Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Historic Joshua Báez 3 HR debut, Brewers top Dodgers, White Sox-Cubs preview

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Fair Territory: Historic Joshua Báez 3 HR debut, Brewers top Dodgers, White Sox-Cubs preview · Foul Territory

0:02
Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the Monday episode of
0:05
Speaker 1: Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. I am Alana Rizzo alongside
0:10
Speaker 1: ESPNS and Jesse Rodgers.
0:11
Speaker 2: Great to have you with us.
0:12
Speaker 1: Jesse, we appreciate you pinch hitting while Ken is on assignment.
0:16
Speaker 1: I tell you what, I've seen a lot of.
0:18
Speaker 2: Major league baseball debuts.
0:20
Speaker 1: My friend, I have never seen anything to the extent
0:23
Speaker 1: of Joshua Bias's major league baseball debut.
0:26
Speaker 3: Where does it rank for you?
0:28
Speaker 4: Oh, it's got to be number one, It really has
0:31
Speaker 4: to be. I was at Brandon Montgomery's walk off homer
0:35
Speaker 4: earlier this year. In fact, Rack Schlowski, their number one pick,
0:38
Speaker 4: was there, and it kind of convinced Chelawski he wanted
0:41
Speaker 4: to be a White Sox player. So maybe as an
0:43
Speaker 4: organization that meant more in terms of big picture. And
0:47
Speaker 4: you don't see many walk off home runs, so I
0:49
Speaker 4: saw one just earlier this year that was amazing. But
0:53
Speaker 4: to hit three home runs in your first three at
0:56
Speaker 4: bats just insane off of three different pitches. Alana, off
1:02
Speaker 4: the same pitcher. This is a veteran pitcher in Matthew Boyd.
1:06
Speaker 4: All right, I'm gonna try a fastball, first pitch of
1:08
Speaker 4: the guy's career. Boom. He hits it out next at bat, Alana,
1:12
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna get that. I'm not gonna make it
1:14
Speaker 4: so easy on him. No fastball. Six pitch at bat,
1:17
Speaker 4: it's curves, it's change. Finally hits a change up out
1:21
Speaker 4: third at bat. Okay, not going with change. I'm not
1:24
Speaker 4: going with fastball. I'm going with a slider. He hits
1:27
Speaker 4: a slider off of Matthew Boyd. I can't imagine Matthew
1:30
Speaker 4: Boyd had a good night's sleep after that outing. But
1:33
Speaker 4: sometimes you have to tip your cap. Family was there.
1:36
Speaker 4: It's Wrigley Field, It's packed. I mean, what a moment
1:40
Speaker 4: he'll remember forever.
1:41
Speaker 1: And I love the fact that the Cubs faceball good
1:44
Speaker 1: baseball fans. Obviously, Kubby's fans are given him a standing
1:47
Speaker 1: ovation Joshua Bias just for the accomplishment in which he
1:50
Speaker 1: did in his major league debut. And what is so
1:52
Speaker 1: cool about this story not the fact, of course that
1:55
Speaker 1: he hit three straight home runs and three straight plate appearances,
1:58
Speaker 1: but he had just found out Jesse Friday prior that
2:00
Speaker 1: he was going to make it to the big leagues.
2:02
Speaker 1: He's all in borrowed gear, he just got called up.
2:06
Speaker 1: His whole family's there. There's about thirty people in attendance,
2:09
Speaker 1: taking photos in the rain.
2:11
Speaker 2: It just seems very storybook, almost as if it was
2:13
Speaker 2: written in Hollywood.
2:15
Speaker 4: No doubt. That's what makes it great. You know, his
2:18
Speaker 4: father passed away a bit of go so he certainly,
2:20
Speaker 4: you know, dedicated it all to him. And what a
2:24
Speaker 4: good kid, you know, talking to him before and after
2:26
Speaker 4: the game and seeing him yesterday walking around a little bit.
2:29
Speaker 4: You know, what do you do for an encore? You know,
2:31
Speaker 4: I tweeted out before the game, I'm like, what's his
2:34
Speaker 4: encore going to?
2:34
Speaker 5: Be?
2:35
Speaker 4: Right? Yeah, you're right. It's like a storybook moments. It's
2:38
Speaker 4: a it's a it's a Netflix special ready to be made,
2:41
Speaker 4: I suppose, especially if he has a great career, but
2:45
Speaker 4: just so impressive, like was did he recognize some tip
2:49
Speaker 4: tip pitching going on? Like how the heck did he
2:52
Speaker 4: did he catch up to a fastball, slider and a
2:54
Speaker 4: change up all in the first three at bats of
2:56
Speaker 4: his career and be able to hit them out against
2:59
Speaker 4: a good pick. So you're right, it is pretty much
3:02
Speaker 4: a storybook kind of moment. Now he did it four
3:04
Speaker 4: home runs in the game. In the Miners this year,
3:07
Speaker 4: he had thirty four overall, so I guess we can't
3:09
Speaker 4: be shocked. And then that last at bat, you know,
3:11
Speaker 4: I was one of those guys that, oh, you know,
3:13
Speaker 4: when he hit it and it was a flyout to left,
3:15
Speaker 4: I thought it was going out. But yeah, I give
3:19
Speaker 4: the Cubs credit, the fans credit for standing up because
3:21
Speaker 4: it could go two ways. You could cheer him or
3:25
Speaker 4: you could boom Matthew boy right right right, and they
3:28
Speaker 4: went with the with the history and so yeah, it's
3:31
Speaker 4: kind of a cool moment.
3:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, So Brian Torres grabbed a red belt from the
3:35
Speaker 1: equipment manager. He then grabbed red cleats from Blaize Jordan.
3:38
Speaker 1: He got red batting gloves from Jose for Mean and
3:41
Speaker 1: Bias rocked it.
3:42
Speaker 3: Said Torres, out of courting, of course.
3:44
Speaker 1: According to Derrek Gould, who writes for the Saint Louis
3:46
Speaker 1: Post Dispatch and covers the Saint Louis Cardinals, very well,
3:50
Speaker 1: all right, great, great story, Joshua Bias, congratulations, young man.
3:53
Speaker 2: It's all downhill from here because of a debut. Let's
3:57
Speaker 2: move on in the division.
3:59
Speaker 1: Jesse to the Milwaukee Brewers, taking three of four in LA.
4:03
Speaker 1: Now Milwaukee owns the tiebreaker by winning the season series,
4:07
Speaker 1: So let's start there. What makes the Milwaukee Brewers so dangerous?
4:10
Speaker 1: And moreover, a second question for you, Jesse, are the
4:13
Speaker 1: Dodgers in trouble?
4:15
Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean for Cup fans, the Milwaukee Brewers are
4:18
Speaker 4: like that fly in your house that you can't get
4:22
Speaker 4: rid of. You can't squash him, he won't leave the house.
4:26
Speaker 4: They just keep on coming at you. They start zero
4:29
Speaker 4: and three on that road trip, get swept by the Padres,
4:32
Speaker 4: but then go to LA in three or four, win
4:35
Speaker 4: three or four, extend the lead back out to five games.
4:38
Speaker 4: They just do so many things well, including respond to moments.
4:43
Speaker 4: We don't talk about that enough. Yeah, they cycle through
4:46
Speaker 4: young players, but it has a veteran core and they're
4:48
Speaker 4: never overwhelmed and they always have a response. And I'm
4:53
Speaker 4: going back two three years now consideration of one of
4:56
Speaker 4: the best teams in the league. They certainly have starting pitching.
5:00
Speaker 4: They keep on producing guys Logan Henderson and obviously the
5:04
Speaker 4: miz and you know, the bullpen continues to produce. Even
5:07
Speaker 4: though there's injuries like the latest one, you rebay a
5:10
Speaker 4: lot of there's nothing different than the past. They're just
5:13
Speaker 4: a complete team. Other than they don't hit on runs.
5:16
Speaker 4: But when you are committed to who you are for
5:18
Speaker 4: one sixty two, these are the results, in my opinion,
5:22
Speaker 4: Like not many teams can be committed to their identity
5:25
Speaker 4: day in and day out. So that's kind of my
5:27
Speaker 4: view on the Brewers, which really is no different than
5:29
Speaker 4: a year ago. At this time. I don't think the
5:32
Speaker 4: Dodgers are in trouble, but I think it once again
5:35
Speaker 4: proves they can be beat in October. It just we
5:39
Speaker 4: get you get reminders throughout the season that any team
5:43
Speaker 4: can be beat. I think this is a month from
5:46
Speaker 4: now and they were playing poorly, maybe you'd start to
5:48
Speaker 4: worry a little bit, But I think it's just the
5:50
Speaker 4: dog days and they'll get it together, especially if those
5:52
Speaker 4: pitchers come back. And it's been a slow return for
5:54
Speaker 4: Otani and these guys. So I don't think they're in trouble.
5:58
Speaker 4: But remember last year they could have lost the Word
6:00
Speaker 4: World Series easily. A couple of years ago they almost
6:02
Speaker 4: lost to the Padres in the first round. Like, there's
6:04
Speaker 4: vulnerabilities that show up in October all the time. Can
6:07
Speaker 4: they overcome them, yes, but can they be beat, Yes
6:10
Speaker 4: as well, but I don't think this stretch means anything
6:13
Speaker 4: more than any other stretch. That's my opinion. Maybe in
6:16
Speaker 4: a month, if they're still struggling, I'll be proven wrong.
6:19
Speaker 4: But right now, not a big deal.
6:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, your colleague on espn Alden Gonzalez Jesse saying that
6:24
Speaker 1: Dave Roberts said, this has been four or five six
6:27
Speaker 1: weeks of below average production from our offense. The Dodgers
6:31
Speaker 1: lost three or four as we just mentioned, they scored
6:33
Speaker 1: only ten runs Jesse. In the process, they had the
6:35
Speaker 1: tying run up in the eighth inning of the finale,
6:38
Speaker 1: sho Heyo Towny grounded into a double play than Kyle Tucker,
6:41
Speaker 1: who was hitless in the series. Mind you, dropped a
6:43
Speaker 1: deep fly ball and then Tommy Edmund booted a chopper.
6:47
Speaker 3: They lost six to two.
6:48
Speaker 1: So the Dodgers are scuffling the last at least six
6:51
Speaker 1: weeks of the season. They'll need to write the ship
6:52
Speaker 1: if they want a three people.
6:55
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7:16
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7:54
Speaker 1: Let's move over to the American League, the Orioles taking
7:58
Speaker 1: the first three against the Tampa Bay It almost seems
8:01
Speaker 1: like the Rays going wire to wire, if you will.
8:03
Speaker 1: Leading that AL East, which is a good division. Now
8:06
Speaker 1: there's three teams that are in the thick of it.
8:08
Speaker 1: The Toronto Blue Jays are starting to get back and
8:11
Speaker 1: they're winning ways. So it could be four teams from
8:13
Speaker 1: the AL East making the postseason. What do you make
8:16
Speaker 1: of the recent Orioles surge because they sold it the deadline,
8:20
Speaker 1: but it doesn't seem to have impacted them negatively.
8:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, it feels like there's several teams of year Alana
8:26
Speaker 4: that kind of do that. They sell and they play
8:29
Speaker 4: a little bit better. In fact, there's at least three
8:31
Speaker 4: that I can think of right off the bat. Toronto's
8:33
Speaker 4: played much better, Baltimore's played better, and the biggest one,
8:36
Speaker 4: of course is Detroit. Until this past weekend. It usually
8:40
Speaker 4: catches up with you, though, if you sell a lot
8:42
Speaker 4: of great talent. Now Baltimore moved a few guys, but
8:45
Speaker 4: basically they're just the guys that are left over are hitting.
8:47
Speaker 4: That's it. They're hitting. They have four or five guys
8:50
Speaker 4: with an OPS well over eight hundred and a couple
8:53
Speaker 4: over one thousand since the trade deadline. Pete A. Lonzo's
8:56
Speaker 4: at the top of that lifts list, Colt and Kyle's
8:58
Speaker 4: are doing his thing against left tend pitching. Like they're
9:01
Speaker 4: just getting the best version of several guys in that
9:05
Speaker 4: lineup right now. Some people might be saying addition by
9:08
Speaker 4: subtraction when you move athleye Rtchman or something else. I'm
9:11
Speaker 4: not close enough to the Oriols to know that. I
9:13
Speaker 4: just know that they have a run on offense going
9:15
Speaker 4: on right now, and I want to remember, any little
9:19
Speaker 4: run in the American League wildcard race is going to
9:21
Speaker 4: look like a big one. Right They're not ten games
9:24
Speaker 4: over five hundred, They're not even anything, you know what
9:27
Speaker 4: I mean. Like, so you go on just a little
9:29
Speaker 4: bit of a run and Toronto's done it as well,
9:31
Speaker 4: and all of a sudden, you're in that race. I
9:34
Speaker 4: give the manager credit. When you lose guys from the
9:37
Speaker 4: locker room, you got to make sure the rest of
9:38
Speaker 4: the group is still cohesive. I think he's done maybe
9:41
Speaker 4: a little bit better job of that than let's say
9:43
Speaker 4: the Washington Nationals, who are a young team overcoming some
9:47
Speaker 4: losses at the trade deadline. But I think Baltimore has
9:49
Speaker 4: done a better job of it as has Toronto. Now,
9:52
Speaker 4: neither team is great, but you don't have to be
9:54
Speaker 4: great to get in. So let's see how this plays out.
9:56
Speaker 4: I still have my doubts they can keep it up
9:58
Speaker 4: for another six weeks, but right now how they're playing well.
10:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, in twenty twenty six, the al is the place
10:04
Speaker 1: to be because it seems like everybody has a shot.
10:06
Speaker 1: When I think of quintessential leadoff hitter Jesse Rodgers, I
10:10
Speaker 1: do not think of Pete Alonso, but that is in
10:13
Speaker 1: fact where he hit on Friday. He was the leadoff
10:15
Speaker 1: hitter for the first time in his career, and it
10:18
Speaker 1: seemed to pay early dividends.
10:20
Speaker 3: Why is he hitting leadoff.
10:22
Speaker 4: So so far that I mean, this is no longer
10:25
Speaker 4: a surprise in baseball right this if this happened ten
10:29
Speaker 4: fifteen years ago, be what what's he doing leadoff? There's
10:31
Speaker 4: a couple of things. He's hot, and you want your
10:34
Speaker 4: best player to get the most hit bats in the moment,
10:37
Speaker 4: so you always get that leadoff guy's always going to
10:39
Speaker 4: get that extra bat in the ninth inning, and especially
10:41
Speaker 4: if you have power, like you know you're down a
10:44
Speaker 4: run I'd rather have a thirty five home run hitter
10:47
Speaker 4: than a three hundred hitter with two outs of the
10:49
Speaker 4: ninth inning, Right, you got to run into a home run,
10:51
Speaker 4: So the extra bat for guy that that's pretty hot.
10:54
Speaker 4: There's also a thing like, you know, and I see
10:57
Speaker 4: this with PCA in Chicago, the opposed pictures on the
11:00
Speaker 4: mound for the first time in five days. Right, if
11:03
Speaker 4: he's ever going to be rusty, it's against that first pitcher.
11:06
Speaker 4: So let's put a great hitter up there, because one
11:07
Speaker 4: of two things could happen. He's going to run into
11:09
Speaker 4: that home run I'm talking about, or we might draw
11:11
Speaker 4: a walk. Now in PCA's case, it's a bigger deal
11:14
Speaker 4: because he has that kind of speed. But you're a
11:17
Speaker 4: little bit worried about Pete Lonzo no matter where he
11:19
Speaker 4: is in the lineup. But when you're in the mound
11:21
Speaker 4: for the first time in five days facing him, you're
11:23
Speaker 4: likely to make a mistake or you're nibbling so much
11:26
Speaker 4: you might put him on base, and now you've started
11:29
Speaker 4: the game off. This is why a lot of power
11:31
Speaker 4: hitters who also walk lead off, even if they don't
11:34
Speaker 4: have a lot of speed. So that's kind of the
11:36
Speaker 4: natural progression, and many times you're just trying something and
11:39
Speaker 4: if it works, you stick with it.
11:40
Speaker 3: Yeah.
11:40
Speaker 1: The Oriols currently hold the third AL wildcard spot.
11:44
Speaker 2: So their upcoming schedule is this.
11:46
Speaker 1: They have seven more games against the AL East opponents
11:49
Speaker 1: this week, so one more at Tampa Bay. It's a
11:51
Speaker 1: four game series, three versus the Yankees and then three
11:54
Speaker 1: versus Tampa Bay. Now, obviously all of those teams are
11:57
Speaker 1: ahead of them, but in this stretch, Jesse is where
12:00
Speaker 1: we find out if the Orioles are for real.
12:04
Speaker 4: So you can make that case. And I have my doubts.
12:07
Speaker 4: No days off here. Their bullpen's being used a bunch
12:10
Speaker 4: and they've had a decent run in the pen. Let's see.
12:13
Speaker 4: I have my doubts, but I will I will buy
12:15
Speaker 4: what you're selling. We'll learn a lot more about Baltimore
12:18
Speaker 4: after this week, all right.
12:19
Speaker 1: They're making it interesting if nothing else. All Right, much
12:21
Speaker 1: more to come here on Fair Territory with Jesse Rogers
12:25
Speaker 1: from ESPN. We'll be right back with the inside dish.
12:34
Speaker 1: It is time now for the inside dish. We welcome
12:37
Speaker 1: back Jesse Rodgers from ESPN, and it is very makes
12:41
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. Rather that we have you on
12:44
Speaker 1: Jesse when we're talking White Sox and the Cubs. Of
12:46
Speaker 1: course you do a great job covering both of those teams.
12:48
Speaker 1: They meet for a three game series at Wrigley Field
12:51
Speaker 1: beginning tonight. On the bump, Luis caa Sillo, which I
12:54
Speaker 1: still have a hard time not seeing him in a
12:56
Speaker 1: Mariner's uniform versus show toa Imanaga. What are you looking
12:59
Speaker 1: for when you look at this three game set.
13:02
Speaker 4: Well, it's funny. The Cubs have the much better record,
13:04
Speaker 4: but it's probably a more important series for them after
13:07
Speaker 4: what the White Sox did to the team right behind
13:10
Speaker 4: them in the standing. So they're okay. Not that anybody
13:12
Speaker 4: wants to get swept, but if they lost the series
13:15
Speaker 4: two of three, it wouldn't be the worst thing. The
13:17
Speaker 4: Cubs want to keep pace with the Brewers. They lost
13:20
Speaker 4: ground over the weekend both Saturday and Sunday, so and
13:23
Speaker 4: also are facing a little bit of adversity. They lost
13:26
Speaker 4: their shortstop dance by Swanson's likely out for a much
13:29
Speaker 4: of the rest of the regular season unless an MRI
13:32
Speaker 4: today shows very very mild BLEAQ injury, which to me,
13:35
Speaker 4: there aren't many mild oblique injuries, so he's out. You know,
13:38
Speaker 4: a little trouble on the mound with Edward Cabrera yesterday.
13:41
Speaker 4: They may have to move him out of the rotation
13:43
Speaker 4: after just one start, so they're facing a little bit
13:45
Speaker 4: of issues there after losing the last two against Saint Louis.
13:49
Speaker 4: They'd like to write the ship for sure. I mean
13:51
Speaker 4: some people have cane it the biggest interleague series since
13:54
Speaker 4: they faced each other in nineteen oh six, just because yeah,
13:59
Speaker 4: in the World Series back then. Just because the time
14:02
Speaker 4: of year, late August, and they're both in the in
14:04
Speaker 4: the playoff hunt. They both made the playoffs in O eight.
14:07
Speaker 4: That's the last time it happened. So obviously when they
14:09
Speaker 4: played each other that year, it was meaningful. I don't
14:12
Speaker 4: think they played this late. So much more on the
14:15
Speaker 4: line for the Cubs, even though they have that great record,
14:19
Speaker 4: not that the Socks don't have a good record, but
14:21
Speaker 4: it's an American League record, so they're they're kind of
14:24
Speaker 4: in safe harbor right now. The Cubs are fine in
14:27
Speaker 4: the wildcard race, but they want to overtake Milwaukee. They
14:29
Speaker 4: were as close as three games after Friday night and
14:32
Speaker 4: then drop back to five, so you know, it feels
14:36
Speaker 4: like a little bit more important series for the Cubs.
14:38
Speaker 4: But there's a young White Sox team and I'm sure
14:40
Speaker 4: they just, you know, maintain that lead, maintain that lead,
14:43
Speaker 4: don't give in. Don't give in. Had a great series
14:45
Speaker 4: in Detroit, so it should be fun at Wrigley Field
14:47
Speaker 4: this week.
14:48
Speaker 3: And Jesse.
14:49
Speaker 1: We know what the probables are for the Chicago Cubs.
14:52
Speaker 1: As I mentioned Showa Inmanauga than Kevin Gosman goes on Tuesday,
14:55
Speaker 1: It's Clay Holmes on Wednesday. But there's this guy on
14:58
Speaker 1: Wednesday and Tuesday for the White Socks by the name
15:01
Speaker 1: of tv D. What's going on there? Why haven't the
15:03
Speaker 1: White Solocks listed their starters for those two games.
15:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think they're gonna be mixing and matching. One
15:08
Speaker 4: of those spots would be Davis Martin's, you know, time
15:12
Speaker 4: to pitch and he's on the il with a blister.
15:15
Speaker 4: I think you're gonna see Eric Vetti get a bunch
15:17
Speaker 4: of innings in one of these games. He was in
15:20
Speaker 4: the starter's role. Relievers role numbers not great, but he
15:23
Speaker 4: he grinds, He grinds, so they're gonna have to mix
15:27
Speaker 4: and match. You'll see Grant Taylor maybe open a game.
15:29
Speaker 4: For all we know, he's done that this year. They're
15:32
Speaker 4: gonna have to figure some things out. They sent Noah
15:36
Speaker 4: Schultz a starter down, Davis Martin's hurt, other guys innings
15:40
Speaker 4: are piling up. It is not exactly a strength of
15:42
Speaker 4: the team right now. They're gonna need Luis Castillo to
15:45
Speaker 4: go deep, as he did in his second start as
15:47
Speaker 4: a White Sox player, a huge, huge outing he had
15:50
Speaker 4: against the Reds, his former team. He's got to follow
15:53
Speaker 4: that up with six or seven innings to help out
15:56
Speaker 4: Tuesday Wednesday, But basically a lot of They poured all
15:58
Speaker 4: the resources into the week and they swept the Tigers,
16:01
Speaker 4: who are in the division. As much as it's Cubs
16:03
Speaker 4: versus Socks, this series clearly not as important. They may
16:07
Speaker 4: have to punt the game here because of all these
16:09
Speaker 4: pitching issues right now.
16:11
Speaker 1: Jesse, that's a great segue to my next point, because
16:13
Speaker 1: you mentioned the White Sox sweeping Detroit for the first
16:16
Speaker 1: time since two thousand and two. There in full command
16:20
Speaker 1: of the al central again Midguel Vargas, great game, Munatako Morikami.
16:23
Speaker 1: They become the first pair of White Sox teammates with
16:25
Speaker 1: at least twenty eight home runs in a season since
16:28
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. So what did they do so well to
16:31
Speaker 1: sweep the Tigers and can that carry over against the Cubs.
16:36
Speaker 4: It comes down to their offense and their bullpen. And
16:38
Speaker 4: this is something along I've talked a lot about regarding
16:41
Speaker 4: the White Sox since they basically established themselves back in May.
16:46
Speaker 4: And what I'm getting at is with the emergence of
16:48
Speaker 4: Munataka Morrikami, they have become a left handed, power hitting
16:53
Speaker 4: team and that will take you a long way. You
16:57
Speaker 4: face a lot of rights in the game. Obviously, this
17:00
Speaker 4: includes the playoffs, and you need to run into some
17:02
Speaker 4: home runs sometimes. They have thirty two come from behind wins,
17:06
Speaker 4: the most in the American League. Why, I don't feel
17:10
Speaker 4: like that's a coincidence because they have the ability down
17:13
Speaker 4: three to one, which they were on Friday, to just
17:15
Speaker 4: boom boom boom hit you from the left side. They
17:18
Speaker 4: had to nine sixty four ops from their left handed
17:21
Speaker 4: hitters over the weekend. It's a microcosm of what they've
17:24
Speaker 4: done all season. Drew Romo switch in and catcher bets
17:28
Speaker 4: lefty most of the time. He's hitting one thirty five.
17:30
Speaker 4: He has seven home runs, that comes in handy. So
17:34
Speaker 4: that's the formula on left handed slug specifically and a bullpen.
17:39
Speaker 4: It's a young team, but a veteran bullpen. Sean Neukomb
17:43
Speaker 4: and Brian Hudson have been godsends down there. Those two things.
17:46
Speaker 4: Slug from the left side in a bullpen can get
17:48
Speaker 4: you far, and it's really proving to be true this
17:51
Speaker 4: year with the White Sox.
17:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, two of their all stars with a huge series.
17:54
Speaker 1: Of course, you mentioned Migil Vargas and Munataka Marikami with big,
17:58
Speaker 1: big games in that.
17:59
Speaker 3: Series over the Detroit Tigers.
18:01
Speaker 1: All right, time now for on Deck, presented by the
18:05
Speaker 1: Fox one app All right After the Socks, the Cubs
18:12
Speaker 1: travel to Seattle to play the Mariners. See the Saturday
18:15
Speaker 1: game on Fox. Mariners took two or three over the
18:18
Speaker 1: Astros in Houston. Cal Rawly home run Sunday. It's good
18:21
Speaker 1: to see him get going offensively. They're tough schedule though,
18:23
Speaker 1: continues Jesse at Milwaukee versus the Cubs, then versus Philadelphia,
18:28
Speaker 1: and then at Toronto. So let's talk a little bit
18:31
Speaker 1: about the Mariners here. This has been a season that
18:34
Speaker 1: has been one without a lot of traction, and of
18:37
Speaker 1: course you're not having a year in which you did
18:39
Speaker 1: last year with Cal Rawly, and you know a gazillion
18:42
Speaker 1: home runs. What do you make of the Mariners and
18:44
Speaker 1: what do they need to do differently in that al West.
18:47
Speaker 4: Well, it feels like that non handshake in the WBC
18:50
Speaker 4: carried over betwe Ands Arena. And I'm not even necessarily kidding.
18:55
Speaker 4: I look, I don't cover the Mariners every day, but
18:59
Speaker 4: I'll just give you my view from thirty thousand feet.
19:02
Speaker 4: I remember visiting them while the WBC was going on.
19:07
Speaker 4: They were one of a couple teams that sent the
19:10
Speaker 4: most players from their forty man roster and even off
19:13
Speaker 4: their forty to the WBC, so their camp was not
19:18
Speaker 4: cohesive at all, and that is where a lot of
19:21
Speaker 4: the bonding goes on. Now you would think, coming off
19:24
Speaker 4: one game away from the World Series, tight team already,
19:28
Speaker 4: but as evidence maybe by that lack of a handshake,
19:30
Speaker 4: maybe not so much.
19:31
Speaker 3: So.
19:32
Speaker 4: I wonder if Jerry Depoto at the end of the
19:33
Speaker 4: year is going to look back at the start in
19:35
Speaker 4: spring training say, I don't know. I'm sure he can't
19:38
Speaker 4: just sit there and blame it on the WBC. Other
19:40
Speaker 4: teams sent players, but it felt off from the beginning.
19:45
Speaker 4: Now a guy that hit sixty home runs is now
19:48
Speaker 4: having one of the worst his seasons in the history
19:50
Speaker 4: of the game. Him alone has you know, he alone
19:53
Speaker 4: has tanked it a lot. But there I think you
19:55
Speaker 4: talk to anybody surrounding the Mariners and anybody that's covered them,
19:58
Speaker 4: there's something missing in there, and it's put Dan Wilson
20:01
Speaker 4: on the hot seat. And you know, Jerry Depoto, he'll
20:04
Speaker 4: trade just if it's a Tuesday, right, So he will,
20:07
Speaker 4: he will, he will shake things up in this offseason.
20:11
Speaker 4: I think between the chemistry and lack of production and
20:14
Speaker 4: maybe manager not really helping them out of this, there's
20:17
Speaker 4: gonna be a lot of changes in Seattle. That's what
20:19
Speaker 4: it feels like from thirty thousand.
20:20
Speaker 1: Feet well, and that's a good question that you bring
20:23
Speaker 1: up because we remember that Scott Servis was let go
20:26
Speaker 1: of his duties because of the lack of production, lack
20:29
Speaker 1: of offense, lack.
20:30
Speaker 3: Of whatever it was.
20:31
Speaker 1: Do you think that that would be the same fate
20:33
Speaker 1: for Dan Wilson although he hasn't even been there that long.
20:36
Speaker 1: So is is this a managerial problem or is this
20:39
Speaker 1: something else to point to?
20:41
Speaker 4: I think you can say it's a managerial problem among
20:44
Speaker 4: many problems. What happened between that, I mean it's an
20:49
Speaker 4: easy dissection, doesn't mean it's an easy answer. What happened
20:52
Speaker 4: between the end of last year when we were one
20:55
Speaker 4: game from the World Series and this year. There's a
20:58
Speaker 4: chance Jerry Depoto could just chalk it up to one
21:01
Speaker 4: team out of thirty every year has this fluke bad season.
21:04
Speaker 4: We're going to rebound. I don't think he's going to
21:07
Speaker 4: do that. I think he's going to do an autopsy
21:09
Speaker 4: and find some some issues that, you know, maybe Dan
21:12
Speaker 4: Wilson's message became stale, quicker than most managers. Maybe maybe
21:16
Speaker 4: Raleigh can't be the leader of that team or Rosa.
21:19
Speaker 4: Something is missing in the water there, and he'll do
21:22
Speaker 4: it to autopsy if he comes up with it's just
21:24
Speaker 4: one of those fluke heers, Okay, I don't know if
21:27
Speaker 4: fan base will buy that. I think there's there's got
21:29
Speaker 4: to be some changes there, all right.
21:31
Speaker 1: Again, you can see the Saturday game on Fox.
21:34
Speaker 3: Check that out.
21:34
Speaker 1: MLB on Fox is streaming on Fox one. The race
21:37
Speaker 1: two October starts. Now when we have your front row
21:40
Speaker 1: seat to the wildest walkoffs, lights out, pitching and clutch
21:43
Speaker 1: plays all season long. Follow every can't miss matchup as
21:46
Speaker 1: team's battle for a spot in the postseason. Then stream
21:50
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty six World Series live on Fox One
21:54
Speaker 1: at home or on the go live or on demand.
21:56
Speaker 3: Never miss a moment.
21:57
Speaker 1: Stream Now, start your Fox one three day free today
22:00
Speaker 1: at foxwe dot com.
22:02
Speaker 2: We'll be right back with Grill and Jesse after this.
22:05
Speaker 2: Get your questions in.
22:12
Speaker 1: You're the best dressed at the barbecue in a suit
22:15
Speaker 1: as we get ready to grill Jesse here, All right,
22:20
Speaker 1: So Armand is amazing, he's a Met fan.
22:22
Speaker 3: I'll give you that.
22:23
Speaker 1: I had that first of all, Jesse, what did Mets
22:26
Speaker 1: pitching coach Justin Willard Unlocke and code is singa five innings,
22:31
Speaker 1: one hit, zero earned runs, two walks, seven k's and
22:34
Speaker 1: so far three for three and save opportunities.
22:37
Speaker 4: Well, you can simplify a little bit more in the bullpen, right,
22:40
Speaker 4: you're not using you don't have to use your full arsenal.
22:43
Speaker 4: I mean, I talked to many pitchers that end up
22:46
Speaker 4: in the pen and it's it's it's not easy, but
22:50
Speaker 4: you can simplify things, use use a couple of your
22:53
Speaker 4: best pitches and and be able to reinvent yourself. You
22:58
Speaker 4: see it often he's struggling starters go to the pen,
23:01
Speaker 4: still have good stuff and have success because of it.
23:04
Speaker 4: The biggest thing about going to the pen is accepting it.
23:06
Speaker 4: And I haven't talked to Codey saying you, but watching
23:09
Speaker 4: his performances, I assume he's embraced this new role. So
23:14
Speaker 4: that's what i'd say, is just simplifying, shortening your arsenal,
23:18
Speaker 4: so to speak, and accepting your new role. And he's
23:20
Speaker 4: done well.
23:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, almost like do less less is more if you
23:24
Speaker 1: will when you get to go to the bullpen. All right,
23:26
Speaker 1: So foul Territory, show this question to you, Jesse.
23:29
Speaker 3: Do the Cubs need a healthy Edward Cabrera? How important
23:33
Speaker 3: would that be?
23:34
Speaker 4: A lot less needed when you consider the additions of
23:37
Speaker 4: Clay Holmes and Kevin Gosman. Without them, he'd be like
23:41
Speaker 4: your number two or three pitcher in the playoffs, and
23:43
Speaker 4: that is a scary proposition. He's not had a good
23:45
Speaker 4: first year with the Cubs. He continues to be injury prone.
23:49
Speaker 4: Just got back from a hamstring and yesterday in the
23:51
Speaker 4: locker room he holds up his middle finger. I won't
23:54
Speaker 4: do that to you. Alana, Alana to show his to
23:57
Speaker 4: show is his blister on his finger with a band
24:00
Speaker 4: aid on it. I mean, first game back and he's
24:02
Speaker 4: got another blister. Did not perform well, can't find the zone,
24:06
Speaker 4: and when he does, he gets hit hard. If they
24:09
Speaker 4: need Edward Cobert for a big game in the playoffs,
24:12
Speaker 4: they could be in trouble this version of him right now.
24:14
Speaker 4: Fortunately they don't. They might need innings out of him,
24:17
Speaker 4: but they don't necessarily need important innings out of him
24:20
Speaker 4: unless there's other injuries. And that's why. A good job
24:23
Speaker 4: by Jed Hoyer getting two starters at the deadline, something
24:26
Speaker 4: not many teams did or happens very often at the
24:29
Speaker 4: trolley July trade deadline.
24:31
Speaker 2: All right, Jesse Rodgers, we appreciate it so much.
24:33
Speaker 1: Make sure you guys are reading Jesse on ESPN dot com,
24:36
Speaker 1: watching Jesse on ESPN. Thank you for watching and listening.
24:39
Speaker 1: Fair Territory returns on Thursday at twelve thirty Eastern.
24:42
Speaker 2: Talk to you then, take care, guys. Thanks Jesse, you
24:45
Speaker 2: got it.
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