Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Craig Counsell masterfully manages Cubs' 9-7 win over Padres (Hour 1)

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

Live from Gallagher Way, Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote opened their show by discussing how Cubs manager Craig Counsell pushed all the right buttons in his club's 9-7 win against the Padres on Tuesday. After that, they discussed the latest Cubs injury news. Later, they broke down the White Sox's 9-3 victory against the Orioles on Tuesday, giving them a road series win.

The views and opinions of Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies, literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi Harrison Grody may change at any time. It's just sports. Okay, thanks. Bye.

Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody, 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. Ian Hap is joining us. Ian Cray weekend in Milwaukee with a blast of a series. finale was ridiculous. Your three-run homer on Saturday was fantastic. I want to go to the Mizorowski game, and specifically a bat that you had in the

sixth inning, he fires the pitch. I think it hits the knob of your bat. Here's the pitch to half. It's a foul. It hit the knob of the bat right near his hands. I thought it might have hit him in the hand, but it hit the bat, the knob. I want to know what that moment felt like when 100 hits the bat.

Okay, I think there was 101 or 102. The one that hit your knob. It hit the knob of the bat. It hit the bat, the knob. Up and in, one of those ones where you're trying to get out of the way of it, I choke up a little bit and definitely with two strokes so the knob is more exposed. Luckily, and so it wasn't my hand. He's good, man.

He's really good. He's really good. I'm sorry, Ian. We are 12 in laughing at the way Grotty phrased it. I don't know how you're being a professional about this. Hit your knob. Sorry about that. You're on with us every week.

I'm sorry. You're in on the joke. Whether or not you want to be, you just have to be a part of that moment. I usually do think in Beavis and Butthead terms, but I really honestly wasn't in that case. Baseball! Duh, da, da, da, da, da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da. You did get your knob it. Yeah, it's pure baseball guy.

And credit to you for the professionalism in this conversation. Oh, my goodness. They hit the bat, the knob. The knob is more exposed. Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104.3, the score. Boy, that's how you begin a show in front of the Cubs fans and professionals and people who matter at Gallagher Way ahead of a very important game. Really good team for charity. You know, that's how you do it, right?

No. Oh, man. Oh, man. No. I was thinking the same thing. We're at this classy place, beautiful day. The people, the towns people are starting to make their way through. We blast the radio station and they hear lob talk.

I mean, here are these, the entire Salvation Army band here. They're here for a good cause. Good people are here. And here we are just being ridiculous and inappropriate. and it's 10.07 in the morning. We're also here for a good cause, to be fair. We are. Right.

Welcome to Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 to score. We are looking for a sweep today. It is a very hot day here at Gallagher Way, but we are happy to be with you. We're hanging on by a threat in some places because the wind is pretty strong. But in the meantime, we are very happy to be here getting you ready for the third game of this Cubs and Padres series, guys. I feel like we're going back to our roots. We've reconstructed our. apartment here at Gallagher Way where we set up shop last year for the playoffs. Here we are with

Cubs and Padres yet again. And here we are talking about once again a pleasant performance against this Padres team where it was a little stressful to watch in the beginning against with Matt Boyd when I saw that Tatee so run. But as we see, Cubs turn out very victorious. It took every bit of the nine runs they scored to win this ball game. They needed all of them. But they came out on top yet again. and the offense is really putting together a solid body of work right now. This is the formula, guys. This is what it's going to take. And it's hard to believe we got over halfway through the season.

And the Cubs hadn't even hit four home runs in a game. But in this game, they go yard five times. So obviously a season high. But it was the types of home runs they were hitting that got me excited. When you look at the scrutiny that Alex Bregman in his five-year, $175 million contract has been under, And for just the second time all season, he hits a home run with people actually on base. And then you come to find out that not only was it only his second home run with people on base this season,

it's the first three-run homer this man has hit since last July. And that's when it clicked for me. I was like, oh, yeah, they probably need him to do more of that if he's going to be in the top third of the order. Also PCA wrapping up just a glorious month with his 11th home run in June. And so you take that, the Michael Bush, and of course, The team RBI leader, Dansby Swanson, strikes again twice. It's unbelievable and that both of those guys do it in the same inning, that they get it out of their system.

There was, I was, I know that like this is like the cheesy thing to do, but there was something symbolic about these two guys who have had probably the worst season relative to expectations, Dansby Swanson and Alex Bregman, that these two guys that Swanson on a three-two count in the second end, inning launches a 450-foot home run later on as you said marshal the three-run blast by alex bragman and then in the fifth inning swanson goes 452 i know the wind was blowing out but it felt like swanson was letting some steam off and i happened to have been at the game last night and you

could feel like the conversation we were literally where we were sitting with the friends that i was with literally having a conversation about danesby swanson when it was up to play a very negative conversation, to be honest with you. And then the guy hits a home run. We're like, okay, let's do Regman now. So we put the hex on him. We were speaking negatively about him. He launches a three-run homer. So it's

like the vibe was right last night at Wrigley with the wind blowing out. I mean, there were some no doubters. And it's funny because we watched the wind in the game before, and we all said, we thought it's Suzuki got Robb somehow with the wind and just that last it bat that he had the game winner

and the walkoff. But just good hits too, some good contact. Like that would have been a base hit regardless in this wind. You know, that would have been one that would have scored some runs. So both of them just providing and then unfortunately they were up at 1.9 to

3 in this. Yeah. And I got to tell you guys, first and foremost, I definitely, Matt Boyd comes back and he does a really good job. Five innings, eight hits, though. But only gives up three earned runs. The two home runs. That Tatee's own run. When I saw that to start, I was like,

Oh, boy. It's going to be like this. Okay, okay, he's getting back from injury. I just kind of have to understand that. Like, it's not going to be perfect. He settles down. He ends up going five, and he worked for all of them. And then, unfortunately, for the Cubs on the other side, you know, we've talked about Javier

Assad living on the edge. I think anybody on the mound was in that game last night just because of the circumstances with the weather, but you don't want to have to have all of those nine runs mean something, where you're suddenly in that, well, it wasn't sudden, but you're in the, same situation. Ryan Rawlinson has to go out there. Fortune turned quickly. You thought this was easy peasy at 9 to 3 and oh, no, it was not. I got to say though for the most part, I know this sounds crazy because Javier Assad gives up the three-run jack to our old friend Gavin Cheats last night.

I like the way Javier Assad pitched last night, especially he comes in at a deficit in the game in the sixth inning with two on and nobody out. He gets out of that. Had a clean seventh inning. He was going well in the eighth inning until it didn't. against Gavin Sheets. So I know that's a big launch right there. But for the most part, and I was commenting to the people that we were with, I'm like, wow, he's really sticking with Assad. And I know that that is what he is capable of doing. I like the way he pitched last night. The fun part for me, guys, was understanding, okay, Javier Assad is not going to make it out of the eighth inning. What is Craig Counsel going to do to get the last four outs in this game? And I was really like going through the roster because, you know, there's so many new guys. I was like, well, I wonder if he thinks this guy can close. I wonder if he thinks this guy. And at first I was like, is Tyler Ferguson going to come out here and get four outs? Is that the plan here?

Would they dare roll out Gavin Hollowell again? That was the thing. And we get to the ninth inning and he's back out there. And I'm like, okay, so is he going to just stay in or what's going to happen? And then when you see Ryan Rawlinson come out, he of starter fame from the Milwaukee Brewer series, I'm like, all right, they got their own little version of Grant Taylor. It's kind of cute the way they're rolling things out here. And Craig Counsel's pushing just the right buttons.

And next thing you know, they won. what, eight of nine, 18, or 14 of their last 18? It's gotten to a point now where your trust as a viewer has gone back up while during that 10-game losing streak, during that 7-and-22 stretch, the confidence was so far down. Well, that's it. You're right, Marshall, the home run by Tatis previously, and the weather or notwithstanding would have been debilitating.

You know, you're saying to yourself, oh, no, like, here we go. And yeah, I joked about it with the, with the, situation with Matthew Boyd, you know, just wondering what Boyd's stuff is going to look like. But there were times where a one-run lead on this team seemed insurmountable. And then we see the offense come through. Danzby Swanson with two home runs. I know it's going to be boom and bust with Danzby. It's boom and bust with the entire lineup, yada, yada, yada, except for PCA.

And we'll get to him in a second. But all you need is for a little bit of that lineup, 7-8-9 to start hitting successfully. not even dramatically, not even, you know, to some, to some unrealistic expectation. All you need is for a little bit of that to happen. And suddenly this lineup, I feel like it's such a multiplier. You go from like those three guys hitting every now and then, and it makes, it exponentially raises the offensive firepower of this team. And we know it's there too.

It's not like we haven't seen the hot streaks this year. It's not like we haven't seen two 10-game winning streaks. So you're absolutely right. you're not going to have the benefit of this. What I believe we have again today, the wind is blowing out. It's definitely blowing. Yeah, there is wind. If you see stuff just fly in on our Twitch stream,

twitch.tv.tv.com, you know why. We're on YouTube there as well. So enjoy that. Yes, yeah, we are here for, yeah, little violent wind blowups of papers violently splashing throughout the area here at Gallagher Way. But that's just it. We have been waiting for it all year. It feels like for just a few guys in the lineup to get hot or just not have awful, awful slumps,

which has happened for a couple of these guys. And Marshall, I think you bring up a really good point with play the GM here or play Craig Council's decision with the bullpen. Because again, there's enough people contributing enough to make it work. Credit to Ryan Rawlinson for that save. He got his first of the year. Congratulations. First career save for Ryan Rawlson. So, yeah, I didn't know who was going to be in that spot.

but I was glad he'd come in, get the one out, get a save under your belt, and that's another high leverage situation he's now been a part of. Guys, we go back to the 18-game stretch, which has seen the Cubs. Remember, they fell all the way down to 500. Now they're 10 games over 500 by winning 14 of those 18 games. Here's the thing. I don't think anyone expects someone to step up and be the next, I don't know, Kate Horton, or Ben Brown, where it's a revelatory thing that happens over the course of the season.

you got what you got until the trade deadline, until moves are made to get you better starting pitching. The one thing that I think over this 18-game stretch, we have to say, okay, that's what I've been waiting for, is how they've produced with runners-in-scoring position. They're hitting 274 over that stretch. That is top seven in baseball over that stretch. And also, the OPS with runners-in-score and position over the last 18 games, 9-26.

That's fourth best in baseball. That'll work. That's it. You're absolutely correct. And it just speaks to what you talk about. When this lineup is longer, we see, we breathe easier. You know, the four runs allowed by Javier Assad, for example, doesn't look as bad. You've got more opportunities for people to come in.

You have run support. Things that make this team make sense. Yeah, that's so fun. Last night, I was right about seven rows behind the Cubs dug outside. A good view of Craig Counsel and Tommy Hadovy. and watching them during Assad's last inning where he gives up the bomb and then he gives up the walk to the next guy, I think it was.

Just watch it. I'm like, man, I hope Assad can make it through this. And then when they knew he wasn't going to make it, both of them were like, take a step back, and they're both like, oh, man. And I'm like, don't go out there, Craig. Don't go out there. There goes Craig.

Had to. Had to. It sucked. It actually sucked when, with two outs in the ninth inning, delayed gratification. Craig goes out there. Everybody's on their feet at Wrigley Field. He's like, wait a minute, I got one more pitching change to make.

He is, as Lawrence has said many times, Lawrence says very well. Craig is managing his ass off right now. And it's like you could see all the stress and all the, this is what I got to do. This is what I have to do. And I think with Matt Shaw not being available to him, I'm still almost surprised that they gave them that much leech to play with the offense

to the pitching staff saying, Hey guys, here's a nine spot. See what you can do with this. And if you look at the bottom third of the order, four runs come from that. And I'm curious if you guys are okay with Ian Hap being all the way down in the seven hole now. Yeah. I mean, if he's comfortable with it and it's producing. And like we said, you know Ian Hap's hitting profile enough.

And to think, I think where you, if you have that performance there, then again, it lengthens the lineup, you know PCA is going to do something batting leadoff. I okay with this version of it as long as it holds. And today, I think, is a good example. Given the wind again, given what we're dealing with, I think it probably does, right? You're looking at a similar situation. Groats? Absolutely.

I mean, today's situation, too, by the way, looking forward to a Colin Ray Walker Bueller situation. Ray really good against Milwaukee and Toronto, so we'll see if they could pull it off here again today. Yeah, the Colin Ray piece of this is important. As we said, we are broadcasting live from Gallagher Way outside of Wrigley Field. We are here for Donation Day with the Salvation Army, adult rehabilitation centers, and thrift stores. It's a wonderful cause. Bring your gently used clothing to donate right outside the ballpark.

Donors receive a special Cubs pin, one per person, wild supplies last. until 1245, followed by Zach Zainman's pregame show right here on 10433. The Score. This segment was brought to you by Almost Free Teeth.com. Save on dental implants today. You can text and call us 312, 644, 67, 67 is our number. As I mentioned, we're on Twitch, Twitch.tv slash the score, Chicago, same address on YouTube as well. Our crew out here helping us today. We've got our promotions, people. We've got Ray Diaz, CS, our intern Peter, Ryan Porth is out. here too back at the station we have tyler fernengled brandon fryer helps us out connor o'd donald jacob stutz max curtis and cody westrillan so next we got some updates on that picting picture it's going to be

hard for me to say it's the right thing now that you all are welcome to try to say it as well five times fast so we're trying to figure out who's going where and we got updates from jameson tyone as well so we will look into it all next on one of four three the score rahini harris and groney 10 to 2 on 104 3 the score one ball and one strike to count on Merrill Rollison high leg kick and pitch and Merrill hits one in the air shallow left coming in half he's got it Cubs win hey hold on and beat the Padres in this slugfest 9 to 7 and the Cubs have now won eight of their last nine that's right that is courtesy of Zach Zayman it is 14 of 18

for the Cubs and my how things look different now. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie. I'm 104-3, the score broadcasting live from Gallagher Way as we get you ready for this third game of the Cubs series against the Padres. The Cubs are now 48 and 38, a square 10 games above 500. Colin Ray is your starter today facing Walker Bueller. And this is a day where I think we got a lot of pitching updates from Craig Counsel and Company yesterday to kind of get ready for what we might be able to see in the games ahead. That's a good sign. At least when we know that, for example, Marshall,

we talked about it yesterday, guys on the show, Mark Roddy, about Drew Pomerance going to Iowa. We knew that Liam Hendricks was there as well and that Aaron Bummer was there. So these are some arms that can help his team and then James and Tyron updates coming online too. I think the biggest question I have going forward because we also learned that Daniel Palencia won't be back until after the

Ulsterberg, because he's just now starting to get ramped up. I'm so curious as to how Craig Counsel handles what's been a very volatile up-and-down bullpen and which buttons he decides to push, given that sometimes it's just this is the guy who is available to me today, not necessarily a guy that I would even have on my roster if everybody was healthy. Jordan Wicks, yeah, yes. I mean, so far, when will we see Jordan Wicks again? I know he did. He did the right thing.

I know he did. You're absolutely right. He was great. Even though he walked out with the base, he's forgiven for that. To have gotten out of that jam was excellent. But do you really think that Craig counsel in that moment wanted, actively was desirous of going to him in that predicament? Was left with no choice. He is doing what he has to do. You have an arm attached to your body? How about you go out and try to throw?

And for all the talk about managing pockets, for example, Pockets of the light up go out the window when you can't figure out who you've got with what you have left. Look at all this. Look at this mess on my computer, Layla. There's a lot of red on your depth chart. Hobie Milner, Phil Maton, Riley, oh, Riley Martin, Edward Cabrera, James and Tyone, Ben Brown, Daniel Palencia. Throw in a match shot. Let's do a position player while we're at it as well. But those are all of the guys that are actively on the injured list right now. So again, I'll say kind of what I said yesterday, too.

part of this is even though I'm making this big deal about Craig being super stressed about putting guys in that he has to put in. He's also, he also can't really fight with himself because he's just putting in the guys that he has to put in. So are they wrong decisions even right now? You know what I'm saying? Every decision is simply a decision. What we talked about yesterday when you said, who are you more proud of the Cubs of the White Sox? I am plenty proud of the White Sox. I think you both know that.

I think the listener knows that. But to understand how bad and how dead. estimated the pitching staff has been this season for the Cubs and to somehow find themselves 10 games over 500 holding on to the second wild card spot and not out of the question that they could somehow catch the Brewers because they're only five and a half games back. And I'm not even worried about that. As much as I am, the Cubs need to have main character energy. You took two out of three against Milwaukee. You did the job you were supposed to do, especially on the road. Check. Now you're, you take two out of three against the Padres. You have a chance for sweep. Check.

you know these are the things that are important are you using enough of your arms when they're in the game to help extend your bullpen you're trying did matt boyd get enough innings to get himself in a more comfortable place i feel like that happened so those are the things that i'm focused on right now and you know and the department of aren't we all here's what krag counsel had to say about his pitching situation um it is more like how the double yes yes and then the double header and things like that. So, yeah, I mean, we're a little bit day-to-day with our pitching. That's just how we're treating it. But, yeah, we think we have a path kind of through the Monday off day here in St. Louis series. Again, on the scale of confidence meter, we're concerned, as we like to joke about

with Craig Counsel saying last week, he sounded like they have an idea, but it doesn't sound like it's very clear as to how they're going to get from point A to B. A little bit day to day. Aren't we all? I think the thing that's in his favor right now is clearly the schedule. They've got an off day tomorrow. They've got another off day on Monday. Anytime you can have a series kind of on an island where you don't have to worry about who's pitching the day before or who's pitching the day after, it helps.

I mean, I'm assuming we're going to put some more respect on Bryce's name with an S. And he's going to get some bulk work. Yes, he's going to get some bulk work coming up. But if you look at what the pitchers have done the last time through the rotation, the four starters they have available to them right now. You can't really be mad at what has happened. No, and I mean, even think about David Peterson, what money in the bank that was against Milwaukee, no less.

So do you expect him to go more than five and two-thirds his next time out? Can you? You know, is that a reasonable understanding? And what will Matthew Boyd doing is next? Because he literally has had 76 pitches in his first two outings that he's had. What he got right last night was probably something that they implored him to get right last night. You can't walk four like he did in the performance previous to this on a night where the wind is blowing out. Look, you're going to give up some hits.

They're going to whack the ball into the outfield. Right. But do not give them free passes on a night like this. So I feel like the Matthew Boyd, I don't want to say fragile because then people freak out. I think, oh, is he still hurt? But I do think that there's still a ramp up going on with Matthew Boyd. I mean, I felt that way since the World Baseball Classic. And it's of no offense to Matthew Boyd.

Weemer. He was coming off of his. second highest total in innings pitched in his career last year. That's relatively late in your career to come off that total. A lot of people talked about it with Edward Cabrera, too. You know, you keep an eye on how many innings you throw the year before. Now, also from Craig Counsel was the update on one of my favorites from the bullpen last year. He is the palm in what I like to call Kel Palmflex, which was Keller, Pomeranz, and Flexen. Here's Craig Counsel's update on Drew Pomerantz. Well, Pomerantz is pitched in AAA.

So he reported there, he pitched on Sunday in Iowa. So, you know, that's certainly, we need options, essentially, so that's certainly an available option. I think the other two guys, or comrades, Aaron Bummers, another veteran major league that's with us, maybe a little farther to go. Anything with Hendricks? Same thing.

I mean, Hendrickson, Bummer, I would say, a little farther. You know, it's nice to hear him talking about people that we know, too. Oh, Hugh Pomer has. I know him. What, Aaron Palmer? I've heard of him. That's pretty cool. You're taking me back to the days when a baseball team is rebuilding, and there's, like, nobody that you know on the team. Like, you look at the lineup.

It's probably worse in basketball when you see a starting five, and you're like, what? The Dale Swam Cubs, so we were talking about the other day. Oh, yeah. With Nate Shearholz and David DeHazus. And you have. absolutely no idea who's in the bullpen and who they have us like 45 years of service time. Neil Ramirez and my guy Justin Grimm had to fight through some of those rebuilds.

He was the guy that they would just put in every day and abuse his arm. They're like, sorry, we need you again. But it feels like Drew Pomerantz could be up sooner rather than later. He's already pitched in AAA. He's going to pitch some more AAA. Maybe he makes, I don't know, a couple more appearances. The weekend? Maybe he's here?

That's a good question. Great man. What's the update on this? Hey, I know just the person to ask about these things. Yeah, Carter Hawkins at 11? Yeah, that's it. In the meantime, we also got some information on James and Tyone. And Tyone also talked to the media as well.

So let's start with what Craig Counsel had to say about the timeline for Tyone. Today was a good day. I think the plan is for rehab start. And then I think the plan and then just where are we sitting kind of as we get into the last weekend before the break, essentially is the thought right now. You mentioned potentially this weekend for the rehab, I'm starting to say that. Yeah, Sunday, likely.

Yeah. So that was his update, and then James and Tyone was also available yesterday to the media. So here's what he had to say. Excited about the idea for sure. It's always nice to have, like, kind of a rough timeline just to look forward to. So when you're showing up and working, it's not like, I don't know, the end is far away. you just have kind of the light at the end of the tunnel. So for me to have like a target idea, date has brought me some excitement and just a little more urgency behind the work maybe.

But yeah, like I've responded really well to everything. The strength is there. The running is going well for someone who's slow. And I thought like all the throwing's been pretty good. It feels like you just don't want him to rush it when he talks about urgent. Like, look, bro, bro, we're doing all right without you. We need you to be whole when you get back. Isn't it funny? Every time James and Tyone talks, I feel like everything is always okay.

Because everything always just sounds so good coming out of his mouth. He's so thoughtful and so specific. It's like, oh, he's fine. He's good. He's as clear of a communicator as there is. He really is. And he is walking like positive energy and dealing with him like in the clubhouse and stuff. He's always talking from a positive perspective, even if he's going through one of his troubled times, as we've seen him do from time to time. You know, when he's given up, I don't know, the most home runs of anybody before the All-Star break? And I think about him too in this Padre series just after the playoff series and what he was able to do. And it's a bummer.

He doesn't get to pitch in this series today, you know? Do you guys think that by the end of this year, we will see this show to Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, Edward Carrera, James and Tyone and Ben Brown as the Cubs starting five? Will we ever actually see that? Or is this just the year that that's not going to happen? And that it's just going to be about that? No. I'm going to say, yeah. I don't.

You don't accept. that it won't be that. You think they can be healthy. I'm very skeptical that at the same time you're going to see those five guys. That you're skeptical about. I'm skeptical on Ben Brown specifically because of the nature of the injury and how long he's going to be out. And also, the trade deadline is coming. I do believe they've done enough to earn the right to go get another arm.

So somebody that isn't even in the Cubs organization is going to be a part of that five, in my opinion. Yeah, speaking of questions for Carter Hawkins, what's all this? We talked to the Mets for six weeks about David Peterson talk. Well, well, well. Yeah, and what about Freddie Peralta? Was there any talk mixed in with the six-week triumph of David Peterson? Was there any of that? These are the questions.

Yeah, there's no way. You know that. It's not like, we're like, hey, we're only talking about one met and one met. What else is going on? It's just a matter of how whatever the response is said to you is said. Did you also talk to us about maybe, I don't know, Juan Soto? Is he available? Yeah.

You know what's funny? is, do you remember when the leaked messages came out from the cheating scandal where it wasn't the cheating of like on the field? It was the breaking into the database of the Astros and the Cardinals. And that essentially, that kind of

is how it is, hey, is Peek-Gencarlo's stand available? You got to ask, shoot or shoot? Yes, shooters do shoot. That's kind of the other minute. Like, you just want to know what the price is. You know, you just guys wheel and deal. Hey, act like you've never driven through a nice neighbor.

You're like, oh, let me Zillow that and see how much that costs. And you know what? Just because there's not a for sale sign on that house. It doesn't mean it a for sale to me because I don't have the cash to pull. I have a hard time believing that. Oh, you know something I don't know? Multiple jobs, Marshall Harris. I'm going to ABC 7.

Oh, no, I'm going to go do another play-by-play-play job for. And I'm just trying to survive out here. Uh-huh. Yeah, the awes. Oh, shucks Marshall Harris. Oh, shucks. Poor Marshall Harris. And then Ryan Ports talked about the all shucks, Terry Francona.

I'm glad to see that's caught on. I'm glad to see that's a thing. Oh, poor shucks. He's Marshall Harris. He thinks he's poor, but I don't think that's true. I think we have to have a scarcity mindset in our industry because if you notice it's scarce. I'll put it very simply. Happy Bobby Bonilla Day to everyone who celebrates, especially to those of you who realize how much $1.4 million was worth the first time he got it compared to how much it's worth.

worth now. Do you remember Wheel of Fortune when one of the options was anuity? I remember one of the options was a freaking $25 gift certificate to service merchandise. Hell yes, service merchandise. But like there wasn't annuity and I was like, the annuity seems good because then you have money always coming in. And that was practical child Lela and her logical thoughts. And then she chose journalism, which is just about poverty. Open journalism is about poverty. Keep listening for your chance to win two general admission tickets to Moen Umfries McGee at Hunter Pavilion on August 15th provided by Ravinia. For tickets and more info, visit ravinia.org.

And up to this, Cubs talk, as I yell at Gallagher Way and people turn around. You scared that guy. We're sorry. We're sorry. We're trying to control her. No, no, we talk about sports on this show, and that means all the sports. And the White Sox did something that they hadn't done in many weeks. So we will get to that next.

on Chicago Sports Radio 12. 4, 3, the score. Fly ball in the center. Peters coming in, and that's going to do it. White Sox will wrap up game two and will win this series against the Orioles. The first road series win since the start of May in San Diego. Loving how this White Sox team is looking right now.

That call, courtesy of John Triffin on CHSN. This is Rahimi Harrison Grody, and Shrift Dog is right. Is that his nickname? No, I just made it up, and he's probably bothered that I just made it up. And not because of him being bothered, but of me creating a bad nickname. John Shiffin was correct, though. This is the first road series win for the White Sox since beating the Padres may first through the third. So that's several weeks.

Marshall, you've talked about the importance of the socks winning on the road. If they want to really capitalize on this early window, created. And I did love that both teams in town had nine runs. Your son was absent nine times. But the White Sox just dispose of the Orioles yesterday early and then just added to the lead. And that's how you take advantage of a series against a team that's faltering a bit. The crooked number thing is a real thing for the White Sox. In the third inning, they come up. First seven guys get on base and all score because Colson Montgomery, I don't know where the ball landed because I couldn't see it on the screen

440 feet under Utah. Yes, it went to Utah Street. So guys, I listen to the crowd because there's the background noise in this. I want us to all listen because I think we all watching this had the same verbal, audible reaction when we heard this. Take a listen.

Colson Montgomery. Back it goes. Get out! That one onto Utah Street. Coulson. Montgomery, a two-run shot here in this third inning. And the Sox retake the lead.

That was the most no doubt of no-doubters. But when he hit that, I said the same thing. I was like, oh. Like, I know it takes a little bit to play it again. Tyler, let me know. Baby T. Let me know when you can ramp up our audio again to play it again. But that was, didn't you think the same thing?

Like, when you saw that, was like, oh. I was like, so Colson Montgomery had, had, not had as much power in the last few games, like just hitting bombs and just masses like he did last year. They weren't that egregious. And so to see him do it was one thing, but I think the bigger thing is you really understand how valuable Colts of Montgomery is and people want to knock him for his 221 batting average. I get that. But the threat of power is real. And understand this, that's the second straight day. And the 13th time this season that he has delivered the go-ahead RBI. Celebrity walking by.

Ron Cooper is here. Ron Comer from the Cubs Radio broadcast booth. Coo. Coo. Coo. Coo. That's the dog. He's Coom Dog. He is a dog. He is. I'm sorry, John. I just, it came out of my mouth. I don't know what he is. Dog sounds good after anybody's name. No, Judge. No. Colson Dog doesn't sound as great. I'm going to stop you right there, Grody.

Coles dog? Where does that go? But look, but look. Curses. With the Colson Montgomery thing, I think it's important to note that even with a low batting average, he's come up with so many timely hits. That's 13 times this season out of 45 wins that he has had the go-ahead RBI. He did it a night ago in game two of the series. He does it here. And after that, everyone just followed suit because it was a two-run single by Jacob Gonzalez. Then a three-run bomb from Junior Perez. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, how about that? The bottom of the lineup coming through yesterday. He's a character in this season. Could we be that far away from another RICO

Nishita, another round of him? They're like characters, right? They pop in like, oh. And it's like Newman on Seinfeld pops up every once in a while. You know, how far are we away? And his- Junior. And is Jacob Gonzalez good or what? Oh, I'm about to tell you about Jacob. Is he good or not? I'm doing this. It's like the Austin Booker thing. Is he good or not? Thank you, Tyler. Thank you for isolating. Like, I'm telling you when I heard, I was like, I had the same reaction. I love it with the crowd has the exact same noise you do. Honestly, it's the greatest, oh, since, because then this is perfect, since the dunk over drag each by Derek Rose, watching the bench of Phoenix where they were like, oh,

Like they couldn't, like watch the bench on that place. That's my favorite thing. Those players on Phoenix were all like, oh, God. Like, they couldn't sit still because of the Derek Rose done that. To quote Will Venable, it was majestic. Did you know that? That is the third home run by the White Sox to go to Utah since Adam Dunn. That's the first since Adam Dunn.

September 8th, 2013. Who knew how to put a hurt on a ball when he got one? and then it kind of sounded like that when you would see him get every bit of it. I just, I crack up and stuff like that because I was like, oh, the crowd had the same reaction. What's crazy is Montgomery might end up being, you know, the six-hole hitter when Munataka-Muriccomic comes back, because that's just the way it lays out. I don't know where they're going to put him. And to answer Grotie's question about Jacob Gonzalez.

Is he good? Yes, and here's how I know he's good. Because when he wasn't hitting, the White Sox weren't winning. He didn't get a hit on that road trip. They went one in five. since then, the man's been on fire. He's over 500 on base percentage. He's got 12 RBI over his last six games.

The only player in baseball with more RBI's than that over that stretch is Junior Caminero. So think about where he is on the Pantheon of getting it done. He's hitting 500 with runners in scoring position this season. And when he drives in a run, the White Sox are 7-0 this year. He just looks like he's figuring it out at the plate. And, you know, to that end, I am not ready to call what I think is Cole's and Montgomery is a hitter. I'm not there yet. I want to end this season with a body of work where you at least have a season and a half to be able to say, I feel better about who I think you are

as a hitter. So I'm still, I'm still not ready to have a clear opinion. But you're not denying the power, right? Absolutely. That's established. What are you trying to establish 21 homers? I'm not going to say, oh, he's this person yet or oh, he's this person yet. I'm not. Oh, no, I'm just talking about where he would hit in a fully healthy White Sox line because everybody else is so good. When you're talking about the batting average versus the home run numbers, it doesn't bother me. Oh, no, it doesn't bother me either because I think the threat of power is, same thing with Muna Takamurukami. The threat of power is something that can sustain a lineup. Who's going to have more homers at the end of the season, Montgomery or Muna Taka Morricami?

Oh, good question, Grody. It depends on health, right? Let me help you as you pat yourself on the back. Like, when is, in this scenario, when is Moon A coming back? Yeah, it depends on the health. That's a great question. What is he coming back? Who's healthier? I think he has to come back before he also if the White Sox hit like this. That's the beautiful thing. You've got to rush them.

The Sox go for the sweep today. They have scored 44 runs in their past five games. We are live from Gallagher Way, and we are awaiting a conversation with the Cubs general manager, Carter Hawkins. Grady, don't forgive me to run me my money from last night because you took the Orioles.

I don't remember this at all. I don't. We made a document it, and I think notarized also. The records that both teams won, so Cubs now 10 games over 500. That has nothing to do with our individual bet about. So while Marshall and Grady fight over the dollar, we'll hear from Carter Hawkins coming up next. We got a lot of questions for him. So we will discuss that.

The dollar has been presented. One sweaty dollar for you. On the score.