Nats Chat

The Nats crushed the Mariners 9-0 on Wednesday night on an evening where they hit four homers.  Mark (From Seattle) & Al note how the team continued its pattern of the early innings dictating the rest of the way as they hit Back to Back home runs in the top of the 2nd.

(06:00) James Wood hit a moonshot for his 15th homer of the season. Wood's OPS is at .949 and is the 5th highest in the NL.

(12:10) Robert Hassell III hit his 1st career Big League homer.  Hassell had a big evening as he collected a trio of hits in the victory.

(14:45) Josh Bell also homered and had three hits in the victory.  There is added pressure on Bell as Andres Chaparro has been activated in AAA.

(20:30) The embattled Trevor Williams had a great outing as he tossed six scoreless frames on just 76 pitches. It was good timing for Williams as Cade Cavalli pitched well in AAA on Wednesday afternoon.

(28:00) MacKenzie Gore will take the mound on Thursday night in the rubber match.  Gore leads all of MLB with 93 strikeouts so far this season; one ahead of Detroit's Tarik Skubal. 

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The Nats were routed 9-1 in Seattle on Tuesday to begin their six game road trip. Mark (From T-Mobile Park) & Al convene after the Nationals fell to 24-30; putting them on pace for just 72 wins this season. Mariners starter Logan Evans cruised through the lineup as he only needed 88 pitches to last eight innings. 

(09:15) James Wood clubbed his 14th homer of the season and was the only source of offense for the team. However, Wood struck out three times and the hosts explore why he tallies so many Ks. 

(16:10) Mitchell Parker struggled again on the mound and gave up a trio of homers. Parker's troubles began right away as he gave up Back to Back HRs in the bottom of the 1st, continuing his recent trend of not pitching well in the opening inning. 

(25:15) Extended discussion of Ken Rosenthal's scathing piece of the Nationals rebuild woes in The Athletic. 

(39:30) Josh Whetzel, the voice of the Rochester Red Wings, swings by for his weekly AAA update. Hear his latest on Cade Cavalli, Yohandy Morales, Brady House, and more.

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The Nats fell 3-2 on Sunday afternoon to the visiting Giants. Al begins with the sluggish offensive performance, that was punctuated by the curious decision to pinch-hit Josh Bell for Amed Rosario in the bottom of the 9th.  James Wood had a RBI double, but the bats only collected five hits in total.

(07:30) Alex Call and Robert Hassell III each had disappointing outfield defense in the pivotal top of the 3rd.  Most notably, Call lost a fly ball in the sun at the wall that turned into a Sam Huff homer instead of an out.

(12:15) Michael Soroka had a solid outing, but still was tagged with the loss. His six innings of work is the most he has pitched in five starts this season.

(15:00) Al answers a listener email.  Feel free to send your thoughts to [email protected]. 

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The Nats shutout the Giants on Saturday afternoon 3-0 for their seventh win in the past nine games.  Mark & Al have plenty of praise for Jake Irvin, who tossed eight scoreless innings and tied a career high with seven strikeouts. Irvin's ERA is down to 3.42 and his WHIP is an impressive 1.10.

(10:45) Jorge Lopez surprisingly pitched the 9th instead of closer Kyle Finnegan.  Mark explains what is going on with Finnegan and why he did not enter the game on Saturday.

(16:35) James Wood hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 1st for an early lead.  Wood has homered in seven of the eleven games in which he has been the DH.

(21:00) The final out came on a diving catch by Daylen Lile in RF.  Lile started for the second straight day and had a single in the win.

(24:00) The team is playing better,  but still remains four games below .500.  The hosts close the show by looking at the organization's big picture as we are almost one-third of the way through the season. 

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The Nats five game win streak was snapped in Friday night's 4-0 loss to the visiting Giants. Mark & Al focus on MacKenzie Gore's status as he exited in the middle of an at- bat in the top of the 7th. Davey Martinez said afterwards that Gore is fine and it simply was a "Charley Horse" from a comebacker that Gore fielded in the bottom of the 2nd.

(07:00) Gore struck out nine Giants to extend his MLB lead to 93Ks on the season.  The only run charged to the lefty was the leadoff batter in the top of the 7th, who came across the plate after Gore had left the mound. Gore was much more pitch efficient on Friday night as he was at 83 pitches through six innings of work.

(13:35) Daylen Lile singled on the first pitch he saw as he hit 9th and played RF in his MLB debut.  Lile was called up from Rochester due Jacob Young being placed on the 10-day IL with a sprained left shoulder. Lile spent April in AA-Harrisburg and immediately made an impact when given the opportunity in AAA.

(23:10) The offense could not get anything going as CJ Abrams & James Wood combined for an 0 for 8 effort. Luis Garcia Jr. was the only Nat to collect two hits against San Francisco's Landon Roupp and crew.

(25:40) Four relievers were needed and none excelled. Zach Brzykcy allowed a pair of runs in an inning of work and his ERA is up to 11.12 in seven Big League appearances. 

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The Nats won their 5th straight on Thursday night as they outlasted the Braves 8-7 in extra innings. Mark & Al focus on the completely flipped script for the Nationals in the past week; as they recently had lost seven games in a row.  Amed Rosario was the 10th inning hero as his pinch-hit RBI single ended the affair.

(07:20) Robert Hassell III had quite the MLB debut as he singled in his first at bat, stole a base, collected two hits, and scored the winning run on Rosario's RBI single. Hassell got the nod in CF and hit 7th in the lineup.

(10:00) Dylan Crews is on the IL due to an oblique injury; not a back issue. Jacob Young did not play on Thursday and it is unclear if too might be headed to the IL as he has not played since crashing into the Camden Yards wall on Saturday.

(16:00) James Wood' big game was overshadowed, but nonetheless impressive as he reached base four times. Wood' big hit of the night came in the bottom of the 2nd on his 3-run double to take a 5-2 lead.

(17:10) Keibert Ruiz had a big eveningin front of his parents, who saw him play in person for the first time in his professional career.  Ruiz's family traveled to D.C. from his native Venezuela for the occasion.

(20:00) The bullpen mostly came through in their heavy workload on Thursday night. Six relievers were needed to toss over six frames and only allowed two runs in the process. Kyle Finnegan though did blow the save in the top of the 9th, but in his defense Jose Tena committed a crucial error to extend the game.

(28:10) Trevor Williams had another poor start as he was yanked in the 4th inning. Williams was charged with five runs allowed and his ERA is now up to 6.39.  Will he get moved out of the starting rotation?

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Tim gives a quick update on what you need to know as the Nats & Braves game was officially postponed at about 5PM on Wednesday. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com

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The Nats won their 4th straight on Tuesday night as they topped the visiting Braves 5-3. Al & Mark have a lot to get to as Dylan Crews homered in the victory, but was removed mid-game because of a back issue, and that means Robert Hassell III is getting called up from AAA-Rochester. Hassell is one of the pieces from the 2022 Juan Soto trade with the San Diego Padres.

(05:50) Jacob Young did not play for a second straight game due to crashing his shoulder into the Camden Yards' wall on Saturday. It is unclear if Young or Crews will be headed to the IL, and that likely will be decided after Crews' MRI on Wednesday morning.

(10:00) Hassell's OPS is at .742 this season with four homers. He had a pair of doubles on Tuesday night in Syracuse prior to getting informed that he is headed to Washington.

(14:30) The Nats offense continued their recent string of hot starts by scoring three runs right away against Atlanta's Spencer Strider.  They totaled eight hits in the win, but also had multiple terrible base running mistakes.

(18:10) Mitchell Parker's outing was marred by a bad top of the 2nd where he gave up all three of his runs.  It was the 5th consecutive Parker start that was not classified as "good".

(20:15) The bullpen teamed up for nearly four scoreless innings.  Kyle Finnegan punctuated the effort with a clean 1-2-3 inning for his 15th save of the year, which leads all of MLB.

(26:10) Per the Washington Post, the team's Chief Revenue Officer and the Chief Marketing Officer left their positions earlier this month.  What does that mean in the bigger picture or isolated personnel moves?

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The Nats continued to hammer Orioles pitching in their 10-4 win on Sunday afternoon. Mark (From Camden Yards) & Al discuss the Nationals first series sweep since mid July last season.  Washington also dominated the Battle of the Beltways this year by winning five of the six meetings.

(03:30) The offense combined for five homers on Sunday and the team now has 50 home runs in 48 games this season.  CJ Abrams went deep in both the 1st & 2nd innings to lift his OPS this season to an impressive .942.

(08:00) The other homers came from Dylan Crews, Luis Garcia Jr., and Josh Bell.  The team's increase in power this season leads to the hosts evaluating the hitting coach Darnell Coles, who is in the 4th season with the organization.

(14:05) Michael Soroka earned the win after 5.2 IP and allowing three runs in the process. It is Soroka's first recorded victory since July 21st, 2023 while pitching for the Braves.

(19:10) Brad Lord only lasted an inning in relief of Soroka despite inheriting a big lead. Al points out that not only is Lord a reliever instead of a starter right now, he isn't being utilized that often for long relief.

(26:15) Washington has a well deserved day off on Monday before opening a three game series in Navy Yard vs. the Braves on Tuesday.  Thursday is a pitching matchup worth circling as Chris Sale takes on fellow lefty MacKenzie Gore.

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The Nats immediately jumped out to a 6-0 edge on their way to Saturday's 10-6 victory at Camden Yards. Mark (From Baltimore) & Al convene after the Nationals third win in the past four days and their 2nd in a row at the Orioles. 

(04:30) Jacob Young crashed into the wall in the 7th and exited the game. X-rays were negative and it seems like no major injury was incurred. 

(08:00) Washington dominated Kyle Gibson in the opening inning by batting around and scoring six runs. The first out did not come until the 7th hitter and Young concluded the hit parade with a RBI triple. 

(12:20) Keibert Ruiz had a pair of hits, including a RBI double. Ruiz's OPS is .700 and is playing better defense than last season. 

(15:45) Despite entering the bottom of the 9th with a 10-2 lead, Kyle Finnegan had to warm up while Zach Brzykcy mightily struggled to get the final three outs. 

(18:15) Update on Derek Law, who has been on the IL all season due to right forearm inflammation. 

(22:00) Jake Irvin gave up five hits and allowed two runs in just over six innings of work. Irvin's ERA currently sits at 3.88, but Al notes the continuing trend of his declining velocity. 

(26:30) Brandon Hyde was fired as Orioles Manager on Saturday morning as they are in last place. Hyde & Davey Martinez worked together for years in Chicago, including when the Cubs won the 2016 World Series. Hyde took over in Baltimore; one season after Martinez came to D.C.

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