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Talkin' Baseball! Ramapo's Ward the guest; Benito Santiago? · NorthJerseySports.com

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  We are talking baseball North Jersey, sports.com's original
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  for the media series. Talking all things baseball
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  across North Jersey. We are in the nitty gritty.
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  I am Corey Doviak, being joined by my illustrious panel of North
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  Jersey baseball insiders, starting with Joey BIT Sotera.
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  What's going on, Joe? I hate BIT and we should have
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  play it, but I, you know, to participate in Trump and hey, my
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  kids got a game on Saturday. I can't go to the Bergen County.
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  Center. Who knew?
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  Who knew? They got hot.
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  They got hot. So anyway, we got a lot of stuff
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  to talk about. We're going to have Garrison
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  Ward on the associate head coach of the Ramapo Green Raiders who
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  will be playing in the Bergen County 20 semi finals this
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  weekend. I'm really looking forward to
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  that. But let's get to some other
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  things. Let's talk about the county
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  tournament and a hole Joe. And it's playing out.
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  You being the director. I don't know if it could have
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  played out any better. No, I, I think we got it right.
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  You know, I, I think, I think we absolutely got it right.
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  I, you know, there was, I was talking to, I was at Don Bosco
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  and it was during the old Japan Mahwah game and I was sitting
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  with Brian Jalalia, the assistant coach from Bosco.
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  And he turned to me and he said, he said the opening round on
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  Wednesday was like March Madness in terms of, of tournaments and
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  teams taking teams to the wire and so on and so forth.
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  You know you had some, you know them, them included like you
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  know Fort Lee took them, you know, 2 to one and lost on the
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  throwing error. Fort Lee had a one up in lead
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  going into the 7th. Yep, Yep, one up in lead going
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  into the 7th and then lost on a throwing error.
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  You had I think it was Rutherford, right?
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  They was it 4 three they lost. They lost 43 to Ramapo.
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  What was in there was a. Old Japan Saint Mary's was a.
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  One that was the other one that was a 2 that was a 21 game,
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  right? It was a 21 game.
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  Nope, nothing. It was 1.
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  Nothing. 1 nothing. OK, OK, sorry.
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  But you know, again, it's you know, and and then you had a
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  couple of the lower seats, you know, you had you had Mahwah,
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  Mahwah upset Ramsey, you know, just just it's what you, it's
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  what you want in a tournament. You know, you want that.
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  Like we say all the time, the the seeds get get the teams get
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  seated. Some people complain, some
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  people bitch and grown about it. But then you go look and you
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  know, you had a couple of teams, you know, below the the 16 that
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  upsets them. Some teams, I think Ridgewood
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  lose their Ridgewood lost their opener, correct?
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  Yes they did. Yeah, Ridgewood lost in the
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  first round to Paramus Catholic, win the county tournament since
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  2016, and then they went on to beat 8 seed in Westwood.
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  Another good game. Another good first.
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  Yeah, well, quote UN quote first round game, but round the 16
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  game 76, right. So I just got to go on two games
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  in this year's tournament. No, it was, it was great, you
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  know, and, and, and then you go up and, and for a while there,
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  Mahwah had Old Japan on the ropes on Saturday, you know, 4
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  nothing, I think going into the 4th.
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  And I don't think Old Japan got their first hit until the 4th
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  inning. I'm not, I'm not sure of that,
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  but you know. Perfect game against them I
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  think until the 5th if I'm not mistaken.
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  Yeah. And then they, and then, you
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  know, OT goes and puts 8:00 on on them and, and they wind up
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  winning. I think it was 94.
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  You know, the second game was, was not so competitive Bosco,
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  Paramus Catholic. But you know, I think I, I, I
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  honestly think we, we, we got it right.
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  Like I said, 12123 and the five in great match up with, with OT
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  and with OT and, and Bosco and, you know, arguably one of the
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  more anticipated games with, with Pascack Valley and Ramapo
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  and, and the way you know, those two teams are playing.
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  So it's been great so far. You know, it's, it's great.
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  Great to hear that. You know, people enjoy the
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  tournament so much and you know, we we hope it, it plays out with
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  these with the semi finals and finals, but hopefully the the
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  weather holds out as well. So we'll see.
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  Yeah. All right.
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  So we're going to get to Garrison in a second here.
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  But you know, all kidding aside, the BIT has been fun to follow
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  as well. And I mean, nobody else is
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  talking about it. So let's let's just talk, let's
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  take a minute and let's salute the remaining participants in
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  the Bergen County Invitational Tournament of 2025.
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  On one side of the bracket, we got David in Woodridge going up
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  against Ridgewood, the Goliath who swooped in after their first
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  round loss in the Bergen County Tournament.
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  And then on the other side we have Midland Park.
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  Is that right again? And who's their opponent?
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  The Fighting Huskies from DuMont Fighting.
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  Huskies from DuMont. So have your say, Joe, you are
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  the athletic director at DuMont. You are the father of two
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  starting players at DuMont. So I mean, all kidding aside,
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  this has to be, this has to be fun, I mean.
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  They're playing for some it is, but you know what?
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  You know what? I, I don't.
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  I, I, I think, I, honestly, I think we should have Algeria on
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  the show. I would love to I, I, I do
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  because it's not. Positive.
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  One of the most positive people I've ever met, Joe Algeria.
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  He, he, he really is. And, and you know, last year
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  this, this team was was 5 and 16 and they are 13 and 12.
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  You know, I, I don't want to talk about unfortunately, we're
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  going to have them on after Saturday.
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  So I, I hope that they can pull one out against, against a very
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  tough opponent in, in Midland Park.
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  You know, they, they are, they are a very strong team playing
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  very good baseball right now. They pitch it real well.
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  You know, they, they, they hit, they swing it, they grind out at
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  bats. You know, it's, it's going to be
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  a challenge for us And and, you know, I, I don't want to talk
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  about the, the, the season and what, where, where they are and
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  what they're doing. I think we I think we leave that
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  to to Joe Algieri. Yeah, OK, so whatever.
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  I'm excited for my kids. Yeah.
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  What? Yeah, no, we'll have Joe Algieri
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  on, whether it be to talk about a BIT championship or maybe even
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  just help preview the state tournament.
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  But yeah, I, I, I, I think we've ever had them on and it's a
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  great time to do it because that, that's what the BIT is
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  supposed to be about. It's about, you know, Joe Del
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  Bueno, who is the grandfather of the BIT.
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  He, he just said we, we have to find more ways for kids to play
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  meaningful games. And this is what it's all about.
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  And I I'm not I'm not saying anything gets Richard.
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  I mean, they're playing by the rules.
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  They lost in the first round and they drop down.
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  But as a group 4I, I would rather have seen them go play
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  some independence against teams that also lost in the first
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  round of the county tournament rather than, you know, go down
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  to the VIP. Because if you replace a
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  Ridgewood with like even a Demarest or or Emerson or Rich
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  Richfield Park, one of these teams like it, it would really
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  be a fun final four for teams that, and I don't mean this
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  negatively, but teams that are really, you know, not in
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  contention to win Bergen County tournaments.
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  And again, I'm saying that as a realist, you know, there's
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  probably 85% of the teams in Bergen County don't have a
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  chance to win a Bergen County championship.
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  The way things are, sex, you know, the way things are
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  structured nowadays. I mean the bygone era of
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  Cinderella and maybe one year we'll get it, but it's not going
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  to be as sustainable. So I love the tournament.
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  I think it's great. And I'm, I don't care.
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  I I, you know what Joe, no other guy left in the BIT has a
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  connection to a program is a Co host on talking baseball on
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  North Jersey sports.com. So I'm going to stay right here.
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  I'm rooting for the Huskies, Orange and Brown.
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  Thank you. Thank you.
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  From I didn't mean that, Mike. I was just kidding.
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  All right, Joe. Well, let's welcome him to the
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  guest this week on this episode of Talking Baseball.
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  He is a veteran who has been doing a show off the air for the
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  previous half hour. We might as well welcome him on
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  the show now. He is the Co head coach of the
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  Fighting Raiders from Ramapo Garrison Ward.
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  Thanks for joining us here on Talking Baseball.
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  Thanks for having me guys, appreciate it.
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  Well, I feel like, you know, all of the stuff that we just talked
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  about would have been so much fun to put on the show, but
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  we're going to start with some other topics that are more
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  worthy for air, shall we say. And that means we're going to
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  start with this Bergen County tournament, which is heading
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  into a semi final round this weekend.
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  The Raiders are 18 and three. One of the, I mean, let's see
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  how it ends. But certainly one of the best
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  seasons you have going here with the schedule that you play in
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  school history. And you really have a chance to
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  make history by getting a couple more wins in this county
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  tournament starting Saturday on Pascag Valley, although we know
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  that's not going to be easy. So let's start with this.
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  Give us State of the State on Ramapo baseball right now.
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  I mean, kids are excited. It's, it's been a, it's been a
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  great year. You know, we knew coming into
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  it, we had, we had a good team. We played a ton of sophomores
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  last year. And it was one of those
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  situations where, you know, you got to throw kids in there, get
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  their experience, you know, you hope to build on maybe, you
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  know, a good 1-2 year run as they get older and, you know,
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  really figure things out with, you know, the high school
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  pitching and, you know, just kind of about being a varsity
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  player. But you know, it's good.
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  We've had we had a real tough schedule.
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  I think that's what helps get us to to these semi final games.
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  And, you know, and you know, these kids are they're they're
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  ready to roll. And we're fortunate enough to
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  have have one of the best pitchers not only in the county,
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  but I think in the state to to help lead us on Saturday.
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  Yeah, and let's pick it up there.
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  Charlie Wingfield was lights out against Burton Catholic, 11
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  strikeouts. I I think one walk or no walks,
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  maybe, maybe one walk, whatever it was.
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  I mean, we've been talking about this to you and I and I'm going
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  to write it before he takes. That's another issue we can get
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  into too. But before he leaves to play
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  football at Wake Forest, I am going to write the story.
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  But I'll bring it up here first. I But we have a real good case
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  to make that's certainly in the 26 years that North Jersey
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  sports.com has been around and in the 30 plus years that I've
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  been around high school sports, I would say that Charlie
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  Wingfield probably is the most decorated high school sports
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  athlete that I have seen. And by decorated, I mean he's
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  won a lot of titles and stuff, but I'll say he's the best all
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  around athlete that I think that has come through in the 30 years
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  that I've been around high school sports.
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  Am I right or am I wrong? Not meaning you're, you're,
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  you're absolutely correct. He's right up there.
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  I mean, we've had some really good ones at Rand Paul.
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  You think of like a guy like a Chris Hogan.
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  You know, when I was in high school, we had a Ryan Bizarre
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  A33 Sport guy to come up. You got Shooter Hunt, Casey
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  Hunt. But if you look on, if you look
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  on paper, you know what Charlie's been able to do both
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  in football, basketball and now baseball.
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  I mean, he just got his 200th strikeout and now he's at 98
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  hits, so he needs two more for 100.
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  And I was talking to Coach Hunt recently, and he might be the
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  only person in program history to actually accomplish that.
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  We think maybe Sean Sasanko back in the early 2000s was close.
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  We don't have the exact number, but Charlie's the only one that
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  we can confirm would be the only one ever do that in our in our
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  program's history. And and we're talking about Ram
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  PO, which has a great baseball history, a great sports history.
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  I mean, if you just think about it, didn't he?
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  I remember him catching the last out of the state sectional final
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  when you were, you know, when he was a freshman starting first
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  baseball. Yeah, right.
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  Yeah, he, you know, he had the he had a big hit in the county
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  tournament where we upset Bosco. He led the ending off of Kate
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  and Dana, kind of got got the route, got the rally going.
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  And you know, his career at Ram PO is not short of unbelievable
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  moments between basketball, football and baseball.
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  It's you know, I keep saying he's a Unicorn.
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  You know, he's he doesn't come across as like that Chris Hogan,
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  that type athlete. But just as soon as you watch
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  him play, the athleticism is like, wow, a guy that big can
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  move like that and play like that.
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  It's it's impressive and it's been fun to be around.
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  Again, he competes it just at a tremendous level.
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  And the the other thing I love is that, you know, he's a big
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  dude and he goes out there against Burton Catholic, you
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  know, and if you've never seen him before, you think he's going
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  to go out and throw the ball through the backstop and then he
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  comes out, change up, change up, slider, curveball, curveball.
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  Nothing ever goes straight. You know, if you see 10
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  fastballs in the game, you, you know, so he, he works backwards
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  and it's totally opposite of, you know what his appearance
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  might suggest. Yeah.
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  No, he just has an. He has unbelievable.
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  Slew. Of off speed pitches.
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  He has confidence to throw him in any any account.
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  You know, he's been that way since the fresh he was a
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  freshman. He's a four year starter for us.
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  Actually his first varsity start was against the Carthage down in
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  Woodridge, you know, four years ago and we we rolled them out
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  there. It's his first time and I think
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  he may struck out 10 guys in his first appearance, but you know,
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  and he's just, he hasn't looked back, man.
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  He's just he's a competitor. He goes out there and gives you
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  everything he's got every time. Plays with a ton of emotion and
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  you know, he you know, the team, the team, the team wins.
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  You know, he's the person and graduate as teammates.
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  But you know, we, we, we lose a game.
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  He's put it on himself. And you know, I think that's the
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  other thing with him is like, you know, it's not fair.
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  He he puts so much on himself and he expects, you know, to
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  help get the team to win. And I think sometimes he's got
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  to understand, you know, you can't do it all, although he
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  has, but it's sometimes you just can't do it all.
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  That's crazy. All right, Joe.
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  First of all, Joe, how was the pizza?
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  I didn't. Well, I didn't get a freaking
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  chance to eat it again because as soon as I walked through the
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  door, you called me. But I thought you would have
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  been. I thought you were texting me to
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  say, hey, I never mind. I got Garrison on my own.
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  We'll just do the open and close, but I'll let you know
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  when it how the cold pizza is when we're done with this show.
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  But I do want to get Garson. Go ahead.
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  Yeah, Garson. I, I've never, I've never asked
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  this of a, of a coach in the county tournament before.
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  And, and I think I, I, I not really a, a big question or
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  anything, but what did you think of this?
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  What did you think of the seeds? Like what, what did you think
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  of, of, of where you were? We I know you know you were the
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  the committee put you at three. You know, if you could just give
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  me your feedback on on what you you thought when you saw the
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  seeds come out. You know what?
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  I. It's funny you asked.
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  That so this is the first year, Yeah.
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  Be honest. Yeah, no.
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  This is actually. The first year ever I was
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  actually, I'm I'm pretty close with Frank De Lorenzo at
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  Hackensack and he's always, you know, he makes me laugh because
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  he's always throwing the seeds out there.
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  Actually, what I think, you know where it's going to end up and
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  you know where he may end up, you know, if he gets in there
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  and. This is the first year I
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  actually went. Went back and I said, you know
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  what I'm going to list? I'm going to list the seeds out
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  every year actually. I do like.
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  I think it's like Easter Sunday. I usually just take like the top
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  20 to 30 teams in Bergen County is how crazy I am.
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  And I just write them down. I write what the records are and
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  just like kind of see where we're falling because with our
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  schedule, we're usually kind of fighting to get like, you know,
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  that top eight seed. We're fortunate enough this
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  year. We have to do that.
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  But you know, I think the seeds were were good.
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  I mean I I had passing values of 2 and oz of three.
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  I'm being completely honest, I thought I I have a lot of
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  respect for for. Will Lynch and his program and
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  I, I, I had them ahead of us. I, I know how good they are.
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  And you know, we lost to Bosco, so we can't be ahead of Bosco.
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  But I had us right in that, you know, that one through 4 range.
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  I'm the only team that that kind of shook me up that I was
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  surprised was Bergen. I thought Bergen was a top four
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  team, especially after sweeping DePaul.
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  And that was the one where I was like kind of like scratching my
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  head a little bit because then I looked at our side of the
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  bracket and I said, oh boy, this is heavy, heavy with Glen Rock
• 16:38
  PV Joes. There was there was some real
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  good teams on our side of the bracket.
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  I said as soon as you get to the.
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  Quarterfinals game, you're playing someone who you could
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  have played in the finals. Every round, every round.
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  So all. Right.
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  Well, you know, I'm MM and I were were were talking about
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  that. You know, because.
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  We were constantly going back and forth and you know, when
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  it's when it's all said and done, we, we just always want to
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  make sure that, you know, did we do the right job?
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  Like, and, and a lot of that has to do with and, you know, things
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  change and teams get hot and, you know, sometimes lower seeds
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  are are, you know, you know, come through.
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  But I think, you know, we, we were talking the other day and
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  you know, we got the 123 and the five in there.
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  So, you know, we, we were just kind of yeah.
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  And I said I was, I was going to ask you, you know, just going to
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  get a feel because there's there's nothing wrong with with
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  feeling. You know, if you, you came out
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  and said, you know what, I thought we got screwed.
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  We should have been the two or, you know, we thought this.
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  It's just I don't think we do it enough.
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  Like get some some coaches feedback.
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  I think a lot of times the night that the the seeds are over, we
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  get everybody's feedback about how pissed off they are.
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  But. I usually, no.
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  I usually get the I usually get the text from Garrison before
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  the meeting that says are we going to be the eight or the 9
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  this year? Not this year, pal.
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  You guys are having a great year and you know, Wingfield
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  obviously without without question is, is the is the topic
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  of conversation. But Garrison, go go over maybe
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  some, some, some other guys that that you have that have really
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  come out for you, maybe maybe on the offensive side of the ball,
• 18:18
  Yeah. Definitely.
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  So I mean our team, you know, we, we've, we've been fortunate
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  enough. We, we were hitting a lot.
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  We're I think we're hitting like 36365 as a team, scoring around
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  nine runs a game. So we're definitely putting the
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  ball in play. You know, some of the guys that
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  are leading us were at the plate.
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  The first guy stands out. It's actually a funny, it's Alex
• 18:36
  Belovich, our catcher, you know, I was talking to him today about
• 18:41
  and he's having a heck of a year.
• 18:42
  He's hit 400 and he has 35 RBI. So I said to him, I said bells
• 18:48
  like here's here's the crazy thing, you're you're going to
• 18:52
  have 35 RBI's and it might be a tough to get your first team all
• 18:56
  County with the season D'onofrio's having over.
• 18:59
  Yeah, literally going to say that to you like those two kids.
• 19:03
  Imagine that. Imagine that discussion like,
• 19:06
  you know, with the with the number that that kid Belovich
• 19:10
  is, is probably got first team all county numbers.
• 19:12
  And then you, you, you, you look to your left and and and there's
• 19:15
  the Dinosteo kid having a ridiculous season.
• 19:18
  But yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
• 19:22
  You're good. But yeah, no, we saw that.
• 19:24
  He's like, yeah, they're, they're one and two in the state
• 19:26
  and RBI. And that's pretty cool for
• 19:27
  Bergen County, you know? Absolutely.
• 19:30
  So then you know Brodie Barber is actually another one of our
• 19:33
  catchers. He splits time with Belvis at,
• 19:36
  you know, Texas like once a week is coming off of labrum surgery
• 19:39
  at the end of last year. Tough, tough kid.
• 19:41
  Actually played all year last year with with the torn labrum
• 19:45
  and he had he had 28 hits last year as a sophomore and can't
• 19:48
  he's come back this year. He's got 30 hits, he's hitting
• 19:50
  430. He's playing first base for us
• 19:52
  too. Just a hard nosed Kitty.
• 19:54
  He's think he had two hits against Bergen, put one off the
• 19:56
  fence. Yeah, he's, he's been good.
• 20:00
  For us, you have his brother Ty is playing shortstop and he's
• 20:04
  kind of emerged as a, as a really good pitcher for us.
• 20:07
  You know, Ty's someone who's going to light light up the
• 20:09
  radar. He's he's, he's low 90s, high
• 20:11
  80s type guy. He he started the game recently
• 20:15
  pitched great. And then you got guys like, I'm
• 20:19
  trying to forget people, you know?
• 20:20
  Liam Hayward has kind of come out of nowhere.
• 20:22
  He he's a tailback. On the football team, he's our,
• 20:26
  he's our center fielder. We started them last year
• 20:28
  because his defense was just so good.
• 20:31
  And you know, he wasn't, you know, he ended up hitting like 2
• 20:34
  something last year and he just kind of showed up on the scene
• 20:38
  this year and it's not looked back.
• 20:39
  He's hitting 420 hit a huge home run against Rutherford in the
• 20:44
  first round to give us the lead right with right after
• 20:46
  Rutherford tied it. So he's he's been great.
• 20:50
  Trying to think of some other guys been.
• 20:52
  Brandon Hajis has taken our left field spot, a junior and you
• 20:57
  know he's saying about I think he's in 380 for us and you know,
• 21:00
  he hasn't looked back. There's a lot of guys who just
• 21:03
  popped up. And then on the mound we've had
• 21:05
  Cody Herman is another one of our arms.
• 21:08
  He pitched against Rutherford and you know, he's got some
• 21:11
  Division One interest. He's another guy throwing around
• 21:14
  909192. Just incredible movement on his
• 21:17
  pitches. And then we had, you know, Danny
• 21:20
  Poppy plays third for us. He started as a sophomore last
• 21:23
  year at 30 hits and you know, this year he's having a good
• 21:26
  year both on the mound and at the plate.
• 21:29
  So, you know, there's a lot of guys contributing for us.
• 21:31
  There's some pictures that I definitely have been super
• 21:34
  helpful to come up big for us this year.
• 21:36
  You know, first is Steven Holy Stevens been, you know, our kind
• 21:39
  of our Saturday starter throughout the year, picking up
• 21:41
  those big games against those independents that we schedule.
• 21:44
  He's been great. He's had some, you know, 8-9
• 21:47
  strikeout performances in his start, so he's been awesome.
• 21:51
  Braden Resch also has been really good for us.
• 21:53
  Early on the season, he was alternating with Charlie kind of
• 21:57
  those, those two league games. He would take one and Charlie
• 21:59
  would take one. And now Braden's kind of moved
• 22:01
  to the bullpen a little bit. He's picking up, you know, like
• 22:03
  those longer, those longer relief appearances and getting
• 22:06
  big saves for us and, you know, helping us out there.
• 22:10
  Jake Scorpanos and Carson Strzeminski have also, you know,
• 22:13
  thrown a little bit out of the bullpen for us.
• 22:15
  Both have been real solid. Got strike throwers, guys who
• 22:18
  kind of go after you. So we're excited about them.
• 22:21
  And then, you know, at the plate there's one a couple other guys
• 22:24
  who haven't mentioned. You know, Jason Sansone is a
• 22:26
  senior that stepped up for us this year.
• 22:28
  He's played really well. You know, Jaden Amadeo has
• 22:32
  played some second base for us. You know, he's just coming off a
• 22:34
  shoulder injury. He was starting early on in the
• 22:37
  year. Alex Dominguez has given us some
• 22:39
  quality time in right field along with Julian Petita.
• 22:41
  And then also Ryan said, and Ryan said he's done a great job,
• 22:44
  you know, kind of as a defensive replacement spot starter for us.
• 22:47
  So, you know, he actually fielded the last out against
• 22:49
  Bergen the other day in midnight play.
• 22:51
  So, you know, we're excited about our our full team.
• 22:53
  You know, we're mostly juniors we start, you know, some days
• 22:55
  we'll start 7-8 juniors and Winfield.
• 22:58
  So we're excited about this year and next.
• 23:00
  Yeah, sure, sure is. Is Esposito still leading the
• 23:05
  county in eating Italian heroes before the before the game
• 23:08
  starts? He is Esposito is one-of-a-kind.
• 23:13
  I tried to get him to come on with me tonight.
• 23:15
  He said, you know, it might it might clash with the with his
• 23:18
  bedtime. So it so he he opted out.
• 23:22
  But he he's leading the county in a lot of categories.
• 23:27
  I promise you that. Funniest thing ever.
• 23:31
  Funniest thing ever. I really didn't actually Was the
• 23:33
  year with it was the year with the baseball pants, right?
• 23:36
  Yeah. So I think it was the week
• 23:39
  before when you guys were at Boston.
• 23:43
  I seen him get off the bench, get out, get off the bus and I
• 23:47
  think he had a chair in one hand and he had a white belly bag in
• 23:50
  the other. And he just.
• 23:52
  Sits down and starts eating a sandwich and I'm like that guy.
• 23:58
  Come. On it just struck me like I'm
• 24:07
  watching Ramapo, like all these guys are milling around.
• 24:10
  Like some guys are in the cage. You're just talking.
• 24:12
  And then there's this. He puts a chair in the middle of
• 24:17
  it and starts eating an Italian hero.
• 24:21
  He's such a good dude and he's like, he's so soft spoken after
• 24:25
  the Bergen Catholic game. I'm like of one of the other
• 24:27
  reporters that was there said, you know, who wants to talk?
• 24:29
  Like I've never seen that still move so fast.
• 24:31
  He's like, I ain't talking to anybody.
• 24:33
  I'm out of here. He did say that.
• 24:41
  I heard him say that. That was like a reporter who was
• 24:43
  like from out of the area. He's like, hey, coach, can I
• 24:45
  talk to him here? No, I don't do the talking.
• 24:51
  But you know what? He'll give you a nice handshake
• 24:53
  and a hug before he leaves. That's great, no doubt.
• 24:56
  That's great. We gotta hope.
• 24:58
  We gotta hope. We gotta hope the weather holds
• 25:00
  out this this week. That's that's for sure.
• 25:02
  We gotta hope the weather holds out all.
• 25:03
  Right let's talk quickly about this matchup with passing fellow
• 25:06
  first of all, this Bergen County baseball tournament.
• 25:08
  This is like my Shangri-La, you know what I mean?
• 25:10
  Like we do the football show, we do the basketball show, we do
• 25:14
  the baseball show, and all I do is wow, wow, wow, wow about the
• 25:19
  way things should be. This baseball tournament has
• 25:22
  been perfect because you've had enough quote UN quote upsets
• 25:27
  with the nice little stories of Paramus Catholic and Mahwah
• 25:30
  making runs. You had a lot of close games.
• 25:33
  Like, Gee, you were just saying, you guys, you know, you had a
• 25:35
  close game against Rutherford from the NJIC.
• 25:38
  You know, there have been numerous other ones.
• 25:41
  There have been great storylines.
• 25:43
  I feel like we have a plethora of top arms in Bergen County
• 25:47
  this year. Like, you know, it goes in
• 25:49
  cycles. And this happens to be one of
• 25:50
  the years where there's a lot of good pitching to go around.
• 25:53
  And Joe, I mean, you know, Garrison sitting there going,
• 25:55
  yeah, he throws 90, he throws 90.
• 25:57
  He throws, you know, and we even got him a start one game.
• 26:04
  So, but now as and then as we play out to now that there's
• 26:07
  four teams left, like you got the one, the two and the five
• 26:11
  you got a public school is guaranteed to be in the final.
• 26:14
  And even if Bosco, the top seed gets on through, you know, like
• 26:18
  they're the boogeyman in this. So everybody's gunning at it.
• 26:20
  I'm not saying that old pen can't beat them because I'm
• 26:22
  looking forward to that game too.
• 26:24
  But I think this is the perfect formula for the way Bergen
• 26:27
  County tournaments in any sport could ensure look hard to get
• 26:31
  there. But Gee, Ramapo, Pascack Valley,
• 26:34
  first game of the day, Demarest High School, The Empanada man,
• 26:39
  food truck in attendance, people lining the hill.
• 26:42
  How pumped? I mean, I'm fired up.
• 26:46
  It's it's I wouldn't want it any other way.
• 26:48
  You know, I guess the only other way would be to meet, you know,
• 26:51
  against Tim or Will in a final would be really cool.
• 26:54
  But you know, we play PV every year and every, and whoever, you
• 26:59
  know, at the end of the game, both Will and I shake hands and
• 27:01
  we say, all right, see you in a couple weeks.
• 27:04
  Because we know at some point we're going to end up seeing
• 27:06
  each other. Now they've, they've since gone
• 27:08
  down to group 2. But you know, we, we knew we'd
• 27:10
  see at some point in whether it's the counties or the states.
• 27:13
  And I mean, TV is the best man. I have a lot of respect for Will
• 27:18
  in this program. They do things the right way.
• 27:20
  I mean, I've already mentioned how good I think they are.
• 27:22
  I told you they they should have been the two ahead of us.
• 27:25
  And I mean, we played them two weeks ago.
• 27:28
  You know, we came out with the win.
• 27:29
  And you know, they just, they're relentless at the plate, man.
• 27:33
  They just keep hitting and hitting and hitting.
• 27:36
  So you got to do everything you can to, you know, try to
• 27:39
  minimize that. And you know you got to throw
• 27:40
  strikes, but you also got to play defence because those guys,
• 27:43
  not only do they hit the ball, they hit it incredibly.
• 27:45
  Hard they're. They're really good.
• 27:46
  And you know, I know, you know, they got, they have really good
• 27:49
  arms. I think we'll probably see JT
• 27:51
  and you know, we've seen him a couple times in the past and
• 27:53
  kids have studs. So, you know, I look forward to
• 27:56
  playing them. I look forward to, you know,
• 27:57
  going out there and playing against Will and those guys
• 27:59
  again and you know, best team, will, the best team win, you
• 28:02
  know? Joe, the research is Wingfield.
• 28:05
  They're what's the over under on fastballs thrown in that game.
• 28:09
  Yeah, I've only seen, I've only seen the, I saw Winfield throw
• 28:19
  last year in Ramsey in the county game.
• 28:24
  I I saw him and and I was, I was the same thing.
• 28:27
  Like I, you know, I'm looking at this kid and I'm like, he's
• 28:30
  going, he's going to throw the ball through the through the
• 28:32
  backstop and you know, he's got, he's got a hammer of, of a
• 28:36
  breaking ball. Uncle Shirley.
• 28:38
  I mean, it is, it is a, a hammer and, and the, the, the slider
• 28:43
  and he, he just, when you, you, you look at that kid and, and
• 28:48
  you're like, OK, he's not, you know, the way he mixes and he's,
• 28:52
  it's like you said, he's like he, he just, he can throw all of
• 28:56
  them for strikes. And, and then you go on the
• 28:58
  other side and, and you got Doriso who's, who's the same,
• 29:02
  you know, but it, it, he, he's a little softer, obviously
• 29:05
  velocity wise, but you know, it's, it's, it's all about
• 29:10
  timing and disrupting that timing.
• 29:12
  And you know, it's, it's, it's going to be a match up that,
• 29:16
  that I, I honestly, it's one of the better match ups that we've
• 29:21
  had in, in, in a while. I think it's definitely anybody
• 29:24
  that's a high school baseball fan of, of Bourbon County
• 29:27
  baseball fan that knows these two programs and have followed
• 29:30
  these two kids. You know, it's, it's going to be
• 29:33
  a, but it's going to be a great game.
• 29:35
  It really is two different types of two different styles of of
• 29:39
  pitching, Yeah. Defense is going to be the key,
• 29:42
  like G said for sure on the grass field, the tammers.
• 29:46
  All right, Joe, we let Garrison out of here.
• 29:48
  You got anything else? No, no, all good.
• 29:51
  I, I, you know, I, I'm sorry, I'm going to miss I'm going to
• 29:54
  miss that game, but I I hope to get there for the for the tail
• 29:58
  end of it maybe, but, you know, good luck, Garrett.
• 30:03
  What? Where you go?
• 30:05
  Yeah. My son be playing I I can't miss
• 30:08
  that the B. The BI GB IT for Joseph.
• 30:13
  In all honesty, if it was a regular season game, I, I don't
• 30:16
  think I'd miss my kids playing. So I no, this is no disrespect
• 30:20
  to the teams in the Bergen County tournament, but you know,
• 30:22
  they, they, they definitely come first.
• 30:24
  But no, it's, it's going to be a good one.
• 30:27
  I'm glad that, you know, the feel out there for the for me.
• 30:29
  I mean, we did get a lot of positive feedback about the
• 30:32
  tournament and, and about, you know, final four here.
• 30:35
  So it's it's going to be a good one And and good luck to you and
• 30:39
  give F all my best when you see him on on tomorrow.
• 30:42
  All right. Yeah, no doubt, man.
• 30:45
  I appreciate it. You know, good luck to your son
• 30:47
  this weekend. Thanks for having me on, guys.
• 30:50
  And I think just one last thing I forgot to say is I think we
• 30:54
  will. And I have played now since I've
• 30:56
  been the head me and actually been coaching.
• 30:58
  I think we've been like 6 years and we've played three times
• 31:01
  during the regular season and then three.
• 31:03
  This be our third time in the county and whoever won the
• 31:06
  regular season game lost in the county.
• 31:07
  So I'm a little. You know, hopefully break it.
• 31:12
  Hopefully we could break that. Oh my God.
• 31:15
  And she had to bring that stand up.
• 31:17
  Gee, now he's cursing and I got to go dig those out.
• 31:21
  I had to do it reverse myself. You know.
• 31:25
  That's it. Gee, for the half hour that
• 31:28
  everybody got to hear this conversation, I thank you, and
• 31:30
  for the half hour that nobody heard, I thank you as well.
• 31:33
  It was fun and you know me dude, I am pumped up for Saturday and
• 31:38
  I should be there sometime around second or third pitch.
• 31:41
  Looking forward to it. Thanks for coming.
• 31:42
  Awesome man guys. Thanks again.
• 31:43
  Enjoy the rest. Of the show.
• 31:45
  Talk to you, all right? You too.
• 31:46
  Thanks, Jake. All right, Joe, great stuff
• 31:48
  there with Garrison Ward, the head coach of Ramapo, and it's
• 31:53
  going to be some barn burning baseball this weekend on the
• 31:56
  Hill in the Home Office of Bergen County baseball at
• 31:59
  Northern Valley Regional Demarest High School.
• 32:02
  That wraps up that portion of this show, Joe.
• 32:05
  But now it's time for everybody's favorite segment.
• 32:09
  And I have a bone to pick with everybody who listens to this
• 32:12
  show and we had quite a few well into the last week.
• 32:18
  I have a bone to pick with each and everyone of you, except the
• 32:22
  ones that voted right in the North Jersey sports.com Twitter
• 32:25
  poll last weekend about the better first baseman they picked
• 32:28
  Albert Pool holes Joe over Eddie Murray.
• 32:30
  I think that was Eddie Ahern repeatedly voting.
• 32:35
  Too. And his kids.
• 32:37
  I, he just, I, I, I think that's what it was because I mean, I,
• 32:42
  I, like, I, I here's the the separating factor for me was
• 32:47
  that Eddie, Eddie Murray did it from both sides of the plate.
• 32:54
  Yes, and it was a different era. It was not.
• 32:57
  You can't compare numbers to numbers.
• 32:59
  I mean, Eddie Murray played in the baseball stadiums that had
• 33:02
  actual. Far outfield fences.
• 33:04
  Well, you saw the, you saw the numbers that that we were sent.
• 33:08
  Yeah. When when you know like and as
• 33:13
  if. Typical.
• 33:14
  I was wise. He's always got to be right.
• 33:16
  He's always got to prove his point.
• 33:17
  He's. Always got to yeah.
• 33:18
  And then and then and then, you know, as if it was like
• 33:21
  astronomically tilted in in in Pool Holtz's favor.
• 33:26
  Home run. Home runs.
• 33:28
  OK. He he probably I think there was
• 33:30
  like 100 and something more. Home runs.
• 33:32
  OK fine. But you want to talk about
• 33:36
  overall it's. And that's the beauty of it.
• 33:39
  It's everybody's opinion. I'll take Eddie Murray any day,
• 33:43
  any day, over over over anybody, and that's Eddie.
• 33:47
  Ahern, you're banned. You're banned.
• 33:49
  Oh, oh, oh. Speaking Speaking of Eddie
• 33:53
  Ahern, did he tell you the story about the seeds that got stolen
• 33:58
  by a Bergenfield fan at Don Bosco the other day?
• 34:03
  No, I didn't. Hear you oh, listen, listen to
• 34:06
  this. This is this is the craziness,
• 34:09
  right? So Eddie, Eddie is doing the
• 34:12
  field and I like I was out in the outfield watching the game.
• 34:16
  Eddie takes, you know, he had his bag or whatever and he has a
• 34:19
  bag of seats that he puts, you know, in in the bag and he
• 34:22
  leaves the bag like by the fence in dead ball area, right.
• 34:27
  So he goes goes back in, you know, innings over goes goes
• 34:33
  back in. I think the game, the game got
• 34:35
  delayed because you know, of weather.
• 34:37
  So Eddie was like walking off the field.
• 34:39
  I think I'm getting getting the timing of that right.
• 34:41
  He's walking off the field and the guy says to him, I don't
• 34:44
  like the BBQ man. So.
• 34:49
  So Eddie goes, Eddie goes, excuse me, like, what are you
• 34:53
  talking about? And so the long and short of it
• 34:56
  is like they're going back and forth and the guy's like, I
• 34:58
  don't like the BBQ man. And the guy goes.
• 35:00
  And Eddie, what it comes down to is Eddie's like, yo.
• 35:03
  Did you eat my seeds? So random man, so and he goes,
• 35:10
  are you telling me right now as a grown man, like you went into
• 35:14
  my bag and took my seeds and then complain that you don't
• 35:20
  like the BBQ? Who does that?
• 35:24
  Who does that? Like like a completely random
• 35:28
  guy goes into his bag and takes his seat.
• 35:31
  Example #1000 why high school sports are the greatest thing
• 35:35
  ever invented by. Me, Oh God, I and, and, and I
• 35:38
  didn't do the I like. I didn't do the story justice.
• 35:41
  Like Eddie told me that story. I was in my office.
• 35:44
  I literally had tears rolling out of my eyes laughing so hard.
• 35:48
  Well, he was a jerk and such such a manipulator of Twitter
• 35:52
  polls. I'd have him on to tell it, but
• 35:53
  forget. It yeah, he did.
• 35:54
  He he didn't manipulate the poll.
• 35:56
  There's no question about it. There's no question about it.
• 35:59
  All right, so get more. What do we got?
• 36:01
  All right, So what do we got? All right, So I think, I think
• 36:06
  we're going to go I, I think we're going to go catch her.
• 36:10
  We're going to go. Catch her.
• 36:11
  And I'm so glad you said that because I've been thinking about
• 36:14
  it. You know, I go on walks daily
• 36:17
  and I was thinking about the show today, this morning.
• 36:20
  What's the disclaimer out there? We, we, you never know what
• 36:23
  position I'm going to say and we never discussed this off the
• 36:27
  air. Correct.
• 36:28
  And I'm such a like Garrison said where he's like, you know,
• 36:31
  this is what kind of maniac I am.
• 36:32
  Well, this is what kind of maniac I am.
• 36:34
  I get my dog out on Interstate Park and I'm like, you know, if
• 36:37
  Joe hits me with catcher, who am I going to say?
• 36:39
  So again, my original disclaimer, I am a New York Mets
• 36:43
  fan, and Gary Carter was the catcher when the New York Mets
• 36:47
  won the only World Series that I have seen them win in my
• 36:49
  lifetime. So obviously, stats aside, he's
• 36:52
  my guy. But it's so hard to go against
• 36:58
  Joe Benito Santiago was. The game.
• 37:03
  Changer. The original game changer.
• 37:05
  Dude, He's the first guy I ever saw a throw from his knees as a
• 37:07
  catcher, remember? He he was the 1st.
• 37:10
  Member without the second base. And how cool was Benigno Benigno
• 37:13
  Santiago that he petitioned Major League Baseball to let him
• 37:17
  wear the number 01 he wanted to be #1 but the back strap on his
• 37:24
  chest protector covered the one, so he petitioned them to let him
• 37:27
  be 01. So the strap went down the
• 37:30
  middle and you could see the one.
• 37:32
  I'm going with Benito Santiago. He changed the game of baseball.
• 37:36
  You're, I I don't even have anything.
• 37:38
  I don't have a response for that.
• 37:39
  Benito Santiago, you. Don't have this report?
• 37:44
  Do you have? Santiago and and your, your
• 37:46
  reasoning is because come on. I thought that was a great
• 37:53
  story. I mean, better than somebody.
• 37:54
  Eddie. Eddie's.
• 37:55
  Barbecue I I had I had a few. I I had a few.
• 37:59
  I had a few, but again, you know, we're, we're going to go
• 38:03
  back and and we're going to go, you know, we're going to have a
• 38:06
  couple of guys in there that might be, you know, our lifetime
• 38:11
  early, very early in our or I think you got to go.
• 38:15
  I, I like, you know, Johnny Bench obviously is the as the
• 38:18
  older player in our lifetime. You got to like them, especially
• 38:23
  from the fun bunch from. The Then we got reporting
• 38:26
  television. You got to go, got to go with
• 38:30
  you can't leave Pudge Rodriguez off of there.
• 38:33
  Steroid user got to cancel them. Stop it.
• 38:37
  Stop and then and then I would have to say Gary Carr.
• 38:42
  Gary Carr. I mean, the obvious answer is
• 38:44
  Mike Piazza, the greatest hitting catcher of all time.
• 38:46
  But. No, no, no, no, no.
• 38:48
  He couldn't throw you out. He couldn't throw the garbage
• 38:51
  out. But but, but it's, I mean you,
• 38:54
  you think, you think Mike Piazza all over over Gary Carter.
• 38:59
  No, I that's what I said. Like I said, I mean, as a kid,
• 39:01
  Gary Carter was my he's my favorite player.
• 39:04
  He's my favorite met I. Mean What about Carlton Fitt?
• 39:07
  How about Carlton Fitt? One of the most iconic moments
• 39:10
  in the history of baseball with him.
• 39:12
  I mean, it was even in the movie Goodwill Hunting, one of the
• 39:15
  greatest movies ever made of Carlton Fisk, you know, pushing
• 39:18
  the ball, you know, trying to keep it fair.
• 39:20
  Fenway Park. Yeah, he he could be up there,
• 39:23
  too. But I I don't think any of them
• 39:24
  were as cool as Benio Santiago at all.
• 39:28
  And and you also have, I mean, if you're talking like
• 39:33
  defensively, I'll, I'll lean deep, heavily defensive is is
• 39:37
  you out of your Molina. Right.
• 39:40
  Killer, I learn you out of your. Molina.
• 39:43
  You know who I'm not mentioning? Jorge Posada Exactly, because I
• 39:51
  hate the Yankees and that guy. Season 11 Episode 7, I think I
• 40:00
  know you a little bit. That was a great one.
• 40:04
  But yeah, no, you know, you know what we should do honestly, we
• 40:07
  should have thought about this from the beginning instead of
• 40:10
  instead of us doing it that way, we should have taken like 4 and
• 40:15
  and done a poll every week and then and then see who the people
• 40:20
  agree, you know, see, see who the the the fans when they when
• 40:23
  they go on selected. But.
• 40:25
  Who cares? This is fun.
• 40:27
  It's fun all right, Joe. Well, you have fun at the BIT.
• 40:31
  I'll hold down the Fort at the. Burton, I'm going to FaceTime
• 40:33
  you. I'm going to, I'm going to
• 40:34
  FaceTime you. So you could broadcast it from
• 40:36
  the from the from from Woodridge the rack.
• 40:40
  Do it, Yes. Are you at the rack?
• 40:42
  Is the BIT being played at the rack.
• 40:44
  BITS at the BITS at the rack. All right, they got a nice
• 40:47
  consolation prize. Yep.
• 40:50
  Yep. Very nice.
• 40:52
  All right, we'll talk. All we got play to talk about
• 40:54
  next week. I'm talking baseball.
• 40:56
  Follow the leader.