Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 226 | Rays Defense, Braves Bullpen, & Riley's Homer

Episode Date: October 13, 2020

Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe recap and break down the exciting pair of postseason games from Monday. 4:00 Astros-Rays Game 2 23:30 Braves-Dodgers Game 1 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.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Game two of the ALCS is in the books. Game one of the NLCS was a fun one. One-one going into the ninth. Let's talk about it. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you guys very much for joining us today. We appreciate you.

We love you. It's a nice rainy day here in the Bronx in the Roosevelt's studios. Jake's wearing his Roosevelt shirt. He's sitting to my left. I am me. And Trevor is over in California. white shirt, backwards hat,

looking like a painter on a summer day. The literature teacher from my girl, paint houses in the off season. And Bug Bug Bug Dude is behind the dish. The Rays take game two. The Braves take game one. A lot of good action.

I thought both games were really good baseball and had some fun. Good on the field storylines. Good off the field storylines. Good storylines. storylines that are on the field but are kind of off the field. This episode is brought to you by Kyle Morton, Charlie's brother, tuning in to see what we thought about the outing.

Tim McPhail. McPhail, wait, hold on. It's pH, but that's got to be McPhil. That's a tough name. McFail, it's like a joke when someone fails a lot. That's the opposite, though. Like he succeeds in everything. It fails a very common name.

Yeah, but in the early aughts, all those like video montage, like fail montage, there's like a guy trying to do a kickflip and he'd fall. Fail. Like Mick Fail. Okay. Daniel Sheridan, Jared Geiley, Ray, Sargood, Matthew Williams, Zach Miller, James, and Marcio Matthew Ethqua. Those are most recent patrons. Thank you guys very much.

Thanks for hanging out with us. Jake, did you enjoy the baseball yesterday? I did. I sure did. Being honest? One massive mistake looms large in the afternoon game between the Rays in Houston. I'm sure we'll talk about that. A good amount today.

Otherwise, I mean, that was a really good baseball game. It just got off to a really sour note because it's as bad of a combination playoff error as you'll see. But that was good baseball. And then the Nightcap Man is kind of something that we've been hinting towards and dreaming to for a while. I mean, two young studs, great game, pressure-filled at bats that end up with the Braves getting to the Dodgers bullpen that opens up a whole can of worms and like 10 different storyline. So I'm pretty happy with yesterday's results. and I think, you know, Dodger Braves, you can almost buckle up for six or seven, and I think flip a coin at this point, Treff.

I'm starting to feel that way about the Braves and the Dodgers. You know, I thought it was good baseball yesterday. When you do make a mistake like that, like I've said before on this show, it's the loneliest feeling in the world and all you can hope for is the pitcher or somebody else to bail you out. And you saw Altuvae's reaction after Manny Merleau-Margo's Homer. That is a, I want to dig a hole and go live in there for a few months. That's what that look was like.

So baseball was good, though. I agree with Jake. There are a ton of storylines to talk about. One being that the Astros offense is still relentless. They out-hit the raise yesterday. 10 to 4 just didn't have the big one, a lot of double plays, all that good stuff. But the games were great. I'm excited to watch Megan today.

The Rays are a very, and we're Karan Pot, so we'll start first, Ray's Astros. The Rays are a very good baseball team. They're not as good as they've been in the last two games against the Astros. And I'm saying that high compliments. They're like hitting or all of their defense. has been through the roof. Their game planning and escaping jams has been amazing. They got out hit 10 to 4.

Yes. They take advantage of every mistake and take away any opportunity. Like, how many hard hit double plays have we seen the last two games? Wendell at third making every single play. Margot catching that ball falling all over the railing. Adamas at Short had. He was great. That's an amazing play.

I think it was my favorite. Sliding short hop pick to get up and throw them out at first. The razor squeezing every bit of talent they have. That team looked unstoppable yesterday. They only had four hits, and one of them, and the big three-run shot came after an error. Hey, four hits and no walks, Jim. I know.

They just take advantage. They just take advantage. Hats off to McCullors. He threw a really good game. Struck out 11. seven innings pitched, you know, then it's the error. It's that error is, and it's, it's so bad by both players. Like I know Al-Tubei bounced it, but Yule's effort, he could have just picked it up.

And Troy would have been out. Everything about that play was weird. Everything about that play was weird. Choi not, Choi was walking. He thought he caught it, so he buzzed or slowed down. That's, he's, I'm sure he had to talking to because, you know, that's something that the raise, you know, like you're saying, they're squeezing everybody. bit an ounce of talent out of their guys.

You've got to be able to run the ball out. Just because of something like that, I'm sure they made a point after the game to talk to everybody and specifically Choi. But yeah, like you said, Guerilla could have just picked the ball up? He kept his foot on the bag. For some reason, he decided,

ah, I'll take my foot off the bag, and then I'll pick it up, which ultimately, 100% cost him in game. It's really weird. It's really bad play. I think it's more on Yuley. And then Altuva makes the error in the same exact play later on, and you're like, ah, I think French he said he had the yips on air,

which is damning. Go throwing that word around on players. Got to be easy with the Y word, not cool, Frenchy, IMO. I don't know if it was French. You're someone in the booth. Someone in that damn booth. And yeah, Jim, I'll go, and usually you and I are on the opposite sides of this conversation. Lance, you know, he was so good for the rest of that game.

he did give up the homer to Margo and if your T-Vence gives up the air behind you you can't give up the homer and manny gets one day late dollar short for me on that in the Homer draft and then yeah when the you know Correa comes in and they get

Fairbanks which is like okay there's a little blood in the water this raised super pen who you know nobody can touch them Trev keeps comparing them to the 2014 royals that were so 1415 royals that were so dominant in the back of that pen that it's like, okay, so we drew some blood on them. We got one of them.

Zanino comes back and hits an absolute bomb. I think it was 454. That, okay, you know, the raise, that two-run lead being three runs felt impactful, especially when they load the bases in the ninth, had a burn for this game. We skipped past it. Oh, shit, sorry. It's God's plan, man. It's God's plan.

No, that's my bad. It's God's plan. Unbelievable, Jim. Yeah, my bad. Let's burn it. It's okay. You ready? I think so.

Should have cut me off, my bad, man. Talked about it. Started rolling. We get hot here. We get hot. You know, we do. Make adjustments. You'd be fine, Jake.

We can't wait to listen to your burn. Make an adjustment. I'm a big burn fan. How about I burn while you burned? Yeah. Light it up. People have been ruined for that. I'm not going to have that on tape.

On you mark. Get set. Burn, Jakey Burn. Game two in San Diego, Trevor's Lance McCullors Jr. versus Charlie Martin as the race tried to salt away another victory. Top one. Lance will make him dance a one, two, three. Oh, no.

Altuvae and Guriel tag team, a terrible throw and catch, and that might be what makes Houston Margo home. Look at the Pelicans. A three-run Homer after an absolute disaster of an error. 3-0 Tampa. Speaking of salt in the wound, Morton was good. Zero earn runs, five innings pitch. But after the first, McCullors was better.

Finishes seven innings pitch, 11Ks. Houston would get one as everyone's favorite. C.J. Correa goes solo. He always does in a way. But Zanin, no way. Mikey Z does it again. 4.54 to left center. but the Astros can spoil everything in the 9th basis.

Huck versus Nick Anderson, but he springs a double play against George, and Breggie Bullitts hits his fifth hard hit out of the day to Kiermire. Defense and pitching works every damn time. Morton to Fairbanks to loop to Thompson to Anderson, Ray's show the fortitude to take game two, fortitude. Fortitude, fortitude. Fortitude. Bramman got host.

I think Wendell got him once. Wendell got him twice. And then hard hit to Kiermeyer at the end there. What do you think about that at the end, Trev? Anderson walks two guys. I believe he walked. Who hits before Brighman? Yesterday was Brantley?

I think he walked him on four straight pitches. So he's thrown, I think he threw eight straight balls. If not, he walked the two guys. Bases are now loaded. It's the ninth inning. I totally understand what Bregman's saying. Like, hey, this guy's going to come into the zone because he does not want to fall behind after walking.

But I also understand the argument of like, hey, this dude just walked four people. Let's make him throw pitches. What do you get, as a player, do you like jumping a guy in that situation? Yeah, I mean, I think it was eight in a row. Because I remember them saying on the 3-0 pitch, that it was seven in a row,

to Brantley. And in that situation, look, Nick, I was watching a pitch and I'm like, dude, this guy, there's something going on.

Like, he was kind of like rubbing his arm. Like, I don't know if he was like profusely sweating or something. Like, he definitely looked like he wasn't himself.

Looked a little nervous. I don't want to, I'm like to put that out there. Like, maybe he wasn't nervous, but something was going on. But Bregman comes up. The bases,

no, first and third. Right? What was it? Base is loaded for Bregman. That's right. He walked the base load. So, bases loaded, down by two. I don't have a...

I mean, he got a good pitch to hit. I think if you're a Bregman type and you're a Correa type or whatever, most of these guys in this dang Astros lineup, you've earned the right to swing when you want to swing. And he got a good pitch to hit. If you would have swung at something kind of out of the zone, that's exactly where he was looking for that ball.

Like out over the plate, middle. And he put a good swing on it. I think he probably wishes, you know, he didn't hit it in the air as much as he did or maybe a little bit better. But he got a good pitch to hit. I think that's all you can ask in that situation. Yeah, these kind of contradicting thoughts of baseball. Like Bregman jumps that pitch and it's more well-located or slightly more loft or slightly left loss. We're calling him a genius.

We're saying, oh, the pitcher threw eight straight balls. so Bregman looked for one in the zone knowing he had to come in at some point, and he's a genius. You know, we do this on three-o-counts. We do it in situations like this where if you get a hit, you look awesome. If you don't, everyone wants to poo-poo on you. And yeah, man, I mean, tough for Breggy. All the analytics people were tweeting after the game, I think since they started tracking the hard hit balls,

he was the first ever playoff guy to have five of them and not get a hit from it. And it's a little bit the story of the Astros. Like, you know, the defense has been nasty. And you know some of that is positioning. A little bit of it is a little bit of luck. You know, you got to put yourself into positions to succeed, and they've done that with their guys. I mean, you know, people that there was raised fans that didn't want Willie Adomas in this year.

They won the top prospect. Wander Franco. Give us the juice. Adomis has been disgusting this year. You know, Joey Wendell, Trev, you compared him a week or two ago to DJ LaMayhew for what he does for the raise, and we kind of scoffed at you because we get on our Yankees high horse. But, man, he gives some pesky at bats and he can play some high, high-level defense, which we saw last series and we saw yesterday.

So, you know, the raise put themselves in position to make this happen. And, yeah, the Houston's sitting there. They got two great starts. They feel like they're hitting the ball well, so it's this weird. They're comfortable with themselves, but they're also down 2-0 to a better team. Yes. I had something I was going to say,

oh, about the Breglin swinging thing, the 3-0, and then obviously the first pitch after all those balls. It's a numbers thing, man. Numbers after 0-1, not good. O-O-O swinging, pretty good. So, like, you know, you have to be calculated there and have to get a strike what you did. And I think that's the main thing.

And you're right. If he gets a hit there, drives that ball in the gap. You know, a little bit more launch angle, a little bit less launch angle. We're looking at probably two runs coming in there. A little less care. A little less cure my. Anybody was catching out. That thing hung up there a little bit.

But I have no problem with them swinging there. And to your point, their Astros got to be feeling like, what do we got to do? Yeah. I feel like they played pretty well, and they're down. on, oh, two. Yeah, if you're the Astros, you're saying, we got to catch a break sometime. Like, they haven't caught a single break.

And every time they fuck up, the Ray's capitalize on it. Look at Harry Lewis in the chat right now what he just put, Jim. Astros, expected batting average is 360. Raise is 157. That was yesterday. Oh, today's 337 expected batting average

for the Astros in 180. That's for the series. That's for the series. Yeah, but the. And that matches the eye test. The Ray's just, they, they're aggravating. They just will beat the shift. They'll, you know, they'll slop one this way, slap one that way, and then they'll pounce.

Hey, the homer thing's true. How many, they hit two homers yesterday? Did the Astros hit? They hit. Astros, Correa got one. Craig got one. Out homer the opponent, you're going to win. Yeah.

It's the bottom line. And that's what, I mean, they've been getting those timely homes. homers and pitching well and their defense the shifts the defensive placement that's what's really like every time they hit a ball hard somewhere I'm like oh there's a player right there yeah that's double plays that'll take the wind out of your sales of your offense right there like you were like man we can't do anything any better than that and then you start trying to manipulate the swing trying to beat the shifts it's exactly what they want you to do so it's uh and i don't know the only good thing that came out of the Altuva error was

he got a nice hug from Dusty. So, it might be worth making an error. You'll all better. Yeah, 10-0-0-0 game, make an error, get a hug from Dusty. I don't know. Could be something.

Not a bad trade. Yeah. I'd make that trade. The only thing, another slight win for the Astros, who don't really have slight wins because they're down 2-0, is that they did get to Anderson and they got to Fairbanks too. And they got, and Carlos Correa got to Fairbanks.

So you did put little Knicks in their armor, their best horses out there. But you're down 2-0. You need a lot more than that. And I think I was telling Jake this, Trev, the no-off days and the no-travel really changes the vibe. Because if you go to Tampa and you lose the first two games, and then the next day you get a day of breath and travel,

and you get, okay, let's reset. We're going back to our stadium with our home fan. We're not in the fucking trope anymore. It's a whole new series. Let's just win game one in front of our fans. You get to mentally change. Whereas this year, all the same stadium, no off days. It's just fucking, let's go back out there tomorrow.

There's no like mental change where I think you were granted that a little bit. I mean, as Yankee fans, like, hey, just win one in their building. We'll win them in ours. That was kind of the philosophy, the mindset. So you don't really have that anymore. It's just every day. Back out, back out, back out. I agree.

It's a grind, and that's why we have said, like the raise are at such an advantage here because of the depth. That's another good point about it. I mean, if you are in this seven-game series, and are they doing two-three-twos? Is that what they usually do? Is it two-two-two-two-two-two-two? I believe it's two-three-two.

It's a big, yeah. You lose two or you sneak one, out of the trap and then you go into Houston. I mean, that's, you steal home field advantage. And you're playing in front of your home fans, like you said, but it ain't happening this year, man. 2020's got them all up in the bubble in San Diego, and they're going to have to find a way. You know, I think there, I think if you're the Astros, you're sitting there like, look,

we outplayed these guys. Bottom line, we outplayed them. Like, pretty much in every facet of the game, we just need to get that one big hit. Or, like, let's, you know, that one air cost us, but we, you know, that one air cost us, but we've been playing really well besides that. So I think today, I mean, I know we're not giving our prediction on today's game, but I think the Astros are going to be confident coming into today's game. Yeah, and I think the momentum thing can turn more.

The mental thing is absolutely true. You see a new environment and you can put things in your rear view a lot easier. But if they see a bloop single drop today, or if they see a ball hit the bag, or if they see G-man can't pick one at first, which my word, he's been picking everything, I was getting in the advanced stats on that. G-man's got some really nice first base numbers this year. You know, you can mentally still change the momentum. And, you know, you kind of technically have the matchup today.

You will be the home team as well. So maybe if you get a little ninth-inning magic. But, I mean, you know, we'll talk about it on the pregame show. But, I mean, you just can't go down three-o. Otherwise, the series is over. Man, raise, baby. Treves raise. Razor raise?

I was actually trying to find BVD, I probably need your help here. I thought I tweeted out my prediction, but I believe it was a talking baseball verbal prediction. So I don't know if you have your notes. And I believe it was because I was looking back on my tweets and someone responded to me and the raise on July 1st. I need to find out where that is. I don't know if you got that in your notes. I can go back and look too. Don't have it immediately, but I'll see what I can find in the next five minutes.

Like that. The other thing is McCullors go so deep and they lose being the away team. So they only used one inning of bullpen. Eight innings pitch. McCullors did seven of them. So the asteros have the full arsenal in this somewhat do or die game coming up. And I think it was Scrub who came in, who was a guy for them this year. young dude, big curveball, and he looked okay.

So you wonder if this series does go on, can he help them at all? I don't want to be a hater here, but I'm going to be a hater, Hater alert. I'd be a hater? Yeah. A little bit. Once those shadows crept in, when you have a guy like Lance who gets that vertical break and can spin it, you have no chance.

Unless you name's a Nino. he caught a backdoor fastball and just got lucky right there. I think it was a change. I think he went. No, it was a backdoor heater. I remember watching it. I think it was in the 80s.

I mean, sure it looked like a backdoor heater, but I remember a game. I think he went fastball highway, missed, and then tried to come in, or he took a lot off to hit his spot. I don't know.

But, I thought it was a heater. It could be wrong. But I remember a game in particular, we were in Chicago and it was the same thing. It was like, I think we started it. I think it might have been like a three o'clock start

for like some holiday and it was Jose Kintana and Phil Hughes. And they're not huge strikeout guys. But the shadows were there and boy, you should have seen some of the swings both sides were taken. Both established career highs and strikeouts that day and all they were doing was just spin it a little bit.

Just put a little wrinkle in it. It's exactly what McCuller's. I'm not saying he didn't look good. He looked sharp yesterday. But, I mean, 70s pitched 11Ks. He wasn't going to get that in a regular day, a night game or something like that. So, I mean, that's got a...

That's why, like, the playoffs kind of make me mad when they do these games at that time because you know you're going to get the shadows at 3 o'clock. And it changes everything. So just keep an eye out for that in the rest of the series. I don't think the Dallas Stadium will have that. They had the roof open, but I don't know about the shadows and stuff for day games.

It's dark as fucking there. I'll take a little bit of bugs on my face before we get there. Casually mentioned and we all kind of agreed. Well, won't see Aaron Loop again. And there he is the next day. Getting outs back at it because that's just what the race down. Well, he throws 95 now. Yeah.

So whatever. And did you guys see there's a good clip on Twitter showing all the raises different arm angles? And it looks like a goddamn top half of a clock. Like from Yarborough to Loop all the way over to Tom. Thompson to Glass now. It's insane. And that's part of what they do. Did you like it?

Who posted it? I want to see it. I could find it, I think. I think Petriello had it. Petriello. I think he stole it from pitchers list. Shout out to the baseball community, guys. Shout out.

Yeah, we can move on. Jake's got a burn. Game two of the day, game one of the NLDS. But before we do that, I got to tell you a little bit about Draft Kings. Week 5 of football's in the books and now it's time to review the tape and get ready for week six. There's no better place to get in on all of the action than with Draft King Sportsbook, America's top-rated sportsbook app. To add to the excitement of week six,

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Ready. Game one, National League Championship Series. Burn, Jakey. Burn. The Atlanta Braves freed themselves to the NLC, to give Max the ball in game one. First, the Mighty Dodgers and Walker. Ferris Bueller, hoping to not have an off day with some blister problems.

MV free, most ball and his player. Solo shot in the first for Freddie. One, nothing brave. But that'd be all they'd get is Walker lived up to his name. Five innings pitch, one run, seven K's, five walks, career high. Hashtag blister, not the time or the place, Michael. Meanwhile, Mad Max was dropping dick. Six innings pitch, nine K's, only mistake.

Kike, do you love me? Are you riding? Solo shot for Kik to sneak. We're going one-one into the ninth. Training in, train out, young, thick, Austin, Riley, absolute gong show. Mr. Solo Dolo to take the lead, but the Braves weren't done. Ronald de Kuna. What a one.

Wonderful phrase double Marcel Ozuna What a wonderful phrase RBI single to score Ryan in the little monster Ozzie Albies to the moon Actually to the pen. Malanson catches it nice moment and then he closes it free to cold play Chris Martin to Wilhelm Will Smith to Mark Malanson Braves win five one final take game one A little monster scream scared us all. The real monsters. Treb was shouting out some throwback shows yesterday.

Figure we'd bring it back there. So, one one game going into the ninth inning here, but we have some major storylines. Walker Bueller's pants were tight. And Melanson caught Ozzy's home run casually from the bullpen mount. That's it. We don't even talk about this game anymore. That's what happened. No, no, no.

Highlights. Oh, something else happened. The game happened. Yeah. The game happened. I don't like the camera's angle or stadium or lighting at this field. So I couldn't tell if Walker Bueller was all over the bottom of the zone or just everything looked like a low pitch. But Walker Bueller, this blister shit sucks because he walks five.

and if he really lacks control because of the blister kind of sucks he walked forward what sorry I just I read up on that I did a sequence episode with about Walker getting a strikeout and what they were saying was he's got it covered all week in all his bullpen sessions they cover it up and they

they you know he can't feel that finger because whatever he has on it he's got bandages on it fucking new skin, whatever they put on it. And then you take it off for the game. And it's a completely different feel. So, like, he's not getting that good work in between starts. Yeah, which is where he'd be rusty. It sucks because he walked five.

He walked four last game. So he's out after five innings and he threw 100 pitches. So I'd like to see not Blister Boy Bueller pitching. Just like, like cut the finger off and give him a new finger or something. but the home run the Freddie was impressive down and in fastball that Freeman just turned on. I like that. But Max Fried was just as impressive, more impressive. He goes six innings pitch, one run, but his curve ball was crazy.

It looked really nice. He was cutting the ball really nice, whether it's the curve ball or just kind of his cut fastball. I mean, we saw some pitches there that came across the screen, and we were like, is that a slider? New text message. Text from Max. Oh. Trevor Plouffe.

Live. Live. Hi bad. That's a little brag. Can you reveal it? I'm sure he's just responding to me. Please. He said, please don't text me during the playoffs.

He could. He probably just said, thanks. I had to guess. Okay. That's a good guess. T.HX. But yeah, he looked good, man. from his arm angle, some of the ways the pitches can come across look like 93 mile per hour sliders.

He was pumping it when he needed to. He's working both sides of the plate, Trev. I know you like that. Willing to come in on guys, got a couple nice outs. The Will Smith at bat jumps out. He kind of crowds the plate. He wants that inside pitch. So Max just brought it in a little more and said, try to hit this. And he did not.

So, Freed was good. Yeah, the only mistake, Kike got him. And, man, Dodger fans love Kike, baby. That's six base runners yesterday. That ain't going to get it done. A Dodgers' offense is much better than that. But Max just shoved. I mean, he's banging 96 out there.

He's got a movement. He obviously has the curveball. And people were saying, like, you know, he's an L.A. guy. He grew up idolizing Sandy Kofax. Well, that breaking ball sure looks like Sandy's. And today, you know, we're going to see another guy that emulated Sandy as well. and Kershaw, but Max doing his

a great impression in his own right. He looked incredible. I think the Braves are really opening everybody's eyes. They're not intimidated. And I don't know

if that's just a clubhouse thing or what. But you know, you go up against the Dodgers and they got Mookie and they got all these guys. They're the Dodgers. Braves are kind of, I mean, yeah, they've won the NLEs,

what, three years in a row now? Is that what it is? Some like that. Chat? Fact check me? but they don't look intimidated whatsoever do they in fact they look energized like acunia i think it stems from acunia and albys like these guys don't give a shit they have fun no matter what and that energy exudes to everybody else you could just see in there and ozuna's added to it this

season for him yes absolutely ozuna's a big part of that and freeman you know he's like he may not be as jovial as those guys but he also when he gets in the boxes and carries on the mound so like that combination of the confidence and like the skill they have out there is showing up man and the dodgers are kind of like ho-hum like we want to be in the world series well you got to get past the braes first i wish that uh cunia played short stuff i just you know you got tough all the fun young superstars tatee slendor and dendor's not young and then like if they were double play partners i just think we'd have so much great handshake and celebrating turning a double play in the middle of the infield right there just something i you know

just if I could go back and rewrite the story, I'd have them be a shortstop. Not everyone could be a big league shortstop. Jim takes a super, super special athlete in person and, yeah, to do that. In my opinion, there's probably only like 15 big league short stops. Worth their salt. 20. It depends how you define worth their salt, I guess.

I think Ronnie could do it. Anyways. A banger at shortstop, yes. you're not going to find a ton of those, but you can find it. If they wanted to go back to how short sub used to be defensively driven, there's so many guys that can pick it, but now they want you to hit too.

Now that's just catchers now. Back in those Jeter days. In 10 years, they're going to be a DH for catchers soon. Hey, we had darn no cleaning up Will Smith, hitting fifth in this game. Not their best games either one, but I don't know, guys. The story of this game we still haven't talked about it.

There's 1-1 into the 9th. Dodgers Penn comes in, and this is kind of the fairy tale we've been talking about. If the Braves do make this a series, I think it becomes a fear factor of the Dodgers bullpen. The goddamn, literally you couldn't write up a better Achilles heel follow-up story. Like, oh, this super lineup with super starting pitching and so much talent. And it always seems to come back to this bullpen trying and gets the nod in the tie game.

Yeah. And I was so excited about their good bullpen going against the heart of the order. And we had, you know, Acuna, O'Kuna, Darno, Albi's coming up. But first, it was Austin Riley. And Austin Riley said, screw you. Don't mind if I do. Don't mind if I start this off. And, I mean, could be a big moment for him.

I mean, Atlanta's been hyped up about Austin Riley for a little bit. He was having trouble kind of cracking into that. team slash finding a defensive position to get his big bat because they believe in that bat. You know, Donaldson was there last year. They let him go, although I think they were trying to resign him a little bit, that, you know, they end up using the money on Ozuna. Young Thick has worked out, and, you know, this could be kind of a big moment for him, because they do have him a part of their core going forward. Absolute moonshot to give them the two-one lead, and then they just don't stop.

You know, Acuna with the double down the line. Ozuna punches one out to right to score him. And then Ozzy Albies with the exclamation point straight to Malanson on the mound. Didn't even have to move, really. Which, Jimmy, you said it at the time, and I agree with you. That's like an impactful moment. That's like the looking back. If things start to happen with the Braves and you start thinking you've got some magic.

That's a movie moment, Travis. If this was a movie, that would happen, and they'd start playing some swell of music, and the vibe you'd get, it was like, things are going the Braves way. Like, in the movie, it would have been Melanson and Albi's like, they bump chest before the game, and Melanson was like, hey, it's about time you give us something. And then it comes right to him, and it's like, oh, my God. And it looks at the ball, and it's got like an imprint, and it says, that's for you, Mark. Coming off the batch is crazy.

Ooh, he put a stamp on his bat, hit that exact spot. Yes. You're getting it. And then it's like a sex, a sex scene with Max Reed on the mound. And see that twist coming back. Just dripping sweat. He's got his weird little facial hair. Glad it was sweat.

He's looking real good and he's just like dominating. Yeah. No. That's a different. Hell yeah. That's, I've got Max Reed and Walker Bueller doing their own thing. some tight pants and some athleticism. You know, we know about the Walker thing post game.

I'm an idiot asking about the pants, and he's like, it's not the time and the place now. I just lost a game in the NLCS. Shut up, you're an idiot. Please don't ever ask that question again. I'm paraphrasing. Just so straightforward dad mode from, how old is Walker now?

25? Younger? He's 26. They're an older soul. But just so direct telling a beat report, not the time or the place. Michael. They asked him Michael Scott. They asked Freed about it.

Yeah. The host game as well. And he has said the same thing. Hey, here. I have the sound bites for anyone that might not have heard him. They're worth playing. What the hell? Probably not the time or place, Michael.

Thank you, Walker. Probably not. And then Max Reed. Max Fried was. Alex, please. All right, this might be a dumb question. It's not really a question about you. Walker Bueller's tight pants.

What is that? Is that a Cali thing? Is that a pitcher thing? Just kind of, what's to deal with that? I don't really know Walker. It's kind of each person on his own. If it helps, if it makes you feel good. Dude.

Who the fuck is asking these questions, dude? His name is Michael. Michael J. Dwart Day. Same fucking guy. He asked Walker. I don't know if he asked Walker. I don't know if he has both. He's legit going to get his credential removed. Like Walker is saying that right now. Like get this guy the fuck out of you. I don't mind Tim asking, but I also love Walker Bueller shutting him down. It was a viral moment. And what if Walker Bueller like quips back with a fun joke? Like, yeah, my girlfriend likes it too. Then it's like, it's like, I'd like to see your pants tighter, Michael.

It's a different environment, man. If he comes on the show here, that's the environment for a question like that. You're talking about a post-game press conference where you've got to be credentialed. Only so many people get to ask. Post-game loss. You're right. You're right. Post-game loss.

He can't be. I like that question being posed to Walker. He was right. Not the time or the place. Yeah. Come on talking. Should I say that? Should I tweet at Walker?

Like, come on talking baseball. When you want it. when you want to talk about your tight pants. Yeah. Okay. Maybe if the Dodgers win tonight. I just, it's stupid. Like, that's for us, bro.

Like, you, you're not us. You're not fucking us. Trev, John was given Max Fried some Orlando Bloom comps last night, your thoughts. Only from Pirates of the Caribbean because he's got the face-shy. A younger Orlando Bloom. I think he's more Johnny Depp than Orlando. Although I could see maybe like a mixture. of those two guys. Keeping it in the Pirates

movies. I like that. I just watched a new movie with Orlando Bloom. It's a military movie called The Outpost. Tom Hanks? No, it's Orlando Bloom's in it for a little bit. Actually, one of the main characters is Clint Eastwood's son.

I don't know his name. Chet Eastwood. It's pretty good. That's good. That's good. That looks like him. It's got the facial hair, the nose. It's almost the exact. facial hair. Yeah. See, when I think of Orlando Bloom, though, I strictly think Legulus, so. You strictly think the picture of him on the paddleboat with Katie Perry with his dick out. Karen Knightley. I haven't, that's, there's a picture of his dick on the internet.

Legulus is it not Orlando Bloom? I mean, I want to see it now, but. Oh, yeah, with Katie Perry. You guys have never seen this? No. I don't, I don't, I don't really want to see it. You do want to see it here, Jake. Legulus is a special character. tight. I mean, it's Katie Perry's sitting on the front of the paddleboard. He's kneeling on it, completely naked. Just paddling her around. Hold on, hold on. Ben Gardy says Kirchaw scratched

Gonslyn starting. Is that a lie? Ben, this is a big man for you. I mean, here we are checking out Orlando Bloom's dick and they scratch Kirshah. With the passin. BBD. I ask him. I mean, it's not from passing, but are you confirming Orlando Bloom's dick?

Or, no. The Kerchaw thing, but I was in the middle of Googling the Orlando Bloom. B.B.D, you'd like the Orlando Bloom thing. It looks like he might have fluffed his penis a little like he knew the photograph was coming because it's a little perched. I know about perched penises. I just Googled Orlando Bloom penis and it came up. So it's pretty easy search. I don't want to search that.

I'm worried about as he searches. I'm going to search it on the work computer. Yeah. Okay. Lou Ellen knows Anyway, that's kind of big news We'll talk about that in the pregame show Which one?

Kershaw Okay Um Give me a Just I don't want to look at it But give me a one Well BBD just BVD instant reaction

It's one I'm already on Orlando Bloom on the on the kayak I need to see more angles of his penis Because it's a really weird shot Well you know he knew what he was He knew he was going to get Photos taken And he was a little bit fine

with it happening and he also prepped a little bit. Okay, so give me a one to ten. It's just funny that Katie Perry's just like in a bathing suit, not naked and he's just naked behind her. B.D. Say all of your feelings. Say all of your feelings right now. If Max Freed is really a friend,

he will recreate that photo with Jake as Katie Perry. Yeah. I like to do one shoot where we switch. We do both of them. Don't think Matt. is in for that. Leave Maxillone's freaking folks. You got to see it, Trep. You're going to be a little bugged out.

Yeah, I see it. Anyway, okay, guys. It's just not a natural penis angle. Big news here is that the Braves bullpen does it again. Chris Martin, Will Smith, Mlanson, three innings pitch, zero hits. Will Smith is gross. Which one? He was

not gross when he was a starter. Then all of a sudden, what did he go to San Fran and they put him in the pen? If the Royals, he was just a starter, unless they put him in the at the end of his time there, but shoot, man, he looks like Zach Britton, kind of. Right? Like, is that a fair comparison? Maybe doesn't throw us hard?

Yeah, Britain's tough because he's pretty unique, and that's not Yankee stuff. Like, I mean, Britain, you know, pumps one pitch 80% of the time. So it's just got a nasty, like, fastball slider combo, and he can dot it. And he, uh... Fliders good. I remember, I put it all together,

because I think he, when he signed with the Braves, he said he liked the Braves. He's got this, I think he's like a Florida panhandle guy. He's like a, you know, he's definitely got a scent to him if you're around him. And I think he's just leaned into it. And he's, he's figured it out. And he's a stud, dude. You can, his stats from the past, like, decade are good.

Yeah, yes. Sometimes that happens, man. You're like, that guy's not that good of a player. Then you look in, you're just like, holy shit, he's a really good player. And I didn't notice. Ooh, last thing before we maybe start segueing out of it. Ron Darling said something on the broadcast that I want to know if it's a baseball thing,

if it's just alleged thing, if it's total BS, or if there's maybe stats to it. He was talking about Charlie Morton, and he said that Charlie Morton, over time, has gotten a lot better against lefties because when you pitch for that long, he's seen so many lefties stacked lineups

that you learn how to pitch to lefties. Is that a little bit of a myth? is if you're such a good starting pitcher that you pitch for that long, you're probably good. You get enough practice at anything. I mean, you could see it making sense, but I also have no idea. Like, I've never heard that before.

I mean, he's a guy that, like, reinvented himself once. Right. He's not being like he started pitching like Roy Holiday, and here, I mean, he's still doing it. Yeah. So that makes sense. They just started throwing harder, Trev.

Yeah, I don't know what, I don't know what happened with him, but he's turned into an amazing pitcher. it makes sense i mean yeah you get those lefties you got to find a way to get them out if you want to stay in the league it's like anything man like if you come up and you can't hit a certain pitch you better learn how to hit that pitch or you're not going to be playing for very long so i think you know over time you develop things uh lefties have their tendencies and if you can exploit those um you know whether it be i think a lot of lefties nowadays he's kind of set up perfectly for this I remember when Joe Mower, they started to figure some things out about him.

It was the 12-6 curveball. That vertical break left these for some reason don't like that. So, like, Morton's set up for that, you know, changeups away, busting them up and in. There's ways to attack lefties typically, and he's just, you know, they're how to do it, man. Like it. Love it.

Not as much as the Orlando Bloom-Peeper talk, but. Yeah. I'm not going to look at that, I promise. I'll send you. Why wouldn't you? I'll text you right now. I'll text it to you three versions If you guys are like you gotta see it

You're gonna be interested by it It's not gross It's not weird Sounds like a five to me I don't want to see a five I need to see like if I'm gonna take a look It's not impressive if I'm being honest Like I could take that picture

He's not a big guy He's gotta be 5, 6, 7 He's listed at 511 Which makes me thinks he's 5 9 You already went to the stats, huh? Good for you. Oh, yeah. Well, Jim brought it up last night, and I saw it. I wondered if it was too facial hair-based. And I also picture Orlando Bloom being pretty tiny. Well, now I'm just texting it to our group chat, so Zach's not listening to this. So I wonder what he's going to think.

Somebody said, I'm fairly certain texting that to me would be illegal. I agree. Well, I just did. If we had a fucking HR at this company, I would. We do. It's me. I'm free of all. No, isn't Katie the HR? I'm calling Katie right now. I'm head of HR. Actually, I like that angle better for him. That's a more natural droop. Remember this day when I've taken over... The shadow's misleading.

After I sue, Jim. What's that? Thanks, everybody. Thanks, everyone. That's the end of this episode. I like that picture for him. Yeah. That's a seven.

Yeah. I'll find the weird one and send it to you, Trev. All right, bye, guys. Two more games today. We'll be back tomorrow.