Get It Done League
GET IT DONE LEAGUE is a weekly baseball show hosted by former MLB All-Stars Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin, alongside veteran broadcaster Arash Madani. Inspired by Donaldson’s iconic “get it done” moment, the show reflects the mindset of elite players; direct, unfiltered and a commitment to give it their all, every single time.
Get It Done League
Josh Donaldson and Russ Martin react to Vladdy's Struggles... GIDL EP2
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Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson are joined by longtime Toronto Blue Jays Reporter Arash Madani in the GET IT DONE LEAGUE, a new podcast covering everything MLB. In this episode the boys react to the early Blue Jays season, including the struggles of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
He goes, see, if I wouldn't have yelled at you, you wouldn't have got that hit. And I'm like, oh, so when I do good, it's because of you. And when I do bad, it's because of me. Oh, okay. I get it. Now I understand. This is New York. This isn't the Tri League.
SPEAKER_04But that's again true. Very appreciative of Russian Martin challenging the art.
SPEAKER_05You know, this is the Get It Done League.
SPEAKER_04Get it done league! It is episode two of the Get It Done League, the opener, a massive hit. It was great to hear from so many of you in the mentions and the comments and the DMs. We are North America's newest baseball podcast. And who better, front and center than Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin in the Get It Done League? I'm your host, Arash McDani. Fellas, I gotta tell you, among the people I heard from that made me chuckle, your old skipper John Gibbons reached out. He said, You gotta show with those two, do you? And I'm like, Yeah, give us a show with those two.
SPEAKER_05Oh, he knows what you're getting into. He had some questions.
SPEAKER_03What are we getting ourselves into with you two? Man, Gibby must have seen some things, huh?
SPEAKER_02I mean, Gibby for sure saw or heard Josh from the back of the plane yelling at him quite a few times after some road trips. I mean, it was just yeah, Gibby's Gibby's like he was like a dad, you know? Yeah, he's he's a good man. I like Gibby, man. Love Gibby.
SPEAKER_05Love Gibby. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I caught him asleep right before the game, like 30 minutes before. And I was like, I'd go in there, I'd wake his ass up, and I'd be like, Gibby, it must be really easy to sit there and make that lineup every day, isn't it? I mean, it's so easy, you get to take a nap right before the game. Meanwhile, that's when your temperature's going through the roof, huh? Oh, that's what I'm getting changing characters.
SPEAKER_04That's an interesting, like we often see in football movies that happen. You know, the the switch just gets absolutely flipped. What happens in that character transformation times 162? Like it's baseball's a different beast, but what happens in that mode?
SPEAKER_05I mean, it feels like uh like from a body wise, it feels like you start to zing, like the body starts zinging, the you know, the body starts getting ready to go, and you know, mentally you're just sitting there telling yourself like how good you are and how good this team is, and the the things that you're gonna do to help our team win, and you know, really just trying to get into that mindset of we're gonna go out and win a ballgame today.
SPEAKER_02I saw it more with starting pitchers. I feel like the starting pitchers, you could get somebody, you know, every fifth day that just turns into some somebody completely different. I remember uh um who is who's one of them that Burnett.
SPEAKER_04AJ Burnett.
SPEAKER_02AJ Burnett, when I had him in Pittsburgh in New York, he's one of those guys that on his start day, you didn't want to mess with him. You know, he's going into he's going into warrior mode. And it's like, no, don't talk to him, don't like give him his face, just just let him be, and he and he's gonna go out there and shove six, seven innings and and with a bunch of punches. Um, who else can I think of? Brad Penny as well. Okay, he he'd switch it up, and then I mean, I feel like the the most notorious one is Scherzer. I never got to catch him, but like clearly, you know, guys are like when it's when it's his time, you get out the way and you let him do his thing.
SPEAKER_04My first season being around the ball club was Roy Halliday's last one in Toronto, and dudes were scared of him on start day. Like, you didn't mess with Doc, you didn't look at Doc, you didn't talk to Doc. You wouldn't dare touch him like nothing. Like stay out of the way. As a catcher, Russ, like you you gotta know your guys, personalities. Like you're walking out there at 6:30 to go to a bullpen, get them ready for a game. What's some of that back and forth like?
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, everybody's different and their personalities and what's what makes them tick. For me, it's more when they're kind of starting to get derailed in a start. Like, do I do I give them a tap on the back? Do I go, do I go tell the joke on the mound? Or you know, do I get after them and and you know, tell them that you know could be in a could be in soft or something, you know, and and you you gotta figure that out as a catcher. Um but like as far as like in their game prep, you know, I'm just kind of like just I'm doing my own thing too, right? And I'm just you know, just seeing what they have that day. How's her breaking stuff, how's her heater, how's their command? Um, but when it's game time, you know, when they start kind of going off the tracks a little bit, that's when you kind of got to step in and either give them a blow. Some guys don't need anything, sometimes they just need like a second, you know. You go for a mound visit and you kind of get them to regroup. Um, but yeah, I mean, uh as a catcher, you kind of you kind of got to be like a psychologist a little bit too.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so let's get on the leather couch here on the Vladdy situation, guys. Here we are a quarter of the way through the season, and it's so interesting because in all the advanced metrics, people don't really pay attention to batting average as much, which I still think is such an important number, figure, stat in the game. And Vladdy's hitting 300, but the power hasn't been there, and he's hit only two home runs. And I I wonder, and I want to get into the specifics on Guerrero in a sec, but I I wonder this when you're in win mode now, and I put win mode in kind of era quotes, which the Blue Jays obviously are getting to game seven of the World Series last year, and then you're scuffling amidst that. Like it's one thing everybody goes through struggles, there's no question. But when you're the face of the franchise and it's on you to keep the train on the tracks, you're five, six games below 500, whatever it is. When you're in win in win now mode and the power isn't there, and and you're you know, you're going through it six of 41 in his last 11. What what happens, JD, when you're the star, when you're the face of it, when you're the one who has to navigate all of this?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, I feel like um obviously you have the emotions of wanting to carry a ball team, and um yeah, he has that capability to do that. When I was with the Blue Jays, there was a few guys that could do that, and I think he does definitely have some uh supporting characters around him to help him do that. But if there's one person that can carry that team the most uh through a length of the season, it's definitely Vlad, and everyone knows that. And you know, for me, uh what it comes down to is you try not to get too caught up in that, but you trust in your routine, you trust in what you're doing. Uh, if there's stuff that you gotta work on for for me, in my opinion, with Vlad, and why we see his power struggles go up and down so drastically, and you know, he has like big windows of probably not hitting for power, and then big windows of when he starts to hit for power a little bit, is I think that he does focus on batting average a lot, and I think his approach is to be more on top of the baseball, and he hits a lot of balls down into the ground, and then whenever he starts kind of feeling it and uh able to get the ball out in front a little bit, or even use the big part of the field and you know hit some balls out that way. Um that normally seems to take a little bit of time uh for him to do that. And for me, like whenever I was hitting the ball too much on the ground, or whenever I was hitting the ball too low, or making weak contact. Uh you know, I the great thing about Roger Center is there's so many targets out there in the outfield. And I've and Russ can attest to this. I'd be like, look, I'm about to go deep at the Budweiser sign, or I'm gonna go deep over uh to dead center, what's that area called?
SPEAKER_04The um the flight deck.
SPEAKER_05The flight deck. I'm about to hit a ball over the flight deck, or or whatever it was, and I could pick a target in my brain just by visualizing me hitting a ball that way, I would start getting balls at that trajectory. And I think that's something that Vlad could definitely um learn from, and it could definitely help him in that area.
SPEAKER_02Russ? Well, I think that you know, if you're going over the Blue Jays lineup and you're going down the lineup, probably what they're saying is like, here, this is the guy that can't beat us. So we're gonna pick we're gonna pitch this guy tough, you know. So um, you know, when when when you don't really have you know as good of a protection that you know you you can have, you know, they're they're still missing a couple pieces. Um, you know, there's they'll they'll just they'll pitch them tough and Vladdy likes to swing the bat, right? And then so, you know, I don't think he's getting challenged that much. Um I think that's gotta play a factor into it. Um, but also, you know, he's the kind of guy that is streaky. You know, once once he pops one, then they'll probably come in bunches. Um but I definitely I definitely think that like the key is is if you're facing the Blue Jays and you don't have to pitch to Vladdy, you're gonna pitch him tough. You know, like it's almost like you're you're 0-2 on him from the from the first pitch on. And if you walk him, you know, so what? He's he's not gonna steal 30 bases.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's wild to see after 41 games only two homers. I thought John Schneider's quote on Tuesday to the writers pregame was so interesting because you know, so often we hear guys, you know, players are trying to do a little too much. Okay, fine. But this was Schneider's line. He said, I think he's at the point where he wants to be talking about Guerrero, he wants to be the guy to carry us, and the more he does that, the harder it gets. Like when you feel like you have the weight of the franchise on your shoulders and you're you know you're scuffling your five games below 500 or whatever, JD. That there that's a different dimension to it, too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I mean, if you're up there feeling like you have to carry the load, I I think the most important thing for that being said is he can only take care of what he's doing. He can't he can't make somebody else go hit. He can't make and from what I've seen, like the team's hitting decent enough, like they're just not kind of clicking at this moment. Uh, and obviously, you know, in the midst of being five or six games back, um and you're not having any power at this point, you know, it starts kind of like I feel like that starts becoming more of a weight on you. Like, man, I'm not like even my hits, I don't like have oh, another single or or whatever like that, and then next guy hits it to a ground ball double play, and you know, it just makes it to where it's more difficult to where those singles really come in crunch time whenever there's guys on base, and so guys need to start getting if you don't have protection around them, the other way to protect them is by getting guys on base because then they gotta then they gotta start pitching to them.
SPEAKER_04So, just mentally, guys, you know, so much in this game has to do with what's on the back of your baseball card, so much of it has to do with how much money you make, so much of it has to do with what kind of awards and hardware you may have. Russ, you sign in Toronto, you're the Canadian guy, you sign a big money deal. JD, you're coming off an MVP season going into 16 after you know a big run. Did either of you feel the pressure that you had to carry a team at all in your career?
SPEAKER_02And if so, what's that like? I I didn't feel the pressure of that. I mean, my job was to kind of manage the pitching staff, right? That's like the most important job as a catcher is get everything you can out of those pitchers. And then if you hit, it's kind of like a bonus. Um, obviously, when you sign a big contract, you you definitely want to contribute contribute on the offensive side too. Um, but on the team that we had, we had we had so many guys that could hit where it was just, you know, it's it's just you know, pass the baton onto the next guy, just have a quality at bat. And then, you know, our team was stacked with guys who could hit the ball out of the yard. And um, I I never felt that pressure to to really have to perform, you know, offensively. Um, but you know, I don't know what Josh thinks about it, but he he was a different type of player than I was.
SPEAKER_05I I mean I think for me, it was always about like how I would get away from that is I would challenge guys in my own clubhouse. Like, come on, bats, like you're gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna challenge this guy, I'm gonna put it here too. And so all of us, and so like, I mean, even there was times when in the middle of the game where Russ and I like Russ would be like, Hey, like, I want to see if you can go off over here or something like that. I want to see if you can hit this break. Like, he would challenge me in different ways to he knew what was gonna happen to have success in that situation, not just like popping off, but like real comments and real you know, challenges to say, I want to see if you can do this. Now that puts oh, yeah, I can do that. All right, boom, I'm gonna go do that. And so we all kind of fed off of each other. That's when you have a good team, is when all your guys are feeding off of each other.
SPEAKER_04Russ, how do you know when to go to your guy and challenge him?
SPEAKER_02That's a good question. I think you just it's just intuition, it's feel, you're right. Like, you know, and and with Josh, I feel like anytime's a good time to challenge Josh. Like he's he's never gonna back down, he's never gonna back down. And and you know, you you as you challenge him with anything, and he's like, I got this, I'm gonna do this. You know what I mean? But uh, you know, I yeah, I think it's just like we did it in a way that was fun too. Like, you know, it was never, you know, it was never it was always trying to get the guy to perform to his capability. We weren't we weren't trying to bash each other and belittle each other. It was more of like, you know, I challenge you to do this because you, you know, I know you got this, you know. Let's see, let's see if you can make it happen type thing.
SPEAKER_04So we have fan questions. They're powered all season long by our friends at Fan First. And if you see somebody outside the ballpark in Toronto, they're asking you questions about the show. It's legit. We're gonna play one or two of them in each episode. Let's go to this one.
SPEAKER_01Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin launched a new podcast. Is there anything that you guys would ask them?
SPEAKER_00What's Josh's advice to Vladdy on the power? Josh had power. Vladdy is struggling this season. What do you think he would say to Vladdy to help him with his power stroke?
SPEAKER_04It's an interesting one, JD, because power just doesn't go away for a guy like Vlad. Vlad calls you and says, JD, any thoughts? I know you talked about, you know, batting average and hitting it, but what else would you kind of suggest to him?
SPEAKER_05I mean, I think the first thing is like you have what you have to ask is, am I swinging at good pitches? Like, what's my pitch selection? How's my approach? What is my approach feeling like? Am I changing my approach throughout the bat? Um, and then if the answers are all good to those questions, then you start looking at it, like uh, all right, what adjustment do I need to make? And the biggest adjustment, like I said, for me is I started just because I had a flatter to down swing earlier in my career. And what I mean by that is as my bats going through the zone, it's either flat or slightly down, and that's similar to where Vlad has been for the better part of his career. I'm not saying to make anything drastic, I just think he could start trying to pick some spots um to just change his sights a little bit versus everything seemingly like it's gonna be down, and he's gonna hit for a high higher average that way, but I I just don't think that he's gonna impact the game as much as what he could uh what his potential is.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to watch this.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say, yeah, it looks like when he's trying to hit like his ideal hit would be like a line drive that's hitting like that's hitting the back of the wall. Yeah, like that's when he's when he's trying to hit his perfect ball, it looks like that's what he's trying to do.
SPEAKER_05Too hot or center.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And when he just misses or just gets underneath it, that's when he hits a homer, or else he hits like a you know a really hard ground ball or something.
SPEAKER_05Or unless he's in Yankee Stadium, but you know, Yankee Stadium, you can see when he goes there, he's trying to do damage when he gets to that part because you know, obviously he said very you know multitude of times how he hates the Yankees, and yeah, so you can tell like the approach starts shifting when he goes and plays that team.
SPEAKER_04It's it's just different there, isn't it, fellas? Like you both have played against the Yankees, you've both worn the pinstripes. I through the lens of of guys who've been on the home clubhouse in the Bronx, what's what is it about that place, that aura, that franchise, and playing for them that that really stands out?
SPEAKER_02I'll go first. Um well, first the expectations are always really high. Always like you know, the the fan base expects to win. They they it's like a world series, you know. I don't know if they say it, but it it feels like it's a world series or a bust kind of thing. No matter who's on the team, that's what their expectations are. They've been very fortunate to have really good teams for a really long time. And um and I tell you what, it's not it's not the place you want to be when you struggle. Because, you know, if you got family or friends in the stands, like you're you're not gonna hear all the heck heckling when you're on the field, but like maybe your parents will, you know, or your buddies that are in the stands. What have you shared with your us? What have they said that like oh my gosh, I mean, it's like the fans don't know like you know that your parents are are there, but like if you're hitting, you know, like 200 and you're in early May, they'll be like, you know, you're not even hitting your weight, you know, with with the New York accent, and they're just they're letting you have it.
SPEAKER_05Um this guy's a bum. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's it's like in the movies. It's like in the movies, you know. Uh but when you're doing great and you're playing well, then you know you get all the praise and it's you know, you you feel like a superstar.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I remember that this will perfectly sum up New York fans for you, in my opinion. I was at third, I was at third base, and I think uh I don't know, I might have struck out my first step bat or something, or I got I don't know. I don't it was Logan Gilbert, so I don't I don't think he ever retired me. Uh or oh, there's a play in the field, and this guy's like giving me the business at their best, get your get your head, get your head up. This is blah blah blah. And he's on me for like two minutes, three minutes. And it and in the in close to the field, it's quiet. It's all you know, that's all where all the coats are at. Yeah, it's not rowdy. Uh so this one guy, I can hear him, and I'm just like, I just look at him, I'm like, I'm like, just keep going, dude. I don't I don't really care. Keep going, keep going. And so then my next dead bat, I drove in a couple guys, hit a double or something like that. And I'm on second, I can see him standing up, and he's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's he's cheering me on, and I'm like, dude, what?
SPEAKER_04I just heard you.
SPEAKER_05I'm like, what? And so I go to I go to a third base and this is what sums him up. And he goes, see, if I wouldn't have yelled at you, you wouldn't have got that hit. And I'm like, oh, so when I do good, it's because of you, and when I do bad, it's because of me. Oh, okay. I get it. Now I understand. This is New York.
SPEAKER_04It's Johnny from the Bronx.
SPEAKER_05Exactly.
SPEAKER_04I mean, I I tell you the the best, the best chant I heard in that stadium, uh, late summer, early fall pennant race 2021. It was that compressed season coming out of COVID. Reese McGuire's the backup catcher of the Blue Jays. And behind the visitors dugout, down that third baseline, like the murmur kind of started. And I'm down there in the camera well beside the dugout, and it gets louder and it gets louder and it's louder. And Maguire's at the plate, and they're just chanting. Jack of Jack.
SPEAKER_03And I love my oh man. Oh man, that's good. That's tough.
SPEAKER_05That is tough.
SPEAKER_03That's tough.
SPEAKER_05That's tough. That's tough. Tough.
SPEAKER_04JD, you play with Judge. How does that dude handle that environment?
SPEAKER_05I think obviously he handles it amazingly. Um he's an unbelievable player, you know. And um, you know, to me, I feel like uh yeah, he was kind of one of those guys who, you know, from the outside, he looks like the gentle giant, right? And when you play with him a little bit, you start to figure out like there's a little bit more to this gentle giant. Like he's got he's got some killer mentality to him. And uh I'll say this Aaron Judge is the only guy I've ever played with that can hit a ball 500 feet, and by second base, he's you know, he's smiling and doing all this thing, whatever. And by the time he hits second base, the pitchers like just got it. He's just like got he's got the ball. He's like, Yeah, well, it's Aaron Judge, like he's just better than me. Like, he should have hit that out. Like, when I would when I was hitting homers, like, screw this guy, I'm gonna throw it at his neck next time.
SPEAKER_02Then nobody wants to see Aaron Judge charge him out.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. Nobody's he's he's big, and then big dude.
SPEAKER_04I I remember talking to Justin Smoke, whatever I think it was Judge's rookie year, maybe second year. We're just chatting right up top step of the dugout, and it was before BP, and all of a sudden, you just hear the sound that it's like a rocket launcher, and both of us just snapped our necks, and it's judge in the you know, judge in the cage. And Smokey looks at me and he's like, Hey Rash, I I gotta go watch this. And here's a dude who's been in the show for a while, right? Played with played with Vlad's dad in Texas, played with real dudes, all you guys. And he went, took a few steps, took a knee, and just watched Judge take not even BP, just to take hacks, you know, in the early days of his career. And I'm looking at that, I'm like, man, this this guy's gonna be different.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I remember whenever they we they had ESPN or somebody in for one of those games, and they were doing the like a home run tracker for his BP, and he was hitting him into the fifth deck, and they were like 500 and something feet. I was like, oh my god, there's levels to power. Like, he's obviously the top. I mean, him and John Carlo.
SPEAKER_02Otani, Otani can he's got some soccer in there too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, Otani.
SPEAKER_04I haven't played with him, but Russ the biggest pop out of a bat that you played with.
SPEAKER_02That's a good question. I would say Manny, when Manny came to the Dodgers. Okay. His he he had unbelievable pop like to all fields. And yeah, I can't, I I think he's yeah, he's probably the guy who had had the most pop. But but Stanton is is you know above, you know, he's beyond that. Like, I I don't know. I don't know if there's ever ever been anybody with as much pop as as Judge in the game. Like it's it's a big it's a big dude right there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, like it's Hamilton Hamilton had big time pop. Yeah, what am I?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you mean you hear stories of guys in BP being able to launch, but a lot of those guys it wouldn't replicate in a game, right? It's like who who is the manager? Who is the manager for the Phillies? He used to say something to his guys during batting practice. Oh, I think it'd be like Ryan Howard. No, it was uh Charlie Charlie Manual. Charlie Manuel. Okay, so he he'd be sitting behind the cage during batting practice, and guys would start launching him in BP, and he would say, Game, please. Let's see in the game. Game, please. It's like it's BP don't matter.
SPEAKER_04No, BP don't matter. Um, I want I want to wrap with this the whole Eric Lauer situation because it's just felt weird for a while now. Like, you know, this time last year when the Jays couldn't get out of their own way, it was Lauer who kind of kept the season alive. He was probably, you know, right there with Gossman, their most reliable starter. And then he fell out of favor in the rotation, and they use him out of the pen, and he saved them in that 18-inning game in the World Series. Things go sideways and arbitration, and then it just it hasn't recovered. He said he didn't like the whole opener situation, whatever, and obviously there's discontent. So the Blue Jays sent him out. That's that's that's it for Eric Lower's chapter in Toronto. When you have a teammate, a player, a pitcher who's just unhappy with the situation every day in that clubhouse. Yeah, can you feel it? Can you sense it? Do you know it? How does that get you know how have you guys dealt with a situation like that? Take us, take us behind those doors, not necessarily for the Lauer situation specifically, but when a guy's just not happy, what happens, JD?
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah, I think first off, you try to make it not seem as big a deal as what it is right now. Like, hey, like you just never know how the season's gonna turn out. Like, stick with us. Like, we're gonna need you at some point in the role that you want to be in. Uh, but I mean that's the sticky thing about arbitration, is uh like you had mentioned earlier. Like, I mean, there's definitely things that are said in there that can kind of hinder that front office and player relationship. And now, once you hear something of oh, maybe they use something about um you didn't have enough starts, he doesn't deserve this. Well, it's not because he didn't want to start, it's because the team didn't give him the starts. You didn't start me, you didn't start me. So, or whatever, whatever it may be. I'm not saying that was the case, but when you start losing trust in the organization because maybe you feel like they're trying to get you on the back end of whatever money that you're gonna get made, or or maybe it's just not the best situation, and you can kind of see the writing on the wall, and sometimes just a change of center scenery is the best thing for a lot of guys, and uh, but ultimately when he's in your clubhouse, you want him to feel a part of it, and you want him to feel like you're needed in this uh concoction to help us win a game, Russ?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, I mean, for me, there's certain situations that you know they sometimes they need to remain behind closed doors or within the clubhouse. Like if you're not happy with something, you can just go talk, you know, to the manager, you can go talk, you know, to the guys in the front office. I feel like it's it's when it becomes public and you're starting to talk to it about you know in the media, that's when it gets blown out of proportion and you kind of it's kind of like a distraction where like and that's kind of like you're trying you're trying to protect that environment in the clubhouse as much as you can. So if there's things that are happening, you know, and they all and they're they're they get to the media, that's that's when there's you know, the media likes to to run with stories like that, and and then you got to answer questions, and and and it's not necessarily about you know the game, it's about you know how somebody's feeling about the organization and stuff. It's never a good thing, you know, when when guys, when it when it starts going that route, because it it's not it's not helping you win. It's not really you know, it's just it's it's I I think it's more of like a distraction. Like you can be unhappy and you can let it be known, but you can, you know, go knock on your manager's door and talk, talk to him about it, and then have a conversation with you know the front office. Um, so you know, if you're unhappy, you could be unhappy, but just don't let it show because you're affecting everybody that you know that's on a team somehow.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I I I remember like an example about that. Um, what Russ is saying, but I was in Oakland in 2014. We had signed Jim Johnson to like a 10-year uh deal, which was a big deal for Oakland, right? And um sorry, Russ's drink got me right there. Whenever he took that drink, I could hear him swallow.
SPEAKER_02My bad, my bad, my bad. Sure. Little little sippy sip. So my ADD kicked in.
SPEAKER_05It's five o'clock somewhere, Donaldson. Exactly. So anyway, he was struggling to start the year, and the fans were, you know, in Oakland, we there wasn't a ton of fans at all the games, right? But you could kind of start hearing like a little bit of ruffles in the stadium whenever he was pitching. And then I remember a media person asked him, like, well, we heard a couple boos, and there might have been 10 boos, right? And what do you think about that? And he I felt like how he answered that was, oh, I'd boo me too, and you know, I've whatever. Now it kind of opened up the floodgates to where those 10 boos turned into you know, 10,000 boos every time he stepped on the on the mound. And so it's like it turned the attention to him versus it just being like, hey, I'm gonna put my work in, I'm gonna do what's best to help this team win, and I'm put my best foot forward. Like just something when you're struggling, you want your answers to be plain. You know, when you're having success, then you can kind of have a little bit of a character about whatever's going on.
SPEAKER_04Then you can say it's not the try hard league, you can say it's the get-it-done league.
SPEAKER_05It's the get-it-done league, you know what I'm saying? Like, hey, it's time to get it done. I'm running out of time. Let's go.
SPEAKER_04We gotta go, but before we do, Russ, when you heard Donaldson say that in that visitors' clubhouse that day, what happened?
SPEAKER_02When did you say this to be exact?
SPEAKER_05It was in Houston Houston, it was in 15, and we were like hovering like right around like the 500 mark. And we had just like one, I think we just lost, we got swept in the series, I think, or we lost two out of three, something like that. And it was at most everybody was gone because I had to go do my stuff after the game, and then I came back and they were waiting for me, and there was like 10 people there, and I was like, Oh, yeah. To to be exact, uh, somebody was asking me about this the other day. I was like, Yeah, I was like, Unfortunately, this isn't the tri league, it's it's not. This is the highest league in the game. Eventually, the guys that are you know trying are not gonna be here too much longer, and it's gonna be the guys that can get it done are gonna stay.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, when I heard that, I laughed because I thought that shit was funny. But but it's so true. It's so true. Like, if if if you're not getting it done, they're gonna find somebody else, right? And you know, there's there's no there's no league higher than the major leagues, right? There isn't one.
SPEAKER_05And and not everybody's meant to be there. Let's just say not everybody's meant to be in the big leagues.
SPEAKER_02And I remember being in triple A, and one of my favorite teammates of all time, Joe Bimel. We used to joke about being in triple A, and we're like, you know, team warm-up, and and we're next to each other, and and he he'd look around, he'd be like, like, there must not be a league higher than this, or else we'd be there, you know. Like, so we're we're in triple A. And he's like, I don't think there's a league higher than this. This is possible. We we'd be in it, you know? And then like a couple weeks later, we're both in the big leagues, and and they're like, Oh, I guess there is a league higher in this one. Here we are.
SPEAKER_04And here we are, and we are gonna be here all season with you. If you're outside the ballpark in Toronto, make sure to find our friends at Fan First. They're gonna be asking questions about this show, about get it done league, and we'll be hearing from you, the fan, during the show. A shout out to producer Stu from the Moment Lab behind the glass on the other side of the wall. And we will be back, we will be back next week on the Get It Done League for Donaldson and Russ Amarash.
SPEAKER_01Get it done league!