Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 227 | Dodgers Nearly Comeback & Rays Win Again

Episode Date: October 14, 2020

The teams that have been winning keep on winning! Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe recap both Tuesday night LCS matchups. 8:30 Braves-Dodgers Game 2 33:15 Rays-Astros Game 3 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. We are going to talk about baseball today on this show. I guarantee it. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for stopping by. The championship series are in full swing. The rays win again. The Dodgers get beat by the Braves again.

We got some burns. We got some thoughts. We got some recaps. We got some baseball to discuss. many are live from the Roosevelt Studios in the Bronx. That's R-S-V-L-T-S dot com. My name's Jimmy sitting right next to me is young Jake, Trevor, out in California, and Bug Bug, Bug Dude Behind the Dish.

This episode of Talking Baseball is brought to you by Dax Tucker, Ray Swin, Michael Kelly, and Chris Moore. Those are our most recent patrons. They get a little live show, a little pre-game show, a little post-game show, and can be part of the show, because they usually help us out in the live chat or we ask them questions. The patrons got a lively discussion in the pregame show this morning. Someone in the patron chat said this was worth it already or something like that.

I was losing it. Someone joined the patron chat a little early. And the patron chat's a great little community. Go sign up. It's fun if you're looking to watch live. And someone asks like, hey, what did I miss? And they go, well, there's a little sex talk. And then they talked about base cam.

So we covered all of the main topics early. Trevor Plouffe will even be live with you in the chat. I'm always in the chat. I enjoy talking to the chat almost as much as I enjoy talking to you guys, to be honest. That's fair. We have a very nice chat. Trev, how are you doing? I'm doing great.

I enjoyed our conversation earlier as well. I think sometimes you just got to get some things off your chest. I had a disagreement last night about one of his tweets. So we were talking about that. I don't even know if the patrons heard that. But I don't think so. We're a little fired up and that is a good, good thing. The playoffs are here.

Shit is happening. Shit is happening. Teams are taking care of business. We're going to recap it. I can't wait. Jake, how are you doing? I'm good, man.

I'm good. It's a weird mix of like these games. Like the Braves' Dodgers game wasn't great, but in the last inning, it's as good as a baseball game could get, pretty much. So that was exciting. And then Ray's Astros, man, those rays find a way. They are scary. They are in the Astros head. So I think we're going to have a lot of conversation about that.

But yeah, man, I don't know, a lot of topics. I feel like there's a lot of topics There's a lot going on Baseball's doing good It's hot in the streets some might say How are the ratings right now? Probably terrible Ratings

Like terrible, terrible or like just because COVID terrible Which I don't know why that I don't know I don't know I think everything's on a scale right now I can check I can try and pull them up

As we go I love the ratings I do too It's because I listened to WFAN growing up and Mike Francesa, who's now a shell of himself. I know this and a lot of young kids don't understand how great he was back in the day. Just because he's a weirdo now doesn't mean he wasn't fantastic radio back in the day. He loved the ratings. And he would always talk, like read the ratings scorebook out to his live audience.

And I love behind the scene stuff. I always have loved behind the scenes more than the actual scene. So I'm a ratings nut job. But it is getting tough. They need to figure out how to do it and calculate internet. Yes, mobile, internet. Yeah. I agree with that.

All right. I want to ask a question to the chat before we start, because I'm curious about this. YouTube crowd, which we're doing now, right? Yeah. Do people watch it on a laptop, a desktop, a desktop, your phone? Like, where are you guys watching this? And being able to type so fast.

They're probably on their phones, I think. Sounds a little boomerish of me. I understand that. Don't get them boomer interest. I think they're probably on their phone. You got a lot of phone, laptop. Come on. Okay.

TV. See, that's what I want to really know. Like, is anybody watching on their TV? Probably not. I think a lot, there's a chunk of people. Those tweets always get me that they're like, oh, watching with you guys, and they have us up on the TV. That's wild.

But it's technically through their computer. And I'm like, that's kind of cool, man. So the... Working people with the second screen, dig that. The ALCS. It's a tough comparison because last year was Yankees Astros before the Astros fallout. And now it's Rays.

And it's not disrespectful for Rays fans, but they do not carry weight in ratings. It's just a fact. It's 66% down the ALCS this year to last year. I mean, that's... It's tough. That's ginormous. But I do think the Astros lost a bit of their following,

who now is like, I don't want to be part of that or that's too, there's too much ancillary stuff there and they lost the core and they're bad. And the rays just don't, they probably have the full force of what they can bring and it's just not comparative to the Yankees.

Which is not like an arrogant or rude thing to say. Just stats. The lower ratings, like, it kind of is interesting to me because you have like the anti-woke crowd that's like, says, oh, this is because we're not watching because of some of the

like the racial justice stuff that has gone on in the pro sports world. And now it's like they look like they're getting justified, but I don't think, I think it's just a coincidence. You know, like the, like the Aubrey Huffs. Like they think that they have done this.

But I think it's just more of a coincidence, COVID related than anything. Yeah. Well. Right. Like what's the deal? NLCS had good rating. 4.2 million.

Still down, but only down 10%. The raise are just really bad for ratings, man. They don't have any weight of a fan base to go. But they're playing really good baseball, though. But it's the way they're built. They're built for a lot of pitchers and no star power. It can be really frustrating if you're the opposing team playing them that even another team could tweet out something sympathetic to them.

Such beef, so hot in the streets. The home opener, the home opener between the Yankees and the Nationals had 4.10 million. That's pretty cool. That was the first game back. First game back of everything. First like live sports, yeah. My brother just sent me a video of the Tommy Fam thing. Should I look at it?

I've seen it. It's not terrible. There's a fight. And then you see a guy walk in front of it who's got like blood, blood on his shirt and that's Tommy fam it's like a good amount of blood yeah it's a fight outside of a strip club oh there's a video of it yeah

so I got it I got you can't see Tommy he just cuts into the screen later and like there's a lot of blood on his back like a I've been stabbed amount of blood on his back oh shit that sucks all right well I'll watch it I guess after

post show for the I've been there I just want to let everyone know that Been to that strip club? I have. A couple different times for Bachelor parties. Who'd you stab? Hmm. I've never stabbed anybody, but...

With anything? I hit close to home. Hey, close to home. Been there a couple times, like I said, know the place pretty well. All right. All right, well, we are CronPod, and they switched it up,

and they gave the Braves and the Dodgers the first game today. So are you ready? Jake Burns? All right. Let's burn game one. Here we go. Jakey Burns on your mark.

Get set. Burn, Jakey Byrne. Clay and Kirshaw and the Dodgers scratched that back spasms and actually cat scratched that as it was Catterday with Tony Gonselin versus Mr. Anderson. As Ian and the Braves try to break the Matrix and go up. 2-0 on the Dodgers. Scoreless into the fourth MV-free most ball and his player.

Two-run, yacker. A four-run fifth blows it open for the Bravos. Is that bag? Pache? First, MLB-RBI for the Rook. How about that? Freddie again with the RBI single, and then, oh, no, Dodger fans, you've seen this before.

Pedro Baez's House of Horror. Walks darn O for the RBI. monster Ozzy Albies with the deep sack fly that could have done a lot more damage doppelganger Dansby stretches it out to 7-0 in the 7th Braves had a rally brewing could have been a lot worse and that would be important. Corey Seeger later a three-run bomb makes it seven to three Albies your crying shoulder another Ozzie bomb makes it eight to three to Melanson again in the bullpen special Malanson sits down and here comes Josh when the walls come tomlin down.

Corey Seeger with another RBI double. Max Muncie, that funky Muncie. Two run Homer. It's 8.6. Is there something a brewing? No, Will Smith grounds out to second. Oh, no, Ozzie botches it. Will Smith gets on board.

We've got the tying run at the Dishkin Belly and his playoff. Nightmares. Triple death. Down the line, he's running like Mark Wahlberg from what was that movie, Jim? Invincible. That was a great tweet. Belly, the tying run is on third. Malanson came in.

It's eight, seven. Trevor Ploose, arch nemesis, A.J. Pollack rounds out to third. That's it, that's all. Eight, seven Braves final. Anderson to Matzik, to O'Day, to Minter, to Martin, to Tomlin, to Malanson. Two nothing Braves in the NLCS Nice nice I have to watch the game I got it all right there

Oh yeah that's the reason I enjoy When we bring these to the talking baseball crowd In the post season Because there's a lot of people like joined us During the regular season that haven't never heard them The YouTube comments were good A lot of compliments but someone said

That was awesome he should do that for every game So just strap in for 2,400 130 of those. All right. This is my life now. Jake does 162 for the Yankees. If they lose, it's a smaller effort. But if they win, you know, they won 103 games in 2019.

Jake did it up. Every game. 103. Just do every game, every team. Every game, every team. Every game. About time. I agree with Sean Mueller in the chat.

He says Pedro buys his house of horror is perfect. Yeah. because that's how he feels it on the bump. That is a sentiment shared with all of Los Angeles. Every time he comes in the game, people are on Twitter. My feed just goes, why is he in the game?

What is going on? Now, I mean, I've seen him get into trouble, but I've seen a lot of pictures getting into trouble. This guy, in particular, causes strong emotions when he's on the mount with Dodger fans. And he can see why. He had a tough one yesterday.

And, hey, I still think, this is very much a series. I think we're going seven. You know, don't, don't quit on these Dodgers. Seven? Oh, yeah. You've got to go seven now, right? You don't have to. They can still go six technically. But either way, we're getting ahead of ourselves. That's the other series. You know, if this Dodgers thing doesn't work out this year, I mean, Pedro Baez, you know, he's been good. He's got seven years in the league, a three-flat ERA, more strikeouts than innings pitch. I think he's a reverse splits guy. I think he's disgusting against lefties. you know, you're going to start talking change a scenery type stuff.

Because, again, if you're a Dodgers fan, you don't want to see him out there. And a certain point for Pedro bias, like, you can't be out there in a Dodgers uniform in these situations. Because, man, they've just seen a lot of bad experiences out there. His numbers versus lefties are insane this season. Wasn't it like a 369 OPS or something like that? 282 OPS versus Lefties this year. I don't think I've ever looked at his numbers. His numbers are good.

Yeah, man. And it's just when you play on a team like the Dodgers, when everything comes down to the postseason. And you pitch it impactful moments. You know, those memories stick out. I'm telling you, these people go nuts when he goes in. This guy's a good pitcher. You're a career 131. Bullpen.

Bullpen stats are really hard. Like bullpen ERA to me is that blows in one ear and out the other. I mean, you want a guy, especially in the playoffs, I can hold inherited runners, and that can get quick outs. That's why if you have a bullpen arm, that's not a big strikeout arm, I'm kind of not in on it. And versus varieties, I don't think he's a big strikeout guy at all. Well, he's dipped in his strikeouts, but he's still, I mean,

he's still career a nine per nine. So one in inning, and he's got, you know, his whip is pretty good. I kind of look at that for relievers as well. Like, you don't want to put runners on base. If things don't work out for the Dodgers, it's just like a change of scenery thing. Like, yes, you're good, and we use you, but we need to swap in someone else. who's good because we can't we can't do this anymore.

Yeah, I was expecting something completely different than that. And hey, bounce back, Pedro, by. It's like a lot of playoffs left. Hey, but here's this. Whenever I go to a relievers, Paige, Trev, I go to inherited runners and inherited runners stranded. Because that doesn't show up in ERA. He would 100%.

He inherited three this season and he stranded all of them. So that's good. Sure. Bang. Interesting. I got to talk to my buddies about this because they, And there's one LA sports writer in particular The Rights for the Times

He's like he can't He pedro buys and he's like I'm turning the TV off sources There is like a vibe factor Yeah like even if the team is like And you know Players are human What the fans feel the players usually feel In some type of way

Might be a little more more muted or whatever But like you know There's guys in that bullpen that were like Fucking biases isn't Yeah I and I thought I tell you guys that about Colome. That's the kind of reliever he is. It's not a bad comment.

It's not a clean inning ever. But you look at his numbers, they're also really good. Actually, Pedro Byes, his numbers are much better than Colomis. All right. So we, Anderson, Gonsolin. Gonselin does the spot start. He's cruising looking real nice. Freddie gets him.

And that's obvious. I mean, I think he's this year's MVP, back-to-back game. James jumping a homer in this series. He looks really good. Anderson, man, four innings pitch, one hit five walks, not a lot of contact. I think he's setting like earned run records for rookies in the playoffs or whatever it is. Unbelievable. And a hell of a job by Matzik, two-winning's shuddy, a guy that had the yips for a little bit.

Big conversation around baseball now. Really cool comeback story from him. go check that out if you haven't seen it. And yeah, I mean, just that fifth inning for the Braves. Four runs, Paschay, first career RBI double, Freddie again. And then, again, it could have been ugly. Albies hits that ball to center. Belly makes the nice catch on it.

And then Dodgers come back. I don't know. What are you boys seen? Hey, that belly catch was really nice. And I tweeted it out because I'm just tweeting out highlights or anything I find funny from games. And I got so many people like, scoreboard. didn't matter. Oh, where the Yankees at?

Well, that's a really nice catch. That's all I'm saying. But it did matter. Or it almost came very close to mattering. If Ozzy clears the bases there, the pitchers that get used are so different. The Braves now had to use Malanson. They had to use some of their better pitchers.

And if Ozzy clears them there, what do they go up? I mean, big. Big. That clears the bases, right? Like, it's, you know. Yeah, things are ugly, ugly. Yeah. So small victories, even though, you know, you were down by a lot,

that catch still saved the path of the rest of the game and the Dodgers almost came back. I know that means nothing because they're down 2-0 and the Braves fans are saying, do that doesn't matter. But you get to see Melanson again, second day in a row. I don't think that happened. So it was a really nice catch. But the Braves just smash, man.

Yeah, their offense has been great. Looking at the box score and then looking at the time of the game, I mean, we had 12 strikeouts for the Braves, 11 for the Dodgers, a zillion walks in the game, a four-hour, 12-minute game. Yeah. That is, you know, that's something that you need to watch, too. These guys coming in walking guys, more pitches, more endings for everybody. I think we're going to obviously see Melanson probably take the day.

Some other guys as well. He only threw, he didn't throw as many pitches as I thought. but that's a lot, man. A lot of true outcome stuff going on in these games. He's, I mean, he's got to catch Alby's next home run today, so watch out for that. What do you think about Tomlin? I think this is probably a point of discussion,

and it's playing seven games and seven days potentially, playing every day. They get the insurance run from Albies. The score goes to eight to three. Melanson catches it again, cool moment. they sit down Malanson with the five-run lead, and they bring in Josh Tomlin. I'm trying not to be mean to Josh Tomlin. This is just something that I always find fascinating in baseball.

Like if you can, Josh Tomlin's basically stayed around a certain level of baseball his whole career, 11 seasons of 4-690 RA. You just keep landing in kind of that last pitcher on the team role and you keep twirling it. Amazing facial hair. But he does rock that well. A lot of guys wouldn't be able to rock. He rocks it pretty naturally. Like Garrett Richards, your boy, Trev.

He was trying to rock similar facial hair. It's awful looking. I didn't mind his. I thought it was okay. He got roped into the San Diego thing a little bit. He looked like White Earp. He looked like White Earp. Someone said Kurt Russell and Wyatt Earp, and it was very true.

Ooh. I think he's a pretty good looking guy. And I mean, this is the kind of the question and probably what that horrible question in the press conference was asking. I mean, Tomlin comes in. they knock him around. You know, do they quote unquote spark the Dodgers? You know, they gave him a scare.

They were a swing away there from having, you know, close to an all-time collapse. They were up seven nothing in this game. I mean, is it too much hindsight's 2020? Is it? Because, I mean, bringing Tomlin into this game. I'm all for it. I don't know if it happens if there are off days,

if this is game three and you just came off an off day and you got three in a row, and then you have another off day. Maybe not. Maybe you just go to Melanson right away, and you don't see the back end guys get it. But because of the situation they're in, they may be in for long haul,

try to sneak some outs with Tomlin. You're up five. And worst case, the Dodgers put a rally together, and then you bring in a Lansing. You know, the Albi's error hurts more than anything with Melanson. He was like one pitching out if that play is made. I'm totally fine with bringing Tomlin in there. If he gets the job done,

it's like, hey, you save Melanson. But it's also a little tiny small victory for the Dodgers that they said, hey, okay, well, we'll just knock him around and make you use your good guy anyway. But I think it's fine. I was fine with it. I thought Melanson threw more pitches yesterday. He threw seven yesterday and nine today or vice versa. Vice versa, yeah.

Vice versa. So he's ready to go. I mean, getting him up, sitting him down, getting him up, like maybe they're thinking about, I mean, actually, no, that he's ready to go tonight. With those small pitch counts, he's ready to go. It doesn't really matter. I agree with bringing Tomlin in to try to save the back end of your bullpen, save some pitches for them, but, you know, nine pitches, seven pitches, he's fine.

I guess here's my thing. Shane Green hasn't been used yet in this series. He's a guy with closing experience. Like, this is still a playoff game and you're up five to the Dodgers who you've kept in check. Like, I don't know. I think Tomlin is clearly the. the last guy in your bullpen.

I would have liked to see them go Shane Green, and then you can, A, introduce him to this series. You don't have to burn Melanson again, probably. I don't know. I just think going Tomlin, you know, you guys, a little babbit luck away from, you know, a nightmare. Maybe take him out earlier. You know, give him a little, what did Tomlin go?

What was his order of events there? Let me see. He goes strikeout single double maybe take him off the strikeout after the double but then you're going to have to have him a lancin up anyway. Yeah. And then that doesn't make sense because if you're taking him out after three batters, that means you had someone warming up from the jump and then if you have some warming up from the jump, just bring him in. Then he gets the strikeout. So now he's an out away. So you're like, okay, one more out.

And then Muncie takes him deep. And then it's like, fuck. Okay. I have to change. I get it. I get what you're saying. It could have went south and you do have Shane Green. I don't know what's up with him.

I don't know. Yeah, we don't know. Is Norm in the chat? Norm in the chat. Do we have, Shane Green's only been used twice, once in the wild card, once in the DS. And he's only thrown 1.1 innings. Maybe he's, like, nursing something. Could be something again.

I don't know. But that would be my only kind of raised the brown. That happened with the Yankees with Zach Britton. They didn't use him in 18. And we were like, where the hell's Britain? And then as soon as the series ended, they were like, he's hurt. So we can use them. Yeah.

Wins for the Dodgers. You get the late rally. Everyone in the lineup gets a hit, so you're probably feeling pretty okay about that. And yeah, you're thinking your bats are sparked. We'll see what they look like today. Braves, I mean, a lot of big numbers in the box score. Obviously, Freddie, Albies, Dansby,

Marquakis with two hits. So a lot of guys feeling good on both these teams. teams right now. And then you reference the question, and it is one of the storylines going on around this. So let's just play it for anyone who might have not heard the Melanson exchange and the question posed in the post game. Here we go. Mark, can you look at this as a little of the entire league, but can you look at it as what most of this is about? He showed something there in the end by, you know, against the team like that. I mean, you're up two oh now. People have most of that league.

You still blow him to you know? I don't really understand your question. Can you still take something positive out of this? You're still up too well in the series despite, you know, blowing a big league. Can you leave this thing feeling, you know, good that he survived this game? I think that's a terrible question. I'm not even going to answer it. So that's it.

We talked about this before we started the show. Like, clearly I know what he was trying to ask. He just phrased it so incredibly rude, to be honest. Just really, like, rude phrasing. He was trying to say, hey, man, you know, you almost, that almost got scary out there for you. Does that feeling creep into the dugout or you just, or is it just good vibes because you're up too oh? That's still a weird question, but like, that's, like, can you take any positives away? So weird.

Really good job by Malanson, just shutting that down. Malanson, former Yankees farmhand. How did he pick the Yankees? I don't you remember. Well, the Yankees wouldn't use him in high leverage, so he complained vocally to the media that they were misusing him or not using him correctly. Very briefly.

So the Yankees shipped him right out of there. Then he went to the pirates and was really good. Then he went to Boston. And I think it was a similar vibe in Boston. We're like, he just didn't jive with that audience. And they shipped him out of there. Yeah, I remember facing him. AAA, everyone's saying this is the new Mariano Rivera.

He's good. Ask me what I did. Homered. Tank job. Grand Slam. Wow. Yeah, New York, Houston, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, San Francisco, now Atlanta. He's been all over the place.

Hmm. He caught the Albi's homer. I mean, talk about that. Back-to-back nights. I mean, come on. Did you guys see the other thing? Oh, he didn't have a lot of money. Going on about Melanson?

What? That he runs a turf company? Yeah, people are really dumb. Like, there's, like, I guess they were trying to do it as anti-Malanson, that he has a business on the side that he founded, which is like, why would you ever knock someone for that? But the way, the way I saw it come across my Twitter was like, Like, he's so poor, he answers the phone at his turf company when he's not pitching.

Or it's like, that's smart. Good job, Malanson. Yeah, he's passionate about something. $76 million. Yeah. Sure. And I'm sure that like someone in his family wanted to start a turf company. He was like, sure, I'll help you found it.

And then they use him as the figurehead. And good for him. Side businesses are always good. Good for them. I should have been a reliever. Yeah. Sell time. No, no.

You got a little gas in that tank. I can tell. Any time left. No time? If you dedicated to pitching up until spring training, what could you pop on the gun? 901. Yeah. Drive line.

Oh, for sure. For sure, for sure, I could get to... Okay. I could hit 97 milford. Melanson. That's all I'm saying. At what age do you think Teddy's going to be able to catch your full speed? Oh.

He's so bad at catching. I don't know. I work with him all the time and I try to give him all the tricks and he's just like not there yet Have you tried Meat it squeeze it Freeze it?

We're going to go easy on him for now Need it Squeeze it Freeze it Idea or anybody listening or watching now You can't They need to make a better kids baseball glove Like they're just like the young kids gloves suck

None of these kids can squeeze the I coached six-year-old, five-year-old Flecks? None of these kids can catch because the gloves don't work. They're just like go like this and like they're like,

they don't. So I always made my brother play bare hand when he was five. I made him play bare hand, but then they're scared of everything. Like there needs to be something better. But if we did, Luke did have a coach when he was seven

that used paddles to teach like short, soft hands, like just a paddle on your left hand so you couldn't squeeze it. So you're, so you had to use two hands all the time. And I was like,

this is a bit early. It's a bit early for the paddles. for the paddle hand. Nobody does that ever. Kids can barely walk. Hey, I grew up with milk cartons, man. And then I go outside and I play baseball. That was Mariana Rivera.

Oh. Yeah, you were, was that? Oh, I would, no, I would have like five bowls of apple jacks. Yeah. And then I'd go outside and throw baseball against, like, the side of, yeah. Yes, yes, yes. Anything else from this game? Good for the Braves.

The Dodgers offense woke up. I think that's, if you're going to give any, you know, positive to what's going on with Dodgerville. It's their bats woke up. So that's a good thing going forward. Kyle Wright, they go against lesser pitchers for the Braves now. Kyle Wright and then a bullpen day,

I'm guessing. I don't really know. Maybe that's where they're saving Shane Greene. Maybe that's where they're saving arms. Put some respect on his name. He earned it last start. A good start. Oh, Kyle Wright.

He's the lesser of Anderson and Freed. That's all I said. They're going up against lesser Braves pitching. Kershaw game four, is that correct? Yeah, and Ion Anderson. Ion Anderson. Ion Anderson. Ion Anderson. I mean, he, I think even Snitker, Snitker gave the best mid-game manager interview I've heard this postseason. They were like, hey, looks like Anderson's done, just judging on his body language. And Snickr was like, oh, yeah, he's done. He's not going. I threw a lot of pitches in the fort there. And he didn't look that sharp, but he got the job done. I was like, oh, insight. Perfect.

actual like scouting or review. So per Snitker, Anderson was, you know, didn't look sharp but got the job done. So that's my opinions as well. Ian Anderson, 15.2 innings pitch this postseason, zero earned runs, 22 punchy. First Braves pitcher in the franchise history to go three starts without giving up a run.

Yeah. That's pretty good. I do want to say this. Kyle sent me the clip of me, taking the raise preseason and you guys had some all-time bad takes in that I can't wait to share

it with the audience excited let's see it and I'm sure you're over emphasizing that because that's kind of what you do there we like the raise no we probably laughed at him I'd probably dropped my until they until they do they aren't

unproven is something you said even though Charlie Morton and Blake Snow had one of style young you guys were really the bad takes was you really hyping up the yankees pitching staff well they all got hurt no and the guys that you referenced didn't get hurt paxton paxton saverino it was really all about um i got to i got to watch tnaca obviously did well it was tanaka we guys were representing the top three of cole paxton and tinnaka were the best in baseball or rivaled the best in baseball which is clearly not the case yeah

We're not talking Yankees. They're out. Sorry for Trevor. Always bringing up the Yankees, everyone. Only thing that I think needs to be mentioned from this really tough play. Fly ball down the right field line. Mookie just misses it.

There might be only one right fielder in baseball that can catch that ball and it's Mookie bets and he just missed it. And now circling back to where this game ended up, it's an interesting note. What's, there's no actionable change there, though? What's the note? I mean, I think he catches that ball 50% of the time. I feel like you're leaving a lot to infer here,

and I have no idea what to infer. You're saying Mookie's bad? No, I'm saying they could have won this game. Like, that could have been the difference between, like, three runs. Oh, oh, okay. That's the infer. I know you're saying maybe Mookie's lost a step or he's heard or something. No.

I'm saying I think Mookie catches that ball a lot, and he might be the only right-fielder in baseball that does catch that a lot. All right. Well, moving on. Raise Astros. But before we do that, let me tell you a little bit about Traffking. Week 5 of football is 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 drafting sportsbook.

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Deposit bonus requires 25 times play-through. Restrictions apply. See drafkings.com slash sportsbook for details. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. All right, raise Astros. Game three, let's burn it on your mark. Get set and burn! Show me your cat.

Show me your kitty, Jose, your kitty in the Stroes, and kind of a must win versus your pirate friend. Yarr, bro. Bottom one, Jose Altuve, Jose Altuve. Four homers in five games for hip, hip, Jose. One, nothing. It would stay that way till the sixth. Oh, no, Jose. Throws one away to start the rally.

Hi, I'm 12 years old from Sterling, Virginia. My favorite player is DJ LaMayhew. Little League star Joey Wendell with the big two RBI single, followed by an Anoli hit by pitch parades, RBI for Adamas, and then the Hunter goes in for the kill. Renfro with the bloop two RBI double. Professional hitter Michael Brantley goes solo dung, and the Astros have a rally forming in the ninth. Controversial. Check swing on El Tuve. Brantley flies out. Wham, bam, bam. Thank you, ma'am.

Ray's go early settlers. Ryan Yarborough to Peter Fairbanks. John Curtis to Ryan Thompson to Aaron Loop. And then they close with their new friend Diego Castillo. Ray's win 5'2. They take a 3-0 lead in the series. Wowser. Wowser's Bowser's.

They just catch. everything. It's like hitting into a black hole. I mean, Bragman got got again. Just catch everything. It's pretty nuts. It's pretty nuts. You mentioned this kind of yesterday. I forget if it was on the show or pregame show or later. It feels like they're playing a video game. On hard mode. Yeah. Like you have to beat this challenge to move on. And can you get it past the raised defense? Yeah. Yeah. That's what it feels like. Pro skater. Trev, you look pretty relaxed about all of it.

Lower back. You know, they were trusting, the Asteros were trusting a lot of young arms and Presley's there, he's not that young. But then Anoli Paredes, just don't know if I'm saying that name right, steps up and, you know, after the wild card round and then the divisional round,

we're like, oh, that's going to be the number two guy that Dusty's going to go to. Well, that failed. He did rather poorly. He comes in, single, single, bunte ground out, hit by pitch, hit by pitch, out. So the only out that he got was given to him on a bunt.

Not good. No, Bueno. No, bueno. This is, uh, you know, I know what you guys are saying.

The defense has shown up, but that's just, just the attitude. And I think, um, Jimmy Rollins was, was referencing this after the game, talking about defensively how good they've been.

and he's talking about how it is contagious. We talk about our offense is contagious. Defense is the same way. He said it looks like these guys are like, I want my chance to make a good play. Some of the, like we talked about Hunter Renfro made some incredible catches last night. Kevin Kiermeyer, obviously,

always do the thing. Joey Wendell's been playing really good third base choice, picking it at first base. Adomis. But really Adomis is short. Man, when you watch that guy play, you need to be strong up the middle. To be a good baseball team, you've got to be strong up the middle.

And having Adomis what he can do at shortstop and what Kiermar can do, that is the recipe for success. I think everybody feeds off of, you know, those two guys and everyone wants to be a part of it. Adomis, I mean, I'm going to look up his, yeah, I mean, he hasn't hit a lick and they don't care. Go ahead, play your D-Willie and get your hits when you can get. them it's if it's one thing to to see it happen for one game for them to continuously do it that just takes the wind out of your sales if you're the astros you're battling battling battling battling and nothing can fall you saw george springer last night or i guess it was

daytime whatever but he was slamming his helmet down it's just how frustrating it is to see that man like even if it wasn't a hard hit ball you're like that's a hit that's a hit that's hit then all of a sudden and it really is deflating for an offense. They're playing out of their minds. I want to say it was an Adamas play, and they cut to the Astros bench, and it was just like, you guys, you could tell that they don't want to be frustrated

because they know that's not going to help them at all. But you saw a couple guys just do the like, what do we got to do, man? Was it the Altuvae when he threw Altuvae out in the hole? Yes, yes, it was. And Yondi D. He has over there. Oh, my God.

He's so big, he can't even move, but he's just picking balls. I mean. That one pick was gross. That was awesome. He played a cool and just drop the glove hammer on it. You already know the runs are going to be at a premium because the race do have a great pitching staff. But then you mix in the shifts that have been working and then them just making some plays. And it's like, what do you said?

What do you got to do? And it seems like you got to hit a homer. Yeah. You got a homer against the race because they're going to make those plays. dude and I tweeted this out and I said they're very similar to the 2015 Royals. That team had

Alcades Escobar up the middle which he was incredible short stuff for a while then they're outfield everybody knows about their outfield Mustakis was not happy that I tweeted that out he says nobody will ever be the 2015 2015 Royals Trev and I said well I beg to differ I think these

you guys are very similar but yeah the defense has showed up Offenses showed up enough in Tampa Bay is one victory away from the world series. It's pretty crazy, man. And Altova has the Ips. He's making me feel sad about it. Yeah.

Like he's making errors, just spiking balls, and he looks so sad. And unlike the Astros, I am a person with empathy and sympathy, and can put myself in other people's shoes and he's genuinely making me feel bad for him. So I need him to stop making errors because he's going to make me

like he's torturing himself. Well, if you remember, he only received 2.8% of pitches that he had the trash campaign. Now, we didn't count the fact that maybe non-bangs were also... Yeah, in the most unofficial, the most unofficial official...

Stats. Stats ever. But I... Yes. Sats that exist, but do not matter. The team. And I told you guys this season that I thought Bregman and Altuva have handled it the best, just shutting up, just getting to work, doing charity shit.

And so, yes, I do feel for him. I mean, he's hitting the ball too, which is interesting because he looks so sad, but he's not bringing that to the plate. I guess that's one positive takeaway from this. His glove has lost him this series. I mean, on. Yes, you could say that. Yeah, I mean, the rays obviously are their gloves are winning them this series,

but collectively the raised gloves winning them a series as a team. Al-Tuvae's arm singularly is losing them this series. I mean, game one is on Al-Tuvei. And Gurio. Is that the – I think that's more on Gurio. And that's where – I think that's more on Guriel, too. But it's a bad throw. But he did –

But like, Guriel could have just picked that up. That's where things get crazy, man. That's where things get crazy. And that's, you know, I'm normally Jake's Jester's, hashtag Jake's Jester's. You know, I'm having serious. talks with people online and on waking Jake this morning like I don't wish the yips on my enemy man I can't imagine being that far lost and anxiety and fear and you know the one thing that you've done all your life you can't do it anymore so yeah if you're a if you're a person out there you know

he don't wish this on anyone um and I don't think he does I'll say this I think they can you know Dusty's there dusty has a plan which is huge um but I think you know both of those three Rose were kind of deep in the shift. And I think you just say, hey, Jose, you know, when you're deep in that shift, you know, make sure you're getting it there, blah, blah, blah. And then he's trying to turn, you know, a nice play with Correa, and he spikes it. And it's ugly, and he's definitely thinking about it. I don't think it's yippy yet, you know, jump dropping knobby and dropping Steve Sacks.

I think we'll find out today. You kind of almost hope he gets one of those plays that challenges him enough that he doesn't have to think at all. What's yips? Well, I think we're going to find out. Like, I'm not ready to label it here. I'm hoping for him because I think it'll be a lot easier to get away from it. Like, I think there's a chance it can become yips. Do we have different definition of yips?

Do you guys have yips as like a career-ending thing? Basically, yeah. Oh, I do not. I just think it's when you- I mean, it takes years to come back from. Like, a full case of the YPS. I don't think he's at the YIP stage yet. I think he's just really thinking about it. And what, so, like, I've had throwing issues.

at shortstop and that's why I moved off a shortstop and it was so fucking embarrassing man I actually had a reporter of Minnesota asked me if I had the Yips after a game and the only way you can get rid of it is you go out there and throw a million freaking baseballs and I did that

eventually I guys I moved off short to outfield and the third base but I didn't want to have throwing problems ever again so I worked on my throwing so fucking much and then I became good but he needs this is what he needs to do and he's not going to do it because I'll tell you why.

He needs to go out there pregame and just let the fucker go. Have someone at first base and just zip the ball over there 50 times and not give a fuck where it goes. The problem is if he does that, there's the ballpark cam. Everyone will be talking about it

and then it's going to get into his head even more. So he can't even go get secret work in. Maybe he can somewhere. That's what he needs to do. go out there where nobody can see and just let it zip. But I don't know if he has the ability to do it. They're in the bubble. The ballpark cam is going to pick it up and make it a huge freaking story.

So he's got to figure something out, man. Yeah, I just, I use that term differently, I guess. I don't think if it's like you can have temporary yips. Because right now his errors are mental. And that's what I think of the yips. Like when you say he just needs to get a play without thinking about it, that's that to me, that's like, that means he has the yips. Yips is like career setback, though.

I mean, it's Ricky and Kiel, it's Knoblock, it's Steve Sacks. Those are like the most dramatic cases. Matzik for the Braves. That's part of his story. Like Sasser. Like I don't think you can have the Yips for a week. I think you have throwing problems for a week and then you're back. Like Yips is like, okay, go talk to a sports psychologist.

I'm gone for about a year or so. Yeah, Maggie Sasser did that. But here's Harry Lewis in the chat again with great. He has the expected batting averages of each game, and the Astros have led in each game, yet here we are with the race, up three to nothing. 319 to 189 in the first game, 357 to 167, game two, 265 to 216 last night, all raised victories.

A wise man once said, hit it where they ain't. my God. This is, I was on the Wikipedia for the Yips reading it. And you guys are right. Like, it says have to change it. So what's the temporary yips? Because this isn't, like this is mental for Jose. Just here, yeah, you're making mental.

And about it too much. He's just like, he is on the Wikipedia, which is kind of fucked. Yeah. Like, the ball feels different in his hand right now. Example. That ball up and it feels foreign to him. Typically, you get that ball.

You've done it. I mean, how many ground balls? Has Jose Al-Tibate taken in his life? Well, I think he's so scared throwing it away. He's throwing it every day for a long time. He's just short-arming it, spiking it. But yeah, on the official Wikipedia, Houston Astros, Jose Al-Vitui appears have the yips in 2020 LCS.

It's kind of early. Yeah, that's a wiki move. You hate Wikipedia. I know. I was just going to say, people that run to Wikipedia, there's a weird crap of people out there. I got to go in it. Yeah.

someone will screenshot it get the tweet we can talk about them hit pitches hit by pitches keirmeyer uh hopefully he's okay he came on the post game afterwards and says look it hurts feels like i got hit with 99 you know it feels like it's supposed to feel but x-rays are negative you know that can impact them that i think that was his left hand so uh his glove hand which is better than it being your throwing hand yeah um just lose uh Ray's are going to have a lot of off days to get their bullpen right and starting pitching in order for the World Series seems to be a huge advantage. We might get a good one. They didn't even hit yet.

Have they even hit yet? Like Randy or Rose Rain has hit. But they don't really like bang. Rosarayne, another casual three for four, by the way. Sick puppy. And dude, he looks like he's going to hit Homer every bat. Like he got that hanging curveball that he just lined into left field. I was like, that pitch is gone.

We mentioned Ray's defense being in video games. game mode or Rosarano looks like that. I mean, he was hitting, you know, the Yankees thought they found something. All of his big hits were on high stuff. He was hitting low balls yesterday. He's a monster. Trev, you mentioned Jimmy Rollins and, you know, great shortstop. You like his analysis. A guy whose analysis I love, Trevor Plouffe. Fairbanks does come in to get those early outs, 12 pitches. You know, we were on the fence. There's a chance he could be used. He gets a big inning out of them. then they go to their other guys. But the other thing that I, you know, kind of had a jakey throwaway joke on it was Hunter Renfro,

who had looked really bad in the start he got. I think four strikeouts, four at bats. He plays some incredible defense, which he is known for doing that. He hits the bloop double, which, hey, again, hit it where they ain't, and it's, you know, it wasn't a rope down the line or anything. But, you know, him already having four-played appearances this series and kind of getting in the rhythm of it, that probably helps him put it. enough wood on it to drive in two more runs. So some, some fantastic stuff out of you.

That was like, well, I think we were both right there. You guys were saying they were going to start to save some of the guys. I think they, this was like the B bullpen. You know, they did end up using Castillo at the end. And they used Fairbanks, I think because it was Brantley in the middle of the lineup. I think that's why they brought him in there. Then they're like, okay, let's try to get through the bottom half with these guys. And then and Loop is, I think he's maybe part of their A bullpen now. They're sick. I hate the race.

Right? I hate them. Like, he's coming in high leverage, and he's got this funk, and he's throwing 95 out of nowhere. So I think I'm going to put him in, like, they're guys now? Didn't get used in the Yankee series, right? Yeah. So the race are just sick.

They'll find the matchup. They will go to it. They'll exploit it. They're disgusting. They're monsters. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, DEO came in. Trev, you texted us about this.

They brought in Thompson, the right-handed sidewinder for Michael Brantley, which... I didn't understand about that at all. I told you guys, I said, this is a bad matchup because lefties crushed these guys and it sure as hell he just gets an easy base hit. And again, I didn't understand that one. I think that was Ray's full funny business. I'm thinking that Michael Brantley thought they'd never let him see Ryan Thompson this series, and then here he is seeing him.

Who really knows? And hey, shout out. we're mentioned in all the bullpen. Ryan Yarborough, five innings pitch, two run runs and a playoff game start. Our friend against the Astros, gets clipped by Altuve in the first, gets clipped by Brantley in the sixth. You know, if there's two guys that are going to get you, those aren't bad names to do it. So hell of a start by him.

Quentin in our chat, the resident Astros fan, the patron chat, says Curtis coming on and then him making a web gem was peak anger for me. And that was like when I threw my hands up. When he did that, and then after that, did Adamas make a play? There's another play after that one, and I just tweeted out the rays are gross. Yeah. The rays are fucked up. We're just mean.

By the way, I mean, Houston, you know, they're tying run on base in the ninth inning again. It did. Which again, that almost adds to it. Joey Wend. It's almost an extra twist of the knife. First sack bunt. Of the post season, go to Manny Margo, and he pops it up and then trips the catcher. Little contact.

That was good. That's, again, incidental. It's just not going your way. It was incidental. It was incidental. It's funny. It's funny. The no-bunt crowd is, I don't really get it.

Like, yes, I guess there are numbers that support not bunting, but I think I've always said there are times for it. I don't know if that was one of the times for it. I'm not saying, that was one of the times for it, but just the fact that teams will think that you will do it at some point, like I think is enough.

Because you have to then defense it, so then you have to bring guys in and call a play and whatever, whatever. It changes things. And a lot of those... I don't expect them to see it to do it again, but... A lot of those percentages don't bring in skill sets too. Like, I think, you know, if you could

bunt and they had a rally going, if you could get second and third with one of your better contact guys coming up. You know, I think I like the play there. But yeah, the numbers are out there. And anti-bunt, John Smoltz would be getting everybody out nowadays. Such an easy game. Such an easy game.

Okay, final segment of the day. Trevor makes his official picks for the Hank Aaron award winner. The finalist just got announced Trev in the American League, Jose Ibrahim, Jose Ramirez, Trout, Cruz, DJ, Brandon Lau, and Teasca Hernandez. who are you casting your ballot? Who you're voting for? What's the Hank Aaron Award? Best offensive season.

You caught me off guard here. Yeah. I don't know either. I'm going to just say Jose Brady because I like him. I was going to say with his facial hair at the end of the year. Yeah, I thought you'd go Joeabs. I think I'm there too. Why not?

Okay. Nice year. Jake, your National League vote. Freddie Freeman, Corey Seeger, Dom Smith, Bryce Harper, Mani Machado, Paul Goldie, Juan Soto. Tom Smith just staring at me. Probably Freddie, man.

Soto, didn't he lead the league in OPS? Yeah, but less games. Yeah, offensive war was the same as Freddie in less games. Best availability is availability, you know? Ooh, baby. Best ability is available. The best availability is available. The best availability is availability.

Thanks, everyone. Thanks for tuning in, hanging out with us. Appreciate you. Pregame show coming up if you're a patron. If you're not a patron, pregame show probably already happened, but we still appreciate you nonetheless. Goodbye. Farewell. Later.