The Nats fell 5-4 at the White Sox to open their road trip on Friday night. Al & Mark (From the South Side) begin with the White Sox's curious decision to pitch to James Wood in the top of the 9th w/ first base open and Luis Garcia Jr. standing on second base.

(04:45) PJ Poulin was the opener before handing the ball to Miles Mikolas in the bottom of the 2nd. Munetaka Murakami hit his 11th homer of year off of Mikolas, which is tied for most in Baseball.

(07:30) Riley Cornelio was put in a tight spot for a MLB debut. Cornelio took the mound in the 7th and it was a rough ride that included issuing four walks, and allowing the decisive three runs. Cornelio joined the team from AAA on Friday, but was sent back to Richmond following the defeat.

(11:00) Parsing through the decision to use Cornelio in a high leverage bullpen spot for his MLB debut, when he normally is a starter. Why did he not just start the game?

(20:30) Erick Fedde was the White Sox Bulk pitcher and he gave up 3 runs in almost six innings of work.

(22:10) Brady House had a big night as he homered in the top of the 8th to briefly to tie the game at 4.

(23:15) Two more instances of costly and terrible base running.

(29:00) Injury updates on Josiah Gray and Cole Henry.

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The Nats lost 7-2 to the Braves on Thursday afternoon to conclude another disappointing home stand. Al examines the bullpen meltdown in the top of the 7th where Atlanta scored four runs to break the tie. Gus Varland & Cionel Perez were the culprits in the pivotal frame.

(08:10) Cade Cavalli struck out 10 in just five innings for his best outing of the season. Cavalli gave up two runs and his ERA dropped down to 4.01.

(14:00) Mark gives a quick update on Riley Cornelio, one of the organization's top pitching prospects, who will join the Nationals on Friday in Chicago.

(16:30) James Wood homered for the 10th time, which has him atop the NL. CJ Abrams hit his 7th homer of the year in the bottom of the 4th.

(21:40) The Nationals will start a two city road trip tomorrow night at the White Sox before moving to the Mets on Tuesday.

(23:45) Tim is joined by Bob Black, the Voice of the Richmond Spiders, to talk about the new AAA Ballpark in Richmond and if one day the Nats could get an affiliate there.

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The Nats were out-slugged 8-6 on Wednesday vs. the visiting Braves. Al & Mark recap another rough start for Zack Littell, as he gave up a quartet of homers in six innings of work.

(07:00) Littell's ERA is now at 7.56 in five appearances and he has allowed a staggering 11 homers in 25 innings.

(12:30) Further examination of the evaluation process that led to Littell not signing until Spring Training was well underway.

(17:25) James Wood homered yet again, and he now is atop the NL in this category. Six of his Wood's homers have been opposite field shot so far this season.

(19:30) Daylen Lile & Joey Wiemer also homered on Wednesday evening. The Nats are on pace so far to contend with hitting 200 home runs this season as a team.

(30:00) Cade Cavalli will take the mound on Thursday afternoon in the series finale as Washington looks for the split with the Braves.

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The Nats routed the Braves 11-4 on Tuesday night on South Capitol Street. Mark & Al focus on the recent offensive production and are encouraged by many of the results. Washington drew a stunning dozen walks on their way to snapping Atlanta's six game win streak.

(07:30) James Wood homered for the 8th time this season, which is tied for the NL lead. Luis Garcia Jr. also had a big night at the plate as he had four hits and knocked in a trio of runs.

(12:45) Foster Griffin lasted six innings to help out the beleaguered bullpen. The lefty is 3-0 with 3.38 ERA through 5 starts this season.

(21:00) The bullpen did a solid job and Clayton Beeter struck out a pair in the top of the 9th.

(25:05) Zack Littell will take the mound on Wednesday night and is looking to bounce back after Friday night's bad outing vs. San Francisco.

(26:30) The Mets have lost 12 in a row and the Phillies are also well below .500. Believe it or not, the Nationals are tied for 2nd place in the NL East.

(31:10) An update from the Voice of the AA-Harrisburg Senators, Frankie Vernouski. Hear the latest on Seaver King & Cayden Wallace.

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The Nats led 3-2 entering the 6th on Monday night, but a series of Washington pitchers allowed five Atlanta runs to put the game out of reach. Mark & Al sort through the 9-4 loss; which saw a lot of sloppy defense by the Nationals.

(05:45) Jake Irvin hit Ronald Acuna Jr. twice and the second one came in the top of the 6th. CJ Abrams then was the recipient of retaliation, but he kept his calm and went on to score a run.

(16:20) Daylen Lile homered in the 4th to briefly put the Nationals ahead 3-2. The most noteworthy moment of the homer was Cionel Perez catching the fly ball in his hat while standing in the bullpen.

(22:00) The tp of the 6th was the pivotal inning of the night and this is when Jake Irvin was lifted after just 68 pitches. Hear how Butera explained the (pre- determined) decision to pull Irvin while going through the Braves lineup for a 3rd time.

(34:00) Josiah Gray will be sent for additional testing and he is currently not throwing. Gray has not pitched the Nationals since April of 2024.

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The Nats blanked the Giants 3-0 on Sunday afternoon to avoid getting swept this weekend at home. Mark & Al analyze the surprising pitching effort by PJ Poulin, Miles Mikolas, and Andrew Alvarez. It was a whirlwind Sunday for Alvarez as he traveled from Rochester in the morning, and then earned the win on the mound in D.C. after taking over in the 5th.

(05:00) Mikolas was the bulk starter as he took over in the 1st for Poulin and lasted four frames. Mikolas allowed four hits and struck out four in his best outing of the young season.

(15:30) Alvarez was demoted back to AAA in the middle of our taping during our discussion on his future with the club. This is the 2nd pitcher this week to get sent back to Rochester after nailing down the final out in a victory (Orlando Ribalta).

(25:10) Curtis Mead hit a 2-run homer to go up 3-0 in the 5th. This was a nice bounce back for Mead, who made a pivotal base running mistake in the bottom of the 9th in Saturday's loss.

(29:00) The first run of the game came on a convoluted play that resulted in Nasim Nunez coming across to score.

(33:00) The home stand continues on Monday night as the Braves come to Navy Yard for four a four game series.

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The Nats made too many mental mistakes to count in their 7-6 Saturday afternoon loss to the visiting Giants. Mark & Al examine the puzzling extra inning defeat where there were plenty of examples of terrible fundamentals. The Nationals had poor base running, awful bunting, and overall came nowhere close to playing smart Baseball. Curtis Mead had a shockingly terrible base running mistake in the bottom of the 9th and Jorbit Vivas almost out did him in the 10th.

(13:40) James Wood homered again for the 7th time this season, tied for the 2nd most in the National League.

(17:00) Cade Cavalli had another disappointing outing as he only lasted four innings despite being given an early four-run lead. Cavalli was charged with three runs allowed after yielding seven San Francisco hits. Cavalli has only tossed 19.2 IP in five starts so far this season.

(24:00) Mitchell Parker lasted three innings in relief of Cavalli and gave up three runs in the process. The bullpen the rest of the way did a solid job, including two perfect innings by Richard Lovelady.

(26:30) Miles Mikolas will take the mound on Sunday as Washington looks to avoid getting swept.

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The Nats were easily beaten 10-5 by the Giants on Friday night to open the home stand on a sour note. Al & Mark spend plenty of time on Zack Littell, who gave up six runs before the end of the 2nd inning. Littell wasn't signed until March was well underway and it seems like the late Spring start is still affecting him.

(10:30) Why do valued Free Agent pitchers have to wait until the middle of Spring Training to sign sometimes?

(13:45) Richard Lovelady pitched the 9th right after taking Oscar Ribalta's roster spot. Lovelady walked in a run with the bases loaded for San Francisco's final run. Ribalta notched the save on Thursday in Pittsburgh and was then demoted to AAA on Friday.

(18:05) James Wood crushed an opposite field homer 441 feet late in the contest. Wood is now tied with Abrams for the team lead in homers with six.

(22:00) Daylen Lile hit his 1st homer of the year to bring up his OPS to .691. Lile has not yet tripled this season, after having 11 of them in his rookie year.

(26:30) The Nationals just went 5-2 on the road trip, but only have one home victory.

(28:45) Cade Cavalli will take the mound on Saturday afternoon vs. San Francisco. Cavalli's ERA is 4.60 through four starts this season.

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