Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Blue Jays rally, Rangers fade, Angels travel mess

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Fair Territory: Blue Jays rally, Rangers fade, Angels travel mess · Foul Territory

0:00
Speaker 1: The culture of the sport is be humble, shut your mouth,
0:03
Speaker 1: just play. It's been that way for years and that's
0:05
Speaker 1: why we have let the kids play. And this new
0:09
Speaker 1: age of player, there's been some friction. Welcome everyone to
0:20
Speaker 1: the Thursday edition of Fair Territory, the live edition, and
0:24
Speaker 1: as you can see, I am joined by a very
0:25
Speaker 1: special co host today. You know her from the Apple
0:28
Speaker 1: Baseball broadcast. She is Tricia Whittaker. Tricia, welcome, and before
0:32
Speaker 1: we get going, I just want to mention two things
0:35
Speaker 1: that happened last night that were really upsetting and disturbing
0:37
Speaker 1: I'm sure to a lot of fans and people everywhere.
0:41
Speaker 1: The fan in Pittsburgh falling off the wall falling over
0:44
Speaker 1: the wall, and the National's batting practice pitcher who collapsed
0:48
Speaker 1: while throwing BP. Obviously, our hearts and thoughts go out
0:52
Speaker 1: to both those people and their families. We're just wishing
0:56
Speaker 1: for the best. Tricia. We have a lot to talk about,
0:58
Speaker 1: but we couldn't start the show without mentioning that. So
1:01
Speaker 1: let's get going. A lot of baseball to discuss, a.
1:05
Speaker 2: Lot of baseball to discuss.
1:06
Speaker 3: Ken all right, let's talk first about questionable offenses.
1:10
Speaker 2: The Blue Jays comeback.
1:12
Speaker 3: That stands out to me, especially as an offense who
1:15
Speaker 3: struggled to start this season. You know, we always ask
1:19
Speaker 3: that question after a big game from a team that's
1:22
Speaker 3: been struggling in the clubhouse, we always ask the cliche question,
1:25
Speaker 3: Can this be that momentum shift that you're looking for?
1:28
Speaker 3: Is this the turning point? If you're a media member or.
1:31
Speaker 2: A fan, you've heard all those questions.
1:34
Speaker 3: But Ken, what we need to ask today is that
1:36
Speaker 3: a legit question? For the Blue Jays. Anthony Santander hit
1:40
Speaker 3: a game time three run home run, they win the
1:43
Speaker 3: game after trailing six nothing. You would think that that
1:47
Speaker 3: would be a momentum boost. Ken, what do you say you.
1:50
Speaker 1: Would think that? And certainly in the case of Anthony Santander,
1:54
Speaker 1: a guy who always starts slowly, Yes, now that the
1:57
Speaker 1: calendar has turned to May, we probably can expect better
2:00
Speaker 1: things for the team as a whole, a team that
2:03
Speaker 1: has been oddly deficient in the power department. I don't
2:06
Speaker 1: know what to make of it, and we're gonna have
2:08
Speaker 1: to see over the days and weeks to come. Because
2:11
Speaker 1: in baseball, as we know that old bromide always rings true,
2:14
Speaker 1: momentum is the next day's starting pitcher, And we're gonna
2:17
Speaker 1: talk about another team in this position, the Texas Rangers,
2:20
Speaker 1: who had an offensive eruption two nights ago and then
2:23
Speaker 1: last night was shut down again by Luis Severino and
2:26
Speaker 1: the Oakland Athletics. So for the Blue Jays, they need
2:29
Speaker 1: to get going. They've invested a ton in this season
2:32
Speaker 1: in a lot of different ways. Whether they do or not,
2:36
Speaker 1: that remains to be seen.
2:38
Speaker 3: Well, according to John Schneider, if it is May, that's
2:41
Speaker 3: a good sign for Anthony Santander because we know he
2:44
Speaker 3: starts a little bit slow, and yesterday Schneider after the game,
2:47
Speaker 3: he said, it's tomorrow May. Yeah, so he's ready to
2:49
Speaker 3: go off. So we'll see if that can kind of
2:51
Speaker 3: spark this Blue Jays offense. You mentioned the Rangers, Ken,
2:55
Speaker 3: it's been an interesting situation with them. They scored fifteen
2:58
Speaker 3: runs on Tuesday. After Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris
3:02
Speaker 3: Young called a conference patient Scarly warrengthen with this offense,
3:10
Speaker 3: he said, listen, things have to change. That's inevitable. What
3:14
Speaker 3: do you think about Chris Young kind of admitting that
3:18
Speaker 3: his patients was wearing thin and calling this offense out.
3:21
Speaker 2: Good thing bad thing, something that had to happen. What
3:24
Speaker 2: do you think.
3:26
Speaker 1: I'll start off by saying it was a surprising thing.
3:28
Speaker 1: And the story by Evan Grant was fascinating to read
3:31
Speaker 1: because rarely Tricia and you know this, do we see
3:35
Speaker 1: or hear gms talking that openly about the team struggles
3:40
Speaker 1: and how the team needs to get better. He said Young,
3:44
Speaker 1: and I quote, I'm edgy and rightfully so. And beyond that,
3:49
Speaker 1: he had some other things to say as well. And
3:51
Speaker 1: now they've done some things already. They've dropped Simeon in
3:54
Speaker 1: the order, they're not playing Leoti Tavaris in centerfield. They've
3:57
Speaker 1: got Evan Carter tripa a building up waiting on him.
4:01
Speaker 1: And in the story Evan alluded to possible I don't
4:05
Speaker 1: know how that would come about, because they really just
4:07
Speaker 1: changed hitting people for the most part. Tim Hyers left
4:10
Speaker 1: for Atlanta, they hired new hitting coaches, and Bruce Bochi,
4:14
Speaker 1: in twenty eight years as a manager, has never changed
4:17
Speaker 1: a coach mid season. But to hear Chris Young talk
4:20
Speaker 1: like that, it was surprising. And I remember covering Chris
4:24
Speaker 1: Young as a player. I thought he was the nicest
4:25
Speaker 1: guy in the world. He is a nice guy. What
4:28
Speaker 1: I didn't necessarily see in those interactions back then was
4:31
Speaker 1: how competitive he was. I should have known that yet
4:34
Speaker 1: a long major league career as a pitcher, But that
4:36
Speaker 1: competitive fire burns brightly, and we saw it in those comments.
4:42
Speaker 2: Sue.
4:42
Speaker 3: Let me ask you this, Ken, do you like win
4:46
Speaker 3: a general manager or president of baseball ops or a
4:49
Speaker 3: manager calls the team out like that, because you know
4:52
Speaker 3: it wasn't necessarily personalized to one specific player. But I know,
4:56
Speaker 3: in my opinion, after being in baseball now for seven
4:59
Speaker 3: years and covering professional sports for fifteen years, I like that,
5:05
Speaker 3: and I think baseball needs more of that. You see
5:08
Speaker 3: that in the NBA, you see that in the NFL.
5:10
Speaker 3: You see guys holding people a little bit more publicly
5:14
Speaker 3: accountable without the humiliation factor. And I'm a big fan
5:19
Speaker 3: of something like this as long as it's done tactfully,
5:22
Speaker 3: and I feel like this was necessary. But sometimes we
5:26
Speaker 3: know in baseball that doesn't sit well with guys in
5:29
Speaker 3: the clubhouse, which I would argue they need to get
5:32
Speaker 3: over that.
5:32
Speaker 1: But what do you think, Christy? You said it well
5:36
Speaker 1: that this wasn't personal. He didn't name anybody and call
5:39
Speaker 1: out anybody on the record. By name, so when you're
5:44
Speaker 1: speaking generally about a team, in my mind, it can
5:47
Speaker 1: be healthy and frankly, it does need to happen more often.
5:51
Speaker 1: We've seen it a little bit this year. Walkee Brewers
5:53
Speaker 1: manager Pat Murphy pulled two players bench two players recently
5:57
Speaker 1: and last night Tobias Myers when he didn't have it
6:00
Speaker 1: out of the game, so he was not pleased with
6:03
Speaker 1: what he perceived as lack of dais agal effort. Guy's
6:05
Speaker 1: not kind of showing up the way they should, and
6:08
Speaker 1: he acted on it. He didn't rip them, but his
6:11
Speaker 1: actions spoke volumes. Baseball is a little bit different, actually
6:16
Speaker 1: a lot different than the NBA and the NFL. The
6:18
Speaker 1: culture of the sport is completely different. The culture of
6:21
Speaker 1: the sport is be humble, shut your mouth, just play.
6:24
Speaker 1: It's been that way for years and that's why when
6:26
Speaker 1: we have let the kids play in this new age
6:29
Speaker 1: of player, there's been some friction. But in my view,
6:34
Speaker 1: and this is what you're talking about, it would be
6:37
Speaker 1: a lot more fun the sport in general if there
6:40
Speaker 1: were more lively personalities managers, coaches, players, gms, owners, everybody.
6:48
Speaker 1: That is what makes things interesting. And we're not talking
6:52
Speaker 1: about rocket science here, we're not talking about world politics.
6:54
Speaker 1: We're talking about baseball. But I get that it's a
6:57
Speaker 1: serious profession. I get that it's a twelve billion dollar industry.
7:00
Speaker 1: At the same time, we can have a little more fun.
7:03
Speaker 3: I understand that too, Ken, But at the same time,
7:06
Speaker 3: it is meant for entertainment. We are not like solving
7:10
Speaker 3: world hunger. Here every single day at a press conference,
7:13
Speaker 3: we are talking about baseball. So I think, and I've
7:17
Speaker 3: mentioned this before on podcasts, and I do talk about
7:21
Speaker 3: his attitude a lot. But even though I don't necessarily
7:26
Speaker 3: always agree with what he says, we need more guys
7:30
Speaker 3: like Tommy fam and Jaron Duran in the league who
7:33
Speaker 3: are a lot more outspoken and who kind of wear
7:37
Speaker 3: their emotions on their sleeve. It doesn't always have to
7:40
Speaker 3: be a gentleman's game. I'm not saying go out there
7:44
Speaker 3: and do something crazy. You don't need to be mean,
7:46
Speaker 3: you don't need to be insane. But like when you
7:49
Speaker 3: look at the NBA, in the NFL, those players are
7:51
Speaker 3: far more willing to share their opinions after the game.
7:56
Speaker 3: On the game, they're far more willing to provide that
7:58
Speaker 3: type of entertainment. And guess what, the leagues and the
8:03
Speaker 3: game benefit from those players.
8:06
Speaker 4: Right.
8:06
Speaker 3: I was at Game five of the Bucks and Pacers
8:08
Speaker 3: this week. First of all, I love the NBA. I
8:11
Speaker 3: used to cover it for seven years, and I grew
8:13
Speaker 3: up in Indiana, so basketball is my thing. But I'm
8:15
Speaker 3: sitting there watching it and I'm like, oh my god,
8:18
Speaker 3: I forgot about how much more entertainment value there is
8:23
Speaker 3: in the NBA compared to other leagues, because those guys
8:26
Speaker 3: wear their emotions on their sleeve and they hold each
8:29
Speaker 3: other accountable and they're not afraid to be outspoken. And
8:33
Speaker 3: I like that, and I wish baseball had more of that.
8:36
Speaker 3: You can be outspoken and entertaining and passionate while still
8:40
Speaker 3: being respectful. You can absolutely walk that line. And I agree, Ken,
8:44
Speaker 3: I want more of that. I want more, I need more.
8:47
Speaker 1: I totally agree. And what we're talking about is life,
8:51
Speaker 1: showing your life, bringing passion, as you just mentioned, and
8:55
Speaker 1: it's not just guys like fam and the Rand. We
8:57
Speaker 1: have other examples. If you watch last night Morosi's interview
9:00
Speaker 1: with Heraldo Pernomo, he is a live wire. That's one example,
9:05
Speaker 1: and he crow armstrong guy we're going to talk about
9:08
Speaker 1: in a little bit He's another example Jasutism Junior. These
9:12
Speaker 1: guys there's something to them, and they make the game
9:15
Speaker 1: more interesting. It's not for everyone. Some people have more
9:19
Speaker 1: placid personalities. Of course that's understandable, but in general, free
9:25
Speaker 1: expression is a good thing. Free expression makes for more
9:28
Speaker 1: interesting people, and I'd like to see more of it too.
9:32
Speaker 3: Nothing drives me more insane than when there's just some
9:34
Speaker 3: vanilla interview with a guy that I do and I'm like,
9:37
Speaker 3: I have ted you up with some of the.
9:40
Speaker 1: Easiest questions ever. Oh well, no.
9:43
Speaker 3: They're just like lay up questions and I'm like, I'm
9:46
Speaker 3: asking you to show your personality here, and they're just like, yeah,
9:49
Speaker 3: whatever I can do to help the team win. I'm like,
9:52
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, I would rather watch paint dry right now. Like,
9:55
Speaker 3: I can't stand a boring, pointless interview when a guy
9:57
Speaker 3: is not willing to play ball with any So you
9:59
Speaker 3: don't have to say anything controversial, Just don't be boring.
10:02
Speaker 3: You're in the entertainment business, don't be boring.
10:05
Speaker 2: Drives me nuts.
10:06
Speaker 3: Okay, anyways, let's head to break before I find something
10:09
Speaker 3: else to rant about.
10:09
Speaker 2: Ken, We'll be right back after a.
10:11
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11:18
Speaker 2: All right, welcome back to fair territory. Pete or Ken,
11:21
Speaker 2: Let's talk about Pete. How about that. Let's talk about
11:23
Speaker 2: Pete crow Armstrong.
11:25
Speaker 3: He is one of the games breakout players in twenty
11:28
Speaker 3: twenty five. You just wrote a great, great piece on
11:32
Speaker 3: him and kind of his story with his dad and
11:35
Speaker 3: the Cubs growing up. Tell us a little bit more
11:38
Speaker 3: about what you like about this guy, because there's.
11:40
Speaker 2: A lot to like.
11:42
Speaker 1: There's a lot to like as a player. First of all,
11:44
Speaker 1: he is a rare combination of power and speed. We
11:47
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily expect the power to come the way it did.
11:51
Speaker 1: And in centerfield he is electric. This guy leads the
11:54
Speaker 1: major leagues at all positions in that it's above average,
11:57
Speaker 1: tied for the major league lead in defensive run saved again,
12:00
Speaker 1: and at all positions. He's fun to watch. He's also
12:03
Speaker 1: second in stolen bases to Elie Dela Cruz. This guy's electric. Now,
12:07
Speaker 1: the story is something that stemmed out of a conversation
12:10
Speaker 1: I had with him last weekend at Wrigley and I
12:13
Speaker 1: was basically asking him, hey, man, who are your favorite
12:15
Speaker 1: players growing up? But he mentioned Andrew McCutchen was his
12:17
Speaker 1: first and we got around to talking about, well, which
12:20
Speaker 1: team did you root for? It he said, well, when
12:23
Speaker 1: I was about ten, my dad basically said, you either
12:26
Speaker 1: start rooting for the Cubs now, or you don't root
12:29
Speaker 1: for the Cubs. He threw down the gaunt. The dad
12:32
Speaker 1: his name is madd He and his wife are both
12:35
Speaker 1: former actors, and the dad grew up in Naperville, Illinois,
12:39
Speaker 1: suburb of Chicago, diehard Cub fan. And when he said
12:43
Speaker 1: that to his son Pete, that was a time when
12:46
Speaker 1: theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer had just taken over the Cubs,
12:49
Speaker 1: so he could sense that they were going to be good.
12:52
Speaker 1: It was going to take time. He grew up strong
12:54
Speaker 1: eventually did become a Cub fan. And the story also
12:57
Speaker 1: includes some kind of interesting details in my mind about
13:02
Speaker 1: just how the trade came about with the Mets.
13:04
Speaker 4: Remember he was.
13:05
Speaker 1: Drafted in twenty twenty nineteenth pick overall by the Mets.
13:09
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty one, he undergoes shoulder surgery and he's
13:13
Speaker 1: on the injured list in Port Saint Lucie, where they
13:15
Speaker 1: have spring training, rehabilitating. His parents are visiting him. His
13:19
Speaker 1: agent's visiting him and he gets traded for one of
13:22
Speaker 1: his favorite players, javiir Bias, and some people didn't think
13:27
Speaker 1: that he would be the player he now appears capable
13:30
Speaker 1: of becoming. And actually the Cubs wanted someone else. They
13:33
Speaker 1: wanted a pitching prospect named Matt Allen. Matt Allen was
13:37
Speaker 1: also a high draft pick and he was a guy
13:39
Speaker 1: that at that time was recovering from Tommy John surgery.
13:43
Speaker 1: Cubs thought, maybe we can get him and he'll rehabilitate.
13:45
Speaker 1: He had number one starter potential. Turns out he's had
13:49
Speaker 1: two more major elbow surgeries just recently. Earlier last month
13:55
Speaker 1: in April, he pitched for the first time in six years.
13:58
Speaker 1: So in Bay, as in life, things can turn on
14:02
Speaker 1: the smallest of circumstances. And it's just a really cool story.
14:07
Speaker 1: I enjoyed doing it, and the main reason I enjoyed
14:10
Speaker 1: doing it trisure was because it's what we were talking about.
14:13
Speaker 1: This guy's interesting, he's fun, he's got a personality.
14:17
Speaker 3: Yes, be interesting, don't be boring, be interesting. I want
14:21
Speaker 3: to make a T shirt like that, Ken Like I
14:23
Speaker 3: just I want a T shirt that says, don't be boring,
14:25
Speaker 3: be interesting. I love that story. About p Crote Armstrong.
14:29
Speaker 3: I grew up a Cubs fan myself. My dad had
14:31
Speaker 3: me choose a team. I chose the Cubs too, so
14:33
Speaker 3: I can relate to that. All right, it is time
14:36
Speaker 3: for grillin with Ken. All right, time for our first
14:51
Speaker 3: chat question. Ken, this is a good one. Well, the
14:54
Speaker 3: Dodgers trade for a starting pitcher at the deadline because
15:00
Speaker 3: I've got injuries. Isn't a viable strategy?
15:03
Speaker 1: Ken? Why am I laughing? I am laughing because the
15:08
Speaker 1: whole point of the Dodgers off season, in signing Lake
15:12
Speaker 1: Snell and going after Sasaki, in building this depth that
15:16
Speaker 1: they have, was so they can avoid making trades at
15:19
Speaker 1: the deadline. Andrew Friedman, their president Baseball Operations, hates making
15:23
Speaker 1: trades at the deadline because many times you have to overpay.
15:26
Speaker 1: Sometimes a prospect like Pete row Armstrong becomes a star,
15:30
Speaker 1: then he's gone from your organization. So here they are.
15:35
Speaker 1: They've got Snell on the IL. They've got all kinds
15:40
Speaker 1: of issues in general. Tyler glasdaw just went on the IL. Now,
15:45
Speaker 1: Tony Gonsman just came back. Clayton Kershaw is going to
15:48
Speaker 1: come back at some point. Shoho Tani is going to
15:50
Speaker 1: pitch at some point, so their goal is still to
15:52
Speaker 1: avoid trading for a starting pitcher. But that question has
15:56
Speaker 1: come up. And let's face Atricia, if this continues, if
16:00
Speaker 1: more guys keep going down, yes, they're going to need
16:03
Speaker 1: to be in the market. It's incredible to think that
16:06
Speaker 1: when they're starting the season with like ten guys.
16:09
Speaker 3: Yep, it is crazy to think that that's where we're
16:11
Speaker 3: at in the season for the Dodgers. We will see,
16:13
Speaker 3: all right, Next Jack question, what's going on with David Robertson.
16:19
Speaker 3: Will any team sign him?
16:22
Speaker 1: I don't know for sure what's going on with Robertson,
16:25
Speaker 1: but my educated guess is that he'll pitch this season,
16:30
Speaker 1: but he wants to be paid at a level that
16:33
Speaker 1: he perceives as commensurate to his ability and experience and
16:36
Speaker 1: all of that. And we've seen this with some veterans
16:39
Speaker 1: this year, right Anthony Rizzo, Ja d Martinez still out there.
16:42
Speaker 1: Lance Lynn retired why because teams were not willing to
16:46
Speaker 1: pay these players what they thought they were worth. David
16:49
Speaker 1: Robertson is a reliever. Relievers are always in high demand
16:53
Speaker 1: at the deadline in particular, and he's a guy also
16:56
Speaker 1: who can wait and can wait and see what team
17:01
Speaker 1: offer him and at a pro rated level, if it's
17:03
Speaker 1: good enough for him to pitch. So that is what
17:06
Speaker 1: I imagine is happening. And if he does come back
17:11
Speaker 1: and play well, some team's going to get a really
17:14
Speaker 1: quality reliever.
17:16
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely.
17:17
Speaker 3: When I was with the Rays, David Robertson was there,
17:19
Speaker 3: he did some good things for them at the time.
17:21
Speaker 2: But obviously you.
17:23
Speaker 3: Know, he knows what he thinks he's worth, and that's
17:26
Speaker 3: part of it. Right now, all right, next question, Ken,
17:29
Speaker 3: this is I like this one.
17:30
Speaker 4: Ken.
17:31
Speaker 3: Would you care to amend your al MVP Bobby wit
17:36
Speaker 3: Junior pick?
17:39
Speaker 1: Well, certainly right now it's not looking great for Bobby
17:44
Speaker 1: with Junior or any other American League player in the
17:46
Speaker 1: MVP race who is not named Aaron Judge. But it's
17:51
Speaker 1: May first, so I'm not amending anything just yet. What
17:54
Speaker 1: you really should be asking me if I want to
17:57
Speaker 1: amend my World Series pick, which is Atlanta, Texas, which
18:00
Speaker 1: already looks horrible. Oh, to be horrible. So I'll be
18:04
Speaker 1: happy to concede all of these picks at the appropriate time.
18:07
Speaker 1: It probably will be suited than later. And I always
18:11
Speaker 1: tell what's my predictions are terrible.
18:16
Speaker 4: So don't go on in my predictions.
18:17
Speaker 1: They're just awful every year.
18:20
Speaker 3: Well, if you had to amend the World Series pick,
18:22
Speaker 3: which obviously Rangers breeze doesn't look good, what are you gonna.
18:26
Speaker 1: Say if I had to amend it, Let's think I'd
18:30
Speaker 1: still go. No, I changed the Dodgers. I'd go to
18:33
Speaker 1: the Dodgers now, even though the n O West is
18:35
Speaker 1: quite strong, and who knows what's going to happen. And
18:38
Speaker 1: in the American League, I sort of like the Tigers, and.
18:44
Speaker 2: I do too.
18:45
Speaker 1: Tigers have pitching that seems to be sustainable. This is
18:50
Speaker 1: year two of this pitching staff. They've got Scooble and
18:52
Speaker 1: Floherty at the top. Jackson job wasn't great last night,
18:55
Speaker 1: but he's coming on, Casey mis has been good, Lies Olsen.
18:58
Speaker 1: That's the rotation. They're bull is excellent. They aren't a
19:03
Speaker 1: great offensive team, but they have some players who have
19:06
Speaker 1: been injured that are coming back. Veerling is one and
19:08
Speaker 1: Parker Meadows will be another. Can make a trade at
19:11
Speaker 1: the deadline for another bat. They're pretty interesting.
19:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, they are.
19:16
Speaker 3: I've always had a soft spot for Detroit. I grew
19:18
Speaker 3: up in the Midwest, watched those poor fans in Detroit
19:21
Speaker 3: suffer through decades of just mediocrity and poor performances by
19:28
Speaker 3: their teams in that city. So last year, watching the
19:30
Speaker 3: Tigers do what they did, I loved it. I love
19:32
Speaker 3: that pick Ken. All right, next question. We did talk
19:35
Speaker 3: a little. We hinted at this question earlier when we
19:38
Speaker 3: were talking about how we feel like MLB needs guys
19:42
Speaker 3: to be a little bit more interesting and less vanilla.
19:45
Speaker 3: So let's talk which league, in your opinion, has the
19:49
Speaker 3: best playoffs. We've got the NBA playoffs going on right now,
19:53
Speaker 3: and then, of course you've got NHL playoffs right now,
19:56
Speaker 3: But then consider NFL and MLB.
19:58
Speaker 2: What do you think.
20:00
Speaker 1: The NHL playoffs? The Stanley Cup playoffs to me, are
20:03
Speaker 1: a cut above everything in sports, including the Major League
20:07
Speaker 1: Baseball playoffs. I grew up a big hockey fan. I
20:10
Speaker 1: grew up on Long Island. I was an Islanders fan
20:13
Speaker 1: when they just got good. Before that, they were kind
20:16
Speaker 1: of a choke team, and then they got good. You
20:18
Speaker 1: don't need to hear my personal history, but if you
20:20
Speaker 1: watch Stanley Cup playoff hockey, it is intense like nothing else,
20:25
Speaker 1: and it has played at extremely high level. I just
20:28
Speaker 1: love it period. I just love it.
20:31
Speaker 2: I love that. I love that.
20:33
Speaker 3: I watched the Lightning when I was in Tampa a lot,
20:35
Speaker 3: and they were so much fun to watch.
20:36
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna have to go with the NBA Playoffs.
20:38
Speaker 2: I was just at Game five for the Pacers this week.
20:41
Speaker 3: I think it's the best basketball in the world and
20:43
Speaker 3: they're going at it for five or seven games or
20:45
Speaker 3: whatever it is. They make it a bit of a
20:46
Speaker 3: spectacle too, and there's always so much drama with the players,
20:50
Speaker 3: which makes it entertaining.
20:51
Speaker 2: They're not afraid to spruce it up, play to the camp.
20:53
Speaker 3: Oh my word, And of course I knew this was good.
20:56
Speaker 1: What of this pressure? Please explain?
21:00
Speaker 2: So I was in Game five.
21:02
Speaker 3: The Pacers have a place in my heart, right, I'll
21:04
Speaker 3: explain that in a second. But it's a video I
21:05
Speaker 3: took of me and one of my best friends, Sam.
21:07
Speaker 3: We've we've been going to Pacers games together for twelve
21:10
Speaker 3: years and this was after the game winning shot by
21:14
Speaker 3: Tyrese Halliburton, and I have no I couldn't do that
21:17
Speaker 3: again if I tried. I don't know how to take
21:19
Speaker 3: a video upside down. But when I was taking a
21:22
Speaker 3: video of us celebrating. It took the video upside down
21:26
Speaker 3: and I'm like, Sam, oh my god, how did I
21:28
Speaker 3: do this? And she's like, you have to tweet that anyways,
21:30
Speaker 3: it's so perfect and I'm like, oh cool. And then
21:34
Speaker 3: there's a bunch of other videos that one of my
21:35
Speaker 3: friends took who was there. He took a ton of
21:37
Speaker 3: videos of us from across the section and we're just
21:40
Speaker 3: like losing our mind because that game was insane. It
21:44
Speaker 3: was the Pacers comeback was awesome. The Pacers were the
21:47
Speaker 3: first team to ever hire me. I was an intern
21:49
Speaker 3: for them Eastern Conference Playoff, Eastern Conference Finals. Lebron James,
21:54
Speaker 3: Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and the Heat playing the Pacers,
21:57
Speaker 3: Paul George, Jady Granger, George Hill, all those guys, and
22:00
Speaker 3: I was their web reporter intern.
22:01
Speaker 2: I had no idea what I was doing.
22:02
Speaker 3: I'm running around the locker room asking Lebron James questions.
22:06
Speaker 3: When I was in college. It was literally in college,
22:08
Speaker 3: but they they gave me a chance and it changed
22:11
Speaker 3: my career in the course of my life. So that
22:13
Speaker 3: video is embarrassing. I'm embarrassed.
22:15
Speaker 2: I mean like literally, like when you listen to the
22:17
Speaker 2: audio you're like.
22:18
Speaker 3: This girl, she's something or something off.
22:21
Speaker 2: It's just something not right. So it was great. I
22:24
Speaker 2: loved it.
22:25
Speaker 3: I loved it all right, we'll be right back after
22:27
Speaker 3: a quick word from our friends.
22:28
Speaker 2: At Foul Territory FT fan.
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23:05
Speaker 1: Dude, Dude, dude.
23:15
Speaker 2: I love a segment. This is one of my favorite segments.
23:17
Speaker 3: It is time for Dude of the Week where Ken
23:20
Speaker 3: and I pick well as it says a Dude of
23:24
Speaker 3: the week, Ken, I will let you go first because
23:26
Speaker 3: I think if anyone was listening listening to the show,
23:28
Speaker 3: they know who I'm probably gonna.
23:30
Speaker 2: Choose as dude of the week.
23:31
Speaker 3: But you go, who's your duds your dude of the week?
23:34
Speaker 1: Well, that previous question on my al MVP selection kind
23:38
Speaker 1: of ruined the party here. But my dude of the
23:41
Speaker 1: week is Aaron Judge. Look at the leaderboard in Major
23:46
Speaker 1: League Baseball right now, batting average, home runs, on base slugging, ops, hits.
23:52
Speaker 1: He is all over it. And what's amazing to me
23:55
Speaker 1: about Judges. He's a guy who obviously has had grace
24:00
Speaker 1: seasons before, and yet it seems like this season he's
24:04
Speaker 1: taking it to another level. And Aaron Boon put it
24:06
Speaker 1: really well last night. It's like he's playing a different game,
24:09
Speaker 1: and that's crazy to think about. We're talking about the
24:11
Speaker 1: best players in the world. They're here, he's here, and
24:15
Speaker 1: it's just great to watch on a daily basis. So
24:18
Speaker 1: he's pretty clearly my due of the week.
24:21
Speaker 2: There we go.
24:21
Speaker 3: I love that pick. I love that pick. Well, this
24:23
Speaker 3: is going to shock absolutely no one. It is not
24:26
Speaker 3: a baseball pick. I'm taking Tyrese Halliburton. Like I mentioned,
24:30
Speaker 3: I was there for the Pacers game on Tuesday and
24:34
Speaker 3: down the stretch he missed some tough shots. It looked grim,
24:37
Speaker 3: but he put the team on his back, hit the
24:38
Speaker 3: game winning shot, mounted the comeback, and I know, Ken,
24:42
Speaker 3: I know that the thing with his dad and Giannis
24:45
Speaker 3: kind of stole the headline. But both his dad and
24:47
Speaker 3: Tyrese apologized deeply. They took accountability, said his dad wasn't
24:50
Speaker 3: the wrong, not a good book for his dad, wasn't
24:53
Speaker 3: appropriate what he did. But that's just kind of another example, Ken,
24:57
Speaker 3: of the NBA and the drama that surrounds it. Right,
25:00
Speaker 3: you know whether you think that was nonsense or not
25:03
Speaker 3: with Giannis and his dad. Okay, let's talk about how
25:05
Speaker 3: much attention that brought to that game and the aftermath. Right,
25:09
Speaker 3: you don't want it to steal the headline completely from
25:12
Speaker 3: the Pacers mounting that comeback or whatever. But it's drama,
25:16
Speaker 3: and you would probably never see something like that happen
25:19
Speaker 3: in Major League Baseball. I'm not saying I'm a supporter
25:22
Speaker 3: of Dad's running onto the field, but you know what
25:24
Speaker 3: I'm saying. They addressed it in the press conference afterwards.
25:28
Speaker 3: They didn't beat around the bush, and they nipped it
25:32
Speaker 3: in the butt. But it also provided some entertaining. I'm
25:34
Speaker 3: a big believer in no publicity is bad publicity.
25:38
Speaker 2: I mean, there's a line, of course, but I don't know.
25:41
Speaker 6: I kind of liked it.
25:44
Speaker 1: Well. Unfortunately, I don't pay attention much, but I was
25:47
Speaker 1: paying attention because of that, And I say, don't pay
25:50
Speaker 1: attention much to the NBA playoffs. I'm too immersed in
25:53
Speaker 1: the baseball stuff. But that was fascinating and ye, honest,
25:57
Speaker 1: he had an amazing answer in his press conference. That
25:59
Speaker 1: guy is cool, incredible. It just you're right, It just
26:04
Speaker 1: elevates the event. And I'm not asking guys to be
26:07
Speaker 1: anything but themselves. We would never understand different people do
26:11
Speaker 1: things different ways. But we'll just saying it's sure. Is
26:14
Speaker 1: that to watching NBA?
26:17
Speaker 2: Hey, it is?
26:17
Speaker 3: And you're honest that answer he gave after the game,
26:21
Speaker 3: which it also helped us get to know him better
26:24
Speaker 3: and his character, you know, So it builds personality, it
26:27
Speaker 3: builds character, and it builds storylines, which is really what
26:30
Speaker 3: we're in this business for. It's an entertainment field.
26:33
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, let's go to the.
26:36
Speaker 3: John Fisher dork of the week. Ken, I think we
26:40
Speaker 3: both have there we go, that was jump the gun,
26:49
Speaker 3: all right, I think we both have the same dork
26:53
Speaker 3: of the week topic at least. One of the things
26:56
Speaker 3: making its rounds on social media, per some of the
27:00
Speaker 3: players voicing their opinions about this is the Angels travel
27:05
Speaker 3: schedule and their brutal days of travel. You know, we
27:09
Speaker 3: saw we saw two pictures go to the mound, and
27:13
Speaker 3: they've been very outspoken criticizing the travel schedule and the
27:18
Speaker 3: toll that it is taking on them.
27:21
Speaker 1: Ken they have and you see some of the tweets there.
27:24
Speaker 1: That is Mike Trout's wife, as this person points out,
27:28
Speaker 1: telling the Angels, hey, guys, this is not cool. This
27:31
Speaker 1: all started with a story by Sam Blum of The
27:33
Speaker 1: Athletic in which he quoted players and people are saying, hey,
27:36
Speaker 1: why are we leaving or why are we having a
27:38
Speaker 1: night game when we're flying across country. It's not the
27:41
Speaker 1: ideal circumstance. And Zach Cozar pointed out on Twitter that
27:46
Speaker 1: when he was with the Angels they did similar things
27:48
Speaker 1: and that in exhaust players obviously and also perhaps increases
27:53
Speaker 1: the risk of injury, which every team should be guarding
27:56
Speaker 1: against fiercely. So here are the Angels, and you mentioned
27:59
Speaker 1: the two pictures go into the mound as well. That
28:01
Speaker 1: can happen. It's not a great look, they are a
28:04
Speaker 1: team with some interesting players, Zach Netto and some of
28:08
Speaker 1: their other young guys, Kien Parris. They're interesting, and they've
28:12
Speaker 1: got Trout though he went out of the game last
28:13
Speaker 1: night with niece Sorenis. They have the potential to be
28:17
Speaker 1: not as looks a little bit better, have that Benil.
28:23
Speaker 1: And yet here we are talking about all these other
28:25
Speaker 1: different things. They were again in last place, and you
28:27
Speaker 1: just wonder if under Artie Moreno, actually I don't wonder
28:30
Speaker 1: under Artie Moreno, They're never going to get it right.
28:33
Speaker 1: It's just not happening. And it's a shame for that market.
28:37
Speaker 1: It's a shame for the fans of that team, and
28:39
Speaker 1: it's a shame for major League Baseball.
28:40
Speaker 6: Quite frankly, it's it's it's also disappointing for just the
28:47
Speaker 6: fans in general, because these are generational talents that I
28:50
Speaker 6: feel like we're missing out on.
28:51
Speaker 2: And that's that's disappointing. It's not good for the game.
28:55
Speaker 3: You're right, and I mean, you know, I can speak
28:57
Speaker 3: to the travel schedule things just a little bit.
28:59
Speaker 2: I was with the Raised for six years.
29:01
Speaker 3: Granted we were not on the West Coast, we were
29:02
Speaker 3: not the Angels, and I understand that, but I do
29:05
Speaker 3: remember a few times when we would be on the
29:06
Speaker 3: West coast and the travel back and trying to play
29:11
Speaker 3: the next day was just insane. I remember one time
29:13
Speaker 3: we played the Dodgers. It was a four pm game
29:15
Speaker 3: in LA. The game went twelve innings, and we got
29:18
Speaker 3: back to Pete at eight o'clock in the morning the
29:22
Speaker 3: next day. I can't imagine having to handle that as
29:27
Speaker 3: the Angels on maybe not necessarily a regular basis, but
29:32
Speaker 3: every so often. And these guys, while they.
29:35
Speaker 1: Are in my opinion what you say, it's by the team,
29:39
Speaker 1: and it's by the team's choice. Sorry to should interrupted, Well.
29:43
Speaker 3: Correct, you're one hundred percent correct, And well, these guys
29:46
Speaker 3: are super human in my opinion. However, they are still
29:49
Speaker 3: only human and traveling like that, and everything happening in
29:54
Speaker 3: the way that it does with their travel schedule is
29:56
Speaker 3: going to take a toll on them, and it's it
29:59
Speaker 3: should happen, and it's it's disappointing. It's disappointing for them,
30:05
Speaker 3: and it's disappointing for the fans. So I also think
30:08
Speaker 3: that Mike Trout's wife liking that post was kind of telling,
30:11
Speaker 3: you know, the wives are the ones who see their
30:13
Speaker 3: husbands and what it does to them and how it
30:17
Speaker 3: affects them. So yeah, no, I would agree that.
30:22
Speaker 1: We judge these players by what they do on the field.
30:24
Speaker 1: We rarely know what's going on behind the scenes. And
30:28
Speaker 1: it's not just travel in this particular case. Sometimes a
30:31
Speaker 1: guy's got something going on at home, maybe a child
30:33
Speaker 1: that is ill, maybe an issue with his wife. That
30:36
Speaker 1: There are hundreds of things that we all go through
30:38
Speaker 1: on a daily basis that affect major league players too.
30:42
Speaker 1: But in this case, again, this is self inflicted. This
30:45
Speaker 1: is the organization making a choice, and not only does
30:49
Speaker 1: it affect the Angels the next day, it might affect
30:51
Speaker 1: them the day after too, And it's just a really
30:54
Speaker 1: bad way to go about business. And that's why the
30:57
Speaker 1: Angels the entire organization. But really, you owner, Arnie Moreno
31:01
Speaker 1: Dorgs of the Week.
31:03
Speaker 2: I like that point that you made, though, Ken.
31:04
Speaker 3: It isn't just about on the field, and in fact,
31:07
Speaker 3: I would argue that fifty percent of it should be
31:09
Speaker 3: off the field because we should also be trying to
31:12
Speaker 3: prioritize the home lives of employees. The home lives, whether
31:17
Speaker 3: it's players or the clubhouse staff, or whatever. That's important.
31:21
Speaker 3: And I feel like through a kind of a season,
31:23
Speaker 3: and because it is a business, sometimes teams and people
31:28
Speaker 3: can forget. Hey, let's make sure that when we talk
31:31
Speaker 3: about the fact that we care about mental health, we're
31:34
Speaker 3: doing everything we can to support people in that journey
31:39
Speaker 3: with their families and being able to be those present
31:42
Speaker 3: dads that they want to be. That travel schedule does
31:45
Speaker 3: not allow them to do that, And to me, looking
31:49
Speaker 3: at it that way, that is my bigger concern rather
31:52
Speaker 3: than the play on the field.
31:53
Speaker 2: At the end of the day.
31:55
Speaker 3: That matters deeply to those families, and that matters deeply
31:59
Speaker 3: to those children.
32:01
Speaker 2: And man, that's rough. It's rough.
32:03
Speaker 1: It's a great point, I agree.
32:04
Speaker 3: And also it's lip.
32:05
Speaker 1: Service when baseball and teams talk about, oh, we're doing
32:09
Speaker 1: everything or we can to keep our players in the
32:11
Speaker 1: best possible shape and we're doing everything we can on
32:14
Speaker 1: the mental health side. No, you're not, and in this
32:17
Speaker 1: particular case, you're definitely not.
32:20
Speaker 3: I think it's definitely something to be taken into consideration.
32:23
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Speaker 3: or concern, called one eight hundred gambler. All right, Ken,
33:05
Speaker 3: tell us about the game that you are on this week.
33:09
Speaker 1: I am on Braves Dodgers in Atlanta. I am flying
33:13
Speaker 1: to Atlanta today and I'm looking forward to seeing the
33:15
Speaker 1: resurgent Braves. They've played much better of late, and of
33:18
Speaker 1: course the Dodgers drama is never ending. So we'll see
33:22
Speaker 1: which players are healthy this weekend, and we'll see which
33:24
Speaker 1: players are hurt. Now, Tri Shir, what about your game?
33:27
Speaker 3: I am leaving right now, in the next thirty seconds,
33:31
Speaker 3: drive to the airport and fly to Pittsburgh because I've
33:34
Speaker 3: got Pirates Padres in Pittsburgh. Obviously, the Padres had an
33:38
Speaker 3: incredible start to the season, so I'm excited to cover them.
33:41
Speaker 3: I know they've cooled down a little bit recently, but
33:43
Speaker 3: that'll be fun to see. Obviously, the Pirates need to
33:47
Speaker 3: get some things going, but it'll be a good matchup
33:50
Speaker 3: on Apple TV for Friday Night Baseball. We cannot wait.
33:53
Speaker 3: It'll be Me, Rich Waltz, Ryan Spillboards and it's going
33:56
Speaker 3: to be a great time, so tune in.
33:57
Speaker 1: I should mention also, this is the thirtieth season of
34:02
Speaker 1: Fox Saturday Baseball. It's a thirtieth year and this will
34:06
Speaker 1: be kicking off Saturday's game, our Baseball Night in America series,
34:10
Speaker 1: which will go the rest of the summer. So we're
34:12
Speaker 1: very excited ready to go.
34:14
Speaker 2: I love that. I love love love that. Ken, congratulations
34:17
Speaker 2: on that.
34:17
Speaker 3: Congratulations to everybody at Fox because I love watching the
34:21
Speaker 3: games you guys do on Fox as well. Thank you
34:23
Speaker 3: so much everybody for your questions and for watching. Britain.
34:27
Speaker 3: Rolli hosts Foul Territory Next with Aj Prazinski and Eric Kratz.
34:31
Speaker 2: Tory Hunter joins as well.