Latest / District Territory / Breaking down the Nationals’ encouraging first month of 2026

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Breaking down the Nationals’ encouraging first month of 2026 · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Happy Friday everyone, Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I'm Eric shell House alongside me Spencer and does Bound
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: with the athletic Kevin Franz of the Washington Nationals. Guys,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: coming off with two wins here since we last talked
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: on air, and some breaking news from Spencer. Do you
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: want to share that really quickly before we break down
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the last two wins?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I will also be looking at my phone
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: to make sure there's no more as I'm reading this out. So,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: the Nationals just signed Max Kranik, who's a right handed reliever,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: to a big league deal. If you guys remember they
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: did not sign any reliever to a big league deal
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: this offseason, and so in that sense it's meaningful. He
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: had elbow surgery last July and was thrown before that,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: like nine ninety six. At a recent showcase, he was
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: throwing ninety four ninety five. So the sense is that
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: the stuff is, if not all the way back, pretty
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: close to back. And again, this is kind of reinforced
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: for the bullpen. We don't know what the corresponding move
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: is yet, but for a bullpen that's looked better over
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: the last two weeks. Compared to the start of the season.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I'd say this is pretty encouraging in the sense that, like,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: are the Nationals maybe going to be buyers at any
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: point this year? No, But when they can make smart
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: reinforcements on the margins like this.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: I think that that's meaningful. So that was the big one.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: And then they also traded Zach Short who's just a
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: not just a but he's a triple A infielder, who
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: they got from the Yankees in March. He said it's
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: to the Detroit Tigers for either cash considerations or a
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: player to be named later. So that's kind of the
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: wrap up of it. But obviously the Cranic news is
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: kind of the bigger item here.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, in the bullpen really one of the biggest storylines.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I feel like from the series in New York. They
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: pitched so well for any anyone you want to hand
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: flowers out to right off of the bat here, because
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, the bullten was just fantastic.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: There were Gus Varland just because I mean the situation
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: in itself, like we've seen a few outings in the
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: past go awry trying to close out.
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: Games in recent memory.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, they went into this whole series, what three
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: and fifteen, the last eighteen games at City Field. So
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: winning ball games, winning series not easy, but now they've
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: done it twice back to back. You go back, you know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: last year's last series there. But yeah, for me, Gus
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: Varland and you could put out so many other guys
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: and truly, but like for me.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: Gus is the guy.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: I'm going to say because number one, with Clayton Pieter
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: go going down, he's pretty much gonna be the guy.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: And and I say that because you look out there
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: in the pen, with all due respect to the guys,
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: like I'm not looking at shutdown guys everywhere. You know,
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of long relievers that have kind of
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: you know, are doing things. Some guys that are still
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: trying to find their way here, which is awesome, right.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: I love that because I mean, you need to to
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: get your opportunity, you need to have opportunity, and so
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: they're getting that opportunity. But forgard Gus Varland, uh, you know,
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: the first Varlin brother to get a save in his
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: family now trailing his brother Louis, who by the way,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: is having a better year than Mason Miller.
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: I will say that, uh, and is has this like great.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: Emotion behind him and this like this this character that
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: guys talk about so often that we get to see
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: and I don't like letting people know what that is all.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: The time because it's like that's that stays in the clubhouse.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: But the dude is amazing. He's not trying to be
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: someone he's not and he shut it down and guy
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: love it.
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, this guy and his well Barlan really quickly.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: For the viewers online, if you didn't see this, if
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you didn't see this after the game, that celebration was
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: something else, something to behold.
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: But sorry, continue Spencer.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: I was just gonna say.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: I mean that image speaks perfectly to it and for
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: those who don't see it, just a flex mouth wide open,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I say this. Yeah, yeah, Colgan is a purpose there.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: He's he's someone where I think a lot of relievers
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: say that they have like a screw or two loose
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: in a complimentary way. I think that when you see
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Gus celebrate like that at the end, that fits that description.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: But it also fits the description of fearless, like he
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: is someone where you're comfortable handing him the ball in
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the ninth inning, even though before this season he had
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: never done that in the big leagues, And I guess
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: where my mind goes with this, And I'm frain I'm
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: kind of curious to get your thoughts as well. Is
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: when we talk about him as maybe the closer with
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: beat her out, do you think they're going to use
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: him in the ninth exclusively? Or is that a case
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: where if they have high leverage arms coming up in
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: the or high leveraged bats coming up in the seventh
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: or eighth, they'd rather see him in that spot.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: How do you think they.
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: Might use I can see that many more time committee, Yeah,
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: I can see that because of the struggle of getting
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: to the night at times right like in in you know,
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: some of the games that you we've seen slip away
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: early on have happened in the seventh, like seventh or eighth,
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: and you got to put in a guy that could
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: get it.
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: And so you know, you look at the spots that
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: he go into.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: I mean, he's a hyvert guy with his fastball, stays
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: on playing more than others, and with a good like
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: bullet slider right like and and and I think those
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: situations there are lanes that you're gonna get against guys,
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: you know, and and the lane yesterday just so happened
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: to be not the top half of that lineup, but
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: if it got there, they felt comfortable obviously.
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: Uh, and that's who you know he's gonna face in
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: those guys.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: And you know, Alvarez had a great bat to get
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: the double downline, but like, just stay within with two
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: outs and and make pitch after pitch to Ronnie Mauricio,
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: and he made you know, mini running.
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: Mariso is going to swing a ton and he's gonna
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: chase a ton, but he fights a little bit.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: And we saw that and we had you have to
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: make your pitches because the moment you don't that ball's
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: five hundred feet because that guy's got some massive pop.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: And so you know, I could see Gus being in
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: all all different innings, but the ninth I could see
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: more times than not. I just don't think this coaching
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: staff looks at let's get to ninth. It's like, how
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: do we build to the ninth? And I think if
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: he's a part of that building to the ninth, I
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: think that's a huge part exactly.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: And that's kind of what I was trying to set
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: it up to as well, is the fact that like
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: it could be him. You could see Richard Lovelady, who
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: wasn't on the roster two weeks ago, in some of
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: those ninth inning spots with how well he's pitched, like
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: this is not the bullpen you see now and the
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: leverage arms you see now, or maybe not the lever
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: dryms you see two weeks from now. That can be
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: tricky for maybe a broadcaster writer to parse out, but
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: it's also really fun to watch them change roles throughout
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: the season and basically give the ball to whoever's deserved.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: It really.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: Not me, I'll like, I love the I I just
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: think unless you have a bona fide closer in this game,
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: everyone is a leverage like has a chance to be
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: a leverage guy.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Well, the safe could come in the eighth, the seventh
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: like like we like right well.
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: And so so many times you think about eight ninth
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: then guys or seventh and eight ninetheeny guys, the seventh
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: and eighth guys have such different stuff than maybe that closer, right,
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: but then they have these abilities to attack a different
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: part of the lineup, and they might be a better
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: match for you know, certain certain areas than than the closer.
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: They might be actually better than than the closer in
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: against the leverage guy, against the high octane you know,
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: like the Sotos of the world, which right now, let's
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: be honest here, no one's a match for Soda.
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: Like I hot, well a lot perhaps.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: Maybe yeah, I get it, but like I've seen one
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: hot but that this, that guy's different right now, that's on.
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: A level of a guy I used to play with.
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: Juana is super locked in.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean James, even though you know you
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: didn't see it in the box score yesterday, two incredible
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: plays out in the field where this sweet earlier today
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: James would with the casual home run robbery of Juan
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Soto from Generation to Generation. We were talking about this
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: in our last episode, just you know, about how James
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: has really grown into himself as a potential future MVP
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: candidate here, uh Frankly, and.
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: I'm just curious.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: You know when you were watching that, Franny, what was
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: going through your head in the booth because it was
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: so nonchalant the way he just went up, and not
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: a lot of guys are able to make it look
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: that easy because of his physical gifts.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: Well, I talked to him after the game. It's just
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: like it's like just like going up and get a rebound.
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: And it was true because I think those are actually
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: the harder ones to do because on the move you're
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: just like you're just being an athlete. You're just trying
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: to do you know, Shoot.
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna make a play.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: Panic he's at you know. Now you can consider it three.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: I consider it two home run robberies. First one going
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: like into the wall right next to the foul pole
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: and right field at NAT's Park, which was awesome, like
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: he went off, but it was just like a reactionary
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: play right like it was insane. But this one took
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: like a perfect route because I say that because if
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: he's going all over the place, his head's gonna be.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: Spinning, he's gonna jump, it's gonna go into the fence.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: He did the great thing of getting back to the wall,
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: feeling for it, knowing where it's at, and timed it
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: up perfect in a ball that's not easy to time
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: up right, you jump too early, you don't you know,
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: you're just take short, you jump.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: Too late, it's we obviously know. But if you have to.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: Jump perfect in that moment, I think that's the part
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: that sets it apart. For me, of all the other
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: ones for for James this year was that level of difficulty.
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: Technically might not have been as high because he wasn't
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: on the move, but I actually think it was harder
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: because you go to some of these places, especially like
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: City Field, where the warning track is so loose, like
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: you're trying to do you're trying to do a vertical
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: leap in.
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: Quicksand that's what it is, and he did it and
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: it was awesome.
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: I just think the best part about it was the
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: smile and the look at one and everybody.
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: And I think.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: At some point people are going to realize this guy's
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: freaking awesome and it doesn't matter what his motor is.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: At times, he's got a motor, he's got a care
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: and he's got an fu And that smile right there
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: was like, yeah, how good.
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: But that was an f you.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: The smile was definitely the best part of my favor part.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: But like you were just talking about the timing, let's
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: not act like this was a wall scraper home run.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: This was going to clear the fence by a couple
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: of feet and it required every bit of his extension
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: in the timing was what allowed him to make it
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: look so easy. Would you agree, Spencer?
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: I would.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: I don't have a whole lot there to add on
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: the actual execution front, I will say I asked James
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: after the game, like, hey, did you realize you robbed
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: a home run from the guy you were traded for?
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: And he was like, he kind of smiled, and then
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: he was like, honestly, not really, like he works out
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: with one in the off season. He's like, I look
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: at one kind of and that just as like someone
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I work out with. And I was like, okay, so
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: is he like, he's not the guy you traded for?
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Is he the guy you work out with?
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Like?
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: He was like, and he's like, you know what, actually, no,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Like I just look at him like he's won Soto.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: So obviously I think he under he understands that that
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: deal happened, but I think that's kind of at least
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: in his mind. That's not as much part of the
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: narrative now just because it's been a while. But I
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: thought that was really funny. And yeah, just the smile
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: he had then, the smile he had after the catch,
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: It's really fun to see him, you know, show that
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: joy like that.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: That was really But did you guys see this coming
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: like and oh, honestly like him and left field is ill.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: I would still call him Bambi him and right field
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: is a grown man.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And that was the thing is like he played
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: right field in the minor leagues more than he played
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: left field, so like he came up and left because
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: I think at the time Jacob was in center and
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Lane wasn't right if I'm not mistaken, right, the fact
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: that all it really oh, obviously a lot of hard work,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: but the fact that you can see this kind of
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: improvement just on the other side of the field is unfatholable.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: And again it's why I say he's not a first
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: baseman at least not.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Any not anytime soon. Yeah, and that's not even talking
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: about the full extension diving play that he made.
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 12:49
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• 12:51
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• 13:59
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• 14:10
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• 14:32
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• 14:36
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• 14:38
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• 15:52
  Speaker 1: That standard fifteen and seventeen right now. On May first,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: for those of you watch it online, bring up the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: NL standings as of this morning.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: You know, this is a I think we're on pace
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: for seventy six.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Wins I heard, or if I'm doing the math right,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: somewhere in that range. But I think if you told
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: a lot of Nats fans on opening day that they're
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: on pace for seventy six wins, they would take that.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: They would And you know what's funny.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: At the Athletic we had held a survey of Nats
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: fans to kind of parse through some things early in
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: the season and get fan thoughts, and I had put
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: a question in there that was, how excuse me, what
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: are they most encouraged by? And I thought I knew
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: what the answer was going to be. I gave like
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: five options and then write in the evenness between the
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: splits of what you could choose, whether it's CJ and
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: James breaking out, or the offense as a whole responding
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: to the hitting coaches, or the change in philosophy, just
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: the organizational direction. There are so many different things to
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: pick from, and I think that's where you see this
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: fifteen and seventeen start come from. Is hey, Like the
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: pitching I think has been largely a letdown, but almost
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: everything else that you can point to, and even the
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: direction of the pitching, you see optimism in there. And
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: I don't want to act like it's all you know,
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: everything's all perfect all the time, like this is a
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: work in progress. But when you think about the sort
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: of things that they needed to see, which was raising
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: the ceiling of a guy like James and CJ, or
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: raising a floor of the rest of the offense, or
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: making more substitutions, making smart decisions, winning at the margins,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: like they really are checking almost all of those boxes
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: that I had for him at the start of the
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: season when I thought about what would define a good
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: start for this team, and so while it will be
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: hard for them to maintain a seventy six win pace,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: I think we can just appreciate a month and not
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: even looking at the future. Hey, they're doing the right
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: things right now, and I think that that holds a
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: lot of weight for Nats fans who have had to
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: watch a lot of, you know, sixty six, fifty five,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: seventy one win.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Seasons over the last few years.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: And so that's kind of where my mind goes when
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I think about the overarching start, Pranny. I guess I'm
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: curious where you go first.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: I go a lot of places on this one.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: I think the most surprising thing and the most gratifying
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: thing is to see eight different guys over ten RBI, right, Like,
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: so you're getting production from guys that I mean, if
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: you gave me a number before the season, it said, like,
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: first month of this season, how many guys are gonna
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: have over ten RBI? If I said four, is that disrespectful?
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: I would have said three, Yeah, and I went four
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: on the high end.
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: I know that, and I don't think it's disrespectful.
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: I just think it's it's what we have seen in
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: the past now what we hadn't seen in the past.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: What is now is we're seeing better I feel like
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: in game adjustments and whether that's a coaching philosophy or
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: what I actually think in watching the bench and you know,
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: cameras every once in a while paning on it. But
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: like I watched the bench a lot and see the
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: interaction between the guys is so much better. Guys on
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: the iPads aren't by themselves anymore. If they are, I'm
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: not a big iPad guy during the game. I love
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: that they do use them together. Right, so now they're talking,
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: it's it's the conversation between one another.
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: That's a huge part.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: That's a great call.
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think that the other one thing, Sorry,
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: go ahead ahead, no, no, no, I was I was just
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: gonna say. I just think it's awesome to see contributions
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: from everybody.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: And the fact that like they are on the iPad
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: together is great. It's also the fact that when one
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: of them gets up they talk to a teammate who's
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: actually been watching the game going through the flow of things,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Like it's I think it's okay to go to the
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: iPad every now and then, but it's best when it's
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: augmented with the understanding of what's actually happened with the
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: game flow. And so yeah, that's been very encouraging for
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: me as well.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there just doesn't seem to be like, like you said,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: there's not isolation.
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: When they are on my iPad.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Guys are just very you know, smiling, happy, having a
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: good time in the dugout, seeing Louis and CJ embrace
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: for that hug after the home run the other day,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Like that was great. I feel like I just hadn't
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: seen anyone that happy after a home run in that
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: dugout since we were dancing in twenty nineteen.
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: Like, there's just year.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: They had six guys last year over ten RBI six Yeah, CJ,
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: Alex call Cavert, Josh Bell, James.
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: And Nathaniel and Nathaniel Lowe on that one. I forgot about.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: It is his first part of the year, the first
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: thirty games.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: That might be the most surprising, unfathomable stat I've heard
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: about this start that I was only six guys last year.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: That's crazy, but it's up now and and and yeah,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: I mean they just it's not just one guy. That's
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: been the case all season for those of you watching
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: online and bringing up Wednesday Nights Boxer or oh excuse me,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: that's the pitching box score, but you look at the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: hitting box score and it's gonna be tough to read
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: because it's a little tiny and there's a heck of
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: a lot going on there. I mean Brady with the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: grand slam that that inning, I mean, the Mets seemed
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: to do it to themselves in my opinion, and undid
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: itselves when Mendoza went out to the mound and brought
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: in a lefty to face me was in the lineup
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: because the lefty was starting, and he plunks him and
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: then the cookie crumbles from there. But to me, that
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: just there's no hate on the end Manaiah as a pitcher,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: but I just don't think he was throwing thrust it
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: into a winning situation there by Mendoza. What do you think, Frannie, Yeah, no,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I mean they're they're also a team that like, uh yeah,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: they's just nothing's going right. I mean the sham and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: I think is interesting when you look at it. He'sting
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: like eighty eighty nine right, and I think that's a
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: big factor in this Uh, I still think the the
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Bat of the Night is the like just tiny tiny
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: b by James Wood right, like he goes down oh
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: two quickly to David Peterson, gets a sword on that slider,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: spits on two of them, finds a way to get
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: to three to two and gets a walk. And it's
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: still like the bat that sticks in my mind because
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: it's like it's David Peterson empty the tank, right, he
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: emptied the tank in that situation. And when he did that,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: things start moving around, right, Like the moves.
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: Have to be perfect.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: The guy the pen has to come out every time
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: you open that door. Is he better than the guy
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: that's going to be starting And for sure he was not,
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: you know, And in that situation, and Sean and I
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: adrils cursed meat on a puld sweeper and then the
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: you know, elevated fastball, which again Brady has not hit
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: fastball as well at all this year. And you add
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: velocity in there, it's nothing, but you go eighty eight
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: eighty nine, you got yourself a grand slam.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: That's the outcome, that's the result. Yeah, I mean that
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: that's just when they do come to life. And we
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: were just talking earlier about you know, those high pressure
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: situations coming up and maybe the sixth or the seventh
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: inning for you know that that could be like the
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: save there, and the when the offense comes to life
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: like that when it did on Wednesday night, and the belief.
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: That that can happen in any inning.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: It could be a one nothing game in the sixth inning,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: basis loaded and Soto comes up, We're going to use
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: our guy there, right like we're going to use our
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: closer there. And then if we score eight runs in
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the seventh inning, well the game is kind of on
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: ice at that point. And that's just then one of
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the coolest parts to me about the offense.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: It's just like it's any inning.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: It can start anywhere in the lineup, you know, and
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: it's just everyone seems to be a threat to get
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: down to first and then quickly take second. I mean
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: they're they're running with their hairs on fire too, which
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I love, love that love Stone bases who doesn't like
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: maybe not so much in the ninth well yeah, but
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: and that's one of those incurable things is Blake said
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: after the game that he owned it, that was kind
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: of the coach's fault and that the sign wasn't being
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: relayed quickly enough that he didn't that Jacob didn't have
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the green light there, then he was supposed to not
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: be running. And uh, that that tells me a great
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: manager because he jumped on the sword for a player.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: That's what I think you are one hundred and ten
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: percent right there, Frank. I couldn't agree more. And yeah,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say it took the bullet because it's
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: not spiraling out of control, like it's not like a
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: commerce conversation on social media or anything.
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: But you know, he nipped it in the butt with
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: Louise Terrenz behind the plate. I just just shut it down.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: Just shut it down. The guy's throwing out thirty six
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: now thirty seven guys in the last three years.
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: He has like a it's over, like a forty two
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: percent throwout right in the in that time frame.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: It's like it's for Major League Baseball fans out there
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: for watching a guy throw Everyone that talked about Pudge,
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: I'm sorry, like, this guy's gotta be as close to
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: that as as anything.
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: Incredible.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and that's that's fascinating to me because when
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: I had asked Blake about that stolen base or caught stealing.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: After the game, he hadn't actually brought up trends, which
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: I think is interesting. He talked more about Williams in
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: the sense that he is someone who's pretty slow to
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: the plate, right, But after NAS's stolen base he went
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: a lot quicker whether that was something that was relayed
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: to him, whether that was something Terrends even picked up on.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: That's part of what I'm fast made it by it.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think in the future you don't in
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: that spot in a one run game with James up
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: at the plate. I don't think you can run in
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: that spot, even if it is it's a it's a
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: hundred percent the plate.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it's one hundred percent shut down, just based
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: on where you on the lineup and where you know
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: who's up. So many times it goes into the play
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: of like the third, like Victor Esteva is, like, you know,
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: he has to have those thoughts about do.
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: I send this guy or do I not?
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: If James is on deck, I do not send the
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: guy if it's going to be a bang bang play,
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: you know what I mean. Like those those situations come
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: about often, right, Like you've got to be thinking ahead,
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: thinking alike with your manager and everything, and and that
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: play in a loane in itself with Jacob stealing. It's
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: like you just it's okay to be shut down right there,
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: like whether or not Williams is giving to you. So
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: what happens He's still second, they're walking James.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Correct, Yeah, to happen, right And with the Nationals to
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: I think one thing I'm trying to be is enough
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: is because they run so often, I think you're gonna
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: see more of these guys who maybe if they are
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: typically so to the plate, they're gonna start to speed up,
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: which obviously is great for a hitter that's gonna fill
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: off a picture's rhythm perhaps, But on the basis you
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: have to be cognizant when a guy is able to,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: you know, change his speed to the men like that.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and uh, I mean they I don't think you
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: can blame you know, trying to get one more run there,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: little insurance run wouldn't have hurt there.
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: But you know, the base ring of the ninth inning
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: is what it is. We still got the win's got
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: the curly w That's.
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: Part of the other thing too that I don't think
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: we're talking enough about though, and we talked about Eric
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: off air.
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: Was Miles pitched awesome yesterday? Yes, Yeah, the MJ.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Melendez Homer and I. I've went through every side I
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: could to make sure I could do it. He set
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: it up perfect with the backdoor curveball, and he got
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: this like squat in like as out foul off that
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: he had him in so many different areas that he
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: could go to. And I said, Dan asked me right away,
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: where would you go. I'm like, go right out his hands,
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: right now, right at his hands. That is the biggest
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: hole that that guy. And for the first time in
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: his career he got to a pitch up in the
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: zone or up out of the zone.
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: It wasn't a strike, Oh it was no, and it
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: was it was it was the perfect pitch. Yeah, it
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: was the pitch.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: And it was like, it's it's one that it sucks
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: because those three runs go on his ledger right in
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: that situation.
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: People are going like, oh, Miles, Michael is that sucked.
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: I thought he was awesome. He pitched.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he got beat on that one pitch that was
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: actually well executed, you know, And I bet you he
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: would go to that pitch a thousand times more. And
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: I hope he would against m James Lindez And that's
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: how convicted he was. I was convicted in that and
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: he got beat And guess what you live. He lived
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: to see the next day and and uh, you know,
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: we got to talk about how Miles was was really
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: effective yesterday.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you just tip the cap to mj Melenda is that.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's an incredible piece of hitting something like
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: you just mentioned, he'd never done before, never got into
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: that pitch up. And if you haven't seen the footage
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: of that home run, go check it out because if
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: you it's just such an interesting swing.
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: I mean, pure muscle, pure muscle. In my opinion from
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: it was interesting for sure.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: I can say you talk about this Mets lineup that
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: maybe isn't clicking on all cylinders right now, but the
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: potential that it has. Uh Mica the list I think
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: got his best outing of the season yesterday. Because you
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: take out the one home run, it's two base now,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: it's two singles. It's the only extra pace hit of
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: the day. It just so happens to come with two
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: runners on it. I mean that that was definitely in
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: a lot of soft contact too, Like it seemed to me,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Spencer unless you can recall one so far through April,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: and most importantly or not most importantly, but stuck out
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: to me, he did it right from the get go.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: We didn't use an opener or anything.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, even in the combined shutout, he had someone open
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: for him. So I'd say the combined shutout still probably
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: a slightly better performance, but what I'd zero in on,
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: And honestly, I don't think I've given the pitching coaches
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: enough to do this year. And part of that is
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: because obviously the pitchers have an ERA, you know, way
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: up towards the top of the league. But yeah, Miles
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: had mentioned that between starts, especially after that second start,
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: he worked a lot on his fastball command and getting
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: a little more zip on it. Again, that's something that's
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: easier said than done, even though he's a VET, and
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: I think when you look at the results from the
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: first two I think he had an ERA over fourteen.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: I'm not exactly sure what the ERA is down to.
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: I think it's still around eight, so it's not where
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: you want it. But so much of this game can
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: be decided by those little in between outings moments where
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: you find that fastball command and you find an extra
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: half tick even on the fast fall. That makes the
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: world of difference. And I think for Miles too, who's
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: been in this game a long time, for him to
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: kind of go out his way and say, hey, that's
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: that's really the difference between you know, terrible starts and
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: starts where I'm looking a lot better. I think that
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: that's really important, and I think that the pitching staff
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: and pitching coaches deserves some credit for that.
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be disrespectful and say turning a
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: new leaf, because they were not that before. But in
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: the last i mean everyone's last start through the rotation,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: look him really sharp, look him really good. Kate on
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Wednesday night, you know, thirty pitch first inning, which you
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: know kind of seen that over the course of season,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: but the last twenty four pitches all strikes, which you
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: know he didn't even know when he stepped off the
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: mat o.
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: Fun fact, did you know that the S and Y
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: booth had that stat and we didn't just let you know?
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, that is a fun fact, food for thought,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: But it's just it's it's he wasn't even aware of it,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: and that's just something that we were talking about finishing
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: the show the other day, like what would you know
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: qualify or quantify quality outing for him? We kind of
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: all had different things that were looking for and I
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: think he did all of that and.
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: More the different.
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: So we talked about this the other day, right, like
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: the maybe the next wave a pitcher is going to
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: be the Schlitler way of the three way fastball, right
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: having three shapes on it, but the importance of having
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: at least two, right, like the bare minimum of two.
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: And really his sinker has been so good.
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: And like pigging and choosing the spots with it right,
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: like gets Atlanta. It was so good early, kept on
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: relying on it, came up a few hits with it right,
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: So it's like the picking and choosing the spots, and
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: I feel like he picked and choose his spots so
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: much better. And then it just kept from allowing him
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: to use that curveball right, just to keep it in
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: the tank a little bit until he got to Mauricio.
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: He fired off three straight curveballs in the nine hole
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: and that was the first time he really used like
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: not first time he used it, but like this is
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: what I'm coming back coming with you guys second type through.
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: And to get eight swing and misses on it.
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: Eighteen was the final whiff rate on or score on
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: his on his ledger. And to me, that's the one
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: that I'm like, Okay, the swing of miss is there again.
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: It was swinging miss wasn't there early.
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: And it's because to me, they weren't respecting the fastballs
• 33:32
  Speaker 4: right like they When you don't respect the fastball, like
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: your off speed stuff, it's like whatever I see spin,
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna.
• 33:38
  Speaker 5: Spit on it.
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: Now they're respecting the fastball he's getting. He's pounding the
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: zone in great spots, not part of the plate. He's
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: pounding the zone in so many different quadronts that it
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: opens up every lane possible for that curveball.
• 33:48
  Speaker 7: Now.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know what's funny.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: I don't want to disagree with you on this, but
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: where my mind kind of goes in this aspect I
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: think about there was an anecdote from Tyler Glass Now
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: a few years ago that said he really figured out
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: how to pitch when the Rays told him to throw
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: the ball down the middle. It's really hard to command
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: the ball, but if you have excellent stuff, you can
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: get away sometimes with just aiming for the middle and
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: hoping that the ball ends up at the edge.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: I think we're at a point.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: In Caid's career where he's really starting to figure out
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: the sequencing aspect of things, as you were talking about.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: I'm not fully convinced that the command is all the
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: way there. I am pretty convinced, however, that he knows
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: how to use his pitches. And nasty pitches are nasty
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: enough where he misses his spot, he can still it's
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: in and around the zone.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: He'll be all right.
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: And he's not going into it like it's all preconceived
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: right like you. It's not like, okay because I did this,
• 34:54
  Speaker 4: I do this. No, he's seeing his pitches how they work, right,
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: So like the ability to educate him. He's talked about this,
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: right like them talking about how my stuff works and
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: what I need to look for. And when it's going
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: like this, and you could see the mix and match
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: of that and working in real time. It's not like, well,
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: I'm just gonna throw a curveball here because it says so, No,
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: But I set him a good up and in right here,
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: I can go back door on the curveball. Now I
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: can go to that sweeper in that spot down in
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: a way like thinking along with what his stuff is
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: showing him, I think is the biggest part right here
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: for Kaid one hundred percent agree with you on that.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's why you see twenty four straight strikes
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: at the end. It's not all on the zone, but
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: that's why you see twenty four strikes in a row
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: at the end is he's locked in. He understands the approach.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: And more than that, he had seen their swings and
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: their at bats all day, so like, even if you're
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: not going in with a preconceived plan, he knows these
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: hitters now. And that was that was, I mean, unbelievable
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: to see.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: He wrote about Kaid the other day. Yeah, has the
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: stuff that the Nats are trying to teach in the minors,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: with the approach they're trying to teach in the major leagues.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: He is just really interesting guy on this pitching staff
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: right now.
• 36:00
  Speaker 5: Can you explain that? Please? Please explain more? Yeah, yes, yeah,
• 36:06
  Speaker 5: you Spence.
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: Do you want me to wrote it in what specifically?
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: Okay, so what they're trying to teach in the major league, Sae,
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: I know the minor league like the stuff stuff I mean,
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: Miguel sime is a prime example of striking out ninety
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: per ninety per nine. But uh, he's on pace for
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: just an insane year.
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: But I think the mentality in the major leagues, what
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: do you mean by that?
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think at the start of the year,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: you saw a lot of walks, for instance, from this
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: pitching staff, and then we got about three weeks into
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: the season and you saw them getting ahead, and then
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: it didn't matter because they were falling back behind.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: I think to see.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: Yep, but then when you got to O two, you
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: got to one two, you were seeing pitches way outside
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: the zone or you were seeing pitches right over the
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: heart of the plate. And again this is not to
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: say that it's easy to command the baseball in the
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: Major leagues or at any level. That's not something that
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: is easy to do. But I think when you throw
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: with intention, and this is what they've been talking so
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: much about, is hey, just stay on the attack, like
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: sometimes you're going to get beat over the heart of
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: the plate, but we'd much rather that. Then you throw
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: the ball, oh two, you throw it in the other
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: batter's box, Then you throw it at a guy's feet,
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: Then you throw it wherever the zone, all of a
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: sudden three two and the hitter has the advantage.
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: Again.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: They are trying to teach these guys to stay on
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: the attack, stay on the attack, and even when it's uncomfortable,
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: stay on the attack. I think that's harder for some
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: guys to do when you're throwing maybe ninety ninety one
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: ninety two over the plate, because you know you're not
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: going to miss as many at bats or excuse me,
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: you're not going to miss as many bats. And that's
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: why they're teaching and emphasizing stuff in the minor leagues.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: But more often than not, no matter how hard you throw,
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: you're going to have a better result if you stay
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: on the attack. That's kind of also where you feel
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: a combination of both new age and old school.
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: Feel like it's it's all of this coming together.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: And so I think that's why you see with maybe
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: a Michaelis, you maybe see with a Jake, even though
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: his stuff has looked better this year. You see these
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: guys trending in the right direction because they're attacking. And
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: I think that's been been really encouraging to see and
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: to see kid do it. I mean, that's that's the
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: sort of picture of the Nationals want to flood their
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: rotation with two years from now. So it's really cool
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: to see.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean just really overarching. Took two out of
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: three in city Field, Franny, you had the number earlier.
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: In the show.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: It to the years. It's you know, it's it's tough
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: to go into that ballpark. I don't I don't like
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: the Mets. I'm a Nuts fan. I'm a Nats fan.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: I just it's a tough ballpark for me. That that
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: in Philly. The All Star Game is there this summer,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: so you know, we make an exception for that this year.
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: I think you know where my thoughts are on that.
• 38:58
  Speaker 4: Like I've never shied away from I've just not enjoyed
• 39:02
  Speaker 4: the Mets over the years.
• 39:03
  Speaker 5: Not just not a huge city field guy.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: We were talking about that in the duo episode the
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: other day with Spencer's out.
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: But you know, they're back.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: In the ballpark tonight, and that's gonna be good. And
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: you know, keep the moment I'm rolling. It's May first,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: got it. They're going up against the miss Yeah, and
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be no easy task. And I think we
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: got Jake on the mount tonight.
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: Correct.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: So yeah, before we pre extension, guys, Yes, yes, yeah.
• 39:31
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  Speaker 1: You know who could go yard again? Because me, I'm
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: going CJ twice in a row. Personally, think he's going
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: back to back. That's just my arch, that's that's I'm
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: a gut.
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: I'll I spens go.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: I'll go with CJ. I think he's a heart about
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: to start the hot streak again.
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he's a streaky player. There's nothing wrong with that.
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm going, I'm going Louis Louis, Okay, I
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: like you give me, you give me. Heaters up at
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: the top of the zone. It doesn't matter if extension
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: or not. He loves to get on top and hammerballs.
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: So I'm going that's the uh, that's that's the pick.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that pick. You can head over to
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• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Alrighty, we are back just as we were discussing before
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: the break, Brewers come to town.
• 41:12
  Speaker 5: Then we got the Twins after that, so weekend at
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: the ballpark.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: But what do the Nats need to do, correct Franny,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: to keep this momentum rolling? And you know, maybe take
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: two out of three here and you're back at five hundred.
• 41:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: Most important thing is you got to take care of
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: the baseball again, and they showed against the Mets. When
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: you take care of the baseball, you're gonna win games.
• 41:34
  Speaker 4: And you know, they showed that in Milwaukee just a
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: couple of weeks ago when they swept them, and that
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: that sweep can't be.
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: You're relying upon you don't.
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: You're not good enough yet to do that to say like, oh,
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: well that's what we expect, Like no, no, no, this is
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: a new series, new team that you're gonna come against,
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: because they are a new team. When you really think
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: about it.
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: It's there. They played better baseball.
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: They've scored some runs in recent days, which I think
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: is something that they weren't doing when we got there,
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: and they kept doing kept not doing it when we
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: got there.
• 42:08
  Speaker 5: So I think that's a h.
• 42:13
  Speaker 4: William contraras William William Contreras down. I think every time
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: I say will I'm like Contrara's, I'm like, they say that,
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: we're right one. You gotta keep William Contreras down. He's
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: been feeling it, and I think that's a huge factor.
• 42:25
  Speaker 4: Freylk gotta feel like he's not gonna go over in
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: a series again. You know, I think that's another one.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: So look, they just got they got to continue to
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: stay in the zone on the offensive side. Great approach there,
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: throw strikes, play quality, baseball ball security's gonna be huge
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: against Brewers because again, you make a mistake, they take
• 42:45
  Speaker 4: advantage normally.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, do you think there's a team out there that's
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: better than them at small ball, at game prep, at
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: advanced scouting, Like maybe one or two. But like, that's
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: why the Brewers win ninety five games every year is
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: because they're good at that stuff.
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: In addition all the.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: Development and all the other stuff that we're talking about
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: all the time, Like they can small ball the heck
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: out of you, and they have some bobbers in that lineup.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: So I don't think it'll be an easy series at all.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll definitely be an interesting one to fall see,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: you know, see what we can get done. And I
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: just want to give a quick shout out to Dan
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: on the call the other day on the Brady home
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: run the fumble, because Franny, you just mentioned taking care
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: of the ball. I think that's going to be the
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: biggest thing too, Like let's get through these games with
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: clean defense and maybe some more highlight reel plays like
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: we saw from James the other day, you know.
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: And well, hey, the other thing too about Dan's call,
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: by the way, he got he got crapped on by
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: the uh I see you later mate on on curs
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: Meet the other day. Curts is one that SAIDs, yeah,
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: that'd be awesome for you to use it, and so
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: you know people that have crushed him for it, double
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: birds for you, baby.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: I agree, because I was planning on signing off today
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: with a little see you later. So I don't know,
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: maybe I should roll that back. I I don't want
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: to get any hate.
• 44:06
  Speaker 5: Is that is it coined? You can't. I don't want to.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: I don't want to disrespect Bob here. But I mean
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: it's a great quoin.
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: Now I think you're in the clear.
• 44:14
  Speaker 5: I think I'm in the green. Yeah.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: We will be back on Monday recapping this Brewer series
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: however it goes. And uh, honestly, guys, I'm feeling optimistic.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: But Spence, before we get going, I'm just curious, you know,
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: like from Jake tonight, what do you want to see
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: out of him?
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: Well, that's a great question.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: In the last couple of games, his second and third
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: time through the order has been legitimately unbelievable. And as
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: I said before, the Brewers are a team. They know
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: their scout, they know the opposing pitcher. They're a team
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: that probably is pretty dangerous in the second third time
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: through the order. So if that curveball especially is working
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: that second third time through, if he can mix those
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: pitches like you as before. I think chess match is
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: an overused term, but I think this is pretty apt
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: in terms of how to describe it. So I'm looking
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: less at the first second inning and more about third, fourth, fifth,
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: potentially sixth. I think that'll be fun to watch. And
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: how much he is able to get away with just
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: hammering that curve ball over and over is something I'm
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: keeping an eye on.
• 45:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Franny, you got anything that.
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: No. I just think it's been a team in the
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: past that's gotten to him and and I think, you know,
• 45:32
  Speaker 4: at some point, it's gotta you gotta be able to
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: to fight him, right, Like you got to be able
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: to come out there and have some good stuff and
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: see what you got tacked.
• 45:42
  Speaker 5: Don't be scared.
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: He's got a career six four to two e r
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: A against them, career two eighty one batting average against
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: And I feel like, hey, why not, now, why not?
• 45:53
  Speaker 5: Why not make this your best outing? Right?
• 45:56
  Speaker 4: I think that's a huge part of it. If you
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: don't want to, you know, attack them. They will take
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: their walks, they'll do all that. And to me, that's
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: that's where I'm at with him.
• 46:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm excited.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: I'm jealous of you guys back in DC get to
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: be there at the game.
• 46:11
  Speaker 5: I'm back in Arizona. But yeah, you're hot right now.
• 46:14
  Speaker 5: Though I'm hot. I'm hot, but it's cold. It's not
• 46:18
  Speaker 5: that cold back in DC. It's starting to warm up.
• 46:21
  Speaker 5: Just bundle o. Not right now. Today is like a
• 46:25
  Speaker 5: high of fifty nine.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: Let's let's go yesday it was like sixties baseball season.
• 46:30
  Speaker 5: It's may pay attention to that sound check for me?
• 46:34
  Speaker 5: Would you from the bullpen? Later on? My dad is
• 46:36
  Speaker 5: playing a set before the game.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: So if you're going to the ballpark to our listeners,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: you know, swing by, maybe check out the bullpen.
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: There'll be some good meal.
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: They go from like right up until first pitch. I
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: think maybe like fifteen thirty minutes into the game.
• 46:51
  Speaker 5: Are they the ones that play during like that?
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: I could hear him during the game, like it's going
• 46:55
  Speaker 4: on right like first inning.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: No, that that's up by the the Budweiser terrorists.
• 47:01
  Speaker 5: If it's still the.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: That that's up top. That's every Friday in the ballpark
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: by the lumber yard. Yes, yeah, but they're out there,
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: out well, they're out there. I mean enjoy and you know,
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: if you're going to the game tonight, just have fun
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: for me on my behalf if you're a listener. But
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for tuning in, folks. We'll see
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: you on Monday recapping the Brewers series and previewing the
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: Twins when they come into town.
• 47:23
  Speaker 5: But for now, see you later.