OverDrive - OverDrive - August 20, 2025 - Hour 2

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Join Michael DiStefano and Frank Corrado for Hour 2 on OverDrive! Hockey Canada and St. Louis Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong joins to discuss the Hockey Canada camp, the look of the roster and gearing up for the Winter Olympics. Former MLB Pitcher Jason Grilli joins to discuss the impressions of the Blue Jays' season, the team's playoff run and Toronto's starting rotation overview. 

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I made it to my tournament and lost in the first round. But you got there on time. Intact Insurance. Your auto service ace. Certain conditions apply. from tariffs to trade deals the markets are changing is your portfolio ready for what comes next for all your questions you need a money guy calvin the money guy will help you develop a financial plan that includes the right levels of diversity the best way to navigate uncertain times with strategic advice from kelvin you can not only protect your investments you can grow them don't wait call 416457 plan or visit ask kelvin dot ca a Our number two of Overdrive underway, Mike DiStefano, filling in for Brian Hayes, Frankie Corrado, in with me. Justin Bieber coming in to listen to some Beaves.

Did you see that video going viral out in Vegas? Apparently some guy snuck into some Vegas nightclub and convinced everyone that he was Justin Bieber and actually got on stage to perform. This is crazy, man. Look at this. We're looking this up on TSN2 right now. someone put a, they literally put us up on like TikTok and they're like POV you go clubbing in Vegas and Justin Bieber is performing. Ah, that was not Justin Bieber folks. Yeah, it's not the beeps, man. I've been kind of concerned about him. Look, they're outside.

They take him outside with security and they're trying to move him through after the show. People are looking to get photos. It doesn't even really look like him to be honest with you. There's a few things that jump off page about this. What's that? brother. First of all, it's concerning how easily fooled we can be by some lookalike. You remember a little while back

there was like a Drake lookalike that was roaming around and people were like, oh that Alex, exactly that Drake could have fooled people. The Kauai look alike. Remember the Kauai look alike at the right? At the, he was at the... For this guy, like, did he sound like Bieber? Right, like, because the music could be playing. It got drone and it'll get,

It'll get drowned out. It got drowned out, so you couldn't really tell. But, like, have you seen Bieber recently? Like, he looks a little disheveled. I hope he's okay. I mean, yeah, hopefully he is okay. You're right. I was wondering, because he had the new album coming out, was he doing a Jerry Jones?

Was he just, like, you know, any publicity is good publicity. So he's fighting with the media. He's kind of dressing, you know, in some weird stuff that he wasn't normally wearing, but new albums coming up. So guess what? Everyone's talking about the Bebes. People are talking about the Bebes.

And then, hey, I mean, maybe they paid him and sent him out here. Maybe this is Bieber's people. It's his body double. Body double. You know how I go out there and we'll make a name for himself. Keep the Bieber name in the books here. In movies. In the press.

Right. Like, oh, this president's the body, they got the body double of this guy or that guy. The stunt double. Doppelganger. That's his body double. He didn't look. like him that much. That's the thing. I mean, I guess the body tattoos

that he had, kind of, because he does have, like, those body tattoos. So maybe that's a reason why it could look like him, but I'd be curious to see how the performance was. Oh, it was probably awful. I mean, people legitimately thought that it was Beaver, so it couldn't have been that far off.

Yeah, but did he, would he have fooled the DJ too? Or was the DJ in on it? Like, this is my buddy Mitch. This is my buddy Mitch. This is my buddy Mitch. He's going to pretend that he's just No, you find out he's in on that. You're done. You're finished in Vegas if that, you know,

leaks out there that you were in on this joke. It's kind of weird, too, that, like, people are just convinced that that's Beaver out of nowhere. Yeah, just coming into Vegas. Like, a guy like Justin Bieber, like, that guy's larger than life. I don't think he's doing just a pop-up shop at Excess Nightclub in Vegas. Yeah. Well, he wasn't. It was someone else, obviously.

But fooled the world. the absolute world. And he's taking selfies with people. It's bizarre. It's very bizarre. I actually had a similar situation. I think about it. I forgot of this until now, but years ago we went on a family trip down to L.A. This was like

before Biba really took off. He was doing a free concert in L.A. live. I don't know if you've ever been to like Universal in L.A. They've got like an L.A. live type of spot. And he was doing a free concert and you could go or whatever. And there was a guy I remember there was thousands

of like young screaming people just waiting for him to come on but there was someone up top who kind of looked like it could have been a Justin Bieber impersonator and I remember he got up and people like oh it's Bieber up there it's Bieber and he stood up he was just I don't know

having a sandwich or something on like one of the high-rise restaurants there and he just like gave them a love this is back in the day where like that was kind of his thing and the place erupted it was absolutely erupted It was his body. It was this guy.

It's probably that guy there who's, you know, 10 years ago. He's been doing this. He's got to follow. 15 years ago now. He's got to follow what Bieber's got going on. So if he looks a little weathered, he's got to look weathered. He's got to have the beard. If there's a little stubble, he's got to have it the same way at all times.

Yeah, at all times. Interesting stuff. Interesting stuff. Yeah, buddy. Doug Armstrong, going to join us in a couple of minutes. The GM of the St. Louis Blues and GM of Hockey Canada. And their orientation camp's going to be underway in just a couple of next weekend, actually. So really, really excited to chat with him. He's on the line right now.

Joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline, Doug Armstrong. How's it going, Doug? I'm good. How are you? We're doing fantastic. And before we get into the hockey Canada stuff, so you guys made a move yesterday, bringing in Milan Lucci in on a PTO. Are the phones finally starting to buzz a little bit more in the hockey offices? Yeah, it's a time of year now where everyone's got their vacations behind them. We have a GM meeting, coaches meeting coming up on the first week of September, which will really kick things off.

But the guys are getting back to work now and trying to finalize their camp rosters and prepare for the season. You guys were the center of attention last year in St. Louis because of the offer sheets to Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway. And I think with the cap going up, a lot of people may be expected GMs with a little more money to play with. We're going to spend a lot. And, you know, coming out of free agency,

I don't know, you tell me, but it felt like other general managers were very aware that they shouldn't put themselves into cap trouble and just spend because they had more money available to them. Is that how things went based on your knowledge with other general managers? Yeah, I think last year was a perfect storm for, you know, for St. Louis. But I also looked last year, you look at Detroit and Boston, they had top-level free agents and restrictive free agents. and they both left, I think, 10 and 20 million. And I think with the cap going up and the offer sheet working, it made everyone aware again to run their business maybe a little differently. And I personally not sure we'll see an offer sheet for a while

just because I think you only do it if you think you have an opportunity to get the player. And if you create enough cap space for your own team, that likelihood is not there. with dark armstrong uh gm of the blues and gm of uh hockey canada and next week uh hockey canada the olympic orientation camp will get underway what are the details of what the day to day is going to look like for you guys you know it's a lot of housekeeping quite honestly we're going to be the uh men's and women uh team put the pair team are going to get together we're going to do some joint events as we're prepared to uh be part of the whole team canada not just the hockey part of it

and the whole Olympic environment and there's a lot of paperwork that the players have to go through a lot of fitting a lot of discussions about what to expect when we get there and then we're going to do some individual team things the men team will get together for some dinners and

build relationships and the coaches will have some time with the players but it's more of a information gathering for the players and to get a lot of the paperwork done so when we do select our 25 players they have a lot of that work behind them. When your orientation camp roster came out,

I think there was a few things that jumped off the page to a lot of people. The first thing I think was the three goaltenders that were on the Four Nations team. They're the same three goaltenders that are attending camp. So no one else, not that they're not in the mix, but no one else getting the invite. Is that something that is going to remain fairly consistent for you and your evaluation group this year that those are your three guys? or is there still enough evaluation time this season

before you decide who's coming to Italy? Yeah, it's actually the opposite of that. You know, there's so many, and I've talked to a lot of probably six goalies that weren't those three and said that that's probably our most competitive part, our most open spots. But, you know, it just didn't feel right

bringing that large number of goalies to the camp. So we just went with the three, but I've talked to the other goalies and told them that it is an open competition to play well and make our decisions hard in January. But yeah, no, it's open competition for that spot for that goal-tending position. With Doug Armstrong, when you're looking to build the roster for the Olympics this year, is there anything that you can apply from what you learned in the Four Nations roster-building experiment there from last year? Oh, for sure.

I think the four teams that participate in that certainly have a leg up on the other nations just because we're one year away from probably I'd say a lot of those teams are going to have a minimum 70 maybe a more higher percentage of those players perform in both and they've built some synergy I think John Cooper and his staff have been able to tweak players and lines in that event they know what work what may not work and gives us a a real leg up on preparing for this next event. So there's a lot that we learned. But again, we don't want to think that that last event is going to be like the next one.

Obviously, the rules are going to be different. We had a spirited start to one game that it won't happen in the Olympics. But, you know, we learned a lot about our competition. They learned a lot about us. And right now, our job is just to prepare the best we can. And I'm excited for our management staff. We will be out a lot in the first three months of the season watching. And this event allows us, as of today, it allows us another month longer of scouting,

which is going to be very beneficial to us and to the players to put their best foot forward. So I think you do take away things from the four nations, but it's not just a continuation of that. This is a different event. And being fortunate enough to be part of the 10 and 14 team working for Steve Eisenman, this is one event where we go into it and when you NHL organizations when they play they're the alpha male in the event that night

we're just a small part of a much bigger team and that's a bigger team of Team Canada's Olympic program and so we're excited to get there and to be part of something much bigger than us and I'm looking forward to sharing those experiences and having really you know Drew Dowdy and Sydney Crosby will be with us in August and they've been at two Olympics they can share

share those things. And Ryan Getzoff will have a very big spot on our staff sharing his experiences. And I think that, you know, it's something that a lot of these players have never been part of of not being the alpha male in their event. And we want to make sure that we respect and relish the opportunity to be part of something that's much bigger than us and understand that, you know, there's a lot of sports that don't get the accolades, but these people have worked four years for one event at this time, and we want to make sure we can support them and, you know, treat them with the respect that they always treat the hockey players with. You mentioned Sidney Crosby who had an unbelievable tournament at the Four Nations.

You know, as a guy who's watched him from afar, you know, what did you learn about him in terms of what he can do off the ice, the leadership capabilities of what makes Sidney Crosby? Yeah, well, as I said, I go back to 2010. We had Scott Niedemeyer leading our team, and then in 14, it was Sid, and then again, in 16 at the world. And he's a, at that point, he was in the prime of his career. He was the best leader, the best player. And he's still a, what I think he showed there was his hockey skills are still

at the top end of the NHL, but his leadership, his ability to draw players in, his ability to share experiences, and his work ethic is second to none, and his preparation is second to nine. And I think him just being at this August camp talking to players, there's going to be not just the 23 that we had there, but there's going to be 40 plus players there. My message is to be to watch what Sid does, watch, what Connor does watch, how they prepare. And, you know, that's how the best of the best prepare. And there's other countries that have players like that.

But Sidney Crosby, he's not even a generational. get a player like that every generation. He's a first battle hall of famer, you know, Mount Rushmore of hockey. He's very, very special. A couple of young guys get invited to this orientation camp, and that's another thing that kind of jumps off the page when you see guys like Connor Bedard and Macklin Salabrini, who both have very bright futures, but they still have, I guess, not a ways to go, but they're not, you know, 25, 26, 27-year-old season vets.

going into this season, what would you need to see from one or both of those guys to really consider putting them on this team? Well, they're going to have to play very good hockey, obviously. They understand the competition. I'll share a story with you. So I went to introduce myself to Salabrini before he played us in St. Louis and told him about the Four Nations. He wasn't going to be a consideration for that. But, you know, to have a good season and that we would consider him. for the world championships and then

potentially the Olympics. And I told him that about 10 in the morning, he had four or five points that night, and so I said I should have talked to him after the game. But he's a dynamic player. He's a special player. He was at the world. He carries himself

like Bradard. They carry themselves differently than people. Their reigns are much, they've been under the spotlight for a long time, and they just have to do what Kine has to do. And all these other different players, they have to perform. We're going to take the players that are performing the best

that John Cooper and our staff with our management staff feel can give us the best chance, but there's not an age requirement to make this team. There's going to be a skill requirement and a requirement that you can help us be competitive for a gold medal. You talked about

how you have a little more runway here as far as picking the team in comparison to the Four Nations faceoff where that roster needed to be named a little earlier. How much do you think that extra month will affect how this team is selected and maybe even with the Four Nations

if you had that extra month would the team have looked any different? It's hard to say because we didn't... Yeah, you won. And we didn't have that extra month, but I do know as soon as we named that team, the scouting still continues because you never know what

injuries. You know, you're hoping that the guys you select will make it. But you have to, you know, we believe that we had to be outscouting and continuing to keep a close eye on the players for their health. But I think that extra month is going to benefit everybody. I look at a player in my organization, Robert Thomas, who got hurt early. And then by the time he got back was the end of November, early December, and he had no chance to make that team. He didn't. But, you know, so any player that's injured in the first month of the season is going to have two months to put their best foot forward.

So I just think time is an ally and we're looking to use all of it. Was there someone that really impressed you that obviously was good enough to make the team, but maybe kind of came out and had a heck of a tournament where you said, wow, he turned out to be even better and more important than I thought and is going to be a real consideration for the Olympic team this year? Yeah, some of the younger players that did connect me, I thought, was excellent. I really thought that Point had a very good tournament. Now, he's not a surprising player,

but there's just players that you don't really know until you see them in certain environments. I thought Colton Parenkoa, a player who I know very well, you know, played very good in that tournament. And, yeah, I thought Jarvis was an unknown, a person that, a young player that came in. And, again, didn't have a massive effect on the team, but his day-to-day work habits and his, you know,

his demeanor around the team showed that he belonged. And that's really what I picked up from that Four Nations was the comfort level that some players have to be in that environment and then how they perform when the light's the brightest. And that's really what you want to see. When the game's on the line, you want to see what guys are chomping to get over the boards. And these are all elite players. And, you know, but now we're picking,

you know, you have the top, the top players, and now you have to pick the top players of the top players. And that's a great thing for us. And I know that John had the opportunity to work closely with guys and learn from them, and I think that's going to benefit Coupe and his staff winning for also. You know, switching gears now to the NHL, I think we're starting to get to the point in the summer

where, you know, fans are maybe getting a little restless and you start to think about where your team is at and how they're going to shape up against their competition. you know, when you look at St. Louis, or I look at St. Louis, you know, thinking back last year, really mobile blue line, you guys made a nice addition with Cam Fowler, but maybe the biggest move you guys made was bringing in a new head coach in Jim Montgomery. Where do you think your group is at in St. Louis? And how do you guys kind of take that next step forward with the pieces in place that you have?

Yeah, I think when Jim came in, we found our game obviously after the Four Nations. We won certainly had the best record in the league and went in and played great hockey just to get into the playoffs and we pushed Winnipeg right to double overtime of game 7 a game that I believe

that we let slip through our shingers with two five on six goals against at the end but that's hockey that's why you have to play the full 60 minutes but I think one of the things that and I think managers are all like this you hope for the best but you're it's carded

we were playing with house money a lot of last year. We weren't a contending team, and so I think we didn't get everyone's A-game. I think what we were able to do the last 30 games of the season, I think our reputation might be a little stronger than it was at that point.

And also, I don't think you can't replicate last year's team. There's different players here. It's a different environment. Everything's changing. And so what we need to do is to really build that foundation again with a new team, the 25-26 team, and not think that we can pick up where we left off. That, to me, is always very dangerous, and that's going to be the goal of the team is to appreciate what they accomplished last year, who's ever on this team from last year,

but understand that it doesn't roll over. We have to start again. Well, and you guys play in a super competitive division, right? Like, I think, you know, we talk about Toronto all the time on this show and how stacked the Atlantic is with teams like Ottawa taking another step. And of course, Montreal jumping into the playoffs. I think it slides under the radar in a market like Toronto, like how difficult the central is where, you know, Winnipeg's not going anywhere. Dallas is good. Colorado's good.

Minnesota is always highly competitive. And there's you guys. And you have to deal with that for a lot of the season. You know, how much of, you know, the environment. around you are you kind of thinking about when you go into a season or is it just we're building the St. Louis Blues the best way we can and we know that we have stiff competition in our division every single night no matter what. Yeah, I've always tried to look at it as you know you control your own controllables and you know I got here as a manager in 2010 and the thing

that I'm most proud of is we have been for the better part of those years as one of the teams you talk about now was us in Chicago for a while and they slipped out and then it was us and then Colorado was in and they slipped out now they're back in like I just love being a consistent team and that's what we try and do. Utah's

going to, you know, they're a heck of a team so yeah it's going to be very difficult but hopefully that we're used to that, we're time tested, we understand and we'll be prepared to play in a very difficult division and I think playing a difficult division makes

makes you stronger for the rest of the league also. Doug, really appreciate the time today and best of luck at the orientation cap next week. Great. Thank you very much for having me on and enjoy the rest of your summer. Absolutely. You as well, Doug Armstrong. GM of the Blues, GM of Hockey Canada, Doug Armstrong, joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline, Drive the Built in Canada, fuel efficient,

fun-to-drive-to-Rav-4, gas or hybrid models available. Visit mapleToyota.com. Hey, very good point. We always do focus on the, Atlantic, but, like, that, that division is stats. Like, that central's off. Think about who's there. So, Winnipeg, 116 points last year. Dallas, Colorado, always two of the best teams in the NHL. Minnesota, just, they're, they're always competitive.

They're always competitive. They'll lose in the first round, but they're, they're competitive. They're there. They're hard to play against gritty team. St. Louis made the playoffs. Utah's probably on the come up, right? They're on the up and up. I mean, who knows what national. is going to be this year. Well, I was a team last year that won the offseason and then it all went kaput.

I don't know what happened to that team. Just nobody came. No center. No center. No center. Ice position. It was supposed to be Ryan O'Reilly. A lot of things went wrong. Yeah, they just didn't have enough underneath.

After that. And then Chicago was not going to be a good team. No, no. I don't think we're. So there's your one throwaway, but I don't know. Outside of that, it's a good division. Power rank the divisions. And I still think

I still believe the Atlantic is probably tougher. I think the Atlantic, but Boston taking a step back now, you know, who knows the Boston, Buffalo, Buffalo, and Detroit's okay. Yeah. Montreal is still probably going to hang around like a 90, 90 to 92, three point team.

It probably is the central. I think I take the central. I think that's a tougher division. Yeah. Yeah. I think I'd agree with you. It was interesting. I asked him, like, who surprised him

at the Four Nations last year? and he gets some good answers but a guy that really surprised me last year wasn't even on the team to start but when Thomas Harley got the opportunity to come up and play like he stood out to me a lot and I think he's going to have an opportunity

to kind of stake stake claim on a roster spot this year at the Olympics I would think he's one of those guys that goes into this year penciled in but not in Penn right right like you got the inside track as long as you do everything that you're supposed to do

And you'll get a good look for it, but not necessarily, and maybe I'm going back on my word because I think last year I said like that guy's a lock to make the team. A lock based on how he played last year at the Four Nations, but I still think there probably is a little bit up in the air because there's just, there's so much hockey to play. You got to get through, you got to see how it goes. You got to get through October, November, and then basically this time last year, Zach Hyman was a lock, if you recall. Zach Hyman should have made the team. I should have asked him about that. Well, Zach Hyman, that's one of those guys where you ask. ask him, if you had that extra month, would it have been different? Zach Hyman, if you recall, leading up to the, I think it was December 5th or something like that

was the date, he had like four or five goals to that point. Terrible start to the year. He just couldn't score. But couldn't Barry, couldn't finish. After the announcement, he took off. And that's one of those things where it's like, man, if they would have had an extra three weeks to a month, maybe Zach Hyman would have put up a better fight to making that club.

Again, they win the championship. So that's the thing. It's tough to say that they made the wrong choice and decision. They still won at the end of the day. It's hard to go back and edit that team, especially when you win. But if Austin Matthews scores late in that game and it's not Connor McDavid who scores, then, yeah, you're doing the whole referendum on who made it and who needed that extra month. Yeah, absolutely.

So I'm excited, though, man. We got that little taste at the Four Nations last year. And now it's the Olympic Games. It's a totally different beach. once you go to the Olympics. There's a little bit more on the line than just the bragging rights of a four nations, right? Got a gold medal and you're fighting for your country with more than just four teams. It's going to be a lot of guys that'll be competing.

All right. On the other side, we'll get back into some Blue Jays talk. Jason Grilly, former reliever 15-year vet in the league. He'll join us. Stevie Johnson, former Buffalo Bill. Going to join us at 605. And Brandon Montour, trying to make Team Canada. He'll be at the camp next week.

He'll join us at 630. I'm Mike DeStefano or Frank Corrado. You listen to Overdrive on TSN 1050, TSN2, and up on YouTube. Overdrive is brought to you by Fandul, bringing you everything from the opening line to the final score. Be able to took the Jays on the money line today. Would not have been a happy camper. They lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in an afternoon getaway day to one. That's it.

We saw the Jays lead off the game, George Springer, lead off home run. And I believe it broke a Jays record, actually. most lead-off home runs in a Blue Jays uniform, I want to say. And then that was it for the Blue Jays. That was it. That was the one in lone run that they had. I got a text from a buddy who was at the game. Apparently it was like 60-40.

Down in D&C? Yeah, it was like 60-40 Jays fans to Pirates fans down there today. And he's like, George Springer just bent one over the foul pole. It's going to be an 8-0 game. I thought it was. Yeah, I thought that the Jays were going to be well on their way to putting a beat down on the Pirates again, just like they did last night. But no, they end up, they only took one of three.

One of three against the Pirates. And, you know, if you just looked at that, you'd be like, that's disappointing. And sure it is, like, you shouldn't, you know, lose a series to the Pirates, especially if your team is as good as the Jays. But today was just a weird game. Chris Bassett pitched an excellent game. They just, they couldn't get the run support. And it's hard to, hard to nitpick that for the Jays because they've gotten the run

support so often this year. That's a reason why their number one team in the, ALE. So, you know, I think you chalked that one up to. It just, it just wasn't your day against an opponent that you should beat. You would like to see them win a little more on the road. That's been, you know, I guess one area where they can improve the most here as they head into the final playoff stretch. But Jays are still in a very good spot. And now the roster, roster is going to look a little bit different because they're getting a day off and Shane Bieber is going to make a start on Friday. Shane Bieber is coming up after a couple of solid innings.

A couple of solid outings, rather, down in Buffalo. It sounds like Braden Fisher is going to be the guy who's going to be optioned down to Buffalo in place of Shane Bieber. And Eric Lauer, the news of the day is that Lauer is going to be relegated to a bullpen roll for now. That was the wording for now. So it's not something that is going to be, you know, it's not set in stone that he will not pitch again as a starter this year. But for now, he'll be coming out of the pen. To join us, talk about that in all things, Blue Jays' former Toronto Blue J, 15-year veteran in the major leagues. It is Jason Grilly.

How's it going, Jason? What's going on, fellas? Good to be with you. I'm sorry, I'm in my car right now, so this is the booth on my end. I love it. You're on your way to? I just came back from a meeting, a friend of mine for dinner, a great Italian spot here in a town called Zealian-Ople. so too bad you can't join us for that

and talk baseball but I did come from PNC Park last two nights I was kind of disappointed to see we dropped the series to a team that we should be overcoming but I will defend this when you come from the adrenaline that is happening in Toronto and you're coming to hear where you're hearing

buzzing of the lights it's a little bit different and so the adrenaline when you're in first place place, you know, like, we used to tease people when I was on a losing team before I got traded to Toronto with the Braves. I was actually embarrassed to be wearing a Braves uniform instead of proud as I should have been with all the championships and the legacy there. Johnny Goans and I used to say, yeah, we bring teams to our level, not the other way around because we were so bad. So I don't know, it does, guys, I have to say, you know, no discredit to any disrespect to any team, but I can tell you.

of this, just when you play to the caliber of where you're at, sometimes there's not a lot of adrenaline going on since some of the playoff games that I've been a part of, I've been fortunate enough to be a part of in Pittsburgh. There's not a lot of excitement going on here. And if you're used to that roar, which I know is happening in Toronto, could be a little bit of the after effect. So I'm glad to hurt Blue Jays to get out of here and get back on track of what they've been doing. Yeah, it'll be nice. And I was at the Jay's game over the weekend had that big comeback when on Friday got to see so the building it was it was loud that night and i was also in the building for a couple of the playoff games one that you were pitching in

back in 2016 i mean you could speak to it i guess better than better than either frank your eye but you know a guy's been in that situation just how does that kind of spark someone when the crowd is buzzing like it does down in the dome during uh october baseball well you you can either use it to your advantage whether on whatever side if people are booing you, cheering against you and flip it around like okay you want to piss me off and turn incredible

Hulk and flip it around and go I'm here to do my job and quiet the crowd you have to have a lot of confidence and being comfortable being uncomfortable, being uncomfortable that situation but also you know when you have the crowd

behind you you don't want to disappoint you know it's it's a adrenaline is a drug that people know that I thrived on. And I just always got into it because it was like, I can't even believe I'm out here to do this fun thing that I dreamed about doing. But, you know, adrenaline will make you see the ball bigger.

It'll make you lock into situations like there was times later in my career, especially in Toronto in those situations. I was like, everything just, you know, kind of like got quieter. even though it was loud, because you just had to focus so much more. It's a weird how to describe it. I don't have the words right now if I had to think about it and come up with a more intelligent answer for you. But it's just replicating, like, you slow that adrenaline down, and when you learn how to channel it, there you go, you channel it to the point where you go, I'm going to use this, and the crowd is absolutely helping me do that.

Because when you're sitting there, I can't imagine, thank God didn't play during the COVID. times. I don't know how those guys play with no people in the stands. I would have had the worst seasons of my life. I think I would have. We don't think about that that often, how difficult that must have been. It would have been. And you know what? It was terrible. Oh, I bet. And you know what?

I think a one guy, though, that maybe creates his own adrenaline and it's got to be Max Scherzer, isn't it? Like, that guy is so intense and you got to see him the other night on the mound, just mowing people down, staring people down, the intensity. Like, what...

Yeah, like, what's it like watching him do that at age 41? Well, you know, the cool thing was pregame, my son Jason and I, his last day of summer, they just started school up. My son's a senior, and we got to go in the doggout with, you know, Pete Walker, and he got to see all his heroes, Bichet, and, you know, the guys there that he's idolizing now. And, you know, for me, just to be in there, it was great for my soul just to be around it. and miss being a jay you know guys i don't hide it i loved playing my time in toronto but still a big fan so i discreetly i got to wear blue and red it's my seat and hall where i went to

college in elixandropolis the bullpen catcher was my catcher in seat and hall too and uh you know i have allegiance here at pittsburgh obviously i'm not saying i don't like my two favorite team square enough but i'm rude for the jays man it's my team that i want to see as many banners up there as well. But, yeah, just to be in the presence and then see Scherzer bouncing around, he's walking around. I'm like, man, this guy's got adrenaline pumping now. He just can't wait.

It's like a caged lion, you know, just waiting to do his work. And, you know, my son's like, Dad, I got a card to Scherzer. I go, not today, son, not today. He's got to do his thing, man. I'll leave him alone. We'll get him another time. We go up to Toronto and see him maybe up there, you know. But, yeah, you know, I, guys were always, like, trying to be like, hey, listen, I know what's going on.

I'm not getting interference. I'm just happy to be in the presence of winning. And it's cool to see the atmosphere. But, again, I think not to say anything, the guys you could tell were in a city where it felt like, hey, I'm a little tired coming off of whatever, you know, road trip or what they've been through. Just day to day, these days are tough. And when you come into a arena, it's not even half full. I mean, there was more Blue Jay fans at our park, P&C here, than there were anything else.

But even still, not a rowdy atmosphere, just like people are there just watching a big league game. And that's the knock here in Pittsburgh. It's a shame that Major League Baseball is allowing that kind of stuff to happen. But unfortunately, like I said, I can't wait to go up and see the Jays do what they've been doing all year long. and got that nice lead. And they just have to take care of business

as they've been doing all year long. But, you know, you got to step up. I thought they were going to come through there at the very end. Kirk hit a ball. It just sounded right off the bat. I'm like, oh, God, I'd be saying, hell, Mary.

He's like, come down, man. You know? And it did. Unfortunately, I thought he tied the game up there. But, you know, fun to watch. It gave me such a pallet to want to be there, and you guys are lucky. You got a lot of good things to look forward to

and talk to down the stretch here. Well, I mean, I guess the lone offensive run today came from, you know, home run off the bat of George Springer. It was the lead-off home run to start the game. Didn't get much else. But he's having quite the Renaissance season here that no one expected to see at this point in his career. How impressed have you been with how he's been able to really rebound this season and be an offensive force for the Blue Jays? You know, he was always a kid coming up. I faced him when he was a young buck.

And we were teasing. I said, Dan, how old are you? He says, 36. I said, you're 36. And we were kids about how much hair, you know, this game will steal from you with all the stress, you know, people don't know. People have no idea, like, you know, what goes on when I was sitting with some friends up there and they're asking me baseball questions. And, you know, some of the stuff that they go, really, it's like that. Dude, it's so intense, man.

Like, that's why I said Walker, Pete Walker, is like, grill, I got to do this. Like, dude, it's just good to see you. It's good to hear your voice in person. I said over the phone. It's good. Don Mattingly, who, you know, God love. The guy was plastered all over my walls, even as a pitcher wannabe growing up. Just to sit there.

I felt so good to be in the presence of winning and awesomeness. And I go, I'm not trying to be in the way. We're just happy to be in and around what you guys are doing. And thanks for giving me that opportunity to feel like, you know, yeah, I did this once, you know, and then show my kid, he's got aspirations to do big things. things going into his senior year in college. So I don't want to get in the way of any of that. You know, you don't want to be in the bad juju of causing a distraction.

And you have to know that, and that's when you've been around it. You don't want people stealing some of your time and your routine. It's a lot, you know, it's a lot. What's your kind of thought on the Jay's rotation? They're going to have Shane Bieber, who they acquired at the deadline. He's going to make his Blue Jay debut on. Friday. Like, that's a, that's a serious pitcher. Like, Max Scherzer, this is a guy who's been an ace his entire career, you know, and then you still have guys like Gossmann, Burrios,

Chris Bassett. Like, this has got to be, you know, one of the deepest, if not the deepest rotations in the majors. How do you, how do you kind of evaluate where they're at with their rotation? Well, I'll tell you what, you know, when you got to have that in playoff baseball, because, you know, some of those starters wind up if they got anything left in the tank, you know, whether it be Scherzer or anybody, hey, man, I'll give you one or two if I had to close it out. You know, sometimes you're like, who's best available, who's got some bullets left? It's like you empty the tank down the stretch here, and, you know, I know, what was it 20, was it 22 against the Mariners? Yeah.

And that year, I think if I'm right, because I am a fan, it was painful to see some of the stuff where it seemed like the pitching was was was was there and the bats were kind of not you know keeping up it's it's a balance right it's the whole team it's not just one side of the ball um that has to sink up but yes the depth of the rotation the bullpen's always you know the strength of that and keeping guys like in sync the manager's job is to is to set up successful situations right he knows what he has and then you get to the confidence up as you go down the stretch it's just

it's never sometimes a team that's playing better it's a team that has the most confidence and it stays in that hot seat and you know they're just having a good time and bawling out and I asked Springer that you know as he was talking to my son and I I said hey man I said what do you think I said you got a good group of guys must be because

you don't you don't win in this division with guys that don't enjoy playing with one another and I hope to see a lot of champagne toasting with like you know we're family we feel good about hanging out with each other off the field too you know it takes about a team to just kind of group together and people some people like that word chemistry some people hate it um i think it's i think it's very evident when there is chemistry

um you got to like who you're you're around at least definitely respect them to the to the degree that how can you not have fun with guys especially when you're winning it's just such a great atmosphere. Well, we'll get you out on this one. We're chatting with Jason Greeley, former Blue Jays reliever. And kind of the news of the day here in Toronto is that Eric Lauer, who's been terrific for the Blue Jays, has the best ERA among all starters since June 1st. But with Beaver coming in, they're relegating into the bullpen for the time being, what do you think's going through his head as he hears news like that? And how different is it pitching out of the bullpen as opposed to being a starter?

Well, it is different. It's a different animal altogether, but he's got to fake it until he makes it in the sense that, hey, you know, it's not a demotion. I wouldn't look at it as a demotion. It's just what the team needs me as, and that could change as well, too. It's just who has the hot hand, who they believe they can structure this to get down the stretch. At the end of the day, as long as you've got a ring or you've got a shot to do it, you accept the assignment. You want me to sweep the floor? Good, I'll do that. I That's the attitude I think you have to take. When you start getting, you know, your ego gets to the two ahead of yourself that I should be doing this, I should be doing that. In a time of winning, take the run, win. When you have a championship behind you, it opens up a lot more doors down the line. And I can tell you, a guy that's collected a lot of jerseys in 20 seasons with 12 different organizations. You just go where you're appreciated and you love and you enjoy it.

And when you win, you get the chance to win, you accept what is given to you because I'd rather get a chance to win and do something that I'm maybe less qualified for or don't really particularly want to do. So it's just like, you know, in the same sense, you don't like where you're at to play better too. I'm not saying that he has to do that necessarily. It's just if you've got stockpire, you've got a long list of arms there. And, you know, they're just fitting you in where they're just fitting you in where they're, They feel like it best serves the team.

And I think you've got to take a slice of humble pie, accept that, and just kind of get in a groove for the innings that you're going to get and be ready for that. Jason, really appreciate taking time to join us and hopefully you do it again soon. Yeah, man. I'm coming up, man. So save me a seat in the booth. I'll be there.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Enjoy your dinner. Hey, man. Thanks, guys. Enjoy, man. Thank you. Jason Grilly.

Former Blue Jays reliever, 20-year veteran in the big leagues. And, yeah, I mean, it's got to be tough to hear that if you're Eric Lauer, that you're not going to be part of the five-man rotation for the time being. But he's one injury away from being back in the saddle, right? He's also going to... You've got to stay ready. He's also, well, he's got to stay ready,

but he's also going to be in a position where come playoff time, they're going to lean on this guy. Like, he's... A couple winnings? Yeah, like, don't you think... I get a couple innings. Yeah, but, okay, you were the first guy out of the rotation and into the bullpen. You're obviously going to have some kind of significant role.

It's tough for starting pitchers in the playoffs to get into the sixth, seventh inning. Yeah, I mean, you're good for three innings, like three, four innings tops. Like, he's, not only is he going to have to be ready, I think there's going to be a situation where it could be a little gnarly, and he's going to have to, like, face some pressure. Yeah, settle the water a little bit. for it because he's had some great numbers this year. Yeah, absolutely. So he's got to stay ready and we'll see how he bounces back. I'll be curious to see what his first four-A out coming out of the pen looks like.

Stevie Johnson, still going to join us in the 6 o'clock hour, as will Brandon Montour of the Seattle Cracken. Overdrive continues on TSN2, TSN1050, and live up on YouTube. Overdrive continues on TSN 1050, Mike DiStefano, Frank Carrado, filling him for the regulars. He'll be back soon, man. This summer's flown right by. Like, we're next week's the final week, and then we got Labor Day and the boys will be back.

Boys are back. Boys are back. A couple more shows. Everyone will be happy that the boys are back. Yeah. Yeah, they will be. A lot of people will be. A lot of people will be happy.

Are you a boxing guy by chance? Do you ever get into that growing up? Not really. No. So I saw it today. See Jake Paul. announced a new fight with Gervante Davis. I saw something about this.

And so it's someone who's under 40, but he's quite short. Is that? Jervante Davis is like one of the best boxes in the world. Like he's actually facing a top tier in his prime boxer. Okay. Like, which is very not Jake Paul like. Typically by YouTubers or former UFC guys. That up for him to win.

Mike Tyson. Yeah. Like there's a reason why the guy hasn't lost. I think he's 12 and 1 he's got one loss on his on his pro record but yeah apparently uh November 14th I think I saw they're getting ready for an exhibition match though there's like a 60 70 pound difference between the two yeah Paul's big he's a big dude he's huge fights at about 200 pounds Carlo and AK had Cam Jansen on the morning show and they were talking about this Jake Paul but like this guy trains with the best people every day yeah like I'll say this I think when he originally came on to the scene, it was looked upon as a bit of a joke, right? YouTube, Vine Star, trying to make it in boxing. I think he's turned a little bit of, he's turned some heads, you know, he's got some wins, he's got some nice knockouts. He's training with the best

possible people in the industry every day. Yeah. This is what he does. This is his career now. Like, he wants to be a professional boxer at this point. But, I mean, fighting a guy who's like six classes below your weight class in an exhibition fight I mean it's clearly a massive money grab but you know you could say that

save that line for every fight that every fight moving forward yeah and every fight did you watch the Tyson one no no I didn't watch it it it was all glitchy all right we got to go hour three of overdrive coming up next time now for TSN 1050 time saver traffic

It's been a tough drive this afternoon on the West 401 getting across the city new problems in the express through Islington. It's a broken down vehicle in the left lane. Toe truck is unseen. South 400 jam from Finch to the 401 ramps as well. Eastbound on the Gardner approaching park lawns still have this maintenance crew in the right lane. It's solid from the 427. West QEW at the Guelph line, problems with a stopped vehicle in the left lane all the way back to Ford Drive looking at that delay. Steels east of Martin Grove.

Fire crews unseen for a collision as well. Kennedy. This summer, save $100 instantly on tires at Mr. Lou Plus tires, no appointment needed. Drive in and save Mr. Lou Plus tires open, early, open, late, open weekends. From the News Talk, 1010 Traffic Center, I'm Jennifer Young. TSM Plus is taking game day to a whole new level with NFL Red Zone. Absolutely incredible! Subscribe now for every touchdown from every game, every Sunday afternoon. NFL Red Zone, available on TSM Plus.

Seasoned gamer or just video game curious, this weekend gaming is the podcast for you. We break down the latest in the world of video games, from basics to beyond. The hottest gaming news, insight and industry leaders, and more weekly. Join me, Naomi Kyle, and stay ahead of the game with all the latest updates. Even if you're a total newbie. Stream this weekend gaming on the free IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.