Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo indicated during a session

Wednesday that first-year manager Dave Martinez will return next season.“I haven’t considered any other scenario http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-greinke-jersey ,” Rizzo responded when asked if Martinez would be back.The Nationals, expected to contend for a third straight NL East title, entered Wednesday with a 69-70 record, 7 1/2 games behind Atlanta in the East and eight games back in the wild card.In addition to injuries to players including Daniel Murphy, Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg and Sean Doolittle, Martinez’s work as a rookie skipper has come under scrutiny.“I think Davey’s doing a great job in managing this team,” Rizzo said. “He’s managed them through a lot of trials and tribulations that a lot of first-year managers haven’t had to go through, and to have a team playing with the exuberance and energy level that they’re playing at at this point I think is a testament to Davey and the staff and the way that they feel about him in the clubhouse.”The 53-year-old Martinez was the Chicago Cubs bench coach before he signed a three-year contract with the Nationals in October 2017. Martinez replaced veteran manager Dusty Baker, who went 192-132 in two seasons with Washington, but was unable to win a postseason series either year.This year’s team was 33-22 after winning their sixth straight game on May 30. They haven’t won as many as four in a row since. Both the Braves and second-place Philadelphia have played sub-.500 baseball since Aug. 15, but the Nationals have failed to make a big move, going 9-9.“We thought all along we had a chance to catch those teams,” Rizzo said, “and if we played the way we’re supposed to be playing that we’d have an opportunity to make this a race and it’s frustrating that we haven’t put anything together to really push them to the limits that we thought we should.”The Nationals stood pat at the July trade deadline and Rizzo expressed confidence in the team as constituted, but a run did not materialize and the team has since traded away a number of veterans, among them Murphy http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-greinke-jersey , Matt Adams, Ryan Madson and Gio Gonzalez, saving significant payroll dollars.Outfielder Bryce Harper, who entered Wednesday with 31 homers and 89 RBIs, will be a free agent after this season and third baseman Anthony Rendon’s turn will come after next season.“If we have or we haven’t, we’re certainly not going to discuss it in this venue,” Rizzo said when asked if he’s made an effort to sign the pair to long-term contracts. “Suffice it to say both of those guys are near and dear to our heart and we’d love to have them long-term.” The Twins do get back in the New York groove."Pop-Up Video was a show on VH1 that ran in the late 1990s to the early 2000s. When I was a kid, it was just cool to hear the popping noise and then some random fact show up during a music video of some song that I really didn’t care to listen to. Now imagine a recap video of tonight’s game while reading this and some fact popping up every once in a while. Tonight’s game was delayed for about 25 minutes due to rain and I honestly thought something along the lines of, “Oh crap, this is the first game of the Phillies series all over again.” Well, I was proved wrong. Pop! FACT: The game tonight was played between the Minnesota Twins and the New York Mets at Citi Field.After an exchange of zeroes in the first inning, each team put up a 1-spot in their respective half of the second inning. The Twins’ run came off a home run off of Mets starter Jacob deGrom that just barely made it above the home run line in center field, courtesy of catcher Mitch Garver. An Amed Rosario double off of Twins starter Kyle Gibson brought in Michael Conforto in the bottom of the second, tying the game. Pop! FACT: Garver’s home run broke Nay-cob deGrom’s 27-inning scoreless streak.The Twins said, “No, a tie is not acceptable at this point in time,” and in the top of the third http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-greinke-jersey , Jorge Polanco took a triple to center field and then promptly scored on a deGrom wild pitch. Willians Astudillo then slapped a single to center field, then Eddie Rosario came along and said, “deBombs away!” and promptly hit a bomb to right center to bring the Twins up to 4-1 over the Mets.Pop! FACT: Rosario’s home run broke deGrom’s quality start streak at 26 games, leaving him tied with Bob Gibson.Oh, and Garver hit a deBomb dong immediately after Rosario, his second of the game, making it his first multi-homer game of his career and the second time this year that the Twins hit back-to-back homers. Pop!FACT: This was the first game that deBomb allowed three home runs in one game since May 2014 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.Brandon Nimmo (or “Nimmer” as Cory Provus calls him) and Conforto retaliated in the bottom of the third with solo bombs of their own off of Gibson, bringing the score to 5-3 in favor of the Twins. Max Kepler brought in Byron Buxton on a single in the top of the fourth inning, tacking on another run and making the score Twins 6, Mets 3. 97 pitches in four innings was too much for deGrom and he was deGone after the inning wrapped up. Gibson had another okay outing tonight, starting off being effective and then hitting a wall (not literally) in the fifth inning. After allowing a double to Nimmo, Gibson was able to notch two outs before loading the bases after issuing back-to-back walks to Conforto and J.D. Davis. Rocco Baldelli came out and pulled Gibson, who turned in 4.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K Andrew Chafin Jersey , 2 HR. Trevor Hildenberger came in and put out the fire to end the Mets’ threat. Pop! FACT: Hildenberger has inherited eight runners so far this season and none of them have scored.Jonathan Schoop schooped a home run off of Seth Lugo in the top of the sixth inning while Trevor May pitched a quiet bottom of the sixth. Astudillo struck out in the top of the seventh. Adalberto Mej铆a came in to pitch in the seventh inning and allowed a homer to Pete Alonso. Twins 7, Mets 4. Pop!FACT: Astudillo’s strikeout was his first of the season.The Twins then broke the game open in the top of the eight with a fielding error by Alonso off the bat of Ehire Adrianza, scoring Buxton from second base. After a pop-out by Kepler, Polanco took the first pitch he saw from Robert Gsellman to center field for a his second homer of the year and putting the Twins up by a score of 10-4. Minnesota said, “This is not enough runs; there must be more,” and more there were. Jason Castro slapped a grounder through the infield to right field, scoring Rosario in the top of the ninth. Schoop joined the Multi-Homer Game Club as well, hitting a deep three-run bomb to left center, scoring Garver and Castro. Twins 14, Mets 4.Chase De Jong made me realize that my pain tolerance is selective and saw his first action of the year and allowed Alonso to join the Multi-Homer Game Club with his second homer of the night, a two-run shot to right field. He also made a mess of things and allowed a couple more runs after that. De Jong pitched too long in the inning to the point where Provus and Dazzle Man talked about Provus’ short time as a weatherman and made me shake my fist at the sky. Pop! FACT: De Jong will probably not see any action with the Twins for the rest of time.Twins 14, Mets 8W: Hildenberger (2-0)L: deGrom (2-1)STUDSMitch Garver: 4-5, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBIJonathan Schoop: 2-5, 2 HR, 2 R Alex Avila Jersey , 4 RBI, 2 KJorge Polanco: 3-5, HR, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI, a 2B short of another cycleTrevor Hildenberger: 0.1 IP, W, inherited three runners, let none scoreDUDSI could have put De Jong here, but how could I give out any duds on a Twins win like this? COMMENT OF THE GAME THREADwayback: “The bases are loaded, and so am I”ROLL CALL:#Commenter# CommentsThanks for joining us tonight and GO TO BED.