Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best Of Halford And Brough 9/12/24

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss the struggling Blue Jays and more baseball stories with MLB Network's Adnan Virk, plus Brough defends his Leafs hot take with The Athletic NHL's James Mirtle. 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. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Fastball hit to deep right, and it is gone. For the second time in four starts, Francis takes a no-hit bid into the ninth inning and has it broken out by a home run. I didn't feel that one coming. That's how things go.

You know, he looked at me, kind of smirked and said, Oh, no! We suck again! Good morning, everybody. Six o'clock we suck again. Good morning, everybody. Six o'clock on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Ruff. 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. Laddie, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Ruff of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier

destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for. Sales, financing, service, or parts. We are in hour one. Uno of the program. Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's

premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling. They recycle, you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. Tell us what's on the show today, and I'll get my laptop all fired up here. We will begin at 6.30 this morning on our guest list. Matt Vetterame from SI Now is going to join the program to talk a little NFL. Thursday night football tonight, it is the Buffalo Bills. It is the Miami Dolphins.

It is an AFC East clash. We will talk to Matt about that. We'll also look ahead to week two of NFL action. 7 o'clock, Adnan Virk from MLB Network. There is going to be an unusual amount of baseball talk on the Halford & Brough show this morning. We're going to do quite a bit. What?

Yeah. What? Yeah. Why? Yeah. I can't tell you're going to do quite a bit. What? Yeah. What? Yeah. Why? Yeah. I can't tell you why yet. That's a tease. Oh.

Yeah, we're going to talk a lot of baseball. Is that a tease? That might drive people away. Why are you threatening us? That is a threat. That's the opposite of a tease, Halford. Adnan Burke's going to join us at 7 o'clock to talk some MLB. Maybe we'll work in a Beetlejuice review,

although I don't know if he's seen it or not yet. Beetlejuice. I wouldn't hold your breath. Beetlejuice. I would like to't know if he's seen it or not yet. I wouldn't hold your breath. Beetlejuice. I would like to launch an official complaint if this is going to be a baseball-heavy show. Not baseball-heavy, just more than usual. Okay.

Keep going. 730 James Myrtle from The Athletic, Toronto Maple Leafs. Beat writers. Are you a baseball writer now? No baseball with James. Well, maybe a little bit. No baseball with James Myrtle. We're going to talk Leafs.

Bruff's got it out there. Leafs. No baseball. We're talking Leafs. Well, maybe a little bit. No baseball with James Myrtle. We're going to talk Leafs. Bruff's got it out there. Leafs. No baseball. We're talking Leafs. Yeah, even better. No playoffs for the Leafs. Will Myrtle agree? By the way, they changed after they signed Yanny Hockenpah yesterday.

I love how working with this guy means that everything's got to be a hot take. So I kind of just threw out the fact like, hey, I'm not high on Leafs. I don't know if they're going to make the playoffs into like, that's a guarantee that they're going to miss. That's a guarantee that they're going to miss. I was kind of like, yeah, everyone who assumes that it's just going to be the same old, same old every year with the Leafs, which is, you know, they have a good, even strong regular season and make the playoffs

and then disappointing the playoffs. All I said was like, I'll embrace it for the sake of the show our three podcast title yesterday by the way was the leafs are missing the playoffs yeah and i made sure to post it on the toronto page i like it yeah i mean i like you might as well right i like to might as well right i guess some of us just have strength in their convictions and other people people are, what's the word? Weak. Have you nailed one hot take yet? It's not about the nailing of the hot take. Well, anyone can have a hot take. That's not true.

Anyone can have a hot take. You've got to hold the reservation. The key is to occasionally at least be right. I don't even think you know how to hot take. The key is not in the delivery. The key is in the cooking. Do you have the heat? Can you bring the heat?

8 o'clock, Jason Greger is going to join the program from Edmonton. We'll talk to him about the Edmonton Oilers. Well, he had a sit down with Stan Bowman. Yeah, that's right.

And that's why we're bringing Jason Greger on. It's not just to talk about, hey, Dreisaitl signed in. Is McDavid next? We will talk to him about his sit down with new Oilers GM.

Still weird to say, Stan Bowman. So 8 o'clock, Jason Greger, 7.30, James Myrtle. 7 o'clock, Adnan Virk, 6.30, Matt Vetterame. Do you have your Kintec read ready now? We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Soar feed, what are you waiting for?

Kintec. Laddie, without further ado, 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 busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? You missed that? What happened? 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. So I said, we're going to do more baseball than normal here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Part of that is we're going to lead the show with baseball.

One. Another Blue Jays failure. That's right. That's right. That's fun. Two, slow night in sports. There wasn't a whole hell of a lot going on last night, but this story does allow us to go into the way back machine to talk about something that both Bruff and I really love,

which is the Toronto Blue Jays of the 1980s. I'll explain in a minute. Last night, Bowden Francis, you've heard of him. A couple weeks ago, back in the end of August, he had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning. That got broken up. Now, how weird would it be if Bowden Francis did it again? Well, he did it again last night in the Blue Jays' eventual 6-2 loss.

That's right. They somehow took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, yet somehow lost in nine innings 6-2. That's weird. That doesn't happen very often. Well, that is very Jays when we're talking about this season. It's very true. It was Francisco Lindor who broke up the no-no in the top.

So I'm going to set the stage before we play the audio. Not a huge crowd, but just under 30,000 in Toronto to watch the game. They're all on their feet, right? They're all standing, clapping them all the way through the ninth inning. Because hey, Bowden Francis just did this a couple weeks ago. Everyone there knew it. Did he get any outs in the

ninth? This is the first batter of the inning. Francisco Lindor for the New York Mets. Here's what happened. That's driven to deep right field and a home run ends this no-hit bid. Linsanity! Francisco Lindor ties the game with a ninth

inning home run. And Alvarez slams one to deep center field. Farshow back, takes a look, and it's out of here! Francisco Alvarez brings the hammer down with a three-run homer. Why the Francisco's got to do this? Yeah, the Francisco's did them dirty yesterday.

Now, there was some creative Linsanity in there. Yeah, there was. Is Linsanity back? Sort of. In New York. Linsanity had a very good year. Yeah. And that was one of the biggest hits of the season for the New York Mets.

Still very much in playoff contention. We kind of doctored the audio there because some things happened in between Francisco Lindor breaking up the no-no and then Francisco Alvarez hitting a three run jack to eventually pave the way for the Mets to win 6-2.

There was actually two pitching changes in between, right? Because Bowden Francis got hooked. They brought in one guy. He got hooked. Then another guy came in and gave up the eventual game winning jack. Yeah, my TV was off by that point. Right, yeah. Fair enough for you.

Yeah, Francis was a no decision. Which is crazy. Yeah. So you're probably thinking, for you youths out there, you're probably thinking, man, how crazy is it that a major league pitcher in the span of four starts can have two no-hitters going into the ninth inning and lose both? And to you people, I would say, do you remember Dave Steeb?

Do you? Do you remember Dave Steeb? And they would say, no. Oh, yeah, Dave Steeb. Good mustache. Not Dave Steeb. That's Dave Steeb. That's Dave Steve.

That's why I said Steve. Bruf and I, when we first met, shared affinity for a lot of sports stuff, but loved the Jays of the late 80s and obviously the World Series winning teams of the early 90s, right? Remember the time that we got to meet Barfield's kid at the stadium? That was great, right? We're like, how cool was your dad? He could throw really far.

That was it. He was awesome. I throw really far that was it he was awesome it was like i love the jays dave steve was i was asking about like al lighter's finger blister that's right that kept him on the shelf for like a year al lighter had a finger blister for all of the 90s it just never went away he couldn't figure it out that was and he was because he was good he's a. He was a tricky pitcher, but he always had problems with that. Anyway, Dave Steed. Laddy, I have a trivia question for you. You are a big Blue Jays fan, we know. And you actually kept watching them pass those World Series titles.

Can you name the five pitchers that have had no-hitters broken up in the ninth since Dave Steve's, Dave Steve finally got over the hump and threw a no-hitter in 1990. So it's happened six times. We gave you one of them, Bowden Francis, who did it twice. Who are the four others? I think I only know two of them in my Jay's watching time. There's obviously the Roy Halladay, his initial call-up.

Lost it with two outs in the ninth on a home run. And then it was Brandon Morrow. Yep, that was the most recent one. The grounder to Aaron Hill who he couldn't handle. He probably should have made that play. But we can't have nice things in Toronto apparently. And that's the two I can think of. Dustin McGowan.

McGowan, okay, yeah. And before Hall the two I can think of. Dustin McGowan. McGowan, okay, yeah. And before Halliday, David Cohn. Wow. Coney. Forgot him. So people are like, what the hell are you talking about? What's with Dave Steeb? So for those that don't know, in 1988,

Dave Steeb took no hitters into the ninth inning with two outs in back-to-back starts. The statistical improbability of that ever happening again in Major League Baseball is in the billionth smallest percentile. It will never happen again. Now, there is a fantastic, and it's very long, and it's very nerdy, sports documentary by John Boyce,

who does all of the dork town and secret base stuff. I implore you all at some point when you've got a bunch of time to watch it. It's a lot. It's a four-part series, and it's on Dave Stevens.

You know, meet Dave, the Captain Ahab. Meet Dave. And so it's a great, I mean, it's great. It's great. It's really well done. It goes all the way back to how he was a California kid

and he was an outfielder and he got drafted. They turned him into a pitcher. And they said, like, you have to understand, he eventually got his no-hitter, so thank God, because I couldn't imagine if the one thing from your career was you were the guy that took two no-hitters into two outs in the ninth inning and lost them both in back-to-back starts and i didn't think we'd

see anything remotely close ever again but here we go bowden francis entering that very rarefied air with dave steve in blue jays lore at baseball honestly steve never steve never won the world like he was on the team when they won the World Series, but he was hurt, right? It's just like a whole career of kind of bad luck, but it's good. He was a really good pitcher. More often than not, he was the ace

for the Jays. But it was often a story of really close, but no cigar. cigar should have won a Cy Young according to the documentary right and he did have a prickly relationship with the writers which played into that but what else is funny is that in the 80s like when he pitched for the Jays in the early 80s they weren't good no and the Cy Young I mean now those are back in the glory days of like plus minus mattered as a hockey stat. Cy Young went to pitcher wins, right?

If you had 20 wins, you were eligible. If you didn't, you weren't. And they didn't have enough wins, right? And then the postscript to all of this is that I didn't even realize this until doing all the research. In 98, Dave Steeb came back to the Blue Jays at the age of 40 and worked his way all the way up from the minors and pitched three games for the Jays. It's funny how the wins thing has changed so much. I was watching a documentary on PBS, as I do, on Roberto Clemente with the Pittsburgh Pirates. And when he led them to the World Series in the early 70ies against Baltimore. They were heavy underdogs.

The Orioles had four 20 game winners. Four. Four. Wow. Yeah. They're just like, here's a picture. Try and hit him. And Clemente was like, okay.

And did. That's amazing. Yeah. And, but, and I, you know what I kept on thinking about during that documentary is just like, look at the pirates now. Yeah, I know. They're just like a.

Sad sack franchise. Kind of like a greasy money-making operation that takes advantage of revenue sharing in their nice stadium. They don't really care all that much about winning. This was the franchise of Roberto Clemente. For a franchise that's that storied and that much history, like Willie Stargell, right? All these unbelievable players that played for the Pirates. Barry for the pirates on yeah that's an asterisk but the other guys uh um it is sad what they've become like i can understand like the marlins being like kind of a trash franchise the rays but you remember well i was thinking over this yesterday we were talking with ian fernes and you know he

was saying that the mariners are actually quite profitable um so they make money and I was I suggested oh they're the the Pittsburgh Pirates of of the AL and he said yeah that's a good point like they have nice stadiums so people don't really want to stay away so people will show up you know they might not be packing the stadiums but attendance is high enough so that it's not a major problem. It's not like Oakland, for example, or it's not like even Tampa when people are like, yeah, even if the team is good, I'm not going there. Look at that stadium. It's gross.

But Pittsburgh has just such a richer history than the Seattle Mariners. True, and an amazing stadium, which we've spoken about before. No, no, but that's part of – that's honestly – I literally just said that. That's honestly part of the problem. But this is a franchise with long, proud history, as opposed to the Mariners, who are just getting now to have a long history. They don't have anything prideful about history. Yeah, it's a good point, because the one Mariners team,

the era that everyone looks back on was the Griffey extended era. They've never been to the World Series. Never been to the World Series. Not even to lose it. No, I know. That's the thing. The best team in franchise history never got there. Okay, let's turn our attention. Let's do some hockey talk here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Up on Sportsnet.ca

right now, a very fine website. I recommend you all check it out and visit all of the advertisers. Bookmark it. Yes. They've got their Pacific Division predictions out for public consumption. And no surprise to me, maybe to some of you, but they've got the Canucks slotted third in the Pacific Division behind Edmonton, which I think we can all kind of, you know, even begrudgingly we can agree and nod along with.

I disagree with their assessment that Vegas will be number two in the Pacific Division this year, but that's what Sportsnet.ca, maybe less of a fine website than I thought. And then the Canucks slide in third. We didn't talk much about the LA Kings yesterday. No. And I'm really not sure what to expect from them. But I do have a question.

Who's their best player? Ooh, that is a good question. Is it, is it Kopitar by default? Is it still Kopitar? Is it? Cause he is in, what is Kopitar now?

37? Mm-hmm. Um, Dowdy still plays 25 minutes a game. So he's certainly impactful. It's a very good question, Jason. Adrian Kempe?

Yeah, I don't, you know, like. Kevin Fiala? I would have a problem giving those guys the nod over Kopitar just because Kopitar plays center. Yeah, they're both players. Yeah. Kopitar plays more. He's still close to 20 minutes a night.

Who's the guy that had those? Trevor Lewis had over 30 goals? Trevor Moore. Trevor Moore. Oh, that Trevor. Yeah, still close to 20 minutes a night. Who's the guy that had those? Trevor Lewis had over 30 goals? Trevor Moore. Trevor Moore. Oh, that Trevor. Yeah. I just get my Trevors. I don't think Trevor Lewis has 30 goals in his career.

Right. Yeah. So the question with the Kings is, can they keep getting good hockey out of older players like Kopitar and Dowdy? And remember what happened last season, the narrative, long story short, bring in Dubois, it's going to be a game changer.

It wasn't. They traded him away and he's gone. Can they get Quinton Byfield to take another step? Because he's a good player now, but I don't think he's a great player. And they got a young defenseman named Brent Clark who could provide – they've been talking about him for a long time now. Yeah.

Can they – well, not that long ago because he was only drafted years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll talk more in a while. He's a good young defenseman. So can he be the push that a lot of teams need from youth to get them over the hump, for lack of a better way of saying it. I don't think they're going to win the Stanley Cup,

but it seems to me like the Kings... Is this fair to say that the Kings just never peaked? They just never peaked. They've lost three straight years to the Oilers, and it seems like it's gotten worse every time they've lost to the Oilers. Okay, I mean, here's the thing. If their best player is Andrzej Kopitar, and maybe their second best

player is still Drew Dowdy, you could say, well, those guys peaked. They won Cops, right? So that iteration of the Kings, yes. This current iteration of the Kings. Well, yeah, I'm talking about this current iteration. But the current iteration. The last three years, essentially. But who, okay, here's the thing three years essentially but who okay here's

the thing who's the guy who's who's the identifiable piece of the right so i don't even know like you and my question would be like well who's supposed to peak like who's the guy i mean everyone points to by field right and i think his best years are very much in front of him i have two additional questions for what but what level can he get to they're paying him like he's going to be a superstar. I don't. And I think that the possibility exists because he's got all the physical tools. I mean, some of the goals that he scores are of that, okay, only like a handful of guys in the NHL can do this type thing.

But do you remember when the Kings, I mean, they had Dowdy and they had Kopitar through these years. They missed the playoffs three straight years. Yep. And then the last three years, they had Dowdy and they had Kopitar through these years. They missed the playoffs three straight years. Yep. And then the last three years, they've made the playoffs and they've had good teams, you know, 99 points, 104 points, I think was the most that they had. So they weren't in the race for the President's Trophy or anything,

but they were good teams. All three times they lost to the Oilers in the first round the first time they lost in seven the second time they lost in six the third time it was not close that series and they lost in five last year well so which direction are they actually headed I'll put I'll put something out there is that when we talk about those great Kings teams that won the Stanley Cups we talk about Kopitar and he's still there and we talk talk about Drew Dowdy and he's still there. You know who's not? Jonathan Quick, who might have been as responsible for those more than anybody.

Yeah. And they've never figured it out. Well, I would just say Quick is left. I would say Kopitar, Dowdy, and then Jeff Carter were all in their primes. Yeah, but Jonathan Quick was like the. Yeah, no, I know. But those guys are still there. Yeah, but they're still there but i

never figured out the goaltending since he left and they're going this year with darcy kemper a year after they went with cam talbot who is being backed up both times by david riddick and they tried cal peterson and they've had they've had a number of guys that have come in and quite frankly just not given them anything remotely close. And I wonder if that's been Rob Blake's biggest failing as a general manager is not sorting out their goaltending position. Like, I can't imagine that anyone that follows the Kings is super stoked with the fact that they have Darcy Kemper coming in this year to replace Cam Talbot, right? And you look at the way that they had to start playing last year. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact they didn't trust their goaltending.

Is it fair to say that Daryl Sutter was also a big part of those Stanley Cup wins? Because like the style he coached or not, it worked when everyone bought in. Yep, 100%. Now what does Jim Hiller hockey look like? I don't know. I honestly don't. The picket fence that we saw last year. I mean, that's the other.

But that wasn't even his style. That was question. That was the style he inherited. Well, that was question two that I had about this team is, what's their identity? Because they've got enough high-end offensive players to go out and play real hockey. And what they did last year to get into the playoffs

got rightfully exposed by the Oilers in the postseason in that what they wanted to do didn't work in the postseason for whatever reason. Either they weren't deploying it properly or they just weren't able to throw a blanket over Dreisaitl and McDavid. And then when it came time to try and score, the Kings couldn't do it with any regularity, despite the fact that they've got good offensive players.

Do you remember when Willie Desjardins was their coach? I do. That was Willie's second kick in the can. But that was... I would have forgot about that. He got almost a full season there. He was sort of a tank commander. Like, they were designed to be bad.

And they're like, who's the guy that's going to come in and just... Did he bring in Jason Magna? No. I thought he did. He was there solely to steer the team where they needed to go. Right? Which was to the bottom. Sometimes you have coaches like that.

You need a guy, and you're like, you know what we're doing here. We know what we're doing here. Just go out there and do your thing. But don't win too many games, and lo and behold, they didn't. So at least according to the preview, and I'm sure you're going to read a lot of previews and predictions in the next few weeks, according to sportsnet.ca's Pacific Division preview,

it's Edmonton number one, Vegas number two, Canucks number three, LA number four, and then Seattle, Anaheim, Calgary, and San Jose rounded out the bottom four. You know, the question you asked yesterday about, is it going to be the worst division in hockey? I went home yesterday, and I thought a lot about it, and that's what I do. I think lots about the things that you put out there,

put out some good questions. I do think it is, and I think it's going to be, not by a considerable margin, but a good one. I think LA is an above average team at best that's how i would classify them i don't see them as a cup contender going into the year and i think that if they make the playoffs that's probably about where they'll be i almost think they're gonna get the oilers again probably right now they're gonna get swept because they're working in reverse on terms of right seven six five four now're going to get swept because they're working in reverse. Right, 7-6-5-4. Now we're going to get swept.

I think Vegas, and this is my hot take, that Vegas is primed for a massive step back. I don't see them as the second best team in the division at all. We were actually talking about the Seattle Kraken in our dressing room after the hockey game because we were trying to wind down. It's a late hockey game. You're trying to bore yourself a little bit so you can get home and get to sleep. Guys, no exciting topics, please. Let's a late hockey game. You're trying to bore yourself a little bit so you can get home and get to sleep. Guys, no exciting topics, please. Let's discuss the Kraken.

And the same question was, what is this team? I think you can say they're deep. But here's another good question. Who's their best player? Chenandler? Brandon Montour? Matty Beneers? I don't think a team exists where Chandler Stevenson is their best player.

He's getting paid like it. It's crazy. I'm with you. If he's your best player, you're in trouble. Brandon Montour is... Well, Vince Dunn has paid a little bit more than him. So they got a couple guys making just over $7 million. I mean, has it not been Jared McCann?

Yep. He's been their best scorer. He's been their best scorer. He's been their best all-around player. Because that's what Kopitar, when you ask the same question, right? It's just like you. Matty Beneers is... What level is he? If we're being generous, Horvat?

At his peak in Vancouver? That's a good one. But that's probably a generous one. And then you bring in Shenandler Stevenson, who I like, and I think Vegas will miss. I like him too. He's a good one. But that's probably a generous one. And then you bring in Shenandler Stevenson, who I like and I think Vegas will miss. I like him too. He's a good player. I like him with the price. Jaden Schwartz, Andrej Burakovski, Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Yeah, they've got the star power. I think Beneers has another gear, though. I think Beneers might be better than Horvath. If you're a Kraken fan, what's driving you to those games, though? Yeah, yeah. You want to see Shenandler Stevenson play?'oeuvres. If you're a Kraken fan, what's driving you to those games though, right? Like, you go see Chandler Stephenson play? Like, I don't know. Well, is Shane Wright gonna break through it all? According, not

according to me. Oh, you're on with me. You're on my camp. Yeah. Yeah. It's just another kind of small opinion that I, like I don't really like Shane Wright and now I'm actively rooting against this young man. It's all about the egos here on Sports Talk Radio. All right.

You're stealing my Jack Eichel bit. Yeah. Get out of here. Okay. Yeah, but Jack Eichel is not, it's not, it's not, like, cruel. He's made a lot of money. He's already won a Stanley Cup. And he's actually good.

He's thrown it back in my face a couple times. Shane Wright is down in the AHL trying to make a career. He's very, very young. And I am rooting against him. Some guy telling Shane Wright, you know there's a guy in Vancouver that hates you, man. Just burying you. I don't know why.

I think he saw a shift in the world juniors. He didn't really like it. He was like, that guy will never make it. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough. It's time to chat with Adnan. It's Adnan Berkey's on the show. We're gonna talk some baseball and take a trip to the silver screen. That's right, it's time for Red Nen. Yes, and then Berkey joins us now.

We'll head out to the ballgame and talk about all the films he's seen. 703 on a Thursday. Happy Thursday, everybody. Halford Brough, Sportsnet 650. Halford Brough of the Morning is brought to you by Vancouver Honda, Vancouver's premier destination for Honda customers. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can help with anything you're looking for, sales, financing, service, or parts.

We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews. Sorfy, what are you waiting for? Kintec. To the phone lines we go. Adnan Virk from MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Adnan.

How are you? I'm doing great, Mike, Jason. I was back in our fine home and native land last week my dear friend randall thor rt directed his first film he's been a director for 25 years music videos a couple of tv shows five makes his first film called 40 acres and it debuted at tiff the toronto international film festival last friday so shout out to him and the porter airlines hour and a half to get home and uh knocked out a couple French vanilla cappuccinos, a couple of coffee crisps.

Fun had by all. I was watching MLB Network last night. It was like no hitter and perfect game watch. We talked a lot this morning already about Bowdoin Francis, so we can kind of table that one versus like, there was also Brian Wu. I don't know how many people were watching this along with me last

night, but taking a perfect game into the seventh inning and then having it smashed, literally smashed, by Fernando Tedes. But a big night for MLB Network on no-hitter and perfect game watch. Yeah, and this may sound sadistic, but I honestly believe, Mike, if you're going to lose it, you might as well lose it with a bang, meaning there's nothing worse than if you're going to lose a potential perfect team or no hitter on some cheap broken bat blooper. Like I think if it's going to go, it's going to go.

So the fact that Francis, the exact same thing happened against the Angels, as Dan Schulman said, the call home run, the fact that he's nursing a one-nothing lead and when Doerr just bashes it, I'm like, it's almost better that way. You know what I mean? I don't want to get the two outs and some crappy hit happens. It would haunt me for years. I think for Don Francis, yeah, it's almost better that way. You know what I mean? I don't want to get the two outs and some crappy hit happens. It would haunt me for years. I think for Don Francis, yeah, just one bad pitch.

And by the way, the offense should have scored more than one run, so we should have something to deal with. But this kid's a stud, man. Our buddy Tim McAllister posted the other day on his Instagram, lowest whip through his first six career starts. He's at.40. For those who don't know, that's walks and hits per inning, a very fashionable stat among baseball heads. He's on a list

with like Grover Cleveland Alexander, who pitched 100 years ago. So, Bowden Francis has been great, man. You know, I know it's been a bad year for the Blue Jays, and there's no question about it, but if you're looking for optimism, look no further than Bowden Francis. He's been awesome. Well, the poor guys who have to cover the team on a daily basis must be thankful

that they have a story like this to talk about, because you can talk about, okay, where does he fit in down the stretch? Is this a little blip or is this something that the Blue Jays can count on for years to come? I do agree with your take on, you know, a bloop single versus a home run because if you give up a home run, you can immediately just say, well, I didn't deserve a no-hitter.

And then you can move on. But I do wonder if it's now going to become a thing for him. Is he the next Dave Steve? Do you remember Dave Steve, how close he would come? And then he finally got over the hump. I remember that. That was a massive deal. You took the words out of my mouth,

Jason. I did my buddy Tim Kirchner's podcast the other day, and he was asking about baseball influences as a kid. He was born in Toronto and growing up in Ontario. Which Blue Jays did you love? So I waxed poetic about Dave Steeb in two points. One, everybody talks about the sweeper today. That was Dave Steeb's

pitch. It was a slider. They just changed the name. They haven't put the new pitch. No, Dave Steeb threw a sweeper today. That was Dave Steeb's pitch. It was a slider. They just changed the name. They haven't put the new pitch. No, Dave Steeb threw a sweeper for years for the Blue Jays. He was the second winningest pitcher of the 80s behind Jack Morris. And it was an unbelievable slider. Some people call the sweeper a combination of slider and curve, but it was an awesome pitch and a weapon. And then I said

exactly what you said. I said, well, I'll always remember what Dave Steeb is, meeting him when I was 12, and he was selling his book. He was signing autograph copies and it was called tomorrow. I'll be perfect in reference to all the virtual misses he had to no hitters. And I think it was the fourth time he ended up getting it done. The no hitter against Cleveland. I want to say 1990.

If I have that right, I want to say September of 90, but yeah, I mean the amount of one hitters that Dave Steve had to endure, it was just miserable. And I was so grateful when he finally got one so Adnan as uh the season comes to a close what are we 20 games away maybe even fewer than that to the end of the season um which are the teams that you're really keeping a close eye on when it comes to either races for the division or races for a wild card spot who intrigues you so yeah

really there's only two which i'm a little bummed by i looked at it and i said you know as of tuesday we're three weeks away from the playoffs and normally you feel like okay there's lots to look forward to but if we're being blunt there's not a ton in the west the padres and deborah kind of made their move now the dodgers are five games up i don't think they're going to get caught the brewers are running away with the central and in the west sure the maringers are five games up. I don't think they're going to get caught. The Brewers are running away with the Central. And in the West, sure, the Mariners are a few games back, but I don't think they're going to actually take this seriously. Even though Houston's lost six of eight games, I think the Astros win.

So there's two that I'm looking at. The Walker and the NL is awesome. That's a daily watch. Mets embrace, because it's neck and neck, and the Mets right now are one game up. And they've had a sensational second half and good stories all over the place. I know we know about Iglesias and OMG, but Lindor, ever since he became the leadoff hitter, has been a different player.

And when he signed a 10-year, $341 million contract, initially he did not live up to it. As a matter of fact, he's yet to be an all-star as a Met, because he historically always gets off to slow first halves. But he's been awesome for that. It was a legitimate MVP conversation. Ohtani's going to do it, because he's got 47 home runs and 48 steals. But Lindor could be an MVP finalist,

which is saying something considering the way his Mets tenure has gone so far. But he's been a real spark for them. There's not many short steps to play great defense, and they're going to hit you 30 home runs and drive an 100 and hit 260. So I'm really curious for the Mets and Braves. And by the way, Atlanta, it's not like it's an Atlanta swoon. If anything, it should be remarkable they're even in the playoff race, considering the fact they lost Spencer Strattler,

they lost Acuna, the reigning MVP. They've lost other players for significant parts of the season, Ozzie Alves as well. So the fact they're in it is good. So that's what I'm looking at, and the AL East to me is really cool because the Yankees are a game and a half up on the Orioles. It's not as cool because you know that both are going to make the playoffs, but I do think that the seeding matters.

And I know a cynic can go, well, look at last year. The Rangers were a 5 seed, the D-backs were a 6 seed. Who cares? Yes, a wild card team can run the table. But if I win the division, if I'm a 1 or a 2 seed, which the Yankees or Orioles, if they win the division, will be, it's one less chance to get tripped up. It's one less chance in a best-of-three wild card series

that I can get surprised by Bobby Witt in the Royals or Pablo Lopez in the Twins or whoever it's going to be. So those are the two that I'm looking at. I wish there was more, but honestly,

that's what I'm looking at. NL wildcard, Ailey's. The Mets have a pretty tough schedule to finish off. They go into Philly now for three games. They also host Philly four straight games.

And then their second to last series is in Atlanta against the Braves. If they can get into the playoffs with that schedule and what they've already been through, do you think they might be able to make some noise in the playoffs? I really

do. And again, just as I said, seeding is important. I'd rather be a higher seed. I can flip it to, well, look at the D-backs and Rangers a year ago. If you get hot late in the season and you carry that momentum forward, you know, good things can happen. John Casey at 300 as a Major League Baseball player. I worked with him the other day, and he said to me, I know it sounds

crazy, but if I had a choice of taking a rest or keep going, I'd rather keep going. And he said, you don't want five days off? I said, no way. Are you kidding me? He goes, players are creatures of habit, man. Every day I'm in there hitting. Every day I'm in the cage. I can't just sit at home and watch TV for a couple days. That's not going to work.

And you can't replicate that environment. So if the Mets, and you're right, Jason, that schedule's a fair. And I sort of look at it, and I go, maybe the Mets are fair. And I go, no, they're not. Have you seen that schedule? Oh, my God. They've got to be able to fill these. They've got to be able to brave.

This is going to be hard. But if they get in, I absolutely think they can make noise. You know, it's too convenient to say it's going to be the Phillies or the Dodgers representing the NL and the AL, Yankees or Astros. Like, are they the favorites? Sure. But things happen. And the Mets, I'll point out, specifically their pitching,

Sean Manai and David Peterson have been great. Luis Severino has had a massive bounce back season. So those three pitchers can really carry you. And Edwin Diaz is back as their closer. I already talked about Lindor. Alonso's number's down this year, certainly, but he has power. And Iglesias, you know, beyond all the talk around the music and Grimace and all the rest of it, he's really hitting well.

He was always known as a superb defensive player, but now he can legit rake. So, yeah, I do think the Mets could make some noise if they make it. Do you think it's confusing being a Mets fan? Like, do you think you're like, well, should I be excited excited about this or not because it seems to me that they go back and forth between being excited about their ball team I mean two years ago they won 100 games and then I think got taken out by San Diego in a best of three I know they've been up and down with ownership like really excited when Steve Cohen bought the team because he was going to spend a lot of money and then they've been like

well wait a minute, this guy might not spend his money the right way Yeah, I'm completely with you, I think what happens is you're used to being the second class citizen right, the stepbrother in the relationships it's always Yankees, Yankees, oh we're just the Mets, and yet

they have these glimmers of hope because they do have these great seasons, they didn't have 2015 when they made the World Series. They did have the potential to have what looked like the best rotation for years, anchored by Matt Harvey and Noah Sinegar, and that just didn't materialize the way they hoped. By the way, Zach Wheeler is still going of that group, and he just had

his career high wins with the Phillies. He's been unbelievable. Who would have thought that a few years ago? And I think when Steve Cohen came in, it was obviously been good news. No question about it. He wants to win. He wants to spend it. He's a genuine fan. But he's not going to be Steinbrenner. He's not going to spend $500 million. Do I think he might give a lunatic proposal

to Soto and go $600 million in 12 years? I do. I think that's potential to be there. And I've mentioned, that's amazing. This guy will do it just to outspend the Yankees and to get their guy. That's awesome. But you're right. He went from year one, and we're going to spend, we're going to win. And then last year wasn't working out. And you know how rich people make their money?

By not spending their money foolishly. They quickly realize, okay, this isn't working out. I'm not just going to make it a money pit. I'll trade Verlander. I'll trade Scherzer. I'll go get some prospects. I'll have a quiet offseason and pounce when I think we're going to be better. And I do think, listen, hiring David Stearns is great. He did an

awesome job with the Brewers all those years. There's no question about it. So I agree with you. I think Mets fans are always curious how they should feel. And one of the surprises to me, I told you guys I went to Citi Field last month. I think it's a gorgeous ballpark. Robinson Rotunda, Tom Turfick, the receiver statue. They're only 17th in attendance.

Like, that blew me away. I'm like, wait, we're in the New York metropolitan area. There's a ton of people there and a ton of baseball fans. And I would think it's a robust market. You're a potential playoff team. And as you said, you've got Steve Cohen's dollars to spend. And yet they're middle of the pack in attendance. Very weird to me. We're speaking to Adnan Berg from MLB.

Adnan Berg from MLB Network and the Cinephile podcast here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. The title of this week's Cinephile podcast is Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, and Bob Costas. Ah, nuts and gum. Together at last. Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Andy Wensot gave it a favorable review with a couple asterisks.

What did you guys discuss? This movie that has taken over the Halford & Brough show, by the way. It's all we've talked about the last few days. Well, I remember you telling me how fired up Andy was, so I'm glad that he liked it as did I. And I went, as you guys remember, very cynical and skeptical. This was just going to be a cash grab. But it's Tim Burton's best movie in decades,

which when you consider he's made Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, that's a high praise. What works with it is, of course, the familiar elements. Keaton is fantastic, as you would expect, and he's funny and entertaining and gets right into the ghost for the most right of the role again. Werner Reiter is excellent, now all grown up, basically has the lead role.

And, of course, Canadian treasure Catherine O'Hara makes the most of her moments in comedic delivery. What I didn't like about it was the newer stuff. The Jen Ortega subplot, don't really care about. Some other characters, no. I adore Willem Dafoe, but he wasn't necessary in the movie or particularly noteworthy. But at least they brought

back the stuff that works. There was callbacks to the original while adding in new stuff. I never liked a sequel where they just do the old jokes. No, I got that. I already watched Airplane. I already watched Airplane 2 to see the same joke. So at least Burton recognized it to ingest more material. What I liked about it, honestly,

was it was so weird, which is truly his fashionable taste. Like, there's a handful of obscenities, but there's some weird stuff. I brought my 13-year-old son, who loves the first one, and I asked him, what did you think?

He goes, I thought it was weird and strange. I liked the first one better. I started laughing. I said, I kind of like that Tim Burton does that. Like, he's not going to play it safe. He's going to just, in his own demented mind, he will be as imaginative as possible. As a movie geek, I watch it and go, oh my god, the production design

is amazing, the costumes, the special effects. It really is a unique vision and towards the end, it just gets absolutely bonkers and bad caps. I liked it, especially more than I thought it would. Three Maple Leafs. What did Andy say? The basic gist of it? Yeah, you stole exactly what I was thinking, Adnan.

You just said yesterday that it wasn't very good. No, I said I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. It was good. It was like, I'd say, maybe a six or a seven if I was being generous. My main issue was there was just way too many subplots, like way too much stuff going on that didn't need to be in the movie. I agree with you with the Defoe stuff.

It felt like he had four really good ideas for a movie and jammed them all into one film. If anything, it probably could have been a little bit longer to flesh out the storylines, but outside of that, I really did think it was pretty fun. Yeah, I mean, the big answer, as you just said, is would you watch it again tomorrow? And the answer is no.

Where's the original BLT? I think we can all collectively agree. Exactly. We've seen it more than a few times. Oh, it's Jason's favorite movie. Bruff's all-time favorite film. I just love it. I love it when they say his name three times, whatever it is.

We're slowly murdering Bruff's will to live with this conversation. Adnan, you know what I watched yesterday? It was a little more highbrow. It was on PBS, and it was an American Experience documentary about Roberto Clemente and his life. Oh, that's great, bro. Yes. I am a little more highbrow than going to the Beetlejuice show. No offense.

No offense. Some offense, yeah. It got me thinking what is the point of the Pittsburgh Pirates right now? This was an organization that had Roberto Clemente, won a couple of World Series in the 70s, and then had Bonsabinia a decade or two later. And since then, what? So let me give you my Clemente stuff, because I can go 12 minutes on this, but I'll make it quick.

So I was not alive during Clemente's run, but I read a book, which is exactly how you should discover these things. You read a book and you become immersed in it, and it's David Maraniss' book, which is called The Passion and Grace of Roberto Clemente, The Last Great Hero. And the book is unbelievable. So much like

yourself, you read a book, you watch a documentary, you go, this guy's awesome. So not like I know the general beats of his life, the two World Series champions, the four batting titles, obviously an incredible humanitarian and, you know, risked his life helping others and their memory, especially on this Sunday. But I just went to Pittsburgh last week, and the goal, I had two goals. One was to see PNC Park, which is a crown jewel,

arguably the best ballpark. We talked about that. But then I went to the Clementine Museum. And I'm like, this museum is honestly one of the greatest museums I've ever seen in my life because it's such a treasure trove of his memorabilia. And just the pictures alone, it was incredible. Like, I bought a picture I'm going to get framed. And anyway, it's an amazing, amazing experience.

So I'm happy that, A, you were indulging in some Clemente talk, as we all should, because, again, it's a real Clemente Day Sunday, and I can't get enough of it, whether it's the book or the museum or the movie. With regards to the Pirates, as I was't get enough of it, whether it's the book or the museum or the movie. With regards to the Pirates, as I was at that game, which they lost 18-8, and I made sure I sat in the press row in seat 21 for Clemente. Wherever I went, I would sit in seat 21. I went to wait for the guy, and I would sit in seat 21.

As I'm walking out, after the Pirates got dusted, more than a few fans were saying, sell the team. I said, this must be a common refrain for this Pirates team, because they have this gorgeous ballpark. They have this rich history of passion and winning. They've had good players. Of course they had. Andrew, Gary Cole has been there. Tyler Glass now. And they discarded them, and now they've got the wonder

kid in Paul Skeens, and yet they never seem to have a modicum of success. You almost forget, Jason, they made the wildcard a few years ago, mid-2013, 14, 15. Again, maybe it was because the wildcard wasn't a big enough deal, but I'm like, Jason, they made the wild card a few years ago, mid-2013, 14, 15. Again, maybe it was because the wild card wasn't a big enough deal, but I'm like, oh, they were a playoff team, but then did nothing with it, right?

A real Pirates memory would be 92 at LCS, the Barry Vail, Bonds, Van Slyton, et cetera. Long answer is they've got to spend it, man. You can't just draft well and then make moderate adjustments. You've got to go out there and make some moves. And I pray and I hope it'll happen in the next few years because you've got schemes for five or six years, and you've got Mitch Keller, who's a really good young pitcher, and you've got to go out there and make some moves. And I pray and I hope it'll happen in the next few years, because you've got schemes for five or six years, and you've got Mitch Keller, who's a really good young pitcher, and you've got Jared Jones.

So you've got three pitchers right now. You need some offense. Go out and sign some guys. And I get it. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not telling someone just to go spend $500 million on one solo, but they could do some moves. Go look up free agent acquisitions. The Pirates have made the last 10 years. You are nearing to find anyone of substance.

And again, you can't even love this. The one time I met Michael Keaton, which is in the Jimmy Kimmel post-Oscar party. He's a huge Pittsburgh sports fan. I brought up Clementics. I know that's his baseball hero. And he started talking about how great the PNC Park is, blah, blah, blah. And he goes, oh, the team just stinks for so many years. And Michael Keaton's closing line to me was, I was in a much better mood before I talked to you.

I was laughing. He talked about how bad his Pittsburgh Pirates are. The Pirates would be the best case for it. Why should North American sports have relegation? Yeah, that's fair. You know, they don't spend any money. They take advantage of revenue sharing, and they don't win. Yeah, I mean, everything you said is accurate. advantage of revenue sharing and they don't win. Yeah.

I mean, everything you said is accurate. You know, you can be, it's funny. Someone says, you know, what's the best investment in North American life? Like be a professional sports owner. Like no matter what, the value of a franchise seems to go up. As you said, with revenue sharing, you're always making money. I mean, the amount of money that Fox spends and television, TV, et cetera. If you just keep your budget at a certain level,

like we're just going to keep this at $52 million and we'll just make incremental, you know, 5% raises every year. Like, we're going to be good. We're going to make money. And again,

the 17,000 diehard Pirates fans will always show up. And sure, on skiing days, we'll bump up to 25,000. We win. So I'm with you. Relegation,

it sounds so foreign to Americans and Canadians in the European term, but when you put it that way, I'm like, yeah, if you're not going toation, it sounds so foreign to Americans and Canadians. It's a European term, but when you put it that way, I'm like, yeah, you're not going to win? Sorry. You go to the other league. Perfect. Adnan, thanks a lot for doing this today. As always, great stuff. Enjoy the rest of the week and the weekend. We'll do this again next Thursday.

All right, Mike, Jason, thank you. And Andy, just for you, these guys are the hosts with the most with a nod to the Beatles. Very good. Thank you. Adnan Berg from MLB Network and the Cinephile Podcast here on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, dog, what is the next movie that you're excited about? You know what? There isn't.

Are you going to say it? Here we go. Are you going to share it with us next time? I am never going to talk movies with you again. Honestly, there's nothing. I guess I haven't watched Alien Romulus yet. I'm just waiting for it to come on streaming. So maybe that. I don't know. Nothing nothing in theaters to be honest in in the next little

while that i'm stoked for some sad news to report from the sportsnet lunchroom the ongoing science experiment of whoever left the pot stickers in there since june i threw them out you did i threw them out it's ridiculous man it's ridiculous i. It's ridiculous, man. It's ridiculous. I don't understand how people... Do we have, what is it, a monthly fridge clean out? So I shouldn't eat those is what you're saying? I'm just... I'm looking at them. Who leaves potstickers in...

Who does that? What kind of animal just leaves them there and be like, someone will eat these. Unless it's you. Get them out of there. The potstickers were so ensconced in mold it looked like they were wearing little furry jackets and i just i i just wanted to see how long it would go for i was i was never i only opened the fridge i opened the fridge once a day to get some cream for my coffee. And it punched me in the face this morning. They're aggressive.

And I didn't need it. The smell of it just like whammo. Do you remember when Ty Domi punched Ulf Samuelsson in the face? Yeah. That's what happened to me. Ty Domi. The fridge should be suspended, frankly. But everyone was cheering for it because, you know,

no one liked Ulf and frankly, no one likes me. That's right. Ty Domi was that moldy pot sticker pow right in the kisser anyway the science experiment is now over you got rid of it I didn't know you had a science experiment it wasn't mine

it was also a social experiment because I was like why is no one throwing this away you know what tomorrow they're in the fridge again I actually I find myself, um, acting at work sometimes like I do at home.

That's fine. Fine. I'll be the one I'll clean it up. I'll throw it out. Yeah. Because other people just walk right by it. Like they don't care, but you know what?

You need to appreciate these times. Cause remember when we had to work remotely, you couldn't have moldy pot stickers just sitting in the fridge. No, they give you COVID. Yeah, right. So said science at the time. That's science right there. Okay, we've got a lot to get to on the program.

Very excited to have our next guest on the show. Longtime friend of the program from The Athletic in Toronto, James Myrtle joins us now on the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Myrtle. How are you, buddy? I'm good. I'm good. So are we just talking about cleaning out the fridge? Is that what the segment is? No, because it's done. He cleaned it.

There's no postscript to that story. Yeah, it leads nicely into our discussion about all the garbage on the Leafs roster. I like how Mike's like, I wanted to see how bad it can get, and then Brough just cleans it up. That's just like the perfect encapsulation of your guys' marriage right there. It's true.

So we like to have these dumb hot takes on our show. And Halford has had, how many hot takes do you think you've had overall? How many have you been right on? Zero. Zero. Okay. So he's 0 for 64 on the hot takes the other day i was talking about the leafs roster and what brad true living did in the offseason

and i looked at it and i went i i'm not impressed like it's it's not all that much better and plus like i don't know if craig berube is gonna mesh with the team i don't know if Craig Berube is going to mesh with the team. I don't know if he has the team to suit his style. And I don't know if the Mitch Marner contract situation is going to hang over the team and become a distraction, for lack of a better way of saying it. I don't know about their goaltending. It seems like a massive wild card. So I said, I don't even know if they're going to make the playoffs because at some point, you know, they see. And then I said, so as soon as I say something like,

I don't, I'm not even 100% sure they're going to make the playoffs. That automatically is a hot take that they are going to miss the playoffs. And then I finally just said, the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to miss the playoffs. And then I finally just said, the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to miss the playoffs. Now, I threw this past Justin Bourne a couple weeks ago, and he scoffed. Like, it was the definition of a scoff. And he insulted me.

He's like, I hate it when people say this stuff. I was like, well, I hate you. So, what do you think about it, Myrtle? I think my take is the least hot of all, which is the Leafs are pretty similar to what they were last year, and they're going to finish in a similar position. You're listening to the best of Halford and Brough.