Latest / District Territory / Nationals Extend Win Streak to 4, Bats Erupt to Open Cleveland Series

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Nationals Extend Win Streak to 4, Bats Erupt to Open Cleveland Series · District Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm your host,
0:11
Speaker 1: Eric Shellhouse. Joining me today Spencer Nusbaum at the Athletic
0:15
Speaker 1: The Nationals red hot four wins in a row, two
0:18
Speaker 1: games over five hundred. But Spencer, how you doing in Cleveland?
0:23
Speaker 2: I'm great, a little tired, some long days obviously in
0:26
Speaker 2: the Nationals world, but they are playing very interesting baseball.
0:31
Speaker 2: They are hitting, they are pitching to a degree that
0:33
Speaker 2: we have not seen before, at least not over a
0:36
Speaker 2: stretch like this. And yeah, there are two games over
0:39
Speaker 2: five hundred, which again we have not seen quite a while.
0:42
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's very compelling stuffs happening over here.
0:47
Speaker 1: Yeah. Tuesday night's final score saw the Nationals victorious six
0:51
Speaker 1: to three. James Wood homerd again, we'll get into that
0:54
Speaker 1: later on. Kate Cavali was dominant, as he has been
0:57
Speaker 1: many times this season, and the Nats were rolling early
1:00
Speaker 1: on don In the second inning, caber Ruiz got the
1:03
Speaker 1: party started with a base knock that drove home two runs,
1:06
Speaker 1: and then James Wood, with his frame described it a
1:09
Speaker 1: majestic home run. Umpire had to step beside there to
1:12
Speaker 1: get a better view of the Nationals were the first
1:14
Speaker 1: team in baseball to three hundred runs in Spencer, you
1:17
Speaker 1: noted very quickly made it three to h two. This
1:21
Speaker 1: offense is just astounding. But what has made them so
1:24
Speaker 1: good in the from recent weeks.
1:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a combination of factors. You look
1:31
Speaker 2: at the same stuff we've been talking at all year
1:34
Speaker 2: in terms of not just the coaching but the matchups
1:37
Speaker 2: that they've played, getting guys in the right spots. But
1:42
Speaker 2: even beyond that, it's a lot of these guys where
1:44
Speaker 2: you see either improved pitch selection, whether it's in the
1:47
Speaker 2: case of James where that was kind of his achilles
1:50
Speaker 2: heel towards the end of last season he fixed that.
1:54
Speaker 2: You look at a guy like caber Ruiz where and
1:59
Speaker 2: the air more and that speed is up. You look
2:01
Speaker 2: at Jacob Young where it's kind of the same thing.
2:04
Speaker 2: It's all of these guys where the away necessarily but
2:09
Speaker 2: they've honed in on the one or two weaknesses that
2:11
Speaker 2: have really kept them from reaching the next level as players.
2:17
Speaker 2: And so I think it's awesome to see all these
2:18
Speaker 2: guys where like it's easy to say, hey, just pull
2:21
Speaker 2: up on the air more, Hey just swing harder, Like
2:24
Speaker 2: Hey just don't swing it pitches outside the zone. Like
2:26
Speaker 2: that's stuff that you or I can say, but to
2:31
Speaker 2: do it in a span of like however long it's
2:34
Speaker 2: been during the season, ten weeks, eleven weeks, like it's
2:38
Speaker 2: harder than maybe it looks on television or even looks
2:42
Speaker 2: in person. Here they're doing the right pregame work, they're
2:45
Speaker 2: prepping correctly, and they're fixing some of those weaknesses and
2:48
Speaker 2: that's why you see kind of this well well rounded effort.
2:52
Speaker 2: And I know again from you watching on TV, like
2:54
Speaker 2: you see a lot of guys who haven't who are
2:57
Speaker 2: doing things that they haven't done before, which again is
2:59
Speaker 2: super encouraging. And the question is whether it's sustainable.
3:03
Speaker 3: But right now it looks like it is.
3:05
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, the discipline lately has been absolute nails,
3:10
Speaker 1: and the execution, which Franny talks about a lot on
3:13
Speaker 1: the show, the execution has just been nails all around lately.
3:17
Speaker 1: The defense was nails. Here in center field. Curtis Meat
3:20
Speaker 1: thought he would have his third home run in two days,
3:23
Speaker 1: but was denied and the Guardians got back on the board.
3:27
Speaker 1: They had a response. Kaid Cavali was able to work
3:29
Speaker 1: out of a tricky basis loaded jam and navigated through
3:32
Speaker 1: a difficult at bat with Jose Ramirez limiting him to
3:35
Speaker 1: justice sacrifice fly Spencer watching in person that watching on TV,
3:42
Speaker 1: it seems like that might be a moment or returning
3:44
Speaker 1: point in the game. But how important was it there
3:46
Speaker 1: to neutralize Jay ram to just the one run in
3:49
Speaker 1: that bath.
3:50
Speaker 3: It's really important.
3:51
Speaker 2: And kid talked about and he talks about most pitchers
3:54
Speaker 2: talk about how they want to treat every pitch and
3:56
Speaker 2: every app bat the same. But when you have again,
3:59
Speaker 2: one of the best players in baseball coming up, and
4:02
Speaker 2: you have a basis loaded situation where you're only up
4:04
Speaker 2: by a you know, four runs at that point or
4:07
Speaker 2: three runs or whatever it was.
4:10
Speaker 3: You can get tight in those spots.
4:12
Speaker 2: And especially if you aren't confident in your catcher and
4:15
Speaker 2: you're not confident in your sequencing, you can really flounder
4:17
Speaker 2: in some of those moments. Caid has talked, I think
4:21
Speaker 2: after every single start, or almost every single start, about
4:25
Speaker 2: either k Bear or Millis usually Caber catches him and
4:30
Speaker 2: just how much faith he has that that guy's going
4:32
Speaker 2: to tell him the right pitches to throw. And Caid
4:37
Speaker 2: is kind of operating with a level of confidence in
4:40
Speaker 2: his catcher and in his plan.
4:41
Speaker 3: At the moment that gives him the ability.
4:43
Speaker 2: To get a guy like Jay Ram out like we
4:47
Speaker 2: all know, we've seen it since his first start back
4:50
Speaker 2: in DC, when he threw like his like third or
4:52
Speaker 2: fourth pitch top one hundred miles per hour, Like he
4:55
Speaker 2: has the stuff to get these guys out.
4:57
Speaker 3: That's never betting started. It's how sequence is it and
5:01
Speaker 3: how often the.
5:03
Speaker 2: Fact that he knows at this point is confident enough
5:07
Speaker 2: to throw him some pitches over the harder plate and
5:11
Speaker 2: to be able to go out to have the zone
5:13
Speaker 2: when he needs to. I mean, it's such a turning
5:16
Speaker 2: point in the game. It's a turning point for the organization.
5:19
Speaker 2: Even you know, you never say that one at bat
5:23
Speaker 2: can make or break a season, but man, it felt
5:26
Speaker 2: like a big one in the.
5:27
Speaker 1: Moment, one hundred percent. And Blake saying in the post game,
5:30
Speaker 1: it makes my life easier when these guys are pitching
5:33
Speaker 1: to a tune of a you're a of one over
5:35
Speaker 1: their last seven games. I believe is that the six games, yeah,
5:40
Speaker 1: last six games, over the last six games in Ehury
5:43
Speaker 1: of one from the starting pitcher. Flash forward to the
5:47
Speaker 1: ninth inning the Nationals got some important insurance run courtesy
5:51
Speaker 1: of our boy Chappy, lacing a double down into the
5:54
Speaker 1: left field corner that made it six to one and
5:56
Speaker 1: certainly gave them some more comfortable breathing room. Cleveland did
6:00
Speaker 1: strike for two runs, but Mitchell Parker picking up his
6:03
Speaker 1: first shave of the season on Tuesday and three innings
6:06
Speaker 1: of work. What can you say about the pitching from
6:08
Speaker 1: last or later earlier tonight, Spencer, Yeah.
6:15
Speaker 2: It's really I mean, it's the guys that you expect
6:20
Speaker 2: to show up at this point. And again, I know
6:23
Speaker 2: Mitchell Parker did not have the best twenty twenty five,
6:26
Speaker 2: but he's really thrived in this role where he can
6:27
Speaker 2: basically just hammer sliders and pitch multiple innings and know
6:32
Speaker 2: that he doesn't have to face a lot of these
6:34
Speaker 2: guys multiple times to the order he can just kind
6:37
Speaker 2: of rely on his his stuff and his kind of deceptiveness.
6:41
Speaker 2: And then, yeah, I mean, we talked about Caid and
6:44
Speaker 2: we'll get into this, I'm sure a little bit later
6:45
Speaker 2: in the show in terms of the entire pitching plan.
6:49
Speaker 2: But what these guys did against the Guardians lineup that
6:52
Speaker 2: in the past was known as like, hey, they're gonna
6:54
Speaker 2: do like just enough to skate by, like yeah, you know,
6:57
Speaker 2: yeah the Guardians of Old like this a real lineup.
7:00
Speaker 2: They've got real dudes. De latter Ramirez like quant saking
7:05
Speaker 2: a down season, but he's still in there. Like they
7:08
Speaker 2: have hoskins, you know, like the and and it was
7:11
Speaker 2: all lefties tonight too. That was the other thing, like
7:13
Speaker 2: Kate had to deal with that. You know, it's it's
7:16
Speaker 2: two guys that I kind of at this point, I'm
7:19
Speaker 2: surprised if they don't show up in a game. And
7:23
Speaker 2: so yeah, it was part for the course, which maybe
7:27
Speaker 2: a month ago we about this group, and so yeah,
7:32
Speaker 2: it's it's fascinating to see how quickly expect change and
7:36
Speaker 2: expectations can change for a pitching staff. They've pressed all
7:41
Speaker 2: the right buttons, They've made the right adjustments.
7:43
Speaker 3: It's it's really good stuff.
7:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned some of the names there in
7:47
Speaker 1: the Cleveland dugout. What about Steven Vote. It's been like
7:50
Speaker 1: watching they say every baseball game is like a chess match,
7:52
Speaker 1: but I mean that these ones have really felt like
7:55
Speaker 1: chess matches the way he's lining lining up the bats
7:59
Speaker 1: against the Nats pitching. But the Nats have had an
8:01
Speaker 1: answer for it. They were terrific on Monday night as well.
8:04
Speaker 1: If you haven't heard by now, they one tended to
8:07
Speaker 1: and the boys were bopping. James Wood got it going
8:09
Speaker 1: early on lead off home run, nothing new for him.
8:13
Speaker 1: Curtis Mead he joined the party in the first inning.
8:16
Speaker 1: Two home runs in the first three batters. It was
8:18
Speaker 1: the first time in NAT's history that the one two
8:21
Speaker 1: three batters homered in the first two innings. Jacob Young
8:24
Speaker 1: in the second inning got in on the party. He
8:26
Speaker 1: blasted one. Luis Garcia Junior, he blasted one. There's your
8:31
Speaker 1: two man hitting a home run. CJ. Abrams was in
8:33
Speaker 1: on it as well. He lifted. Oh, that one was
8:36
Speaker 1: majestic as well, just staying inside of the right field
8:38
Speaker 1: foul pol And then Curtis Mead a two homer game.
8:43
Speaker 1: He was denied earlier today. But man, this dude has
8:46
Speaker 1: been locked in of late. What have you seen from
8:48
Speaker 1: him at the plate?
8:50
Speaker 3: Yeah.
8:51
Speaker 2: We actually talked to Curtis after that first game to
8:53
Speaker 2: get a little more insight. He's someone who's pretty particular
9:00
Speaker 2: process and his ideas close to the vest.
9:04
Speaker 3: But what he has.
9:06
Speaker 2: Indicated is that in years past he's someone who tinkered
9:12
Speaker 2: with his swing a lot. And so you'll see and
9:14
Speaker 2: a lot of guys talk about this, like when they
9:16
Speaker 2: go through some of these roughs the swing and they start,
9:20
Speaker 2: you know, they'll they'll put their hands here, and then
9:22
Speaker 2: they'll put their hands down, and then you know they'll
9:24
Speaker 2: they'll just do all these different things. He's got his
9:27
Speaker 2: hands in the right spot. He's kind of gone back
9:30
Speaker 2: to the swing when he was a top prospect, and
9:35
Speaker 2: not to say it looks identical, but he knows exactly
9:37
Speaker 2: what he's doing. It's consistent, and that's also come with
9:40
Speaker 2: This is the other big piece he's come with consistent
9:42
Speaker 2: playing time, like he is someone where not to say
9:46
Speaker 2: he's been yanked around, but he's had to play in
9:49
Speaker 2: all these different roles and not really know what his
9:52
Speaker 2: job is on a team like Blake and Paul told
9:55
Speaker 2: him coming in, like your role is going to be this.
9:57
Speaker 2: You're going to play consistently. We believe in you. And
10:01
Speaker 2: that's as much a piece as anything. He can get
10:04
Speaker 2: the ball in the air, he's making better swing decisions,
10:07
Speaker 2: and so much of it just comes back to understanding
10:09
Speaker 2: his approach and playing consistently, and baseball is never that simple,
10:13
Speaker 2: but honestly, like eighty percent of the time, that's what
10:15
Speaker 2: this stuff boils down to.
10:17
Speaker 3: So it's really compelling to see him do what he's done.
10:20
Speaker 2: And yeah, I don't know if we'll look up at
10:24
Speaker 2: the end of the season he'll have an eight to
10:25
Speaker 2: fifty oh ps or whatever you as now, but anything
10:27
Speaker 2: over a seven to fifty would be a big.
10:29
Speaker 1: Win for sure. I really quickly want to shout out
10:33
Speaker 1: the pitching because Zach Lettel was fantastic. They've been, They've
10:37
Speaker 1: all been fantastic lately, but he did so in relief
10:42
Speaker 1: the other day. And this is where I'm getting a
10:44
Speaker 1: little confused. Sensor he gets he gets the win, but
10:47
Speaker 1: is he not also eligible for a save here in
10:50
Speaker 1: the in the way and that he protected ats throughout
10:52
Speaker 1: the course of the game. I wanted to say went
10:54
Speaker 1: the distance there, just putting up the final highlight, but
10:57
Speaker 1: it sure it sure felt like that kind of outing
11:00
Speaker 1: for him.
11:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's funny about the save.
11:04
Speaker 2: I actually have to I have to look back in
11:05
Speaker 2: the role book, but I think at a certain point
11:07
Speaker 2: a win overtakes.
11:08
Speaker 3: A save in terms of what you're earned. With Littel, it.
11:12
Speaker 2: Was so funny because early he throws a pitch and
11:15
Speaker 2: it's ninety four point nine and I'm like, is stat
11:18
Speaker 2: cast reading that wrong? Because he's basically topped out and
11:22
Speaker 2: most starts around like ninety two and a half ninety three,
11:27
Speaker 2: So he's really hard, really early, and I'm like, Okay,
11:31
Speaker 2: it's an interesting start, but like it's still the command
11:34
Speaker 2: isn't quite there, and he just he finds a rhythm,
11:39
Speaker 2: and he talked about this, he finally has found a
11:41
Speaker 2: rhythm when he pitched. His mechanics are in sync, his
11:44
Speaker 2: mind isn't sync. He knows what he's throwing, and it's
11:48
Speaker 2: benefited him immensely where he's able to go out there
11:52
Speaker 2: and give the team seven innings. I thought, honestly, one
11:55
Speaker 2: of the best things he said was coming back out
11:59
Speaker 2: in Sorry. When he goes back in the digout in
12:02
Speaker 2: the eighth inning, he's at I believe, ninety four pitches.
12:06
Speaker 2: This is a point when usually you'd take a guy out,
12:09
Speaker 2: you'd throw and you know, an arm out there that
12:11
Speaker 2: you know you might not need the next few days.
12:13
Speaker 2: You know, we've all seen it before he goes no,
12:16
Speaker 2: you know, this bullpen has thrown, and he's right, this
12:18
Speaker 2: bullpen has thrown a ton a ton of innings over
12:23
Speaker 2: the last two months, over the last sixteen days in particular,
12:28
Speaker 2: he's he said, you know, I got them, let me
12:31
Speaker 2: get them for one day. They've they've got me again
12:34
Speaker 2: and again and again, and so he goes up to
12:36
Speaker 2: like I don't know, I think at the end was
12:38
Speaker 2: like one O six, one o eight something over a
12:40
Speaker 2: hundred pick And you know, Mitchell and Kid kind of
12:45
Speaker 2: did the same thing today too, like they're playing for
12:47
Speaker 2: each other.
12:48
Speaker 3: And it's been really fun to watch.
12:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, as James Wood said in the post game with
12:53
Speaker 1: the Lexa dabt, when you're all pulling in the same direction,
12:56
Speaker 1: good things tend to happen or good things hopefully will
12:58
Speaker 1: happen U. And that's so and laid the thought process
13:01
Speaker 1: here in Washington. Really quickly. I'd like to remind you
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14:16
Speaker 1: And we are back Spencer two games over five hundred.
14:20
Speaker 1: At this point in the season, we got to talk
14:22
Speaker 1: about some bigger pitch er stuff. You know, we're coming
14:25
Speaker 1: up on the deadline we're coming up. We're not coming
14:27
Speaker 1: up on the deadline, but we're coming up on the
14:29
Speaker 1: All Star Game is going to get here before you
14:31
Speaker 1: know it. The team is playing such good baseball right now.
14:35
Speaker 1: Is it fair to ask are they going to be buyers.
14:38
Speaker 3: At this deadline? Yeah?
14:40
Speaker 2: I think that's absolutely a question you have to start asking,
14:44
Speaker 2: or at least bridging. I think, you know, Franny and
14:48
Speaker 2: I have talked about this a little bit. I'm sure
14:49
Speaker 2: we'll talk about it in future episodes. I'm still of
14:53
Speaker 2: the opinion that they shouldn't be buyers at the deadline.
14:57
Speaker 2: I think there's still at a point in their process
15:00
Speaker 2: where you need to take the big picture of you,
15:02
Speaker 2: and I think they will most likely take the big
15:06
Speaker 2: picture view in the sense that I don't think this
15:12
Speaker 2: moving the needle where you want to still be thinking
15:15
Speaker 2: twenty twenty eight to twenty thirty eight as opposed to
15:17
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six or twenty twenty six and twenty twenty seven.
15:22
Speaker 2: That being said, I think this organization is smart enough
15:26
Speaker 2: to know that their fans have suffered a lot, that
15:34
Speaker 2: they believe in the development structure, such that if they're
15:36
Speaker 2: trading prospects, these are prospects either. I don't want to
15:40
Speaker 2: say they don't believe in, but they know what they
15:43
Speaker 2: have in the door. And if they don't believe they
15:44
Speaker 2: can get the best out of the guy, and they
15:46
Speaker 2: know they can add a handful of players on the margins,
15:53
Speaker 2: that they're at least going to kick the can around
15:54
Speaker 2: and explore that.
15:57
Speaker 3: I don't.
16:00
Speaker 2: I will say this with relative confidence. I don't believe
16:02
Speaker 2: the Nationals are going to be the biggest buyers at
16:06
Speaker 2: the deadline. I don't think they're going to acquire some
16:09
Speaker 2: ace that becomes available or some you know, big first
16:14
Speaker 2: baseman who you know can guarantee them fifteen to twenty
16:18
Speaker 2: homers down the stretch, Like I not really do those
16:21
Speaker 2: guys not always become Yeah, don't. I don't believe that
16:24
Speaker 2: a Pulanza will ever be Washington National. But I do
16:30
Speaker 2: think that if they, let's say, he gets to the
16:34
Speaker 2: All Star Break and the Nationals are best case scenario,
16:38
Speaker 2: you know, five seven games over five hundred in the hunt.
16:44
Speaker 2: I don't know if it softens the pieces that you
16:47
Speaker 2: sell off necessarily, but I think it could at least
16:51
Speaker 2: be a case where and you see, like the Brewers
16:53
Speaker 2: and teams like that do this. Hey, you know, we
16:57
Speaker 2: think we can get the most out of the triple
16:59
Speaker 2: A star for the next few months, who we believe
17:02
Speaker 2: is a big league arm Or Hey, there's this reliever
17:05
Speaker 2: who has a for something ere a, but we really
17:09
Speaker 2: love his underlying stuff. Or you know, here's this guy
17:13
Speaker 2: that was going to be off the roster anyway, let's
17:15
Speaker 2: take him. Like, I think it does kind of change
17:18
Speaker 2: your plans in that point. But that's again, only if
17:21
Speaker 2: the Nationals, excuse me, keep doing what they've been doing.
17:25
Speaker 2: And that's by no means a guarantee, like for all
17:29
Speaker 2: that's gone well with this club, and I think elements
17:31
Speaker 2: of it are sustainable. I don't think they should necessarily
17:36
Speaker 2: be buying unless they're in an absolute pristine spot. And
17:39
Speaker 2: even then you hedge a little bit. But I don't know,
17:41
Speaker 2: you've been around a while too, like maybe you have
17:43
Speaker 2: a different perspective on it.
17:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the way that I was speaking to
17:48
Speaker 1: my brother on the phone earlier today and he's tuned in.
17:52
Speaker 1: He's a big Nationals fan, and he's texting me around
17:55
Speaker 1: when spring training happened, and he's like, what is going
17:57
Speaker 1: on here with some of these moves and in the
18:00
Speaker 1: way that I keep rationalizing it to him and explaining
18:02
Speaker 1: it to other Natstans is there was not a commitment
18:06
Speaker 1: to the players that this new leadership inherited. There is
18:11
Speaker 1: only commitment to them from the players they've drafted and
18:14
Speaker 1: the players that are on the roster in the big
18:16
Speaker 1: leagues right now, and there's commitment to the guys in
18:19
Speaker 1: the minor leagues too. I shouldn't say that they're not
18:21
Speaker 1: committed to those guys as well, But as I explained
18:24
Speaker 1: it to Natstands, I'm saying that they do not have
18:29
Speaker 1: an obligation perhaps to say that the previous administration had
18:35
Speaker 1: to hold up and did not and since their departure.
18:42
Speaker 1: But yeah, it'll be really interesting in a couple of
18:44
Speaker 1: months here to see where the team is at as
18:46
Speaker 1: the deadline approaches, because in my eyes, there's no reason
18:51
Speaker 1: to believe why they couldn't go on a run this October.
18:54
Speaker 1: I mean, they just need some pitching.
18:57
Speaker 3: That's well, that's it. Well, I wouldn't go that far.
19:04
Speaker 1: Again, they're beating They're beating teams like Cleveland, They're beating
19:07
Speaker 1: teams like Atlanta here on the road.
19:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're also like two games over five hundred in
19:14
Speaker 2: a division that's underwhelmed, in a league that the National
19:18
Speaker 2: League that's extremely.
19:19
Speaker 3: Competitive, like we have seen.
19:24
Speaker 2: We have seen some great stuff so far. And I
19:28
Speaker 2: don't believe that CJ and James are going to regress
19:31
Speaker 2: in the second half, but they've done it before. I
19:33
Speaker 2: don't believe that the team is going to regress to
19:34
Speaker 2: the level that they've done in the past, but we
19:37
Speaker 2: saw them go like forty and seventy down the stretch
19:40
Speaker 2: last year. Like, I think we need to pump the
19:43
Speaker 2: brakes a little bit on thinking that this team is
19:47
Speaker 2: guaranteed to play October baseball in any sort of sense.
19:52
Speaker 2: I think the fact that we're even asking the question
19:54
Speaker 2: is like compelling, and like we can appreciate what they've
19:58
Speaker 2: done so far, and I think fans especially can appreciate
20:02
Speaker 2: what they've done so far. I just don't think it's
20:04
Speaker 2: fair to put those expectations on them yet because for
20:08
Speaker 2: as good as they've been, again, it's two games under
20:10
Speaker 2: five hundred, it's the most two games over five hundred,
20:14
Speaker 2: it's the most runs allowed in baseball, and it's a
20:17
Speaker 2: pitching staff that's looked better but just doesn't have the
20:21
Speaker 2: track record as the same groups, and even a lineup
20:23
Speaker 2: that's been unbelievable and is real at this point, but
20:27
Speaker 2: does not have the same track record. As you know,
20:30
Speaker 2: Let's think about who's leaning divisions. The Brewers, like the Dodgers,
20:34
Speaker 2: the even the Phillies who are behind them, like they'll
20:37
Speaker 2: turn it on eventually, So they might play compelling baseball
20:42
Speaker 2: up until the very end, and we should applaud them
20:43
Speaker 2: for that.
20:44
Speaker 3: But I don't know. I'm not ready to go there yet.
20:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know they were celebrating back in DC the
20:51
Speaker 1: other night. I'm hopping on a red eye flight after
20:54
Speaker 1: we record this. This is being recorded post game Tuesday,
20:57
Speaker 1: as it will go live Wednesday morning. But I'm jealousy
21:01
Speaker 1: all over at the ballpark. I love a party. I
21:03
Speaker 1: love Walters, I love a watch party. So it's always
21:05
Speaker 1: a good time. But you take a look at the
21:08
Speaker 1: upcoming schedule for the Nationals really quickly. As I go
21:12
Speaker 1: to bring it up here right here, Brewers are sorry,
21:16
Speaker 1: not the Brewers. Padres are coming to town later this
21:19
Speaker 1: week as they wrap up. That's not upcoming either. I
21:22
Speaker 1: nearly need to update that two wins in Cleveland four
21:25
Speaker 1: game winning streak, and then the Padres are coming to
21:27
Speaker 1: town later this weekend. It's gonna be fun, gonna be
21:30
Speaker 1: fun to be back at the ballpark. That's why I
21:32
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Speaker 1: good deal. They're here to you the fan well, and
22:22
Speaker 1: of course I have I have a and of course
22:24
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Speaker 1: have the code automatically added to your account so you
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Speaker 1: can use it later. Thank you very much seat Geek
22:42
Speaker 1: for that message, and we're back Spencer one more in
22:46
Speaker 1: Cleveland later today. Gavin Williams on the mound for Cleveland.
22:51
Speaker 1: Miles Michelis is the probable pitcher for the Nationals. He
22:55
Speaker 1: was nails last time out in Atlanta. That was in relief,
22:58
Speaker 1: but five innings of shutout baseball. Unfortunately, Gavin Williams has
23:02
Speaker 1: been nailed all season and eight innings last time for
23:05
Speaker 1: him in a victorious extra innings effort in Philadelphia. What
23:10
Speaker 1: can you tell me about Gavin Williams as a picture
23:13
Speaker 1: and how might the Nationals be able to pull out
23:15
Speaker 1: a sweep later today?
23:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's funny. I haven't done the full scouting report.
23:21
Speaker 2: What I will say about kind of the upcoming matchup
23:25
Speaker 2: is that I have watched the Nationals over the last
23:28
Speaker 2: two years, and this is where there is maybe a
23:30
Speaker 2: trend of more than just this season, struggle to hit
23:33
Speaker 2: in some of these day games. Hitting is always hard
23:36
Speaker 2: with the during day games with the shadows and sun
23:40
Speaker 2: and things of that nature, and for whatever reason, like
23:43
Speaker 2: you can pull up James's stats too, and day games
23:47
Speaker 2: are particularly tough, which again, night games are fantastic, so
23:52
Speaker 2: you'll take the whole package.
23:53
Speaker 3: But yeah, I'm curious to see if.
23:55
Speaker 2: They kind of alter their approach in any way where
23:58
Speaker 2: you have a guy with that type of stuff in
24:01
Speaker 2: command in a day game, you know, coming off a
24:05
Speaker 2: night game where you maybe try to do the stuff
24:08
Speaker 2: we talked about before the series, where you try to
24:10
Speaker 2: small ball them a little bit, where you try to,
24:13
Speaker 2: you know, really emphasize first to third, really just try
24:19
Speaker 2: to You're always trying to make good swing decisions, but
24:23
Speaker 2: draw a walk, lean into a pitch, whatever it might
24:25
Speaker 2: take to get on base, and figure it out from there.
24:30
Speaker 3: I don't know.
24:30
Speaker 2: It's it's never an easy matchup, but it's one where
24:35
Speaker 2: I think that the Nationals are on such a role
24:37
Speaker 2: right now that I'm not going to count them out
24:39
Speaker 2: of it per se.
24:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, Unfortunately, don't have a standings update for you all
24:45
Speaker 1: listening right now because the Phillies are still playing tonight.
24:48
Speaker 1: But the Nationals currently have a game up on them
24:50
Speaker 1: in the division, so win or lose, they are going
24:52
Speaker 1: to hold second place, just eight and a half games
24:56
Speaker 1: back of the Braves, who are able to sweep by
24:58
Speaker 1: or last night six up then Red Sox weren't able
25:02
Speaker 1: to pull out. Look Red Sox, We're not able to
25:03
Speaker 1: pull off the comeback. But all I know is I'm
25:06
Speaker 1: I'm not a great playing sleeper. I got a Red
25:09
Speaker 1: I flight later tonight, but I hope I'm sleeping like
25:11
Speaker 1: this guy. Shout out to Nationals TV for some incredible
25:14
Speaker 1: shots of the pups in the park throughout the day
25:17
Speaker 1: on Tuesday for any said, too many beers and hot
25:20
Speaker 1: dogs for that boy, but you know he's he's you know,
25:24
Speaker 1: open up your eyes. You're at the ball game, man.
25:27
Speaker 1: But yeah, we'll be back on Friday, Spencer. Anything you
25:30
Speaker 1: want to add before we.
25:30
Speaker 2: Go, No, I might be looking like that dogging about.
25:34
Speaker 2: I don't know when are we wrapping up? Forty five seconds?
25:37
Speaker 2: But no, this has been great. And yeah, it's just
25:40
Speaker 2: it's the Nationals are playing baseball that we haven't seen
25:42
Speaker 2: them playing a long time. They're worth turning on the
25:45
Speaker 2: TV four. They have probably a pair of All Stars
25:48
Speaker 2: in James and CJ and a lot of supporting casts
25:51
Speaker 2: that that.
25:52
Speaker 3: Have shut up too.
25:52
Speaker 2: And I guess I'll leave people with this a little
25:56
Speaker 2: peak behind the scenes. A lot of dancing pre game
25:59
Speaker 2: today from players. Luis Garcia Junior in particular, and basically
26:04
Speaker 2: every player we've talked to has alluded to the fact
26:06
Speaker 2: that there are a lot of different personalities on this
26:07
Speaker 2: team that, for whatever reason, just mesh. And so when
26:13
Speaker 2: you watch this team, like baseball is such an individual sport,
26:16
Speaker 2: but they are kind of rowing in the same direction
26:19
Speaker 2: and it's clearly it's showing up out there.
26:22
Speaker 3: So it's been cool to watch.
26:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun and I'm excited
26:26
Speaker 1: to get back to the ballpark and see the boys
26:28
Speaker 1: in person. We'll be back on Friday with more NAT's
26:31
Speaker 1: content for you all. Until then, see you later.