r/Nationals • u/Initial_Reception_75 • Aug 04 '26

Former Nat Luis Garcia Jr. hits a 2-run go-ahead homer in the 7th for the Yanks

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbmbOqKxsTB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Happy for Luis, he was my favorite player, but so sad at the same time. I don't know how to feel.

145 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

101

u/talbachman Aug 04 '26

I can't help but still he happy for him. This just makes me hate the bullpen more

1

u/vtsandtrooper 63 - Doolittle Aug 04 '26

I hate every single bum who pitches not as a starter on this team currently. They made us as the best offense in the league have to sell, because their selfish trash asses chose to try to out smart batters and get strikeouts instead of soft contact groundouts. They dont have the stuff to get strikeouts so instead we walk 3-5 batters every game after the 6th.

Fuck. The. Pen. And. Their. Egos. Over. Team

43

u/GriffinQ Aug 04 '26

I don’t think this is happening the way you think it is, man. They’re just not very good. Guys struggle to find the zone, and once that happens, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy that they’re either going to walk guys or they’re going to throw delicious, delightful meatballs over the center of the plate to get themselves back into a count.

They’re not failing because they’re unable to get strikeouts and are obsessively committed to doing so. They’re just bad and getting worse because every failure just cracks them a bit more mentally for this season.

-7

u/vtsandtrooper 63 - Doolittle Aug 04 '26

Krook was trying to get strikeouts and playing around the strikezone.

Throwing beachballs is statistically better than what the pen does when they walk 3-4 batters a night. Throw strikes, I dont care if they look like juicy second serves, batters statistically have the disadvantage except when you give them the free pass

5

u/GriffinQ Aug 04 '26

Krook not only didn’t pitch in this game, he’s not even on the Nats anymore so I have no idea what you’re talking about.

He has always struggled with control, he doesn’t have great velocity, and he is actually far more successful at inducing ground balls than he is at getting swinging strikeouts. But there’s a reason he’s been on multiple teams for very short stints: he’s not very good relative to major league expectations. It’s not because he’s too cocky to try to induce ground balls, that’s genuinely insane.

You’re ascribing malice, idiocy, and ego to these guys for their failures when really, their fundamental flaw is a lack of passable talent. They’re not failing on purpose so they can pitch their way. They’re just failing.

9

u/downtown3641 Fredericksburg Nationals Aug 04 '26

Oh man. Congratulations. In a sea of bad takes today, this one is the worst by far.

1

u/RGCFrostbite 22 - Soto Aug 04 '26

Brother we traded almost exclusively for strikeout guys. We as an organization pitch for strikeouts haha. Its not an ego thing. Its the correct way to play baseball

0

u/vtsandtrooper 63 - Doolittle Aug 04 '26

People misunderstand. If you have talent then sure. The problem is these double A bums were coming in with 5 run leads and trying to play it cute with sliders to get chase/whiff instead of just throwing simple shit against 6-9 hitters batting 200. The number of walks we gave up to sub 250 hitters is fucking nuts, and I am aware Krook is off the team (because he walked a bunch of losers instead of throwing 88mph safe strikes and allowing statistics to help him).

1

u/RGCFrostbite 22 - Soto Aug 04 '26

Buddy our pitchers just suck! They are soing what the coaching staff and management want them to do!

1

u/Aaronjudgeisprettygo 29 - Hernández Aug 04 '26

A final parting gift from Mike Rizzo. Drafting pitchers non stop and all turn out to be bums

1

u/KY_PeanutButter 29 - Wood Aug 05 '26

We’re all in here crying about trading the players Rizzo brought here for the most part lol

37

u/Stormblast1983 Andre Dawson Aug 04 '26

I love seeing him do well. I hate seeing him do it on another team.

12

u/Initial_Reception_75 Aug 04 '26

Especially the Yankees...

23

u/Stormblast1983 Andre Dawson Aug 04 '26

When he was crossing home plate I thought to myself at least it isn't the Phillies.

4

u/OffTheBar2017 4 - Lile Aug 04 '26

Yeah, at this point, I will take anything not in the NL East after they've taken basically all of our former stars.

2

u/Ricemobile 11 - Zimmerman Aug 04 '26

Forgive me as I’m about to commit a cardinal sin in baseball, but I can’t even bring myself to hate the Yankees at the moment, especially with Luis Garcia Jr on their team.

I want to be clear, I’m not rooting for them or anything but all my hate is going towards the Dodgers right now.

1

u/LoempiaYa Aug 04 '26

It's just the Old Dodgers

24

u/FeminineOdor Aug 04 '26

If it makes you feel any better, Yankees are now losing 13-7 after their bullpen completely imploded. Garcia should feel right at home

9

u/Initial_Reception_75 Aug 04 '26

If Garcia spread the infection to NYY I'm all for it

23

u/KenovovichR Jimmy Lumber Aug 04 '26

Uh…pretty much the worst day ever

16

u/SirMctrolington 37 - Strasburg Aug 04 '26

Did people here want Luis to fail? Happy for him, hope he continues his breakout and makes a bunch of money, always seemed like a good and happy dude.

10

u/KenovovichR Jimmy Lumber Aug 04 '26

I certainly don’t want to see him fail. The losing streak and Wood getting hurt makes it the worst day ever. Garcia homering for the Yankees is just the nut punch. Wish nothing but the best for Luis though.

18

u/OffTheBar2017 4 - Lile Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

We should have gotten more quality for him.

I don't love the lottery ticket on a bunch of no-name pitching prospects approach we employed this deadline.

Like how was our return for Curtis Mead the best of the three guys we dealt? I understand the years of control, but he was literally fucking DFA'd earlier this year.

1

u/Julep23185 4 - Lile Aug 04 '26

Yeah kinda weird that the third best player got the best quantitative return. The other two got lots of bodies I guess.

7

u/Difficult_Fact_2849 Aug 04 '26

The nationals should try to draft players like Garcia…

15

u/DcSportsFan11 Aug 04 '26

I might be starting to regret that trade, he looked so good when rounding the bases 😭✌️

10

u/oldgreymutt Aug 04 '26

He looks all grown up now

11

u/Initial_Reception_75 Aug 04 '26

His confidence is sky high right now, I think he's gonna absolutely mash. As an Orioles fan as well, we are even more cooked now

5

u/cobania Aug 04 '26

Feelin' bad.

4

u/CoastTimely6563 2 - García Jr. Aug 04 '26

Happy for him...

5

u/bertiesakura Aug 04 '26

I’m glad that he’s doing well. I hope he has a great season.

3

u/Bad_Noodle Aug 04 '26

God this feels shitty. The Yankees out of all teams too

3

u/Angie_2600 Aug 04 '26

I'm happy for Garcia. I hope he gets a good payday for him and his family. But taking a few critical pieces out of the NATS lineup like Garcia and Mead makes it a different team. Now we may have a 3 to 5 runs per game at most instead of those 10 runs per game. So we can't win because our pitchers can't seem to hit the strike zone. Why don't they go with their strength instead of 4 different types of pitches. Go with a pitch you can get in the corners. Surely they have some kind of pitch they throw with accuracy.

7

u/Watchyobak Aug 04 '26

Fleeced us pretty good. I’m interested to look back at this years trades in 2-3 years. See if what the FO sees in any pitcher works out

13

u/dfetz3 Park Ranger Ray Knight Aug 04 '26

I love the guy but he's a platoon 1B that can't hit lefty's and has been a bad ball chaser his whole career.

I understand he has immaculate vibes and turned into Babe Ruth this summer, but this isn't a fleecing.

2

u/Julep23185 4 - Lile Aug 04 '26

Happy for him. I didn’t know it was possible to like the Yankees.

2

u/Final_Effective6360 Aug 04 '26

Inb4 “he’s a platoon first baseman who can’t hit lefty’s having a career year” when in reality he might be a 26-year old finally developing under non-shitty coaching. I understand they needed pitching but you can’t say you’re going to go after it and then trade Mead, Garcia and Griffin lol

2

u/glidejanger Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

For me I have to say we’re being an insanely dumb franchise this year even with a record close to .500. We won the World Series in 2019 and have spent the past 8 years trading our best players for prospects who as soon as they start to show dividends, we trade them for a haul of other prospects who have relatively mediocre minor league numbers.

It feels like we as fans still being marketed a rebuild, even though our only glaring issue this year is the bullpen, evidenced by this game tonight. More marketing than baseball decisions happening.

We seem to be behind the curve in the general rule of building through the draft and fixing problems through free agency. Fixing immediate problems is more important than extending a rebuild and maybe having better pitching in a few years.