2 Guys Talking Baseball
Dallas Danger and Brian Logan discuss the game of baseball. Two fans, two personalities, Two Guys!
2 Guys Talking Baseball
If you build it, they will come!
Ever wondered how unpredictable weather patterns at Wrigley Field can give the Cubs an unforeseen edge? Join us in the Three Crows Studios as Brian Logan and I, Dallas Danger, bring you a compelling breakdown of the gripping Dodgers vs. Cubs three-game series. We dive into the intricate performances of Walker Buehler and Kyle Hendricks, both fighting to regain their prime forms, while spotlighting Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s inspiring comeback and the mentoring prowess of Clayton Kershaw. You’ll gain insights into the Cubs’ critical win and what it means for their playoff aspirations, alongside the Dodgers’ sustained dominance despite roster challenges.
Feel the strategy come alive as we dissect the Cubs’ tactical maneuvers shaped by Wrigley Field’s notorious wind patterns. Hear how Craig Council’s comments on wind-influenced offensive strategies play into their game plan. Moreover, we touch on the Dodgers’ roster dynamics, exploring the hurdles faced by players like Brusdar Graterol and Bobby Miller. Our discussion also includes a light-hearted critique of high-paid players who often fall short of expectations, packed with individual player analyses to keep you informed and entertained.
Celebrate a legend with us as we honor James Earl Jones, reflecting on his unforgettable roles and their deep ties to baseball culture. From Darth Vader to Mufasa, and his iconic appearances in "The Sandlot" and "Field of Dreams," we delve into how his contributions transcend cinema and sport. We wrap up with a heartfelt segment on the Toronto Blue Jays’ season, share nostalgic memories from Skydome, and send a warm get-well-soon wish to one of our dedicated listeners’ mothers. This episode encapsulates the unpredictable yet enchanting world of baseball, making it a must-listen for fans and newcomers alike.
Hello again, friends, romans, countrymen, welcome inside the Three Crows Studios, morristown, Tennessee. You once again are listening to two guys talking baseball. My name is Dallas Danger and I'm joined as always by my best friend and colleague easy for me to say this week, brian Logan. Brian, how's it going over there?
Speaker 2:It was a great week for baseball. It really really was you know each week that you, uh, introduced me, it gets more convoluted and harder to say. Each time I'm starting to get a complex. Okay, what do you suggest we do about that? Well, I suggest you get your lines right, kid. No, I don't know. I guess I should stop being so sensitive I guess, yeah, so how was your week? Mine, mine was great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I bet, I bet. So we're recording on the heels of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium and Brian's Chicago Cubs bested my Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday and Tuesday night and the Dodgers avoided the sweep and I hate that phrase, avoiding the sweep by winning game three last night in a very exciting fashion, very, very exciting. But we're going to get into all of it. So you know Monday's game going into it. I remember we talked off-air about because all you can really predict is based off of pitching matchups when you're going into a series. Right, and monday was an interesting matchup because it was walker bueller going for the dodgers and kyle hendricks going for the cubs and they have kind of similar things going on in that they are formerly really great pitchers who have not had great years Now. Walkers is due more to the fact that he missed two years off of his second Tommy John surgery. Hendricks is a little bit more performance-based and maybe losing a step as he gets a little older and is around a little bit longer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, gets a little older and is around a little bit longer, but I thought that I mean neither guy pitched that. Well, let's just be honest, but they didn't really decide the game and I think that's the best. Either the Cubs or the Dodgers could have asked out of either guy?
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely. I mean, you wanted them to get out there with minimal damage and there was damage, but it wasn't insurmountable on either end and I thought they both did good. I thought they did as well as they could do given the circumstances and I think the.
Speaker 1:just looking at the whole series, I think the, the and we talked about this too off the air. The key was night three. I tried really hard and I stayed up for the whole game, right, because Monday I fell asleep and then the Cubs scored like six runs or whatever and put it out of reach like the very next inning. And then Tuesday night I fall asleep and then the Dodgers decide they're just going to forget how to be humans, much less play baseball, in the eighth inning, because that was one of the worst innings I've ever seen. Defensively it was just a mess, error after error, four unearned runs out of what should be five and probably at some point will be five. There was a play for Freddie Freeman that got scored as a hit. That's probably going to get turned into an error earlier in the game.
Speaker 1:But just sloppy, just sloppy baseball. And you know, in the grand scheme of things, no big deal. You know Dodgers come out of this series with a five-game lead in the division still, which is not insurmountable but tough. You know especially the way the Dodgers have played. You know the Dodgers had won nine straight series before this series too. I mean they had gone a month without losing a series. We slayed the dragon, yeah, at a time when you needed to, because the Cubs are still in it and while their chances are still slim, they are improving the longer the Cubs stay in it. So you know, kudos to Chicago and Craig Council and all the guys on the field, because these were three really important games for the Cubs and they won two of them.
Speaker 2:Well, I think about the second week of October. We'll really nail this thing down. If that, all we need is about 14 more days than everybody else and we'll really bring it home right, right, right. I mean, we're peaking, we're heading that direction, just I. I don't know if we've got enough time left.
Speaker 1:Well, it feels like this is a story with the Cubs year after year. It is, you know. It's like we get this close to October and you're looking and going. Wait, the Cubs still have a shot, mm-hmm, and they're headed for maybe being like the last team or the first team out, I guess, the first team out again, and it's just like every year. It's almost too little, too late for the Cubs at the end.
Speaker 2:It is. I mean, they're a bipolar team. They can't decide are they done or are they in it? Right, and we're talking about sometimes mid-game, but definitely mid-week, right. You know, like we're okay, we're going to win a couple and we're going to do it. And then it's like a day later and you're like, well, our season's winding down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's very strange but it does seem like at least the last couple few years that's been the case with the Cubs. So, game two a lot of positives for the Dodgers, even in losing. You know, yoshinobu Yamamoto looked like he never went on the injured list, right, he looked real good. I mean, the first pitch he threw he dotted a fastball and I was like, okay, we're back, right, you know, right, and he just, you know, he looked very good, very sharp. Had said that the day before Clayton Kershaw had given him some curveball advice and that curveball was working.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tuesday night, yeah, so you know, really encouraging stuff there. You know, strikes out the side in the first inning, strikes out the first four batters he faces uh, just looked like a guy that can be that game one starter in the postseason. Uh, through 59 pitches to get through four innings. So I think the prevailing thought now is that the next time out we may see 70, 75 pitches and if that's the case he could be pretty built up. I mean, he could give us six innings by the time game one of the playoffs rolls around.
Speaker 2:Oh, I definitely see that yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's all I mean and that's a scenario where I think most people associated with the Dodgers, whether it be fans or even in the organization, are going 24 hours before that. We felt a lot worse about this rotation in October. That's an addition now that I think, changes the landscape of the pitching plan, even in a best-of-five series in the NLDS. So now we've got Flaherty, who's going to be one of those two, three top guys. We've got Yamamoto, who's probably the game-one starter, if we're being honest. So if we can get Glasnow I mean even if we get Glasnow or Gavin Stone back at this point I'm feeling really good about those first three Right, and the hope would be that by game four the series is pretty in hand. So whoever goes in that fourth game, whatever the plan is there, it's not somebody that you have to get seven innings out of or you have to get you know five, six, you know scoreless innings out of. You can just put somebody out there to give you a shot to win and then, if it doesn't work out, you go to game five with a better starter.
Speaker 1:I don't know, it's going to be interesting. It's always interesting in October, but that was really encouraging. I also loved that Max Muncy, homered off of Shota Imanaga, who is the real deal, you know was red hot out of the gates this year as a rookie, kind of got overshadowed by Paul Skeens when Paul Skeens came up Right and he sort of took over that rookie pitcher, rookie of the year conversation in the National League. But Muncie, hitting a home run off of not just any lefty but a good lefty, is really really something that I think the Dodgers have been looking for out of Muncie because historically Max is really good against lefty lefty. He's one of the better lefty lefty hitters um in the majors the last few years.
Speaker 1:But this year it's not been the case right and you want to be able to plug him into that lineup every day, regardless of who's pitching yeah, you want him in there, you want him contributing without a doubt, or at least I would yeah, well, I, you know, and that was the thing too, when he came back from his injury and they were kind of slow playing him at first, not really putting him in there every day, giving him some rest against lefties, and there were those questions of, like you know, is he a platoon guy now? And Dave Roberts kind of said, he's our everyday third baseman. Yeah, you everyday third baseman. Yeah, you know. Now there's going to be situations where they change the lineup or put somebody else in there based off of matchups or or maybe even pinch hit for him late in the game, if it's uh, if it's a lefty killer like kike hernandez, you know, or something like that. But but yeah, you want max muncy, you want him taking as many at bats in the postseason as you can.
Speaker 2:Oh, without a doubt. Yeah, you want him in there and contributing. I mean, I know I already just said that, but I mean they, I think the dodgers, as stacked as they are, they want everybody in there, of course, because that's you know, that's what they've been doing all year. If the right don't get you, the left one will. Yeah, and that's their bread.
Speaker 1:And butter right, and and I think, if I think, if we can keep guys like Muncy and Tommy Edmund, who hit his first two home runs he played great this week, yeah, really good series and looked good from both sides of the plate which, as a switch hitter, you know again, that's what you want is somebody that can give you quality at bats on against lefties, against righties, whatever the case may be. Um, you know, and then will smith too is has heated up lately, so so you keep guys like that hot, you add that to show. Hey, mookie freddie, you know, tay oscar gets going a little bit, which he looked good.
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm glad he came back, didn't look like he was hampered at all.
Speaker 1:No, played really well. A couple of base hits, which is good after missing a few games. But yeah, I think this lineup is going to potentially give teams a lot of headaches in October.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. You know we play. The cubs play better on the road this year. Usually what gets them is their road record is terrible. Their home record's fine. Right, it's the, but this year it's the other way around because of the weather.
Speaker 2:Um, at rigley and you know a lot of people well, okay, you're blaming it on the weather. Well, yeah, you can do that at Wrigley because the when the wind blows in, you can't hit that ball out. You know, there's some days that it doesn't matter who's hitting it, it's just not going out because the way the airstream works, the balls go up and funnel back in right. Um, so it was good to see that they played last week. Um, they struggled a little bit at home after they had, okay, so in weeks prior away they played really, really well. Then they came home and they struggled a little bit. When they get back and they go to la, everybody was wondering what are they going to do? And they fit right back in there, right where they were, and that's a good sign. But it's not a good sign. Again, it's two sides of the coin. You gotta win at home, right? No, whether the weather is bad or not.
Speaker 1:So the cubs are currently 37 and 38 away from wrigley field, which is pretty good because your goal is usually 500 ball on the road. Uh, 38 and 33 at Wrigley and, like you said, I think without looking at it, you know from years past that's a little down, I mean that's. You know that's over 500. But you know the Cubs are a team that want to really dominate at Wrigley, you know, and, and like the Dodgers, you know, dominate at Dodger Stadium. Absolutely Good team on the road but man, they're hard to beat at home and the atmosphere is in both scenarios. The atmosphere has everything to do with that. Wrigley is a hard place to play, not just because of the rabid fan base. Even when the Cubs are not a good team, the fans are there. But man, it's a tricky, the wind and the weather and just the specs of that ballpark. It's one of those places. It's kind of like Fenway Guys that play there all the time have figured. I mean, even Yankee Stadium is kind of like that, you know, because Judge does so much damage at Yankee Stadium that we forget. You know, I just saw something the other day where, you know, there's this argument and I'm getting off on a tangent, but that's okay. And I'm getting off on a tangent, but that's okay.
Speaker 1:The AL MVP has been a bit of a conversation between Aaron Judge, who's just hitting home runs like it's nothing, and Bobby Witt Jr, who's playing a complete game of baseball. Yeah, more rounded, if Aaron Judge played all of his games in Kansas City he would have 38 home runs this year. First off, that's way less than he's got, so Yankee Stadium helps him out quite a bit. If Bobby Witt Jr played all his games in Yankee Stadium he would have 38 home runs. So when you balance it out with stuff like that, it almost makes it look closer than it does on paper. Right, you know? And Wrigley is that type of place. Wrigley is the type of place that can take a really good hitter and turn him into not so much, and maybe take a guy who elsewhere is not that good, but at Wrigley he's really good, you know good, but at Wrigley he's really good, right, you know so well.
Speaker 2:The whole, the whole game plan is supposed to be uh, for the Cubs to work, they need to hit the long ball with you when the wind's blowing out, so both teams are then competing on the same level. But when the wind starts blowing in, the Cubs have to switch to a small ball team, and that's where they do really well, because other teams aren't used to that, and this lineup was perfect for that, with the lower half being small ball and the first half being the the long ball for the for most of the season. But then it switched, yeah. So now it's it's backwards and you got the winds all messed up and it's just. They're competing with some factors here that aren't normal everyday plans. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I don't know if you can say that. I mean that sounds like I'm making excuses, but I mean I don't know if you can say that about the other ballparks, like that, because of the way the wind is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was funny. They mentioned on the Dodger broadcast that after that Yankee series at Wrigley, before they went on the road, that Craig Council got asked kind of like well, hey, where'd the offense go? When y'all were on the road you were scoring 10 runs a game and Council just goes dude, the wind was blowing straight in Like the whole series.
Speaker 2:You know, as if to say like if you don't know about wrigley, you need to learn about wrigley, because nobody has offense when the wind at wrigley is blowing straight in, because the ball goes nowhere well, and it's that, that funnel thing that happens, that where it like you can um, for those that can see us on youtube, it kind of goes up, which is like for a home run, but it'll, it'll teeter back. Yeah, you know, and that's hard to to catch.
Speaker 1:Well, because that wind is just pushing it back down. Yeah, like you're. You're, there's so much resistance to balls in the air when that wind is pushing in. Like I said, that it makes it a really tough place to play and, like you said, that's where manufacturing runs and small ball come into play. I mean, that's, that's how you win ball games, yeah, in that scenario.
Speaker 1:So, um, real quick on game two from tuesday night uh, bruis, our gratter, all a day earlier than expected, activated. Really encouraging to see because you know he comes back after a lengthy rehab where every time it seemed like every time he threw, there was a setback and it just was a tough rehab for him. Throws eight pitches and he's out of the game again and it's like man that felt so heartbreaking. Yeah, but he's back. He didn't look great but he put up a zero and that's the job. Yep, and you know he's Sometimes it ain't pretty. And here's the thing Now. He's pitched twice but he's thrown less than 30 pitches this season, mm-hmm. So you know who knows what we're going to get out of him, but I'm glad he's healthy and he's getting an opportunity to get in good form and get ready for October, because I think our bullpen is at its best when he's in there.
Speaker 2:Do you think pitchers I mean, I'm just being silly, but it's never stopped me before Do you think at the end of the year they're sitting there drinking their beer, having their steak and they're like, yeah man, I made $226 million and I only threw like 89 pitches.
Speaker 1:No, but I bet Anthony Rendon sits on his porch and drinks his beer and says I made X amount of million dollars and I only had to play 12 days. Yeah, yeah, I believe that Because you know, fuck that guy.
Speaker 1:Oh man he speaks highly of you. I don't care, I don't care, I don't like him. All right, you don't talk bad about the game of baseball, like he has publicly, and get to make millions of dollars and give your family the life that he gets to give them and act like it's a chore. Most of us would kill to be where he's at or have his level of talent and have the opportunities he has. So I'm glad he's stuck in Anaheim. So game three of the series last night Bobby Miller versus Jordan Wicks yeah, is that his first name, jordan, jordan Wicks, jordan.
Speaker 2:Wicks. It's not Jordan, it's a Yor Jordan Wicks.
Speaker 1:But it looks like Jordan, which was another interesting one, because Wicks' numbers are decent but he's still young figuring things out. Bobby Miller has been less than good. He has been pretty terrible. His ERA now is up to like eight on the year, which is after the year he had last year is kind of hard to believe, but he's just, you know, bobby's just not making the adjustments on that fastball. They're getting to the fastball he's used to being able to throw 99 past people and he's in the big leagues now and they can catch up to 99. Yeah, um, but he gives up two in the top of the first and I'm kind of thinking here we go again.
Speaker 1:And then the bottom of the first happens and for the first time in dodger franchise history they hit four home runs. In the first time in Dodger franchise history they hit four home runs in the first inning. Shohei leads it off, and then I think Mookie and Freddie both got out, yeah, yeah, tay. Oscar singles. Edmund homers, mm-hmm, that gives them the lead. His third home run in two games. Well, like in a game and a bat. And then Will Smith, homers All right, now it's getting interesting. Then Max Muncy, homers. They go back to back to back and all of a sudden it's a different ball game and it's 5-2.
Speaker 2:And it lit a fire under both teams too. I think you're right. They were like, oh, we're gonna play a nice, you know friendly game. Then they're like, oh, intense.
Speaker 1:And then they're like oh, we better, we better play right, you know, and then you know, eventually it ends up seven to seven, which was like, oh my gosh, here we go again. Blew it, blew it two nights in a row. But then the dodgers stepped up. You know, uh, scored some, scored some more runs. Uh, you know, shohei got a stolen base. Yep, so now we're 47 home runs, 48 stolen bases. He's getting real close to that 50, 50 number. He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it. I'm not as I'm not as certain as you are, but I feel better about it now.
Speaker 2:You know, um, I mean he's only got to do three and two, yeah, that's yeah in like 16 games. I think they have left.
Speaker 1:I mean he could get hot and do that in one game well, he could, it's true unlikely he will, but you know it's, yeah, yeah, it's, he's getting really really stinking close, so, uh, so that's cool to see it's been. Either way, it's been a very special first season for shohei, uh, with the dodgers, and the dodgers pulled that one out last night, um, you know, despite a couple of hiccups, but again a lot of positives, it was a great game. Yeah, I thought so too. It was a really good game to watch. Um, my brother darren was at the game. Yeah, I thought so too. It was a really good game to watch, my brother Darren was at the game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we love Darren.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that was cool to see. He got to go up and hang out with his buddy, stephen Nelson, up in the booth and he got me a Max Muncy bobblehead Yay, so that might find its way into the studio at some point, hopefully when we get our cabinet for everything. Yeah, we will at some point be getting a shelf specifically for bobbleheads for our studio.
Speaker 2:Yep, and Max Muncy will be a great addition to that.
Speaker 1:He sure will. He sure will. We got Rocky the Batdog for sure. Yep, you've got a nice Christopher Murrell from the Smokies, I do. He needs to be brought upstairs, absolutely, and I got a few at the house. I'm going to figure out what I'm bringing once we get to that point. So, brian, now that we've kind of done a deep dive into this series and you have bragging rights I mean, unless something happens and y'all get in the playoffs and our teams meet in October, that's it for the year. You got bragging rights until we go to Japan.
Speaker 2:I know, and it was weird because where I watch the Dodgers every day now they're like my number two team, but I watch them every day. So it's not a tie for number one, trust me, of course not, but it's in my heart now. I mean, I'm a big Dodger fan, a bigger Cub fan, but I realized the Dodgers needed to win but we also needed to win, so I wasn't as fixated on the winner or loser of the game. I started getting into the individual story. Yeah for sure. Okay, well, shohei's got to hit a home run. He's got to get a stolen base. He's got to do this. We've got to see what Pete Crow Armstrong is going to do.
Speaker 1:And man Pete Crow Armstrong, who we've not brought up at any point here, is Incredible. He's playing on a different level than everybody else.
Speaker 2:right now, it feels like Well, I watched a lot of him at the Smokies a few years back and he was outplaying them. You know he was ready to go way before they brought him up. You know, I saw him get his minor league golden glove and I couldn't believe how little he is. Yeah, yeah, because I was like, oh my gosh, he's a kid.
Speaker 1:Like a little kid, and at that point he was even younger. That was a few years ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean he's a grown-ass man Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean he's a grown-ass man Right, but he's just. That's why he's so good, though, and why he's so fast, so I love watching him half-quietly. You know, move the team along. Yeah, I was still waiting for Paredes to smile. He played great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he had some great plays at third base after you said he needed to be replaced there last week.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, he fits in for the Cubs. I mean, you know one way, one week, but I just wish he would smile. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what that's about. Let's send him some flowers, dear sir. We're behind you 110%, unless you don't fucking smile.
Speaker 1:And at that point, you're out of here, brother. Yeah, he's a pretty serious looking guy. He's very serious very intense.
Speaker 2:It's not even resting asshole face. He looks mad.
Speaker 1:You know he's Serrano from Major League. Yeah, he's always mad at something. Yeah, yeah, so, um, so, coming out of this series, cubs win the series 2-1, as we have.
Speaker 2:Oh, by the way, I am gonna glow we did be here, I know I didn't leave that out. We, we got you no, you won I mean and I mean it's because you fell asleep- and earned it.
Speaker 1:yeah, and it's my fault, it's all my fault Dodger fans. It's completely your fault. I'll take the blame for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, send your tweets to. At Dallas Danger on how he caused the team to lose.
Speaker 1:It's funny, in 2020, the shortened season, I watched every game I didn't miss a game that year and there was one series. The Dodgers lost one series that whole year and it was in the regular season, obviously, and it was against the Rockies, and I remember I watched like two games of that series from my parents' house, okay, and I tweeted that out.
Speaker 2:I was like, hey, this is weird, right, and other Dodger fans were like don't do that anymore don't watch games at her house and again go home, go back to your place, yeah, and I was like, okay, they're making a valid you know it's a written law that if you get up to go to the bathroom and your player hits a home run, you now have to watch the rest of the season from the bathroom. That happened with ha half a few years ago and I thought I was about to be stuck in the bath. I think he hit a grand slam like four years ago or something. Yeah, she's like, oh, you got to stay in there, yeah, and I'm like I didn't have a tv. I was like, oh, my god, I'm about to listen to the whole season. I was like, can I even turn the bedroom tv on? She's like no, no, no nothing can change.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh my God, she discovered Edmund, though she was like who the hell is this guy? And I was like, oh yeah, he's fantastic and you know he's new and she was impressed with him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm sure y'all have seen Edmund in the past. You know from his time with the Cardinals.
Speaker 2:Well, she hasn't.
Speaker 1:Sure, fair enough.
Speaker 2:I mean new to the Dodgers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I get what you're saying. No, I get what you're saying. Yeah, he's been a great addition. And the funny thing is, in the same trade we got a guy who has like a .5 ERA since he came to the Dodgers, in Michael Kopech, and we basically gave up Miguel Vargas. Yeah, so you know, andrew Friedman added again with that great deal. So coming out of this now, brian, the Cubs, with 16 games left to play, are five games out of a wild card spot. Right, still have to leapfrog two teams. Cool, and you know, while it's doable, you know, while it's doable, you know three, three of the four teams in front of the cubs are like the three hottest teams since the end of may.
Speaker 2:I know that's why we need the extra seven, ten days. Yeah, I mean it's gonna be really tough. I mean, even if we buckle down, and I mean I don't know how, if we play better, I mean how can we play any better than we're doing? I mean we're playing our hearts out over there. You know it's going to be tough. Yeah, it's going to be real tough. I mean I don't know. I don't know, I don't want to say it, but I'm realistic about it.
Speaker 1:Well, I personally hope that the Diamondbacks and the Padres both completely collapse and that the Mets, braves and Cubs get the three wild cards. That's my rooting interest in the wild card standings right now. But the Cubs are a good ball club and even if they don't squeak in this year, jed hoyer's got something to build around. Now, if he will, what are they gonna do? You know, we've already talked about you know they're, they're. Here's the thing if they're, if they're gonna, if they're gonna be over the luxury tax either way with bellinger, why not spend a little more? Exactly, why not spend a little more? You know you can keep yourself under the next luxury tax threshold, right, but but try, you know and I did see the cubs mentioned um in a tweet about the teams that are apparently are interested in making a call on juan soto um, you know, and I mean juan soto makes the cubs a lot better. Oh yeah, you know, I don't know how realistic that is. They'd have to compete money-wise with the big dogs.
Speaker 2:You know, the dodgers, the yankees, the mats, then we're gonna have to get rid of somebody. We're gonna have to figure out where to place them yeah, that's, yeah you know we've, then we've got you know too many, too many in too many places. Yeah so but but that's a good problem to have right.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the thing. Your outfield as it stands right now is bellinger and right pca and center suzuki and left know, most of the time Bellinger can play first base and I know Michael Bush has, you know, bullied his way into that spot most of the time and that's good. He's playing great. Yeah, phenomenal ball player, Probably going to be a Cub for a while.
Speaker 2:I would think he looks like a foundational guy for them, maybe moving forward, built for the team, right attitude, right playing stats, right money-wise yeah yeah, and any of those guys can DH yeah.
Speaker 1:So I don't think Juan Soto takes any of those spots on the roster, but you just got to find a way to get those guys in the lineup every day, and that's something that good teams are faced with, that every day all season, right now. Um, you know, I mean the dodgers have had such a roster crunch this year, you know, and have had to let guys like jason hayward go right because they couldn't find a place that would be just because they.
Speaker 1:you know it's performance based and if there's not a spot for you, then the guys who are performing have to get those spots Right, absolutely. So, we'll see.
Speaker 2:I mean, the Cubs season isn't over, they're still in it, I mean, and they're keeping us entertained through the whole season. I would rather have it like this. Of course, I'd rather have it as playing like you guys, but I'd rather have it. You know, us playing like this versus it's the all-star game and we're out. Yeah, there's no hope.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, and we're not even gonna try yeah, and, and you know, from a dodger standpoint, um, leading the division is five games. Um, we're pretty clear of the Diamondbacks at this point. You know we won that series with them, which was, I think, most important, because we got the tiebreaker back from them. So you know we're looking at six games for them. Okay, the Padres are going to be the tricky one, because we still have to play them three times and they have played us really well, not just this year, but the last handful of years. So, and they're, they're hungry, they're all. When they play the Dodgers they're a hungry ball always, always so, and the Dodgers have to their credit, have been really good against good teams this year. I'm actually going to look that up right now since I got the standings all right.
Speaker 2:They, they have played well against good teams and that's that's one of their uh, you know hallmarks for this season 47 and38 against teams above 500.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pretty damn good. Yes, it is. Padres are 45-40 in those same scenarios. Everybody else in the division has a losing record against above 500 teams. So you know I like that. We got yamamoto back and he looks like he's just in cruise control that's huge that's a huge sign. Yeah, big, big difference in the rotation and how we're going to be starting things off in october. Um, gratterall back is important. Teo only missing a handful of games after what looked like a season destroyer when he got hit in the foot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when we talked right after that happened, you were not in a good place.
Speaker 1:Well, because that's one player on this Dodger team isn't going to make all the difference, but from an intangible standpoint, we need him. Oh yeah, I agree, he's got to be in that lineup, he's got to be out there. Because here's the thing Even if Teoscar Hernandez does not come up with any big hits in October which I don't think is even plausible to talk about like he's going to have a big moment, right. But even if he doesn't, him looming in that lineup and the potential and the possibility of him coming up in a big situation changes the game, right, you know, maybe at a low level some days, but it definitely changes the lineup Right.
Speaker 2:I mean and this is going to sound silly, but bear with me who's going to throw the sunflower seeds that are dying? And that's important, because that's part of the whole ritual.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, there have been situations where he's been on base, okay, and others have filled in, okay, but yeah, I think you want him, you got to have him around. Yeah, filled in, okay, but yeah, I think you want him, you gotta have him around. Yeah, you know, and, like you said, the the sunflower seeds is a big part of this team's camaraderie and the fact that you know, when he actually said this in as many words the other day, that when he went to the dodgers, he felt like they weren't having enough fun. Yeah, he was like I'm a fun guy, I like to have fun while we win, so we're gonna have fun now. And this has been a looser, lighter team it has than we've seen in years past with the dodgers, and that's, you know, um, as a fan, that's amazing, you know, because if your team's having fun, you're gonna have fun, of course, you know well, that's the whole thing with the cubs is the lovable losers and why, um, you know isaac is not fitting in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you gotta. There's a certain camaraderie you gotta have here, because there's gonna be some weeks where we don't win some games. Yep, and he's not getting in with that, and that's important to the culture of the teams yeah, yeah, and so you gotta have that.
Speaker 1:Um, so teo coming back is big. You know a lot of positives the last three days, you know, um, unless something goes horribly wrong, and then we've got bigger. You know bigger fish to fry, so to speak, in october. Walker bueller not going to be making an october start, yeah, uh, bobby miller even less likely, uh, that we see him on that mound in in october.
Speaker 1:Um, you know I could see walker has pitched good enough to earn an opportunity to play out of the bullpen a little bit. You know, maybe, as like a piggyback option with somebody. Maybe glass now comes back, but it's too late to get him really built up, so you want to piggyback him with somebody that can have some innings after. You know I could see that scenario. You know there's just a lot to be decided on the roster makeup for the dodgers in the postseason. You know, um, glass now, gavin stone, clayton kers all still on the IL, all still trying to make their way back, and I think all three of those guys, if they get healthy, will have a role on this team in October.
Speaker 1:So, if all goes well with those rehabs, we got a traffic jam of pitching and that's what we wanted and that's what we were. All us being Dodger fans at the beginning of the year were salivating over when we saw the entirety of this roster and all the possibility, and now, with a couple exceptions, it looks like we're going to be pretty full health man, I still feel like the Dodgers are a tough out in October.
Speaker 2:They are, without a doubt. I mean they're playing the best ball. I mean it's all going to come together and peak at the right time for them.
Speaker 1:I hope so, because you know this has been such a special run for the Dodgers the last decade or so and it feels like it gets better every day, every year. Yeah, but the Dodgers have now set themselves up for the next decade or so. When you look at the contracts for Shohei and Yamamoto and Mookie and now Will Smith is locked up for 10 years, we've got Freddie for like three more years, we've got Glasnow for five. There is a window here where I feel like for this to be looked at historically as a success. We've got to get, I mean, bare minimum one, yeah, and I think that is an organizational failure. And I think that is an organizational failure. Two or three is probably what it's going to take for this next 10 years to really be looked back on the way that it should be, because this is a trust me, I've been a Dodger fan for a long time and I used to not mind that I couldn't watch them that often because, they weren't that good for a lot of my life Right.
Speaker 1:And then the McCourt ownership years were, you know, abysmal.
Speaker 1:You know, to have a team in a market like Los Angeles with a stadium like Dodger Stadium, and you can't go out and get big-name free agents or anything like that, you know it's.
Speaker 1:But this, the, the guggenheim group, and this new ownership is, is, has has.
Speaker 1:You know, their goal obviously was to put the dodgers where they belong, because the dodgers are one of the classic franchises in major league baseball and even if the team on the field is not, you know, a dominant championship contending team, they need to be competitive, you know, because that's what, to me, is owed to this fan base, because this is a phenomenal fan base. I mean, we go on the road against bad teams and it sounds like a home game. Oh, yeah, yeah, I mean this is. It sounds like a home game. Oh, yeah, yeah, I mean this is a fan base that is nationwide, it travels well and I think there's enough people in this fan base and I'm not one of them, let me make that abundantly clear but there's enough people in the Dodger fan base that buy into the idea that the 2020 world series should mean something different than any other year that I think this fan base is really, really hungry for another championship, even if that's just because we didn't get the parade yeah the last one.
Speaker 1:I don't know man it's gonna be. I mean, we're again. We got like two weeks left, basically, um you know who throws a good parade.
Speaker 2:Who throws a good parade?
Speaker 1:san diego, yeah they ought to write a book about parade. Yeah, they're the parade kings, as long as you don't have to earn one right right all right. So, uh, I think that that you got anything else you want to say on the Cubbies or the Dodgers today, brian.
Speaker 2:Well, I feel that it was billed as two teams for the ages. What we had was two great good guys versus bad guys scenario and I believe the good guys won two out of three. That's all I got to say about that.
Speaker 1:You're stealing my gimmick.
Speaker 2:I call the Dodgers the good guys every day. I know you do, I know you do, that's why I did that.
Speaker 1:All right, so we're going to move on to a couple of other topics. The next one, a little somber. Anytime you're talking about death it is somber, but we lost James Earl Jones at the age of 93. And you know, obviously I mean goes without saying one of the most iconic voices we've ever recorded in the history of recorded anything. He was the voice of Darth Vader. He was the voice of Mufasa in the Lion King, which, when I was a kid, was like the biggest movie in the world for a while. Everybody was about the Lion King when I was growing up.
Speaker 1:Coming to America is another classic one. But A lot of people like to talk about the Kevin Costner baseball trilogy, which, of course, is Bull Durham For Love of the Game and Field of Dreams. But the James Earl Jones baseball trilogy doesn't get talked about as much as it should. When you look at the Sandlot, bingo Long and Brain Fart Field of Dreams as well, yes, terrence Mann in Field of Dreams. And so Brian, you know, just you know a guy that for both of us and Brian, for those that don't know, is just a little bit older than I am, but for both of us iconic doesn't even begin to touch James Earl Jones.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, for me my first love was Star Wars, seeing it in the theater when it came out in 1978. I've literally been around his voice my entire life, as far as being cognizant to realize what's going on, and so many of his movies I love. You know Bingo Long, he's great in that. Yeah, not a lot of people know about that movie.
Speaker 1:Right, and we're at some point going to talk about that movie, most likely on Patreon. Who knows, man, the off-season is going to get weird. We might talk about it on the regular podcast feed, but here. So I've got a transcript here of a Q&A that James Earl Jones did at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2004 when they were celebrating the 15-year anniversary of the film Field of Dreams.
Speaker 1:Okay, that again, he iconically played Terrence Mann, an author, and the long speech speech, the monologue. When he finally sees it, you know, he sees the, the ghost players and and I mean just, uh, one of the greatest scenes in a movie, baseball or otherwise ever, absolutely. But bingo long, bingo long's traveling all-stars and motor kings. Um, I wonder. I want to read some of these uh answers he gave during this q a, because obviously he was super well spoken and had a lot of really profound things to say. But he was asked, uh, his thoughts when he, when they were making bingo long and he said we made it a comedy, all the liberal critics and all the black critics said how dare you take that kind of money and that kind of platform and not tell the tragedy of those players? And indeed there was tragedy, but we chose to make it a comedy and suffered for it with the reviews and the reception it received, but it's still a movie that people respect. I'm glad we did it as a comedy because I think sense of humor is a sign of intelligence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and here's the thing when I watched Bingo Long for the first time, I didn't think they laughed around the darkness of the Negro Leagues, right, or that era. I don't think that either. You know they addressed it. You know they addressed it. But you know, I always go back to this when you talk about the black players from that time period, whether they were in you know affiliated Negro League games or they safe was on the field, right. So of course they're having fun and of course they're laughing because they're escaping the realities of the world, because they're good at ball.
Speaker 2:so yeah, I think I I agree that it was the right move to make it a funny movie and a comedy I think that they showed that the guys had to use their sense of humor to make up for what they were going through, because you can't just sit there and cry right so let's at least laugh at it. Right, and it showed that they were actually stronger because they were having fun when it could have been much, much worse.
Speaker 1:Right, absolutely A hundred percent. And I think that you know those types of individuals were very well represented in that film. Excuse me, I thought, but I'm just a white guy who was born in 1985. So what do I know? Right? Classic movie though yeah, and again, we're going to talk about that because Brian and I share a love for that film. Brian actually introduced me to it. I had never even heard of it until Brian told me about it.
Speaker 1:And don't at me, I don't watch movies, I'm not a movie guy, so I don't care. At me, I'll just ignore you it guy. So you know, don't. You know I don't care. At me, I'll just ignore you.
Speaker 1:It's fine, uh, anyways, um, but you know his other baseball roles too. You know, the sandlot is huge because, yeah, you know he's this like you don't see him, he's just like this looming thing kind of. You know, I mean, I guess you see him, but you don't see the real him, until they hit the ball over there and they have to go retrieve it and they get past the dog, and you know, then finally it's he. They walk in and it's like they're in a museum of baseball in his house, and you know, it's just like a great, yeah, a great moment and he played it so well because he, he has that ability, had that ability I guess is a is the correct way to put it where he would seem like this looming yeah, I mean, he was the antagonist in um. What was the schwarzenegger movie he was in um? Was it conan?
Speaker 2:yes, oh yeah, yeah, in the barbarian.
Speaker 1:Yes, he was, uh, he was the villain yeah, he was the villain, so he's got this like this aura where he can look really menacing and intimidating, but as soon as he starts talking he can get jovial, he can flip that switch. That seems like no big deal, but there aren't a lot of actors that can do that Well that was the thing in the Sandlot is they're so terrified and they're kids and their whole life is this whole deal and they have to go in there.
Speaker 2:So it's a coming of age. You know foreshadowing what's going to happen in the film, and they get in there and they're like, oh, he's one of us. Yeah, so not only do you have the foreshadowing of, they have to become men, they have to grow up. But then they see themselves later.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, absolutely, you know. So really good stuff. And you know, I think, because there was a mention in this article too, that he did some stage shows about baseball earlier in his career. But his, his thoughts on baseball are really wonderful and profound. So later in this Q&A he was asked you said in the past that, quote, baseball is zen, end quote. And he was asked to explain and he said I wouldn't say baseball is mundane, but it's ordinary by intention, unlike the sport of boxing which is kind of gladiatorial, or football which has its grace ballet and great brute force. I took my son, who is now 21, to his first baseball game in Anaheim. It was a summer day, of course, and what he liked about it was he could sit there and watch the airplanes and watch the birds and not miss a thing. That's how, in the groove of life, baseball is, and that's I mean. I've never heard it put more profoundly or more succinctly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the game of baseball and the experience of going out to a park can be anything to anybody. Yeah, I mean, we took a friend of ours and he had never watched baseball, never went to the ballpark. He just wanted to be with us and he loved it. He didn't care about the game, right, but he loved being with us. Meanwhile, me and you are watching the game and we're all excited about the game and we're happy we're all together, but we're watching the sport. Yeah, so baseball can mean so many different things at so many different times and then turn on a dime and still mean something else.
Speaker 2:And that's what's great about it and it's something you can doze off for a second. Yeah, your mind can wander and you can come back. You know it's not thoughtless, because there's a lot of thought in it, but it's something where you can think about it. And then you get exhausted a second and you look at a bird or an airplane, right, and you come right back and you're right back in it, yeah, and you haven't really missed a whole big thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly the pace of the game again and the pace of life match up so well and that's what made it the pastime. You know, going to see a game, yeah, whether you're one who wants to keep score or watch the game itself very closely, or you just want to go have a hot dog and a beer and hang out with everybody and feel the energy, or anywhere in between. You know and and and the. The live baseball experience in in modern days is, uh, the game is almost secondary now. Yeah, you know, it's a live event with. You know games and music, and you know bright-colored lights on the video screens. I mean minor league teams have video screens now, so it's a whole immersive experience, you know, built around this simple child's game that we've all played at some point in our life, Right, so we all have a frame of reference, you know to baseball and it's different from, say, basketball and football.
Speaker 2:Say you're at a game, you got to go to the bathroom, you got to go smoke, you got to go get your 14 hot dogs. You can't do that in basketball because you'll miss the whole thing. Yeah, you can't do that in basketball because you'll miss the whole thing. Football something could happen and it never recovers. Where baseball can always recover.
Speaker 1:The problem with football is, if you get up at the wrong time, somebody's liable to beat you up and mug you in the stadium.
Speaker 2:Wow, where are you watching games?
Speaker 1:I've been to an NFL game, oh, okay, and there were times I felt unsafe, really. Yeah, wow, it's hostile, it's violent, it's just, you know, it's the cathedral, it's the roman cathedral, dude, it's, it's, it's blood sport, it's, it's wild and that's okay. People can like football. I don't care, you know, I just don't, you know, it's just not for me. Um, I, I like to consider myself a pretty laid-back guy, so I like a laid-back pastime, right, you know. Right, I also, you know, and for me, like football is too serious, because they only play 17 games, so every game, matters so much Baseball.
Speaker 1:it's like you play 162, you can lose a couple and it's fine. You don't have to get all bent out of shape over every loss. There's always tomorrow. Yeah, it's just—.
Speaker 2:Always next season. Yeah, it's just a much—it just grooves with me a lot better, yeah it grooves with me too, and there's nothing—and I mention this because I've got a big plan for next year— there's nothing like grilling and drinking beer and watching it on a giant uh screen outside on your porch. Yeah, yeah, that's going to be great, and uh, I mean that's just. There's nothing more American than that.
Speaker 1:No, not, really, Not really fireworks.
Speaker 2:You know we try to blow up the neighbor's house or something.
Speaker 1:I don't like fireworks okay.
Speaker 2:Well then, fine, we won't do?
Speaker 1:you don't like fireworks either?
Speaker 2:I like sparklers just stand there with the sparklers.
Speaker 1:Sparkler dogs, sparkler dogs, I got you you did get me, you did get me. Oh, nice little inside joke there Red white and blue cheese, yeah, red white and blue cheese. And sparkler dogs, they got chicken.
Speaker 2:He's got a keg. They're going nuclear, they're going nuclear.
Speaker 1:Sorry if you have no idea what we're talking about. So the last question in this Q&A and I loved this story because I don't think I had ever read this or heard this anywhere James Earl Jones gets asked what inspired him to do Field of Dreams Okay, and his answer was the script arrived at my house before I got home. My wife read it and when I got home she said honey, you will do this script. It's not that I do everything my wife says. She said it's a great script. It's not that I do everything. My wife says she said it's a great script.
Speaker 1:The long speech about baseball will not appear in the movie, of course, but you must do it anyways. And of course the long speech did make it into the film and it's. I own a t-shirt with the entire. You know every word of it on the back, like it's, it's. It's as iconic as the day is long. You know Baseball has marked the time and you know it's just a man.
Speaker 1:Somewhere there's a video of Vin Scully reading that and it's like the most soothing ASMR baseball thing you could ever imagine. You know, vin reading those words. Yeah, it's just incredible. I also saw yesterday, vin, the first game after 9-11. Yeah, just incredible. I also saw yesterday, vin, the first game after 9-11. Yeah, or the day of 9-11, whatever it was, and that was just, you know, moving and gives you goosebumps, you know.
Speaker 1:And that's the type of voice and that's the type of actor James Earl Jones was. He's the type of guy that when you think about his most iconic movies, his most iconic scenes, it gives you chills thinking about it, because there's so many great memories wrapped up. I mean for me, growing up and watching the Sandlot and showing my partner Jen the movie Field of Dreams for the first time, and how emotional she got the first time she saw it. And watching Bingo Long for the first time, and how emotional she got, you know, the first time she saw it. And uh, there's, you know. And and watching bingo long for the first time with you and being like man, how have I never seen this movie? I want to watch it over and over now. You know Richard Pryor and Billy Dee Williams and you know James Earl Jones everybody was in it uh, so couldn't make that movie today, and not because of the pc culture.
Speaker 2:Just there's not enough stars, there's not enough star power, like was in that movie.
Speaker 1:Even if they weren't big stars at the time of the movie, they became big stars later, sure, and you, just you can't duplicate that well you know, if you did it today like kevin hart would be in it, right, and that just changes the whole movie because he's, you know, he's a slapstick comedian and sure, richard pryor was a little slapstick but he, he, there was some, there was some highbrow humor in richard pryor's game, you know, um, intelligent comedian, you know, and I don't know. Just a really great flick that, uh, I'm glad we we watched together. We'll watch it again soon and talk about it here on patreon, like I said, and before we move on, though, with james earl jones, the great white hope.
Speaker 2:He plays the villain not great white hype which is a great movie, which is a spoof of that movie, which I love. Both of them watching back to back is amazing, yeah, but it's a boxing movie and it's incredible. I mean he just really nails that role. So he was just iconic almost in everything. Yeah, I mean he's the voice of CNN. Yeah, you know, I mean he's just and to think that, like for me, watching him in Star Wars and that's the first place that I had, uh, became familiar with him it was just his voice. Yeah, he wasn't the guy in the suit. Yeah, that was dave prose and, uh, he was so bad they wouldn't let him talk.
Speaker 1:I mean it was a big deal.
Speaker 2:He sued them and all this right, but darth vader, as we commonly think of him, is not the guy, it's just his voice. Just the voice. Yeah, that's it. And you can't have darth vader without the voice. Yep, you know. I mean, the voice synthesizers now in the movies are made to sound like him. Yep, so that's amazing.
Speaker 1:It's something else, man. And yeah, again, we've used the word iconic a lot and, like I said earlier, I don't think it even quite does the man justice. But rest easy and Godspeed to James Earl Jones, Absolutely Someone that I don't think will ever be forgotten.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because his characters are going to live on forever, forever, forever, at least in this household all right.
Speaker 1:So we're, uh, we're, we're winding things down a little bit for the week, but I wanted to uh quickly mention uh bowden francis, a young rookie star. I think he's a rookie starter, yeah, because I think he's only had like 11 career starts for the Toronto Blue Jays. For the second time in his first 11 starts, which is remarkable. To begin with, yesterday he takes a no hit bid into the ninth inning and it's broken up by a lead off home run. That's the second time already that's happened to him. It happened on august 24th against the angels. I actually watched the last couple innings of this game. Okay, uh, taylor ward hit the hit, the leadoff home run in the ninth. And then yesterday, which was uh september 11th, against the Mets, francisco Lindor hits the leadoff home run in the ninth to break up the no-hitter, and then the Mets go on to score six runs in the ninth. It's the most runs that have ever been scored by a team that got no hit through eight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so A lot going on there in that game A lot and I think it's like it's a microcosm of the last few years for the blue jays, because there's been some excitement surrounding some young players and some, you know, maybe not as young players now, like you know, guys like vlad guerrero jr and bo bichette that have been there for you know, a few years. Yeah, but man, it's just been a tough year for the blue jays. Really tough year for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they did pretty well in Atlanta, which we needed. They helped us out there at least one night, I know of.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that was I think it was two. Don't quote me on that, right, but yeah, it's been a long season for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that right. But uh, yeah, they, they, it's been a long season for them. Yeah, yeah, and, and, and you know, a couple years ago, um, they, they were a team you could foresee making long playoff runs in the american league, you know, and now is you know they're they're the latest team to have an off year in that crazy american league east. Yeah, and, uh, just dip down in the standings, because everybody else in that division is winning ball games.
Speaker 2:Basically, I mean what's the attendance in that league?
Speaker 1:uh, four I mean, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2:the attendance on the east teams in the american league. That's where all those teams that can't draw are in, isn't it?
Speaker 1:well, I mean, like the devil ray I think the yankees I think the yankees do pretty good. Of course they do. I think baltimore is probably doing pretty good. Boston, I mean, that's a place people want to go see a game tampa bay yeah, once they get that new stadium, it will be.
Speaker 1:I hope so, you know, because I'm glad they're staying. You know, in st St Petersburg, you know as much as it would have been cool for them to move to Montreal and become the Expos. You know I'm glad the Rays are sticking where they are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then when we go to make our stadium run, we got to go to Montreal, Okay, and it's so different up there and cold and the wind and everything. Suddenly I'm the football guy in the tundra up there and it's summer too. I don't even know what I'm talking about. But anyway, I don't want to go to Montreal.
Speaker 1:Well, we don't have to go to Montreal, pal.
Speaker 2:I ain't doing it, I just ain't doing it.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, brian's not going to Montreal. I don't know why that matters in this conversation, but he's just not gonna do it doing it I've seen a game in toronto. Oh, that's cool, we'll go to toronto. My first, uh, my first major league game was actually at the skydome in toronto yeah, you told me that that was pretty, it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:it was a neat experience, yeah, being just being a hayseed kid from virginia that had never really been far out of my own hometown to go to a city the size of Toronto Wander into a baseball game.
Speaker 1:Well, it was a lot of fun and it was a good game. I got to see the Angels the year they won the World Series, the Rally Monkey year, which was cool. Got to see Roy Hall halliday pitch in person, which you know I cherish, especially after you know, uh, everything he accomplished later, uh, in philadelphia, and then his tragic passing, um, but the coolest thing for me, because I was like 16 or 17 and it was a beautiful day, so the roof was open for the whole game. Okay, well, we didn't stick around. They were doing like an old-timers day game or something, and we didn't stick around.
Speaker 1:My parents had somewhere else to be or didn't want to stick around or whatever. So we're walking out and as we're walking out, the roof is closing. And again, being a kid from small virginia who had never really been that far out of my hometown to see something, that massive move like that, I had never experienced anything close to it at that point. So you know that, like I can still see that, like I can still see that moment, you know, um it, it really stuck with me yeah um, yeah that sounds cool, but bowden francis looks like, uh, you know, potentially got a good career ahead of him.
Speaker 1:We gotta have to keep our eyes on him. Yeah for sure. Great baseball name too bowden francis. I know that is a great name, francis. I mean you, basically, with a name like bowden francis, you're gonna be a nobody or you're gonna play baseball light Lighten up. Francis, but don't call her Frankie, she hates that yes. Yes, all right, have we done our time this week? Have we done our time this week?
Speaker 2:Yes, we are good. Before we go, though, on a personal note, my mother, who listens to this every week and has no knowledge of baseball whatsoever, so she literally listens to hear us have a conversation has been under the weather and in the hospital. She's out now, but she's still sick. We just want to wish you that you feel better and we love you.
Speaker 1:Yes, Kathy, we love you very much and we hope you are feeling much better very soon. And thank you for listening to us babble on when you have no idea what the hell we're saying.
Speaker 2:And thank you for listening to us babble on when you have no idea what the hell we're saying and I apologize for swearing, I just can't, she gets hot with you over there.
Speaker 1:I just can't help myself. I do apologize, I've tried to be better. I've tried to be better specifically for Kathy. Yeah, but when Anthony Rendon comes up or the Padres come up, it just flies out.
Speaker 2:It happens.
Speaker 1:I got no filter. What can I say? Yeah, all right. Well, be sure to follow us on the socials. Twitter is probably the easiest way. The show is at 2GTBpod. I am at Dallas, danger Brian is at 3CrowsBry and you can head to 2gtbcom now then get um. Links to all that stuff. Links to the youtube. Links to wherever you listen to podcasts. Links to our store if you want to go directly to the store. That is 2gtbstore. We got a little something for everybody over there and it's free to take a look. Patreoncom, slash, slash, 2gtb. We've done some cool stuff and are going to continue. To add to that, you can hear our original 11 episodes from 2022, which, by the way, we just hit our 11th episode in the current run. Right, this is episode 22 overall. Yes, so that's cool. We've gotten to where we were. Back to where we were. Yeah, so we're feeling pretty good about that to overall. So, yes, so that's cool, we've gotten to where we were. You know, back to where we were, yeah so we're feeling pretty good about that.
Speaker 2:Of all the places we went, here we are yeah, yeah, that this is.
Speaker 1:This is a place we've been, so, and and if and if you're on the youtube, please subscribe, and if you're not on the youtube, please subscribe. Anyways, um, we're again trying to do some things with the youtube channel that we've got to get a higher subscriber count to do.
Speaker 2:Imagine live from the backyard watching and grilling with sparkler dogs.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You could make that happen, people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you subscribe to the YouTube channel, you could help make that a reality, and I got a feeling at some point it's going to be so Absolutely, it sells itself. I mean, yeah, who doesn't want to watch a live video of us on your porch?
Speaker 2:If we did it in Speedos with an eagle and an American flag.
Speaker 1:They'd make a movie out of it. And, on that note, thanks for listening once again. We will see you in seven days. For Brian, I'm Dallas. We'll see you at the ballpark.
