Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - The Good Teams Look GOOD | MLB Recap | 830

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Big weekend around the league. The twins are back from the dead and the jerseys are dead. Let's talk ball. Bramber about this. Itching at altitude. Mexico series full recap right now. Hello and welcome to talking baseball presented to you by Seek. Go Talkin' 10.

I think it's up at the end of April. So make sure you go use that. I am Jake Storelli. coming live from New York City, the city of winners, people are calling it. Me and BPD, Rangers, Knicks, Yankees, Mets walk off. Trevor Plouf, coming live from Chicago where the hot, hot, hot, Minnesota Twins will face

the hot, hot Chicago White Sox. Everyone's watching. Trevor Plouf on the call and doing breakdowns before the game talking about cutting down runners. I'm working too much right now. What am I doing? I am in Chicago.

People say Chicago is all the great parts of New York and then a lake right here. I don't know if that's true. I'm a big fan of New York City. Jakey boy, I'm excited to talk some ball with you, Beavers, you as well. Yes, I was following the twins closely. Hottest team in baseball, seven wins in a row.

I'll be it against the white. Sox and the Angels who my goodness I guess we'll get into that a little later but that was kind of a rough watch for them. What is it Monday? So we start with the American League, obviously. Obviously. How was your weekend? I'm good.

I've got a good story that the talking baseball people like and then we'll get into it. Are we going to share like the photos? Like we put those on the app like. Yeah, there's a social clip coming to. A friend of a friend Was having an angels and demons themed birthday party And my Jessica was Hell bent on going, if you will

So, you know, it was going to be an eclectic crew there I wasn't going to stand out at this party The birthday boy showed up With like massive angel wings I'm at a Skinner concert There's this angel band playing No So whatever

So I go to Amazon, I purchase like the, you know, basic devil attire, ears, tail, pitchfork. I also got some sick red glasses to go with it. That kind of put the fit over the top. So as we're leaving my apartment building, I'm kind of doing one of those sad walks where I'm like, okay, you know, the door guys are going to bust me for this one later or whatever. You're in the streets. We're in a devil costume. It's New York City.

Anything goes. We join up with this other couple before we head over to the party. and now we've got a squad, so I'm feeling kind of confident in my devil fit, feeling good. And the party was at a, they like rented out a basement of a bar in New York City. So we walk in, I'm in my devil fit, feeling good, a couple beer Sammy's in at this point. And I hear right as we walk in, someone goes, Jake? And normally if it's someone who's like consumes our content, it's a little more like either excited

or scared. This was very inquisitive. And it was the beautifully inquisitive Jerry Blevins, uh, my Gandalf, who was, you know, a man of the city. You know, he loves New York City. He loves getting good food. So I think we're in little Italy somewhere. And Jerry was just kind of at a table, eating some grub, watching some baseball. Uh, and he sees me in my devil outfit. And, uh, we shared a good laugh over that. So he wasn't at the party. He just randomly saw, you, in a devil costume. Just in the streets. The last thing he expected was me to walk in in a devil costume.

So it was good to catch up with Jair. His Mets get a nice walk off the next night. Some people are saying that's correlated. But, yeah, we got to catch up for a minute. Yeah, and it's also just tough because Jerry Blevins, I think, is a six-sevener. And, you know, I grew up with a bunch of tall boys. And I know I'm short, but, man, being next to, to Jerry. When that pick came out, I was happy for it, but also a little sad.

You guys look great together. I was, I was going to ask, like, what was Jerry, an angel or a demon? And clearly he would have been an angel, because that's what he is. Him and his Roman knows me and him share that feature together. I forgot about that. Yeah. So, yeah, that was a pretty good kickoff to the Angels and Demons party. Ended with a slice of pie. And then it ended with a lot of ball this weekend, you know? I do know. God. Let's, uh... Look at you, Pop.

Let's do some American League baseball. Um, it's presented you by Pesty. That's right, people. Bugs. We're killing them. Not our bug bug, bug, dude. Uh, but I think everyone knows that feeling. If you've been in an apartment or you've been in a house,

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No one we needed this in our Bronx office. This would have been, perfect. Especially during the summertime. All those bugs are looking for water in the summertime. I did get to revisit the Bronx office a couple of times since we left and the bugs took over. It got scary. There was a while when you'd

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Click the link in the description. Get rid of the bugs, man. Bugs are kind of the worst. I mean, I know you're not supposed to say that about any animals anymore, but they are. Oh, the worst. I've got that, I got that sweet blood, too, that bugs just, Bugs love me, bro. You know what?

People love to talk about their sweet blood and how bugs love them. It's kind of gross. Dude. Oh, it's super... I hate it. No, I think you love it. That's why it's gross. But, dude, it's a real thing. Some people, some people the buggies love, and I, uh... I'm like number one on their headless.

Let's talk some ball. And of course, we start out with the powerful American League Central and the Detroit Tigers. They bring it to the Royals after losing the first game because Seth Lugo dropped it on him. Bobby Witt three RBI game. The Tigers come bick with Terrick like Derek Scoobel. Seven innings, one earn run.

Your boy, Wenziel Perez, hits his first yacker. And Matt Veerling was all over this series. Your favorite. I was laughing, thinking about how much you love Matt Veerling. Tough outing for Chris Stratton as he gave up five runs in the seventh. Jason Foley's ninth save of the year. Hey, both those teams getting off to a nice start in the Centrally. Let's go back to the East Coast for a little bit because the Baltimore Orioles got that work from the A's.

Mason Miller, the baby. face killer he showed up uh these a's just never died and they've been relentless Kyle McCann with the two-run homer off of Kimball to get that last game Mitch Spence kept them in that first game with three clean innings out of the bullpen how about these A's playing with a little bit of vim in vigor Albert Suarez finally gets knocked around in that middle game. Gunner, Mount Castle, swervin' irvin. These aren't your father's A's. Or maybe they are. I don't know. They just need a city. Speaking of putting on for our city, the Minnesota Twins feeling hot, hot, hot, hot. They sweep the halos. They put up double-digit

runs in those final two games. Carlos Santana is homering. He heard us talking on the podcast. Bailey over the nightmare. Eddie Julian is hitting again. The whole offense, Trev. They finally found it. They turned it on. Halo season now kind of heading to the bad place. And the twins are back, baby.

We're going to talk about it. And we're going to talk about that Summer Saw Siege. Speaking of Summer Saw Siege, the Chicago White Sox, they bust out the broom. sticks against the Tampa Bay raise. 9-4 extra innings in that middle game. Ben and Tendi walk-off, baby. The boys are bopping on the south side.

Baby, won't you come my way? Fettywop. Eric Fetty has been dropping it this season. Eloy is back. Raise. They've got a bad case of the not hitting right now. Check in on them in a minute. Good for the White Sox.

Dodgers, they take two out of three from the Blue Jays. They win the first two games. Our guy Gavin Stone, a warehouse adjacent. He goes seven innings, one-earned run. Will Smith, underrated? Four-hit day. Glass now drops it on him. Jays, Kevin Gossman, looking like he's back.

Love that for them. Alejandro Kirky goes yard. And how about that George Springer catch? That made it move for me. Cincinnati Reds and the United. The Texas Rangers, they played three. The Rangers won the bread games. Evan Carter and Mokis Simeon Go Yard in the first one.

Hunter Green on the national stage. Okay. Okay, I'm going to put that in my mental, I was going to say, prank bank. Heck out. Didn't think I was going to end there. Wyatt Langford gets his first homer, Trev, inside the park. How about that? It's a weird sport sometimes.

Rangers end up handling their business. The Seattle Mariners, Seattle, we see you, we recognize what's going on with the pitching. And that's the tough part for my snakes. They've been pitching great as well, but they get out-duled in these ones. They only get one run across in the first two games. Mitch Hanager for RBI Day, George Kirby, 12 punches, snakes, Christian Walker and Brandon fought, fight back. And then how about these bastards?

in Red Sox. They win it on Sunday night baseball. Tyler O'Neill walk off. Tanner, Halk is hawk in the pill. They put up a 17 burger on that Saturday game. And you know, Shoda I dropped it again in that first game.

That's the game the Cubbies won. Bush, Morel, and our guy PCA doing it, that is what happened in the American League. Trev, you've got the standings, right? You know. Not a boy, Poppy, I do have the standings. They're right here. in the AL East, the New York Yankees,

your and BBDs and everybody else in the office is Yankees are 19 and 10, Baltimore right behind him, at 17 and 10. Boston Red Sox, still doing it. 16 and 13, only three games back. Toronto, 14 and 15 in Tampa Bay, as you mentioned, struggling, swept by the White Sox. They are at 13 and 16 in the Central.

Cleveland just keeps winning games. I know they had a series against the Braves here. talk about in a little bit. They're 19 and 9. Kansas City Royals at 17 and 12. Detroit Tigers at 16 and 12. Minnesota Twins, seven game win streak, 14 and 13. Then those white socks.

Winners are three in a row all the way up to 6 and 22. And in the west, the Mariners maintain their lead in first place. They're 15 and 13. Texas, right behind them at 15 and 14. The Oakland A, surprising a lot of people lately.

A lot of that has to do with that bullpen, 12 and 7, Los Angeles Angels 10 and 18 in the Houston Astros. Winners of two straight. Hey. Nine and 19 at the bottom of the AOS. And that's the standings. It's got to start sometime. And that's what I said about a week ago,

about your Minnesota Twins. About a week ago. And they went out and they won every game, Trev. How about them, baby? I know you were just, you've been bopping with the boys. What's the word? I've been bopping.

The boys' vibes are high, okay? I mean, I came into a, four-game win streak. They handled business against the White Sox at home, went into Anaheim, and they've been hitting. I mean, that's basically what's going on. You know, still without Correa, still without Royce Lewis, although I believe Correa will be back in the lineup tonight. And even with Byron Buckson struggling a little bit, so I mean, the guys at the top of the lineup right now, Ryan Jeffers got going, Eddie Julian has been hitting. I mean, everyone, Carlos Santana had a homer in three straight games.

it was a great series for the twins. And saying that the angels are playing absolutely just poor, poor all around baseball. It's actually really hard to watch. Joe Adele out there in right field, he's been hitting the ball. He's looking good at the plate. But on the basis,

and especially in right field, holy schnikes. I watched the whole series, obviously, called the whole series. Pop-up priorities need to be worked on. I'm guaranteeing. Knowing that coaching staff Ron Washington

and Ryan Goans and Johnny Washington and, you know, Bo Porter out there, they're going to be on the field a lot in the coming week before the game, working on pop-up priorities. Corner infielders were like

not being aggressive on these, like letting catchers try to catch, you know, pop-ups down the line. It was just a very, very sloppy series for the angel. So as much as I want to give my twins credit and they're doing well, they're hitting, I mean, I think they had back-to-back games of over 17 hits. Aaron Hicks came into pitch.

It was a very sloppy series from the Angels. Hey, starts with credit to your twins. Again, I was crunching the numbers in jakey fashion. And again, like a lot of teams don't get themselves out of a hole if they dig a deep one, analytics. And the twins were getting close. Twins were getting close. And they reeled off seven straight.

And that's kind of what I was trying to say. And that's always really hard to do on the baseball field. So the fact that they're doing that, and now they go to face the White Sox who, hey, maybe they're facing a different White Sox team. But the offense is going nuts job. I always, I've referenced it a lot, the Fangraphs Roster Resource page.

In the last seven days, it has six twins hitters as top 30 hitters in baseball. Julian Jeffers, Larnack, Kepler, Willie Castro, and Santana. That doesn't count Jose Miranda has been playing good. So, like, I asked for their sticks to go. The sticks have gone. A lot of their offensive numbers look a lot better, and you can do that in the last week of April with a good week, so good on them.

Angels, yeah. Dude, I'm glad you mentioned Joe Adele. Like, hey, I hope the light bulbs gone off at the plate. you know, there's been a lot of quadruple A jokes about Joe Adele. He is hitting a ton right now. 327, 382, 974. Go Joe Adele, go. Dude, the defensive lowlights are entering a bizarre area.

He got hit by the ball the other day that he thought Trout was going to catch, which I don't know if I've ever seen that. And then he had that ball drop in front of him that it was, it wasn't an easy play, but it was kind of like, it looked like there was a glitch like if you were playing a video game you'd be like oh what is this it was a lack of aggressiveness

on defense for this entire team I'll say except for Zeknetto that guy is a wizard at shortstop he keeps getting better defensively he actually had a couple decent at bats as well but other than him it was just a complete lack of aggression

you know people letting the ball play them or you know not wanting to call somebody off on these pop-ups. It was a sight to see. I think I guess I can I break some news right now? Yeah, need it.

There's going to be a massive roster shake-up in Los Angeles. They needed one, and one guy in particular that we love is going back to the show. Kotuck time? Got word last night from the man himself. He's been crushing it. He hit a Homer off Max Scherzer. I don't know if I should have said that on the air, but you know what?

I'm happy for him. He might be the only person that could save that damn franchise. They need vibes, coach. He's got that in droves. You know what? Loco and O'Hoppe, love that kid, plays aggressively. He zued some balls behind the play. But I did get to meet him.

Nicky Cass always talks about him. So we had a laugh about Nikki Cass being short. So, you know, I'm a big fan of his now. Yeah, I mean, hey, where I started with, with the Jerry Blevins pick. I'd rather not discuss that. But happy for Kotuck, happy for your twins. Happy to see if they keep it rolling,

because Trev, it's always been an AL Central pod. And let's chop the ale east a little bit. The Rays, who we peacocked in their TPP. We're betting real money on Tampa, 84 and a half. We did, didn't we? We're laughing at it. The Rays get the big. business from the Chicago White Sox,

who with the sweep, they're up to six wins on the season. And good for them, man. Baseball can be a brutal sport when you're playing bad and the times just feel bad. So I'm glad they get to get a fun weekend under their belt and feel that. And hopefully it won't be as bad as it's been. I think the story, unfortunately, because I don't think it changes. the White Sox outlook too much.

We love you, Benny. Fetty, you're going to hear more about later. Eloy's hitting. The Reyes, who had the undefeated April last year. Yes. They are 13 and 16 after the sweep. Some guys are struggling. Yandi Diaz, Randy.

And these are the guys that they kind of needed to step up with injuries to Low, low, couple other guys. I don't know, man, I will constantly live in fear of the race because they always seem to tap into something but right now they ain't hitting and they're not, that bullpen is getting lit up that, I don't know, in a tough Al East, little worried. I think that's the story.

I mean, you just kind of hit on all the notes there. Like you pair some injuries to your key offensive players and then the guys that are there struggle while that's happening. You have no one offensively. And then the bullpen struggles. If you have a lead, they're giving it up or they're increasing the other team's lead late in games. And if you don't have that offensive firepower to back it up and then you don't get a banger of a start by your starter, that's how you lose games, man. And the twins kind of went through something similar.

I mean, they had a bunch of guys, I mean, three of their top offensive guys out and the other hitters were struggling. and that was like my call to Twins fans to not give up. It's like, hey, like this is just a rough patch. So I don't want to go too overboard on the race because they do have a track record. The guys in that lineup that are struggling, you know, have had great seasons before. They are legitimate offensive threats. Like, I believe that they'll get going. They need to get these guys back from injury.

But, I mean, they're 13 and 16 right now. This is a great stat. I love this. We talked about their undefeated April last year. they didn't lose their 16th last year until May 27th and that put them at 38 and 16 right now they're 13 and 16

quick math they'd have to go 25 and 0 to match that I don't know if that's on the table here maybe they go undefeated May this year I don't know maybe undefeated May but so like if you're a raised fan it hasn't been good but I mean 13 and 6 not like you're 6 and 22 and you are going to

get these guys back at some point you're talking about low and now although I believe low just like reagrated to the hamstring or something but I think better times are ahead I don't think this is a team

that's going to struggle to you know win 70 games this year I know a lot of people have like kind of like had that thought preseason like hey maybe this is the year the race don't do it

and now this is kind of emphasize those feelings but I just I just don't see it pop I can't see it man I again you could I guess if you wanted, you could spend this in a positive way.

I mean, the Rays have kind of built their recent legacy on building bullpens, and their bullpen's been awful. So, hey, as an organization, maybe that's something we can tap into, or guys are going to turn it around, and we'll find that. You know, if you're the Rays, you can kind of believe in that. The lineup, again, like Yandi and Randy, those guys should be better, and maybe it's about to come. Like we see that with a lot of ball players.

Hey, bad first month, turn it on the second month. Maybe that can happen. I also wonder, Junior Camerero, one of the top prospects in baseball, 11th ranked overall. He got to look last year. Is that a button they press at some point? Because, again, he was a big part of the undefeated April, and I know they played well the rest of the way. But, you know, having Wander Franco be one of the better short stops in the game. and now that's not on your team.

I don't know. I don't know. If you're the raise, something's got to, it's not like you're playing a decent brand of ball. Yeah. And you're losing games, which again,

you could spin that either way too. But I don't know, man. That's not very raise-like. They got to find something to get the spark, you know, in the second game, Jose Siri gets pulled for not hustling. Like, those are, those are buttons. that Kevin Cash is pushing.

Like, okay, hey, we're not winning. We're not hustling. And we're going to make some moves here. I mean, that's something that perks everyone up a little bit in the clubhouse. So they have to perform on the field. They got to get guys healthy. The bullpen has to figure things out. I'm just, I mean, if I'm not going to give up on the Astros,

there were 7 and 19, I can't give up on the race. Yeah, again, we're, the White Sox just swept them. We could be, this Friday, we could be talking about how the raise are back to 500. So you're right, it's just, it's a tough ALE East. Like, some teams, a chunk of teams are going to be disappointed this season, and we don't know who it is yet, unless Houston doesn't get a win streak going. And good for the way. Two game win streak.

Good, hey, bad baseball can be really tough sometimes. I think we're mentioning, you know, there's been a couple guys that have performed very well for the White Sox. We did see some homers in that Friday night game on Apple TV. That was nice to see from them. But there's been one picture in particular that I believe we'll mention later in the show. Yes, sir. I mean, let's put a bow tie on the Central.

I'm so over it because we're talking about these mid-bottom Central teams. We should be talking about the Tigers and the Royals battling it out. Hey, again, we're kind of saying, that with smiles on our faces, but, man, a lot of ball players on the field that are, that are playing great ball this year, Seth Lugo, Scoobel, Bobby Witt, Jr., I don't know if you saw the catch he made at shortstop running out to center, that dude is a stud. I forgot how horny you are for Matt Veerling, Adam Frazier's Robin Homers and hyping up the fellas.

Where is he at again? He's on one of these teams. I'm not even sure. Come on. He's a star, star Royals Tiger player. Like that's going to have like 15 years in the show. He's going to like one day come up to me and just smack me in the face. Like you were so disrespectful to me. I really not, Adam. No, we love Adam. You're a part of the show.

I don't know. Honestly, I don't have a ton to add on that series. But I'm proud of both of these teams playing good ball. Yeah, I mean, I mean, Lugo with the great start aided obviously by the Adam Fraser catch in game one, which if you haven't seen it, It is a very spectacular catch. He also added an RBI in that game, so good for him. I think that's kind of the story of the series.

As the Tigers take, two out of three, you had some of these pitchers that had really great starts to the year show up. I mean, you had school bowl in the last game, go seven innings, one earned run. He's just had an incredible start to the year, really backing up a lot of people who used him as their dark horse pick for Cy Young. he's we talk about him quite often here he's just a menace he's a big boy coming at you kind of limbs all over the place definitely i would consider him a herky jerky guy and he just comes out you with the heat and then the change up off of it it's it's a very very tough abat and he looked great man so this is um these two teams aren't going anywhere that's that's that's the deal you know i i keep i keep waiting for the royals not to look like a team that can win series

and I keep waiting for the Tigers to look like a team that can't win series, and they're just not. That's not going to happen. The only thing I'll say is the Royal starting pitching, as good as it has started out, is that going to be sustainable throughout the year? I think that's the one question I have about everything here. Detroit, man, Mark Kana's doing the damn thing day in, day out.

Spencer Torkelson doesn't have a homer yet. So I don't know, for a tiger's scope, you can look at their offense and be, like, well, it kind of feels like a Tigers offense again. Or you could say there is some room for growth because they're pitching on both fronts has been doing really well. And I don't know, we've talked about the Royals a lot. There's a lot of young ballplayers performing on that field.

And Brady Singer does it again. Sure. Reese Olson and Brady Singer, you know, they both shoved in this one. I saw there was a there was a sad boy Reese Olson stat, like the first, first Tigers pitcher, what was it? Third Tiger pitcher to ever lose multiple six plus innings, one earned start this early in the season. First Tiger since 1974.

So that's tough. It is tough. Reese is doing his thing. And the other thing where that series might have got overshadowed a little bit, NFL draft in Detroit this weekend? The draft is becoming too powerful. It's like 700,000 people or something. I like went and watched the draft this year.

I don't even really care about the draft. I sat and watched the first round of the job. Don't get me wrong. It's fun and I like enjoy the draft. I like like a draft. 700,000 people in attendance. I don't. That scares me a little bit.

Trevello. Let's see. What else do I have? Oakland and Baltimore is a bit of a story. I mean, again, all of these, the two games Baltimore lost were good games and the A's came back late. And again, it goes to show. you the power of having a good bullpen when Oakland flips the script there.

Because we were talking about this. The Yankee fans have their eyes on Baltimore as they have a big series this week as they go for top place in the American League. Man, between maybe the juxtaposition here is Felix Bautista, who is such a big part of the Orioles being special, obviously out for most, if not all, this season. Craig Kimbrel, who we've been highlighting in a fantastic way because he is like a historic closer, but he's had his moments, just like every closer.

And meanwhile, the rise of Mason Miller in this punchy athletics team, they just did an East Coast trip, Yankees, Orioles, and they end up winning, what are the, four out of seven? Yeah, yeah, four games. Not bad. I mean, yeah, it shows, if you have someone that can lock down games

when you have the lead or maintain your lead. I mean, it's huge for a team. Mason Miller, I think he's sitting right now 12 in a third inning, 25 punches, looking like basically unhittable challenging guys with the fastball. It was really nice to see that first game. Pretty interesting. You saw the play at the plate at the plate there with Rushman and Kimbril.

Kimbril coming in, blocking the base on Bladay, holding that, that run down. And then at the end of the game, Rooker in the 10th hits the double. I thought Colton Couser kind of took a bad route to that ball, almost like a direct route instead of kind of an angled back route. But they end up getting the lead there. Then Miller just shuts it down. I mean, simple plays like that turn the series. You know, cut down at the plate. Great, we hold them. But then a bad route in the outfield run. Here comes this guy in. You're not going to score against right now.

And that's kind of what the A's have going with them. I think we all took the under on them, Pop, and that's... I don't think that's looking very good. It was pretty... It was pretty... It was an ugly one. 50-something. 60? They get started with a 5. I think it started with a 5 as well.

A's... One of my favorite parts of the Orioles, who I rave about, is that every inning, it feels like they have a potential rally coming. They're first in baseball and home runs, and I don't know if they have a pure home run hit on their team. The A's bullpen in that final game, shut them out for the last five innings.

Mueller, Adams, McFarlane, Erseg. So no, didn't even need the big guy. Pretty impressive stuff. Pretty impressive stuff. We'll be talking about a little Baltimore pitcher in a bit.

Okay. Your guy. Your guy guy. Seattle, some snaps for them, man. they've started reeling off series wins. The starting pitching is going nuts. I'm going to be personally talking about them in a little bit. And I guess with that, maybe there's a little bit of snake concern.

Again, it's like we've said with all these teams, it's early, but they drop to 13 and 16. They're about to play the Dodgers and the Padres. It's a little bit go time in the desert. Yeah, you ran up against a pitching staff that's going to, off right now. I believe we'll be hearing about them a little bit later. I thought this was a fun series. Because of some of the trades that happened in the offseason,

a couple of guys getting back at their former teams. Rojas, I believe it was like first pitch, Homer against Gowan. That's got to feel good. Then Eugenio Swares gets the big knock against his former team. I love that aspect of it. But really the story of the series was Mariners pitching. It's becoming one of the storylines of the season. I think it's 16-stores.

rate starts where their starting pitcher is giving up two runs or less, yo. And, I mean, there's some Mariners 14 and 1 when leading after six innings. So shout out to their bullpen as well, Senor Smoke on the back end. Again, a couple of our old nicknames. I know you're going to go really into it later, but George Kirby, what he's doing, like walk-to-strike-out ratio is. is insane. He's coming at you. It's awesome. It's like the...

But just like for his career also, on his page right now. Like, what are we doing? Yeah, no, it's like a rare breed. Like, as much as I compliment a guy like Snell, because I'm like, well, you know, end of the day, a walk is like a single. And if you don't give up the big hit, whatever. George Kirby, like, that's old school. Like, that's pitchers, pitchers used to hate walking guys. And not only is George Kirby in that ilk, but he's, good enough to do it in like, what, 12 strikeouts? I think Phil Hughes set the record in 2014

Walk to Strikeout ratio. I don't know if that's been bested yet. Kirby's on his way. Phil Hughes. What about that? A 11.63 strikeout to walk ratio led the league. Don't believe it's a, I believe that record would have been topped

if it was all time at the time. Seventh and Sayung that year. Gross. Yeah, he had paid after that year. Yeah. First year after Yankees. Trev, I'm going to hodgepagia a little to end it, which I think you don't like,

but it's the best way to get through this. Some good teams in these three that we're not necessarily deep diving on. Dodgers kind of handle their business in Toronto. We get some Otani booze, which, again, I know I'm not the most popular guy in Toronto for being a Yankee fan, but that's kind of tough. Like, Otani didn't do anything there. No, they're just having fun, dude.

I know. It's not even like, what's the word I'm looking for? Malicious, I feel like. It's not. It's just having fun. It's kind of the beauty of sports. I'm with you. Took a flight to Toronto.

Dodgers win a series. The Hergevec took that flight. Blue Jays end a five-game losing streak, you. So it's good, good to get that final win. And then I mentioned, you know, I love my Reds and Rangers. Rangers take two out of three at home. And then maybe if there was one I want to talk about a little more, Boston Red Sox kind of back at it. Halk with another big start. Tyler O'Neill with the bloop off. The bloop off, yeah. Blupoff. Yeah, I mean, I actually really enjoyed this series because I was watching show to Imanaga pitch on Friday.

A nice play on a bunt by Duran as well, along with the good start. I mean, this guy has been incredible to start his career, man. Six and a third one earned on Friday. Going up against a guy that has started the year really strong Cutter Crawford. Second game was just a blowout big time, obviously. And then the third game, like you mentioned, Tanner Halk is, he's filthy, dude. Like his stuff is on the video game level right now. And then, yeah, Tyler O'Neill, a little bloop walkoff.

You love it. Sox, kids. Again, early stuff, but the juice they're playing with compared to the race. We talk about a lot of other teams and the injuries and, oh, man, we make up excuses for them and say, hey, they'll be all right. Things are going to get better when they get their players back. I mean, the Red Sox have dealt with more injuries than anybody in the sport. Yeah. And here they are doing their thing.

Connor Wong turning into an absolute juggernaut? They win the trade? No. But good for Connor Wong. Good for CW. Yeah. And I don't know if people call him that, but I like it. Okay.

Yeah, my own final parting notes, I mentioned the Wyatt Langford. His first home run, top prospect, Wyatt Langford. This kid can't miss. Look at these four hands. First home run inside the park. That's funny. hit was an infield single, first player to have those two fun facts in 30 years.

And then a little bit, I'm going to mark this as Rangers bullshit. Davis-Wenzel comes in for Simeon, and he hits a homer, his first career homer. Of course. Why not? Why are you saying Texas Rangers bullshit? What does that even mean? I don't know, man. I mean, everyone's hitting.

Where Johnaheim even come from? We just ignore it. That's true. Oh, here's a 6-5 switch-hitting monster. That's true. Days, I think it was the Andrews trade. For Elvis Andrews? I believe so.

Dane Dunning. 10 strikeouts with which hand. Trevon Carter's got it going two now. Didn't he start off the season 0 for 28 or something like that? No why Texas is really good, Trev? Because they just bat. They just bat. And Just Batts is where you need to go to get your sticks.

Trev, what's your brand of bat? Oh, he just ran away. Okay. That's brutal. He's showing the pants. Showed off his green pants. What's... Okay.

Well, the point I was going to make is if there's a brand of bat you like, just bats has it. The largest online bat store. from D. Marini, Easton, Louisville Slugger, Mizuno, you name it, they got it. Baseball and softball bats. Over a thousand models of bats at this store. Woodbats, youth bats, you name it, they got it.

And also, it's all about personalization these days. You got to be show. And your next bat, it could have the lizard skin pre-applied, custom knobs, laser engraving. Yeah, Trev, everyone's trying to be show, bro. JustBats. They also have their assurance program. Never second-guess your next bat purchase.

Try any bat for 30 days. If you're not satisfied, send it back. Boom. I use MaxBats. That's what I use. Minnesota Company. Minnesota, huh? Well,

Shut them out. JustBats is the place to buy your baseballs and softball bats. There isn't a better online shopping experience than this one, and you'll receive with them. So head over to justbats.com. Find your next gamer. some new lumber. We got a link in the description.

Go check it out. Lowest prices and save up to 80% off. Free shipping and free returns. Go check them out. You okay over there? My computer is running out of juice, and now I'm trying to look for what Evan Carter's hitting in his last seven games.

Okay. And? Getting it up right now. Analytics. Well, he's just one dotting it, 280, batting average 308 on base, but the slug is there. Three homers in his last seven

for the one dot to it. Sheesh. Slug is there. Half game back from the Mariners. Third place, Oakland A's. But it's NL time, man. Yeah. Man, no who's not excited for the NL recap.

The Miami Marlins. Who dropped to the worst record in baseball. White Sox be damned. Rocks be damned. It's the fish because they lose all three games to the national. They're playing a wraparound series, so

They're going to tee one up again today. Your guy Joey Menesis with two rib-eyes in that first game. Man, our guy Jesse Winker, Trev. Been going off. Might be some trade deadline talk the way he is playing and the way he pimped his grand slam. Jazz Chisholm ordered one of his own on that final game, but the boys bopped in Washington,

Senzel to Homer Day. Trey Lipscomb is back with three hits. Nats have just a little bit of juice. Miami has the opposite of it. It's getting ugly in Southbush. Phillies, they sweep the Padres. In San Diego. Oh, no.

I asked our resident Padre fan, Ryan Cohen. Hey, what happened? He said we got out hit and out pitched. Bad formula. Just a bad formula. But that's what Aaron Nola can do. That's what Ranger Suarez can do. And that final game was a bloodbath.

Everyone was hitting. Not as much as Bryson Stott's, two homers. Alec Bome just won't stop. Two, three-hit days? Phillies are rolling. This is kind of my ass from the beginning of the season. Padres, he? Yeah, not so good.

Cardinals, they get a series win. I was asking for that from them. They almost get the series sweep after Michaelis has a nice start. Sunny Gray. With the good start and the men the Mets fought to the very end on that one They had to fight to the very end the next day and it was Kinnuff. Mark Vientos with the walkoff Homer two strikes

Liberator gets liberated Frankie Lindor tied it up, Kintana with the big boy start But the cards they need a winning series and the Mets I think they walk away Okay with the salvaged final one Is there something happening in flushings? I don't know. I watched a little bit of Giants Pirates this weekend. If I'm being honest, it was because of sports bets, and I guess this is my job. But how about Patrick Bailey with the walk-off three-run Homer as Kyle Harrison? He juggled a little bit. He pitches like a lefty. Six-innings shutout.

Martine Perez comes back the next day, goes toe-for-toe with Jordan Hicks, who sets a career high in strikeouts. But the rats, get it done in extra innings, and then the Giants, they win the series on the final day. Giants took a 3-0 lead in that one. Tyro's there. Keaton win as won his last three starts. How do you like that? Trev, the two best teams in baseball?

Braves Guardians, they teed it up for three, and it comes down to the final extra innings, and there is young, thick, Austin Riley. Talk about stars, man. Chris Sale, Charlie Morton, Josh Naylor, I think he joins the list. Ozzy Albies on that last day. Stephen Kwan had a lead off. Homer in the middle game as the guard dogs go on to win that one in 11 inning. Some of the teams playing some of the best baseball in the sport, and the Braves end up walking away with two out of three. Speaking of some of the best teams, Trev, Yanks, Brew Crew?

And boy, thank God we didn't record Talking Yanks on Friday night because they sent in your boy Big Michael Tonkin in to die. And he did in extras. Brutal ask, off the plane, go save the game. Brewers did not allow that. Joey Ortiz with the walkoff and his first career Homer. But you know what the Yankees did to quench their bullpen questions? They put up two 15 burgers, Tret.

Rizzo, Judge Verdugo. Stanton Volpe, pumping into my veins. The Yankees, they turned on that offensive switch. They are cruising. And hey, Mexico Series, Astros get to. The balls fly in Yordaunt, two homers. Draft Kings didn't even offer odds on him homering the next game. And ironically, he didn't.

But Altuva Pena and Tucker did. Astros handled their business. Can it be the start? Some bonding in Mexico. That's what can do it for the boys sometimes, Trevin. That's what happened in the National League. Do you have standings? That's how Matthew Stafford got to the Rams.

A little bonding in Mexico. Sean McVeigh. It happens, people. I do have the standings, Jake. And thank you for letting me go. I made a little espresso back there because I'm tired. Wow. I've been working pop.

In the NL East, this is crazy. As good as the Phillies have played. And they've played great, great baseball as of late. The Braves just don't lose games. They're 19 and 7 atop the NLEs, Philly behind them at 19 and 10. Those New York metropolitan, I love the city connects for them. I'm curious to get your take on them. They're 14 and 13.

Those Nats. I believe in the Nets, 13 and 14, just one game below 500. And then Miami at 6 and 23. It is. Things are bad down there. Miami, fun place to go. Not a good baseball team. In the central, Milwaukee, 17 and 10.

The Cubs, 17 and 11. The Reds, 15 and 13. The Pittsburgh Pirates, 14 and 15. St. Louis Cardinals, 13 and 50. That's going to be a mess of a division. That's awesome. And in the West, Dodgers, 18 and 12. The only team over 500, as the Giants are right behind them at 14 and 15.

The Padres, after getting swept 14 and 17. your snakes or Dalton snakes, I'll call him, 13 and 16, and Kelsey Wingerz rocks at 7 and 21. No longer are the worst record of baseball. After losing two games. They're two games from the last time we spoke. Trevor, how about, fuck the Central. Hey, what's the better division?

The AL Central or the NL Central? I think the NL Central is. I do. I do. Overall. I would give that to them. I respect that from you. I mean, the AL Central teams kind of keep winning. I keep waiting for them to stall out a little bit. And I believe I will be right.

I believe by the end of the season, I will be right. And I think the NL Central will probably have a better winning percentage with the way the socks are performing. Man, I also just realized, because with the Yankees win yesterday, 19 wins tied for the most wins in baseball, that was kind of the Yankee fun fact going around. It's not the best record because the Atlanta Braves only have seven losses. Jesus.

Looks like they're back, huh? They're back? They've never left. I guess Braves fans were kind of mad at us. I saw a couple tweets because they were like, our Braves are so good again. We're not going to get talked about until September. And it's like, I'm sorry, Atlanta.

I guess, hey, we might be talking about you more coming up. up because they're facing Seattle and the Dodgers. How's your road trip? That's a fun one. This was a great series, I believe, at the time, it was two teens with the two best records in baseball. And you get these performances. That's what I think, when I think about the Braves,

you might have one or two people struggling at a time, but it's never like all of them. It never lines up poorly for them, where they're not hitting and they're not pitching. like somebody is picking them up whether it's one pitcher or it's three dudes in the in the lineup that's nine deep with potential stars like somebody is always picking up the slack you know in the in the first game sale i'll just go sevennings pitch one earned run you know like you're going to have somebody drive in the runs or or come up with a big at bat like they just

have too many guys that are are good at baseball to struggle for a long time. It's going to, it's like the levee's going to break at some point. Every single Braves game that I watched, that's what it feels like. It's imminent, if you will. And that's kind of what it felt like this series. Although I mean, two extra inning games, I could have went either way for the Guardians. You know, they got a couple guys that, you know, have continued to pop for them. But this is a really good series. And a Braves team, again, we talk about teams that are struggling with injuries. I mean, the Braves have struggled with injuries all season long, but it doesn't matter for them.

Can I tell you something even crazier? The war leaders on the Braves, war isn't everything, but currently Reynaldo Lopez, who we thought signed as a reliever, and they're like, no, we're going to make him a great starting pitcher. Marcelo Zuna, who, you know, we're 26 games in for the Braves. He has 31 RBI.

Yep. So that's war for. from DH, which that's really tough to a crew. And then it's Travis Darno, their backup catcher. If you had to point out three people who are struggling, quote, unquote, in the Braves lineup, it would be Olson, Riley, and Acuna. Yep, exactly. That's what I'm saying.

Like, even when you have a couple of guys struggling in a lineup, there's other guys there that, to pick them up. And then guess what's going to happen when Acuna and Olson and Riley start going? like if Darneau cools down a little bit or Azuna cools down a little bit there these guys are to pick up the slack they're finding they're finding pitching like it's what are you going to do against these Braves like they're the they're one of the teams

that saw a reliever and so we'll make you a starter and they're reaping the benefits of that they shouldn't be one of those teams that does that like that's right it's almost unfair I had a good Jakey Stoner thought on the couch this weekend. And, you know, thinking about pitching, because I'm, as I need to for baseball, I'm constantly thinking of how to solve the problem of pitchers. I think the recipe, if you're a relief pitcher and you're doing well, I think we're going to try more relievers starting and see how that works.

If you're a starter who's struggling, I think we're, I think, I know they get kicked to the bullpen, but like I got, currently Luke Weaver is on the Yankees. And if the Yankees need three innings, that's how they can reset their bullpen. I think we're going to see that path open up both ways a little more. I mean, between the Seth Lugos and Michael Kings and Lopez, like, why not?

Jordan Hicks, that's what I'm saying. It's like, for the Braves to find one of those guys and do it, seems unfair, but that's, you know, they are a well-run organization. They understand value and where to find it. even like, you know, we have injury to Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder comes up, he's had two starts, 12 winnings pitch, two and run. This is a guy that struggled mightily in the second half last year,

but it doesn't matter. Like, they're just, it is kind of hard to sit and talk about them because you just end up, I don't know, for lack of a better term, kind of stroking them. There's a better term. I should have came up. No, I think that was good. Kids would say glazing.

I think that was good. There you go. Isn't less graphic. Like, brave. It kind of is. Braves are nine and four when the opponent scores first. I don't know, man. They're a comedy series.

I'm actually, Braves fans, hey, you just got a lot of love. At Seattle, at the Dodgers. I'm in on that. I mean, let's light up the lamp. I'm looking at the stat sheet right now. Ozzy Albi comes back. It has a nice little performance. He's got no PS in the.

9s. Travis Darno is almost one dotting it. Marcelo Zina is one dotting it. And you're right, man. Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and Acuna are the guys that are quote-unuch struggling low seven.

Yeah, they're not playing bad. But they're not playing to their level. And once that happens, what's going to go on, man? They're already winning games. It's not like they need to win any more baseball games than they already are. Treve, there's something. I feel like baseball used to have this, and it doesn't as much anymore.

In the NBA, and it's NBA playoff time, there's just a tradition of whatever team next has to get punched in the face for like two years, and then it clicks. Like, you know, the nuggets, they lost a couple years, and then it all came together. Golden State was kind of that way. Like, people think the Timberwolves might be that, or Celtics, whoever's next. the Braves have a recipe here for like they've had these beautiful seasons that have come up short the past couple years

that man they look hellbent there's a lot of new faces that are involved in the mix that I don't know when we just went through all of that you wonder if they could put up like a special regular season because they have the talent to do that yeah they do um sorry guard dogs

Just wash that. Put it in your rear view. Go keep winning a million games. Avoided the sweep. Congrats. Yes. J-Ram, slide? A lot of weird base running, Trev. You need to coach the people up. They ran themselves out of that game. It was Kwan first at third base, and then it was a no-slide Ramirez. What's Stephen Vote doing out there in Cleveland? Get him out of there.

Yeah. Just kidding, Steve, the best. Where's Tee? Hey, as much as goddamn central love that you've been given this episode, my Philadelphia Phillies are 19 and 10. What I'm talking about that? They are, they just swept San Diego. My ask this season was keep up with the Braves.

So that's where I actually had a moment of like, oh shit, the Braves. Braves, Braves have seven losses. they just swept the fathers. And man, some of the guys, I guess, is we're tasting, glazing Atlanta. That does sound graphic now that I'm thinking about. No, who's one of the best players in all of baseball this year has been Alec Bome.

Yes. Who I'm not saying it was a question mark coming into the season, but between him and what they're getting, from their rotation that I think has an argument to be said is the best in baseball currently. I hope the Phillies give the Braves a run this regular season. I mean, they are, Jake. They're not too far behind them. Alec Bohm, as you mentioned, season statistics, 365 for 441, 6151.056 OPS, 4 homers, 26 runs driven in already.

and if this guy at 27 years old, some would say that's a prime age to be a baseball player. If he breaks out in this fashion, that could be the thing that puts the Phillies over the top. Because you mentioned the pitching staff and what they've been able to do. I think we're talking about them a little later, but they have an argument.

I mean, I think that's one talking point with the Phillies right now. What are they going to do with their rotation? but it's all good stuff. You know, they kind of have six capable starters, but you're talking about Nola, Wheeler, and Suarez just being absolutely lights out. Turnbull's been a great fine for them. I think he might stay in the rotation

and maybe Walker goes back to the bullpen, not sure how they're going to handle that. And Sanchez has shown flashes of, you know, definitely a very well-capable backend starter. If you get the offense to continue going and you add a guy like Alec, Alec Baum to, you know, up his tier, status. That's something the young

kids say. Why is S here the best? Doesn't matter. If Bome takes that next step, that could be the Phillies way to take the next step, which would be to win the World Series. Well, that's everything I just said about

the Braves and getting their lumps in storylines. The Phillies have been doing the same thing. I just, it's dumb, it's April 29th. Give me another a Braves-Filly series. I mean, that's as that's as intense baseball

as you're going to get in 2024 yes god you're talking about you know boom is he's been like a mid sevens OPS guy and again like you just take that leap you know you know the on base percentage

takes a step up that's that's really what you've usually see first like you know how's the plate discipline now he's matching it with the slug too it's been very impressive all j him preview for Wednesdays. Oh, yeah.

I don't know how much conversation third base in the NL is going to be. That's kind of crazy. Like that. Like that. You do that's one of our biggest discussions. Like that for Boomer. There's guys hitting. Trev, in one minute, do you want to hype the gnats or bury the fish?

Ooh. Let's hype the gnats a little bit. Done. Jesse Winker 851 OPS CJ Abrams 979 OPS Let's go In the first game

Maness has had that The RBI single And I believe his lips gum comes in And then right behind him Just like a Bad out of hell That's a saying right CJ Abrams sliding in

Great slide They play fun baseball They play fun baseball in Washington And I said that to people I said you got to watch this team They got some exciting guys. I mean, C.J. Abrams has been incredible. He has taken the next step.

I know it's against the Marlins. But give him credit. Sneaky talking baseball levit, whoa. Sneaky talking baseball legend. Trevor Williams twirling the pill for the Nats. And as you know, Trev, I'm an anti-Vilo guy now. Fastball sitting. We're mixing it up.

And some of the advanced stats like what he's doing out there. I love that. Pitchers can do that nowadays, man. You can make these adjustments. I'm going to be talking about a guy later on. They made some adjustments and you can change your whole career. I do love this for the Nationals. Feel bad for the Marlins.

Salvaging the last game of the series. It's a Sunday. Hey, let's just ride off into the sunset. You're up seven nothing after two. And then you lose the game, that's got to be the most dreary clubhouse in the history of clubhouses after that came. It's either that or blindly hype.

How was it hype? You can't be hyped. You just got swept by the freaking Nads. And you're up seven and nothing after two and you lose 12 to 9. That hurts. Worried about the clubhouse. Get Luis to rise to Toronto ASAP.

Go, Joy, Manessasas, go. Go Cardinals, go. Go. Cardinals go. Yeah, you got anything about that? I'm half okay. What do you mean? I mean, it was a good series.

Cardinals took the first two games. They've been seeing some of the guys that need to go go a little bit. Where are my notes on that? I'm looking right at them. I can't see it. I told you I am freaking exhausted. Yeah, you're fighting from behind. Their bullpen has been pitching really well lately.

Again, the offensive. numbers are a little scary, but... One thing I want to mention wasn't even about the Cardinals. Okay. J.D. Martinez makes his debut in this series, and in the offseason, he didn't want to go to San Francisco, and he said, I want to go to the Mets, because that ballpark plays to my swing, first hit, double off the wall in right field, almost went out, but it's like, oh, yeah, you're right. You understand your swing, and you were absolutely right, even though they lost that game. Good to see him, get it going. And then, you know, for the Mets, the South.

that last one. Mark Vientos, I believe, got called up the day before. Sometime this weekend. I think I called it, yeah. He played in the game before two for two with the walk-off, two-run homer, and he was hyped, hyped to do that, which he should be. That's really cool, man. You get called up and you're able to salvage a victory and stave off a sweep for your team. That's a good feeling. I mean, I believe he had like an awesome spring two, thought he was going to make the team, and then they do the J.D. move, which if you're the Mets is a no-brainer,

but so he got just short end of the stick, and he and J.D. join the big squad at the same time. Love that. Mets, Cubs, is going to be a fun one this week, and St. Louis, Detroit, and then the White Sox. So, you know, right now they're two games below 500. St. Louis, keep up. The pirates are floundering a little bit.

I think they've lost 10 of their last 13, including two in the bay this weekend. Like I said, I watched a lot of that game. The wind was blowing like crazy. Jung Hu Lee tracking down balls, his hair and hat just flying in the wind. Grandson of wind, he was living up to it. Okay. Yeah, and Kyle Harrison, I said he pitched like a lefty in my analysis on that.

He was getting in jams all night. I bet on San Francisco. It was late night, and I lost a couple bets. So I was like, let's do giants, never a doubt. And Harrison was just wiggling out of trouble all night. So good for him. Jordan Hicks looks gross again in the game. They actually end up losing.

Pirates skid in a little bit. This was like a fun matchup for me because you have Patrick Bailey. He hits the walk-off Homer, which is awesome. But the guy like he kind of supplanted, Joey Bart, who's having a great run with the Pirates, has a chance in that final game against DeVal. Maybe it's magic.

Maybe he shoves it. Back in San Francisco, no, he does not. He ends up getting out. But I was rooting for Joey in that at that. Ruin for you, Joey. And we're rooting for some standout performances. You take this one first, Bob. I'll go first.

Didn't talk a lot about my New York Yankees, who, again, they went into Milwaukee. Probably could have got a sweep if they handed the bullpen a little differently. But we're over it in Yankee land because the boys put up 15 a pop in the final two games. And the guy I wanted to highlight was Anthony Rizzo. He throws a four for four out there on Sunday.

Was a little concerned. Again, it was a weird end to the season for him. He played two months with concussion syndrome and was awful because he was basically concussed trying to play baseball. He comes back this year. Got off to a slow start. couple weird moments. He was playing bad defense, which was like, whoa, what is, what is this? I think Riz.

He's turned it around. And Trev, it was a reminder to Yankee fans how good this guy really is. It's his 300th home run, the 161st player to ever do that of all the people that have played this sport. He looked pretty hype to get it. The dugout looked pretty hype for him to get that. And, again, being just full East Coast, I want to shout out Rafael from the Sox. We mentioned that 17 run game. So both of these guys played in games where a lot of runs got put on the board.

A 7 RBI day for the kid, who's now playing shortstop for them. And he's having a slow start. You have a day like that. If you start getting worried about year numbers, that can kind of change how you're feeling a little bit. So a little Yank sucks. I like that.

I like to you mention, Rafael there. It's not easy to, you know, go from the outfield to the infield the way he's done it, playing great defense in the outfield. Hey, go play shortstop for us. Maybe it's a little spark for his offense. I love that. And then Rizzo, you know what sparked his offense? What's that? A little 420 action since April 20th. 13 for 34. That's the 382 average 417, 794 for the 1.2er. since he was blazing all those joints on 420. I'm not sure he did that. That's just me speculating people. I haven't added the Brewers series homers to the mix, but I know the ones he hit against the A's

where like his two furthest hit balls since pre-concussion. So it seems like something might have clicked in the last. Yeah, he seems like something might have clicked on 420. He really, yeah, he wasn't putting charges into balls. And he has been recently, and that's baseball. But sometimes you just, you wonder. Between the defense and there were like two balls. It looked like he felt like he got all of and they didn't get out and he looked scared.

Yeah. Now he's good. And that was talking to X. Where are you going, T. Payne? I'm going with the pitcher. And you mentioned it was one of my friends, former teammate. I mean, we talked about this guy quite often. We must be the biggest Cole Irvin pod on the planet.

He saved the Orioles, the embarrassment of getting swept by the A's. maybe that's a little strong worded there because the A's have been playing a little bit better but he did. Seven innings pitched on Saturday. No earnies. Four hits. No walks.

Five K's. His last three games have been really, really good. 18 in a third innings pitch, only two earned runs, two walks and 11Ks for the 0.98. And he's made some adjustments. When I think about Cole Irvin,

when I play with him, it was the change up, kind of like a vis-a-fastball with the change-up. He's basically scrapped the change-up. this year and he's throwing his curveball much more. Last year he threw his curve ball 14% of the time. This year he's thrown at 26% of the time. It's been a big pitch for him. The change up has gone down from 21% all the way down to 10%. So he's kind of done that and that's helped him get off to a really fast start. I mean, this is a guy that, you know, with some injuries

to the Orioles starting pitching stuff, you know, he's had to come up big and he has. And the guy that you really isn't really a household name except if you listen to talking baseball. So I want to shout them out. I like when pitchers make adjustments, change what they're throwing, and see the benefits of it. It's a game of adjustments and Cole

as a guy that's been made them and has had a really nice start to the year. So I want to shout him out. Can I say something about Cole Irvin? Sure. Pass the eye test. Watching him pitch? Just his pitching.

Yes, yes. Okay. He is a grizzled man these days. I don't know. I mean, it's a good look for him. Sneaky athlete. He doesn't look like it, but he's a sneaky athlete. Dude, he was, his stuff was gross.

Yeah. Watching along, because, you know, that, you picture swerving Irvin. Again, I guess I am an anti-Vilo guy now, so. But, yeah, he was, he was paying. He looked good. The stuff had some good movement on it. He can command, you know, multiple pitches for strikes.

And if he's doing that the way he can, yeah, it's a very difficult to bat. Trevor, there was a lot of guys. A lot of good pitching performances. Any red, a couple Red Sox, couple twins. Always your Don, Mexico City series, bro. But there's really one place you want to be on this show. It was That means I'm on fire, baby

Like Waco It was me and Anthony Rizzo In the back of a car Windows of Pop Boxing on 420 Not That's not reported Allegedly Allegedly

That did not happen people I'll say that for a fact I don't think Anthony Rizzo knows who I am You know who I know Benny biceps for the series Andrew Bennett. He's six for 13. Two homers, eight runs driven in, recorded his first career walkoff.

His sixth career multi-homer game is first since September of 2021, and his six RBI is on Saturday tied his career high. How about my guy, Carlos Santana? Getting it going. He'd been struggling. He went five for 13, a double. Two homers in this series, had

three games in a row with homers, seven runs driven in for the 1.3 OPS, Washington third baseman, Nick Sanzel. three for 11 you're like okay trev how are you in fuego you going three for 11 huh well all the hits were homers seven runs driven in uh they have another game against the marlins today so they haven't exactly swept the marlins just yet because they have a more game today okay got that one wrong earlier in the show way to go trev get up on it good job nick senzel how about for the week eddie julienne my french

man you know he didn't even speak english when he went to auburn him or his parents didn't know a lick of English and I said Eddie how'd you learn English and how fast did it come? He said two months I learned English They pretty much don't speak English at Auburn Yeah I was like how did you learn English in the south bro Anyways this guy's an absolute slut It was only a matter of time before he went off

9 for 22 in the week three doubles three homers seven RBI He just goes opo a great freaking swing Anthony Rizzo my guy do I have to even talk about him again I will 11 for 27 2 doubles 4 homer 7 RBI in the

week you know in 4 for 4 on Sunday with that 300 homer he's homered in four of the last six games how about Scott Barlow this guy my brother coached in high school that's a true story Cleveland reliever

four games 2 and 0 two holds 3 and 2 3 3rds teams pitch one hit no runs one walk 6Ks. I liked the signing when he went over there. He's been doing it for the guard dogs. And this, my friends, is the list that you want to be on.

Chicago White Sox starting pitcher. Eric, Fetty, Wop, Fetty, three games started, 20 innings pitched, only 13 hits and three earned runs, 25Ks in those 20 innings pitch. That's a 1-35 ERA. He threw a career high eight and a third innings on Sunday. He'd never thought.

far than 7 in his pitch in his career before that start. He's like changed his repertoire up. He's still on a splitter now. It's nasty. Went to KBO, did all those things. Good for him. Good signing by Chris Gets. That a boy.

Logan Gilbert, I think we're going to talk about him later. Should I just not even say him? Tim. Okay. Three games started, 19, 2 thirds innings pitched. Three earned runs. 21Ks in those 19 and 2 thirds in pitch for a 13-3-7. And then Washington reliever,

Kyle Finnegan. Six games in the two weeks. He has four saves in those six games. Six innings pitched. No hits. One walk, five Ks. So he's got one base runner in those six innings pitch in those four saves.

That's how you get on in Fuego. Kyle, congratulations. And that's it. Some important updates I would like to share. Trev. I was looking to see if Anthony Rizzo and you might have talked on a baseball field.

You hosted the Cubs June 19th, 2015. That's the first game of a three-game set. The back two games, you didn't get any hits, so you wouldn't have met him in those two games. In game one, I noticed that you and Rizzo both had two hits. He hit two homers. You hit two doubles. You wouldn't have stopped at first base.

So you did not talk to him that day, I don't think. Then I went back to 2012. Rizzo wasn't with the big league club. he's on the IL or in a AAA stint or something, but you didn't face him in 2012 when you faced the Cubs. But 2017, July 4th, you were a Tampa Bay, Ray. You beat the Chicago Cubs 6 to 5. You were playing first base that day.

So when Rizzo had a hit in two walks, he probably, you probably exchanged some words. And you also had a single that day. So you might have exchanged words again. So July 4th, 2017 is the day. day. That is some investigative journalism. I was kind of being facetious and joking about Anthony Rizzo not knowing who I was, but now you've... I just need to find the on-field interactions. You've put it into my mind. There's a possibility he doesn't know who I am. For real.

No. There's a lot easier. He's a big scouting report guy. Where's he got a stand? He's definitely seen my name on a piece of paper before. Yes. So that's pretty nice. Pretty nice. He came to the office. He's a ploof guy. Who isn't? You know? A lot of people, Jake. A lot of people don't respect me. Your fingerprints are all over all over this league.

Trev, that was a fantastic infuego. No, thank you, Poppy. We now go to the worst segment of the show, the IL report, as I call it. Luckily, there's not a lot of names, which that's good news. Although I didn't need more bad news for my fish,

but Jesus Lazzardo on the IL. They've got a whole rotation on the IL. A couple relievers, Drew Smith, Cisnero for the Angels, Jordan Wicks. I don't know, I'm digging deep. Joey Gallo? So, I don't know, not a big injury weekend. Knock on Wood, we like that.

And then returning from the IL, Ozzy Albies, who's just when he's been playing, been going nuts. Framber Valdez. Came back. Good. Tough ask for a pitcher to come back in the Mexico series, but good on Framber for it. And Taiwan Walker comes back,

which he got knocked around a little bit. But like you said, Philly with some interesting decisions to make. Rob Thompson says they're not going six-man, which you would think would be, you'd think they'd do Walker, but I don't know how you handle that. Like he got a free agent contract, but... He is making a lot of money,

but Turnbulls look so good. I wonder if they'd just kind of keep Turnbull and like a swing like keep them built up multi-innings and then kind of let Walker have a little bit of a leash and then make a decision? I don't know. Not sure. Unsure. I am sure about one thing.

There's a good way to start the week, and we have that here at this show. Traven Awards are brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook baseball season is heating up. I told you guys, I spiced up my Friday a little bit. by getting in the game with a little San Francisco Pittsburgh treat for myself. And right now they're giving new customers a swing at turning five bucks into $200 instantly in bonus bets with any baseball bet. And that Draft Kings has you covered with everything. If you're into parlays, live betting, odds boost, there's so many different ways to get involved with it.

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Am I up? If you got it, I can take it. Take it real quick. Okay. I got to get my pages correct. Get locked in. I'm giving out the two or less award. You know.

Two. that's not a lot. That's not a lot. That's whatever you're talking about, two usually not a lot. The Seattle Mariners starting pitching, which before the season when we talk starting pitching staffs, you couldn't talk best staffs in the league without talking about Seattle.

Philly got a lot of love. You know, a couple of other, the good baseball teams around the league. But Seattle, this is what the team is built on. And we've, especially myself with my analytics binder, I've been tough on teams where the offense doesn't do it for me. And right now Seattle's offense, they're arguably bottom five. I mean, 26th in batting average, 26 in OBP, 25th in OPS.

That's not good. That's not a good recipe. The Seattle Mariners are leading the AL West right now. 40% chance to win the division is what Fangraphs has them at, by the way. And it is because their starting pitching is rolling. Talked about Logan Gilbert on Enfuego and what he's been doing. George Kirby, you know, we all started drooling over him. And I believe it's at 16 games now that their starting pitchers have given up two runs

or less. That's nuts, man. That's, it's historic. And Logan Gilbert, 40 innings of 203 ERA. Luis Castillo sitting at a 415, but he's trending upwards. George Kirby trending upwards with a 418.

Again, these aren't even bad ERAs. A four ERA. You're looking at, you know, six innings, three earn runs, but they ain't giving up three. Bryce Miller 2-2-2-E-R-A Emerson Hancock bringing up the rear right now

so I'm not going to take my guy down but what they are doing as a pitching staff because I mentioned that bullpen at the end Spire, Thornton Thornton hears a who Andres Munoz Stannick, Saucito the Mariners can pitch like we've kind of known that

I've been a little skeptical, and I still will say I am a little. I'm going to need to see more from the hitting, but I know there's more hitting coming. Like it will happen. I believe in Jorge Polanco. Let's get J.P. Crawford back. Julio heats up as the year gets rolling. Mitch Garver will be doing better than what he's doing. Mariners, I was kind of tough on them as well a week ago because I was like, I don't,

I'm not sure where this is heading. if they pitch like this, you almost have to be successful. And it's not fluky. Like, these dudes are dudes. So I'm drinking from the Mariners' Kool-Aid a little bit. This is kind of what we expected out of the Mariners. Maybe not to this extent. How could you expect a run like this from really anybody?

But if I was to pick a staff, it would probably be the Mariners. There's all those statistics about, you know, scoring four runs, scoring first. like if the offense plays its part just a little bit. I talked about this, I believe it was on Friday with Stephen Brought. We talked about the Mariners and what they've been doing. If the offense is just an average offense in baseball, like this is a playoff team. Like for sure they'll be in the playoffs. If they can just have an average offense, if they can tick above that, whether that is Julio getting it going.

And, you know, getting some of these guys they brought in. They bring Hanager in and Garver, like getting. those guys going would be a welcome site as well. But also, like, this team is still set up. They could make a massive move offensively, and I think they're going to need to do that. You can't miss a window like this, a pitching window like this. Like, you have to go out.

If all, if you could just look at your team and say, hey, man, we like our bullpen, we love our starting pitching. Now, they're able to, you know, get bullpen arms almost at will. That's what they've been able to do. go out and get a bat. Go out and get better offensively because you need, I mean, they just need a little support. You don't even need to be a mashing offensive team

to be able to win in the regular season and in the playoffs. This rotation, when you pair it down and kind of think what you can do in the playoffs with it is a scary thing. So I love what they're doing. I hope this pressures their front office into going and making a move during the middle of the season. They host Atlanta for three, and then they're doing a little Houston, Minnesota, roadie. So we'll find out a little more about these Mariners in the next week and a half, and I'm excited to.

Where are you going with your award, Treb? My award is called the Ah, I got it, award. Okay. You ever sit down, and I'm like a puzzle guy. I like to do all sorts of puzzles. I do all the New York Times ones, whether that's, you know, connections or strands or wordal or the crossword.

I do them all. I don't like Sudoku. It's the one thing I don't I'm not into. I don't like numbers. I've been playing chess again lately. I'm back in the chess game. Downloaded the app. I'm about it. Okay, so that's a good metaphor for this as well. Like there are times where you see a move on the board

and you're like, okay, I got it, right? Yes. That happens a lot to be like with a crossword puzzle. You're kind of stuck on a quadrant of the crossword and you're looking at all the clues. You're like, okay, what can I do? What can I do? And you think you have a few answers,

but you don't want to write them in because you're like, okay, I'm not actually sure. It could be a couple different things. And then all of a sudden, you get that one word or you get that one letter and just opens the floodgates and there you go. It's one of the better feelings that I get. You know, doing these puzzles is, okay, I got it.

And then you just crush it the rest of the way through. that happens in baseball too there are guys that grow up that you know continue to work get better find things they need to work on and all of a sudden it's oh i got it and the floodgates open that's happening with our guy josh nailer up in cleveland he has increased all of the things that you want to increase he's decreased all the things that you want to decrease and he's reaping the benefits of it and so are the cleveland guardians he's off to a great start they're off to an unbelievable start as a team. Maybe the most surprising team in baseball this year so far, I think,

the way their offense is gone. And they have a bunch of guys that are going through. I think there's nine guys with an OPS plus of 100 or more with 50 plate appearances or more on that team. So it's not just one guy in particular. Naylor's not the only guy going there. Stephen Kwan's had a good start to the year. But Naylor, there's a great article on MLB.com.

and it's written by, I'm going to get the guy's name right now because I'm using it for this award. Cole Jacobson, what's up, Cole? He kind of looked like a good-looking guy. All right. Nailor's just increasing all the things that you want to increase in. He's decreasing all things you want to decrease in, like I said. He is chasing less this year.

So he's not swinging at bad pitches, getting the pitches in the zone. He's also swinging at more pitches when they are in the zone. That's a career high for him. I think he's second in the big leagues that's swinging at pitches in the zone. Now that sounds like stupid and like, oh, obviously you want to swing at pitches in the zone. It's not that easy. Pitchers present pitches to you that look like they're going to be strikes, and then they're not strikes, and you chase.

And that's just part of being a hitter. If you can get them in the strike zone and swinging at pitches in the strike zone, more often you're going to be a better hitter. It seems simple, but it's not that simple to do. And when he's swinging at pitches in the zone, he's making a harder contact than ever. His average exit velocity is like 90.7. It's never been in the 90s before, so he's hitting the ball hard. And he's just carrying this offense, man.

And I think, you know, for a team like the Guardians, you have to have some surprise performances. Like they didn't go, they don't go out and get guys that are absolute sure things offensively. Like you have, they believed in their roster and, hey, we got to go do it ourselves. And because of Josh Naylor, I mean, they're, they're. 19 and 9, a plus 46 run differential. And those are both second in baseball behind Atlanta because who the hell is going to ever keep up with Atlanta.

But for a team like the Guardians to be able to do it, they have to get performances like this out of Josh Naylor. Overall, on the season, let me get it up right now. Six homers on the year. He's driven in 21, 360 on base percentage. He's had a 327 his career. 535 slugging percentage this year. He's at a 445 in his career. 895 OPS in this season. He's had a 7.72 in his career.

So advanced statistics, conventional statistics, all trending upwards for Josh, just because he's getting the ball in the zone a little bit more. And that's just something you learn from now having 1,500 plate appearances under his belt. So he's hitting his stride exactly when the guardians need him. too so I wanted to shout him out he's been doing it all year long not only is he an on the field leader for that team he's kind of like the emotional leader as well like he's the show pony he's going to be the one of the top step leading the charge with the vibes letting Jose ramirez do his thing on the side letting all these other guys perform let me be the guy that everyone gets mad at or looks at it's an important role to have on a team and if you can do it while performing like

he has he deserve an award on talking baseball I, uh, the only thing I'll add to that, I, both teams that just get mentioned, got mentioned, I'd love if both of them got one more twig. I mean, the, the guardians are begging for another right-handed bat. That's going to be available at the deadline. And everyone knows my qualms with that front office at this point. It's, both these teams have, are going to put themselves in great position that, man, sometimes I wonder if it's dumb, but it also.

feels like those one or two moves that you can feel like how aggressive was Texas last year trading um and i don't know i i know both of these teams lean on their farm system and it's part of what's gotten them to this point but also if you get a chance to cash in a couple chips this deadline um you know who knows what the west is going to look like who knows what the central is going to look like the rest of the year. But, God, both of these teams, I feel like with one bat, you just look at them totally differently. Like, totally different.

I don't think it's going to happen for Cleveland. I don't think that's what they do. You know that. God damn it, Chris Rose. God damn it, Chris Rose. Trev, fantastic stuff out of you. Enjoy that White Sox twin series that everyone's talking about. We are back.

Wednesday with the big one. It's all JM people. Rick sucks. Kind of match a little bit today, me and you? Yeah. A little bit. Is this a spruce top? You're rocking, what is that? Like a seafone? It's a seafone. Not a lot of snakes this up. Come on snakes. I'm on three hours of sleep right now, people. This is what I do. I'm going to go talk to Chris Rose. Right now. Right now.

Like literally right now.