Latest / District Territory / Cade Cavalli Strikes Out 13 as Nationals split first 2 games in Boston

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Cade Cavalli Strikes Out 13 as Nationals split first 2 games in Boston · District Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
0:11
Speaker 1: from bat Boys Baseball and joining me today Spencer Nusbauma
0:14
Speaker 1: the Athletic the Nationals splitting their first two games in
0:17
Speaker 1: Boston on Monday and Tuesday night. Tuesday a final of
0:20
Speaker 1: eight to one. Cade Cavali with simply a career night
0:23
Speaker 1: thirteen strikeouts and one hit over the course of the outing.
0:27
Speaker 1: He did allow one run early on in the process,
0:29
Speaker 1: but the Nets we're victorious, and hey, look who just
0:32
Speaker 1: joined Kevin Franzen from the Washington Nationals. Spencer, what'd you
0:36
Speaker 1: see out of Cad last night? I mean, that was
0:37
Speaker 1: a terrific start for him.
0:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's hard to talk about just the
0:42
Speaker 2: start on its own, obviously given everything that transpired in
0:47
Speaker 2: the fourth inning, But yeah, if we were to break
0:50
Speaker 2: this one down, I think what stands out to me
0:53
Speaker 2: the most is the response after the fourth inning. Right,
0:56
Speaker 2: That's a spot where you see a lot of other
0:59
Speaker 2: guys maybe in that either struggle to recuperate or maybe
1:05
Speaker 2: let the emotions get the best of them in the
1:07
Speaker 2: moments that follow And it felt like Caid got even
1:10
Speaker 2: better after the scuffle in the fourth inning. So yeah,
1:14
Speaker 2: there's a lot to do with that outing there. But
1:17
Speaker 2: if we're talking strictly based on the strictly about the performance,
1:21
Speaker 2: that was, you know, as good of an outing as
1:24
Speaker 2: we've seen from Kad Cabali in the major leagues.
1:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, and just incredible, really seeing everything come together from
1:31
Speaker 1: him last night. Let's get into the fourth inning though,
1:33
Speaker 1: because I think that is the headline from last night.
1:35
Speaker 1: Obviously the bench is cleared. This is a moment earlier
1:38
Speaker 1: on that manager Chad Tracy was asked about in the
1:41
Speaker 1: postgame press conference. He explained, Concerras tried to apologize to
1:45
Speaker 1: Kate Cavali for crossing in front. But Kevin, that's something
1:48
Speaker 1: that Kate, I think was is gesturing to Wilson there.
1:51
Speaker 1: That's something you can't do in baseball.
1:56
Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, I'm gonna say a couple of things on this.
1:58
Speaker 4: Number One, the right words to use by Kate, right,
2:02
Speaker 4: I mean the whole thing at the end of the day.
2:04
Speaker 4: But when you look at the whole he like the apology,
2:10
Speaker 4: like it just save it on the apology from Wilson.
2:13
Speaker 4: Catrero's thing, you have all the room in the world
2:16
Speaker 4: to continue on and then you just take that sharp
2:18
Speaker 4: little left right that he does after the flyout to
2:22
Speaker 4: go right in front of Kate like come on, like
2:25
Speaker 4: let's save it and then let's you have all. I
2:28
Speaker 4: mean to me, it is an absolute joke. Kate didn't
2:31
Speaker 4: even like try to fast walk it in the whole thing.
2:33
Speaker 4: He very much slow played it right. He was letting
2:36
Speaker 4: it play out, had his head down, wasn't doing anything different,
2:39
Speaker 4: trying to find a way. But that's tired from Wilson
2:42
Speaker 4: on that side of it. Now, the other side of it,
2:44
Speaker 4: probably the response, not the words to use, but again,
2:51
Speaker 4: like the situation, it happens in the game competition, it's
2:55
Speaker 4: not I don't think it's premeditated in any which way
2:58
Speaker 4: other than when you get going and and and you
3:00
Speaker 4: you get in that action and you know, kid's not scared,
3:04
Speaker 4: as we've seen. I referenced the he almost took on
3:08
Speaker 4: the whole entire Mets bench during the during the spring
3:12
Speaker 4: training of what twenty three when he blew out that
3:15
Speaker 4: same game, and it was one of those moments where
3:18
Speaker 4: you're like, there's our guy. There's our guy to follow,
3:22
Speaker 4: not scared, not able to back down, and you know,
3:24
Speaker 4: Wilson took a little bit to uh, be restrained, I
3:28
Speaker 4: guess before he went out completely and tried to dunk
3:30
Speaker 4: on on guys with his helmet, and so that I mean,
3:33
Speaker 4: that's the thing that people aren't focusing enough on.
3:36
Speaker 3: Like he threw his helmet.
3:37
Speaker 4: He had a chance to do it twice, and he
3:39
Speaker 4: fumbled the first one second when he spikes and hits
3:42
Speaker 4: Japaro and and and everyone wants to say, kid's the problem.
3:46
Speaker 3: Uh huh. Right.
3:48
Speaker 1: I think that's where I'm getting a little caught up
3:50
Speaker 1: and frustrated is because this video on the bat poison
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Speaker 1: Instagram didn't have more than twenty comments the other night,
3:56
Speaker 1: and now seven hundred Boston sports fans are in our
3:59
Speaker 1: comments sect and given it to Kide Cavali. Meanwhile, over
4:02
Speaker 1: on a Boston fan page, a Red Sox, a diehard
4:05
Speaker 1: Red Sox fan, is saying some choice words about Wilson
4:08
Speaker 1: Contraras and he's replying as seeing the fan to come
4:11
Speaker 1: meet him at Fenway. I don't I don't see that
4:12
Speaker 1: behavior out of Cavali in reaction to this whole thing.
4:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, partially I'll take I'll be silent on that one.
4:21
Speaker 2: But partially what I'm wondering about because we're still waiting
4:24
Speaker 2: on a decision from Major League Baseball as to who
4:26
Speaker 2: gets suspended from this. I would be shocked, and maybe
4:29
Speaker 2: by the time this episode is up, it will have
4:31
Speaker 2: already happened. I'd be shocked if Contrarast isn't suspended after this. Partially,
4:36
Speaker 2: what I will be curious about in terms of the
4:38
Speaker 2: follow through is whether Caid receives any disciplinary disciplinary action
4:43
Speaker 2: from this. Again, he wasn't thrown out of the game,
4:47
Speaker 2: and after the game, Contrast was asked whether he felt
4:51
Speaker 2: Kid's language was racist again because of the connotation of
4:54
Speaker 2: sit down boy as opposed to just sit down and
5:00
Speaker 2: said it would basically leave it up to Major League
5:02
Speaker 2: Baseball to make that decision, and so I think they
5:05
Speaker 2: The ball is now in Major League Baseball's court. I
5:08
Speaker 2: think again, we'll probably have another opportunity to talk to
5:11
Speaker 2: Kate about this, you know, once emotions have cooled a
5:14
Speaker 2: little bit after twelve hours or whatever it's been since
5:18
Speaker 2: the moment.
5:20
Speaker 3: But yeah, I.
5:23
Speaker 2: It's hard to unpack the moment too much without just
5:27
Speaker 2: leaning on what the players have said at the moment.
5:30
Speaker 2: But as for any brought up earlier, again, you you
5:34
Speaker 2: can't throw your helmet. You can't say those words if
5:37
Speaker 2: you're kid, and I don't want to equate those two moments,
5:43
Speaker 2: but uh yeah, it's a it's a difficult situation all around.
5:47
Speaker 4: When here's like I said this after the after the
5:52
Speaker 4: game last night, we have to be a little bit
5:56
Speaker 4: like in the moment of the competition, you're not going
5:58
Speaker 4: to be understanding and you know, like what someone's going through, right,
6:03
Speaker 4: This goes for any walk of life and the stuff
6:06
Speaker 4: that you know Wilson Canceroz has been battling through with
6:09
Speaker 4: the stuff in Venezuela is real, right, it is. We
6:13
Speaker 4: can never put in the frustration and some people wear
6:16
Speaker 4: and you can't say, well, Caber, it doesn't wear it, like,
6:18
Speaker 4: yes he does. He does it internally, right, some people
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Speaker 4: are outwardly emotional about.
6:23
Speaker 3: It, and it's not easy. You can't sit here and
6:27
Speaker 3: say that you know, what is he doing? What?
6:31
Speaker 4: Like I like, look when I lost my brother, there
6:33
Speaker 4: was rage that was always inside or sometimes it was
6:36
Speaker 4: outwardly you know, shown, and you just hope that people
6:42
Speaker 4: at the end of like when everything settles, you look
6:45
Speaker 4: back and be like, man, it's not an apology thing,
6:48
Speaker 4: but just understand that, like he's going through more, and
6:50
Speaker 4: I hope there are people out there that are close
6:53
Speaker 4: to Wilson that that just really are embracing him, you know,
6:57
Speaker 4: more than anything, because you can't just say, oh, well,
7:00
Speaker 4: this is how he acts all the time. Maybe it does,
7:03
Speaker 4: you know, maybe it does, but like right now is different.
7:05
Speaker 4: We saw the emotion after the home run the other day.
7:09
Speaker 4: I'm not trying to sit here and defend like what
7:11
Speaker 4: he did in spiking the helmet, but like, let's be
7:12
Speaker 4: honest here when it comes to emotional part of it,
7:15
Speaker 4: we don't know everything right, and that that seemed more
7:19
Speaker 4: than just the sit down right coming out from Wilson Contrares.
7:25
Speaker 4: So definitely I think about him. I think about all
7:28
Speaker 4: the Venezuelans that are going through all this, all the
7:30
Speaker 4: guys that were around every day because we don't know
7:33
Speaker 4: how they're taking it, and we hope that we you know,
7:36
Speaker 4: they're getting the help and and you know everything they.
7:39
Speaker 3: Can did it to the point I don't.
7:43
Speaker 1: I don't have much more to add on to it
7:44
Speaker 1: than that spencer unless you have more.
7:48
Speaker 2: No, I mean, I think Franny put it perfectly right, like,
7:50
Speaker 2: and this is a big thing I think about in
7:52
Speaker 2: coverage generally, and I'm sure, Frannie, it's the same way
7:54
Speaker 2: on the broadcast, right, Like, we feel like we know
7:57
Speaker 2: these guys because we watch them every day, we're around
7:59
Speaker 2: them every day, but we really don't know what they're
8:01
Speaker 2: going through on the inside ninety nine percent degree. And
8:06
Speaker 2: I'd say that's even amplified like this. So that's why,
8:10
Speaker 2: you know, whether it's extending grace or giving guys chances
8:15
Speaker 2: to explain themselves, or just kind of understanding the larger
8:20
Speaker 2: context here, Contraras is going through something that you know,
8:24
Speaker 2: at least at the present moment. You know, everyone has
8:26
Speaker 2: been through something. A three of us on the podcasts
8:28
Speaker 2: are not going through right now. Most of the people
8:30
Speaker 2: listening to this podcast are going through right now. Kate
8:32
Speaker 2: is not going through right now, and so I think
8:34
Speaker 2: we be cognitive for that.
8:36
Speaker 3: Definitely.
8:37
Speaker 1: Let's get into some lighter news from last night's victory.
8:40
Speaker 3: C J.
8:40
Speaker 1: Abrams became the first National League shortstop since Ernie Banks
8:44
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty to eclipse the sixty RBI mark ahead
8:48
Speaker 1: of July. Forgot to wish all our listeners are happy
8:50
Speaker 1: July July first as we're recording this, But Franny, some
8:54
Speaker 1: historic numbers from CJ. You talked a little bit about
8:57
Speaker 1: the head to head voting between him and Mookie, and
8:59
Speaker 1: no knock on Mookie. He's accomplished a lot in his career,
9:02
Speaker 1: but we got to get this guy in as a starter,
9:04
Speaker 1: a special player.
9:06
Speaker 3: On us as Nats fans to do it.
9:08
Speaker 4: I mean we we said it about James and they
9:09
Speaker 4: didn't get it through the you know, the next round,
9:12
Speaker 4: but it's on us for sure.
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Speaker 3: Vote him in, folks. I did it when y'all call.
9:16
Speaker 4: I don't see any other way you could do it
9:18
Speaker 4: and talk about it other than he's he's a more
9:20
Speaker 4: deserving guy this year.
9:22
Speaker 1: We got to get him in, Spencer anything to tack
9:24
Speaker 1: in on the CJ to the All Star campaign.
9:28
Speaker 2: Now, it feels like he's gonna make it right because
9:31
Speaker 2: he's leading in this first round of Phase two, and
9:34
Speaker 2: I figured I thought he'd have a tough shot just
9:37
Speaker 2: because of all the Dodgers fans that vote, But it
9:41
Speaker 2: feels like he's going to get in. Well, I guess
9:43
Speaker 2: we'll see how it plays out.
9:44
Speaker 1: It's exciting, definitely a good story to follow along with.
9:47
Speaker 1: Now really quickly to the Nationals bullpen, there was some
9:50
Speaker 1: il moves me the other day, Mitchell Parker and Richard
9:53
Speaker 1: Lovelady both to the fifteen Day, Il Carson Palmquist and
9:56
Speaker 1: Riley Cornelio getting the recall guys that we've seen pitch year.
10:00
Speaker 1: I want to ask you guys what you think we
10:01
Speaker 1: can get out of them, but also the bigger picture
10:03
Speaker 1: here for Mitchell Parker, a larger setback than we may
10:07
Speaker 1: have initially anticipated.
10:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can take the lead on this one obviously,
10:14
Speaker 2: just again in terms of as we've talked about feeling
10:16
Speaker 2: for guys like feel for Mitchell in this spot, given
10:20
Speaker 2: this year and what he's been through this on top
10:22
Speaker 2: of it is tough if we do, just want to
10:26
Speaker 2: focus on how they're going to handle this moving forward. Obviously,
10:30
Speaker 2: love Lady and Mitch didn't have the best recent stretch
10:36
Speaker 2: in a you know, the last month or so, and
10:39
Speaker 2: the Nationals need guys who can get lefties out, and
10:42
Speaker 2: so the idea is, hey, let's let's bring in these
10:45
Speaker 2: two guys who you know, newer to the organization at
10:49
Speaker 2: least in Cornelie, to the major leagues and see if
10:54
Speaker 2: they can help lefties get out. A lot is going
10:57
Speaker 2: to be put on Pool and palm Quest and when
11:01
Speaker 2: we talk about the National season at large, so much
11:03
Speaker 2: of it has been and the bullpen figure this out,
11:07
Speaker 2: so a lot is going to be put on a
11:11
Speaker 2: bit of a long mad I think that that's kind
11:14
Speaker 2: of what Blake was alluding to the other but also
11:17
Speaker 2: to the heart of a lefty's order, and if excuse me,
11:23
Speaker 2: Cornelia in particular, the numbers against lefties are pretty good,
11:26
Speaker 2: but that doesn't necessarily indeed healthy, So a little bit
11:31
Speaker 2: of mixing and matching item is on the way.
11:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's time to step up.
11:35
Speaker 4: Like we've talked about this as the opportunity for everybody
11:37
Speaker 4: else and you got to go out and do it.
11:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I know Nationals fans might give me some
11:42
Speaker 1: rap for this, but it was a tough stretch that
11:44
Speaker 1: Mitchell Parker was going through. But I don't think you
11:46
Speaker 1: can deny an important role that he was playing down
11:49
Speaker 1: in the bullpen, being able to eat innings as a
11:51
Speaker 1: long man. And Spencer just alluded to they need a
11:54
Speaker 1: guy in that bullpen, and wasn't always the best stuff
11:57
Speaker 1: for Mitchell, but at times we could see that down
12:00
Speaker 1: stuff for two or three innings and it's gonna be critical.
12:03
Speaker 1: Guys got to step up down in the bullpen really quickly.
12:05
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13:11
Speaker 1: and we are back. Let's get into Monday night's loss
13:14
Speaker 1: really quickly. The match dropped at six to three, but
13:16
Speaker 1: I was really impressed with Miles Michaeliss's ability to lock
13:20
Speaker 1: in and bear down and get some outs guys seven
13:23
Speaker 1: innings in total. It's not the prettiest line score you've
13:26
Speaker 1: ever seen, but he really set us up in a
13:29
Speaker 1: position to win Tuesday night's game and then hopefully go
13:32
Speaker 1: and get another one today. Give the bullpens some rest.
13:35
Speaker 1: But how important was it for him on day one,
13:39
Speaker 1: Franny to buckle down and give him some length.
13:43
Speaker 3: I mean it was important.
13:45
Speaker 4: I mean, you don't want to give up the five
13:46
Speaker 4: and the first two innings, you know. I mean, that's
13:50
Speaker 4: the bigger point of it. With a day off on Thursday,
13:55
Speaker 4: I think it's a little bit more mitigated on the
13:57
Speaker 4: whole thing. It just showed more and less shows the
14:00
Speaker 4: the younger guys what it's like to buckle down. That's
14:05
Speaker 4: what it is, But yeah, he did his job on
14:09
Speaker 4: that as far as getting the length, but I don't
14:11
Speaker 4: see it as being like an impressive start afterwards, right,
14:14
Speaker 4: like you missed so many spots for him and against
14:16
Speaker 4: a team you can't do it.
14:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's kind of the larger point I take here
14:21
Speaker 2: as well. He's his command needs to be exceptional for
14:26
Speaker 2: him to thrive. And there was a stretch for I'd
14:30
Speaker 2: say about what do you think five weeks there where
14:32
Speaker 2: it was close to exceptional.
14:34
Speaker 4: It was like his fastball command is amazing when it's on,
14:37
Speaker 4: it's amazing.
14:39
Speaker 2: Yeah that and just yeah that the thinker I was
14:44
Speaker 2: looking the other day, you know, I try to maybe
14:47
Speaker 2: gauge this a little less off the metrics, but there's
14:49
Speaker 2: one of their pitchy has that the like command plus
14:52
Speaker 2: grade is just like off the charts. But yeah, so
14:55
Speaker 2: much of it comes back to the fastball command. And
14:57
Speaker 2: when you leave that over the middle, and he left it,
14:59
Speaker 2: I believe a sweet we're over the middle as well,
15:02
Speaker 2: that's really going to burn you. And again it comes
15:05
Speaker 2: back to the point where I think Michaelis can be
15:07
Speaker 2: useful in this rotation if he does have that elite
15:10
Speaker 2: command and if he's able to pair that with giving
15:16
Speaker 2: the team length. But right now they need swing and miss.
15:20
Speaker 2: They need guys who can set up the bullpen the
15:23
Speaker 2: day they pitched, not just for the future games that
15:25
Speaker 2: they pitch. And so yeah, I think even michaelis after
15:29
Speaker 2: the game, you know, he said, yes, it's great that
15:32
Speaker 2: I gave innings, but he acknowledged that he needs to
15:35
Speaker 2: be better than this. And I think with some of
15:38
Speaker 2: the struggles of the bullpen recently, a lot of onuses
15:43
Speaker 2: put on the starter to kind of show up in
15:45
Speaker 2: those spots and especially in the first couple of innings
15:47
Speaker 2: to keep things clear.
15:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Fanny, as you mentioned, the off day coming
15:52
Speaker 1: up on Thursday, Nats return home to take on the
15:55
Speaker 1: Pirates for the Patriotic Series. After that kind of forgot
15:58
Speaker 1: we had an off day coming up on Thursday, But yeah,
16:00
Speaker 1: that's definitely.
16:01
Speaker 3: Helpful for the bullpen as always.
16:03
Speaker 1: Also in Monday Night's lost James, would you know he's
16:06
Speaker 1: been in a bit of a slump lately, but four
16:08
Speaker 1: hundred and forty one feet on the first strike of
16:11
Speaker 1: the game that Rangers sore has delivered. Kevin, you predicted
16:14
Speaker 1: it earlier in the day, but quite impressed. I wanted
16:17
Speaker 1: to give you some kudos for thank you, and and
16:19
Speaker 1: but yeah, what do you see on that swing? Because
16:21
Speaker 1: as we mentioned before in the show, four home runs
16:23
Speaker 1: allowed by the guy all season, and then he goes
16:25
Speaker 1: left on left against one of the best hitters in baseball.
16:28
Speaker 4: Well, lefties have a lot better splits against him this
16:31
Speaker 4: year because they could. You know, it's just a little
16:35
Speaker 4: bit less arsenal that he throws against the lefties than righties.
16:38
Speaker 4: His command to with his fastball early on wasn't there.
16:41
Speaker 4: But then that's also to James's benefit because number One,
16:48
Speaker 4: he's patient enough to get to that two account first
16:50
Speaker 4: a bat and you know, gets a little seeker in
16:53
Speaker 4: and does this thing. I haven't been worried about James.
16:57
Speaker 4: I'm telling you it's been He's backed up some balls better,
17:00
Speaker 4: you know, starting to last to bat in Baltimore on
17:04
Speaker 4: Saturday night, and then he took it into Sunday and
17:07
Speaker 4: then you're just starting to see it like it's starting
17:09
Speaker 4: to happen. And will there be strikeout to people, Yes,
17:12
Speaker 4: there's gonna be strikeout. There's a lot of strikeout because
17:14
Speaker 4: the dude's six six and trying to get you know,
17:16
Speaker 4: everything in sync all the time is not the easiest,
17:19
Speaker 4: the thinks, So, I mean, I would love to know
17:24
Speaker 4: if they have stuff plus models on guys, like on
17:26
Speaker 4: individual hitters, because it's enough that we see as just ridiculous.
17:30
Speaker 4: He's been now challenged twenty what was he three for
17:32
Speaker 4: sixteen abs? I think it is this year and then
17:36
Speaker 4: he's ye, he's been challenged twenty five times, and eighteen
17:42
Speaker 4: have gone against him.
17:44
Speaker 3: Most in the league. Nick Kurt's number two at twenty four.
17:47
Speaker 1: You're talking about that on the broadcast last night. Opposing
17:49
Speaker 1: teams look at this guy and say, hey, this is
17:52
Speaker 1: their catchers. At least I'll looking at him and saying,
17:54
Speaker 1: this is a bat we need to neutralize, use our
17:56
Speaker 1: challenges efficiently. This is the guy that we want to
17:59
Speaker 1: try and use. Yeah, it's been interesting to follow his season.
18:03
Speaker 1: Hopefully an All Star, Hopefully we see him up there
18:05
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia. Spencer, you wrote a story the other day
18:08
Speaker 1: for The Athletic about the two directions and the Nationals
18:11
Speaker 1: can kind of go in here at the trade deadline.
18:13
Speaker 1: Talked about this on Monday. I'm sure we'll talk about
18:15
Speaker 1: it in a lot more shows going forward, but explained
18:18
Speaker 1: to viewers what you were writing about the other day.
18:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we talked to Paul before the game about
18:25
Speaker 2: largely about either his time with the Red Sox as
18:28
Speaker 2: well as the upcoming trade, and he basically laid out
18:31
Speaker 2: that they don't know what they're going to do yet,
18:33
Speaker 2: and in some cases, when executives say that, you go yeah,
18:37
Speaker 2: right talking to him and just kind of understanding the
18:41
Speaker 2: way that this game works. I think in late June,
18:43
Speaker 2: when he says that and they're right at five hundred,
18:46
Speaker 2: he's honest. And so when you think about the past
18:49
Speaker 2: the Nationals could take, I kind of laid out the
18:51
Speaker 2: case for each and I'll just give a very quick
18:53
Speaker 2: synopsis here. The case for buying is that it theoretically
18:57
Speaker 2: wouldn't take a large prospect hall to add some relievers
19:02
Speaker 2: from other teams who aren't even necessarily ninthening guys on
19:05
Speaker 2: other teams, but maybe sixth seventh inning type guys. Try
19:09
Speaker 2: to add them for a low cost. The case for
19:12
Speaker 2: selling is that the Nationals' playoff odds are still hovering
19:16
Speaker 2: around five percent, and if we're going to be hot
19:18
Speaker 2: about what five percent means, really hard to make a
19:20
Speaker 2: postseason push at that and you risk pulling wins and
19:25
Speaker 2: pulling war and all these other things from rosters that
19:28
Speaker 2: may have a better chance to succeed down the line.
19:31
Speaker 2: And then the case for kind of hovering in that
19:33
Speaker 2: most spot is you potentially have replacements in triple A
19:36
Speaker 2: for some of the guys who you could could sell
19:39
Speaker 2: off while simultaneously buying. And so that's the really quick
19:43
Speaker 2: synopsis of it. But the crux of it is, there's
19:46
Speaker 2: not really a bad decision for the Nationals to make
19:50
Speaker 2: right now if they do it somewhere in the soft
19:53
Speaker 2: buy soft cell range. What will be interesting is if
19:56
Speaker 2: they take maybe a more extreme approach, which I don't
19:59
Speaker 2: think is off the table, but doesn't seem like the
20:02
Speaker 2: most likely.
20:02
Speaker 4: Option, right noep, I mean, look, if they're in the
20:07
Speaker 4: if they're in the American League right now, it's a
20:09
Speaker 4: it's probably yourself.
20:10
Speaker 3: I mean, it's probably by I mean yeah, yeah, that'd
20:13
Speaker 3: be playing I mean, I mean the percentage.
20:16
Speaker 4: I'm sure that the playoff percentage they would have in
20:18
Speaker 4: the AL would be north of thirty three thirty four percent, right,
20:22
Speaker 4: and that that's where you're going. But they're in the
20:24
Speaker 4: National League. It's tough spot. The way the Marlins have
20:27
Speaker 4: played too. I mean, can they continue this hot streak
20:29
Speaker 4: that you know? Twenty and six different in June? Unbelievable
20:33
Speaker 4: month for the Marlins. I want to talk about that,
20:35
Speaker 4: uh in a little bit or really quickly. Another word
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21:39
Speaker 3: And we are back.
21:41
Speaker 1: Take a quick look at the National League's standings. The
21:43
Speaker 1: Braves have dropped three in a row down to forty
21:46
Speaker 1: nine and thirty four. They have just a two and
21:47
Speaker 1: a half game lead over the Phillies and the Marlins
21:50
Speaker 1: red hot four and a half back the National Cit
21:52
Speaker 1: at seven games back. But you take a look at
21:55
Speaker 1: the wildcard settings or just two and a half out
21:57
Speaker 1: of the picture of the Cubs, Phillies, and Cardinals currently
22:00
Speaker 1: hold those top sports and hey the Marlins, the Marlins
22:03
Speaker 1: are tied for that top spot. I know this is
22:05
Speaker 1: a Nats podcast, but we got to give some kudos
22:08
Speaker 1: to the NLST opponents here and there.
22:10
Speaker 3: Right, Maybe I don't know, no, never.
22:12
Speaker 1: Good, but uh, I mean, Kevin, we talked about this
22:15
Speaker 1: before two and a half out of the wild card spot.
22:18
Speaker 1: Would you like to see the Nationals go in as
22:21
Speaker 1: soft buyers like? Would you like to see them make
22:23
Speaker 1: a push.
22:23
Speaker 3: For I want to see them force the envelope, push
22:27
Speaker 3: the envelope.
22:28
Speaker 4: If you're the players a month to do it, yeah,
22:32
Speaker 4: so yeah, I mean, I just want to see them.
22:33
Speaker 4: I want to see them, put them in a spot
22:35
Speaker 4: where they're playing their their butts off to create that
22:39
Speaker 4: that maybe a little bit of a chaos in the
22:42
Speaker 4: front office, because that's what it's supposed to be, that's
22:44
Speaker 4: what players are supposed to do, and so all good
22:46
Speaker 4: issue to have.
22:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, look at ahead to Wednesday afternoon's pitching preview.
22:54
Speaker 1: You got Andrew Alvarez on the bump for the Nationals
22:57
Speaker 1: and Peyton totally for the Red Sox a two seven
22:59
Speaker 1: eight just a four and five record to reflect it.
23:02
Speaker 1: But last time out against the Yankees, he was sharp,
23:04
Speaker 1: no runs over seven innings in seven strikeouts. But Andrew Alvarez,
23:08
Speaker 1: it's been an interesting season for him. He's scorned from
23:11
Speaker 1: what excuse.
23:11
Speaker 3: Me, let me get us back, look like Collums. It's good.
23:18
Speaker 1: It's been an interesting season for Andrew Alvarez, Kevin, But
23:22
Speaker 1: give fans a preview. You know, what's the stuff gonna
23:24
Speaker 1: look like later on today.
23:27
Speaker 4: I mean it's gonna be very different than what we
23:30
Speaker 4: saw last night from Kakavali, obviously with the curveball and
23:32
Speaker 4: slider combo that he has. But I think fastball for
23:34
Speaker 4: him is gonna be a big part today, most likely
23:38
Speaker 4: without Wilson Caturz in the lineup might help in this.
23:42
Speaker 4: I mean, he's got he doesn't have to do anything more.
23:45
Speaker 4: He's got a full bullpen behind him. I think that's
23:48
Speaker 4: the part that sets this whole thing aside, is that,
23:50
Speaker 4: like he's everyone's pretty much fresh in in the bullpen.
23:53
Speaker 4: But Zach Kent right, Orlando Robalta went Quickenning last night,
23:57
Speaker 4: should be fine for today. So I wonder how quick
24:00
Speaker 4: the hook is going to be for Blake today with Andrew,
24:03
Speaker 4: and if not, I mean I would love to see Andrew,
24:06
Speaker 4: you know, give a quality start.
24:07
Speaker 3: Be nice to see. Yeah, well, Kevin and True, that's
24:11
Speaker 3: what that's what you try for.
24:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, enjoy what is a beautiful and historic ballpark up
24:18
Speaker 1: there today. I think we've lost Spencer for the finale
24:20
Speaker 1: this episode, but I know he's enjoying. I know he's
24:22
Speaker 1: a Boston sports guy. I've never gotten to do media
24:25
Speaker 1: work up there. I did go as a fan once,
24:27
Speaker 1: but it's it's truly like stepping into a museum. Can
24:30
Speaker 1: you give our listeners or viewers an idea of like
24:33
Speaker 1: what it's like to take.
24:34
Speaker 3: In a baseball game in that stadium. I can't.
24:38
Speaker 4: I can't because I feel like no words will ever
24:41
Speaker 4: just make it describe what you feel.
24:44
Speaker 3: It's you step into the museum.
24:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, like my I still think that Rigally is my
24:49
Speaker 4: favorite of all the old stadiums, but that's because I
24:52
Speaker 4: played there more. And I think when you go to
24:57
Speaker 4: stadiums like this, it's just you just take it in
25:00
Speaker 4: and you can't take it for granted. And that's that's
25:03
Speaker 4: the biggest thing. If you're a sports fan out there
25:05
Speaker 4: and your team goes, if you're a nuts fan, if
25:07
Speaker 4: your team comes back in two years, try to find
25:11
Speaker 4: a way to get here, because it's it is, it's amazing.
25:14
Speaker 4: But I just can't describe the feeling because it's it's
25:16
Speaker 4: really it's it's a wonderful kind surreal.
25:19
Speaker 1: If I had to put one word on it, maybe
25:20
Speaker 1: just surreal, because it doesn't it feels like you're transformed
25:24
Speaker 1: to another uniform first, another planet or something, and you're
25:26
Speaker 1: not watching on planet Earth at that point.
25:29
Speaker 3: That's all I got.
25:30
Speaker 1: We'll be back in Friday's episode with the Nationals taking
25:32
Speaker 1: on the Pirates. As I mentioned, for a very patriotic
25:35
Speaker 1: weekend Kevin, take care of yourself, enjoy the game later
25:38
Speaker 1: today We see you know so later