Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Matt Snyder on MLB, Sloan Piva talks NBA Playoffs & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

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Matt Snyder on MLB, Sloan Piva talks NBA Playoffs & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

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Our number 2 Millary Condon, welcome back.
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We can talk sports with you starting off with some baseball.
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Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com. He will join us momentarily.
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Sloan Paiva covers the NBA and sports gambling for The Sporting
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News. Sloan will join us about 1:30
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play in games tonight. They get underway as the winter
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sports begin their postseason. NBA this week, NHL starting on
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Saturday. Let's talk baseball as we do
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each and every week. Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com, he
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is here. Hello, Matt, Trenton, Ken, how
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are you? I'm great.
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How are you guys? OK, OK.
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Trent's doing better than my me. He's a Twins fan, as you know,
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I'm a Blue Jays fan. His team's doing a lot more and
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showing a lot more promise than they got Forsaken squad.
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I root for red hot. The red hot.
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Why don't you start TC well? It's fun because I had, as you
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know, Matt, no expectations. It wasn't even.
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All right. Well, it's spraying here and can
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you? I couldn't talk myself into it.
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I just couldn't. And Speaking of the Blue Jays,
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they get the first playoff series win in 20 years three
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years ago. And then the tear down began and
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the frustrations that came out of that look like finally the
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team was going to be sold. Then that didn't happen.
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Just one step after another. The frustration continue to
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build. But here they are swinging the
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bats incredibly well. A starting rotation that a
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minimum is good and could be maybe even better than that.
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And think if they had Pablo Lopez to go along with it.
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But this team, I don't think it's sustainable, but a glimmer
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of hope at minimum. Your thoughts on the Twins and
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the way that they're swinging it and beating Trey Schuble,
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Framber Valdez and then last night against Crochet?
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Man, just absolutely pounding the ball and it's not, as you
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said, like it's not against a bunch of scrubs or anything.
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Like they just, they hung up, what, 11 runs on Garrett
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Crochet? Are you kidding me?
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They had six off fromber Valdez last week in the first inning.
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It's unbelievable. No, I agree with you.
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I don't think it's sustainable. But you know what, who cares?
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Maybe it is. You know what it is.
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I will say also, it's a funny thing what expectations can do.
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I was having this conversation with a group of friends, former
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colleagues, some current colleagues, last night.
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We had like a Yankees fan, me, a Cubs fan, a Cardinal fan and
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Nationals fan in there. Or like, it's funny that the
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Yankees fans and the Cubs fan are miserable.
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Meanwhile, the Cardinals fan, the National fans are happy, and
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their records are very, very similar.
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It's just the lack of expectations versus the weight
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of expectations. You know, And the Twins are
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playing really, really well right now with a total lack of
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expectations. And, you know, the AL Central,
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it might end up being wide open. Like the Royals don't seem very
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good right now. Tigers have had their struggles.
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The White Sox aren't ready yet. And the Guardians, I don't think
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they're as good as they've looked so far.
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I mean, they do that all the time.
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But really, I mean, you never know, man.
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That's a good point. I will when it comes to the
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Royals, I, I go back to the weekend that the catch that
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Bobby Witt made parallel to the ground heading toward the to the
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right field, the left field foul pole rather good God, he is so
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talented. I'm glad on one hand, if he
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played in a bigger market, everybody would know about him.
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I, I know the World Baseball Classic helped as far as right
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absolutely was. He's just such a damn good
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player. He doesn't.
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I mean, I guess every player has some like small weaknesses, but
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he's one of those guys where there's not really a void
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anywhere. Like he's one of the fastest
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players in baseball. I think at some point he
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actually had the fastest sprintstein Sprint speed in
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baseball. He's won a batting title.
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He's he's stolen 49 bases in the season before.
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He's hit over 30 home runs before.
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He had 11 triples twice. He's had over 45 double S twice.
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He's led the league in hits twice.
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I mean, he's an amazing defender.
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He doesn't make mistakes on the bases.
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Like get out of here. He's good at everything, right?
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Yeah, absolutely. Well, we mentioned the Twins
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swinging the bat at a high level over in the National League, a
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team that they played in the 91 World Series.
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And yes, Ken Herbeck just ate it, Ron Gant.
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But his momentum was going forward in that one.
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The Atlanta Braves, they're swinging it well, maybe
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healthier than certainly what we've seen the last couple of
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seasons. The Braves are good.
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They're talented. We always knew talent wasn't a
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problem. Can they stay upright throughout
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the course of the season? And do you consider them a real
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contender to get to a World Series?
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Yes, the short answer is yes. Well, I mean, I think so many of
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us thought the offense is definitely going to bounce back.
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There's no question about that. Like Austin Riley still wasn't
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really hitting, but it seemed like Austin Riley, Ozzy Alde's,
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Michael Harris, the second we're all going to be a lot better
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than last year. You're going to get a full
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season of Ronald the Kookie junior.
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That should help bring up somebody like Matt Olson as
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well, because when everybody around you is hitting, it just
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means the pitches are a little better.
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There's a lot more guys on base to drive home.
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And then you had Drake Baldwin, now in his second year, and he
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looks the part again. So the offense wasn't really
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going to be a question. But then he looked at the
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rotation and it was decimated with injuries.
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And Chris Sales, 37 years old, and it's like just him with the
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Spencer's prior and specialist swelling back injuries.
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But the rotation has actually been great.
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Bryce Elder, very, very good. Rinaldo Lopez looking like he
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did a couple of years ago. Grant Holmes, very good.
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So it looks like, you know as let's see how Spriter looks when
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he comes. Back, but which is close, right?
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Yeah, yeah. It is, it's a within the next
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couple weeks. So I I definitely think the
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offense is here to stay. I still think you're going to
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see more from Austin Riley. You're still going to see more
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from Ronald Lacuni Junior and and the bullpen is good and we
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knew that that was going to be the case with Iglesias and
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Robert Suarez back there. But like with the starting
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pitching that they've gotten depth wise behind Sale, that's a
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big, big bonus. You mentioned Swellenbach, is he
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done for the year or do they hope to get him back?
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I know he's on the 60 day IL, do you have any?
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Idea he he had. Was a bone chips Bone chips in
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his elbow. I don't know.
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No, I don't know. Then when was that?
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That was in. February I think.
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In February, huh? Yeah, I don't know that.
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That seems like just off the top of my head something where he
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could come back late in the season, baby.
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Yeah, but I don't, I don't know that for sure.
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Gotcha. Let's talk about the Cardinals
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for a second and just to what the, the season or the start
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that this team is having to the year.
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And in particular, I want to talk about Walker, who's
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finally, I don't know. I mean, he had a he burst under
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the scene, had a great rookie year.
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And then Jordan Walker's numbers just plummeted.
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He I know he was hurt. He missed a lot of games, but
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he's off to a torrid start right now.
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I think he's leading the majors with eight home runs.
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Oh, yeah. Is, is this sustainable?
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And wonder what he has done to kind of put it together because
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this is who the Cardinals thought that they were going to
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be able to, if not build the franchise around, certainly be a
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cornerstone, you know, for a for a decade or so.
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Yeah, it was the first rounder out of high school.
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He made the majors at age 21. He hit 16 homers that year, and
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it just couldn't keep up. You know, there there's always,
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I've said it with Tigers shortstop Kevin Mcgonagall, like
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teams are going to adjust. So then the player has to adjust
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to the adjustments. And it seemed like Walker needed
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a few years before he started to adjust now.
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But like age 24, still plenty young to where he can hit that
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ceiling that everybody saw a few years ago.
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Sustainable. I think it's I think he could
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sustain being a marquee middle order hitter.
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Yes, absolutely. And sustained plugging 767-ON
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pace for 81 home runs. Absolutely not.
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But this is like, guys get hot and we know that and it's only
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been two and a 2 1/2 weeks or so.
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Yes, I I think he's legitimately looks like a 40 home run type
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player that the Cardinals have on their hands here.
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And that's the thing when when you look at not necessarily a
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radical rebuild or anything like that, but the way that the
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Cardinals have gone and the retooling and the ditching as
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many veterans as they can. These are the type of successes
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that you look for in a season. And that's something that you
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get like, let's see what JJ Weatherholt looks all season.
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It looks like between Weatherholt and Walker, in
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addition to a Mason win, I've got 3 cornerstone type players
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right there and none of them have been turned 25.
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I got my attention Sunday night and saw a couple of the counting
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stats early in the season. That's the rookie for the
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Guardians, Chase De Lauder. He's he's the real deal.
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I mean, couple of hits against the Braves on Sunday night, 24
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years old. Was he an Uber prospect or just
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a good prospect? You know, I saw he's 24.
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Yeah. I saw some lists that like he
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was a top 50 guy, something like that.
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He's got five home runs already this season.
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He's the first week. Yeah, he's he's been great.
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What do you know about about him?
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And we've talked a lot about sustainability, just how good he
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can. Be yeah, well, he was a first
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rounder at a James Madison. How about that?
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Looks like in terms of the prospect rankings around top 30
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ish Baseball America 29th, MLB.com 31st baseball prospects
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is 31st, so hovering around top 30.
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So pretty big, but not like a top ten, top five guy.
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He's legit all around hitter. He's gonna take his walks, he's
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gonna hit for power. So he's a, he's an OPS guy.
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He doesn't strike out a ton. So you're looking at a very
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well-rounded hitter who in college he walked more than he
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struck out, for example. So you've got a polished
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well-rounded hitter who knows the strikes on well.
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And those are guys nobody's slump proof, but those are the
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closest guys. That being slump proof are the
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guys that have such a good grasp of the strike zone and and will
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walk almost just as much as they strike out.
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I want to talk about the Dodgers and not one of the big names,
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one of the one of the guys who all I'll never forget Paul has
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catching game seven against Ernie Clementis and I thought
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the game was over a couple of times was one of them.
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But he's the lowest paid Dodger and he's leading the team in
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batting average, RBIOPB and and and overall hits.
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The lowest paid Dodger is bringing the most return and
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putting up the best stats of anybody so far on the Los
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Angeles Dodgers. That's pretty good return on
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your investment. Yeah, I would say so.
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So the thing about the Dodgers is I think die hard baseball
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fans know this, but a lot of casual fans, they just think,
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oh, they just outspend everybody and that's why they're good.
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That's ridiculous. They are amazing at player
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development. They're amazing at getting guys
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off the scrap heap. You go back to like Chris Taylor
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about a decade ago, Max Muncie, they got for basically nothing.
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And then Andy Pahes is a good example of their machine that
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that is player development. And we've seen them turn out
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players like Corey Seeger when he came up, Will Smith when he
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came up. Now you see Dalton rushing
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behind the plate with unbelievable numbers as their
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next catcher after Will Smith. They've already got that lined
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up. They are so good at player
11:26
development. And Pai Hayes is is just another
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example in a long line of them. And I remember coming into the
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year, I, I said a lot of times on on CBS Sports HQ on video,
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like people forget Andy Pai is at 27 home runs last year.
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You're talking about him hitting in the. 8 hole or the nine
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holes? That's how loaded they are.
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And now, right now, now, he leads the majors in WAR.
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He's hitting 4/17 at 20 RBI. Holy cow, man A.
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Little bit different than what we were used to back in the day
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with like Rafael Belliard, you know, Batten in the 8 or night
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hole for a change yes, just a little bit with that's your.
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Just a little bit. Yeah, your guy at the bottom of
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the line up. We've talked a lot of positives
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so far today outside of Ken's Blue Jays.
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Let's go the other way. Most disappointing team in both
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leagues. Who do you got as we are sitting
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here? What 1516 games into the season?
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Yeah, I think it has to still be Blue Jays and then the American
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League, but they they've got competition between the Red Sox.
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So I know we got hot a second ago and the Astros, I believe
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they've lost eight in a row now. The the starting pitching is
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atrocious. They're starting pitching areas
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over six worsen baseball by a lot.
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And now they've got Hunter Brown on the injured list.
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Emails on the injured list is the guys that they have in the
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rotation just aren't working right now.
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It's a total mess with that staff.
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Like they were as of Sunday night when I was going through
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power ranking, they actually led the majors and runs scored and
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we're still 6 to 10 at the time. Like, that's awfully tough to
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dude. That shows how bad the pitching
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has been. National League side, the Cubs
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are pulling me toward them saying them a little bit.
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But you know, Giants are in the mix.
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Mets are in the mix now. Just I'm sure a lot of Brewers
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fans would say since that 82 start, they're pretty darn
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disappointed as well. It's funny, there's so many
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teams that have gone back and forth already with between the
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Yankees and Brewers with their hot starts and then the losing
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streaks. And I just thought the Astros
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were six and three before they lost eight in a row.
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And there were a lot of teams that started really, really bad
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and then turned things around and got hot already like the
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A's. So it's been a really fun 1st 2
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1/2 weeks or so of the season. No doubt.
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Yeah, the the A's, what a trip to New York, two or three
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against the Yanks and then sweep the Mets.
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What's going on with the Mets? Francisco Ledor does not have an
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RB yet. What a terrible start for Linda.
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I know he's normally a slow starter, but I don't think it's
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ever been this bad. Matt.
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Yeah, it's really, really bad. And I know he hits laid off, but
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still, their lineup was supposed to be well-rounded enough that
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you were going to have guys late in the lineup who could hit,
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like Ben's or Louise. Robert Junior.
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But yeah, it's Lindor's probably the biggest disappointment
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there. But like with Juan Soto hurt,
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now you're looking at Luis. Robert Junior is basically the
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only one that's hitting, along with a little bit of Jared
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Young, who's been filling in, and Francisco Alvarez behind the
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plate. But like Mark Vientos, he looked
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like he was the 2024 version until the start of last week,
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and then he just completely fell apart.
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Marcus Semi. And I think he's cooked.
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He looked like it last year. Beau Bouchet, There's some
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whispers that maybe he's not all the way back from that injury
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last year. He should be, yeah.
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I think he's fine, but that's how bad he's been, if people are
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starting to bring that up. And Jorge Polacco, I always
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thought that was a bad idea to try to grab him at first base to
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replace Pete Alonzo, and it's just not working right now.
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You mentioned the Cubs, you open the window, so let's get into it
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here. I was shocked because I figured
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they had to be the worst team in baseball with runners in scoring
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position. Was it Saturday 1 of 15 against
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the Pirates of that one? It just felt, it felt all these
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2 1/2 weeks, every time there's a runner in scoring position,
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they just, they can't find a hit.
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Well, they're actually 25th in baseball.
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There are still, what, 5 teams that are below them in that
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category? Regardless of that, timely
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hitting has not been there. The bullpen feels like they're
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still trying to sort that out. Just how bad is it?
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I know you're a fan also of it, but when you go through this,
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Matt, how concerned are you with this Cubs team?
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From a fan perspective, I'm I'm very much in panic mode and
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think it's awful and the team sucks from the annals
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perspective because I have to be a Jekyll and Hyde personality
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wise, still not in a panic mode three games out.
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You know, there's been the thing about what the runners scoring
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position issues is to have all those opportunities does the
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main thing is you're getting all those guys on base.
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And we've seen so many so many times that teams can go through
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funks in small samples with ferns scoring position, but it's
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not indicative of the talent level as a whole.
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And the main thing is just get a bunch of guys on base and on
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base and eventually you're going to start driving them in.
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And we saw it on Sunday when they fell behind 5 nothing and
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they battled all the way back to what that one in a walk off last
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night. The Phillies just knocked the
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ball around the yard. I mean, the offense scored.
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The Cubs scored seven runs. I, like I said, it looks pretty
16:28
bad right now. And if you look at the upcoming
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schedule, two more against the Phillies than the Mets, who are
16:33
probably better than they're playing, and the Phillies at
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home. Then you go to LA, then you go
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to San Diego. It seems like it could get
16:38
really bad. But the team's better than this.
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I don't know if they're as good as many of us thought they were
16:46
going to be heading into the year.
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But after 16 games with so many guys that have been getting on
16:51
base and you see that the offensive struggles from guys
16:54
who are better than this, such as Michael Bush, he's much
16:57
better than this. Pete Armstrong, he's probably
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never going to be as good as he was in the first half last year,
17:02
but he's better than this right now.
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So you're, you're going to start to see some upswing here, say
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Suzuki as well, not really hitting for average or power
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just yet, but he was hurt to start the air.
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It's only been four games. So there, there's better to
17:15
come. And yeah, I, I, I don't think
17:18
that any fans such as myself should really be as panicked as
17:22
they are. Here's a couple of numbers.
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You probably know this guy Eric Cross from baseball or what one
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of those Roto Baller PCA since the 2nd of August last year, 149
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qualified hitters. He's 147th in average.
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He's last in on base percentage. He's 147th and slug and then
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two, I have no idea what they are.
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Weighted, Oba and weighted are whatever that one is and he's
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last in both of those. He has been offensively great to
17:54
watch, run the bases when he gets on and I love watching him
17:56
play center field, but boy, he is struggling with the bat in
17:59
his hand in the batter's box. I wondered about last night when
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you're facing Christopher Sanchez, what's he doing As
18:06
tough as anyone on left? Why Council didn't just give him
18:10
a day? I know the easy answer is
18:12
because he's so good defensively.
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You can't take him out of the lineup.
18:16
But when a guy's scuffling that much and you know, it's a
18:18
really, really hard match up lefty, you can get him in the
18:21
game once Sanchez leaves the game.
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So I, I, I, he was just so overmatched by Sanchez.
18:28
I was, I just had the thought and I texted my dad and brother
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like, I don't know why he's in the line up tonight.
18:33
You could have given him a day he could have avoided.
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There's always going to be confidence problems in this game
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because it's such a mentally tough game.
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You're just going to make his confidence worse when he goes up
18:43
and looks like a fool against Christopher Sanchez.
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The Pirates are at the top of the division.
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Ken and I both like them coming into the year to hang around,
18:51
maybe flirt with 500. Didn't think they were going to
18:54
win the division by any means, but couple of the veterans that
18:57
they brought in. Lowe's crushing the ball over
18:59
the field, O'hearn guy that I thought was absolutely cooked.
19:02
He's been swinging it well. This Pirates team, obviously the
19:05
young talent that continues to come up and they got more coming
19:07
here. Is this going to be a team we're
19:09
still talking about coming August?
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Maybe there are good vibes here, you know, and like Connor
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Griffin has a lot of talent that we haven't really seen it yet.
19:18
It probably just needs another couple weeks in the in the show
19:22
before things start to click. We saw it in a major, major way
19:25
last season with Nick Kurtz, for example, where he didn't get
19:28
going until late May, but once he got going, holy smokes, he
19:31
got going. Maybe you'll see something like
19:33
that with Griffin Reynolds. We've seen him play like an All
19:36
Star before, so it's not surprising to see him doing
19:39
that. O'Neill Cruz is the main one I
19:41
wanted to look at. 27 years old. For years and years and years,
19:45
we've heard about how he's one of the most talented players in
19:48
baseball. We know how fast he is, we know
19:50
how good his arm is. We know how much power he has.
19:53
For years, people talked about he actually leads the league
19:55
pretty much every year at exit velocity.
19:57
He hits it so hard. But can he ever put it together
20:00
on a consistent basis? Well, he's playing like an MVP
20:03
right now. Doesn't mean that he's going to
20:06
be consistent all season like this, but it's a really good
20:10
thing to see and it really takes them to the next level when they
20:12
have him playing like this. And as you mentioned, with Lau
20:15
and O'hearn joining the fray, the offense is a little more
20:19
scary than it last year was, I believe, the worst offense in
20:22
baseball by almost every category.
20:24
Now they're hitting the ball and you knew they were going to have
20:26
the pitching to go with it. Schemes is actually better than
20:29
he's been pitching. He's still trying to recover
20:31
from that opening day, but you know, Mitch Keller, Braxton
20:35
Ashcraft, like a good Bolton. They've got some stuff, man.
20:39
They're they look like a good ball club.
20:41
That last thing for me, and I know that we're weeks away from
20:44
Memorial Day, but if the Cubs, if the Mets, if the Astros, I'll
20:49
throw the Blue Jays in there. Maybe the Red Sox, if they
20:52
continue to scuffle, might we see one of their managers pay a
20:55
price early in the season Memorial Day just to try and
20:59
shake up the under achieving club?
21:01
How about those is is there one that's maybe more precarious
21:04
position than the others feels? Like Mets, right?
21:08
Yeah. This is the fourth year in a row
21:11
that they've had the highest payroll baseball.
21:13
At some point, Steve Cohen is going to grow impatient and say,
21:16
what's going on here? I'm trying to win this thing.
21:19
Like, like, you know, like he's styled himself in a bit.
21:23
Like after George Steinbrenner, at some point, you you kind of
21:26
go to David Stearns and say, why isn't this good enough?
21:29
And Stearns will then try to save himself and fire the
21:32
manager and try to change things up.
21:34
So yeah, the Mets would be the one that I would watch out for.
21:36
I can't see a Hoyer with Craig Counsel, especially with how he
21:40
poached him from the Brewers and spent that much money on him.
21:43
Schneider's got to be safe with the Blue Jays having just gone
21:46
to the World Series and they started slow last year anyway.
21:49
So I think it's the Mets would be the glaring 1 for me.
21:53
Yeah, it looks like it to me, too.
21:54
Good stuff. Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com Power
21:57
rankings. What time do they come out on
21:58
Monday? Early, it seems like.
22:00
Early, right? Yeah, very early.
22:03
I, I leave them for an editor overnight Sunday and then when I
22:06
wake up they're up. So I don't know, eight or
22:08
something Eastern. Hey, real quick, I meant to
22:11
bring this up. Hey, with Trenton and and be
22:13
with you. I, I was into Sunday night
22:16
baseball the first two nights it was on Peacock.
22:18
I thought it took a step back and was on NBC and I love the
22:21
presentation. They're trying to make it a big
22:23
deal Sunday night Baseball. They're they're throwing a lot
22:26
at it. I thought Clover was not good
22:30
and Andrew Jones not good. This was the first week that I
22:33
thought it kind of left me wanting more.
22:35
What did you think? I sang the praises of them for
22:39
grabbing local color guys, you know, after the first week when
22:43
it was Ryan Roland Smith for the the Mariners, for example.
22:46
But you have to actually use the color guys.
22:48
Like the Braves has CJ Nakowski on color on their local
22:51
broadcast and he's great. Why would you pick Andrew Jones
22:54
instead of him? And if he wanted somebody who's
22:56
been a national voice, you have Jeff Francoeur sitting or
22:59
sitting right there who could talk about the Braves.
23:02
I think you need to get the guys who actually do the
23:04
broadcasting. You can't just grab people like
23:07
and the Braves. Hey, Andrew Jones, he made the
23:09
Hall of Fame. Well, that doesn't mean he's
23:10
amazing at doing color. He doesn't really do it.
23:12
You have to get guys who actually do it.
23:15
And that worries me. For example, when I think about
23:18
as a Cubs fan, like it has to be the shades.
23:20
JD is amazing, but what are they going to do?
23:23
Grab, grab somebody like Andre Dawson and put him on there?
23:27
I love the Hawk, but he's not a colored man.
23:29
You can't do that. You've got to go with the actual
23:31
color guys who are with the team every single day.
23:33
And are you who are used to being on there?
23:35
I thought Benetti spent the 1st 2 innings.
23:37
He's interviewing the guys, you know, talking about their
23:39
career. Yeah.
23:40
Anyways, good stuff. Matt Snyder, thanks for doing
23:43
this, as always. Talk to you next week.
23:44
Thank you. Appreciate it.
23:46
Have a good one. Yep, you're the same.
23:47
Matt Snyder. CBSSports.com recovers Major
23:50
League Baseball and CBS HQ where he goes on TV to talk about,
23:55
well, Major League Baseball. We'll talk NBA.
23:57
We come back. Sloane Piva joins us next.
23:59
Sporting News for Sloane Miller and Condon.
24:01
Iowa Sports Radio Network. I just passed 130.
24:04
Miller and Condon welcome back. See Iowa Sports Radio Network
24:07
wherever you're listening. One of the fine affiliates out
24:09
there. We're certainly grateful that
24:11
you are. Trent and I will take you until
24:13
just before 2:00. Trent's plays of the day coming
24:16
up. Circus Sports sponsored.
24:18
Those without Sloan Pivot might be able to help you out a
24:20
little. Bit yeah, I need.
24:22
It yeah you're shooting bad you're shooting bad.
24:24
Sloan pivot from Athlon. He joins us we'll do a little
24:28
NFL draft with Sloan next week. Sloan, Trent and Ken, thanks for
24:31
coming on. I'd love to pick your NBA brain
24:34
kind of gets some of that NBA knowledge because I follow you
24:37
on Twitter and I know you, you dabbled most nights in those
24:40
markets. How are you, Sloane?
24:43
Hey, gentlemen, I'm doing great. It's great to hear from you.
24:45
It's a great time of year. Sports season is officially, you
24:49
know, begun again. The Masters was awesome.
24:51
But yeah, NBA playoffs. How can you not get excited
24:53
right now? I'm with you.
24:54
So this time last year, Sloane, it seemed like everybody, not
24:58
everybody, but most thought it was a foregone conclusion,
25:00
right? It was OK C They're the
25:02
overwhelming favor to repeat. I guess as I look at the futures
25:06
market, I'm I'm trying to see if there's anything that's worth a
25:10
play. San Antonio at 5:00 to 1:00, It
25:13
seems like the winner's going to come out of the West or is it?
25:16
And and who's that team, if it is the West that's going to rule
25:20
the roost again? Who's the one team if that's
25:22
most likely to knock off OKC if there is one?
25:27
Yeah, I mean, that's a good way to pose that question because
25:29
OKC has just been so dominant. I mean, they had a stretch
25:32
recently where they went 19 and one and they got Jalen Williams
25:35
back and Chet Holmgren's playing the best basketball of his
25:38
professional career. So it's it's going to be tough
25:41
to knock off that team, especially with homecourt
25:43
advantage. But I think if anybody's going
25:45
to do it, I think it's the Denver Nuggets.
25:47
Nicola Jokic looking like he's playing about his best, about as
25:52
good basketball as he's ever played.
25:54
And he's got 3 MVP's under his belt.
25:55
So it's been really fun to watch them.
25:58
They just won twelve straight games to end the season so they
26:01
could maintain their their third seed.
26:03
And I had AI had a leg or a parlay for over under win total
26:11
parlay. And they were the last leg that
26:13
I needed. I needed them to win 54 games
26:15
and they won their 54th game on Sunday, the last game of the
26:19
regular season. So I was sweating that one out a
26:22
little bit. But you know, I can never doubt
26:25
Joker. He's got, you know, league lead
26:27
and rebounds, league lead and assists.
26:29
He's 8th and scoring 10th and field goal percentage and he's
26:33
got shooters around him and Jamal Murray is healthy.
26:36
So that's that's a really dangerous team.
26:39
And I think they really match up well with OKC.
26:41
We've seen them beat them recently.
26:43
So that would be the the the easily the best bet in the West
26:47
to to take over the Thunder. Well, the Nuggets, they'll get
26:50
the Timberwolves in the first round and we got the G League
26:52
affiliate down here in Des Moines, the closest to a
26:55
regional team. We have a live Bucks are out,
26:57
the Bulls are out. So it's going to be the
26:59
Timberwolves carrying the flag. Talk about a path, though.
27:01
You open up with the Nuggets, you get that it's likely a
27:04
Spurs. You win that one, get back to
27:06
your third consecutive Western Conference finals.
27:08
What's likely the Thunder that are going to be sitting waiting
27:10
there? It seems like an impossible task
27:12
for the Timberwolves, but they beat Denver in the playoffs
27:15
before. At minimum, you give them a shot
27:18
to up on up and the Nuggets in the first round.
27:21
Yeah, I think they have a shot, I mean a much bigger shot than
27:25
maybe the sports books are giving them.
27:27
You know, they're plus 10,000 on the finals odds board, which I
27:31
think is a little ridiculous. And if you're a die hard
27:33
Minnesota fan, I think you put a couple of bucks on that.
27:36
But you know, it's tough to go into Denver and knock off Joker
27:40
and the and the Nuggets, especially when they're healthy
27:42
and they're knocking down threes.
27:44
I mean, they're they're the hottest they've been all season
27:47
right now. So it's it's a it's a tough time
27:50
to have to get them on the road. And, and Nas Reed's got a little
27:55
bit of a shoulder injury. He's missed the last couple of
27:57
games. They're saying that he should be
27:58
good to go. But I just don't think Rudy
28:01
Gobert can handle his joker in the playoffs.
28:04
So I I've actually got the Nuggets at plus 125 going
28:08
undefeated at home in this series.
28:10
It seems like a good bet to me because that's already a really
28:12
strong team at ballerina 28 and 13 at home.
28:16
And, you know, a lot of those games were without Aaron Gordon,
28:19
Jamal Murray obviously misses some games.
28:21
So I I just think that the Nuggets will win out at home and
28:25
I think they're going to win that series.
28:27
I hate to say it to the, you know, the fans listening that
28:30
are hoping for something with the Wolves, but I just don't
28:33
think Anthony Edwards has enough firepower to get past that team.
28:36
Yeah, I'm, I'm with you, disappointing.
28:38
You're in a lot of respects. Charlotte was a team that a lot
28:41
of people really well, kind of a buzz team.
28:45
If you go back a couple of months in the year here in the
28:47
season here they are in the in in the play on round.
28:50
They they actually the curtain goes up with Miami and Charlotte
28:54
playing tonight. If Charlotte, well, they'll just
28:57
put it this way, of the teams playing tonight, today or
29:00
tomorrow, is there one that could come out of this when
29:03
they're playing round and win a series?
29:06
Not win at all, but win a series And that would be going up
29:09
against who? Boston, OKC, Detroit or San
29:12
Antonio. Are all of these teams simply
29:15
fodder at this point? Well, I, I think I like what you
29:19
did with the Buzz, by the way, there they are a buzz team, The
29:22
Hornets, they're. Nice.
29:23
I never. Thought you could play on words.
29:25
Very good, very good. But yeah, I mean, the Hornets,
29:27
they're shoot so well from outside that I think they can
29:31
steal a game. And you know, the play in format
29:33
is it's perfect for them. I think they're definitely
29:36
getting into the playoffs and then, you know, if they get hot
29:40
at the right time and they can, you know, put together some
29:42
semblance of defense and, you know, not have 300 point games,
29:47
I think they've got a chance. On the other side, I think the
29:51
Clippers are a team that you can't overlook just because
29:54
they're in the play and Kawhi Leonard is is healthy.
29:58
Darius Garland has looked great for them.
30:01
I mean, this team is is has done really, really well since the
30:04
Harden trade. A lot of people are focused on
30:06
Harden and the Cavs and how well they've been.
30:09
But I mean, I think the Clippers, I'm pretty sure they
30:12
were 13. They've gone 13 and six with
30:15
Darius Garland on the floor. So that's really good.
30:18
I mean, that's, and Kawhi Leonard, he's one of those
30:21
difference makers. I think any team that has one of
30:23
those difference maker X Factor type guys, it doesn't matter how
30:27
old he is, if Kawhi is all in and he's healthy, he can power
30:31
A-Team through the the playoffs. And I mean, we saw him a while
30:35
back with the Raptors, do what none of us thought that team
30:38
could do. And I'm still a huge Kawhi fan.
30:41
I think they can make some noise for sure.
30:44
We get the die cap tonight with Portland and the Suns.
30:48
Be honest, haven't seen much of either of these teams this year
30:51
so help us out. Not just.
30:52
We have Sloan. Absolutely help us out here,
30:54
Sloan. Not just the 3 1/2 point point
30:56
spread the Sun's favorite at home, but also got a player
30:59
proper too. Because we know you love to
31:01
dabble in that market. Yeah, absolutely.
31:04
I mean, I I love what Danny Abdija has done for the the
31:08
Blazers, but I just I like the Suns over the Blaze.
31:12
I like I like Suns defense. Lately, Dylan Brooks has been
31:16
coming up huge for them. Phoenix has a lot of experience
31:20
like a Devin Booker that hits clutch shots.
31:22
They got a lot of athleticism. Also Ghidorah.
31:25
I like him on the rebounding props tonight.
31:28
I'm betting his over on the rebounds.
31:31
You can probably get him double double as well.
31:35
But yeah, I've I've got the Suns beating the Blazers.
31:37
I just think Portland is too young and inexperienced.
31:41
They're a fun team, but it's just not their year.
31:44
I've also got I got a pretty fun little two leg parlay.
31:48
I've got 30 bucks on the 76ers and the Blazers, both to not
31:53
make the playoffs. So that's a plus 9915.
31:57
That's 30 bucks to win like 350. And that's that's a fun one
32:02
because that you know, I'm, I'm rooting against teams in that
32:05
one, but you know that's I'm rooting against one team that's
32:08
very injured and one team that's very inexperienced.
32:10
So the boots of those teams. Absolutely.
32:13
The team to be or the team that will come out of the East is.
32:18
Oh, it's got to be the Celtics. I mean, there's no way around it
32:21
with, with Tatum back, they've just looked pretty untouchable.
32:25
And you know, they, they do everything so well.
32:28
They shoot threes. Third best 3 point team in the
32:30
in the NBA. They their third best rebounding
32:34
team in the NBA. They commit the fewest turnovers
32:37
in the association. There's 30 and 11 at TD Garden.
32:41
They're eight and one at home with Jason Tatum since he got
32:44
back. So I, I just, you know, it's
32:46
not, it's not New England bias over here.
32:49
I, I really think Boston is the best team in the east right now.
32:52
I don't think that they're, as, you know, as good as the books
32:57
that are making them out to be. I mean, the Pistons are all of a
33:00
sudden plus 2200 to win it all. The Pistons were the best team
33:04
in the NBA or in the East this this year.
33:06
So I think that they're not getting enough credit now that
33:09
Cade's back. But I I do still think that that
33:12
Boston is going to win it. And that's that's the team to
33:15
beat for a reason. Luca going to see some minutes
33:18
in the playoffs. Garza.
33:20
We Luca Garza, it's possible. Yeah, he's I mean, he's been a
33:25
really good bench presence. He's very, very well liked on
33:30
this team. He's kind of replaced the Luke
33:32
Cornett, you know, that kind of bench glue guy and he's a real
33:37
hard worker. We like him a lot here.
33:38
So I I hope he sees a few minutes, but I don't think we're
33:42
going to see he's going to see much, much time in a close game.
33:46
But we'll we'll see though. I mean, Nemeus Cada has just
33:49
been such a an unlikely hero for this team is the pride of
33:53
Portugal. Love it as a as a Portuguese man
33:56
myself and I love that he's out there, you know, rolling out
33:59
double double S. We've also got Baylor Shireman
34:02
like this. This Celtics team has a lot of
34:04
unlikely guys that have stepped up and sort of broken out.
34:07
It's been a fun team to watch. Well, we'll go to the other
34:10
Luca, at least here in the state of Iowa.
34:11
That's how he's known. The other Luca, Luca Doncic,
34:14
he's going to return with the Lakers on Friday.
34:16
He was over in Spain getting those injections.
34:18
Kobe famously went over to Germany when he had something
34:21
done. Also a What do they do over
34:24
there? Is that the blood?
34:25
Spinning. It's it's they call it
34:27
injections. Any idea about that Sloan and
34:30
the likelihood that we do see him, probably not early in the
34:33
series, but maybe the Lakers can steal a game, say by game
34:36
three-game 4, something like that.
34:39
Your thoughts overall on that front?
34:41
Well, I have. I mean, I have no idea.
34:43
I thought when he got hurt that there was no way we were going
34:46
to see him in the early going of the playoffs and maybe in the
34:49
playoffs at all. But yeah, it's whatever they can
34:52
do, they're going to do because he's just such an unbelievable
34:56
force. I mean, he's obviously MVP
34:59
caliber season himself. I've already put a bet on the
35:03
Lakers plus 2 1/2 games against the Rockets.
35:06
I think the Rockets are getting way too much love from the
35:09
betting public. And that's, that's yielding a
35:12
lot of, a lot of positive value there.
35:15
It's -130 to get LA just to win two games in a best of seven
35:19
series. I mean, we're talking about
35:20
LeBron James here. They might be able to win two
35:23
games without Luca. And if Luca comes back, come on,
35:26
that's going to be a good series.
35:28
So yeah, it's, I'm, I'm looking forward to, to that.
35:31
I, I think, you know, we, we're used to seeing LeBron do some
35:36
unbelievable stuff and he's definitely going to do it again.
35:39
Shangoon, KD and Aman Thompson, that's a solid trio.
35:43
I don't think the Lakers can win that series outright.
35:46
But plus 2 1/2 games I'm all in. Last thing for me, a year too
35:52
soon for San Antonio. Do you give them any chance to
35:55
get past OKC? Some good, some really good
35:57
battles during the regular season.
35:59
What about the Spurs? I think they've got a chance.
36:03
I mean, Wendy's, Wendy's an alien for a reason.
36:06
It's a it's a fitting nickname. He could do everything.
36:09
And I think Steph Castle has just been unbelievable himself.
36:12
They've got some perimeter scores that if they knock down
36:15
some open shots, they can really make a difference.
36:19
And they're what what sets them apart from a lot of other teams
36:22
is their defense and their their youth and their sheer will.
36:27
They're really a big hustle team.
36:29
They're very well coached, I think.
36:32
I think that coach or Joe Missoula should be front runners
36:34
for coach of the year. But I mean, there's a lot of
36:36
fitting candidates for that award.
36:38
But yeah, I think they got a really good chance and I think
36:42
if nothing else, that second round series is going to be
36:45
really, really exciting to watch.
36:47
Good stuff, Sloan, Great to reconnect with you, Sloan.
36:50
Paiva Athlon is where you can read them.
36:52
We will talk to you. I look forward to picking your
36:54
brain as to what you're going to do with the NFL draft coming up
36:56
next week. It's not a huge market, but
36:59
they'll certainly be some interest here in the state of
37:02
Iowan. We'll talk to you about that
37:03
next week. Sloane, thanks for coming on.
37:05
Enjoy the games tonight. We'll talk to you next week.
37:07
Appreciate it. Sounds good gentlemen, always a
37:10
pleasure. Talk to you soon.
37:11
Good to talk to Sloane Pive as we check in on the NBA with
37:15
Sloane. Will you watch these games
37:18
tonight? Yeah, absolutely.
37:19
These games tonight a couple. Of them, I think so, yeah.
37:22
I'm dabbling a little bit, seeing if there's any player
37:24
props or anything that jumps out.
37:26
I want to see this Hoarders team.
37:27
They were kind of a buzz team for a while and played really
37:30
well. The Heat just start always
37:32
around, right? Just a solid organization.
37:34
What they do Trail Blazers tonight, I don't even know.
37:37
Will we see Chris Murray? Oh, I don't know.
37:41
He's played 57 games this year, played 30 minutes the last time
37:45
out in the finale, had 9 points. What did he do before that?
37:50
20 in the game against the Clippers a.
37:51
Game he'll play. Yeah, he'll play a little bit,
37:53
probably coming in second quarter for, you know, 6 minutes
37:56
stretch, something like that. Take a guess what Chris Murray
37:59
averaged this year. Points per game.
38:01
I have no idea 8. 5.8 just hasn't translated.
38:08
Hasn't. No, it really hasn't.
38:10
I didn't think he was going to be a *.
38:11
No, but I thought, yeah, I'm with you.
38:14
But I thought he'd have a bigger role than he certainly has in
38:17
Portland at this point. Yeah, I agree.
38:19
All right, 145 trends, plays of the day, circus sports sponsored
38:23
those. They are coming up next tomorrow
38:25
if you're a Spanish Chicago sports every Wednesday.
38:28
Cappy joins us. We'll talk about the Cubs.
38:31
Cubs got somebody starting tonight.
38:32
I think they just called up from Des Moines, Riley Martin, Riley
38:39
Martin. Riley Martin gets the ball
38:41
tonight for the Cubs. He will be serving as an opener
38:46
tonight. That's what they're going to do.
38:48
They're using him as an opener. Preferably work the first ending
38:51
or two before hitting the ball over to Colin Ray who was
38:55
originally. Start Colin Ray, I wonder.
38:57
Not sure what the thought process behind it but.
39:00
Colin Ray's been good so far this year.
39:01
He's been. Fine, he's.
39:03
Been fine and he's deny when he's better than fine.
39:05
But well, of course. Right, always jumps him up.
39:08
Yeah, that takes him up another cascade.
39:10
I think you're right. Yeah, I think that's what the
39:12
back of his baseball card, says Miller and Conn.
39:15
You still get baseball cards. I do not.
39:17
Ray Ordonez was the last Stand. Yeah.
39:20
Did you collect him as a kid? I mean, Oh, absolutely.
39:22
Yeah. In in your spokes.
39:23
No, didn't do that. That we did.
39:25
That had passed by the time we got into the 80s.
39:27
Yeah, that was a 60s thing that people said don't do that
39:31
because of all the stories of Oh yeah, I had a Mickey Mantle
39:33
card. It was your generation, my dad's
39:36
generate. Don't do that.
39:37
These things could be worth thousands of dollars someday.
39:41
Well, all those cards that were over manufactured to the 80s,
39:43
you know none. Of them were worth a day,
39:44
nothing. Even if he got F face on the
39:47
barrel of the bat for Billy Martin or Billy Ripken.
39:50
That was wild. That was our final segment is
39:54
next. It's Circus Sports sponsors, our
39:57
plays of the day. It's Miller and Condon on the IO
39:59
Sports Radio Network, right? Final couple of minutes of our
40:01
program, Trent's plays of the day coming up.
40:04
Sad news on Dickie V I'm sure you saw the story.
40:07
ESPN, the PR put it out and Dickie V retweeted it and added
40:12
to it that Melanoma in his lung and his liver cavity, 86 years
40:17
of age. But he's going to keep on
40:18
fighting as he's always done. He's raised over $105 million
40:22
for pediatric cancer using his connections, etcetera. 86 years
40:27
old. Dickie V, keep fighting.
40:29
Keep fighting. What a great ambassador for
40:31
college basketball. Say what you want about him, he
40:35
is one of the faces of college basketball is bringing it into
40:38
our living rooms and growing the sports popularity wise in my.
40:42
Opinion, yes, absolutely. A guy that is very easy to root
40:46
for and what he has gone through, what he has done for
40:48
the research and everything else involved and hope for the best,
40:51
certainly for him. All right, let's make some bets.
40:53
Trent Circus Sports sponsors your plays of the day basketball
40:57
tonight. Does that get your attention or
41:00
where you going? I do have a bet there.
41:02
I'm jumping on board with one play and I'm going to grab the
41:05
points in the Blazers tonight, getting 3 1/2 on the road
41:08
against the Suns. A1.
41:10
Of the models that I was looking at last night, the trade Blazers
41:14
was like I think the 9th best team in the back half of the
41:16
year overall in the NBA that we know overall, yeah, now we know
41:20
10 of the teams were trying. That definitely helps things a
41:23
little bit. You.
41:24
Put it down. And when you get the schedule
41:26
that works out, you get a. Bunch of those, by the way.
41:28
Something really needs to be done in the NBA.
41:30
With the the tanking, it's ridiculous.
41:31
It's really, really bad. But I jumped aboard there.
41:34
Gonna grab the points with the Blazers tonight, something to
41:36
keep an eye on late. And then after we were talking,
41:39
I tried to find a prop for Chris to see if there was anything out
41:43
there for Chris Murray in terms of I didn't see anything in the
41:45
points market, at least of the two places that I was shopping.
41:48
So we'll see. Maybe we'll add something there.
41:50
I don't know if it's over under 5 1/2 points.
41:52
Maybe jump a ball, take a stab. Something extra there. 2 plays
41:55
in baseball. We'll go back to the well again.
41:58
Give me the over in the Nationals game tonight against
42:01
the Pirates. Over 9 1/2 is the number is
42:04
sports books are adjusting now to those national.
42:06
Totals the A's last year, the Nationals, this year the.
42:10
Rays -136 against the White Sox and a half unit, Pete Alonso got
42:15
off the schneid. He goes back-to-back homers plus
42:18
390 for Pete Alonso homering. Off the benches next Miller and
42:22
Condon weekdays, noon to two Iowa Sports Radio Network.