Nats Chat

The Nats were blown out on Sunday afternoon 14-1 by the Cubs to complete the three game sweep. Al & Mark discuss the poor defense, that saw three more errors (two by Jose Tena). The Nationals have 61 wins and need 11 more to improve on their win total from last season and there are 25 games remaining.

(07:00) Washington was charged with three errors and it easily could have been five. Davey Martinez expressed his displeasure at the poor team defense afterwards.

(14:10) Mitchell Parker committed his fifth error of the season and only has had a dozen defensive opportunities. Why is he so bad at fielding the position thus far?

(25:00) Darren Baker, son of Dusty, singled on the first pitch he saw in his MLB debut in the bottom of the 9th. Baker was drafted in the 10th round of the 2021 MLB Draft and was hitting .285 this year for Rochester.

(34:05) Derek Law is expected to be activated and join the bullpen in Miami on Tuesday. The Nationals are oddly enough off on Monday's Labor Day Holiday.

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The Nats fell 5-3 on Saturday afternoon against the Cubs to conclude August at 61-75 overall. Mark & Al recap DJ Herz's outing against his former organization, who traded him to the Nationals last summer in exchange for Jeimer Candelario. Herz was outstanding in the opening four frames, but the wheels came off in the top of 5th, where he allowed four Chicago runs.

(09:00) Drew Millas committed a crucial error in the top of the 7th in a rare start behind the plate. Millas did well offensively however as he came through with a pair of singles.

(12:10) Dylan Crews best play of the game came in the top of the 8th when he threw out Seiya Suzuki at the plate. Crews meanwhile with the bat came away with a just single in the loss.

(17:45) Jose Tena continued his surge at the plate with a trio of singles, but was one of the two Nationals who made an out on the bases in the bottom of the 6th. Tena was called up three weeks ago and is hitting .305 in that span.

(30:00) Jacob Young didn't have the best game with his glove, but did appropriately double in the final game of the month. His OPS was .769, much higher than July's .540

(31:20) Washington is calling up infielder Darren Baker from Rochester. Baker is Dusty's son and is best known for JT Snow saving from a home plate collision in the middle of the 2002 World Series.

(38:00) An update from AA courtesy of Terry Byrom, the Voice of the Harrisburg Senators.

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The Nats rally fell short in their 7-6 loss to the visiting Cubs on Friday evening. Al hosts solo and begins with Dylan Crews, who hit his 2nd career HR in the bottom of the 3rd. Crews struck out in the bottom of the 9th for the final out; stranding two runners.

(07:00) CJ Abrams was moved down in the lineup to the 7th spot and responded with an 0 for 3 night with a walk. Hear Davey Martinez's pregame explanation as to why he dropped Abrams in order.

(14:20) Jake Irvin had a disastrous top of the 2nd where he allowed all seven Chicago runs. Irvin had a bad August as his ERA for the month was 6.61 and for comparison in June his ERA was 2.31.

(22:00) Al answers a listener email wondering about the future of ownership. Will the stadium get a corporate title sponsor in the near future?

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The Nats beat the Yankees 5-2 on Wednesday night to take the series in D.C. Mark & Al chronicle the first career HR for Dylan Crews and it came in just his third game. Crews would later add a double to stuff the box score and serve as stark reminder to fans that brighter days are ahead. Crews hit leadoff and is expected to do so when Washington is facing a lefty starter.

(09:30) James Wood had a pair of hits but more impressively stole three bases on Wednesday night. Wood has 11 stolen bags since being called up in early July.

(16:00) MacKenzie Gore had a second straight solid start as he only allowed two runs in six innings of work. One important note though is that Gore didn't toss a clean inning in the outing.

(19:15) Kyle Finnegan had an adventurous top of the 9th but did record his 34th save of the season. Finnegan is in 2nd place in the NL for saves, but it will be difficult to overtake the Cardinals' Ryan Helsley (40).

(24:00) The Nationals had a series of bad base running on one play in the bottom of the 8th that you have to see or hear to believe. Why do they continually make so man mistakes on the base paths?

(32:10) CJ Abrams was given a day off to reset prior to this weekend vs. the Cubs.

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The Nats doubled up the Yankees 4-2 on Tuesday night behind Patrick Corbin's six shutout innings. Mark & Al wonder if this is Corbin's most impressive appearance since Game 7 of the World Series. Oddly enough, the pitcher that notably never entered that Game 7 (Gerrit Cole), was the losing pitcher in this affair.

(5:00) Dylan Crews singled off of Cole for his first career hit and then later added another single, stolen base, and run scored. Crews was slotted lower in the lineup (7th) due to facing a right-handed starter.

(13:20) Andres Chaparro and Jose Tena went back-to-back off Cole to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead. It was the first career HR for Chaparro and it came against the organization that signed him in 2015.

(17:00) Corbin struck out six including Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. Will Corbin get a job somewhere next year after an outing after this?

(22:20) The defense turned one of their best double plays of the season (6-4-3) and it was crucial for Jose A. Ferrer to emerge out of the top of the 7th unscathed.

(25:45) Kyle Finnegan had a bit of drama along the way but he did notch his 33rd save of the season, which is 2nd most in the National League. The hosts look ahead toward his looming Arbitration this off-season.

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Dylan Crews debuted in front nearly 33K fans but the Nats lost 5-2 on Monday night in D.C. against the AL leading Yankees. Mark & Al evaluate Crews' evening as he went 0 for 3 but did a draw walk in defeat. Mark also explains the best he can as to why Davey Martinez did not hold a postgame press conference.

(10:00) Aaron Judge stole the stole... with his glove. Judge made two excellent plays n the field and one of them resulted in a double play at the expense of James Wood.

(16:30) Jacob Young homered for the third time this season while hitting 9th. Young has played so well defensively, that he forced Washington to put Crews in RF, which was unexpected in Spring Training.

(25:15) Mitchell Parker only lasted for four innings on 83 pitches. Parker also dropped a routine toss while covering 1B for his fourth error on the season.

(29:00) Tanner Rainey tossed a perfect inning to retire Juan Soto, Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton on just four pitches.

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The Nats topped the Braves 5-1 on Sunday afternoon to clinch a winning record over their division rivals this season (7-4 thus far). Mark (From Cobb County) and Al evaluate the importance of that stat is in terms of measuring where the organization currently sits.

(05:00) DJ Herz tossed five scoreless innings and struck out eight. Herz has made seven starts in the majors this year and his ERA is at 3.84.

(08:30) Eduardo Salazar recorded five outs out of the bullpen and has not allowed a run in ten appearances this month. Salazar was acquired off the waiver wire in June after Seattle let him go.

(12:00) Jacob Young had a pair of hits and scored a run in the victory. The hosts note that in a less competitive year, Young would firmly be in the NL Rookie of the Year race.

(20:30) CJ Abrams had an up and down performance on Sunday. Abrams had two RBI singles, but committed an error for the third consecutive day. Abrams seems off in the field and there are growing concerns at where this is headed.

(25:00) Drew Millas came through with a pair of hits and will probably stay with the club as the backup catcher this week. The team needs to open a roster spot for Dylan Crews and that likely will be Riley Adams.

(28:15) Crews will make his debut on Monday night vs. Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and the New York Yankees. What will the attendance look like?

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The Nats led early on but lost 4-2 on Saturday night in Atlanta. Mark (From Cobb County, GA) & Al begin with the team's decision to call up Drew Millas instead of Dylan Crews to replace the injured Alex Call this weekend. The organization decided not to alter the date of Crews' debut after Call was placed on the IL due to a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his left foot.

(08:30) All the offense came from Jose Tena's first career MLB homer. Tena had a trio of hits and so far is hitting .400 since joining Washington two weeks ago.

(11:45) CJ Abrams had another costly error and it occurred in the pivotal bottom of the 6th. Something seems off with Abrams on defense recently.

(18:00) Jake Irvin exited the game after 83 pitches and the bullpen did not come through. Irvin gave up a pair of runs in just over five innings of work and Mark notes why he feels Irvin should have been left in the game longer as opposed to bringing in Robert Garcia.

(23:20) Jacob Young was picked off on Saturday after making two outs on the bases on Friday night. We have run out of commentary on this team problem that continues on a near daily basis.

(26:30) This was the 1,000th game managed by Davey Martinez since he took over before the 2018 season. There has not been any pressure on Davey during the Rebuild, but that is expected to change come next season.

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Friday was a busy one for the Nationals as it began with news that Dylan Crews will make his MLB debut on Monday night and it ended with the team falling 3-2 in Atlanta. Mark (From Cobb County, GA) & Al evaluate how Alex Call's injury could affect the team's plans this weekend in the outfield.

(09:00) Crews will face the Juan Soto and the Yankees in his first game in the majors on Monday night in D.C. Crews began the year with AA-Harrisburg, but has been with AAA-Rochester since June 18th. The timeline of announcing that Crews will debut at home in three days mirrored how the organization handled the James Wood promotion earlier this summer.

(18:10) As for the actual game, the Nats lost in gut punch fashion as CJ Abrams' throwing error in the bottom of the 10th led to the Braves narrow victory.

(25:00) The Nats ran into more outs on the bases despite getting nine hits off of NL Cy Young front runner Chris Sale. Hear a possible reason why Abrams and Luis Garcia Jr. were not in the lineup against the star lefty.

(31:20) The biggest bright spot on Friday for Washington was MacKenzie Gore's very good outing vs. the Braves. Gore was pitch efficient and only allowed one run in six innings of work. It was Gore's best start on the mound since all the way back on July 1st vs. the Mets.

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The Nats beat the Rockies 8-3 on Thursday afternoon to take the series in D.C. Mark & Al have more good James Wood things to discuss as he drove in two runs and lifted his OPS to .837. The NL Rookie of the Year race is already very crowded, but Wood is putting himself in fringe contention.

(08:00) Keibert Ruiz's RBI double continued his strong August performance. His OPS this month is at .855, which is significantly better than his season's total (.631).

(12:15) Luis Garcia Jr. had a pair of hits and he is making a case as the team's MVP this season. Garcia's average is up to .296 and he is quietly competing for the NL Batting title.

(18:25) Juan Yepez's hit a 3-run HR to put the game out of reach in the bottom of the 8th. Yepez is coming off some rest after Joey Gallo was activated onto the roster.

(21:00) Patrick Corbin lasted six innings and earned the 100th win of his career. Davey Martinez congratulated the veteran lefty and made sure to note that the World Series title doesn't happen without his contributions.

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