Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Mike Wilner: Toronto Mike'd #136

Episode Date: October 2, 2015

Mike chats with Blue Jays Radio play-by-play broadcaster and host of BlueJaysTalk Mike Wilner about the playoff-bound Toronto Blue Jays, whether they care about winning the AL regular season crown, how things have changed in this city and the fun to come. They also spin some retro Blue Jays songs and Tom Cheek calls.

Welcome to episode 136 of Toronto Mic'd, a weekly podcast about anything and everything, often with a distinctly Toronto flavour. I'm Mike from TorontoMic.com and joining me this week is Blue Jays radio play-by-play broadcaster and host of Blue Jays Talk. It's a big title. Mike Wilner. It's a big title. Doesn Wilner. It's a big title. It doesn't fit on a business card. And Sportsnet.ca columnist and lots of other things. I stole that title from your Twitter bio. Did you?

Copy and paste. All right. Because last time I think I had a very short Blue Jay guru or something. I'll take that too. So right off the bat, thank you for visiting me in my home and giving me home field advantage,

something I deeply care about. So thank you for coming to my place. I don't have a studio like this at my place, so I had to come here. Sure. Happy to do it. Because home field advantage is important. It is really important.

But we will talk more about that right off the bat. Okay, so since you... I've got to set the table here. You were here last November, three days before the signing of Russell Martin. Okay. Okay, so basically then, of course, a couple weeks later

there's a trade for Josh Donaldson, and then the rest is history. So just to set the table, if anybody wants to go back and hear the ongoing history of Mike Wilner, like how he got into radio, all the fun stuff about Tom Cheek and about some not-so-fun stuff about maybe Cito and you name it.

It's just your whole history and your Twitter behavior and everything is there. Episode number 96. Yeah, everybody go back. That was fun. Yeah. Okay.

Did you get any feedback? Because I think we talked about this in episode 96, but some people were like, oh, that Wilner, he's arrogant and condescending. Those were the two words. And then a lot of those people came back to me after the episode and said they were turned around on you. Like they just misunderstood your rationality for like arrogance, I suppose.

Yeah, I got I saw the feedback that you got and I got a little bit of that, too, which was which is always nice. But, you know, I think we even said it back then when we did it. even said it back then when we did it. People are always going to hear what they want to hear and they'll interpret whatever innocuous thing anyone says to be wonderful or horrible depending on how they feel about the person who's delivering the message.

So I don't think I turned everybody around. Not everybody. There's still one guy, regular listener, who's going to skip this episode. So there's one guy on the list who we haven't turned around yet. But yeah, so go back to 96 because that's East who we haven't turned around yet. But yeah, so go back to 96 because that's like the A to Z about Wilner. But ever since you came in, I regretted not playing Miley Cyrus's We Can't Stop just the first five seconds because when me

and my daughter is 11 now and she loves this Miley Cyrus song. So it gets played a lot. Even my toddler loves this song. Like it's a catchy tune. And in the first 10 seconds, you can distinctly hear Miley Cyrus say, Mike Wilner. Okay. I'm serious. It's only going to be 10 seconds.

I'll play it a couple of times here. This is Miley Cyrus. We can't stop. Can't stop. Did you hear that? I think what she's saying is Mike Will made it. Yeah, she is saying Mike Will made it. But it does sound pretty cool.

It's even in the video it says that. I heard it a couple of times in some other songs too. My ex-wife called me and said, I heard your name at the beginning of this rap. And it's in the radio edit too. So if you're listening to whatever, Virgin or whatever. It's hilarious. Yeah. I love it.

So you know, in the video it says Mike Will made this, so you kind of know what she's saying. But I've heard it 100,000 times. It sounds like Mike Willner. Yeah. If that's what you think it sounds like, then that's absolutely what it says. It's great.

So I regretted not playing that in November, but now I've made amends. Thank you. I love being part of... I wish I could remember what those were called. What are they called when you mishear lyrics? I don't know, but like, there's a bathroom on the right.

Exactly. Excuse me while I kiss this guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know what they're called, but there's a lot of those. And what's blinded by the light, there's like a whole bit by Four on the Floor about how they mishear the lyrics.

No, it was Vacant Lot. Vacant Lot. Yeah. I was a big Frantics fan. Who's Four on the Floor? The Frantics. I love the Frantics. Right.

Used to listen to them. Vacant Lot. Okay. Yeah, that was like in the heyday of kids in the halls, you had all these Canadian troops that kind of had exposure. Yeah, that was great. Is that Mr. Canoe Head? That was the Frantics of Mr. Canoe Head. Right. That was like in the heyday of like kids in the halls. He had all these like Canadian troops that kind of had exposure. And yeah, that was great. And Mr. Is that Mr.

Canoehead? That was a frantics of Mr. Canoehead. Right. That was great. And I think Mark McKinney's brother's in that troop. I think. In vacant lot, maybe.

I think so. We're going way back. It's like way back, but we're going to go way back later in this episode too. In fact, this is for Siobhan Morris from News Talk 1010, who hates this song because she says the lyrics are ridiculous. I think Siobhan, who's much younger than us, is missing the point, right? Come on. I don't know that the lyrics are... The only lyric that I don't like in this song is when, I think it's,

Dave Steve got a smoker. Dave's throwing down a smoker. Yeah, a strike and you got no doubt you're out. But everything else, I mean, it's Dave Steve got a smoker. Dave's throwing down a smoker. Yeah. Yeah. A strike and you got no doubt. You're out. But everything else, I mean, it's just fun. And interesting story here. Yeah. My neighbor, when I was growing up, her brother wrote this.

Get out of here. Wish I could remember this. Oh, that'd be good too. The singer is, of course, Keith Hampshire. First cut is the deepest. Really? Yeah. Who is is, of course, Keith Hampshire. First cut is the deepest. Really? Yeah, who's like, he's like a transplant. He's a British guy who now like lives in Canada.

But yeah. That's spectacular. And Siobhan Morris, who's been on the show, wants modern Canadian artists to redo this song because it needs updating. And I say that would sink like a lead balloon if you rem redo this song because it needs updating and I say that would sink like a lead balloon if you remade this song.

Remember when they put the drum track behind it a few years ago? People didn't like that. No, I don't even remember. That's how... Yeah, I just think it's a terrible idea.

People want this. Come on. The cheese, it's all part of it. That's okay. That's the greatest lyric too, right? The lights are out. Oh yeah, the lights are on.

All right, so we're going to play later. I'm going to do a little bit of Jay's chat because I got some questions for you. It is a little outdated though with the next verse, right? Because it refers to Billy Martin with the... Yeah, it makes Billy blue. Yeah. But it's a lot of fun. But then you can try, like Dave could now

be Dave Price and Billy could be Billy Bean. He's blue because be, you know, he's blue because we fleeced him out of Josh Donaldson. That's true. You know what? Billy could be Billy Bean. Why not? Yeah. So we're going to play, I have later in this episode, some lesser-known retro Jays tracks, including a rap song

by Tom Cheek and Jerry Howard. Which I don't remember at all, I have to tell you. And you have to hear this. And, of course, I have a Lloyd Mosby rap song. We're going to play this in the second half. I remember, you know what? There was a story about that Lloyd Mosby rap song in

85 or 86 just because one of the lyrics was we swallowed a bitter pill when the Royals beat them and that was a star headline. Mosby says losing to Royals was a bitter pill. Very, yeah, that's a sign of the timesals beat them. And that was a star headline. Mosby says losing to Royals was a bitter pill. Very. Yeah. That's a sign of the times, I think. Today, that

would be pretty mild. In fact, I'm sure that Miley song that my 11-year-old loves, I'm sure they're talking about ecstasy tablets and stuff in there. Glow sticks. All right. So quick Twitter question is did Rodgers ever ask you to use the come together hashtag?

Has that ever been a memo on your desk, if you can incorporate it? No, and I don't know that I've ever used it. Well, you don't use it, but... Yeah, I use enough that I don't think I'd have room for that. But no, nobody's ever told me that. They don't tell me anything. I mean, the creative freedom working there has been fantastic. I know there are a lot of people who think that there are like edicts from

on high every day and you got to say this and you can't say that, but that's never happened. No. And I know that because for some reason, like my last several guests have all been Rogers employees, just coincidence. But like Eric Smith was in here last week and, uh,

Roger Lajoie came over and gave me his business card, which is like a baseball card. Have you seen that? Have you seen that? It's hilarious. He's in here last week. Roger Lajoie came over and gave me his business card, which is like a baseball card. Have you seen that? Have you seen that? It's hilarious. He's in the shrine here. Yeah, that's great. The joy.

All right, so first question. Did Roger, by the way, take up the length of the entire podcast simply listing all the jobs he has right now? He's got a lot of jobs. It did take a long time. A lot of time. Is it early? Is it still early? No, they clinched already.

Could you say for me it's early? But it's not. It's not early. But you know what? If they lose game one of the ALDS, it will absolutely be early. But it's the best of... Last time we were in the playoffs, we had to do a best of seven, and then you could go to the World Series. This best of five thing does have me...

I just would prefer a best of seven. But we wanted a best of five last time, right? In 1985. Yeah, in 85. That was the first year that they changed it to a best of seven, and the Jays won three of the first four. You know what I remember?

I was 10 years old. I mean, yeah, I was really into that series, of course. I loved that season, that drive at 85. But I remember like Al Oliver, like I have these names that just in my head, like Al Oliver kind of comes over as Scoop, right? He had a scoop on his necklace or whatever. And

he just had these timely hits down the stretch there and in the playoffs and stuff. Al Oliver and Jeff Burrows and all those you know, those guys. Whose son apparently was I don't know if he ever made the majors. Yeah, Sean Burrows. He was a big leader. Yeah, because he was a Little League superstar. He was a superstar in the Little League World Series. And I say, that's Jeff Burrows' kid. Anyways, that's was a Little League superstar. He was a superstar in the Little League World Series.

That's Jeff Burrows' kid. Anyways, that's crazy. You're right, though. Best of seven is better than a best of five. The shorter the series is, the better the chance that the worst team has to win. Right. Yeah, exactly. You'd think by now they would have made it a best of seven just to get a couple more gates. The World Series is already going into November this year.

It's the first time it's ever been scheduled for November. But I remember when the first round of the NHL playoffs was best of five. I remember we beat the Blackhawks in 86, like three games straight. Do you remember when it was best of three? No. It was best of three in the early 80s, I think. Okay, because I start tuning in in 83. I started in like 77, 8.

Yeah, you got a couple on me. Just a couple. Just a couple. Not too many. Okay, so we're going to talk basically we have, I see it as a tale of two seasons, okay? So you got this like this Jays season. I don't know, maybe 100 games. I think maybe exactly 100 games, but we're pretty much a 500 team,

right? 50 and 50 after 100 games. And to me, it felt like deja vu all over again. Like it just felt like we've been there. Like we're pretty much a 500 team right 50 and 50 after 100 games and if to me it felt like deja vu all over again like it just felt like we've been there like we're often like 500 after 100 games and it's like the same old same old and then really it's uh yeah you you make the trade for tulowitzky and then the trade for david price and you know other helpful trades like that uh ben revere trade and low and you add some useful parts like revere for sure huge and then all of a sudden it feels at least as i'm a fan you live and breathe the team and you're like a baseball guru i'm like a fan i watch my jays i love my jays but it was almost on a dime where we went from like it felt

like deja vu forget it to we're gonna gun for this wild card now. And then I'd say a week later, maybe, nobody's talking wild card anymore. It's like we can win the AL East. That's because they got so much better so quickly. And after those trades were made, they were 50-50 the day that the Reyes for Tulewitzki and Hawkins. Hawkins is a huge part of that. Oh, yeah. Went down. And then they lost the first game before Tulewitzki and Hawkins. Hawkins is a huge part of that. Oh, yeah, yeah. Went down. And then they lost the first game before Tulewitzki reported.

Right. I think he showed up in like the seventh or eighth and didn't play that night. So they were 50 and 51 when Troy Tulewitzki suited up for the first time. Right. And then Kansas City came to town, and that was that awesome series where they beat them

three out of four. And then the Twins came in right after for that August long weekend. And it was prices first start on the Monday and they swept them and they moved into a playoff spot. Like they were a game and a half behind Minnesota. No one's really worried about, I can't believe they're still in it to be honest. But,

and then they were in a playoff spot and then they went to the Yankees and had that great series there. And, and they erased that eight games in like three weeks. So, yeah, people, I think, saw how good they were. They knew, even the casual fan knew David Price is a big freaking deal. So I think that's why everybody said, look, and I remember saying at the end of August that I think not only do I think the Jays are going to win the division, but I think they're going to win it comfortably.

And they're five games up right now with three games to play. They clinched it, I think, as early as they've ever clinched in the season. That is true. Yep. And so, yeah, it's just because they're that good. And so, yeah, it's just because they're that good. And I think it came down to two things more than anything else, and that was fixing the bullpen and fixing the defense.

And the defensive difference between Troy Chulowitzki and Jose Reyes is ridiculous. Ridiculous. And they got a real left fielder, Ben Revere. They didn't have one of those before. But, you know, when they were 50 and 51 it was early and they were you know hopefully that's a little bit of ammunition in the future if you're eight games out with 60 games to play you can still win the division by five or six games well do you have any uh i don't know if the term would be schoenfreude or if it's just like and i told

you so feeling you have any of this because you would be a guy who would be saying it's just like an I told you so feeling. Do you have any of this? Because you would be a guy who would be saying it's early, and a lot of guys, I feel a lot of guys would be like, it's not early, Wilner. Like, this is now July, and this is not early anymore. This may not come across well, I think, because I think a lot of people think of me as this know-it-all, and I don't know quite how to deal with that. So very obviously, I don't know it all. And I don't know quite how to deal with that. So very obviously, I don't know it all.

But I do know a lot about baseball, and I've watched it a lot. And I've learned a lot of lessons from watching it a lot. And the truth of the matter is, they were a good team made great. And it was still really, really early 100 games in. And I don't And it's not an I told you so moment because the truth of the matter is I know that the people who are saying, oh, no, you're an idiot, just have no idea what they're talking about. But there's lots of them.

Yeah. But, you know, and I think I've said this on the show before, too, just because you say it louder doesn't mean you're right. John Lennon was a brilliant man and a wonderful everything. And he said, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

But the fact of the matter is, just because there's a lot of you doesn't make you right either. Sometimes, well, not sometimes, always facts trump feelings. And it's a fact. And it's happened a whole bunch of times. I think it was, what, four years ago? Maybe five years ago, where the Cardinals and Rays

were both nine games out of a playoff spot in September. Right. And they both made it. Yeah, yeah. It's early. Yeah, was it the Phillies who went in a run? I don't know.

I remember when the Phillies ended their drought. The Astros a couple of times. Yeah, it's been examples, for And yeah, was it the Phillies who went on a run? I don't know. I remember like when the Phillies had a derby. The Astros a couple of times. Yeah, it's been just been examples for sure. But this will be forever. The case study will point to, will be 2015 about, but, you know, we'll be saying, you know, hey, it's early. Look what happened.

We were, you know, middling along. And, you know, a lot of like prominent sports personalities were saying the Jays should be sellers at the deadline, you know, and those tweets linger on. I see them every once in a while. Somebody will retweet it, whether it's Sid Sixero or whoever the heck it was. Look, Bob McCowan said he didn't think the Blue Jays

should make any trades. He didn't think the Blue Jays should make a trade because they were more than one piece away. And he was right. They were more than one piece away, but Alex made four trades and he filled five holes, six if you count putting Sanchez back in the bullpen. I mean, they needed a lot of help,

but they got a lot of help. But people are, I don't think there's ever been a deadline like this before where a general manager has been so aggressive in getting such high-level talent. So nobody expected that he'd be able to do all this. I call it, it feels like two seasons because it really,

it was like on a dime almost. Not only do the expectations change but the results change. That's the thing. We all got, I mean, this is Toronto. Since 93, we've had a lot of moments where expectations would rise and we kind of fell hard.

We're all kind of jaded there. So a lot of us were... would rise and we kind of fell hard like we're all kind of jaded there yeah so like a lot of us were i say you know you're right you're right so like a lot of us are just waiting for the bottom to fall out or whatever but we're all like you know yeah you don't forget the wild card al east we can do this you go on your i think 11 game i know it was 11 games because i went to that 12th game at the dome where the yankees came to town yeah and we lost uh we the david price game the david price game was like 3-1 in the eighth and then just gave I went to that 12th game at the Dome where the Yankees came to town. Yeah. And we lost. The David Price game. The David Price game was like 3-1 in the eighth. And then Sanchez gave up the homer to Beltran.

Beltran, that's right. Yeah. So I remember that. And I think we've hit 11. I think that's our career high. Yeah, five times. Five times. It's crazy.

Twice this year. Yeah, that's right. Once even before all the changes. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So it feels like the results on the field all the changes. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So it feels like I just, the results on the field matched the hype. It's almost like it wasn't a bandwagon.

People were jumping. I was like, people call it the hype train. It felt like a Jay's hype train. I mean, my mom, okay, doesn't know, doesn't really know, but doesn't get baseball. She's always saying, I get lots of mess,

like she's in Google Hangouts and I get these instant messages during the game. Stroman's pitching in the eighth. They never let Price. Why don't they let Price do that? I think I saw you tweet that. My mom, I get a lot of these questions. She's just a clear bandwagon guy.

But basically, she and a lot of people are on the Blue Jays hype train because it's just fun. It really is. And you know what? We've forgotten what it's like when a team is so good that it brings a city together like this. And it was like that in 92 and 93 for the Jays,

and it was like that in 93 and 94 for the Leafs. It's even gotten to be like that for the Argos a little a couple of times. But this is what it's like where people come out of the woodwork and they're wearing Blue Jays stuff, and all of a sudden people who said for the last 20 years they can't stay in baseball, it's like, where people come out of the woodwork and they're wearing Blue Jay stuff. And all of a sudden, people who said for the last 20 years they can't stand baseball, it's so boring, why would anybody watch it? You know, they're calling players by their first names and stuff. Or the guys who, that big crowd that kind of says, you know, they lost me with the strike in 94. You get a lot of those guys.

A lot of those guys are suddenly checking the scoreboard every night before they go to bed. And it's a great thing. And I think that there are people who are having trouble embracing it. There was a caller last night when I was driving home after the game, Dan Riccio was hosting, and there was a caller who said he can't stand the bandwagoners and he doesn't think the Blue Jays are Canada's team, that nobody who lives outside Toronto, they haven't been through this with us and they don't deserve to be enjoying

this. And that's just made my ears bleed. Yeah, it was horrible. I'm kind of glad he didn't call me. My buddy's brother, I follow him on Twitter and he's one of those guys who seems really angry at the bandwagoners. Like he's like, Hey, I was, you know, I was here in 2004 when we had gone to shite and you don't get to just

kind of come on now for this. It's almost like they feel like you have to go through. If you're not going through the bad, you don't get to go through the good. It's like the people in high school who when a band got popular, they were all you know, I was listening to them two years ago. Where the hell were you?

Yeah, like, oh man, you're just discovering R.E.M. now because of losing my religion? Like it's those guys. Oh, I had Bleach. Like I was, you know, I had Bleach and I saw him at like the, I saw Nirvana at like Lee's Palace or whatever the hell, you know, it's like now they blow it up and forget it. Exactly the same people. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. Now they blow it up and forget it.

Exactly the same people. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. So tell me, though, you mentioned, tell me how things have changed specifically, like, with regards to Jay's talk. Like, you'd think your callers are now in a completely different mood than they would have been. Like, how has it changed? It has changed a lot. I mean, there are still people who need to find things to complain about in this whole home field event. Yeah i actually gonna get to that because i have thoughts on this i'm dying to know because i

know you tweeted yesterday like you were gonna write a piece about this but then it wasn't worth it or something shy had written it too that i didn't know i read shy's i'm gonna talk we're gonna we're gonna save this but tell me about jay's talk but that's something too right that's that's just another thing that people feel like they need to find something to complain about but for the most part i mean yesterday i did three and a half hours of jay's talk right um with that rain delay so the board was there was never an open line as soon as someone hung up somebody else popped in um which i mean usually in the old days if there was a rain delay things would run out after half an hour 40 minutes right but but it kept going and it was positive.

I got to play some old Tom Cheek calls, which I loved a lot. And so that got people going a bit too, which was great. But people are happy. They're worried, they're nervous. And I can't imagine what it's going to be like if they do lose. You know, it feels like I think people think that they're not going to lose a game at all in the playoffs, which is hilarious that they're all worked up about a game seven when they're going to be really upset if the Jays are up two games to one. But I think it's going to turn back if they if they're behind in any series or even if they lose a game in the playoffs, which they will. will um but right now most people are happy and they're they're calling in with like memories of 20 years ago and and and more um rather than trying to pick things apart and getting people

fired and and and things like that it is a very different tenor to the show for sure the uh nostalgia like this surge has anyone who's basically, I don't know, 35 or older. I don't know if that may be something like that, but anyone who's about that age or older, this surge has basically brought back 92, 93 memories. So I have a website where I host a lot of early 90s, late 80s, early 90s retro J's songs. And I can see traffic spikes.

Really? The appetite suddenly for whether it's Blue Jays, All The Way way or World Series Here We Come or Help Us Mookie or whatever you name it right like all of a sudden people are googling this like you can see the traffic coming in from Google the appetite for Blue Jay nostalgia is just sky high right now I'm amazed at I mean like when I walked in here you told me about the music that you were going to play. I'm amazed at how many of the lyrics that I still remember to some of those songs. And they were just like, I don't know,

DJs put them together in the mid 80s. I can tell you, Variety Village would approach media people. I actually was on Humble and Fred's podcast two days ago because they did, combined, they did three songs. And I played their three songs with them

and we talked about the organ. Which ones did they do? So Howard did, do you remember Sly Fox's Let's Go All The Way? Yeah, and Blue Jays All The Way,

I remember a little bit too. So he did that. That's a Humble Howard from his 102.1 days. Fred did a song called, he did it in the guise of Goo Head. You remember Goo Head?

That I don't remember. So if you didn't, yeah, if you listen to Humble and Fred, you know Goo Head, but his character, that's okay. They will be disappointed though, and Fred's probably listening. Fred did Goo Head, and he did a song called Sunny Jays, which is actually an

original composition. Here's a fun fact for you. Not based on Sunny Jays? No, that's what you'd think. Original composition, Captain Phil Evans, this promotions guy at CFNY, fun fact for you on sunny day no that's what you think yeah original composition captain phil evans this promotions guy at edge uh sorry cfny wrote it and he sold it to a guy do you remember the singer who dat singer that was a name who dat singer would appear on these blue jay discs from variety village and he's his real name is not who dat singer you You're kidding. It's Dave Platel, who is now one of the top guys in Celine Dion's executive company. So he's helping to run Celine Dion's career, this Dave Platel.

So anyway, Dave Platel bought the publishing rights to Sunny J's from Captain Phil Evans for $1,490. This is just a fun fact for you. That's awesome. So anyway, that's an original. And then the third one is, do you remember Life is a Rock, but the Radio Ruled Me from 1974, a band called Reunion?

That's before my time. Yeah, I was born that year, by the way. I was four. Yeah, you might be a bit young. So Humble Howard, when he was in Montreal, he was on a morning show with Jeff Lumby. Who did the fan for a little bit. Right.

He had an intern. I call it a summer internship because he came in before Crystal, I think. After Crystal. After Crystal. Crystal implode first or after. I can't remember. Crystal's crazy, by the way. I don't know if you know Crystal.

I know Crystal. He's been really, really good to me. Okay. I think Lumby was after, but I'm not 100% on that. And then maybe they brought in like brady and lang after could be yeah i'm trying to get right okay uh so it might have been when landry and stellick got blown up they brought in lumby and then crystal you might be right i think that i'm thinking i am right on that yeah i think they yeah i think he did mop up duty between

stellick and landry and Crystal. Could be, yeah. I think so. So where am I going with this? So Lumbee and Humble Howard did a spin on this. Life is a rock. The radio rolled me, and they called it Habs to the Top. Habs to the Top.

Okay, you would never hear it because it's a Habs thing. Right, in Montreal, yeah. Then Humble Howard is recruited from Montreal, and he's brought to be Fred Patterson's partner on CFNY and he re-does it as Jays to the Top. Jays to the Top gonna win the series

or something. I don't remember that one at all. Anyway, we were talking about it and yeah, the retro... I don't even know how I got it. Erin Davis herself has done three different songs. Really? Yeah. She's a great singer, Erin. She's a good singer. She did one of those fractured fairy tales at the Elgin

Winter Garden Theater. She was between gigs. Because, you know, they fired her. Yeah, that was not the best move. No, I think Julie Adams still regrets that one. But they brought her back, so it's all good. Alright, so we're going to play these games. That was quite the tangent.

Real quick, because you mentioned the old Tom Cheek calls. I also you mentioned the old Tom Cheek calls, and I also have a page about Tom Cheek calls, because I loved, as you did, we love Tom Cheek's calls. So I'm going to play a real quick one. This is the first ever, and you played it too, but the first ever AL East clinching moment for the Toronto Blue Jays. Here we go.

He works to Hasse. There's a swing and a fly ball left field. Bell is there. He's got it. The Blue Jays. Here we go. He works to Hasse. There's a swing and a fly ball left field. Bell is there. He's got it. The Blue Jays have done it. They have won the East. They have won the East. George Bell catching the ball and dropping to his knees. A mob scene out around second base as Doyle Alexander is mobbed by his teammates.

Here come the outfielders in. They will be met by their mates and this mammoth crowd that has come screaming down out of the seats now. Somebody takes George Bell's cap. He wants it back. He takes it back. And the Blue Jays and Doyle Alexander are going to be ushered off the field by their adoring public. Alexander with his cap off,

being carried by the throng down there on the field. Awesome. Yeah, it was. George wants his cap back. And he took it back. That was great. Of course he did. Tom had such a great sense of the moment.

And I mean, he didn't, he had so many important calls in Blue Jays history and he didn't kick a single one of them. I mean, that was beautiful. And completely off the top of his head. Nothing prepared, nothing packaged, no big, you know, which is great. It's just so beautiful. Do you know if Touchable Joe was spontaneous?

It was. Did you not know the story? There's a story. Tell me the story. If you go into the memory banks and picture Joe Carter after he hit the home run, he was leaping around the bases, right? Right. Oh, yes. He was worried he was going to miss a base.

So he said, touch them all, Joe. Because he was kind of talking to him, even though there's no way he could hear him. But yeah, that was why. Because he thought he might miss one. Thanks for retelling that because, uh, I had heard it and forgot I heard it and I love hearing it. Yeah.

That's a great freaking story. So, yeah. So, uh, we're going to hear more Tom Cheek later because, uh, he raps,

which if you can believe it or not. So, so you mentioned how things have changed. The mood has changed on Jay's talk, although they'll always find something which we'll discuss in a moment. But, uh, what about Twitter?

Like, so we had long talks in the last episode with you about how you treat Twitter because you're a you tweet a lot. And I mean, I find you you add an extra dimension to the games. I appreciate. I appreciate that a lot. And, you know, I go back and forth because Twitter can be I think it's a wonderful tool to spread information, but it's also a wonderful tool to spread hate and, and, uh, ignorance and, and, uh, uh, again, outrage for the sake of outrage. And, and so I hate that part of it. And I try to stay away, which is why I block so many people. And there are people who, who think they get blocked just for disagreeing with me. I'll never block anyone for disagreeing with me. uh but i block them because i don't want to deal with them because it's just too negative and you know why why do i need to subject myself to this i mute a lot of people too rather than block

just because i don't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that uh that i i don't want to feel i hear you like it's a badge of honor yeah so is that a do you use tweet deck what is your okay so yeah the meetings in tweet deck and i have it on my phone too um so when i'm down on the field i'll tweet from the on your phone are you using the native uh twitter app i think so okay because you'll meet them in tweet deck but they'll still show up in your native twitter but i see way more of course of tweet deck than i see of my phone. Well, that's what I'm curious about.

Because I use Twitter. That's what I use on the phone. Okay, yeah, it's the native Twitter app. I use that one too on the phone too. I see you're an iPhone guy. Yes, sir. Good for you. I'm an Android guy, but that's okay.

There's room for both of us. This is the phone that work gave me. Hey, you can never argue with that. Last time I had a work-issued phone, it was a BlackBerry Curve. That's how long back we're going there. Anyway, okay, so do you find you're blocking less? Like there must be, you know,

when the team shites in the toilet or whatever, people are just angry and they lash out at you because you're like, but when prior to this little tiny controversy of a couple days before we got there, but prior to that, we had nothing bad. I can't imagine what you'd complain about. No, and there wasn't a lot. And it was funny, too, because I found that there were a lot of people who were saying to me, either on Twitter or even calling the show, saying, I can't find anything to complain about. And I thought, well, why are you looking for things to complain about? But yeah, I think

I have blocked fewer the last couple of months than I did the couple of months prior probably, almost definitely because people are happier. Do you regret your initial response to the hat trick game? Yeah, I do. It took me about five minutes. No, I mean, that's the thing

about Twitter I find because I have the blog where I can write it and I can like read it again, make a couple edits and then I press publish. Like there's all these steps involved. I mean, when I publish a blog entry, it's like thought out

and it's like I stand behind this. But with Twitter, it's very stream of consciousness. Like I tweet a lot and I don't, sometimes it's just, I had an incident, well,

it was yesterday, which I'll tell you in a minute, but you'll tweet something and you didn't analyze every word and everything. Like you do thousands of tweets. I treat Twitter a little differently than I do the blog. Yeah.

That was one of your like stream of consciousness tweets that maybe upon reflection, you realized you were being like a party pooper. Yeah. And I think that, you know, what I, what I thought was just,

you know, somebody decided, Oh, what the, you know, I'll, I don't like when people throw things on the field and i don't i i don't like to watch baseball players stand around doing nothing while everybody cleans things

up um and we're so used to the paper airplane dummies and and you know the the idiots who run on the field and stuff like that that my initial reaction was, oh, geez, you know? But then it became very apparent very quickly that, yeah, maybe one guy started it, and then everybody thought, man, that's fantastic, three home runs. I think the key is how infrequent that would happen. That's the key, right? Well, but what I thought, too, was

are they going to do this whenever somebody drives in three runs or gets three hits or scores three times? I'd put a stop. Toronto Mike would put a stop to that. Good. I'm glad. I don't know what the numbers are, but a number of times that Jay hits three homers at home, that's a pretty rare event. And I think,

I mean, and you've said it yourself, you've changed your mind on this, so I won't beat you up any further. But it's funny because I heard from people for hours after I said... But those guys already hated you. They just found another reason. Yeah, but that was the most backlash I've ever gotten for anything. Ever.

Even for days afterwards, after five minutes when I said, no, all right, you're fine. You won me over. You're right. Yeah, that was pretty amazing. The block button did get a huge work out that day. I'll bet, yeah.

Not just because people were saying you're wrong, but people were saying you're an asshole and far, far worse than that. So did you delete that tweet or you let it live? No, it's still there. Oh, that's good. The only times I'll delete a tweet is if I've made a typo and I'll immediately fix it and repost it. Right. Yeah, yeah, me too. Yep. Which, that makes sense.

Okay, now, quick question about your friend, Gibby. Is he your friend? Or just, could you call him Gibby? We all call him Gibby because it's easier. I just like to break your balls because Gibby, to me, seems like you're a buddy. But you're covering him as a journalist. But that's who he is, right?

I mean, I've never gone out for drinks with him or coffee or breakfast on the road or anything like that. So I don't consider him a friend, but he's someone I like for sure. He's impossible not to like if you know him. So tell me, he made a statement when things were going well, and they're still going well, but he made a statement that his biggest worry every day was what to eat for breakfast. Speaking of breakfast. And well said because it really, and I

think I felt the same in 92-93 with Cito. These players, managers, these guys, I think they're just I just wonder how important is, and I don't know how to phrase this, but how important is a manager in baseball? Do they really matter if you have everything

clicking? No, I don't think so. Whether everything is clicking or whether it isn't do they really matter if everything's clicking? No, I don't think so. Whether everything's clicking or whether it isn't, they really don't. I mean, a bad manager can cost you a few games maybe. A good manager can win you a game or two. But yeah, I think we've all been exposed through media and through Hollywood and even growing up playing sports, the whole deification of the coach, right? All these broadcasters who are former players and coaches,

it's in their best interest to tell you how important they are. And so we kind of start to believe it. But a manager doesn't have nearly as much control over things as one would think. And I make fun of it sometimes by saying, yeah, good thing Gibby put the home run sign on for Donaldson there. All you can do is put people in the positions where they're likeliest to succeed. And if anybody does that on a consistent basis, he's a great manager. It's process over performance, though,

because a lot of times, you know, I go back to the one thing that stands out for me more than anything else back in, I think, 2010 or 11. In X-Trainings, Cito Gaston let Kevin Millar hit against a righty killer. I think it might have been Darren O'Dea, a guy who never, you know, righty said like a buck 80 off him. Well, he had Travis Snyder who hit two home runs

the day before sitting on the bench, but he let Millar hit because he won't pitch hit for, he won't pitch hit a guy with someone who has less service time than him. That's one of Cito's rules. And it was the absolute wrong move. It went against every percentage, and Millar got the game-winning hit.

You know what? Muzzle tough to him. Wrong move, right result. And you can do the opposite so many times. Right move, wrong result. Sure. And so that's why people look at it and see results, but you have to see process,

and that's what's most important. So I think it's one, but you have to see process. And that's what's most important. So I think it's one thing when you have analytics or something that say, this is the move that gives us the greatest chance of success based on the numbers. But coaches, so what do you believe? Like when a coach says, what about hunches? Like these hunches or these, I had a feeling, kind of vaporware. If it works, it's good. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

All right. But yeah, I mean, I think you always... I just wonder how much credit Gibby gets for this, because I know he's a likable guy. I just feel like you had the horses in place to kind of win you the race, and Gibby's just there not to get in the way. Same thing with Cito, right? Yeah, I know.

It's just like Cito. A lot of people felt the same way about Cito, that his job was just to get out of the way that anybody could win with talent like this. And that's why he doesn't get credit except here in Toronto where people love him. Sure. Hopefully the same thing will happen with Gibby if they win too.

Absolutely. Wow. Cool. And if AA doesn't make, if Alex Anthopoulos doesn't make those moves at the trade deadline, this ends up being another 500 season, right? I know you don't have a crystal ball. I doubt it. I mean, remember, they were still leading the league

in run differential, even when they were 50. Sure, but I mean, I had a nice surprise on Father's Day where my wife bought tickets for me and my three kids, and we went to the game, and I remember that game because we were down 7-0 after like two innings or something. 8-0 in the top of the second. Is that right? Father's Day, yeah.

And I remember we came back, okay? Now we're up, I think, 9-8. I can't remember. No, you're right. It was 7-0. Yeah, 7-0. we came back, okay? Now we're up, I think, 9-8. I can't remember. No, you're right. It was 7-0. Yeah, 7-0. And then you go support six runs. At some point, we're up 9-7.

Yep. And then it was before Cecil became invincible, and it was like Aaron Loop was having... That was the last game in which Brett Cecil gave up an earned run this season. Yeah, and I was there to witness that. Yeah, you gave up four in the back. You're right, because at the time,

I was thinking, I was cursing him out under my breath or whatever, and then now it's like, holy smokes.'s the kind that's just felt like a lot of that going on yeah it did feel like a lot of that going on and and um you know they they had to outscore their bullpen a lot of the time uh in the early part of the season but before the trades were made aaron sanchez had moved back there to kind of stabilize things a little bit as soon as it had become the closer bo schultz was pitching well and he continued to pitch well through august and and then not so much um but at the time they were still they were like a game and a half behind the twins and i think that eventually that the fact that

they were so much better that run differential was so good would have sorted itself out at some point in time you're right we don't have a crystal crystal ball would they have won the division probably not but i think this is it would have been a team that would have either taken a wild card or made a run at a wild card and scared the crap out of everybody in the playoffs just having Stroman back. What a booze that is. He's your second guy now. He's your 1A with Price.

I don't know if he's going to be second out of the shoot. I would start him third, but he's definitely like 1 and 1A. It's crazy. Do you put Burley on the... You get asked this all the time, right? It's the big question of the day. I don't. And it's too bad. I love him.

And everybody in that room loves him. But there's no room for sentiment. We're going to use him, right? He's like a mop-up guy. Exactly. And you don't need a mop-up guy, especially at a best-of-five with two off days. Right.

There's a sign in David Price's locker that says, if you don't like it, pitch better. And Mark Burley didn't pitch as well as Price or Estrada or Stroman or dickie so what is your uh what's your order you do price first obviously yeah dickie second stroman and then strata that's how i actually uh i i jokingly put my i used my fire gibby hashtag on the and the the the uh double header day when we clinched yeah i i i wanted dickie to pitch the first game and stroman the second game because i was thinking like you know try hitting this after that like the same day and then you know as i jokingly was fire gibby but that's pretty much the reasoning right between

like make him face a knuckler and then and then stroman stroman worked so well so my idea was a good idea right well but i overthought at that point it was, it was inevitable anyway, right? So not as important. But a lot of people said that Dickey should be pitching the first game. I didn't even know it was a popular opinion. But yeah, that's one of the reasons. And the other reason is that you keep Dickey inside. If he pitches

game two, he's at home. If the Blue Jays get home ice in the ALCS, then he would pitch game two and six at home and two and six at home in the World Series unless, um, unless a series went seven. But you could still have him there and just pitch Stroman in game one and Dickey in game two. So that's another reason to do it that way. All right. Let's do this.

Uh, let's do this recent, believe it or not, the greatest Jays team in 22 years. And we have a little controversy. Maybe the greatest Jays team ever. Yeah. I know a little controversy. Maybe the greatest Jays team ever. Yeah, I know. I'm coming on too. It's hard to take my, I was 18 and 19 years old. It's hard to take that perspective

to this because it does feel like the greatest team, but we theoretically have three guys who could hit 40 homers this year. Yeah. Already we have the record. No one's had three guys hit 36 plus, right?

Whatever we have. In the American League. What's Edwin at? There's a 37. Oh, in have the rec. No one's had three guys hit 36-plus, right? Whatever we have. In the American League. What's Edwin at? There's a 37. Oh, in the American League. In the 73 Braves, I think, had three 40-homer guys. Okay. So it might have been 74.

But this could be the first American League team to do it. And Edwin could hit three home runs in a weekend. If he could ever get another at bat here. Well, let me talk about this. So, of course, yes, you clinched the game one, of course. Yes, I... Okay, I'm going to be devil's advocate here. Because my opinion on this is, to me, personally,

I only care about next Thursday. Like, do whatever you have to do to optimize your chances starting next Thursday when the playoff division starts. So, right now, as we speak, Kansas City and the Jays are tied. We have the tiebreaker. But we're tied first overall in the American League. And I tweeted something about, because I had a magic number on my site that people were enjoying,

and then it got to zero. And then somebody said, you got to change it now to the magic number to win the AL. And I tweeted, I don't really care about that magic number. And I think I said, because the Jays don't care about that. And of course, I use the term don't care, which is silly. Like, of course they care about that magic number. And I think I said, because the J's don't care about that. And of course I use the term don't care, which is silly. Like, of course they care.

Only a little. My point. Yeah. So my point wasn't, was it Greg Brady? Who's probably as we speak, because I think he's on right now. I think he's going off.

I don't know if he'll call me out, but we had a long Twitter exchange and he's been on the show, but he thought I was, he was basically like asking if I, am I new to the game? Like, am I stupid or whatever? He's condescending and arrogant, not you. They got it wrong. So

where am I going with this ramble is to say we're doing a number of things to lessen our chances of finishing first in the AL because we rested them two games and I understand why. Bad weather, double header, day game the day after. If we didn't have that, I'm sure we would have played regulars

the second game after we clinched. Yeah, I think so too. Yeah. Go ahead. I don't know if it's fair to say they're doing things to lessen their chances of finishing first in the AL. Can I just say a few quick from my top of my head? Yeah, sure.

Okay, so it seems important to this team that Burley gets the 200 innings. Do you have a sense like they want to get him to some personal milestone? Yeah. Okay, so right away, we've seen Burley the last little while. So this was originally... He's been okay. Okay, so Price was going to pitch today. Price was supposed to pitch yesterday.

Yesterday. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, Burley was always going to pitch in Tampa. Okay, so... But they've shut... They took a start away from Price in order to sort of get him optimized for next Thursday.

Right. That's the terminology. They, the game, the, so the second game of that double header, when we had the Bisons out there pretty much, uh,

Colabello and the Bisons, whatever. And then you had, um, Dickie pitched amazing. Yep. 58 pitches for this knuckleballer and they, he's done. Yep. So tell me why. Because you're trying to optimize your chances of amazing. Yep. 58 pitches for this knuckleballer, and he's done.

Yep. So tell me why pull him at 58. Because you're trying to optimize your chances of winning in October. Okay, but okay. Yeah, okay. I'm with you. You've got an extra month to worry about where these guys have never done. R.A. Dickie has never pitched seven months in a season.

Never. Marco Estrada has never pitched as much as he's pitched right now. Right. He may five and dive on Saturday too. And that'll be totally fine. The, the, what you're trying to do is maximize your chances for winning the world series. Right. And for that, to that end, playing the wild card team, having game seven at home in the ALCS doesn't matter as much

because baseball, the playoffs, more than in any other sport, is such a complete and utter crapshoot. You know, it doesn't matter who you play. It's a best of five. The fact that you're a better team gives you a minimal advantage, whereas in every other sport, it gives you a much, much larger advantage. And the Blue Jays have been great on the road since the trades. There's like 17 and six beside the last two where they, it wasn't the Blue Jays playing.

And that's, that's the thing, right? You want to be great in October. Not finishing first. And look, they're still ahead of Kansas City right now. Kansas City has to have a better weekend than the Blue Jays. Kansas City's playing a team that's playing for something, at least in the first game. Minnesota could get eliminated tonight.

But to have game seven of the ALCS at home, A, it has to go seven games, and two, Kansas City has to win in the first round also. That's what you're trying to kill yourself for it's just not worth it especially when you're a team like the Blue Jays who has Donaldson Pillar Edwin Bautista who have played pretty much every day you know you got to give them a breather you have to I I think we're saying the same things I do and I think so I agree with you I just wonder out loud on behalf of some

people who would like to have those first two games in the alcs they would like those first two games at the dome and the game seven and then of course they didn't have the first two games in 92 world series at home they didn't have the first two games in the 93 alcs at home that's right you're a better team and and i know i just said that being a better team only gives you a minimal advantage, but that's what I think goes back to Toronto, right? We're so used to the roof falling in that we're looking for... And we're not used to so much time between the clinch and the playoffs.

We're used to one or two days, right? We usually clinch the second last day of the season. 85, they clinched the second last day of the season. 89, I think it was the Saturday as well, the second last day of the season. They clinched the second last day of the season. 89, I think it was the Saturday as well, the second last day of the season. Too much time here. Yeah. Let's go.

I know. But I, and you know, and I always hear this, you got to rest the guys. And of course, and I do believe, like we said, I'm repeating myself,

but because it was a doubleheader and then you had the 12 o'clock start and it was crappy weather. Right. To me, that now seals the deal. Right. Like, so good. Play the Bisons two games in a row.

Like fire Gibby if he starts the regulars in that day game yesterday. Okay. And I don't think anyone was saying, I think some people thought you could sprinkle in a little regulars. Like no one's saying. You pick who you can afford to lose. Well, just the guys who are kind of, the aches and pains guys who are feeling it like.

It's less than that. Or sorry, it's more than that. Because of the rain and because of the conditions. First of all, you don't want anybody slipping on the grass in the outfield and spraining an ankle. That's true. You don't want a ball getting away from a pitcher. Drew Hutchison hit Jonathan Scope on the forearm

in the first inning because he couldn't get a grip on the ball. And he buzzed another one. And knowing that Orioles team, they'd throw at Batista. They might. I agree. So I wanted Batista to go to get him out of there right away. But you're okay with Kevin Pillar breaking the finger? No, because that's the thing.

I've never assumed the argument that we should not have. I've never assumed it. I am more pointing out the fact that this is not a priority for this team. Right, and it shouldn't be. But it's not a priority because of the risk-benefit, I think. Right. Because the benefit is so minimal. Okay.

Because there's three days off between the regular season and the Thursday, right? Yep. So there will be rest time there, if you will. Yep. We're already aligning

the pitching stuff. We're already taking care of that with Price coming out and everything. So really, do you suspect for the rest of this regular season that we'll see a lot of bisisons out there or like a sprinkling? I think tonight, Friday night and Saturday night, you'll see the regulars. I think Tulewitzki is going to play Saturday and Sunday.

Cool. And I think you'll see, depending on Sunday, they may have clinched home ice by then anyway. If they have, Sunday will be a spring training game. If not, it'll be kind of like a spring training game where the regulars will get two or three at-bats and then they'll be done. So when the season ends and we end up a game behind Kansas City, okay, pretend.

They'll look back and they'll say, you know, there were three games, though, point two, where you, I don't want to say concede because, you know, you didn't, there were three games they'll point to where you, I don't want to say concede because, you know, we almost won yesterday. Yeah. But, you know, you put out, you didn't put out your best lineup or even anything close.

And then they'll say, you know, you had the Burleigh going here and you didn't pitch Price and then you could point to a number of things and say, well, this is what happens when you gambled and you lost. And that's okay because I believe Jay's management has decided

they don't care about finishing first in the AL. The question is, when you say they gambled and they lost, what did they lose? Right. But they lost that, whether you value that or not is a different conversation. Right, but how much value does it have? That's what you have to look at when you're taking a gambling loss.

Did they lose the mortgage or did they lose your three-year-old's allowance? And I think it's the latter because, again, all that finishing first in the American League means is they have home field in the ALCS no matter who they play. Right now, they have home field in the ALCS if they play anybody but the Royals, and they're guaranteed home field in the first series and in the World Series. But how awesome

would that be on the 30th anniversary of Blue Jays versus Kansas City in the ALCS? We'd do it again. It would be pretty awesome. Revenge comes. But I think no matter who you beat, if you win, it'll be awesome. Yeah, I think you might be right on that. Okay, let's move on. I know I have gone a lot longer

on this, but I have so many questions for you. That's alright. Here, a couple of quick notes. One is that the Toronto Sun had the audacity to write an article asking if the Jays partied too hard after they clinched, which just made me a little angry that this is even like, come on.

That to me, now you can be all condescending and arrogant like Greg Brady now because come on. Anyway, so they did that. I don't know if you have any thoughts on that. It's silly. I don't know who wrote it, but I'm sure whoever it is, it's a friend of mine.

So you'll be careful. No, I mean, it's 22 years. Bautista and Edwin are second and third on the active major league list of guys who've played the most games without ever playing in the playoffs. Oh, Rios is one. Is Rios one? Is he first?

I believe he's, I mean, now it's over because he's playing the playoffs this year. But this, I believe he's number one, Alex Rios. Wasn't he? Something making me think he was in Kansas City last year, but I guess he wasn't. He came in the winter. I just think I actually heard this on the radio, I think. So he's in too.

But if the Blue Jays don't get first overall and play a team and the Yankees win the wild card, then it's likely that the Jays will play the early game on the first day. So Bautista and Encarnacion will break their streaks first. That's right. But yeah, they deserve it. They deserve a party like that.

R.A. Dickey's been around for over a decade in the maze. 40 years old, he's never done it. So they deserve to celebrate just as much. And the Yankees celebrated winning a wild, clinching a wild card just as hard as the Blue Jays celebrated winning a division. Right. And the other silly thing that flies around the mainstream media,

because I expect silly things from guys of me of their blogs and the tweets, tweet, tweets, the tweets with the tweets. But, you know, on Twitter I follow CBC News Alerts because I actually like to get news alerts from CBC. And today, I believe once or twice, it might have been twice, I got a tweet from that from that handle from the cbc about taylor swift cursing the jays yeah okay i was on with jeff blair today and he asked me did he curse of taylor swift and i said i have no idea what that is yeah so i mean i happen to know what it is but uh ridiculous like what are we doing wasting our

time on i don't i don't have any patience for jinxes or curses. This is silly. I know people have a 24-hour news cycle and they got all these different channels and these digital arms and they got to feed the beast or whatever, but this is ridiculous. I guarantee you someone will ask in an actual real live Blue Jay

about the Taylor Swift curse. Yeah, for sure. But you know what? Maybe it's a good thing because now if they lose in the first round, that's what we can blame instead of everyone wanting to string up Gibby. I will string them up anyway.

When you do other shows, cause like you, you, you must be in demand right now. I would think because a blue Jay fever has struck the city and the appetite is insatiable. I'm now biking to a baseball central, which I heard is turning into Hockey Central next week.

Yep. Disappointing. Well, Baseball Central will just go 11 to noon. I know, but I bike at noon. Podcast. Listen to the podcast. Oh, my gosh. What's that?

So basically, do you have like, how does it work? I'm curious, like behind the scenes, like do you have some kind of a project manager who tells you when you got to be on which show or do you just do all that? They just, how does it work? No, people just reach out to me. I get a text from a producer. Like this thing we did right now?

Yeah, exactly. And I'll decide if I want to do it or not. I was on with Blair today at 9. And then at 11.15, I got a text from Calgary, Fan 960. Right, where Walker came from. Yeah. Can I come on with Ryan Pinder at 1145? Yeah, sure. But if it gets to be too much,

I'll say no, but I don't like to say no. But sometimes you have to. And Bobcat still won't have you on. Do we know what that's about yet? I don't know if he won't have me on. We won't talk about it any more than that. He doesn't have... He didn't have Howard on. He rarely has Eric on.

He prefers to deal with TV guys. Yeah. And sort of, you know, a different aspect. He doesn't, he doesn't go for, no,

this is me trying to stir a pot. Don't worry about it. I don't know what the deal is. He's cranky anyways. Tell me about a real quick, rapid like Twitter questions for you. One is, okay,

so the angels drop their post game talk show after road games due to the influence of social media. Do you have any thoughts on this? This comes from somebody on Twitter whose name I forgot to write down. I wonder if it was due to the influence of social media or if it was due to the fact that the play-by-play crew hosts the post-game show. Terry Smith and Mark Langston. They stay behind. It would be like Jerry hosting Jay's talk. Um, and you can't do that for a lot of road games because a lot of them are getaway days. Uh, so it might've just been that they didn't want to bring in somebody else to cover for

all those games and they decided to just drop the whole thing entirely. Um, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I think people enjoy what I do after the game. I think that it's better than a conversation on Twitter or Facebook or whatever, social media. I don't see it going anywhere.

Do you have a favorite AL East champion celebration quote? This is from Mark on Twitter. Mark wants to know what your favorite quote was. I don't because I really don't. I didn't pay attention to that much of it. There's so much going on. Right. And I'm working and we played a bunch of the interviews. But while we're playing tape, we have a chance to like set

up what else is going to happen and talk about other things. You don't listen. Yeah. Unfortunately. You're excused from that one, Mark on Twitter. And last question from Tom on Twitter. He wants to know, why are you so awesome? And I don't even think he's being sarcastic. At first,

I thought he was being a dick, but then I realized, I actually think he thinks you're awesome. That's very kind. I'll say that. I just enjoy what I do, and I don't have, you know,

I think I told you this story in 96, which makes me feel like I told you this 20 years ago, but this podcast. Although I did, I remember I did call Let's Talk Sports with you and Aaron. Which is awesome. I remember that. Earlier than 96 though.

Yeah. Because that, we finished that in 95. He left in 94 and I left in 95. And now he's a billionaire. No. You told me. But he's a media conglomerator or something. See, I exaggerated

that story. AmericaAbroadMedia.org I remember that when I was doing, when I was broadcasting the 1989 Well and Pirates featuring third baseman Tim Wakefield, I used to drive home after games from Well and listen to all these post-game shows, whether it was Jays or, you know, you could pick up any radio station on that drive from like nine or ten different cities.

And I would listen and I would hear not just there, but later on too in talk shows where people would open with an opinion or a thesis statement that was completely wrong. Like not just a bad take, but something that's based on something that's not true. And the host would just go, uh-huh. And I thought, well, how can he do that? Challenge them, make them, you know. So I kind of swore if I was ever going to be in that position that people were going to have to defend what they say. People were going to have to back up their opinions.

It's not good enough just to tell me this guy sucks. You got to tell me why. What's, you know, what should he be doing differently and and the manager's an idiot well what would you be doing differently and and don't come to me with an opinion that's based on something you heard from somebody who's just full of crap um so if that's the awesomenity to which he's referring then then yeah i i is that a word it is now i uh i don. I don't like letting people just say things without knowing why they're saying them or having anything to back them up.

I'm playing you now. I want to get this title right. Do it again Again Blue Jays Hello everybody This is Tom Cheek And with me is Jerry Howard And fans we'd like to send you some musical Blue Jay inspiration To help cheer the team on to victory

So get your toes a-tappin' And your fingers a-snappin' You do the singin' and we'll do the rappin' Crank it up a bit Stroke a little Do it again Blue Jays stroke a little hit, do it again, Blue Jays. Have a little fun, pop another button, do it again, Blue Jays.

Well, Jerry, it's another great night as our beloved Jays get ready for flight. That's right, Tom. The stage is set. What you hear is what you get. Leading off for the Jays tonight, Mr. Lightning, Devon White. Devo strokes one through the

gap. And Robbie follows with a two-base wrap. The Jays score first to start the show. Here comes more, because here comes Joe. He hits one deep. He got it all. Way back, way back. It's off the wall. So, I think we can only

handle one verse of that, but I have it on, if anyone wants it, search my site, you'll find it. But, it's not, they're not really rapping.

They're talking in a rhythm. You know what? I'm impressed that they're talking in a rhythm and not just talking. I think it's fantastic. And honestly, knowing both of them,

I cannot believe they got them to do that. That's what I was wondering. Like, yeah, I think it was, you had to be in that moment, in that time when everyone's making all these songs. And then it's like you're, you know, I remember it was this, this is well after the Super Bowl shuffle and all that. But there's like, you know, we're going to hear Shaker in a minute do his Shaker's rap. But it seemed like that was a time, like the Bartman. Yeah.

That kind of, you know, like people was a time. Like the Bartman. Yeah, do the Bartman. People were rapping who shouldn't be rapping. Absolutely. Yeah, I think back then maybe there would have been a Wilner rap if it was a different... Yeah, I don't know about that. So that was Do It Again Blue Jays, Tom and Jerry. And this one was earlier than that.

This is Lloyd Mosby's Shaker's rap. is Lloyd Mosby's Shakers Rap. A swing and a blast. Always hit it hard. You can forget about that when it's gone. I think there's a long intro here. But it's awesome. Over the right field fence, you knew from awesome. And bonus Tom Cheek.

Brings you back to the mid-80s, right? That really does. Axel Foley or whatever. Little Harold Faltermeyer. Right, that's what I'm going for. So he admitted they started slow and then they picked it up, I guess. If this was 86, though, they never really picked it up. Yeah, that's right. But it might have been 89.

I'm giving Lloyd another verse. He might drop some more clues. took it all but the swallow the bitter pill ended the year sitting on top and couldn't get over that hill now canada there's just one thing we want you to know no one else even stand to check especially baltimore now detroit and yankee town and every other place advised, you won't survive that long hot pinning race. There we go, 86. Yeah, he's,

yeah, and, and he didn't mention Boston, which was the team that actually didn't survive that year.

That's the Buckner year, right? Yeah. The, who's a better rapper, Lloyd Mosby or Tom and Jerry? Oh,

I think Lloyd Mosby. I mean, there was the inflection, he went up a couple of times. You were telling me a story before we recorded about a minor controversy over that lyric he had there, which is about... No, I think that was...

Big controversy? No, but I think we were recording when I told you that. Yeah, I think so. You know, I thought because we had a chat before. I can't tell the difference. That's how pleasant this has been. I can't tell the difference. Yeah, that swallowed a bitter pill line.

Okay. If I was not recording, then yeah. So apparently, to remind everyone, there was a headline in Toronto Star about the bitter pill line. Right. Which is hilarious that that would be controversial. That was awesome.

That's before Alanis made bitter pills part of our common lexicon. Next, I only have a couple more here I want to play because I'm playing the ones I think are kind of cool because I've got dozens of these, but these ones people don't really talk about. Here's one that I always thought could have been a real song. Like this song you could have heard on 680 CFTR, for example.

I know. Okay. I know. I built it up here. Let's go here. I don't know who's singing, though. He calls himself Home Run, which is clearly a fake name.

Probably. Not like Homer Bunt. Oh, I remember this. Doesn't it sound good? Or am I going crazy? When we're tied at two? Yeah. Do you know who's singing?

No. I gotta find out. This was a radio one. I'll buy a hot dog because I love to eat and watch the Blue Jays. That's a line in this song. Kevon Morris would hate that.

Who can we defeat? I'll buy a hot dog because I love to eat and watch the Blue Jays. Blue Jays This could be a real song. It could be like, I'm thinking like Tiffany maybe. Or what's the other one? Only in my dreams.

Yeah, definitely. I love the pitching and the ERA I love the home runs going all the way So that's a great change. That's not even that cheesy, right? It's like the tune. Yeah, that's good. This is good stuff. This is actually the

the RBI single version of that song because I guess they put out like a single and they had like remixes and stuff. But it's kind of like I don't know who's singing.

I'm going to find that'll be my quest. I will find out who's singing because I'm now naturally curious. But yeah, great song. I'll play one more because this is one people do know. So those ones are like lesser

known, although you knew that one. But the one that everyone knows, and it's one of the, I think this might be the first Jay song I ever heard. I think it's from the early to mid 80s because I remember this song. And so the recording is very poor here, but

might be the first one I ever heard i mean other than okay blue jays i sort of remember this one yeah chum maybe or something i don't know if chum probably like who else was around back then so this is of course uh hang on sloopy on Sloopy. Yep. Blue Jays lost it seemed to all the other now. Everybody tried to put our

Blue Jays down. So this one, again, you can hear all this stuff on TorontoMic.com, but I just

thought it would be a little bit lighten things up here since we're all very seriously anxious about next Thursday. I'm telling you, I sit there and it's like my heart... I watched during the rain delay.

I should have been listening to you, but I was working away and I had on the TV the game five and six of the 92. That was awesome. So we saw, of course, Alomar's five and six of the 92 ALCS. That was awesome. So we saw, of course, Alomar's two-run homer.

Alomar's homer was in game four. No. Wasn't it? Five. I think it was in five. Really? I thought it was in four. You could be right. No, maybe you're right. I know it was Thanksgiving because I had a Thanksgiving meal and the game was on and then I was at the table and I watched the ninth inning and Alomar hits the two-run homer and I le was at the table and I watched the ninth inning and

Alomar hits the two and homer and I leapt from the table and there was a pile on. You can say Joe Carter's homer is the homer, but you can make interesting arguments that that is the homer because that's sort of like when you start to believe. Yeah, and you can make interesting arguments too that Ed Sprague's was the homer too

in 92 in the World Series. I think it was game four and they went up three games to one. But I could be wrong. I know we went in six. It could have tied the series 2-2. And I should know this because I just went over all that stuff a couple of days ago. But yeah, maybe.

And then they won it in game six. And memories are tough because a memory is like a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. Especially that far away. But that far away. But that's something that... But watching it, I realized how good the Blue Jays' defense is in 2015 because there were a lot of plays, like Manny Lee to when Joe played first for some of it,

and then there was... Yeah, that ball that Joe couldn't scoop. Yeah, and there's a couple of examples where, like, just plays that we now consider routine for this team. Just routine plays. Candy Maldonado wasn't an especially good outfielder. Joe Carter wasn't an especially good outfielder. But because we had Devo and Robbie,

I think we forget that we had Devo, so we were strong up the middle as they say. Not so strong as short. You're right, not so strong as short. Now they're better, right? If Tulewinski's in, you got Tulewinski, Goins, and Pallara, and that's a better up than Martin. Goins, you haven't started calling him Go-Go yet? No. Because his teammates are calling him Go-Go.

Yeah, but I've never fallen into that. Just Gibby, but not Go-Go. So you're not going to play a long-came Joe? Didn't. You know what? With Robbie and Devo? Well, you know what? Hope it doesn't snow. Here. Tell me your predictions. We'll finish it off with your predictions, and I'll get that one. I don't like to make predictions.

I don't know, because the truth of the matter is, and I've said this before on other shows, that if there's a team that you want to face in the playoffs, that's the team that will beat you. So I think you just take whoever comes and be confident that you're better, and hopefully you can keep this run going. This was the Chum FM cheerleaders as they were doing. Give me a pennant this year.

I'm going to trade your butts and win. And then he lost it. And there. He put Tony on a bus to San Diego. And there. He rang George's bell. And there. He called down to Cleveland. Oh, no, not Cleveland. And then he rang George's bell. And then he called down to Cleveland. Oh, no, not Cleveland.

And then, and then, and then. Along came Joe. With Robbie and Devo. Moving to T.O. I hope it doesn't snow. Along came Big Fat Bass. Moving to T.O. I hope it doesn't snow The law can't think that fast You know, Robbie, Joe, Robbie, and Devo

was the equivalent to the too low price Donaldson, I guess. Took a couple of years, but yeah. But that's very interesting. I didn't remember about that song. He took the call down to Cleveland. Yeah, was that Pat Tabler who came over?

Who's coming over from Cleveland? Did he think they got Joe Carter from the Indians? Okay, okay. I'm glad you, because, which would be silly,

I noticed Fred McGriff gets no respect in that song either. You know, Tony's on his bus. But, yeah, you think so? Because there was

a famous mistake in a Blue Jays song. I think it's in The Ballad of Tom Hankey where it talks about Tom came up one seven in a row, okay? That's Tom Filer. Right, it's Tom Filer. And this is in the song Ballad of Tom Henke, where it talks about Tom came up one seven in a row.

Okay. That's Tom Filer. Right. It's Tom Filer. And this is in the song Ballad of Tom Henke. I think that's what that, because Carter was a long time. A long time. Of course.

Yeah. Only in San Diego for one year. Right. Yeah. You might be right. Chum FM cheerleaders. Wow. That might be right.

Poor you, Chum FM 1992 cheerleaders. You know what? It was probably the same group. It was Roger, Rick and Marilyn. It might've been. Although Rick,

of course, you know what? I don't, I know you don't have time for this because Sleepy Wilner, I understand you don't wake up for morning radio, but Roger, Rick and Marilyn, Roger,

Roger's been on the show, by the way, a little, if anyone wants to hear that, I'm trying to get Marilyn, but Roger, Rick and Marilyn was long time at Chum FM, like forever. Rick quit for

another gig. They replaced him with a guy named Darren, and Darren just last week quit. So now there's a Roger and a Marilyn, but there is no Rick. I think... You got your resume in? Well, I know. I'm thinking Rick who's got it. He's in Niagara Falls on another Bell Media station.

I say Rick comes back home. Put the band back together? He'll come back home. It'll be a little less money than he was probably making the first round, but bring back Roger Rick and Marilyn. Was it an acrimonious parting? Well, not too acrimonious, but he's working for the same parent now. You know what I mean?

I say you go for it. Yeah, you think? Yeah. I don't want to wake up that early either. Roger, Toronto, Mike, and Marilyn? You don't want to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning? No, I get up go for it. Yeah, you think? Yeah. I don't want to wake up that early either. Roger, Toronto, Mike in Maryland. You don't want to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning? No, I get up with my kids. My 17-month-old is my alarm clock,

and that's when I wake up, 7.30 usually. That's pretty good for a 17-month-old. Yeah, and sometimes today, for example, I literally wake up with him, I feed him, get him dressed, and then I take him to daycare. So we don't go until he gets up. And today it was closer to eight. Nice. Yeah.

So I was up before you today. It was the first time for everything. Hey, that was awesome. Thanks for having me back. No, it's insatiable, my appetite. Good. And I bet you that Rogers has a lot of eyeballs and ears listening to their properties right now.

I certainly hope so. I would say a lot more than normal. Yeah. Crazy. And that brings us to the end of our 136th show. You can follow me on Twitter at Toronto Mike. And Mike is at Wilderness590. Not Wilderness with a D but wilderness

with an N oh your brother's coming on soon really? yeah like good job he was supposed to come in after Tiff

which ended like two weeks ago and then I thought you know it'd be weird if you guys went back to back confuse everybody

so you're coming in because of the Blue Jay thing and then I think in a week or two he comes in I look forward to hearing that more Wilner beautiful

see you all next week.