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Nationals roster construction becomes a question after losses to Miami · District Territory

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm your host,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Eric Shellhouse. Joining me today Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: The Nationals coming off of two straight losses to the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Miami Marlins, both by a score of seven to three.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Last night's was pretty similar to the fashion of Monday
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: nights loss, but we got some good stuff to talk
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: about as well. Miles michaelis uptick to ninety seven miles
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: per hour. It's a while since he's done that, but
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: let's dive right into it. Tuesday night, NAT's lost seven
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: to three, dropping their record to thirty one and thirty
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: one back at that elusive five hundred mark. It came
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: tumbling down in the fifth inning when Joe Mack blasted
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: his first career home run. Shout out Joe Mack, Marlins
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: catching prospect. And then one batter later, Hernandez, we will
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: be talking about him a lot on this show. I'm
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: sure three nothing Marlins. And then the very next batter,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Auto Low has four nothing on I believe his let
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: me check my notes. Fifth home run of the year, Yes,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: fifth home run of the season. The Nationals got it back,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: or got some back in the seventh inning, or the
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: part of me correct. The seventh inning, they rallied for
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: two runs after picking one up in the sixth, but
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Herberto Hernandez delivered the crushing billow. In the ninth inning,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: a two run homer off of Mitchell Parker gave them
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: a set into three lead, didn't put the game out
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: of reach. Drew Millis also exited the game. Over the course, Spencer,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I was wondering if you had anything new on him
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and any injury update on Millie.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So we talked to Millis after last night's game.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: It's funny. He made a little quick He's someone who
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: definitely like smiles and laughs a lot when he does interviews,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: and he was like, I can't do that right now.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: He was like Andy, He did end up smiling a
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: few times, so he was like it, you know. So
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: he had I forget, two or three stitches on his
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: left lip have been done pretty quickly. He had a
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: bruise on his forehead if I'm remembering correctly. That came
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: from sliding into the third baseman's knee, and then the
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: stitches were from his helmet kicking off and then bouncing
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: back in his face somehow. Because all catchers are indestructible.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: He is available to play tomorrow. Now again, I think
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: they'll probably go with Kber in that spot. But yeah,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: when he told us every when Blake told us that
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Drew would be good to go, I was, you know, astounded.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: But Drew, Drew's picked up many injuries. If you look
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: at his finger, I think we've talked about this before.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: That thing is not look like what a finger should
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: he You know, catchers have to deal with stuff all
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: the time. We don't hear about. This was one that
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: obviously is just a you know a little more visible.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I it almost seemed like Blake was like a
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: parent getting him to come off the field very last secondary.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: He's like, you're coming off, You're done here for the night.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: We're going to get X rays, We're going to get
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: you checked out. I'll always get worried with a head
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: first dive, especially for a catch or two. You just
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: don't want the throwing arm or anything to get caught.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: But glad that Millie's okay. Nothing more than a few stitches.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Another injury update really quickly. Trevor Williams through a simulated
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: game yesterday at Nationals Parky faced Jose Tenna and Andres
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Chaparro and the boys are out supporting really quickly. Take
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: a listen to the Nationals pitching stash, their pitching staff
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: rendition of the national anthem. Beautiful stuff from the guys. Right,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: they're supporting Driver in his simulated game. But Jake Irvin
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: has not returned to throwing just yet. He went on
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: the IL week or two ago. But Spencer, what's the
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: latest on Jake and hopefully we can expect to see
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: him throwing soon?
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, major, friend, I guess the biggest thing to
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: know is that the tea not actually he said it
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: was definite, but said it was likely that Jake might
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: not need any more than the fifteen days he's allotted. Now,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: anytime you hear that as a fan, I would suggest
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: being skeptical. It is very rare that anyone ever needs
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: just fifteen days on IL, and especially with pictures like
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: you just never know how these things materialize. Again, he
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: stillsn't thrown, but his shoulder feels better, and so that's
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: kind of something where they're just taking it day by
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: day and I don't expect him to be out on
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: the mound anytime soon if he still hasn't thrown, but
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: I'm sure we'll get some updates at least over the
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: next week or so. And again, yeah, hopefully he's back
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: pretty soon.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, wish in Jake a strong recovery. Let's jump into Miles.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Mike liasses out in yesterday. The final line six innings pitched,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: six runs allowed when he exited the game. That was
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: four at the time, but it was really the fifth
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: inning that got to him, the three home runs in
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: a row. Blake spoke about it afterwards. Left some pitches
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: over the middle of the plate, but as you noted Spencer,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: he is up to ninety seven miles per hour, the
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: first time in several years he's done that. Overall, a
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: pretty solid outing for Miles in my opinion.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, definitely better than the box score indicates.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: It was one of those weird starts for like the
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: first like two or three innings, very pitched with sensational
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: He has that inning where starts with a walk and
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: then the back to back to back homer is Yeah.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I think there's another walk right after it as well,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: and then again cruises until the ninth when Mitch enters.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: I'm taking more good than bad from this start, as
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: I think Miles would as well. Again, to see him
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: back up to ninety seven velocity doesn't mean everything, but
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: the fact he was sitting like closer to ninety three
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: ninety four or at the start of the year and
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: now he's sitting ninety five ninety six again, it is
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: both a credit to him as well as the coaching
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: staff in DC in a credit you know, when we
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: think about big picture stuff, like you want pictures coming
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: in who are open minded, and you want coaches who
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: are able to teach guys that really any stage of
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the development curve. So like, sure, it's great that guys
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: in the minor leagues are adding two to three miles
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: per hour, and I shouldn't say that's expected, but it's
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: more expected than Mike List doing it in his late thirties.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, that's been such such a key
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: driver for the growth as of late. But you know,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: you can't Miles put it like this. He put his
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: team in a tough spot when you go through that
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: stretch and you just can't have one of those extended
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: stretches where like you can give up home runs every
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: now and then, but you can't have him be three
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: in a row and you can't walk the guy before
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: and after, so he's still kind of trying to figure
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: out his way to navigate through that. But again, overall,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: if I'm looking at this and saying after this start,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: do I think Miles will have a more or less
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: successful June than I initially thought, I would say more
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: just from the fact that, again he is able to
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: sustain the velocity for as long as he did.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it should also be noted that the Nationals pitched
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: seven innings of no hit baseball. If my box notes
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: are correct here, it was two big innings for the Marlins,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the fifth and the ninth inning. So Miles was fantastic
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: between the sixth and the eighth inning there, which is
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: post three home runs for anyone that's chirping in the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Twitter world. But yeah, the Nats came out of the
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: gates four no hit innings. The Marlins pitching they looked
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: good early on. That's we're getting no hit through five innings.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: But this offense just doesn't quit. Gonna say scrappy while
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Franny's not on the podcast, but a scrappy offense that
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: is just resilient and Monday, the offense got going early.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Jacob Young with another home run, his eighth of the season.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: I believe this one again right off the bat, you
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: kind of no doubt about it. Spencer, what is this
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: power stroke that Jacob has had and we think he
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: can sustain it over the course of the season.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: I still don't think he's a twenty home run hitter,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: but you gotta again. I've said this before, and maybe
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: this is a dumb way to think about it, but
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: the fact that it's fair to start asking the question
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: tells you about the improvement you've seen. I actually talked
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: to Jacob a little bit about this the afternoon before
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: he hit the home run. So he's pulling the ball,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: obviously in the air a lot more than he has
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: in years past. I know last year focused for him
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: was just getting the ball in the air, and even
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: that was a bit of a struggle. As we was
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: talking about before this offseason, he worked a lot on
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: his bat speed and his bat path and getting all
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: those things faster. And I said, okay, like, but how
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: are those two things connected. How is bat speed connected
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: to pulling the ball in the air. And he said, well,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: you don't actually have to change a lot to your sway,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: but if you're making contact. You know, at your like
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: back hip versus your front hip. When you add like
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: a mile power bat speed, all of a sudden, the
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: basster is getting polls in the year. So yeah, that
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: that's how he's doing it. Again, really impressive training regiment
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: on his part. It's funny the trainer he worked with
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: this offseason the Nationals ended up hiring as their Triple
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: A hitting coach. We should tell you a little bit
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: about how successful they thought that pursuit was. In addition
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: to obviously who Travis Fitta the trainer is and now coaches,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: how good he is at his job, also helping Dylan
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Cruiz a lot at Triple A. But yeah, you know,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: it's it's impressive to see him do this, and ultimately
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: from that that spot later down in the lineup, you
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: either want someone who can hit, you know, Homer's at
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: a decent clip, or get on base at a decent clip,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: and everything else is just a chair on top. Right now,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: he's not getting on base a lot, but he is
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: hitting a lot homers. So really you just need him
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: to do one of those two things and ultimately you
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: have yourself a productive player.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna have to get us like a real,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: a genuine down on the farm reports, sort of like
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: two or three minutes every day. Because they were doing
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: it again last night, yo yo, sever king home runs
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• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Alrighty, we are back, Spencer. I want to talk about
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Ki Cavali's outing on Monday really quickly, because it certainly
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: did not have the makings of one of his better
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: outings of the season. But his ability to buckle down
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: it's not astounded me, but spoke volumes the other day
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: of the picture that we are seeing developed before our
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: very eyes forty six pitches I think in the first
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: inning and was able to give a six Would you
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: notice from him on Monday?
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So, someone who more than almost anyone on the roster,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: likes to keep some of the process stuff close to
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: the vest I think he fears that if he gives
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: anything away, like a team is gonna, you know, use
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: that to their advantage in a future start. So I
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: gotta trust like the eye test and the metrics more
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: than like an explanation of this one, which is funny.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I think ultimately it really is just a case of
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: him getting back in the zone, if I were to
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: simplify it. They've talked so much they use words count leverage,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: which if you're a National fan you may start to
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: hear more and more this season. He's someone where, like
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: more than almost anyone else, the batting average and slug
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: changes if he is ahead in the count versus behind
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: the count. And he just wasn't able to locate his
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: stuff early on. But as we know about Caid, and
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: we know about guys who throw ninety seven with you know,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: secondary pitches that are even better. All not all you
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: have to do is thrown in the zone. But generally
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: you're gonna have pretty good results if you can land
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: that stuff for strike. So yeah, he talked a little
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: bit about just making that adjustment after those first two innings.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: Now did he say what that adjustment was. No, he'd not.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: He probably never will, but I do think it's a
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: credit both to him as an athlete being able to
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: make his body move down the way such move down
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: the mound in such a way that he can figure
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: it out on top of as always the coaching staff
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: helping him figure it out. Now again we I guess,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I'm curious to hear your perspective on this, Like Caid
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: has been so consistent this season when you look at
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: the final box score, and yet it does feel like
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: there's another level in there somewhere, and maybe it's just
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: figuring out those like short stints, but do you feel
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: like there's more in the tank when you watch Kaide.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Personally? I do, and I think it's a matter of
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: putting it all together over the course of one start,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and I feel like the other day is kind of
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the closest we got to see to that if you
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: just remove the first two innings, forty six over the
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: first winnings, and I gotta correct myself. He didn't go six.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: He went five pitching into the sixth inning, but he
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: was very animated coming off of the mountain like that
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: was the end of his day in the fifth inning,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and they rolled him back out for the sixth and
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: that to me says that flake Putera also sees that
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: there's something more in the tank there. I would I
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: would say, yes, you know, I mean, I think it's
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: a matter of who who the opponent is on a
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: given day and where the pitch count is and how
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: he's moving through the order. And Monday just simply wasn't
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: his night. And when the Nationals turn it over to
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: the bullpen, I'm not his night. He was able to
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: buckle down. It wasn't the Nationals night. And maybe it's
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: a testament to the Marlins management because when we put
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: in Richard Lovelady, they put in our berth do Hernandez
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: and he had his third home run of the season
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: at the time. He came into this series with two
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: and the Marlins with Pad not Pad, take the lead
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: in that inning on a very funky double by Norby,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: an inside outlook and swing here and just trickles into
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: the corner. Gave him a four to three lead in
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the sixth inning, and then in the ninth inning, Liam
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Hicks a booming, towering home run that just got out
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: into the right field bullpen, and then Kyle Sours adding
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: the insurance he enjoyed that one as he jogs out
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: of the box there. You know, I'm curious as to
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: what you noticed from Cole Henry in the ninth inning
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: on Monday and night. Spencer's a guy that the Nationals
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: just got back recently from the injured list, had been
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: pitching at Rochester before as someone in spring training that
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of Nationals fans were excited to see. He
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: was a converted starting pitching to relieve prospect. But what
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: did you make of his outing on Monday?
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he's pretty clearly still working through some things.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: The Nationals don't really need him to be a high
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: leverage arm at this moment. The fastball is such that,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: like it's sins ninety five, and that's great, but so
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: much of the game today too is fastball shapes and
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: his I don't know if necessarily needs tweaking, but there
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: needs to be some sort of adjustment on it where
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: both the command and the stuff on it become better, because,
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, the sweeper is so good, like that pitch
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: deserves all the credit in the world, but when you
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: don't have a fastball that you can count on, and
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: that's kind of what we saw on the night thing there,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: he really struggled. I guess the aspect of what you
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: just showed that is more relevant to me is also
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: the love Lady stuff, like credit to him for forgetting
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: through two innings opening, credit to him for what he
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: did early in the season. But because the Nationals only
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: have two lefties in their bullpen right now, it has
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: become very hard for Blakey Terry to manage games knowing
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: that like Mitchell Parker isn't having the best stretch right now,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Richard Lovelady is going through a bit of a swoon
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: and that's all you've got on that front. Again. I
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: know it's not like easy to just pluck left handers
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: out of the sky and fix them and everything of
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: that nature, but I think when you look at some
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: of these like series against teams with left handed heavy lineups,
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: and you look at the Nationals struggle to do much
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: against them and just you know, walks and low strikeouts
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: and home runs, like I do think maybe if we're
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: starting to treat this team as one that needs to
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: be winning games on everyday basis, you need to see
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: them find some sort of left handed pitching again, whether
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: that's from the waiver wire or again making a tweak
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: quicker with Mitchell or pooling down in Rochester or something
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: like that, because it really is kind of coming back
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: to burn the Nationals in some of these games.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Spencer, I'm curious, like we have a one o'clock
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: later today that we're gonna get into previewing in a second.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: But it was the sixth inning when we brought in
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Richard Lovelady and the game was that was the situation
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: at that point in time. That might have been the
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: ninth inning as Bwterra might have been viewing it. But
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: do you think this is set up the Nationals at
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: a disadvantage today where they had to throw Mitchell Parker
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: in last night's game and love ladies throwing two days
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: in a row, so you're assuming he's probably unavailable. Is
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: there any lefties available after Andrew Alvarez today?
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: No, and that's why you need some lane from Alvareze
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: hap yeat I would give here and you didn't see
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: last year. So even this is not a good caveat
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: is that Brad Lord's number against lefties have been decent
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: this year and again that his pitch mix is different,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: So I think that there's some real credibility to that.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: But you really would like to have some sort of
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: left available today, and I just don't know who that
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: would be. So yeah, they might be in a tough spot.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: And again that's why it helps to have three or
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: at times they've even had four lefties in the bullpen,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: and a lot of them have struggled, Like you need
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: lefties who have produced as well as just a guy
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: who actually throws with his left hand. But yeah, it's
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: a great point to bring up ahead of this.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Game, and it could certainly change before we head over
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: to the ballpark here in a little bit. But Wednesday's
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: pitching previews. Currently, Andrew Alvarez last time out three innings
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: in relief against the Padres, sits at a four or
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: two on the season. With Max meyer Man, he has
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: been a problem this season, five to zero with a
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: two nine seven. What can you tell Nats fans about
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: this right handed pitcher a preview?
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Candidly, I went to bed like seven hours ago, so
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: I haven't even really looked too much into Maximeier. Just
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: to give fans a peek through the curtain. And we'll
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: be heading to the park in about twenty minutes, so
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: can't sell them much. But what I will say about
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: the Nationals against the right handed pitching is you have
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: James wood Dale and Lyyle all these lefties in the lineup,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: C J. Abrams. So I think if you're looking for
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: a bounce back game like a right hander is a
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: great way to do it. But again, I'm not going
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: to act like you know THEO one hundred and sixty
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: two of these I maybe don't know the upcoming starting
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: pitcher on every single one man, that's on me, that's
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: on me.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: That's well. He has been an issue this season for
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: the National League and the National League East, And you know,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: maybe today's just a little humbling moment. You can't forget
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: about those finicky fish. Give her along the online viewers
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: a look at the National League's standings. The Braves still
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: standing strong atop the division forty one and twenty, the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Marlins leap frogging back over the Mets with some wins
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: over the last couple of days, and the Nationals right
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the pack there at thirty one
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: and thirty one. After the final game today against the Marlins.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Net's gonna not needed, I say needed, but yes, I
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: needed off day on Thursday before they head out west
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: to take on the Diamondbacks, and the Giants returned back
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: for some more inter league play against the Mariners and
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the Royals. But that's about well. There's one other thing
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I wanted to know before we head out, Spencer. I
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: just saw these pfps the other day. I've never seen
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: this before, the batter set up in the baseline. This
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: was just an interesting drill for me to follow. But
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: it seemed there that you know, to have pitchers practicing
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: down to the detail of where the runners might be
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: in a base path for a bump play, just to
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the coaching staff, to everyone involved. And I want to
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: give props to Blake peterra. I can't remember the last
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: time I saw a manager throwing batting practice, but he
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: is out there every day, not every day throwing VP,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: but hitting fung gos, doing something. I've never seen a
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: manager this involved out on a baseball field, not in
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: a long time at least, So kudos to him. By
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: anything you want to throw in before we head over
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the ballpark, Spence, No, we'll.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Talk a little bit more about some of the like
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: interesting managerial decisions and roster decisions coming up. Again. We
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: talked about the left handed relievers. We talk about you know,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: Ten and Vivas occupying some similar roles. Like there's a
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: bunch of interesting things going on, but we'll save those
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: conversations for.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Franny, we'll say, until we get Franny back on Friday.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: We're also gonna have a giveaway for you so you
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: don't want to miss it. But until next time, see
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: you later.