Latest / District Territory / The Nats had the best offense in baseball. What changed?

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The Nats had the best offense in baseball. What changed? · 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 Kevin Franzen
0:11
Speaker 1: of the Washington Nationals and Spencer Nussbaum at the Athletic.
0:15
Speaker 1: Not the road trip the Nationals had been envisioning it.
0:18
Speaker 1: It was a one and eight overall, capped off by
0:21
Speaker 1: a sweep and down in Miami Friday night was a
0:25
Speaker 1: punch in the stomach comeback rally in the ninth inning,
0:28
Speaker 1: Dalen Lyle was able to get them back, but ultimately
0:31
Speaker 1: the Marlins walked it off. Saturday, dropped at four to two,
0:34
Speaker 1: and then yesterday a six to two final. The Bats
0:38
Speaker 1: just we're not clicking on this road trip, boys, But Franny,
0:42
Speaker 1: it just the offense candidly has looked a little bit unrecognizable.
0:46
Speaker 1: What would stood out to you over the course of
0:48
Speaker 1: the road trip.
0:50
Speaker 2: You lost one hundred homers, you lost almost three hundred RBI,
0:53
Speaker 2: I mean three hunderd run scored, whatever you want to
0:56
Speaker 2: go with. They're not excuses, but I mean in facts,
0:58
Speaker 2: when you lose two air rap carriers and uh, you
1:01
Speaker 2: know c j Abrams and James Wood. James obviously was
1:05
Speaker 2: was not on the you know plane in the trip
1:07
Speaker 2: being on the I L. But you know, you lose
1:09
Speaker 2: uh CJ in the middle of it, it's gonna hurt.
1:12
Speaker 2: It's gonna hurt a lot, and you're gonna see the
1:16
Speaker 2: you don't want to say there the band aids are
1:19
Speaker 2: ripped off on the whole thing because they were covering
1:21
Speaker 2: something up. But again, when you lose two guys like that,
1:25
Speaker 2: your offense gonna look very very different. And it sure
1:29
Speaker 2: has uh, some guys you're hoping to step up. I
1:33
Speaker 2: thought there's some you know, some quality A b's in
1:36
Speaker 2: there at times, but just not enough consistently throughout the
1:39
Speaker 2: the entire you know, back half of that that Texas series,
1:42
Speaker 2: and then you know you look into the the the
1:45
Speaker 2: other part of the Miami series. But I mean CJ
1:47
Speaker 2: was struggling right before. But it's it's still a big
1:50
Speaker 2: difference when you have him in the lineup and you're
1:52
Speaker 2: having you know, the game plan and not let him
1:54
Speaker 2: beat you, and instead you you kind of just varied
1:58
Speaker 2: around the entire lineup. And that's what like the entire time.
2:01
Speaker 3: No, yeah, and here's here's the other thing. In Franny.
2:04
Speaker 3: You can probably speak to this even better than I can.
2:07
Speaker 3: James and CJ were two guys that obviously were aircraft carriers,
2:11
Speaker 3: and like seventy percent of that is what they actually produce.
2:15
Speaker 3: There is another element there too, though, where those guys
2:17
Speaker 3: are really chatty on the If you have questions coming
2:20
Speaker 3: back from that bat and so if you're losing the
2:23
Speaker 3: ability to have two really smart players up there come
2:26
Speaker 3: back to the dugout and share some things, that has
2:29
Speaker 3: a little bit of an impact. But again the production
2:31
Speaker 3: is the vast majority.
2:33
Speaker 2: I would say a little bit. I'd say a little bit.
2:36
Speaker 2: They're chatty in everything. I just think it's a you know,
2:41
Speaker 2: you bring in you have James leading off, and you
2:43
Speaker 2: lead in the league in played appearance before we left
2:45
Speaker 2: by like what twenty five thirty. Obviously that's gone now.
2:49
Speaker 2: But the biggest difference for me is like you're you're
2:52
Speaker 2: game planning against him the entire time that you're you're
2:56
Speaker 2: thinking about the series, right, you're thinking about him two
2:58
Speaker 2: weeks before, if you're you're at vand scouts and stuff,
3:03
Speaker 2: and when you're not seen. Every time we saw the
3:08
Speaker 2: James come up to play at the begaining part of
3:09
Speaker 2: the year, we saw everyone's best. We didn't see someone's like, okay,
3:12
Speaker 2: just getting loose, getting ready for the game. We saw
3:14
Speaker 2: everyone's best, and there's something to be said about that.
3:19
Speaker 2: Is there a number you could put on it?
3:21
Speaker 1: No?
3:21
Speaker 2: Is it something that that's quantifiable. No, it's something that
3:24
Speaker 2: there's a visual aspect of it that you get to
3:26
Speaker 2: see as a teammate. The conversation thing is real because
3:29
Speaker 2: they've made adjustments throughout the year that we have we
3:32
Speaker 2: haven't seen in years. Right as far as in game adjustments,
3:35
Speaker 2: you know, second time through the order, watching these guys
3:38
Speaker 2: face off against somebody, I think it's one thing. But
3:40
Speaker 2: the most important thing, honestly is we've talked about this
3:44
Speaker 2: a lot, like Curtis bid being gone right in the
3:46
Speaker 2: trade and James at the top of the lineup. I'
3:48
Speaker 2: mean separate Louis Garcia, but they saw thirty six point
3:53
Speaker 2: like seven pitches per game or per play, Yeah, per
3:56
Speaker 2: game together, that's a lot. You don't have that right
4:00
Speaker 2: now with guys doing it and overcoming that so and
4:04
Speaker 2: let alone, just seeing everyone's best from the very beginning,
4:07
Speaker 2: Now do they do that against CJ somewhat somewhat is
4:10
Speaker 2: just a different deal. James is a different player when
4:13
Speaker 2: it comes to that. So yeah, it's it's interesting to
4:16
Speaker 2: think about like how this team could be, you know,
4:19
Speaker 2: going forward, But it's hard to really watch and just
4:23
Speaker 2: say like, oh, this is the offense right now. No,
4:25
Speaker 2: this isn't like you you have two huge impact guys
4:30
Speaker 2: that are gone, let alone four this is I mean,
4:33
Speaker 2: we see with the A's. Look at the A's they
4:37
Speaker 2: have struggled quite a bit. Why because they have had
4:39
Speaker 2: not had Nick Kurtz Brent Rooker for most of the
4:42
Speaker 2: season and all those guys, those guys that could carry offenses. Well,
4:45
Speaker 2: we're seeing it right now in real time now.
4:48
Speaker 3: And here's here's also like the I guess fascinating part
4:51
Speaker 3: for me, going back to a second again, the fact
4:55
Speaker 3: that James and Curtis saw a lot of pitches is
4:58
Speaker 3: that the thing in the world now does matter more
5:01
Speaker 3: than the average fan might think. Yes, And that's why
5:04
Speaker 3: it was really interesting to me to watch kind of
5:07
Speaker 3: both Dalen and Dylan's at bats over the course of
5:09
Speaker 3: that Miami series, right where those are two guys in
5:12
Speaker 3: particular that could benefit from seeing more pitches generally, and
5:17
Speaker 3: you saw two guys who are still hitting the ball hard.
5:20
Speaker 3: But there's maybe you'd want some more walks out of
5:23
Speaker 3: those guys. You'd want in Dalen's case in particular, a
5:25
Speaker 3: little bit less chase. Right, And so is it a
5:28
Speaker 3: good thing that you know.
5:32
Speaker 2: Tell me if you're if you're on the same page
5:33
Speaker 2: on this one. But like the fact that I wanted
5:36
Speaker 2: to look it up. Dylan scored forty runs this year, right,
5:42
Speaker 2: And I bring that up because he's had less less
5:45
Speaker 2: plate appearances in bats I think than yeah, the Jacob,
5:50
Speaker 2: than the Seam and they have just a couple more
5:53
Speaker 2: runs scored. Cavert right around there, like you're looking at
5:55
Speaker 2: a guy that he gets on face. He's impactful, right,
5:59
Speaker 2: He's one of the best base runners on the team,
6:02
Speaker 2: let alone, I would say, one of the top base
6:04
Speaker 2: runners in the game. I don't think that's a stress
6:08
Speaker 2: amazing going up. And so you look at this thing
6:10
Speaker 2: and you're going just in getting him on base because
6:13
Speaker 2: to me, like for Dylan, that's important, same thing goes
6:17
Speaker 2: for for Dalan Lyle. And I love that you bring
6:20
Speaker 2: it up because those those walks that you would see
6:23
Speaker 2: from I mean, he's got what thirty on the ear,
6:26
Speaker 2: I think, I mean it should be it should he
6:30
Speaker 2: should be around lead average every single year walkwise, because
6:35
Speaker 2: he has such good hands, he has such quality appear
6:40
Speaker 2: plate appearances, the fact that like he could he could
6:42
Speaker 2: spoil pitches anywhere and everywhere, right, but once he hones
6:46
Speaker 2: in and just hunts those pitches that that are middle
6:48
Speaker 2: part of the plate and he just dominates that, that's
6:50
Speaker 2: when we see him take off. That's what we saw
6:53
Speaker 2: last year and it's September.
6:56
Speaker 1: That was impressive. Franny is thirty right on the dot.
6:59
Speaker 1: I just checked, well done. This guy's paying attention. I
7:03
Speaker 1: recommend everyone goes into it. I have to, sorry, you should.
7:06
Speaker 1: You got to. You know, the best in the business.
7:09
Speaker 1: Right there, Everyone go check out twenty eighth. Take a
7:14
Speaker 1: look at the National LEAGUEESE standings. The Nationals now said
7:17
Speaker 1: it's sixty one and seventy one. They have lost nineteen
7:20
Speaker 1: of their last twenty one against Nlist opponents, but they
7:23
Speaker 1: are fifty and forty one versus the rest of Major
7:25
Speaker 1: League Baseball. I think that is worth noting before we
7:28
Speaker 1: heading to break Franny just really quickly. You called this
7:30
Speaker 1: the catch of the year yesterday. It had been a
7:33
Speaker 1: while since we'd seen Jacob scale a wall like this,
7:35
Speaker 1: but truly, Spider Man the way he was just able
7:38
Speaker 1: to hold up there for a second.
7:41
Speaker 2: Versus how fun was this? I was gonna say the
7:43
Speaker 2: first look is, well, so the first look that you
7:45
Speaker 2: got right there, you saw the curve of the wall.
7:48
Speaker 2: That's the part that's impossible to like kind of capture
7:53
Speaker 2: in the moment, right, I mean it's you're almost there.
7:58
Speaker 2: There you go, uh I can bring that look that
8:01
Speaker 2: way up. I mean it is just insane like at
8:06
Speaker 2: that point because again you're you're footing your your your
8:09
Speaker 2: steps they come. It's one less or maybe one and
8:13
Speaker 2: a half less steps in that in that spot alone.
8:17
Speaker 2: From our vantage point, we didn't really see it because
8:20
Speaker 2: the led board in the white wall we were all
8:23
Speaker 2: waiting for like we didn't know, We had no clue.
8:27
Speaker 2: And then he came down and the moment we knew
8:29
Speaker 2: was when he went into his glove to throw and
8:31
Speaker 2: were like, I lost my mind. I was like this
8:35
Speaker 2: that was It was nuts because again you see guys
8:39
Speaker 2: go like one step onto a wall right the moment
8:43
Speaker 2: you get that second step, like we've seen it with
8:45
Speaker 2: Denzel Clark twice one in Toronto, which is still maybe
8:49
Speaker 2: the best catchup' ever seen. If you think about the
8:53
Speaker 2: one that he had in Toronto last year that he
8:54
Speaker 2: went straight up the centerfield wall, and the one in
8:57
Speaker 2: left center at uh Anaheim at angel at the Big
9:00
Speaker 2: A that those are the only two that I've seen
9:03
Speaker 2: where in the last couple of years where guy's gone
9:06
Speaker 2: two steps onto the wall to make that catch. Now,
9:09
Speaker 2: Derek Hill made a catch at City Field this year
9:11
Speaker 2: that could be catch the year because that was sick.
9:15
Speaker 2: It was Mike Trout but with a higher wall, right
9:18
Speaker 2: like you go back in the day with Jared Weaver
9:20
Speaker 2: on the mount and all that stuff in Baltimore. But
9:24
Speaker 2: this was I there's so many things that could go wrong.
9:29
Speaker 2: He catches spike. He I mean he did it earlier
9:32
Speaker 2: in the year where he was trying to climb a
9:33
Speaker 2: wall where he kind of it didn't miss time, and
9:35
Speaker 2: it just the wall gave out on him. I'm just
9:39
Speaker 2: glad he you know, had his cleats out of there.
9:43
Speaker 2: He didn't catch his finger, didn't do any of that stuff,
9:45
Speaker 2: and we got the we got the the reaction that
9:48
Speaker 2: we were hoping for.
9:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I catched the season, in my opinion. Let's take
9:52
Speaker 1: a quick break. When we come back. We got to
9:54
Speaker 1: talk about a big league debut. That happened the other day. Franny.
9:56
Speaker 1: You got to chat with him before the game too.
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11:01
Speaker 1: Now, big league debuts are always special, but yesterday's meant
11:05
Speaker 1: a little something more to Eric Tolman. Kevin, you talked
11:08
Speaker 1: with him ahead of the game yesterday. I think a
11:10
Speaker 1: lot of the Nationals fans are starting to become familiar
11:13
Speaker 1: with his story, but for the rest of Major League Baseball,
11:15
Speaker 1: hopefully reach a new audience. Just share really quickly what
11:18
Speaker 1: a remarkable journey he has been through to get to
11:21
Speaker 1: this point.
11:23
Speaker 2: Well, draft pick out of ASU. He already he was
11:25
Speaker 2: having Tommy John at that moment, right, so, he was
11:28
Speaker 2: already rehabbing that one. He was taking a what was
11:31
Speaker 2: it his fourteenth month, throwing his last I think it
11:35
Speaker 2: was his last live before he was going to be
11:38
Speaker 2: sent out on a rehab assignment on the whole thing,
11:39
Speaker 2: blew out his elbow again. I had second. Tommy John
11:43
Speaker 2: comes back, jumping over the line like he always does,
11:46
Speaker 2: to go onto the field to throw his another rehab outing,
11:52
Speaker 2: blows out his knee and basically I mean We're lucky
11:56
Speaker 2: to see him walk. I mean, it was so bad
11:58
Speaker 2: to the point that they were talking about amputating the lake.
12:02
Speaker 2: That's that's how severe it was. Has drop foot. I mean,
12:06
Speaker 2: you're gonna see a brace on his ankle and shout
12:09
Speaker 2: out Xavier Edwards to recognize that and lay a bunt
12:12
Speaker 2: down in his second of bat fantastic. Oh my god.
12:15
Speaker 2: You talk about a ruthless league, but this, uh, this
12:18
Speaker 2: kid is I get I kind of get emotional with
12:22
Speaker 2: this one because like you, you don't I didn't even
12:25
Speaker 2: know him, and I just know the story and you
12:27
Speaker 2: see it, and you see the the reaction from from
12:30
Speaker 2: his teammates when he came off off the mound, and
12:33
Speaker 2: and uh, you know his parents and everything in the
12:36
Speaker 2: stands because he's been through so much. I just I
12:42
Speaker 2: don't know how to put into words other than Blake
12:46
Speaker 2: pe Terry has a guy that throws ninety six ninety
12:48
Speaker 2: seven out of the left side, and that's nice. But
12:52
Speaker 2: he's gonna be a problem for the league if he
12:54
Speaker 2: could stay healthy and do all that. But I mean,
12:55
Speaker 2: like you talk about a guy that has persevered, is
13:01
Speaker 2: a hell of an interview and someone I'm gonna be
13:04
Speaker 2: rooting for for a while because I feel like he
13:07
Speaker 2: resonated with people. When it came to the conversation yesterday,
13:10
Speaker 2: just I mean, I's able to talk about his adversity
13:13
Speaker 2: that he's been through. Very special.
13:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned the friends that you know, the friends
13:21
Speaker 1: and the teammates there, but for me, it's the family
13:23
Speaker 1: that really gets me emotional. When you see I don't
13:25
Speaker 1: have that shot up, but his mom running up to
13:27
Speaker 1: him after the game, and the hug that they embrace,
13:29
Speaker 1: and just that moment afterwards for him, it's really awesome.
13:33
Speaker 2: And yeah, as.
13:35
Speaker 1: You mentioned, it helps to have some heat from the
13:37
Speaker 1: left side down to the bullpen, and hopefully he's a
13:40
Speaker 1: problem here for a while to come. Spencer, you reported
13:43
Speaker 1: the other day the Nationals claim knuckleball pitcher Matt Waldron
13:46
Speaker 1: off of waivers. But perhaps the bigger story here is
13:49
Speaker 1: Connolly Early being transferred to the sixty day DL. I
13:53
Speaker 1: guess let's go through both sides of the conversation really quickly.
13:56
Speaker 1: What does the Waldron pick up mean at this point
13:58
Speaker 1: in the season, How influential may he be? And then
14:02
Speaker 1: how concerned should we be around Early's transfer to sixty day.
14:07
Speaker 3: I'll start with Early, because I think that's like the
14:10
Speaker 3: easy and quick one to get out of the way.
14:11
Speaker 3: And maybe I should have clarified in the tweet as well.
14:15
Speaker 3: That is more of like a procedural move than anything.
14:19
Speaker 3: I haven't heard anything that indicates Early has had a
14:22
Speaker 3: setback that we don't know about or anything like that.
14:25
Speaker 3: This is just kind of a case of and this
14:27
Speaker 3: is I think a helpful learning moment for people. When
14:31
Speaker 3: someone has spent a certain number of you know, close
14:33
Speaker 3: to sixty days on IL, that clears a roster spot.
14:37
Speaker 3: And so that's kind of the crux of it. So
14:39
Speaker 3: i'd say national fans, I understand they're disappointed he doesn't
14:43
Speaker 3: here yet, but maybe, you know, exercise a little caution
14:46
Speaker 3: here with understanding that's the situation. And then on the
14:51
Speaker 3: standpoint of Waldron, again, it's another guy there taking a
14:54
Speaker 3: shot on right. I don't know that the knuckleball usage
14:58
Speaker 3: will be back to like seventy percent or whatever it
15:00
Speaker 3: was last year. I poked around on that and wasn't
15:03
Speaker 3: able to get an answer, unfortunately. But yeah, he's a
15:07
Speaker 3: he's an interesting guy to to take a chance on.
15:09
Speaker 3: The results haven't been good in the Major in the past,
15:11
Speaker 3: couple of years. But when you were at this stage
15:14
Speaker 3: of the national season, the role and the job is
15:18
Speaker 3: to take a chance on some guys who you think
15:20
Speaker 3: could be impactful. The Nationals seem to really like guys
15:23
Speaker 3: who can give you a weird, unique look out of
15:26
Speaker 3: the pen, and so this is there's another chance to
15:29
Speaker 3: do that.
15:31
Speaker 2: It was a Wednesday's Wednesday has been open too as
15:33
Speaker 2: far as like T B A or TVD however you
15:35
Speaker 2: want to be however you want to say it for
15:38
Speaker 2: for their starters, So you never know if that could
15:40
Speaker 2: be the opportunity there could we get someone out there,
15:43
Speaker 2: Like I don't know where we're at on this, but
15:46
Speaker 2: like the fan base that's out there, that's that's so
15:49
Speaker 2: up in arms about this Conley Early thing, thinking that
15:51
Speaker 2: like Paul Taboni got jobbed, is can we can we
15:56
Speaker 2: can we stop this please? Like the stupidity of this.
16:00
Speaker 2: When you can get a controllable arm like Connolly Early,
16:04
Speaker 2: whether it's hurt or not, you do it a thousand times,
16:08
Speaker 2: and then you do it a thousand times more, like
16:12
Speaker 2: we we have to like we have to stop this.
16:15
Speaker 2: Just because he's injured right now doesn't mean like there
16:18
Speaker 2: is a lot to go forward on this. This is equality,
16:23
Speaker 2: if not upside, high quality arm that you're gonna see
16:26
Speaker 2: in the big leagues, whether it's this year, whether it's
16:29
Speaker 2: next year like that. That's the part that's bothering me
16:32
Speaker 2: right now, is like we're the narrative of he got job,
16:35
Speaker 2: Like how you're gonna get five years of control over
16:38
Speaker 2: a picture, a starting picture of that quality. Yes, yes, please,
16:44
Speaker 2: yes please yeah. Yeah.
16:46
Speaker 3: There's like a eighty five percent chance that trade works out, right,
16:49
Speaker 3: like and that's not something I throw around lightly, right,
16:52
Speaker 3: Like there's a chance with the Garcia trade none of
16:56
Speaker 3: those guys pan out or it's not what you want
16:58
Speaker 3: to foster different trade like it the throw out the
17:02
Speaker 3: word process or whatever like vision, et cetera. Like as
17:06
Speaker 3: Frannie said, you get a controllable starter with five years
17:09
Speaker 3: left like that. Those guys don't grow on trees, and
17:11
Speaker 3: if they grow on trees, they don't get traded. Right
17:13
Speaker 3: And so to a black guy, for Curtis, meat is
17:17
Speaker 3: a win And even if he doesn't pitch this season again,
17:20
Speaker 3: still a win.
17:22
Speaker 2: Hey, Ben Grable gave up a couple of runs yesterday,
17:25
Speaker 2: first time that he has since the trade, which is
17:28
Speaker 2: special Kate Anderson made his debut for the Mariners the
17:31
Speaker 2: other day, and he'd been pitching the entire time in Arkansas.
17:33
Speaker 2: I believe is that that's where their double A is.
17:35
Speaker 2: I don't know if you read about his you know,
17:37
Speaker 2: big induced ver break kid in double A with that
17:41
Speaker 2: double A ball, I mean, Ben Grabil has been averaging
17:44
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. It has been a nap a NAT's prospect.
17:50
Speaker 2: Now since that trade with the Yankees. Do you see
17:55
Speaker 2: them moving him up and giving him a chance with
17:57
Speaker 2: that ball just to see what they could What's going
17:59
Speaker 2: to happen with that? Because I feel like he's dominated
18:01
Speaker 2: double for I mean pretty much his entire time when
18:05
Speaker 2: he was with the Yankees and now here as Yeah.
18:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, they've talked about that as a likelihood. I know, again,
18:13
Speaker 3: before anything happens, I don't want to say it's written
18:15
Speaker 3: in stone because plans can change. But yeah, that that
18:19
Speaker 3: point you bring up with the ball is a super
18:22
Speaker 3: interesting one, right, Do.
18:24
Speaker 2: You have a specially with these two inches?
18:27
Speaker 3: Yes, and when that is like your calling card or
18:32
Speaker 3: that is like what makes you special, you want that
18:34
Speaker 3: is also going to make you special in the big leagues.
18:36
Speaker 3: I understand the Mariners not putting Anderson in triple A
18:40
Speaker 3: because like the ballpark factor there is really weird and whatnot.
18:43
Speaker 3: But for the Nats and having graybel maybe being Rochester
18:48
Speaker 3: towards the end of the year, I think there's a
18:49
Speaker 3: lot of the wady to do that.
18:51
Speaker 2: I know it's not a Mariner's podcast, but like Tacoma
18:54
Speaker 2: is the same same sea level as at sea level
18:56
Speaker 2: as it's Seattle, it's right there. I would have I
19:00
Speaker 2: would have started him there if you could have, if
19:02
Speaker 2: you could have mapped it out where you could have
19:03
Speaker 2: only pitched it home, just to give him the chance.
19:06
Speaker 2: Because TRIPAA uses the big League ball, I would have
19:08
Speaker 2: done it once or twice just to let him like
19:11
Speaker 2: get acclimated the whole thing, see how how it moves everything,
19:15
Speaker 2: and then go from there. But I mean that that
19:17
Speaker 2: was a drastic one the other day.
19:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it was fun to watch on the big
19:22
Speaker 1: league stage. I mean, the clips are everywhere. You know
19:24
Speaker 1: how social media likes to run too, Franny I I
19:27
Speaker 1: was also biting my tongue and just giggling at all
19:30
Speaker 1: the comments about the bony potentially getting fleeced by his
19:33
Speaker 1: buddies in Boston. That's certainly not the case. Nats fans
19:36
Speaker 1: Relaxed Tired. If you're looking for a Nationals podcast, though,
19:40
Speaker 1: subscribe to this one. Subscribe to District Territory. You don't
19:42
Speaker 1: want to miss any episodes down the line. You don't
19:45
Speaker 1: want to miss the Eli Willets signed baseball card giveaway.
19:48
Speaker 1: Let's take another quick break. When we come back, talk
19:50
Speaker 1: about the Rocky series it's coming up.
19:53
Speaker 5: We love our Dogabella, who's really just a couch cushion
19:56
Speaker 5: in our house, and.
19:57
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20:54
Speaker 1: So the Nationals come back now for a home stand
20:56
Speaker 1: four against the Rockies, four against the Marlins, and then
21:00
Speaker 1: I think an odd two set against the Braids.
21:01
Speaker 2: So I'm not mistaken.
21:02
Speaker 1: I don't have September there on the calendar, but they
21:04
Speaker 1: got the right guy on the mound today, Cade Kavali,
21:07
Speaker 1: and then Andrew Alvarez tomorrow. As we discussed earlier, still
21:10
Speaker 1: no one announced for Wednesday's game, but Jake Irvin expected
21:13
Speaker 1: to get the rock on Thursday. You look at the Rockies.
21:16
Speaker 1: They are cellar dwellers right now, fifty and eighty.
21:19
Speaker 2: Franny.
21:20
Speaker 1: What will the Nationals need to do right later on
21:22
Speaker 1: today to get the straight get the ships straightened out,
21:26
Speaker 1: and bounce back here against a pitiful team.
21:30
Speaker 2: I will, yeah, I mean you're playing pitiful too, so
21:35
Speaker 2: I mean like it's one of those things where you
21:37
Speaker 2: can't just sit there and say, oh, well, they lost
21:39
Speaker 2: six straight, they got swept on their homestand these good teams,
21:44
Speaker 2: did you see that whole thing? And you're you're right,
21:46
Speaker 2: all right, here we go. For me, they just got
21:49
Speaker 2: to start playing better baseball, and you know, pitching side
21:52
Speaker 2: of it, I think they've done a better job. There's
21:55
Speaker 2: things to look at this series. I think, you know, importantly,
21:59
Speaker 2: Jake Bird's been throwing the hell out of the ball
22:00
Speaker 2: of late. You get to the pen, you're starting to
22:03
Speaker 2: see some things that you know, the coaching staff has
22:06
Speaker 2: really took over on a couple of guys. Where are
22:08
Speaker 2: they going to go on with Will Dion? You know,
22:11
Speaker 2: Mexicranic is starting to flip the script a little bit
22:13
Speaker 2: and I like seeing that so some for me, I
22:17
Speaker 2: am paying attention a lot to the bullpen in this series,
22:22
Speaker 2: not because that the struggles of the Rockies, but for me,
22:26
Speaker 2: it's seem like some strengths that are starting to come
22:28
Speaker 2: out and then identifying those with those guys on the
22:31
Speaker 2: flip side that I need to see something from the
22:32
Speaker 2: offensive side. I need to see some consistent at bats.
22:35
Speaker 2: We saw Abby Ortiz get really I'm not gonna say,
22:39
Speaker 2: but you know they they really between the Rangers and Marlins,
22:44
Speaker 2: really limited hard contact against them at all. Didn't throw
22:50
Speaker 2: them a whole lot of fastballs through them, a lot
22:51
Speaker 2: of spin, a lot of speed. What are we going
22:54
Speaker 2: to get out of you know? The backside of this,
22:56
Speaker 2: like Andre Chapparal has been fantastic, fantastic. Can he continue
23:00
Speaker 2: those ways? Dylan Cruz, I mean, was hammering balls and
23:05
Speaker 2: just missing a few. Same thing goes with dal Law.
23:08
Speaker 2: Can this be a series where they get hot together.
23:11
Speaker 2: It would be sweet to see two guys get going
23:14
Speaker 2: together at the top of the lineup and move forward.
23:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, back to the bullpen. Note really quickly. I didn't
23:20
Speaker 1: put this graphic in just because it's outdated by two days,
23:23
Speaker 1: but in the midst of Saturday's game, Nationals Communications put
23:27
Speaker 1: this out. Fourteen games since August fifth, the bullpen over
23:30
Speaker 1: the last four games zero point seven to three ERA,
23:35
Speaker 1: one earned run in twelve and a third innings, a
23:38
Speaker 1: one to ninety opponent's batting average, thirteen strikeouts to just
23:41
Speaker 1: two walks. I'm not sure exactly how they're riding up
23:45
Speaker 1: that stat, but the point is the bullpen is certainly
23:47
Speaker 1: pitching better as of late, and they deserve some flowers
23:50
Speaker 1: for that, so that'll be interesting to follow see if
23:53
Speaker 1: the bats can get going. But is there anything else
23:55
Speaker 1: we want toss them before we head out today?
23:58
Speaker 2: No, that's it man. Gotta get on the get on
24:01
Speaker 2: the witting track.
24:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, gotta get back in the winning ways. We will
24:05
Speaker 1: see you later on in the next episode. Until then,
24:07
Speaker 1: see you later, m
24:14
Speaker 3: M m hm.