The Kevin Sheehan Show - Chaos at Nats Park

Episode Date: July 19, 2021

Kevin opened the show with the news that Dan Snyder's mother passed away earlier this month. Kevin talked NBA Finals, NFL vaccinations, and The Athletic survey that revealed who WFT fans think should start at quarterback. At 22:30, Mark Zuckerman joined the show to talk about the chaos at Nats Park on Saturday night and some baseball too. At 46:00, Kevin finished the show with an interview with Bailey Davis, a local who finished runner-up in the USGA Junior Girls Golf Championship this weekend.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Two interviews on the show today. Mark Zuckerman will be our guest. Mark was at Nats Park Saturday night when those shots rang out.

So we will talk to Mark about that experience of being there. And then we'll talk some Nats baseball with him as well. They got a huge win late yesterday against the Padres to snap a six game losing skid. After Mark, Bailey Davis will be our guest on the podcast. Who's Bailey Davis? You'll have to stay tuned to find out, but I think you will really enjoy the interview with Bailey. Prior to both of those interviews, a few things to get to here in the open, including some breaking news from the Washington football team this morning.

Arlette Snyder, Dan Snyder's mother, the team put out a statement that she passed away earlier this month. No cause of death listed for Arlette Snyder, but the team put out a statement that reads as follows, quote, Mrs. Snyder was a kind, gentle, and generous woman who was loved and greatly admired by all who knew her. She will be deeply missed and forever in our hearts. The Snyder family requests that their privacy be respected as they grieve the passing of their mother and grandmother, closed quote. Arlette Snyder owned 6.5% of the Washington football team, the equity in the Washington football team. Michelle the sister owns 12.6%. My guess is that Arlette Snyder's 6.5% stake will be willed to either Dan or a combination of Dan and his sister. I'm Dan's father, Jerry,

if you recall, died back in 2003. And, you know, if you you know a little bit about the Dan Snyder rise as an entrepreneur into a position to buy the Washington football team, his parents had a lot to do with it. Jerry and Arlette were significant investors in his very first business, Snyder Communications, which eventually was sold for a boatload of money, which gave Dan the capital to be a player in the original intent to buy the team in partnership with Milstein and then on his own with both mother, father, and sister, along with other investors, and they were ultimately successful in purchasing the franchise in 1999. So the family, as currently constructed in terms of the equity structure, own all of the equity

in the football team. And again, I would imagine that our Let's 6.5% stake in the franchise would just be willed to Dan, Michelle, a combination of both. Now, the first thing is this. Sympathies to the Snyder family for the loss of their mother and grandmother, you know, certainly this is a tough time for them. The second part of this is that I've known for a while, that Mrs. Snyder passed away. I'm not saying that to say I knew before anybody else did, but I have been curious over the last couple of weeks

as to why the team had not put out a statement on her passing. I learned of it two and a half weeks ago. It happened shortly after either the day or two days after the July 1st summary from the league on the Beth Wilkinson investigation, which included that $10 million fine of the franchise. Now, they have, it's their prerogative to announce it, not announce it, announce it whenever they want. But I was just sort of curious as to why it hadn't come out because Arlette Snyder was an equity holder in an NFL franchise. And typically those things you find out shortly after it happens.

And look, two and a half weeks later is still shortly after it happened. But again, sympathies to the family. I wanted to get to a few other things before we get to the two interviews scheduled for today. There was another story that came out this morning that I thought was interesting. And it deals with thoughts that Michael Irvin, the great Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame wide receiver, had about the Dallas Cowboys and their vaccination rates. Apparently, according to reports, the Cowboys are not one of those teams that have reached the desired 85% threshold of players being vaccinated per team.

We did the story last week that the Associated Press had that just four teams had actually achieved at least the 85% level, Pittsburgh, Miami, Carolina, and Denver. And that two teams were well under 50% vaccination rates, not well under, but under 50% vaccination rates. And those two teams, per the AP, were Washington. and Indianapolis. So Washington was on the lower end. And when we had this conversation last week, and I think it was with Tommy, it wasn't about, you know, vaccination shaming or preaching or lecturing. My personal position is your body, your choice. Now, I'm vaccinated. And everybody

that I love in my life, I have recommended that they get vaccinated. That's my opinion. I think, you know, you should get vaccinated, but it's your body, your choice, etc. However, the conversation that we had last week was more about, you know, sports and the competitive disadvantage that you potentially put your team in if your team is among the lower vaccinated-rated teams. You know, you are much more monitored. There are many more rules around, you know, unvaccinated players than vaccinated players. And the bottom line is, is that the probability that you are at a competitive disadvantage and it manifests itself that way, say in losing key players to key games, the probability is higher that you suffer.

that consequence if you are on the lower end of the vaccination levels. And Washington and Indianapolis are. Now, Michael Irvin went off on the Cowboys without even knowing what the Cowboys' actual vaccination percentage is because it has not been reported. But what he did know when he went off yesterday or this weekend, I think, was that the Cowboys weren't among the teams that had reached. the 85% vaccination threshold. Kevin Seifert from ESPN reported that 13 of the NFL's 32 teams have reached the 85% vaccine threshold, which automatically eases COVID-19 restrictions during

training camp, which begins this week. Now, any player that's unvaccinated is going to be faced with various challenges that vaccinated players won't be faced with. I listed those last week, if you recall. Unvaccinated players must continue to get daily testing, whereas vaccinated players don't have to get tested daily. They have to wear masks. They have to practice physical distancing. They can't eat meals with teammates. They can't participate in team marketing activities while traveling. They're not permitted to use the sauna or steam room. They can't leave the team hotel or interact with people outside the team while traveling. Vaccinated players will not have any of those restrictions. Well, what Michael Irvin knows for sure is that the Cowboys aren't among the teams that

reach the 85% threshold. Kevin Seafort reporting that 13 teams have. So at an event, I think, over the weekend. It was an event called merging vets and players, an event which brings together combat veterans and former pro athletes. Michael Irvin went off on the Cowboys. He said, it

should upset them that they're not at that threshold. You're not thinking right if you haven't gotten vaccinated. Whatever you got, I don't give a damn. Nothing else can be more important. You're not going to get to a Super Bowl easily,

nothing else could be more important. Jimmy Johnson made that abundantly clear. Nothing else is more important than team. And not being one of the teams to reach that threshold says there's other things to a great number of people on this team that are more important than winning championships. And that makes me worried. If you're not one of those teams at the threshold, 85%, I say parenthetically, are you really thinking about winning a championship? Michael Irvin continues. You see what I'm saying?

Okay, so now if you're not getting vaccinated and you've got all these other teams that are getting vaccinated, well, somebody in that damn locker room should say, hey man, if we're going to have a chance, are you vaccinated? Let's go through this because this could be a two-week healthy dude

missing games. And in this league, this ain't the NBA. In this league, that could be it for you. The right person misses two weeks, that's it. Your ass is out. Closed quote. what he's saying there is, you know, the NFL's got 17 games, the NBA 82. You get a key dude missing two games. That could be it. And we know, as NFL fans, it's a league of attrition.

The healthier teams tend to be the teams that win. The unhealthy teams tend to be the teams that lose more. So he went off, and I would think, certainly, in a lot of NFL locker rooms, that this is a conversation. Do we really want to have the best chance to win? Well, if we want to have the best chance to win, well, if we want to have the best best chance to win. If we want to have the least risk of losing key players in key games that could cost us a playoff berth, we've got to have everybody vaccinated. We've got to be at that 85% threshold. Washington not even close right now. A couple of other things. The NBA finals. Wow, what a game on Saturday night. When we did the podcast on Friday, we talked about the game on Thursday night. The Saturday night game was really good. You know, I don't know, I think these NBA

playoffs have been great, and then I think there was a two-week lull there with some bad games and blowout games, and I think the beginning of the finals weren't great, but you see two teams, two cities, desperate to win a world championship, and you can just see it in the performances. You can see it in the intensity on defense. The game Saturday night was great, and obviously, the play of the game was late after Phoenix had closed the Milwaukee lead down to a point and had the ball late. And Devin Booker, he either should have shot it earlier or the ball should have moved a little bit. I'm not among the people that believe that Monty Williams should have called a time out and set something up. You know, you had Milwaukee, you know, scrambling a little bit, you know, after, I think it was Holiday, had missed sort of a floater.

and then Booker had the rebound and they had a chance and Booker had the ball man and he's been the guy. By the way, Chris Paul bounced back with an outstanding game and was crucial down the stretch in the fourth quarter of that game. But Booker had the ball taken from him by Drew Holiday. And then Drew Holiday instead of dribbling out the clock or attempting to dribble out the clock and getting fouled and then making two free throws for a three-point lead, through the lob to Janus for the dunk, Chris Paul fouled him. made the free throw, they win by four. Janus was phenomenal and has been phenomenal in this series. But Milwaukee won the game on Saturday night because of Drew Holliday's performance.

You know, Drew Holiday in game four in the game that they won, despite an ugly offensive performance from Drew Holiday, who went four for 20 in that game. Four for 20 in game four. They won that game. You know, they came back to win that game. against Phoenix at home to tie that series of two games apiece. The other night was a gem of a performance. 27 points, 13 rebounds, three steals, a block shot,

12 of 20, 60% from the field, three for six from behind the arc, 50%. And again, stifling incredible defense at times, including the key steal and the key play of the game. Drew Holliday, even when he's been off offensively, has been great defensively. That was a great basketball game Saturday night. A great basketball game.

A game that was better played and less sloppy than maybe the two games that preceded it. Unfortunately for Phoenix, I thought the last possession, the ball just was, it never left Evan Booker's hands. I thought he should have shot it earlier. And once he got into traffic,

like Chris Paul in game four, who lost it in traffic, when they were down two in the final minute, Booker ends up having it ripped from him by Drew Holiday. And so you have Janus with the dunk and the foul and the made free throw. So Janus has the block in game four and has the dunk in game five. I don't think the series is over. I think Phoenix can win tomorrow night in Milwaukee.

Would I bet on it? Probably not. But I would love to see a game seven in this series. It's great that we have had the NBA finals during the slowest portion, typically, of the sports calendar. One last thing, and we'll get to Mark Zuckerman. I ask everybody all the time to subscribe to the athletic, because personally, I love it. I think it's totally worth it. They put out this morning a survey of Washington football team fans about a number of questions.

I'm not going to read through all 20 of the questions with answers because I'm not going to give you all of the content. You know, if you want the rest of it, you'll have to subscribe to the athletic. But I'm going to give you a couple of things that were very interesting to me. Okay, the first is dealing with the quarterback question. You know, this is a survey of Washington football fans, and it asks a lot of key football-related questions that I thought were interesting. The first one about the quarterback was who should start at quarterback in week one. 91.2% of the respondents, said Ryan Fitzpatrick. This is not a who do you think we'll start at quarterback in week one.

This is who should start at quarterback in week one. This speaks to this conversation that we've had where, you know, some believe that, you know, a big portion of the fan base really wants Taylor Heinecke or thinks that Taylor Heineke should start. No, they don't. And he's not going to. 91.2% said Fitzpatrick. 8.6% said Taylor Heineke. So that's 99.8% of the vote, which means 0.2% said Kyle Allen. So who should start a quarterback in week one?

Ryan Fitzpatrick should start. week one. And then a second question, there were 20 of them with a bonus question, what is your expectation for Fitzpatrick? And the choices were that he starts, he plays well, and he shows he's not slowing down. The second answer was he starts, but he struggles with turnovers. The third answer was he splits time at quarterback with somebody else. And the fourth answer is he doesn't win the starting job. Well, we already know what the starting job answer is going to be. That's two point 1% of the vote. 52.2% believe that he will start, play well, and show that he's not slowing down.

33.8% said he will start but struggle with turnovers and then really, you know, roughly 14% think that he either doesn't win the starting job, which is only 2.1%, or that he splits time with somebody else a quarterback. And then there was one last question and answer that wanted to give you because I thought it was really interesting. And I'm not necessarily sure what it totally speaks to. But there was a question to fans about how many regular season home games do you plan to attend this year? This is a tricky question, right? Because you don't know why the answer is what it is. You know, if people say I'm not going to any, which I'll get to the results here in a moment? Is it because they are, you know, hesitant around the issues of COVID-19

and returning to large gathering events? What is it? We all have this feeling that the football operation is being perceived by a lot in the fan base as more optimistic than in recent years. We also know that the last time fans could come to games back in 2019, it was a was the worst attendance year, really probably in the history of the franchise in modern times. It was also one of the worst television rating years for them. How many regular season home games do you plan to attend this year? 65% of the respondents said zero. And 28.9% said between one and two games. In the whole pie graph, if you will,

only 6.1% of the respondents said that they would go to three or more games this year. 65% said zero. That's unbelievable. Because what I will tell you it must reflect is that the team is not doing very well with ticket selling at all. Now again, what are the reasons for that? Is it because everybody's done, they're down on the team, they're down on the stadium, or is it COVID-19 related?

But that's a big percentage of people that say zero games when we all believe that there's some optimism. I think what it reflects really more than anything else. And if you read through the 20 questions of survey, you'll see that I think people are, generally and genuinely optimistic about the football team, but they are still very negative about the franchise as a whole and things like the stadium in going to these games. I think, and I've said this many times before, that you can be more optimistic than you've been in recent years about the football team, but you can simultaneously hate the organization and what they've stood for, but then also feel like maybe it's on the verge of turning around, but all of it sort of leads to,

for most, wait and see, wait and see. Like, I'll believe it when I see it. All right, when we come back, Mark Zuckerman will be our guest. By the way, I didn't mention Wes Unsell Jr. officially the coach. I think we had talked about that on Friday to a certain degree of the Washington Wizards. We will try on the podcast. I know on radio, I think I'm going to have either West Jr. or Tommy Shepard on the show. So if that happens, I will let you know on social media. Up next, my conversation with Mark Zuckerman right after these words from a few of our sponsors. A wild weekend at Nat's Park with everything that went on Saturday night and then a thrilling series finale game against the Padres, which ended late yesterday.

afternoon here to discuss all of it. He was there for all of it is Mark Zuckerman, long time, Nat's reporter for Mass and Sports. He's part of the Nats chat podcast with Al Galdi and Tim Shovers. I would urge you to listen to that. And of course, you can follow Mark on Twitter at Mark Zuckerman. All right. So I do want to get to the team and the game yesterday and really where the team is right now because there were players playing this weekend. I'm not going to lie to you. I didn't even recognize the name. There was an R. Rivera, and I was wondering if Ron Rivera had a son who was playing for the team,

who I think caught for them at some point this weekend. All right, so you were there Saturday night in the press box. Just give us sort of a minute by minute. The whole thing lasted like five minutes before people really were told anything. What was it like from your vantage point? So, yeah, I mean, I think everyone who was there probably had a little different perspective on it, depending on where you were in the ballpark. So because I was in the press box high up, far removed from where it actually happened, I think I probably never felt really in danger myself the way that fans in the stands were much closer to it probably did. Now, I heard the shock, clearly.

It was as soon as the top of the sixth ended, it was like a split second later. I turned to someone in the press box I said, was that gunshots? It sounded like it. And then you start looking in that area. You could tell it comes from the third base side. I didn't know what the inside or outside of the stadium. And then maybe 30 seconds later, I saw lots of fans

and running along the concourse on the left field side heading towards the center field date. And that's when I thought, oh, no, something did happen. And then you saw the team come off the field. So that was the initial thing. But it looked like it was isolated to that part of the ballpark. And then it wasn't for another minute or it's hard to know how long it really was, maybe it was a minute, that you start to now see fans on the other side of the stadium scrambling.

And I think that's because they had gotten word and somebody started yelling, shooter, something like that. And so that, of course, leads to the panic that ensued. And so that was the only moment that I think us, all of us in the press box, maybe had a little bit of concern for ourselves, which was we didn't know, okay, is there somebody else who's out there? Could this be some kind of coordinated actually attack on the stadium? And so we did like just get down under the desktop, just for a minute, just in case.

And during that time, when the first announcement came on this board saying that what had happened was outside the park. And at that point, they were telling people to please stay inside the park. And then it was a few minutes after that, but they'd then announced you can leave through centerfield and right field. So obviously those were much closer to where it occurred, had a very different experience and a terrifying experience for them. For those who were a little farther removed from it, it was more just a matter of trying to figure out what actually happened here and did it happen inside or outside the ballpark. Yeah, I mean, I had Sam 48 from the Washington Post on the radio show this morning, and I would urge anybody to go listen to it because Sam was actually in the crowd as a spectator. wasn't working that night and was sitting upper level. I'm not sure why he got tickets that were so bad.

Upper level third base side with a bunch of friends. And he immediately went into reporter mode and went to the top of the stadium and was able to look out on the South Capitol Street. But, you know, what's really, so three people, you know, the reporting on this isn't complete, obviously. We don't have motive. We don't even know who was. firing the shots. We don't know whether it was from one car into another or there was

returned fire from the other car. We know that three people were injured, not seriously. I'll tell you the lucky thing, Mark, is that, you know, with all the video that came out, there was legitimate for five or so minutes panic and chaos, you know, in the park. And I think people, you know, have to feel fortunate. And certainly the team. as well, that nobody was really hurt. I think one woman suffered a broken nose, and that was it. Sometimes you end up getting serious injuries or serious health-related issues when there's panic and chaos like that.

Right. And hopefully we don't hear about any more in the next day or two, and who knows what might still get out about that. But, you know, you're right, that would be a major concern. And, you know, I think like everyone else, the day after the fact you start thinking about, okay, how did this all play out? Was it handled well? Anything that could have done differently?

And to be honest, I'm not sure what else could have been done in the moment. They prepare for things, but as Davey Martinez said, you can practice all this stuff all you want, but when it actually happened in there's 30,000 people in the ballpark, it's never going to go the way that you think it might. And so I thought they made the announcement as quickly as you reasonably could expect under those circumstances. It takes time to get the message up to the person who can then make the announcement

for everyone to figure out what happened and where was it. And I don't fault the fans who did panic the way that they did. In hindsight, especially the people on the first base side, right-field side, they were never in any danger at all and didn't need to move. But I can understand why they did. All it takes is the visual of fans in another part of the park running, and one person yelling shooter to make everybody scramble.

And it's a sad commentary on the state of our society that that is something that we all, unfortunately, our ears are sort of perked up for those things now, and your instinct is to run and protect yourself and others. And so I can't fault anyone who may have done that. Hopefully nobody got hurt and trust. But I'm sure they're going to review all this, the nationals will and say, you know,

how did this go? Did we do it as well as we could? I feel like they did the best job they could under those circumstances. I think everyone's just grateful that more people didn't get hurt. And, you know, not that it happens to make this any better necessarily. It's still a bad thing that happened. But I do take some comfort in knowing that this was an isolated incident that occurred outside the ballpark, and it really had nothing to do with the game.

It just happened to take place while a game was going on. I think the fear for a lot of us who go to all these games, and I'm sure anyone who ever tends to game is, could anything ever happen that was intended to disrupt a game with 30,000 fans there? And thankfully, this was not bad. Yeah. It's, and I thought Dave Martinez is incredibly emotional, compassionate, and by the way, that is clearly his default and it's genuine handling of it in that press conference who was, I don't

know, for me, it's like now on a list of the way. he sort of handles situations as a spokesperson for the organization. He's a really good spokesperson for the organization. He is, and I feel bad for him that he ends up being the one who often have to hold that role, because especially in this case, I felt like there may have been somebody else in a higher-up position somewhere, not a baseball-related person who could speak to all this, but it was Davey, and he does it exceptionally well, and you're right, it is genuine. phony about him. He cares about people tremendously, and not just the people who work with him

with the team. As we've heard the stories about fans being ultimately welcomed into the clubhouse corridor for a little while, that was Davey, and he cares about everyone, and he does consider the fans of this team part of his family as well. He is as genuine as they come, and they're very lucky to have him as their manager. You know, you said something, and it just reminded me of something, and I'll tell you about it. I don't know if you will remember it. You probably will. A lot of our listeners may remember it,

but I was in Caesar's Palace's parking lot for Riddick Boe, Evander Holyfield, back in, I think it was like 93 or 94, somewhere in that time frame. It was early to mid-90s. It was the fan-man fight where the guy came in on a hang glider, paraglider, parachute.

you know, whatever it was. You remember this, right? Yeah, I do, yeah. So, you know, this is 1993, 93, 94, 95-ish. I'm looking it up right now just to get the date, as I said it. And it was such a different time because 2001, 9-11 hadn't happened. And this dude, here it was. So it was November 6th, the 1993.

Yes, it was a football weekend in Vegas for about 12 of us. And we ended up, there were probably like six of us that went to the fight. And the one thing I do remember about that night, and Tommy will remember this because I guarantee he was there. It was frigid in that arena for that fight. Anyway, he literally flew in right over our heads. Now, we weren't in the first 10 rows, but we were back probably in row 15 or 20. And as it started, as the arena started to go sort of upwards into a bowl of. an arena. And he flew right over our heads. And to be honest with you, I remember my reaction like,

what's this dude doing? It wasn't like he's got a bomb strapped to his back because we didn't really think that way back then. If that had happened now, there would have been much more panic. I do remember this. He got the shit kicked out of him, ringside, by a bunch of guys. Uh, what's his face? Too legit to quit. Why am I blanking on his name? MC Hammer. MC Hammer and a bunch of his guys were sitting ringside,

and they beat the living crap out of this dude. And really, it was more sort of entertaining to watch that than to even consider what may have happened. But anyway, I digress. Let's get to the baseball team. Okay. You know, you and I talked, um, either on radio or on. the podcast, but I think it was on radio right before this 17 hideous game schedule, where, you know,

it included the Mets for that one game, and then it was Tampa, and then it was the Dodgers, and it was the Giants, and it was the Padres, and it was the Padres again. And I remember you saying, they're going to have to come out of this thing, like eight or nine, nine or eight, you know, to sort of hang in there. Obviously, injuries and everything else made it a really rough stretch that ended well yesterday. We'll get to the game yesterday in a moment, but overall, they are six games below 500. They are also only six games out of the lead in the National League East because the rest of the division hasn't played well at all either. But just give me, after this roughest portion of the schedule for the season, where they are right now. Like,

what kind of team are they and what kind of legitimate chance do you give them to being, you know, a significant player here in the last, you know, at this point, you know, 70-something games. It was a brutal stretch even worse than I think we could have thought of would go for a variety of reasons. But the injuries were a big part of it. And I mean, they are so banged up right now, so depleted. And to have that happen at the same time that you're facing three of the best teams in the league, I mean, they look outclassed by the Dodgers, the Giants, and the Padre. They just did. Now, if they're healthy, is a different thing. different story, probably. I think they could hold their own with some of these teams,

but they don't have the depth to overcome the kind of injuries they've had. And so that's why they really looked inferior to those three teams in particular over the last couple weeks. Now, I would say that this would bury them, except for what you just pointed out, is that the rest of the division, the way it's gone. The Mets kind of collapsed themselves over the last week. lost a bunch of games to the Pirates. Now, DeGrom is on the IL. Lindor is on the IL. And so because of that, that's the saving grace.

Now, the Phillies got hot all of a sudden. They're two games out. The Braves have, you know, Acuna's out for the year. They've got all kinds of issues. So that's the only reason to think that maybe the NAC can actually get themselves back in it. If they're in another division right now, it's over. But because the East is so bad and because everyone else is so bad, there's still a glimmer of hope.

This week is now critical. them. They're facing the Marlins and the Orioles, six games. I hate to do this kind of thing, but I think they have to go five and one in it. Like, you have to take advantage of the weaker opposition. The schedule is getting a whole lot easier now. They're not going to be facing the West teams anymore, but you've got to start winning games. You can't delay this much longer. You have to make your move at some point, especially if the Mets are vulnerable now. We don't know if we're going to get top later on.

So I do think this is a critical stretch. I'm not going to say they survived the last couple weeks because they were worse at that. But because of the Mets, the Phillies, the Braves, there's still a glimmer of hope, but they've got to turn it on now that they're facing lesser competition. Yeah, the Orioles are terrible. The Marlins actually aren't a terrible team. You know, it was interesting, and I remember sort of following this

after the Dodgers came in here and swept Washington. I think the Marlins took, you know, two or three from the Dodgers in the subsequent series with them. They're not terrible, and the Phillies are playing better, I know they have a four-game set with Philadelphia at the end of this month on the road. That'll be huge, and a bunch of games in general with Philadelphia the rest of the way. So I do want to ask you a couple of things. First of all, relative to yesterday's game, do you think Grisham should have made that catch on the Escobar game-winning single?

You know, I was interesting how he went after it because it was one of those balls kind of kept going, and then you realized, oh, he's not going to get it. and I don't know if it's because he was playing shallow. I mean, Escobar is not known as a power hit, although he did Homer's previous inning. And the other weird thing about that game yesterday, the first, I don't know, five in or something, but everything was knocking the ball down.

The wind was coming in. Right. And late in the game, all of a sudden, it started flying. So maybe that had something to do with it. So I don't know. I mean, I think that ball was really hit well, and maybe he didn't realize how well it was hit, and that's why it cleared him.

But, boy, Trent Grisham, at National Park. Poor guy he's had some rough moments for the last few years. Although he got his revenge, he had the game when he hit against San Diego that created a game two weeks ago. I'm wondering, actually, now that you say it, with runners on first and second,

with a runner in scoring position and won out, he may have been playing shallow anyway. Right, for a play-to-play. Yeah, for play at the plate. In fact, you know, I was in listening to the broadcast, in watching the broadcast on TBS, there was actually the suggestion

that if Grisham makes the catch with his momentum, you know, carrying him into the wall, could Barrera have scored on a tag up from second? No chance. No. No. No. Not Trayrera. Yeah, not Barrera. In fact, on the foul bun attempt by Robles, I mean, he, he would have easily been thrown out at second. He was thrown out at second before it was overturned. So where are we on just injuries. How, Strasbourg, was there another setback with him? So he did before the All-Star break

based from live hitters in a simulated game. We didn't find out about this until after the All-Star break that the day following it, he still said that he wasn't feeling quite right in his neck so they're back and off a little bit. I was told it's not, you know, season ending. This isn't like a terrible

thing, but it is enough to make them hold off a little bit. So it's, you know, two steps forward, one step back, It's frustrating for everyone, but they're not going to put them out there until they're confident that this is behind him, and it's not going to be an issue. Joe Ross is not ready to start yet. It may be another week for him. Kyle Schwabber, of course, is going to be a slow process to get the hamstring heel. So the thing that, and we're so noticeable this weekend, you mentioned the catcher if you never heard of Renee Rivera,

Jan Gohm is a huge loss for them. Yes. And I remember saying to Al on our podcast a week or two ago that while Trey Turner is the MVP of the team so far this season, There's a case he made that the guy who's next on the list they could least afford to lose is Jan Gohm. And you saw it this weekend in calling games and throwing runners out, in offense, everything. They are desperately missing him. And we don't really know how long it's going to be. It's an oblique and those things can last a while.

But that could be a huge loss. What about Schwerber? You know, he's only now starting to take a few low, like, light swings. He's so careful with that with a hamstring. He desperately wants to get back, of course, but that's one that you also cannot rush it because all of a sudden they can blow out and miss the rest of the year. So I think we're still several weeks away for him, unfortunately. Now, the weird thing is, offensively, they've done all right. He's got hurt.

That hasn't been a huge issue here. They've been scoring some runs, but of course, in the long run, they need them. It's helpful that we want a photo all of a sudden looks like one photo again. Lastly, Castro, will you update everybody on what this situation? with him is? Yeah, boy, it feels like that was a month ago, and that was just Friday after him. And for a weekend. Place on administrative leave, an allegation of domestic violence against him.

And there hasn't been a whole lot since, and although, to be honest, we've had so many other topics to ask about that to come up. But what I can tell you is this is MLB's hands. This is not a national issue. And what we've seen in other cases with other players and coaches and executives, Trevor Bauer, Jared Porter, the Mets GM, Mickey Calloway, the former coach. MLB's investigative unit takes a long time

to do these things. These do not happen quickly. So even though administrative leave is officially seven days, I would fully expect it to be extended, and it could be a while, and don't be shocked if it's not even resolved until late in the season, if not even until after the season, I would be surprised at this point if we see Starr-Castro again this year. you said it these next games coming up are crucial now you know the Mets aren't playing great the Phillies have actually you know picked up some ground here and they seem to be playing better but

it's in it you if they were in any other division it would be over I mean I think they the next worst division leader is 17 games over 500 and and the Mets are sitting there at six games over 500 so the Nats are lucky you know similar to the Washington football team. Lucky that they're in the division they're in because it's not over, but they've got to get healthier to have any chance. Thanks.

And, you know, I think a lot of people were following you on Twitter on Saturday night, and, you know, I know it was a hectic situation, but good job on keeping everybody up to date. And read Mark, of course, follow them on Twitter. Read his recaps of all these games. It's totally worth it. And then the Nats chat

podcast with our good friend, Al Galdi, other good friend, Tim Schovers, is totally worth the listen. There's no other, you know, sort of immediate recap of each Nat's game like those guys do it because it just doesn't happen like it used to on Masson. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. My pleasure. Mark Zuckerman, everybody, a crazy weekend at Nats Park. Up next, a rising star in sports. Her name is Bailey Davis. Who is she? I'll explain. right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, we're going to finish up the podcast today with an interview, which I will get to momentarily.

A few weeks back, I mentioned Marty West's name. There was a dinner that I attended that honored the career of Marty West. Marty is the greatest amateur golfer in the history of this area, one of the greatest amateur golfers of all time. And as part of that conversation, I mentioned that upcoming in the middle of July was the USGA Girls Junior Championship, which was going to be held and was held last week at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase. And the significance of that event is, A, it's the number one girls' junior amateur event of the year globally. And number two, the number one ranked amateur female player

in the world was going to be competing in it. Well, it started last week. It concluded on Saturday, and my guest was actually in the finals on Saturday. Her name is Bailey Davis. But before we bring Bailey on, let me just give you some context for this. So the event started last Monday. The USGA is the governing body of all of the big USGA events, which includes, by the way, the US Open, the Mends U.S. Open, which was held last month at Torrey Pines. It has the USGA 7-9,000. It has the USGA 7-9, major events and the U.S. Amateur events are among the major events, including

the U.S. men's amateur and the U.S. Boys Junior Amateur. And then there's the U.S. women's amateur and the U.S. girls' junior amateur. Well, the U.S. Girls Junior Amateur was played last week and finished up on Saturday at Columbia. It was an anticipated

event. The reason it was anticipated is because the number one player in the world, the number one female amateur player in the world was playing in it. Her name Rose Zhang. Rose is the number one ranked women's amateur as well as the number one ranked girls amateur. She's the reigning women's amateur champ. She won that in 2020 at Woodmont in Rockville. And she was competing for the final time in the U.S. Girls Jr. She's headed to Stanford. She's a phenom. She is expected to be a force on the LPGA tour in years to come. She was a prohibitive favorite entering this event. This event,

by the way, the format for all of these amateur championship events, or at least typically the format, is two rounds of stroke play. All right, so they play, you know, counting their strokes, 18 holes, two rounds, and then the top 64 finishers, they narrow the field down to 64, then continue the event in match play format the rest of the week. Well, Rose Zhang was one of two players among all of the players, the hundreds of players that competed in this event, to finish under par after the two rounds of stroke play. She shot a 1 under 69 in round one and then fired an 8 under 62 in the second round.

She was 9 under par. There was another player who was 6. six under par. And then my guest, Bailey Davis, shot even par. She went 70-70. So just three total players, even par or better. Rose-zang 62, by the way, for people that were there. And the event drew thousands last week, a lot of people that saw it said it could have been better, that she lipped out like three or four birdie putts. So it could have been 59 or 58, some of the people that were there and watched her whole round. She's an incredible player.

She was the big time favorite. And going into match play, she was the number one seed, and she advanced to the final on Saturday. Well, waiting there for her in the final was the person who's going to join us, Bailey Davis. Bailey was not expected to be a contender entering this event. She made the match play as the number three seed. She shot 70, 70, even par,

and was the three-seed going into match play, which far exceeded the expectations that most had for her when she entered the event. In the round of 64 match play, the match was dead even after 18. They went to a playoff hole, and she holed out from the fairway for Eagle to win that first match in advance to the round of 32.

Then she moved her way through the rest of the week, the round of 16, round of the quarterfinal round. She won her semi-final match. match, and there she was, matched up against Rose in the final on Saturday, a scheduled 36-hole final, 18 in the morning and 18 that started sort of late morning, early afternoon. It was televised by the Golf Channel, the semifinals and the final were. So, my guest, Bailey Davis, let me not bury the lead, I guess. She didn't win. Rose won the finals, six and four. She closed out Bailey Davis on number 14 on the second of the 18-hole 36-hole match, the second 18.

Six and four was the final, but she was very good. She played very well, but Rose-Zang was incredible. She shot the equivalent, you know, including concessions of a 64 in the early portion, the early 18. And by the way, Bailey Davis was under par as well in that portion. and then won on number 14 on the second 18 of the day. But Bailey Davis is a local. She graduated from North Point High School in Southern Maryland.

She's on her way to the University of Tennessee. She made a lot of fans, earned a lot of respect over the last week. She's got big-time personality, a big powerful game. And she also was vying to become the first ever after. African American female to win a USGA event. So with that, let's bring on Bailey Davis. Congratulations. I know you would have preferred to have won the event, but you were great all week. Tell us about the week that just finished up on Saturday. This week is absolutely incredible. My goal coming into this week was just to make the cut because I had played in two U.S. seniors in the past few years, and I have

not made the cut. So when I made the cut as the number three seed, that was pretty exciting. And then my first, I haven't had much experience with match play, but my first round of 64 was a pretty exciting ending. I was never up the entire day, but then I made an eagle on the first playoff goal in order to win it. So that was pretty exciting. And then after that, I just stayed steady and consistent, and I was able to win my next four matches. And then I knew playing Rose would definitely be a tough match.

So I was prepared, and I played well, but Rose just played better. Yeah, I mean, she's so good. You know, the one thing, and I want to make sure everybody listening understands this, this is the biggest, you know, junior girls event of the year. There were players from all over the world participating in this event. And, you know, this is one of the, I don't know, six, seven or eight USGA events, you know, led by the actual U.S. Open itself a couple of weeks ago. This is a huge event.

And you mentioned the round in which you advanced with a – tell me – you know, people have told me I was not there for this, but you chipped in on number one. from how many yards out to win that playoff? About 75 yards. I didn't even need to. She hit her second shot way over the green by the fence. She would have had to hit an amazing chip or putt in order to make par. So I told myself, just get it on the green, make par, and you're going to win.

And then it ended up going in. That's wild. I'm very familiar with the hole. First of all, the fact that you only had 75 yards left is scary to some of us, because you really do hit the ball a long way, and you could see that. So what did you take? Was it like a 60 degree, and you knocked it in? Yes, it was a 60 degree.

My catty told me to hit it to about 65 yards, and I think I did that. I think it just landed in front and rolled in. Wow. We're talking to Bailey Davis. was the runner-up in the U.S. GA Girls Junior Championship, losing to the heavy favorite Rose Zhang. So I want to find out a little bit about you

and what you're doing and what's next, but I want to talk about the final match on Saturday. You know, it was tight in that first 18, but you, you know, you needed basically to run the table when you were six down with six to go. So I want to go to number 13. which was the first hole where you had a chance to stay alive. And it ended up being the last hole before the significant multi-hour delay.

You hit a great shot. And then you had one of those downhill sliders for par to keep the match alive. And I'm telling you, at that point, I was watching on television because after the delay we went home. But that had to be a nerve-wracking putt. It was. I hit my first put, and my first put was also a downhill spider. So I was like, oh, it's going to be really fat, and it was not really fast. Right.

So I left it about four feet short. I'm like, we put a little pressure on ourselves here. But I had to have practicing those types all week. That's one thing that I think really helped me is I had so many of those throughout the entire week that my confidence with those just skyrocketed throughout the week. So I had some confidence in myself that I'd be able to make that put And then I had the right line with that put Then you had the delay and it was a shame because I thought you had some momentum there

You know, you got some momentum on 12 You obviously followed it up on 13 I don't know, I felt like if you had stepped to the 14 T box right there Before the horn went off you would have been You know, you would have had a chance to get back into this thing What did you think? I was confident in my game, and I knew I was playing well that day, and I did feel that I had some momentum as well, but I also know how good rose is. And that bogey that she made on 13 was only her second bogey out of the 32 holes.

Yeah. So I knew that even if I did make birdie on one of the other holes, that she would probably mask me. I probably would have had to birdie out in order to win because all she had to do was par, a tie a hole, and she would win. So I had confidence in my game, but I also knew how good Rose was, and I didn't have much faith at that point. Yeah, in listening to you speak, by the way, for those that watched, you know this, and for those that didn't, Bailey's got a ton of personality

and played with such poise as she, you know, moved, you know, throughout the week and certainly on Friday and Saturday on two, you know, potential 36 whole days. And, man, usually I just have to make like bogey net par to win a hole or maybe make par net. And you knew you had to make birdies just to beat Rose. That's how good she is. And then you come out after a three hour or so delay and 14. I'm sure you realize this. That's one of the toughest second shots on the course to that green,

and she nearly drained it. She was in the right rough behind a tree. So she, that was the best shot I'd seen her hit all day. I mean, she was in the rough behind a tree, had to go over the bunker. The pin was in the back left where you could easily fall off the green on the left. and she hits it 10 feet in front of the pin, hits the pin, and ends up 40 feet from the pin. I know. It was crazy. But, yeah, that was a rough way to end it because I think a lot of people at that point were really, really rooting for you.

All right, so, you know, you were attempting to become, Bailey was attempting to become the first African-American female to ever win a USGA title. Let's start with the beginning of the week, because a lot of people don't know this who are listening to this for the first time. Who reached out to all of you, not just you, but every single player in the field before the tournament started with a letter? Barack Obama. Yeah, that was pretty exciting. Yeah, so that must have been exciting. I think it was exciting for everybody in the field. So what did it mean to you to be in that final, you know, a televised final?

vying to become the first African-American female to win a USGA title. It took a while to hit me. I think when I got back to my hotel that night after I won the final format, I realized, oh my goodness, I'm playing in the championship tomorrow against Rose Bang, the number one amateur in the world. And then I saw the post about me possibly becoming the first African-American, and it would have been a huge milestone in my career and a huge milestone for every African-American watching. So it was extremely exciting for me.

It was an honor for me, and I'm striving to put myself in that position again. Where do you go next? I would assume you're playing in more events, and I don't know, and you can help me with this. What did reaching the final, if anything, qualify you for? So I'm actually in Massachusetts right now for a fitting with title list to get fitted for some of their new clubs. But after this, I'm going back home and I will be practicing and preparing for the Woman Damn. I got into the Women's Dam because I made it to the final, the championship match. So I will be leaving for that, I think, June 30th.

I know the Women's Amm last year was played at Woodmont here. locally. Where is it being played this year? It's in Rye, New York, at Westchester. Oh, Westchester? Wow. So another tough venue. And, you know, for those that didn't get a chance to see you, you obviously have, I say obviously, you can tell me. You're long off the tee.

I mean, what was your average drive this week? Do you have any idea? Usually it's about 270, 280. I'm not sure what it was this week, but my ball striking was pretty solid this week. Yeah, it was really solid and you hit it a long way. So you've got power. The areas of your game that you're really confident in and the areas that you think you need to work on. I'm pretty confident in myself off the tee. I know I can put myself in a good position for the green. for example the first hole like you were talking about i had a wedge into that hole every day so that was really nice because i just cut it down the right side over that bunker um i think the areas

that i could use some work on are definitely around the greens i need a lot more finesse in my game around the greens whether that's tipping um or putting some of my wed shots could definitely be tighter and my my putting was i'd say it's it was pretty solid this week but there's are still some areas that could be cleaned up. When did you start playing golf? I started swinging a club when I was six, but I actually started playing tournaments when I was around nine. Is your father and or mother, are they athletes?

Are they athletes? Were they golfers? My parents were athletes, yes. My mom played field hockey at Ohio University, and my dad played volleyball and ended up coaching volleyball. He's coached his entire life. But my grandfather on my mom's side is actually the one that got me started with golf. He took me over to the course when I was six and saw me swing in club once. And he said, wow, he's a pretty good swing for a six-year-old.

So I started taking lessons and I've stuck with it ever since. Bailey, do you play other sports or is golf fit? I used to play volleyball. I played that up until junior year of high school. I think that's what's really helped with my explosiveness and athleticism. I played that since I was very, very young because of my father. And so I loved playing volleyball, but golf was really my priority. And why Tennessee is you'll be heading to Knoxville in the fall as a college freshman?

I had visited a lot of schools, and I liked them, but they were okay. They were never, oh, my goodness, this is my school. and all my friends told me when you know you'll know. And then when I went to Tennessee, I fell in love with the campus. I fell in love with the facilities that they have. They just built this new practice facility, and it is amazing. It is the best I have seen, and I've seen a lot of facilities. The coaches and the staff and the athletic director and the team, everyone made me feel so welcome.

I felt like I was already a part of the team, and I wasn't even there yet. And so it just had that home feeling, and that's really what I was looking for. First of all, best of luck to you, especially in the women's am, I think a lot of people around here now are going to be following you and following your career, not only at Tennessee, but in these events that you play as an amateur moving forward. It was such an exciting week. I mean, you came into this thing as, you know, sort of an unknown, and you ended up as the number three seed after stroke play. there are only two players that finished stroke play under par. It's still amazing to me. Isn't it amazing to you that Rose shot 62?

Yes, the course is very difficult. The greens are very difficult. But at the same time, after watching her play, I'm not surprised. Yeah. But I'll tell you, you matched her, and it was a compelling match. I know it ended with that long weather delay, which sort of threw you off a lot. little bit, but you really hung in there and you've got a lot to be proud of. Bailey, thanks so much. You developed a lot of fans over the last week and we will be paying attention to your career

here, not only the rest of this summer, but as you move on to Tennessee, best of luck, all right? Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Bailey Davis, she did a great job last week. I hope she has a great college career and beyond. That's it for the day. Thanks to Mark. Thanks to Bailey. Back tomorrow with Tommy.