The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - The Voice Of The Nationals, Charlie Slowes, Joins Matt Thomas

Episode Date: October 22, 2019

The Voice of the Washington Nationals, Charlie Slowes, joins Matt to discuss the matchup with the Astros in the World Series

is the Matt Thomas Show. 104 on Sports Talk 7.9. It is the Matt Thomas show. Game 1 World Series. Our coverage begins at 5 o'clock. 18 will be over at home plate bar and grill. I'll join them for the Astrosondick show at 5. First pitch at 708. Joining us now for a perspective on the National League champions, the longtime voice of the Washington Nationals here on the Matt Thomas show. It's Charlie Slows. Charlie, it's Matt. Thank you for the time.

How many games have you missed ever of Nationals baseball? I believe it's five, two for each of my son's graduations from high school, and one when I was really, really under the weather. And that was back in 2007, I think. Well, yeah. First of all, congratulations on a long streak. Second, if you deserve even a larger National League pennant ring because you have been there from the lean times to where they are.

are now. Take us through this ride from the wildcard victory to the domination in the National League Championship Series. This has to be just for you as a personal pinnacle. Great to not only see the team succeed, but having the fans there going crazy and now having a chance to play for them in the Fall Classic. Yeah, for a team and an organization of the fan base that since 2012 has been very successful. They won four division championships, but as you know, They never were able to get past the division round in the postseason. So this year was a different route. The team that was expected to be a division leading contender, got off to a terrible start,

had a lot of injuries early in the year and played poorly besides the injuries and found themselves 12 games under 500 on May the 24th, and a pretty good distance, double-digit deficit out of the division lead. and the fourth worst record in all of Major League Baseball, second worst in the National League at that time. It didn't look like this was going to be anywhere near this type of season. Davey Martinez kept telling me, he said, we get our guys back and we get healthy.

We're going to start, we'll take off. And he was right. I mean, they benefited from the return of Turner after a couple of months, played hurt, broken finger, hit by a pitch trying to bunt early in the year in the first couple of games of the season. and came back probably when he wasn't 100%. Still, you'll see him swing or set at the plate with one finger off the bat sometimes too. So I don't know if he's 100% now at this point with that finger.

When you break a bone and it's in a finger like that, it takes a long time to get right. And still was able to make throws from deep in the hold of short. So that was pretty amazing. You got Rendon back from a short stay on the injured list. Juan Soto was out at the time. Ryan Zimmerman had two long stays in the injured list with play. Inter fasciatus. Juan Soto was out the same time as Rendon and Turner.

So for a while, it looked like it was a B-line-up that they were sending to Port St. Lucy to play the Mets in March from West Palm Beach. So they got through that. They got through, started to play better, cleaned up on some of the bottom feeders when they played them in the National League and the bottom of the American League Central when they played them in interleague play. And then just continued to play well the rest of the year and finished strong. winning the final eight games the season and entered the postseason 100% healthy.

They were down three to one of the wildcard game with Josh Nader pitching in the eighth inning. That's not a good situation. They were able to come back. Soto got a big hit that should have only tied the game with Trent Christian, the Brewers-Rifeeielder. He already had to play at the plate instead of getting in front of the ball, tried to charge and scoop. It took a bad hop by him, three runs scored.

The Nationals were ahead in the bottom of the eighth inning and won that game and advance the division series to play the Dodgers, where they were prohibitive underdogs, although a lot of people thought if there was one team that could beat the Dodgers, that it would be the nationals with their pitching. And in a five-game series, they was pitching du jour for them the way it was worked. All of their starters outside of Annabal Sanchez,

their top three starters, all worked in relief. Strasbourg and the wildcard game, pitched three innings. Both Corbett and Scher pitched their relief in the wildcat, the division series against the Cardinals or against the Dodgers. And again, they set up their rotation even after the division series where they had to start with Auburn Sanchez and pitched a no-hitter in game one in the division series against the car or the championships. You don't get all these series mixed up.

Division Series Dodgers, championship series Cardinals. And then Scher was dominating in game two. And then they just want to really wipe out the Cardinals in four straight games. It was a pitching-dominated series by the Nationals starting pitching, and that's how they feel they're at their best going into this World Series. Charlie Slo's voice of the Nationals with us here on the Matt Thomas show. You mentioned a bunch of superlatives, but there maybe was one guy that we as non-observers of the Daily Team thought was amazing, and that's Howie Kendrick, from a defensive standpoint, was a mess. But, man, the lazy pop fly that was supposed to bring home a run to end the tie game turned out to be a grand slam.

Where did this researches come from this salty M, longtime majorly veteran? Well, because we got in the line for, you know, defensively, when in the first game of the division series against the Dodgers, I felt like the whole team looked like they had a bit of a hangover from the cross-country flight and the excitement of winning the wild card game, and they really didn't play well as a team in that game. And it wasn't just Howie Kendrick that had two errors at first base. And later, I kind of had a hop back to the only.

lip of the grass playing in the outfield of the overshift that got through him. He did make a base running mistake, but it wasn't just the resurgence for him in the postseason. This guy coming off Achilles tendon tear last year worked diligently to rehab when most people thought at age 35, heading for 36. It might be, you know, a clear ending injury if he didn't make it back from the start of the year. He told me he thought if he wasn't on a two-year deal with a NACS, he would have had a hard time finding a guaranteed deal going into 2019 coming off that.

kind of injury. But he was ready at the start of the year, and he got to play a lot because of the injuries to others more than they had plans for him. And any hitter that had 350 in the major leagues, he was tops in the major leagues with a 344 average and 17 home runs and 67 RBIs in the limited time that he played was outstanding, so much so that he had to be in the lineup when the postseason started. And he's the number five hitter batting behind Juan Soto and Anthony Rendon giving them the protection. Now, the national. have said they're going to use them as a DH in the first two games to the series. I haven't seen a lineup yet, but it's possible they'll play as Drewball Cabrera at second

and Ryan Zermanagh at first. They also have Ryan Dozier, who was their starting second baseman for two-thirds of the year before they signed Cabrera after he was released by the Texas Rangers. And he drove in 40 runs and 38 games for the Nationals over the final two months in the season. He gave them a pretty good bat as a pinch hitter, as a switch hitter off the bench that wasn't needed a whole lot in the first three rounds of the postseason. So now with the VH, she figures to get a chance to play and be a factor in this series.

Last question for you, Charlie. The Astros have had their struggles with a lot of offensive players, and that's just postseason baseball. It's October. It's great pitching. Is there a national that has struggled in this postseason that all of a sudden, if his bat wakes up, it gives you guys some additional enthusiasm and optimism about me and me beating the Astros?

Well, you know, I don't think there's any, one guy. Their catchers have not hit a whole lot. John Golems had a two-run single in that seven-run, first inning against the Cardinals. But Kurt Suzuki has struggled to hit so far. He was hurt at the end of the year in the final month of the season. It was a very, very clutch hitter. And you guys know him from playing in the American League as well. He was a big-time clutch hitter for the Nationals during the regular season,

splitting the catching chores with Golems. So if he gets going, he hits in big spots, and he hits really good. pitching much of the way that Hallie Kendrick does. So just another one of these gray beards of 35, 36 years old on the oldest roster in the major leagues that has defied some things about age. I think age and experience plays well at these times with a mix of the younger players like Trey Turner and of course Juan Soto and Victor Robles. And, you know, Soto hasn't had a ton of hits.

He's been pitched around a lot in the postseason. He seems to be the one guy the other teams have said is not going to beat them. He takes his walks. So if he gets a chance to swing the bat, he certainly could do big time damage. Charlie, thank you very much for the time. Looking forward to hearing some of the highlights of your calls tonight on the national side of things. And we really appreciate you spending some time and enjoy our city while you're here. Very good.

Glad you guys are taking care of my old friend Todd Callis since he's been here. How about that? He's just dying to call an inning of something. It's kind of strange how the national TV folks don't get to do the local. I should say local folks don't get to do games. Yeah, it's tough for the TV folks after they work the entire season. But I know Todd was happy to come here after all of his years in Tampa Bay, especially with the heritage of his late dad.

Sure. How are you starting his career here? Todd and I were together at the beginning in Tampa Bay in 1998. I was there for their first seven years. Wow. You miss the NBA at all? Because I remember as a young man watching you doing bullets games back when they used to be called the bullets. Wow.

You're taking me way back. That's almost like a different lifetime. I know. Yeah. That was 86 to 97. That's a long. long time ago. I miss it at times, but baseball was always my first love and what I

wanted to do and where I wanted to be. And, you know, the way this season is, when you get through baseball season, for me, you don't want to do much of anything else, but spend time with your family and relax. So I'm glad I'm going to have a short off-season this year. Yeah. It's really strange for me because I do the Rockets Radio play by a play on the road. And game seven could be the same night as the Rockets and Wizards playing.

and in downtown D.C. So it's going to be very, very out if it happens that way. Thank you for the time, Charlie, I really appreciate it. You're welcome. All right, Charlie Slows, longtime voice of the Washington Nationals. And before that, the Bullets slash Wizards. We appreciate him spending some time with us here on Sports Talk 790.