Latest / District Territory / Is the Nationals offense built for the MLB postseason?

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Is the Nationals offense built for the MLB postseason? · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shelhouse
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: from the Bat Boys and joining me today Spencer Nusbaum
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of The Athletic. We're seeing some stuff we haven't seen
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: since twenty nineteen. So I had to break out the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Anthony ren Don hat today. And that's coming off a
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: win last night seven to three. But let's talk about
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the bullpen to open things up today. PJ pooland he's
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: on the il, but Spencer, you're reporting hopefully a two
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: to six week recovery timeline. That did not matter last
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: night though, Matt Crook and Tom Cosgrove combining for three
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: scoreless innings out of the bullpen, just one strikeout in
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the effort. But kudos to the bullpen last night and Spencer,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: it is what it is at this point in the season.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: But we're gonna need some lefties down there, and it
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: was encouraging to see that kind of effort last night.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right where I think a pooland has
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: been effective this season. And if you also look at
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: how the Nationals got out yesterday, it was very PJ
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Pool and esk It was quick work. A couple of
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: walks in there from Cornelio actually instead of Crook and Cosgrove,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: but not a lot of strikeouts. And so I think
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: when you think about how they may piece things together
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: down the stretch, particularly with its left handers, I don't
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: know that they'll be able to get these like high strikeout,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: high punch out sort of guys that they probably need
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: down the road or and see in you know, future seasons.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: But if you can get someone to get a save
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: in ten pitches across two innings, like you'll absolutely take that.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: And when you have all these kind of low slot
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: lefties in the bullpen, you tend to give yourself at
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: least a decent chance. Although obviously we've seen out results
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: haven't been as good for the Nationals.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think a big question here too is PJ
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: had done such a wonderful job opening this season with
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Richard Lovelady also on the AISL, the Nats are are
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: in need of a lefty to step up here and
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: perhaps assume the openers role here for a little bit
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of time that's been so critical for them this season.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I think it's interesting to ask us, hey, who maybe
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: is the next lefty up in terms of who do
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: you trust the most Spencer to be opening for the Nationals.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they usually want someone of that spot
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: who's maybe not a high leverage guy, but will give
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the top of the lineup like a funky look. And
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: when I say not a high leverage guy, it's weird
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: because you both need that balance where you're probably facing
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: really really good left handed hitters, and also maybe you
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: need someone who isn't as experienced pitching in the eighth
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: the ninth inning, and so Carson Pomquist is kind of
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: the name that comes to mind. I know they're going
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: to use him actually today as an opener, which is funny,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: just found out a couple of minutes before he started recording.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I think Pomquist fits well in that role.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: He's had a lot of success this He's in the
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: stuff better than I, frankly would have envisioned it to be.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: And I think whatever, Well, the bullpen is still kind
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: of getting pieced together, but I think they have enough
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: interesting looks and especially if they get someone like Eddie
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: and Up eventually that'll be a big move.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And also got to give my shout out to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Andrew Alvarez last night. I believe this stat is now
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: outdated courtesy of our friends at Inside Edge. But it
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: should be thirty six consecutive innings pitch, I believe without
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: a home run aloud in Clayton Beeter. When the slider
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: has been good, man, it has just been nails. I mean,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: he has truly been one of the best relievers in
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the National League. When that thing is on Spencer, it
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem to matter if it's right to your lefty.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: When it comes to bee.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Her, Yeah, that's a fantastic point, right, And again, he's
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: someone where Frandie and I were talking about this on
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the pod last time. Right, he's someone where you can
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: see him going on a run because of the stuff
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: he has, because of the swing and miss he has.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he walks guys, but he generally he gets
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: out of those jams. And so yeah, he's someone where
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I'm I trust late deep in the bullpen. He's kind
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: of who I'm turning to.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, that is a guy that the Nationals
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: traded for last season or whenever it happened in names
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: were saying, hey that this is a guy that could
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: be a potential closer one day down the line. And
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I think you're starting to see that shine through at
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: times this season, and as Spencer and Franny mentioned in
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: previous episodes, a guy that could definitely get on a
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: run for the Nets at some point. So last night
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: it was a seven to three victory, Andres Chaparo, he's
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: been on a role lately, matched another home run. Juy
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: and CJ got in on the act as well. The
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Nats overtook the Yankees, I know at one point, but
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: before the game, I asked our listeners who would enjoy
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the offense at Colorado's elevation the most from an offensive perspective,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and I got to give a shout out to Joe d.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: He predicted two Jacob Young home runs and he's already
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: got one so far. It fires me up when we
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: see the power from Jy. Spencer, but you also acknowledged
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: before the game last night, ball just seems to fly there.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And is that to the Nats advantage with how well
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the offense is playing this season or would it be
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: more to a disadvantage with how this bullpen is pitched
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: at times?
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean everyone kind of plays is playing on
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: the same level playing ground when you have a elevation
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: at course, so it's hard to say one team you
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: know has more of an advant to the other. I
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: will say with Jacob young Keller, he had the ball
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: four thirty seven feet last night. That probably doesn't happen
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: unless you're a mile high. And also that ball does
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: get out in any other condition. Right, He's someone who's
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: been with some hands, you know, several weeks now. I
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: know he's usually playing through something small. It's something I
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: often asked him about. But I think that had really
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: sapped some of the power recently, where we hadn't after
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: that really good May where he hit like seven home
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: runs in a few weeks or whatever, he didn't have
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: one since June first, instead of being able to put
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: that together yesterday. It seems like his hand is all
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: good now, and if it isn't, that makes it all
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: the more impressive that he hit it four hundred thirty
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: seven feet and ended up being.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we didn't see it in person. You weren't
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: there in Vegas. I'm not sorry Sacramento for the athletics series,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: but it seemed like the ball was certainly flying there
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: as well. Is there anything you could attest to there
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that you know from a broader respective that the ball
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: is just flying there in a minor league park, of course,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: and out there.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you're exactly right. It's funny. We were
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: asking Blake some questions about, you know, how the outfielders
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: might play in this big outfield and what to how
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: to handle this elevation in a park like this, and
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: he was like, yeah, it's funny. Usually we'd have that talk,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: but we literally just played in Sacramento, which is almost
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: the same exact thing as it just so happened. They're
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: they're pretty prepared for something like this. Obviously we saw
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: them go off for twenty three runs in Sacramento, which
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: helps do But yeah, I think the key in this
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: elevation for those who aren't familiar. I was actually talking
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: with Bobby Wilson, the National's catching coach, about this yesterday.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: You don't really change your game plan at all. You
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: just kind of try to. And it's hard to do
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: an elevation because the ball flies easier and stuff plays
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: a little bit differently. But if you kind of keep
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: hammering your strengths, you're gonna have the same sort of
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: results you do in any other park. And that's on
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: the pitching side, that's on the hitting side. So the
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: key is hey pretend like this isn't cores, which again
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: is hard when the ball flies like it does. And
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: because why kiper Ruiz was actually taking VP with a
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: metal bat yesterday and it was like he might kill
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: someone with this, uh with this because the playing in
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: the ball was flying off his bet.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Well, I love it when we get to see big
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: leaguer swing battle bats. I hope I hope the league
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: comes around to that for the derby one day. And
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: if you want to go a step further with the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: athletics joke too, it's ironic. Oakland was such a pitcher's park.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: He had all that foul ground over there, and now
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: this season it's been a place for home runs. But
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: you know, on the note of home runs, I think
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: we should jump into the daily Dinger segment. District Territory
• 8:19
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• 8:40
  Speaker 1: So Joe predicted two Jacob Young home runs over the
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: course of this Colorado series. But I'm going to go
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: with James Wood. It's just been a second since we've
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: seen him absolutely collabora ble that we just gawked at
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: and we said, wow, where did that one land? Colorado
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: seems like the place for it to happen. Spencer, who's
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: your pick for later today? Oh?
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Again, this one's hard because I could pick almost anyone
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: in the lineup, right, So I'm trying to be creative here.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Balen hit a ball four hundred nineteen feet yesterday that
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: was not a home run, which is not something we
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: hear often. Again, I am bullish that he is about
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: to figure it out, and I will say, Dalen, but again,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: you're probably safe thinking about just almost anyone in this
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: lineup pitting a home run at some point in this series.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's bound to happen tonight. It's Colorado. But
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: if you're ready to play your game, head over to
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: FanDuel dot com Slash podcast to get started. That's FanDuel
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  Speaker 1: dot Com Slash podcast to opt in for Daily Dingers
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  Speaker 1: and make your free pick on who's hitting a home run,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: playball and swing for the fences on FanDuel, an official
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: partner of Major League Baseball Spencer. This offense has been
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: terrific all season long. Last night you tweeted out you're
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: looking for new ways to describe it, but aggressively sustainable
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: is just an appropriate word, it seems like. And you
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: wrote an analysis piece the other day in The Athletic.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Are James Wood and the Nationals lineup built for October?
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: It's a different breed of baseball in October, but this
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: lineup has shown that it has so much depth it's
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: certainly a question worth asking at this point in the season.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Right, And again, I still need to preface all of
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: this by saying October is a long shot. It is
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: a possibility which we did not expect, but it is
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: by no means even close to a certainty. What I
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: will say on this front, and what I kind of
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: looked into is, hey, in these parks that aren't are
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: these teams that they're facing that aren't Sacramento or Colorado,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: how have James Wood and the Nationals fared? And the
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: answer is pretty well, right, James in particular has had
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: some really good at bats. We think back to that
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: series against the Yankees where he homered off Tim Hill,
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: who's got that weird lefty side arm approach. He homered
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: off Cam Schlittler, who is the presumptive al Cy Young favorite.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: He overnered off Will Warren, who also is not a
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: bad picture by any means. And so we think about
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: what James has been able to do against really good
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: arms this season. I think that should make the Nationals
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: bullish that, hey, were they to reach October one day,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: they have someone who is one of those aircraft carriers,
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: one of those stars that really does shine in October.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Beyond that, it's a little more complicated. They've played well
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: against or I should say they've hit well against teams
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: that are postseason contenders. Against All Stars in particular, it's
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: a little shakier. The one name I would throw out
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: because I think we need to consider him both as
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: a potential trade candidate as well as a potential future
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Like big big piece on this team is Curtis Mead.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: He's someone who's had a lot of success against some
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: really good pictures this year, and so I think that
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: complicates the picture too, right, where is that all the
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Nationals are going to look into. No, they have kind
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: of multiple levels levers at their disposal where we didn't
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: come here thinking Curtis Meade was going to be a star,
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: and it looks like he very well could be, you know,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: a lynch pin of this offense moving forward.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and one some more stats courtesy of our friends
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: over at Inside Edge. Eleven opposite field home runs for
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: James that led major League Baseball coming out of the
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: All Star Break. But this one too goes a credit
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: to him. Three point fifty lead off on base percentage.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Now this is for the National's entire lineup though, that's
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: number one in leadoff inning on base percentage. So it's
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: bigger than just James. It's whoever is leading off that inning.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: And you mentioned names like Curtis Mead, all Stars, like CJ. Abrams,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: whoever it is that is stepping up to lead off
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: each inning that has been so important to them to
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: get the offense rolling and a bigger picture. But what
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: do you make of that stat? And there's one more
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to pull up here. Oh yes, Luis s
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Garzia just controlling the zone. This this amazes me. He
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: is batting, sorry, slugging seven sixty seven against elevated fastballs,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: but also crushing five to eighty nine against breaking pitches
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: in the lower half of the zone, courtesy again of
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: our friends over there. But there are so many interesting
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: stats that you could pull from on this offense, Spencer,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: is there one that stands out to you or one
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: guy who's stat that you're like that that is ridiculous.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny because I spend probably a couple hours
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: on fangrafts and stat cat stat head every day looking
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: for stuff like this, and so I think what compels
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: me among the numbers that you just listed is that
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: leadoff on base percentage? Right, I think traditional baseball minds,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: and even frankly I've been guilty of it in the past,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: we think about having sluggers and really really good players
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: in the two spot or the three things like that,
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: when in reality is you look at a guy like
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: James Wood leading baseball and runs that's because he gets
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: on base and his teammate man I have obviously been
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: a proponent in years past of putting James in the
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: leadoff spot for a reason like that, But really, strike
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: you how important. That is, until you see the Nationals lead.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: And that's not just a product of lineup contraption, right, Like,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: I think they'd still have over five hundred runs if
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: you put him in the two and put someone else
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: in the one. But it's just so impressive what they've
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: done this season.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was a question I had asked Blake
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: a couple maybe a month and a half ago. When
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: James is going through a bit of a slump, do
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: you consider moving away from from what the algorithm is
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: telling you? Do you want to put someone else in
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the one? That's why I'm not a manager. Don't don't
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: touch the lineup. That's I let Blake do his job
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: really quickly. You know, if you're looking to shop some
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: all star merchandise, head over to the foul Territory shop
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: dot com. We've got James Wood c Ja rooms an
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: eleven game winner Foster Griffin. Some people are making a
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: bigger deal out of this than it needs to be.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I know, wins are a dead stat Spencer, but Foster
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Griffin eleven wins. This was an elusive number for the
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Nationals the first time since twenty nineteen, since the Big
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Four did it and Dave Jaggler referred to it as
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: the Big four in the post game when that happened,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: including on a ball Sanchez in that group. But how
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: refreshing is it to see a national starting pitcher that
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: has just felt as automatic as Scherzer or Strasburg in
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: that twenty nineteen run.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's ridiculous that he's had eight straight starts of
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: one or fewer earned runs, right, Like, it's I don't
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: want to say it's like an underdiscussed storyline or whatever,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: because like it's my job to tell those stories, but
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: it's it's just remarkable. But he's done. I will always
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: hate pitcher wins. I make that very clear to Mark
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Zuckerman up in the press pot. But it is funny
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: when we think about what Mackenzie Gore did last season.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: He had an ERA for a while that was in
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: the like loath ease up through around this point. He
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: was like five and fifteen at the end of the year,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I think, or something crazy like that. So yeah, I
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: know that his teammates have joked a lot with him
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: about the fact that he gets more run support than them.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: In reality, they all get a pretty good amount of
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: run support. But yeah, it just feels like every time
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: he's on the mound that often shows up. And even
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: if it doesn't like, he is going to show up,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: and that's ultimately what matters.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, before we take a quick quick break, want to
• 16:30
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• 16:50
  Speaker 1: we'll preview the rest of the Colorado series.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: People, life is expensive, so you should start looking at
• 16:56
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• 17:00
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• 17:54
  Speaker 1: So the Nationals have two more here against the Rockies
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: before an off day on Thursday, and return home for
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks in an interleague series against the Blue Jays,
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: but they find themselves just eight games back of the
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: National League East leader Atlanta Braves and a game out
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: of the playoff. Picture here it is not impossible to
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: see the Nationals in October. This graphic has become outdated
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: since we started recording. It'll be Carson palm Quist and
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: potentially Michael Lorenzen of the Rockies, but Miles Micheliss obviously
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: the first one expected out of the bullpen there last
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: time against the Yankees, Dude was nails four innings of
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: no run baseball against one of the best offenses in baseball. Spencer,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: what is going to be key for the Nats later
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: tonight and Wednesday to come home, hopefully with the sweep,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: hopefully with the series win, and to feel good about
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: themselves as they head into another testing homestand.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Sure thing, Yeah, it's a bullpen thing more than anything,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: just as almost any series. As What I will say
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: is if the Nationals can put up ten runs, they're
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: probably in a good spot. And they have been known
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: to do that. Michael Lorenzen has, as his era suggests,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: been known to give him up. And so yeah, I'm
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: I'm ultimately paying a lot of attention to that eighth
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: and ninth inning, but I'm I'm really curious to see, Hey,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: can some guys at the bottom of lineup step up?
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: And can James kind of set the tone right where
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: he's had I think not the best start to his
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: second half. Again, I have to stress this as I
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: do every time. He's going to be fine. I am
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: next to certain about it. He's still drawing walks, but
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: we haven't necessarily seen him lift the ball like he
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: he was in the first half. We've seen him hit
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: a number of ground balls, and I think if he
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: can get on track in the next couple of days,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: particularly today, I think that'll be huge for the NETS.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and as we mentioned that lead off stat, once
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the guy at the top goes, everything else seems to follow.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: I'll be We'll be back on Thursday with another episode.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: I'll be flying to Arizona tomorrow, Spencer, You'll be coming
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: back to DC. So we're going all over. But thank
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: you to all of our incredible listeners for bearing with us.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: It's not always Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: this week. We hope until next time, UH see you later.
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