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Gene Watson Recaps World Series · The Craig Way Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Here's the one two pitch from Bueler.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Got them swinging.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: That's a World Series wind for Lay.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: They've done it.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: They've finished the job, and give Los Angeles the parade.
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  Speaker 2: It's been waiting for.
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  Speaker 4: And there it is, twenty twenty four season in the
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  Speaker 4: books and a brand new Major League Baseball World Series champion.
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  Speaker 4: We're welcome you back here to the program on Sports
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  Speaker 4: Radio AM thirteen under the Zone. Craig away with you
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  Speaker 4: and Ta help us wrap up not only the World
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  Speaker 4: Series but the twenty twenty four season overall. Is our
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  Speaker 4: good friend, our MLB insider, as Geene Watson from the
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: Chicago White Sox front office.
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  Speaker 2: How you doing today, GenAm? Hey guys, how are you great?
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  Speaker 2: All right?
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  Speaker 4: First things, first, credit goes to you for picking the
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: Dodgers to win the World Series, but you did pick
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: them to win in seven, so we won't quibble over
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  Speaker 4: the number. And I would submit to you this, Geno,
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: and I bet you may agree. If this thing the
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: way it started, the way it started with La winning
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  Speaker 4: the first three, if it had wound up going to
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: a seventh game, I'm not sure the Dodgers went at
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: that point because couldn't you start to feel the momentum
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: shifting toward the Yankees after Game four, going into the
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: last night, and especially when they're up five to nothing
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: through four innings last night in Game five.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I tell you what if they come back
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: on Walker Bueller, now we're really off to the races
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: because you've got Yamamoto. And if Yamamoto can't take care
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: of business in game six, now you're looking at a
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: bullpen game in Game seven. And that would have been very,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: very problematic for the Dodgers and something we were really
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: up against in twenty fifteen when we were in Game
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  Speaker 1: five versus the Mets in New York. We did not
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: want to go back to Kansas City and have that
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: rotation roll itself back around. But you know, Craig, oftentimes
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: teams lose the World Series more than they win the
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: World Series. And that fifth inning last night was one
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  Speaker 1: of the hardest things I've ever watched in thirty five
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: years of professional baseball. When you look at that, you
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: look back at you know, when we beat the Cubs
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  Speaker 1: in three, the Bartman play and the and the Alex
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  Speaker 1: Gonzales air you look at you look at the air,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the Astros made in fifteen against the rules. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: like there's a lot of teams Billy Butner, Tony Tarasco
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: in the ninety five ALCS. Teams lose the World Series
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: oftentimes more than they win it, and your flaws as
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: a team tend to come out in October. And that's
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: certainly what happened in the fifth inning last night of
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: that game.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you mentioned this back.
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  Speaker 4: This was weeks ago, because we've been doing this every
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: every week throughout the course of the season. When I
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: asked you about the Yankees at one point and their
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: battle with the Guardians to see would wind up with
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  Speaker 4: the best overall record in the American League and in
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: the battle with the Dodgers overall, so he would have
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: the best overall record, you mentioned you said, well, one
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: flaw the Yankees have is defensively. You said they're not
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: the soundest defensive team. They've been able to overcome it.
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: And it was funny as I was hearing Carl Ravits
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: this morning saying the way that the Yankees overcame a
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  Speaker 4: lot of their defensive lapses is simply the bludgeon the
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: other team, and they had done that in a lot
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: of cases. But it finally kind of called up to
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: them last night, especially when juxtaposed against the team that
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  Speaker 4: is as fundamentally sound as the Dodgers are, and all
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  Speaker 4: the small details and running out all the ground balls
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  Speaker 4: and making the routine plays in the difficult plays. But
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  Speaker 4: I've thought about what you said back several weeks ago,
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  Speaker 4: and if the Yankees have a shortcoming, you know you
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: said other than Weaver, or maybe it's the bullpen and
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  Speaker 4: then their defense, Well.
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  Speaker 3: Let's speak to the Dodgers first.
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  Speaker 1: And I covered the Dodgers organization from top to bottom,
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  Speaker 1: and people can say, well, they spend a lot of
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  Speaker 1: money on players, and they have a lot of infrastructure
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  Speaker 1: with analytics, and they have a tremendous scouting staff. But
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  Speaker 1: when you go into whether it's Rancho Cucamonga or Great
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  Speaker 1: Lakes or Tulsa or Oklahoma City, and even the major
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  Speaker 1: league club at Dodgers Stadium, this organization works. And I'll
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: go so far as to say I was in Salt
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Lake City, Oklahoma, seeing Oklahoma City the last weekend of
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  Speaker 1: the season, and those players were still working. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what makes what the Dodgers do so impressive is they
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  Speaker 1: don't take anything for granted they assume nothing on the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: flip side with the Yankees, just an awful you know,
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  Speaker 1: an inning after Judge makes the unbelievable play in center
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  Speaker 1: field and he begins to hit and you think everything's
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  Speaker 1: turning right for him, he drops the routine ball. Volpi
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  Speaker 1: with the play to his right where he's thrown to
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  Speaker 1: Jash Chisholm, and Jash Chisholm has not played a ton
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  Speaker 1: of third base in his career, and that was just
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  Speaker 1: a real a great decision by Volpi on the play,
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  Speaker 1: but a very difficult throw for Chisholm to pick. And
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  Speaker 1: then when you look at what Colb had done, what
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Cole had done, just emptying the tank on the two strikeouts,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: then you have the air, then you have the air,
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  Speaker 1: and then he you know, you're so physically beat up
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  Speaker 1: and mentally drained that the ground ball to the right
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  Speaker 1: side you forget to cover and the wheels completely come off.
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  Speaker 3: And so just a really super unfortunate for the eight.
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  Speaker 4: You bring up a good point. I want to ask
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  Speaker 4: you a couple of things about that ending in question.
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  Speaker 4: First of all, as you point out, the two errors
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: come when there's nobody out, because Key k Hernanas gets
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers first hit of the ball game with that
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: single off of Cole to start the fifth. Then is
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  Speaker 4: the fly ball to center off the bat of Edmund,
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: and it looks like it's going to be caught, and
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  Speaker 4: then as we know, Judge drops the ball, and then
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  Speaker 4: unfortunately key K is hustling enough so that it doesn't
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  Speaker 4: become a force play at second base, he's able to
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  Speaker 4: slide in just head of the tack. So now you
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  Speaker 4: got first and second, nobody out. Then the ground ball
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  Speaker 4: off the battle, Will Smith goes in the hole at
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  Speaker 4: short as you point out at Volpi makes the right
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: decision on where to go because he really only has
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: that one realistic play is just the throw wasn't on
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  Speaker 4: the money, So now the bases are loaded. Then Cole
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: comes back with two brilliant four pitch strikeouts to get
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: Gavin Lux and Shoe Eyotani. So he's won out away
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  Speaker 4: from doing it. And I heard that also they might
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: be a big gassed on the ground ball. There was
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  Speaker 4: the spin and Rizzo had to shade a little bit
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  Speaker 4: towards second to field it because and that that kind
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: of threw things off. And then and then basically Cole Froze.
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  Speaker 4: But even then, Gino, even then it's still it's five
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  Speaker 4: to one with two outs, with bets at first and
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  Speaker 4: bases are loaded, he still has a chance to get
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  Speaker 4: out of the inning. But Freddie Freeman hits him for
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  Speaker 4: a two run single, and then Teo Hernandez Toosk Hernandez
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  Speaker 4: a two run double. So my question to you is this,
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  Speaker 4: do you think he was gassed in facing those last
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: two guys that got.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Him for the hits?
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  Speaker 4: They're the single from Freeman, the double from Hernandez on
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  Speaker 4: that do you think that that was also a part
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  Speaker 4: of the deal why the Dodgers were able to reach
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: him when he still needed only one more out just
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  Speaker 4: to make it a five to one ball game.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And the breaking ball to show Hey for the
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  Speaker 1: strikeout might be the best breaking ball I've ever seen
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  Speaker 1: in my life, I mean. And he was putting everything
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  Speaker 1: he could into the lux at bat and the Otani
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  Speaker 1: at bat. And as you begin, and this is where
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  Speaker 1: the pitch clock kind of comes into plays, as the
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  Speaker 1: pitches begin to mount up and you get to twenty
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  Speaker 1: five and you get to thirty, and now you're trying
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  Speaker 1: to make perfect pitches and you give everything you've got
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  Speaker 1: for the lux and Otani at bat, and now you
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  Speaker 1: have the air. Now you begin to like leave pitches
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  Speaker 1: up out over the plate.
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  Speaker 3: You just the mental grind.
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  Speaker 1: As I've said before in October, one pitch is two
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  Speaker 1: pitches on the body physically, when you're talking about one
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: hundred pitches and then forty pitches in that stressful situation,
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  Speaker 1: you begin to leave pitches up out over the plate.
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  Speaker 1: And Freddie Freeman, I mean, what can you say about
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  Speaker 1: that at bat? You know, he's homered in four straight
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: games and it would have been easy for him to
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  Speaker 1: stay big. I'm going to try to hit the ball
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  Speaker 1: out of the ballpark, especially in the Yankee stadium.
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  Speaker 3: Well what does he do.
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  Speaker 1: He shortens up and he puts the ball right up
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  Speaker 1: the middle for a nice base hit, just completely changing
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: his approach to get the to get the game towards
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  Speaker 1: their side. And just I mean, the whole team hit
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  Speaker 1: a buck ninety eight for the World Series and he
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  Speaker 1: hits three eleven. That just that just speaks a lot
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  Speaker 1: to his impact on this team, even after the bad ankle,
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  Speaker 1: and just an incredible, incredible inning in baseball.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no doubt about.
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  Speaker 4: As we talk baseball, in the World Series here with
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  Speaker 4: Gene watching on Sports Radio AM thirteen hunder the zones.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: You know, let me ask about two other elements of
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  Speaker 4: the of the series. Blake Trinon is there. He'd come
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: on and get him out of one tough spot, then
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  Speaker 4: the seventh. Then in the eighth and the basis loaded
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  Speaker 4: and Dave Roberts comes out. And as I mentioned, I
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: watch at least one hundred Dodger games a year. I've
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: seen Dave Roberts come out a million times and not
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  Speaker 4: even hesitate.
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  Speaker 2: He's gonna go to the bullpen.
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  Speaker 4: And I know it's different in the playoffs, and it's
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: especially different in the World Series, but I thought it
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  Speaker 4: was some kind of amazing that he went out, because
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: normally he doesn't go out just to talk to the pitcher.
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  Speaker 4: He'll send Mark Pryor out to do that. But went
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: out to say that, trying what he got left and
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: trying and said I want this guy. And that's when
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: you saw him reach out with both hands and pat
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: him on the chest and say you're my guy. Go
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: get him something like that. That's a calculated risk a
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: to go with that. And then in the ninth, like
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: you said, to bring Walker Bueller out. I know it's
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: a side day throwing, and we explained it, and you
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: can explain it because you've done it, your son has
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: done it, and you've been around hundreds and hundreds and
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: hundreds of pitchers have done it. Throwing on the side
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: on a side day is a lot different than coming
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: in the ninth inning of a World Series game.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Ended it is, and what he did with Tran was
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: just brilliant. That was just being in the moment and
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: understanding like you could throw all the process out of
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: last night's game. And I think you saw that with
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Garrett Cole going eighty eight pitches in Game one and
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: then going one hundred and eleven pitches last night. Everything
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: was just amped up and you can throw all the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: process out and it lended everything to competition. And I
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: think that was Dave roberts moment to go out to
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  Speaker 1: Blake and just find one of the elite relief in baseball,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: to one make him believe that, hey, I believe in you,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: and I know you can do this. But to get
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: a temperature on top of on top of him meant
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: to also get Walker Bueller's mind right, and and the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: adrenaline in that moment for Walker Bueller, like the minute
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: he knows he's got a chance to pitch in that game.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I mean when they would when he was walking down
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: to the bullpen, you knew the game was over. This
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: is you know, this is a Madison Bumgardner moment. It
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: was a Josh Beckett moment. And uh and and Dave
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Roberts did such a tremendous job of just managing the
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: moment and understanding his players and taking them where they
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: needed to go to get them right to go out
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to perform and win a world championship.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: All right, uh G, you do?
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  Speaker 4: I want to ask about baseball in general, now that
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: that the season's in the books, that they already put
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: up the the odds for next year, and they put
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: the Dodgers right up to the top end, and every
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: analyst is saying, plus, showe A, Tony's gonna pitch next year.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: You you worked for the Angels when show a pitching
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: as well as playing. Are you expecting to see him
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: go to the mound and pitch next year? And how
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: different will that be for him? I don't expect to
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: see him steal fifty nine bases in that kind of situation,
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: but if he goes to the mound. I've heard John
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: Smoltz and others say it's he's really gifted when he
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: can go to the mound.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: It's really it's like acquiring a number one starter. Now,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: the management of it all because I lived it for
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a year in twenty one will be completely different. His
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: workload on the base paths will be completely different, and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I think it takes a toll on his offensive performance.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: And I've said before that I feel like this type
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: of offensive year only happened because he wasn't pitching, and
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: so I think there will be some minimization of that
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five. But think about this, Craig, you
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: got sho hal Tani coming back. You just won a
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: World Series without Glass now, Gonsolin Kershaw, Dustin may River,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Ryan Emmett Chehan, and Gavin Stone. You had seven of
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: your starting pitchers out within without Shoheo Tani, and you
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: still won the World Series. And that's what's going to
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: make them the hands on favorite to be the champion
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: again next year.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: All right, let's talk about some other teams. First. I
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: haven't seen an official announcement.
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: You don't have to say anything as your organization getting
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: closer to hiring a new manager.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: We did.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: We announced Will Vinable today, the associate manager of the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Texas Rangers.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Super excited about that.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Will, obviously a nine year playing career, was a basketball
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: baseball star at Princeton. He's played and worked with some
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: of the top managers, Joe Madden, Alex Korra, Bruce Bochi,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Dave Roberts, and so we're really super super excited about
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: bringing him on board today.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Okay, all right, I saw today the Braves dealt Jorge
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: Solaire to the Angels. So Solaira continued, I know, you
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: know Jorge very well from his time with the Royals.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: In fact, always think of my son Andy when he
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: was working in the Royals organization in Omaha, and he's
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: worked for the storm Chasers, and he said, whenever Solaira
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: would come to the bat, come to bat, they would
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: strike up to this chant hip hip or hey hip
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: hip or hey. So so the uh, the Braves traded
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: so Lair to the Angels for Griffin Canning today, So
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: that starts off the hot stove league.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: What's your what's your take on that?
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Well, look for the arms race in the American League
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: West to be very interesting. I think when you look
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: at Seattle and the number of pitchers that they have, uh,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: they're gonna have to have some offense. I would look
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: for them to be very active in the third basement market. Uh.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: The Rangers, obviously with lighter rock, are going to impact
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: more next year.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: They're going to get healthy. Uh, They're going to be
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: back in.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: But the Angels felt like that they needed to make
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: a move to build up their offense a little bit,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: to add some power to the middle that lineup, to
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: give Mike Trout some some protection. Uh. And but but
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: that American League West is going to be very very
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: interesting next year, and look for the Rangers to to
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: be right back in. And if you notice Bruce Bochi
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: from his time in San Francisco, it was every other
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: year that they won a World championship and they'll certainly
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: compete for one again next year.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: In Houston.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: You know, they're gonna be very very creative and they
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: how do you count the Houston Astros out in any circumstance,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: And they'll have a busy offseason.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: I think this has got a chance to.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Be one of the busiest, most active offseasons that there
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: could be once we get past the Wan Soto sweep stakes,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: and that's going to be the one domino that kind
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: of slows the market because the winning teams that were
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs that are going to be in on Soto,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: that money is going to hold up the entire market
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: when it comes to free agent pitchers, what teams are
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: going to be able to acquire via trade, and so
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be slow in the beginning, but really
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: really speed.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Up as the Wan Soto Sweepstakes picks up along the winner.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Well that's where I was going next with Soto.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: I'm hearing that the bidding will start with the first
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: digit being a seven, as in the seven hundred million
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: dollar range or something like that, kind of like the
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: show a deal as well. And could you see a
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: lot of teams, even with that price tag, being active
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: in the market to perhaps be interested in Soto.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: I don't know, Craig. You know, the television contracts and
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: the issues that teams have been having with TV deals
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: are really impacting the financial situations for a lot of organizations.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: But I do think you'll see some teams try to
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: be very creative and much like the Dodgers did the show, Hey,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: and the deferment. I don't expect one to take a
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: huge deferment, but I think to be with a winning
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: club and to have a chance to win another championship,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: he will be creative financially and look for the Mets
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: to be very, very active and try to make a
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: splash with one. The Yankees obviously will be heavily involved.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: The Phillies are going to be heavily involved. So it's
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: going to be a super crazy sweepstakes when it comes
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: to one Soto.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: And then one other thing.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: When I ask you, we haven't heard much, and a
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: lot of people would say good, but we haven't heard
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: much out of the A's and owner John Fisher and
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: this whole thing about the impending move to Vegas. But
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: it was announced today that Fisher and his family are
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: going to invest one billion dollars into the construction of
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: the new ballpark in Las Vegas. US Bank and Goldman
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: Sachs are going to offer three hundred million dollar loan.
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: So it looks like the thing will finally get done.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: But we're still talking about what it says maybe being
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: ready in time for twenty twenty eight, so there could
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: be three seasons in Sacramento coming up.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: How about you? I know you were sad to see
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: the A's leaving Oakland.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: I really was that that ball apartment so much to me.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: And just the identity of the organization kind of a
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: you know, a dirt bag, you know, underdog type of
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: environment that the players truly embraced and the organization embraced,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: and it really became a home field advantage to the
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: organization into the team, and kudos to the players for
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: always embracing it.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: But it's going to be very, very interesting.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: They did make the decision to make Sacramento to keep
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: it grass for the health of the players, so it
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: be interesting to see how that works out. But hey,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: look at Oakland the second half of twenty twenty four.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: They had a great second half and they've got some
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: very very good young players. They've got a very good
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: minor league system, and they're going to have money to
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: spend and look for them to make a big jump
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: during the twenty twenty five season.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Are you hearing?
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: Also, because Tropic Canna Field had so much damage that
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: the Rays may start playing in some of the spring
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: training ballparks next year until they get the drop rebuilt.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Well, it's been rumored that they could be in Orlando
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: playing at Disney World that Major League Baseball will help
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: out with some of that. It's also been rumored that
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: they could play at Steinbrenner Field, which would be an
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: oddity because George and George Steinbrenner and Tampa, you know,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: that rivalry was always well known. But that's a pivot
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: that they could make, is have them at Steinbrenner Field.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: But now it was announced today that the Panelis Counties
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: come out and said that they may not fund the
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: new ballpark if they plan on playing anywhere else but
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: in the Tampa Saint Pete area. So it's going to
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: be interest to see how that plays out. But just
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: a super unfortunate incident that that ballpark had the damage
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: that it had, and it just displaces a.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: Lot of employees, and people don't realize.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: You think about the players and the team, but you
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: don't realize the employees and many of the employees that
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: have been there have worked there twenty twenty five years
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: and what it does to them, and they're like and
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: so you just hope that it all works out for
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: the best for the entire organization.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: He's our MLB insider Gene Watson, Gino, we'll talk again
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: during the hot stovely we'll keep in touch. Appreciate the
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: time and of course the weekly updates all season long.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: It's a sad day no baseball tonight, but I appreciate it.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, thanks Gino.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Thank congratulations, Craig way to go.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Thanks.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: All right, that's Dean Watson, our MLB insider. We'll get
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: to some football modes coming up when we continue on
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: Sports Radio.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: You have thirteen hunderd the Zone