Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 7/7/25

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

Mike & Jason look back at a busy weekend in sports including a wild BC Lions win and a poor showing for the Whitecaps, they discuss the NHL's Pacific Division and if it'll be harder competition for the Canucks next season, plus they chat the red-hot Blue Jays with commentator Dan Shulman.  This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da And another diving play by Addison Barger and it's another win for the Blue Jays. Let's say Pedersen, Kane and Holglander and then you go with Keedle and Besser and then you have Garland with whoever the new center is and at least with Joshua. The Hurricanes made it very clear that they had a lot of cap room as everybody knew and they were going to use it. They were going to be a threat. Good morning Vancouver! 6 o'clock on a Monday! Happy Monday everybody! It is Halford, it is Brough, it is Sportsnet 650. We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studios in beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning. Basketball Ben, good morning to you as well. Good morning. Halfer and Brougham for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted choice for net help. With over 3,000 five-star reviews, visit them online at sands-trustee.com.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec Studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics, working together with you in step. Got a lot to get into on a Monday show. Guest list today begins at 6.30. John Molinaro is gonna join us. Sportsnet Soccer Insider. Busy weekend in the world of the footy.

Jonathan David signs in Italy with Juventus. The gold cup wrapped up last night. No Canada was not in the final. It didn't even get close to it. We can get into some MLS stuff as well with John Molinaro. That's all up at six 30 this morning. Our sports net soccer insider seven o'clock. You heard his call in the intro. Dan Shulman's going to join the program.

Play by play voice of the blue Jays. Get this seven game home stand sweep capped off yesterday. As Dan said in the intro, three to win over the angels blue Jays extend their season-high win streak to eight games Pushing their record to 52 and 38 We'll talk to Dan about all things blue jays the red hot first place blue jays at 7 o'clock right here on the Haliford and Brough show on sports net 630 730 Jim totes gonna join the program You just call it Sportsnet 630? I did. Pretty sure, yeah.

That's close. May have happened. Yeah, we've changed the call sign. Yeah, it'll work though. It's still early. Almost 630. That'll be at seven o'clock, 730. Jim Toth's gonna join the program.

Co-host of Jets at Noon on CJOB Winnipeg. Tough weekend for the Jets this past weekend. They officially lost the services of Nikolai Ehlers to Carolina. Uh, jets did make a bunch of signings though. We can get into all that with Jim Toath coming up at seven 30 on sports net six 50. That's the call that we're looking for. Eight o'clock. Uh, JC Abbott's going to join the program. BC lions reporter for three down nation. Uh, the lions look like they might be on their way to another loss on the weekend in Montreal,

but a Sean White walk-off field goal, 21-20 win for the Lions in Montreal. There was also a big fight after the game. It was a lot of love. Let's talk about the big fight. We'll move on to the big fight now that happened in Montreal. Yeah, it was a very, very eventful weekend

for the BC Lions. We'll talk to JC Abbott from Three Down Nation about that at eight o'clock. Finally, before we're done with the rundown today, Monday, July 7th, it's your last chance to buy your tickets for the sports net six 50 J's care 50 50 for challenger baseball supported by Tile town. The deadline to buy tickets is tonight.

6 30 PM sharp. Buy your tickets now. J's care golf. raffle nexus.com. I repeat J's care golf. raffle nexus.com. The goal was to get to 25 K. We are close to getting there. We've said it countless times over the last month that challenge your baseball is a very worthy endeavor and it needs your support. It's also a chance for you to win some cash as well. J's care golf.Raffle nexus.com. It is your last chance.

Today is your last chance to buy tickets for the sports net six 50 J's care 50 50 for challenge your baseball. Uh, working in reverse on that guest list, eight o'clock it's JC Abbott seven 30 it's Jim Toeth seven o'clock it's Dan Schulman, 630 it's John Molinaro. That's what's happening on the program today. Ben, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was... We know how messy your life can be. What happened? Missed it? You missed that? What happened? What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making What happened? Missed it? You missed that? Whoa! What Happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance.

Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at bccsa.ca. Because we are local and we are on Sportsnet 630 here in Vancouver, I am going to begin with all of our local teams before we get to the rest of them. We're going to start with the BC Lions. As I mentioned in the introductory segment, Sean White, 43 yard field goal on the final play of the game. The Lions out of nowhere comeback victory, 21 to 20 over the Owls in front of just over 20,000 people

in Montreal on Saturday night. Yeah. So we'll get into this more with our guest, JC Abbott, because there's a lot to get to in what happened, but obviously this was a big win for the BC Lions because the way things started, they had a pretty tough schedule and then Nathan Roark got hurt and they were looking at the possibility of starting the season one and four and that's not great. And the CFL is not about how you start and it's

about how you finish. But you know, we've also had some, um, Lion's executives on, on the show and they were, they sounded pretty disappointed in how things have gone. And, uh, you know, they're also in the business of football and they want to sell tickets and they want to make sure that they're not having to promote a one and four team. Now they get to promote a two and three team,

which, listen, Montreal's a good team. So for the BC Lions to have Nathan Rourke back, go in and get the win in Montreal. After you were right, it looked like, you know, they might've found a way to lose this one. Walk off field goal by Sean White. It was a good win for the Lions and then they had a big fight.

So I'm glad. I kinda wanna save the fight conversation to JC because he'll tell us what actually happened there. All all I saw was just just lots of fighting. Well, you also put together one of the great cliches of football in our intro here, where you said, it's not how you start, it's how you finish. And it's almost like you listen to this audio from Mike Ahwe because he had the same thing to say along with.

And I don't know if this was clever on his part, talking about the team's fighting spirit coming back in a 21 to 20 victory over the Isles. Here is linebacker Mike Ahwe led the team with 11 tackles on Saturday following the Lions big win in Montreal. I mean, at the end of the day, with all the mistakes you have, with everything you do, football is so crazy

because it'll still come down to how you finish. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. So we had penalties, we had some things gash us, but at the end of the day, man, we have a team that's, we're fighters, you know, on offense, defense, special teams, we're fighters, we're fast and physical. And at the end of the day, when it comes down to the last play, it might be of the season. It just comes down to being fast and physical because that's what football is. We're fighters, Mike always said, to which we replied, yes, you sure are. So what happened in the aftermath? Uh,

and we will talk to JC Abbott more about this because the had three down nation had boots on the ground on the field. So too did the TSN affiliate in Montreal and they were able to, uh, get a lot of footage actually of what went down. The apparent incident happened. Now this is again, everything that was caught on camera. Lions defensive lineman, Kamoko Ture. Some said that he was trying to go over

to talk to a former teammate of his on the Montreal sideline, possibly in the tunnel. Some of the Montreal players were like, well, wait a minute, there's an opposing player in our tunnel. So you could see. Get him. You can see how there were two different sides of the coin on this one.

He's like, I'm just trying to say hello. Apparently he was. The hello was not greeted especially well with an alouettes team that might have been a little like you know Ra in the emotional sense was it was he trying to stay say hello with with a punch to the face Well, I'll see I don't know that's just how I say hi We don't know who threw the first blow all we know is that it ended up being At least I'd say 15 or 20 players from each team running over to mostly try and break it apart through the first blow. All we know is that it ended up being at least, I'd say 15 or 20 players from each team running over to mostly try and break it apart. But an overall, an ugly look, right? There was a lot of this

professional football. We can't be having sideline brawls at the end of the game. And because it was the end of the game, there weren't a lot of officials trying to intervene, say that the same thing you'd get in an on-field brawl. So both teams are expected to receive supplemental discipline from the league this week. We'll get more from JC Abbott on that later on in the show when he joins us at eight o'clock and also run through.

It's funny, I listened to a bit of the audio from the head coach, Buck Pierce, and the winning quarterback, Nathan Rorke. Buck was like, I loved it, I loved it, it showed spirit. No, this was. No, wait, don't say that. They were like, fighting spirit, we're fighters. He smiled the entire time, it was awful. I don't know if this was no way. Don't say that. They either fighting spirit or fighters. You smile the entire time. It was.

Neither. I don't know if this was just football speak and them trying not to like let the highs get too high, but they did not seem overly thrilled with the way that they played in Montreal. They seemed happy with the fact that they got out of there with a one point win. But all they talked about and Nathan, especially, was the amount that they left on the field, the amount of mistakes that they've made. And I guess if you go back and you look at over

the three game losing streak, penalties have been an issue and they were an issue again against Montreal, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They still haven't really found a full game offensively. It's another game where, and Buck Pierce especially was lamenting the slow start again. Yeah. This is the fifth game of the season.

This is the fifth slow start that they've had. Even in their other win. Do you remember the, the BC place was still recovering from Snoop Dogg. Right. But they had Edmonton and there were a bunch of chances they had to put points on the board. And like yesterday or yes, like over the weekend,

they didn't get them done and they ended up with what three points or something in, in the first half against Edmonton. And then they figured out against an Elks team that they, they should have beaten it. I guess the difference in the winds is that Montreal is a pretty good team. Uh, okay. We will turn attention now to another local team that was in action. I didn't fare as well as the BC lions. The Vancouver whitecaps had a night to forget in California over the weekend.

Three nil loss to the worst team in MLS, the LA Galaxy. And if you're thinking, wow, it feels bad, seems bad that the Whitecaps would lose three nil to the worst team in MLS, you're right. It was another disastrous performance. The kinds of which have been creeping into the side more and more over the last little bit. They are. performance the kinds of which have been creeping into the side more and more over the last little bit They are it hasn't been good since the Cruz Azul loss five nil they have is it one win Yeah, they have lost three of their last four even in the one victory that they had the one-nil victory over LAFC It was a very dour affair. They only managed one shot

They've only seen how long before or after Cruz Azul., I think it might've been after the game was after. Okay. So they have two wins since Cruz's. Oh yeah. And they've lost three of their last four in MLS play, including this one over the weekend and bad to worse for the white caps already without deep breath here, Sam Adekube, Ali Ahmed, Sebastian Bearhalter, Andre Kubas, new injury there, Ralph Preso, and Brian White. They also lost the services of Canadian international

Jayden Nelson on the weekend, who took a very stupid red card. He took a second yellow for booting the ball away in frustration in the 90th minute. You know who else was frustrated? Was his manager, Jesper Sorensen, who used the word stupid about five times in this following clip.

When discussing Jayden Nelson's red card, here is a very frustrated Jesper Sorensen, who used the word stupid about five times in this following clip, when discussing Jayden Nelson's red card, here is a very frustrated Jesper Sorensen after the Whitecaps 3-0 loss to the Galaxy over the weekend. Jayden's red card was stupid and it's, yeah, you have to keep cool. And if you're not good enough, you have to train. That's how it is. If we are not good enough, we have to work on the training ground and not take stupid red cards because now he'll get suspended and it doesn't help anybody. So yeah, let's just shoot it and we have to learn from that. And you know, if you're warned, please don't kick the ball up to the stands. I think that's a bad idea

and yeah, now he gets a suspension and we don't need that if you are warned please do not kick the ball up into the stands is the most soccer explanation you could possibly get yeah from yes for Sorenson manager of stupid player three times they got it in that clip so it's it was a rough weekend the whitecaps are going through there was gonna be an inevitable wobble with their season at some point. Yeah.

You know, they weren't gonna keep it that clip that they were playing at the beginning of the year. Well, look at all the guys that are missing through either injury or international duty because the Americans played in the gold cup final yesterday and Bear Halter had a nice ball on the. The Chris Richards goal, yeah. On the Americans only goal of the game

because they lost to Mexico 2-1. So that was the best thing to come from the gold cup is that the Americans. Yeah. Only goal of the game because they lost to Mexico to one. So that was the best thing to come from the gold cup is that the Americans didn't win it. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Conquer cap is changing yet. Mexico wins the gold cup yet again. Uh, yeah. The playing through this international break was a disaster. Someone pointed out on X yesterday that Brian White, who could be in consideration for white caps, MVP and possibly

MLS MVP, given the amount of goals that he scored in the first half of the season, goes and misses so many games for the caps, plays, sorry, dresses for eight matches over the window for the U.S. Over those eight matches, he plays a grand total of 70 minutes. Yeah, thanks. Thanks. Thanks for having them. This is why you don't play during international windows. This is the exact reason why. MLS has to figure this out.

Yes. I mean, I don't know how they do it. I guess it's just go to the soccer schedule that everyone else in the world is playing? You would extend your season way too long if you took breaks when the international breaks were on, right? The MLS season is already a marathon to begin with. It would basically never stop. They would just roll right into the next one because you'd have to take. I'd say at least seasons would start to lap each other.

It was like, oh, we're still we're playing three seasons right now. MLS Cup of the next day's training camp. Or for some that aren't in MLS Cup, they're already in their training camp. But it's they're going to have to figure it out because what the caps have gone through in the last, I'd say month is kind of unacceptable. They've had seven different players from their second team make their debuts this season, all in an emergency like relief basis, right? It's not like, yes, they've earned the opportunity, but it's all because they've

just been so withered away by injuries and international absences. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about these Blue Jays. Although again, we have a guest, one of the best guests talk about the Blue Jays, Dan Shulman coming up on the show. Uh, eight wins in a row. I'm starting to have questions like, wait a

minute, like, what are, what are they going to do with Bo Bichette anyway? Like, cause he, he played a pretty big, big role in their last win. Uh, Bo Bichette homeward, scurred the decisive run in the Toronto Blue Jays. Season highs, Jason mentioned eight straight victory, three two over the angels on Sunday. So the ALEs leading Blue Jays, not the Yankees, but the Blue Jays go to 52 and 38. They swept a home stand of more than seven games for the first time since 94.

Only the second time in franchise history that they've done it. So back to back sweeps at home. This one, an impressive one time in franchise history that they've done it. So back-to-back sweeps at home, this one an impressive one over the Angels, just finding ways to win despite a meager run differential, which was a course of an action of conversation over the weekend. The Jays continue to roll, they're now at 52 and 38 and they are looking like a team that despite, despite the run differential suggesting that they should have a record closer to 500, they've leapfrogged the Yankees and they are playing a brand of baseball that I mean,

involves a lot of timely hitting. They're making a lot of good defensive plays. I, you know, sustainability is always like a buzzword in baseball. How much longer can we keep doing this for? I don't think they're going to win the rest of their games this year. That's just me being a baseball.

So they've won 10 of their last 11. Yep, and we talked about this run differential thing They're only lost 15 to 1 to Boston that hurts the old run differential out one I also want to point out that their next two series are against the 30 and 60 white Sox Yeah, and the Oakland athletics Vegas athletics, whatever they are just the athletic. Yeah, like Prince and athletics, Vegas athletics, whatever they are now. Just the athletics. Just the athletics. They're like Prince.

And I think their record is horrible too. So this win streak could continue. That's such a jinx buddy. Yeah. Like they just swept the Yankees before the Angels. We'll see what happens. The White Sox and the A's. If they lose to them, it's like, okay, well, you know,

you deserve to lose. What do you think they are? Like the J's. I'd still think the Yankees are gonna win the division. Right. If I was betting on it. Yeah. But at this point now it's a disaster if they fall out of a postseason spot.

Completely agree. Yeah. They should be at least a wild card team, but the Yankees on paper are a more talented roster. They have a bit better pitching. So. And they have air and jump. Better hitting.

Now is the trade deadline, are you already thinking about it? I think that Addison Barger kind of checked the box for a left-handed hitter. Like Saetandere was such a bust for them, but Barger was such a bright spot. Surprise, dare I say. I can't necessarily pinpoint what they need and I'm maybe not willing to give up what would be required to get anything. Right. So I think that the big question is, do you believe in would be required to get anything. Right.

So I think that the big question is, do you believe in this team enough to get it done? And so far that answer's got to be yes. Right. So they've got the kind of first half of a season, they've only had a handful of them in franchise history, which is wild to think about, but that's how good this first half has been on the strength of what they've done over the last three weeks. 52 wins with six games left until the All-Star break. Club record for wins before the All-Star break is 53.

So despite the fact that Ben just jinxed it, still a pretty good shot that they'll be able to break it. And then they did that in 85 and they did that again in 92. A couple of good years historically for the Jays, 85 and 92. So this team, at least historically speaking, is on that kind of wind pace. I was reading some Jays stuff over the weekend and Ben Nicholson Smith, who I think was on the show on Friday. Was there even a show if we weren't here? Yeah. It was.

Does it even matter? A tree falls in a wood. I like this headline. 68 players for the Blue Jays to watch ahead of trade deadline. Is that it? I was like, I won'tays to watch ahead of trade deadline. Is that it? I just feel like I won't be watching all 68 of those players. How do you land on 68 as a number? I mean, well, he didn't want to get, you know, it's like, I can't do that. I don't want to leave this guy out. Yeah. He could his own. How can we con? Okay. Uh, we got a couple other things.

We got a hint before we get to break here. We also mentioned this in the intro segment. We're going to talk to Jim Toth about this coming up in just over an hour's time, but there was a pretty significant free agency signing in the intro segment we're gonna talk to Jim Toth about this coming up in just over an hour's time but there was a pretty significant free agency signing in the National Hockey League over the weekend Nikolai Ehlers who had spent over a decade in the entirety of his career in Winnipeg is out of Winnipeg he signs a six-year 51 million dollar contract with the Carolina Hurricanes AAV of 8.5 million this actually happened happened while we left. So it's a little bit

of old news, but Ehlers met with the media over the weekend and expressed his love and admiration for Winnipeg while also saying goodbye because I want to try new things in my career. So Ehlers, 29 years old on his way to the Carolina hurricanes. So how much does this hurt the jets? because I know they brought in Jonathan Taves But we have no idea what Taves is is gonna look like I don't know like Can you pencil Taves in as a second line center? So I don't know man I know they I think they got did they get Gustav Nyquist or something like that. They went and got they got older Agency, they got Taves. They got Tanner Pearson. They got Gustav Nyquist or something like that? They went and got, they got older in free agency. They got Taves, they got Tanner Pearson,

they got Gustav Nyquist. They went out and got old in free agency. That's what you wanna do. I don't know, man. I think it might be another. They lost Brandon Tanev. Yeah, I'm not digging. Lost Mason Appleton?

I'm not digging the forward depth for the Winnipeg Jets right now. All these teams are like, all these teams getting younger, we gotta get older. That was their thought process behind all of it. The exact opposite. Did anyone get significantly better in the NHL? Maybe Carolina?

Carolina, yes. Marginally. I don't know if they got significantly better because there was some departure there as well. Now they compensated for the losses on the blue line with Kandre Miller. Yeah, right. So that bet they also lost like say what you will have a Burns and Orloff. They played a ton for them. Yeah, but those guys were those guys were weak links. I honestly, I think getting Kandre Miller like I know there's

unknowns with Miller, but like like who else got who else got significantly better I thought you thought had a good I thought you thought how do you do you thought had a good summer right to pick up? Paterka they pick up Nate Schmidt. I mean there's a Stanley Cup pedigree guy right there Brandon Tana, so they got better bit of an annoying answer, but yeah, I think Florida retaining as many of the guys as they did Yeah, they didn't get better It's a good summer. That's a good summer. Yeah, that's a successful summer I would have said Vegas if the Patrangelo thing didn't happen because I think that made a Marner is that's good at that's a Borderline game changer for the division like that's how good Marner is brackets during the regular season

Yeah, and I might think up better and I got a lot better would have been hard to be worse I watched Anaheim twice last year. It felt like too much twice. So I was like, there's a lot of Anaheim, but They were not good at hockey last year. No, they weren't no they were not good at hockey Although all the losing suggested that but they will be better I one day this week what we should do is we should parse through what the Pacific Division looks like as Like right now cuz there's two things one The division is gonna be a lot different next year I think Anaheim is gonna be significantly better and much tougher to play against and I also think that

Vegas with you know having Marner in the division is an interesting thing like we haven't talked a ton about it because there's been a million other things going on But I'll be very curious to try and handicap the division to say like, how is this going to look in a year where the Canucks took such a step back within the division and needing to climb back into the upper reaches of it? You know a team that the Canucks should have their sights set on and hope that this team doesn't do well is the LA Kings. They had a really weird off season. They had a weird off season and I just wonder about how the team is psychologically after, is

it four straight years of losing to the Oilers? That's correct. If it's four straight years of losing to the Oilers and this past one might've been the most frustrating just because they had them. They had them, you know, Jim Hiller calls or challenges and loses the challenges. And then Byfield not getting the puck out. They could have swept the Oilers.

Yep. They could have, they also could have swept the Oilers. Instead they lose in six because they lose momentum in the series. And then, yeah, they got Ken Holland now as a new general manager. I don't know if that's going to work out all that well. Ken Holland targeting a bunch of the guys that he used to have in Edmonton was hilarious. And like did he owe the money or something like that? Because the contracts that were given out were crazy.

Perry's wasn't terrible. No, I'm talking about the two defense. CC1 was, I was like, okay, that's a move. But the guy, I know we all know, like Dumalin is done and he still gave him term. Yep, he gave him the old three by four. That was great. That was pretty wild too.

And I just wonder, you know, one more year of Kopitar and Doughty getting a little bit older, are the younger guys ready to take more of the responsibility from them? I don't know. I don't know. Like I think they have some, they obviously have

some very good young players in terms of talent and guys like Byfield and Brent Clark, but if you're asking them to do kind of like the handover to the next generation, I, I don't know, man, the Kopitar and Dowdy were great players. They're still pretty good players, but I don't know if they're quite at the level that they used to be.

So if I, if there was one team that I'm targeting to say, okay, well, if we're going to make the playoffs, someone's going to have to fall out. It's, it's probably LA and, and that's, that's going to be a tough task for Vancouver. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. 7.01 on a Monday. Happy Monday everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates, BC's first and trusted

choice for debt help with over 3,000 five-star reviews. Visit them online at Sands-Trustee.com. We are now in our two of the program. Dan Schulman, play by play voice of the Red Hot Blue Jays is going to join us in just a moment here to kick off our two. Our two of this program is brought to you by Jason Homonuk at jason.mortgage. If you love giving the banks more of your money, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. Visit him online at jason.mortgage. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio, Kintec footwear and orthotics working together with you in step. On the subject of the Jays, I do need to once again

remind you that today is your last chance to buy your tickets for the Sportsnet 650, Jays Care 5050 for Challenger Baseball, supported by Tiltown. The deadline for purchases is this evening, 6.30 PM. Shortly thereafter at 6.45, we're gonna do the draw. We'll announce the winner of the Jays Care Sportsnet 6505050 tomorrow morning on the show. You can get your tickets right now, jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com. That URL again, jayscaregolf.rafflenexus.com.

It's an incredibly worthy endeavor, Challenger Baseball. I encourage you all to support it. Get your tickets now. I will be mentioning this repeatedly throughout the show today. But for now, we turn our attention to the Power West Industries hotline. Dan Schulman joins us here on the Haliford and Bref show

on Sportsnet 650. Morning, Dan, how are you? I'm well, how you guys doing? We're good. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Excellent time to get you on the program because for the first time in more than three years, the Jays have won eight in a row. You gotta go all the way back to May slash June of 2022

for that. For the first time in the organization's history, they've swept a home stand of at least seven games. So very good times for the Blue Jays. What's been the catalyst for this streak, Dan? Or is it too simplistic to boil it down They've swept the home stand of at least seven games. So very good times for the Blue Jays. What's been the catalyst for this streak, Danny? Or is it too simplistic to boil it down to just one catalyst? I would say, and it goes back beyond just this eight game winning streak, is that every

day it's a different guy or guys. It's unbelievable. Like Joe Sittle and I, or Buck Martinez and I have sat there and looked at each other and said, how is this happening? Like, how are they doing this? But like yesterday is a perfect example. They win three to two. Davis Schneider drives in a run. Joey Loprofito, who just got called up from the minors for the first time all season, drives in a run with a big base hit. And Ryan Burr, who just made his first appearance all season because he's been on the IL gets some

big outs. You know, it could be Miles Straw, it could be Nathan Lucas, Ernie Clement, Braden Fisher. They don't win the game a couple of days earlier without Lazaro Estrada. Like they just don't if he doesn't give them that four innings. And to me, if you had to boil it down to one thing, it's that one through 26 and really beyond 26 because of the, you know, the guys they've had coming up and down from Buffalo who have been helping. It's just, everybody is doing something to help this team win games right now. When the Jays started the season 16 and 20, uh, what were your thoughts about this team and did you see something like that?

I'm not saying did you predict it, but did you think it was possible? Uh, no, I thought they were better than that. Um, and they were without some guys then, and I thought they would start hitting better. And that was still during the time where we were hearing, they were saying we were seeing a little bit, you know, hitting the ball hard, but not

getting the results they wanted. And it's funny, they've done this before, like started off a year tremendously badly with runners in scoring position. And I know some people roll their eyes and have runners in scoring position fatigue, but it's a big, big thing. Like it's not just what you hit, it's when you hit.

And if you can string some hits together, if you can get the hit with the runner on second or whatever the case may be, that really helps. And they were dismal early and now they've been phenomenal since. And listen, it can turn again, right? That coin can flip tomorrow. So you just want to bank wins and keep going, but they're doing a much better job driving and runs with men on base.

And like the Loprofito base said yesterday is a perfect example of that. I thought they were better than they were playing But I'll be honest with you that road trip to Tampa and Texas which is later on than the 16 and 20 start It was in I want to say late May I believe so a little bit after that They get swept in Tampa and they lose the third game 13 to nothing with it without question in my mind the low point of the season they go to Texas and it doesn't feel like this and people probably don't remember it this way. They actually won two out of the three games in Texas,

but they only scored like four runs in the whole series and only six runs on the entire road trip in six games. And that was, I don't wanna say that was rock bottom, but that was like, man, what is going on here and how does it get better? And then they came home and had the, had the athletics coming to town and all of a sudden just exploded.

And ever since then, they've been playing incredibly well with the exception of getting swept in Philadelphia, whenever that was about two and a half, three weeks ago. So I thought they'd be better. I didn't think they'd be this good. They continue to win close games. All three wins over the angels were by one run. They're executing well.

You know, if they need a run, they're finding a way to get a run. They're getting some homers. The bullpen's been good. They're running the bases better. They're a good team. I don't know that they're a great team. They're a good team playing extremely,

extremely well right now. And, you know, heading into the all-star break, they've got the white socks and the gays, uh, again, uh, opportunities to pile up a few more wins, you know, although the white socks took two out of three from them a couple of weeks ago, but hopefully they can head into the all-star break, um, with, with even a better record. There's three games up on the Yankees, which is crazy because the Yankees lost a couple to the Mets too. I mean, so how does this change the conversation

about the trade deadline? I think, I mean, I believe they would have been in anyways, like even if you go back before this eight game winning streak. So what are they now? 52 and 38. So they were 44 and 38. At 44 and 38, you know, if they had kept that kind of a winning percentage going,

I still think they're in. Now I think they're really in, because you look around and how many great teams are there. They have shown they can play with just about anybody. Um, now I haven't seen the tigers in a long time. They'll see them again after the all star break. They haven't seen the Astros in a long time and they didn't play well at all. I think they got swept down in Houston back in April. They'll play them again after the All-Star break. They haven't seen the Astros in a long time and they didn't play well at all I think they got swept down in Houston back in April They'll play them again later on in the season

But I think right now you've got to be looking at this team and saying hey This team has a real chance this year, you know, they've also handled injuries pretty well Hopefully Andres Jimenez, Jimmy Garcia, Dalton Varsho are all back after the All-Star break Jimenez, Jimmy Garcia, Dalton Varshow are all back after the All-Star break. And I think that Ross Atkins is going to be all in right now. Do I think he's trading Treya Savage or Arjun Amala? I don't think so, but I think they're going to trade some pretty good prospects in an effort to bolster this team. You can make a case for a starting pitcher, you can make a case for a relief pitcher, and you can make a case for a right-handed bat in my opinion.

I don't know that they'll get all three. And, you know, a starting pitcher could be like a back end guy or more of a, you know, a real stalwart who can help you win a playoff game. So I don't know what they're going to do there. It depends on the cost. But I think the intent will be to be very aggressive. We're speaking to Blue Jays play-by-play man Dan Schulman here on the Haliford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, I waited this long in the conversation to talk about bunting because it's my favorite thing.

As a former little league coach and a big fan of small ball, I love, I remember earlier in the year we talked about it because there was a couple, there was a couple of streaks where they were bunting for hits, but the sack bunt has become very important to this team. And like, I like it for two reasons. One, obviously it's helping them win games and tight ball games. Like you were saying, like good teams make good plays and they

execute and that's an important thing. But the other part is that the, the, the bunting is sort of fallen so far out of favor that it coming back is a very cool thing, almost a throwback. And I don't know if I'm overstating the importance. I know the Jays have done a lot of things really well but I am a big fan of that philosophy and that approach to baseball and I do like that the Jays have not just embraced it but been successful with it. Yeah and analytically big picture it's not the thing to do but I think situationally it can definitely be the thing to do and I think they've done it an appropriate amount

and I think they've done it well. And listen, they're not asking Bichette and Guerrero to drop down bunts, obviously, as you know. It's been guys like Lucas and Clement and Heinemann and Straw and one or two others. And it's just the bottom of the order, playing a little bit of a different style, trying to get guys over, put them in scoring position

for the guys at the top. And sometimes it's worked out even better than they had hoped. Like Lucas Bonds for a base hit. He was trying to sacrifice, but he got a bunt for a base hit the other day. You know, Clemens Bonds leading to a throwing error. They win the game that day. So it's undeniable that it's been effective for them. And I think they're doing it. They're doing it a lot. They're doing it more than most teams. Some of it is philosophy. Some of it I think is just the way their lineup looks like, you know, there are many, many days where the lineup comes out and you look at seven, eight, nine, and it's not what you expected to see on this team. And it's certainly not what you expect to see on a first place team, but whoever these guys are hitting seven,

eight, nine are contributing. And maybe the overall numbers aren't huge, but again, in big moments, situationally, they're getting the job done. And, you know, there's been a lot of talk about run differential and are the Blue Jays that good and all that. They're in first place. One of the reasons they're in first place

is because they are doing very well in close games. They're way, I can't remember that. I gave them yesterday on the air, forgive me. I can't remember that I gave them yesterday on the air. Forgive me. I can't remember. I think they're like 26 and 16 or something like that in one or two run games, something around that. And one of the reasons they're doing very well in one and two run games is they

are playing a good brand of situational baseball. You know, there, there are many, many times where, uh, hey, what do you want? You want the shed Guerrero Springer hitting the ball out of the ballpark. And they're, you know, they're doing that at a reasonable clip, hey, what do you want? You want Bichette, Guerrero, Springer hitting the ball out of the ballpark. And they're, you know, they're doing that at a reasonable clip, especially Springer. But with the guys at the bottom, I think they're playing to their strengths. And what they've got on this team is a real culture of,

hey, everybody, you just do what you can do to help this team win games. Like if you're Miles Straw, you feel incredibly appreciated right now in that clubhouse. They value your defense. They value your contact ability. Uh, the pesky advanced getting down a bunch every now and again, Ernie Clement feels appreciated. Nathan Lucas feels appreciated. Tyler Heineman feels appreciated. All of these guys, they,

they're all playing the game, uh, in a smart fashion. Yeah, it's, I'm glad you brought that up because, you know, we talk about it in the context of the Canucks all the time where it's like, what's the team's identity and what's their brand and what's their style? And having that common goal in terms of what we're about is important because when it starts translating to wins, that's when you get the real buy-in. And what you're saying with the J's here is it's important because it's inherent in the

sacrifice bonus. Sacrifice, you're giving yourself up, maybe you're giving your chance to mash at the plate or to do something, to move a guy along. And it feels like their lineup right now has that, the secret sauce of the perfect mix of guys that are willing to do that. And then as you pointed out,

but are also being appreciated for having that sacrifice. And that must go a long way in building team identity. I think being appreciated is huge. Like Mack Scherzer after the game, when would it have been, was it? No, two days ago, I guess, two days ago, talked about how he has faith in every single guy in that room.

Like if you're Braden Fisher, a guy who had never pitched in the majors before this year, and you hear Kevin Gossman or Chris Bassett or Max Scherzer saying, I believe in that guy. I trust that guy. I trust that guy. We all think he can get the job done. Don't you think that Braden Fisher is feeling more confident on the mound when he goes out

there? And the same thing for a Tyler Heineman. You know, we have Heineman happens to come up in a big spot and he's cooled off from what was an incredibly hot start, but he is still, you know, effective and certainly doing a very good job defensively. And if the pitchers say, I love throwing to both Kirk and Heineman, doesn't that make Heineman feel better every time that his name is penciled into the lineup? It's not always, as you guys know, on any professional team, sometimes it's a little

bit more about the individual than the team. Sometimes the, you know, the, the priorities get a little bit messed up and there have been years in the past for the Blue Jays where it's felt that way a little bit or where it's felt like certainly the whole is less than the sum of the parts, like they're underachieving. This team is overachieving. Like I don't think there's any question. I don't believe they're the most talented team in baseball. They're pretty good. You know, like Joe Sittle and I have talked over the last month or so. a team in baseball, they're pretty good. You know, like Joe Sittle and I have talked over the last month or so.

Let's go see what Minnesota looks like in Cleveland and St. Louis and San Diego and Seattle and all that. And every series it's like the J's can play with these guys. Like, I'm not sure they're going to blow them out, but the J's can play with these guys. And I think the difference because the talent is so equal on so many teams is maybe the culture and the, you know, playing for each other a little bit more and just executing in big moments. Like I can't say enough about what Estrada and Fisher did a couple of days

ago for Braden Fisher to go out there in extra innings twice, the 10th and the 11th and not allow a run to score when there was a runner at second base. That is some hard stuff to do really, really hard. And, and, and he did it because like everybody else was down, everybody else ahead of them, uh, in the pecking order was down. It's just, it doesn't usually happen this way. Um, where it's almost like, it doesn't matter who's in the lineup and it doesn't matter who got hurt. Like they just lost Andres Jimenez and Jimmy Garcia.

Who did they plug in? Ryan Burr and Joey Lopofito, who both helped them win the game yesterday. It, this is not the norm and, and you know, just keep it going as long as it lasts, bank the wins and, and add to the team of the deadline. Dan, I got to ask you about George Springer because anytime an older player, and I know he's

36, so he's significantly younger than me, but we talk about this ageless wonder, but his turnaround this year is another big reason the Jays are having success. Did he change his diet or something? What's going on there? Different hitting coaches, different philosophy, different mindset for him going up there. And I think more DHing has helped too. I think he's just got more in his legs, you know, than he than he had last year, last year, but he's definitely got a different philosophy. He's okay with swinging and missing, especially early in the count, because when he, you know,

you've heard the phrase, get your A swing off. They've said it so much this year. I think he's doing that better than anybody else. Like when's the last time you kind of saw him reach him and roll over on a ground ball to third, he'll swing and miss and he'll strike out some, but he's taking walks and hitting doubles and homers. And that's what makes you a very productive power hitter in today's game. So, um, I think he has kind of really, I know he has bonded with the hitting coaches. I see him with David Popkins all the time, like all the time. Um, they're on,

he's on the same page as them and they came into spring training with a plan and they have not, um, veered away from that plan at all to do what he's doing at his age, to bounce back to the extent that he has is extremely rare. There are very few players 35 and over in baseball who are even regulars, nevermind super productive regulars who probably should have been on the All-Star team, which is another story. But it's probably the biggest surprise to me that he, not that he bounced back some, but that he bounced back to this extent, and it might be the biggest reason why this team is better than it was a year ago,

because he's become a huge force again. How different are the various philosophies of hitting coaches around the league? Um, like I'm putting you on the spot here a bit, but like, what are, like, how do, how do they vary? That's a little beyond me, to be honest with you. The one thing I've heard consistently from players about David Popkins is the, the initial conversations were let's make you, you being the hitter, let's

make you feel comfortable in the box. What makes you feel comfortable? Um, and maybe taking some of the, uh, you know, maybe that last year and years prior, there was a little too much thinking I've got to do this. I've got to do this. I've got to do this. And now that it's a little bit more about just feeling athletic and comfortable and letting your natural body movements take over, like saying to the hitter, when were you at your most successful? When were you at your best?

And what were you doing then? And I think there's some of that with Springer. I think there's a lot of that with Addison Barger. Like a lot of that with Addison Barger where they have freed him up mentally to just to be this force in the batter's box that he is. Violent swing is an understatement, but again, it's working for him. He's hitting for a good average

and he's hitting for a ton of power. So nuts and bolts and nitty gritty. I'm not qualified to answer that but the one constant I've heard is They're encouraging me to do what makes me feel most comfortable and then you know little tweaks here and there if needed Damn, this was great, man. Thanks for taking the time to do this today. We really appreciate it. Enjoy this run It's been a lot of fun. We'll catch up later on in the summer Alright guys. Thanks. Take care. Yeah. Thank you. Dan Shul. It's been a lot of fun. We'll catch up later on in the summer. All right guys. Thanks. Take care.

Yeah. Thank you, Dan Schulman, play by play voice of the Toronto Blue Jays here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Uh, we love to hear from you, the listener in the Dunbar Lumber text line at 650, 650 Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years.

Visit them at one of their three locations to serve. You are online at DunbarLumber.com. So it's actually a pretty good segue talking about hitting coaches for the Toronto Blue Jays because one of the things we were talking about earlier in the show is what are the Oilers going to do about their goaltending and it's too bad Laddy's not here because he'd know about this.

It's not a shot at you basketball. It's not a shot at you Ben. We love you. It's all right. It loves us not word. They've got a new goalie coach in Edmonton. That's what you do when you can't get a new goalie. Yeah.

Say don't worry. And I think. We got a new goalie coach. And I just wonder if that's going to be there. Yeah, we made some changes though. We didn't just sit around and do nothing because I can't, you know, some people text in and what about Seal off to the oilers?

Yup. I mean, I can maybe see a deal, but they're not going to go in there and be like, here's a new backup Archer Seal off. Oh yeah. What are his numbers in the NHL? Well, let's not talk about that. Look at those, right? Look at what he did in the playoffs.

I mean, we're talking about a team that has been to back to back Stanley Cup finals. I realize CeeLoves is loved in this market and especially out in Abtford, but I don't think Oilers fans would be okay if they're like, we're going to go with CeeLoves and that. So, okay. So, you know, maybe, maybe he's a guy that, that they bring in and I, I don't know. I don't know. The, the, the thing is my whole point with this is name me a good option that

the Oilers can go after for a goalie. Demko stayed in Vancouver. Gibson did get traded, but not to Edmonton. Nope. Where did Jake Allen sign? Jake Allen stayed in New Jersey. Jake Allen stayed in New Jersey. So like what, I don't know. This whole, this whole, by the way, this whole off season, I've never seen so much. Well,

what are you going to do? You know, from all the, all the teams, like there's so many teams out there. I was going through an article in the athletic and they were giving trade grades to various teams and it's, you know, like a team, like just to pick one on top of my head, Columbus, Columbus wanted to do something. They really wanted to make a statement.

Remember hearing about, uh, Fried saying like, I think they want, Columbus wants to do something major They really wanted to make a statement. Remember hearing about, uh, Fried saying like, I think they want, Columbus wants to do something major and we were sitting here in Vancouver going like, Oh, like, you know, maybe that's if the Canucks, if, if, if the Canucks are going to trade a guy like Elias Patterson, maybe that's something, uh, you know, maybe it's Columbus and you get Ken Johnson back or

something, what a, it amounted to zip. It amounted to nothing. And I think what, other than resigning Provarov, too, crazy big deal. Like, I don't, it just seems like there's a lot of teams that were kind of like, yeah, I don't know, we wanted to do stuff. We just couldn't.

So if you follow that story on Columbus, they were in on Dobson right up until the bitter end as one of the final bidders with the Islanders to try and acquire his services. And once that didn't come to fruition, they circled back and like, okay, Provov, you're getting your deal. Does that sound familiar? Because it sounds like a lot of other NHL teams this summer, they really tried something, they couldn't get it done, and then they just re-signed the guy that they already had.

And I do wonder for the millionth time if this is gonna lead to a secondary trade market where maybe the dust settles and the GMs look at what they've gotten. Like we can't go forward with this. On the Oilers thing, the reason this became a story was because on free agency, Elliott Freeman went on NHL Network on the Tuesday, the start of free agency,

and said that the Oilers were looking for a goalie and he wouldn't be surprised if one of the first moves that they made were looking for a goalie and you wouldn't be surprised if one of the first moves they made was to get a goalie. And then things started to happen around the oilers and the goalie market that didn't fill the needs in Edmonton. You know, guys like Forsberg, who was a backup,

went from Ottawa to LA, Vanecek, Alex Lyon. There's a bunch of guys that went other places that didn't go to Edmonton. So at the end of it, when free agency kind of dried up in terms of goalies and the trades have been consummated with Gibson getting traded, Edmonton still had Skinner and Pickard in that. And I think a lot of people, and again, we go back to that theme of free agency where a lot of people were left,

like what just happened, left wanting and wondering what happened. You can put Edmonton in that category. Now is there a secondary trade market to acquire a goalie? At first blush, it doesn't really seem like it, which is why the sea loves thing keeps coming up. But I'm with Jason and I think a lot of other people, just because he's there, it doesn't mean he's the solution for a team that's been to consecutive Stanley Cup finals. Now we asked for text into the Dunbar Lumbertex line

and we got a lot of them. Carter Hart, is he gonna be a target for the Edmonton Oilers? There's been a lot of talk out of Edmonton. Yeah. That they'll take a run at signing him. They would have to wait for the legal process to sign out and quite honestly, I can't believe that they would go there.

Well, I can, they're the oilers. Yeah, I know, but at what point do you, I guess if that's your brand, if your brand is to take on, and I hate using this term, but they see it as a distressed asset. They saw it with the Vanderkean, they saw it with Corey Perry.

And if they see the same thing in Carter Hart following the trial for the sexual assault stemming from the 2016, 2018 World Junior Team, I mean, that is an organizational decision and an organizational trend that a lot of people are gonna rightly have problems with. But even, take, I know it's not easy to just take away all that other stuff.

I'm not, I'm not, I don't wanna go down the road of like what it means taking away from a trial that's still ongoing. No, no, no. But he's also, it's not like he had solved Philly's goal-setting issues. I don't even remember back because he was so young and there was such an up and down time. Yeah.

And to be honest, that should almost be removed from the conversation. Well, not if you're the Oilers. That's an Oilers thing. an up and down time. And to be honest, I mean, that should almost be removed from the conversation. Well, not if you're the Oilers. That's an Oilers, if that- I'm not gonna do what the Oilers can do. That's a one of one. That's a one of one. Are you that desperate to fix your goaltending situation?

That's an Edmonton thing at that point. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.