Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Dodgers trust Shohei Ohtani, Freddy P dominates, Don Mattingly in, Joe Espada out

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Fair Territory: Dodgers trust Shohei Ohtani, Freddy P dominates, Don Mattingly in, Joe Espada out · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome, everyone, to a special Wednesday edition of Fair Territory.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I'm Ken Rosenthal here with Alana Rizzo. I give myself
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: a lot of credit for knowing it's Wednesday during the playoffs.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: You kind of forget what day it is.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: But anyway, we have some news this morning coming out
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: of both Philadelphia and Houston. The Phillies awarding Don Mattingly
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a two-year contract.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: And then the Astros long expected firing Joe Espada. We've
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: got some openings to discuss. That we will do later.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: But first, Alana, we want to get into the ALCS
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and what's going on there.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Ken, good to be with you on this Wednesday.
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: Freddy Peralta, I tell you what, looks a little bit
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: different now than he did with his former club.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Is it nature or is it nurture? What's going on
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: with Fastball Freddy?
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: It is nurture.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: He got to Tampa Bay and got nurtured in a
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: better way than he was with the New York Mets.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: And the numbers, frankly, are startling. And I'll refer to
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a Will Salmon story from a couple of days ago
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: that explained just what happened with Tampa Bay and Freddie
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: once he got there. Now, his first 23 starts, first 23,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: that includes one with Tampa Bay, his first one, which
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: was a clunker, 5.37 ERA.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Again, first 23 starts, 5.37.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: His 11 starts since, including the two in the postseason,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: 2.02 ERA.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Wow, how does this happen?
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Well, Will explained it in his article. They wanted Freddie
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to move faster down the mound. They noticed that when
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: he did that, things were picking up. And out of
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the stretch, he seemed more comfortable. And he did it
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: with a slide step. And at first, they noticed his
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: velocity jump up and then said, stay with that.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: And he agreed.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Kyle Snyder is one of the best pitching coaches in
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the game. And now what we're seeing from Freddie is
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: higher velocity than he has thrown in quite some time,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: a higher percentage of fastballs, and speed.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: They've done some training things with him as well. They're
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: a little bit different.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Clearly, the Mets were not getting this out of him.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: And good for Freddy Peralta. He's going to be a
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: free agent. And for a time there, Alana, if you recall,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: it looked like, oh, man, his market's not going to
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: be very good. I expect now it will be good.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: And you can see his playoff numbers right there.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Quite good. So, Alana, yes, I would say it is
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: nurture for sure.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: It's funny, though, too, because I do believe, Ken, and
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: you certainly would know this better than I, that the
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Mets probably tried to get some of the same type
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: of things out of Freddy Peralta mechanically in the mindset
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: between the ears. And for whatever reason, it didn't stick there.
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: Is this just a matter of change of scenery, a
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: personnel issue, or just a completely different environment?
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: What say you?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I would say different environment and also Kyle Snyder. And clearly,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Freddy Peralta has spoken very highly of Kyle Snyder, if
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: you remember.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: The Mets changed pitching coaches last offseason.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Now, Freddy Peralta just joined them, so that wasn't really
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a traumatic thing for him. But they had a veteran
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: pitching coach, Jeremy Hefner, and they let him go to Atlanta.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: And he had a great year in Atlanta. So whatever
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: was going on in New York, I'm not sure. But clearly,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: this could not be more stark, the difference between his
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: performance in New York and his performance with Tampa Bay.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: And now this series is even at one. Cleveland did
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: not have its cleanest game last night. The play with
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Jose Ramirez, kind of a funny hop. And that led
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to some runs. But it looks like it's going to
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: be a very competitive series. And I am a Guardians fan.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I'm a fan of all teams in a sense. But
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I loved what they did at the deadline. And I remember, Alana,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: at the deadline, I asked, why were you guys so
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: aggressive this time?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Nathaniel Lowe, Joe Adele, Foster Griffin. And.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: The Guardians are not a team.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: That is usually aggressive at the deadline.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: In fact, they're a team that's been criticized within the
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: industry at times for just setting too high of a
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: price on their players, things like that. And what they said,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: what I got from their people was, well, we think
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: this division.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Is wide open and we think this league is wide open.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: What have we been talking about all season long?
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: The weakness of the American League, or let's just say
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the competitiveness of the American League to be nicer about it. Well,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the Guardians have taken advantage, and those guys that they
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: acquired have all made meaningful contributions.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Nathaniel Lowe with a big game in Game 1.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: Game 3, though, Ken, Mother Nature has something to say
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: about it. They have moved the start time to 1 p.m.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Eastern tomorrow because of weather. How do you think this
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: affects either team if it does?
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know that it does, and certainly.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Players at this time of year are used to adjusting
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: to different things. There's not a Tropicana Field effect in Cleveland.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Progressive Field does not have a roof, unlike American Family
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Field in Milwaukee as well, and unlike, of course, the
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: beautiful weather we always have or seem to have in
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, even when it's hot. So Cleveland isn't a
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: city that you can just say for sure it's going
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to be a beautiful day and you have to adjust
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: when necessary, and the players will adjust.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: I don't expect much of a problem.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, fair territory is all over the place in terms
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: of schedule. So if Ken Rosenthal can adjust his schedule,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: the players can adjust.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Theirs as well.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: Talking about the NL next in this whole situation with
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: Shohei Otani in the lineup, of course, we're going to
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: get to Fox One or this presented by Fox One.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: All right, on deck presented by the Fox One app.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: We appreciate Fox One very much for being with us.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: Have the Brewers simply held serve, Ken, on their home field?
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: Two games in Milwaukee, two wins going back to Los Angeles,
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: up 2-0.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: In the series.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, they have done that.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: And they have preserved the right to win this whole
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: thing at home, even if they lose three games in
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, which you wouldn't necessarily anticipate based on what
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: happened so far. What was surprising to me about the
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: first two games was the lack of dominance from Skubal
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and Yamamoto.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I came into this thinking, okay, Milwaukee certainly is in
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: a better place than last season when they were coming
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: out of that emotional series, five games against the Cubs.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: They won that.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Series, and then they ran into a locomotive in the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles Dodgers, and they weren't quite prepared.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: They were exhausted from the previous series, and Pat Murphy
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: has said, we weren't ready. This is different.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Yes, they beat San Diego in an emotional, hard-fought series,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: but their goal all season has been to get all
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the way to the end. So coming into the series,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at it, and I'm like, okay, Mizorowski and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Logan Henderson, they're outstanding, no question. But my gosh, Scooble,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: two-time Cy Young winner, Yamamoto, reigning World Series MVP, brilliant
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: on the road in the postseason, incredible record.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I thought it would be... Difficult for the Brewers to
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: win one of the first two. They won both. And
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: to me, that is their advantage. Now, Blake Snell in
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: game three tonight.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: And Blake Snell's coming off a difficult outing in the
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: division series against the Braves. I expect him to be better.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: And the Brewers are countering with Robert Gasser. You would
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: think the Dodgers have the pitching advantage here, but we'll see.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: A lot of things that we think in the postseason,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: or in baseball in general, do not turn out the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: way we anticipate, and this could be very well that situation.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Ken, I thought that if the Dodgers were to go
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: on the road and split the series, that that is
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: all you can ask for when you're away from your
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: home field. But they beat not only Jacob Mizorowski, but
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: of course, Logan Henderson, who didn't have his best outing,
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: but still gave them a chance to win, throwing the
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: ball all over the field a little bit.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: But did the.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: Brewers absolutely have to win game one with Miz on
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: the hill, their ace, likely the NL Cy Young Award
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: winner in 2026?
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: I don't know that.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: I'd go that far, Alana, but It certainly helped. And
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: it certainly helped to win on a day when the
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Miz only went, what, four and a third.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: He wasn't necessarily at his best.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: So the story of this series so far is the
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee bullpen, which has been absolutely incredible. Now, one of
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the underlying storylines of the postseason is, okay, you keep
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: showing your relievers to the opponent, and eventually the opponent's
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: going to figure them out.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: That is true in most cases.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I'm not so sure it's true with this Brewers group
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: because they're that good.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: So.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Tonight will be, of course, intensely interesting. And I'm really
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing the Dodgers and how they respond.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Because as I wrote yesterday, these are the two-time defending
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: World Series champions. They're not simply going to fade away.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: And I expect them to tonight come out and play
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: and play well.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: And we'll see what happens.
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and Ken, I think you expect Shohei Otani to
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: be in that lineup. So let's take the temperature of
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of Game 3 tonight. Shohei
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: is adamant that he's about to turn the corner, that
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: he's gotten something figured out mechanically. You wrote about it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: The answer should be obvious. Allowing Otani to continue like
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: this would be unfair. Your words, I highly encourage everybody
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: to check out Ken's article in The Athletic about this situation.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: He's going to be in there. So I guess if
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: he's going to be in there, Ken, he has to produce.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Well, I wrote what I wrote under the premise that
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: he's physically compromised. And if he's physically compromised and can't
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: be who he is, then what are we doing?
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Now, when he met with Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: and Brandon Gomes, the president of baseball operations and general
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: manager yesterday, as you said, Alana, he was adamant that
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: the symptoms are down, they're reduced, and that he's okay,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: and that he just needs to kind of get his
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: mechanics in order, and he's close.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: He said he was close.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Once your superstar says that, there aren't a lot of
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: ways you can go.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: You've got to play him, and that's they're going to
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: play him.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Now, do we believe Otani or do we believe what
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: we're seeing on a nightly basis here in the postseason,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: which is a guy who does not look like himself?
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: So who knows?
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: And if he is indeed close and if he indeed
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: is able to become a force again, hey, all the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: power to them, and it's going to be great for
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers. If not, it's a difficult spot. Now, I
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: will say this as well, just to add. Great players,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: really all players, rarely admit that they're hurt or that
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: they're compromised or that they're anything less than their true selves.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: They operate with a confidence that they can always get
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: out of it, especially the superstars. Aaron Judge, coming off
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: his injury, no rehab assignment, et cetera. We've seen this
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: countless times over the years. Kershaw was a guy who
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: fought through stuff all the time. We can name one
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: star after another. The problem is sometimes they're right and
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: they can overcome things and sometimes they can't. But from
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: the team's perspective, there isn't much choice. You can't just
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: sit Otani when he is telling you, hey, I'm close,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I'm ready, because then you're telling the best player in
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the world, nah, you're not, It's difficult.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: So, again, this will all play out.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: What the beauty of baseball and all sports is, what
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: happens on the field, that is ultimately the truth and
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the result.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: And let me ask you this.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: So I believe that Shohei Otani, being who he is
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: and what he's done so far in this game, has
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: earned the right to say if he is healthy enough
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: or not.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: I ask you this, though.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: Do you have to win with Otani or lose with Otani?
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, imagine the situation if they did decide to
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: bench him, even if it was just for a start.
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: If he could come off the bench, the Dodgers end
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: up losing the next two games or whatever it is,
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: or lose the series by, you know, whenever Milwaukee takes
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: the next two games. you look back and say, I
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: can't believe they didn't play Otani. I mean, are you
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: darned if you do, darned.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: If you don't?
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: To some extent. Now, you're right, Alana.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: If he is saying he's healthy, or at least good
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: enough to go, nobody's totally healthy this time of year.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: If he's telling you that, then you can't lose without him.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: You've got to let him be who he is and
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: let him try to be that player again.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: But even Dave Roberts knows he could go for four tonight,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: look bad again. What have we seen?
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: We're seeing a guy who's not pulling the ball, not
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: hitting the ball hard, getting overwhelmed by fastballs. Can it
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: suddenly change? We hear this all the time. Players are
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: one swing away. He might be one swing away. And
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: if so, again, great for the Dodgers. But if it
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: doesn't go well, okay, they had to lose with him.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: But the questions will persist about how they handled him
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: all season long. And Bill Shakin in the Los Angeles
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Times today goes through a little bit of, hey, you've
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: listened to him. You have been taking control of this situation.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: His injuries have lingered. He finally went on the IL.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: You said it was going to be all right. It
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: wasn't all right. And certainly there is room to question
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: here the way the Dodgers have handled this entire situation.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: But I will say again, with a superstar, it's complicated,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: very complicated. And Shohei Otani is the ultimate superstar.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, sometimes those rules don't always apply to the superstar
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: versus a lesser player. I would be very curious, Ken,
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: to see how Pat Murphy manages a close game, game three.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: Do you go for the jugular, get the team up 3-0? Obviously,
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: you need one more win. This is a Brewers bullpen
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: that has been incredibly good. How do you see this
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: one playing out in terms of a close game?
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: Do you go for the throat?
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: It's a great point, Alana, because certainly every postseason game
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: you want to win.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Duh.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, we've seen Dave Roberts over
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the years, when his team gets down, if it gets
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: down big in a postseason game, he lives to fight
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: another day. He does not use his high leverage relievers.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: He just simply uses the lower leverage guys and then
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: preserves them for the next day. And if you remember
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: in 2024, Brent Honeywell served a very valuable role in
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: that regard in the NLCS for the Dodgers. Now, if
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: the Brewers get down today big, I expect Murphy will
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: do the same thing.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: They want to win. They don't want to let the
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Dodgers up for air, of course.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, they're going to be practical
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: about it. So, yes, the way he manages this game
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: will be very fascinating because it's going to be tricky.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Now, if they are close or have the lead, they're
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: going for it. There's no question about it and should.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: And remember, when Dave Roberts did what he did in
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: those games in the past– punting, so to speak.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: A lot of people question that. Hey, how do you
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: do that in a postseason game?
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: So like everything else, it's a fine line and Murphy's
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: going to have to possibly walk it tonight if they
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: get behind.
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the Dodgers ended up beating the San Diego Padres
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: in the best of five series. But I was one
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: of those people that questioned. Obviously, it turned out to
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: be incorrect. Dave knows what he's doing. It'll be interesting
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: to see what Pat Murphy does. Christian Yelich, a big
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: knock in game one. Ken Satt in game two. in
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: terms of he's sitting versus Snell tonight, rather, excuse me.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: They're expected to play David Hamilton tonight. Is that the
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: right move?
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I believe that they will have Hamilton in the lineup.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: They were undecided about Jelic as of yesterday. That's a
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: tricky one. Jelic did have the big hit. He's been
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: hot in the playoffs. Do you play him against Snell
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: or do you go with Andrew Vaughn again? Remember, teams
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: now look at all kinds of things when assessing a
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: left-left matchup like Snell versus Jelic. Maybe Yelich's bat path
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: matches Snell's stuff, although I can't imagine it does.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Snell's one of the toughest lefties in the game. So
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: that's a tough one.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Hamilton is also a left-handed hitter, but we saw what
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Hamilton did in the last game. He's a disruptive force.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: He's a guy who's not as good a defender as
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Joey Ortiz. He is not really an above-average offensive player.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: He's not.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: He's a below-average offensive player, but led the majors in
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: sacrifice hits this year and is an elite base runner.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: So Do you have him bunt on Blake Snell and
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: then run wild? I would expect the Brewers are going
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: to try to do that. Snell is notoriously not good
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: at holding runners.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: MLB on Fox is streaming on Fox 1. The postseason
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: is here and we have your front row seat to
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: the wildest walk-offs, lights out pitching, and clutch plays all
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: playoffs long. Stream each NLCS game and... The 2026 World Series,
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: live on Fox One, at home or on the go,
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: live or on demand. Never miss a moment. Stream now.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: Start your Fox One three-day free trial today at foxone.com.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: And don't forget, guys, after NLCS Game 3, flip over
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: to the Foul Territory YouTube channel for a live post-game show.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: A.J.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Pierzynski, Eric Kratz, and Scott Braun discuss if the Dodgers
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: are back in the series or if the Brewers, rather,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: are one win away. FT Post Game Show live tonight
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: right after Brewers-Dodgers Game 3.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: Hey, make sure you check out all of the new
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: items at FoulTerritoryShop.com. That includes player-licensed shirts. It could be
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: your favorite player on our site with some of the coolest,
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: newest designs, including our animated players collection. Go check it out, FoulTerritoryShop.com.
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: All right, we are at a time now for Grill
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: and Ken. Let me ask you this about the Philadelphia Phillies.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: Is it a positive reaction, a negative reaction, or just
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: neutral that Don Mattingly is staying as the Phillies manager?
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: And I find it interesting, Ken, it's not only through 2027,
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: it's through 2028.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I would say it's a neutral, at least from my perspective.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: And I don't speak for anybody else, of course.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: It's neutral because I don't know that Mattingly is... a
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: top flight manager. He had some issues with the bullpen.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: It wasn't great down the stretch with the Phillies, but
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: he certainly was a calming influence and the players did
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: react to him and react to him well. Now, what's
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: really interesting here is he wasn't the Phillies' first choice,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: not when they hired him to replace Rob Thompson and
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: not when they made this decision. They wanted Alex Cora.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: And it seemed to me they were surprised when Alex
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Cora told them a week ago or whatever it was
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: that hey, I'm not going to manage next year. I'm
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: going to collect my $ 7. 25 million from Boston, hang with
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: my family, and then decide what I'm going to do.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: That seemed to take the Phillies by surprise. Maybe not.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: But Mattingly then becomes the obvious choice and the safe
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: choice because you mentioned this earlier, the lockout is coming
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: starting December 1st. And once the lockout hits... Managers cannot
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: talk to players. So if you wanted a manager to
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: come in and build relationships with players, it's not really
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: going to happen unless you hire the person right away
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: or within a couple of weeks here and then have
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: that month to maybe have him start talking to players.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Mattingly has that built-in relationship. He joined the Phillies as
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: a bench coach this past season. He managed them. That's
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: not going to be a problem. So certainly, while I
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: imagine they looked at others and considered other candidates in
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: he is the most obvious choice. And if they straighten
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: out their bullpen and do some other things with their
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: team and they could be.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Fine next year. We'll see. They have a lot of
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: work to do in my opinion.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: They do have a lot of work to do. And
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: so do the Astros in terms of figuring out some things.
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: Joe Espada, the Astros making it official that they have
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: parted ways with their manager.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: Is he a good fit in Seattle? Same division. Is
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: he a good fit for that role?
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: I would say yes.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Joe Espada is a good manager. He, accomplished quite a
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: bit in Houston, despite especially this year having a challenged roster.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Dana Brown, the general manager who got fired prior to Espada,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: did not help him at all. Their pitching moves were terrible.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Their outfield was one of the worst in the game.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: The roster construction in general was not what you would want.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: So Yeah, if I'm the Mariners, I'll take a long
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: look at Joe Spott. I'll also look at some others.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: If you're looking for experience, there are others out there.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Brandon Hyde, David Ross, we've gone through the list. So
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: it's interesting that they are at least looking at him
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: because he certainly knows their team well being in the division.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: And then the question becomes, with Seattle casting a wide net, how.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Quickly do they do this? For the same reasons.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: We just discussed, do they act within– the next couple
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: of weeks, give the manager a month to learn his players,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: talk to his players, kind of get the ball rolling,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: or does it take a little bit longer? I would
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: think something's going to have to happen within a short
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: amount of time.
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: Ken, same type of question regarding Tarek Skubal. He's a
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: free agent after this season. Does he sign preseason? This
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: is from DocDRFU2U. And another question, can you see Skubal
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: signing a deal before December 1st to avoid any changes
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: that may hinder a better deal for him?
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: That's a great question, and we haven't really got into
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: it yet because it's playoff time, but free agency is coming,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: and the Scooble decision is fascinating. Now, Scott Boris is
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: going to want the best deal possible. He's going to
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: want a record free agent deal for a pitcher. Yamamoto
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: has it, $ 325 million.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know that Scooble will beat that. I don't
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: know that he won't.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: The advantage of signing before would be, yes, it's all
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: done and whatever system is in place, once the lockout ends,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Scuba will be signed and won't have to worry about it.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: But knowing Boris, if he doesn't get the deal he wants,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: he will wait.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Now, if you remember, Alana, the last lockout, Corey Seager
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: and Marcus Simeon, two Scott Boris clients, signed massive deals
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: with the Texas Rangers right before the lockout hit. And
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I would think Boris is going to try to do
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the same thing. Use the deadline to his advantage. Teams
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: are still going to want Tarek Skubal. And the advantage
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: to teams would be get him under contract, figure out
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: the rest later.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: And I would expect that, yes, he.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Would sign before, unless for some reason teams are skittish
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: because they don't know the landscape that's coming.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: That said, they're going to want the player. And if
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: I had to bet, I would bet pre-December 1st for Skubal.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Tigers and Dodgers fans, and of course the other
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: 28 teams, wondering where Tarek Scouble may sign and play
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: the next time. All right, this is a hard-hitting question here.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: Do you and Alana like cheese curds while in Milwaukee?
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: Let me tell you, Ken, I don't know about you.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: You don't seem like a cheese curd kind of guy.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: I'll let you answer that.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: But I lived in Madison, Wisconsin for three years, and
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: I had my fair share of cheese curds and bacon
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: at Wando's on State Street, which is no longer there.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: What about you? Are you a cheese curd guy?
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I am not a cheese curd guy.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Maybe in an earlier phase of my existence, I would
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: have been, but not at this advanced age.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, State Street Brats had phenomenal cheese curds. There's also
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: a great amount of fried everything in Wisconsin. You go
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: to Door County or you go anywhere up there, fried Twinkies,
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: fried Snickers, whatever you need, Ken.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: I got you covered.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: All right, when we come back, we are crowning our
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: dudes and dorks of the week right after this.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: Hey, everybody.
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: It's the best time of the year for sports right now.
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: You got the NFL. You got the NBA about to start.
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: You got college football. You got hockey going on here.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: And the best part of all, you got the MLB playoffs.
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: So if you want great seats to the LCS and
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: then the World Series, wherever that is, go to SeatGeek.
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: I've used SeatGeek many times for college football tickets, concert tickets.
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: I don't really need it for baseball. I got that
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: gold card. But for you out there, use SeatGeek for
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: any playoff needs that you might have.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, AJ, the best deals are on SeatGeek. With over
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: 35 million downloads, SeatGeek is the number one rated ticketing app.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: And with SeatGeek being MLB's official ticket marketplace, your tickets
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: are fully guaranteed and instantly fulfilled in your account after purchase.
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: The code to use is TERRITORY10 for 10% off your
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: next set of tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off any
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: tickets with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: link in the description to download the app and have
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: the code automatically added to your account so you can
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: use it later. Gracias, SeatGeek.
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: I'm the dude, so that's what you call me.
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: It is time in the show where we give somebody
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: or some buddies their flowers.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: Ken, who are your dudes of the week?
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Brewers bullpen.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: In the postseason, one earned run in 28 and two-thirds innings.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: That's a 0.31 ERA. I would say, Alana, that's pretty good.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: So they are my dudes of the week, the entire group,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the Brewers bullpen, the five perfect innings that was a
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: first in postseason history to close out game two of
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the NLCS. Tom Verducci, who was on the San Diego
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: series with the Brewers while I was in Atlanta with
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers, He told me coming into this series, man,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: where do you see these guys?
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: They're hot. They're good. And I'm like, ah, I don't
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: know how good they are. Well, they've been amazing. And
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: they're obviously the dudes of the week.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, very good. All strikeouts in that first game with them.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: So for me, the dude of the week, and he
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: has been a dude for us for a long time,
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: is Jose Ramirez. I mean, this is a guy, Ken,
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: that I know that he had that weird hop yesterday.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: But this is a guy that does the little things
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: right for the most part, has stayed with Cleveland, has loyalty.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: They have rewarded him.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: It just seems like a very good pairing between the
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: club and the player. He could have gone elsewhere for
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: more money. He said, what difference does it make? I'm
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: paraphrasing here. But if I make $ 200 million versus $ 150 million,
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: I have all the money that I need. I love
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: it in Cleveland. And I would rather be here. So
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: Jose Ramirez, obviously two home runs so far in this postseason.
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: He is my standout performer of the week and just
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: just a good human being. And there's something to be
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: said about the loyalty that Jose has.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: Time now for our dorks of the week. Who do
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: you have, my friend?
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure how to put this, Alana, whether
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: to blame the Rays or Rays fans or some combination
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: of both.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: But the trop last night wasn't close to full.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: And there's a story in The Athletic this morning by
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Sam Blum saying fans were not happy with the ticket
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: prices set by the team.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: That was part of the problem.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: But the get-in price on the secondary market was reasonable
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: as we got closer to game time. And it's just
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: an odd thing to me that this team, which is
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: so much fun to watch– is not selling out a
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: playoff game at home, especially in the American League Championship Series,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: for goodness sake.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: I know they're not playing.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: The Yankees or the Red Sox, and they always do
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: well when those teams come to town. I know the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Trop is in St. Petersburg, and you can't get there.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: That's why they're moving to Tampa.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: We all know this.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Still, game two of the ALCS with your team down
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: 1-0 and you can't sell it out, something was amiss.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Dorks of the Week, somewhere. I don't know if it's
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: the fans, I don't know if it's the team, but.
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: I don't like it.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, get your tickets on SeatGeek. Dang it, you can
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: do it. They're relatively affordable.
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: There's just something about baseball in Florida just does not connect,
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: regardless if it's the Rays or the Marlins.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: Fans do not show up. All right, for me, my
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: dork of the week, I guess the Phillies, just based.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: On the way that they handled the whole Don Manningly situation,
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: I kind of feel like it's like, okay, we don't
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: need you to be our manager because we have somebody else.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: But then it's like, ah, just kidding.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: We kind of need you back. So sorry about that.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Would you come back?
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: I just didn't like that. I kind of felt bad
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: for Don Mattingly. Like you're good enough only because the
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: guy that we want is going to go ahead and
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: take 2027 off. I just I feel like sometimes Don,
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: despite his tenure in this game and having a great
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: baseball mind, and I know you said there's some issues
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: with the bullpen management, those types of things. But I
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: feel like Don gets disrespected way more than Don Mattingly
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: should get disrespected. I just feel like– I don't know.
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: I felt bad for him.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: Maybe I shouldn't.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Alana, I'm with you on this. You're right.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: And he obviously wanted the job, and he certainly did
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: a great job. He's going to be a Manager of
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: the Year finalist perhaps because he took that team when
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: they were down under Rob Thompson and brought them all
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the way to the playoffs. But, yes, he was not–
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: treated the way you would want someone treated here.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: And I know they wanted.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Cora and Cora wasn't available. And then they said, okay,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: here's Donnie. But I understand where you're coming from. And
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: I had that same sense, actually.
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I just didn't think they handled it right, considering
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: the tenure and the resume that Don Mattingly has built
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: over the course of his career. All right, that's going
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: to do it for Fair Territory with Ken Rosenthal. Don't worry,
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: Foul Territory is up next. AJ Pierzynski, Scott Braun, and
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: Eric Kratt. Some good guests today, Joey Votto, Tyler Phillips,
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: Katie Wu, of course.
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: Of The Athletic.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: As well as Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The Fair
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: Territory schedule, we are all over the place. We will
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: be back next week. Just make sure you subscribe so
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: you know when Ken is coming back.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: Enjoy the game tonight. Talk to you soon.
• 29:11
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