I Love Mondays-Ep100, July 20, 2026

Celebrating our 100th episode of I Love Mondays with a Brewers sweep and a visit with TV Analyst Vinny Rottino.  Talking about the Brewers 9th inning heroics on Sunday and the trade deadline 2-weeks from today.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

I love Mondays with Mike Hunter.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Podcasting London from an undisclosed bunker in the Badger State. This is I Love Mondays with Mike Heller. Powered by determination and a little bit of duct tape. Here's your host, Mike Heller.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

So we've been doing this since March the 2nd. Today is a is not a birthday, uh, I guess. It's just a milestone. Big round numbers. It's a milestone. Today is episode or show number 100 of I Love Mondays. So I want to give a little recap. Where we've been, what's going on, what's coming. Um we this is I waited a long time to do this from September the 2nd when iHeart uh screwed everything up over there. And then, you know, you have to wait uh the prerequisite period of time on a non-compete. So March 2nd was always my target. Uh I've had a lot of great help to get things rolling. And part of that, I mean, it begins at home. Uh the initial and always constant help on all of this has been Kari. So I I would be, I would be foolish if I didn't recognize out of the gate that this doesn't happen. We're not to episode 101, if it wasn't uh for Kari's role in all of this. Uh she's I say it on her sippin' spill podcast, which we've got to uh I say it on the sippin' spill, but she's my captain. So this doesn't happen. I don't know what I would have done differently, but this likely doesn't happen the way it is. Uh certainly if Kari's not direct front and center. Uh Ben Bano, Ben, uh it also doesn't happen or happens way differently if I don't align with Ben Bano, who became, you know, kind of my guy who stayed positive on everything and said, no, Mike, I got this figured out. Don't worry about it. Um, because I the technical side of all of this cameras and roadcaster equipment and uploads and all of that, not my realm, not what I have been, not what I've done. So uh a big thank you to Ben Bano, who really got us started and solved all of the initial problems. And then so many others, once we actually got into the process of saying, okay, this is how this is gonna go, from uh Treadmill, who will be on the show tomorrow. Uh, that concept of uh Super Fan Tuesday really was born of a chance run-in with Jeff at a Badger hockey game. Uh, and I don't know when that was, December, maybe. And he's passionate. So we aligned very quickly because it was what I was looking for for somebody to jump in and assist a little bit, um, do a day, and uh, and he's never faltered on that. So I appreciate that. And Courtney Corning followed in that realm. So, and then we have had a series of I think great regular guests. Nobody is locked in other than Vinny Rettino, who's gonna join me in a few minutes. I know it's not Thursday, but Vinny's got some other uh obligations later in the week. So he'll join me today. Other than Vinny on the regular every Thursday, which we'll do until the brewers are done, there isn't a locked-in. Hey, this is who you're gonna hear on the show every this day. Vilker, super fan Tuesday for treadmill, and Vinny on Thursdays. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday has been me reaching out to the people I know and respect and uh and are kind enough to say yes back. You know, guys like uh like Pete Doherty and those who cover the Green Bay Packers, Matt Schneidman and Bill Huber, and that group. You know, I've had uh Billy Schmidt and Drew Olson and Hunter Baumgart, my former uh iHeart brethren on uh Zabin's been on. You know, it's a it's it's a good, it's a collective group of people. Brian Butch has been here. Uh, these are the guys who uh who I've worked with. They say yes. Jim Polzine from the the Wisconsin State Journal, um, you know, Todd Rosiak saying yes, uh Lane Grindle and uh Jeff Levering and Tim Dillard and Rock saying yes to doing this. So we've had uh it's been it's it's so much fun, and we've and we're growing what we do. The numbers have grown, uh, and this is not a growth time from from a numbers perspective. I'm talking about the analytics, the number of listeners, viewers. The the numbers, this is not a number growth time in the world of sports talk. This is when people take vacation. I've always taken the all-star week as a week of vacation, the all-star break. But this is not a growth season in sports talk. So yet the numbers have still grown from week to week to week. And then we added in uh brood daily, which is gonna, we're gonna rebrand this in August, but I'll tell you what it's gonna be now. It'll be called Heller's Final Brewers, Heller's Final, Green and Gold, and Heller's Final Badgers, because we'll do that. We'll do my brew daily concept. We'll continue to do that after every brewer's game, but then we'll also do it post-badger football. At home, I can do it, you know, shortly after the game, after my obligations with post-game interviews are none. Uh, when they're on the road, it might have to wait until I get back from our team flight because they they get us out of that stadium really quickly after actual, real live post-game interviews. We load up on a bus and we're gone. So I don't have an extra 10 or 12 minutes to do a postgame. But when I'm back, I'll jump in and do those. Packers games should happen um within 30 minutes after the end of the game. Once uh I've heard what Matt LaFleur and certain players had to say post-game, uh, then we'll do that. So Heller's final Brewers, Heller's final green and gold, Heller's final badgers. Uh, we'll do that beginning with exhibition football with the Packers in the middle of August. So our numbers are growing. We're we're doing that, part of it has been fantastic and really fun and exciting to watch. And then none of this happens without the partnership that I have with our friends, uh, and let me let me bring that into play because this is really the lifeblood of how we do this and what goes on. So when I talk about one community bank, they were in from the start. And if if businesses like one community bank or M3 Insurance or Habish, my friend Jason over there, neuroscience group, Ben is somebody I met in January. And we fostered this relationship and they're in, and Luis at Pottawatomi, and my guy Zach at Traditions Lighting. On my brew daily side, Vince from Southern Italy Imports or Lobardi Lemonata. All of those, if if those elements don't come into play, neither does this. There's no company paying me a salary, right? So in order to do what we do, I needed partners, business community partners, to come along as sponsors for this. Otherwise, I mean, I can't they're what makes this happen. So uh a big thank you to to all of them. And um the the growth and the opportunity for growth is real. So uh I appreciate all of this, and and it's good to get to 100. I'm not gonna do this on every milestone, but um, getting to 100 is kind of a big deal. Uh we're here, and uh my goal is and I hope that we're here to stay. Uh, but I appreciate what you've all done. James says, uh, good, happy 100 episode morning, Mike. I appreciate that, James. I get the same wish from Mike and Merrill. Good morning. Still bad up here on the air quality. Hmm. We we do not have, I mean, we're gonna get some rain. It looks like, gosh, I hope we do. Uh, our our air quality got a little bit worse again yesterday after a pretty good Saturday. Uh, it's supposed to go away at some point today, at least to a certain level, but we'll see. Uh, good morning, Mike, and good morning back to you. My guy Mark says, uh, good morning, all. And the right light partner, it seems to be uh yeah, all. And the right light partner, yeah, no doubt, is is important, and that's Kari. And my buddy Tread Mills says to the next 100,000 episodes, brother. That's ambitious. And I appreciate the sentiment. All right, into uh what was going on yesterday before Vinny Rettino joins us in just a couple of minutes. Uh, he's sitting down in his set, and I'll bring him in here um in four or five minutes from now. But the brewers and what they did all weekend long. I said this yesterday on uh the brew daily after the game was done. Uh I don't typically think baseball is boring. I love the sport, I love the intricacies, I love to think like I know what I'm thinking, what players are thinking. I like to be in that mindset. It's why I love the game so much. But yesterday's boring. If you're gonna be honest with it, uh Vinny may even agree. I don't know. But yesterday's a boring game with with exceptions, right? I mean, it's incredibly well pitched. Uh there, their starting pitcher in the game yesterday, Yuri Perez, was brilliant. Like that dude was fantastic. Like, he doesn't have the same motion, his motion is more fluid, but his his velocity, the movement on his pitches is like Abner Yuribe, but as a starter. So getting him out of the game was and watching him pitch was impressive. So maybe a little less boring if you want to get into the weeds and pay attention to some of the intricacies, but it was kind of boring both ways. Uh, they hit a solo home run in the third, and then otherwise, there is very little traffic either way. It was so well pitched, but it's one of the intricacies of baseball. There's no clock. So the Brewers didn't run out of time. They got 27 outs to work with, and with 25 outs, they ended it on one swing. You know, they they didn't even have uh a runners in scoring position issue for the most part yesterday. They they were one for four with runners in scoring position. Uh, but sometimes one swing of the bat, the three-run homer is it can be significant. And Kontreveris was that guy yesterday with the the most uh volatile uh bat flip that we've seen in a brewer's uniform by anybody at any time. Imagine if the bat flip were in vogue and Nigel Morgan was at the plate and he had the luxury of knowing that he hit a home run. That would have been different. Um, and Carlos Gomez. You know, Gogo, he was flamboyant as it was, but if the bat flip were more in vogue and allowed without putting one of your teammates in danger for wearing one in the rib cage, or worse, uh Gogo would have been somebody to watch the bat flip world on. Yesterday was Contreras and it was great. Uh, a couple more notes. Mark says, congratulations on the 100. Appreciate that. Rick, as to the air quality, this is what happens when dead brush, etc., is not removed. Uh well, thank you, Rick. I mean, we'll we'll talk to the Canadian consulate, see if uh they can't get some of the um the old dead brush removed from the 100 million acres of unoccupied land in Canada. I don't know. I don't know what I'm talking about. Rick, so don't take that personal. Uh, just find it uh a little bit funny. Um, so the the Brewers get the win. They've won all three since the all-star break. The Cubs won two of three over the weekend. So, you know, Cub fans feeling good, but you know what's really frustrating for a fan base? Certainly it is at some level of the clubhouse or the front office, probably not so much in the middle of July. But when a team is really good for 20, 25 games, and let's say in that 20-game run, they go 14 and six, and they make up a game. Or they make up nothing. Because that's what the Cubs have done. The Cubs have been a really good team now for the better pup part of 40 days. And in 40 days, I don't know what they're what their furthest out they were, eight or nine. They're six. They win two out of three over the weekend after the all-star break, and they lose a game. That's what the Brewers continue to do. And by no stretch were the Brewers impressive offensively this weekend. Garrett Mitchell had a hell of a game and a walk-off. Uh William Contreras had one hit yesterday. He just had two at bats. He didn't even start. It was going to be a full day off. But the Brewers pitching, they didn't pitch their best, their best arms didn't pitch over the weekend. Logan Henderson might be in that consideration, though, right? But when you're talking about what the Brewers did, Ms. pitches tonight. Kyle Harrison is on the I. Brandon Woodruff is having season-ending shoulder surgery. So they went into the weekend out of the all-star break after being swept in a 27-hour three games in Pittsburgh. They come out of the All-Star break and they throw not their three best. And they win all three against a really good team. Some people are going to look at Miami and go, oh, they're not very good. Miami's really good. And those three pitchers that the Brewers saw and then beat their bullpen rather than them specifically over the weekend. I just there are so many things to be impressed by. Kind of run out of some of the uh the language to continue to honor who this team is right now, but they are impressive in just about all ways that you can be impressive. And when I think about the grand scheme of things, the big picture, and I'll just do a standings thing overall in baseball the Dodgers have Major League Baseball's best record. They are one half game ahead of the Brewers. The next team is the Atlanta Braves, four and a half games behind the Brewers. And then I'll add this in and it and then I'll bring Vinny into the conversation. But if I add in the part that says okay, and then check team payrolls. You want to go dollars per win? It is the most impressive team, maybe in all of sport over the last eight years is the Milwaukee Brewers for cost of wins. I don't have the specific number, but I think it's it's fairly obvious over what it is that they've done. Uh one more quick note, then Vinny comes into the show. Mike says, Hello everyone. Um I'm excited for the 62 wins, but these wins, if in the playoffs, are losses. Mike, I don't, I don't know, I don't know why that would be the case. And by the way, going into the weekend, Miami would be the potential division round opponent for the Brewers. Going into the weekend I didn't check it today because it doesn't matter so much on July 20th, but going into the weekend, the Brew would have had a bye and they would have gotten the winner of Atlanta, Miami. So when you say but these wins in the playoffs are losses, you say it as though it's a matter of fact. Because things get squeezed, more pressure increases, and we need more production from certain players. All is true. All is true with the exception of these games are losses. Baseball runs on its own in its own language when it comes to playoff success and failure. And I know that people are gonna say you win the playoffs by the home run many times, and sometimes you don't. You know, uh, so we we we can dig into some of those um intricacies as we go forward. But uh let me bring in uh my guy, Vinny Rettino, joins us here on a uh a Monday. Wait, what? Vinny's not on a Mondays? What are you doing here, Vinny? What's going on, kid?

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Hey, what's up, Mike? You know, I gotta I gotta be on assignment on Thursday. So thanks for adjusting here and bringing me on today.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Uh I appreciate you uh you be being willing to do a different day this week because you you were a multi-tafter and you you got stuff going on unrelated specifically to the Brewers uh later in the week. So let let me let me dive into that. I'm gonna bring that back on the screen, what Mike just sent in. So he says, matter-of-factly, that uh he loves the 62 wins, but these wins in the playoffs are losses because everything gets squeezed, pressure increases, you need more production from certain players. Nobody's gonna deny that you need more production. The Brewers bats were fairly quiet this weekend, but baseball runs to its own rhythms. Even in the playoffs, it runs to its own rhythms. And there's no there's no way to know what's gonna happen when the calendar flips to I think the wildcard round starts like September 29th or 30th. Well, we don't know what happens in September, but what about that thought that Mike sends in? What's your feeling on that?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Well, it is different, and the thing, the thing about it is, Mike, is I mean, can you make that argument in the NLDS last year when the Brewers got it done against the Cubs in five games? I mean, they came up with some big hits, they came up with some uh massive home runs. You remember William Contreras's home run? So um they just ran into the Dodgers last year. So I get the argument. Everyone says, okay, you know, this team has a poor record in the playoffs. It this isn't this isn't the NBA playoffs, right? It's not a whole new season. This these are series that, yes, every single at-bat matters, every single pitch matters, and it just comes down to whether or not the Brewers are gonna be playing really good baseball, clean baseball, quality at bats, all that, and then come up with some big hits in the playoffs. I I think they can do it. Uh, until they do it, though, I get that that that's what's gonna be the narrative here in Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

And Vinny, uh, I've said this for a lot of years, and I think it's true, and this is because I'm older. Um, fans carry the scars of seasons gone by and playoff failures, or they carry the glory of playoff successes. The guys in the locker room, they they weren't around when the Brewers lost in 18. Many of them were around last year. Uh, some of them, not all of them, were around when uh Pete Alonzo homered. Uh, that I don't believe, maybe you do. Uh you certainly have a different perspective. I don't believe that there's a carryover, and last October or three Octobers ago matters to this team in October. It just matters because the fans carry those scars.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah, no, that's a great point, Mike. They do carry the scars. Uh, I mean, and even so when Pete Alonso did hit that home run, there were a lot of players on the team, Christian Yelich, William Contreras, Jackson Curio. So, so there were scars for those players because of that situation, because of that home run. But then they were able to kind of turn the page and clear it. I I totally understand. I mean, look, that took a long time for a lot of people. And remember, that was Bob Eucher's last year, right? In the booth. And then he passed away a few months later. And so the players, and I know for a fact the players really, really were devastated by that playoff loss. Yeah. I mean, and so the following year, last year, they went ahead, they did turn the page, they cleared it, and they tried to, you know, they got it done. I mean, they got it done in terms of making that next step past the DS. Okay. And so that was a big step. Yes, they ran into the Dodgers again. The Dodgers. The Dodgers weren't even playing as well as they played against the Brewers in the World Series against the Blue Jays. They made mistakes in the World Series against the Blue Jays. And they Blue Jays almost won. So my point is they kind of ran into a situation against the Dodgers last year where they just weren't going to lose to anybody. I don't care if there was a 26 Hall of Famers playing against the Dodgers last year in that particular series. They pitched extremely well. So so they will turn the page. They will understand, okay, this we got to get it done this year. Um it is a little bit of you know who you're playing and uh when you're playing the team who you're playing. Like how well are they playing? Hopefully, the Brewers, hopefully, other teams are gonna be saying that about the Brewers this year. Yeah, my goodness, they were playing great in the playoffs, and then they they were the last team standing. That's uh I do I with all that said, I totally get it. This has been a long it's been a long time since we've seen the Brewers just in the World Series, it's been 82. So I I totally get the argument. I totally get where fans are at. We're kind of there ourselves, right? The people who cover uh, you know, we want to see this thing happen. Um, they haven't they have a as good a chance this year as any, though, Mike.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

All right, this requires a camera to look, Minnie. Uh yesterday, in between, I I said both on my postgame and then uh on a reel this morning that if you're honest, that game was boring yesterday. Um, but you and Lev in between innings, was there ever oh my god, this is well, what was the conversation like in between innings? Anything you can share that you and Lev maybe have the same thoughts that the fan base did that this game is cool.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

This is a dragger. Well a hundred percent. I mean, sometimes that's how the game plays out, and in the booth, you just kind of feel the lower type energy because of what's what's happening on the field. You want to match the energy, right? This is what I've learned from Jeff Levering, who does a phenomenal job, and Brian Anderson, who probably the best broadcaster in the entire sport. I uh what I've learned is you try it from those guys, you try and match the energy of the game. You don't want to be all excited and bubbly, and when there's nothing happening in the game, there was literally nothing happening in the game, except the one home run by the most uncommon guy ever and Ruiz for the Marlins. So there's one nothing throughout the whole entire game, nothing happening. And so, but with that said, though, I think Jeff and I, and Dom Catronio, who does stats, were sitting there and and and you could almost feel it in the stadium. Even the fans, I feel like, felt it that okay, when's it gonna happen? When are they gonna score their their runs? Because we all know it's coming, and that's kind of the feeling that you get from the team that they feel that, and so it it you know you knew it was coming, it happened in the ninth inning against Pete Fairbanks, but yeah, it was kind of boring up until that point, and sometimes that's how baseball goes. Uh, there wasn't even really any great defensive plays in the game, so yeah, nothing really happening. You just kind of you try and find other things to talk about. We were talking about Hank Aaron, we were talking about I don't know, I was giving Levering a hard time, or maybe he was giving me a hard time about something else. I don't know. We didn't talk cribbage yesterday, but um, yeah, it was there's nothing going on. There's nothing going on.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

Um, but all right, so let's let's go back. Uh let me talk about the ninth inning because that's when the game shifts. The Brewers only have two hits, and Fairbanks come on comes on. He's been a good closure. His numbers aren't great. He's uh you know, statistically, he's not been great. But Churio, to me, is the at bat of the inning uh because I they needed momentum can be real in baseball. And I think just like you and and Jeff and Dom were talking to each other in between innings, when's it gonna happen? Churio kind of flips the switch because then you go, okay, now it happens. Tarang had a good at bat because Fairbanks got tight, right? I mean, once you get a runner on in that situation, the opposing pitcher, like it, it he tightened a little bit and then he missed um you know the entire at bat through Tarang, and now you've got runners ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Yeah, well, especially a guy and a closer that is yet to find his footing consistently this year in Pete Fairbanks. And so 100%. So as soon as you had Churio get that base hit, a mistake out over the middle of the plate. And I said on the broadcast, he's lucky to have that pitch back, but you knew that you knew that something good was gonna happen. All the pressure gets put on Pete Fairbanks before he can record his first out. And if he was able to record that first out, then of course the changes the whole dynamic of the inning. Momentum is so real in baseball, uh, and you can obviously feel it in football. My goodness, can you feel it in football? You can certainly feel it in basketball, how teams go on these 20 to two runs, and yeah, you know, you need a timeout to kind of reset momentum. I mean, you can feel it, you can see it on TV. It's it's so much more subtle in baseball. And you know, Jason Lane made a comment the other day about it, it was a game where you could uh it was a bases loaded type of a situation, one out or something, and then uh the pitcher for the Brewers shut the door and didn't allow a run. That is a huge momentum swing that usually you see the offense, even if the offense is totally stagnant on a particular day, you can you can feel that the offense and nothing is ever said in those situations, but you can feel the offense and you can feel the opposing team like shoulders sink a little bit, yeah, morale gets gets lower. My goodness, we didn't score again in that situation. So now all of a sudden, more mistakes are made in the field, more mistakes are made by the pitcher, and and teams take advantage of it. It's really subtle. I love that part of the game, though, where you can kind of feel those swings of momentum. That was certainly one of them when Churio started off that inning, and and especially with a struggling closer. And and uh yeah, that Pete Fairbanks guy, he is really struggling. He's got over a is it over a seven now at this point? It's gotta be. Yeah, it's not good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

And then when he did get the out, then uh Contreras, and let me just do the I uh there are some other things I want to get to, but just in the Contreras at bat, you made a really uh astute uh comment just before the home run about pitch sequencing, and uh you know they sped his bat up, but walk us it with a little bit longer format to talk about it. Tell me what you meant and what you saw in the at bat to Contreras that kind of worked in his favor.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Well, first of all, Mike, so the the Florida or the Miami Marlins are the first team to call pitches from the dugout, and so you see the yeah, you see the coaches flashing signs two five or whatever. And so now there's some code. I'm I don't know if they had the wristband on the catcher calling the pitches, then relaying to the to the pitcher, and you could see that uh you know, Contreras, you know, either he was just flat out late on the fastball or he was sitting on breaking ball, and and Pete Fairbanks hadn't given up a home run all year long to a right-handed batter. So all the damage mainly has been done to opposite hand hitters, and part of the reason why is because he's got a really good breaking ball, and so the breaking ball comes in to a left-handed hitter, the breaking ball breaks away and down below the zone to a right-handed hitter, so it's a little tougher to kind of cover the fastball up and then the breaking ball that's going away from your barrel, okay, as a righty. Okay, so you could sense, and Contreras is so smart, Mike. He is such a smart hitter, he's such a smart baseball player, and as much as we dislike his brother Wilson, yeah, he he's also a very heady, smart baseball player. You can see him kind of thinking along with pitchers, he's a catcher by trade, right? So, same thing, and he clearly he and his brother they both have those instincts and feel for the game, feel for at-bats, feel for how pitchers are attacking you. So, I think Contreras was sitting on breaking ball the entire at-bat. He was trying to fight off the fastball with two strikes. They gave him a hanging, a hanging cutter, hanging break. It was more like a it is more like a slider. He calls that pitch a cutter, but it's certainly it's more like a slider, like a downer pitch. What I meant by you're you're gonna speed up his bat by throwing a breaking ball because you're late on the fastball, late on the fastball. You're gonna throw something seven miles per hour slower. Well, what happens then? Your late is now on time. Yeah, that's what I mean by speed up the bat. And and he threw a next pitch, made me sound smart on the broadcast. Uh, once in a while you get lucky, right? And he he had an absolute bomb. That was that was uh a really cool moment for the team. The team has had so many great moments so far in 2026, they've been just piling up here the last few years of great moments. That was a great moment because look, I think the fact that they got swept by Pittsburgh, Mike. Yeah, swept, and it was you know, after the doubleheader losing both games by one run, those are demoral demoralizing losses. Then piling it on against the dangerous Pittsburgh Pirates team, getting blown out the day before the all-star break, and then to take the break, come back, sweep the Marlins, who were the best team in baseball since uh June 1, record-wise, they were the best team in baseball. Good team, good scrappy young team with with three horses on the mound. They beat their they beat their three horses, uh Sandy Alcantra, Max Meyer, All-Star, Ayuri Perez, who looks like uh like kind of like Miz, you know, just dominant.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

I I said before, I don't know if you were listening then, but I I thought he not by style, like not by his motion, but his pitch action, he's Abner Yuribe as a starter. It's a good call, right? That fastball really moves in on a right-handed hitter. And I mean, he's everything he threw was hard to hit.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

It is a that's a really good call. I was talking to their play-by-play guy, Kyle Siloff. Great play by play. And and I was talking to him about, you know, what is last six starts for Perez? What has he been doing differently? He just said flat out, if he is on, if he's commanding the baseball in his own, like he is unhittable, like you know, it's a hundred. It does look a little bit like Abner, just the way that you know it's it's long levers, it's athletic, it's super easy out of the hand, and it's 101 miles per hour. Like, that's not a fun at bat. And so you're getting that from a starting pitcher, they could not wait for that guy to get out of the game. And and that's the other thing that I think this team does just so exceptionally well. And we've talked about this a bunch, but it's a little bit subtle difference of what I'm gonna say right now. It's it's up and down the lineup, doesn't matter who's in the lineup. You could put in Cooper Pratt, you could put in Luis Lara, two rookies, right? They get they get it. The game plan was to get that guy out of the game. You know, they had early at bats early, meaning, you know, putting the ball in play, because that's really the only chance they had against him early. Is if you can get a mistake, didn't know if he was gonna be on with his stuff. They learned that this guy's on, we're gonna have deeper at bats, uh, longer at bats to get him out of the game. There was like a nine-pitch uh at bat against uh Tarang. That was a that was a big at battery. But it's a great at bat, right? 100%. That if that guy goes one more inning, I don't think the Brewers end up winning the game. Right. Um, just because again, the momentum factor. So they got him out in the sixth, and then they got into the bullpen, which again, yeah, just made you feel like, okay, when's it happening? Yeah, right. And it happened, it took till the ninth, but it happened, and that's the thing about this group that other teams that you cover, the other teams that I've played on that didn't have that kind of feeling, that it's like it's almost like uh we'll get them tomorrow during the game. You feel that sometimes. Ah, we'll get them tomorrow. There's another game. Not this team, they don't ever you don't ever feel like they they have that feeling, which is cool. It's cool because then the fans stay engaged, we stay engaged. When's it happening? Yeah, and it happened in the ninth.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

And that's about the personality both of the manager and of your leaders. Uh, and and by the way, we we lost a leader, and we'll find out how long over the course of time, Sal Freelick, uh a constant conversation that we've had, both good and bad, because when he wasn't going good, you go, we need you you gotta produce a little bit, but he's also the heartbeat of of much of what this roster does on the field, the hockey player that's that plays baseball. Um you've got depth, and now you're gonna have to use it with um with Luis Lara as a starting outfielder and Blake Perkins is your fourth outfielder. So the the loss of Sal Freelick is gonna be something to monitor because he he is important to what they do.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

A hundred percent. Uh you know, hopefully he's not out too long. I uh in my opinion, Mike, he was he had that had to been affecting his back, right? It had to be because look, you look at the back of the baseball card for any player, any player that's established in the major leagues. Okay, it takes a while to make the adjustment for a lot of guys, most guys, to to make the adjustments to kind of uh you know start to produce uh offensively. Like you saw Salfrey like take a huge step forward last year. 12 home runs, 20 doubles, three triples. I mean, that's a lot of extra base hits for a guy that's really not trying to hit extra base hits, and then this year, just totally the slugging percentage went totally in the tank. I mean, we saw we all saw it. Like the ball was not coming off the bat, the bat was not whipping through the zone like it was the year before. He had to be dealing with this shoulder injury for a while, and it just wasn't saying I had no idea. I I look, we you and I are in that clubhouse, we get all the information. I you know, I talked to play, I talked to the coaches, I talked to front office people. Like, there's no there was no information about Sal Freelick being hurt. Finally, we find out that he has been dealing with a shoulder issue that that's the right shoulder, so that's the lead shoulder in his swing. That you need that shoulder. Clearly, you need both shoulders. But but if you can't start your swing and stay closed, that's gonna affect what you do. I don't care. I don't care what anyone says, all the yeah, all the rhetoric about Sal Freelick, and you know, you can't play him, blah blah blah. Like he he had been playing hurt 100%. He is he's too talented of a guy in terms of hand-eye coordination, and he is a strong, compact, physical guy, and he was not he was not showing any pop in the bat. So I think he's hurt, gotta get him back, but he's gonna be a guy that you know, and this is the thing about the depth of this team. They have Luis Lara who can basically step in and and give up and provide as good a defense as Sal. I mean, truly, I mean, he was a gold glove winner in the minor leagues. A guy can go get it, and so that's gonna be a big bonus. What other team has that? Your your gold glove right fielder is on the shelf and is hurt and wasn't producing, so you got a rookie 21 years old who can step in and hopefully provide some you know some some some thump. We'll see. Um, but if nothing else, he's gonna provide good defense and a consistent quality at bat every time he's in there.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Vinny, um, two weeks from today is the trade deadline. Let me start with Detroit a little bit because Terek Scuble is going to be a conversation piece when we visited last Thursday. We won't do this in depth today, but when we visited last Thursday, kind of rooting against Detroit in the near term, they've won seven of ten. They did lose on Sunday. They're four and a half games out of a wild card spot right now. But looking up on the same line with Toronto and Houston, but then looking up at Minnesota, Baltimore, and Seattle to Boston, who's the last wild card now. So some of that is there are you know five teams between them and a wild card spot. Minnesota's one of them because Ryan's another pitcher, uh bigger picture conversation. Two weeks to the trade deadline on August 3rd. What is it and when should we really begin to pay attention, or can anything happen at any point?

SPEAKER_01 38:28

I think it's gonna go right down to the wire with Detroit. Look, they're they are the best team in record-wise in the American League as of yesterday. I don't know if it flipped, but June 1, they they had the best record in the American League. So a very bad American League, by the way. Very few teams are playing good baseball in the American League. So they're four and a half now. They lost yesterday. Um, it's gonna be until August 3rd, the the very last hour that they can make a deal, they're gonna decide whether or not they're gonna trade Derek Scuble. If they do, I you know, yeah. I would give I would here's my thing. I would give up, I would give up uh, you know, uh two two top 100 pro I I would. I would I would give up two top 100 prospects. I just would. I would give up Luis Peña. Uh, if I'm doing the deal, now they want pitching, so who else is that arm? Yeah, you know, would you consider a brand as much as I believe in Brandon Sprout, I would you do it, would you do that? I don't know. I don't know. That you know, right? So I'm a broadcaster, but yeah, uh, you know, we can talk about it. But I would love to get Scoobyl. We'll we'll see if they do it. Um the other guy that I think that the Brewers they need someone, they need a starting pitcher and a reliable starting pitcher. Freddie Peralta could be that guy. I don't think David Stearns does that move. It would look like egg on his face to do that, but he's been reliable four years in a row of 30 30 plus starts. So they need a reliable veteran type guy that can help kind of lighten the the pressure really uh of these guys, these young starters staying healthy and making every single start because they they're gonna need the guys that are in there right now. They have six, if you include Kyle Harrison, who's on the IELTS, who's not in there right now, but they need all six of those guys, uh, including Harrison, um, to make every single start from here on out. They they just do their depth is is okay right now, but it's depth with young play with young arms still. So we're talking about inexperienced. So they need an experienced guy. We'll see who it is. Um, I would love to see him get school bowl. Uh well the Detroit Tigers have to lose, though. That's the that's the part that is gonna be interesting.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

Is Michael Waka good enough to be that guy that would potentially come back? Kansas City's certainly in trade mode. They're they're not in any race, regardless of what they do over the next couple of weeks. Waka is he's got a losing record, but his ERA is under 3.8, his whip is 1.19, he's a veteran. Is is he a playable piece to acquire and be your number two or number three starter when you get to the postseason?

SPEAKER_01 41:12

That's the thing. I I think that they I'm gonna take a contrarian view on a on a Michael Waka or someone that's gonna cost a lot of prospects. I've I've been a I've been a mild you know detractor a little bit his entire career. I I just don't think he's a dominant guy. He's a good pitcher, he's learned how to pitch. He's really learned how to get out and pitch and stay and stay healthy because he was not healthy earlier in his career. I I just don't his stuff isn't overwhelming. I think if you want to win the World Series, uh you know, and if you are gonna leverage part of your future, uh you gotta get someone that's that's dominant, right? And in and I and I'm kind of talking out uh both sides of my mouth because I'm saying okay, Freddie Peralta versus Michael Waka. I I'd rather have Freddie, quite you know, personally, more more so because if you are gonna spend the prospect capital to get a Freddie, he is capable, and we've seen it with the stuff. I'm just talking pure stuff of being dominant at times when he's at his best. The stuff is, you know, it's uh in the upper nines on the fastball, and he's got a good chance and he can get paired back up with Chris Hook. I I the Michael Walk, he he's his stuff isn't overwhelming to anybody, he's more of a pitchability guy. I just wouldn't leverage the future, not that you would have to, but you would have to spend some prospect capital on a guy like Michael Walker, who's just a pitchability guy, who, in my opinion, you can piece that together with the guys currently on the roster. So that's my take.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

Uh a guy like Reed Detmers with the LA Angels, he's under club control. He's got arbitration years um left in 27 and 28. Uh his whip is 1.19, his ERA is above four. Um, he's a left-handed starter. What's what's the scouting report there? Is he in play in that regard?

SPEAKER_01 43:08

He's another guy I never really I never really loved. I didn't think the I've never thought the stuff was overwhelming either. Now, I admittedly I haven't really dug into him as of late when he's had success, he's had success this year. Now, you know, the the ERA is 416. So I'm thinking, okay, how much success really has he had? He he's a guy that, you know, again, you never want to count anybody out that gets paired up with Chris Hook. That's that's the other part.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Yeah, so it's a good caveat.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Yeah. And and again, I think, I think that would cost an arm and leg. He's the guy that's been talked about the most.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Well, and mainly because there's club control, right? He's still fairly young and and he's not a rental because uh he's affordable on the arbitration side to keep under club control for twenty seven and twenty eight.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Yeah, go ahead. Real thing, real quick on this, on this whole conversation. Scoobyl is is the number one priority. He's the guy, okay. Because he's the right kind of guy. He's a Murphy kind of guy, and he he offers uh, you know, an opportunity to get paired up with Miz and Harrison. All of a sudden, you are the favorite to win the World Series. The other guys, I would I would do Freddie just because he means something to the organization and the franchise. The other the other pieces that are out there, I I just don't know if what you already currently have, uh, so so like they're all kind of right around the same level. The Detmers, the Wakkas. You could eat you could acquire a guy like Michael Lorenzen and get the same type of close to the same type of production, you wouldn't have to spend as much prospect capital. Sure. That that's kind of my take on it. Unless it's scuba, you kind of want to make sure that you're you're not you know emptying the bank.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

Is Joe Ryan off the list because the twins are so close? Because his numbers have been uh really awfully good. 285 ERA, a whip of 105. Uh, and he's he's also a stuffed guy.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

He's a stuffed guy. He he scares me because his is it sustainable? He's had injuries history. Okay, so but he is a guy that, if healthy, he could move the needle as well. Polad, I think it's Tom, the brother that took over, owner of the twins. Yep. There's there's a family situation there where one brother was under control of the team, and now this I think it's Tom now that's under control of the team. He's trying to change the culture and the feel around the team in Minnesota. If if he goes ahead and starts to sell off pieces that that could make the playoffs, I think they're in playoff position right now. Maybe yeah, it's like, okay, now the team, the the city's really not gonna back what they're doing in Minnesota. So I that I don't think he's gonna be available personally, uh, but he could he could be a name. He's gonna be sure awfully expensive, probably as well.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

Uh let me finish on the trade concept with this. And this is a political uh negotiation question. Does next year impact the front office in making a decision at this year's trade deadline? You know, the uncertainty of the collectively bargained agreement. Uh, does it impact one way or another or differently for a bigger market to smaller market? Does it have an impact at the trade deadline?

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Um, a little bit if you're considering guys that are under control. So, like a reed Detmer's. Yeah, if you're missing games, then you're missing all you know a year, half a year. Hopefully, hopefully not. I just kind of cringe about that thought. But then, yeah, I think it it does a little bit. Um, at the same time, I think I think most front offices are pretty hyper-focused on the present and seeing how they can help.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Because they can't none of the GMs. I mean, owners, that's where an owner gets involved in whether you're making deals or not, because they might have a different view. But the GM, I I would think is uh that's not uh the starter or an ender of a conversation. Uh, let me ask you about tonight, and then I'll let you go. Um, and that is Freddie comes back in and it's against Ms. I mean, this is this is great theater. Miz hasn't thrown now. He's had had this the longest break he's likely gonna have in the year. Um, Freddie coming home. This is significant for him. He's not had the year he's wanted. There's a there's some drama in that matchup and some great satire that might take place with these two and the relationship, right? That's a fun part of tonight's game. It is.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

I cannot wait for this game. Uh let's say Miz wasn't even pitching, and I wouldn't, I wouldn't be able to, you know, I'd be super excited about the fact that Freddie is pitching, just because Freddie he meant so much to what the Brewers did. You could kind of trace it back when in 2018, you know, this team, the Brewers and the franchise almost went to a World Series, and Freddie was a massive part of that. He's been a massive part of the winning culture that's been taking place here in Milwaukee for a long time now. And they had to trade him away because that's just what the Brewers do, and you know, they trade away their veteran guys that are on expiring contracts. He knew it, it was there was no hard feelings, clearly. And he he's such a great guy and a great competitor, and he is so beloved by everybody in that clubhouse, everybody in that clubhouse. Yeah, and you're talking even the clubhouse attendants, everybody. And and so, and he's beloved by the city and what he did for the organization organization franchise. He was is a is a guy that treats everybody like like they're the greatest guy ever, right? I mean, like he's your best friend, so that's how he treats people, and it's gonna be it's gonna be probably emotional for him to tow the rubber for the first time. And I'm just really excited just about that. And then yeah, Miz going up against him. I love how he is such a competitor that he's like, okay, I gotta kick his butt. You know, he said that. Yeah, uh it's great. It's that's great. But you know, I love Freddie, but I gotta go ahead and take it to him. So that's kind of Miz, Miz kind of maturing in that regard. But this is gonna be a great game tonight, and uh, you know, obviously, hopefully the Brewers win, but it's gonna be sentimental, I think, for a lot of people because Freddie he meant a lot to a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 49:35

You're so we're doing this on Monday instead of Thursday this week, but Friday is a legends alumni game. Are you back from your uh I'm not gonna be back?

SPEAKER_01 49:44

So I'm I work for prep baseball as well, right? So prep baseball, Wisconsin, the big week is this week. It's the future games where every single top players, top sophomores, incoming juniors in high school, all from every single state kind of play against each other and showcase what they can do. So I have to be down there for that. Unfortunately, I'm not gonna be able to be in that legends game. I would have loved to face Tim Dillard and taken him deep. You know, he's the one the one guy could probably get a hit off of uh still to this day. When he when he dropped down sidearm and I faced him in triple A, this was in 2015. I'm like, dude, you're you're throwing beach balls up here. It was like 87. My bat speed was slowing down. I'm like, I that would have been great, great fodder between he and I, but you know, I'm uh that's gonna be a really cool event. Last year's home run derby was awesome. I think this year's alumni game is gonna be even even cooler. Braun still looks like he could play, so he'll probably go deep a couple of times. Yeah, um so it'll be great.

SPEAKER_02 50:49

Yep. Oh, it'll be fun. I'm gonna have Jeff Jenkins on the show at the end of the week. Uh he'll be back in for that. So um, hey Vinny, thanks for doing this earlier than normal on on a Monday. Uh, enjoy the prep showcase. It'll be a fun series between now and then with the Brewers and the Mets, and then an off day on Thursday. Uh, we'll do it again next week, and I appreciate you. Sounds good, Mike. Thanks. Vinny Rutino and his time here is brought to you by our friends at uh Pottawatomi Sportsbook and Casino. These in every Thursday, but this week we moved it up to a Monday. And uh and uh yeah, uh treadmill, um, you know, treadmill and Vinny are tight. Uh Dilly taking strays. Yep. Uh yeah. So and Friday's gonna be a lot of fun. I don't think I'm gonna, I don't think I'm able to be at the ballpark on Friday. I'm trying to work it out, but either way, Jenks is gonna, Jeff Jenkins will be on the show on Friday uh of this week. So I'm gonna kind of move some pieces around this week to make that happen. He's one of our fantasy camp coaches uh out at Fantasy Camp in January. So uh had Jenks scheduled earlier this year, and then this works out perfectly. I was gonna get Vaughn too, Greg Vaughn, but he is um his daughter is is huge in the equestrian world. So she qualified for an international, and uh they're gonna be in Europe uh riding horses. Well, he's not gonna ride the horses, I don't think. Uh his daughter is, but I was hoping Vaughn could do that, but he's gonna be traveling. Uh Jeff Jenkins is gonna join me, I believe that'll be Friday on a show this week. So so many really, really good things going on. Let me go back to uh one of the things I was talking about earlier, and that is uh a thank you to those who are part of what it is that we do and begin with uh the neuroscience group, because whether you have suffered uh a sports concussion or a concussion of any type, it can change you in an instant. The car accidents, workplace injuries. Their team provides one of the most comprehensive concussion programs in the state. Specialized care to design designed to help you recover and to return to life safely. Neuroscience Group, Wisconsin's leader in concussion care. Go to neurosciencegroup.com. We are also presented by our friends at Habish, Habish and Rotary. You can go to Habish.com uh to find out all the details, but they have 13 locations. What does that do for you? It helps you to ensure that you've got somebody that is in, in a sense, a hometown attorney. Hometown attorneys matter because they understand your life, what it is in your world, what's going on with you, and that personal injury case matters and how much it matters. So reach out to habish.com. That's Habish, Habish and Rotier. I also want to say thank you to our friends at M3 Insurance. Go to M3INS.com. If you're in business, you understand the importance of the benefit packages, risk management, insurance, uh, those elements for your employees. Well, so does M3 Insurance. And if it's protecting your risk management or benefiting your employees, M3INS.com. M3Insurance is the place to go for that. My friends at one community bank, and I talk about them earning your business. So that's what I hope when you hear me talk about one community bank or any of our sponsors, is that you give them a chance to earn your business. So with one community bank, red and white wine bar of business banking is through them. With the our HellerPods, our podcasts, our business banking is with one community bank, and our personal banking is with them. Why? They earned it. When we were going through the process initially, some seven years ago, to open up Red and White Wine and Bourbon Bar in Wana Key, they were who we talked to. And they earned that business then and ongoing. So one community.bank for feel good banking. Please give them a chance. Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender. And who have I missed here? I don't think uh, well, Pottawatomi. Listen, uh, the shuttles going to and from Pottawatomi Sportsbook and Casino over to American Family Field tonight for Ms and Freddie. What a great way to spend a Monday afternoon going over to Pottawatomy, having a great dinner, maybe throwing something at the sports book, table games. If you're from out of town, go ahead and book a room and shuttle to and from American Family Field. Our friends at Pottawatomi Sportsbook and Casino and Luis, uh, I can't say enough about how valuable that resource is for us, uh, but also for you. If you take advantage of that, go to Pottawatomi Sportsbook and Casino and the short little shuttle over to American Family Field. And we're also presented by Traditions Lighting. Uh they're going to come out next week and do some more work for us. And then we've got it already on the calendar for the first week of November, right after Halloween, to get our holiday light package put up on the exterior of our house. Nothing makes Kari happier than our holiday lighting going up and turning on before Thanksgiving. I know some of you, that's not your gig. Well, then schedule it after Thanksgiving. Either way, we've got it on the calendar, and I hope you do too. Go to traditionslighting.com. You can see their work. You want to see it in person? Go to Tidal Town, across from Lambeau Field and Green Bay. That's their lighting package. It's what they do. So whether you're a business or a homeowner, go to traditionslighting.com. All of these things matter to uh to what they do, matter to us, and I appreciate the support of uh of who we have and what is involved in this show. All right, look at that. We we have we have done it again. We have taken care of an hour. This this was, and I I don't ever look forward to the show being done. I love the hour. I I sometimes I wish it was a little bit longer, but I think an hour is a really good window. And sometimes when it's really good, we go a little longer. Try not to go shorter. I want to make sure that we deliver on this side of it. Tomorrow will be fun because treadmill will be back in. We'll recap and look back at Freddie Peralta and Miz. They go tonight. You'll get a brood daily following that game tonight uh between the two at American Family Field. And uh so much to get to and a lot. Listen, uh, I didn't mention a single time in here uh the what happened yesterday in the World Cup final, and there's a there's a good reason. I didn't really watch it. I mean, it was dominant, right? Spain allowed Argentina no opportunity, almost zero opportunity to uh have scoring chances. It was an extraordinary, I have no idea how or why, because I don't I didn't watch it very much, and I don't watch it very much, and now the next time I really watch soccer is Women's World Cup or the Olympics, and then the men's world cup again in four years, and I have no idea where it is, but it's not here. I think the uh the US, Mexico, Canada hosting, it it appears it was brilliant. Um, you know, I know that some people are gonna bring politics to it, but it appears it was fantastic. I don't know that I had I would have had the final in the Medallands, but whatever. I I think it was great. Um a little sad that it's done. Also, the uh major championships in golf are now over. Ryan Fox wins the Open Championship, the British Open and the Claret Jug. Uh so now the major championships, for some people, this is really the end of the golf season. They're major championship golf watchers, and that's now gone for the year. And Ryan Fox, uh well, how about that finish on his 72nd hole with an approach to about 12 feet and making that putt? My goodness. So good. Oh, and listen, I didn't do it. I should have done it off the top. In fact, I have a note to do it off the top of the show, and I didn't. So uh, if it doesn't work today, I'm gonna do it tomorrow. But a shout out to Mark in Carmel, Indiana. Mark is a regular, he he wants to hear about Wisconsin sports, and he doesn't get it in Carmel, Indiana. So a shout out to Mark, and I think it's Carmel. It's not Carmel, is it? It's not Caramel. I know that. But Mark in Carmel, Indiana, shout out to you. Thanks for being uh a viewer and or a listener to this podcast. And I'll do it again Tuesday because I screwed it up. I was supposed to do it off the top. All right, we're done. That'll take care of this. Uh, we'll jump back in here again tomorrow at 10 a.m. live. Treadmill's gonna be part of that whole mix. And brewed daily tonight after the Brewers and Mets go final at American Family Field. Thanks for being part of what we do. We'll see you again late tonight and then again tomorrow morning.