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 44
Pour yourself a cold one and pull up a seat as Dallas Danger and Brian Logan dive headfirst into baseball's early-season surprises. At the forefront: the Chicago Cubs, who've stunned the league by dominating the toughest schedule in baseball with a 16-10 record that includes sweeping the mighty Dodgers.
"They haven't weathered the storm—they ARE the storm," Logan declares as they break down the Cubs' historic offensive output (163 runs in 26 games, second-most in franchise history). Pete Crow-Armstrong's defensive wizardry and Kyle Tucker's MVP-caliber play have transformed Chicago into what might be baseball's most complete team.
The Dodgers conversation takes a different tone, with both hosts agreeing the defending champs are built for October, not April. While some might worry about Shohei Ohtani's recent performance, his numbers still dwarf most players' career bests. Meanwhile, Teoscar Hernandez continues delivering clutch hits with seemingly effortless preparation that drives his teammates crazy.
Between innings, our hosts serve up laughs while dissecting outrageously priced ballpark food offerings. Is Miami's $85 "Ultimate Hot Dog Tower" worth the splurge? What about Dodger Stadium's $40 sixteen-inch "Slugger" hot dog? Their verdict might surprise you.
The episode closes with a heartwarming story about the Oakland Ballers independent team receiving a decommissioned BART train car that the departing A's had previously declined. "The Ballers are Oakland's team now," Dallas observes, suggesting the city should partner with them to finally give Rickey Henderson the statue he deserves.
Don't miss this episode packed with early-season analysis, food talk, and authentic baseball passion from two guys who live and breathe America's pastime!
Hello everyone, welcome inside the Three Crows Studios in Morristown, Tennessee. This is the latest edition of Two Guys Talking Baseball. Dallas Danger with you once again, and we got a lot of fun stuff to talk about today, so I'm going to go ahead and pitch it to my best friend and colleague, the sea lion Brian.
Speaker 2:Logan, it's been a great week for baseball. I'm so excited with what's going on in the National League, I just can't state it. I'm so excited, uh, with what's going on in the in the national league. I, I just can't state it. I'm so excited. How the hell have you been?
Speaker 1:I've been busy. Yeah, I've been busy. I've unfortunately not been able to watch as much baseball as I would like right uh recently, but I think you're watching enough for both of us these days I'm watching all kinds of baseball so so tell me, what have you been watching? What have you? What have you uh?
Speaker 2:observed. Well, yes, I watched the cubs and the dodgers, which we'll talk about here in a second yeah, we'll get to that.
Speaker 2:But I watched the orioles play the nationals last night because it was a travel day for both my teams, right, and I couldn't, I think, uh, the rays were playing somebody I didn't like, so I I couldn't, I couldn't take that, okay. So so I went with Orioles and nationals, cause Ashley likes the Orioles and she was going to watch it. Anyway. It was a two to one affair and nothing happened. And I mean nothing, nothing a walk and a double. That's what happened, nothing. I was ready to poke my eyes out. I was getting mad. Ashley was like why are you so mad? And I'm like, because this game is terrible. And she's like turn it. And I said I only got an inning left, I'm not bailing out in the ninth.
Speaker 1:So here's what I want to know what do you got against the Diamondbacks? Because that's who the Rays were playing. Oh, it was, because it played at 940.
Speaker 2:Oh, the timing of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Because I ended up going to bed a little later, but still early before midnight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you were up bright and early this morning 430. Wow, yeah, ashley decided to get up at 4 30 and we got a new rule that, with her work and my schedule, we get up at the same time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your schedule or like their own. Hey, man, I got a lot of stuff I gotta do in the day, yeah, a lot of games to watch, a lot of games to watch, a lot of tv to get in. And uh, I mean, I, I am a amateur tv expert. I'm not gonna say I'm a professional expert at it because I haven't written a book about it yet.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, you've never made a buck from your.
Speaker 2:TV expertise. Right, but I got some TV expertise. It's true, you know a thing or two about a thing or two I do. I have watched some television. We've produced a little television.
Speaker 1:We have produced a lot of TV. Nobody's ever seen it, no. So we've produced a little television.
Speaker 2:We have produced a lot of TV. Nobody's ever seen it. No, no, I mean my internet. Internet movie database is very impressive and it should be updated.
Speaker 1:I was going to say mine would be great if somebody would update it.
Speaker 2:Um, so that's one of my projects I'm working on how long?
Speaker 1:have you heard that Four years? Yeah, yeah, three Crows Entertainment.
Speaker 2:We're very professional folk over here we'll get to it someday, but yeah, it's not even half of what I've worked on. Yeah, because I my last two movies aren't even on there. I gotta put them on there, so but uh but yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.
Speaker 1:Well, great radio so far Riveting, riveting. So what was so bad about Orioles and Nationals?
Speaker 2:It was just a pitcher's duel and they weren't very offensive on either side. Yeah, and it just. When I say nothing happened, I mean nothing. Nothing at all. No sparse hits, no home run. I mean, I think there was a home run, but that was it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's be honest, you've been a little spoiled with the Cubs. I have this juggernaut offense, six runs a game, hitting them all over the place, running all over everybody.
Speaker 2:I know, I know they're looking incredible. Before we go any further, I would like to just add this oh, here we go. I have a broom in my hand, and you might wonder why. It's because the Cubs just swept the Dodgers.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. Two-game sweep which, if you'll remember, the Dodgers did to the Cubs, to start the year Right, right, right.
Speaker 2:But I got my trusty broom for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fantastic, fantastic, had that thing hidden. You did. I knew nothing about this damn broom.
Speaker 2:And a visual prop is great for radio.
Speaker 1:Well, you got me a little excited. You turned away from the microphone. I was like, does he have a present for me?
Speaker 2:or something I do.
Speaker 1:It's a broom, fucking broom. So Cubs do win the season series over the Dodgers. They look great and had great luck. And here's the thing Not that long ago we were talking about quotes from Jed Hoyer about everybody needs to be patient. Let us get through April. We've got a tough schedule. We've got a lot of good teams we've got to play and I mean the damn Cubs with the toughest schedule and I don't even think that's a conversation. I mean I think they very easily have had the toughest schedule they have. They're 16-10. There's two teams in all of the majors with more wins than them.
Speaker 2:That's it, and they're leading in every category, and if they're not leading in every category, they're second, but they are leading in most, yeah.
Speaker 1:Just incredible baseball being played by the Cubbies right now. Yeah, really. And here's the thing I know lots of people are probably a little surprised by that. I am not at all surprised. I've been sitting in this chair for two years, right waiting for this to happen. Yeah, I mean, I've had way too much faith in the Cubs for a long time and all they've done so far is let me down. And now they're world beaters. And again I want to go back to you know, they just needed a couple impact guys. Yeah, kyle Tucker.
Speaker 2:I think right now Kyle Tucker is probably the national league mvp yeah, I agree, I agree he is really bringing it and just just, he's just playing ball man, he's just doing his thing. I don't want to say effortlessly, because nothing is, you know that Right, but it's damn near close.
Speaker 1:Well, he's just a pure hitter to begin with, Always has been. Yeah. And just you know, in Houston he was just overshadowed by all the guys that won all the World Series Right, All the stuff in Houston, you know the Altuves and Jordan Alvarez.
Speaker 2:Which is the first time Altuve has ever overshadowed anyone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are bugs that put a shadow over that guy.
Speaker 2:Does he carry a stepstool everywhere just so he can look you in the eyes? I don't know. I mean, he'd just about have to right Well.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to have to go here, but I don't know that he's the type of guy that'll look you in the eyes, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, a little shady, a little shifty. Well yeah, Cheating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I don't like him either.
Speaker 2:Anyways, Don't tell him about Banning.
Speaker 1:Anyways, kyle Tucker looking great, but you know who else is looking great Is.
Speaker 2:Jed Hoyer. Jed Hoyer looks like he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1:Because that PCA trade is going to potentially go down as the most lopsided trade in Cubs history. Yep, I mean, they didn't give up anything for him. No, and I remember at the time going you know, prospect trades are prospect trades, they're going to happen. But I was kind of like what are the mets doing here letting this guy go? Because at the time the mets were, and they're still, working in this direction and it's going pretty well for the mets. But they were talking about building what the dodgers have. Yeah, we're gonna spend money at the big league level, but we're gonna build from the ground up with the farm system and the development. Yeah, and they're doing that. I'm not saying the Mets have failed in that regard, but can you imagine the Mets if they had PCA right now? Oh, yeah, I mean they'd be world beaters.
Speaker 2:Anybody to have PCA right now?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about PCA. He's doing great and you know it's funny. I wrote a bunch of notes for PCA and I left them on my phone and they're not in the studio, so I'm going to wing it Well, I got some stats for you. Okay, good, hit me with the stats, because hopefully they're the same ones 148 OPS+.
Speaker 1:He is almost 50% better than the league average hitter right now. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's a good thing, that's a great thing.
Speaker 1:He's really dialing it in Five homers ten stolen bases and that stolen base number is just going to keep going up.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Because he's running all over everything he said he's I think it was 58. They asked him how many bases he was going to steal this year in spring training and he came up with 58. 58.
Speaker 1:I think he might do better than that. I think he might do better than that he might. He might I mean the way the rules have changed and the way the game has kind of evolved the last couple years. I mean Ellie De La Cruz stole what 66 last year, or something like that. I mean I think PCA can get 60.
Speaker 2:Well, it's interesting, me and Ashley watched Hap's podcast this morning for the first time. Okay, and it's really good. It's called the Compound, it's very, very good. It's him and his two buddies, but they were talking about guys who have a little psycho in them in baseball and how that makes it so fun. Yeah, yeah, because they're a little off the page. And Hap said PCA's got a little off the page. And they said and hap said pca's got a little bit of that in him. Yeah, and you can see it in his eyes when he runs. Yeah, yeah, he's in total control yeah, man he's.
Speaker 1:He's a little crazy, yeah, but in a good way, oh yeah, so you know we're talking about the stolen bases, and the defense is another big quality of pA 1.8 war already. Yeah, almost a two-war player, and we're not even out of April. Yeah, I mean this could be a really historically good season for PCA if he keeps this up.
Speaker 2:Well, and I said this last week that they are saying that he is the number one defensive player in all of baseball. Wow, by the numbers that, he's better defending center field than any other center fielder. Wow, yeah, so that's awesome yeah, he's.
Speaker 1:He's just been everything the cubs could have hoped for, and more oh yeah, so far, without a doubt and and you know, talking about the overall offense, uh cubs scored 163 runs in their first 26 games. That's the second most in franchise history, behind the 1929 Cubs who scored 179. And here's the thing. The game looked real different in 1929.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's an incredible stat.
Speaker 1:Pitching was not what it is now. No, you know what I mean. That's an incredible stat. Pitching was not what it is now. No, you know what I mean. Yeah, I mean they were basically throwing softball lobs back then, compared to what these guys are facing now and again. They're doing this against, you know, the best teams in the world. I mean they've played, they've already played, a ton of games against the National League West, the Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks, who are all looking like playoff teams right now. This Cubs team is. I mean, you've got to be loving this. I am.
Speaker 2:Every day is an excitement, and the Cubs groups on Facebook. We all know about the dreaded eighth inning. Yeah Well, now that's where we about the dreaded eighth inning. Yeah Well, now that's where we're scoring all of our runs. Yeah, and that's been the problem. I don't care about pitching, I don't care about how many hits you're getting. The problem was is that we would be ahead, sometimes by 10 runs, and we'd go into the eighth and we would lose it by 15. Right, and they have clogged that hole up. Yeah, lose it by 15. Right, and they have clogged that hole up. Yeah, and it's like they get excited for the eighth inning. There's a t-shirt from simple, uh, tees, uh, about the eighth inning. So, yeah, so that's become a big deal now. Yeah, obvious, shirts, obvious yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:They look very simple, correct?
Speaker 2:that's why I called them simple shirts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, obvious tees Big Cub supporter company. They do other team stuff, but if they could just do Cub stuff and get away with it I think they would.
Speaker 2:Well, usually it's just a saying yeah. It's just a sentence on his t-shirt yeah, with the Cubby blue. And they're great.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know they're awesome. I like them. Yeah, they're great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know they're awesome. I like them, yeah. So here's the real conversation I think we need to talk about with the Chicago Cubs right now. Again, they're 16-10. They're pretty clearly the best team in their division, which, if things go like they have been, the only team that's going to make the playoffs out of the Central is who wins the division and that very going to make the playoffs out of the central is who wins the division, and that very much looks like the cubs right now. They're scoring all these runs.
Speaker 1:The pitching is getting the job done and that's the thing. If you've got the best offense in the game, you don't need supreme pitching. You just need pitching that keeps you in games and lets the offense do what they do. To your point about the eighth inning just don't screw it up for the offense, and that's what they're doing. I think there's a very strong case right now, and this is I mean, listen, we're way early in the year, but this is what we do. We just blabber on about baseball. Are the cubs the best team in baseball right now?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think they are, I think they've shown they are, but let's not get carried away. Okay, there's still august and july you know, there's the may the whole pittsburgh series still. I mean because we'll go up and drop six to Pittsburgh for no reason whatsoever. I mean so don't get carried away. But yeah, we are the best team in baseball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, by far I tend to agree. I mean again, we talked at the beginning of the year. Put that away.
Speaker 1:He's got the broom back out since, no one can see us um, we talked at the outset about this, this april schedule, and how they were going to have to weather the storm and they were going to have to overcome all these good teams and and just like one tough series after another, and they have not weathered the storm. They are the storm. I mean, this is just incredible. I think Craig Council is finally earning his paycheck a little bit. I think Jed Hoyer is earning his paycheck because he's put this team together and you know, Jed Hoyer might have gotten himself an extension If this team doesn't completely blow it. You know, over the course of the next what six months.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think Jed Hoyer might be back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he stays, I agree, because he's put together such a great team, especially if they pick somebody up at the break.
Speaker 1:Well, if they pick up a pitcher at the deadline, you know, because we're still without justin, still for the season, and that's a big blow to that pitching staff because he's an idiot well, that's neither here nor there.
Speaker 2:Stay on the mound, throw the ball, catch it back when the catcher throws it right and then don't touch the fucking thing. Okay, that's why you have eight other people behind you is so they can go get the ball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Anyways, they go and get a pitcher at the deadline to fill out that rotation, you know if they can get a one, two or three, somebody who's going to start games in the postseason and give you good innings in the postseason, and then everybody else stays healthy, to start games in the in the postseason and give you, give you good innings in the postseason, um, and then everybody else stays healthy and and let's think about this and then the miracle happens and they actually re-sign kyle tucker. Yeah, there's no reason to let jed hoyer walk there was.
Speaker 2:No, there's not. There was a meme going around saying go ahead and give him $600 million and let's just go ahead and sew up next year with Tuck.
Speaker 1:I mean yeah, but here's the thing, Are we back to? Hoyer gets handcuffed by the Ricketts.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm glad you said that, because the next thing out of my mouth was going to be this there's another rumor going around that they're going to put $600 million into redoing the field again, redoing the stadium and making it more modern. Yeah, I don't want the stadium more modern. I don't want them, because here's why I've obviously never been there and I love the modern stadiums like Atlantalanta and cincinnati and stuff like that but I don't want them to screw with the field or the wall right, and I'm scared they're going to do something and some, some person is going to mess up the field or the wall. Yeah, you know the. The thing with uh, this the dodger series is two of those home runs would have only been a home run in wrigley because of the basket. Yeah, and that's what makes her unique.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Is the wind and her basket and the the uh, uh Ivy I mean she.
Speaker 1:Well, and let's, let's be honest, it's also what's behind that Ivy. Yeah, Cause it ain't a big. It ain't a big pad. Yeah, it's brick. Yeah, yeah. I remember when Cody Bellinger first came over. He learned very quickly. You can't dive into that wall like you did at Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it doesn't give it all. No, it doesn't give it all. And you know, I love when the ivy's not there, but I love when it's there too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know I like it both know it's spring is in full bloom and it's it's officially. Baseball's time is when that green ivy covers those walls, yeah absolutely, which will be within a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'll be, it'll be full blown, but, yeah, those two home runs would have only been in that park and that's saying a lot because, um, you know, cincinnati is small, dodger stadium is small. Um, again, we've talked about that before that they're a home run park, but they're a pitcher's park right up until you hit the home run, sure, um, so you know they're in good company, but that is just amazing and good luck on our part well, the thing, the thing about dodger stadium it is a pitcher's ballpark, but you're also in the desert, yeah.
Speaker 1:so you're going to have a lot of really warm nights where that ball is just going to carry out of there, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, that's like Wrigley with the wind. You know she decides the play of the day. Sure, if she don't want home runs, you're not going to hit one, I don't care who you are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not going to go out because yeah, um, but if it's blowing out, I'm pretty sure I could hit a home run when it blows out, are you sure?
Speaker 2:not if they threw you a curveball. Well, no, no, I would.
Speaker 1:I'd have to eliminate the curveball option oh, goodness, goodness, gracious, speaking of guys that, uh, this is a tangent, but that's going to be okay because I said so. Um, speaking of guys that can't hit a curveball, what about jock peterson? Oh for, I think he's up to, oh, for 41, yeah, at this point, yeah, it's bad, it's, it's not looking good and and there was a lot of fanfare and a lot of people, a lot of people gave the rangers grief for the fanfare that jock peterson got, because since jock left the dodgers, he's kind of been jumping around yeah, more than one team a year at times, or just like one year deals and and was predominantly a right-hand killer yeah, a right-hand fastball killer, for being more specific. So he gets this deal, they, they do the press conference, they, they make it out like a big stars coming and I love that, because I love me some jock peterson always have always will yep um another guy that's got some crazy in him yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean it takes a special kind of dude to to wear pearls well in a baseball game, you know and getting into a real tangent.
Speaker 2:And, um, I know, when I go into the locker room for wrestling I don't want to sit with the normal guys, right, because they're boring yeah I want to sit right next to the troublemaker. Yeah, not to help the trouble, just so I get a front row seat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah you know well, I think Jock will turn it around.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I don't think this is. It's still early.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, and that's the thing. If he's Jock, like we're used to seeing in April and May, and he does this in June, I don't think it's as big of a conversation. He just doesn't have the padding of more season to make that 0 for 40 look better right you know? Um, just, and and here's the worst part every time anybody shares his stat line and his 0 for streak, they use that awful picture of him with the thing on his head. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:It's just not a good picture of jock, let me ask you a question. A question let's say that you played ball right now, as you are, somehow you make it on the team with the skills you have. Do you think you can go better than 0 for 41?
Speaker 1:Here's the thing. I think in my current shape I would have to be a knuckleball pitcher and I wouldn't be hitting.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, I think that I could get on once. Yeah, maybe not anymore, but I think I could get on once. You could go one for 40? I think I'd go one for 40.
Speaker 1:Against Major League Pitching right now.
Speaker 2:I think because of all averages.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you would think law of averages, a guy that you're used to seeing hit would get one, Right?
Speaker 2:You know, something just says that I think I could get at least one hit. Wouldn't that be funny to watch.
Speaker 1:If anyone listening knows a recently retired Major League pitcher. We got a funny idea for a video we'd like to shoot.
Speaker 2:I get in there and he goes to throw the ball the first time and it just goes pop, and I'm like, oh, I'm, I'm done hey, speaking of pitchers, I haven't even told you this off the air.
Speaker 1:So last week uh, nobody knows this but brian but last week I wore my new shirt that I'm very proud of for the marion hungry mothers. Yeah, the new summer league team. Yeah, uh, marion is a interesting place very close to where I grew up that I spent a lot of time in in my younger days, and they have a summer collegiate team now not a high level, not like the cape cod league. You know they're not getting guys from lsu, but, but you know they're gonna play some games. They're gonna play the, the, they're gonna play the wampus cats and the uh, the disco Turkeys and some of these other independent summer league teams Great names. My cousin, who plays for Emory Henry, just got announced as a merry and hungry mother. That's great, and I commented and said I was already considering going to a game because the team is so cool, but now I've got a real reason to come.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've got to go see him. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's awesome, yeah it is key.
Speaker 1:That's this is amazing keeping it in the family. My brother played at emory and henry for a year or two and played a little summer ball. Um, I think I think marion is going to be a little higher level than what my brother got to play because there's more demand for these summer league teams now. But very cool, very, very cool for me to see that. I was very excited. I literally put the phone in Jen's face and said look at this, look. I bet she loved that yeah she was Get that fucking thing.
Speaker 1:No, she was excited as well, thought it was cool because it is cool. So, anyway, anyway, shout out to my cousin, alex, yeah, alex, way to go kid. Yeah, man, yeah, very cool. Um, I think, I think alex is probably going to end up coaching cool, he's already doing some, uh like private coaching for for kids and stuff, um, and then I think that's probably his path in life. I'd like to see that, I'd like to see him stay in the game and you know, yeah, it'd be really cool to have somebody in the family coaching at some level. Anyways, what else you got on the Cubs man? What else do you want to say about this great-looking Cubs team man?
Speaker 2:where do you start? Hap is just dialed in in. And then you get, uh, tucker, yep, who's just a powerhouse. And then you get suzuki, yeah, who's doing real good, and then I'm not sure who's after that, um, but anyway. And then then you start with the, the betty birdie's boy birdie, and uh, that's an inside joke that's been going around, what's what's birdie's mom's name? Betty birdie, betty birdie, um the five, six, seven, eight, nine has been producing just as much that, that catching squad yeah, amaya and carson kelly yeah, who saw that?
Speaker 1:nobody saw, nobody, nobody. But I knew, I knew, when they got Carson Kelly that it was a good move. Oh, he's amazing Because, as far as backup catchers go, he's about as good as you can get.
Speaker 2:Well, hap was talking about this that they're platooning. They're officially platooning and that's hard as a catcher to bat because you know it's good on their legs and their knees to switch out. But you get going, you get hot and then you know you have to sit. Well, that's not what's been happening. Right, they've been hot off their days off and it's amazing the way they're playing. I mean, it's just incredible.
Speaker 1:Well, they're keeping them fresh. Yep, and beyond that and I saw this with when JD Martinez was a Dodger for a year and pretty much only DH'd never played the field, just hit professional hitter he was working with some of the younger guys. I remember miguel vargas before he we traded him, uh, to the white socks. Miguel vargas wasn't playing very often and was still kind of in his development and so he worked with jd a lot on the psychology of staying ready when you don't know when your next at bat is going to be. Yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:You're not going to be in the lineup. You know, maybe a couple times a week You'll get a start, but you're going to be pinch hitting. You know what I mean? You don't know when that next at bat is coming and you've got to stay ready, yeah, as if you're hitting four times a day, every day, and yeah, I mean I think there's some.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing. I don't want to give credit where it's not due, but Justin Turner is on this ball club now and Justin Turner is the type of guy that can go to these players that are platooning, that aren't playing every day, and go. This is how you stay ready. Yeah, this is how you keep yourself. This is when you go back in the cage and take swings. This is what you do every day. This is the example. This is how you do this, yeah, and stay ready.
Speaker 1:And to have a guy like Turner in general, who's won a World Series, who has been a part of some great teams, some truly great ball clubs, and is later in his career widely viewed as a guy who's going to manage in the Major Leagues someday, if he wants that and I think he does, because when he was playing for Dave Roberts, he was the guy sitting next to Dave. Every inning he was right there sitting next to Dave, talking to Dave and learning how Dave saw the game from that perspective while he's still playing. So the makeup of this Cubs team is really solid and I don't think they're going anywhere, barring some disastrous injuries. Yeah, so I'm going to knock on wood there on that, um, but yeah, man, so far, so good for the chicago cubs well, yeah, and they got dansby swanson, I think would be the fourth hitter.
Speaker 2:And then then you get into bush and pca and all them, I mean pca bats in the bottom half of the order.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he should be the leadoff guy, but haps the leadoff guy and it's perfect that way. It's like there's two leadoff guys. Yeah, totally, and and that that's hard to do and that's something we haven't had is that we've got two lineups right and we you know we talk about the dodgers have three or four lineups, but the cubs have not had two lineups. They barely had one right. And now they've they got that and it's very hard to okay. You're going to get the first three. Well, what about the next six?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think, I think if ago you had, you had you had told us that on april 25th, justin still would be out for the year and matt shaw would be batting under 200 and be sent down right, we'd be going, oh god yeah, we'd be in panic oh god and those things have a heck that those.
Speaker 1:That's reality for the cubs and they're not missing a beat. No, it's, it's. It's a deeper team than I. And and they're not missing a beat. No, it's a deeper team than I. And I said when they traded Matt Mervis for Vidal Brujan Right, I said they're building a team from 1 to 26. Right, they are building a full roster to be able to withstand some injuries because Brujan was hurt. He just came back Again. You've dealt with the pitching injuries. You know Matt Shaw not working out, going back down to work, you know to develop some more. I just you know, given all the circumstances, the schedule, everything we just talked about, I don't think you could hope for better out of this Cubs team right now.
Speaker 2:No, you can't. They're world beaters and they're doing great they. We just got to get through the summer, which is amazing. Um, usually we're saying, well, we got it, we just got to get through the all-star break and get it and get it back together, right, right. This year it's the opposite yeah, totally man.
Speaker 1:It's been great Fun team to watch too. Very fun, holy cow, they're good to watch. You've got to be enjoying that every day, for sure.
Speaker 2:I mean down by seven. You're usually out of it, not to this team. No, they'll just come back and score 10. Yep, in one inning, like it's nothing, like it's like a switch flips, and they're like, okay, we're gonna play this way yeah, now we know they can beat the good teams.
Speaker 1:Let's see if, like you said, they can go to pittsburgh and right and beat the teams they should you know, we can't be dropping four in colorado and right six in pittsburgh.
Speaker 2:Yep, we definitely can't drop them in st louis and cincinnati.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are teams you want to beat, yeah, the teams, teams you should be. Yeah, if you're this Cubs team, and I mean and, and you know we've talked a lot about, uh, the lack of spending and and, um, the, the, the issues with Jed Hoyer, but this is a team that was put together to win right now, yeah, and, and that's what they're doing. So, um, it'll be. It'll be interesting to watch as the season goes on, but right now, I mean, I think, um, I think anybody can make an argument for this being the best team out there I do too.
Speaker 2:I do too, and I feel real good about that and, as a fan, I'm ecstatic about it yeah, I, I, I believe it, I believe it.
Speaker 1:So, um, what about?
Speaker 2:betty bird, betty Birdie, that's the big thing going around. Betty Birdie's boy. Betty Birdie's boy. What's Birdie's mama's name?
Speaker 1:Betty.
Speaker 2:Betty Birdie.
Speaker 1:So, transitioning to the Dodgers, I don't have much on the Dodgers this week. It's kind of business as usual. The Dodgers aren't firing on all cylinders right now, but and we say it all the time and we're gonna say it a lot more as the year goes on this team is not built to win every game, right? This team's not built for april, it's built for october. Yeah, and they're winning games. They're playing well. They are beating the teams they're supposed to beat. They sweep the rockies.
Speaker 1:You know they're getting a little beat up with the better teams. You know the cub the cubs taking the season series is is, you know, not ideal, but you're in these games. These are close games you're playing with. You're playing with the good teams. You're beating the bad teams. The record looks good. You know you're up there competing for the best record in the majors, which the Dodgers should be and expect to be. Yeah, but you know, I mean this is a team that won 111 and got knocked out early, won 106 twice and got knocked out early. Last year we only won 95, 95 games, but we still won the division, we won the world series and that's any.
Speaker 2:You know, nobody's talking about only winning 95 games can you imagine if the cubs and the dodgers tie same same, same same record boy? Are you gonna be upset when we get the fucking nod?
Speaker 1:I mean it won't matter. It won't matter. You know, it's not like we're competing for the division or anything I know, but anyways, um. So yeah, I mean it's just um, dodgers are just chugging along what is?
Speaker 2:uh, well, let's talk about, okay. Otani has not been showing up lately. He seems to be in a slump and that's not good for the Dodgers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I learned something about Otani last year in his first year with the Dodgers, and that is he doesn't have to. I think what it really is is the expectation is that every time Otani comes to bat, he's going to do something remarkable. Right, and you can't do that every time, and nobody can do that every at-bat, but he's doing it enough that he's still Shohei Ohtani.
Speaker 2:In my opinion and I may be wrong, but if I am correct me, he's having trouble with pulling his head on the fastball. Okay, he's so eager to hit one out, he's actually pulling his head and that's what's causing him to miss it.
Speaker 1:I would not be surprised if Ohtani was trying to do a little too much.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That wouldn't surprise me at all.
Speaker 2:Instead of just letting it come in and just naturally hitting him, he's trying a little harder.
Speaker 1:Let's look at it this way we talked about how great PCA has been doing. Okay, 148 OPS plus, remarkable number and if he can do anywhere close to that the whole season, he's going to get down-ballot MVP votes too. Shohei Ohtani's OPS plus is 142, and you're talking about him slumping. I know, and again, I think it just goes to the expectation, because the last two seasons, well, let's look at the last four years.
Speaker 2:His slump is a career for some people.
Speaker 1:Let's look at the last four years. His slump is a career for some people. Let's look at the last four years. Last year led the league 190 OPS+. The year before led the league 185 OPS+, the year before 144. The year before that, 157.
Speaker 2:Otani's fine, I know he is, but he is in a slump, I mean technically, but I think he will be fine.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I mean, and again it's just, I don't think the Dodgers need to, I think the Cubs needed to do what they're doing right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah and the Dodgers don't need to. They can do it later.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, I think because the schedule is going to come and the dodgers and don't need to, they can do it later. Yeah, I think I think, because the schedule is going to come to the dodgers. You know, we don't, I don't think we play the padres till june or something like that. It's very strange how little we're playing division games. The first, you know, two months of the season, yeah, um, but you know the new balance schedule you got to play everybody. It's just going to feel and look a little different than it has. Right, um, historically, um, but yeah, it, just, you know, um, same old, same old with the dodgers. No cause for concern, really.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, I don't like that blake snail's been shut back down. I don't like that glass now leaves the game with some tightness. Those are things that you don't want to see, obviously, right, but I think if we went back to this time a year ago, I think we were way more in panic mode from a pitching injury standpoint than we are right now. Right, and here's the other thing this isn't on the format, I'm just going to say it. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, right now is the National League Cy Young winner.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, he has been everything he was advertised to be when he came over from Japan last year. Just remarkable, going deep into games, striking guys out, you know, setting up the splitter perfectly. I think they're pitching to lineups rather than him just pitching his game and seeing how it goes. I think he is an adaptable enough guy that he's throwing different hitters and different teams and different lineups differently, based off of the scouting report.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's always been the thing. This catching group that the Dodgers have Will Smith, austin Barnes been there a while, two guys you trust with your pitching staff, and Will's in there more because of the bat, but both guys work really hard studying the other team's lineup Obviously every catcher in the game does, but these guys are, are, you know, I think I think will will was kind of even with austin barnes for a while and then the bat just got to be too much to deny him the, the, the predominant catcher role, right, but austin barnes, I think, has really taken will under his wing, taught him how to call the game, taught him how to study the other team um, and helped him along to where he's a pretty good game manager now too well, he, uh, he struggled throwing out the runners, I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2:But yes, I agree with what you're saying. I mean we just when you played the games against the cubs, we're just fast, yeah, um, but you could tell it was getting to him. But, yeah, the catcher both the catchers are excellent and I think they're calling great games and you guys are so deep in pitching. Yeah, I mean I don't want to say don't worry about it, right, but don't worry about it Well we were throwing bullpen games when we were up against elimination last year. Yeah, and I wasn't sweating it.
Speaker 1:Nobody does bullpen games like the Dodgers I mean it just, and I talked about this when we talked about the playoffs back in the fall. But I had such a calm demeanor all october last year, um, and and I can't explain why I'm not gonna sit here and say, well, I knew, I knew we were gonna win it all because, you know, when we're down to the padres and again we're throwing a bullpen game, when we're up against elimination, that didn't feel, you know, that didn't instill a lot of confidence in me, right, but I stayed calm, yeah, and I just let it play out and it paid off, paid off big time.
Speaker 1:And we got through the Padres, which everybody after the fact said that was the team they knew they had to beat, and not to say they didn't take the Mets or the Yankees seriously, but they knew once they got past the Padres they were in cruise control, yeah, and they got to take over, play their game. And the Padres are just, oh, they're such a pain in the ass.
Speaker 2:They really are. They're the little the guy on the playground that you have to play with but you know is going to bring in some shenanigans. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those guys, just they play with a chip on their shoulder. Yeah, and they're, I mean, supremely talented group of them. They're the kid that brings the ball.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. Yeah, it has to be their rules because it's their ball.
Speaker 1:Well, they're like the kids from the Sandlot. Yeah, you know, the Dodgers come in and they got the nice uniforms and they're the rich kids. And here's the rough-looking bunch with dirt on their face and the old T-shirt and the old cap and they're just like you play ball like a girl, what you know like, do something about it. You know, that's the Padres. To me, they're just pesky. Yeah, they are pesky. They're pesky, but they're really good. Yeah, they are really stinking good and you know, for that team to be playing as well as they are after the the.
Speaker 1:You know, we were talking in the offseason like when are they going to do something? What are they? And they never really did. No, they didn't. I mean, they made some moves. After all, the ownership stuff got kind of sorted out, but it was was like Jason Hayward and Connor Joe. These are like role-player guys. They didn't go out and get anybody Right, but they brought back what they had. I think Tatis Jr and I feel like we talked about this last week or recently Tatis Jr has put some of his baggage behind him now and he's focusing just on playing Right and that's the best thing that could have happened to the san diego pod, yeah, yeah, yeah, get his head in the game, because that guy is, is otherworldly when he's right, yeah, no, he is, he's.
Speaker 2:He's a nuisance, yeah, an absolute nuisance to deal with.
Speaker 1:Uh, and, and you know he's, he's just. You know I hate him. I'd love him if he was a dodger.
Speaker 2:Don't get me wrong, but he can shill that dairy queen and you know he's just. You know I hate him, I hate him.
Speaker 1:I'd love him if he was a Dodger, don't get me wrong, but he can shill that Dairy Queen. Yeah, he's one of the many Major League spokesmen for Blizzard treats.
Speaker 2:Spokesperson, spokesperson, yeah.
Speaker 1:So here's the other thing I want to talk about with the Dodgers. Okay, real quick though, yes, please, tay person, yeah, so here's the other thing I want to talk about with the dodgers, okay uh, real quick, yes, please.
Speaker 2:Uh, tay, oscar is not in a slump. No, he's the man and he ain't slowing down and he's trouble yeah a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, here's the thing, and I love him.
Speaker 2:If there's runners on base, that's the last guy you want to see coming up, you're done. He, his mental game is impeccable. He's always excited and happy. No matter it's 22 to 1, we'll get it. We'll get it back, it's okay.
Speaker 1:Loves the game, doesn't care loves being out there, loves hitting, loves playing. Uh, just uh. A dream scenario. Yeah, to pick him up last year on a flyer deal. Basically, yeah, he's an all-star, he wins the home run, derby makes Dodger history. Doing that, and I mean all year, every one of us, every Dodger fan all year. Last year was going pay this man. Yeah, and he got to the market. Yeah, I don't know how much of the market he really heard, but he did get to the market. Yeah, I don't know how much of the market he really heard, but he did get to the market. Yeah, and fortunately, the Dodgers brought him back and, like you said, just picked up right where he left off last year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's trouble, no matter what here's the thing, the dynamic of this show if you're new. Here's the thing I am. You know. The dynamic of this show if you're new is that I am very modern, statistically driven. I think numbers tell us a lot, especially in baseball. Baseball is a numbers game. Brian is more the eye test guy, more the feel. Yeah, I think Teoscar Hernandez proves that there's value in the feel and the eye test. Yeah, Because a lot of people will tell you RBI is a useless stat because it's situational. Not everybody, you know. A guy that gets 100 RBIs might have way more opportunity to drive guys in than a guy who only has 75 RBIs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, depending on what slot he's in.
Speaker 1:The 75 RBI guy may be a better hitter across the board. He just doesn't have guys getting on in front of him as much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, If the guys aren't on, he could be the best player ever and it's not going to matter.
Speaker 1:And there's merit to that argument. Yeah, but Teoscar Hernandez consistently has guys on base in front of him and he seemingly rises to the occasion every single time. Yep, the biggest games are his best games. Yep, that series in Yankee Stadium last year. He was otherworldly, he was Babe Ruth in that series because he just. I think my favorite Tay Oscar story of all time was Mookie Betts talking about how Tayo shows up for a game and it's like right before game time and he's just walking in and Mookie's like I'm sweating because I've been doing infield and I've been taking outfield and I've been hitting and I've been working my ass off for a couple hours he just walks in teo walks in and he's like, hey, man, are you?
Speaker 1:you're gonna get the cage, you're gonna take some swings? And teo's like, nah, man, I'm good, I'm warm. And mookie's like what? No way. And then first at bat, teo hits one out and mookie's like how, how do you do that? How do you pull that off? How do you just show up? Yeah, how do you roll out of bed and just hit a ball out? You know, yeah, you know. And teo, you know teo's. Teo's a bigger stalkier guy. You know, he's a little bit more of an athlete. I mean, mookie's an athlete, but mookie's also the smallest guy on the team. You know his whole life, yeah, you know. And he just has that, that chip on his shoulder, you know, or where he, where he's like well, I'm the smallest guy, so I got to work twice as hard as everybody else. Teo just rolls out of bed, brings the bat to the ballpark and does what Teo does.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, he's so great with that and I mean, you know, there's two types of athletes the one that has to give 110% and the others are the ones that get 110% Totally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely All right. So let's transition a little bit. Okay, we have a lot, and I mean a ton. We're only going to talk about a couple, but a lot of new concession items.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah In the news since the last time we did an episode. Yeah, there has been a ton of outrageous food.
Speaker 1:I mean some stuff that I don't even know what it is. That's why we're not talking about it. And the Dodgers are very diverse. They always have special menus. If they have a Korean Heritage Night, they have Korean food. If they do a Venezuelan Night, they do a whole Venezuelan menu and Venezuelan food rules y'all. If you get a chance to eat Venezuelan, it's awesome. But the Dodgers introduced the Slugger. Okay, this is a 16-inch hot dog. It's a jalapeno cheddar sausage with cheese sauce, corn relish, tortilla strips and cilantro crema. It comes with fries and it comes in its own cardboard carrying case. Yeah, so it sounds pretty good, right? Yeah, I'm with in its own cardboard carrying case. Yeah, so it sounds pretty good, right? Yeah, I'm with it. $39.99. Ooh, ooh, brian, is the Slugger at Dodger Stadium a buy?
Speaker 2:Ah, okay, if you're only going to eat that, yes, how could you eat anything else? Well, that's the problem I have with Atlanta and the two-foot-long hot dogs and the two-foot-long pizza.
Speaker 1:You've got to pace yourself.
Speaker 2:You can't just go in there willy-nilly and just expect to get it done.
Speaker 1:You've got to plan this shit out and we're inevitably leaving in the seventh inning.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So we've got fewer time to deal with it.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I say, I say it's a bye okay, I could get behind it.
Speaker 1:I would want to try it, just because it's unique, you know. It's got that sort of um, that sort of hispanic flair to it, with the jalapeno in the sausage and the corn relish and the tortilla strips and the I mean. I mean I'm probably saying keep the cilantro out of the way.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't want the relish on there.
Speaker 1:You wouldn't try the corn relish.
Speaker 2:No, I don't want the relish. I love corn. Yeah, I don't want that.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, we can mod it a little bit, we can make it our own. I mean, we're paying them $40.
Speaker 2:They can leave something. Yeah, and as hot as it is, you're going to need a beer with it. Well, fair enough, because it's going to burn your mouth, and soda, sody pop ain't going to get it done yeah, yeah, that's, that's definitely a hot dog you.
Speaker 1:You want a beer with yeah, yeah so there's another ten dollars, well, 20, because you're going to pound a beer eating and then want another one to cool off after.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you got to have two. Uh oy vey with these.
Speaker 1:Uh, these foods and whatnot being 40 and 50 bucks a pop well, but I have you know, and obviously you know, and here's the thing, y'all, if you've ever tried to research these items online, it is not always easy to find out the price, yeah, or even everything that's on them. Sometimes In a lot of my research, because we love talking about ballpark food, because we're just two guys talking baseball. We're not experts, we're not analysts.
Speaker 2:We have no idea what the hell we're doing.
Speaker 1:So we're going to talk about what we know, and when we go to the ballpark, half the experience is what we eat, exactly.
Speaker 2:I mean, we just got more money than brains and got a good pod system here. We're not qualified to do this. Where are you hiding that?
Speaker 1:money. So, anyways, in my research I have found that a lot of teams, a lot of teams are now doing like ballpark classics that are under $5 or under $10 or feed a family of four for a very reasonable price. And I like that because I think ticket prices and obviously concession prices are getting to a level where we started to get prohibitive with being able to bring the whole family to a game right, you know, and do it and being able to do it affordably. So I like seeing these teams go. You know what we're to do the crazy stuff we're going to do. The $40 hot dog with all the culinary expertise in it, yeah. But if you just want a hot dog with some mustard on it for your kid, you know, yeah, we got that too.
Speaker 2:Well, and again, getting back to it's how you eat, you know, because I was just thinking, you know, I'm going to eat two hot dogs and a drink as soon as I get there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then later on, probably the sixth inning, I'm going to have two more hot dogs and something to drink, but there's going to be food in between those two. If there's going to be food in between those two. If there's not going to be food in between those two, then you just have the big hot dog yeah, then I would say you're good for the whole game Totally.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. Yeah, all right, this was. I had to dig for two weeks, basically Well, a week, let's say a week I've been digging for information weeks basically Well, a week, let's say a week I've been digging for information on this next concession item. It's the Miami Marlins Ultimate Hot Dog, tower Tower. Mlb social media, you know, showed some pictures and video of this thing. It looks it's a spectacle of a concession item. Yes, and here's what we're talking about Four hot dogs, four Polish sausages and four corn dogs. It comes with sauerkraut, sweet onions, mustard, ketchup and relish, and the top tier is loaded with something called Salchipapas, which is a Latin American street food that includes beef sausage. So more fucking sausage and fries. Yeah, so we're feeding minimum four people with this thing. Oh, yeah, it's huge Gargantuan $85.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a lot, but you know, I think it's huge. Gargantuan 85 yeah, that's a lot, but I, you know, I think it's a buy.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing. If it's just you and me, this is not a buy no, no, no but because that's, that's that's you know, 41, 41, 50 a piece, and we still have to buy drinks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but if you got four people, you're four people, that's 20 bucks a pop and you can split it and everybody gets a hot dog, a Polish sausage, a corn dog and some fries and some beef sausage, and then everybody, everybody's going. Well, here's 21 bucks for that, and then I've still gotten the other 20 bucks to go get, go get a drink or a couple of beers or ice cream or whatever, whatever else you want to have.
Speaker 2:Well, a drink, or a couple beers, or ice cream or whatever, whatever else you want to have um well, I don't know.
Speaker 1:If you want to put ice cream on top of all that sausage, well I mean, why the hell not?
Speaker 2:it's never stopped us before no, it's never stopped us before. Um, I think me and eric lester could put a big dent in that. Yeah, I think you could, I, but I don't know if we could eat it all though no, I think I, I don't think two people could could hammer this whole thing out.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's a lot of food, well, and here's my next and a lot of heavy food.
Speaker 2:Like you said, is this only served in certain sections or?
Speaker 1:it's like one. You know like they basically have restaurants in the ball yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's one one. You have a table to set it on. They don't just bring it down to row 112. I don't know about that. Okay.
Speaker 1:I think you've got to just like. I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Again, it was hard to find a lot of info on this thing. I mean, you're sitting in 112. You're, you know, and here comes, here comes this tower, yeah, tower.
Speaker 1:But I don't know how the Marlins' ballpark is as far as this goes. Yeah, when you watch a Dodger game, they're always like, oh, we're sold out 56,000 people, but that top tier of the stands empty. Yeah, and that's because the Dodgers have created this experience where you can buy a cheap ticket and then go sit at a table. Yeah, cheap ticket, and then go sit at a table. Yeah, and and, and you know you're watching the game on a screen or listening to it, right, but you can get a beer and something to eat and sit down and mingle. You're still at the ballpark and it's basically a standing room only ticket. Yeah, so you can hang out in the cool little area and it's as much a social gathering as it is going to see a ball game. So I think if the Marlins have that sort of vibe or that sort of area in their ballpark, I think this is a really great deal. And again, you know you can take a family of five to a game. Buy this and you're covered, and five drinks and you're done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you've got enough people, it's a buy, just not a buy if you buy yourself or just one other person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because here's the thing. It's not like they're going to give you 12 to-go boxes in a bag to carry it all out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't take it with you. Me and Ashley went to the Cincinnati Reds and got the Diamond Club one time. Yeah, all you can eat in the big restaurant. Yeah, oh my God, the food was immaculate. But here's the problem you have to watch the game from their porch. Yeah, you have to watch the game from their porch. Yeah, and our seats were down way down there, right, so you had to eat everything and go down and not come back.
Speaker 2:I mean you were allowed to come back. But who wants to do that Right? Who wants to schlep back and forth on that?
Speaker 1:So yeah, I do love all-you-can-eat nights though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no they're good.
Speaker 1:We've done that a couple times at the Smokies, and it was— those hamburgers, you know burgers and dogs, and I think they had potato salad and beans and it was like going to a barbecue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was—what's the name of that? Calhoun's on the river.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know, we would go, get our tickets, our all-you-can-eat tickets, and immediately first thing we would do is go to the all-you-can-eat, eat everything we could stand and then go to our seats and watch the game. Yeah, and that worked out really well. I mean, that's a good way to do the whole ballpark experience. Yes, it was Eat light throughout the day. Plan ahead, don't eat a lot so you can just pound burgers and dogs and get your money's worth, because that's the thing too You've got to get your money's worth.
Speaker 1:If you're doing all you can eat, you've got to get your money's worth.
Speaker 2:You're not just a one-offer. No, you've got to eat three or four of these things.
Speaker 1:Because it's cheaper to just go buy one hot dog. If you're just going to eat one hot dog, hot dogs and a burger and some baked beans and some potato salad and some chips, you know, and they drinks were included too. So you know you get, you get. You get a drink or two. You know it's a, it's a good way. And again, if you're taking the family to the ballpark, that's the way to do it. Yeah, you know, cause those kids can eat to their heart's content. So I think the tower is a buy if you do it correctly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1:And again, that's a way to save money if there's three, four, five of you going to a game, right? So, yeah, big fan of the ultimate hot dog tower, yeah, tower, good stuff, man, good stuff, all right. So last thing I wanted to talk about this week. If you've listened for any amount of time, you know we've been very vocal about what's going on with the game of baseball in the city of Oakland, california, which means we're huge supporters of the Oakland Ballers independent team, right? So BART, which is the public transportation in Oakland, announced I saw this on Blue Sky that they have given a train car to the Oakland Ballers at no cost as part of a program, a legacy car decommissioning program, a legacy car decommissioning program. All the team was responsible for was the cost of transporting the train car from wherever Bart had it to wherever they were going to take it I bet that was a pretty ticket, which was Raymondi Park, and the Ballers are going to turn it into a concession stand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the Ballers are a Bartable partner. Before their first season, they partnered with Bart. They wear the Bart logo on their jerseys and the Ballers offer free shuttles that run every 20 minutes from the station, from the train station to Campbell Street between 18th and 20th, which I assume is in the area of the ballpark Right, and they start that three hours before game time and run it until half an hour after the game ends. So you know easy if you're in the city and you don't want to worry about parking or driving or anything like that, easy get-to. They make it really easy, you know to use the public transportation. So it's a very two-way street type of relationship here between the team and the public transportation.
Speaker 1:I have a quote here, a great quote from one of the co-founders of the Ballers, paul Friedman. He says we want Raymondi Park to be a living museum full of tributes to Bay Area culture. And what says that better than having a concession stand in the ballpark? That is literally a decommissioned train car. Yeah, and, by the way, we'll shuttle you for nothing to the train station to get you to and from the game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great. I mean, that's good public relations.
Speaker 1:It's an amazing thing. You know, the ballers are just. They're doing it out there. They really are. They're doing good things. Now we got to go out and see them. I would love to. Yeah, I would love to. Here's the kicker. Okay, I read this whole statement from the bartgov blue sky account and I got to this and I said we have to talk about this. And I got to this and I said we have to talk about this. The same train car that the Ballers now have and are going to turn into a concession stand was initially reserved for the A's.
Speaker 2:Of course it was, they didn't want it.
Speaker 1:But the A's in 2023, knowing they were going to leave, sent an email and said they no longer were interested in taking the train car. So, once again, the A's dropped the ball on Oakland, sent an email and said they no longer were interested in taking the train cart.
Speaker 2:So, once again, the A's dropped the ball on Oakland and the ballers pick it up and run with it. Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 1:That's why they're doing great things over there. The ballers are Oakland's team now, yeah, yeah, I would love I don't know, you know, I haven't heard anything about this in a long time, but I would still love to see the Ballers be able to play in the Coliseum. Oh, yeah, that would be awesome. I mean, I think that's sort of the. That would be the crown jewel for the Oakland Ballers to be able to play, even if it's one game, or one game a year, you know. Play in the Coliseum, yeah, I also.
Speaker 1:This isn't on the format, I'm going on a little bit of a tangent. I heard a great discussion on the baseball. Barbie cast Shout out to Jake and Jordan, who I owe an email. Don't want to get into it here, but I owe Jake Mintz a thank you, a heartfelt thank you, for something he's done for my family, but anyways, they had a great discussion on statues at ballparks, okay, and one of the things they talked about were the great omissions. Who doesn't have a statue? That should have a statue Right, and one of the big glaring omissions is Ricky Henderson. Yeah, the only place it would have made sense was Oakland. Uh-huh, I would love to see the Ballers, whether it's at Raymondi Park or somewhere else in the city. Partner with the city for a Ricky Henderson statue. Yeah, I agree, you don't have to put any A's branding. You can put Oakland on the jersey if you want Ricky Henderson. He deserves it, he needs a statue in Oakland.
Speaker 2:Yes, he does, he totally does, and it needs to be the one with him holding the base up over his head. How cool would that be? It'd be awesome. That would be amazing. Either that or him getting crouched down, getting the lead off of first yeah, yeah, one of the two, right yeah was ricky.
Speaker 1:I don't remember was ricky. I hold the batting gloves in my hand while I'm taking the lead.
Speaker 2:No, he was, but he would get real low yeah, he was well and and his he was.
Speaker 1:I've seen videos of him coaching guys on the first step. Yeah, yeah yeah, and how a lot of guys take the first step from their back leg and he's like why would you do that? That slows you down. Your first step needs to be with your lead foot and then thrust that other leg around and then you're taken off?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, and getting back to the Cubs, that's one of the things that PCA worked on this week. Was that first step? Yeah, you've got to get that first step right, yeah.
Speaker 1:Because that's your jump, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, even now, bigger bases you can only throw over two times or disengage twice or whatever. Even now most stolen bases in the major leagues are stolen off the jump, are stolen off the pitcher. Yeah, that's why it's kind of weird that success rate of stolen bases kind of falls statistically on the catcher.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it should fall.
Speaker 1:Because a lot of the times what's the catcher going to do? If you get a good jump off the pitcher catcher can't throw you out.
Speaker 2:Especially if it's in the dirt, right. You know, I saw that happen several times this week. Pitches go in the dirt and the guy's taking off.
Speaker 1:How long do you think until we start seeing pitch outs again?
Speaker 2:Ooh, I don't know that is a good question. I don't know that is a good question. I don't think we will, you don't? No, I think they're gone. Yeah, forever, huh.
Speaker 1:Forever, even with guys stealing more bags.
Speaker 2:I think statistically it's improbable to pitch out and get the guy. Yeah, I mean, you can luck it. I'm not saying you can't get the guy out. I'm saying statistically, it seems to me it would be astronomical yeah, I guess enough.
Speaker 1:Catchers now are used to throwing from their knees, or you know, guys don't really jump up to throw to second, like they used to correct. So yeah, you're probably right, it's probably a thing of the past that we're not going to see anymore.
Speaker 2:I remember when I was a catcher in Little League. I never threw anybody out?
Speaker 1:Yeah, never they. Let me catch one time in practice. Yeah, folks, I was terrible at baseball, just awful. Never got a hit in my life. Only home run I ever hit was in a softball game in PE class and I nearly fell down going to first base because I was like holy shit, I just hit that thing out of here. They let me catch one time, because my dream was always to be the catcher Right, I don't think I caught the pitch one time. Yeah, it was bad.
Speaker 2:Well, my catching experience. I caught my first season, so I was seven or eight, and you've seen my knees. I had Osgood's Slaughter's Disease, where your knees grow more faster than the rest of your body.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and they're knobby. Oh God, it killed me. Yeah, because that was when I was growing and I had it and all that. And then I caught again a little bit later on it, uh, 11, 12 ball, somewhere like that, just sporadically. Yeah, uh, and the equipment glove was so bad I ended up breaking my thumb, oh um, and nobody believed me, so they never got set. So you can look at my thumbs and there's indentions where I broke my thumb. Wow, but I know it would have killed a normal man, but I somehow persevered and became a world champion. And became a world champion, which has gotten me so far.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've done great with that. So what else you got this week? Anything else you want to talk about?
Speaker 2:it's just.
Speaker 1:The games are so good, except for the nationals and um well, let's not, let's not, let's not, let's, let's be fair, let's place some blame on the orioles too. They've been, they've been pretty awful I mean I love the orioles.
Speaker 2:I really enjoy watching them for the just nothing else the color of the uniforms and the bird. But God, that was terrible. It was such a boring game and I don't say that a lot, I know. I mean you know.
Speaker 1:You usually like 2-1 games 2-1 doesn't bother me.
Speaker 2:It was the method in which we got 2-1. Yeah, because there, for most of the game, it was 1-0. Right, because there, for most of the game, it was 1-0. Right, you know, until, like I think, the sixth inning. Yeah, it was bad, yeah, it was real bad.
Speaker 1:Orioles great lineup. I mean a lineup that I think in ten years we're going to look back on and go how did they never win anything with that group of guys Right? No pitching, negative pitching on that roster right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're just not good yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's a shame. It is, that's a shame. I'd like to see the Orioles turn their season around a little bit Me too.
Speaker 1:All right, well, I think that's all we've got this week. Thanks for joining us. As always, quick programming note we will not have a new episode next week. I'm pretty busy. Next week, my partner, jen, is officially graduating with her second master's degree and she decided this go-round. She wanted to walk in the ceremony. So we are going to Kentucky, to University of the Cumberlands, where she acquired her new master's degree, and we're going to get her graduated.
Speaker 2:Well. Congratulations, jen.
Speaker 1:I'm proud of you and without Jen and, of course, Ashley, we would not be able to do this show and, you know, produce the shenanigans that we are known to produce because they not only put up with us but support our shenanigans that we are known to produce because they not only put up with us but support our shenanigans.
Speaker 2:I mean, I got Ashley to where she thinks everything I do is a good idea, got her fooled.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've had some bad ideas over the years, but this show is not one of them. We are very happy. Thanks as always to Mike Vanik, Kerry Allen and everybody at Pirate Flag Radio. Yeah, we love you guys. Who also put up with our shenanigans, and let us just kind of be who we are and do this show yeah, we'll be back in two weeks to who knows. I mean, we've done three episodes since opening day and I feel like every week we've just got the craziest shit to talk about.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's been such a great season. All kinds of stuff's going on. Brian's prediction is slowly but surely coming true, of course, it's going to be the greatest season in baseball history, so more on that in two weeks.
Speaker 1:In the meantime, go back on all your favorite podcasting apps and listen to, listen to uh, listen to the uh the archives. We got plenty of uh shenanigans that's the word of the day, apparently. Plenty of shenanigans on uh, on recording for you to listen to. Um, some great interviews and things like that. And uh, if you, if you want to go all the way back to to 2022, when we first started this show, patreoncom slash 2gtb or I'm pretty sure, can't, they can't they buy the old episodes in the podcasting apps too. Yes, yeah, you, there's a way to do that. I don't know how you do that, but there's a way to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's all the same everywhere you go, I assume, since you haven't told me that someone did. No one has texted us yet. No, all right, well, you can also go to your favorite podcasting app in the description of any episode and send us a text message. And Brian is dying for someone to text him, just dying.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know, I really thought somebody would have this week.
Speaker 1:Tell us in a text if you would buy the $85 Ultimate Hot Dog Tower Absolutely At the Miami Marlins or the $40 16-inch Slugger hot dog at Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Let's hear from you guys. Yeah, we want to know.
Speaker 1:We want to know. We're in a bit of an echo chamber here. Yeah, all right, so we'll be back in two weeks with more baseball talk. Y'all enjoy the season until then, and for Brian, I'm Dallas. We'll see you at the ballpark park.
