This week on Inside the (Rob) Parker, Rob gives his take on what should be a stacked MLB Playoff field, pays respect to retiring Giants manager Bruce Bochy, and the MLB assault on the record books. He also names his Top 3 MLB Teams of the Week, Fair or Foul and the Analytic Stat of the Week.
Guests: Dmitri Young - 2-time MLB All-Star on working with youth amateur baseball players and his take on the MLB Playoff field; Dick Scanlon - Longtime Rays Beat Writer on Tampa making a postseason run despite little local fan interest, and their prolonged under-the-radar success.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
From the Berke 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 to
Inside the Parker. We got a great show for you today.
(00:25):
We'll have former major league first baseman and out field
the Dmitri Young. He'll talk about the postseason, plus Dick Scandling,
a longtime reporter from the Lakeland leg You will stop
by and he'll tell us about those Rays trying to
make the playoffs as well. That and much more coming up.
Let's go to lead off. It's getting robbed and keep
(00:49):
him on. Rob's hot take on the three biggest stories
in Major League Baseball. Number one. In six days next two,
those day to baseball playoffs begin. And if you're not
excited about it, I don't know what's wrong with you,
because this might be the strongest field we've seen in
(01:10):
a long time. When you talk about the playoffs and
the teams that are in and uh, everybody's not in yet.
It's not locked down. Some wild card spots. So um,
there's still a question of a couple of teams that
will make it. But right now, if the season would
have ended uh today Tuesday, then the Brewers would meet
(01:35):
the Nationals in the wild card game. The Rays and
A's would meet in the a L wild Card Game,
and then the wild card winner would take on the
Dodgers and the Cardinals would take on the Braves. This
is in the National League. In the American League, the
wild card winner would be at the Astros and the
(01:56):
Twins would be at the Yankees. So that's where we
are now. It's not finalized, but my goodness, you know
you have the playoffs have three teams in it that
have one a hundred games or more in talking about
the Astros, the Yankees and the Dodgers, and even when
(02:16):
you look at some of the teams in the National League,
and it's amazing when you think about it, that maybe
the Cubs might uh are out of it and won't
make it, and and and what's happened And look at
the teams that are in it's going to be a
strong field. It should be goose bump playoffs. And we
(02:37):
can't wait. It's just a week away. Number two in
less than a week. Bruce Bocci will not be the
manager of the San Francisco Giants. What an incredible run
as a manager, UH, think about it. Thirteen years in
San Francisco, three World Championships, and this season Bruce Bocci
(03:03):
became the eleventh manager in Major League Baseball history to
achieve two thousand wins. Bruce Bocci will be missed. It's amazing.
This guy who played in the major leagues and UH
had a lifetime to thirty nine batting average, twenty six
(03:23):
home runs and ninety three RBIs goes on to be
this incredible manager, first with the San Diego Padres and
then with the San Francisco Giants again he won National
League Manager of the Year and that was in n
with the Padres. He never won it with the Giants,
(03:44):
where he won World Series in twelve, and he has
been incredible. Bocci is the first form board manager to
reach the World Series back in nineteen nine d eight
and of course the first foreign born manager to win
the World Series in He has had an incredible run.
(04:08):
He's one of the characters of baseball, one of those
guys you love to talk to. So Bruce Bocci hangs
it up as manager of the San Francisco Giants after
this season. What an incredible run. What a good guy,
the guy who was born in France comes to the
major leagues and UH does magical things for that team
(04:31):
by the Bay number three. As we enter the final
week of the regular season, twenty nineteen has had so
many milestones reached and accomplishments. You know. C C. Sabathia
got both his three thousand strike out, his two win,
Albert pool Holes reached the two thousand RBI mark. Recently,
(04:53):
Garrett Cole notch his three hundred strikeout of the year.
We talked about Bruce Bocci and his two thousand UH
managerial victory, and there's still more to come. Uh as
as the season winds down. What about Peter Alonso of
the New York Mets, who's trying to reach the most
home runs by a rookie and uh when the National
(05:17):
League MLB Home run title home runs as of Tuesday,
trying to catch Aaron Judge who set the rookie record
in with fifty two UM. So that's on the docket.
There's so many other things going on. Nick Constellano's is
with the Cubs. Has his fifty eight double on Saturday,
(05:41):
and coming into Tuesday, he's looking to try to get
UH sixty doubles UH two more, which would pass Todd Helton,
who had fifty nine doubles in two thousand. Ronald Lacuna Jr.
Is trying to be a forty forty guy. He already
lynch to season, which was impressive enough think about it,
(06:03):
at age one, uh the youngest guy to accomplish that,
but there's still a chance that he could become the fifth.
He needs three more stolen bases as of Tuesday to
be a forty forty guy, and it will be the
first time that happened since Alfonso Suriano did it in
two thousand and six. So um, there are other things
(06:25):
to look forward to as we enter the final week
of the Major League baseball season. Here comes the big
interview Listen Headler good. All right, now, let's welcome into
the podcast former major league or Dmitri Young Yes, first base,
(06:46):
left field, designated hitter to ninety two lifetime batting average. Dmitri,
Welcome to the podcast. Hey, thank you there, thank you,
thank you. Glad to be on No. Doubt. What are
you doing these days to your baseball playing days? Oh man,
I got a whole laundry list of things I'm doing
in the amateur ranks of baseball. You know, I'm doing
(07:09):
the Breakthrough Series and the hankar And Invitational to Breakthrough
Series is held by Major League Baseball and they have
it at the Urban Youth Academy, and they have it
at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex formerly known as Historic Dodgertown,
and that is a showcase for young black players that
are high school age that are looking to go to
(07:30):
college or or go professional and probably not being seen properly.
And then we have the hankar And Invitational, which used
to be called the Elite Development Invitational, and that is
a camp that's held for two weeks in Vero Beach,
Florida as well. And first group is the seventh eighth
(07:51):
graders are about to be freshman, and been the second
group high school students. And we're there for a week
and it's a whole bunch of old baseball players and
and we're just sitting there coaching the kids up. And
I'm also coaching at Oaks Christian High School out here
in Southern California with Royce Clayton the head coach, Jeff
Weaver the pitching coach, and I just moved up to
(08:12):
varsity as the hidding coach. Are you kidding me? Those
kids got those kind of coaching. Why you're better witness
the state championship. Well, the whole thing, The whole thing
is about getting them to buy in. You know, that's
the thing with amateur baseball. Now, if you picked up
a bat all of a sudden, you're a baseball expert.
(08:33):
And they're teaching the kids a lot of wrong things.
And so that's the reason why I'm on the amateur
side teach, trying to teach these kids the right thing
and get him away from the people and the money
graph I got you. How about a couple of your
former teams. You played with the Cardinals, broken with the Cardinals,
played with the Cincinnati Reds, the Detroit Tigers, and the
(08:54):
Washington Nationals. Uh, do you keep up with your former
teams or some of them? I need to keep up
with baseball in general. You know, I'm not picking up
a paycheck from none of them, So I'm not gonna
say I'm a fan of any of them, right I
got you, But the Cardinals are that that was that's
a great baseball talent. And here the Cardinals looks like
(09:14):
they're going to uh uh you know when they won
the division and the Cubs are not going to make
the playoffs. Uh. Can you just talk about your days
of playing in St. Louis and what that was like? Well,
that's playing that you said, because when I mentioned about playing,
I mean coaching at Oaks Christian with Royce Clayton. He
was my teammate when I got called up to the St.
(09:36):
Louis Cardinals. And the thing about the Cardinals, the reason
why they stay consistent because they teach you everything that
you need to know in the minor league system before
you get called up to the big league. That's why
you always see guys that get caught up. And the
Cardinals never seen the MISSI beat ever. And that's because
of what they have down in the minor league system
(09:58):
with the coaching staff and what they're providing as far
as developing players to become big league ball players. So
it's not really surprising that you see the Cardinals always
in the division race and it looks like they're gonna
run away with it, especially with Christian Yellows out for
the rest of the year, And I mean, the Brewers
are playing good ball, but I mean, is it enough
(10:20):
right to be able to do it? And you're the
former team, the Washington Nationals, you know, Bryce Harper walks
out on them, and it looks like they're going to
be able to secure a spot for the wild card
and make the playoffs, where most people thought that, you know,
what they had going on, They've always had good pitching.
But are you surprised the Nationals gonna make it to
the playoffs? You know, at first I was, but then
(10:44):
you look at the young roster that they had with
Jonso and and Roblin is on top of m v
P candidate Ran Done. I mean, these guys are are
really are really stepping up in of course with Strasbourg
and Sherzer. I mean, you have top frontline pitching and
the Nationals are a real complete team, and it's not
(11:06):
shocking that there they are where they are right now.
But once they yeah, once that wild card began, you know,
if anybody's guests, who's gonna win between them and uh
Brewers or the Currents, no doubt about it. What what
do you think about the playoff field, it looks like
it's pretty strong. There are three really good teams. The
(11:27):
Yankees have one over a hundred games, the Dodgers of
one over a hundred games. The Astrals have one over
a hundred games, and on paper, the Astrols look like
they should be the favorite to win the World Series.
Where are you do you buy into that? With um?
With the American League? I mean, you have three teams
that basically have a hundred wins and the Astros justin Verlander,
(11:49):
which we both know very well from Detroit, Yes, and
and and again getting that grinky and then that lineup,
I mean, from top to bottom, and then you go
on the bench. I mean, everybody's swinging the bat, and
I mean the Astros to me, they seem like the
team to beat. But if the Yankees are swinging the
bats when the playoffs begin, you know, I mean, that
(12:12):
can be good as well. But when they have her
mind is out for for the playoffs pretty much because
off the failed incident, you know, that kind of swears
things in the other direction. And then the Minnesota Twins,
you know, every everybody's gonna have a surprise team to
make the playoffs, and this year is gonna be be
(12:35):
the Twins, and we'll see how that young team does
in the playoffs. But man, I mean there's a team
that Picky has them no doubt. Can't wait for the
playoffs to start. His name Dmitri Young, the two time
All Star, nationally Comeback Player of the Year in two
thousand seven, and a guy. When I was covering baseball
(12:55):
and out there all the time, I enjoyed covering to
meet you. You the best man. I we shate you. Hey, hey,
I love watching you on TV. And then when I'm
on the road, I listen to Thought Sports Radio. A
couple of a great show man. Thank you so much
to meet you, appreciate you. It's time for the pocket
(13:17):
protector centrol. The analytic numbers you need to know, Well
maybe FS ones. Anthony Masterson is his name. BS analytics
is his game. What you got for me today, Anthony,
Well Rob. The rise of those analytics, specifically with pitch
effects technology, can give fans a better idea of what
it means to be disciplined at the plate. Baseball Info
(13:40):
solutions through fan graphs shows us how often players see strikes,
swinget pitches outside the zone, or even make contact. Now,
let's start with O swing percentage, the rate at which
I hit her swing that pitches that are outside the
strike zone, hence O swing. It's opposite for pitches inside
the strike zone. That's called the swing percentage. The cousins
of these numbers are O contact and Z contact percentage,
(14:03):
the rate of which hitters make contact on pitches out
and in the strike zone, respectively. Now, along those same
lines is contact percentage and zone percentage. How often a
pictures sees pitches inside the strike zone. Got all that? Now,
this season the Giants Kevin Polar has an O swing
percentage of forty eight point nine percent, So that means
he swings and nearly half the pitches he sees that
(14:25):
are outside the strike zone. Alice Bragman for the Astros,
on the other hand, rarely chases, as his O swing
percentage leads all of baseball at just eighteen eight percent. Now,
the leaders in zone percentage, i e. The hitters who
see the most or fewest amount of strikes. It's no
surprise of players to see the fewest pitches in the zone.
Read like an All Star team. Alonso yell As harper
(14:47):
By as Rizzo, Flatty Jr. In fact, Pete Alonso zone
percentage of thirty five point seven percent is the lowest
among a qualified rookie since at least two thousand two pitchers.
Clearly here the polar Bear Rob nice I might have
to pay attention to that. We appreciate your anthony. It
(15:09):
was a big week in the Big League. Who's Who's
is it follow? Or is it fair? And now here?
Shadow league dot Com MLB insider Jr gamble if the
Cubs don't make the playoffs, is it foul or fair
(15:33):
to fire Cubs manager Joe Madden j R. It's found
that is a foul ball. It's so found. Uh. Dating
back to two thousand and eight when he left the
Campus stay DEBI raised to an a l pennant believe
it or not? That is one what ninety games and
nine of his past twelve seasons, He's long established himself
(15:55):
as a winning manager, especially when he left the Cubs
to the World Series in two thousands six team and
when a hundred and three games, breaking the oldest World
Cities drought in baseball hunt with a hundred eight years.
Prior to this season, Madden's won ninety two more games
every year he's been with the Cubs. Not many managers
can accomplish that, but as we know, the game is changing.
(16:19):
Gms want more control of the decisions, and old school
bosses like Madden Joe Girardi are susceptible to getting can
if they don't win World Series. Rings to five matting
would be a dumb move. The Cubs are still in
playoff contented despite having a down season. That happens in baseball.
It's not like you're gonna find an upgrade. He's one
(16:42):
of the best. Keep him Jr. You couldn't have said
it any better. It's unbelievable. Fasten your seatbelt, give me.
Here comes Parker's top three MLB teams this week. Number
three the Los Angeles Dodgers. I know, I know. They
(17:05):
have over a hundred wins. It's been a whirlwind season.
But for the Dodgers during a different boat, they've had
their struggles. The bullpen is still questionable. People on shore
about the Dodgers. On paper, they look like, of course
they should make the playoffs, in the World Series and
(17:26):
all that stuff. They won their seventh straight National League
West Division, but that's not enough for the Dodgers. Is
all going to be about the postseason and winning a
World Series. But right now, the Dodgers, as we're a
week away from the playoffs, enter the playoffs as the
third best team in baseball. Number two the Houston Astros. Yes,
(17:52):
I know, one paper, they are the best team. Look
at the pitching staff. When they added Zach Grant, everybody
wanted to hand them the World Series trophy. I get it.
They won three straight division titles with over a hundred wins,
and that included a World Series in sen Yes, it's
(18:13):
the golden era of Astro's baseball, and they have an
unbelievable line up, so much so that altoves like an
afterthought with Bregman and Springer and all those other guys. Yes,
they are loaded and ready for the playoffs, and uh
will definitely be a hard out, hard to beat. But
with the record of one oh two and fifty four,
(18:36):
they are the number two team in baseball as of Tuesday,
a week before the playoffs start. Number One, the number
one team in baseball is the New York freaking Yankees.
I've been saying it all year. It is a miracle
what they've been able to do. When you think about it,
(19:01):
coming into Tuesday, they matched the Astros with a hundred
and two wins. They were hundred and two and fifty,
a half a game behind the Astros for the best
record in baseball. They've had by far the most games
lost by players with injuries. And yet think about this.
Stint hit a home run earlier this week, like only
(19:24):
his second home run of the year. If he can
come back and contribute in that lineup, he's gonna be huge.
And think about this, Aaron Judge has a chance to
get to thirty home runs in the final week. And
think about it. He's only played in eight games this
year and he's still might hit thirty home runs. The
Yankees line up is potent. If they can get decent
(19:47):
starting pitching with that unbelievable bullpen, the Yankees can win
the World Series. I believe it. The Yankees are the
number one team in baseball. A week before the playoffs start,
take out the paper. Then it's time for trash talk
Twitter with your chance to trash anyone or anything in
(20:08):
Major League Baseball. This week's winner is at Robbie Aaronson
and he tweets this, how can the Rays make the playoffs?
I don't even know a single guy on their team.
The Asian Indians are way better. If you want a
chance to win a new era snapback like Robbie did,
(20:30):
send your trash to at Rob Parker fs one on Twitter.
When Rob was a newspaper columnist, he lived by this motto,
if I'm writing, I'm ripping. Let's bring in a writer,
a broadcaster, older, new All right, let's welcome to the podcast.
Dick Scandling in a long time Lakeland Ledger sportswriter who,
(20:52):
of course saw is around and covers the Tampa Bay Rays. Hey, Dick,
how you doing good? Right? Are you man doing great?
You know? Tampa Bay is one of those teams that
people just kind of forget about and don't think too
much about. But here we are on Tuesday, and they
(21:12):
have a ninety two and sixty four record and a
poised to make the postseason. They're hanging onto a wild
card spot. Dick, tell people about the Rays and how
they've been able to do it this year. Well, they've
had an incredible number of acquisition since the trade deadline
(21:33):
of two thousand and eighteen. That you know, a little
over a year. Rob half of their roster has been
acquired since the trade that you know. Of the of
the main guys, half of them were not here in
the middle of the two thousand and eight team season.
They got a good bull team. They have three three
(21:55):
good starting pitchers Charlie Martin, Blake Spell and um Tyler
Glass now, two of whom have been hurt most of
the year, but they've just kind of catched catched it
up and uh those stars, you know, a lot of
good young players and everybody's been a little bit of
(22:15):
a contribution. And here they are at nine two wins
with six games lefton as the five games lifting. Amazing.
What about Charlie Morton, Uh, he has a chance to
uh qualify for the e r A title. He's been
a workhorse, will probably end up with thirty three stars
over a hundred and ninety innings. What he's been a godsend,
(22:38):
hasn't he? Oh? Really, Yeah, he's been. Uh, he's been
exactly what they needed to stabilize the rotation because, as
I mentioned Rob, the other two guys have been the
other two main guys have been hurt most of the year.
Now On he's missed four months. Glass now was six
and oh at one point then got hurt in his
(23:01):
eight start, and he's just got Neither of those guys
are really fully black back into the rotation, so they've
kind of peached it together with you know, openers and
guys pitching three or four and means at a time.
And some are always worth funnily because they've had a
pretty good bulleten and uh, you know, they just sort
(23:23):
of glued things together, won a lot of close games. Uh.
Nobody's really been Austin Meadows who came with glass now
last summer. I've had a pretty close to a monster
offensive a year. But other than that, um, you know,
just everybody's just done plus pluts it. I don't know
(23:45):
if you're aware of Travis Darnauld, the catcher that picked
up off the scrap keep and uh being made the
Dodger even the Dodgers tripleated. The Dodgers virtually gave him
to the raid and he's been like one of the
most valuable players sixty seven anti Uh, it's just a
dozen huge uh and and it's worked. So they got
(24:10):
you know, they got a seven ninety nine, which even
that wouldn't necessarily gentlemen, is the playoffs now? Speaking of that, right,
they're not it's not a done deal. But here's the
other part that people really don't know how successful the
Race have actually been over the past decade plus. Tampa
Bay's record is one thousand, thirty five and nine oh one,
(24:35):
which is fifth best in the major leagues. Right since, yes,
since two thousand and eight, since the breakout year when
they went to the World Series. But nobody would even
know that or even think that they've been that successful.
But here's the problem, of course, the playoffs. The Rays
have only made the playoff three times and they're trying
(24:56):
since and and nonsense. So that's why people don't realize
right how successful they've been. Right well, I mean that's
a function of being in the division with the Yankees
and the Red Side. You had the high powered extending teams. Yeah,
and the rais that you know, usually, well, the Ways
(25:16):
have to finish the haead of one of them. Usually
this year it happened to be the Yeah, the Yankees
had to be here in the Red Side didn't. But
I was stunned to find this myself. Rob. They've had
ninety wins and seven of the last twelve years. That's incredible.
Ninety wins used to be pretty much an automatic ticket
to the playoffs. But you know, not this year, this
(25:40):
year and last year. There's so many bad teams that americanly,
uh you know, to to whip up on that ninety
wins doesn't even get your playoffs spot. No last thing,
when people see the Raids on television and considering all
the success they have and they looked like they were
going to make the playoffs all year, the crowd still
a bad day in Tampa Bay. Why don't people come
(26:02):
the demographics of the market. People here watch the games.
I tell you they have good ratings, and frankly, they
don't go to the ballpark. I think the ownership made
a big mistake a long time ago, bad molting the ballpark,
flaiming they need a new ballpark. And and uh, there's
(26:23):
a lot of people in the Tampa Bay area and
surrounding areas that think the ballpark is a joke and
they don't want you know, it's poorly local. His name
is Dick Scandling from the Lakeland Ledger, one of my
favorite baseball writers. Hey Dick, thanks so much for joining
the podcast. Thanks for kind words. Drop anytime now bringing
(26:46):
the closer. Here's why MLB is better than the NFL
or NBA, and it isn't even close. Here's reason number
three thousand and why MLB is better than the NBA
and the NFL. And let's first talk about detroitter Eli Hides.
(27:09):
He's the fan who caught Albert pool Hosts his ball
back May nine, when he finally got his two thousand RB.
I what a milestone. And if you remember, Hides didn't
want to give the ball to Albert pool Holes and
then you know, all kinds of stuff happened. He turned
down a lot of cash and a whole bunch of
(27:31):
stuff and instead now he has decided to hand deliver
the baseball to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He will
do that instead so that all baseball fans will be
able to admire the moment for Albert pooh Holes, who
has at the time of two thousand RBIs joining only
(27:53):
Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez as guys who had over
two thousand RBI in their career. It's an impressive number.
Hi just donating the baseball in the memory of his
late son, Cyrus. His son was named after cy Young.
(28:14):
What an awesome story. In the 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 care.
This could be an inside the Parker to see it
(28:34):
next week that time,
From the Berke 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 to
Inside the Parker. We got a great show for you today.
(00:25):
We'll have former major league first baseman and out field
the Dmitri Young. He'll talk about the postseason, plus Dick Scandling,
a longtime reporter from the Lakeland leg You will stop
by and he'll tell us about those Rays trying to
make the playoffs as well. That and much more coming up.
Let's go to lead off. It's getting robbed and keep
(00:49):
him on. Rob's hot take on the three biggest stories
in Major League Baseball. Number one. In six days next two,
those day to baseball playoffs begin. And if you're not
excited about it, I don't know what's wrong with you,
because this might be the strongest field we've seen in
(01:10):
a long time. When you talk about the playoffs and
the teams that are in and uh, everybody's not in yet.
It's not locked down. Some wild card spots. So um,
there's still a question of a couple of teams that
will make it. But right now, if the season would
have ended uh today Tuesday, then the Brewers would meet
(01:35):
the Nationals in the wild card game. The Rays and
A's would meet in the a L wild Card Game,
and then the wild card winner would take on the
Dodgers and the Cardinals would take on the Braves. This
is in the National League. In the American League, the
wild card winner would be at the Astros and the
(01:56):
Twins would be at the Yankees. So that's where we
are now. It's not finalized, but my goodness, you know
you have the playoffs have three teams in it that
have one a hundred games or more in talking about
the Astros, the Yankees and the Dodgers, and even when
(02:16):
you look at some of the teams in the National League,
and it's amazing when you think about it, that maybe
the Cubs might uh are out of it and won't
make it, and and and what's happened And look at
the teams that are in it's going to be a
strong field. It should be goose bump playoffs. And we
(02:37):
can't wait. It's just a week away. Number two in
less than a week. Bruce Bocci will not be the
manager of the San Francisco Giants. What an incredible run
as a manager, UH, think about it. Thirteen years in
San Francisco, three World Championships, and this season Bruce Bocci
(03:03):
became the eleventh manager in Major League Baseball history to
achieve two thousand wins. Bruce Bocci will be missed. It's amazing.
This guy who played in the major leagues and UH
had a lifetime to thirty nine batting average, twenty six
(03:23):
home runs and ninety three RBIs goes on to be
this incredible manager, first with the San Diego Padres and
then with the San Francisco Giants again he won National
League Manager of the Year and that was in n
with the Padres. He never won it with the Giants,
(03:44):
where he won World Series in twelve, and he has
been incredible. Bocci is the first form board manager to
reach the World Series back in nineteen nine d eight
and of course the first foreign born manager to win
the World Series in He has had an incredible run.
(04:08):
He's one of the characters of baseball, one of those
guys you love to talk to. So Bruce Bocci hangs
it up as manager of the San Francisco Giants after
this season. What an incredible run. What a good guy,
the guy who was born in France comes to the
major leagues and UH does magical things for that team
(04:31):
by the Bay number three. As we enter the final
week of the regular season, twenty nineteen has had so
many milestones reached and accomplishments. You know. C C. Sabathia
got both his three thousand strike out, his two win,
Albert pool Holes reached the two thousand RBI mark. Recently,
(04:53):
Garrett Cole notch his three hundred strikeout of the year.
We talked about Bruce Bocci and his two thousand UH
managerial victory, and there's still more to come. Uh as
as the season winds down. What about Peter Alonso of
the New York Mets, who's trying to reach the most
home runs by a rookie and uh when the National
(05:17):
League MLB Home run title home runs as of Tuesday,
trying to catch Aaron Judge who set the rookie record
in with fifty two UM. So that's on the docket.
There's so many other things going on. Nick Constellano's is
with the Cubs. Has his fifty eight double on Saturday,
(05:41):
and coming into Tuesday, he's looking to try to get
UH sixty doubles UH two more, which would pass Todd Helton,
who had fifty nine doubles in two thousand. Ronald Lacuna Jr.
Is trying to be a forty forty guy. He already
lynch to season, which was impressive enough think about it,
(06:03):
at age one, uh the youngest guy to accomplish that,
but there's still a chance that he could become the fifth.
He needs three more stolen bases as of Tuesday to
be a forty forty guy, and it will be the
first time that happened since Alfonso Suriano did it in
two thousand and six. So um, there are other things
(06:25):
to look forward to as we enter the final week
of the Major League baseball season. Here comes the big
interview Listen Headler good. All right, now, let's welcome into
the podcast former major league or Dmitri Young Yes, first base,
(06:46):
left field, designated hitter to ninety two lifetime batting average. Dmitri,
Welcome to the podcast. Hey, thank you there, thank you,
thank you. Glad to be on No. Doubt. What are
you doing these days to your baseball playing days? Oh man,
I got a whole laundry list of things I'm doing
in the amateur ranks of baseball. You know, I'm doing
(07:09):
the Breakthrough Series and the hankar And Invitational to Breakthrough
Series is held by Major League Baseball and they have
it at the Urban Youth Academy, and they have it
at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex formerly known as Historic Dodgertown,
and that is a showcase for young black players that
are high school age that are looking to go to
(07:30):
college or or go professional and probably not being seen properly.
And then we have the hankar And Invitational, which used
to be called the Elite Development Invitational, and that is
a camp that's held for two weeks in Vero Beach,
Florida as well. And first group is the seventh eighth
(07:51):
graders are about to be freshman, and been the second
group high school students. And we're there for a week
and it's a whole bunch of old baseball players and
and we're just sitting there coaching the kids up. And
I'm also coaching at Oaks Christian High School out here
in Southern California with Royce Clayton the head coach, Jeff
Weaver the pitching coach, and I just moved up to
(08:12):
varsity as the hidding coach. Are you kidding me? Those
kids got those kind of coaching. Why you're better witness
the state championship. Well, the whole thing, The whole thing
is about getting them to buy in. You know, that's
the thing with amateur baseball. Now, if you picked up
a bat all of a sudden, you're a baseball expert.
(08:33):
And they're teaching the kids a lot of wrong things.
And so that's the reason why I'm on the amateur
side teach, trying to teach these kids the right thing
and get him away from the people and the money
graph I got you. How about a couple of your
former teams. You played with the Cardinals, broken with the Cardinals,
played with the Cincinnati Reds, the Detroit Tigers, and the
(08:54):
Washington Nationals. Uh, do you keep up with your former
teams or some of them? I need to keep up
with baseball in general. You know, I'm not picking up
a paycheck from none of them, So I'm not gonna
say I'm a fan of any of them, right I
got you, But the Cardinals are that that was that's
a great baseball talent. And here the Cardinals looks like
(09:14):
they're going to uh uh you know when they won
the division and the Cubs are not going to make
the playoffs. Uh. Can you just talk about your days
of playing in St. Louis and what that was like? Well,
that's playing that you said, because when I mentioned about playing,
I mean coaching at Oaks Christian with Royce Clayton. He
was my teammate when I got called up to the St.
(09:36):
Louis Cardinals. And the thing about the Cardinals, the reason
why they stay consistent because they teach you everything that
you need to know in the minor league system before
you get called up to the big league. That's why
you always see guys that get caught up. And the
Cardinals never seen the MISSI beat ever. And that's because
of what they have down in the minor league system
(09:58):
with the coaching staff and what they're providing as far
as developing players to become big league ball players. So
it's not really surprising that you see the Cardinals always
in the division race and it looks like they're gonna
run away with it, especially with Christian Yellows out for
the rest of the year, And I mean, the Brewers
are playing good ball, but I mean, is it enough
(10:20):
right to be able to do it? And you're the
former team, the Washington Nationals, you know, Bryce Harper walks
out on them, and it looks like they're going to
be able to secure a spot for the wild card
and make the playoffs, where most people thought that, you know,
what they had going on, They've always had good pitching.
But are you surprised the Nationals gonna make it to
the playoffs? You know, at first I was, but then
(10:44):
you look at the young roster that they had with
Jonso and and Roblin is on top of m v
P candidate Ran Done. I mean, these guys are are
really are really stepping up in of course with Strasbourg
and Sherzer. I mean, you have top frontline pitching and
the Nationals are a real complete team, and it's not
(11:06):
shocking that there they are where they are right now.
But once they yeah, once that wild card began, you know,
if anybody's guests, who's gonna win between them and uh
Brewers or the Currents, no doubt about it. What what
do you think about the playoff field, it looks like
it's pretty strong. There are three really good teams. The
(11:27):
Yankees have one over a hundred games, the Dodgers of
one over a hundred games. The Astrals have one over
a hundred games, and on paper, the Astrols look like
they should be the favorite to win the World Series.
Where are you do you buy into that? With um?
With the American League? I mean, you have three teams
that basically have a hundred wins and the Astros justin Verlander,
(11:49):
which we both know very well from Detroit, Yes, and
and and again getting that grinky and then that lineup,
I mean, from top to bottom, and then you go
on the bench. I mean, everybody's swinging the bat, and
I mean the Astros to me, they seem like the
team to beat. But if the Yankees are swinging the
bats when the playoffs begin, you know, I mean, that
(12:12):
can be good as well. But when they have her
mind is out for for the playoffs pretty much because
off the failed incident, you know, that kind of swears
things in the other direction. And then the Minnesota Twins,
you know, every everybody's gonna have a surprise team to
make the playoffs, and this year is gonna be be
(12:35):
the Twins, and we'll see how that young team does
in the playoffs. But man, I mean there's a team
that Picky has them no doubt. Can't wait for the
playoffs to start. His name Dmitri Young, the two time
All Star, nationally Comeback Player of the Year in two
thousand seven, and a guy. When I was covering baseball
(12:55):
and out there all the time, I enjoyed covering to
meet you. You the best man. I we shate you. Hey, hey,
I love watching you on TV. And then when I'm
on the road, I listen to Thought Sports Radio. A
couple of a great show man. Thank you so much
to meet you, appreciate you. It's time for the pocket
(13:17):
protector centrol. The analytic numbers you need to know, Well
maybe FS ones. Anthony Masterson is his name. BS analytics
is his game. What you got for me today, Anthony,
Well Rob. The rise of those analytics, specifically with pitch
effects technology, can give fans a better idea of what
it means to be disciplined at the plate. Baseball Info
(13:40):
solutions through fan graphs shows us how often players see strikes,
swinget pitches outside the zone, or even make contact. Now,
let's start with O swing percentage, the rate at which
I hit her swing that pitches that are outside the
strike zone, hence O swing. It's opposite for pitches inside
the strike zone. That's called the swing percentage. The cousins
of these numbers are O contact and Z contact percentage,
(14:03):
the rate of which hitters make contact on pitches out
and in the strike zone, respectively. Now, along those same
lines is contact percentage and zone percentage. How often a
pictures sees pitches inside the strike zone. Got all that? Now,
this season the Giants Kevin Polar has an O swing
percentage of forty eight point nine percent, So that means
he swings and nearly half the pitches he sees that
(14:25):
are outside the strike zone. Alice Bragman for the Astros,
on the other hand, rarely chases, as his O swing
percentage leads all of baseball at just eighteen eight percent. Now,
the leaders in zone percentage, i e. The hitters who
see the most or fewest amount of strikes. It's no
surprise of players to see the fewest pitches in the zone.
Read like an All Star team. Alonso yell As harper
(14:47):
By as Rizzo, Flatty Jr. In fact, Pete Alonso zone
percentage of thirty five point seven percent is the lowest
among a qualified rookie since at least two thousand two pitchers.
Clearly here the polar Bear Rob nice I might have
to pay attention to that. We appreciate your anthony. It
(15:09):
was a big week in the Big League. Who's Who's
is it follow? Or is it fair? And now here?
Shadow league dot Com MLB insider Jr gamble if the
Cubs don't make the playoffs, is it foul or fair
(15:33):
to fire Cubs manager Joe Madden j R. It's found
that is a foul ball. It's so found. Uh. Dating
back to two thousand and eight when he left the
Campus stay DEBI raised to an a l pennant believe
it or not? That is one what ninety games and
nine of his past twelve seasons, He's long established himself
(15:55):
as a winning manager, especially when he left the Cubs
to the World Series in two thousands six team and
when a hundred and three games, breaking the oldest World
Cities drought in baseball hunt with a hundred eight years.
Prior to this season, Madden's won ninety two more games
every year he's been with the Cubs. Not many managers
can accomplish that, but as we know, the game is changing.
(16:19):
Gms want more control of the decisions, and old school
bosses like Madden Joe Girardi are susceptible to getting can
if they don't win World Series. Rings to five matting
would be a dumb move. The Cubs are still in
playoff contented despite having a down season. That happens in baseball.
It's not like you're gonna find an upgrade. He's one
(16:42):
of the best. Keep him Jr. You couldn't have said
it any better. It's unbelievable. Fasten your seatbelt, give me.
Here comes Parker's top three MLB teams this week. Number
three the Los Angeles Dodgers. I know, I know. They
(17:05):
have over a hundred wins. It's been a whirlwind season.
But for the Dodgers during a different boat, they've had
their struggles. The bullpen is still questionable. People on shore
about the Dodgers. On paper, they look like, of course
they should make the playoffs, in the World Series and
(17:26):
all that stuff. They won their seventh straight National League
West Division, but that's not enough for the Dodgers. Is
all going to be about the postseason and winning a
World Series. But right now, the Dodgers, as we're a
week away from the playoffs, enter the playoffs as the
third best team in baseball. Number two the Houston Astros. Yes,
(17:52):
I know, one paper, they are the best team. Look
at the pitching staff. When they added Zach Grant, everybody
wanted to hand them the World Series trophy. I get it.
They won three straight division titles with over a hundred wins,
and that included a World Series in sen Yes, it's
(18:13):
the golden era of Astro's baseball, and they have an
unbelievable line up, so much so that altoves like an
afterthought with Bregman and Springer and all those other guys. Yes,
they are loaded and ready for the playoffs, and uh
will definitely be a hard out, hard to beat. But
with the record of one oh two and fifty four,
(18:36):
they are the number two team in baseball as of Tuesday,
a week before the playoffs start. Number One, the number
one team in baseball is the New York freaking Yankees.
I've been saying it all year. It is a miracle
what they've been able to do. When you think about it,
(19:01):
coming into Tuesday, they matched the Astros with a hundred
and two wins. They were hundred and two and fifty,
a half a game behind the Astros for the best
record in baseball. They've had by far the most games
lost by players with injuries. And yet think about this.
Stint hit a home run earlier this week, like only
(19:24):
his second home run of the year. If he can
come back and contribute in that lineup, he's gonna be huge.
And think about this, Aaron Judge has a chance to
get to thirty home runs in the final week. And
think about it. He's only played in eight games this
year and he's still might hit thirty home runs. The
Yankees line up is potent. If they can get decent
(19:47):
starting pitching with that unbelievable bullpen, the Yankees can win
the World Series. I believe it. The Yankees are the
number one team in baseball. A week before the playoffs start,
take out the paper. Then it's time for trash talk
Twitter with your chance to trash anyone or anything in
(20:08):
Major League Baseball. This week's winner is at Robbie Aaronson
and he tweets this, how can the Rays make the playoffs?
I don't even know a single guy on their team.
The Asian Indians are way better. If you want a
chance to win a new era snapback like Robbie did,
(20:30):
send your trash to at Rob Parker fs one on Twitter.
When Rob was a newspaper columnist, he lived by this motto,
if I'm writing, I'm ripping. Let's bring in a writer,
a broadcaster, older, new All right, let's welcome to the podcast.
Dick Scandling in a long time Lakeland Ledger sportswriter who,
(20:52):
of course saw is around and covers the Tampa Bay Rays. Hey, Dick,
how you doing good? Right? Are you man doing great?
You know? Tampa Bay is one of those teams that
people just kind of forget about and don't think too
much about. But here we are on Tuesday, and they
(21:12):
have a ninety two and sixty four record and a
poised to make the postseason. They're hanging onto a wild
card spot. Dick, tell people about the Rays and how
they've been able to do it this year. Well, they've
had an incredible number of acquisition since the trade deadline
(21:33):
of two thousand and eighteen. That you know, a little
over a year. Rob half of their roster has been
acquired since the trade that you know. Of the of
the main guys, half of them were not here in
the middle of the two thousand and eight team season.
They got a good bull team. They have three three
(21:55):
good starting pitchers Charlie Martin, Blake Spell and um Tyler
Glass now, two of whom have been hurt most of
the year, but they've just kind of catched catched it
up and uh those stars, you know, a lot of
good young players and everybody's been a little bit of
(22:15):
a contribution. And here they are at nine two wins
with six games lefton as the five games lifting. Amazing.
What about Charlie Morton, Uh, he has a chance to
uh qualify for the e r A title. He's been
a workhorse, will probably end up with thirty three stars
over a hundred and ninety innings. What he's been a godsend,
(22:38):
hasn't he? Oh? Really, Yeah, he's been. Uh, he's been
exactly what they needed to stabilize the rotation because, as
I mentioned Rob, the other two guys have been the
other two main guys have been hurt most of the year.
Now On he's missed four months. Glass now was six
and oh at one point then got hurt in his
(23:01):
eight start, and he's just got Neither of those guys
are really fully black back into the rotation, so they've
kind of peached it together with you know, openers and
guys pitching three or four and means at a time.
And some are always worth funnily because they've had a
pretty good bulleten and uh, you know, they just sort
(23:23):
of glued things together, won a lot of close games. Uh.
Nobody's really been Austin Meadows who came with glass now
last summer. I've had a pretty close to a monster
offensive a year. But other than that, um, you know,
just everybody's just done plus pluts it. I don't know
(23:45):
if you're aware of Travis Darnauld, the catcher that picked
up off the scrap keep and uh being made the
Dodger even the Dodgers tripleated. The Dodgers virtually gave him
to the raid and he's been like one of the
most valuable players sixty seven anti Uh, it's just a
dozen huge uh and and it's worked. So they got
(24:10):
you know, they got a seven ninety nine, which even
that wouldn't necessarily gentlemen, is the playoffs now? Speaking of that, right,
they're not it's not a done deal. But here's the
other part that people really don't know how successful the
Race have actually been over the past decade plus. Tampa
Bay's record is one thousand, thirty five and nine oh one,
(24:35):
which is fifth best in the major leagues. Right since, yes,
since two thousand and eight, since the breakout year when
they went to the World Series. But nobody would even
know that or even think that they've been that successful.
But here's the problem, of course, the playoffs. The Rays
have only made the playoff three times and they're trying
(24:56):
since and and nonsense. So that's why people don't realize
right how successful they've been. Right well, I mean that's
a function of being in the division with the Yankees
and the Red Side. You had the high powered extending teams. Yeah,
and the rais that you know, usually, well, the Ways
(25:16):
have to finish the haead of one of them. Usually
this year it happened to be the Yeah, the Yankees
had to be here in the Red Side didn't. But
I was stunned to find this myself. Rob. They've had
ninety wins and seven of the last twelve years. That's incredible.
Ninety wins used to be pretty much an automatic ticket
to the playoffs. But you know, not this year, this
(25:40):
year and last year. There's so many bad teams that americanly,
uh you know, to to whip up on that ninety
wins doesn't even get your playoffs spot. No last thing,
when people see the Raids on television and considering all
the success they have and they looked like they were
going to make the playoffs all year, the crowd still
a bad day in Tampa Bay. Why don't people come
(26:02):
the demographics of the market. People here watch the games.
I tell you they have good ratings, and frankly, they
don't go to the ballpark. I think the ownership made
a big mistake a long time ago, bad molting the ballpark,
flaiming they need a new ballpark. And and uh, there's
(26:23):
a lot of people in the Tampa Bay area and
surrounding areas that think the ballpark is a joke and
they don't want you know, it's poorly local. His name
is Dick Scandling from the Lakeland Ledger, one of my
favorite baseball writers. Hey Dick, thanks so much for joining
the podcast. Thanks for kind words. Drop anytime now bringing
(26:46):
the closer. Here's why MLB is better than the NFL
or NBA, and it isn't even close. Here's reason number
three thousand and why MLB is better than the NBA
and the NFL. And let's first talk about detroitter Eli Hides.
(27:09):
He's the fan who caught Albert pool Hosts his ball
back May nine, when he finally got his two thousand RB.
I what a milestone. And if you remember, Hides didn't
want to give the ball to Albert pool Holes and
then you know, all kinds of stuff happened. He turned
down a lot of cash and a whole bunch of
(27:31):
stuff and instead now he has decided to hand deliver
the baseball to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He will
do that instead so that all baseball fans will be
able to admire the moment for Albert pooh Holes, who
has at the time of two thousand RBIs joining only
(27:53):
Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez as guys who had over
two thousand RBI in their career. It's an impressive number.
Hi just donating the baseball in the memory of his
late son, Cyrus. His son was named after cy Young.
(28:14):
What an awesome story. In the 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 care.
This could be an inside the Parker to see it
(28:34):
next week that time,
Host
Rob Parker
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