may be a year too late for fans at Fenway Park to witness the heroics of "Big Papi" (David Ortiz), fans in Baltimore can expect to witness to the defensive wizardry of "Mr. Miami" (third baseman Manny Machado) while fans in New York can rise up for rookie phenom Aaron Judge, whose jersey will sport the fitting nickname "All Rise". As exciting as the event will be for fans, players are also probably ecstatic at the prospect of breaking out custom made batting gloves, cleats, bats, wristbands, ...

Gio Gonzalez owns a 12-5 record with a 2.39 ERA for the 2017 season. On August 20th, Washington Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez notched his twelfth win of the year in the Nationals 4-1 victory over the San Diego Padres. While the overall stat line was fairly typical for the left handed starter this season: 6.1 innings pitched, 1 run allowed (unearned), 8 strikeouts vs. 1 walk, 121 total pitches (74 for strikes), Sunday's game marked the twenty-first outing of the season in which Gio had pitched at least six innings. It's a feat that Gonzalez only managed to accomplish eighteen times a year ago. Indeed, the lefty starter is in the midst of one of his best seasons to date as he currently owns a 12-5 record with a 2.39 ERA which ranks third in all of baseball. Gio's accomplishments thus far in the 2017 season are especially surprising given his performance during the 2016 season and an off-season in which many National's fans were clamoring for the front office to trad...

This is part one of what I hope to make a weekly series which I would like to call "A Flash in the Pan." The focus will be on major league pitchers and position players who burst onto the scene and left a lasting impression before fading into obscurity almost as quickly as they appeared. The focus of this week's article will be on former Detroit relief pitcher Joel Zumaya. The setting was Game 2 of the 2006 American League Divisional Series between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees. After a wild top half of the seventh inning that saw Tiger's center fielder Curtis Granderson smack a go-ahead RBI triple into the left-center gap, Detroit manager Jim Leyland faced the unenviable position of deciding how to best attack the heart of the vaunted Yankees lineup. The 2006 Yankees were truly a nightmare to face for opposing pitchers with their combination of power, speed, and discipline (they finished ranked fifth in home runs, third in stolen bases, and third i...

Trevor Gott relinquishes the ball after giving up five runs without recording an out. This past Saturday, the Washington Nationals led the Cincinnati Reds by a score of 10-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning. Up to that point, the game had gone exactly according to plan. Max Scherzer had spun six shutout innings on ten strikeouts. All-Star snub Anthony Rendon had driven in six runs on two home runs, including a grand slam in the seventh inning that looked to seal the deal for the Nationals. Dusty Baker trotted out newcomer Austin Adams, one of the organization's better relief prospects, to see whether he could be part of the answer to their bullpen woes. It was a move that I had personally been rooting for since it became clear that the relievers for the Nationals were a weakness that was becoming more and more exposed by the day (as a team, they have converted only twenty-two of their thirty-six save opportunities). Though Adams had his share of control problems in the mi...

As the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline rapidly approaches, those who follow baseball will undoubtedly hear of major league teams being labeled as either "buyers" or "sellers". With the inclusion of a second wild card team, the chances of making a playoff push have increased considerably since the one-game playoff was implemented back in 2012. Since 2000, ten Wild Card teams have made the World Series (with the 2002 Angels, the 2003 Marlins, the 2004 Red Sox, and the 2014 Giants winning the championship). That's a rate of 25%; roughly one out of every four champions have come in the form of a team that wasn't a divisional winner. The saying that the season restarts once you reach the playoffs couldn't be truer in major league baseball.  At this point in time, the American League playoff picture is virtually still wide open as every team is conceivably in the mix. The Chicago White Sox, the team furthest out of a playoff seed and probably the ...