Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Ian Happ talks Cubs' walk-off magic (Hour 2)

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

In his second hour, Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote listened and reacted to Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman's comments about why he didn't hustle to first base on a key play Sunday in his club's win against the Brewers. Bregman was out on the play in which a Brewers infielder bobbled the ball but still had time to fire it to first base to beat Bregman. After that, Cubs left fielder Ian Happ joined the show to discuss the club's 3-2 walk-off win over the Padres on Monday and their key series win over the NL Central-leading Brewers over the weekend. Later, Rahimi, Harris and Grote held the Halftime segment.

Crows ball to short. Bratfield bobbles in with Gregman, goes down the line, but he's still thrown out. At the end of the bat, he put a push it a little harder. You know, you don't have to try to win an Olympic medal every time you go down the first baseline. You need to go a little harder than that. That was on Sunday, courtesy of the Markey Sports Network. Alex Bregman not running to first base with a pace that pleased a lot of people.

He looked like he was slow to first base, and it was something that caused a lot of us to question what was going on with the Cubs far and away biggest free agent signing. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 score. And the score, and Alex Bregman did talk about it before the game. I know you guys, Mark and Marshall touched on it a little bit yesterday. But I don't know how you slice it any other way than this is a bad look for a guy who much was given to responsibility-wise. And when you're not hitting, well, I know it can be frustrating. But to do something like that in his position is antithetical to why he was even brought here. It's a bad look.

It's a bad look against any team on any given play. It's a really bad look when you're struggling. It's a terrible look when you're playing the team you're chasing in the standings in the Milwaukee Brewers. And there's someone on base. Like someone's on second base. Keep keeping in and going. It's just a very bad look. And what he said didn't really calm anyone down.

If you're upset with how he played, whether you're just a simple respect 90 guy or you're like, hey, time in place for an aging guy who might want to ensure that he doesn't suffer a soft tissue injury. It's just a bad look. It is a bad look. There is no doubt about it. How can you not say that? With a guy that's been slumping, as I was saying in the show,

you need to sit up straight in every way, shape, and form. You need to do everything right since the hit tool is not right. But there is part of me. This is not egregious. He is having, I don't think it's crazy to say, he's having the worst time of his life right now with the slump that he has been in. This is the worst slump he has been through. He's on a new team.

So all the stresses, all the stuff. So there is, I will admit, there is a part of me who is allowing for the human nature aspect of this. And we know that Alex Bregman does not, that is not part of his profile. Part of his profile is not not hustling and not doing the right things. He is actually the opposite. He is the quintessential professional baseball player. So while it is a bad look, and he can't be doing that, there is a part of me that understands what he was going through in that,

at bad, in that moment. And even to the box score, improved yesterday, right? Three times he was on base via a walk and two hits. So that is a sign of improvement. But before the game, appropriately, once the team was back at home at Wrigley, there were some questions that were asked regarding what happened yesterday. Well, there was a moment that went viral yesterday on that ball you hit. you regret maybe not running a little bit harder knowing that now about it.

Yes. And I've also had 10 soft tissue injuries running down the first baseline specifically. So it's kind of some give and take. By the same time, yeah, I obviously wish I would have beat the throw. So when I hear him say that, it doesn't sound like he, regrets the decision that he made not to run hard, even though you could see him running harder once he saw the ball was bobbled. And he reverts back to, well, I've had a lot of soft tissue injuries simply trying to get to first base. And look, I understand what he's saying,

but what he did doesn't reflect that that's really the decision that he made. Because it was a decision. It was a choice to take it easy going down the first base line. Yeah. And by the way, But shout out to Jesse Rogers for being the reporter who asked Craig Counsel about it in a tough spot after a jubilant win and then two have been the one to ask. That's a tough question, man, to be asking a guy with that many skins on the wall and Alex Bregman. Why aren't you hustling, young man? I guess I understand what he's saying because Craig Counsel has been on record as saying that you're not going to hustle out every single play. And sometimes you have to make decisions based on what Alex Bregman. is talking about with the soft tissue stuff.

He's still got to hustle it out. He's still got to run it out. But again, I understand where he's coming from. Well, and it's funny because when the first thing you say is, I've also had 10 soft tissue injuries running down the first baseline, I don't know that that gets us, you know, Joe Q public baseball fan, the answer that you need. Yeah, okay.

The White Sox also have had a bevy of soft tissue injury. he's running to first, but they've got guys who are running to first now at a rate that we hadn't seen hustle-wise. Like, this is not, I understand that for you, that's part of your job, but it sounds like a business decision. And yeah, when you go back to how he was brought on to this team and the leadership aspect of it, which he takes very seriously, it just doesn't fit together from an optic standpoint. Let's go back to the introductory press conference and listen to the leadership qualities that were addressed. There's been a lot of talk about leadership

and tangible qualities that you bring. I'm curious, how was that kind of presented to you by Jed and the front office as to how you can bring that to this team? And how do you view those things? Like, what does that mean to you? Well, I think that we talked about

all the players in the clubhouse and how focused on winning they are. Just a good group of guys. a combination of veteran players and young players and guys that want to win, guys that are pulling on the same end of the rope. When it comes to leadership, I feel like you need to find out what makes people take,

what makes people get the best out of themselves, and hold them accountable to it every day. Hold them accountable to it every day. And see, that's why I wanted us to dial this up. Got me. That's specifically because I remember all the... Don't threaten us with a good time. Marshall with the gotcha quote.

All the talk on day one was very refreshing at the time because it was all contrast and compare what this guy is saying to what Kyle Tucker said over the course of a 162 game season and then even into the playoffs, right? Well, Kyle Tucker got traded for. Like, that's a different thing in my opinion. It is a different thing, but I'm saying the messaging was so firm on day one. and the actions have not merited the type of results that you would think a guy getting paid what Alex Bregman is getting paid.

And look, everyone goes through slumps. I'm not saying that Alex Bregman should be benched. That's never what I, that's never been my argument. You guys know exactly where I stand on this. Get that man out of the two-hole. Get that man out of the two-hole. Well, that doesn't seem to be happening. Well, no, but like he just told you about the soft tissue injuries that he's,

He's worried about having. That was his excuse or his reason, whatever you want to put it. Answer. That was the answer. But he's in the two-hole. I need someone in the two-hole who's not worried about that specifically. That's where you put a guy who bats six, seventh, and hope he runs into one. Is it not?

That's the hard part of this, right? Is the calculus? Gros to your face is a lot. I said it yesterday. I'd have sat him not necessarily as we're sitting you because you didn't hustle. Just the culmination of things. Like that's the last straw. He just feels like you need.

A guy who has hustled his whole career, a guy who's been a 10 on the professional scale, his entire career, a guy who was talking like that when the Cubs signed him, that's not him. He's not himself as the leader. He's not himself as a hitter because he's been okay defensively. Haven't really seen a whole lot of flaws there. He did start the double play on Sunday, which was pretty sick.

So I did think, do think, he still needs a reset, but apparently he's not the reset type of player. But then also, Jesse Rogers asked him, and this is part of his tweet from the pregame session yesterday, Bregman was asked what he was working on after batting 181 in June. It's now up to 195. What's your guess? And he said, I'm hitting the baseball. And Rogers made sure to say, this was self-deprecating, by the way, not jerkish.

Okay. So, the Bregman, to his credit, will address things more than I feel like Kyle Tucker ever did. Yeah. And if Bregman did have a soft tissue injury, I have a feeling we'd at least know about it. Tucker was the worst. Can I just be honest about everything, man. He wasn't the worst in the first half when he was producing and a lot of it was producing

with him. Just as a dud of a cub and a communicator and the whole injury stuff still pisses me off. This is the, this is the- rightfully. This is the epitome of what Alex Bregman is right now on the Cubs. If you look at the box score, he went two for four last night. That's usually considered a good night at the park. He even had a hit with runners in scoring position.

Was there any slug behind that hit? Absolutely not. Did anyone score on that hit? Absolutely not. And then do you remember back in the third inning when Pete Crowe Armstrong gets on base? And he gets on base with two out. And Alex Bregman gets to a 3-0 count. Yeah.

So he's got the green light apparently on 3-0 with Pete Crowe Armstrong standing at first base. What does he do with the 3-0 pitch? He pops up. and ends the inning in foul territory. That can't happen on a 3-0 pitch. So my point is, Breggman is okay as a hitter right now. He is slumping.

He's not hitting for power. He's got one home run all season long with people in scoring position. That is not good. He is batting an even 100 in the month of June with runners in scoring position. The problem is he's had more opportunities than anybody else with runners in scoring position

because he hits directly behind a guy who over his last 11 games has gotten on base more than 50% of the time, PCA. And so for Alex Bregman, just move him on down in the lineup. It takes a pressure off of him and let him do his thing, but in less high-stakes situation. I get all that, but that still doesn't really address the problem that when he was put in the position to run to first with a man on,

this is still what occurred. Like, you can put him wherever you want in the lineup. We're still going to ask questions about this. Oh, no, no. You're right to do that for this specific. instance. And you're definitely right to be like, that's your answer? It's a solution, but I don't know that it's the solution to this particular situation. So what is your solution to this particular situation?

Number one, hold him accountable, which he was asked about. And then number two, you bench him? Perhaps you do for a game, but then the problem is with the Cubs, who's hitting well enough to challenge him. Matt Shaw's hurt. Yeah, when Matt Shaw hurt, it changes the calculus. It does change a calculus. And go back to what Craig Counsel said, too, after the game on Sunday. If you don't win this game, a lot of people see Breggman

go up full speed on that one brown ball could make a difference in that inning. You know what I'm talking about? I know the player talking about, but I don't... Just sometimes happens. Yeah. Sometimes that happens. So here's the thing is I get, if it didn't offend Craig Counsel,

or at least he made it sound like it wasn't an issue to him at the time, that also kind of makes me one or two folded into all. of this. I just don't know if he wanted to deal with it at that moment. You might be right, Layla, but I felt like he was just like, ah, ha, he just won this game and I don't really want to deal with this right now. You're right. They had one. He was very fired up as we saw. It was an incredible victory. It was an incredible, incredible, incredible, vibrant victory. And the most text line text ever, we've gotten the suggestion of jail. It's still a good question by Jesse, by the way.

Regman should have spent the night in jail for swinging at that 3-0 pitch, straight to jail. Comes jail? That's the Parks and Record. reference there. Cubs Jell would be him out of the lineup, right, if we're keeping it a buck. But I think you guys are both spot on when you talk about Craig Counsel's reaction to that question. He was emotionally spent in a way that I don't think I've seen over the course of his tenure as Cubs manager because I couldn't remember a time where he was that demonstrative in his role as a manager in the dugout is what we saw in that game. He had to put Jordan Wicks in the game with the bases loaded. The man was stressed.

And nobody out. The release he, I pictured Craig's counsel just getting crocked that night after all the things. He had to put Ryan Rawlinson started the game. Then Bryce Wilson, what am I going to get out of Bryce Wilson? What are going to get four and a third shutout baseball? The bases are loaded. Your guy couldn't come through. You've got to bring in Jordan Wicks right now.

We're doing shots later. That's what's going on. I'm sorry, Jesse. Do do shots. Like that was the, you know, the player of the game. No, I'm talking about we're going out, going out. Quentin Berry, the coaching staff, we're all going out. We're all going out and we're getting our drink on.

I have a question, though. Do you feel like... Like that? Do you feel like Craig Counsel's more likely to smoke a cigarette or a cigar after a game like that? Oh, yeah, I think it's cigarette, for sure. Cigarette? Like a half a pack. They're just busting out Marlboro Reds for about an hour.

After that particular situation. Hey, Jesse, you want a cigarette, man? We'll talk about this whole hustle thing later. Yeah, you're right. I mean, that's the most emotion I think I've ever seen him. Yeah. The question to be... It's a great question by Jesse in a tough,

That's why I give him credit for having been the reporter to ask a question that we were all wondering. It was in our first opening segment yesterday. We discussed this. So it was a big deal. But I think I understand where Craig was coming from. Ray, are you backing me up on the croct? Oh, I have never heard of that. David Dykstra was wondering if you meant crunk?

No. But no, crocked. No, crocked. Where's my crocked people? Like a crock. Don't leave me on this island. You have to wear crocs when you get crunk. in sports mode.

I don't know what you I'm talking about. Since my 20s or so, my circle, we do use the word crocked. Okay, what does it mean? To get wasted, to get drunk, not crunk.

I'm using it now. Not crunk. Okay, good. I'm adopting it. Sounds like a cultural knockoff of Crunk. Who's going to get crunk. I knew what you meant when you said it,

to be fair. When did Crunk start to become popular? 90s? Lil John, I believe, was the one who decided to bring that to the people. I think crocked was before crunk, or at least in my world it was. Okay.

So who's getting crocked tonight? Nobody we have to work tomorrow. Dykstra, no. You and Lenny, not going to go out? No, I'm not going out. I've got to work tonight. You got a family. Never stop me.

I have kids, but two of them are grown. 312 on the text line. At this point, Bregman has me wishing Justin Turner would come back. You mean Tucker? No, Justin Turner. Oh, my word. Where is Justin Turner? He's played in Mexico.

Oh, he was sent to Mexico. I think he went voluntarily. Well, yeah. Not to you sit to make sure. He's doing what he had to do for his baseball life. No, yeah, he's playing in Mexico right now. I think, you know, Justin Turner, he and Courtney seem to be having a good old time there, too. Okay, well, good.

Yeah, Mexico's a fun place to be and play a little bit of baseball. Also, I would like to take this time to shout up Freddie Kavado, and was it, it wasn't a, Amaya's Columbia. No, it was, um, who am I thinking? Javier side for wearing their team Mexico jerseys. Those are sick. They're the special edition black jerseys. They're great. Dude, the World Cup kits are great this year.

Everybody's got some really good jerseys. I love when Dykstra's on the phone. We hear his conversation when the mic's open. Well, Dykstra's doing his job. He's producing. I know. Grady's out here trying to get him to abandon work tonight. You abandon your phones.

Let's go get cropped, bro. Yeah, man. Okay, so speaking of that, there is an option to do so Friday. Join me this Friday. Oh yeah, you're celebrating America. I am. As I lead, I'm leading this like a kind of like a parade. Budweiser's Celebration Road Show to commemorate America's pastime and 250th birthday with your chance to win tickets to see the Cubs, take on the Cardinals. Yeah, take it out on them. Saturday night at Wrigley Field. I will be at five locations with a chance to win tickets at each stop along the way. That's five different places.

Starting with Billy Goat Tavern at Navy Pier at 5. Crocked. Crossroads Bar and Grill on West Madison at 540. Crocked. Then the rabbit hole at North Wells at 620. Trouble! The reveler on North Damon at 7. Crocked.

And North Clark Gaslight at 740. Do you get a police escort? Because that's a lot of places in a short period of time. So hold on. Let me finish this and I'll tell you what's happening. You're going to laugh. Come out to drink fresh Budweiser and register for your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Cubs Cardinals on Saturday night.

Take it out on them. Go yell at them. Courtesy of Budweiser, official beer of the Chicago Cubs. You know who is my police escort, if you will? One Mitch Rosen. Mitch is hanging out for the Budweiser Celebration Road Show. I don't know, and I'm intrigued.

So not Mitch. Exactly. And he's not going to sneak out after the first one. He can't. I need him for his car. This is exactly why. This is because you talked him into driving you around. I don't have a car.

No, no, no, no. He volunteered. He volunteered. I'll tell you what it is because you need to go to so many of these places, these locations. It's the Mitchie shuffle expertise that's going to get you in and out of the place. That's actually a good point. He's going to get you where you need to go. grabs the microphone.

I didn't even think about it. There it is. Great point. If you guys don't know, Mitch Irish goodby is better than anybody I've ever seen. And I am an Irish goodbyer, and he does it better. There's not even a doubt. I can't do it. I can't because there's always somebody I feel compelled to say goodbye to.

You're very, yeah. And also they talk about the practice of the Midwest goodbye, but everybody does it. It's just a matter of how. I tried to do that at a graduation party. I went through Sunday. I ended up saying goodbye to like 30 people at the end. You did not Irish goodbye. I did not.

Well, I wanted to and then I had to say goodbye to one person and then it turned into 30 people. You do the right thing. I guess. Yeah. I feel rude sometimes when I do. It's just, I don't know, sometimes I got to get out of there. In the meantime, Ian Hap is joining us for the whole segment next. The talent that's here and the talent is continuing to develop here.

We obviously have some mainstay guys like Ian Hap. Ian Hap, Cubs All-Star Outfielder. And I've seen a lot of guys play the outfield. But I think he's the best left fielder that we've ever seen in a Cubs uniform. And I've been here 31 years. When all is said and done, he's going to be one of those guys that Cub fans are going to look back and say, man, he was a really good player. Good, solid big league player.

Gold Glove Award winner. Hap swings, drills one deep in the air to left. Forget about it. This one's long gone. Halfway up the bleachers. Ian Hap makes it 5-1 Cubs, blasting his 16th home run of the year, a solo shot to straight left.

Host of the compound podcast. See a little club with me finishing with two hands, maybe hitting a home or 500 feet? I want to freak you out, but I've been doing it a little bit in practice. Connect Roasters, Coffee Enthusiasm. Here's a man that. Probably has five fresh pots a day.

On 104 3, the score. We toast you, Ian Hap. It is time for our weekly visit with Ian Hap. We are happy to have it. Cubs Gold Glove Ian Hap co-host the Compound Podcast, which is now a part of Odyssey Sports. New episodes drop each Wednesday with the latest discussion on the Cubs in baseball.

You can download and listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Ian, how are you today? Good. How are you guys doing? We're good, but we're not the ones who have to work outside in this weather. So that's the management of it all. What is it like when you have to manage batting practice just the first part of your day? It doesn't get cool enough at night.

I don't think at times like this to be able to relax much. You know, this is a lot better than dealing with 25 degrees and the wind blowing in at a thousand dollars an hour. So I'll take this any day of the week. it's warm out there and I think just over the course of the week knowing that it's multiple days is yeah it's kind of managing workload and understanding

how much time you're going to spend outside pregame conserving a little bit for the game yeah it's one of those things where you're out there you go up throwing a bat or run down a ball and before you know it there's a lot of sweat everywhere

and you're not really sure how it happens it's just a swamp out there Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of moisture in the air. Ian, when you look at last night, I mean, I'd say old hat, but I know it never gets old to have the excitement of a walk-off. I mean, you guys are walking it off more than 40% of the time at home. You got 24 wins at home, 10 of them by walk-off. Does it feel different as far as the energy of this versus getting, I don't know,

a home 7-2 win? I mean, wouldn't you prefer to get the 7-2 win? not have everything be so dramatic? I would. Good, because we're requesting that of you guys today. For our sake, too. 7 to 2 is real nice. No issues with the heart.

No defibrillators out there, 7 to 2. We've done a really good job in X-training games, not only at home, but on the road. We've done, and even over the last two years, just different guys stepping up on the pitching side, getting outs in X-rating games. and late game situations. So you saw that a little bit on the road trip for sure,

but then yeah, come back home getting the walk off, I think especially doing it against the back end of their bullpen. The way we did yesterday was pretty great. So I think this team just really has a belief, and I can't say enough about the job that bullpen did yesterday. You know, show to keeping the ball in the yard yesterday with the wind blowing out was incredible. He did a great job.

But then the bullpen coming in and not giving me. with any runs and letting us kind of stick it there. It was great. Yeah. Yeah, it's the old bar and Thornton and Hollowell, all terrific last night. I got to ask you, I got to ask you, man, about the, the ABS challenge you had in the fifth inning. And for people who don't know, setting up the scenario, it's two to runners on first and second. Ian Hap, our guy at the plate, full count, ump calls strike three on a pitch that looked to be blatantly high and inside you're already walking to first base you've already touched the helmet and then the thing gets reversed because it just nicked the top inside corner of the box take us through that and what you were thinking and how surprised you were when that got reversed yeah that was that was rotten luck guys rotten luck uh i you know that the 3 o pitch was the ball down. It was a sinker at the bottom.

It did not challenge it. And 3-0 is a tough situation to use a challenge unless you're really, really sure because you have that hole in bat in front of you. And so he threw a 3-1 splitter. And his splitter is a little bit knuckily. He doesn't spin a lot. So it can kind of do a bunch of different things. So the 3-1 splitter moved 10 inches to his arm's side.

All right? Okay. The 3-2 splitter starts up and away. I'm convinced it's a ball, as you could see by my challenge and walk. That one only moved six inches to his arm's side, so it had four less inches of arm-side run, so it stuck up there and just clipped the top corner. That was disappointing one.

I was pretty sure about it, and that's just... Yeah, he executed it. He found a way to nick it. So that's a tough part of the game. I mean, just, just nicked it. When you come back, do you say anything to the umpire? Like, sorry, my bad, or is there? No, okay, I mean, he knew it right away.

So that situation, you know, I challenged. He kind of, he came out right away, nodded. Like, I think the guys behind the plate have done such a good job all year of not being offended by a challenge. Okay. And he was great last night. Both teams lost their challenges. I don't know. There might have been one accurate challenge last night.

Both teams had lost their challenges by the seventh maybe. And so he was on it all night. He did a great job. Yeah, I was thinking about that too because Craig Stamman, former reliever, maybe that had something to do with it on the Padre side. But Stamond had one where I felt like it was an emotional attachment to one of his challenges and he lost it too. So there might be something to that last night.

Yeah, the when the umpire's that good and they're catching them, on the edges like that. It's pretty impressive. I want to also ask you about it was, you were not involved, but it was the send right before the Ian Hap, or Ehanap, the Sayas Suzuki ball that looked like it sounded like it was out.

It sounded like it was out. You saw where it landed in left field to the Ivy. And then before there was the fly to left field where we were trying to figure it out as a team because the send happens out at the plate. I didn't think it was deep enough. off and left field. You know better than all of us based on where it was, how that

plays and the risk you take, especially facing Mason Miller. What did you make of all of that? Yeah, there's kind of two schools of thought there, I guess, is the fly ball and if you don't run, you still have bases loaded, and

you got, say, up there, Winsbow and out, you get a fly ball, score, all these things. But it's Mason Miller and he's got a really high punch rate and he's got a 0.6 ERA. He hasn't given up any runs, and he strikes out the world, and he's thrown 102. So the opposite school thought is that you take the risk

of trying to see if the outfitter's going to make an accurate throw and tag. And it was definitely shallow, and it's probably, I don't know, at that point, 70, 80% chance that he's going to throw, make an accurate throw and tag. But there is, you know, because of who's in the game pitching, you know, there's a little bit of weight that goes into just making them complete that play in that situation to try to push that last run across. And because if you do, if you, when you do run the way that we base run and the way that we base run and the way that our guys executed, which was very good, is the guy from third takes off, the other two guys tags. So you end up with a second and third situation. So same thing.

Pass ball scores run. hit scores are run all these things where it's not going to be first and second where you need the perfect hit plus Pete was at second anyway so he's going to score on pretty much every hit with two outs so yeah there's we did a good job of executing the backside base runners there and obviously

it worked out. Calf sprinkled a little bit of magic on that one. Ian Hap joins us as he does each and every week this time on Rahimi Harrison Grody full house for us today Ian I got to ask you man And as the news comes out, Matt Shaw to the injured list, you've got Ethan Roberts, the injured list, the emergency appendectomy to Hobie Milner. At some point, do you just look around and say what is going on with us? Or how do you and your teammates absorb this type of just influx of injuries on your team? Yeah, I think we're at the point now where it's become so ridiculous that nothing affects you when you,

just next man up. Yeah, the hobie appendectomy was, that was one that was just like, really, that's, unbelievable stuff. Can't make that up. But we've done such a good job, I think, as a group of, you know, all this stuff happens and you can react to it as like, why is this happening to us? This is horrible. Or you just, these guys will be back.

They'll be healthy at some point. They're going to help us down the stretch. and that's awesome. And the other guys that we have in the room are going to step up. And that's what they've done. I can't say enough about the group that's continued to come in and throw big innings, whether that's FERG or that Jordan Wicks outing in Milwaukee, what Bryce Wilson was able to do. All these guys have done a great job. And they will continue to do that. And I think, you know, Maddie Show shouldn't be down too long, but unfortunate for him and feeling for him after just coming back from something else.

So he'll be back. He'll be all right. But yeah, you feel for the people because I know Maddie wants to be out there. In a great great weekend in Milwaukee, with a blast of a series. The finale was ridiculous. Your three-run Homer on Saturday was fantastic. I do want to go to the Mizorowski game. And specifically, and at bat that you had in the sixth inning, and he fires the pitch, it hits the I think it hits the knob of your bat.

I want to know what that moment felt like when 100 hits the bat. Actually, I don't know if it was 100. I didn't look at the gun on that particular play. And just the kind of freak that Mizorowski is throwing as hard as he is and what that game was like. Okay, I think it was 101 or 102. The one that hit your knob? You're talking?

Yeah. Yeah. That, yeah. 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 strikes so the knob is more exposed. Luckily, and so it wasn't my hand.

But the he's good, man. He's really good. It's really good. I'm sorry, Ian, we are 12 and 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. But you did get your knob it. Yeah, pure baseball guy. Ian, credit to you for the professionalism in this conversation.

Oh, my goodness. But the thing that makes him so good is not only the velocity, but the extension. And that he gets so far down the mound. He's thrown from, I don't know, a foot closer than everybody else is. if you just put that in terms of if you put the baseball a foot closer than anybody else throws, you know, it's a little bit tough for your brain to kind of make that adjustment. Obviously, he's thrown a billion.

And one of the crazy things, he has a 50% strikeout rate against lefties for the whole season. Lefties are striking out half the time against him. Good God. Our segment with Ian Hap is sponsored by. by Hattie B's Hot Chicken, born in Nashville and bredded in Wrigleyville. And Ian, teamwork, as I understand, we inadvertently gave you some credit

on the compound podcast because we put you in a good position to answer a trivia question correctly about the back-to-back rain postponed games. Yeah, I can't remember who told me about it. We definitely talked about it on the compound, but I can't remember someone mentioned it before the compound and so I was prepared for it.

But yeah, in 18, we had back-to-back in April. And I remember we got snowed out against the Braves. It was right after that crazy like 14 to 10 comeback win. Yeah, and ridiculous April weather, as you were alluding to at the beginning of the segment. Yeah, and then I think we got canceled against maybe the Cardinals right after that. So, yeah, the back-to-back rainouts was crazy, not ideal. Not how you draw it up, but our pitching staff did such a good job. New York. They got the bullpen guys throwing three out of four, you know, Hobie went three

straight. Those guys, I'm just being available and being up and pitching great in that series. Well, our show is taking credit because we did ask you about it when it happened to mention 2018. And you did say, go team, go team. So you guys told me about it. And then I had it for the compound seat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And episode 315, I was watching. It was on Marquis and you, and you had the answer and you're like, I heard that on the radio. And I was like, That must have been Layla and Marshall. I can't take credit because I wasn't here that day. It's about time we actually gave you information for once, I guess.

We owed you, buddy. We did. Ian, before we got to go, anything going on that you want to let us know about with Connect. Well, we got the Hopeland going for Maddie Boyd's Kingdom Home Foundation. So you can go on the website, Connectorsers.com, and check that out. $3 per bag is going to benefit the Boyd's Kingdom Home charity, which is helping kids in Africa. We're super excited about it. He had a charity event at Wrigley.

It was really cool. And so we're really excited to support in the coffee's great. So it's the Hope blend. Go check that out. Fantastic. Ian, thank you so much. And thanks for hanging with us on this interview.

Thanks, Ian. Yeah. Thanks, guys. I'll stand down that now. Ian App is this weekly conversation. We are happy to have it. And we're looking forward to the maybe sneaking some hattie bees tomorrow at Wrigley, too, by the way. Hanging is right.

Hang with them. Hey, this is the whole point of us doing sports talk radios. The jokes are for everybody. I'm so glad. I mean, it was coming out of my mouth. It was like, I'm saying, I'm going through with this, but I know this is not going to come out right. Can we react it for everybody? Because Ian's picture was on during the interview.

One, two, three is what we did. I had to duck out. And then he was like, my knob was more exposed. And I was like, what are we talking about here? See, Ian and I were being adults. You guys had to make a big deal out of it. But it's you, Grody. You were laughing the whole time.

It's you. You looked as guilty as someone has ever been guilty. You're the problem, Grody. Could you guys at least believe me that I didn't mean to have it sound like that? I saw your brain process what was happening real time and I was like, no. With that whimsical look on his face. Nah, no, Grody. You're not getting off the hook.

I know what it sounded like, but it was an accident. If you could have physically run away from the conversation at that point, I think you would have done. No, I would have been under the tape. with you guys. Not appropriate. You know what's really funny is our topic for halftime next. Man, you know, you guys know I always joke that people, I think there's a subset of men who want women who don't actually really exist.

I got my proof next. What time is it? It is halftime and that was quite the segment we just did with Ian Hap. Mark Brody, an all-timer out of you. Knob. That's all I'll say. The password is knob. We're going to make it worse. Listen to the Ian Hap interview. Yeah, that just happened. That was at 1125.

You can go back and listen on a rewind feature on the Odyssey app. At 11, we talked about Alex Bregman and whether or not he really ran to first base with a ton of effort against the Brewers on Sunday. Jesse Rogers leading the charge. We thank Jesse for doing so and following up yesterday before the. the game. Additionally, we talked about the signs of progress out of both the Cubs and the White Sox, and I discussed my experience yesterday at Stacey King's Celebration of Life, which aired on CHSN. It's laptop.

I found the stat reported that I sent to you guys on our group thread, that I am not surprised by it all, and it is from Polly Market, which is known to keep stats. Americans are now spending twice as much time on AI companion apps than actual dating apps. They'd rather date the person that isn't real versus their shot at a chance with a person who is. Which I think says a lot here in and of itself. Like, I don't know that there's a lot of blame to go around to any one individual. But I do always joke about how I'm pretty sure men would rather have an AI woman hosting a show than me. because I talk back.

Well, the AI companions talk back too, right? I don't know. I'm not familiar with it, but I will say this. Dating apps are starting to be found out as somewhat of a scam because there's a lot of fake profiles, if I'm not mistaken. A lot of them use my pictures. And then. I've had many dating apps to use my pictures. On top of the bots existing, Mark and Lela, I also see that if you're paying for the dating app, they don't want you to actually

find someone because they want you to keep paying for the dating app. The goal of an app is to keep you on the app as long as possible. Kind of like we're like, hey, listen to the rewind feature. But the only differences are listening to Ian Hap and Us, Gufaw. And we don't make it hard to exit from the app if you want to. Yeah, people say they don't listen to us all the time. The weird part is they still do. But I feel like that happens with the apps too.

I'm going to quit the dating app. So honestly, I honestly don't understand how this works. You're saying that like a companion AI where they just, is there a physical picture of the person and like you talk, you just talk and you get AI responses or what can I will defer to our AI expert. Yeah, I don't get it. I'm not an expert. I try not to use it. It weighs too much water. No, we're talking to the AI companion. Like what is it like, is it like Alexa? Like could I, could I, could I be? According to the AI overview, which I do think I actually should use here. In this one particular instance. AI companion apps are virtual assistance.

designed to provide emotional support, friendship, or engaging roleplay. Engaging role play. No. You know what, the show. And the number three search option. I'll see myself out. The number three search option here that I'm not going to click on because this is a work computer is from East Bay Express and says Best AI Girlfriend Apps and Sites of

26. There is one called Girlfriend GTP. Is that the opposite? Guys, I don't think this is the way. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't know that this is the best idea. Facebook has also, according to TechCrunch, rolled out an AI companion app for creators. Maybe it's like it's a rebuild your confidence. Like if you're going through some tough times, it's like a workout.

You get back in shape and then you get back out there in the real world. Like the batting cages? Yeah, yeah. A simulation, if you will. Yeah, there you go. Or NASCAR, when they use the driving simulation. versus the real road course. Like they had to do that here for the Chicago Street race.

You can go hang out at the AMC and just get on those. Can I tell you about my batting cages in my 20s? I still think you need to talk to real people though. Yeah. I'm just saying it in between. Like if you've got nothing going on, you're not dating anybody and like you just need a little reassurance, a little help,

little practice. People don't reply based off of models though. Like that's the thing. Yes, to a certain extent you can't operate as an algorithm, but not in this very confined way, which is still confined even though the memory now is great. This isn't like playing the computer solitaire or whatever other analogy would fit. Back in my day.

Back in my, I'm going to go a little Mark Gurdry here. Back in my day, guys. Do it, do it. When I was in my 20s, you're cropped. There might be the danger of crocted. He's out here knobbing and croct in. I love it.

You used to go out here and take batting practice in real life by going out to bars and establishments and engaging with people in real life. It's a great thing. And just talk and see what happens. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes you swing and connect, sometimes you don't. I understand why people are shy and have anxiety of going up to people. Like the advent of online dating, I think is a really good thing, actually, when you use correctly.

Because you can get it, you can whittle it down to what you want. And there are lots of people, Marshall. I know you are not one of them that have anxiety in those areas. They cannot go up to a one or vice versa. Marshall is an extrovert. I'm actually an introvert That's the That's the rub

Okay how are you an introvert Because you just talk You talk about social cues And being effortless When it comes to interacting With people all the time That's just based on education Like educate yourself

By reading the room Learn how to read a room But there's a lot of introverts Who don't do that well Like it's just like life Where you just have to accept That some things you're not as good at No no but what I'm saying is

If you're an introvert You still are uncomfortable with it But you just push through the discomfort And guess what When my social battery is gone I go home That's the point. It's over for me. Because I'm introverted.

I'd rather just go home. I can do the thing that needs to be done. But you're actively social outside of dating. You're very actively social. I don't think I am at all. You knew all of my friends in Philly. I think he's differentiating. I think Marshall's getting it wrong.

I don't think you're an introvert. I think you enjoy spending time at home and being in your own comfort zone in that regard. But when you're out, you are, you go with the flow. I roll my sleeves up and do. what has to be done for a limited time and then I go home. Exhausted. So you have a finite amount of time. Brunch counts in that for you?

Let me read you. Let me read you the literal definition of an extrovert and introvert and then we can do five on it. It's someone who possesses strong social and conversational skills. That's me. But ultimately recharges through solitude. I can comfortably mingle and charm a crowd, but their social battery drains quickly necessitating much quiet time to recover.

That's me in a nutshell. So you're like a... But isn't that also just... It's like clocking in. It's a job for me to go. You are a cheetah. You can run really fast, but only for a short period of time. And then you have to give up and go home.

How dare you say that about cheetahs? That's the truth. I love cheetahs. I love all cats. You know that about me. I like cougars. It's good. Cougars.

You don't discriminate. Mountain lions, panthers. All the same thing. Panthers. But I do think you're a little more out there than you may give yourself credit for. We have to go races. Got to go. Five on it is next.