Liberty Bell

 First of all, I think it's pretty cool that Ryan Zimmerman can hand off 1st base to someone as solid as Josh Bell in Washington. Guy essentially jumpstarts the franchise, is a fixture at third, the outfield and first, hangs it up and when he's done, there's already a Grade-A choice at 1st ready to take over. I'm glad that hand-off can be so smooth. 

Josh Bell's honestly one of the few non-Soto things going right so far for the Nats. I worried early last year that he'd struggle to recreate his 2019 success in Pittsburgh, but he's been doing really well so far this season, hitting .333 with 17 hits, 12 RBIs and 2 home runs. I'm glad that he's going more toward contact work and less towards full power, though I do see him maybe going a bit further towards homers as we go forward, seeing as he was so good at knocking 'em out for the Pirates. 

Additionally, this team has Juan Soto, and for as long as he sticks around, that's going to be a huge factor. Soto knocked his 500th hit yesterday, and him doing so at 23 is a very big deal. He's still very new in this game, and the fact that he's gotten so much done by this age is incredible. Juan Soto hopefully has enough of this power and hitting energy to last an entire career, but man it's really filling seats in DC right now, right?

Other than that, uh....not a hell of a lot going on for the Nationals right now. Nelson Cruz has finally decided to start hitting like a 40something year old, he has as many hits as he does strikeouts. Alcides Escobar's 2021 magic seems to have worn off, Patrick Corbin still can't get his stuff together, Victor Robles might be done for, and there's a guy on the bench with the super-cool name of Lucius Fox who has some insane defensive abilities but has not been able to hit. The team does have a decent closer in Tanner Rainey, some good starts from Josiah Gray and Joan Adon, and, til he went on the IL, the welcome support of Sean Doolittle. But this team seems clearly depleted, and isn't going to be able to get much done this year. 

Right now, however, they're doing better in the stands than the Phillies. I do hope that this evens out eventually, but...knowing the Phillies, this could be all April.

Coming Tonight: 11 years after a trade that shook the balance of two teams, a hero returns home.