Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
From the Burkes shears to the sound from wherever you
live in MLB America. This is Inside the Parker. You
give us twenty two minutes and we'll give you the
scoop on Major League Baseball. Now here's Baseball Hall of
Fame voter number one oh three, Rob Parker. Welcome into
Inside the Parker, your Major League Baseball podcast of course,
(00:25):
playoff edition, Rob Parker. Here you they're coming up on
the program. We'll talk with w USA sports director Darren Haynes.
He'll talk about the Nationals as they move on to
the World Series. That a much more coming up. Let's
go to lead off. It's getting robbed to keep him on.
(00:49):
Rob's hot take on the three biggest stories in Major
League Baseball. Number one, the Washington Nationals are going to
the World Series. I know you've listened to this podcast.
I've been talking about them all postseason long. But they
did it. And this is an incredible a four game
(01:09):
sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals and they're on their way.
It is an incredible run. When you think about where
this franchise has come from. What went on. Bryce Harper
walked out on them, a big superstar. They started nineteen
and thirty one. They were in trouble. Everybody wanted Dave
(01:32):
Martinez the manage to get fired. And what do they do?
They make the wild Card, win the wild Card game,
finally advanced for the first time after so many disappointments,
so many bad memories in the postseason, and then they
knock out the vaunted and feared Los Angeles Dodgers. They
(01:56):
do it in a Game five in l A. And
then they move on to take on the St. Louis
Cardinals and are able to make it happen in a
four game sweep. It is an incredible, incredible ride, and
they have punched their ticket to the World Series, the
(02:16):
first team to do so. Congratulations to the Washington Nationals.
They deserve it, They've earned it, pitching, hitting power, They've
done it all. Who would have ever thought that the
Montreal exbul Jess that's who they were before they moved
to Washington, would finally get there and make it to
(02:39):
the World Series. But they have number two that Houston
Astros have come storming back after the Yankees won game
won six to nothing and looked as if they might
try to steal two games in Houston. Houston has turned
the tables, winning that dramatic game TAM two in Houston
(03:02):
on a walk off home run by Karea. That was awesome.
Crowd went wild. And then they come to the Bronx
Game three and they get it done with Garrett Cole,
their main guy on the mound. He wasn't outstanding. You
have five walks, but he pitched to shut out through
seven innings, kept the Yankees at bay. They just couldn't
(03:25):
get the big hit and somehow, some way, the Astros
have regained their home field advantage by winning in the
Bronx and now they're up to the one. Here's the
only caveat and the tough part. The weather is expected
to be beat in New York for Game four. If
they do postpone the Game four, you could have a
(03:46):
situation where they played four games in a row. And
what could happen there is that could uh give the
Yankees an advantage because they're so deep and their bullpen
is so deep. So that's the only thing to take
a look at. The Yankees obviously are not out of
this series as well. They did what they needed to do,
which was to winning game in Houston. All they need
(04:08):
is the equalizer in Game four and then you would
have a situation of the best two out of three scenario.
So this is gonna be interesting. Some people have said
this is the World Series. I'm not so sure anymore
because Washington is that good and is playing so well.
So here we are the Astros up to the one
(04:31):
Yankees looking to tie it and get back. I'm I
can't wait to watch the rest of the series. I
think it will be compelling. And uh, we will have
one of those powerhouse teams in the a L taking
on the Washington Nationals. It's time for the pocket protector Central,
(04:51):
the analytic numbers you need to know, Well maybe FS ones.
Anthony Masterson is his name, BS analytics is his game.
What do you got for s Anthony? All right? Rob?
I know we talked about win probability added on a
podcast before, but using win probability graphs to add of
how clutch a player is throughout a given season. But
(05:12):
what that doesn't bring up is the moment when it
takes to be the most clutch, and we're seeing right
now the postseason, but that may all be changing. Dan Hirsch,
a web developer at Sports Reference, has developed a new
type of wind probability added for postseason in the wild
card era, and the names on the top of the
list are the ones you would probably expect. Now. Basically,
what this does, if you forgot, is measure how much
(05:34):
a player increased or decreased their team's chances of winning
a championship. Now, even with a Game seven loss on
his leisure, no surprise, Rob Mariano Rivera is far and
away the leader since with a postseason win probability added
of eleven point five overall, the eight more than the
next closest player, David ortiz Is world Series w p
(05:55):
A of one point eight is by far the highest
in that regard as well. The only player even remotely
close to mo is Madison Bumgarner, who comes in with
a World Series w p A of one point two.
But the Clutches five players in the playoffs since ni
mo at one big poppy Number two Foxes own Albert Pooles,
Andy Pettitt and it's a part of the edition. Wade Davis,
(06:19):
who made his money with the Royals getting medititle in
Kansas City. My man, Anthony, thank you, appreciate you. It
was a big week in the big league. Who's Who's
Is it foul or is it fair? And now here
(06:40):
Shadow League dot Com MLB insider Jr Gambo former MLB
slugger Carlos Beltrand. He wants to manage, but he only
wants to interview and consider one job. That's for the
New York Metropolitans, not the Cubs, not the Padres j R.
(07:04):
Is it foul or fair for a guy with no
experience to dictate what job he wants? Fair in this case,
it's fair for most coaching candidates, especially ones of color,
any jobs a good job because they don't the opportunities often. Beltran, however,
(07:24):
is a special case. He's not that far removed from playing,
and he's still a hot commodity. A four hundred homers
new hundred still guys who performed great, you know, with
the Mets, with the exception of that Adam waynewright curveball.
He had a great career there. The Mets fans just
don't let him down. This might be a chance for
him to gain some redemption. Also, his baseball acumen and
(07:47):
experience is great, and he's already resumed as a special
assistant with the Yankees, so he understands New York and
the coach. His family lives in New York, and I
doubt he wants to pick up right now and read
okaid again. While the Cubs job is a prime job,
it doesn't fit for Beltran, and the job well might
(08:08):
as well get it to Manny Machado. He's the only
one who wants to go there. If Beltran was desperate,
it's the job worth taking, he'd be nuts not to
do it. But teams are seeking him out, so he
has the leverage to say yes or no. Besides, I
think he's a great fit in New York. Fassen your seatbell,
give me give me five. Here comes Parker's top three
(08:31):
MLB teams this week. Number three the New York Yankees.
All year, I've talked about them being the number one team,
and they were in the top three, but right now,
at this point, down to the one in the a LCS.
They have one impressive game one, have lost the last two,
(08:54):
so the Yankees are the third best team left in
the playoff at this point. Number two, the Houston Astros,
who have survived uh Game one shutout at home, have
bounced back with two big wins against the Yankees to
(09:15):
take the lead in the best of seven series. Of course,
they had the big walk off in Game two, and
then they go into the Bronx and shut down the
big bats with Garrit Cole and take a two to
one lead against the Yankees. Yes, the Astros as we speak,
(09:35):
are the second best team left in the postseason. Number one. Yes,
the Washington Nationals. I said that they would make it
to the World Series. I predicted them to beat the Dodgers.
I predicted them to beat the Cardinals, but I didn't
think it would be this easy. Who knew that they
(09:57):
could dominate the Cardinal this much, sweep them in four games,
dominate with pitching, get big hits, timely hits. Right now,
no one's playing veteran baseball in the Washington Nationals. They
are the best team left in the postseason as we speak.
(10:20):
Take out the paper. Then it's time for trash talk. Twitter,
Twitter with your chance to trash anyone or anything in
Major League Baseball. This week's winner is ed slow Shower,
and he tweeted this so enjoying the game with the
volume all Joe Buck is unbearable to listen too. I
(10:45):
think Joe Buck's pretty good. If you wanted just to
win a new era snapback hat like Eddie send your
trash to at Rob Parker fs one on Twitter. When
Rob was a newspaper columnist, he to buy this motto.
If I'm writing, I'm riffing. Let's bring in a writer
of broadcaster, older new All right, now, let's welcome to
(11:08):
the podcast. Darren Haynes, the sports director and main sports
anchor for w USA in Washington, d C. And a
good close friend of mine. Darren, what's happening? Just just
enjoying this moment? Man? What a what an amazing run
by the Nationals? I mean, on what on ma was?
(11:29):
He had the second worst record in the National League.
Who would expect it? This team to now be just
on the doorstep of the World Series, no doubt about it.
And there's so many great stories. I figured that they
would be, uh, the Dodgers worst nightmare because of the pitching,
and now any team's worst nightmare because the pitching is
(11:50):
so good. Talk about Steven Strassburg and what he's been
able to do. He now has the third lowest postseason
e r A in history with the one point one
zero e r A. Well, Stephen Strassburg, I mean, they
doude has been a beast this entire post season. I mean,
but let's look at this even just more than just
(12:10):
Steven Strassburg. I mean, you get in an unball Santez,
who was the fourth basically fourth spring picture for for
the Nationals, and what he did on basically causing that
no hitter going into the eighth inning, and Max Jerzon
did the same thing going into the seven and of
course those twelve strikeouts by by by Stephen Strassburg. That's
the postseason career high. Uh, It's great to see Stephen
(12:31):
Strassburg do what Stephen Strassburg normally does. But the fact
that basically three of the starting pitchers, how much they
can dominate a team like the Cardinals, and what they
did of course against the Dodgers, I mean, speaks volumes
about this team. How about the whole atmosphere in d C.
This is a town, especially when you talk about baseball,
(12:53):
that has seen a lot of sad and disappointing moments,
have had their hearts broken off, people guarded. There are
people just enjoying a moment. Well, definitely now they're enjoying
the moment. I think everyone and their mama knows here
in d C that the Nationals are going to the
World Series, and it's for a team to come back
(13:14):
down three oh, and that's very unlikely. Um, I believe
it's only happened once in the best of seven series.
So everyone knows that the Nationals are gonna make the
World Series. It's just only a matter of time. Everybody
wants to do it. Today. But I was walking in
the ballpark, people giving me high five. Mark Larner was
down here. He was talking about his dad, Ted Learner,
you know, the owners of the Nationals, and he was explaining, like,
(13:36):
you know how this would be such a good birthday
because Ted Learner termed ninety four years old today. How
about that as a birthday gift if the Nationals can
get it done. So everybody is just super excited. Everybody
knows this is gonna be a great experience for the
city of DC next week when they're in the World Series.
It's just a matter of just winning that one game.
And like Dave Martinez says all the time, to go
(13:57):
one and oh, but everybody wants them to go one
and oh today in game five, six or seth. How
about just d C. I mean they want us to
Caps want to Stanley Cup. I know the national are good.
Let me let me, let me put up. We gotta
say it right. Two thousand and eighteen, the Washington Cap
won the Stanley Cup. And then our arena football team,
(14:18):
which is owned by the same people as the Washington Capital,
the Washington Valor, they won the Arena Football League. And
let's not forget just just last week, the Washington Mystics
won the w NBA title, their first in franchise history.
How about that? For two years in Washington d C.
I thought d C was filled with losers, but apparently
(14:38):
not until I got there. Man, until I got there,
then we started winning. Um, It's just gonna take me
a little bit longer to work on the Washington Redskins.
That's a bigger and more difficult project that maybe an
eighteen year plan, But I'm working on it. The Washington Nationals,
what a story. It's great for baseball. Who could have
(15:00):
imagine Darren Nett losing Gwiss Harper starting out of nineteen
and thirty one and they would be on the CUSP
Bubble World Series. It's it's amazing. One of my colleagues
tweeted it yesterday. I thought it was absolutely hilarious, but
they're like, you know what, this moment, this NLCS, just
this game sport chance to move on to the World
(15:21):
Series is absolutely rightless. What a brightless moment that is outstanding.
His name Darren Hayes, main sports anchor at w USA
in d C. Thanks for joining the podcast, Darren, Thank
you Rob for giving me my very first job in
this business. Here a reason why I'm here, my man,
stay well, you two, now bring in the closer. Here's
(15:48):
why MLB is better than the NFL or NBA, and
it isn't even close. Reason number two thousand, five hundred
and ninety nine why baseball is better than the NBA
and the NFL. And yes, we still have league championship
series to go, we still have the World Series to go,
(16:12):
but it's the offseason hot stove League. The NBA had
a great one this past year. I'll give it to
him with where players are gonna go and they were
like two hundred free agents. But that's not the norm.
But in baseball, the posts after the postseason, the hot
Stove League is the best thing fans can dive into
(16:32):
because there are trades in baseball, many more than the
NFL or the n b A and their free agents
moving and whatnot. And this year there's so much suspense
and all the other stuff that's gonna go with it,
especially because Steven Strassburg, yes, that horse for the Washington Nationals,
(16:53):
he can opt out of his contract. Can you imagine
coming off this postseason? He still has four years hundred
million dollars left on a deal. He's thirty one years old.
But talk about the intrigue and the interests. Will he stay?
Will he go? You know the Dodgers have Ray, you
(17:16):
and Hill, those two guys are heading the free agency.
What will the Dodgers do? Will they move on? Will
they try to resign these guys? There's all kinds of
stuff out there about pitching, and you know, pitching moves baseball,
So there's a lot of big names that are going
(17:37):
out there. And uh, the other thing is when we
get back to Strasburg. The other thing is there's talk,
you know, he's from San Diego. Is he going to
uh go to the Padres, his hometown team kind of
and uh and finish out his career there and take
a boatload of money to got some good young players
(17:58):
in San Diego. Maybe they're trying to build something. They're
looking for, an over the top hurler. So all this
stuff plays into what is going to be a great
post playoffs season. Yes, the Hot Stove League in Major
League Baseball is better than any off season in the
NFL and any off season in the NBA. In the
(18:30):
words of New York TV legend the late Bill Jorgensen,
thanking you for your time this time until next time.
Rob Parker out, he can't get this could be an
inside the Parker to see next week. M number Number