Record-Setting 38th Blown Save

0:00Make sure to put Friday night October 2 on your calendars for the end of season that's chat podcast party at Walters from 7 to 9 p.m. Walters is located just across the street from the ballpark right near the Navy Yard Metro Station. Here's the O1. So in a line drive hammer double F you line toward the corner. Well, it's a fair it is gone off the top of the wall and over the fence. It clears the low wall for a home run. A pinch hit home run for Chapparo and the nationals lead it 4 to 1. A shot arresting about under shoulder waiting. Here it comes. Swain a ground ball up the middle face hit in the center field. Firmin scores. Tatis will score and this game is tied. They're going crazy here at Petco Park. The nationals lead is gone. It's 4 to 4. And that's the record 38th blown save for the nationals. Bolton to open home and had a chance to grab it for reaching up. It was just over his glove and threw in the center field.

1:01And Machado delivers the clutch to run single for the Padres. Tolman pitches. So we're in a looper shallow right center again. Bebos going out. It's dropping. It's dropping. It falls. No one got it. What picks it up and abounds. Machado scores and the Padres lead it 5 to 4. Over to third is France. A broken bat pop fly single to right center field in the Bermuda triangle between Bebos Cruz and Wood. No one could get to it. Bebos pointed at it but no one was close to it. Failures in life. We can either look at and put our head down and accept it or we can face it head on and take something from it and learn from it and that's what I'm hoping to do. And welcome to Nats Chat. I'm Al Galdi host of the Al Galdi podcast. I'm joined by Washington Nationals insider Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal dot com. He is at Petco Park in San Diego. Quite the Tuesday for the Washington Nationals.

2:02It featured exciting news but also demoralizing news. The Nats on Tuesday promoted shortstop Eli Willett's from their high affiliate. The Wilmington Blue Rocks to the organizations double a affiliate. The Harrisburg senators Eli Willett's the number four overall prospect in baseball per MLB pipeline. The Nats took him with the number one overall pick in the 2025 MLB first year player draft out of a high school in Oklahoma. He was terrific for the single a Frederick'sburg nationals and high a Wilmington Blue Rocks are for those teams in their 2026 regular seasons 521 total played appearances OPS of 861. This is just his age 18 season. He has said that his goal is to reach the majors by the time he's 20. He may well do that. Heck him reaching the majors next season his age 19 season is an out of the question. So we had that on Tuesday but then came what happened late night on Tuesday night. The Nats made history and not in a good way. The Nats set a record for most blown saves by an MLB team at a regular season 38 a 5 4 loss

3:07at the San Diego Padres late night on Tuesday night in game two of the three game series. This was a game of which the Nats blew a 4 1 8th inning lead by allowable allowing four runs in the bottom of the 8th and yes the Nats in this game registered blown save number 38. The Nats now are 0 and 5 on their 6th game California road trip. Now are just 2 and 20 over their last 22 road games now lost 6 consecutive games overall and now are 67 and 80 overall with a run differential of plus 7. The Padres now are at 77 and 68 with a run differential of plus 10 or just a half game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League's third of three wild card spots. But good to have you with us this installment of Nats chat brought to us by Mason Calfacy is the top legal recruiter in Washington DC Mason and his team at Zineth legal specialized in placing partners associates and senior government lawyers at elite firms across Washington DC and the country you can reach Mason at 2024863535 Mark we knew that the blown saves record was coming.

4:17I guess you could maybe say hey at least now it is out of the way but you know these losses they don't get easier to take they do not get easier to digest. The Nats in this game blowing a 4 1 8th inning lead and here we are once again discussing a bullpen implosion a record breaking bullpen implosion for this Nats team. Well and it's the third time in four days on this trip that it's happened and before we get to all the negative stuff I do want to say if you really want to flip this in the opposite direction they have been in a position to beat the Dodgers and the Padres a bunch of times on this trip two really good teams go into the playoffs most likely on the road hostile environments and the nationals in pretty much every game have either held the lead or been in a position where one more hit could have given them the lead late in these games and so as awful as the losses are and the way that they've lost them I do think it's worth acknowledging that in some ways

5:19there's a difference between this and them just getting boat raced by better teams down the stretch of the season. Maybe that's still relying on stuff maybe you don't want to hear that but I actually think in a lot of ways it makes me feel like they're not that far away you just mentioned the run differential they still have a positive run differential on the season even though they just lost their 80th game they're in last place by the way the Mets have now officially passed them so add that to the list of things that have gone wrong here but the fact that they have still scored more runs than they have given up the fact that they've still in spite of everything they've been through this year and they're actually putting themselves in a position to win games against good teams late here in the season I actually think boats well that if they can just fix this one massive problem and it is a massive problem if they can be better in that area next year I think there's actually a lot of reason for optimism as tough and believe me they've been tough as these games have been the way they've lost them. That's now at 14 and 22 in one run games as we have discussed the bullpen is a part of that

6:21but to the point of the run differential it is remarkable 13 games below 500 and yet a positive run differential if you go by the Nats expected one loss record which is based on the run differential that record is 74 and 73 the Nats with that run differential should be a game above 500 instead or 13 games below 500 and as we know a major reason for that is the bullpen and here we were again in this game late night on Tuesday night it's almost poetic because this was a bullpen game right so it is so fitting that in a bullpen game the Nats set this record for most blown saves by a team in a regular season and what is even more aggravating about what happened in this game late night on Tuesday night is that the bullpen game for a while was looking really good so the Nats in this game used six relievers the first three relievers combined for six scoreless innings but the last three relievers combined to allow five runs in two innings and as we have discussed when you go with the bullpen game

7:22you're asking a lot for multiple relievers to each beyond I mean relief pitchers or fickle or volatile or game to game nevermind season to season relief pitchers are so unreliable and so when you go with a bullpen game the risk is if you're going to go with three four five different relievers the chance that all of them are on not exactly sky high and in this game we have three Nats relievers who were on and three Nats relievers who were off Riley Cornelio started the game he was great he tossed three perfect innings with four strikeouts 24 strikes versus just 12 balls Zach Kent then came in he did well he tossed two scoreless innings the Nats on Tuesday evening announced having recalled Kent from Triple A Rochester but already have optioned him back to Rochester that announcement was made early Wednesday morning and while we're talking some transactions here we have another Nats relief pitcher on an injured list now the Nats on Tuesday evening announced having put relief pitcher Matt Waldron on the 15 day entered list retroactive to September 5 due to chest inflammation you don't hear that often as yet another Nats reliever is now on an interlist

8:28we did though get good news with a reliever on an injured list in Orlando Revolta the MRI exam regarding his right forearm inflammation came back clean so very good news there it would appear that the right forearm inflammation does not appear to be a precursor to something more serious but Cornelio and Kent did well and Giovanni Cruz did well he tossed a scoreless and hitless bottom of the six that included him generating a cold strikeout of the Padres number two batter Jake Cronin were so if we just pause right there these first three Nats relievers in this game Cornelio Kent Cruz all doing well you are feeling good about this bullpen game at that point correct I want to start with Cornelio this was a completely different version of him then we have seen this year now I don't know if the fact that he started the game made a difference every other appearance he's made in the big league so far has been a true relief appearance and he is often look shaky in that role this is a new role for him he's been a starter throughout his time in the minor leagues they just this year have started to get him to work as a true reliever maybe this was a little bit of a sign that he could be effective as a start

9:36now it's a big difference between three perfect innings and relief where you're facing the lineup once now having to face them a second time through and we did not get to see how that would go they did have a pretty strict limit on him of three innings the pitch count was fine he only threw 36 pitches so he could have kept going from that standpoint but he has not had a fourth up as they call it in quite some time and so they were not comfortable extending him beyond that because it's easy to say well if he could have given you just one more inning maybe that saves them down the road before the end of the game well that just wasn't in the cards for them to do that but I was just impressed with the stuff and just the poise and confidence he had on the mount he just looked like a completely different picture than we've seen and it makes me want to see more of him maybe even in this particular role can't nice job he was here for the day sorry to see it happen like that but you know he did a good job and then crews also back from

10:36triple A he starts it off as the way he has started off I feel like every time he's pitched in the big league so far with a lead off walk and for the record he threw ball for 101 miles an hour so if you care about that kind of stuff that certainly matters now here's what he did that he has not done in the past he flipped the switch turned it around I was going to the slider more kind of a band in the fastball somewhat but he went to the slider he got a double play grounder and a strikeout got out of the inning huge confidence boost for him maybe that can be the first step for him of now showing he can be successful for them at this level so those guys did as they did and then the problems began Clayton Beater who really has struggled lately it feels like his season has completely fallen apart of him having been halfway decent he again had a tough outing he allowed one run in one inning in the bottom of the seventh the latter run on two singles a wild pitch and a sack fly and then two guys who had done well in limited work at the major league level did not do well talking about Jared Simpson and Eric tommons Simpson officially allowed three runs without recording and out he was a mess he

11:41would end up being a four run eighth for the pod race face three batters and got no outs he issued three walks into wild pitch and throwing just six strikes versus 12 balls over 18 pitches and Eric tommons officially allowed one run in one inning for the record it was tommons who got charged with the blown save tommons came into the game in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded no outs and then that's clinging to a four one lead he to the first batter he face gave up a pinch RBI sack fly by Austin Hayes to cut the lead to four to tommons to the next battery faced issued a wild pitch and gave up a one out to run single by many machado up the middle to tie the game it for despite tommons having had machado down at 1.12 tommons to the next battery faced gave up a one out opposite field single by tie France into right field on an O2 pitch on a grounder that got by second baseman Jorbyt Vibas boy did it seem like Vibas maybe possibly could have gotten to that ball he didn't and told me two batters later gave up a two out opposite field broken bat or B.I. single

12:44by Louise Camposano to no man's land in shallow right center field for a five four Padres lead so in fairness to tommons some bad luck yes but ultimately opportunities to put guys away with two strikes didn't happen and another implosion by this ball pen and of course in the four run eighth it starts with Jared Simpson who had looked good had looked poised and in this game a totally different picture it was remarkable to see this he's young I suppose we shouldn't be stunned by him struggling like this in this game but boy he could not find the strike zone off again having looked impressive in his limited work yeah let's acknowledge here that the two pictures that they were entrusting to try to close out this game for them are two guys who just made their majorly gave you within the last two weeks okay how often do you ever find yourself in that position maybe one guy but both of them like if this goes exactly the way they had it mapped out and they were hoping for it would have been Simpson in the eighth and told him in the ninth so that's the

13:49scenario that Blake butara and the nationals were in from the outset so I don't know that you can say you're terribly shocked or surprised at what happened now it's disappointing because both of them had looked very good up to this point very limited sample but you saw when thrown into the real cauldron here of a September game on the road sell out crowd against a really good team and some really big name hitters you know the moment maybe got to be too much for them can't walk the night really the end and you can't you know you can't keep walking guys that good team trying to be to walk three or a row now Simpson and I really put this on Simpson more than told me he felt like this was a more of a mechanics issue than a like mentality issue that's not like he was scared to throw strikes I was looking about mechanics I was just talking about that right I haven't been thinking about that today I did just need to get back to routine pitch like it's another day it was that he didn't feel right in his mechanics way he was trying to pitch and he said it's the first time he's felt

14:54that way since reaching the big league so obviously a rough time for that to have happened and couldn't get it back in time obviously but three straight walks obviously that's a you know as bad a situation as you can put yourself in now tommon as you said it's a lot of weak contact there he was most upset that he didn't make the play on the Machado chopper he felt like he could have timed it better made the catch and helped himself to get out of that jam I actually thought I was going to get that obviously I didn't in my depth perception just I didn't keep taking account you know the drop of the ball and just missed it I don't know I'd have to go back and watch and I only saw it live I felt like he I felt like it was not an easy play and I didn't think to myself oh he botched that one anything like that but he was kicking himself for that one especially and I think above all what really stood out in the clubhouse afterwards was how these guys collectively were as down as I've seen them throughout the year from the bullpen and some of them

15:56are still new at this but they've all come up together through the miners a lot of them have been AAA together this year nobody ever once actually mentioned the saves the blown saves record but you could tell they knew that this one was different than the previous ones and I think they were really upset to have now officially been apart of this and just the fact that said earlier that they knew that their team keeps putting them in a position to win games on the road against good teams and they keep finding a way to not let that happen they were wearing this one a lot harder than I think any of the previous ones in a lot of ways I mentioned this the other day you know the blown saves that is a flood stat and only goes back to 1988 it is entirely possible that there was a bullpen in you know the 30s or 40s or 50s or 60s or 70s that had you know many more than 38 blown saves so like it is a little over the top to go to nuts with this stat and you know it ended up itself is a flawed stat because you know you can get charged with a blown save in appearance

17:00and say a seven thinning when realistically you weren't going to ever get a save because you weren't going to stay in the game long enough to get the save so like it's not it's not the best stat to go by but you know it's not like a meaningless stat and it just is emblematic of what we've had with this bullpen this season and it just is maddening because you know you think about the bigger picture with this relief pitching this season the nats have tried so many different relievers have made so many relief pitching transactions have used so many different relief pitching strategies and it just feels like nothing really has worked you know nothing has worked they haven't like found a diamond in the rough they haven't found a strategy that seems to really work it just nothing seems to work and it's so aggravating you would think something at some point would have stuck to where things get a little bit better and it just hasn't happened and you know we had the conversation months ago about the twenty seventeen bullpen versus the twenty nineteen bullpen versus the twenty six bullpen

18:03at least the twenty seventeen and twenty nineteen bullpen's got fixed to varying degrees via in season acquisitions and you know in the case of the twenty nineteen bullpen in the postseason that's just like didn't go to relievers other than Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle right used starters as relievers this bullpen has never gotten fixed has never gotten improved in terms of like improvement from within I mean at this point is this not the worst bullpen in that's history maybe in the early days there was a bullpen that you can think of was worse but as far as is I can remember this is the worst bullpen that we've seen with a nats team since the franchise came here yeah I'm going to agree with that and I think it's because of this fact that like they've used so many different guys it's not like it's the same ones now who we're doing it earlier in the year it's like almost an entirely different group they've tried everything you could think of whether they play the matchups whether they go with experience whether they go with completely inexperienced rookies like they did in this game and and none of it has worked and maybe there have been you know like two thousand nine or something

19:09a group of relievers that was collectively worse than this but they were hardly ever in a position to try to close out a game those teams were awful and I do think this is also interesting so the record they just broke was held by the White Sox two years ago 2024 well that's a White Sox team that's better known for setting the all time loss record with a hundred and twenty one losses for the season so you blow thirty seven out of a hundred and one right now this one has blown thirty eight out of eighty losses almost half of their losses this season have been a blown lead late in the game that is like almost impossible to imagine now again you want to flip this to the more positive direction the White Sox are on the verge of going to the playoffs this year maybe winning the AL Central two years after a disaster of a year they had a lot more than a bullpen to fix they have fixed a lot of things they're now in good shape the Nationals have things to fix but I don't think they have as much to fix right now as the White Sox did two years ago

20:14and if they can even within one year address this in a meaningful way they can be right where they need to be come the end of 2027 so you just hope that some of these young guys who've been involved in these that they're not scarred by it and that they actually take something positive away from it and that they actually take something positive away from it and that a year from now they're better for it. I think that's the hope I think internally that's what the front office and the coaching staff is hoping as well it's so hard to experience right now but maybe somehow they come out better for this a year from now we'll have to wait and see you just hope at least a few of these guys who are involved in this right now do become good quality relievers for them in the future. Yeah for sure and the blown saves to the point that you just made certainly an endorsement of the offense because if the offense had not been as good as it has been that ants would have never had this many leads to have tried to protect this season

21:14yeah you know it just it is disappointing though that no one has emerged I do find myself being very disappointed by that that nobody has like stepped up at any point all these different guys I get it it's not easy as a younger lever to be put into some of these spots but you know it's not asking for the impossible for someone to you know sort of come out there and say okay I'm going to rise up here and I'm going to show that I can do this and actually do it and no one's doing it and I just I find that disappointing you would think someone at some point would have risen up and that really hasn't happened. And let's be clear the situation that they were thrown into in this game you're up three runs in the eighth inning this wasn't like oh god like one mistake and it's over no you're up three runs clean eighth inning and Jared Simpson can't even throw enough strikes to make them put the ball and play. So yeah that is very disheartening that it would happen like that and then what told him did after him there are blown saves that are very difficult situation to try to get out of and then there's a three run lead with nobody on in the eighth inning which is a situation that even the worst big league picture should be able to get out of without giving up three runs certainly should not involve three straight walks

22:33and a quick hook from the manager you know I a few episodes back talked about hey could the Nats possibly get to 80 wins that's probably not going to be happening here now is my new goal can the Nats finish with at least 90 losses and a positive run differential is that possible I mean I don't know if the Nats are going to get to 90 losses but if they do 15 games left 67 and 80 is the record if the Nats get to 90 losses I cannot tell you how much I hope that they get to 90 losses with a positive run differential I think that that would be a sterical we're going to have to look it up somebody I'm sure can figure this out what is the all time record for most losses with a positive differential on the season and they might be fighting for that one right now I don't know that's not what I'd ever considered before I know there've been a handful of teams over the years who have made the playoffs with a negative run differential I don't know how many teams are going to be able to do that. I don't know how many teams have lost 90 games or maybe even 87 88 games with a positive run differential that would be a fascinating one to figure out yeah I mean I don't want the Nats to go just five in 10 over the final 15 but if the Nats go five in 10 or worse over the final 15 finish with a positive run differential at least give us that in this difficult to take season.

23:54I'll go to here to tell you about the windows nation but before that the windows nation look into the future and only sat arms the first one home to Peterson swing a line drive deep left field Corona's going back he gets in the track he can't catch it it's off the base of the wall take these scores Peterson's travels around second he's racing for third the throw from Calvary's not in time. Hey Al Goldie here for window nation are you dealing with drafts plus higher than normal utility bills you know that is an equation that homeowners often struggle with especially if they have old windows so the good news is that window nation can help you find the best solution this fall and window nation will do the math for you. Add four new windows for free windows and lower energy bills together and you've got one affordable replacement window project plus at zero money down zero monthly payments and zero interest together multiplied by two whole years and you've got a whole lot of savings right now here's another one add 20 years of experience 45,000 five star reviews and three million windows installed nationwide and you've got one company that you can trust window nation let's review it all one more time for four for the next one.

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26:08Alright so the Nats relief pitching again failing the team in this loss at the potteries late night on Tuesday night the offense had an interesting game so the Nats in this game four runs on just seven hits but all seven of the hits were extra base hits as the Nats had two home runs and five doubles but the Nats drew just one walk went just one for seven with runners and scoring position and struck at 11 times of the two homers came from you'll handy yo yo Morales and Andre's Joparo. Yo yo Morales he is the Nats starting for a space man and upper seven batter one for four with a solo homer Morales in the Nats one run second had a two out solo homer to left field to put the Nats up one nothing of the homer going a projected 406 feet per stat cast and more production from Andre's Joparo he came off the bench to pinch it and serve as the Nats the H.E. went one for one with a solo homer to paro in the Nats one run eighth a one out pinch solo homer to left field for a four one Nats lead. The homer had a projected distance of just a three hundred thirty seven feet per stat cast a pet go park special but a homer is a homer and just to add to the mix here a beam of like Ortiz he isn't at starting D.H.

27:18End up a two batter one for three with a double so this three headed monster that the Nats have been using to replace Louise Garcia Jr. Yo Yo Morales and Morales Andre's Joparo and the beam like Ortiz all three guys playing in this game all three guys producing in this game and you look at Joparo now at the major league level in this regular season a hundred eighty eight plate appearances OPS of eight eighty one really starting with the series at the athletics to come out of the all star break. Joparo has had a heck of a post all star break portion of the season. It's been a really nice development it did not necessarily look like that was going to be the case for him they've obviously needed it with Louise Garcia's trade this was a perfect example of how they've done this this year he comes in to face the lefty pinch hitting for obi melok Ortiz and he hits the home run great stuff to see that from him he looks more and more like he can be a part of this maybe he's not going to be an everyday player for them but that's a nice power right handed bat to have for particular matchups whether that starting game or coming off the bench to face a tough lefty

28:25reliever that's a valuable thing to have and I would love to see that continue and maybe he can really be a part of this as they move forward also with the Nats offense in this game Brady house and Dylan Cruz with some big hits Brady house he is an at starting third baseman and number five batter one for four with a two run double house in the Nats to run six at a two out opposite field to run double to the right center field gap for three nothing that's lead and the double came off a righty came off right handed pod raise relief pitcher Randy Vasquez as a house continues to demonstrate improvement against right handed pitching and Dylan Cruz he is piling up extra base hits lately a cruise in this game as an at starting center fielder and upper three batter two for four with two for four with an RBI double another double and a stolen base and cruise in the Nats three to loss at the pod raise on labor day was in that starting left fielder and up a three batter two for four with a two run homer and a single Andy

29:25add an outfield assist so not just getting some hits but hitting for some power here lately is Dylan Cruz. Yeah, that to me is the key extra base hits both off lefties and righties I think is a great sign from him to start doing that we have been fooled by him before as I've said so you have to be careful not to get too excited but this is now what I think a good four straight days that he has looked like this and maybe that's a sign that he is finally ready to do something for them it's a little too late for it to be a big impact but it could at least let him go into the off season just with a better taste in his mouth and with the whole organization feeling a whole lot better about him heading in next season. Well the Nats are windless on this California road trip so far one more game to go game three for the Nats at the Padres Wednesday afternoon of four ten the Nats have listed Jackson Kent as their probable starting picture for the game.

30:28All right so the Eli Willitz news it's really a shame that this game went as it did because Eli Willitz news is a big deal is exciting news so he's already at the double a level presumably will begin next season at the double a level and then if things go well next season will get promoted to the triple a level and then we see but you know to me if he's starting next season at double a like the watch is on I don't know that it's more likely than unlikely that he's promoted to the majors next season but I do think that is in play next season that this guy aged nineteen season potentially could be making his M.O.B. debut what do you think organizationally the thinking is right now for Eli Willitz in the timeline for him reaching the major league level I think they're probably still focused on twenty twenty eight but maybe earlier in the season even considering him on the opening day roster in twenty twenty eight but they won't shut the door entirely on maybe a late season call up next year as as always it depends on how the guy does and how much he looks like he's

31:31mastering each level now let's be clear about this what just happened here the single a season is over it ended on Sunday double a plays one more week then they're done and then triple a plays one more week after that before they're done and then we're in the final week of the season so if the Nats wanted Eli Willitz to play any more in the season he's six this is the only place for it to happen he would have to be moved up and I think the thinking there is he's going to start next year double a anyways why not give him a week to get a taste of it and set him up for next year now he earned it with the way that he played but I don't know this is a scenario where if there were if the single a season was still going on in Wilmington I think he probably stays there I don't think they need to move him up or that it's clearly the right time to do it it's just a way of saying hey you've done a great job you're going to be here next year anyways go play for a week get a taste of it and then you're often running next year it does both well everything he's done so far has been excellent across the board it's hitting for average it's

32:37running the bases extremely well he's hit for some power he's drawing walks is on base percentage for the years over 400 playing good defense at shortstop so everything so far has been what you would hope for but we have to remember he's till 18 years old drafted at 17 and it does get harder as you get you know moving up the different levels and then the other part of it is and we don't really know yet because there hasn't been a lot of opportunities for this but my sense is that this front office is a lot more conservative with their promotions of prop prospects than the one was maybe that changes maybe this guy is on a different level and they will see he's earned it and will speed him through the system next year and maybe there's a shot he's in the big lead before the end of the year but I do feel like overall Paul to bony's front office is much more cautious with these kind of things than Mike Rizzo's front office was well it is really encouraging to see him doing well so far and that it feels like the Nats may have nailed it

33:38with taking him with that number one overall pick everybody on their feet here at Petco Park no balls in a strike here it comes so we have a fly ball right field Tatees is there he's waiting Tatees makes the catch and the Padres come back to defeat the nationals five to four a whole nails down the save he's fired up about it the Padres stay within a half game of Arizona for the final wild card spot the nationals have dropped six in a row and on their 38th blown save of the season nationals fall a run short in San Diego they have dropped 20 of their last 22 road games some other injury items with the Nats as you reported on Tuesday finally early tentatively scheduled to pitch for double a Harrisburg on Sunday good news there Josiah Gray is joining the triple a Rochester bullpen on Wednesday good news there and then the situation

34:38with Catherine Drew Millis and his finger he has been out for months now and now he's scheduled to undergo another surgery on the finger what's going on with Drew Millis Yeah this is really unfortunate and he told us a few nights ago in Los Angeles what was going on this was what was going on with the other two and then the other two for the first time and then the other three for the first time and then the other four. So remember he broke the finger last August at Yankee Stadium when he was hit with a bat they did the surgery then well he came back this year and it still wasn't exactly right his finger has been swollen all year long he hasn't been able to wrap it around his bat and still causing him pain ultimately as we saw he went back on the I L well it still wasn't healing so he came on the trip to L.A. a guy who actually worked on Kobe Bryant years ago and gave Bryant this same surgery that now Drew Millis is going to get. It's called a fusion surgery. What it's basically doing is, they're saying he has early onset arthritis in his left knuckle, index finger knuckle. And so they're gonna fuse it together

35:39so that there is no joint essentially anymore and his finger's gonna be permanently straight. And you say, wow, how can you even do that? Well, he believes he can play with that. You can hold the bat with nine fingers essentially. It's his glove hand and he does have a catcher's mitt in which the index finger sticks out through the little hole. So that doesn't bother him there. And above all else, from previous people who've had the surgery and what he's been told from the doctors, the pain will be gone. It will eliminate that. It's gonna leave him with a finger that doesn't operate the way that most fingers do, but the pain should be gone and allow him to come back and play next year. So he was, he's frustrated by the way, it's his all gone down, but I think encourage an optimistic that this could finally solve it and allow him to come back and play baseball. Man, catcher is such a brutal position. All the best to Drew Millis. When it comes to early and gray, would you say that one guy is closer than another in terms of pitching for the Nats at the major league level this season?

36:40I would think Josiah Gray, just because he doesn't have to be built up the same way. He's made a bunch of relief appearances now and it's more about just getting him into that routine, facing some better competition now at AAA and it does time well if they wanna do it. It does seem like there's not a whole lot holding them back from bringing them up for maybe the final week of the season, assuming everything goes well at Rochester this week. I could see that happening in early's case. So he threw in the bridge league as we discussed the other night, he won the game of bridge, I think, and through 30 pitches and so now he's ready to face hitters in an actual league game in AA on Sunday that is tentative, not officially yet, but it looks like that's gonna be the case. So he does that. As I said, AA season ends at the end of the week. That'll literally be the final game of the season for Harrisburg. So I would imagine if that goes well, he pitches for Rochester the week after that. And then they have to decide. One week to go in the major league season, no more minor league options of anywhere to play.

37:43Would they have him pitch in the big leagues one time for them or would they feel that's not worth it? I could see them going either way with that. So I think Gray tracks better to come up and make maybe a few appearances that final week with an outside shot that early makes one star or bulk relief appearance or something like that during that final week of the season. The Jordan Zimmerman, no hitter in September 2014 and the Connolly, early, bridge league game performance in September, 2026, which September pitching performance meant more to you. I'll hang up and take your answer off the ear. We vibe a podcast offer shout outs messages that you write and we read $25 each. I think of a shout out like a message on the scoreboard at Nationals Park email us for more info Natschat podcast at gmail.com. And we have this shout out to deliver Samantha wants to wish a happy ninth anniversary to her boyfriend, Herb, who lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia and never misses a show. Thank you very much, Herb, and a happy anniversary to you

38:45and Samantha, on Nationals Radio Highlights. On Natschat, a courtesy of 1067, the fan for Mark Cokerman on Algoldi. Thank you for listening and we'll talk to you next time on the Natschat podcast. With the first pick of the 2025 MLB draft, the Washington Nationals select Eli Willitz, a short stop from Fort Cobb, Braxton High School in Fort Cobb, Oklahoma.