2 Guys Talking Baseball
Dallas Danger and Brian Logan discuss the game of baseball. Two fans, two personalities, Two Guys!
2 Guys Talking Baseball
Episode 41
The Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs delivered everything baseball fans could want - electric atmosphere, international stars, and cultural exchange that showcased the sport's global appeal.
Shohei Ohtani stole the spotlight in his homeland, powering the Dodgers to two victories despite the absence of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. His home run in game two ignited the Tokyo Dome, though not without some controversy about potential fan interference. What became clear throughout the series was Ohtani's Michael Jordan-like status in Japan, where his face appears on everything from green tea vending machines to billboards.
We dive into the fascinating cultural differences between American and Japanese baseball experiences - from the organized chanting during exhibition games to the respectful silence during regular season play that puzzled Cubs broadcasters. Taylor McGregor's adventures navigating Japanese customs (including the surprising lack of public trash cans) provided viewers with delightful insights into the players' off-field experiences.
Beyond Ohtani, young pitcher Roki Sasaki made his MLB debut for the Dodgers, showcasing a devastating splitter that could make him one of baseball's most exciting young arms. Meanwhile, the Cubs' new acquisition Shota Imanaga impressed despite the loss, giving Chicago fans reason for optimism despite the disappointing results.
The episode also explores lighter baseball topics including the new 98-ounce "popcorn bat" concession item coming to Giants and Pirates games, the newly official "Vedder Cup" between the Mariners and Padres, and our ongoing "Joe Ryan Watch" to track Brian's bold Cy Young prediction.
Whether you're following the pennant race or just enjoy the cultural side of baseball, this episode captures what makes America's pastime a truly global game. Subscribe now for weekly baseball conversations from two passionate fans who love the game - both on and off the field.
Hello again, everyone. Welcome inside the Three Crows Studios in Morristown, Tennessee. This is Two Guys Talking Baseball. We have lots of fun stuff to talk about this week, including the Tokyo series to open the season that we have been excited about since it was announced last year between my Dodgers and the Cubs, who are the favorite team of my best friend and colleague, the man known only as the Sea Lion, Brian Logan. It's a great week for baseball.
Speaker 2:Is it Well For you. We had baseball.
Speaker 1:We did have baseball. We had games that counted.
Speaker 2:We had games that counted and I was very excited and I got up and I watched them and I was disappointed Apparently, the Cubs didn't get the memo of all the shit I talked up through you were talking some magic.
Speaker 1:So if this is your first time joining us, for Two Guys Talking Baseball first off, welcome, Second off. You're probably wondering why we're going to talk about baseball and not play Doom Metal on.
Speaker 2:Pirate Flag Radio but that's okay.
Speaker 1:Brian, who is a loyal Cubs fan, has been talking so much shit. I mean just, I mean I've never heard him talk so much shit. Myself the Dodger fan. See, this is why I don't talk shit, right? Because you are on recording now, yeah, just laying into me about how the Cubs were going to wear the Dodgers out. And it was going to be no question, it was going to be the Cubs. And then we get to the series and reality sets in and it was quite the opposite yeah, result yeah, now the cubs didn't get blown out by any measure.
Speaker 1:These were. These were reasonably close games, but to me they they didn't feel as close as they were. It felt very much like the Dodgers were in control for both games the whole time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I felt that same way too, that they moved forward and didn't look backwards.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was just a lot of fun for the two games and the exhibition games we should mention. Both teams played the Hanshin Tigers and the Yomiuri Giants in exhibition games. The Cubs and Dodgers both defeated the Yomiuri Giants and both lost to the world-beater Hanshin Tigers. They understood the assignment. Yeah, the Tigers were like, like, nope, this, this matters. Yeah, we're gonna bring it and and we're gonna be able to say that we beat these two great american teams. Yeah, so, um, yeah, I mean I, I just just just unload, just give me all your thoughts on on the cubs in these two games.
Speaker 2:Well, I thought they looked jet lag. I know you said they didn't look jet lagged as much, but I think they looked a little tired. I felt that they definitely didn't get enough runs. I mean, that goes without saying when you lose their bats just weren't getting going.
Speaker 1:Well, as far as scoring runs is concerned, the Dodgers, you know, and it's just two games, so averages is kind of silly to talk about, but for the sake of this conversation, the Dodgers average five runs a game, which is about what they're going to average throughout the year. Right, because that's been their benchmark for years now, always right around five runs a game. The Cubs only scored four runs, averaging two runs a game. I thought they looked better in the second game, which was unfortunate for them because the Dodgers scored more. I mean, they hit three home runs in that second game. Yeah, which was sort of the undoing of the Cubs was those home runs.
Speaker 1:But you know, I didn't think the Cubs looked particularly bad. But you know you have a different perspective. I listened to Baseball Barbecue Cast this morning talk about the series and they kind of had that perspective too that the Cubs just did not look good. I thought there were reasons to be positive for the Cubs, I mean in the first game, outside of the four walks, which is more than he allowed in a single game last year in his rookie season.
Speaker 2:Shota.
Speaker 1:Imanaga was great. Yeah, he was, didn't give up a hit. You know, looked good, pitched well, just didn't get as much support as Yoshinobu Yamamoto got on the other side. But that was a tight game. I mean that was a close game and then the Dodgers bullpen comes in and just just good luck with that yeah, situation all year good grief I mean um, but you know, game one boils down to one thing, and that is you can't give this dodgers team an opening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just can't. You know you, you walk guys, you get away with it a couple innings and then eventually you get. You know, otani gets a hit. There's the John Birdie throwing error, which was the only thing that John Birdie did not great, the whole two games.
Speaker 2:I know, and he's going to catch all the heat for that too. Even I'm giving him heat, and he was great.
Speaker 1:I was expecting you to be calling for him to be dfa'd and sent out to pasture, but I mean he, he had three hits in the second game and well, that's really.
Speaker 2:I mean, at the end of the first day I was kind of like that, but he follows up with the second day the way he did. I mean you really can't get rid of him after he, you know, plays like that. But yeah, that was a turning point, without a doubt.
Speaker 1:I thought he made some good plays in the first game too. After the error I thought he settled in, and I mean he made some plays that weren't exactly, you know, guaranteed gimme plays, yeah, yeah. And you know it's worth mentioning that he's filling in for your everyday second baseman, nico Horner who's? Just going to start the season a little late with some nagging injury stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hand stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but in that same breath, it's worth mentioning that we're talking about how good the Dodgers looked, and they didn't have Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman in either game.
Speaker 2:I know, isn't that amazing that those two guys aren't there and they still were world beaters. Yeah, unbelievable, yeah.
Speaker 1:It goes to show that there are 29 Major League Baseball teams wondering how it can possibly go wrong for this Dodgers roster. Oh yeah, you know, your second and third best hitters not there. Two former MVPs not there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you still can produce, can win, can beat a good team I mean the Cubs are a good ball club, and that's the thing too is this is two games in very different circumstances than the other 160 are going to be. So you know how much can we really take away from this? Yeah, I mean we're going to talk about it because we, we're going to talk about it. You know it's, it's the way that both of our teams started the season, it's the way the whole league started the season, and it's a good thing. You know, japan is crazy about baseball. They're crazy about Shohei Ohtani, whether they care about baseball or not, because his face is everywhere over there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was the coolest thing you know, and we've already run into differences in the Cubs broadcasts and the Dodgers broadcasts Off air. More on that next week, probably. Right, Some things got sprung on me too last minute to really talk about well, this week. But we'll see what happens in the next seven days and maybe we'll talk about some things next week that you brought to the table. But the cool thing about the Dodgers broadcast was hearing everybody talk about making that trip and being in Japan with Shohei Otani and with Yamamoto and with Roki Sasaki and seeing things sort of through that lens and Sportsnet LA, who always does a great job with the Dodgers broadcast. But they did a really fantastic job of framing it that way and telling that story of. They basically went to Japan with Japan's version of, I don't know, Michael Jordan yeah, you know, he's the most recognizable person in that country and he happens to also play baseball for the Dodgers Right. Very cool to see.
Speaker 1:But yeah, back to my original point. You know, what can we really take away from these two games? I think from a Dodgers perspective, they've hit the ground running and this is exactly what we expected to see. Shohei Otani, homers in the second game. I want your thoughts on that home run call. You never mentioned it.
Speaker 2:Well, was it an interference or not?
Speaker 1:Well, I think what they had to review and decide was if the fan had not gotten involved, where was that ball going to?
Speaker 2:hit yeah.
Speaker 1:What was the result? Because that's the rule, right. If it's interference, it's umpire's discretion. As far as what the result of the play is, I don't know. I don't think they gave us the best looks at it on TV Right. And again, you watched a different broadcast than me. Were there obvious shots?
Speaker 2:that were like this was not a home run. No, they really didn't milk it that much as they would in the past. It was kind of like the ooh, let's get away from that, let's just count that and go on.
Speaker 1:Well, here's the thing. Did it make a difference in the game? I don't think so.
Speaker 2:No, it didn't.
Speaker 1:The Dodgers didn't need that home run, and if it was a double instead of a homer, I don't think that changes things for the Cubs either. It doesn't. It's a good moment. Yeah, you know, that's the guy he homered in the first exhibition game. So you know, we got to see him homer in the Tokyo Dome. But now everybody's watching. Yeah, you know, this is everybody in Japan, everybody in the United States, at least people that care enough about baseball to get up in the morning or stay up late at night. If you're on the West Coast and watch this, all eyes are on you and you know it's a net positive. But if it's any other player, does it get called differently? We're certainly looking at it differently if it's a different player or a different team, because, as Jake and Jordan put it on the Barbicast, this definitely can bring out the tinfoil hats. Yeah, because it was the Dodgers, because it was Shohei, because the call went the way it did. I just kind of wanted to see if you had any thoughts on that.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't think it was relevant to the game. Like you said, I think it didn't matter, and it wouldn't have mattered if it was a double, and I think they needed that clip of him hitting the home run. So yeah, let's get the tinfoil hats out and it's all work, brother.
Speaker 1:There it is. I was queuing up saying you're getting soft on me because I was I was expecting you to call for for people to lose their jobs over it.
Speaker 2:Milking it, milking it, that's as we say in the industry.
Speaker 1:Milking it, shout out bo james by the way, by the way, it's all the work, it's all the work.
Speaker 2:They weren't even in Tokyo. They CGI'd that from Hollywood.
Speaker 1:Just like the moon landing.
Speaker 2:It was a soundstage over in West Hollywood.
Speaker 1:That's hilarious. What else did I have here?
Speaker 2:Jed, it's going to cost $8 billion to CGI this game. It would probably only cost a million to play it. And Jed's like, oh no, we have to CGI it.
Speaker 1:So now you're accusing Jed Hoyer of throwing games.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't accuse him of doing a good interview because he was terrible when we interviewed him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't see that. I also don't know that a lot of Cubs fans would accuse him of spending more money to lose Right, right, right, because spending money has not really been his forte.
Speaker 2:I thought it was funny they put him on there.
Speaker 1:My point is he does perfectly fine, not spending any money to lose games. Yes, yes, he doesn't need to not spend money.
Speaker 2:They brought him on as commentary in the second or third inning I think it was the second inning and his mics didn't work and I was pumped. I was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, let's just get rid of him. And then he just went on talking about how the month is going to be tough for him.
Speaker 1:They do have a tough April schedule. Well, they do, including the Dodgers five more times before May 1st.
Speaker 2:Well, basically he summed it up with let's just get these losses to the Dodgers over and move on.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I mean he didn't say that, but that's what he was trying to say.
Speaker 1:Well, let's not. Maybe and it sounds like he didn't do a good job of saying this, but maybe the point is, let's, let's get to may 1st before we start hitting the panic button. Yeah, because the expectations for the cubs are very high. Yeah, as high as they've been in at least a few years. Yeah, you know, uh, definitely the highest they've been with craig council in charge of the team, and definitely the highest they've been since they sent the entire core of the 2016 championship team away. Right, which you know. Let's talk about that. You know. We're less than five years removed from that going on, and it looks like they really were smart, because Javi Baez is— Was terrible right after that the Tigers' problem. Now they still think he can contribute, but they owe him like $70 million and he is not even a starter. Yeah, not an everyday guy. Chris Bryant, you know not to steal your joke about the Angels, but he's in fucking witness protection in Colorado.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he is, and that's what he wanted yeah, he wanted to be able to go hide in colorado. I said that after his introductory press conference.
Speaker 2:um, and anthony rizzo doesn't have a job no, I mean, can you believe that he doesn't even have a job? I can believe it trying to get a front office, did you?
Speaker 1:see him play last year. I believe he doesn't have a job yeah um, he's done. I think rizzo's career as a player is is is over or very close to over. Yeah, I don't think there's a rejuvenation project gonna gonna happen with him well, and they're getting ready to have their, their kid.
Speaker 2:So he's got that going on, and you know that's always complicated, so it just he's finished, I think.
Speaker 1:So I think I think rizzo's career is is is I mean he might get a look if somebody gets injured or somebody needs a first baseman all of a sudden. But I think the the glory days of rizzo were with the cubs and they are now behind yeah, yeah, yeah yeah so, um, so yeah, I, I look at um.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a little bit about Roki Sasaki, who debuted, started the second game. Worth noting if we're not playing in Japan, he doesn't start game two. This is not the number two starter for the Dodgers. I mean we're looking at Blake Snell, tyler Glasnow. There are other guys that domestically would be one and two and three and probably four. Yeah, you know, roki Sasaki is down in the bottom of that rotation.
Speaker 1:Honestly, though, I was skeptical about starting with Roki Sasaki on the big league roster when you didn't have to Right, I thought that I could at least see an argument to be made, for it was better to start him slowly and let him work out some kinks in minor league camp in AAA before he's affecting your big league roster. But I'll be honest, is he a polished finished product? Absolutely not, but I don't think the Dodgers expected him to be that. Yeah, you get the control tighter and he hits the strike zone a little more. This is a really good big league starter at 23 years old, making the league minimum. Oh yeah, I think a lot of other teams would have loved to have roki sasaki as his, as their number two starter yeah you know, yeah, without a doubt.
Speaker 1:So I thought he looked really good. He did that. Splitter is going to be one of the deadliest pitches in the game soon. He's just got to learn to hit the strike zone a little bit more with his fastball. But you know, giving up some walks only gave up one hit striked out. I think three in three innings, yeah, which is pretty damn good. It is out. I think three and three innings, yeah, which is pretty damn good. It is.
Speaker 1:Um, you, you, you take that small sample size and stretch it out over a whole season. You've kind of got blake snell, who we talked about, doesn't get deep into games because he throws a lot of pitches, because he does walk guys, but he walks guys at the expense of giving guys pitches to hit out of the ballpark. If that's what you get out of Roki Sasaki, I think it's a big win because, again, you didn't give this guy a huge contract. This guy was an international amateur free agent that you're paying very little money to. I was very impressed is the point I'm trying to make with roki sasaki's debut. I was too I thought.
Speaker 2:I thought he did a great job and you're right, though he wouldn't got that second spot and if they weren't the location right, you know but I'm glad that he got it.
Speaker 1:I'm glad he was able, you know, and I think nerves had a lot to do with it too, because first inning he was throwing 100 and by inning three he's down where he was last year, more like 95, 96.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is amazing that we're talking about. He loses three miles an hour and that's his downside. You know what I'm saying? Oh yeah, that 96 is like. Well, he wasn't doing so well.
Speaker 1:Well, that's the next thing I was going to say is he doesn't need to throw a hundred to be effective. Um you know, he can throw 95, 96 with that fastball and with that splitter and and his, uh, his stuff, just his pure stuff, is he's going to be just fine. Um, I don't think, I don't think that's a yeah, I don't think that's a problem at all. Moving forward with him in the rotation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, where do you think he's going to end up? Do you think he's going to end up?
Speaker 1:number five I think it's going to depend on health. Yeah, I think if everybody stays healthy, which is probably not going to happen he's no higher than third in line. Yeah, because if everybody's healthy, you've got Snell Yamamoto Glass now ahead of him. Yeah, I think Kershaw comes back and everybody's healthy, kershaw probably slots in even or a little above him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, assuming he doesn't come and start throwing in the United States, way better, because it was just the nerves of his first start and playing in his home country. I mean, he's still a kid, he's 23. And Shohei Otani admitted that he had more nerves than normal, just because they were playing in the Tokyo Dome, of course, and what it means to him and his country and you know that's the thing is, this was massive for baseball in Japan. Did you like the field? What do you mean?
Speaker 2:The way the bases were lined out with the dirt and then that artificial carpet.
Speaker 1:I don't think it made as big a difference as some people might want to believe. No, I'm talking aesthetically. Oh, aesthetically, I thought aesthetically the whole experiment looked great.
Speaker 2:Well, it looked different. I did not like the field. I'm not real big on astroturf. I know it's not exactly astroturf.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah, I get what you're saying.
Speaker 2:It's the new hybrid grass, as they call it, and I've actually, in Atlanta, had that in my hands and it's weird, it's rubber, yeah, and it's really cool. It's a cool feeling to it, but I just did not like how it made it.
Speaker 1:It just the base paths didn't look well there weren't base paths like there are on on major league fields, yeah and that kind of threw me off a little bit. Yeah, I didn't even really notice that at first. I want to say jen pointed that out, yeah, and asked me like why? And I said that's just the way it is over there. And they, they, you know they're not going to change it, just for one game, two games or whatever you know um two games. I mean they can't, that's not feasible.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:They can't tear up the whole field and redo it. You know, that's just.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:But I mean, I don't think the I don't think it had an effect on the game. There were a couple plays where they mentioned the speed of the grass. But you're going to have that differentiation in the united states too, because there's enough difference in, you know, ballpark to ballpark, even with the 30 major league ballparks that um, yeah that, that that can be a conversation. Yeah, um no, I thought it, I thought it looked great and I thought um, the atmosphere was electric. The atmosphere was electric, the atmosphere was electric.
Speaker 2:Now I didn't care for the chanting. Yeah, you mentioned that the chanting got on my nerves, mostly because it got in my head and I was chanting with them and I don't know Japanese, so it got a little weird.
Speaker 1:That wasn't really a factor in the in the, the two games no that was the exhibition regular season games the the exhibition games. They they treated it like home games for the japanese teams and sort of acted the way they would if it was a npb game yeah yeah, yeah I mean, I get it.
Speaker 2:that's their culture, that's what they're supposed to do. I know the cubs broadcasters talked about how quiet it was, and from wrestling I know that the Japanese fans don't cheer until something big happens, right, and that translates to all sports, because they're being respectful to the game. Exactly, yeah, but the Cubs reporters just kept going on about how weird it was that there's no sound. Then, all of a sudden, there's sound and then there's, then it's nothing. Yeah, um, and that's got to be hard when you're you know, you're used to a certain level of noise and you, you could hear a pin drop that's also a large building and and you know from your wrestling background that the um, the sounds of a bigger building.
Speaker 1:It seems like it's quieter than it actually is compared to a smaller building where things bounce to you more easily yeah. My biggest takeaway from the regular season games as far as the crowd was, I've never heard a Japanese crowd for anything boo as unrelentingly as they did when Shohei Otani got intentionally walked. Yeah, they did not like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now they exploded when I think it was Miguel Rojas got walked in the ninth inning of the second game and it was like, oh, now Otani's going to get to bat again. Yeah, you know, yeah, that was fun, that was a lot of fun. Yeah, because the game was pretty in hand. I mean, it wasn't all said and done, but you know, it was mostly a formality is shohei gonna bat again or not? And they got the opportunity to see it and they loved that, which of course they did.
Speaker 2:I think we all want to see shohei back as many times as possible, yeah you know, what I like about shohei is the candid when you think the cameras aren't looking at him. Yeah, and he looks like a little kid.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I've read multiple places, multiple news that, like maybe Shohei was an easy target because personality-wise he is pretty not childish but childlike.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, enjoys the game for the sake of the game.
Speaker 1:Sure and just, I think enjoys life in a very childlike way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because he laughs a lot and I'm real big on players being laughing because it shows their loops.
Speaker 1:And I think maybe that's where you got that the Cubs looked tired is that there was an energy to the Dodgers dugout? Yeah, I can see that that maybe wasn't there for the Cubs and I think that that is just a cultural difference between the two clubhouses well, they showed a lot of clips.
Speaker 2:Taylor McGregor, um, she, uh. T-mac, she, she instagrammed her whole trip. She, yeah, there wasn't nobody happier than her. Yeah, yeah, she was having a blast. She's playing with pigs. She's drinking coffee from the, the big latte place over there. I mean, she's just having a blast, sure, yeah, um, so the cubs went out and did a lot of extracurricular things. Uh, not, you know, they didn't go out and party or anything like that, but they did a lot of touristy things and I think maybe that might have slowed them down a little bit too well, but you also have to remember the dodgers are doing those things too Well, that's true.
Speaker 1:You know, I think if the Cubs were going out and doing that stuff and the Dodgers weren't, it's a conversation, right? But the Dodgers were doing the touristy stuff, and maybe more so from a media standpoint again, because they have the champions.
Speaker 2:They're the champions.
Speaker 1:Well, and they have the bigger star. Yeah, in otani there's more eyes on the dodgers in japan because, you know, not taking anything away from imanaga and say, a suzuki, who are perfectly big enough stars in their own right, but again we're talking about elvis. You know, with joe hayotani we're talking about the fucking beatles. Yeah, I mean this guy. This guy can't go anywhere in america, much less in his home country, where again, his face is everywhere yeah you know, there was, uh, there.
Speaker 1:I don't remember where exactly I heard this, but or read this. But uh, you know, dave roberts took a trip to japan in the off season, yeah, and ran into was a council that he ran into.
Speaker 2:I don't remember, I don't know that part yeah, I think they ran into each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, with the wives they like like literally bumped into each other and was like hey, yeah, but, um, I read this week in the build-up to the to the Shohei Otani, before Dave went over in the off-season, warned him and was like, hey, just so you know, you're going to see a lot of pictures of me. Yeah, you know. And Jake Mintz I'm bringing up the Barbicast a lot, but Jake Mintz from the Barbicast got married over the winter and part of his honeymoon was in japan, okay, and he talked about how the green tea that we saw a lot, you know dodgers, press conferences, they had him on the table, but there's vending machines for that green tea company on like every street corner in in the big cities in japan and shohei otani's face is on like most of those vending machines. Yeah, like he's on every street corner, not to mention everywhere else that you're going to see. Shohei Ohtani, that one company has plastered him everywhere.
Speaker 1:Well, he's the Michael Jordan of Japan, 100%. It's the best comparison I can think of. Yeah, when Michael Jordan is in every Gatorade ad, every McDonald's ad I can think of. Yeah, when Michael Jordan is in every Gatorade ad, every McDonald's ad. Basketball is an international sensation in a way that it had never been until Michael Jordan and the Dream Team. That was a big part of it the 92 Olympics. The NBA American pros are in the Olympics for the first time. As opposed to amateurs. Um, and as opposed to amateurs, and and um it's. It's that same sort of thing in japan that it was here with michael jordan, now with shohei otani yeah, yeah, so t-mac uh was talking about.
Speaker 2:Uh, there are no trash cans in public in japan. It's a very clean nation, yeah, and that it's taken. You take upon yourself to take your own trash home, right? She didn't know that. So her and her broadcast partner I can't remember his name, he's new this year um had lattes and they go to this fish place to get lunch and they throw away their cups in the business's trash can and apparently you don't do that over there. That that's infringing upon somebody else's trash.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And they threw a fit and wouldn't let them go until they purchased something from the fish store for putting the oh, they were just going to pop in to throw their.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because there were no.
Speaker 2:There's no trash can they see a trash can? And? They're immediately right, instinctively cultural difference got it and the japanese people just went ballistic, wow, like no, no, no, you don't do that, you know. And then literally held them hostage almost Until they Until they bought something, yeah, and she got a big kick out of that. She's like, I just didn't know.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, she's like a little girl over there. Sure, she's like seeing everything for the first time, sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Probably never been out of the country.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's great.
Speaker 2:And then the hotel that they were staying in had a petting zoo and they got to sit down and pet the pigs. So there was pictures of her with these pot-bellied pigs sitting with her and them rubbing on the bellies and all that stuff. That was cool. So TMAC had a great weekend.
Speaker 1:I think everybody seemed to have a really good time, at least to some degree. Don't want to compare because we're not there and we're not inside these people's heads obviously.
Speaker 2:They might have been miserable. They may, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think, all in all, this was a huge win for Major League Baseball, a rousing success, a great way to start the season, and there's been some press about people having a problem with the first games of the year being at the time of day they are, and not being domestic. While I guess I understand where that comes from, I think if you can't understand why this is a big deal for MLB and for everybody involved and for the game at large, then maybe you probably should go cover another sport.
Speaker 2:Well, on my Facebook page, Cubcest, a lot of people were like I can't believe I got up at 6 am to watch this happen, and they're like I could have slept in and DVR'd this. They were hot, they were hot. I didn't think it was that big of a deal. They lose two, it's just two games.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of games.
Speaker 2:I fully, am prepared to lose every game to the dodgers this year and it's not going to matter, right?
Speaker 1:I mean it, just that's because every other team in your division is probably thinking the same way. Yeah, about the same number of games that they have to play.
Speaker 2:Yeah, against the dodgers yeah, so yeah, I mean and we talked about that last week they're going to run away with it if they're healthy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, there's no way they can't well, let's talk a little bit about the cubs, because I have one bullet point here that I do want to touch on. Okay, yes, it's the dodgers, but the cubs are gonna have to figure out ways to win games when eminaga and steel are on the. Yeah, they cannot make a habit of losing games when those guys are pitching, and I don't think they will. I think it'll largely be they'll win more than they lose. I guess is what I'm trying to say when Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga pitch. But if you take anything away from this as a team for the Cubs and on that long flight home after losing both games, but if you take anything away from this as a team for the Cubs and on that long flight home after losing both games, it's you've got to find ways to win when your boys are pitching.
Speaker 2:Well, and the name of that game is you've got to produce runs. I mean, you've got all these high-powered bats, You've got all these new guys, these hungry guys, You've got Tucker. You've got all this. They're going to have to score some runs, regardless of whether you're in the Tokyo Dome and facing the world champions. Yeah, 100%, I mean that's fine and all, but you've got all these other teams that you're going to have to score runs and you don't have the excuse of well, they're the Dodgers.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah.
Speaker 2:What happens when you face the Rockies excuse of well, they're the dodgers, right? Well, yeah, you know what happens when you face the rockies.
Speaker 1:Right, you know you gotta score because you'll play the rockies the same number of games you play the dodgers absolutely absolutely you know, the schedule balances out and I think that's probably what jed hoyer, again was trying to say was like don't panic. Don't panic, because our schedule is a little tougher at the beginning. We'll, we'll, fine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's just he's, I think, his problem and I know I gave him a hard time he's not a good interviewer. He doesn't talk very well. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he talks well in meetings and all that, but on air he just sounds like a blithering idiot.
Speaker 1:And you have to. Well, he already doesn't have a lot of good faith in that department. Yeah, you know, especially with cubs fans right now well, he just.
Speaker 2:It's like you can glean what he means, but maybe just once say what you're trying to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, get it out and there's a lot of pressure on him. We've talked a lot about a. That's why he did the things he did this offseason, because in a lot of ways, he's trying to. If he's not saving his job with the Cubs, he's trying to show his worth for the next team that invests in him as a front office leader.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I think he's gone next year Either way. Yeah.
Speaker 1:They win the world series jed hoyer loses his job.
Speaker 2:I, if they got some common sense, yeah. No, if they win the world series, he keeps his job.
Speaker 2:But um, you know, if they don't win the world series, I think he's out of there, even if they win the division yeah, interesting yeah I mean there again there's a lot of pressure because everything he says is is negative in some way or fashion, whether he intends that to be that way or not. Yeah, the overall tone is gosh, I know what he means, but man, that was just really negative. You know, he just sounds like he's. He sounds like he's not into it. He sounds like he's annoyed all the time and he might be. Yeah, you mean. You know, I mean I don't know, I don't do his job. Yeah, I mean I'm annoyed at my job. You know my three crows job. Oh, okay, okay, yeah, I was about.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say uh um, but I don't let it show right right, yeah, must be fucking nice anyways uh professional folk pal in in in closing.
Speaker 1:Do we? Do you have anything else you'd like to say about these two games in japan? Or the exhibition game?
Speaker 1:I'm just glad they're over and we got through them and now let's play the real season okay yeah, I mean I know they're part of the real season I just, I just want you to pre appreciate how little shit talking I'm doing. I know you really are, you're the least and I have every right. I know the way you have behaved to to talk a lot of shit, I know, but that's, that's just not how I operate.
Speaker 1:You're the least shit-talkingest person I know, which sometimes isn't as fun, but which I appreciate, because I really make it a point to not talk shit. I know I like to state facts. Yeah, I like to state facts and let them stand for themselves. Yeah. No, I thought it was great. The whole thing was good. The exhibition games were cool, the series was everything we could have dreamed it would be, at least from my standpoint as the guy who roots for the team that didn't have two of their best players and still went and won both games. Yeah. So more on the Cubs and Dodgers. Of course, as we go along, shall we move on and talk about some other teams, other things going on because there are other teams, you mean.
Speaker 2:You mean there's other things going on in baseball besides the dodgers and the cubs?
Speaker 1:barely barely, barely, trust me as the, as the person who, uh, does all the work to write these shows. There's not a ton going on other than what we just laid out over the last. What?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, we're literally 48 hours into this thing, sure, 72 hours into this thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you know, and we've got domestic opening day in about a week, a week from when we're recording.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the Cubs start out on the road.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the Cubs start out on the road. Yeah, dodgers start at home with the Tigers and the ring ceremony and all that, which is going to be very cool. I'm looking forward to that. One of my favorite things about the way the schedule has fallen this year is that at least one of our guys who has moved on, jack Flaherty, has gone back to the Tigers and he'll get his ring the same time as the guys that are still around.
Speaker 1:So that'll be cool to celebrate with Jay Flair, who very drunkenly at the parade said he didn't ever want to play anywhere else Now he gets to open his season in L playing for somebody jack sit down, pal have another that was kind of the funny thing about the parade is all these guys that were about to be free agents were like I don't ever want to play anywhere else and it's like, yeah, well, we can't bring everybody back, it's not going to work that way they were hoping they're smoking the hopium that they were going to be there the following year.
Speaker 1:So I'd like to introduce a new segment that we're going to have on the show for the season. I wish we had a jingle. Yeah, we might want to work on some jingles for some of these segments, especially this one, because this could get a lot. This could get really fun, especially for me. So if you weren't with us last week, we, we did make our uh, our, our picks for the year, and one of the more interesting picks that was made during that show was your pick, brian, to win the american league, cy young right, and you picked a bit of a dark horse.
Speaker 2:A little bit.
Speaker 1:Someone who MLB social media even picked as one of their dark horses to win the American League, cy Young.
Speaker 2:You got excited when you saw that.
Speaker 1:I did get a little excited because I was like, oh, maybe it's not just Brian. Yeah, you picked the Minnesota Twins' Joe Ryan, yes, so I think we should embark, if you will, on a Joe Ryan watch, sure. So I have done that this week, okay, and this was a little harder to figure out where to get this information, and ultimately it was just on Major League Baseball's website. I have Joe Ryan's spring training stats so far, okay, and I'd like to share those with you. All right, which I made a point to not do until we were actually on the air this week.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm a little worried because I have no idea about what these are.
Speaker 1:Joe Ryan has pitched in three games so far. Okay, he's pitched eight and a third innings. He struck out 13 in pitched eight and a third innings. He struck out 13 in that eight and a third, which was part of what you brought to the table, is he strikes out a lot more than he walks, which is a good thing and a reason to believe somebody can win a Cy Young 23% of the time. He has a 756 ERA score.
Speaker 2:Of course he does.
Speaker 1:He can work on that a little bit. Listen, it's spring training. What does it really even mean? I just thought that was interesting. He's getting warmed up and quite a way to start the Joe Ryan watch.
Speaker 2:What's going to happen is he's going to give up all of his runs now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then just be immaculate the rest of the season.
Speaker 1:I forgot to put that in our Tokyo series talk.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we get to the ninth inning of the second game. Dodgers seem to have this thing pretty wrapped up, and who do the Cubs bring in to pitch the ninth, but their new closer, ryan Presley. And at first I thought, well, what the hell are they doing? And then I thought, well, if this isn't, you know, in Japan, a week before they play any more meaningful games, maybe we do something different. Maybe this is just, you know what, doesn't matter what the score is, we want to get Presley in there to get some work. Then he walks the bases loaded, yeah, and at that point I go, you know what? Maybe this was a good idea. Get it all out of his system, yeah, and I, of course, texted you immediately and shared all of that. Oh, of course. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 2:Well, he's going to have to work a little better, but maybe he did get all those balls out of his system, hopefully. I mean, that's the best we can hope for, right.
Speaker 1:That's the best you can hope for. Yeah, but yeah, the Joe Ryan watch is not off to a fantastic start.
Speaker 2:No, but we're going to keep a watch on him. I mean, the good news is that spring training stat goes away.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it doesn't matter at all.
Speaker 2:No, so the new stat's what's going to matter. Yeah, and he'll be great yeah.
Speaker 1:I think he's going to have a good year? I do too. Do I think he's going to win the Cy Young? Eh, not? Well, a lot, a lot of a lot of chit chat going on, a lot of chatter, yeah, yeah. Well, that's what we do here a lot of rumor and innuendo, a lot of chatter, a lot of chatter. Good grief, every woman in my life is texting me right now yeah, both of them both of them, my mom and my girlfriend.
Speaker 1:Um. So yeah, joe ryan watch will be something we will continue to do as we try to see if Brian is going to be correct about the American League Cy Young situation. Yeah, it's yeah, so that'll be something we.
Speaker 2:I think we're going to be pleasantly surprised by All-Star break at what his numbers are.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't think it'll be surprising if he has good numbers.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But there's a difference in being good and winning the Cy Young, yeah. So more on that as we go along this year. I'm just glad we have things to talk about.
Speaker 2:Other than the Cubs and the Dodgers.
Speaker 1:Well, just at all. Yeah, our first full offseason. As a podcast got a little weird at times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it did.
Speaker 1:We had to really reach to find things to fill an hour or more. Yeah but we're doing great. Now, though, I think. So, yeah, we're off and running. So some other things that came about. This one's really interesting, so I noticed this when it was announced the San Francisco Giants were going to do it, but we have since learned that the Pittsburgh Pirates are also going to do this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the one I saw.
Speaker 1:There is a new concession item. That is also kind of a souvenir item and we love concession item that is also kind of a souvenir item and we love concession items. Oh yeah, we love talking about new concessions and weird concessions and things like that and and souvenirs and, yeah, gimmicks in general, you know we stuff that makes the club extra money for no reason whatsoever, you know, just nostalgia, sure because, at the end of the day, who are we right?
Speaker 1:we're just. I mean the reason. There's a reason this show is called Two Guys Talking Baseball, because that's really all it is. Yeah, we don't claim to be experts, we don't claim to cover the sport in any way. We're just two fans that like the game and like going to games sometimes.
Speaker 1:That's why we like talking about concessions, because we're very, I'm, real big on the hot dog well, we're very regimented on our, our rituals and the way we enjoy concessions and thing and and you know concessions that come with souvenirs, because we always like to capitalize on that if we can yep. You know ice cream helmets. You know I've got some good ice cream. I've got a beer bat at the house from the ashville tourists that you know what am I going to do with that. It's just laying around because you know what do you do? You're going to drink beer out of it.
Speaker 2:I don't drink beer anymore. Oh, that's right, you don't. Well, I'm going to drink beer out of it.
Speaker 1:No, you're not, we're going to need one hell of a straw. So the giants and pirates have introduced the popcorn bat. It is 98 ounces of popcorn, okay, in a souvenir bat, a plastic bat, and you get free refills, and it's at least for the Giants. It's going to cost $22.59.
Speaker 2:A bargain, a bargain.
Speaker 1:So, brian, I have two questions for you about the souvenir popcorn bat. Okay, first off, is this a buy? Yes, $22.59, 98 ounces, free refills. You get to keep the bat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a buy. Yeah, if you're a popcorn nut, I'm not a big popcorn guy at the ballpark because I eat popcorn at home. Okay, so it's not a at the ballpark because I eat popcorn at home. Okay, so it's not a delicacy for me because I eat it at the house. But if I was a popcorn nut, I would totally buy this, and I would probably buy this for the math, just for the sake of having to have it.
Speaker 1:I mean we could prop it up in the corner. You know it'd be something cool to keep and have. And it does come with a. I saw today it comes with a lid If you've got to. You know, if you've got to go a long way to buy it and then get back to your seat, you're not going to lose popcorn. You're going to be able to. You know that's a good thing. You know you don't get that with the beer bat. You're just kind of left to it with the beer bat.
Speaker 2:If Sip and step, sip and step.
Speaker 1:Well, I think I would hang out for a minute, let the foam settle and then take a few drinks, just so there was some wiggle room to travel with it. Yeah, but with the popcorn back, you get the top, you don't have to worry about it. That's a good thing. Yeah, because this is definitely something where you've got to weigh. Am I getting my money's worth? Mm-hmm, and if you lose popcorn, you know, you know, and that also sucks to to have to do to the, the, the ballpark staff that's got to clean up, oh yeah, and everybody else that loses popcorn, and you know, there's just popcorn every damn where. Yeah, um, well, there's gonna be popcorn everywhere.
Speaker 1:Anyway, sure, fair enough, it just happens, fair enough um, I have, I've, I've been known, uh, because the the johnson city games you can get popcorn. Um, they don't have any kind of souvenir souvenir, but it's like you get the little bag for a buck or two and then you got the big thing for like five bucks, which is a pretty cool thing and I've been known to get that Well.
Speaker 2:I mean $22 for popcorn, considering it's 98 ounces that's a lot of popcorn. I know you can't see this at the house, but um, I mean it's it's pretty big, three feet, pretty sizable at least.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's. It's actually bigger than like an actual bag. Yeah, you know, because it's got to be wider to fit all that popcorn. And you know, and you're right, 98 ounces of popcorn, it's a lot of damn popcorn, yeah, and if you can fill it up, and you know, here's the thing if you're feeding two or three people or more, you know, a family with Now, we're seven, eight years old, she ate on that popcorn the whole month.
Speaker 2:She stayed with my aunt and uncle. That girl would love this deal. She would be all about it. She ate some stale popcorn forever. Yeah, but she was happy to have it.
Speaker 1:I don't want stale popcorn. I don't either. I want it to be fresh. Yeah, me too. Buttery, yeah, oh, yeah, it's got to be buttery. Yeah, gotta be right. Okay, here's my other question does this become a problem, without a doubt, when people eat the popcorn and then they have this big club it's?
Speaker 2:I mean, when you eat all the popcorn, that's what it is, it's a club, yeah and you know I mean we're sitting at the ball, me and you and I've ate 98 ounces of popcorn, the very first thing I'm going to do.
Speaker 1:Is hit me in the head with it.
Speaker 2:Is hit you right, smack dab in the head with it. Yeah, just at least once, for the sake of it.
Speaker 1:Well, you got to do it, I'm, I'm fucked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're getting beat to death I'm getting killed with this, this bat so yeah, there's gonna be some problems with these bats yeah, it's gonna be an issue um I mean, can you imagine the, the, the seven or eight year old kid that gets it and gets excited? They're gonna be hitting everybody, oh yeah and each other and but that's that's the fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. Joe Blow's sitting there trying to watch the game and some eight-year-old just whops him between the eyes with a bat. What do you do? I mean, it's not like you can hit him back. What do you do? I mean, now you've got to go schlep up there and get a bat of your own so you can sword fight him, and you've got to eat the 98 ounces of popcorn to where you can get into it. Yeah, I mean these things are selling themselves.
Speaker 1:I think we're doing a great job of commercial for them.
Speaker 2:Yes, Really.
Speaker 1:I mean, we're not going to any Pirates or Giants games this year to do it ourselves.
Speaker 2:No, if I'm in Pittsburgh, if y'all see on social media that I'm in Pittsburgh, call somebody, I've been kidnapped.
Speaker 1:I think we could say the same for San Francisco. Without it, I'm definitely not going to San Francisco. Probably more, probably more so I at least could make the most out of a trip to Pittsburgh. I got a friend or two in that city, yeah, you know, and I've actually heard that both ballparks are good experiences.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've heard that about the Pirates.
Speaker 1:But the Pirates most of the time is one of the top two or three for most people that have been to a lot of ballparks and Pittsburgh's one of them. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know, Maybe we'll go to Pittsburgh at some point. Take this show on the road.
Speaker 1:I don't know, pal. I don't know about that. We're going to hit every ballpark. I don't know about that.
Speaker 2:We're going to hit every ballpark.
Speaker 1:Let's start with Greenville. Let's see if we can get to a game in Greenville which is like right down the road.
Speaker 2:Yeah, knoxville's even completely out of the question. We're not even going to Knoxville.
Speaker 1:The second that it was even a possibility that the Cubs were going to move their double-A team to Knoxville, maryville. Yeah, myrtle, you were like ain't happening, I'm done, ain't happening, it's too far and it's not a good drive.
Speaker 2:No, it's not a good drive. You got to go through campus for UT. You got to go by the airport.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we're talking the other side of Knoxville.
Speaker 2:The other side of Knoxville.
Speaker 1:And this side with Paper Mill that's a road is just horrendous to get through, yeah, and that's nowhere near maryville. Yeah, yeah, we got it. We got to deal with the entire city of knoxville at some point, yeah, to get to these games.
Speaker 2:Um, you also were concerned with the quality of the neighborhood that this ballpark is going yeah, it is not the most righteous neighborhood that they're in um, which is why they got all the tax breaks and everything to move in. And I get that, I understand. But you know, for me I moved here from West Virginia with the goal of going to the Smokies.
Speaker 1:And we've done that quite a bit, considering all the factors that determine how many games we get to go to total, and we made it a point most of the time to at least once or twice.
Speaker 2:Well, we had opening day there for a couple of years in a row. Yeah, went with the school kids. They didn't even want to sell us tickets because I had the passes, yeah, and my season tickets, and they were like you want to use it today Because it's school day. There's like 3,000 kids here. They were like you want to use it today because it's school day. There's like 3 000 kids here like it's opening day. Of course, I don't care who's here. Yeah, I just want to see opening day baseball, but not this year. I mean, 26 minutes from my living room chair to my chair at 107 in the old park, compared to 26 minutes now, will just get me to Pigeon Porch, right, and much less the other hour to get to the park. It's just not happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah. It was a shame and I mean I'll be honest. I mean there's not a good track record with minor league baseball in Knoxville.
Speaker 2:No, there's not.
Speaker 1:Because it's something we've done before, yep. And they move it to Kodak, which is right there in the great little touristy area, and I always said look, my mark of a good minor league ballpark at any level is does it feel like the level it is or does it feel like a higher?
Speaker 2:level yeah.
Speaker 1:And to me, smoky Stadium, the staff, the food options, the atmosphere, overall it always felt bigger than a park. It did, yeah, and you know it's a tourist area because we're talking about pigeon forge, severe volgatlinburg area and I think at that point, yeah, you want season tickets because there's a certain, you know, financial benefit to be selling a lot of season tickets and having a good regular crowd and you're going to have that everywhere at some level. But I think, always having that touristy crowd to draw from and to be able to promote that as part of the tourist experience in that area. I don't know, man, we'll see. I believe in boyd sports, yeah, the owners, yeah, because, look, they've done a lot of good for the appalachian league right which is my league.
Speaker 1:Um you know, I don't know man, we'll see.
Speaker 2:We'll see how it goes yeah, I just think I mean they're going to get a whole new. I mean they're going to get a whole new audience because the knoxville people that wouldn't go to kodak will now be coming right, but you're also not going to get any of the same crowd that you had before.
Speaker 1:I don't know, it's a whole different thing.
Speaker 2:My 107 section was season ticket holders and we all knew each other. Yeah, Because we saw each other every game. I mean, my wife and the seating lady are like best friends because they talk so much at the game. Yeah, you know that's not going to happen now. You know we don't know when we're going to see Lisa again. Yeah, and she's a sweetheart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we'll see how it goes, you know, from afar. I don't know that we'll ever go to games there. Yeah, you've made a pretty good case for never going.
Speaker 2:Well, unless we're already in Knoxville, and I mean, what the hell do we go to Knoxville?
Speaker 1:for Not Maryville at least. No, I mean, I'm talking if we go to Knoxville, it's not.
Speaker 2:I mean they could have moved this to the Green Valley Skating Center and had Tom Pritchard promoted, and we're still not going.
Speaker 1:All right. So a couple more things before we get out of here that I want to mention. I saw that the Oakland Ballers, who we're huge believers in independent team in the Pioneer League, which is a partner league. A big part of their whole existence has to do with what's going on with baseball in Oakland and I think they're doing a better job than you might really believe they could at preserving baseball in Oakland at some level professional baseball in Oakland. They announced that on April 2nd they're going to play the California League, which is single A San Jose Giants in what is going to be called the Battle of the Bay 2.0. It will mark the first time that an affiliated team plays a partner league team, which is kind of a newer thing, but it will be the first. I think the ballers are going to do a really good job of promoting this. I think they're going to do a good job of making this a bigger deal than it really has to be. So I think it's a cool thing, yeah, and it gives people in the bay area baseball fans in the bay area a reason to come out to the ballparks and, yeah, um, support these teams more than I guess they would normally, right, um, you know, and you know something else uh, while we've got the oakland ballers, uh, on the show which we always love doing, absolutely, you know something we really want to be able to spotlight. They've added a lot of pretty interesting, notable people to celebrities, to their ownership group. Okay, so there's interest in this team, which is good, because that means there's money coming in, right. So, yeah, very cool, it is cool.
Speaker 1:Battle of the Bay, april 2nd If you're in the Bay Area and we got a lot of Bay Area ties, you know, that's part of the reason we're on the air with this show with Pirate Flag, yeah, is the ties to baseball in the Bay Area. You know, mike Vanik, our czar with Pirate Flag, our fearless leader, our fearless leader, that's a good way to put it Big, big baseball fan from the Bay Area. So that's cool. And then also okay, so the way the Major League Baseball schedule is put together, every team in the AL has to have what they refer to as a rival team in the AL Dodgers, angels, yankees, mets, cubs, white Sox, yada, yada, and so on, so on. Well, then you've got the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres, yeah, in an effort to rationalize this as a rivalry game. For a long time, these games, this series, this season series between the Mariners and the Padres, has been referred to as the Vedder Cup, after Eddie Vedder, which is very strange.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll get to that, Okay. Who has lived in both San Diego and Seattle. Very celebrated musician, rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2:Huge baseball fan.
Speaker 1:Huge baseball fan. Well, they've made this official Now. The season series between the Padres and the Mariners is officially the Vedder Cup, series between the Padres and the Mariners is officially the Vedder Cup, and the winner of that series every year is going to get a trophy that includes a guitar from Eddie Vedder. Here's my thing. I thought Eddie Vedder was a Cubs guy.
Speaker 2:I know right Very strange, just you know, very, very strange. I thought that he lived under the bleachers at Wrigley during the summer. Right, he's just like a hermit under there and you drag him out every day for the ball game.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's why they haven't had any new music in decades is because he's too busy at the ballpark.
Speaker 1:Who hasn't had new music in decades?
Speaker 2:Fucking Eddie Vedder pearl jam just put out a record last year. Oh yeah, I missed it. It was celebrated.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's the name of it or don't know. It's a highly talked about, highly regarded, highly celebrated record. Okay, all right, because it's pearl jam.
Speaker 2:Okay, uh, don't try to talk about music, man I don't know enough about music, but but I was not aware that they put that out.
Speaker 1:That's the understatement of the week.
Speaker 2:I thought you were ready for this. I thought 10 was their last album. Okay, hang on. I know they had more than that. Yeah, I'm going to find out how many, because I don't know.
Speaker 1:Vamp for the people. Look up the Pearl Jam discography. There are pearl jam fans going. You don't know this. Like what is wrong with?
Speaker 2:I know we're gonna get boycotted by all the uh the pearl jam fans.
Speaker 1:Oh, just wait my, my eddie vetter story.
Speaker 2:Uh, that I'm gonna tell okay it's probably gonna run way more but yeah, it's very weird that these two teams are calling it that. I wasn't aware that he was fans of of those two teams did you realize 10 was their first record?
Speaker 1:I know they have put out 11 studio albums since 10. Well, that makes sense. Oh, I feel bad for not being able to know that right off the bat, but here we are okay. So I'm working in a restaurant back in the day. It's a very busy restaurant at the time and you know when you're just first off, restaurant work is tough work, as you know, Brian, from your one day in the industry.
Speaker 2:You got eight hours and I was like I don't know how you do it.
Speaker 1:You said that for a long time after that.
Speaker 2:New respect for people after that. You know there's a lot of times where things happen and then you experience things and you're like, oh, I got a new respect. No, no, no, I had a real respect of how the hell do you all do this? Yeah. I was in bed for two weeks after working one eight-hour shift.
Speaker 1:I could not move after working one eight-hour shift I could not move. So when you do that every day for a living, 40 hours a week or more, or whatever, you got to find ways to stay sane and keep from killing each other.
Speaker 1:So you come up with games. Okay, we would, if you've seen the movie Super Troopers, the meow game. We'd play the meow game with tables. How many meows can you get in before they notice? We would play this game called Assassin, where I would just go to a random employee and go you have to kill Steve with I don't know a turkey baster, and you got to do it in the dining room. So their goal would then be to do that. They'd have to get a turkey baster, touch Steve with it, and if they pulled that off, they then would give an assignment to Steve. Okay, now Steve has to kill Debbie in the office with I don't know a piece of turkey.
Speaker 2:I don't know, you know whatever.
Speaker 1:One of the things we would do is a song would come on and somebody got to go. What if Eddie Vedder sang this song? So then everybody would try to sing the song that was on, as Eddie.
Speaker 2:Vedder yeah.
Speaker 1:That was one of our great games. So yeah, the Vedder Cup is now official. The Vedder Cup and this has apparently been a thing for years Is he going to be there to present it. I hope so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, what a disappointment Wearing his Cubs hat, because he's wore what looks like the same Cubs hat for years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, probably decades. Yeah, the Vedder Cup, the Vedder Cup. It doesn't really roll off the tongue. No, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't. All right.
Speaker 2:Well, what else you got this week? Well, I want to give a shout out to the Princeton High School Tigers for their season opener yesterday. They won 19 to 1. Wow, every batter in the starting lineup had a hit and scored a run at least one, nice, they did excellent and they're going to be playing greenbrier east tonight. I will be watching that game. Uh, would have watched it yesterday if you'd have got your streaming shit together. But you guys think you know what you're doing with it and you don't like, like you're like, you've got a flawless run with well, they locked.
Speaker 2:They did the first inning and I watched. And, uh, the second inning the catcher came to the almost the plate and it locked up, oh okay. So I inquired about said locking up and I was told by a good friend of ours that they think they know exactly what they're doing and that they will not take any help on how to stream games.
Speaker 1:So I'm a little hot. Not that your said friend has any experience in streaming live sports.
Speaker 2:That's the thing is. They laughed at him to his face when he said, hey, how about let's do it this way? And they said they knew what they were doing, so not to mention their commentating was horrible, oh gosh. But tonight we've got Greenbrier East, which is a bigger school. It's better technology and everything. So I'm really looking forward to see Jackson and Lester play tonight. The starting right fielder.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've got one of our kids you know Three Crows Entertainment kids playing for that team for that varsity team starting, and that's very cool man. We've been big supporters of Jackson for a while now Long time. Long time years. We've done everything we can to support his baseball dreams, camps and equipment yeah and whatever we could do for him. We've always done you know, and, and even if it was just a pat on the back or hey, we noticed, you know, and he's always appreciative.
Speaker 2:He's a great kid, yeah, good kid, a little lazy on going to the pharmacy, but that's another story. As you know, he had to take a nap before the game yesterday. You, prima donna, make sure you get your beauty sleep, you're 15. What more sleep do you need? I'm 50 and could use, you know, hours more sleep.
Speaker 1:So yeah, very cool, yeah, shout out to Jackson and his team.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you guys did a great job yesterday.
Speaker 1:Good for them, man. Hope they keep that up. Hope they win 19-1 every game. Yeah, you guys did a great job yesterday. Good for them, man. Hope they keep that up. Hope they win 19-1 every game. Yeah, that'd be really cool. Yeah, go win a state. Yeah, absolutely, or you know, just win tonight, just win.
Speaker 2:Just have fun.
Speaker 1:Have fun. Yeah, and have fun. Have fun, you're kids. Yeah, to hell with winning. Just have a good time, take a nap, take a nap.
Speaker 2:That's what matters. To hell with going to the farm. I mean the meds only keep you alive. I mean you know.
Speaker 1:All right, well, yeah, thanks as always for listening. Today was a lot of fun. It was fun. It was a good episode. I needed a good one. Absolutely. I didn't feel good about last week's episode.
Speaker 2:Listen to last week's episode and as far as episodes go, it wasn't as good as some others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it was still good. Yeah, I guess I just got worked up, because you know.
Speaker 2:You got a little silly.
Speaker 1:It was a big one and I just how do I put this Shit to bed? Okay, wow, thanks pal no. All right, I'm just kidding, you did good. Thanks, pal no.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm just kidding. You did good. You just got a little silly. It wasn't that bad.
Speaker 1:It really wasn't. I wasn't in my, I wasn't in a good headspace last week and I felt like it, I don't know. Anyways, thanks for listening, thanks to Power Flag Radio for having us, and if you like what you hear, I don't know, listen again. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Listen again. Yeah, we'll be here each and every week. Yeah, talking baseball.
Speaker 1:Whether you like it or not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, talking popcorn, t-mac throwing things away in the trash, I mean riveting, riveting radio. Great stuff, great stuff, great stuff.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, we'll talk to you next week. For Brian, I'm Dallas. We'll see you at the ballpark.
