Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 22 | Sept 16th | Mets & Dodgers Have Fun, Cubs Go Off, Twins beat CLE

Episode Date: September 16, 2019

The Dodgers and Mets played three close games of good baseball. The Twins took care of business in Cleveland. The Cubs bats slaughtered the Pirates and the Oakland A's have won 6 straight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's September 16th. There's still two weeks left of baseball. We got some wild card races to iron out. Let's talk baseball. What's going on, everybody? Thank you for tuning into talking baseball. My name is John Boy. I got my co-host.

No? That's a lie. My name's John Boy? No. I got my co-hose Jake next to me. me and we're going to talk some baseball how you doing jake i thought it was jimmy for all these years i'm good man i'm good i'm in it's james if you want to play that game i do thank you i want to keep each other and check this episode i'm in the john boy lair we got the patreon people live i kind of got the john

i fucked it up i got the john boy parrot seat going i'm i'm kind of over the shoulder but um i'm excited man we got a big thing going on today um in the baseball world we're going to we're going to meet a couple guys, it's whatever. Don't even worry about that. But I'm good, man. We're a big day, big weekend. Big weekend. You came out here and now we got a big week ahead of us. We got some events we're doing hosting our own event at the stadium tomorrow. That's really exciting. Today we're going to an event in the city to meet some cool people, hopefully. Hopefully. I think so. We could say the event, right? Sure. We're going to C.C. Sabathia is having

a legacy C.C. Gala tonight. Should be a who's-hous. A lot of baseball players. A lot of pop culture people was looking at last year. DJ Collet, if you're into that kind of thing. What question are you going to ask them if you see him? I'm just going to say,

we the best, and give him a hug. Not bad strategy. Thank you. What are you going to ask him? I'll be the camera guy. I don't know a thing about him. Okay. What if we're both on the camera? Only thing I know about DJ Khalid is another one.

Yeah. That's him, right? Nailed it. That's all I know. You got it. Does he sing or does he make beats? Yeah. He's one of those guys.

He makes some noises. He makes some beats. There's some music. There's some words. It's totally out of my realm. Not classically what you'd consider. I don't want to say music. Because he's making music.

but not like songs. I'll just, I'll work the camera. You do that if he comes back. You work him, I'll work him. Cool. Because if I know another one, I'm sure that's all he ever gets. So I'm not even going to say that to him.

I'm going to skip that one. Wait for the baseball players. Okay. Anyway, you want to go right into this, Jake? We got a lot of action. We're like two weeks away from the postseason. We talked about this last week. For this show, for talking baseball,

I am incredibly ready for the postseason. For the Yankees, I'm a little saddened by the season ending and my everyday games going away and nervous about the results. No nerves when I'm talking about the rest of the league. Just excitement. So I still got stuff to figure out, which is wild.

Yeah, I feel like that emotion you're talking about of wanting to get to the postseason, I mean, we've got two weeks left or so. And I think from there, I guess what we don't know is there's two and a half teams that we're going to be talking about for the next two weeks that will be completely irrelevant. Like there's going to be one AL team that misses the playoffs.

It's going to be either Cleveland or Tampa or Oakland. We're like Oakland cementing themselves. They're on a six-game winning streak. And we like that. But, I mean, we're going to spend time on one of those teams and they're going to not end up making the playoffs. The NL Central slash NL Wildcard, it's who is. And we just want to know the matchup. Like, how many times have you and I now, because it's so fun to think about,

have wandered down the Washington Nationals home and be like, yo, they got to throw Shurs, right? They got to throw Shurs. And it's like that conversation is a lot of fun, but we've had it three times, and there's two weeks until that game. Yeah. So it's like, get us home, baby. All right.

Let's talk about what happened this weekend. We have the National League Report, which is brought to you by our friends over at the Roosevelt's. Shirts, go grab one, Jake. Isn't I wear it over there? Roosevelt shirts. They make fun shirts, conversational starting shirts. You can't even go buy a carton of milk without someone to say, hey, man, what's up with that shirt? Good luck with your milk.

Good luck with your milk and cool shirt. And they're like, oh, don't talk to me. I'm buying milk. I'd rather not talk to a random person. She just came out here for milk. I have headphones and glasses on. Why would you think I want to talk to you? Oh, because I've got swag dripping on my swag bag.

Should I say that to college? Yikes, that was bad. Well, anyway, go to Roosevelt's, R-S-V-L-T-S dot com slash John Boy. They've curated a list of baseball shirts. They're fun. And you get 20% off your order, which we like to say, like, you put in that 20%, you see how much a discount is. You're like, damn, that was a real one. Sometimes they're real, sometimes they're not.

Go over to roosevelt's. Dot com slash Johnboy. Dare mighty things. Dare mighty things. Jake, can you give you. me the National League report. I'd love to. James at the top of the National League,

the Atlanta Braves hold the nationals to one run in the first two games combined of this series, including Soroka. Hey, past the Soroka. He out duels Scherzer in game one. Nats won the final game of the three games set. Braves, it's just what they do. The New York Metropolitan's hosted. the two-time defending NL champs, the Dodgers, the Doyers, LAD takes game one.

Mets win an incredible DeGrom Rieu game behind a Rage Davis pride of CT. Base is clearing double, and the Mets have the lead on Sunday night baseball, and the Penn can't hold it. Dodgers take two out of three at City. Philly's interleaked. You'll hear John talk about them, and the Miami Marlins lost. Two out of three to Los Hibiro Hiantes. The two games the Giants won.

They scored a total of three runs. In the Central, the leading Cardinals hosted the Yelich-less Brewers. Cards win game one, 10-0. Oh, wow. But then they lose the final two games, including the final game, a Ryan Braun Grand Slam in the top of the ninth Sunday to give the Brewers the lead.

Counsel and the Brew crew scratching a game. and claw. That's all they do. The baby bears. Oh, my God, don't get me started on Bears Broncos yet. But this is a baseball podcast. The Cubbies sweep the pirates. They score 14 plus runs in all three games.

Come on, the pirates do a little better, but good for the Cubbies. The Cincinnati Reds take two out of three in the desert. A lot of impressive pitching performances in this set, including Trevor Bowers, best outing as a red. The snakes seem like the shovel is about to change. chop their head off. And those D-backs playing the West, John, where you know the Dodgers already clinched and they took down the Mets. San Fran beat the Marlins without scoring, and the debacks might be the deadbacks. My Colorado Rockies hosted and swept, not got swept.

The Rockies swept the San Diego Fathers. Rockies push across double-digit runs in all three games. Cours Field, baby. And that is your NL report. Good stuff, Jake. A lot happened, huh? Thanks, James. How about those Dodgers? What the hell was that about? I mean, they've already clinched the division.

So, you know. I meant Cubs. Okay. How about those Cubs? All right. Well, let's talk. I was going to say. I was like, I don't know, Dodgers Mets played some good baseball.

Yeah, that's good. We'll talk about that. We will talk about it. The Cubs went off. I'm trying to look at who the pitchers were for the pirates. Look at this. Look at the lines for the Pirates. Yeah.

Stephen Brault. Stephen Brault. His line is 2.2 innings pitched. Eight hits, 10 earned runs. Yeah. Three walks. Jesus Christ. And then the next game, it is, who is this?

Simply marvelous, James Marvel. James Marvel, four innings pitch. So he made it longer. Nine hits, seven earned runs. And then in game three, Trevor Williams, 2.1, seven earned runs. Yeah. Pittsburgh. What the fuck? That's a bad look for the Pirates starting pitching.

I saw someone in the chat, and again, we've got our Patreon talking baseball chat going where people join us live. They said it was the most runs the Cubs had scored in a three-game set since 1897. Yeah. Were you at that series? No. No, I missed that one. I was fishing.

But the Cubs, can I look at the Cubs pitching? because, like, Kintana couldn't get out of the second inning. You can look at the Cubs pitching. So the offense is there, but the offense was so there that Kyle Hendricks had a good inning or a good outing, okay? Kentana did not. Yeah. You'll hear about Kintana's name later.

And Lester did not. So the Cubs, I'd still be a little nervous. Yeah, three earn run, unearned runs there for Lester. Still not a good start. I didn't even see that. I just saw the 5-4 and 11 hits, and that's not good. Yeah, I mean, it's the Pirates. They've been, since the All-Star break, the Pirates have been one of the worst teams in baseball.

But the Cubbies hold their serve. That's what you've got to do. I mean, we've seen a lot of series where health is obviously that priority the rest of the way, so you're going to have some punt days, or you're going to see games the rest of the way where you see relievers, lesser relievers coming in situations they have no right being in if it was the middle of the season. but because rest and health is the priority, you're going to see some pitchers out there giving up moon balls and tight games. I know we've seen it with our Yankees.

But, yeah, the Cubbies hold their serve, and that's what I was getting at. I mean, if they had won two out of three, we'd say, hey, you would have liked to sweep, but you got two out of three. They got the sweep. Good for the Cubs. They are now two games back in the Central. That's still a possibility for them. Oh, yeah.

And I think they finish up with a Cardinal. series. They might have two. I'll get that Cubs schedule going again. Man, I'd be cool if that becomes in play. In my brain, the Central was going to the Cardinals, but the Cardinals, what did the Cardinals do? Jim, Cubs Cardinals have seven games left. Seven?

Yeah, man. I think I did the schedule a little bit last week, but yeah, they're, they've got a four-gamer this weekend, and then they finish the season with a three-gamer. Holy shit, that's awesome. So basically, I hate to break it to you, Cardinals fans, but right now you guys are tied. This is what I was telling you, and you were lost in the wild card. And I was like, no, let's bring that NL Central back into play. I didn't realize there was seven games between the two plays.

Yeah. So that means if you're a Cubs fan, I mean, you're a tie. With seven games left, a two-game lead is basically a tie. It means nothing. It holds no weight. It holds a little weight. It holds a little weight. I'm team it holds a little way.

You got to beat the Cubs. Would you rather be two games up or two games down? Straight up doesn't matter. Cubs have seven games to do what they need to do. And they can, not only can they take the lead, they can take, not only can they even it up, they can take a huge lead. So the destiny is in those seven games.

Nothing to do with the lead already there. I will take the two game lead. That's, Cubs, if you're a Cubs fan, you should be cocky. Just got to win those five of those seven games. And you're there. Because the last three are at the end of the season. That last series is going to be fantastic.

Last series is in St. Louis, FYI. It's going to be great. They've got to really match up their pitchers for that. It's going to be so much fun. All right. I'm excited about that. The Nationals lose a little in their wild card lead. They were like four games up as the top wildcard spot.

And now the Cubs are only, two games behind them and the Cubs and the Cardinals are doing something and one of them falls, the Nationals may be scared about home field advantage. Yeah, and that's a game and a half back. It'll be interesting how that Central sorts out. I mean, you mentioned the Cubbies. I mean, Milwaukee's one game back of them. The Cubsies, Cardinals, you obviously went down to make your own destiny path there.

But Milwaukee is still right there. And yeah, man, depending how these things. teams finish, you could have a team leading the central that gets like out of the playoffs in two games. So yeah, I mean, and I guess this is kind of what I was open with. Like there's, there's officially going to be two teams with severe heartbreak. It's going to be one team missing it from the National League. There's going to be two good teams that miss the playoffs in baseball, one from the NL, one from the AL, which I think is kind of the goal. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, I think the goals to have more than that, but so many teams are tanking.

Milwaukee, dude, they, are they going to do, they're going to make noise without Yelch? I still think it's not worthwhile. Jim, they're nine and one with their last 10 and you're looking at the schedule right now. Name those teams. Yeah, I know. They got Padres, Pittsburgh, Reds, Rockies. If I'm a Brewers fan, I'm peacock and more than a Cubs fan right now. Yeah, but I don't think the brewers can do anything in the postseason.

So that's where I see this and I'm like, damn, the Brewers are going to make the playoffs. You just got to get in the dance. Yeah, but I'd rather a team that I think can put up a good fight. A lot of heart right now in Milwaukee. You know what? If Milwaukee, I'll be rooting for them once they're in because I think they're kind of an underdog. Yeah, exactly.

No yelly. They're just scrapping and clon. Brian Braun's pretending like Yelich is dead. I heard a rumor that if they win the World Series or make it to the NLCS without Yelich, they're thinking about just straight up cutting them. Releasing him. Sasing him, yeah.

Where'd you hear that? And they just have a stamp that's a not needed. Can you reveal your sources? I can't. Who would reveal their source? I just, we know you're a well-connected man. Yeah. Just like sneeze the source.

So like we can. At Brewers fan, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine on Twitter. Wow. They DM'd me. Insider. Yeah, that's that good stuff. Anything else you want from here? I mean, the Reds took two out of three from,

the Diamondbacks, they're dead, right? D-backs got killed. And Phillies got killed, too. Phillies are out. Phillies are officially dead. Are you going to give the Mets any life? We said the Dodgers series. I said they just had to get one because they have a crazy easy schedule the rest of the way.

But, like, looking at the Brewer's schedule, they've got a crazy easy schedule the rest of the way. So that's why I would be more excited for the Mets to go into the playoffs than the Brewers. because more armed talent. More armed talent and East Coast bias that, like, I just naturally have from being an East Coast guy. I went to one Brewer's game once. Sure. They were doing the play-by-play in the game.

Like, I was sitting in my seats and I was listening to the radio guy. It was some special occasion. I've reached out the Brewers fans. Like, no, that doesn't happen, but I think I remember that. And it was terrible. It's like, I'm watching the game. I don't need God. telling me what's happening.

Right. He takes a lead off first. He's not the fastest. Over the loudspeaker? Over the loudspeaker in the whole arena. Yeah, that doesn't sound right. It was brutal. And it was my first time ever in an indoor.

They had the roof closed. Now I was like, this experience sucks. Yeah, we're going to have to redeem that because that doesn't sound right. No, no. I know. I was like, do they always do that? And they said, no, no, it was a special occasion. It was like anniversary of the radio guy or some stuff.

Gotcha. Yeah. But me and I were like, what the hell is going? Yeah. That's a tough one game to go to. Yeah. I was living in Wisconsin, so we, like, just popped right up. I was living in Illinois.

Right. So we popped up to Wisconsin. I was going to say, if you have a Wisconsin chapter that you haven't told me about until now? Oh, I did some time in the Dells. You'd love the Dells. I am the Dells. Wisconsin doesn't have any, like, fun parts. Whoa.

Yikes. Wisconsin doesn't have any shoreline or, like, big lakes, or, you know, so they just created this place called the Dells. Brutal. It's just full of water parks and go-karting. It's like a beach town, but they just smacked it. They created a beach town. They created like a beach town vibe.

Gotcha. And everyone goes there. Tough episode between you and Milwaukee. The stadium experience, you said you're not rooting for them to get into the playoffs. And then you said there's no fun in Wisconsin. But I did say if they make the playoffs, I then will root for them. But for the next 14 days. Yeah

No dice Well right now In the brewer's schedule They are the favorite Right And I'm going to root for all the underdogs Right But that's not true either

That's a lie Right Like if you're out of the playoffs Just fucking lose Ooh Let all the good teams Just keep winning When the brewers are holding that trophy

Man they're going to shove it in your face I mean You'd put good money on the Brewers Not winning the works Correct Yeah I mean, I put pretty good money on every team, not winning the World Series. Odds and stats.

And that's the NL report. That's the NL report. Moving on to the AL report, which I did. And here we go. All right, we're going to open up with the series you do not care about. The Mariners took two of three from the White Sox, and the Red Sox had a two-game sweep over the Phillies. Don't care.

Matters none. Moving on to the kind of matter, but kind of don't matter series. The Baby Jays took two games from the Yankees, one via walkoff. Bo Bouchette, first walkoff of his life. The Astros went up north for some barbecue and some easy wins. They sweep the Royals, and they are now tied with the Yankees for home field advantage. Same exact record. Moving on to the games that really matter.

The A swept the Rangers, Jake. They have now won six in a row. row, they overcome two poor starts from Bassett and Fires by scoring 100 runs. And the Rays could not complete the sweep against the Angels who lost Mike Trout to seasoning injury. Glass now made another appearance. He looked pretty good, but he's still not stretched out at all. And Yarbrough got blowed up at game three, dropping the Rays, a game behind the A's for the top wildcard spot. The Twins took two games from Cleveland in the six. same day, a double header and they're kind of both heartbreaking losses for the Indians,

but they did win the third game, which keeps them close in the wild card. Good job. And now the biggest series of the weekend, the battle for the worst team in all of baseball, the Orioles and the Tigers squared off and the Orioles cemented their place, cemented their spot as second worst team by taking two of three from the Tigers. but since the Tigers did win one game, both of those teams now have 100 plus losses. That's your AOL report. Was that all the teams, or are we just killing some teams now?

It's all teams. One, two. No socks? I did them. Thanks for listening. Where are they? Red Sox had two games sweep over the Phillies. No one cares.

Oh, I'm not seeing it on here. Right here. Oh, they're not bolded. Okay, my bad. I like your bold thing. Nice. You're a bold guy. Thank you.

Yeah, man. So there's a lot of stuff that doesn't really matter. Like the Yankees and Astros are playing for home field advantage. They're tied right now. Both teams have admitted that they value rest and health. Yes. Like Hinge came out and said it. Like Rest and Health is top priority.

Boone said it. So it's cool that they both have the same strategy and we'll see where it lands. But the wild card race is getting fun. The A's are on a tear. It's a little bit like I was saying with the Cubs where, like, you want to be firing on all cylinders eventually. And right now, the A's offense is going crazy. But they had two really bad pitching outings.

Like fires couldn't get out of the first or second again, and Bassett got crushed. And it's good. Get the wins. So does this help your Mark Fires as tipping his pitches or hurt your Mark Fires as Titchin? We'll get to Mark Fires. Okay. Or Mike fires later.

Well, I want to talk about Mark, his father. Oh, bad guy. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He doesn't keep any of his receipts. Do you? Well, no, that's a little different, like, because Mark Fires burns the receipt right in front of the cashier.

Yeah, I mentioned the relief pitching before. Jimmy mentioned the Yankees and the Astros getting healthy. The walkoff was against Tyler Lyons. Why are you always lying? And don't get me wrong. He's an okay state guy. pokes, but he's not a part of the Yankees team at all, really. I think he got him from Pittsburgh.

They didn't want him. And the Yankees are just like, hey, if this dude can throw bullets and keep our guys healthy, we'll use him. So, yeah, again, that's what we're talking about. We're at that point of the season. The A's, man, I know you said they had the bad starts, but they're chugging. Six in a row? Six in a row now, yeah.

A's are tough, man. They called up a few of the young prospects. they're going crazy. These are mean. Listen to all the runs they score, man. Look at their last stretch of runs. 21, 5, 3, but then 14, 8, 6. They've had three games this month with double-digit,

or four games this month with double-digit runs. If I could do math, I'd add all this up and then divide it by it, but I'm not a math guy. Not a math guy. Yeah, A's are rolling pretty good. I think we saw a lot of runs scored this weekend, but it was kind of wild. It wasn't a bunch of, like,

there wasn't like a three-homer eight RBI game. We'll talk about that in standout performances a little bit. But a lot of teams push runs across, and I mean the main story in the American League, like you said, is the Orioles. No, guys, it's not. It was the Indians' twins. I know you were juiced up for that.

When Cleveland's right, they're a super fun team. And we just keep thinking, the Twinkies are going to slip up. And I think they've hit the point where it's like, no. I mean, they deserve a little more respect than they've been getting. Well, they bullpened the first game of the doubleheader against Clevenger, who went eight in his pitch, two earned runs, 10 strikeouts? Like Clevenger had a really good start, but gets the loss because the twins bullpened

against them and every pitcher they threw allowed one hit, no earned runs. Smeltser, Lattel, Duffy, Rome. Mo Rogers. I mean, show that box score to Yankees fans. Like, because that's the Yankees plan in the playoff. That's going to be a couple teams' plans in the playoff is just bullpen the hell out of it. So yeah, Mikey Clevenger, if you have your eight-inning pitch to earn run, that's good. Twins bullpen went nine no-er-run run.

Yeah, well, then the fucking, the Indians tried to bullpen game two of the double header, and they made the fatal mistake of starting Tyler Clippard, who's been in the league. league way too long. He can't handle that. He gives up two earned runs right away. Hunter Wood, the pirate, comes out and then they go to Cookie in a role that he's not used to. Can't have these veterans bullpening. If you want a bullpen, it needs to be, you know, is a new person that's coming up the ranks. Tyler Clippard and Cookie Carrasco have been in the league for a decade. You think they're going to go out there

and just like, yeah, I'll do this. I'm not a creature of habit at all. Yeah, I mean, Carrasco, he's still working back from his cancer and stuff. Clifford, I fully agree with you. Clifford, you can't have him be an actual opener, opener. Throw like weird Adam Simber out there. Like, that's as frustrating as it can get. And Jim, this game, Cleveland also had the lead in this game. Lewis Thorpe got knocked around pretty good for the Twinkies.

But Miguel Suno had the Big Grand Salami. And the twins fought in Cleveland, which, you know, we've given a lot of teams credit for being able to scrap and sclaw at the right time. And the twins did. The twins did. Again, if they, if they faltered this series, we would be banging the table talking about the AL Central like the NL Central and the twins took care of business. Big home runs by Sineau. But our dude, Brutstar Graterall got the win in game two. Bruce Star hits triple digits, by the way. I'm a huge Bruce Star graderol guy. Jake, game three, and I said this in the notes, right? If Cleveland gets swept by the

twins, they're kind of, they're out of the division for sure. And they're kind of like a jump away from where they would like to be in the wildcard. They could be two and a half games with six or whatever, 10 to play. Right. But they win game three on a good performance by the Beeps, I think. Oh, actually not that great of a performance by the Beeps, but they win it. And that keeps them in play for the Wild Card, which is they're only one game behind the race right now. Yeah.

And that's, it's got to be an interesting feeling in the Cleveland clubhouse right now because they came into this weekend saying like, hey, we're at home, hosting the twins. Let's get back in this AL Central and win it like we're supposed to. And then you come off the twins shove a little bit and now you are fighting for the wild card. You're a game and a half out. You're going to need a little help and you got to play good baseball. Yeah. Damn.

The raise, dude. Blake Snell returns today, I believe. Snell Graham. And Glassnow pitched again. Dude, they're like really going slow with him, I think, because he only threw 50 pitches. So he's only got three innings pitch, but, I mean, maybe it's the same thing

the Yankees are going to try and get out of, like, Severino. Just need a Swiss Army guy. Yeah, I mean, I don't think they even want to start him. I think they just want to use him as a, like, a three-inning weapon out of the bullpen. That'd be cool. Charlie Morton had a... It's weapon season. Wow.

Damn. Where is this Glass now? What is this Glass now? Glass now. Yeah. You think Snell's going to come back and be good? Because that's like a game change. Oh, there's a chance.

I think so, because they're only going to ask so much of them. Yeah, so Glass Now threw 41 pitches for the raise in his return, which was two innings. And then he threw 51. so it's just a slight increase, which makes sense. So go 61, next one. Yeah, 61. Good movie. Rules or rules.

Thanks, Billy Crystal. Thanks, Will. I want the Indians to overtake the raise. You don't want that? I don't think it's going to happen. It'd be tough to picture the rays slipping up at this point. Like you mentioned, they got guys coming back. And Cleveland just hasn't been the same team without Ramirez.

It's tough, but that's kind of baseball. But you saw Pueke having fun. And I love Pueke having fun. A good slap in the ass from Clevenger. That'll always get me going. But, yeah, I don't know. It's tough to believe in Cleveland right now. What's, you know who Cleveland's got coming up at all?

I don't know, but they're only a game out. Game in a half, right? Game in the loss column. They've got the Tigers coming up. That is good. Yeah. And then they've got that Philly. series. That'll be

odd. And then they finish with the National. So they go Tigers. So you got to sweep. Yeah. You have to sweep. No two out of three. They host the Phillies. So you got to win that series. Philly's are out of it and they're very sad. They're getting ejected. They're yelling. They're crying. They're out. I don't know. I think they've got some pride. I don't think they're going to go full collapse. I think they still want to hit.

White Sox. You go to the White Sox. You need to take care business there and then they go to the nationals to end the season so nationals are putting their rotation in order for the wild card game right but that still might line up for friday i think so they still might get sherser i mean they still might get really good guys from the nationals so i'm trying to think of how the yankees have done it the last two years you line up your wild card pitcher so he pitches you know on regular rest and usually that's the the third to last game of the season what you have right so they might get sherser and then the next two games they get complete like

scrap well they might get like Corbin and them just to throw like 60 pitches and get them out of there yeah so it'll be interesting it like that last that the last two games may mean absolutely nothing to Washington yeah and they could mean the world to Cleveland so that is interesting go Cleveland go

go Cleveland go I am not trying to watch a playoff game in the trap trap Get a drop with it. I'd rather. You might have to watch a World Series game in the Trub. When? This year.

Last no season, baby. Blake's now our best friends coming back, but... Rays have a two-gamer against the Doyers. Interesting to see what that looks like. They've got four against the socks. Is that coming up right now? Yeah. So they're going to get that Catter-Day loser

and like what's his name the other one with an R. Sterling. Ross Stripling. Ross Stripling and they'll probably get Catterday dude, right? Yeah, I think so. So that's pretty good for the raise. That's good for them. Then they host the Red Sox for four. It's death season in Red Sox land.

Two game are against the Yankees. Yanks just trying to be healthy. And then they finish with three against the J's. So it could be fun. It's only one game different. so I'm rooting for Cleveland. NL Central is where the action's at. Blake Snell versus Ross Stripling,

and then Brendan McKay versus Tony Gonsolin. Gonsolin. That's the cat guy. My guy. That's crazy. I don't think I've ever been in tune enough with the MLB to know who the starters are for another team. Look at that.

Proud of you. And then Blake's Nell versus two-way McKay. Those are kind of fun games. Go Dodgers go Wow I mean I said I'm not rooting for the race Yeah So I want the Dodgers to win

That's how it works All right moving on up To our standout performances That works Jimmy James John Boy All three of your names I was told that

John Boy wasn't my name And Jimmy was And James I don't know You got me all confused. There's a lot of Shades of Gray this episode. Jim, speaking of Shades of Gray, the standout performances this week, you and I, and I think it's been a fun part of this show, Jim, that you and I have looked at the standout

performances each week, and we've kind of walked away thinking the same things. Like, there's either been two guys that it's like, yo, we got to get these dudes. Or it's been kind of like, whoa, this was such a pitchers weekend. Check out these guys. Or we've seen some crazy hitters we've. weekend. Jim, this one was odd because there was a ton of hitting around the MLB, but not a bunch of crazy standout performances. So I'm not going to say you and I both copped out, but we both got Ready to get creative. Yeah, we got a little creative with our standout performances. Jim,

I went a power hitting third basement route with my standout performances. And calm down, Cups fans. You'll hear about Bryant later. But Jim, Miguel Cineau. and you, Henio Suarez, our guy. Hino. Sino for the Twinkies, Swares, for Cincinnati. Jim, Miguel Sino, he had a hit in all three games in the big series. We like that. I like that.

Spread it out. Two homers. He's a power hitter. We like that. Yeah. And the one was a game-winning grand slam. And Jim, he is putting together a nice little season. Now, he got hurt for a little bit.

241, 341 on base, 897. OPS, which is okay. Pretty good. Jim, his per 162 averages, or he's lined up to start 152 games, or if he did, he'd be on a 50 homer place, pace, 80 plus extra base hits. And Jim, the biggest thing, I mean, Miguel Sanoe is a classic baseball story. The guy was a huge prospect. He was an all-star two years ago. He had a miserable last year. He hit 199 with a 697 OPS. And, and he was a huge prospect, and he was a big, he was a big, And if you remember, they sent him down to, like, high A, because he was, he was, like, friends with the hitting coach down there. And it was literally a classic case of, like, you're broken. And the twins were looking for anything.

And now he is a mean, right-handed power threat in the middle of that lineup. And he had a slow start to this season, too. So he's got an OPS in the 9 since the start of July. And, Jim, it felt rude leaving out Eugenio Suarez for Cincinnati. Mattie. Jim, he had a two-homer game against the snakes. He outscored the diamond backs in that game. And by the way, he's leading the National League in home runs with 47. He's got a good chance for a 50 burger on the map. I mean, shout out to him. He might be one of the best players you don't know about in baseball. So he deserved to get some love. Not bad. A lot of third baseman.

A lot of power hitting third baseman. Jake's one of Jake's favorite positions on the field. Yeah, baby. Yeah. So I have a similar standout performance, and I just went straight up with the pitchers and the starting pitchers for the Mets Dodgers series. Yes. So in game one, it was Sindegard versus Kershaw.

In game two, it was DeGrom versus Rieu. And in game three, it was Wheeler versus Bueller. Wheeler Bueller. Would you rather be named Wheeler Bueller or Wier? Walker Bueller. I think Walker. Wheelers. Wheelers kind of fun.

Wheeler's a little fun. You can call you wheels? Wheels. Wheels is good. Yeah, that's got to... Because he don't want to be walks. Yeah, I think wheels kind of take it for me now that I have that nickname.

Wheels, Bules, that doesn't work. Yeah, it's a conversation. Okay. We watched a little bit... We watched a lot of the second game. So the pitching lines from this game. So it's all hyped up. Like, wow, this is...

crazy. Look at these matchups. And then they kind of came too. They like fit the bill. Riu went seven innings pitch, two hits, zero earned runs. Kershaw, 6.1 innings pitch, four hits, two earned runs. Bueller, only five innings pitch, but only two earned runs, only two hits. DeGrom, seven innings pitched, three hits. Wheeler, seven innings pitch, one earned run.

Noah has the worst. Sindigard went five innings pitched, five hits, four and runs, and there's some drama with his personal catcher. but these games were good. Yeah. These games were good games. Bullpens were in tight spots, all three games, and that's how you know it's good baseball.

Game two, you and I watched, and we were doing a live stream on YouTube channel, was really good. DeGram and Ryu put on a show. I mean, it was tied after seven and a half innings, and then Rajay Davis comes through the big hit. Pride of Connecticut. I mean, look at this, Jake.

Seven innings pitch for Ryu, two hits. Zero and runs. Sevenes pitch for DeGrom, three hits, zero and runs. One, really good for Dodgers fans because Riu and Kershaw had been trending downwards slightly. Well, Ryu kind of was jarring. Yeah. And they get good outings out of those. But this was, it was Sunday night baseball.

So it's my standout performance because they put on a really good show for the national audience and any new listener or new, like, follower of baseball. I like it, Jim. And, yeah, Ryu de Grom, I mean, was his, was his, good as it gets. And I think this is kind of a weird thing that maybe people wouldn't expect, but DeGrom finished with eight strikeouts, Ryu with six. Both teams were putting together good at bats. Like these guys had to pitch a little bit. It wasn't just like, oh, Jacob deGrom had his A plus plus plus stuff. He finished with 12 strikeouts. Like, no. Like every at bat was there. The pitchers were giving each other good at bats because they had to. Like they needed to either

try to get them out of the game or spark their own team. So that really was special. Yeah. Want to know some people that weren't special? Slump Watch. Tramp Watch. Jake, you did Slump Watch today. I was going to say, when you said people that didn't do something special,

I feel like there was a lot of eyes on me already. Yeah. But. There's so many names on here. There's a ton of names, Jim. But that's good news because that means a lot of guys got off Slump Watch. Jim, we'll start with Ryu. You just mentioned him.

He's been on Slump Watch. He had a couple gnarly starts there, and I'll give you kudos because this is, you said it before me. We both thought it, but with the Dodgers, these guys can turn it on instantly. Yeah. Ryu had a good start. You shouldn't be worried about him at all. He's off. Jim, the next guy, this one's kind of a coin flip, but I think I know where you're going to land.

Ben Intendi for the Red Sox. He only started one game in the Philly series, Interleague Play. He went two for four. He had a hit by pitch, a sack fly. two runs and RBI. I mean, it's good. I don't know if it's get off slump watch, but it's kind of board watch with the Red Sox.

Send them. Just waving them away. See you, Benny. Congrats, kind of. Jim, my guy, Eddie Rosario for the twins. He went 0 for game one, kept that slump watch going, but the next two games,

four for eight, three home runs. And if you remember, an important part of Eddie Rosario, is his season is teetering on a lot of fun numbers right now. his average is up to 275, so that's good for Eddie. His slugging is sitting at 500, so he could go right below that or right above,

which 500 is a big slugging number, and his OPS is at 799. So Eddie Rosario, these last 11 games for him or whatever it is, are going to make his season look a lot different. He's right on the fence. Right? Like, goddamn. 275 batting average 500 slugging 799 OPS.

Now let me just change that slightly. 278 batting average, 515 slugging 810 OPS. I was going to up it just a little bit more. 280 batting average, 510 and 810 OPS. You're like, yeah, that guy's a really solid ball player. That's a great year. If he turns it down and he goes 269, nice, 489 slugging in a 785 OPS, you're like, yeah, he's solid.

Average player. So that's like Eddie. Like, you got a lot. When you see the bad pitchers out there this next few weeks, Eddie, you need to clean up. He does. That's funny. But he's off Slump Watch, though. He works his way off.

Jim, this has turned into its own segment, and he stays on Slump Watch. So Aristides, Akino for the Reds. He goes... Adestidis! He goes 2 for 11. No extra base hits. He got stolen base. We like that.

We want to watch him anyway. So, I mean, he stays kind of no matter what at this point. Yeah, but we're running into Figured him outwatch. Right. This is going to be a big series for Estes. Alistidis. Jim. So now we have the secondary list that you threw on there last week.

Malick Smith, he goes four for 10 for Seattle. Two walks, two RBIs, three swipes. Clean off. Good job, Malix. He had a good series. Good job, Malix. Jim, Travis Shaw, he only got two pinch hit at bats, one walk, one strikeout, or two played appearances.

It's bad watch. It's like this was a wasted season and no one. cares anymore at all, Travis Shaw? Like the track, I would say on February 13th, you're going to read the Travis Shaw got together with his old high school coach and they figured out his swing this offseason article.

Watch out for that. Okay. Jim, young thick, Austin Riley, yeah boy. Your representative on my Braves. Jim, Austin Riley, and I think it's funny that Travis Shaw only had two-pinch hit at bats because Austin Riley only had two pinch hit at bats, but he went two for two.

And he had a two RBI double. Twos are wild for Austin. I think that's how you get off slump watch. That's pretty cool. Pinch hitting is really hard to do. Good job, Young Thick, Austin Riley. And then back to my Braves, Danesby Swanson, Vandy Godores. He goes two for eight.

That's Mad Jim. But he had five wongs. Oh, he's still on. He had five walks. A 500 on base. Jim, he got on base in all five plate appearances in the second game. You're keeping them?

Yeah, dude. His slump wasn't like he had three bad games. Okay. He was like a month of bad at bats. Post-I.L. That's tough for Dansby, but I love that you keep them to that standard. Coming, I mean, five walks.

I mean, that's not. The pitchers suck. Who were they facing? The Nationals. It's a big series, man. I got to look into this a little bit more. Okay. Jim's going to start researching that.

I'll continue. Austin Head. Hedges, your catcher for the San Diego Padres. Hot boy. Total hot boy. Hot boy of summer. He goes two for five with a homer in three walks. And for Austin Hedges, that's a very big series.

So he's gone. Jim, I'll start introducing the new guys, who's new in town. Jim, Pistol Pete Alonzo. I went Big C. Fish in this week. Pete Alonzo, he's O for his last 20, Jim. What? Yeah. So that's how you get on slump watch.

Pete Alonzo for the Mets, if you don't know, come on. Your Mets fans are now disappointed. You got to know Pete. Jim, another one of your favorites, Yadier Molina for the St. Louis Cardinals, their catcher. He's won for his last 17. Another big fish in the boat. Not good.

Max Muncie, your guy. Second base, first base, all over for the Dodgers. he's won for his last 18. I will say this. He has five walks in his last. I think it's six games, something like that. So he's got a fun stat line, Jim. 056 batting average. 320 on base. Not bad. 376 OPS. So literally all Max Muncie has done for a week is walk. Change your name to Walker Bueller. I got. Okay. Update on Dansby Swanson. The first walk was an intentional walk because the pitcher was behind him. That does not benefit. Still got four more coming.

The next dude, his name is Wander Swarrow. He walked McCann and then walked Swansby and then got pulled. So, bad pitcher. And the next one-one game. Swero's pretty good. The next pitch, okay, the next pitcher was, it's a 3-2 count, so that's good, too. The next was a 3-1 walk. from Eric Fetty.

Lead-off walks. We like that. So that's a mixed bag. It's not enough. Mix bag. We're not feeling great about it. And then in the next game, and the Braves won 10 to 1. In the next game, let's see. It's the game before this we need. Before? Yeah.

Oh, okay. He's staying on. He's staying on. Jim's not convinced in Dansby's walks. And that's fair. That's fair, Ben, before the pitch. pitcher. That's NL. Baseball. Yeah, you get the benefit of having dumb rules. Strike out by Scherzer. Hunter Strickland walked him. 4-0 game. Okay. He stays. I mean, that's all this is. You want to get off, you got to get off.

Dan's B. Next week, maybe fight or flight. Jim, I got it. One more big fish as a hitter, Vlad Jr. He's three for his last 22. No extra base hits. Jim, he's kind of got a little bit of my guy Rosario going on. In the past week or so, Vlad Jr's OPS has gone from starting with an 8 to it now starts with a 7, and his batting average went from starting 27 to now 2.6. Oh, yeah. So Vlad's... That's that magical threshold.

Vladdy's got to tell you. Everyone always talks about those thresholds. Jim, and then I got to throw a couple hurlers on there. Jose Quintana for the Cubs, you mentioned him. Jim, and his last three, ten. 10.1 innings pitched, 20 hits, 13 earn runs. That's good for an 1132 ERA. And then Jim, finally, our guy, you and I had a fun chat about him this weekend.

Cal Quantrell for the Padres. Jim, it's August 20th. You're having a good rookie year. 13 games started, 81.1 innings pitch, a 3-2-ERA. Cal, you're part of the future of this Padres team, kid. keep twirling it. Jim, he's had four starts since then. The first three, he gave up eight earned runs in each game. His last starting, this last series, four earn runs and three innings. That adds up to 16.2 innings pitched, 28 earn runs, 34 hits. He's got a 1512 ERA. Jim, when his ERA reminds you of Spanish conquistadors,

you're doing bad things. He went from 322 ERA. to 533 and 4 starts his rookie year, brutal. Yeah, I don't think his rookie year was that impressive beforehand. I mean, stats you're looking at right now, pretty good. No, I mean, they tried him out as a starter, and he was bad. So they dropped him into the bullpen that helped his ERA a little bit. Then they brought him back to a starter, and he had a good stretch of seven starts.

And that's really, this is where his good comes from. And now you tackle this on, and it's bad. It's a bad season for Calquantrol. It's tough. That's baseball Susan. Yeah. I don't think at any point Calquantra was thinking, I have a good rookie year going.

You don't think after 13 MLB starts with a 332 ERA, he didn't think I'm having a good rookie season. Because he got demoted. He started off as a pitcher, got demoted, then worked as well way back. And then... Yeah, the Padres were also, like saving innings limits and stuff for these guys, too.

He's a young pitcher. I mean, I think you're reading too much into getting demoted. And by the way, shouldn't we be happy he got demoted? Did well and then came into the rotation and continued to do well? That's the goal of everything. But now with how bad he's doing. Oh, yeah. He's got fucking rocked.

Yeah. So he's. But as of August 26, he was having a good rookie year. And now he's having a bad rookie year. He was drafted by the Yankees. Look at that. He said no. Went to Stanford?

Yeah. One of those guys? Mm-hmm. He's from Palo Alto. Palo Alto. Palo. Palo. He's a Canadian?

He is? Went to school in Palo. High school or high school, Trinity College. Port Hope Ontario. Yeah. Damn. He's a Canuck. Sounds like a Canadian name too, so that's good.

There you go. All right. Jim, could you show me? Unlike Cal, let's talk about some good ones. Dirt Nasty's off Wuego. That means I'm on fire, baby. Like Waco. Chris Davis is on Fuego.

Okay, with a K. But, wait, I don't think these are Chris Davis' stats. Okay. This is Bryant. Chris Bryant. Yeah, I wrote the wrong last name. Also with a K. Yes.

The Cubs are on fire because they ran into the worst starting pitching ever in Pittsburgh. Right. And all the Cubs fans kept tweeting out and saying, hey, we got to get this guy on Enfuego, this guy on in Frago. And I love that you send him over. And I'm going to give you two. You could get more, but when everyone's doing it, no one's doing it. Be happy you get two.

I eliminated a whole series last week because there's too much hitting. Be happy you got to. It's kind of like that. So Chris Bryant's last six games. I had to go back past. Right. It's like how hot is this hot stretch? Six games, he's hitting 500 with a 538 on base percentage, Jake.

In those six games, he's got five home runs and 13 RBIs. And in this series, he had back-to-back three hit games with three homers against the Pittsburgh Pirates. And his teammate, Nicholas Castellanos, also still raking since the trade, like the Cubs' most best player. He's in the series went seven for 12 with five doubles. Okay. and one homer. I've got a quick game I want to play. Castellano's been raking.

Good for the trade deadline. Good for his contract. Good for the Cubs. Win, win, win. Jim, what do we... Because I honestly, I genuinely don't know. And maybe you know, because I know you were looking at a stats this morning.

What's Chris Bryant's stat line this year? Like, if you had to guess, unless you know. I don't know. I wouldn't even be able to, like, really form a guess. That's what I'm, I'm like... 850, 860 OPS, 3. 40 on base percentage, 279 batting average. Okay, I like that.

I think I'm going to go a little lower on the batting average. I'll go like 265, a 360 on base. And I liked your OPS. I'll go 860 with you. Let's see. Chris Bryant is having a really good year, Jim. We're underselling them. Wow.

288, a 386 on base and a 925 OPS. Guys in all-star. Good job, Chris. Oh, damn. Jim, the numbers we said were basically his exact stats last year. So Chris Bryant, and he only had 13 homers last year in an abbreviated season. But good bounce back year for Chris Bryant. Yeah.

So I went to the A's. You mentioned the A's are bringing up these young guys and the bats are going off. Sean Murphy, rookie catcher for the A's. He's played nine games, I think, and so far, a very small sample size. but in his last four games, he's got nine hits, Jake. Okay? So to catch up, Sean Murphy, rookie catcher for the A's, he's played nine games.

In his last four games, he has nine hits. One of those hits are? I'd like to. Four doubles and three home runs. He's just fucking rocketing the ball. Six RBIs and eight runs in his last four games. That means he has combined to create 14 runs in four games. that's not bad

jim his his major league career up to this point nine games 26 at bats four homers four doubles eight rbis 423 464 one dot 503 ops that's that's straight rake squad yeah i mean nine games so take it as it well but he's hot he's definitely on fire right now and then i went to yon man kata yon last 11 games he's got 23 hits, a 500 on base percentage. I like this one because I brought it back to 11 games. So this is a little stronger than in Frego stretch. And we've been talking a lot about the White Sox, Jake. They got a lot of lineup guys doing good things. Yes. They got a lot. Anderson, Moncada. Jim Moncada is also in that, that end of season bucket with this hot streak.

his batting average is now 308. His OPS just hit 900 flat. I mean, a lot of people were ready to write off. Sit him. Bench him. Got it. Fake an injury. Got it.

Those are great season ending stats. They'll help you in arbitration. A lot of people were kind of ready to write off that Chris Sale trade, and I think it's going to look very differently in even 12 months. Yeah. James Paxon I put on here for the Yankees. He's 9 in 0 in his last 9 starts with a 250 ERA. He's changed up his pitch mix, started throwing the curveball much more.

I think he's got a little, he's a little more healthy. He was on a knee injury earlier. But he's been on fire. I mean, nine starts in a row winning those starts. That's wins don't matter for personal stats. But as a Yankee fan right now, when Paxton starts, I feel like, okay, it's going to be a win. And that's why, that's when they do matter.

And that's not the Yankees. Well, the Yankees are 9-0, but James Paxton is 9-0. So wins are good when it's your guy doing it. And I wanted to find another pitcher, but it's the same guys all the time. So I was trying to find who's been hot lately. That's different. And it's Anthony Descalafani. Scalphani, huh?

Descalphani. Anthony Tony We talked about the Reds pitching a lot And who they have And you know They got Castillo

They got Sunny Gray They got Bauer They got Anthony Descalfani He's on the Reds right Yeah I don't know why I doubted myself When his last six stars Jake

He's got a 2-13 ERA With a 146 batting average against And a 217 on base percentage against Jimmy's a Jersey guy Of course I mean Descafant Scalfani

Of course we're in Jersey's he from He was born in Freehold And then he went to freaking Coltsnack Oh yeah Coltsnack I lived around there Nice nice nice neighborhoods Then he went to Florida

Go Gators Oh what a traitor dude You're not supposed to leave New Jersey For Florida Until like at least 65 Descafani What the fuck That is fair

Those are my Enfuegos I don't like putting too many guys on there, so I got however many that was, six. How about that? Is Descalfani the fifth in their rotation next year? I don't know. Bauer, Castilla, Sonny. I guess Descalfani, we're throwing him in there.

Who's the other guy? Are we missing one? Am I missing one? They had a Roark, but then they traded in. They traded Roark. So, yeah, I was thinking Roark. Maly, Molly's been throwing a lot for them. But yeah, it's looking like they're going to have

they're going to have five going into next year, man. Well, you need seven. But you need like, yeah, you need eight or so. Yeah. All right. Next up, this one's a quick one. Goodbye home run. I mean.

Who did the Orioles get hot? I took care of this one, Jake. And it's not a fun. It's not as fun as it usually is because the Tigers had a lot of guys that had great series. Harold Castro and Kristen Stewart, both had big series against the Orioles. but they've been hot. I like it when a guy goes into the Orioles pitching slumping, and then they turn on.

Like Harold Castro, he was in like 270, and they had like 3.30 during the series. Right. But good for them. The Orioles definitely didn't contain guys. No. But they were already hot going in, so they're going to stay hot.

Go taggers. And then this next one, man. What in Ken is so bad? That is absolutely brutal. That is unbelievable. That is totally absurd. Who got mad? I was thinking for Slump Watch, we got to do like he's out of here or it's gone or something like that when they get off Slump Watch.

Maybe. Yeah. Just open on the mics. Joe Madden got ejected. And to be honest with you guys, I did not look into why or what happened because Joe Madden exhausts me. And even thinking about going to click on a Joe Madden argument, I'm just like, boom. can't do that. Snitker got ejected, and this was the biggest moment from the week, really.

Charlie Culberson took a fastball to the face. He was trying to bunt the pitch, and then the debate is whether he offered at it or not. You and I both think he still offered at it, right? I think he offered at it. I think – I told you this. I mean, it's funny, like, watching the brain think, and we watched that replay, unfortunately, too many times to get the breakdown up there. but you see there's a certain point where the bat becomes a piece of defense for him

and so he's trying to protect himself so i mean it i mean some people are getting into the definition of offering was he offering to try to hit that pitch not really was he offering to try to save it from hitting him in the face absolutely i i do think there is a little bit of unwritten rules where that rule is put in there if a guy's leaning into pitches or if he's and out of pitch and it hits him and he's being dumb. I mean, it, what the end result does suck, but by the book, they got it right. Yeah, I think it's harsh.

A lot of Braves fans were mad at me. It's like, ugh. But Snitker got ejected and shame on you. You made him sound old, man. I don't think I did. They also got mad because I mispronounce it to Snitaker, which sounds cooler than Snitker. Yeah, that's getting close to Brantznetiker, the golfer.

Maybe that's it. Kind of combined the two. Eric Cosber and Dale Thramm. They should both meet in the middle and just go snitaker. Dale Schemm got ejected. Didn't look at that. Eric Cosmer and Andy Green got ejected. That was like a check swing situation.

Bryce Harper and Gabe Kapler got ejected. Bryce Harper gets rung up on a bad pitch. It goes into the dugout, looks at it. He goes fucking so far off the fucking plate. I got to do a breakdown on this. My favorite part is Gabe Clapper runs out and goes, what are you running for? Are you running me too?

two now? He's allowed to have an opinion. Gabe Kapler's too innocent for his body, yeah. Like he, his, he looks like a dwee. Is it like a sad boy approach? What is it? It's like a naive young kid. Okay. He doesn't realize that. Okay, I like that. He's like so green. He's like, I can't believe you've done this. Why doesn't he get to say his opinion?

Yeah. All of his objections have been that way. Right. He didn't have any last year Because he probably didn't even want to put a fight Now I think he's a three or four And they're all like That's so like not Philly Like he's been getting ejected

Which the Philly people like But that approach is like Anti-Philly His face is too pretty for Philly And his approach is too pretty for Philly Like he is a California boy True and Through Like should be the Angels

Manage Oh Yeah He is the Angels. Yeah, he's basically... Gabe Kapler, the Angels manager. Yeah, it makes so much more sense.

They should trade. Osmyss to the Phillies? Yeah, Osmiss is such more of a Philly guy. He grew up in the Northeast. He's kind of like tough. Yeah. Can we start those trade rumors? Osmiss for Kapler.

It needs that. Capler is the worst fit. I don't dislike Kapler. It's just not a fit, man. Yeah. And he comes off. Matt Joyce got to. objected, don't care.

Good job, Matt. That's it. That's it. Now we're moving on. Hey kid, here's the deal. You heard Yellich got hurt. We need someone to take bigger bats for us. Yeah, wrap.

You're getting the call. Someone in the chat said, Joe Madden, exhaust you about Bryce Harper doesn't. Yes, Bryce Harper's an entertainer who plays the heel. Right. Nothing Joe Madden does is entertaining.

It's just fucking drones on and is terrible. It's a good baseball manager. Right. People always don't think you can have those two opinions. Right. And sometimes his exhaustive arguments work for his team and is better, so it's a good approach. But I cannot watch Joe Madden argue.

It's so exhausting. We've also seen it for a while. I mean, Joe Madden wasn't in the spotlight until, like, the end of his raised days, and then he wasn't really in the spotlight until Chicago. Yeah. But we'd seen it for not a decade, but close to before that. Jim, call up watch. We only had two guys get the call.

because we're actually at the point of the season where if you're not called up, that's it. Yeah. We had James Karkin-chak. There's a fun name. Called up for Cleveland, Jim. You'll like this. In his debut, he goes 1.1 innings pitch, 3Ks.

He's a New York kid, Bryant College, Roady. Shout out. He got Kepler and Polanco with strikeouts. Those are decent ones. And Jim, his catcher actually threw him a bone. He struck out a guy wild pitch. so he gets the guy got to first, so he gets the next guy out,

so he gets a bonus strikeout, basically. Not bad. Smart move by the catcher. That's Catcher 101. Good job by James Karkin-check. And then Jim, this is fun. Trace Barreya, his name is supposedly pronounced Tress, but it's spelled Trace.

And everyone on the team is going to call you Trace. I think they're just going to call him Trey. I think you've got to go trace Tray Bay. They gave him number 73. I think that was for a reason to get the three in there. I think there's a tracing. Trace Berea, he only came in to pinch hit. Did not get a hit.

Jim, he's a minor league catcher. He's a university of Texas guy. I don't think he's a big prospect, but Jim, this is a classic case of play catcher. Nats needed another catcher for the next few weeks. Tress Berrea was available. You're a major league player now. He might, and he could make the wild cards.

Some wild card teams bring a third catcher. Bring a third catcher because why not. Yeah. So, cool. Good for you, Trey Bay. Play catcher kids. Now we got a award. I have an award for you, but you get to go first, right?

Thank you. Yes, I do, Jim. Thank you. And Jim, I'm giving out the vaunted. Whoever watches this on YouTube. Right. Someone did all the bullet points for me. Yeah.

I want a gym counter. Jim? Yeah. Okay. How many times I say it? I'd put it at a hundred right now. Oh, it's not even close to that. But it's a lot.

I like saying it. I think it drives home to get your eyes looking at me, and I love looking at those eyes. Jim? Yeah. I am giving out the prestigious. Your mother's third cousin removed award. Your mother's third cousin removed, okay. Your mother's third cousin removed.

We all know this. And if you are this person, it's not a shot fire, but you just have to understand. You go to certain family events, and you've got the distance relatives. Yeah. And they just give you the same. It's literally one of those things that happens in a movie,

and you're like, damn, that is real life. Like, I, the last time I saw you, you were this big. And you're just like, yeah. Now I'm 22. Yeah, I grew up. What's this conversation going? and Jim, let's be honest, you don't want to see that person in the nicest way.

Like if that's all you're giving to me convo-wise, I don't want to see you. Okay. Who's getting this award? Jim, the Minnesota Twins are getting that. Because they don't drive fear into you, but in the playoffs, you just don't want to see them. Oh, I still think they're the, you ranked them as you want to see them. I, that's why I'm changing, Jim.

Oh. Just because they make you uncomfortable, Jimmy, they are going to have five guys with 30 plus homers. They are going to have eight guys with 20 plus homers. And yeah, juice ball, Minnesota. Jim, they have a better record on the road than at home. And if they're playing playoff games, there's a good chance that they're going to, if they have to beat someone, they got to do it on the road. We know that.

Jim, you're going to love, let me, let me get the, the number. Dude, it's definitely 100. You just drop six. I know, but it's not 100. Where is it? I'm looking at the wrong page now. You're swimming in my head. Their record on the road, 50 and 25. That's impressive. Yeah, that's pretty good. That's impressive. Is that the best in baseball? I was looking at, let me check. It might be, I think it is. Let's see the National League. Yeah, it's the best.

record in baseball. On the road. So with all those power hats, power hats, imagine. It's cool that they get to play four teams that aren't trying to win. It is. Three. Cleveland wasn't trying to win for a little bit. They wanted to. They weren't doing a good job. They're like, we'd love to tank. We'd love to tank. And the players are like, we're good. And you're absolutely right. It spins into a beat who you can. And their record against teams who are 500 and above still isn't too dynamic. I'm jumping around between pages and pages against teams that are 500 they're 32 and 37 so you still have some of this they're not scary

but you don't want to see them against teams that are 500 they're what 32 and 37 they have a losing record yeah I mean so so does Tampa so does the Indians prove prove me wrong the twins

prove me wrong I'm just saying prove me please prove me wrong I've never thought less of a of a division leading team who shots fired by John. I mean, if they like make it to the World Series, I'm ready to place a bet that's not terrible,

just so I'm not scared of the backlash of having these strong opinions. Okay. Nothing they've done really stands out at me. It's like everything, like, whatever. Prove me wrong, the Twins. Let's come up together. If they make it to the World Series, I'll do something.

And the closing on their uncomfortability, Jim, Bruce Stark Gratterol watched his highlights. He does hit triple digits, ball moves, and they've got Sergio Romo in the pen, who's a guy that he doesn't scare you, but he just makes you uncomfortable because he's doing his bullshit on the mound. Bring me, Sergio Romo in a tight spot.

All right. That little fidgety dude, he reminds me of, like, the kid in high school who definitely had weed in his pockets and was trying so hard to not be the guy who has weed in his pockets, like walking around, like trying to be cool. but fidgety as fuck, and you're like, yo, dude, you're being very obvious.

And he might have weed on him on the mound. He went to three different colleges. I was on his page before, three different colleges, and he's been on like five different teams the past five years. So I think he might have weed on his person. I think that's part of his personality. Yeah, okay. All right, cool.

Good award, Jake. What's your award, Jim? The Not Now Award. Okay. Mike Fires. Shaves his facial hair into the little spiral around his mouth. Yeah. Mike Fires, you haven't made it out of the first inning, too.

games in a row. Yeah. You can't have fungus on your shower shoes until you make it in the big. It's like, dude, not now, man. Is it a distraction? You get to do fun stuff when you're good. I mean, you're getting knocked around the park. Oh, Jim, they went fake injury on them.

Oh, they did? Yeah, they said he left last. So think about this. Holy shit. So he does the beard shaving. And then and then he ends his day about. going fake injury because he's doing so poorly. I think so.

That's embarrassing. Not now. I would love the beard. Under different circumstances, I'd love that beard. But you can't go one inning pitch, nine earn runs, five home runs, and then show up the next day with that beard. He can't do it. And then, yeah, Jim, he left. So think about this.

Think about the injury stuff we've been talking about and how careful we are with pitchers. He left that start with nerve. irritation in his right arm sounds scary slash made up but he's going to make his next star so that's a fake injury we love the beard i should he should have probably been on enfuego shamaniahs been doing really good left him out someone tweeted that at me fires dude that has to be a big worry in oakland country just just you know clean up clean up the beard be better all right let's go to elevator talk i got the wheel love the wheel get to see the wheel this is exciting Here we go. Braves, skipping them. Astros?

Astros. I feel like we've done the Astros. No, they got a lot. They got a lot going on these days. Okay, I'll talk Astros. Garrett Cole, a thousand consecutive starts with double-digit strikeouts. Verlander still going off. Justin Verlander is incredible. But is Granky's still not doing great? I think he had one good one. I forget if it was his last start or a second to last start.

I mean, he's still Zach Grinky. You just, you're going to respect it until you see no. Yeah, but it's, how many times, so the Royals were the AL, he's been in the NL for a while, right? A little bit. Yeah, Dodgers, Diamondbacks. And then Wade Miley, did he get blown? Oh, my God, Wade Miley's been getting destroyed. Yeah.

I mean, so, I mean, you can't be like Granky's not good, but are they? what's cranky been up to since the trade ah granky's good he's good he's good he had two starts in a row five earned runs and four runs so you're not worried about that at all who's their most recent lineup that's what i that's what i'm interested in with the astros that i want to talk about so yorden alvarez is straight up the truth jim he's got 25 home runs and 77 games that's insane alex bregman

he's sneaking up on 40 homers he's He's got a dot-999 OPS, so he's trying to get over that hurdle. George Springer's having another great year. Yukon, Woodup, New Britain. That's where we went to college. He's sneaking up on 40 homers. And El Tuve's gotten it going. I think that's been big for them.

Brantley's having a monster year as well. And Guriel turned it on, remember? Guriel was the first Enfuego that we were like, fuck. Yeah. So they did a complete rest day yesterday, but their lineup has been, and looks like it will be Springer leading off, Altuve batting second, Brantley third,

Braggman, fourth, Yerdon Alvarez, fifth, Diaz six. Should I be worried about him? Because I'm not. I don't think so. And then it's like a combo of,

um, Redic, Toro. Gueriel would normally be there instead of Diaz. They, they go six deep. So where's Gariel been? Is he hurt?

I played the last three. Oh, I see. Yeah. man reddick's my best friend they go six deep with anyone i mean they go springer altouva bregman alvarez uh did i say brannley gurell you moved the screen on me which i was kind of using i guess carea's on the aisle is he gonna come back what's his deal that's got to be a huge talking point i didn't think he was but uh Correa's sideline due to lower back stiffness,

uncertain if he will return to action Tuesday against the Rangers. So they think they're going to get him back. So that would make them seven deep. They're good, man. Yeah. Really good. And they have a, they don't have the easiest Yankees. Technically, according to whatever algorithm,

the nerds use, the Yankees have the easiest schedule remaining. But this is Texas, Angels, Seattle, Angels. And the angels are troutless. Don't even have a trout. Don't even have a trout, so they're good. If you're an Astros fan, what are you nervous about? That's kind of my question. Because right now, it seems like they should be nervous about nothing,

which is then they should be nervous about how there's no glaring nervous reasons. I think what they're nervous about is a couple things you're not a big fan of. I think they have the best home field record this year. So I think if you're a Houston fan, you want that. Every team wants that, but you have slightly more reason than the others because your team is the best at home. Astros fans, tweet at me what you're nervous about and rational Astros fans who have confidence.

Right. I think the only other thing you'd be nervous about, and again, I think this is where home field and all ties in. The AL has felt like it's been leading up Astros and Yankees all year and the Astros won the first big matchup between them in 2017 and the ALCS. So I think there's a slight redemption factor for the Yankees. Yeah, but if you're the Astros fans, you're like, well, we'll just beat you. Right.

They should be very confident. I think so. And that ends this episode of Talking Baseball. Thank you guys very much for joining us and hanging out with us. We got a lot of good stuff. Go the baseball, go the teams. Everyone, have a good week. Rate, subscribe, review. Jake sucks.