Latest / District Territory / How will the Nats handle pitching in the immediate and long term?

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How will the Nats handle pitching in the immediate and long term? · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: from bat Boys Baseball and joining me today. Spencer does
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: bound from the Athletic. It's Friday, so you know we
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: got to give away for you later on. But let's
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: jump into what it was a terrific road trip for
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the Nationals. They finish it four and two, but a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: couple of guys getting their first home runs of the season.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And Wednesday's victory off of Peyton Tolly phenomenal picture, no
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: less Andres Chaparo getting the lead going early on to nothing. Oh,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I did not update that one that's supposed to be
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: in the seem Nunyaz but n sem Nunia is launching
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: his first home run of the season. But Spencer, who
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: stuck out to you the most in Wednesday's victory and
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: maybe in the road trip overall?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say in the in the victory in particular,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I think it's Chaparo, right, He's someone where we've seen
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: him play in really you know, small spurts. It feels
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: like the Nationals just haven't had opportunity to get him
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: in the lineup and he hasn't been able to really
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: get in a rhythm and produce. But the and maybe
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: this is dumb to look at more sample, but the
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: underlying numbers have been much better than the.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Surface level stuff.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Where he's he's hitting the ball hard, he's walking, he's
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: doing things that you expect the productive first base flash
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: gh bat to do.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: He just hasn't been able to see them fall.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: And that's that's really her NAT's lineup when he's when
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: he's been up around the number three spot. I want
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: to say, partially to no fault of his own, but
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: what you think about what this game meant to him?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: He talked about, hey, like, you know, I have to
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: stick with the process the whole time. I have to
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: figure out my routine. I have to do all these
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: things that guys in my position have to do. And
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: he said, you know it's it's not easy to you know,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: play sparingly, but that's the role that you know he's
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: in and he understands that he has to find a
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: way to produce that spot. And so yeah, he talked
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a lot about sigma with the process and and spoke
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: just of how much that moment meant to him.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was really cool to see.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: So the other and as a small one his nos
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: just because he kind of made this funny quick where
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: obviously this is his first home run of the season.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: He was one of two qualified hitters who had not
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: yet hit a home run, and he said, he, you know,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: he hits the home run, he walks back to the dugout,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: he gets the silent and he's like, come on, guys,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: like I've hit a home run in the big leagues before,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: this doesn't like, this isn't the first one.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: So I thought that was really amazing.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: And he, you know, he talked a little bit about
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: how sometimes it takes him a little bit of time
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: to start seeing some power, but you all from there.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: So yeah, we'll we'll see if the two of those
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: guys stop it at one homer or in my more
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: likely estimation, things keep on going.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love to see more of than what really
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: was impressive to me on Wednesday, it felt like the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Nationals were in control the entire game. Getting an early
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: lead help with that, but the pitching obviously was a
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: big part of it, holding the Red Sox just two runs.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Brad Lord got the role as opener on Wednesday, and
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Riley Cornelio pitch and inning and relief now there's a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: lot of conversation around starting pitching right now, Nationals potentially
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: missing a start from a starter. We'll get into that
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: in just a minute. But Spencer, would you like to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: see Brad Lord in that opener's role more often because
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: me personally love to see the match try and stretch,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: you know, his ability to give length and maybe try
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: and get through a lineup one time rather than just
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: get three outs in the first inning.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I like him in the later innings, if only
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: because you know exactly when you need to use him.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Right Like, when I'm picturing the perfect scenario to use
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Brad Lord, it's not in a zero zero game in
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: the first it's hey, we're up, you know, six to
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: four war but our starter was knocked out in the
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: fourth inning and we need to somehow get to the eighth.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: It's like, how how on earth are we going to
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: do that? Well, you have Brad to cover the fifth, sixth,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: and seventh, and as he's done time and again this season,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: in this in this one, he allowed no earned runs
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: over two and a third. Usually it's spend networn runs
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: or one earned run over three sharpenings. So yeah, I
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: still like him in that later inning role. But when
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: you think about the All Star break coming up and
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: rest and all of these other things that that's that's
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: also a large part of why probably keeping the keep
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: him in like the fifth, sixth, seventh inning spot.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Guys will have some much needed break time coming up soon.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Not everybody, though, we know CJ's headed to Philadelphia and
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: likely a few others. Now quickly, I want to get
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: into what's been making headlines all across baseball, not just
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: within the Nationals community. Kide Cavali and Wilson Eris both
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: suspended seven games, and Miles mich List was also handed
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: a five game suspension. Now all the players are going
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to be appealing these suspensions. But Spencer, what were your
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: thoughts on this and the office handing out the suspensions
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: on Thursday with the offices officially being closed today on
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: a holiday holiday.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if I have any like brand
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: new thoughts that anyone hasn't heard before. What I will
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: kind of offer just from a reporting standpoint, because we
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: hadn't had a chance to follow up with Kate last
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: time we spoke on the podcast. When we talked to
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: him on Wednesday morning, he had indicated that he Paul Tiboni,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: and Blake pi Terra had spoken. He indicated that he
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: had lost sleep that night because he he had found
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: out not just how his words were perceived, but had
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: just seen like a flood of messages and whatnot obviously
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: on his phone and had had trouble dealing with it.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: And I encourage everyone to go read the stories of
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: the athletics so you can kind of see a larger
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: breakdown just of of how he felt and a breakdown
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: of what happened. That being said, major League Baseball did
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: suspend Cabull even though he wasn't ejected in that game.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I I'd love to have this specific wording up in
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: front of me right now. Uh, just so I I
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: don't misspeak here. But yeah, So Michaeliss was suspended obviously
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: for his role he and Nate Eaton got into a
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: fight on kind of the side of the scuffle and
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: then with Cavali. Major League Baseball felt Cavali's comment was
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: inappropriate and merit it disciplined. So while the initial wording
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: I guess out there was that it was how cavally
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: incited the scuffle, so to speak, the wording in particular
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: I think right I know was part of what caused.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: The discipline from Major League Baseball. So Cavalli has learned.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: He said he will never wording again, and again, I
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: don't want to misspeak at any point now. So I
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: would just encourage everyone to go read what Jenn McCaffrey
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: wrote in The Athletic about the moment. So yeah, there's
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: kind of a pretty detail breakdown in there.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would just also encourage people to go and
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: read that and remind people to hold grace that everyone
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: is human that you're interacting with on planet Earth. All
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: these players are human, and I do I feel for kid.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Listening to him speak over the weekend, you could tell
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: that he felt this and I'd love for us to
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: try and play some sort of role in slashing the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: news cycle here that that was never Kaid's intentions, and
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: you could feel that from his press conferences.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he said that. Again. He talked a lot about perception.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: And I think one other point I would make here,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: and it's one that Nationals President of Operations Paul Tabony made,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: was that intent is important, but it isn't everything. Like
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: there still is impact on either side of things, and
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: like there as I will just repeat what Paul and
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Kaid said is, you know, they they talked about, Hey,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: there's there could be like a thirteen year old black
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: kid in DC who sees this and you know, feels
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: hurt by it and and rightfully so. And I think
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: contrast too, like could feel hurt by it and also
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: probably rightfully so.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: For the million time.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: This isn't to excuse what Controls did, and you can
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: listen to us talk about that in the last podcast
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: if you can read about it. But I think we
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: this is a I guess a helpful moment for people
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: to understand both perception intent and that all these things
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: matter and again are worth reading about.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Oh, we're gonna have a giveaway for him at the
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: end of this with some questions and stuff and some
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: general manager mock questions per usual, No questions about that,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: nothing about the kid Cavali drama. That ends today. So
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: you take a look at the National's upcoming schedule. They
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: return home later today for a three game set against
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Pirates and then it's the Asters and the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Yankees after that. But if you're headed over the ballpark,
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  Speaker 1: use it later. As I mentioned the Pittsburgh Pirates coming
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: to town later on today, it'll be Foster Griffin and
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Mitch Keller your probable pitchers at least, and Zach Lettel
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Braxton Ashcraft on Saturday, and then Miles Micliss and Bubba
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Chandler the probables on Sunday. Spencer, this is going to
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: be a really interesting set of patriotic set if you will,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: over the weekend. But what are some storylines that people
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: should be paying attention to in this one?
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, for me, the big one is the pitching side. Right,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: so we know that both caval and Michael es Kavali,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: who would is slated to pitch on Monday Monday, will
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: theoretically be able to pitch in their games, but the
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Nationals will eventually reach a point where if both of
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: those suspensions are held up such that the two of
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: them can't pitch in at least one game, the Nationals
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: will be down to twenty four roster as opposed to
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: twenty six. So it's not like when someone gets suspended
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: you can like call someone else up in their place. Now,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: the Nationals might make moves, but they could be in
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: a tough spot here, and so I think any amount
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: of length that you can get from your starters in
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: this series is pivotal. I think any amount of coverage
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: you can get against Pirates lineup that for those of
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: you unfamiliar, they've kind of had a Nationals esque leap
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: this year where I think they're at least when last
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: week they were up to third and run scored, I
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: think they're still probably in the top five ten range
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: of baseball. So this is an offense that can absolutely score.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think it's going to be two similar
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: kind of constructions facing off. And I think that the
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: thing that I'm following throughout the series is just can
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: you get six innings from Zachell? Can Foster do what
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: he always does and give you at least six miles?
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Same thing.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: These are kind of three guys who have shown that
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: they can give you length, more so Michaelis and Foster
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: as of late. But yeah, it's gonna be a lot
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: of innings to cover, and I'm really curious to see
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: if they change up their their mixes or if they
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: just say, hey, I'm going to try to be my
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: usual efficient self.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and talk about Wednesday's excuse me, Friday's preview, specifically
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Foster Griffin. He was just fantastic last time in Baltimore.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Nine strikeouts and no runs over seven innings, and eight
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: of those nine strikeouts coming over the course of his
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: first nine outs. Spencer, was there anything that you picked
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: up on in his last outing or anything for the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: uptick in strikeouts over his last couple outings. Do you
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: think that pairs well with the Pirates line up today?
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think anytime you see someone get
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: in one of these sort of grooves. And that isn't
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: to say that Foster hasn't been striking guys out all year.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: I think he actually might. It's either him or Kaid
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: has the highest strikeout rate on the Nationals, which you
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: would just expect Caid to be the number one by
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: a long margin. And the fact is Foster has shown
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: that over the course of more than half a season.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: This stuff holds up, and the game planning and the
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: thinking his way through a lineup, and the all the
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: pitches that move in different manners and hold up. So Yeah,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: but anytime you see someone strike out nine a lot
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: of times for whatever reason, those next couple starts they
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: do the same thing, and so you know, will this
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: be a trend, Will this the end of it? I'm
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: not totally sure, but I think when you think about
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: a guy who's kind of at the peak of his
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: powers right now, I think he's got like thirty three
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: strikeouts to four walks over his last X number of starts,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: like he is, he is in a groove that maybe
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: another season would indicate an All Star right now. There's
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: a lot of depth in the National League that I'll
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: make that difficult. But man, he's he's been phenomenal.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so brutal with the pitchers too, for the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: All Star Game fan voting, because that's that's the one
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: thing that is not fan voted for those of you
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: that are not aware that the pitchers I believe right
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: that's that's all on coaches and pitch like that. The
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: fans have nothing to do with that. So that is
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the one where I'm like, I feel like the players
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: are getting some realistic grace as far as who should
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: be going to the game. But it's also where some
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: teams have got to have representatives, and then nets have
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: a representative. We know we got a guy go, which
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: is awesome. Look over at the National League Central standings
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: as of this morning, the Pirates are at five hundred,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: forty four and forty four the ten and a half out,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: but pop over to the NL Wildcard standings, they're just
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: three out there, right behind the Nationals. Spencer, how big
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: is this for the Pirates? Is it is big for
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: the Nationals with the deadline looming and you know everyone
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: wants to play good baseball going into the deadline.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's weird. Every almost every series for
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: every National League team feels big right now. Like, let's
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: think about Pirates are not sure, but also the Diamondbacks.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: A sweep gets them right back in it. The Marlins,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: who just had the best month I think in franchise history,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: are not pretty close to it. If they've dropped two
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: in a row since, then, if they start falling flat
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden, that creates a window.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: The Cardinals, who are young.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: And kind of Nationals esque, you know, they could fall
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: out of it at a point.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Phillies could leap the Braves at some point.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Like every almost every single National League team right now
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: has something to play for, unless you know, all doers
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: back to the Rockies and the Mets candidly, yeah, yeah,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: which is a weird thing. But beyond that, yeah, almost
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: every team has something to play for in July, and
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: so yeah, we'll say the same sorts of things in
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: August and September. But these teams are hinge teams as
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: we called them at the Athletic right now in terms
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: of what they might do with the deadline. So every
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: single one of these games, you know, players are trying
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: to nudge their front office. Hey like force the issue,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: let's buy in. Front offices are trying to decide if
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: that's the right.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: Move really quickly.
• 16:36
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• 17:53
  Speaker 1: All right, we are back. As I mentioned at the
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: start of today, it's Friday giveaway Friday a Drew store
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and signed baseball car. It can be yours. Just fill
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: out the forum down in the description of our YouTube video.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: And this is a new form for those of you
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: that had filled it out before, so make sure to
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: fill out this new one. Get yourself a new entry
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: and fill out the questionnaire and there submit some mock
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: trades because we'll go over them on Monday. I also
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: just really quickly want to shout out my friend Nick,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: congratulations on your engagement. That's where this card came from,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: a gift from Nick many years ago. I don't like
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: to regift gifts, but it's the gift of joy. It's
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the gift of Drew Store, and he knew what it
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: meant to me, and I know what it could mean
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: to another Drew Store and fan out there right now,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: so fill that out. Let's pop over to the National
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: League East standings. We were talking about the Marlins before
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the break. They're five and a half back, the Nats
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: are six and a half back, and the Phillies are
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: just two and a half back. After the little scuffle,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: the Braves got into the bigger pitcher over in the
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: National League Wildcard standings, Cubs hold the top spot two
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: and a half games. Phillies also c not comfortable the
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: two games up on the Cardinals there, and as we discussed,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: everyone else jumbled up there. Spencer, I want to get
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: into this Monday's episode, but how important will this series
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: and home stand be in terms of dictating what direction
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the Nats are going in after the All Star break.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this homestand is going to be huge, right.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: The Nationals again won't have to make a decision until
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: very end of July. August third is the deadline. You
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: could even say up until then. But I think you know,
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: with the All Star breaking up and having a chance
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: to reset and dictate things, you have an opportunity here
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: where if you're the Nationals players, let's say they take
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: seven out of the next nine games, which I'm not
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: saying they would, but would be kind of the impetus
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: and the you know, if we'd look at that and say, wow,
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: this is the stretch says you have to get some
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: sort of reliever.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: Now, whether that's a question of.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Really birth control or a guy with late in an experience,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: or how much that would be. I think that sort
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: of thing would dictate closer to the end of the deadline.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: But let's flip the page.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Nationals lose seven out of nine, you're in a spot
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: where it's really tough to kind of convince the front
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: office that the smartest path forward is buying, because your
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: postseason odds go from whatever, seven percent probably down to one, right, Like,
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: this is a stretch where there are so many teams
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: jumping National League that you're never truly in it, or
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: never truly some sort of massive push in one direction
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: or the other could really dictate things here. And that's
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: why it's really going to feel like every single one
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: of these games has some juice. Especially that Yankee series
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: at the end I think could be really really pivotabal pivotal.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: Excuse me for making that decision.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the games that stand out the most to me too.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: If you look at a nine game home stand, is
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the third against the Pirates, the sixth against the Astros,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: the tenth against the Yankees. We know this team is
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: his that that first game has been a lusive to
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: them all season. Playing at home the Winds had been
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: a little tougher to come by, but getting started with
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: a victory in each series that would be big to me.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Because in the road trip they lost the first game
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: in both sets, that didn't matter. They won the series
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: two games to three. I think, just take a little
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: pressure off themselves, win that first game. That would help
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: out The last thing I want to finish up with here. Spencer, though,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: last night there was a soccer game, an important soccer
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: game that we were both watching. But who were you
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: watching with and what was your favorite moment from last night?
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah? I had.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Actually, my flight was stuck on the tarmac back from Boston,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: so I didn't get home until pretty late last night.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Had to eat dinner and turn the game on with
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: just a few minutes left. I have Peacock and do
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: not have Fox, which meant I am only able to
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: watch Telemundo. And despite my time in a big league
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: club house, despite learning Spanish in middle and high school,
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: I don't follow soccer closely enough, nor do I speak
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: enough Spanish to have any sort of idea what happened
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: in that game. Still don't really know what happened in
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: that game. Maybe you can fill me in.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: There was so much going on I didn't know. Soccer
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: To me, I think is such a slow sport. People
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: are like, oh, I want some action, fast paced. Baseball's
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: got the pace of play issue. There's a lot happening
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: in a short amount of time there in soccer that
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: actually wasn't happening. A lot of overturned goals there at
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: the end, a lot of confusion, but a really exciting finish.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: All I know is Rinaldo's moving on. That was kind
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: of my takeaway from the Portugal wins. But we'll be
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: back on Monday. We'll be talking NAT's ball, We'll be
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: talking trades and which prospects might be most intriguing for
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: other teams at the deadline, Spencer, anything you want to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: toss in before we head out.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: Now, just make sure you watch that next episode. I'm
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: excited to talk about all that.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, keep reading The Athletic, keep watching Bat Boys, and
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: listening to the Foul Territory Network. Till next time, See
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: you later,