Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 2 | Marisnik Collision, Earthquake Game & Cerveli Retiring from Catching

Episode Date: July 12, 2019

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Hello. And welcome to talking baseball. This is Test Episode 2. A new show we have in the works. It'll be available for Patreon's only, originally. And then eventually, if you want to backtrack on the podcast app, maybe that's how you found us. My name is John Boy. And I have my co-host and best friend Jake here to baseball enthusiasts.

We got a show. We got some segments. We're excited. We tested out first episode. We're testing out second episode. I think we're trying to work on some things. We got a little bit of feedback. We appreciate that.

Jake, how are you doing? Good, James. Interesting weekend of baseball, he says. No, it was, I mean, leading into the All-Star break. You know, you saw a couple teams limping. You saw a couple teams actually put the pedal to the floor and kind of set them. I think we're going to mention my Rockies in a little bit.

They really are dragging into the break, but it's an all-star, All-Star Week, All-Star Weekend, the Mid-Summer's Classic? What do we call just the All-Star events? Because it's not a weekend. Break, the All-Star break. The All-Star break. That'll work, I guess. Yeah, that's what it is.

The ASG. But it's not really a break. They're doing a lot of stuff. They're doing home-run derbies. We've got future games. It's a break for a majority. of the players. We can start planning our future skills competition that isn't there yet, but it should be.

Should be. Should be there. The softball game that you know Kenny Main's playing in? That's lost. It's lost to for me. I used to love it. I think it's because I don't know the celebrities anymore. When you're a teenager, you're like, in the know of what's hip and who these people are.

I have no idea who any of them are anymore. Note it is the first 10 minutes. you're like, this is cool. Like you see a couple celebrities. You're like, all right, Jamie Fox playing softball. And then you're realizing like, I don't really want to watch this. Yeah. This is a much cooler concept than it comes out.

But we made it and it's almost time to gear up for the second half, John. How are you doing, bud? Before that, we have to review the series that were. That's what this show is going to be. It's going to be a Monday and Friday episodes recapping the series that just took place. every Monday episode, every team, well, I guess every team plays a series all the time, but like every baseball team plays Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's pretty incredible.

A lot of people that don't realize that. Like my answer is like, oh, really? That's not true this episode. Who didn't? A couple of the, a couple of the AL teams only played two games Saturday, Sunday, sets. But that's a weird July 4th. Yeah, but it's just funny then.

The one time. for that and it was the one time that it does not happen. The one time. But I mean, it is like you can set your calendar to it usually. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I saw that and it was weird. I was like, why did they not play a weekend game?

Yeah. The break messes and believe land. Yeah. All right. So let's go straight into our reports. We have an NL report and an AL report. I will be bringing the NL report to you first. Here's what happened over the weekend.

The Nationals lost the first game versus the Royals. but won the next two to take the series. Max Scherzer and Patrick Corman both had great starts. They've been pretty good. Scherzer's a crazy guy. The Mets lost another series to NL East rival. Phillies. The Mets Penn gave up seven earned runs in three games

with Edwin Diaz blowing yet. Another one came into a tied game and blew it. Mets are out of control and bad. Rounding out the NL East, we had the Marlins lose two out of three to the Braves. The Braves walked off the first game and then held on to win the third by only one run. The Braves remain in first place, Jake. But Nationals are only half a game out now, I believe.

Yeah. That's really close. No. Six. Six. The nationals are half a game back in the wild card. They confuse me there. They are six games back.

Braves have a nice lead. All right. NL Central, which is a shit show. the Pirates took two from the Brewers. They scored 24 runs in three games. Brewers, that's not good. The Cubs split a two-game set with the White Sox. They go into the break on a four-and-eight slide.

They are in first place in their division by half a game. But Rizzo said, I don't think we did enough in the first half to win and make the playoffs and all that stuff. The Giants took two out of three from St. Louis. They go into a break on a six-and-one winning streak. Not bad. Madison Bum-Garner got hurt, though. and Austin Slater had a pinch hit grand slam in one of the games.

No idea who that is. The Diamondback swept the Rockies. That's our only sweep in the National League. Six straight losses for Jake's Rockies. And the Padres took three out of four from the Dodgers. Talk about an earthquake, Jake. The Dodgers have a 13-game lead in the division. They lost three out of four to the Padres.

I don't think a lot of people expected that. It's basically it. Nice. Nice, Jim. Yeah, I think the NL West is a chunk of the story there. The Rockies truly sliding. I went from talking to Drew Kriesman who covers the Rockies a couple weeks ago, and, you know, they were looking strong for a wild card

and hoping to get a couple wins to make the Dodgers in reach. And now they dropped to fourth in the NL West. Not how you want to go into the All-Star break, losing six straight. But I'm a little old fashioned. in that way, you know? The Braves are the only team that had a really good first half and went into the break well. Because the Dodgers had a fantastic first half. They're 13 and a half up, but they did just lose three to four to go into break.

I don't think that's damning or anything bad at all. The NL West is the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado. Arizona, San Diego, and Colorado are playing for a wild card spot. Yeah, and something that you and I have talked about, and it's, it's, undeniable at this point with how much more of an emphasis teams put on rest. They view this all-star break as like a rest multiplier. You know, a lot of teams were resting guys. We saw the Yanks do it. I know, I think we saw Brantley get it off. A lot of guys, teams use this

as an extra break. And I think that's funny that it started off as the all-star break was the break. I know you were getting a little frustrated because teams now they use the couple days before to make it even more of a break and that's kind of frustrating as a baseball fan. It's bad for MLB when your exhibition game is hindering your real games. The product, yeah. Yeah. It's not good. They need to work in more off days. Like you said, no one would care if it was the full week off. Yeah, I think that's the future, right? It just makes so much sense. Like, just, just do it. Just, so the player, so if you are an all-star, you can get, like, think about that. We have all-star players the past few years complaining that they're, like,

exhausted to start the second half. And it's like, that's not the goal of the all-star break. That's not the goal at all. It'd just be one more day. Like, games resume on the 12th, or do games resume on the 11th? They have one game on Thursday, and then they have full slate Friday. Just have them, well, I guess you have to. do it Friday like we just said that's how serious work you can kick off with the two game or Saturday Sunday I think people would be fine with that it'd be a big change but yeah there's

there's something that needs to happen I mean we do we do those two game sets now might as well start after the all-star break do those two game sets because a dumb inter-inner interleague play which I don't like wow boom roasted that's what they are like cubs yeah whatever um

your worst team in the first half in the National League is the Miami Marlins. They only won 33 games. Not too much of a shock. Congrats. I don't know. And I mean, second, second worst is the Mets. At 40 and 50, and you got to, I think it's, you know, the Mets have been the Mets. And I know you, you have like a growing chip on your shoulder of disdain against just the Mets as an organization, just because it's gotten so ugly. They're 40 and 50. I just think it's crazy that that's like not that bad.

Like, yes, it's 10 games under 500, but I don't know. The Mets were involved in the season for a while. In the NL, it's not that bad. They're all beaten up on each other. Yeah. The surprising thing is the Rockies are under 500 because of their recent slide. Like, that's just a bad, bad optic being they have a 494 winning percentage, 44 and 45, which isn't, I mean, it's one game, so it's not really anything, but it is just a bad visual.

Like, ooh, under 500 at the break. That's not where you want to be. And I mean, I guess what the words I was looking for before is it's pretty wild that the NL has only one team that doesn't have 40 wins, while the AL has one, two, three, four, five, five teams that don't have 40 wins going into the break. Yeah, but they also have more teams with a lot of wins. Like the NL is just, the AAL has more teams tanking. But they have one, two, three, four, five, six teams with 50 plus, and the NL only has two. Yeah.

So they're playing those bottom faders. Yeah. All right. What's going on in the AAL? The American League Jimmer for debt. The Yankees, they win the first of two games of a four-game set in Tampa. Both games, eight to four in extras. They end up losing the last two.

They split with Tampa. The Red Sox sweep the Tigers in three. Oh, my God, Bogots is going off. Betts figured it out. The Orioles, they take two out of three from the Jays, including two nice pitching performances, Jim, from Dylan Bundy and Andrew Cashner, available for the right price if your team wants them. The Twinkies take the first.

two against Texas and then lose the final game of the series in extras. Cleveland finishes the first half before hosting the All-Star break with two blowout wins over Cincinnati. The White Sox split two with the Cubbies in the Cross Town Classic before the mid-season classic. The Royals won game one versus the Nats in 11. They lose the next two, only scoring two runs in those final games. Houston loses game one to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by one run.

And then Gary Cole shuts them out as Houston then goes on to the third game, 1110 shootout in 10 innings. We get a George Springer walkoff single. And the A's take two out of three from your Seattle Mariners and did you know, Jim, each game was won by three runs. Huh. Wow. How about that? Good job, the A's. If you just, if you had a three run lead, you were going to win that game.

That's all you needed to do. Baseball is an easy sport sometimes. Very easy. Yankees lead their division by six and a half games. Minnesota leads theirs by five and a half. Cleveland inched a little closer there at the end. And Houston leads their division by seven and a half. All pretty solid leads.

We did have a stat that almost every World Series winning team in the last decade or I don't know how far back it went. I think it was last decade was leading their division at the All-Star break. Yeah. So if that's true, if a World Series winner, if the World Series winner comes from a division leader at the break, which it has the last 10 years, then our options for World Series winners right now are the Yankees, the twins, the Astros, the Braves, the Cubs, and the Dodgers. Yeah. I mean, right. Mentally, I'm, you know, not to do too much hot take radio, but mentally, I mean, Yanks Houston are Dodgers. Right now it feels like one of those three teams.

That's what I was just going to say. Like, I'm not buying the twins. I'm not buying the Braves yet. The Braves should work themselves in there, right? Yeah. I mean, if they stay crazy, because I think they have a good clubhouse culture, which is huge. Yeah. Like, there are a lot of fun.

Kikele figuring it out. And the Cubs are in the lead right now, but they're kind of like not playing great. Yeah. And I don't, and our Minnesota Twins fans are pissed at us right now, Jim. I know I like them a little more than you. Their hitting's very real. And Odorizzi and Berrios can twirl it a little bit. I got to tell you what, the team that I'm buying stock in heading into the All-Star

break, Cleveland, man. I think they're starting to play better baseball. Lindor was out to start the year. Um, they've won their past six games. And I, I think, uh, you, you don't want to, this isn't the end result, but we had the news that Carlos Carrasco was diagnosed with leukemia. Um, and I mean, they're going to be, I don't want to say something to play for, but I mean, that's, that's going to be with them. They're, they're going to be thinking about their dude and they're, they're starting to play good baseball. They might have a, they might be coming in that AL central.

Yeah. That's terrible news. Baseball got rocked with a lot of tough news in the last couple weeks. Yeah, man. Yeah. And literally rocked. Earthquake. Major storyline.

Literally. I think it's funny that the AL not only has the divisions with such higher leads, there's only three teams really in it for, or there's only five teams in it for those two wildcard spaces. where the NL, they only have three teams not in it, really. Like Mets and Marlins are the only teams where they're not making the playoffs. I think you could put the Giants firmly in there. I don't think they're going to be able to leap fraud. So that's three.

That's three teams not making the playoffs. In the AAL you have Baltimore, Kansas City, Detroit, Toronto, Seattle, the White Sox. Those teams are not making the playoffs. Yeah. Yeah, you can make firmer stances on that. I don't know. I think if you really want to, like, I'm not buying into the White Sox. I'm not buying into the Angels.

I mean, they're hanging around 500, but they don't really have the pieces there yet. That's what I said. So it's five teams. It's the Rangers, which I think they should tank. Boston, Oakland, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay. And then you windle that down. It's really Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Boston, in my opinion. Yeah.

Well, I don't know. I mean, if the twins stays strong, they kind of control, like, they're going to be a playoff team. And I think Cleveland's going to get it going and they'll have an easier schedule not playing in the ALEs. I mean, one team out of, or two teams out of Oakland, Cleveland, Tampa, and Boston are not going to make the playoffs. Yeah.

Most likely. I think it's going to be Boston and Cleveland in the one. wild card right now i mean i do not like hold me to that i don't care wow you're if i was looking at it i would just say that your rays are pissed jim what uh you mentioned the major storylines and there's there's i i mentioned i mean leukemia earthquake uh there is a collision at the plate where to where do you want to go big daddy the earthquake was wild like you just don't see that i know what happened in the World Series and 89. You don't, it's crazy.

And the fact that, I was born, you know. Yeah, the pitcher didn't have any idea. Lowry, is that who it is? Lori. Lauer. Pitched through it, Lauer. Pitched through it. Pretty cool.

Hernandez, you could see him looking around. Did you hear that the outfielders, the players couldn't feel it. I think, like, structures make it feel more real because they start shaking. So the players couldn't feel it. one of the reports the athletic i forgot who wrote it he wrote an article about all the players reactions to it someone said i thought it was something terrible like an active shooter in the stands because all of a sudden people just started screaming for fear right behind me so that's got got to be a weird and then they're like what's going on hernandez was able to ask the bat boy

who just very calmly said earthquake right but everyone else kind of i was like what's what is going on the players the pitcher had no idea he said Yeah, and that was funny because I was watching some baseball and watching the NBA Summer League was kicking off, and they felt it there. And, yeah, the first thing I did was flip over to the Dodgers game on my phone because I wanted to see what they were saying. And it was like, I mean, it was a little eerie because the players didn't feel it at all.

So they just kept playing ball. And you had the broadcasters that were like, oh, this is a real earthquake, too. this isn't this I think they said 7.1 is where they landed and that's a it went down to 6.9. Not bad. Yeah, they marked it down at 6.9. Yeah, it's crazy. I wish a lot of the players like would have been so cool if we hit one down the foul pole and the swaying pole like came into play. Ooh, swing pull factor.

In my breakdown, I said this, the pitcher had the big advantage because he didn't know an earthquake was going on where Hernandez was like, I'm trying to take in an earthquake right now. Like there's no fucking way I can hit. Yeah. Not a, I'm taking this pitch. Yeah, you swung a lot. Not swing. It's like, whoa, whoa. And then we have the Mariznick collision, which is actually the biggest topic right now in baseball, I think.

Huge collision at the plate, Luke Roy. The Houston tied the game up at 10. I forget who hit it. It wasn't Springer. It was, I don't know who hit the ball. Or it might have been Springer. He had a pop fly to right field. who's out there. Cole catches it, right?

Cole Calhoun. Cole Calhoun catches it, throws it into Luke Roy. Mersnick's booming down the third baseline and then lowers his, it looks at full speed like he lowers his shoulder and decks Luke Roy. I don't think he did that. I think in replay, you can see he's kind of trying to maneuver his body in a cheeky way to go around him to the left. and then and then you can see him try to like twist and it's all just bad because he thought

lu kroy was going to make a sweeping tag on the on the foul side of home plate so he wanted to be be cheeky and go on the inside ends up just knocking him right in the head super scary lu kroy got like taken out in the cart and now we're saying should he be suspended what's the fine here how bad is this wasn't intentional uh i i do not think it was intentional. Like I don't think he went headhunting. I don't even think he went like, I need to knock this catcher. I think he was trying to do a sneaky slide. I think you differ on me there, Jake. But my thing is this isn't part of baseball. Mariznick has not grown up in, hey, take out the catcher. Like those people got grandfathered out with these new rules. And I just don't think

any baseball players out there head hunting anymore. Or it's, you know, it's not the Thurman Munson Johnny Bench, like, people. Roes nonsense. It's just not part of baseball. I don't think we see it. So like if he was, that's wild to me because it's, then he's just such an asshole. I don't think he is. The way he reacted afterwards, I don't think he is. I think it's mostly accident. I think you're right. I think his intention was he was going to come inside. I think there was a world where he knew that, you know, if the catcher, Lucroy comes up the line and there was going to be contact, I think he knew that was a part of the risk. It ends up looking a lot worse. I've got

two bad Jakey comparisons that you've already heard me make, so I'll try to keep it tight. But I think the first thing that happened was kind of relating it to football. You picture the wide receiver going over the middle, and the wide receiver drops down to catch a ball, and the safety was trying to hit them in the midsection, but because the wide receiver went down, he caught him in the head. And that's kind of what happened with Leclochreux. Lecroy moved his body, Mariznick moved his, and I mean, it was basically head to head, shoulder to head,

and I mean, he got destroyed, absolutely destroyed. And I think the other weird comparison that I'll make to this baseball play is, I don't know, if you're driving and you accidentally hit someone with your car, you still got to get in trouble for that. So even if it's an accident. So I think he should be suspended. And I think the other thing Mariznick has going against him is that we haven't seen a lot of this in baseball, which is a good thing. But because of that and because this is such a big story, I think they're going to try to make an example of him.

And him trying to get cheeky and creative with that slide, I mean put him in what became a dangerous situation. So he is responsible for it. So I think they're going to make an example of him probably. I don't know, nothing crazy, three, four games, maybe a series, something like that. But I think you have to make an example of him just so, I don't know, because think about if they don't and it becomes intense playoff baseball time, guys are athletes, guys are competitors, guys are nuts. I mean, if he's not the example, I don't think guys are going to try to take advantage

of it, but if you need a run in a tied game and a game that matters, I think it'd go through a player's head. Yeah. I don't, I actually don't think they're going to suspend him. If they do, I think it's going to be like a game or something. But I'd be, I'd be fine with it because you just have to be able to control your body smarter.

Like you shouldn't be able to put yourself in the situation. But I, I'd be, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't suspend him. Because I do think it was an accident and just like a weird collision. And those cheeky slides are the new, plays at the plate. Like a great slide is an awesome highlight. I'd much rather watch that than watch guys run into each other, which has nothing to do with the sport. We have sports where that's part of the gameplay, football, hockey. It's not part of the gameplay in baseball. It always weirded me out that people fought for that. We need collisions. We need contact. No, you don't. It's not,

that's not, that's not in line with, like, what this sport is. You don't need that. But did you see what Yadir Malina tweeted I yeah he had like a nats well and he's obviously representing catchers and was probably pretty hot in the moment Yadi sucks bullshit

this is what he said bullshit MLB need to take action on this bullshit play fuck fuck praying for Lucroy slide slide slide fuck fuck you if you think this is okay fuck you Yadi sucks man I mean Cardinals fans like think he's their god

he is so annoying he's very good defensively but every time he winds and complains he's so annoying and I don't know I mean I'm I'm always a big try to put yourself in their shoes and I mean Yaddy and Molina's watching that replay and picturing himself getting

you know dragged off and taken to the hospital so that's why he's saying hey MLB you you better take care of this so this doesn't happen to me that would be a much better tweet than fuck fuck you Fuck you. Fuck you. I'll say this.

He didn't depict his emotions properly. But he came out raw with it and that's where he landed. All the Cardinals fans are like, he's such a good role model. Should have said what Jake said instead of this. Well, hey, you're a big cursing doesn't matter, guy. He was just letting it out. I don't think it matters. I'm not upset that he cursed.

It just he sounds like a dumb person. He's just being emotional. Articulate your words, Yadi. He doesn't want to. want to be the guy getting carted off, man. Me either, to be honest. Merznik did seem genuinely, like, shocked that they collided that hard and concerned. Well, and that's a, I think that's the other thing that, because in, you know, the kind of 90s baseball that we grew up in, when this was somewhat, when it was accepted, I mean,

at least when you were the catcher, you kind of lived with that. Like, you had an eye looking that way down the third baseline and ready to go. Because it's been taken out of the game, catchers don't worry about it, and that actually makes them more vulnerable. Yeah. Luke, I already have this one. Hold on. I'll edit this out.

Luke, good. I have that one already. Sorry. All right. Well, same exact topic, Jake. Francisco Cervelli got his sixth concussion since he's been in the MLB and that we know about, so probably more,

which is really bad. And he has now said that he is not going to catch anymore. He's done catching when he makes his return. He's going to go to AAA. They're going to try and find another spot for him. But he has to look after his future. He said they're not forcing him into this. It's just he doesn't want to be brain damage and all that stuff.

I have like some takes on this that I feel are rude because this is great and smart by Cervelli. And I love Cervelli. I'm big Cervelli fan. Is his bat good? enough to not be a catcher? That's my main question. Um, like half. I think Survelli's had some, some games for the Pirates where he does play around the field a little bit. So, um, I think it's around there. I think, you know, the reason he made it to Major League Baseball and got a shot, um, to play was because he was a catcher.

And I actually heard, I heard John Flaherty say it best this weekend that, uh, he, he dropped some old good, good catching line. He was with Kenny Singleton in the booth and he said, Ken Singleton said some, the best way to play outfield in Major League Baseball is be a good hitter. And John Flaherty said something like, yeah, I wasn't that. So I went behind the plate and you do what you do to get up to the big leagues. And it's, I mean, that's how a lot of catchers do it. He started nine games at first base in his career. Four in 2018, one in 2016 none in 17

5 and 14 for the Yankees so he's played other positions like at the tail end of games yeah but but yeah I just don't know if his bat is good enough not as a catcher like 2017

he's a career 734 OPS so I don't know if like I don't Is he causing his own retirement? I think shades of gray. I think if a team wants him around, he can be there, but he's not going to catch anymore. And that's his decision.

Yeah, it's probably the right one. Probably the right one. Probably better for him. I just don't see him getting any run at another position. No pop 700 OPS. That's why that's good. Good, decent for a catcher. But, I mean, if he's going to try and play the outfield,

you're not going to run an outfielder out there that doesn't hit home runs and has a 750 OPS. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know. Talk about, I mean, bad timing for Mariznick as well with Survelli getting headlines saying he's not going to catch again with concussions going on. But, yeah, I mean, and he was having a tough year anyways.

He's in small sample size. He was hitting 193. He's 33-year. old. So this, I don't know, I think concussion is always a hot word in baseball. And I think with the timing of the play at the plate and everything going around, this is a big story. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. He's got the right quotes. He said, I'm ready to do anything. It's a really good quote. He said, wherever I am in the field, I'm still catching the ball, right? Yeah. It's not bad.

Not bad. Good call, Frankie. The backup, Elias Diaz, he's been, he's, no, he's got a good batting average, but it's pretty empty. 274 batting average, 327 OPS, 678, or 327 on base percentage, 678 OPS. I saw the batting average shirt and I was like, hey, he's doing pretty good, but no, that's not really. Yeah. It's not numbers to push Chevli aside, which is what I was thinking. And then the new backup, this dude, Jacob Stallings, he has started, or he's played 22 games, Jake, and he has an 800 OPS with a 397 OBB, so maybe give him more run, the Pirates. Yeah, well, it's a stalling show in Pittsburgh.

A lot of Pirates talk so far. Love that. A lot of Pirates talk. I think that's all for the major headlines, correct? Do you have anything else? Yeah. No, I was going to say, I mean, anything from these series this weekend that jump off to you that you feel you have to get off your chest? My standout performance, you mean?

I mean, we can if you're ready for it. Yeah. My standout performance is Alex Young. You ever heard of him? A young guy, Jim. Alex Young for the Arizona Diamondbacks, okay? This guy made his debut this season. And he was in AAA.

He was a reliever. He was like a stretched out reliever in AAA, kind of doing a Swiss Armyman type thing. They had to make his first start, June 27th, versus the Giants. He goes five innings pitch, one earned run, three hits. Pretty good.

74 pitches. Only five strikeouts. He throws low 90s, 80s to low 90s, four pitches and can pain him. Not a strikeout guy. Then he came out of relief to, face the Dodgers 2.1, 0 and runs. So this past weekend, he gets another start versus the Colorado Rockies, and he throws a six-inning no-hitter. Six innings pitched, zero hits, zero runs, one walk,

three strikeouts, 71 pitches. He'd never thrown more than like 80 in a game in the minors, so they pulled him. His quote was like, ah, I'm a young kid, I have no say. And Lavella was like, he wasn't going to pitch three more innings. Like it was impossible. So he just figured pull him now, rip the Band-Aid off. They did win the game. But look at this kid. That's no hitter in his second ever start.

That's a standout performance. Young Alex Young, man. Good for him. He's not that young. I don't think he's an older, an older rookie. No, 25. Young Alex Young. 25, yeah.

I mean, that's fun to say anyway. So you got to roll with it. Yeah. From Hawthorne Woods, Illinois, drafted by the Texas Rangers. I think he said no to them. And then he was drafted by the Diamondbacks in the second round after a couple of years at TCU.

Nice. Texas Christian. Yeah. My horn toads. So if you're in some fantasy league and you need a starting pitcher and you're with a bunch of people that don't pay attention, go get Alex Young. You might be able to give you a couple games or two.

that's a pretty good performance. I wanted to group the Rockies, the Diamondback starters in general. Yeah. Because the Rockies had a bad series, but the pitching on the other side, I mean, Alex Young was one game, six innings pitched no hits, but Granky went seven innings pitched zero runs, and Robbie Ray went six innings pitched one earn run, and then you had Alex Young, six things pitched zero earn runs.

So quick math here, six plus six is 12 plus seven is 19. 19 innings pitched, one earned run from Diamondback starters. That's not bad. Yeah, and maybe what we've stumbled into is give a little love to the Diamondbacks. I know we saw them earlier in the year and they were being upstart a little bit. A guy who I wasn't sure where I was going to mention him in the show, Jake Lamb, who was a big power-hitting third baseman for them for a couple seasons. He had 29 homers, 30 homers in back-to-back years.

Then he kind of went through a slew of injuries. And then, Jim, this series, he hit his first home run in over a calendar year. So, I mean, if he can come back and be good for them, you're at a power bat at an impact position. So that might be buy some D-back stock time. Buy some D-backs stock. But not really. Dodgers own that division.

And yeah, I mean, most likely the debacks, the Rockies and the Padres are just going to beat up on each other so that none of them can make the wild card, which is brutal. Yeah. That's probably, no West. Yeah. They need, they need. Yeah, there's too many contenders for a wild card. And they play each other so much. You know what I mean?

Someone would have, yeah. Too many, too many wild card contenders in one division. Yeah. Well, maybe. Hey, Jake Lamb. Good, good for you, kid. Jim, I've got my standout performance. Who is it?

I went Yuleiguri. Yuleiguriel is Sunday game. And Jim, the game was a factor in this one, because this was the 11-10 game in extras to win the series. Yuleiguriel had two hits, two walks, three runs, four RBI. So Yule Gouriel accounted for seven of the 11 runs. He also hit a home run, Jim, which is important because he's homered in five straight games now, and he has six homers in those games because he had a two home run game. So he could have been in the Enfuego section.

I liked him for the standout performance because that was kind of a big game for the Stroes to win the series, a shootout of a game, and you know I like a, I normally call him Andre Kirillankos. There's another bad basketball reference, but because he used to fill up the box score. and Yuleiguriel did that. So I'm giving him some love. And I mean, if he gets it really in stride, which apparently he has, I mean, that's just another dude in that Astros lineup you got to deal with. Yeah, I read some articles like maybe a month ago.

It's like, what's going on with Yuleiguriel? Like his slump is weird because he's not really slumping, but he's not doing anything good. Yeah. He's like just riding this middle area of average. And he seems to have jumped out of it. six home runs the last five games you said yeah and uh yeah jim i mean if you want to go back to i mean if you go back to june 7th so let's let's do a month i mean his ops was 675 which i mean you know he's he's a guy the aster is like having in the middle of their lineup well 24 games in a month

later 10 home runs 327 batting average a 1.064 ops uh uly gurell is is back for them. And you and I were laughing when we were doing some of our Yankee stuff because I know Ken Singleton was being lame and making me laugh. But he kept saying the old adage, some guys are happy to see the All-Star Brit come and some guys want to keep playing Yuleiguriel firmly on the, hey, let's get a couple more games in while Poppy's hot.

Game time Grand Slam is pretty cool. It's not bad. I said in my NL report that Austin Slater Yeah Had a pinch hit Grand Slam I don't think it tied the game though But would you rather a game This is easy it's a game tying home run

But pinch hit home runs are so cool So hard to do He had a 2-1 count from Cam Bedrosian Why do I know that name? Drozian What's Cam? He's Angels bullpen.

He's supposed to be, or he was supposed to be a pretty good reliever. He's, he's good. Do you know the name Austin Slater from the Giants? No, I just looked him up. Yeah, I had nothing on him. Stanford kid, local kid playing for the Giants, Jim. I'm trying to see what his home run did. What's your home run do?

If his home run tied the game, then he wins Best Grand Slam. Oh, boy. No. Austin Slater. The game was tied 1-1. He made it a 5-1 game. That's pretty good. That's just as good to go-ahead Grand Slam versus the game tying Grand Slam.

So we have a grand slam off between Yule and Austin Slater. Let us know who won it. I'm going to guess Yule wins because no one knows who Austin Slater is. Yeah, tough break, Austin. Cool saved by the bell name, though. Yeah, using your old nickname. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

All right, we talked about some good. performances. Time to move on too. I need to get a sound effect for Slump Watch. I'm so cold. I have the, the, uh, Oh,

slump watch. Slump watch. Last week I told you that we were watching out for Kyle Seeger's bat. He was over his last 17. He broke that with a two run home run. So good for Kyle Seeger. And I believe the next game he had another hit. So two games in a row with hit.

and the home run breaks the O for streak, which is the best way to break it. So we've got to move on, though. Who are we watching out for now? Jake, do you have one you want to throw my way? Well, I was going to talk about the Blue Jays guys, because they, those are some tragically bad stats. So I guess we can start there.

I was going to talk some Sanchez and Richard, Jim. You copied and pasted the stats in there, and it's... Just to give... a better, a detailed intro. The Blue Jays currently have two pitchers just having a shit show off. Like who can be worse every night? And their last six starts each, Jake, give them the stats. Aaron Sanchez and Clay and Richard.

Aaron Sanchez, six games started, 26 innings pitched, 40 hits, 34 earned runs. which is, I mean, almost unbelievable. It starts getting scarier. 20 walks to 19 strikeouts, and he's given up seven home runs for an 1177 ERA. And, I mean, those numbers don't even look like bad video game numbers. Those just look unreal. And then for Aaron Sanchez, a guy who's had a good season before,

Clayton Richard, 30-0.2 innings pitch, 42 hits. So he got Sanchez there. Only 25 earned runs in those 30 innings. And 12 strikeouts. Seven home runs. So the home runs are sneaking up on the strikeouts for Clay and Richard. I mean, these two guys are just

getting, I mean, as shelled as you'll see two starting pitchers who get six starts. Yeah. 11.77 ERA for Sanchez, 7.34 year a for Richard. 20 walks for Sanchez.

seven home runs for both of them, 40 hits and 42 hits. It's brutal. And this is a team that was employing Edwin Jackson for a while, who had a 12-4-3 ERA, but couldn't get out of the first inning versus the Angels, so they phantom DEL and said, like, maybe just retire now. So the Blue Jays have some fun young bats, Kevin Vigio, they have Vladie, they have Rowdy,

they have some fun young bats. They're pitching. I mean, is almost starting to rival the Orioles. Well, that's what I was just going to say, Jim. I owe our Oriole fans and apologies because I've been saying they have the worst pitching staff ever assembled. And by the way, I mentioned it briefly before. Dylan Bundy and Andrew Cashner actually had a couple good starts this weekend.

Andrew Cashner having a nice season at this point now. So, yeah, I might have to pump the brakes. on my O's because the Blue Jays are charging hard, led by Aaron Sanchez and Clayton Richard. Yeah. I had another slump watch I had was the Rockies. They've lost six in a row now. They're just sliding. They were on a tour of fun for a while, fighting everyone, playing close games.

When the Dodgers walked them off three times in a row, Rockies fans, our guy Drew was like, hey, the good news is we were in there with them, like they're playing good ball. And it was like, nah, it actually seems like that might have broke him a little bit because they've been bad since then. And like we said, with that wildcard situation in the NL West, they're just going to beat up on each other. And then all three are probably might be out. Who knows, but it's a possibility. But the Rock is slumping. But, yeah.

I think I've got some parallels to make. I think as the Yankees are to the raise, the Dodgers are to the Rockies. And I think, yeah, those walk-off games were. extra crippling. And then it didn't help that Houston came into town after that. They played two good games with them, and they lost one run game, the first game, when the Astros started that rookie, and then they lost four to two in another good game. So you're at that point, I mean, you're the Rockies, and you're saying, wait, have we just

lost five games that we could have easily won to two of the best teams in baseball, and we've got nothing to show for it. And then the debacks roll in the town or you have to go to Arizona and they bully you down there. So that's a brutal stretch that depending how this rocky season ends up, they're going to look at that and say, damn. Yeah. The other slump watch, and this is poking the bear a little bit,

is Lucas Gialito. Wow. He was on Star. He was on Sy Young Pace, Jake. He's an all star, right? is he starting the All-Star game for the Yale? I don't know, but can we look at his last four games? Sure.

More than no. 4.1 innings pitched, 6 earned runs versus the Cubs. 5.2, 3 earned runs versus Boston. Not terrible, but that's not what you're expecting from him anymore. You're supposed to be the stud. Then versus the twins, five innings pitched, one hit, zero earned runs. That's good. Then the Cubs again, four innings pitched, six,

earned runs. So in his last four games, he has a, where's his ERA, 7.11 ERA. This just reminds me of Severino from last year where he's the most dominant person ever on the mound. And then something goes wrong before the All-Star break. And you're like, nah, it's fine. It's fine. And I hope this doesn't mirror Severino last year for the Yankees for White Sox fans. Like his first two starts are going to be scrutinized once he gets back. Yeah, and he is not starting the all-star game. It actually just got announced that Justin Verlander is starting the All-Star game, if you've heard of him. And you want to see a sign of the Times in baseball.

Justin Verlander, most home runs given up, but still having a very good season and starting the All-Star game for the American League. Pretty, uh, 2019. Those juiced balls. Balls are juiced. Balls are juiced. On fire.

Jake, throw out some names, people that had a really good series. Dirt, nasties, and fuego. That's on fire, baby. Jim, there's two guys, and they actually almost got shout-outs last episode. A couple pirates, big pirate episode, Jimmy.

We've got Colin Moran, who he was actually the kind of headliner of that grab-bag trade that Houston did with Pittsburgh to get Garrett Cole. Him and Adam Frazier have just been hitting machines. Adam Frazier is hitting 600, that's 600 batting average over his last seven games. 18 for 30, Jim. That's nuts. so Adam Frazier clearly gets some love. He only has one home run, but he does have seven doubles, so he's got a little pop in there.

Colin Moran, his teammate, so we've got the second basement and the third basement. We've got a hitting infield right now. Colin Moran is 12 for 23. That's only a 522 batting average. He's really been slapping it around. He's only got three extra base hits in that crew. But hey, whatever the Pirates,

hitting coach has been focused on Frazier and Moran's contact and it's working. There's it go. I had two guys. I had Michael Brantley and Jesus Aguilar. Brantley in this series versus the Angels went eight for 10. Eight for 10 versus the Angels. That's really good. What home run, two doubles, but eight for 10, six runs scored in his two games that he played.

That'd be pretty infuriating as an Angels fan. Let's just try to get this guy out. And then Aguilar from Milwaukee, he went six for 10 with three home runs. That's a pretty good weekend. Big July 4th fan. Not bad, big, big, hey, Zeus. Yeah, and the only other guy that I thought could, well, A, we could give Max Schererer a shout-out in this segment at any point. He throws another scoreless start and swipes a bag.

so he's literally on Fuego on the bases. Jim, I was going to give an early talking baseball favorite, Liam Hendrix. My guy hasn't, so I was looking in the last seven because we, you know, we want to keep you up with who's hot now. And, you know, he's got three saves in his last four games, and that's good in all Liam Hendricks, who potentially could be available at the trade deadline

if our athletics start to falter. But James, Liam Hendricks hasn't given up a run in the past 30 days. 16 innings, 14 games, scoreless. So, and 16.1 innings, 28 strikeouts. So Liam Hendricks from down under getting some love. It goes even further. His last 29 games, 33.1 innings pitched, 0.81 ERA, three runs in his last 33 innings pitched.

45 strikeouts. I think the A's will trade this guy. Even if there is. Just on value alone? Yeah. Because he's doing so well. Yeah. And they're the only move they could make.

Yeah. I could see cash sneaking some weird trade for Liam Hendricks. We don't see coming if Patances is never coming back. Ooh. Cashman of the Yankees. Jimmy. I can see a team calling Billy Bean up, being like, yo, Hendricks, what do you want?

Yeah, my only thing I think in Yankees land is that I could see, you could see a team being like, let's go get Liam Hendricks to be our closer. Like if the Yankees value-wise would see Liam Hendricks has another good arm and they value bullpen arms, but there's another team out there that could be like, yo, let's go get Liam Hendricks to be our closer. You said the same thing about Britain last year and he went to the Yankees. Yeah, it's true.

It's true. Yeah. All right, walk off watch. We can do this real quick. Like Jake already said, Springer walked off versus the Angels for the Astros, 1110 game. Miami Marlins intentionally walked young thick Austin Riley to face old man Brian McCann who hit his second walkoff of the season. Braves beat Miami. And then Travis Darnow took a first pitch fastball from Chad Green and put it into the seats to walk off versus the Yankees in a game.

He said just tied up the inning before to kill shot right there. Two outs, home run. Those were your walkoffs from the weekend. Jake, we have any fun debuts? Jim, we only had three guys make their major league debut. No big names. Pedro Pallano. Pedro Pallano.

So, hey, at least that one's fun to say. He comes up. Jimmy Hergett. I've actually heard of J.H. before. And we, oh, just lost my spot a little bit. Hello, new podcast and baseball reference, not playing fun with me. Where's the snaps, Luke?

All right. All of these guys are 24 or 25 years old, which is cool. Pedro Piano is from New York, Jake. Yeah, so we got Pedro Piano from New York. He made his debut on the 6th for Texas. Jimmy Hergett made his debut for CINCY, on the seventh, and Mauricio Dubon made his debut for Milwaukee. So, yeah, no, none of the big prospect names, but hey, good for you guys.

Did anyone do good? Because Jimmy Hergert did bad, 0.2, 3 earned runs. That's not good. He's a pitcher. Maricio Dubon is a hitter. He went one-played appearance, 0 for 1. Yeah, these aren't really. Oh, you know who I wanted to talk about?

Robelle Garcia. Okay, Jake. Real quick. Robel Garcia, he was drafted by the, he's got a crazy story. He was signed by Cleveland. He was signed by Cleveland. He spent four years in their minor league system and never made it out of single A. So he left affiliated ball and he went and played overseas for the attacking.

National team. Okay? She's played for the Italian national team because they tore the world. Just play a bunch of people. So he's playing for the Italian national team. Italian national team this spring training plays a exhibition game

against NLB Prospects and Stars down in by the Cactus League, I believe. The Cubs had some scouts there, and they see him on the Italian National League. And they're like, whoa, that's pretty good. Let's sign him. They sign him, right? This is this spring, 2009.

They sign him. They start him in AA. He goes 981 OPS, 6 home runs, 5 doubles in 22 games. So they bump him right up to AAA. He plays 50 games in AAA, 947 OPS, 352 on base percentage, 15 home runs in AAA. So they say, okay, shit, let's call this dude up. They call him up for the Cubs. On July 4th, he went three for five with a triple and a home run.

He played the next game, had two walks. The next game he had, it was one for three with a home run. So that's a really fun story. If you haven't looked into the Robelle Garcia story, check it out. Second baseman, pinch hitter, DH, for the Cubs right now. I don't know how long it's going to last, but how wilds that? Hey, get 1% better every day, kids. That's how you do it.

Pretty crazy. Pretty crazy story. I thought that was worth sharing and having out there, Robel Garcia. Let's have some fun. Let's go to awards. Awards. Play the awards sound. Can I go first?

Go first. You got one more award than me this week. There was so much good stuff happening. I had to. and shout out to nasty Nas Zero on Reddit for giving us this info. This is the Witchcraft Award. Straight up, just you're practicing witchcraft and it scares me award. Okay.

It goes to Chris Davis, Jake. Yes. Now, everyone who follows baseball knows the running joke of Chris Davis, 247 batting average every single year. How many years in a row is it now? Oh, Chris Davis with a K. Crushed Davis, yeah. Got you.

Okay. Yeah. How many years? So he has a... I think it's three in a row, 247. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018. Four in a row.

He's got a 247 batting average. Check out this stat that they post on Reddit. Chris Davis' career batting average right now is 247. 247 247 repeating. After going 0 for 3 last night, Chris Davis has 741 hits in 2,997 at bats for an average of 247 repeating. Now, this is only possible once every 99 at bats

for it to add up to 247 repeating. The last time he could have done this, 999 at bats ago, August 10th, 2017, he was at 247 repeating. So what the fuck's going on with Chris Davis and the 247 batting average? It's witchcraft. It's interesting. It's funny.

And it's scary. I mean, does he have that, like, tattooed yet? The Reddit thread, the top response is when his career is finished, I hope the A's retire 247 instead of his jersey number. And that's actually hilarious. They might have to. He might be forcing their hands, and they're retiring everything in the Bay Area right now. That's nuts.

Baseball oddities, man. He's probably wishing if he made, like, I wonder if there was, like, 12-year-old Chris Davis. He was having a lightning storm. He was having a conversation with the gods. He's like, man, I'd give everything I ever could if I could be a 247 baseball hitter. and then like he gets struck by lightning and that's what happens in the movie but i i wonder if he wishes 12 year old chris davis that pretended to make this wish if he was like i wish i'd say 380 hitter that'd be a lot cooler a lot cooler but it's it's weird what you got an award

jim my first award is the not dead yet award um and it goes to it goes to a personal favorite of ours. It goes to Brett Gardner and Jimmy, he hit three home runs in Tampa in the four game set this weekend, which, all right, yeah, normally you're, if you'd have a performance like that, you're probably going to get a little bit of love on this show.

Jim, Brett Gardner, who's, you know, we obviously have our pulse closer to the Yankee world, he was someone who was just written off as straight up dead. He's older now. People are, old players aren't as sexy. Well, I disagree if you see C.C. Sabathie on the mound.

And he got off to a rough start this season. We were in, it was mid-May, May 18th, or May 17th. Brett Gardner was hitting 193, and after his rough season last year, people just wrote him off. And then Jimmy, he's just gone off. Depending

what different scopes you want to use for his past 25 games, basically a clear month. 321 batting average, 18 on base, a 1.06 OPS from Brett Gardner, a guy who's pictured as like a sloppy fellow around the league. He goes into the all-star break with 15 home runs on the year. And again, you and I are close to this and we know a little bit more of what Brett Gardner means to the team on a day-to-day basis. And I mean, we were at the point where you start saying excuses and like, yeah, he's basically

a team captain. He's around the guy. He's the longest tenured Yankee. And then guess what? He goes nuts for like almost two months now we're coming up on. So shout out to Uncle Brett for a big weekend and just a big month and a half. Yep. Shout out to Uncle Brett. I have a thanks Seattle award. Oh. People. People late wait in line for days for this award. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks, Seattle. It goes to Jay Bruce. Yeah. Jay Bruce is the first player in MLB history to hit 10 home runs with two different teams before the All-Star break.

That's pretty cool. Because Seattle loves making trades and just traded away pieces earlier than any team ever has. Jay Bruce, they traded, Edwin and Carnaccio, they traded. But yeah, it's kind of cool. The All-Star game was pushed in the midsummer in 1933, so it's technically from 1933, but no one could have done it before because there's no break. But yeah, 10 home runs.

He's got 24 home runs on the year, 10 with Seattle, or 14 with Seattle and 10 with Philadelphia now. Just an interesting fun tidbit. Jim, that was interesting and a fun tidbit. Okay. What do you got? One more award, and then I got one. Jim my my last award um another award that people i mean it's not the not the thanks

seattle award uh i went with the sleeping giant award jim um john carlo stanne oh he uh he might literally be sleeping right now trying to get healthy um it's actually kind of the opposite jim and i i wanted to level myself out a bit before people came at my yankee throat So it's going to Mookie Betts, Jim, and I think he's woken up. Oh, I know when we looked at his stats a little earlier this season, you're kind of surprised. And Brett Gardner actually has more home runs and RBIs than Mookie Betts at the All-Star Break.

Talk about not anything can happen in baseball. Everyone should have lost that bet coming into the season. Mookie since London, he's hit in 387. with a 512 OBP and a 1.061 OPS. And over this three-game series with Detroit, he had two three-hit games. He had seven hits on the series overall. And I think Mookie Betts is going to have a second half to remember

because he's a special player. And I mean, they've been getting carried by Bogart's Devers, who are good players. I think we're going to see Mookie turn it up this second half. All right. Good for Mooky. I'd rather if he was just, you know, just have a bad year, be good next year again. Okay.

As a Yankee fan. Yeah. Last award, and then we'll get to elevator talk. Tough time to be a Tyler, Jake. Oh. I was going through some box scores. I ran into this. Tyler Webb, actually, tough time to be a Tyler who plays in the Midwest and pitches in the seventh inning award.

Here we go. Tyler Webb, twins. pitcher and Tyler Duffer, St. Louis pitcher, they both threw 0.2 innings in relief, both pitched in the seventh inning, both gave up three runs and both gave up a home run, both got pulled before being able to finish the inning. So Midwest Tyler's in the seventh inning? No good this past weekend. Can't do it. Can't do it. I'm fine with rolling with that rule the whole season. I just think it sounds too risky. Yeah, I wouldn't double down on it.

I'm not putting Tyler Clippert out there. Hey, did Tyler Duffer pitch today? Okay, we're not pitching our Tyler either. Yeah, no. If you see a Tyler in in the seventh inning of a game, bet bet on the over. Like right then, live bet the over. It's going to shit. Because it's coming. All right. I think this might become a, fan favorite segment. I don't know. I know I'm excited for it. It is elevator talk. If you're not sure what elevator talk is, I have a wheel with all 30 teams. We're going to spin the wheel. It's

going to land on a team. If you're stuck in the elevator with a fan of that team, Jake and I are going to give you some fodder to talk to them about as if you know what's going on. We're going to put spin the wheel. Then we're going to put two minutes on the clock. Jake and I are going to go to our websites, whatever we use to look up stats and just throw them your way. Here we go. In that wheel. We do get some vetoes and taste. We talked enough about the pirates. And we landed on the Oakland Athletics.

You want to do it? Ooh, there's been a lot of Liam Hendricks. I think we can. All right. Yeah, we already told you all about Oakland. The athletics. Liam Hendricks is doing well at the report. Oh, did you already start the clock?

Are you going? It's going, man. It goes right away. Oh, my God. Got to be quick. Last time you did a whole setup. You did a whole interesting. introduction and stuff.

Marcus Simeon is currently one of their better players. He has 102 hits. Matt Chapman, one of the best third baseman in the game, probably him and Aronado, the top. He's subbing in the home run derby. Yellich pulled out. Chapman's going in. So you're going to want to mention that in the elevator. That's good.

Yeah. Oh, did you hear Chapman's going in the elevator? I don't think his swings made for a home run derby, but I'm excited about it. That's definitely good. Luriano is a centerfielder, and you can just say, like, yes, that's all. All right, but he's got a fantastic arm. Love, and then the Chris Davis 247 stuff. That's great elevator fodder.

Yeah, I would say I'd stay away from ProFar. Jurexon, they were pretty excited for him this year. He's having a rough start to the season. Yeah, I might, Matt Olson has started doing good things. He's like 19 home runs through 58 games. We did the whole Chris Davis thing, so we don't need to end up there again. you know about Liam Hendricks and that's obvious. Do they got anyone in their rotation?

Frankie Montes having a good year, Jim. Frankie Montes, not a lot of people know about him. He currently has a, what is it, 270 ERA, Jake? That's really good. 27 flat, yeah, 26 years old. Frankie Montes. Wow. Montes.

And it looks like they've won four, straight series? Five, six? The Azer Hot, Jim. Azer hot? Okay, there you go. That's everything you need to know. The A's are hot. Liam Hendricks is good. Simions got the most hits. Chapman's doing the derby. What was that pitcher's name that's having a really good year? Frankie Montes. Montes. Brentis. Brett Anderson's having a better year than anyone should have expected. Same with Mike Fires. Nothing amazing. Montes is pretty good. Wait, Jimmy, we totally lied. Montes just got suspended for the 80 games for performance enhancing drugs. So there's your storyline.

Maybe stay away from Montes. Be like, wow, he was having a good years, but the drugs. No, you just throw out it was too good to be true, huh? Oh, that's good. That's a great casual line. Yeah. I knew it was too good to be true. Yeah.

Yeah. All right, that ends this episode, this test episode of talking baseball. If you listened on Patreon, whether it's John Boy Media, I'm going to post this to Talking Yanks as well. Please give us any feedback. I think we need intro and outro music. I know that. But I think the segments are pretty good, Jake.

I think they're pretty good. I like, I think this went well. I'd love to hear some feedback. So thank you for listening. And we will see you next Friday.