Nats Chat

The Nats routed the Twins 12-3 on Monday night in Navy Yard to end their five game losing streak. Mark & Al have a lot of positive offensive statistics to sift through for a change as they collected fourteen hits and hit a pair of homers (Luis Garcia Jr. & Jesse Winker). (04:30) Eddie Rosario continued his hot May as he had two hits, scored three runs, stole a base, and scored all the way from 1B on an errant throw to the outfield. (10:30) Keibert Ruiz singled and doubled in the victory while hitting in the bottom part of the order. He now has four hits in the past four games despite hitting just .165 on the season. (18:20) Mitchell Parker earned the win as he struck out seven Twins in six innings of work. Parker ended the outing on a good note as he wriggled out of a jam shortly after allowing a two run home run to Carlos Correa. (27:00) Dylan Floro threw a scoreless top of the 9th and his ERA is a jaw dropping 0.38 on the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats lost 11-5 on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia for their fifth consecutive defeat. Mark (From Philly) & Al discuss the Nationals being on the wrong end of a sweep and a disappointing 2-7 road trip. (05:00) One positive of the day was that the offense ended their almost week long homer drought as Eddie Rosario and Jesse Winker each cleared the fences. The team has left the yard very few times in the past couple of weeks, but Rosario has nonetheless done so five times. (12:00) Lane Thomas was seen running the bases in pregame workouts as he has been on the IL since April 24th due to a sprained left MCL. (17:00) Trevor Williams had his worst outing of the season as he did not last five innings. Williams was not pitch efficient as he needed 97 pitches to get through just 4.1 IP. (21:00) Tanner Rainey took the mound for the first time since May 4th and did not have a good outing as it included allowing three runs, issuing back to back walks, and giving up a homer to Alec Bohm. Was this his final ever appearance in a Nationals uniform? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats led 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th but ultimately lost 4-3 in ten innings in Philadelphia on Saturday evening. Mark (From Philly) & Al examine the final two frames that saw Kyle Finnegan blow the save in the 9th and take the loss in the 10th. Finnegan retired the first two batters in the bottom of the 9th, but then gave up a game tying solo homer to Kody Clemens (yes, he is Roger Clemens' son). (07:00) The game ended on a Bryce Harper sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th . There were runners on 2nd and 3rd and Al asks Mark if Davey Martinez should have intentionally walked Harper and faced Alec Bohm instead. (16:00) MacKenzie Gore pitched very well and went into the bottom of the 7th. He did not reach 100 pitches in the outing, which is an improvement from a pitch efficiency standpoint. He has not yet given up more than three earned runs in any start so far this season. (22:00) The offense collected 11 hits, but still only came through with three runs. The team has now gone five consecutive games without hitting a homer. CJ Abrams & Ildemaro Vargas each had a trio of hits on Saturday and Vargas' average is at .320 for the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats fell 4-2 in Philadelphia on Friday night and have dropped three straight games on the road trip. Mark (From Citizen's Bank Park) & Al yet again go over a struggling offense that only collected four hits. Oddly enough, all four hits were doubles. One of them came from Joey Gallo, who was just called up from AAA following his rehab stint. (12:30) Trey Lipscomb was the player sent down to AAA make room for Gallo on Friday afternoon. It is the second time this season that Lipscomb has demoted from Washington. Should Joey Meneses have been the player sent to Rochester instead? (23:00) Jake Irvin took the loss after giving up four runs in five innings of work. He threw a wild pitch and also hit two Phillies batters during the start. Mark notes how Irvin was profusely sweating during the outing. (29:00) Cade Cavalli will soon open his rehab window down in Florida. Mark explains what this means and when he might return to the mound in D.C. (32:00) An update on Josiah Gray who has been on the IL for over a month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats dropped the rubber match in Chicago as they were shutout for the second straight game in a 2-0 defeat on Wednesday afternoon. Mark (From the South Side) & Al discuss the batting order, which did not include many regulars and had Ildemaro Vargas hitting 3rd. Among those not in the starting lineup were CJ Abrams, Jesse Winker, Luis Garcia Jr., and Eddie Rosario. (06:00) Keibert Ruiz went 0 for 4 and struck three times. This season has been a rough one for Ruiz and his OPS is at a startling .393. (13:00) Mark gives an update on Lane Thomas after watching him run the bases during pregame warmups. He has been out three weeks with a sprained knee. (17:20) Patrick Corbin was dealt the loss as he gave up a pair of runs off of six hits in 5.2 IP. Three bullpen arms behind arm did record the final eight outs without ceding a run. (27:00) GM Mike Rizzo was on 106.7 The Fan and was not shy about the defense's recent struggles. Vargas committed an error on Wednesday and this came a day after the team made three in the same inning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats and White Sox split their doubleheader on Tuesday in Chicago. Mark (From the South Side) & Al begin with Game 2, where former National Erick Fedde threw seven scoreless innings in the 4-0 shutout vs. his old team. Fedde pitched in South Korea in 2023 and was non tendered by Washington in November of 2022. (07:00) The Nats registered ten hits in their 6-3 victory in Game 1 as Joey Meneses had four of them. The last time he had that many hits in a game was September 1st, 2022 when he hit a walk-off homer vs. Oakland. (11:00) Trey Lipscomb had a trio of hits in the win and stole a pair of bases. He did however commit his seventh error of the season as he did not play well defensively at 3B. (18:30) Eddie Rosario won NL Player of the Week and followed that up with a hit in each game on Tuesday. (20:00) Trevor Williams gave up his first homer of the season and had a no decision in his Game 1 outing as he did not have the benefit of good defense behind him. Mitchell Parker took the loss in Game 2 as he ceded three runs in five frames. (33:00) Al was mystified at how empty Guaranteed Rate Field was during Game 1. Mark gives a firsthand account of just how few people were in the stands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats lost 3-2 in Boston on Sunday afternoon to lose the weekend series. Al & Tim scratch their heads at the mistakes made by Victor Robles as he dropped a routine fly ball and the next inning had inexplicable base running that led to a crucial out. Davey Martinez noted afterwards that he considered removing Robles from the game. (13:00) Robles was not the only cuprit on the bases as the Nats made multiple outs that way on Sunday. Nick Senzel was picked off in the top of 7th and Jacob Young was thrown out trying to steal 2nd for the final out of the game. (16:00) Eddie Rosario homered again as he continued his red hot start to the month of May. He is 10 for his last 22 with four homers mixed in there. (22:00) MacKenzie Gore struck out nine hitters and overall pitched well despite the loss. All of the runs he gave up came in the wacky of the bottom of the 2nd. Gore tossed a career high 111 pitches on in six frames. (30:00) The Nationals move their road trip to the White Sox for a three game series. Chicago is in last place, but recently won four straight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats lost 4-2 in Boston on Saturday afternoon to return to .500 through 38 games. Al begins with Davey Martinez's decision to pitch Robert Garcia for the entirety of the bottom 8th as a tied game became 4-2 before the end of the frame. (05:00) Jake Irvin lasted a career high seven innings and exited the game when it was tied 2-2. Irvin struck out six and threw 103 pitches in the outing. Al notes how big it is that it seems that Irvin can be a long term rotation piece as it shows the improvement in the franchise's player development. (09:30) How much credit should we give Sean Doolittle for the pitching staff's performance thus far? He was hired in the off season as a "Pitching strategist". (14:00) The offense had just two solo homers and only once had a runner in scoring position. Eddie Rosario homered for the third time in May and he is hitting .409 this month after hitting .053 in April. (20:00) James Wood homered twice in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Saturday. Wood has seven homers on the season and five of them have come this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats are back above .500 as they began their road trip with a 5-1 victory in Boston on Friday night. Al & Mark have a Patrick Corbin vwon to open with as he only allowed one run five innings of work. Corbin gave up seven hits, but was the beneficiary of great defense by Victor Robles early in the affair. (10:00) It was another busy night for the bullpen as five arms came on in relief to toss four shutout frames. Harvey made his 19th appearance of the season, which is more than half of the team's games thus far. (17:00) All of the Nationals runs came with two outs against them. Leading the charge was "Mr. May" AKA Eddie Rosario as he continued his total reversal from April. He had a pair of hits, stole a base, and scored two runs with some heads-up base running. (21:00) Robles had two hits and had a stolen base. Robles played RF in his first game back since landing on the IL early in the season as Jacob Young was in CF. (30:00) Jake Irvin takes the mound on Saturday afternoon and the Nats currently are in 3rd place all by themselves in the NL East. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats rallied in the bottom of the 9th and 11th, but came up short on Wednesday night in a 7-6 loss to the Orioles in 12 innings. Al & Mark catch their breath after one of the best ever "Battle of the Beltways" as the Nationals held their own this week against the top record in the American League. (08:00) Eddie Rosario homered in the 9th and had two hits in the loss. Rosario only had three hits in all of April, but already has six hits thus far in May. (16:00) Keibert Ruiz has been scuffling big time lately, but came through with two hits on Wednesday. It was his first multi hit game since March 30th in Cincinnati. (18:00) Mitchell Parker allowed a pair of runs in 5.2 IP in his 5th MLB start. The best part of his stat line was that 53 of his 77 pitches were for strikes. (21:20) A staggering seven relievers were used as a day off awaits Washington on Thursday. Every available arm in the bullpen was used except for Tanner Rainey. (27:00) James Wood homered twice on Wednesday in Scranton and Davey Martinez reiterated that the organization will be patient before calling up the team's top ranked prospect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the first time in almost three years, the Nationals are over .500 on the season as they now are 18-17 after shutting out the visiting Orioles 3-0 on Tuesday night. Mark & Al put in perspective just how long it has been since the team has had a winning record, which is all the way back in early July 2021. (05:10) Trevor Williams continued his excellent start to the season as he struck out eight O's in his 5 IP. His ERA is 1.96 after seven starts in 2024 and Williams has not surrendered a homer. (12:45) Four relievers combined to only give up one hit in the final four frames of the victory. Robert Garcia, fresh off the IL, threw a 1-2-3 top of the 6th. Kyle Finnegan notched his 12th save of the season, which leads all of baseball. (18:00) The Nats drew six walks and collected six hits in the victory. What stood out the most on Tuesday was that they stole four bases and three of them came against Baltimore starter Corbin Burnes. (24:10) Victor Robles returned to the active roster, but Jacob Young got the start in CF. Davey Martinez mentioned that Robles might see action in RF as Young has played well this season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats beat the Blue Jays 11-8 in a wild affair to capture the weekend series on a Sunday afternoon in Navy Yard after trailing 6-1 early in the game. Mark & Al have a lot to get to, but begin with Luis Garcia who had three crucial hits and knocked in four runs. Garcia homered twice in the series and is now hitting .337 so far this season. (12:00) Jesse Winker slugged a 3 run HR to put Washington ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the 4th. Winker also doubled on Sunday for his first multi hit game since April 27th. (15:00) Eddie Rosario had his biggest hit yet since joining the team as he clubbed a 2 run HR to break the 8-8 tie and put the Nationals up for good. Rosario's averaged is now .117 and raised 34 points over the weekend series. (22:00) Davey Martinez used six relievers on Sunday as the team finally have an off day coming up. The final seven outs came from the trusty duo of Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan. (25:00) MacKenzie Gore only lasted three innings and committed one of the three errors charged to the team. Gore needed 76 pitches to get his nine outs as he gave up six runs, including a grand slam to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (33:00) The Orioles come to D.C. on Tuesday for a quick two game series. Baltimore has the AL's best record and the Nats will have another opportunity to get back over .500. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats lost 6-3 to visiting Toronto on a soggy Saturday afternoon. Al recaps the defeat as the Nationals yet again miss an opportunity to move above .500. The defense was bad as they committed four errors and all four runs that Jake Irvin allowed were unearned. Nick Senzel had two throwing errors in the loss and Trey Lipscomb also struggled at 1B. (10:00) Tanner Rainey tossed a scoreless top of the 9th inning. It ends a string of three consecutive outings of giving up at least one run. (13:10) A consolation prize for the offense on Saturday was that they drew five walks. Al notes the increase in walk percentage for this franchise this season. (16:00) Eddie Rosario earned his first hit at Nationals Park this season and his batting average is now up to .096. (19:00) MacKenzie Gore takes the mound on Sunday afternoon in the series rubber match, weather permitting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats beat the visiting Blue Jays 9-3 on Friday night after initially trailing 3-0 in the 2nd inning. Al & Mark begin with Luis Garcia Jr., who did not start but flipped the game with a pinch hit 3 run HR in the bottom of the 7th to grab the lead. Garcia has been platooned as of late, but he is hitting .300 on the season. (13:30) Jacob Young exited the evening early due to back spasms. Young hit lead-off as Davey Martinez decided to tinker the lineup after the series loss in Texas. (18:45) CJ Abrams had an excellent game in the field as he made multiple highlight plays. Mark notes his defensive progress over the past year. (27:45) Hunter Harvey tossed a scoreless top of the 8th and Al points out that it is already his 15th appearance of the season as the Nationals have only played 32 games. (33:00) Weather permitting, Washington on Saturday afternoon will attempt to go over .500 for the first time since July 1st, 2021. Jake Irvin is slated to oppose fellow right hander Kevin Gausman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats were shutout 6-0 in Thursday afternoon's rubber match in Arlington to return to a game under .500. Mark (From Texas) & Al discuss the Nationals bats staying cold as they only scored two runs in the entire series. The offense collected just four hits in the loss and Eddie Rosario (.086) was one of the starters that did not get one. (17:00) Mitchell Parker took his first MLB loss as he gave up three runs off of six hits in 5.1 IP. Mark explains that Parker did not get all the help possible from his defense early on in the outing. (21:00) The game was 3-0 until the bottom of the 8th when Matt Barnes allowed three runs and his ERA currently sits at 6.75. (24:30) Victor Robles has played CF in AAA-Rochester for the past few days and tripled. Might he be called up for this weekend vs. Toronto? (25:30) This week the Nats faced Wyatt Langford, who the Rangers selected one pick after Dylan Crews last summer. This leads to a discussion about Crews' MLB timetable as he has been OK so far this season with AA-Harrisburg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats blanked the Rangers 1-0 on Tuesday night to return to .500 through 30 games. Mark (Live from Texas) & Al start with Trevor Williams, who is now 3-0 on the season in six outings. Williams lasted 5 IP and did not allow a run despite loading the bases in multiple innings. (12:30) The bullpen tossed four scoreless innings and it included Dylan Floro taking the mound in the 7th. Is he the new 7th inning guy in the "A Bullpen?". Kyle Finnegan notched his tenth save of the season, which is tied for the MLB lead. (16:30) Alex Call had the game's lone RBI and it was his first in the majors this season. The offense had five hits on the night and has not yet drawn a walk in this series. (19:30) Jacob Young was barely thrown out trying to steal 2nd and it ends his streak of 25 consecutive successful stolen bases to begin his career. (25:40) It is the Nationals first 1-0 victory on the road since.... 2017! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats four game win streak came to a halt on Tuesday night in Arlington as they fell 7-1 at the Rangers. Mark (From Texas) & Al begin with the slumping Eddie Rosario, who went 0 for 3 in the loss and is hitting just .088 so far this season. Rosario was signed during Spring Training to a minor league deal after playing the past few years in Atlanta. (9:30) Keibert Ruiz also went 0 for 3 and is hitting .143 so far. Ruiz does not have a hit since returning the lineup last Thursday vs. the Dodgers. (14:00) MacKenzie Gore gave up two runs in 5 IP and struck out seven Rangers. Gore has only allowed two runs or fewer in four of his six starts so far this season. (20:00) Tanner Rainey really struggled again as he gave up three runs in the bottom of the 8th. His ERA is at 9.32 and his velocity is noticeably lower than it used to be. As hard as it is to say to this 2019 contributor, will he be DFA'd soon? (25:00) April is over and the Nationals came very close to finishing over .500 as they sit at 14-15. Mark gives his observations from the opening month of the season. (30:00) Owen Ranger, who covers the Harrisburg Senators for "Nats Report", gives an update on the team's prospects in AA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats beat the Marlins 7-2 on Monday night to complete the four game sweep on the road and they are now exactly at .500 for the season. Mark and Al begin with CJ Abrams who slugged his 7th homer of the year, rare territory for this franchise. This leads to a conversation on whether or not a long term extension with the shortstop is in the works. (15:30) The Nats had a trio of doubles and Nick Senzel was one of them as he continued his scorching stretch. He came very close to going deep again and his slugging percentage is at .641. (18:15) Jacob Young had an incredible series as he scored nine runs and stole six bases in Miami. He is the first player to accomplish that feat in over 100 years! (22:45) Jake Irvin earned the win as he pitched six frames and only allowed a pair of runs. This was nice bounce back outing for Irvin after he gave up a dozen hits to the Dodgers last week. (30:30) Washington moves their road trip to Texas as they face the defending World Series champions. A victory on Tuesday would give the Nats their first winning April in the Davey Martinez Era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats beat the Marlins 12-9 on Sunday afternoon after falling behind 6-0 in the 1st inning. Al & Tim recap the big comeback on what is fittingly the ninth anniversary of the famous "Dan Uggla Game", one of the more memorable rallies in team history. It was the Nationals third straight victory and they go for the sweep on Monday night. (05:00) The scoring for Washington began in the 4th and that is when Nick Senzel hit the first of his two homers in the game. Senzel has homered four times in the team's past four games. (08:00) Jacob Young had another excellent game as he had three hits, stole two bases, and scored two runs while playing CF. (16:30) Alex Call had another a very impactful game just one day after getting promoted from Rochester. Call scored three times and had an outfield assist. Hear why Tim refers to him as a "AAAAA Player". (19:30) Patrick Corbin allowed seven runs and saw Miami bat around in the opening inning. Will this be the season that he loses his spot in the rotation? (28:00) Hunter Harvey recorded a five out hold and Kyle Finnegan notched his 9th save of the season. Derek Law struck out three Marlins in two innings of work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Nats trounced Miami 11-4 on Saturday afternoon for their second consecutive win over the Marlins. Al recaps the easy road victory as the offense totaled 11 hits and slugged a trio of homers. (03:00) Jesse Winker hit a grand slam that gave Washington a 6-1 edge in the middle of the game. He also had an infield single that brought in Jacob Young, who scored four runs on Saturday while also stealing a pair of bases. (11:00) Mitchell Parker had a short outing as he only lasted four frames. He gave up six hits, but only allowed one run that came in on a wild pitch. He threw 82 pitches in the afternoon, which is the most he's thrown yet with the Nationals in three starts. (14:00) The bullpen initially combined for four scoreless frames, but the bottom of the 9th did not go well for Tanner Rainey in mop up duty. He gave up three runs and has struggled mightily this season. (15:30) Joey Gallo was placed on the IL due to a AC sprain in his left shoulder. Alex Call takes his roster spot and it was another time that the franchise decided not to bring up James Wood. (22:00) Tim is joined by the President of "Expos Fest", Perry Giannias for an explanation of what the annual event is as they held it last weekend. Many Expos alumni were in attendance including Pedro Martinez and Moises Alou. Expos Fest supports a wonderful charitable cause and and one can visit exposfest.com to learn more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices