Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 492 | The Mets Hot Start & Do We LIKE Deadened Baseballs?

Episode Date: May 25, 2022

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball midweek episode, and we've got a lot to discuss. Trev is still gone, so we brought in the reliever, Jerry Levin. Love that. Hello. Welcome to Talking Baseball presented by Seatkeek. My name is Jimmy. Jake is in the office, BBD behind the dish, and we have Jerry Blavins in the middle of your screen, filling in. for Italy Trev.

Why wouldn't you put this in the middle? Yes. I need it. I like it because we're all the same height on the screen, and that's a beautiful thing. I am going to derail the episode right away from the plan we just set forth. Huge.

When I said we're bringing the reliever, you guys both did the, you know, bringing the lefty arm motion. As a reliever, did you ever even see the, um, the, your manager like,

do that motion? Yes. Yes. In fact, there's a good story in Comerica. If you've ever been to Detroit, I was warming up. So we had a spot. Blev, you get warm. I was with the A's at the time for the lefty coming up. Ziegler, you get ready for the righty who's up in two hitters. So the lefty comes up. It's a long jog in from Detroit. It's like a country mile. We're out straightaway center field. So I'm jogging in. I get past second base and he goes, no, no, no, no, no, the righty. So the bullpen coach had Sig told me to run in. So I couldn't see, told me to run in. So I went around. I get past second base. He says, not you. It is the lefty coming up, but you're so bad at your job that we don't want you. So I had to circle all the way back around, give, gave my second basement

a high five on the way back to the bullpen and sat down. And I'm still angry at my bullpen coach for airing out there to this day. That is rude. Is that just, so is that just all for show? No, no, it usually does signify,

especially if you have double barrel. It's, but they have to do that because usually because the bullpen coach is usually forward. I don't know. I guess. So yeah, yeah,

you're, you're giving us scenario on whichever one. And so, but if there's two warming up, you go, yeah, I want the lefty. You know,

I think Peter, so it would be, all right, the lefty goes in. Well, he went righty. But the scenario was the lefty was up, so you go in. So I'm throwing the bullpen coach goes, you're in, Bull Evan.

So I just assumed I was in. I was wrong and embarrassed on national TV and also in front of 30,000 people that let me hear it in the bullpen, which I'm all for. Is it more fun to warm up in the bullpen with a guy next to you? No, I mean, there's like a back and forth. As long as you're in an actual bullpen, it's fine. but when you're on the field like I was in Oakland and you let a ball go behind you and the game has to stop and they have to call time out, that's when it's the worst. But it doesn't matter. You can warm up by yourself whenever, as long as there a guy that can catch the ball. And if you throw in wild, it doesn't stop the game, you're fine. Okay, one more question because I just thought of it. Say you and the closer are warming up, right, in case it's a lot. In case it's, a save situation or a blowout. But you, you started warming up first.

So the main bullpen catcher was catching your session. But oh, wait, we just scored three runs. So now it's a three run game. We're going to get the closer up to. Is the main catcher now jump over? Like, is it a tiered system or is the backup, backup bullpen catcher? It's a tiered system. So if the, you know, there's a pecking order.

If the, if this closer needs to get up, he's going to, unless I'm already going in and then he's following me, it's about me. But if the closer gets up and if he wants that side of the mound, I'm going to bump over. I'm going to lose. I'm going to throw to myself, a trash can, whatever the case may be. You can lose your catcher. Oftentimes you do, yes, because he gets a lot of time. So you'll be switching. Yeah, there's definitely a pecking order.

I don't know about today's game in the last couple of years because I haven't been out there. But I imagine it's still pretty much like there's a guy that he's comfortable with and he needs to be ready to go. Okay. Thank you for answering my question. You're welcome. Jake, how are you doing? Hey, guys.

What's going on? You know, no Trev, no Jake. Let's just make it easier for both of you. No, Jim, I need you to do what I've started to do is start a group chat with Jerry and Peter. And whenever you get a bullpen question, you just let it rip. That's like, that's a top three late night. stony, baloney Jake activity these days.

It's usually, has there ever been a bad egg in the bullpen? Do you guys have to deal with that? Because you've got to spend three and a half hours with them in the pen every day. And then the other one I had recently was like, man, that juice when that bullpen phone ranks. Oh, my God. I love that. And I just love having Jerry.

He's like, John Boy Media is, I was going to say muse, but that's the wrong word. Like, Jerry brings inner peace to everyone at John Boy Media. Trev's always shitting on pitchers and I always have to depend. I defend the pitchers and, you know, so I'm glad to have another pitcher here. And even giving Brad Ziegler a shout out early, what a career he had. My goodness. Unlikely. That's a, his story is wild, you know, from just discovering submarine and then the way he

started his career. But Trev at least gives some love to the bullpen guys because we had to lace our cleats up every day. It was a different lifestyle. So he doesn't mind a bullpen guy, but I'm sure he just, he secretly, he loves being a starting pitcher because we've seen how good he is on the, on the mound of a blitzball game. But he appreciates relievers on a different level. A lot of envy for starting pitchers out of Trev. Yes.

But he has poisoned my starting pitcher well as well, as has Garrett Coles just the way he goes about being an ace. To give me CC. I'll defend starting pitchers if CC's my ace again. Yeah. You want a guy that's got guts and it goes out there. Nothing phases him. He could just do whatever he's got to do. Like Scherzer does, there's no four minutes you have to wait that he's angry.

Instead of like complaining, he's just like, all right, no more first pitch. Like you're out. I'm on. That's like what the closer does to me in the bullpen when I was warming up. Like this is my mound and catcher. Move along. that's what you want. Yeah.

Me too. Me too. I don't want a starting pitcher. I don't want an ace to tip his hat to Vladdy when he blocks an O2 curveball down the right field line. And for a stingle. And he tips his hat and says, what could I have done? Great swing. It's like, what the hell is that?

I'm with you. Chair, let's talk. We're going to talk everything with you. We'll talk some New York metropolitans. We'll talk. talk life. Maybe that's, maybe that'll be our final segment today. Life advice with Jerry Blevins. All of it is brought to you by Seat Geek. If you haven't been using Seat Geek, well, I've got good news for you. Start using it. Go see Jerry Blevins as Mets. Go see Jerry Blevins, Oakland A's, maybe. On the road,

maybe go see them. But if you haven't used Seekkeek before, they are giving you promo code talking $20 off your first seat geek order. Or you could go see our Yanks, or maybe you could go see both of them in the Subway Series this year. That's Seat Geek Code talking $20 off your first Seatkeek order. Jerry, the A, you know, how's Shea Station going? How are the Mets? What do you love about this team?

The vibes seem immaculate right now. Give me everything, man. I want to start with Shea Station. I feel like we're starting to get into our groove here. We're getting really good, like, community feedback. We've got, like, a pretty good loyal listening group that we're able to, like, bounce ideas off back and forth. We're getting into the swing of things.

And it's so much more fun when the team's playing well, because we started last year, right when the team was just taking an absolute turd of a dive. And so we're trying to, you know, Jolly and I are both kind of, kind of positive guys. And so we're talking about this team's 13 game road trip that just buried the season is like our first, you know, month in the game. And so it's much better now. We're off and rolling. We got studio number two. So we feel like we have a home. It's good, man. It's going really good. As far as the Mets, anything you want to talk about specifically? I mean, I'm a sucker for anything, Alonzo.

anything Alonzo, and I know him and McNeil were your guy's words, not mine, nerding it up the other night. But no, I mean, it's just, I love hearing about any sports team's world. You end up finding out different stuff you don't know, but especially the Mets. I mean, obviously Scherzer, the electric start, they're winning games, they're avoiding losing streaks, they're avoiding losing two in a row, which is insane. And we love Buck. So I guess if I get votes, it's anything Peter Buck. Okay, that's awesome because those are two amazing things to talk about.

So you know how the Mets, you coined the phrase, Jake, as Metsy as it getsy. I mean, that's a thing because there's a feel like every, the other hand is going to fall. Like something's bad, it's about to happen. But with Buck Showalter at the helm, with this new front office and Billy Epler, with Uncle Stevie, you know, with the deep pocket. It just feels different. And it has for a long time. It doesn't feel like your typical Mets team that's going to have some type of collapse or they're going to do something stupid or silly. It just feels like whatever the day is going to bring with Buck Showalter at the helm,

you're going to be steered in the right direction. You're still going to play a proper brand of baseball. They're going to play 27 outs. And they're going to fight, man. And that's the key for what he brings. He's always aware. He keeps his, all the players are like always paying attention and they do weird things like that run. They tried to appeal third and they stole second. Like little stuff like that that you pretend to pay attention to in spring training as a player have already been employed. Like they've picked a guy off at second base that's rare that the Mets never do that always seems to happen to the Mets. So it's just a better feel. So he brings, Buckshowalter brings like a steady presence. So no matter what happens, he's going to be like, everything is okay, guys.

We're going to focus on today's game. So that's good. And then I can talk polar bear all day long. You know, Jolly talked about, you know, he's the, he's nerd. I call him a goober. I always bring up what Jimmy talks about with him and he's earnest. He's like, he's not cool, but he's also very cool because he does the coolest thing in all of sports, which is just mash homers. And he does it in a style. It's like a throwback to like Jason Giambi days to where he's going to play an adequate first base,

but he's just going to hit home runs and drive-in runs. And it's so valuable on this team that doesn't have a ton of power. They don't rely on the long ball. And so he's like the big man on campus for sure. So I love talking both of those guys. Pete Alonzo is Pete Alonzo. And that is the big guy in Little League who hit home runs. And everyone was like, I mean, it's just because he's big.

Like he's going to grow out of this. But Pete never grew out of it. And he's not like incredibly bigger than everyone. But that's still kind of like, I just, I just going to go mash. That's what his vibe seems like to me. He cracks shake and I up in a half, and a half maybe rude way, but half like actual loving. because he's like, he just wraps to himself in between pitches sometimes. I love it, man.

He does. He'll just be, what's the, what's the word he says when he's pounding his glove? DM. DM. DM. Damn.

Damn. Damn. Damn. I'm doing a breakdown on Alonzo right now. And, you know, he steps out in between and he's just like, like nodding his head like he's rapping to himself in between pitches, which is what he did in the home run derby.

Yeah. He's fun to watch. I, uh, I found some really interesting staff. on Pete Alonzo, which is for the league as well. It's a breakdown that probably will be out before this episode airs. He got hit in the hand the other day.

Jordan Hicks was trying to bust him up and in with fastballs. And I was for the breakdown audience, which vast majority don't even watch full games. Trying to just explain like, it is very hard to hit an up and in fastball. If the pitcher is throwing, it's the right on right, left on left, especially if it's really above 95 miles per hour.

So I was curious and I wanted to see how many, hits Pete has on it's called Zone 1, that quadrant in the zone up and in 95 plus fastball, zero in his career. Zero at all. Zero at all. Wow. Never record. So I mean, you have Jordan Hicks on the mound.

Obviously, Yadi goes fastball up and in fastball, like three in a row. They end up hitting his hands. Not a knock on Pete. It's really hard to do. He, I mean, he's got 555 slugging on fastball's. rear. So it's not really having trouble with them. Yeah. Yeah, you better hit your spot or otherwise you're going to hit him. Yeah, either way. Oh, that was interesting. That is interesting. You think he would just kind of run into one every once in a while, especially knowing that that's their approach that he would

have to cheat and get a, you know, get a turn and burn on one. But you're playing with the, you know, the results of the pitch location a little like I'm sure he might have one that was a little high out of the zone or a little, like a ball technically, but high and inside that he might have done that too. But yeah, I just was like zero. Wow. That's, yeah, that's a, that'll stand out. I, uh, back to Alonzo's personality. You're right. There's, there's some, there's some silly stuff there, but maybe the biggest compliment that I can give to any baseball player is man, he loves playing baseball. God, when, when he hit that walk off Homer, like the way he celebrated, It is Little League vibes.

I know Jimmy says that. He's a big kid. But man, I just love that. To have that out of that guy every day is a real treat. And I guess kind of spinning off of him a little bit is McNeil, the other guy that we were laughing about being silly the other night. I think the term you used was not cool. Not, yeah, the opposite of cool.

It was last night. He did this little. like, you know, Will Ferrell dance after a home run. After the heckler in San Francisco said he needs to do some lower body lifting because he's got no pop. He goes deep, which was beautiful. He is very uncool. He's, his nickname is the squirrel. Like, that's not a cool nickname. No, but is, is him being back to the 311, 364, 807, just tough MF for to get?

get out. Is that one of the bigger changes and feels of this year's Mets team? Yeah, he's a significant reason why the Mets are as formidable as they are. They improved in every aspect. And from Buck and the front office on down, the style of baseball that they play is way better of a brand of baseball. But what he does on the field, especially at the plate, is the epitome of why they're winning. and more importantly, why they're not losing all the time. Because if you have a team that does all these home runs, you're going to go in streaks and win seven, eight in a row when guys get hot.

But when they get cold, you can lose three, four, five in a row. What Jeff McNeil brings to the plate and a majority of the guys in that lineup outside of Pete is an ability to just put the bat on the ball. If the defense shifts them, they are going to get beat because he's going to do what it takes to win the ball game to get on base. And he can do it at such an amazing skill level that it's so fun to watch. I remember when I would face Ichiro. And Ichro is the guy outside of Freddie Freeman that I faced the most of my career, especially in the first part. I would get him to roll over and roll over to second base and then he would beat it out. But the difference was

that I didn't get him to roll over. He rolled over on purpose so bad. because he knows how to control the bat and he knew his own speed. So that's kind of what Jeff McNeil's doing. He'll hit the ball over third base on purpose with a half a swing. He won't strike out. Like it's just a style of baseball in today's world where the pitchers have amazing stuff, but they don't know exactly where to put it. He's going to foul off the really nasty ones. And then he's going to hit a mistake and hit it for a double in the gap. And so he just keeps that lineup rolling over. It keeps the pitch count of the starter going up. And then he can also, you know, turn and burn. Put a, you know, his OPS is ridiculous for a reason because he can drive that

baseball too. So he's just an electric style of player. He's not as little league because he'll drop some F bombs here and there. But he's, he's, he's a really fun style of baseball that I missed watching for the most part. He's my favorite kind of hitter to watch. So he's definitely an absolute spar plug for this for this uh lineup love it jake see you jakes sees a lot of himself and mcneal well i see a lot of uh a lot of peterlonso and jake when he's when he's got the blitzball and it's you know the bat ready to go i i see the baby yeah not gonna lie yeah i could see jake's got a lot of nailer in him kind of my body's kind of a miniature josh nailer like a little i can see you i can see you going absolutely bananas after you you're screaming at the hecklers

because you'd be inviting to the hecklers you'd be like yeah let me hear it and then when you got them back you would definitely let them know on that kind of level it's not a i think jakes done that without hecklers it's not a phrase it's not a phrase i like to use and if you have kids in the car uh maybe turn it down for a second but yeah if you're going to try to heckle me and then i get you i'm gonna face fuck you um i'm just going to So that's what you're opening yourself up for that. That's what you're allowing. That's the same reason why like I'm all for today's game of of bat flipping and doing the swords and celebrating punchouts. That's fine. I would never do it personally unless it's a big moment in the playoffs or you're making a run. I wouldn't do it because then that invites the guy to show you up in reverse. And it's just not my style of game. If you do it to me, that's fine. I'll remember that. And when we come up and face you the next time, I'm going to strike you out. I'm going to feel really good about it. I might give you a longer look, make sure I might give you a little wink on the way off,

but that's just between me and the hitter. But I'm all for the showmanship. You want to let it eat. Let it eat. It's all about entertainment, man. You've got to put a good product on the field. I like it. Let it eat.

You fed me. A lot of eating stuff. Well, I'm hungry. Once I'll give you a quick compliment and then kick it to gym. I'd say once a month, I get him. impressed by Trevor in his playing career. Hopefully he's not listening to this. Usually the two things that spark it is he went second deck at Yankee Stadium.

And he faced Mariana Rivera, which I'm like, Jesus Christ, like he was in the box. You casually saying like early in my career, my matchup was Ichero. I was like, all right, chair. All right. That's not bad. That's a, that's the, that's the, that's when everybody, you know, one of the things when you're a pitcher, who's the best hitter you've ever faced? my answer was always each row like i because he could do so many different things i think freddy freeman

is like one b to his one a now um because he just hammered me and i had no answer on how to get him out but those are my two guys it's not bad that's not that do you know there are two to end the met segment there are two players in MLB who have played 44 games so far this season and they're both Mets. Pete Alonzo and Francisco Lindor. That's wonderful. And again, that's that's a tip of the cap to both of those guys. You know, I love Aaron Judge,

and he is on a different level of a player. But one thing Pete Alonzo has done that Aaron Judge has it done in his young career is play. You might be walking into a counterattack here, though. That's okay. It's not an attack on anything. I think Aaron Judge is a special, player. But Pete Alonso is he's in that lineup every day. And that's one of the best things I was

going to say about about having the DH now in the National League is you're capable of bringing giving guys kind of days off, but keeping their bat in the lineup. And if there's anybody in that lineup that the Mets need, it's definitely Pete Alonzo because they don't have power or haven't had power production from anywhere else. They've done it with small ball. They'll get the occasional home run, but he's been, been that solid lineup piece, and he's done it for, you know, three years now. He's every single game in the four-hole Mets hitters. One of my favorite stats going in baseball right now.

Just don't have to think about it. Like, they're taking all the thinking away from Peele-Lon-so. It's, it's beautiful. And the four-all, it's-judge plays defense. So he's running in the outfield. Now he's playing centerfield. So that's my counter to, like, you know, No, I get it.

Easier to stay healthy for Alonzo. 100% agree. First base is a completely different animal. I have nothing but respect for Judge. He's an incredible, you know, player. And again, he's playing a more premium position. I think first base is kind of underappreciated as far as being a good defensive position. Because when you don't have a good one over there, it sucks.

And you know it. You're like, man, he is botching it up. Like, it's crazy over there. But, you know, Aaron Judge is an incredible player, but Pete Alonso is in that lineup every day, just locked into that four hole. Like you said, but that's what Buck Showalter does. If a guy needs to move around, he'll move him around. He'll be thinking, you know, playing chess while everybody else is playing checkers. But having that home base of Pete Alonso hit and cleanup is makes everything a lot easier.

I didn't realize Lindor had played every game. Only three D.H days. That's, that's awesome. on the Mets for allowing that and mixing it up nicely and for Lendor for going out and playing every day. I like that. I hope that comes back more. I already paid him.

Me, two. I already paid him. I guess anything, you know, we hit the kind of the hot button, Mets topics there. I don't know. Any guys that we need to deep cut, this is talking baseball. These are people listening to hours of baseball content every week. What are some of the deeper cuts on the Mets that we need to know about or be talking about more? Some deep cuts.

So Luis Guillaume is an extreme deep cut. He's hitting like 3.30 right now. He's been a glove first kind of ball player, like a utility man come in. When you're shortstop, like Francisco, then Lendor needs a breather. He'll go in and play on game two of a double header. You know, he can play third base. He can play second base. you know, he's kind of frumpy a little bit in the body. He's got like the big beard.

The number one thing he's been most known for, I think, is that one of the coolest things that's ever happened on a baseball field is he caught the bat that got thrown into the dugout in spring training, just like a complete badass move. But he's really coming into his own. He is 27 years old. He is playing that stellar defense. He's bounced around, playing third base and playing second base and playing shortstop. They're completely different positions and you have to come in with a different mindset. And he's playing them on a gold glove level. And he's also absolutely raking.

And for a guy that's basically was on the borderline of making the roster, he's in that lineup every day now. That's what Buck Showalter is doing is keeping it merit base. So if you're worthy of playing time, he's putting you in there. and Guillermo has stepped up in a big way and the team around and there's nobody that's bitter because he's playing over top of them. Everybody's like, hey, man, you earn this. We're pushing forward.

So that would be the first guy. Love that. Yeah. John Boy Media fan. He is a big time John Boy Media fan. Yeah. He's the longest that bad he had. He's like a highlight reel with the glove.

He's awesome. Yeah. So he's a good one. I asked Jolly, your co-host on. on Shea Station and Jolly does a lot of other great stuff with us. I asked him like, you know, what is it? What's what's been the biggest difference besides personnel, but like in style? And he said, he said a lot of guys are having long at bats, like good at bats.

And I think the under Eddie Escobar is in the top 50 for pitches seen per plate appearance. He's averaging four, which if you're in the force, that means you're going to be upper echelon of the league. His stats aren't great. But that's a way to help. He's doing it. You can tell he's kind of frustrated with the results, but he's doing it as a part of a team. He,

I feel like every time I watch his singular at-bats, there's always one pitch that he takes that changes the ab-bad, like a 1-1-backdoor slider that never gets there, and it's called a strike. And you can see him go, are you kidding me? Like, again?

And I feel like, that happens to him at least twice a game where he's taking the pitches. I think he's about to just go off. I think he's going to go put together some really good at bats because he's still contributing, like you said, but he's not dominating. And nobody really is outside of, you know, McNeil and even Alonso is not. Alonso's doing. So I want to give you, you might know this name, Eric Chavez, the new hitting coach for the Mets, you know, former teammate, a little name drop for you, Jake, former teammate of mine in Oakland, an incredible person, a great human being, he's got these guys feeling so comfortable in their approach at the plate.

Guys are taking a lot of pitches, but they're not letting juicy balls go by. They're looking for a zone, and if they don't get that, they'll work deep. They're hitting the ball the other way in a shift. You know, they're getting the guy over to third base with less than two outs. They're doing things to win a ball game, and you can see them that they're always thinking big picture. They're never worried about their personal stats like game to game. They're thinking about at-bats. And they're just, they're doing all the little things that when you're a super fan of the team and you watch almost every pitch, when guys hustle down, you know, on a ground

ball or they, they really, you know, chase after a foul ball or your outfielders are backing up on a pit like a rundown. Guys doing the little things. That's what this team has been doing. They're lineup has been doing the little things and they're just playing a really appreciative, really finite, fundamental game of baseball. God. Now I'm going to have to watch some Eric Chavez highlights tonight. Thanks, Chair. Got to love it.

Man, third base. Six straight gold gloves for that guy, never made an all-star team. Damn. Wild. That's crazy. East Coast bias a little bit there, but he was a slow starter. Was he competing with A-Rod? A-Rod.

Who else was over there? Adrian Beltray So that's kind of a good Good third basement If you're into that kind of thing Plouffe Plouffy That was Jerry's laugh

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Go check them out. $15 off. How about that? Support your tea. What's that, Ashwaganda? That's Ashwaganda, yeah. Ashahonda, yeah. Yeah, of course.

Everybody knows that. Yeah. No, they actually had a bad showing in, uh, In 2018. It's a, it looks like it's an evergreen shrub that grows in Asia and Africa. Common use, commonly used for stress. So, okay. All right.

Common stuff. I'm in. Um, I mean, I guess, I guess we'll change, uh, change the tone a little bit, uh, jare. Yeah. This was, uh, this was the big topic on baseball. We talked about it. beforehand.

And, you know, at this point, this is coming out on Wednesday. Baseball moves quick, which I think in this situation, well, I don't know if you want to say it's a good thing, but became the story of baseball, Josh Donaldson, Tim Anderson, and what went down. Donaldson got a one-game suspension. He's appealing it. You know, we kind of had some of our opinions out there. And me and Jimmy, we also, and you said this too, like we like to live.

listen and kind of get Joe's opinion. And he put out that great video. And I know you check that out too. But I also know you, you were teammates with Donaldson. So you have some, you know, more layers of the onion to peel back. So, so what, what do you got? Yeah. First of all, like, Joe's opinion, he pretty much nailed kind of how I feel about it without having that, that kind of insider's perspective. I grew, I came up with Donaldson. We came up with the A's. Actually, were drafted by the Cubs and then came up with the A's together, played with him on that 19 team in Atlanta. So I kind of have a little bit of backstory on him. I don't want to dwell on this topic.

It's been covered enough, but I just want to give an insight to him. I would be, let's just say Donaldson is the kind of guy that I think the term inside joke was misused and kind of being run away with a little bit. it's not an inside joke. It's a joke that he probably took to because he thought what Tim Anderson said about calling himself the modern day Jackie Robinson as an absurd statement to make just because of how historical of a figure. And I think he's just, he's the guy that like, if you said something stupid in eighth grade, he's going to bring it up to you for the next 40 years of your life if you live next door to him or if you're around him. He's going to remind you of it. And so I think he's was just taking that approach. Obviously in the context of all of the racial subtext that goes in

and him, apparently the guy is not liking each other, or at least TA definitely not liking JD. JD doesn't, he doesn't take any of that into context. He's just like, hey, man, I think you made a silly comment comparing yourself to one of the greatest American historical figures, not to mention Hall of Fame baseball players. So I'm going to make fun of you for saying that name. You know, that's just my piece on it. I like J.D. He's still a friend of mine today. I don't think it was racially motivated, but again, I'm a white guy.

Like, it's not for me to say how it was interpreted in any sense. So I'm not saying one guy was wrong. I would never, knowing that the possibility of it being taken out of context for me, I wouldn't have said something along those lines, but that's not J.D. but I loved what he did. I think he handled it, didn't try to fight. I think he said, hey, let's have a conversation about it because I think that is really important.

If you want to grow, the only way to get smarter, to get informed is to have a conversation about it. I wanted to commend him for saying, hey, man, if I offended you, I apologize. Let's have a conversation. School me. It sucks for the black players to have to instruct and educate white guys,

but without us knowing any better, you know, sometimes you got to have a conversation. And so I just wanted to show support for a friend of mine and say, you know, whatever the case may be, you know, you can learn from things and move forward. I think it's a good thing for people to talk about. I think it's, I mean, I think it's, for me, it's a situation that's pretty clear. You can understand what happened, at least how I'm drawing it up. like Tim Anderson has a whole article where he talks about what Jackie Robinson means to him and says all this poignant stuff and then makes a quip about how he's he's doing the same

thing with the fun barrier he's like the jack you're and we don't get video we don't get audio we have no idea if he chuckled while he said that it just becomes the only quote people know from the article and he probably had to eat that for a while because you talk about the Braves clubhouse making like, you know, using it as like, oh, you're next Jackie Robinson, huh? Every time they see him on the Bates Pass and giving him shit. And he probably in 2019 was mad at the way that that whole conversation got framed for the public and to just boil down one ridiculous quote that he had to have players like Donaldson that he's not cool with. Use it as like inside fodder joking, you know?

Yeah, yeah. This is my entry into busting his balls. And that's exactly it. And JD, like I still, even in 2019, I'm not going to be the guy to say anything to him. Because I know if I say, oh, Jackie Robinson, huh? Like, it could be misinterpreted or come across that way. But JD's the guy that says, I'm going to treat you like I would treat, you know, if Blev said something silly and said he's the modern day, oh, my slider's like Randy Johnson's today.

He's going to bring it up every day until the day I die or he dies. Like he's just going to remind me. of the silly thing that he thought I said. So, but, but then I think it's three years later now. Tim Anderson has had a lot of really good baseball. You know, this was back in 2019. And now Tim Anderson is one of batting title. He's a stud at the plate.

He's playing every day. He's got to deal with Tony the Russo when he gets hired and there's racial, his racial past and that becomes a topic. And, and then, and then. it's just like and then this fucking guy Donaldson who he had a fight with a week ago in Chicago and he didn't say it then but now he's just going to be buddy buddy and drop the same tired quote unquote joke um and then yeah I think because because um T.A never said it was racist Tony the Roosso was the one that said it was racist he just Anderson just said it is disrespectful.

I'm like I'm I don't want to be treated that way. so yeah i understand and the undertones there are however however tim anderson wants to see him or however people want to see him but i think it was more i think it was more so like i'm not your fucking friend and you don't get to make this joke for three years in a row when we're not friends i agree i think that's all it was and jd's like hey man it's not a joke i'm trying to make you feel silly because you know that's what i'm going to do i'm going to lighten the a little bit because it had been so tense. Yeah, so who knows?

I don't know. But I thought, you know, it's an important topic to talk about and to, to, the only way you move forward is if you have a conversation. And I think it's important. And I'm proud of Donaldson for wanting to have that conversation. And I'm, I'm with TA. If he says, you know, it's not my job to educate you. I'm here.

This, it's over. Don't do it again. And that's enough. So whatever you want to do from there, that's the case. So. glad we really talked about that because this is fun for talking baseball. I think, you know, this is good stuff. Hey, no, I mean, man, I mean, people honestly wanted us to die further on it.

And it was one of those things when, you know, on Monday when we were, when we were initially recorded talking baseball, like, you know, there was a lot of thoughts out there. And again, I don't think ours were necessarily the closest to it. But, you know, you mentioned to me a story about Donaldson last night, busting, busting some relief pitchers balls and it, you know, it was kind of of the same ilk, but different. And that's why he's, he kind of got himself in trouble here. So, but you are right. I mean, the honesty kind of on both sides about it, you're right.

It should lead to the point where we can have a conversation about it now and get better going forward and there's your solution. So, yeah, I was feeling like, you know, really a certain way about it. I'm a Twitter guy. I don't have any long format. And this is not something that you want to write a tweet headline about. You don't want to put out a piece there. And so, you know, I buy it in my time.

I did what Joe's did and wait for some press conferences, some guys to say what they thought about it in the post game and really have a little longer form conversation. So, yeah, I think it's important to talk about. The problem is all the subtext that people just pretend like everything's okay. but if something comes across like this, how do you get smarter? How do you learn anything in this world

is to talk about it with people that are more intelligent than you or on the same kind of level and you just speak about it and learn from each other? So I think it's really important. Nailed it. Nailed it. All right.

Let's head to kind of the final segment of the show. And it's brought to us by the Mizan and Maine Backyard Golf Challenge, which is funny enough, because Jerry Blevins was a big part of that with the other guy. I think Pierre Moylan. Morelet. Pierre-Moyle.

French Canadian. Pierre-Moyle, one of the first French-Canadian baseball players. They were wearing their Mizzen and Maine. Jerry, I don't like to give compliments, but your reads on the Mizzen and Maine were unmatched, unbridled, another good word. I learned that when I used to work at Red Robin. Mizan in Maine.

The clothes, Jim and I are comfort guys, the comfort and flexibility of their athletic wear. It's perfect for golf. It's perfect for hanging out. I mean, we were in the desert doing some chipping putt and the boys look clean. Messing around with some studs, man. I mean, our guy Matt Olson,

was around. Chad Pinder. Happer got in there for a little bit. Who else do you bang it around? Hater. Hater was out there. That's right. Matt, yeah, Chapman was there. We had, we had, you know, for everybody that's either about to get traded or got traded came through and touched Joe's in one way and got out.

Yeah. God damn it, Trader Joe's. Go check out our backyard golf videos on our YouTube. And go to Mizzintemayn.com. Use code Johnboy 15, get 15% off. Mizan and Maine's good stuff. A little teaser might be a part of well-dressed Wednesday tomorrow. We love Mizzen and Maine.

They get it. They have some fun. They had fun with us. So go to them, Mizanand-Main.com. Code Johnboy 15, 15% off. True story. I wore their shorts all weekend on my little mini vacation. I went down to like a little country club with my wife and another couple.

I didn't get to go for two weeks on a European excursion like Trevor Plouf. So you can tell there's levels to everything. He's on another level. Plouf went to Italy. Where did you go again? West Virginia. I went to the place called the Greenbrier, which is actually pretty badass. I've never been before, but not Italy.

Well, it's the Italy of the States. I've heard that. I've actually heard that. West Virginia, the Italy of the States. Certainly. They don't even say that. They take that as an insult. Yeah.

Who does? West Virginia is more mad than Italy about that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. I'm glad. My whole goal today was to hear a BBD chuckle in the background.

And I've heard a couple of them. Big, big fan of it. It's what part of the magic, you know, formula that makes talking baseball so good is BPD's giggles in the background. The gigs are laugh track. The laugh track, that's right. He loves a good guy who hits lefty and throws righty, so he appreciated the Eric Chavez stuff too.

So that's a little inside BBD there. Jim, what about the rare, how about the rare hits lefty or hits, throws lefty, hits righty? Yeah. Do you know any of those off top your head? I know Ryan Lamar. Okay. Anderson, I believe, was one of those. Who's that?

Ricky was one of those. Ricky. That's the, you know, coming up with the A is, Ricky's the man. And you see him out there, it's the rare that he hits bats right-handed and throws left-handed. He's wild. Arguably the greatest baseball player of all time. I love Ricky. What, Jim, what you got swirling on up there?

You got a nice little smile going on with your beard. What are you thinking about? Well, my dogs are going crazy. Hope you can't hear them. But I always wanted to ask Jerry because we asked him about the Mets and he said that I would like the style of ball. they're playing. And I do try to tune into Mets games because I get two games and when the Yankees aren't on, I usually put the Mets on because they're fun to watch right now. So I have seen a little bit, obviously not nearly as much as you or Mets fans.

But then I've been really diving in and I said this on the last two recaps. I've been really diving in and watching highlights of, you know, the condensed games of every game from whatever league I'm covering on talking baseball. Sometimes I used to like just find moments and then hunt down and make sure I've seen the actual footage of that moment. But now I've just been watching the condensed highlights. It's pretty time consuming, but I've enjoyed it because I actually feel like I know more. And I told Trav and Jake that I think we're in a really good spot with the brand of baseball that's being played early on in the season. I think more home runs are going to come as it gets warmer.

We already saw in Baltimore, left field wall got a couple times. in the warmer weather. But you talked about how the Mets are just kind of doing everything and balls in play. And I don't know the stats on it. I looked up some. But I wanted to kind of get your thoughts on that because, you know, when Judge came up, it was 2017.

It was juice balls. He breaks the rookie of the year home of record. When Alonzo comes up, the balls are even more juiced in 2019 or the stats. And he breaks the record. And in 2019, the balls were too juiced for me. I remember,

guys were getting opo homers that just were not home runs and they tried to deju some last year but they fucked up and they said shipping was down due to COVID so we had a mixed batch of balls now you have Mets players are still saying

the balls are mixed and you don't know what you're going to get I think most most people agree the balls are more dead this season than before and the data and science backs that up I'm a fan of what we're seeing right now. I think we're seeing so many balls in play leading to chaos than we have in the last couple of years when it was really three true outcomes. So I'm interested in your

thoughts on just the style of play. If you've noticed what I've noticed and if you're enjoyed or not. I have noticed and I do enjoy this brand of baseball. And I love it. And you talked about Pete Alonso. I'll give you a prime example because Pete Alonso does what most guys can't do. He mash his home runs. It shouldn't be, it eliminate what this kind of dead ball they're calling like the not juiced ball. It gets rid of those guys that like hit all right, but they don't have the ability to hit 30 home runs.

Like when I came up in 07, 08, 09, those first couple of years, if you hit 30 home runs, you were like a home run hitter. You were one of, you're a Giambi, you're a Tejada, you're an Arod. Like you are these huge presences in a lineup. You're maybe going to the home run derby. And then towards the end of the teens, like you get guys that you're like, that guy is not a home run hitter. He just knows how to barrel the ball up.

And the balls were so juiced that they were getting out. And so you saw a lot of the guys that aren't home run hitters start to do the lift the ball. They started talking about launch angle because these guys that are marginal power hitters, are all of a sudden 30 plus homer guys. And so with the juice ball going away, all those guys that would fly out to the warning track, they're realizing that that's not their style of baseball and they're starting to put the ball back in play.

You're starting to see more action. You're starting to see better defense in turn. You're starting to see more action on the base paths. And then you still have guys like Pete Alonso that still mash is 30 plus. You're still seeing, you know, big boppers still be, but they're now more significant because it's so much more rare to have a guy that could put up 30 plus.

So I think it not only does it make the everyday game better because you're seeing guys that don't hit home runs actually start to try to put the ball in play and be able to have bat to ball skills, but you're also seeing it guys like Pete Alonso and Aaron Judge and Manny Machado have more of a significant role. and they're being more, you know, more appreciated for their power ability. And I like that brand of baseball better. I think it's just more entertaining to see more action. And then when you have a guy like Pete Alonza come up, you're like, man, I would love to see a home run here. And it not, you know, I love Christian Yelich.

And he's one of the greatest players for, you know, that 10-year segment, what he did against me in Baltimore when he was in Miami, what he's doing in Milwaukee is amazing. but he's just really good at putting the bat on the ball and then the ball would just fly out. He could still do that, but now, you know, those, he's not going to hit 50 home runs anymore

unless he changes his style of play. And so you see guys like him start to just go back to putting the ball and play. And I think it's just a better, more entertaining brand of baseball. Yeah. No, I mean, there's a handful of guys that now things are starting to become more

and more outliers, whether, you know, not to throw my guy Glaber under the bus, but do I think he's a 38 home run guy? No. How about my two favorite teams? Everyone knows me as a Yankees and a snakes guy. Cattel Marte, incredible baseball player. He, I think he put up 32, yeah, 32 home runs in 19.

His career high outside of that is 14. So, yeah, I mean, there's, I do think there's a little bit more of a middle area. there's still been some balls hit this year. Obviously there's going to be outliers, but our guy Jazz Chisholm, who is just on Chris Rose rotation, he said, you know, he put a couple charges into one. I think they were 107 and 108 off the bat. He's not as big as Pete Alonzo, sure,

but when you catch one like that, the hitters feel like they deserve a reward. So I'm interested to see how it develops. But no, I mean, the contact and speed is a more entertaining brand of baseball than Big Fly's. and strikeouts. We'll see, we'll see like a 107, 108, like you said, Jimmy earlier, is when the, when the weather starts to warm up, you're starting to see those balls fly a little bit farther and

get out. But it eliminates all those like BS home runs that are like, you know, how many, again, it's the short portion right, but of those three home runs that Rizzo hit at Yankee Stadium, not one of them was hit 100 miles per hour. Like, again, that's a short porch, but you're going to eliminate those style of home runs where you just didn't get it. So I think it's going to emphasize the power hitting home run guys. You'll see the guys that can truly mash, be appreciated. And then those, Catele, who's an amazing baseball player, he shouldn't try to hit 30 plus home runs.

He should try to hit gap to he'll run into 15, 20 of them. And that's just, it's a simple fact that he shouldn't be a 13. 30 plus home run guy. My thoughts. We got to the point where 20 meant nothing. Nothing. It's wild to me. 20 used to be the big deal.

Like 20, if you got 20, 20, like that was an amazing feat. And then you just have 30 being the new 20. And it wasn't even a big deal like you. Oh, you didn't hit 30 last year? Wild. That's way too, that's way too far the other way. I kind of like it where it is. I think, again, once the weather heats up, you'll start to see those guys.

you know, the 107 off the bat, depending on the launch angle, obviously, is going to be a home run. And that deserves to be a home run. But you're not going to get the cheapies. And those are the ones that just ruin the brand of baseball because then everybody tries to hit home runs. Yes, I agree. I think the Yankees had a year where I think in the 2019, the Yankees had like eight guys hit 20 home runs. Or they had, what year was it, Jake?

They had 20 home runs from every batting order position. Yeah, something like that. But that's okay because they're the Yankees and they probably paid their guys to do those home runs. But still, you know, you think about Brady Anderson's 51 during that, you know, that crazy run and the Orioles. And that was a juice of a different style. But this is, you're you're cheapening the ability of guys that hit home runs because everybody hits home runs. And so I just feel like if you want to promote stars and home runs are really cool, the less you water down that kind of ability,

the better it's going to be to promote those stars. Yeah, I think that's probably the better way to look at it. Home runs are awesome and they should be a big selling point. But when everybody's hitting 25 home runs, you just actually water down your biggest selling point instead of heightening it. But more than that, I, in my perception, at least, teams have understood in these cold weather months that they're not going to win games on the long ball. And we've seen hitting runs, um, a lot of first to third, a lot of just putting the

ball in play. Joey Gallo has more, I has a same, he has the same amount of opposite field singles than he had all of last year. Wow. So I don't know. And I think that's better for the game. like I think they they were focusing on the wrong things they were like you know length of games and more home runs is going to make it more interesting and I it's pace of play and balls in play and and and running the basis well they were that we went away from running and stealing stolen everyone that wades to go to a game is it going to perk the fuck up when a guy on a runner takes off to steal second well you want to know like you think about like your superstars when you're a kid looking up to like,

you know, players that play, they weren't even playing the same style of baseball in the big leagues as you were playing an A ball. Like as the balls were different in high school, you're playing a different, you're playing a completely different game. Like if you're playing basketball, you could still hit a three-pointer like Steph Curry. He's not all of a sudden dunking from the three-point line. Like there's still a somebody that you can look up to and be like, I could style my game after that. Well, when everybody's hitting 25 home runs and the leader on your little league team has two, you can't like pretend to try to lift the ball because that's just you can do a Steph Curry jump shot, but you can't do, you know,

the, I don't know, the lift and separate like you're, or you're going to pop out to second base. So I just think it's better for the kids to watch how to play the right style of baseball. And I think it's just going to trickle down. And I think we're at a golden era with all the superstars that are coming up, the Juan Soto's, you know, all the young, super really talented athletes in today's game with Adley Ruchman just coming up. Like these are, it's a really exciting time to be a fan of baseball. And I think we're at like a new precipice for the baseball world to be significant in the

American culture again. I'm just really excited about this time of baseball. I agree. Also makes me laugh to like certain teams didn't care about defense anymore in the infield. Like legitimately would sign guys and then just play him. You know, I'm thinking of him Mustakis when I think of it. But there's other guys too. Like, like Justin Turner, it's like at second at times when the shift like we don't care.

You know, we don't care your ability to move left or right or react to the ball. We'll just put you there. And I think next year with the shift regulations, we'll get away from that too. But I mean, I love baseball. I still very much enjoy the sport. But I do, I am excited for defense and speed to come back into the game. Yeah. I mean, when you take away running bases because you're like, don't go anywhere.

You might get thrown out because one of the guys behind you is guaranteed to hit a home run. It's not worth it. And now you're seeing guys try to take that extra base, try to steal bags. it's just a better, more entertaining, fun style of baseball. I love it, man. I'm excited for today's game of baseball. And you still have the traditional, you know, home run. Literally, home run is the coolest thing to do in all of sports, like hitting a

home run, especially like a walkoff. I'm so jealous that I was like only a pitcher for the most part. I love pitching. It's still my favorite. But I never got to hit a home run. Like, that would be amazing. Like, literally the coolest thing in all of sports. Did you have pop? If you took BP, did you have pop?

No, I could run, especially when the juice balls. I'm a bat to ball kind of guy. I grew up my field I played on in Ohio. There was a railroad tracks and left center field, and that was like the home run. And so I never learned to pull the ball batting left-handed. I always tried to hit it to left center field. And so when I got to high school, I literally didn't know how to pull it. So I have no pop.

Plus, I don't know if you've seen these biceps. they're not really like they're not built for like quick bursts of speed. I'm more of the long, you know, I've got the Jacob de Grom body minus the 100 mile an hour fastball. Wiery. Whyity? I think there's been more home runs hit this year than last year already in the same amount of days and times too, which is interesting.

I don't know. I mean, the numbers, again, this is a small sample size, but it just feels like a different style of baseball. Again, I'm obviously focused in on the Mets, but they're putting the ball in play, and then the guys that are hitting home runs are hitting home runs because they're power hitters. And then you have guys like Marcana, Eddie Escobar, you know, Francisco Lindor even are, they'll run into a ball here and there and they'll drive it, but they pick their spots on when to try to hit home runs. And that is more conducive. But you see a two out or a two strike approach. it's just a more fun watch as a fan.

Last year was full-blown sticky stuff early in the season. There's always something. Baseball finds a nice. We keep you guessing, man. Baseball finds away. No, there's less. Sorry. Right now there's 12, 1,225 home runs.

And like, I'm just not doing games, doing days since opening day, since we started different. last year there was 1422. So 200 more last year than this year. And in 2019, there was 1,623. So we're 400 home runs less than the juiciest of juice ball of 2019. The juiciest of juiced balls. I'm glad that was my last year. I should have waited one more year to get the non-juiced balls.

I am for most of the ones I gave up were no doubters no matter what ball you're throwing but that's you know I make you get I make you earn him was 19 the three batter minimum first year yes yep I threw um and with a three batter minimum um the way the Braves used me was really cool uh they I would come in and finish an inning or start an inning I'd take like I'd have three four five is left right left and then I would chew those guys and then everybody behind me would come in so need you like pitching like last out of the inning. Teams still do that. I don't think it's made for,

it's made for less pitching changes, but I don't know if it's made for better strategy. The Lugie was on its way out. The lefty specialist was already on its way out of the game when they put that rule in place, just because of how much talent there is in baseball now from the pitching side, it's so much easier to get better at pitching

because of all the technology and the slow-mo cameras and just spin rate, you can tweak your pitches in real time. It's wild. And so guys throw 100 now. And if you can throw a good curveball and spot your fastball, it's harder for you to get out in the big leagues. I don't think so. But if you're going to choose between a guy that throws 89 or a guy that throws 100,

I mean, that's an easier decision to speak to the media afterward and be like, well, he throws 100. Like we got the loss, but that guy has electric stuff. So it's just more talent. It was already on its way out. I hate it because, you know, we talked about how good Buck Showalter is. Anytime you take a chance for Buck Showalter to make a decision about the game of baseball, I think is a bad move just by, you know, I want to see him have an effect because he's smarter

and it's in a legitimate advantage to have on your team to have a guy like that making the choices. So, you know, as much as I love the DH, I think it's the best move. I still do miss the double switches. I got my hit in the big leagues, so I'm happy it's here. I'm glad it was around for me to play National League. That's this guy right here is my pride and joy. That's my big league hit.

Literally through like 500 innings in the show, but this is what I care about the most. I think that the other rules that they also changed would have fixed the problem and they didn't need the three batter minimum and that being shortened september rosters you can't just have all 40 guys available to you and then they haven't been able to really implement this until i think because this coming month but if you're a four-man bench that's what they're COVID ruined that rule but they're eventually going to get there like you have to have a four-man bench and you only have this many pitching spots those two rules would have

fix the problem that we were seeing by the Rays and the Brewers and some other teams that were using multiple pitchers for one batter at a time. Or I even think that would have been a better rule. Like you can only use one pitcher a game that gets, that only faces one batter. So if you have a Joelle Roderiguez and there's a big lefty spot up, you use him, but every other pitcher that you bring in has to face three. Yeah. Because then it would still create that one-on-one battle when it's like Boone Logan versus Ortiz.

All right. This is his fucking guy. Like edge of your seat type situation. But it was the managers that were using multiple relievers for just one batter in the same game. Sometimes the same inning. I know the raised and the Brewers did like three different pitchers in the same inning for three different outs multiple times. with the September call-ups, that was like a major issue.

Yeah, I mean, it's, it was, like I said, it was being antiquated anyway, just based on how the game was evolving and it was already out of, you know, just an unnecessary, like I still, I've been thinking about this for two years. I have to put it out there now. So it just, again, it just takes away a managerial decision. Again, I made the end of my career off of facing only lefties because that's what I did in in at least. But, you know, it was a skill that was dying anyway. Oliver Perez is still kicking around because he's really good. But, you know, my style, the way I ended in my career,

wouldn't happen in today's world. And probably just because there's so many guys that have just dynamite stuff in today's game. I just, if they take that rule back, I need you and Moyland to kind of do a joint video. Maybe, like, we're throwing like, this is me from the left side. and then Moyland's thrown from here on the bullpen mound, and this is what you see the whole time. Yeah. Can you imagine us being in the same bullpen for a whole year? Like, it would be glorious.

Jolly's one-ending league team, the Jolly Josos. They tried some Rugi and the Lugi type stuff on Jake in a game coming up. I'm interested if we, you know, if we run back, I don't know if you and Moreland want to pitch, but we definitely need, you know, some dual delivery situation. I'm in, man. I don't think facing Jake is a proper sample for anything because the guy is the Babe Ruth of Blitzball.

But, you know, maybe against the ordinary humans that are up there playing blitzball, I think that would be a better test run of any try to sample you're trying to get. Mortals. Mere mortals. Mortals would be good for you. Awesome. Hey, well, thank you for coming on. Hey, my pleasure, man. It was, we covered a plethora of things out here. I heard you guys use amalgamation. That was nice. I'm learning lots of stuff. That was me. I use that so

casually. You crushed it without having any idea if it was a real word word. Turns out it was. You nailed it too. And I used it properly. But yeah, amalgamation. Crushed it. We're a Shea station, obviously, where you got some SNY stuff coming up. What else you got? Yeah. So I'll be covering. You talked about the subway series. I'll do the pre and post game for S&Y.

I've actually got, I'm going to do the radio color commentary for the A's when they come to Cleveland. I'm in Ohio here. So when they come and play the Guardians, I'm just going to drive over and do the color there for that series, which is really exciting. I love, you know, I love doing radio. It's a completely different thing. But I got to give the people what they want, which is this. like we talked about earlier. So I got to do TV.

So I'm going to be in New York quite a bit, especially come late July through September. So I've got like a mini vacation coming up doing this stuff. So I've been at home for a while, but it's about to kick back up. Beauty. Beauty out here. What did you say, Jake? I said we'll see you out here. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Yeah. You guys got jams like your music, your intro, outro. Shout out Mikey Rotino. He does the Shaysation Roos, too. Okay. All right. I like it feeling.

Slapping bass right there. Bring the hair back. Come on. I don't have that time. It's pretty long right now. Yeah, it's not bad. I mean, that's crazy. It just goes up.

Huh.