Nats Chat Mark Zuckerman & Al Galdi, Blue Wire

The Nats beat the Braves 7-2 on Wednesday night to move to 25-29 on the season, putting them on pace for 75 victories this season. Mark & Al have another solid starting pitching performance to discuss as MacKenzie Gore earned the win and did not issue a walk along the way. Gore's ERA so far this season is 2.91 through 11 starts.
(14:00) The bullpen threw nearly four innings, but didn't need to use Kyle Finnegan. Hunter Harvey recorded four outs and pushed his WHIP down to 0.92.
(17:00) Lane Thomas had a big game as he hit a 3 run HR, doubled, singled, stole a pair of bases, and drew a walk.
(24:30) Joey Gallo was in the news on Wednesday and also had a bunt single in the top of the 8th. (https://www.tmz.com/2024/05/28/hayden-hopkins-expecting-child-mlb-player-joey-gallo-not-mark-davis/)
(28:30) Major League Baseball has officially elevated Negro League statistics and the legendary Josh Gibson now owns multiple major records in baseball history. Gibson played a portion of his career in Washington D.C. while with Homestead Grays.
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Jake Irvin was excellent on Tuesday night in Atlanta, but the Nats were shutout 2-0. Mark & Al begin with Irvin who struck out a career high ten batters in six innings of work. This game continued a season long pattern of Irvin not getting a lot of support from his offense. Should he have returned to the mound for the 7th after he through 90 pitches?
(12:00) Max Fried was also superb as he tossed eight scoreless frames. The Nationals continued making costly outs on the bases, including CJ Abrams getting doubled off to stymie a 1st inning rally. Jesse Winker also was picked off and it seems to be a daily occurrence for the team.
(24:00) James Wood was placed on the 7-day IL due to right hamstring tightness. Wood has not played since he was lifted in the middle of Rochester's game on Thursday night. Will Wood make it to D.C. before the All Star Break?
(27:00) Victor Robles has not yet been claimed on waivers after being DFA'd by Washington on Monday. If someone else does pick him up, will it be in the minors?
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The Nats opened the road trip with an 8-4 Memorial Day victory in Atlanta. Al & Tim have a crowded box score to sort through as the team collected fifteen hits and six Nationals had a multi hit afternoon. Lane Thomas was one of them as he had a pair of hits in his first game since returning from the IL. Thomas had been out since April 24th due to a sprained left MCL.
(07:00) Keibert Ruiz had multiple hits for the fourth consecutive game and his batting average has shot up by 53 points since Friday afternoon (.210).
(11:00) Victor Robles was the odd man out after the return of Thomas. Robles was DFA'd and the man that was chosen over him (Jacob Young) had a trio of hits in the win. What exactly went wrong for Robles?
(21:00) Mitchell Parker had a shutout going until the bottom of the 7th. The hosts make the argument that he has been the most pleasant surprise so far in 2024.
(27:30) Derek Law was the only reliever to struggle, but did induce a rally ending double play in the bottom of the 7th. The final six outs were recorded by the dynamic duo of Hunter Harvey & Kyle Finnegan.
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The Nats led 5-4 entering the top of the 8th, but the Mariners jumped on the bullpen to hand Washington a 9-5 defeat on Sunday afternoon. Mark & Al have a different Dylan Floro conversation than the day before as he gave up a pair of runs and took the loss. It was the third consecutive day that Floro took the mound and it was his worst outing of the season.
(10:00) The offense came through with two homers as they came from Joey Gallo and CJ Abrams. It was the first homer for Abrams since April 29th.
(14:00) Keibert Ruiz had two hits on Sunday and had six hits in the weekend series as he is playing better as of late.
(16:30) Victor Robles started in CF and stole a base late in the game. Lane Thomas is expected to return from the IL on Monday and thus Sunday could have been Robles' final game with the franchise.
(20:00) Patrick Corbin and the Nationals fell behind 4-0 early and the lefty made it through six innings, which has become his norm this year.
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The Nats beat the Mariners 3-1 on Saturday afternoon in D.C. for their second consecutive victory. Al & Mark have another fine outing by Trevor Williams to recap as he only allowed one run in five innings of work. Williams gave up a solo homer to Julio Rodriguez and it is only the second home run hit off of him this season.
(9:00) The bullpen was nearly flawless as they only allowed one base runner in the final four frames. Dylan Floro earned the win after throwing a scoreless top of the 7th and his ERA is remarkably at 0.35 so for this season. Kyle Finnegan notched his 14th save of the year and the first for him since facing the White Sox on May 14th.
(17:30) Mark explains a stark moment where Davey Martinez out managed his Seattle counterpart Scott Servais and it involves Ildemaro Vargas.
(22:30) Keibert Ruiz had another multi hit day as he singled, doubled, and came through with a RBI sacrifice fly. Four of his past seven hits have been for extra bases in this recent stretch.
(28:00) Cade Cavalli had another rehab stint in West Palm Beach and struck out eight hitters in four innings of work.
(32:00) Mitchell Parker is getting an extra day of rest as the team is monitoring his workload. Are Jake Irvin and MacKeznie Gore under the same scrutiny?
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The Nats beat visiting Seattle 6-1 on Friday evening to open the three game series. Al & Tim begin with MacKenzie Gore who lasted seven frames for just the 2nd time in his career. Gore struck out eight Mariners and did so on just 98 pitches. He might be on the way to an All Star season as we approach Memorial Day.
(09:00) Hunter Harvey and Dylan Floro each threw scoreless innings to preserve the victory for Washington. Is this the best early season bullpen in team history?
(14:00) The offense came through with three home runs in the win. Luis Garcia Jr. hit a 3 run HR, Keibert Ruiz went deep for the third time this season, and Eddie Rosario's solo homer came at the expense of former Nats pitcher Austin Voth.
(26:00) James Wood was pulled in the middle of AAA-Rochester's game on Thursday and it fueled tons of speculation on social media. It turns out it was due to due to right hamstring tightness and Wood was not in the lineup on Friday.
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