Smooth Outing for Early in Saturday Defeat

0:00See you next week on Friday night October 2nd for our end of season podcast party at Walters. Join Al, Tim and me from 7 to 9 pm at Walters the best sports bar in Navy yard. Insurance isn't a one-size-fits-all and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit. That's why drivers have enjoyed Progressives' name-your-price tool for years. With the name-your-price tool you tell them what you want to pay and they show you options that fit your budget. Enough hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates and tinkering with coverages. Maybe you're picking out your very first policy or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way they make it simple for you to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises. Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be? Visit progressive.com and give the name-your-price tool a try. Take this stress out of shopping

1:01and find coverage that fits your life. On your terms, progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Toyota's easy choice sales event is on. Whether you're looking for the performance of a camera, the versatility of Arab 4, the efficiency of a Corolla or all electric driving in the BZ. There's a Toyota that's just right for you. And with great deals across the lineup, now's the time to find yours. But hurry, these deals won't last long. Toyota's easy choice sales event end soon. We make it easy. Toyota, let's go places. Now to wind up the Tutu Pitch. Swigging a mess, he struck him out. And there is Connelly Early's first national strikeout. He puts away H.A. Ewing with a sweeper. Connelly Early, leading off the top of the third has his first, Nats K. It's excited to get back out there and be able to throw again. Obviously been a little bit of time. But Pitch in a big league game

2:06after all that time and all the work that I put, all these guys having my back is pretty special. It's good to see him back out there and healthy and going into the offseason. I thought he looked really good. He attacked hitters. He wasn't afraid through a ton of strikes. So Urban has allowed now 19 home runs and hopefully 108 innings, fires. And a drive deep right field. Wood going back. This one over his head and over the wall off the back wall of the nationals bullpen. Four to one New York back to back home runs. Mauricio hits a tank. And it has fallen apart for Urban very, very quickly here at the top of the seventh. Here's the Pitch. Swung on here in the air to deep right field. Wood going back way back warning track. Wall. It's gone. Just clears into the nationals bullpen. Ronnie Mauricio with an opposite field to run home run. His second home run of the game and third of the year. And it's now the

3:06Mets seven of the nationals won. And welcome to Nats Chat. I'm Al Goldie host of the Al Goldie podcast. I'm joined by Washington Nationals insider Mark Zucker mit of natural.com. He is at Nationals Park. We are down to the Nats final game in M.O.B.s 2026 season. Their penultimate game ended up being a lackluster loss, though with an encouraging starting pitching performance. But a seven one loss to the New York Mets at Nationals Park on Saturday afternoon in game two of a three game series. The Nats now 76 and 85 with a run differential of plus four game three of this series and game 162 for the Nats in this regular season is on Sunday afternoon. But now at 105 instead of 305 this due to the expectation of more rain Saturday afternoon game on Friday night. Got moved up from 405 to 1235 DJ hers is listed as the Nats probable starting pitcher for Sunday afternoon game. Remember the Nats in this regular season have not had a single rain out,

4:08though they have had plenty of rain delays. Let us hope that we do not have any rain delays on Sunday, although I don't know how likely that is. But good to have you with us. We are looking forward to seeing everyone this Friday for the fifth annual Nats chat podcast party, which is happening Friday evening October 2nd is happening at the home base of the Nats chat podcast. Walter Sports Bar, which is across the street from Nationals Park. This Friday evening October 2nd 7 to 9 more info on Walters at Walters DC dot com. We on Saturday morning learned of the 2026 Nationals award winners as voted by media members, including Mark, your award winners player of the year, outfielder James Wood, pitcher of the year, starting pitcher Kate Cavali and the good guy award ended up going to two players shortstop slash second baseman, Dossim Nunez and outfielder, Jacob Young, the great debate of whether would or shortstop slash second baseman, CJ Abrams should win Nats player of the year. Wood ends up winning the award was Mark, Superman among those who voted

5:09for James Wood. I was admitted I voted for James Wood. I thought about that one that I could have gone either way. I gave it a lot of thought. I held off as long as I could we had until Tuesday to submit our vote because you know those late season performances can affect the bottom line. And for a while there, you know, James Wood was really going cold at the plate and Abrams got hot and so it did make me reconsider that. I think in the end, you know, I don't want to say there was as simple as this, but it did kind of just boil down to James Wood had the higher OPS. Yes, there's more to it than that. You had to take consideration the fact that Wood missed a month with his injury, you know, defensively neither one of them really had a strong case to boost their merits of what they had done this year. Obviously, CJ Abrams had a fantastic season. James Wood did have a fantastic season. It just once again ended in more disappointing fashion and especially the lack of power here at the end. I wish one of them was playing really strong down to the finish line. I think that would have helped a lot. Unfortunately, when we've been in this

6:11situation before, they both have kind of struggled late in the season. And so I gave it to Wood slightly over Abrams. And I'll tell you what, if Luis Garcia was still here, he would have had a strong case as well. I would have seriously considered that. And if you could combine all his numbers from the gnats and the Yankees together, it might have been enough to outplay those two guys. Yeah, it's interesting. From a baseball reference wins above replacement standpoint, CJ Abrams actually is outdoing James Wood by a good bit. It's a little surprising to see the disparity there, but Abrams, as of games through Friday 5.3, wood 3.6. But, you know, there's a lot to look at. I don't know that there's a wrong answer with this. I think each guy has had a lot of good this season, some bad this season. And I don't know how you can be outraged. And either guy winning the award. It's nice to have a competitive battle for that award for the first time. It feels like in quite some time. By the way, regarding the gnats now for each of their last two games of this regular season, moving up the start time, you know, I brought this up to

7:12you in the past of how I wish the gnats would be more proactive regarding days on which it's supposed to rain. I want to give the gnats a lot of credit for this. I think this is smart. It worked out perfectly on Saturday afternoon. The rain did come and the gnats astutely moved up that start time from 4.5 to 12.35. We'll see how things work out on Sunday afternoon. I'm sure MWB has had a say in this too. But the gnats doing this bravo. I love seeing this. I think it's smart. And hopefully it works out on Sunday like it did on Saturday. Yeah, it did time out about as perfectly as you could want on Saturday. It rained a little bit during the game, but never enough to hold the game in any way. And shortly after the game ended, it started coming down a lot more. And so it was 100% the right call. Hopefully that makes sense. Also Sunday, I think it's interesting that the game in New York, Orioles, Yankees also was moved up to 1 o'clock. So I think somebody at MWB clearly is looking at this forecast and has reason to believe they have a better chance earlier in the day than later in the day. Although I hope this isn't true. I wonder if this is just a

8:15case of they're given themselves as much of a window over the course of the afternoon as they can get. Recognizing that it may be on and off. I don't know. I hope it's a well played fast game that starts on time. But you never know with these things. But yes, credit to everyone who made that work. I know it's complicated. It's not always that easy to move up a start time on short notice. You know, I will say you noticed in the crowd, you know, it was a announced crowd of 27,000. Wasn't anywhere close to that many in the park. And I do wonder if there were people that bought tickets thinking it was going to be a four o'clock game and just could not make it at 1230. So maybe a similar thing on Sunday. But you get to the end of the year. There's no opportunities to make these games up. You got to finish it by Sunday. And so, you know, they pulled it off. So good job. I have everyone for making that happen. Who with the Nats makes a decision like this? Is it the president of baseball operations, Paul Taboni? Is it the president of business operations? Jason Sinarajas. Is it somebody else like who actually makes the call on this from a Nats perspective? I think it's collaboration because there's obviously a baseball aspect to it,

9:18but a business aspect to it as well. And they really do rely a lot on the head ground keeper, John Turnhauer, and what he's getting and his information on on forecast. And yes, they have to consult with MLB. They can't just on their own decide to do these sorts of things. And so, MLB has their own weather department as well. And, you know, operations people who whose job it is is to make sure all these games happen when they're supposed to happen and do it in a way that can be done. So I think it's a collaborative effort. I think in this case, the final call goes to MLB because we are right at the end of the season. If it's earlier on, the home team probably has more of a say in it. Obviously, you want to involve the Mets as well. You don't want to just spring this on them. But yeah, it's a good job by everyone to make that happen. And to announce it as early as you could without, you know, dramatically affecting how this impacts people the following day. Well, the weather in the Washington DC area this weekend, ugly, this game on Saturday afternoon was not exactly pretty from a Nats perspective. But truth be told, the most important thing with this

10:20game ended up being something very positive. So the Nats on Saturday morning and out's having returned starting picture, kindly early from his minor league rehab assignment and having reinstated him from the 60 day interlist he'd been on that since August 22nd. The Nats in the 12 AM Eastern hour on Sunday, July 26th announced having traded infield or Curtis Mead to the Boston Red Sox for early early at the time. The trade was on the 15 day injured list due to left elbow inflammation. The conversation at the time of the trade is I'm sure everyone remembers was okay. Well, we'll early pitch for the Nats at the major league level this season. If so, how soon took a while, but we finally do see early pitch for the Nats at the major league level. Mark had talked about how early's minor league rehab stint, you know, was not the greatest in terms of the actual results. We didn't know quite what to expect on Saturday afternoon, but kindly early and his M.O.B. debut for the Nats did well. He tossed the rescoreless innings. He had one strike out versus no walks. He gave up just one hit, which was a single. He threw 34 pitches, 21 strikes, 13 balls, kind of a

11:26non-descript outing, but in the best of ways, the reshut out innings and on just 34 pitches, supremely efficient, was kindly early. Good for him and all things considered. I mean, that's a job well done. Yeah, nothing going to plan about there. That went about as well as everybody could hope for maybe too well because he came off the mound after the third and he wanted to keep going. And certainly the pitch count he was allowed to go further 45 or 50, but they just didn't feel comfortable sending him back out for another inning. He hadn't reached the third inning in any of his rehab outings, so they certainly weren't going to let him now not just pitch a third but pitch a fourth as well. And, you know, let's be honest, that wasn't the most important thing on this day. It was just the fact that he was out there and healthy, but had some success. And he said he wasn't maybe at his very best. The stuff wasn't as crisp, but he would like. Yeah, I thought my stuff was all right. Chase running a good spot. Locations could have been a little bit better. It could have worked a little bit better at the top of his own with my fastball and everything. I'm been able to land a change a couple more times, but I feel like that just kind of has to do with

12:31being out for a little bit and trying to get back and be able to go out there and feel healthy. His velocity was 93.94 and that's right in line with what his average was this year with the red sucks. I thought his breaking balls were pretty sharp. Obviously, it was throwing strikes and getting them to swing and the contact was not super hard throughout it. So that was good stuff. It's a shame that we didn't get to see more of him this year because he is a critical part of what they're trying to do in 2027 specifically, but even in the longer run as well as we know. And so they'll feel good, he'll feel good going into the winner. And I think you can pencil them in as their number two starter behind Kate Cavali. I would have loved to see him at his true best form and see him, you know, make several starts up here before the season ended. But if this is all we're going to get, you left everyone with a good positive impression from a trade that as we know, everyone was a little bit wondering about at the time and all the way through was this a good deal for them. A long way to go till we know that answer, but you know, we have some tangible evidence now of what

13:34they saw on Connolly early and confirming that he really does fit into in a big way to what they're doing next year. Yeah. And I've brought this up before, but I think one of the encouraging things about early is that he's not like this total unknown at the Major League level. He pitched well at the Major League level for Boston, you know, not in a ton of games, but you know, 21 games all starts 111 innings, e already 324. So it's like, okay, he has shown that he can do it at the Major League level. You're not kind of crossing your fingers and hoping he pans out. He's already on a path to panning out. And it's just a question of sustaining that Connolly early, a product of the University of Virginia, Boston took him in the fifth round of the 2023 MLB first year player draft at a UVA. He graduated from James River High School in Midlothian, Virginia, attended the United States Military Academy West Point for two seasons 2021 and 2022 before transferring to UVA. So you said early right now we should pencil him in as the number two starter. He can be that good, right?

14:36I mean, Kate Cavali is the clear number one, but it is appropriate to look at Connolly early as, you know, you're likely number two boring some unforeseen acquisition this off season. Yeah, I do think you do pencil men now, you know, let's see, they could make some other acquisitions and who knows what else could happen. But remember how the other night I referenced the stat about Andrew Alvarez and how he had totaled 100 innings and had the low ERA under 3.5 had, you know, one strikeout per inning. Well, Connolly early this season, he just misses the innings threshold 94 and 2 thirds innings, but he had 94 strikeouts, the ERA of 3.33. And if you look at the entirety of his career now across two seasons and he only made four starts for the Red Sox last year before a playoff start, he's now got 114 major league innings with 123 strikeouts and a 3.16 ERA. So I mentioned that stat about how they had nobody for this entire length of the rebuild

15:37that had given them a sub 3.5 ERA more than a strikeout per inning over 100 innings. Well, if you want to include him in this mix, they technically now have three guys going into next year who've done it in Cavali, early and Alvarez. That's a great starting point for them. Yes, they need more than that. Yes, these guys need to show what they can do over an entire major league season. But that's as good of a foundation from a rotation standpoint as this team has had since the rebuild started. And that is critical to what they're trying to accomplish here. Absolutely, to say nothing of what maybe possibly could be with Josiah Gray, what maybe possibly could be with DJ hers. And like we said, you know, maybe there is an acquisition. Maybe there are multiple acquisitions coming to the starting pitching rotation. Who knows? Hey, Nats fans. After the exciting Nats game, have a listen to some relaxing solo piano music to

16:38unwind and help you go to sleep. I'm Tim Neumark, the composer of the Nats chat theme song. And you can find my latest music on Spotify, Apple music, Pandora, and anywhere you stream music. The song you're hearing now is called Improv in A Flat Major, the end of the road. If your business runs on five different apps, 12 browser tabs and one spreadsheet that everyone's afraid to touch, it's probably time for Odo. Odo is an all in one business management software that connects every part of your business into one powerful easy to use platform. So instead of waste in time, switching between disconnected systems, your entire business works together in real time. Your team moves faster, your data stays accurate, and you can actually focus on growing your business. Let one unified system run your entire business from the first opportunity to the final payment everything works together in one place. Whether you're a small business or managing a large operation,

17:44Odo gives you one flexible platform built to grow with you. Learn more at odu.com. That's odo.com. Insurance isn't a one size fits all and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit. That's why drivers have enjoyed progressive's name your price tool for years. With the name your price tool, you tell them what you want to pay and they show you options that fit your budget. Enough hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates and tinkering with coverages. Maybe you're picking out your very first policy or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way, they make it simple for you to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises. Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be. Visit progressive.com and give the name your price tool a try. Take this dress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms. Progressive casualty insurance

18:48company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. The wind up the two two swinging a miss. Urban strikes amount of the sweeper. J. Kerbin strikes out the side here on the top of the six inning. Lindor looking. Soto and Bishet swinging. J. Kerbin with a flourish of the six inning fans three minutes in a row. Connolly early did as he did on Saturday afternoon and then starting pitcher Jake Irvin came into the game as the Nads bulk man in let's be honest, maybe Jake Irvin's final game for the Washington Nationals. We'll see he allowed five runs for earned in five innings. He tossed scoreless fourth fit and six innings, but Irvin in the top of the seventh allowed four runs as he gave a back-to-back homeers a two out three run homer by AJ Ewing to right center field on an O2 pitch for a three one met's lead and a two out solo homer by Ronnie Mauricio to right field for a four one met's lead and Irvin in the top of the eighth allowed a run, which was honored thanks to a two out fielding air by shortstop Nassim Nunez as Nunez whiffed on his fielding of a two out

19:50Brett Vady grounder that went off the mound and then passed Nunez and also passed C.J Abrams into right center field a scoring course in bench for a five one met's lead. The kick-and here comes so in a chopper pass the mound charging in Nunez goes under him goes under Abrams and in a center field a base in Ronnie third bench Hill score and the met's lead by the score five to one. If this was Jake Irvin's final outing for the Nads, this was actually a pretty appropriate outing. Eight up some innings five gave up some runs five runs for earned gave up some homers two home runs. Jake Irvin ends up having another rough season. We've talked about the possibility of him being non-tendered by the Nads this coming off season. He certainly profiles as a non-tender candidate and you know at this point it's like what else is there left to see. Jake Irvin for the Nads now at the major league level over his MLB career 112 games including 110 starts ERA of 5.03. I mean this is what we're looking at here over quite a bit of work over quite a sample

20:55size now in ERA over five and while we're doing all these stats you during the game on X put out a wapper of a stat regarding the struggles of Nads starting pictures during these rebuilding years and Jake Irvin continues quite the tradition. Yeah this is the complete opposite of the previous stat I gave about Cavali and early and Alvarez. So from 2005 to 2020 first 15 16 seasons in club history there was only one pitcher the nationals ever had who threw a hundred innings and had an ERA over 5.5 and that was Ramon Ortiz in 2006. Well since 2021 so essentially when the rebuild began that's now six seasons. They've had nine different guys with that stat line for a season 100 innings and ERA over 5.50 although I have to admit I tweeted that and Jake Irvin came back and pitched one more inning gave him an unearned run that dropped him just below 5.50. I'm going to count it it's close enough. I didn't want to ruin the stat because it was too good. So since 2021 they've had

22:00nine seasons where that stat line was true Patrick Corbin did it three times 21 22 and 24 Eric Fettie in 22 Trevor Williams in 23 Mitchell Parker in 25 Miles Michaelis this year before he was DFA'd and now Jake Irvin in back to back seasons okay look at those names on that list. You understand who they are you understand where they were in their careers and you understand what if anything they still had left to provide beyond that point that's not the kind of company you want to keep. I'm not saying it would be impossible for Jake Irvin to turn this around and become a more effective big league pitcher and certainly there have been some moments along the way that you thought okay there it is I see it coming together but there's way more body of evidence now at this point that this is who he is and I think what stands out and you said like this was a microcosm this game of his season and really his last couple years with them looks pretty good pretty effective

23:03there for a stretch but then maybe needing one more pitch to get himself out of it with no trouble it just imploded on him he gives up a two out walk to Francisco Alvarez a three run homer to AJ Ewing on a hanging O2 curve ball then another home run to Ronnie Mauricio who had one homer prior to that point and then you know damage already done but then he comes back and walks Francisco Indoor on four pitches after that I mean that tells you right there Jake Irvin's issue is that he can be good up to a point but then when it goes south boy it really goes south and he has these blow-up innings if it's going to happen for him he's going to have to fix that part of the equation whether the net's given that opportunity I don't know we will have to see as they get through the offseason here but for guy who's in arbitration would probably make a good four million dollars I would think I just don't know if they're going to feel like that as a sound investment and they may feel for the first time in a long time that they have enough organizational depth on the pitching

24:05side that they don't feel compelled to keep one of these guys coming off a bad year just because they have his rights. Yeah at the very least the nets should finnigate them and non-tender them and then if you want them back sign them back off having non-tendered him but you know Jake Irvin this was his age 29 season so if he's going to blossom he will be doing so in his 30s short is the list of starting pitchers who go from being really bad in their 20s to really good in their 30s you never say never in sports but man that is not something that you see with any kind of frequency I remember in I think was 2023 when we first saw Jake Irvin and he did some good things and I made to you the comment of you know Jake Irvin's a guy who the net's drafted out of the University of Oklahoma and at the time you know there was real frustration with Cade Cavali it wasn't happening you know dealing with injury wasn't necessarily killing it and I was like man wouldn't it be something if the pitcher who the net's drafted out of the University of Oklahoma who really ended up helping this team wasn't Cade Cavali but was Jake Irvin look at where we are now with where Cavali is at

25:08and where Irvin is at and you know for whatever hope there might have been with Irvin when he was first brought up to the majors in 2023 that went away pretty quickly I mean 2024 rough 2025 rough 2026 rough we've talked about him maybe possibly being a reliever his strikeout rate this season did go a big time but he gives up a lot of homers he issues a lot of walks and the net's do not need another reliever who gives up a lot of homers and issues a lot of walks so I don't know how realistic even that is bringing back Jake Irvin and trying him out as a bullpen guy and just to tie this all together the third pitcher they drafted out of Oklahoma Jake Bennett who they then traded to the Red Sox has won up having a very good season for them he was traded for Luis Peralas who has struggled in limited time up here and actually wound up being sent down on Saturday morning so they could clear space for yes Connolly Early to make his nationals debut as far as the bullpen question goes with Irvin maybe but what's the real upside like where do you

26:13think that best case scenario would be for him he doesn't have the stuff that some of these other relievers they've acquired in the last year or two half you know he's not going to dial up to the upper 90s so it's not going to be that you're probably talking more of a multi-inning reliever in a Brad Lorde sense well you have Brad Lorde who we've seen have some success in that role and is still very affordable having not reached arbitration yet so Irvin situation kind of reminds me where they were with Eric Fettie you had his moments where you thought okay maybe this guy is going to live up to his full potential just never really got it consistently ERA in the 5s and he was about at that age upper 20s I think when they finally cut him loose now Fettie went over to Korea dominated there got a nice contract from the White Sox and he's hung around the last few years although not pitching nearly as well so did that first year back I'm not saying that's the path for Jake Irvin but it does kind of remind me a little bit of where the Nats were with Eric Fettie and I just think they're in a better place now from a depth standpoint that it gets harder to

27:16justify retaining somebody who doesn't have minor league options and you'd be paying you know more money to than you would normally want for somebody that you can't guarantee a rotation spot to and you're not even sure how he would fit in to a bullpen now we'll see you know Blake Pterod did talk after the game about all the things they want Irvin to work on this winner and having a plan for him to bulk up some and really try to maintain his velocity deeper into games and all that we don't want him just to be an innings eater we want him to dominate when he's out there we think he's capable of doing that so we're gonna we're gonna challenge him and he already knows it this offseason to work on his body add some velocity and build and maintain it throughout the having I asked him the question of starter reliever he said you know we still believe him as a starter for now you know you can always adjust that later on communicated to Jake is that we want him to start we want to give him a chance to do that and we'll we'll do that until he shows us that he's not going to be able to but we want to give him the feedback that we were able to from this year going into this offseason and outline a plan for him that we feel really good about for

28:19the next few months and give him a chance to see what that looks like when he comes back in next year and go from there first all the things that he said publicly suggested that they still believe Irvin's going to be a part of this moving forward you know you wouldn't say the alternative that was your plan but maybe they just haven't really sat down to make that kind of determination yet yeah the telling thing about that stat that you posted on x and this speaks to Irvin it's not necessarily the 550 ERA it's the minimum 100 innings pitched if you have an ERA that bad you should be getting nowhere near 100 innings pitched and that the Nats have had so many such guys this decade says so much about the lack of legitimate starting pitching options that this team has had and finally it would appear that that may be possibly is changing and that of course is wonderful news insurance isn't a one size fits all and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit that's why drivers have enjoyed progressives name your price

29:22tool for years with the name your price tool you tell them what you want to pay and they show you options that fit your budget enough hunting for discounts trying to calculate rates and tinkering with coverages maybe you're picking out your very first policy or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family either way they make it simple for you to see your options no guesswork no surprises ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be visit progressive dot com and give the name your price tool a try take this stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law fall is full of tough choices pie or cobbler sweater or jacket compost the leaves or jump in them some decisions are easier to make than others like acquiring your favorite model at the el certified by lexus fall collection

30:22sales event with an unlimited mileage warranty for up to six years it may just be the easiest decision you make now through November 2nd see your lexus dealer bellied for two years after expiration of four years fifty thousand mile new vehicle basic warranty or two years from elicitified purchase lease state whichever occurs later see dealer for details buyers ready kick still rivers the pitch swung on driven in the air to deep right center field but looks like it's playable bench and you can burn you make the catch and the met's of one in here this afternoon at nationals park the nats in the seven one lost to the met's at nationals park on Saturday afternoon used one picture beyond connolly early and jay gurvin reliever richer love lady two runs in one inning top of the ninth gave up an opposite field to run homer by rotting maricio to right field to put the met's up seven one so you are washing ten nationals in terms of relief pitching home runs allowed in this regular season now at one hundred thirteen as we record this episode of the podcast the next worst total the athletics ninety four nineteen more

31:27relief pitching home runs allowed than the next worst team in m o b the other funny thing with relief pitching stats i just looked at this for the first time do you know what the nats relief pitching one loss record is this is great this speaks to uh they complete lack of worth of the win lost that forty one and forty one so nats relievers in terms of the overall record five hundred that's a league average bullpen right and of course we know that anything but that is the case with this bullpen but yes a relief pitching e r a five o three a hundred thirteen home runs allowed so many other just really horrible stats with the bullpen but the record the official record for nats relief pitchers forty one and forty one so there you go my one takeaway from that is actually this that's eighty two decisions by the bullpen and i don't know that's not a number i've really ever looked at before to compare it to anything that seems like a lot of decisions in general which tells me that their starters aren't going five in number one starts aren't going five innings to qualify for wins and i understand they had all those openers games so those relief

32:32numbers include the bulk guys in relief okay but you'd love for them to get to a point where the starters are going five innings more consistently and then the second part of that equation of course not just that the starter goes five innings in the parts with the lead but then they retain that lead so that he gets the decision and the decision doesn't then flip to the reliever who gave up the lead at some point along the way yeah that's a good stat in a bizarre way not because it really means anything about their performance but i think just the volume of decisions that they've taken tells you a lot about how much they've pitched and how often the score of the game has changed let's say after the starter comes out of the game and when it comes to the nats offense on Saturday afternoon the less said the better so we will not say much the offense in this game just did next to nothing one run three hits all of which were singles one walk oh for four with runners in scoring position 14 strikeouts however we did have this james wood is an at starting right fielder and number one batter two for four with two singles which per stand cast had exit velocities of a hundred 13 miles

33:36per hour and a hundred six point six miles per hour that's more like it for james wood from an exit velocity standpoint now he's still not hitting for like any power he is not homerid and basically forever his slugging percentage for this month of September is now just three twenty nine but is on base for this month is at three sixty nine and at least he hit a couple of balls hard i mean it's crazy what has happened here he is not homerid since hitting two homers on july twenty six two months he has gone now officially without homering but those exit filos that's like vintage james wood so it's good to see that on Saturday again i remember he missed a month on the aisle but still even just one month for him without a home run is crazy he was on a forty home replace more than a forty home replace before he got hurt and he's been stuck on thirty ever since then what i liked it so the last two days he is drawing walks he's hitting singles some of them been on the ground yes they are hard hit and then it was the second single in this game the one oh six point six line drive to the

34:39gap and left center field now i know it didn't elevate it quite as much as you would want him at his best but that swing in that direction with that kind of velocity is where he's supposed to be and where he is when he's at his best there's only got one more game to try to build anything off of that but it was nice to see just for a moment there james wood look like the james wood that we have come to expect maybe he had to sign there's got one more in him on sunday and maybe he can actually get a hold in one and get that total to thirty one and not end the season remarkably on a two month homerless streak that would be crazy how many guys in history have finished year with thirty homers despite hitting zero in august in september that can't be a very long list no not at all i would love to see james wood hit like three homers on sunday afternoon just like and the season with a bang remind everyone who the heck you are we'll see what goes down with james wood we'll see what goes down from a weather standpoint dj hers will be pitching assuming the game is played

35:41looking forward to that i would think there's at least a decent chance we see joseye agree again i know he did pitch on friday evening what what do you think about that i would have said yes but he actually was warming up in the ninth inning of this game as richard love ladies pitch count was getting out of control and so they didn't use him but just the fact that they were even considering back to back days and he did warm up i would hesitate to even warm him up again on sunday so maybe we'll see i don't know but that would be too bad although the way that ended friday night that might just be a nice way for him to head into the offseason it was such a great moment and the odds of topping that are very slim so i don't know we'll probably just get a whole host of others everybody else should be available throwing in or two get through the game game one sixty two is always kind of weird it's never a normal baseball game it's get everybody in maybe you'll see guys like wood and abrims get pulled in the fifth or sixth inning and get novation that kind of stuff i i don't know we will see but at worst the nads are going to end up with a ten win improvement

36:44from last year that's significant now they got a long way to go another ten wins get some to 86 that might be on the border this year wouldn't have been enough as it turns out but as we've discussed and i'm sure we'll discuss more as we wrap up the season on sunday there's a lot to like about what they did this year there is legit progress that they've made and no matter what happens sunday they should head home feeling good about the progress in a grand scale that they have pulled off this year absolutely so many more positives to this season than negative still with a positive run differential two plus four i would love to see the nads and the season with a positive run differential hopefully that will happen hit us up on exit nads underscore chat you can find us on blue sky at nads chat podcast you can email us nads chat podcast at gmail dot com check out our website nads chat podcast dot com at which you can purchase a nads chat podcast t-shirt nads chat is on the radio sunday morning nine to ten on espn richman which is one oh six point one fm in the richman virginia area and sunday morning nine to ten on espn radio ninety four point one

37:48in the virginia beach area all nationals radio highlights on nads chat courtesy of one oh six seven in the fan from morris okerman on algali thank you for listening and we'll talk to you next time on the nads chat podcast urban with six strikeouts he's ready they'll wind up the one two pitch on the way swing and a miss he blew it by him up and out of his own at ninety four strikeout number seven for jay kerman he has finished seven one hit shut out innings here on the fourth of July you brought to you by the capital one saver card with saver you earn unlimited three percent cashback on dining entertainment and a grocery stores that's unlimited cashback on ordering takeout from home or unlimited cashback on tickets to concerts and games so grab a bite grab a seat and earn unlimited three percent cashback with the saver card capital one what's in your wallet terms apply see capital one dot com for details stop wasting your nights on a mattress that doesn't

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