00:00The Miami Marlins, I just finished a six-game homestand with them on the sideline.
00:04They won five out of the six games.
00:06They're in Colorado, of course, or in St. Louis this weekend.
00:10And now they're going to have to go play in Colorado.
00:13I think this is the tough test for any team, especially in terms of starting pitching.
00:17And it even gets tougher because, Tom, when a team has to go to Denver and play four games,
00:25it's like a game changer for that pitching staff.
00:27So certainly they'll have Sandy Alcantara on the mound on Monday.
00:31Yuri Perez, who started last week, didn't have a full start,
00:35but it seems like he's probably good for 80, 90 pitches.
00:38Max Meyer on Wednesday, and then we'll see who ends up going.
00:41Thursday's a long way away from now.
00:42But Miami playing great baseball in the month of June.
00:46But when you get to Colorado, Tom, things sometimes go sideways.
00:49We'll see what happens in this series.
00:51Yeah, especially with a four-game series, to your point.
00:54You think you have three games, get in, get out, get two wins.
00:57And, you know, really based on where the Marlins are,
01:01and I was thinking a game, game and a half out of the wild card,
01:03as, you know, a lot of teams in the NL wild card race are surging right now
01:06after the Cubs pulled off a few wins over the Mets.
01:09I would say this is a chance for the Marlins to jump ahead.
01:11Now, it's obviously not going to be easy.
01:13They could still play well and lose just because that's the nature of Coors Field.
01:16But you have the pitchers that you want going, ultimately, in this type of series.
01:19You want your best pitchers going to at least mitigate some of the damage
01:22and at least preserve the bullpen.
01:24So if Sandy can go out there and do what he can do, Perez, as you said,
01:27came back last week.
01:28This pitch count will be a little bit elevated in his second start back.
01:31You can get two of the four games in this, maybe even three,
01:34just because it's the Rockies and their staff when it's all said and done.
01:37And that will really help solidify their spot in the NL wild card race.
01:42Pirates will battle the Phillies.
01:43It's the fight for Pennsylvania.
01:45And, man, is the fight going to be great on Wednesday
01:48when we see Paul Skeen's battle Zach Wheeler.
01:51That's the projected pitching matchups.
01:53Again, things can change in between then.
01:56Advantage Philly, I would guess, in some of these games this week,
01:58especially with Sanchez on the mound Tuesday.
02:00Nola's been a little bit of a hit-or-miss situation.
02:03But as you know, Tom, playing in Philadelphia,
02:06the Nationals, since they fired their manager
02:09and hired Don Mattingly, at least to be the interim manager for Rob Thompson,
02:14Philly's got the best record in baseball since that stretch.
02:16So I would expect no different and that to continue this week.
02:19The Pirates can't hold leads, and they don't score a lot of runs.
02:23Yeah, this is a really interesting matchup.
02:25On one side with the Phillies, we have this team that's been surging.
02:28I want to say we have a bit of the old guard with Nola, Wheeler,
02:32and, of course, Chris Sanchez.
02:33And then we have the Pirates led by Paul Skeen's.
02:36And then some of their young pitchers, Bubba Chandler,
02:39Jared Jones is going to be in the mix on Thursday.
02:41So it's going to be really interesting.
02:43It's also a really good litmus test for the Pirates.
02:45If they're in a team that's going to continue to push towards the wild card,
02:48they've got to be able to split this series.
02:50And I know it's a little bit of like a big brother,
02:52little brother scenario for the Phillies and the Pirates.
02:54But the Pirates need to go in and take at least two to show that they can stick around
02:58in the NL wild card race.
03:01Reds and Brewers this week.
03:02I thought the Reds would eventually get on a roll that seemingly is not happening.
03:06And the Brewers just keep their pitching going.
03:09Even this Tuesday matchup, Shane Drohan will start for Milwaukee.
03:13And, Tom, he's actually been pretty good, too.
03:15Sproat Monday, the Miz on Wednesday.
03:17And it's not like Cincinnati doesn't have pitching.
03:20You're going to see them all in this series, including Lodolo and Louder and Abbott and Burns.
03:24But do the Reds have enough offense to hang in with the Brewers this week?
03:27You know, that's a great question,
03:29considering we just saw this matchup last week at Cincinnati.
03:32And that's when, you know, we highlighted at the beginning
03:35when the Brewers pitching staff was just so good.
03:38We saw it from Sproat.
03:39We saw it from Woodruff.
03:40Now, again, the Reds, this is the type of matchup going to in a weight park, in division.
03:46Considering where they are in the standings, you've got to look to split the series.
03:49That's what it comes down to.
03:50Maybe you can get, you know, Louder and Lodolo to bounce back.
03:53They've had some rough outings as of late.
03:55Andrew Abbott's been solid.
03:56You can't get swept in the four.
03:57You can't lose the first three games and then leave it to Chase Burns to avoid getting swept.
04:01You've got to take one of those first games off of the Brewers.
04:04You've got to take one of those first games.
