00:00Now, you mentioned prior that Arizona's got an interesting series on the road, a progressive
00:06there against the Guardians here, two teams with almost identical records, battling interleague
00:13action, both kind of battling, although the Guardians very much alive for the American
00:18League Central crowned.
00:20I don't think Arizona is battling for the National League West, but they are certainly
00:25alive for the wildcard spot here.
00:29I mean, he's a guy that I love betting at progressive.
00:33I don't love him on the road.
00:34He's been steady Eddie as far as I can see, once again, for the for the Guardians.
00:40What do we do here in this spot with the with the young arm on the mound for Arizona?
00:46Yeah, could it be a tight one?
00:48I think here, Joe, don't like a lot of scoring in this one.
00:51That would be my guess.
00:52Bullpen's doing a pretty good job, especially in the back end.
00:55And kind of like Cleveland a little bit today.
00:58Of course, I've mentioned I'm a little bullish on Arizona going and getting themselves into
01:02playoff position.
01:03But I do think as far as I am concerned, I think that Cleveland does have the clear advantage
01:09of home at being at home at progressive, as you said.
01:12Yeah, Bart, by the way, as Mitch Bratt, rather, of Arizona, called up here by the Diamondbacks.
01:20Four major league starts, 11 earned, 11 walks, 15 and two thirds innings.
01:28Not great, Craig.
01:31But if he does that tonight, that could be over rather quickly here.
01:36But I'm kind of with you.
01:37I like Tanner Bybee in this one.
01:39I also like fewer runs at progressive field because, let's face it, yeah, I think the
01:47Guardians, with Ramirez back, have not exactly been crushing the ball anytime soon there.
01:52The Nationals and the Braves, I think this is a great one, too.
01:56Foster Griffin on the mound for Washington.
01:59Bryce Elder for the Braves.
02:02Frustrating loss for the Nats last night, a game that was very winnable.
02:06They hit three solo home runs in that game, three, and they still weren't able to get
02:12it done.
02:13Five runs on four hits for the Braves.
02:15Nats just couldn't get 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
02:19Do you like the chances of the Nats to bounce back in one here?
02:23That's the big question against Bryce Elder.
02:25I do like the total basis for Acuna over tonight, but I do think Griffin will pitch a good game.
02:31I do think he'll pitch a good game for Washington.
02:34Unfortunately, as much as I would love to back Washington, Joe, as you said, their bullpen
02:38is just so bad that they could be up 3-1 in the sixth, and it could be a wrap.
02:43So I'll probably lean toward Acuna having a nice night in that lefty-righty matchup.
02:48And also, I'm not going to discount Foster Griffin pitching a good game.
02:52It's just for the full game, I can't really trust Washington's bullpen.
02:55They're not Pittsburgh.
02:57They're not Kansas City.
02:58But they're not good either, Joe.
02:59So yeah, their pitching staff, generally speaking, hasn't been great all year.
03:03Griffin's been a really, really good, you know, I think revelation is a fair thing to say.
03:09He comes from overseas.
03:10They give him a one-year deal, and he gets that contract.
03:12And the other thing this time of the year with the trade deadline, as we mentioned,
03:15with Senga being scratched and Mize, or I'm sorry, with Peralta being scratched and Mize
03:19being scratched, is that you do have to pay attention to this stuff because I do think
03:24that he's going to pitch tonight, Foster Griffin, but you really do need to, like, this is almost
03:30like NBA the next three days.
03:31Like, you better check back 7 p.m. Eastern just to be sure.
03:35Everybody really should, has to pay attention who's in and out of the lineup the next few
03:38days, especially tomorrow and Sunday.
03:40He's going for ninth straight victory, which is really impressive.
03:45His numbers are very impressive.
03:49I mean, very, very impressive here.
03:51So there's nothing not to lie.
03:53If anybody can limit maybe Atlanta here, who's done a great job at home, they too have been
03:59very good at home this year.
04:01It could be here.
04:03But the bats have to get it done against Bryce Elder, who, listen, there were some issues
04:09to start the year.
04:10Bryce Elder was phenomenal.
04:11Then once we got to, like, the end of June and July, prior to the All-Star game, not good.
04:19He started to get beat up, but he's had two starts since the All-Star game, and he's only
04:23allowed three earned over 11 innings here.
04:26I thought he did a pretty good job Sunday against Baltimore.
04:30He's going to have to be good here tonight because the bats for Washington are dangerous,
04:35one of the best in the league.
04:36Their problem is they can't win at home, which is so strange.
04:39But they've been really good on the road, Washington, this year.
04:42Yeah, it's a young team, and that's probably part of it, going to be a little bit unpredictable.
04:47Washington, Joe, I think will be a team next year, you know, when we're sitting here in
04:52February and March that we're probably going to be bullish on to be a lot better.
04:55And I think that there's a good chance of that because their offense has just really
05:00been electric.
05:00And James Wood and Luis Garcia, who's another name that's been talked about as being potential
05:05trade guy.
05:06But we'll see.
05:07I do like their future.
05:09They have a very young staff.
05:12And Joe, remember when Mike Rizzo was there and they won the World Series and he made that
05:16trade for Soto?
05:17This is a completely different organization now.
05:20It's all analytical.
05:21It's very similar to the Tampa Bay model, the Milwaukee model.
05:24Now it's becoming Cleveland, Miami model, too.
05:27Washington is in that same boat.
05:28And I would expect major, major jump to happen for them.
05:33I think that they're going to be a good team in the future.
Comments