Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Jon Lester’s All-Star break outlook: Storylines, 10-year reunion and more

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Jon Lester’s All-Star break outlook: Storylines, 10-year reunion and more · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Zadi Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney once again. Today
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: we are joined by John Lester, who is out in
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Cooperstown watching his son play a little baseball.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I know a lot of parents enjoy that.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I experienced that about three four years ago and had
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: some fun. It's a crazy time at a hectic time,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: but also fun for the kids. And and uh, I'm sure,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you're surviving it and enjoying it. Do you coach? John?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I I not to ask. Okay, you're not coaching.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Okay, No, parents don't want that, kids don't want that.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, is it?
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Is it? Uh, it's probably more stressful for you than
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: uh than the kids. I'm assuming you're you're sitting there
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: as as his dad not wanting to to get involved
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: in coach too much.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Uh, I mean, it's it's not bad. I I it's
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: nice because neither one of my boys want to pitch,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: so which is good.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: And that's and and they do they do pitch when.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: They're kind of lacking arms or whatever on the on
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: some of these tournaments. But like last night, my son
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: started started the game, which was really awesome. It was
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: a ten forty five pm start. That was a that
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: was a first for me. But that's really only that's
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: really the only time I get nervous is when they're pitching. Uh.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Other than that, when they're hitting and and you know,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: both of them play third and uh, this one plays
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: a little bit of outfield. Uh you know that that
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: doesn't bother me. I just sit there and watch and
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: and cheer and uh sometimes I know it's shocking probably
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: to you guys yell at some umpires when they don't
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: know the rules and and uh, but really just just
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: try not to try not to get too worked up
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: and realize that it's twelve year old, twelve year old
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: baseball and enjoy it.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Right, That's the key.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I think some of the parents forget that that aspect,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: that last aspect right there is missed by a lot
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: of parents. All Right, all Star break, John, I'm curious
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: this is this is a big moment uh for players
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: as far as resetting, I feel like and getting a break.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: But is that how you looked at it?
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Was it a time to kind of like get your
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: bearings and and also just you know, rest a little
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: bit after whatever it's been ninety plus games.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Usually yeah, I mean obviously you want to you know,
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: it's it's it's always nice and a huge honor to
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: you know, to make the All Star game.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: That's you know, I don't want to say that's like.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Number one priority, but it but it when you when
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: you start having a good first half, you kind of
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: see that that breaks as a time to you know,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: go to whatever city that that the game's ad and
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: and hopefully enjoy that. It can be uh, pretty chaotic,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: and you know, depending on how far you have to
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: travel and where it's you know, where your last games are,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: so wherever that city is can be tough. But you know,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: when you're there, you're you know, obviously around the best
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: players in the game, especially for that year, and uh,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: you know, you try to soak it in as best
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: you can. I know, it's not a lot of sleep,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: and you you spend a lot of time at the
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: field and you know, which is good. Homer Derby's fun
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: and and you know it's it's awesome, you know, sitting
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: here last night watching it, getting to see the guys
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: with their kids on the field and and watching you know,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: some of the I guess some of their heroes as well,
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: you know, hit some some pretty big homers. But as
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: far as like when you're not in the game and
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: and you get those three four days, I don't even
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: know what it is if they've changed it to more
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: or less.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: But if it's four, uh, it's it's.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: It definitely is not to kind of get away, whether
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: you stay in you know, your home city, or you
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: go somewhere for a couple of days and kind of
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: you know, reset, like you said, your barometer of what's
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: going on. You know, as long as you don't have
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: that first start out of the gate, it's usually a
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: good a good time to rest and kind of get
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: reback to where you're at.
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: John, If my research is correct, it looks like you
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: made five All Star teams but pitched in three games.
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: When you look at the totality of that, were there
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: any moments or interactions or experiences that kind of stand
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: out more so in hindsight?
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Not really.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: I mean I did kind of make a fool of
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: myself in my very first one in twenty ten. You know,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: for DROI had been I think to one or two
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: and he knew, you know, being a position player, you
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: get to know a lot of the you know, other
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: position players, and you know, they all hang out in
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: the outfield and shag and all that stuff. And I
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: didn't really have anybody to follow around except for him.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: So I followed him around a little bit. And we're
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: in the outfield with you know, A Rod and Jeter
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: and I'm just sitting there listening, trying to be a
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: fly on the wall, and you know, finally get a
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: moment to to say something, and I look at a
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: Rod and I was like, hey, man, I was at
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: your major league debut at Fenway Park, you know, back
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: in gub whatever that was. I don't remember when he debuted,
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: but you know, Jeter starts laughing, and A Rod's like
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: kind of awkward. He's like, hey, oh, that that's great, man,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: and Jeter goes, ah, you're old, and so I kind
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: of felt bad. I kind of felt bad that that
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: was you know, the first thing I said at an
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: All Star game was basically called a Rod old.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: But no, it's cool, man like to get to get
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: into the clubhouse.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: And you know, I've been fortunate enough to to be
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: UH at one with my with my manager in UH
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: in fourteen, after the World series, you know, and to
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: get to meet the other guys around the league that
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: that run teams and get to see their personalities and
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: how they get guys going and and all that stuff.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: And you know, get to around get to be around
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: some other pitchers and see how they go about their
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: routines and and that sort of thing.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: It's it's a pretty cool experience. You know.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: It is a lot more fun when you when you're
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: not on that list to pitch than it is when
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: you're on that list. And and things can go a
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: little go a little crazy down there in that bullpen,
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: but man, it's that's probably the one that stands out.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: Otherwise it's just kind of more or less bs and
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: with guys in the outfield and in the dugout.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually wonder how much And maybe this is
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: just me and and my experience with my watching with
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: my son. He he prefers like the Homer and Derby
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: to the actual game. And I feel I feel like
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the game the last big moment I remember outside of
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: the game ending in a tie and that that odd
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: moment with Bud selig.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: There was also ninety nine I think was Ted Williams
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and then paiedro Head had a pretty ridiculous start. That's
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that's the last time I really remember thinking the game
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: was like the central focus. Not that there haven't been
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: good there have been good games since then, but I
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: feel like the home run derby is the most exciting
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: part of the week. How do the do the players
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: actually get juiced for that?
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Is that fun?
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Is that as fun as it looks like it is
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: for the players? Obviously you're not out there at any homers,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: but I assume yeah, and there cheering, uh cheering on
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: uh teammates or or even you know, former teammates or
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: whatever it was. And obviously last night's a couple of
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: your former teammates put on a show.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Uh yeah.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think the home run derby is is
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: the you know, the spectacle of the week.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: I did like how they.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Changed the format last night to just you know, just
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: the swings as opposed to the time limit. Uh. You
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: know that that time limit can get can get crazy
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: with with the amount of swings guys are trying to
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: take to hit home runs.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: I think baseball is one of the harder sports to
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: have an All Star Game because on the hitting side
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: of things, there's so much failure. You know that you
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: get a few guys that may run into one here
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: or there, and hopefully there's a guy on and they
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: score a few runs. But you know, it's not like
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: they're going out there and putting up ten twelve hits
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: and scoring you know, I say that maybe tonight it'll
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: be a fifteen to twelve game.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but yeah, I mean I think it's hard.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: It's it's a hard it's a hard sport to have that,
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: and I don't think you can really do anything to
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: change it. But yeah, I think as on a player standpoint,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously the home run derby is what you're
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: you're trying to sit there and watch it. Like I
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: said that, the the days and nights get a little long.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: So there was a couple of times where, you know,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: especially when you got your younger kids there, you sneak
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: out of there a little early before the end of it.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: But that that that for sure, is the highlight of
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: of the whole week. The game, you know, once you're
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: I think it's easier on the position players than it
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: is the pitchers because you've got to, you know, try
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: to get ready and not throw too many pitches and
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: make sure you're ready when you come back and all
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: that other stuff. So but yeah, I mean I think
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: I think that for sure is what everybody wants to see.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: I was just curious John kind of watching Kyle Schoreber
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: last night. I think Cubs fans are probably losing their minds.
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: They're not quite over that one. That's twenty one season
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: when you spent you both spend part of in DC. Well,
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: how important was that for Kyle to just kind of
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: get away from Chicago. I think it's difficult to assume that. Like,
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: if Kyle just stayed at Wrigley Field for his whole
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: career this maybe it would have happened. But yeah, what
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: do you think he gained from that change of scenery?
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: And Kyle might have a different answer, And I don't
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: want to put words in his mouth, but just being
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: a fly on the wall and watching him in DC.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: And this isn't a knock on the guys that were
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: in Chicago working with Kyle on the hitting side of things,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: because I love those guys as well. But I think
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Kevin Long really helped him. I don't know if it
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: was a game plan, I don't know. If it was mechanical,
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know what that entails, but you know, there's
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: just certain people that you run into along the way
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: that speak the same language as you. And for whatever reason,
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: you know, Melee or Ski or whoever was at Chicago
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: probably was telling Shober the same thing that Kevin Mong's saying.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: He just may have worded it differently, and for whatever reason,
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: it clicked for him and he went off. And you know,
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: as you guys know, being around the game and being
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: around the guys and all that stuff, this game is
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: so confidence based, and when you start feeling good about
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: yourself and you feel like guys can't throw the ball
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: by you, you know, that's a good position to be in.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: And he just went off and found his groove, and
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm happy for him. He's such a good dude,
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: and he works so hard at it that, you know,
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: to see the fruits of his labor, you know, and
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: get the results, and that's sometimes very hard to do
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: in this game when you're making you know, I don't
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: want to say wholesale changes, maybe it's small tweaks or
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: whatever it is, but k Long just got him locked
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: in and now he's in Philly, with him, and obviously
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: that helps you know, you get your guy over there
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: and makes things easier. You don't have to to Rea,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: Like I said, relearn a language that a guy speaking.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: All right, I actually have a cub Center question about
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the Alcer game. But let's take it quick break and
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: then we'll get to that John.
• 12:03
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• 13:06
  Speaker 1: So Alex Bregman, I think it kind of joked that he,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: you know, the All Star break is coming at a
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: at a rough time for him in the sense that
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: he just was feeling his rhythm and now he has
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: to take this four day break. Obviously, I have to
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: assume it's very different for pictures and position players that break.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: You could be in a rhythm as a pitcher, but
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: you always have four days off as a starting pitcher,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Like that time off, isn't that odd for you? I
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: guess maybe I'm wrong on that. Maybe a long break
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: when you're really rolling ken throw off a starting pitcher,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: but I feel like that's more of a position player thing.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: What did you observe when you saw a guy get
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: locked in?
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Did it kind of.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Drive them nuts that they had to go to the
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: break or do you think it can just be like
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: good for the body in general? And maybe that's a
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: little overblown.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it can be all of those things,
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: you know, like you said, for the pitching side, especially
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: on the starter side. You know, it does help when
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: you get where they're pushing you back, you know, where
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: it's like that eight, nine, ten day deal that can
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: get a little rough just because you don't really ever
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: have that that amount of time, you know. I think
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: in a in a hitter hitter standpoint, yeah, absolutely, I
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: think it can. You know, a guy coming in struggling
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: and has those four days and then comes back, it
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: can really help him reset, you know, and and then
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: vice versa on the guys that are getting kind of
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: locked in. Hopefully that's not the case for Alex and
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: he continues to to swing the bat well along with
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: the rest of the team. I mean, they've been since
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: last time we talk. Seems like they've been you know, dance.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: He's been going off and PCA and and all that stuff.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: So it's uh it.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: I think it'll help him physically or all of them physically,
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: and then hopefully they can continue to roll right out
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: of the break.
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: Cubs. We'll have one player in Tonight's All Star Game,
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: Pete Crow Armstrong. And I was just curious, John, how
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: much do you see sort of the PCA effect Like
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: in Chicago at Wrigley you see the jerseys you see
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: kind of how the crowds react to him. He seems
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: to have kind of crossed over good and bad in
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: different ways of like you know, kind of connecting with fans, yeah,
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: and riling up opposing fan bases. I don't know as
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: a former player, as a parent, like what are your
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: observations of Pete and how he is kind of this
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: next entertainer at Wrigley.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's fun to watch, you know.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: I know last year we went up to Chicago for
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: a little little vacation, caught some games with the kids
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: and and you know that was other than seeing their
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: boy hat, that was the dude they wanted to, you know,
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: to go to go meet. So you know, he's definitely
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: pulling the younger, the younger kids, the younger crowd in there.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: You know, you sit there and watch them for a
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: few games, and what he brings to the table is
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: is electric.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: You know, you don't see.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: That type of power usually from a guy that you know,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: it is kind of known for a speed and you know,
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: being a fan and watching games, you can see how
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: he rubs the other team wrong.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: He's fired up. He's a he's an emotional player, and
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: you know, I think.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: The other side has to understand that. You know, everybody's different,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: you know, and I can say this because I know.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Like you got stoic, stoic boy hat.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: That you don't know if he's having a good time
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: doing anything. And then you got PCA that you know,
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: if he gets bit my mosquito, you'll know.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: So it's and that's what makes baseball great, right You
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: have so many different personalities. You got guys from all
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: over the world trying to come together and play for
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: one goal. And you know, I've played with guys like PCA,
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: and I've seen coaches and front offices try to change
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: their personalities and the way they go about things. And
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: you know, there's some guys that they got to come
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: in and throw stuff. They got to come in and
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: beat the batrack to get that emotion out so they
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: can then go play defense and be a you know,
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: a valuable I said to the team out on the
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: other side of the field. And then there's guys like
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: I said, half that you wouldn't know if he hit
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: a homer or if he's struck out four times in
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: the game. He comes in, puts his helmet down, puts
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: his bat and gloves in, goes right back to the
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: to the bench and cheers his teammates on. So you
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: got to you got to know your players, You got
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: to know their personality, and you got to understand what
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: makes them tick and and let them be that person
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: and that you know, thankfully counsels let him do that.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: And I think you're seeing the fruits of that, of
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: that process of letting PCA kind of just navigate his
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: way through being a big leader and being.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: A star in the big leagues.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: John, I can't remember how much we talked about the
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: injuries that this pitching has pitching staff has suffered of late,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: but they've they've held up really well as far as
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the team wins and losses. Lately, Patrick and I have
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: talked about it like, if they get through these final
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: two weeks before the break, that's a big deal. And
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: they did more than get through it. Obviously, the players
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: deserve majority of the credit whenever things go right or wrong,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, like that that's who's out there playing,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: But how much credit does this coaching staff deserve for
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: kind of piecing everything together and getting through these final
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: weeks before the break and with so many injuries piling up.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think you know that you could
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: you could even stretch it down, you know, even further
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: with the with the training staff and and you know,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: the front office and the coach. You know, obviously you
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: said the coaching staff. You you've got to have depth
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: in in a in a in a baseball season. And
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: that depth doesn't necessarily mean what's in your bullpen, what's
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: on your bench. You know, you're gonna need guys from
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: the farm system. You're gonna need guys to come in
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: and step up and be a part and and make
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: an impact. And with all the injuries to their pitching staff,
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: they've done that. They've been able to piece guys together.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: You know, it's a testament to counsel and and you know,
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: I don't like to give I don't like to give
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Tommy hot to Be too much credit. Yeah, I love you, Tommy.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: I'm just giving you a hard time, buddy. But you
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: know that those guys putting The biggest thing with the
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: manager with the bullpen is putting guys in the best
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: position to succeed, right Like you're giving them the best
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: matchups and not all that.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: That doesn't always work.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: Because you've got, you know, some games where you need
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: arms and you've got to put guys in and it
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: is what it is. But when you're when you're giving
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: guys the best opportunity to succeed against good matchups, that's
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: that builds confidence for those guys, and that builds confidence
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: in your whole bullpen, your whole unit. So yeah, I
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: think they've done an incredible job with that, and uh,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: you know, hopefully hopefully they can keep rolling this little break,
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: maybe get some guys back that are you know, not
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: necessarily really banged up, but just kind of banged up,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: and you know, get them healthy and get them rolling
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: in the second half.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and come back
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: and you can ask your question.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Patrick.
• 20:45
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• 21:47
  Speaker 5: John I had a hard hitting question, Yeah, what are
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: you wearing? What are you wearing to the ten year reunion?
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: If you have your outfits all picked out, well, what's
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: on the.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Uh? I really don't know, you know.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: I it's it's a little tough coming from here to
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: UH to go to Chicago. You know, I got I
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: got all these shorts and these little sweatshirts and stuff,
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: trying to stay somewhat cool and not sweat my butt
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: off at the same time.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: I don't I don't know.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm I want I want my you know,
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: I want this team to to win and you know,
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: go as far as they can there. The record isn't
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: showing that right now. We got to today here in
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: a little bit, Uh, so hopefully we can we can
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: make it there for Thursday night for.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: The Lovable Lovable reunion with Ross and Riz and and
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: get that going. But yeah, I mean I heard it's
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: pretty casual.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: I heard it's you know, not supposed to be too
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: too hot, but probably you know, perfect Chicago weather up there,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: so probably some shorts and some polos act like I'm
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: I might go hit blinks, but at the same time
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: look presentable enough to to go out there and and
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: uh hang out with the boys.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Uh. John, we we all know you didn't get your
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: like farewell on the field with the Cubs as far
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: as the fans go, uh because of the you know,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: because of COVID and the lack of fans there in
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: your last season in Cubs uniform. So is that is
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: that what you're looking forward to most, kind of getting
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: the cheer from the fans and and that you know,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: just being able to soak that in or is there
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: is there something else or what are the things that
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: you're most looking forward to this this later this week.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, anytime you get to go back to Wrigley
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: is fun, especially during the summertime day games. Uh. You know,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: I think they got us set up out in the
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: bleachers on Saturday with with the fam.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: I've never I've never done that.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: Black and I had had a bet with with Madden
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: back in sixteen that if we if we clinched early
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: enough that we could go sit in one of the
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: the bleachers are not the bleachers the uh roof top deals. Yeah,
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: we were gonna go full Uni over there, uh and
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: watch the game, and we didn't. We cleansed on the
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: last our last home game, I think is what it was.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: So we never got to do it. So it'll be
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: cool to do the bleacher deal. I think the biggest
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: thing is is getting the guys back. You know, we
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: got a we got everybody back in January, and you know,
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: it's just fun to see guys and and you know,
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: some guys were just getting started in in their careers
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: and their life and you know, now some of them
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: have kids, some of them you know all this other stuff.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: So it's it's fun to see and get back with
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: guys and and see uh see them and hang out
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: and tell stories and you know, kind of just kick back.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean anytime you get to to go
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: on Wrigley and or go on the field and uh,
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: you know see those fans is a fun time.
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: The Theo and Rizzo certainly took advantage of their afternoons
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: in the blea got some good some good run on
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: social media.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Rin is such an idiot idiot retirement, that's for sure.
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: He is.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: He is. I mean I thought he was going to
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: ride off in the sunset and go back to Miami
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: and be on his boat. And I see him on
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: TV more than I see anybody, and my damn, Riz
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: go go home for a minute.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: He was.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, he was always quick witted in the in
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the interviews, and I didn't realize how quick, how easily
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: that would translate for him to on the air, because
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: he's he's been impressively solid, Like for someone that has
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: no background in this, he's doing a tremendous.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Job for somebody that has complete moron. He does a
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: great job on TV.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: I told him that I think it was one of
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: his first games he did. I want to say it
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: was in Philly or something, and he's they got him
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: down in that little cubby hole by the dugout and
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: uh uh do we just be had we were just
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: happen to be watching the game, and uh I was like, damn,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: I know that.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Boys, who who is that?
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: And they panned down to him and I texted him
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: a couple of innings later and I was like, dude.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: You're doing a good job.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: You sound good.
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: You're you're telling you you know, you're you're being self
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: deprecating at the right time, and you're you're giving it
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: back to the other guys. And he's done a great job.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: I thought he did a great job last night at
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: the home run derby or the pre home run derby.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Uh so, yeah, I mean he's good at it.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Like you said, he's he's quick witted, and he tells
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: good stories and he does a good job.
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: I've been impressed exactly what you're saying, John, of like
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: as the hod of Nose, Rizzo was a good interview,
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: but he was kind of unpredictable, Like there are times
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: where he could be I guess we spent a lot
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: of time around him, so like, you know, yeah, it's understandable,
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: but times are times you could tell he was just
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: not into it, not feeling it. He was. I mean
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: he posted it every day.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: And then there are times you you had no idea
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: when he might just say something totally off the wall
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: and all of a sudden just give you a headline
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: out of nowhere. And so I wasn't like that year,
• 27:15
  Speaker 5: I ain't predicted like they you guys would win a
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: division after that, you know, you guys had I think
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: this is probably the I don't.
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: Know his leading.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he's like, yeah, we're gonna win the division this year.
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: It was like one of those Cubs convention warm up events,
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: like what you guys have finished in the fifth place
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: five years running? And uh, I wasn't. You just never knew,
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: like I said, what he'd say. But I think he's
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: shown a lot of focus and discipline and feel for broadcasting,
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: which can be hard, particularly when you're in the dugout
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: there and you can't see the other people and kind
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: of make the the hand motions. And I thought he's
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: done a good job. I haven't listened to all of
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: you know, a ton of the level, but he's good
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: at sort of like redirecting towards the camera and like
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: explaining to you know, baseball civilians, you know, like, Okay,
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: this is why this is important, is what you should
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: know of, Like, you know, just kind of some of
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: those little details that if you're not around the game
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: all the time you might not know. But he sort
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: of like underlines it and highlights it, which is a
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: great skill as a broadcaster.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like I said, he did a great job.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: I was very along the lines of what you said
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: about the level of reunion deal. I was very surprised
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: on how he handled all that.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: I think when we were doing our thing, he was
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: leading it, and he had all these notes and he
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: had all this stuff, and we took a break for
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: a second and I.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Looked at Riz. I was like, dude, why are you
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: doing this? Let it ROSSI do it.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: He was the one in TV for Holburn many years.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Like he is a better understanding of this. Just give
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: him a hard time. And by the end of it,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: like you said, it was like, damn, raise you got
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: to you got a good handle at all this.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: But yeah, he he doesn't.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: He's he literally is like a big kid, and he
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: understands the game.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Obviously.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: He understands when to shut up, when to speak, and
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: like you said, He's handled himself very very well in
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: the in the in those settings, and like I mean,
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: he's just he's riz and well, to go back to
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: your point on the on the on posting every day,
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: he was very similar to Pedroia in Boston. You know, good, bad,
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: are indifferent. He always stood in front of his locker.
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: He tried to answer the questions as best he could,
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: you know, And I'm sure you guys respected that from
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: him because it's it's very easy to you know, take
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: your clothes in the back and change and get out,
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: you know, go out the back door and and worry
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: about it tomorrow. And he I have a lot of
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: respect for guys, you know, and and he wanted that
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: team leader role and that was that's part of that.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: And I have a lot of respect for those guys
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: that stand there day in and day out and do
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: that and post not only on the field, but answer
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: the questions and you know, for the team after the games,
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: whether we lost by ten or we won by ten,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: whether he was zero for four or he's four for four,
• 30:16
  Speaker 3: he was consistent with it, and he did he wore
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: that responsibility very well, very well.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: All right, John, thanks so much for joining us. Man,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: We'll let you get to those games and hopefully your
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: son kicks some butt out there and has some fun.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: We will chat soon. This is Northside Territory. Make sure
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and Iron top of
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: all things Cubs. Thank you John, thanks for listening to everyone.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Take care.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: Thanks guys.
• 31:01
  Speaker 7: Lead along the Lead