Transcript

Astros Down Bad · The 3-0 Take

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Three O Take, where we talk
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all things Major League Baseball.
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Here's Kyle Corwin and Nate Reyes.
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It all starts right now. Welcome back to the three O take
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presented by Sea Kick. This is episode 426.
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I'll be your host Kyle Corwin and I'll be your only host Kyle
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Corwin because if you've been following the show for any
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amount of time, you will know that Nate is on his honeymoon
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officially. So it's just me.
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As I mentioned, I believe last last spot last episode hope to
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have Ryan on at some point this week.
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So keep an eye out for front of the show.
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Ryan Ripken, good good friend of the pods.
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So hope to like I said, hope to have him on maybe talk some talk
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some ball later this week. But in terms of Nate and myself,
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you're just getting me tonight. How we doing, baseball fans, how
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we doing, We are 2022. Depending upon where you're at
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with your specific team, we're about 22 games into the season.
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How we feeling? Are we?
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Are we? Overreacting.
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We're ready to throw in the towel, are we?
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Are we ready to call it a season?
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Are we ready to call it a season?
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Some teams, you might say it's a little early.
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Some teams you might say it's a little early.
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But I, I think there are some teams out there who are more
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than disappointed in the start they've had thus far.
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So we're going to get into that. We're going to talk, We're going
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to talk Astros right here off the top.
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We're going to talk White Sox. Little less surprised in there.
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But Astros, I don't know what's happening with the Astros.
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The. We're going to talk some Aaron
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Judge talk about getting booed in his his own ballpark.
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Are we? Are we for real New York talk
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some Red Sox pitching? How about that Jack Lighter's
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debut from the last last few days, Paul skiing still waiting
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in the wings. Mets officially dropped their
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city connect. So we're going to we're going to
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get into some stuff here. So appreciate you following
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along. Again, even if you even if you
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hop on here and you see that it's just me and and not me with
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Nate, I appreciate you stick along anyway or or stick along
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for the ride anyway. But let's talk Astros here.
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Let's talk Astros. What?
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What a start. And not in the good, not in the
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good way. I think it was 22 maybe two
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episodes ago. Where Nate and myself, we're
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talking about how or more so Nate talking about how a rebound
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for the Astros was just inevitable, he said.
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You know, for those that love kicking the Astros while they're
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down, for those that love watching the Astros fail
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miserably, just sit tight. A rebound is coming.
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Because this is what they always do.
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They they are currently 7 and 16.
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They've lost five of their past six and nine of their last
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twelve. They've lost four of their first
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seven series to start the season.
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Even with that said, even with that said, the Astros will most
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likely be in the ALCS because that's what happens.
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Don't look, hey, don't get upset with me, OK?
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Don't shoot the messenger here. Don't shoot the messenger, The
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Astros could, I'm convinced. And this isn't me.
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This isn't me trying to hype them up.
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This is just reality. The Astros, I'm convinced, could
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start O and 40 and still find a way to win out, to make it to
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the ALCS and more than likely find a way to sneak into the
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World Series because that's just what they do.
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So for those that are worried about the Astros start, it's
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understandable. It's understandable.
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I mean, usually, usually when we talk about the Astros bouncing
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back, it's not bouncing back from a a deficit this big right
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out of the gate. I mean 7 and 16, you're three
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and seven on the road. I mean, there's just nothing.
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There's nothing really, really going.
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I mean, aside from Altuve. Altuve is having a heck of a
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year thus far. Jordan, you know what you're
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going to get from Jordan. They got some good news with
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with JV making his return on Friday, made his made a season
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debut. So, you know, some good news.
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There, but that. Talk about that rotation, man,
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that rotation really the staff as a whole 29th in baseball and
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and team ERA. You want to know who that's
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better than the only team that that's better than the Colorado
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Rockies. That's that's kind of what we're
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dealing with here. That's that's where these
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Houston Astros are at. This is where the team that I
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just got done saying was more than likely end up in the ALCS
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after starting 7 and 16. That's where they're currently
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at right now. But to their credit, that goes
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to show you how well they're able to compartmentalize year
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after year. It seems they could start as
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poor as they are now and they'll still find a way to figure it
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out. They have, they have, I don't
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want to say reinforcements because it's it's not as though
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they're they're getting a leg up.
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The reinforcements that are are coming.
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Luis Garcia. There's there's a couple of
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other names that I'm blanking on right now that that are are on
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the way back, but they're going to get you back hopefully to
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status quo and status quo for the Astros is simply playing 500
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ball or better. And so with with hopefully the
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the rotation sort of figuring it out.
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I'm not going to say they're going to fix all their issues
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because 29th and baseball and team ERA again, I'll say is just
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horrendous. And so there, there's obviously
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a lot, a lot left to be desired there in that regard.
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But if they can at least get themselves back into, you know,
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middle of the pack, back into the conversation of having a
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half decent chance on the bump, you're going to you're going to
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be OK. Because I I think we know, I
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think we know that line, what that line up's capable of that
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that line up has some firepower. I tell you what I mean.
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You are Don. I've I I feel like I have to say
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it every time I bring his name up is a man amongst boys, but
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it's not even surprisingly it's it's Jose Altuve that's you
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could argue having the the better start to the season.
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Really. The whole.
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Team, but you're going to need guys like Alex Bregman to to
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kind of figure it out offensively, you're going to
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need, you're going to need Hunter Brown to to figure it
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out. I think they, I think the Astros
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were expecting him to be or or rather to provide a little bit
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more. Out of the gate for this team
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coming into 2024, I don't think they were they had Cy Young
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aspirations for him, but maybe a little bit more than what he's
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giving you thus far. I'm hope I'm I'm hopeful for his
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sake. Say what you will about the
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Astros and and all that obviously had.
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This, this, this guy had no connection to the 2017 Astros.
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So I think if you're a rational thinking baseball fan, you can
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compartmentalize and look at Hunter Brown as as just another
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player, Major League Baseball. There's no need to have any ill
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will towards him. But as I was saying, I hope for
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his sake that this start is not indicative of what he is going
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to evolve into. I don't think it is.
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I think there's, I think there's plenty in the tank, plenty,
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plenty potential. The ceiling I I think is, is
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much higher than what you're seeing right now, but I think
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they're just in AI think the Astros are just in a funk.
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I mean, they they certainly have the the title of my, my
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thumbnail is Houston has a problem.
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But in all reality, I I don't think they have a a problem as
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much as they have a. Funk that they need to they need
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to break out of because even. Even with the Astros losing a
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name or two year after year, they that you've seen it, they
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just plug and play. It's, it's, it's like the rays,
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but on a bigger market scale, I guess you could say the, the
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Astros just find, they find ways to fill gaps.
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And they not only they fill gaps, but they fill gaps with
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guys that fit in that organization, guys that, that
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latch on to the mission, the vision that they have, it seems.
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And they don't have guys that come in and try to buck the
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system. They have guys that just fall
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into line and produce and again, help get them to the ALCS bare
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minimum annually. So again, I, I, I don't think
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it's as much of a problem that the Astros have.
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It's just a really, really bad funk.
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And I'm not going to hit the panic button yet for Houston,
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but you're going to you've got a long way to climb to get back to
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500. You've dug yourself into a 7 and
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16 hole. So you got to, you got to reel
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off some good baseball and soon if you want to have a chance of
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continuing this run of dominance, I'll say dominance
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because obviously they've got the rings to show for it.
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But it's, it's more, it's, it's less about the rings to me and
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more about the the persistent threat that they proved to be.
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Year in and year out. And if if this is the hole
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you've dug yourself into, like I said, you've got a long way to,
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you've got a long way to go before you can re enter into
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that threat conversation. Because right now, I don't think
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too many teams are all that concerned if they look on the
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calendar and see that the Astros are coming to town.
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And that includes the Chicago Cubs, who you're going to play
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following this this series loss to the Nationals of all teams.
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The Nationals. I mean, at the very least you
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could have channeled some some sort of fake motivational
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narrative. Of.
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Looking for some sort of revenge from 2019 or something, Just
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something to get the gears turning and you couldn't even
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like that tells me that you're that you truly are into a
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although no disrespect to the Nats man, the Nats have been
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playing some some high quality baseball as of late.
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So no, no disrespect. To the Nationals.
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But at the end of the day, it's the Nationals, you're the
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Astros. That's a series you need to win.
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It's. To kind of put a bow on this,
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again, it's it's the pitching. You got to figure out a way to
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provide you more depth or provide yourself more depth,
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provide you higher quality innings because it's it's
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really, it's really on you at this point.
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The offense is not, they're not on a tear like they usually are,
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but they do have 96 runs scored. So they're manufacturing runs.
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It's not. That's not.
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At the top of the the league by any stretch 96, but it's it's
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enough to be winning ball games assuming the pitching is league
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average. But they're not, so that's why
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they're dropping these games. They got a -28 run differential.
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But like I said, I'm not, I'm not worried.
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I'm not stressed about this, this club.
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I know people are just foaming at their mouth at the thought of
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a potential downfall for the Astros in 2024, but I'm telling
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you, it's not coming and I will. I will.
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I'll be the first to put my hand up and correct myself and
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acknowledge my, my, my error if that ends up not being the case.
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But I'm telling you, the track record is there.
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It happens every year. This team figures out a way to
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make it happen. So I'm just until, until they,
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they, they prove otherwise, until they show otherwise, I'm
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not stressed about it. And yeah, we will see, but I
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think at the very least, I think the Astros can be glad they're
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not as bad as the Chicago White Sox.
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Talk about a terrible. Team.
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I want to know, I, I look, I want to know what there is more
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of Chicago White Sox wins or Chicago White Sox fans in the
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seats. Because I don't know if you saw
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that video of making its rounds or any, any handful of videos
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from this most recent series. There was legitimately I, I kid
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you not, I'm, I, I'm not trying to exaggerate here.
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Somebody can run the numbers for me.
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Somebody, somebody check the attendance data.
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I'm like 99% sure the the Chicago White Sox had fewer fans
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at their games this weekend. Than the Oakland A's have been
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averaging and we all know, we all know the situation with the
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Oakland A's and their attendance issues.
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But it was it honestly, my first thought when I saw how few
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people were in the stands is my mind immediately went to this is
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what it looks like when a team has like open practice.
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It's like the off, like, you know, they're like a day off or
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something and they're just getting some light working and
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hey, come, come into the ballpark, catch a practice.
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Or something, or like one of those, one of those, like side
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field days and spring training where, you know, you just have
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people kind of standing around just, you know, 'cause they're
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there and they got nothing else to do.
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It's honestly what this reminded me of.
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It was pitiful. The White Sox fret, fresh off a
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sweep to the Phillies. They've dropped to 3 and 18 on
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the season. Got a note here for you?
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They are 10th, the 10th team in history to drop eighteen of
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their first 21. Games and the first in two
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decades. This is the worst 24/24/21 game
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start in White Sox history. They have a -71 run
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differential. Who?
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Let's see, we mentioned earlier the Rockies, their next closest
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in line for worst run differential in all of baseball.
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You want to know what their run differential is?
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White Sox is -71 The Rockies, who we all know are terrible -47
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The White Sox -71 that's what we're dealing with.
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UConn men's basketball has won more games since Opening Day
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than the Chicago White Sox. Let that sink in.
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I'll say it again if you don't believe me or you can't wrap
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your head around it, the UConn men's basketball team has won
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more games since opening Day than the Chicago White Sox.
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That's the level of historic play that we're dealing with, or
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lack thereof, because they're not playing very well.
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They're not playing really at all.
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I'm surprised. I'm surprised these games don't
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qualify as forfeits because you're not seeing anything from
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the white. Sox, which is surprising.
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You can look, you can say what you want.
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I I know White Sox fans are, are feeling some type of way about
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their team right now. And there's probably many just
18:20
general baseball fans who have kind of checked in on the White
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Sox. You, you know, you're hearing
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how bad they're going. How bad can it really be?
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Oh wow, they're horrendous. I don't care.
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I don't care how bad the White Sox are supposed to be.
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The thing that I don't understand is that their lineup
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doesn't. To me at least, I may be way.
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Out of touch with how poor performers are on this are are
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in this lineup. To me, though, this lineup does
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not reflect this type of performance.
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It just, it just doesn't you look, you look at the names like
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for example, I'll pull up, I'll pull up their lineup from today
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and you tell me, you tell me that this is a lineup that is
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off to or, or is or is capable of pulling off this bad of a
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start. So they're line up today against
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the Phillies, they had Nikki Lopez leading off, Robbie
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Grossman hitting second, Eloy Jimenez hitting third, Gavin
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Sheets hitting fourth, Andrew Benintendi hitting fifth, Kevin
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Pillar hitting 6th. Leaning.
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Sosa hitting 7th, Lenyon, Lenyon Sosa, whatever it is, Braden
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Shoemake hitting eighth, Martin Maldonado.
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I understand that for example, like Martin Maldonado horrendous
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this year. I get that and as well as a
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handful of these other names, other names, but wouldn't you
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agree that like we've heard far worse line UPS?
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Before that's a very that's a very memeable thing like on
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Twitter, you know, like you, you think back to the worst days of
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your team's history. It like in recent years, like
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you think that like for you know, I, I can't think of any
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example off the top of my head, but if your team, if the if your
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favorite team was just terrible in like 2019, you go back, you
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find a random line up from a random Tuesday game in June and
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it's just a bunch of no names. This this line up isn't, isn't
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filled with a bunch of no names. That's what I don't understand.
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I don't understand why this line up is not capable of winning
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more than three games 20/21/22 games into the season.
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It doesn't make sense. It really doesn't.
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It's, they're just so, so bad, absolutely terrible.
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On average, the White Sox have been outscored by 3.38 runs per
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game in 2024. And and on top of that, they're
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going to Minnesota. They got Minnesota up next.
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And I think I read that they have the White Sox have
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Minnesota for like 7. Was it seven of their next 10 or
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something, which you may not be, You may hear that and go, well,
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what does that matter? Like, OK, So what if you're a
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team like the Twins, who unlike the White Sox, know that you're
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capable of, of, of being better than you are?
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Cause the Twins aren't, aren't doing too hot.
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I think they're like 7 and 13. I think if you're the Twins,
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you're talking about foaming at the mouth.
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You're foaming at the mouth when you see a team like the White
22:09
Sox queued up next in the schedule, knowing that you have
22:17
a real chance to get back on track.
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So if you're the White Sox, you kind of might be running into a
22:26
little bit of a buzz saw. Not that I think the Twins are,
22:31
are a buzz saw team, but given the situation, given the, the
22:35
scenarios that both teams are in right now, the White Sox, any
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team that go up against right now is going to kick a mother
22:41
down or at least do their do their best to.
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And then again, you've got the Twins who are off to a little
22:48
bit of a rocky start, needing A-Team like the White Sox to
22:51
come into town to right their ship.
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Not only do you have them coming in town, you've got them for
22:57
seven in your next 10. So I mean, I, I cannot imagine a
23:00
better scenario for the Twins. So, and because of that, I can
23:05
think of very few scenarios that would be worse for the White
23:08
Sox. I don't, I don't have much more
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to say on it. I, there was little to no
23:18
expectations for the White Sox coming into this year, But I I
23:21
just don't think we expected them to start this bad.
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You know, I mean, this is this is awful. 3 and 18.
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White Sox been around for a long time, their worst 21 game start
23:42
in history. And here's the worst part.
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It's about to get worse. It's about to get worse.
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Can it get worse for Aaron Judge?
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Let's talk. Aaron Judge.
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I don't. I don't know what to say.
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Getting booed at Yankee Stadium? I don't know how that happens.
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Aaron Judge, the captain, All rise.
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The face of the franchise, The American League home run king.
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What are we doing, Yankee fans? What are we doing?
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That's your that's supposed to be your guy.
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And, and please spare me on the whole, like we, we expect better
24:44
of our of our guys. I would understand if it was
24:50
Glaber Suarez that you're going after, but come on, what do you
24:55
do you really think this is the do you think this is the fix?
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Do you think this is the solution for Aaron Judge to get
25:01
him back on track? Now, look, I hear hear me when I
25:06
say this. I know I probably sound like a
25:09
little bit of a hypocrite because just last episode I got,
25:13
I went on a little bit of a rant talking about how I think that
25:17
the standing ovations have gotten out of hand.
25:25
I think they've gotten out of hand.
25:28
There's there's an obsession, it seems now with the second a guy
25:36
falls under like 250, it's like, well, we got to, we got to, we
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got to let him know we have his back.
25:45
April 30th, be there at the park we're going to.
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We're giving him a standing O to let him know he's not alone.
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It's like, what are we doing? The guy's hitting like 238.
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This happens. This happens all the time in
26:03
baseball. Why all of it?
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Why in the year 2024 is just becoming a thing?
26:06
Is it just because we saw what happened with Trey Turner?
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OK, I mean, I understand that. But we got to, we got to, we got
26:14
to recalibrate the threshold for what warrants a standing
26:17
ovation. But I got done saying all that
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to then turn around this episode and say, well, what are we doing
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booing the guy? You think that again, you might
26:33
think of a little bit of hit of a hypocrite here, but I think it
26:35
makes sense. I think you can find a happy
26:38
medium. I don't think everything
26:39
warrants booing the guy out of the stadium or on the the
26:46
opposite end of the spectrum, a standing ovation the second the
26:48
guy fall dips below like 275 at the plate.
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I think we can have a little bit of a happy medium now.
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Just a thought. I mean, is that is that
27:01
outlandish to say? I I think that's, I think that's
27:04
very reasonable. So with that said, I, I don't
27:09
understand the Aaron, the Aaron judge buoying like, you know,
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you know what this guy can do for you.
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You've seen him do it year in and year out.
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He went over for what was it Saturday?
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There's bobble head day of all day.
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I mean, come on, it's the guy's bobble head day and they're
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going to Boo him out of the stadium.
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I expect better from you. And that's, there's a lot coming
27:33
from me. But Yankee fans, I expected, I
27:35
expected more of you went over 4, four KS, saw 18 pitches and
27:40
swung and missed at 10. He said when they asked him
27:47
about it after the game, he said I'd probably be doing the same
27:50
thing in their situation. You know, that's an accountable
27:52
guy. I know I, I, I, I rag on Judge
27:56
as the resident Red Sox fan here on this podcast, but I mean, I
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think he, he's a big boy. I think he can, I think he can
28:04
handle it. That's not what I'm worried
28:06
about. It's not me questioning whether
28:08
this is going to mess with him mentally.
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It's more of just like a, it's more of about, it's more about
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the message that you're sending as a fan base.
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Like you don't think he, he realizes how bad he's, he's
28:20
doing. He's going right now.
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You don't think he realizes how bad things are at the plate?
28:27
Do you think booing him is somehow opening his eyes to
28:30
that? Because I've got some news for
28:34
you Yankee fans. These guys play baseball for a
28:39
living. Aaron Judge in particular plays
28:41
baseball for a living. It's literally his job to do
28:48
what he does. So my guess, this is just a
28:52
guess. I don't know the guy.
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I'm just guessing that he more than likely knows whether or not
29:02
he's doing a good job. That's just me.
29:10
And to Boo again, I, I can't stress this enough to Boo the
29:12
guy on his bobblehead day, that's, that's just downright
29:15
disrespectful, downright disrespectful.
29:18
But you know, the the early theme of this episode has been
29:21
looking ahead to the next series to see what that means for you
29:27
and for Aaron Judge. You've got a four-game series at
29:30
home against the Oakland A's coming up on deck starting
29:35
Monday, I believe. I think they play Monday through
29:37
Thursday. So you want to talk about best
29:41
case scenario, you've got the Oakland A's, you've got the
29:47
Sacramento A's of Las Vegas coming to town.
29:53
And if there was ever a time to find a groove, now's the time.
29:57
So Aaron Judge, I'm not going to sit here and say I got your back
30:02
because that would that would just be a downright lie.
30:05
But just know that I've seemingly am one of the the few
30:10
people out there that recognizes that you probably know that
30:14
you're not doing too well. I mean, based on your quotes
30:17
after the game, I think you very well understand.
30:22
And I think you know what needs to be done in order to correct
30:24
that. But it's a tell you what, man,
30:27
baseball's a hard game. Even if you know what you need
30:30
to fix, that doesn't necessarily equate to results.
30:35
You see guys slump all the time. You see guys identify what needs
30:41
to be fixed, whether mechanically or mentally.
30:44
And baseball's a funny way of saying we're not ready.
30:48
We're not ready yet to to let you get back into the swing of
30:50
things. We're going to let you hit some
30:52
balls hard, but they're going to be right at guys.
30:54
You're going to hit them right on the screws.
30:57
But it's not going to show up in the in the in the scorebook.
31:00
And it's possible that that may have to be the next stage of
31:04
this this little slump that the judges in.
31:08
But it he'll be fine. He'll be fine.
31:13
Of the of the items I've talked about thus far, two out of the
31:17
three I believe will be fine. The White Sox lost cause Astros,
31:23
they'll be all right. Aaron Judge will be all right.
31:26
I'm not worried about it. He it's just it's baseball.
31:30
At the end of the day, it's baseball.
31:34
On the flip side, saying in the American League East, a a bright
31:39
spot in the American League East, I'll add the Red Sox
31:43
pitching staff. Talk about a surprise we heard
31:50
all offseason. You probably heard from me if
31:54
you didn't look anywhere else for Red Sox news.
31:56
If you're not a Red Sox fan and the only Red Sox talk you get is
31:59
on this podcast, you probably heard me talk about how this
32:02
team was not built to compete, was not built to contend, and it
32:06
started with the question marks in the rotation and on the
32:11
pitching staff as a whole. I know it's a small sample size,
32:18
but I checked the numbers. The Boston Red Sox lead the
32:24
league with a 252 ERA, and that's led by none other than
32:33
Cutter Crawford, who is pitching absolutely lights out right now.
32:39
He he had an appearance this weekend against the Pirates.
32:43
Red Sox swept that series due in large part to Cutter Crawford's
32:48
efforts on the mound. He is his ERA is now sitting at
32:54
a 0.66. Tanner Houck is is sporting a
33:03
135. Brian Baio, who just signed an
33:08
extension fresh off an extension is the was the presumed #1 in
33:14
the rotation. Connor Crawford is looking like
33:16
the number one in the rotation right now.
33:19
But Brian Baio, who I believe I I also believe will be fine in
33:23
the in the theme of believing in people will be fine.
33:26
Brian Baio, you can add to that list for me and it's not it's
33:30
not even like he's throwing bad. He's got a three O 5 like what
33:34
is that's that's more than OK. And again, I know small, simple
33:38
size, but he's looked he's looked good.
33:40
He's looked good. And this this weekend he looked
33:43
great against the pirates. Who or have been down as of
33:48
late? They they're they're not they're
33:50
not doing all that well. I think they've lost six
33:52
straight. But you got Ryan Bay with a
33:58
three O 5. Garrett Whitlock at the time of
34:00
his injury, 196, at the time of hitting the shelf, 196.
34:05
Nick Pivetta at the time of hitting the shelf also had a
34:10
.82. And the bullpen's been
34:13
fantastic. Kenley Jansen's been, he's been
34:17
a little shaky. Statistically, he on paper, you
34:21
wouldn't know it, but if you watch is a little, little rocky.
34:26
And there have certainly been arms in the in the pen that have
34:29
looked shakier than others at times.
34:30
But collectively as a as a group, the, the staff looks
34:36
great. So I just wanted to not that we
34:38
got to belabour it because there's not much really to to go
34:43
on or to talk on beyond the, the road to the staff of the Sox
34:48
right now. I mean, they're, they're playing
34:49
all right. But just wanted to shed some
34:51
light on on a situation where you have a team, a facet of a
34:55
team that was not expected to be as good as they are right now.
34:59
And their rotation is pitching better than quite literally or
35:03
their staff, I should say, is pitching quite literally better
35:06
than the rest of the Staffs in baseball.
35:09
So just wanted to shed some light on that.
35:13
Jack Leiter talking about not pitching or or pitching not so
35:19
great made his debut on Friday. It was AI mentioned it last
35:24
episode. I was I was very much looking
35:25
forward to it. I was going to I was going to be
35:27
dialed in for it and I was and much to the frustration of
35:34
Nate's did not look great. If you recall, I was I was
35:39
trying to add him in fantasy, trying to pick him up as a, as a
35:43
free agency addition to the squad.
35:45
And as I was doing it, I get the notification that Nate, I was
35:49
literally about to hit the button and I get the
35:51
notification that Nate's had had made the addition of old Jack
35:56
Lider to his his squad. So missed out on Jack Lider, but
36:00
frankly, it kind of worked out, at least for this first start
36:04
did not look great. Allowed seven runs on eight hits
36:07
and three and 2/3. It was it's not great.
36:20
Command wasn't wasn't there. It's it's just it's a situation
36:30
that I think is getting more attention.
36:34
Not to say that eyeballs wouldn't be on Jack lighter for
36:36
his debut, but I think I think he's getting more attention and
36:40
is being talked about more because it's right in the middle
36:44
of all of this Jackson holiday, Paul Skeens and and the like of
36:50
of these young names that are are are coming up or or waiting
36:55
to come up and you wonder whether or not they're being
36:58
rushed or if their if their confidence is taking a hit
37:04
because of the timing or because of the expectation that's laid
37:07
on them right out of the gate. It's so it's it's unfortunate
37:13
for him. They they optioned him to AAA
37:18
after the game but or the next day.
37:22
But I again, this is not a situation in which I think
37:29
Rangers fans are going to have to worry or baseball fans.
37:32
If if you're just a Jack lighter fan, if if you were hoping that
37:35
maybe your team got him in the draft or whatever and you just
37:38
you just like him as a player, I don't think you have to worry.
37:41
I think this kids going to be all right.
37:43
I mean, he was showing he was showing you in in AAA that he
37:47
was capable of of blowing it past you.
37:50
I mean, 25 KS and 14 innings, he, he's shown you that he can,
37:57
he can do it against some of the, the, the world's best, at
38:04
least in the minor league level. But I think with time, I think
38:07
with, with some, some confidence building outings once he gets
38:12
called back up whenever that time comes, I, I think you can,
38:17
you can build off of what you learned in your debut.
38:20
You, you, you can set aside a little bit, not completely
38:24
because I think the nerves will still be there for a a good
38:28
while, but I think you can at least set aside the nerves of
38:32
that come with the debut. And you can, you can peel that
38:35
layer back and focus on. You can replace that layer with
38:40
something positive to focus on, whether it's, you know,
38:44
spotting, spotting a breaking pitch that, that you're, that
38:48
you're working with or whatever, whatever the case may be, you
38:50
know, so the, the, the mind, I would imagine in a situation
38:55
like that is only capable of, of processing it and focusing on so
38:59
many things. And if for Jack Leiter in his
39:02
debut, he's so focused on just calming his nerves, then as a
39:09
result, that's one less thing that you can really think about.
39:12
That's one less thing that you can divert energy to and
39:15
attention to when you're on the mound.
39:19
So hopefully when when that time comes, he gets called back up,
39:23
he can build off of this this first outing, get the confidence
39:28
built back up and that he can provide.
39:30
He can make a a big impact for this this team as as they
39:34
presumably make a run at at the postseason because this kid has
39:43
kids got some nasty stuff, man kid can blow up by it.
39:47
I mean the the power stuff is there for.
39:51
A a guy. That's really not all that big
39:53
in stature. He's he's got the juice.
39:56
And I think when he's, when he finally gets to a point in in
40:01
his early career where he's he's clicking, that's going to be
40:05
that's going to be appointment television.
40:07
So I'm I'm excited for him to to rebound from this, to get back
40:11
into the swing and and to really make an impact for for these
40:18
Rangers. A name already mentioned, Paul
40:21
Skeens. Still waiting, I think since the
40:25
last time you heard from us, he, he had his he made his fourth
40:30
consecutive scoreless start. Yeah, that was Thursday night,
40:35
so it would have been the night to, I guess the next day after
40:40
we recorded on Wednesday, 4th consecutive scoreless start to
40:45
begin the season. Look, he's building up his his
40:49
pitch count. The the issue I think with
40:52
baseball fans, specifically Pirates fans, is just a question
40:59
of how much is enough. Like how, what is the, what is
41:03
the end goal here? What are we trying to build him
41:05
up to? What are we trying to stretch
41:07
him out to? I understand that he, I mean,
41:10
he's he's coming off over 120 innings of, of work for LSU last
41:18
year. But with the Pirates, I just
41:26
don't I, I'll look, I'll give them this.
41:29
I know I was, I know I, I was quoted, I think it was last
41:33
episode of saying like, what more does this kid have to do?
41:36
Get him? Like just get the kid up there
41:37
already. I've thought more about it since
41:41
then. I would maybe walk it back a
41:43
little bit and acknowledging that there is an inherent
41:51
importance to protecting an arm as talented as as Paul Skeins.
41:55
But with that said though, if the only reason that you're
42:01
keeping him down there is to just stretch him out, my
42:08
question is why can't you? Why can't he do that with the
42:11
big club? Because you heard, whether or
42:15
not it was true or not, you heard from the Orioles that the
42:18
reason they wanted Jackson Holiday down in AAA was to get
42:22
some more looks at lefties. Just to to have a little bit
42:27
more of consistency in that aspect of his game.
42:31
He went down there, I think, I think we talked about it.
42:34
Was it the first AB that he saw once they sent him down off a
42:38
lefty was a bomb. He he proved that he was capable
42:43
over the however many a BS that he was, he was more than capable
42:46
of of making that adjustment. I don't I don't know if the
42:52
pirates are are expecting or or hoping that Paul skins addresses
42:58
or makes a tweak to something mechanically.
43:02
Or or. To his even his mental game, I
43:05
don't know, but if, if, if they're not, if they're, if
43:09
that's not part of the plan here.
43:11
And again, if the only element that they're focused on is
43:15
stretching them out, why not do that with the big club?
43:19
He went 65 pitches in his most recent outing, 65 pitches.
43:29
You you see that sort of outing a lot, especially with the the
43:32
ambiguity of starting pitching now the the lack of emphasis
43:42
placed on starting pitching now again to revisit the whole you
43:45
got the whole the the whole opener approach now you've got
43:51
the whole utilizing the pen much earlier into games approach now,
43:56
Sir. And it varies team by team.
43:59
But like 60 if for. Not that they would, but
44:06
hypothetically, let's just say that they wanted him to have a
44:09
pitch count of 25 or or 15 even. Something just asinine.
44:17
Then I go OK, like if we're if we're starting like at school,
44:21
absolute square one. OK, I get that.
44:29
But he's. He's putting up pitch counts now
44:32
again, his most recent was 65. That's you see, whether it's
44:38
from a starter who's just on a short leash or like a, a, a long
44:44
relief guy who who runs a runs out there for a spot start or
44:48
something to to give you a few innings right off the top 60.
44:53
You see 65 pitches all the time. So like, what are we, what are
44:57
we trying to stretch him out to? That's, that's my question.
45:00
And that's, that's why I don't understand because he's, he's
45:02
proven to you that he's, he's not struggling results wise.
45:09
I mean, he struck out. I saw, I, I read and, and jotted
45:12
down. He has struck out 57.4% of the
45:16
batters that he's faced. He's given up a total of five
45:19
hits and four walks and 12 and 2/3.
45:25
Small sample size, sure, but we've seen what, what he's
45:31
capable of. Even at this stage of his
45:33
career. I don't think there are many
45:36
question marks surrounding whether or not he he can hang.
45:38
I think he has this stuff and sure, it'll take some time to
45:41
Polish it up, but I, I, I mean, what young, what young kid
45:47
doesn't need a little bit of polishing up with a skill set
45:52
That's going to come with time, that's going to come with
45:53
audience, that's going to come with innings.
45:56
And if you're running them out there for 65 pitches, why not
46:01
just do it the big, the big club?
46:05
He's he's going to, he's going to make more of an impact at the
46:09
big club or with the big club then he is in Saint or with,
46:14
with AAA. I mean, I don't know.
46:23
Obviously I'm not a front office executive.
46:25
I'm not a scout. So I'm, I'm just going off of
46:29
what the what the eye can see. And I think a lot of other
46:33
people would agree that the stuff is there.
46:39
The pitch count is, is getting there.
46:43
I understand you again, I I get you want to protect him, but
46:47
even he said like the the frustration's there man.
46:50
He he said that he wasn't happy about being removed from the
46:55
from the game. His his most recent outing.
46:58
I call me crazy. I like a guy like that that's
47:01
going to, I mean, I don't like a guy that's going to go out there
47:05
and and, and, and badmouth the the.
47:11
The. Club or the the front office or
47:13
whatever publicly at least, like you can have those feelings
47:16
privately, sure, whatever. But I like a guy that's
47:21
frustrated that he's not. I don't, I don't know Skeens,
47:25
but I'm guessing that frustration stems from wanting
47:28
to compete, wanting to make an immediate impact, wanting to
47:31
help the team that drafted him. I just, when I when I look at
47:38
Paul Skeens, I see a guy that's just hungry.
47:43
To just shove. It one through 9 shove blow it
47:51
by you one through 9 and when you're when you're when you're
47:57
trying to play it safe when you're trying to protect them,
47:59
which again I. Get it's it's it just leads to.
48:04
Frustration for all involved. You know, it's you got Pirates
48:10
fans even more so you got fans across baseball that want to see
48:14
this kid deal. And I think another, I think
48:21
another area where the frustration comes into play is
48:24
that the Pirates have don't have the best track record of
48:31
developing or managing their talent OR their assets.
48:38
So when you're when you're trying to convince us that
48:40
there's a a line of reasoning involved in this decision making
48:47
to keep him down when he's just dicing and giving you, he's
48:54
giving you pitch count, pitch counts at this point that could
48:58
catch could eat up at least a handful of innings and not just
49:03
eat up innings, but presumably keep you in ball games.
49:08
When you're trying to tell us that there's a reason for that.
49:10
Understand Pittsburgh Pirates front office when we're a little
49:15
hesitant to take you at your word because you don't have the
49:18
best track record of handling young talent such as this or
49:25
developing it, as I said. So All in all, it's it's tough
49:29
man. You, we want to see this kid
49:30
come up, but it's it's a weird time in baseball right now where
49:34
you got some very popular. Hot button.
49:39
Key names, key players, young players that are are hovering,
49:46
they're either up or they're waiting to be called up and.
49:52
Each. Case is different.
49:53
You can't look at them all the same.
49:55
You can't you can't brush them with the same stroke.
49:59
It's there's different circumstances surrounding each
50:03
guy, but I think the one that's most glaring right now, aside
50:08
from Jackson Holiday's struggles at the plate, I think the one
50:13
that's most glaring is the fact that you got a guy in Paul Skins
50:16
that's just hanging out in AAA right now when he very well
50:22
could be contributing to the parent club.
50:24
So hopefully soon, but time will tell the Med City connects.
50:33
Can we talk about these real quick?
50:35
I know we I know we got into it a little bit.
50:38
Was it last episode after the leak had had dropped?
50:44
And as it's worth noting, now that the jerseys are official, I
50:50
think the, the, the, the street continues.
50:55
I don't think we've had a city connect leak that did not end up
50:59
being the official city connect. So we saw the leak came out, we
51:04
talked about it, we kind of broke down our thoughts.
51:06
But officially now the I don't know, what do you even call
51:11
these man? Like the like, you know, for the
51:15
Red Sox, they're like the, the marathon jerseys or, or like the
51:24
the White Sox, the South Side jerseys or, or what?
51:28
Like fill in the blank. But with the.
51:32
Like, are these like the, are they the concrete unis?
51:35
Like what are we calling these for the Mets?
51:37
I don't know. I, I'm not, I'll say this, I'm
51:40
not inspired by them. I know their whole thing was
51:44
like, really? And as you can see across the
51:45
chest, their whole thing was like pushing the, the New York
51:50
City theme. A lot of people were saying,
51:54
which to be fair, I was one of these people until I saw
51:57
somebody make the, the correction.
51:59
I'm like, Oh yeah, that's a good point.
52:01
I saw a lot of people, presumably Mets fans talking
52:04
about like, why why didn't they take the Queens angle?
52:07
You know, like, why? Why try to compete with the
52:10
Yankees? Go with something that's true to
52:12
you and like who like true to who you are as a franchise, Why
52:15
not go with the Queens? And I was like, that's why not.
52:19
That's such a slam dunk. Like they they could have done
52:21
so much with Queens. But then somebody's like, well,
52:23
they're called city connects. They're not called borough
52:25
connects. So I'm like, that's that's fair.
52:27
Yeah. I mean, city is New York.
52:30
I get it. So with that said, though, I'm
52:34
just, I said it, I think I said it last episode, man, I'm just
52:38
I'm I'm just out on the concept altogether and I don't want to
52:41
spend a bunch of time talking about it.
52:42
There's no need to. But I this is just yet another
52:48
example where I think they they kind of reverse engineered it
52:52
and that's that's more a conspiracy than anything or
52:54
that's just like a personal belief.
52:56
There's there's no evidence to say that they actually just
52:59
design A uniform and then connect the dots backwards like,
53:02
OK, how can we connect this to the city?
53:04
That's just what I think happens because it's, it's based on what
53:08
we see in the product that comes out.
53:13
But you know, the the Gray whatever somebody made another
53:23
good point. Like it's weird that you can be
53:25
wearing Gray at home. Just just a kind of a baseball
53:28
sin. It's just kind of strange.
53:30
I think they did salvage them a little bit by going with the opt
53:33
in for the white uniform pants. I think they maybe looked around
53:37
the league and saves saved themselves the headache of
53:42
switching like the was it the Rockies originally started with
53:48
colored pants. They switched to white.
53:50
The Dodgers switched from their blue pants to white.
53:58
I think there was even one other club that made the switch
54:01
because it they just didn't like the colored pants.
54:04
So I think the Mets probably initially were like, oh, let's
54:07
just go all Gray. And they're like, now that's
54:08
weird. Let's go with white because it
54:11
actually looks like a baseball uniform.
54:15
You know, the the purple is interesting.
54:18
I I get the whole seven line subway thing, like I get it.
54:22
I think it's cool. I think the hats suck.
54:25
I mean they're just not they're just not good.
54:30
The font on the front NYCI think it's I think it's that's not
54:34
bad. It's kind of kind of boring in
54:38
my books, but you know who what is my opinion to anyone, but
54:47
it's not the worst I've seen. But it's not worth all the hype
54:51
that it was getting from a a corner of Mets Twitter.
54:56
Must be some pretty die hard Mets fans if they're if they're
54:59
trying to hype this up. I don't, I don't know if I I
55:03
just don't see it. I don't think it's worth talking
55:05
about. So I'm not going to talk about
55:07
it anymore. Honestly, that that about does
55:11
it. That was just there's just some
55:13
handful of main items that I wanted to talk on there.
55:16
A lot's happened. That was a good weekend of
55:17
baseball, as I would say, depending upon who you're a fan
55:21
of. But generally speaking, it was a
55:22
it was a good, good week of a good weekend of baseball.
55:26
Looking forward to another another fresh week.
55:29
Closing the book, Travis Darno shout out Travis Darno 4 bombs
55:34
in two games including I believe a Grand Slam.
55:38
I think I saw one of those was a Grand Slam in his three homework
55:41
game. I think like 99% sure.
55:45
If I'm wrong I apologize. Pretty sure it was a Grand Slam.
55:49
Holding it down. Look while Sean and Sean
55:51
Murphy's absence. Sean Murphy's on the shelf not
55:55
making great progress in his return to the diamond a little
56:00
bit slower than I think the the team and and that fan base
56:03
anticipated or hoped for. So it's good that he's holding
56:06
it down in his absence and John Sterling with his with his
56:14
abrupt retirement ceremony at Yankee Stadium this weekend.
56:18
It was a topic of discussion the gift that he received.
56:22
I don't know if you've, if you've seen this, but his
56:27
retirement gift, they, they walked out like I think it was
56:31
an 83 inch TV and I think that he said he already has like 5
56:38
TV's in his apartment or home or wherever he lives.
56:46
And it wasn't until I was looking at, I was just scrolling
56:48
through Twitter before I hopped on and somebody, somebody made
56:51
the point they which I didn't even notice this when I saw it
56:56
the first time. They didn't even bother to put
56:58
like a bow on it a rapid or I don't even know if they put his
57:02
name on it. It was literally as though I
57:06
saw, I saw somebody tweeted, they said this honestly makes me
57:12
think that they they told Glaber Torres to take the team credit
57:15
card run to Best Buy and just get what you could find.
57:18
That's honestly what it made me think of.
57:22
I mean, the whole I, I get it. It was it was short, it was
57:26
abrupt. This whole announcement of John
57:27
Sterling calling it quits from the Yankees booth.
57:30
But I mean, come on, maybe a little bit more than a an 83
57:39
inch TVI mean, I would love an 83 inch TV, don't get me wrong,
57:42
but it's the New York Yankees. I think you can swing.
57:48
I mean, what what is that TV running?
57:49
Probably like? I mean, worst case, like 5K I I
57:58
don't know much about TV's, but I can't imagine an 83 inch TV
58:01
being more than five like a a top of the line 83 inch TVI
58:04
can't imagine that being more than like 5000.
58:07
Right? Am I like way off of my estimate
58:10
there? You're the New York Yankees.
58:15
This guy's been with your with the club for years, for decades,
58:22
and all you can swing him is like an unwrapped, UN bow tied
58:26
TV. I don't know.
58:28
I just think it's I think it's a little weird, That's all.
58:30
I'm not. I'm not trying to complain on on
58:33
sterling's behalf. I just thought it was weird.
58:35
Like I get it with short notice, but I just thought they would
58:37
have had. I just thought they would have
58:40
done something a little nicer for him.
58:42
That's all. But anyway, that's all we got.
58:47
That's all I got. There's no we just me today.
58:51
Hope to have Ryan on sometime soon.
58:53
I won't make that promise. I won't, I won't put him on the
58:55
spot. But in the meantime, for those
59:01
unaware, I was on the Bridge to Buck Sober podcast mere hours
59:08
before this recording of episode 426, talking Pirates Red Sox
59:15
from the from the weekend. If you even if you're not a
59:18
Pirates fan, if you're not a Red Sox fan, you're not interested
59:21
in the topics of conversation on there, we do talk.
59:25
We talked O'Neill Cruz on there. We talked Paul Skeens.
59:32
We, we even there's even a mention of of Rob Manfred
59:36
conspiracy talk on there in terms of what's what's going
59:41
around or what's going on around the league in terms of
59:45
scorekeeping with hits and errors, a little bit of
59:48
everything in there. So feel free to check that out.
59:51
I'm not I'm not entirely sure when it'll drop.
59:53
I would imagine within the next 24 hours, but go check out yours
1:00:00
truly, his appearance on that podcast bridge to Buck Tober.
1:00:05
And that should do it for me. You'll going back to what I
1:00:13
said, wrap it up. I don't want to make the promise
1:00:16
of having Ryan on, hoping to get him on sometime this week.
1:00:19
Or maybe even to start next week, depending upon what our
1:00:24
what our needs are for the podcast.
1:00:26
I'm not sure when we're going to get Nate back officially, but I
1:00:29
think he'll be back by the end of next week.
1:00:32
So like I said, may have run on may not.
1:00:35
You may just be stuck with me. We'll see.
1:00:38
But other than that, that's all I got.
1:00:41
Subscribe, please subscribe to us on YouTube.
1:00:44
To reiterate, we're trying to reach 2000 by the end of the
1:00:47
year. We're coming up on 1K and we're
1:00:50
moving along. We're moving along nicely
1:00:52
putting up getting a lot of content out up on that.
1:00:55
So it would greatly appreciate if you could show us some love
1:00:58
there. We say it every time, even if
1:01:00
you don't watch us on YouTube or you just not active on YouTube,
1:01:04
but you have an account or something, just hit us with a
1:01:06
subscribe it. It helps us greatly and we
1:01:10
really appreciate your all support.
1:01:12
We appreciate you listening. We always say it baseball it's
1:01:18
it's a long season and we are grateful for you all hopping on
1:01:24
board with us for the entirety of the year and beyond.
1:01:28
So with that, on behalf of Nate's and myself, we thank you
1:01:33
guys for listening. Nate would tell you don't go
1:01:37
chasing curveballs. But as always, we love you all
1:01:40
and as always, looking forward to talking more baseball with.
1:01:42
You guys soon stay filthy.