June 14, 2024 • 30 mins
Gregg Bell and Christopher are live and get things rolling w/ a little Seattle Mariners talk as they lost to the Chicago White Sox 3-2. The Mariners didn't get the sweep but they still have a nice lead in the AL West, can the Mariners keep it up as they'll face off against the defending champions, Texas Rangers? Devon Witherspoon splashed a few times in Seahawks mini-camp, and w/ a big smile, Mike Macdonald admires Devon's style of play and passion. We also recap the comments Devon made about his head coach, calling him nerdy.
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(00:00):
The Mariners. They did it againin the clutch last night. Holy Rodriguez
in particular did and then they ruinedit later last night. We'll talk about
that. The Seahawks are on intheir six week vacation, totally shut down,
I mean, gone fishing until trainingcamp begins. At eleven thirty,
we'll read back your text and tellthem we'll do text line like we do
all the time. And then elevenforty five it's going to be Chris Crawford
(00:23):
joining us because Ian Furness has areally cool day with his daughter. It
is at work, and I thinkI can say that she's a teacher down
on the South Sound and he's goinginto her class today. Good for him.
So Chris Crawford's going to join usat eleven forty five before his show
twelve until three with Jessman McIntyre,we'll get into the details of the Mariners.
(00:46):
How they lost the game. Imean, yeah, they took three
or four, but man, theyshould have won that game last night too
against the Lily White Sox. Headlinesbrought to you by Venue Kings dot Com,
as we do every day at thetop of the hour, First Place
Mariners, Yeah, they're still firstboys by good cushion. They were down
two on the bottom of the nightlast night. Then the powerless previously powerless
(01:06):
Julio Rodriguez, did this team wakecenter field? Is it televid We got
a time Pullio, there's six homeon number twenty six. In the interview
(01:29):
fourteen more to go, Chris youtwenty Yeah, ninety nine miles an hour
top rail, top of the strikezone. That's a hard pitch to hit
to the opposite field for a homerun. These stat cast home run projections
that it went four hundred and fifteenfeet and would have been out of all
thirty parks in the major leagues andmaybe even out of Yosemite. I mean
(01:52):
everyone behind the you saw in thetelevision Root Sports as Dave Sims, our
friend with the call there on RootSports. You could see on the feel
live everyone in the expensencyt right behindhim played the Diamond Club stood up knowing
that pitch was gone, and madeit two to two to send it to
extra innings. Emerson Hancock, bythe way, doing a really good job
(02:14):
coming up from Tacoma, filling inyesterday as the spot starter and allowing only
the two runs, but as it'soften the case with the Mariners offense that
isn't even enough to win a game. Sometime it's just a feeble bottom of
the tenth, at top of thetenth, for instance, some fielding decisions
we'll get into that in a minutethat allowed the White Sox to score.
(02:35):
Then the feeble bottom of the tenth, stranding the ghost runner at second base
without him even moving. So theM's don't get the four games sweep against
Chicago, but there's still nine gamesover five hundred, still five and a
half up on Texas, eight gamesup on Houston atop the Al West,
and now a big three game seriesthis weekend. Big in the sense that
they can really put some distance betweenthemselves and the Rangers. Texas is in
(02:57):
town for three at the Yard andSoto Starting tonight. Luis Castillo starts for
the Mariners because they pushed him backfrom yesterday's scheduled start. That was interesting
to me too. We're going todiscuss that a little bit later on.
I mentioned the Seahawks. You shouldnot expect any news at all, contract
signings, none of that for thenext six weeks because they everybody in the
building goes out. If you getout of the Renting Right now, I
(03:20):
think there is a gone fishing signon the front door of Seahawks headquarters.
They're just in Kamunacado for the nextsix weeks until training camp begins. They
should be due to report July twentyfifth for camp at Seahawks Headquarters in Renting,
and then July twenty six it'd bethe first day of training camp.
The team incidentally, is not yetpublished that I know of the dates that
practices will be open to fans,and we are somewhat curious with the new
(03:45):
Mike McDonald coaching regime, how thisis gonna go. Is it gonna be
as open as Pete Carroll? Imean, nobody could be more open than
Pete Carroll was in his practices,so it may not be like it has
been in the recent master I'm toldthey will have practices open to the fans,
how many any and when and whatdate specifically, as I understand it
is not yet up on the Seahawkswebsite, but suffice to say, not
(04:08):
just Seahawks but NFL news in generallikely to dwindle here in the next six
weeks, and finally there should besome time of the year that it's like
that NBA Finals resumed tonight Game fourin Dallas. Boston can sweep the Mavericks
right out of the series and wintheir eighteenth NBA title. If it doesn't
happen tonight. Game five's in Bostonon Sunday, so it could happen.
(04:29):
Then you don't see an unprecedented fourgame rally by Dallas, do you.
No, It's the best they cando is probably win tonight's game. But
I hope Boston does handle business soI can collect my two hundred dollars today.
Yeah, I think you're pretty goodwith that that. Oh you want
it today? I want today?Yeah? I want this would be you
know, with how I was gonnapay me. I'd imagine to be cash
(04:49):
apps. So they charge little feeshere if you want your money now or
later. But the less cash anymore? Do you actually carry cash anymore?
I don't carry cash unless I'm ata gentleman's establishment. A gentleman's establishment.
Now you're about to get married,right, Oh? My fiance is all
in, she's she understands the game, and I allow her as Dave Sims
will say, hey, now hey, now, yeah we are we want
(05:12):
to go together eventually. Whoa.But she hasn't the ones that I wanted
to go to. She hasn't beenfond of. She wants to go to
ones that are up her alley,which I understand you and your wife could
never hunt. You're getting too handseither, hunt. Oh my wife.
No, yeah, she's that's okay. No, it's absolutely okay, different
(05:35):
for different folks, and his inher own. I'm just I'm chucking at
myself for bringing it up. It'sokay. You asked if I had cash
on me, and the only timeI carry cash is when I'm at a
strip club, just keeping it eyeswuch agree, That's that's real. Do
you carry cash? I know Ihad a fifty dollars bill in my wallet
since January. It's a matter offact, and it's still in there.
Yes, I am still in yourwall taking that fifty you think Greg realized
(05:59):
that it's probably not. Probably not. I don't use cash apps, I
don't use my phone to pay forthings. It's all cash, card and
credit card. And we're one ofthose that give you a credit card and
get no. It's it's really thatmakes sense too. But yeah, I
just the need for cash, itis dwindled. I don't see the point.
Don't trying to think outside of whydo you need cash? A card,
(06:25):
you pay for it and it coversit. You don't have to worry
about getting changed. But it's simplething done. Even toll booths on toll
roads now are well out here,they're electronic. Even back east they take
cards. And yeah, I justdon't see the need for cash. I'm
still sorry that I brought up thestrip club or we got into that.
(06:45):
But well, you said, Chris, do you use cash? I said,
I said, you're getting married soonthat Oh yeah, all in she
wants to go with me. Goodfor her. Yeah, it'll be a
blast. I enjoyed that, well, sir. The US Open Golf Championship
second round has begun at Pinehurst andNorth Caro. Patrick Cantley entered the day
as the leader, but that's changing. He doesn't see off as usually.
If it happens, the USGA putsthe leaders from the previous day until later
(07:10):
tea time, So Thomas Dietrie hastaken the lead at minus six through fourteen
holes. The German has a minusfive today. Bryce and Dischambeau is minus
four, two shots back. Can'tleyis one shot back. He will tee
off here in about ten minutes atPiners. We're gonna have an update from
Westwood one up the US Open herein about ten minutes time. The NHL
(07:33):
Stanley Cup Final is now also likelyall but over, so the NBA Finals
in the NHL Finals are both threeto zero. Edmonton just got out worked
last night. They on their homeice in Game three. Florida just too
much grit, especially along the boards. They just want it more. And
yeah they're the more physical team,but they just want it more. When
(07:55):
the pucks are fifty fifty pucks onthe boards, it's Florida's and they just
keep the game outside and keep Edmontonout of the middle. Panthers took a
four to one league capitalizing on Eiler'smistakes, then held on in the third
period to win four to three.Again. Florida has now a three to
zero series lead on Edmonton. Gamefour is tomorrow. Pre game four to
thirty puck drop just after five pmhere live on ninety three point three kjr
(08:18):
FM. It appears there will stillfor the thirty second consecutive year, not
be a Stanley Cup champion from Canada, birthplace of the game. Speaking of
hockey, we got Coachella Valley,the Krakens AHL affiliate in the Calder Cup
Finals against Hershey. Game one istonight and it's on nine to fifty am
KJR, our sister station, theold home of us before we move to
(08:41):
this FM spot. That game winstonight, and game two is going to
be tomorrow on excuse me, Sunday, two pm. The second game of
the Calder Cup is on nine tofifty am, so we're going to be
carrying that. And that was theDan Bowsma's final games as Coachella Valley coach
before he becomes the Seattle Krakens newhead coach. The Sounders the host Minnesota
tomorrow at the Stadium in Soto,seven pm. Pre game with Jackson felt
(09:05):
here on ninety three point three X. Sorry on the AM side nine to
fifty am, seven thirty kickoff onKGr nine to fifty am tomorrow, Sounders
in Minnesota again. The Mariners lastnight. Let's go back to the sixth
inning. It's two to one.The first two guys, first two Mariners
reach base. You've got two onand nobody out for Dylan Moore. Do
(09:28):
you know what Dylan Moore is inhis last six games not good. Two
for twenty one with ten strikeouts,zero for four with four strikeouts last night.
If there's a guy in the twooh six area code who should probably
be bunting there with two on,nobody out down a run, it's him,
and he swings and misses and strikesout. Wasn't even attempting to bunt,
(09:50):
swinging, miss, foul ball,swinging miss, game over back to
the bench. So now there's twoon and one out in the innings.
Ruined you bunt? Yeah, Ianalytics say, don't, but don't give
up the outs. But then theunproductive out with a runner at second base
has just plagued this team all year. I feel like my university prep high
(10:11):
school team, same thing. Runnerat second, you gotta get the guy
to third base, runner at secondwith less than two outs, you got
to get the guy to third base. Bunt there. You got second and
third and one out for Julio Rodriguezand the rest of the lineup. And
I know Rodriguez has his own struggles, but I'd like my chances with runners
in scoring position and Rodriguez there ratherthan Dylan Moore. I'm just saying two
(10:33):
for twenty one with ten strikeouts.It's time for Dylan Moore not to be
the number two hitter. And hehas had flashes, of course, and
he has been very valuable in playingdifferent positions, especially when JP Crawford was
out on the injured list. Butman, there has to be I know
the lineup is weak, but therehas to be another option in the number
two hole than that. So thatwas one thing. Then we go to
(10:54):
the top of the tenth after soJulio Rodriguez inspires the whole team. Your
superstar wakes up, shows power whenhe absolutely had to to tie the game
to two in the bottom of theninth. And then at the top of
the tenth Andris Munoz comes in,strikes out of firs k gets a ground
ball through the wide of Rojas atthird base that goes into left field,
(11:16):
but not hitched, not in aplace that the runner can advance from second
the ghost runner. So now youhave first and third, one out,
and then there's a chopper, atwo hopper to Rojas at third base.
He had to come in for theball, and as an infielder, you
got to think risk reward here.The runner breaking from third is the potential
(11:37):
winning run. Certainly to go aheadrun. You get a chance in the
bottom of the night, bottom ofthe tenth, but it's a tie game
in the tenth inning, and thenyou come in on the ball. You
gotta go home there. The risk, Yeah, that's a close play.
Maybe he's going to be safe.He got a good jump the runner from
third. But once you got achopper, you come in. I saw
people saying he should have turned twothere. That's a hard double play to
(12:01):
pivot back, be over your leftshoulder because you're way in front of the
third base bag at this point,and try to turn two there would be
very difficult. I couldn't believe hedidn't throw home. I thought my wife
and I were both watching it.My wife somewhat of a baseball fan.
She said, he must think there'stwo outs. He must have thought that
was the third out. The factthat he didn't throw home there, I
(12:24):
just didn't get. Even if he'ssafe, you can't fault him for throwing
home there. I talked to BuckyJacobson off air on the way in here,
and he thinks a perfect throw andthat runners out at home, and
the White Socks don't even score Rojascasually throws the first base, and on
the broadcast, Mike Bob was justsaying, well, he looked home.
I don't know if he did.I kept seeing the replays from behind home
plate. It didn't even look likehe gave much of a glance at all
(12:46):
to home plate. Anyway, Rojasdoesn't choose to throw home. He allows
to run to score on a ballthat he came in on from third base
and fielded in the grass. Tome, that's a throw home every time
throws the first so the White Soxscore the run. And then in the
bottom of the tenth Hanneger is aghost runner at second to start the inning.
I know Locklear hit a home run, the call up from Triple A
(13:07):
this week at first base for injuredTy France, hit a home run earlier
in the game, his first majorleague home run, but he struck out
the other three at bats, andhe did not look any worse than he
did in that tenth inning. Imean that third strike, did you see
that? Unfortunately, we all sawit. Oh my gosh, it was
like he had some a fan,an actual fan, was fanning himself,
(13:30):
and he whiffed on a high fastballfor strike one, strike one out.
Rojas comes in, blown away,two outs to strike out again, and
then a Luke Grayley fly ball tocenter field, and that's that. The
ghost runner at second didn't even advance. We're beyond the point of saying,
hey, can they bunch the ghostrunner to third to start the inning.
The Mariners just don't do that.We've talked about that before. Here I
(13:54):
am complaining about the Mariners offense firstplace, and they are in first place,
and I haven't even brought up thefact that they struck out nineteen times
last night in one game. Thereare guys that don't teams that don't struck
out nineteen times in a week.The Mariners struck out nineteen times last night
to the worst team in baseball.I know they had their best pitcher going,
(14:15):
and we talked about yesterday how thatguy was going to be problems for
them, but nineteen times. Buthey, they're five and a half up.
Good thing. The AO West iswhat it is, and they have
a chance to bury the Rangers ina big DP poll this weekend. And
coming up, we're going to talkabout what the Mariners did yesterday and deciding
to move Luis Castillo back. Theyhave loaded up their rotation for this series
(14:37):
like it's September. That's how muchof an opportunity the Mariners think this weekend
is against Texas. We'll talk aboutthat next on ninety three point three KGROFM.
Welcome back, Drag Mellot, thenew Distribute and Christopher Kidd with you.
Happy Friday June fourteenth too. Yeah, Tom Hutler the Mariners, just
reminding us it's Father's Day on Sunday. I briefly thought of trying to get
(15:00):
my dad on the phone from Michiganafter I did it for my mom with
my mom. Yeah, I thought, well, since my mom had we
had trouble getting her on the line, she'd be the one that would have
to be answering the phone to getwe could take it. Yeah, that
would maybe we'd need a couple ofdays notice to pull that off. I
thought better of trying that again.It's fireworks night. As you heard the
(15:22):
promo for the Mariners tonight is seventiesfireworks night. Hang on seventies, nineteen
seventies music, oh music, they'llplaying thee I was like, what is
the seventies fireworks? Okay? Fairenough? No, yeah, seventies,
fireworks tonight and Fireworks Night tonight aseven tens start. I think I may
have said at six forty, andmaybe I didn't say that, but it
(15:45):
is a seven to ten start tonightat the Yard and Soto, and then
tomorrow they're on Fox at four fifteenPacific time, the national TV game,
the baseball night in America that Foxdoes. So they're on Big Fox Channel
thirteen here locally tomorrow, not onRoot Sports. There's going to be a
bunch of people confused about that,but it's a four to fifteen start.
Let's try to settle that it's onFox and not Root Sports tomorrow. So
(16:08):
channel thirteen for Mariners against Rangers Tomorrow'sSaturday at four to fifteen. First pitch.
Sunday is a one to ten normalafternoon start, and back on Root
Sports. We talked last segment aboutthe Mariners moving Emerson Hancock into a spot
start coming up from Tacoma. Yesterday. They moved Luis Castillo out of his
(16:30):
scheduled start yesterday to tonight, notfor health reasons, but for matchup reasons,
and they wanted Castillo to go tonight, Kirby to go tomorrow, and
Logan Gilbert to go on Sunday sothey can go one two three with their
three top starters against the Rangers.That's usually something you do, maybe in
September. But the reason they're doingit now one, it's pretty convenient for
(16:53):
them to just bring Handcock up fromdown the Freeway and Tacoma to start,
but also because they have a chanceto really put distance between themselves and the
Rangers this weekend. YEP five anda half game lead right now, the
Rangers have to be thinking, let'stry to sweep these guys who can't hit
the ball. If we can scorethree runs, we're going to have a
chance in each game. We havea chance to get within two and a
(17:15):
half of the lead, which wouldbe saying something for a team that's been
well below five hundred most of theseason in Texas and the injuries they have
to Grom and the pitching staff thatthey aren't whole yet. On the flip
side, the Mariners are thinking bymoving Castillo from yesterdays start against the Lily
White Sox to tonight, we canbe eight and a half games up in
(17:36):
entering late June, and that isa cushion. I mean that is when
you, like you said, beable to withstand injuries and unforeseen things that
come up, or you start scoringzero runs instead of one, because they
can't go much lower than they canoffense than they are right now offensively.
But it was interesting to me thatthey make this move in June. But
(17:57):
they see this as an opportunity andit is yep to really distance themselves.
I don't know how the Rangers beatthe Dodgers two out of three after geting
beat fifteen to two in the firstgame down there and Chiviz, they regrouped.
I don't know. Did I thinkit was three to two last night?
I think it was three tow thenight before. Also what David robertson,
he had just a phenomenal game,yeap, just throwing darts and the
(18:22):
Dodgers don't have an answer, sothey responded. But as you mentioned,
the MS, now can they haveanother challenge? But they can definitely beat
the Texas Rangers and have a nicelead, a good lead, a confident
lead. Andrew Haney is starting tonight for Texas. He's two and seven
as a four point six era.Nathan Valdi is starting tomorrow for Texas.
(18:44):
The veteran former Boston Red Sox starter. He's three and two as eras under
three two point six's eight, whichfor Texas is pretty good. Their history
of pitching, of course, isoften has derailed them. Dane Dunning starts
on Sunday against Logan Gilbert. Dunningis four and five with a four point
eight o ER so tonight, Castilloagainst Haney is a matchup the Mariners obviously
(19:07):
like, which is why they switchedand made the move and pushed Castillo back
from yesterday to tonight. And thenKirby is going to have his hands full
with the ball. He was beena veteran picture has always been effective.
I can't remember off the top ofmy head his numbers against the Mariners,
but if it's been in the lastcouple of years, and he's a decent
pitcher, he's probably shoved against theMariners offense because that's the way the lineup
has been. Anyway, there's achance here, big three game series,
(19:30):
the big opportunity to open up awide gap atop the American League West.
The Mariners against nine games over fivehundred entering the three game series tonight.
If you missed us mentioning it earliereleven o'clock, we're gonna have kJ Wright
on. He talked about a wideranging of things. He's now the defensive
(19:51):
quality control coach with the San Franciscoforty nine ers. He talked to us
about what exactly he's doing. He'sunder the wing of a veteran linebacker co
coach. He can tell you allabout that. And we taped it this
morning and laired at eleven o'clock infull, and he talked about his Seahawks
time, and we teased him aboutthe forty nine ers and of all the
(20:11):
teams he would go to the coachand he said, yeah, he's heard
it from teammates, his former teammatesat Seahawks teammates Bruce Servin in particular.
Yeah, doesn't surprise me at all. He would be hearing it from Bruce
Irvin. But he said, Igot to take care of me, and
I got to take care of kJWright. And you will listen and hear
(20:32):
that the forty nine Ers were nothis first choice, and his first choice
was to stay right here in Seattleand be a Seahawks assistant coach. I
won't say anything more than that,and I'll let him tell beyond that,
and why that didn't come to pass. But it was a very interesting conversation,
and he teased us after the factthat he may have revealed too much,
(20:55):
or would he say, damn GregBell, damn Greg Bill. Like
I mentioned, he's in my topten of I've been doing this for twenty
five years, covering as a beatwriter for baseball and now football. He's
in my top ten of guys I'veever met, just genuine. He's a
gentleman. It was really cool thathe met his wife here in Seattle.
(21:22):
Her family is from here, andthat made him convince that he's going to
live here the rest of his life. It didn't work out, but he
wanted to retire as a Seahawks player. He did come back for a one
day ceremonial contract, signing to retireas a Seahawk. It's an interesting question
four nine, four to five oneand tell him to do text line do
you think he's a ring of honorguy? I get asked that a lot
(21:42):
about players. Do you think soand so as a ring of honor guy?
Chuck and Buck the other morning askedme do I think Tyler Lockett is
is a ring of honor guy?The answer to that is, yes,
kJ Wright. I'm not sure onePro Bowl, one Super Bowl championship,
ten years here, the best tenyear of the Seahawks franchise history, of
course, right next to Bobby Wagner. Somewhat overshadowed by Wagner, of course,
(22:06):
because Wagner's a six time All Proand it is going to be a
Hall of Famer Pro Football Hall ofFamer that will be in the Ring of
Honor. But you could make anargument that Right should be there, and
you could also make an argument thathave in twenty maybe even ten years,
when you look up at the Ringof Honor, the majority of those guys
should be from the legion of Boom, Super Bowl back to back Super Bowl
(22:27):
era because that was the best eraof Seahawks football. Ever, I don't
know how big the Seahawks want todo their Ring of Honor, and they've
been conservative in adding people to it. But whether he's a Ring of Honor
guy or not just not diminished tome. The quality of the person of
kJ Right and his impact here inSeattle and how he embraced the city in
(22:49):
the city embraced him. It wasreally cool to talk to him in this
setting with him now being a newhead coach, or excuse me, a
new NFL coach, he teases me. He told us that he didn't think
he'd ever be a coach, andI'd asked him that the day he retired,
and he about laughed at me.No, I'm no way, I'm
(23:10):
not doing that. He'll explain startingat eleven o'clock how he went from no,
I'm never coaching to now being anassistant coach with the San Francisco they
Hated San Francisco forty nine ers.That interview will aer at full right after
headlines at eleven o'clock here on ninetythree point three kjr FM. We'll talk
a little bit about the Seahawks andwhat they have in store for heading into
(23:32):
training camp. We'll review again theMariners. That big weekend series, the
US Open is going on. We'vegot updates coming from there. A lot
to talk about all coming up nextto ninety three point three KJRFM. Welcome
(23:55):
back, Happy Friday to you,great Batal of the News Tribute and Christopher
Kidd with you as we are everyweekday from ten am to noon on ninety
three point three KJRFM, Chris Crawfordis going to join us at eleven forty
five and then from twelve to threewith Jessmonn Mcintyrean Arness is taking the day
off a family day. The USOpen Round two is going on at Pinehurst
(24:15):
Number two in North Carolina. ThomasDietree has a has tied Patrick Camentley for
the lead minus five. De Tree, the German, has a four under
today sixty nine through fifteen holes.Currently, just played his first hole and
parted, so he remains minus five. Bryson Dish and Bow is at minus
four. His day is done.He was a minus one today, a
(24:37):
sixty seven. We'll have an updatefrom Pinehurst from Westwood one at eleven twenty.
That's after we interview kJ Wright willair his full interview. We interviewed
him earlier this morning. He's movinghis family down to San Francisco, where
he is the forty nine ers Qualitycontrolled defensive coach, assistant linebackers coach,
(24:57):
and he'll tell us all about howhe got to there rather than still here
in Seattle, and how much hemissed football and wanted to get back into
it. It will talk to him. That's starting at eleven o'clock or just
after eleven o'clock after brief headlines thisweek if you well, really not just
this week off spring, people haveasked me who stood out to you most
(25:19):
on the field. They weren't inpads, yet still to me, the
best player on the field Devin Witherspoon. He really is an impact player.
On practices. You cannot help butnotice him. He taunts, he struts,
he intercepts passes and points the ballback at the offense. He's the
(25:41):
swag guy. I'm not saying he'sas good as Richard Sherman, but that's
how Sherman got to be, andhis practices here with the Seahawks against Russell
Wilson, well that's what Devin Witherspoonnow does at Seahawk practices. He is
the swag guy. And while everybodyelse on the team is learning the schemes
and defenses and their heads are swimminga little bit on learning the terminology of
(26:02):
new coach Mike McDonald on defense andRyan Grub on offense, Witherspoon is not.
His head doesn't look like it's swimmingin anything but his own excellence.
The fifth pick in last year's draft, played inside at nickel and outside,
started games as a left corner.It appears from first looks at the defense
through OTA's in mini camps that MikeMcDonald's going to play even more nickel.
(26:25):
Seventy nine percent of the time withBaltimore last year when he was the Ravens
defensive coordinator, they were in nickeldefense, and almost all of the eleven
on eleven in OTAs in mini campswas Witherspoon inside at nickel and Trey Brown
as the left corner, and thatappears to be the predominant defensive set they're
going to go with. They obviouslycan't take Witherspoon off the field. He
(26:49):
said he loves the nickel role.I asked Witherspoon about what he likes in
particularly. He says, because he'sinvolved in everything run stopping, scheming and
messing with the linebackers, dropping thecoverage, different receivers motions. He loves
how involved in central he is inthe middle, literally in the middle of
the defense as a nickelback. Healso said he really likes how open the
(27:11):
communication style of new coach Mike McDonaldis. He said he's a brain and
I said he's a little nerdy,and he said, yeah, absolutely,
for sure. He is nerdy,and I think that McDonald may have read
that or heard that by the timehe talked after practice on Wednesday, because
(27:32):
when we asked him about Devin Witherspoon, he kind of chided him. And
I'll read the quote to you thathe said when someone asked about Devin Witherspoon's
energy and the fact that he's struttingand all of that, which, again,
that's Devin Witherspoon, that's his personality, he said. The quote from
(27:52):
McDonald he was asking about Witherspoon's energyon Wednesday was quote I told him today
I couldn't believe he was the smartestfootball player of all time. And it's
only his second year in the NFL. He's got an answer for everything.
And he said, no, hey, be yourself. That's who he is.
We love him. He's a greatplayer already in this league. We're
really excited about him. Again,all those guys are great man. Energy
(28:15):
is right where we want it.And he was asked if his defense in
particular needs guys like that, andhe said McDonald's quote, absolutely, Yeah.
We talked about it the other day. As a team, we got
to be a player led team.Championship teams. Coaches can only take the
guys so far doesn't matter. Youcan lead from whatever role your role is.
(28:37):
Devin has a unique role that's specificto him, which were like U
Chenna's role Chenna WILLSU would be alittle different than his role, more vocal
with the guys. We want tostart in the roles you're in. Let's
rock and roll. Yeah, theenergy is pretty great and for a guy
who's been was described by Withersman asbeing in a brain and nerdy. Mc
(29:00):
donald was asked how does Witherspoon stackup football IQ wise, and McDonald said,
quote, it's high for a secondyear guy to be able to take
something from the meeting registered quickly.The questions he asked are really spot on,
like no BS type questions. Heunderstands a concept, he understands.
You can tell he's visualizing himself goingthrough all the rules rules of the defense.
That is, when he's clear,it's good. When it's not,
(29:23):
he nails it. He takes itright to the fit. Yeah, it's
it. His football IQ is prettyhigh. So it's obvious that they are
going to feature Devin Witherspoon and whenthey move him around the defense, it
could be as a nickel, itcould be playing back, playing up toward
the line of scrimmage, disguising wherehe's coveraging. It doesn't look like so
(29:45):
far in early indications that it's goingto be much as an outside left corner,
where the Seahawks had him splitting timelast year. So that could be
the difference this year is that heis almost predominantly inside at nickel because that's
predominantly the defense that Mike McDonald hasplayed in Baltimore, and again it worked
Baltimore last year, the first NFLdefense to ever lead the league in fewest
(30:06):
points allowed, sacks, and turnoverscreated in a single season. And that's
why he's the head coach right nowat age thirty six, youngest in the
NFL, instead of Pete Carroll comingup next. We've teased it long enough.
We're going to just play the kJWright interview in its entirety. You
don't want to miss it. Itwas really cool. It's great to hear
from kJ Wright. He's on yourair next in your ears on ninety three
(30:30):
point three KJRFM.
The Mariners. They did it againin the clutch last night. Holy Rodriguez
in particular did and then they ruinedit later last night. We'll talk about
that. The Seahawks are on intheir six week vacation, totally shut down,
I mean, gone fishing until trainingcamp begins. At eleven thirty,
we'll read back your text and tellthem we'll do text line like we do
all the time. And then elevenforty five it's going to be Chris Crawford
(00:23):
joining us because Ian Furness has areally cool day with his daughter. It
is at work, and I thinkI can say that she's a teacher down
on the South Sound and he's goinginto her class today. Good for him.
So Chris Crawford's going to join usat eleven forty five before his show
twelve until three with Jessman McIntyre,we'll get into the details of the Mariners.
(00:46):
How they lost the game. Imean, yeah, they took three
or four, but man, theyshould have won that game last night too
against the Lily White Sox. Headlinesbrought to you by Venue Kings dot Com,
as we do every day at thetop of the hour, First Place
Mariners, Yeah, they're still firstboys by good cushion. They were down
two on the bottom of the nightlast night. Then the powerless previously powerless
(01:06):
Julio Rodriguez, did this team wakecenter field? Is it televid We got
a time Pullio, there's six homeon number twenty six. In the interview
(01:29):
fourteen more to go, Chris youtwenty Yeah, ninety nine miles an hour
top rail, top of the strikezone. That's a hard pitch to hit
to the opposite field for a homerun. These stat cast home run projections
that it went four hundred and fifteenfeet and would have been out of all
thirty parks in the major leagues andmaybe even out of Yosemite. I mean
(01:52):
everyone behind the you saw in thetelevision Root Sports as Dave Sims, our
friend with the call there on RootSports. You could see on the feel
live everyone in the expensencyt right behindhim played the Diamond Club stood up knowing
that pitch was gone, and madeit two to two to send it to
extra innings. Emerson Hancock, bythe way, doing a really good job
(02:14):
coming up from Tacoma, filling inyesterday as the spot starter and allowing only
the two runs, but as it'soften the case with the Mariners offense that
isn't even enough to win a game. Sometime it's just a feeble bottom of
the tenth, at top of thetenth, for instance, some fielding decisions
we'll get into that in a minutethat allowed the White Sox to score.
(02:35):
Then the feeble bottom of the tenth, stranding the ghost runner at second base
without him even moving. So theM's don't get the four games sweep against
Chicago, but there's still nine gamesover five hundred, still five and a
half up on Texas, eight gamesup on Houston atop the Al West,
and now a big three game seriesthis weekend. Big in the sense that
they can really put some distance betweenthemselves and the Rangers. Texas is in
(02:57):
town for three at the Yard andSoto Starting tonight. Luis Castillo starts for
the Mariners because they pushed him backfrom yesterday's scheduled start. That was interesting
to me too. We're going todiscuss that a little bit later on.
I mentioned the Seahawks. You shouldnot expect any news at all, contract
signings, none of that for thenext six weeks because they everybody in the
building goes out. If you getout of the Renting Right now, I
(03:20):
think there is a gone fishing signon the front door of Seahawks headquarters.
They're just in Kamunacado for the nextsix weeks until training camp begins. They
should be due to report July twentyfifth for camp at Seahawks Headquarters in Renting,
and then July twenty six it'd bethe first day of training camp.
The team incidentally, is not yetpublished that I know of the dates that
practices will be open to fans,and we are somewhat curious with the new
(03:45):
Mike McDonald coaching regime, how thisis gonna go. Is it gonna be
as open as Pete Carroll? Imean, nobody could be more open than
Pete Carroll was in his practices,so it may not be like it has
been in the recent master I'm toldthey will have practices open to the fans,
how many any and when and whatdate specifically, as I understand it
is not yet up on the Seahawkswebsite, but suffice to say, not
(04:08):
just Seahawks but NFL news in generallikely to dwindle here in the next six
weeks, and finally there should besome time of the year that it's like
that NBA Finals resumed tonight Game fourin Dallas. Boston can sweep the Mavericks
right out of the series and wintheir eighteenth NBA title. If it doesn't
happen tonight. Game five's in Bostonon Sunday, so it could happen.
(04:29):
Then you don't see an unprecedented fourgame rally by Dallas, do you.
No, It's the best they cando is probably win tonight's game. But
I hope Boston does handle business soI can collect my two hundred dollars today.
Yeah, I think you're pretty goodwith that that. Oh you want
it today? I want today?Yeah? I want this would be you
know, with how I was gonnapay me. I'd imagine to be cash
(04:49):
apps. So they charge little feeshere if you want your money now or
later. But the less cash anymore? Do you actually carry cash anymore?
I don't carry cash unless I'm ata gentleman's establishment. A gentleman's establishment.
Now you're about to get married,right, Oh? My fiance is all
in, she's she understands the game, and I allow her as Dave Sims
will say, hey, now hey, now, yeah we are we want
(05:12):
to go together eventually. Whoa.But she hasn't the ones that I wanted
to go to. She hasn't beenfond of. She wants to go to
ones that are up her alley,which I understand you and your wife could
never hunt. You're getting too handseither, hunt. Oh my wife.
No, yeah, she's that's okay. No, it's absolutely okay, different
(05:35):
for different folks, and his inher own. I'm just I'm chucking at
myself for bringing it up. It'sokay. You asked if I had cash
on me, and the only timeI carry cash is when I'm at a
strip club, just keeping it eyeswuch agree, That's that's real. Do
you carry cash? I know Ihad a fifty dollars bill in my wallet
since January. It's a matter offact, and it's still in there.
Yes, I am still in yourwall taking that fifty you think Greg realized
(05:59):
that it's probably not. Probably not. I don't use cash apps, I
don't use my phone to pay forthings. It's all cash, card and
credit card. And we're one ofthose that give you a credit card and
get no. It's it's really thatmakes sense too. But yeah, I
just the need for cash, itis dwindled. I don't see the point.
Don't trying to think outside of whydo you need cash? A card,
(06:25):
you pay for it and it coversit. You don't have to worry
about getting changed. But it's simplething done. Even toll booths on toll
roads now are well out here,they're electronic. Even back east they take
cards. And yeah, I justdon't see the need for cash. I'm
still sorry that I brought up thestrip club or we got into that.
(06:45):
But well, you said, Chris, do you use cash? I said,
I said, you're getting married soonthat Oh yeah, all in she
wants to go with me. Goodfor her. Yeah, it'll be a
blast. I enjoyed that, well, sir. The US Open Golf Championship
second round has begun at Pinehurst andNorth Caro. Patrick Cantley entered the day
as the leader, but that's changing. He doesn't see off as usually.
If it happens, the USGA putsthe leaders from the previous day until later
(07:10):
tea time, So Thomas Dietrie hastaken the lead at minus six through fourteen
holes. The German has a minusfive today. Bryce and Dischambeau is minus
four, two shots back. Can'tleyis one shot back. He will tee
off here in about ten minutes atPiners. We're gonna have an update from
Westwood one up the US Open herein about ten minutes time. The NHL
(07:33):
Stanley Cup Final is now also likelyall but over, so the NBA Finals
in the NHL Finals are both threeto zero. Edmonton just got out worked
last night. They on their homeice in Game three. Florida just too
much grit, especially along the boards. They just want it more. And
yeah they're the more physical team,but they just want it more. When
(07:55):
the pucks are fifty fifty pucks onthe boards, it's Florida's and they just
keep the game outside and keep Edmontonout of the middle. Panthers took a
four to one league capitalizing on Eiler'smistakes, then held on in the third
period to win four to three.Again. Florida has now a three to
zero series lead on Edmonton. Gamefour is tomorrow. Pre game four to
thirty puck drop just after five pmhere live on ninety three point three kjr
(08:18):
FM. It appears there will stillfor the thirty second consecutive year, not
be a Stanley Cup champion from Canada, birthplace of the game. Speaking of
hockey, we got Coachella Valley,the Krakens AHL affiliate in the Calder Cup
Finals against Hershey. Game one istonight and it's on nine to fifty am
KJR, our sister station, theold home of us before we move to
(08:41):
this FM spot. That game winstonight, and game two is going to
be tomorrow on excuse me, Sunday, two pm. The second game of
the Calder Cup is on nine tofifty am, so we're going to be
carrying that. And that was theDan Bowsma's final games as Coachella Valley coach
before he becomes the Seattle Krakens newhead coach. The Sounders the host Minnesota
tomorrow at the Stadium in Soto,seven pm. Pre game with Jackson felt
(09:05):
here on ninety three point three X. Sorry on the AM side nine to
fifty am, seven thirty kickoff onKGr nine to fifty am tomorrow, Sounders
in Minnesota again. The Mariners lastnight. Let's go back to the sixth
inning. It's two to one.The first two guys, first two Mariners
reach base. You've got two onand nobody out for Dylan Moore. Do
(09:28):
you know what Dylan Moore is inhis last six games not good. Two
for twenty one with ten strikeouts,zero for four with four strikeouts last night.
If there's a guy in the twooh six area code who should probably
be bunting there with two on,nobody out down a run, it's him,
and he swings and misses and strikesout. Wasn't even attempting to bunt,
(09:50):
swinging, miss, foul ball,swinging miss, game over back to
the bench. So now there's twoon and one out in the innings.
Ruined you bunt? Yeah, Ianalytics say, don't, but don't give
up the outs. But then theunproductive out with a runner at second base
has just plagued this team all year. I feel like my university prep high
(10:11):
school team, same thing. Runnerat second, you gotta get the guy
to third base, runner at secondwith less than two outs, you got
to get the guy to third base. Bunt there. You got second and
third and one out for Julio Rodriguezand the rest of the lineup. And
I know Rodriguez has his own struggles, but I'd like my chances with runners
in scoring position and Rodriguez there ratherthan Dylan Moore. I'm just saying two
(10:33):
for twenty one with ten strikeouts.It's time for Dylan Moore not to be
the number two hitter. And hehas had flashes, of course, and
he has been very valuable in playingdifferent positions, especially when JP Crawford was
out on the injured list. Butman, there has to be I know
the lineup is weak, but therehas to be another option in the number
two hole than that. So thatwas one thing. Then we go to
(10:54):
the top of the tenth after soJulio Rodriguez inspires the whole team. Your
superstar wakes up, shows power whenhe absolutely had to to tie the game
to two in the bottom of theninth. And then at the top of
the tenth Andris Munoz comes in,strikes out of firs k gets a ground
ball through the wide of Rojas atthird base that goes into left field,
(11:16):
but not hitched, not in aplace that the runner can advance from second
the ghost runner. So now youhave first and third, one out,
and then there's a chopper, atwo hopper to Rojas at third base.
He had to come in for theball, and as an infielder, you
got to think risk reward here.The runner breaking from third is the potential
(11:37):
winning run. Certainly to go aheadrun. You get a chance in the
bottom of the night, bottom ofthe tenth, but it's a tie game
in the tenth inning, and thenyou come in on the ball. You
gotta go home there. The risk, Yeah, that's a close play.
Maybe he's going to be safe.He got a good jump the runner from
third. But once you got achopper, you come in. I saw
people saying he should have turned twothere. That's a hard double play to
(12:01):
pivot back, be over your leftshoulder because you're way in front of the
third base bag at this point,and try to turn two there would be
very difficult. I couldn't believe hedidn't throw home. I thought my wife
and I were both watching it.My wife somewhat of a baseball fan.
She said, he must think there'stwo outs. He must have thought that
was the third out. The factthat he didn't throw home there, I
(12:24):
just didn't get. Even if he'ssafe, you can't fault him for throwing
home there. I talked to BuckyJacobson off air on the way in here,
and he thinks a perfect throw andthat runners out at home, and
the White Socks don't even score Rojascasually throws the first base, and on
the broadcast, Mike Bob was justsaying, well, he looked home.
I don't know if he did.I kept seeing the replays from behind home
plate. It didn't even look likehe gave much of a glance at all
(12:46):
to home plate. Anyway, Rojasdoesn't choose to throw home. He allows
to run to score on a ballthat he came in on from third base
and fielded in the grass. Tome, that's a throw home every time
throws the first so the White Soxscore the run. And then in the
bottom of the tenth Hanneger is aghost runner at second to start the inning.
I know Locklear hit a home run, the call up from Triple A
(13:07):
this week at first base for injuredTy France, hit a home run earlier
in the game, his first majorleague home run, but he struck out
the other three at bats, andhe did not look any worse than he
did in that tenth inning. Imean that third strike, did you see
that? Unfortunately, we all sawit. Oh my gosh, it was
like he had some a fan,an actual fan, was fanning himself,
(13:30):
and he whiffed on a high fastballfor strike one, strike one out.
Rojas comes in, blown away,two outs to strike out again, and
then a Luke Grayley fly ball tocenter field, and that's that. The
ghost runner at second didn't even advance. We're beyond the point of saying,
hey, can they bunch the ghostrunner to third to start the inning.
The Mariners just don't do that.We've talked about that before. Here I
(13:54):
am complaining about the Mariners offense firstplace, and they are in first place,
and I haven't even brought up thefact that they struck out nineteen times
last night in one game. Thereare guys that don't teams that don't struck
out nineteen times in a week.The Mariners struck out nineteen times last night
to the worst team in baseball.I know they had their best pitcher going,
(14:15):
and we talked about yesterday how thatguy was going to be problems for
them, but nineteen times. Buthey, they're five and a half up.
Good thing. The AO West iswhat it is, and they have
a chance to bury the Rangers ina big DP poll this weekend. And
coming up, we're going to talkabout what the Mariners did yesterday and deciding
to move Luis Castillo back. Theyhave loaded up their rotation for this series
(14:37):
like it's September. That's how muchof an opportunity the Mariners think this weekend
is against Texas. We'll talk aboutthat next on ninety three point three KGROFM.
Welcome back, Drag Mellot, thenew Distribute and Christopher Kidd with you.
Happy Friday June fourteenth too. Yeah, Tom Hutler the Mariners, just
reminding us it's Father's Day on Sunday. I briefly thought of trying to get
(15:00):
my dad on the phone from Michiganafter I did it for my mom with
my mom. Yeah, I thought, well, since my mom had we
had trouble getting her on the line, she'd be the one that would have
to be answering the phone to getwe could take it. Yeah, that
would maybe we'd need a couple ofdays notice to pull that off. I
thought better of trying that again.It's fireworks night. As you heard the
(15:22):
promo for the Mariners tonight is seventiesfireworks night. Hang on seventies, nineteen
seventies music, oh music, they'llplaying thee I was like, what is
the seventies fireworks? Okay? Fairenough? No, yeah, seventies,
fireworks tonight and Fireworks Night tonight aseven tens start. I think I may
have said at six forty, andmaybe I didn't say that, but it
(15:45):
is a seven to ten start tonightat the Yard and Soto, and then
tomorrow they're on Fox at four fifteenPacific time, the national TV game,
the baseball night in America that Foxdoes. So they're on Big Fox Channel
thirteen here locally tomorrow, not onRoot Sports. There's going to be a
bunch of people confused about that,but it's a four to fifteen start.
Let's try to settle that it's onFox and not Root Sports tomorrow. So
(16:08):
channel thirteen for Mariners against Rangers Tomorrow'sSaturday at four to fifteen. First pitch.
Sunday is a one to ten normalafternoon start, and back on Root
Sports. We talked last segment aboutthe Mariners moving Emerson Hancock into a spot
start coming up from Tacoma. Yesterday. They moved Luis Castillo out of his
(16:30):
scheduled start yesterday to tonight, notfor health reasons, but for matchup reasons,
and they wanted Castillo to go tonight, Kirby to go tomorrow, and
Logan Gilbert to go on Sunday sothey can go one two three with their
three top starters against the Rangers.That's usually something you do, maybe in
September. But the reason they're doingit now one, it's pretty convenient for
(16:53):
them to just bring Handcock up fromdown the Freeway and Tacoma to start,
but also because they have a chanceto really put distance between themselves and the
Rangers this weekend. YEP five anda half game lead right now, the
Rangers have to be thinking, let'stry to sweep these guys who can't hit
the ball. If we can scorethree runs, we're going to have a
chance in each game. We havea chance to get within two and a
(17:15):
half of the lead, which wouldbe saying something for a team that's been
well below five hundred most of theseason in Texas and the injuries they have
to Grom and the pitching staff thatthey aren't whole yet. On the flip
side, the Mariners are thinking bymoving Castillo from yesterdays start against the Lily
White Sox to tonight, we canbe eight and a half games up in
(17:36):
entering late June, and that isa cushion. I mean that is when
you, like you said, beable to withstand injuries and unforeseen things that
come up, or you start scoringzero runs instead of one, because they
can't go much lower than they canoffense than they are right now offensively.
But it was interesting to me thatthey make this move in June. But
(17:57):
they see this as an opportunity andit is yep to really distance themselves.
I don't know how the Rangers beatthe Dodgers two out of three after geting
beat fifteen to two in the firstgame down there and Chiviz, they regrouped.
I don't know. Did I thinkit was three to two last night?
I think it was three tow thenight before. Also what David robertson,
he had just a phenomenal game,yeap, just throwing darts and the
(18:22):
Dodgers don't have an answer, sothey responded. But as you mentioned,
the MS, now can they haveanother challenge? But they can definitely beat
the Texas Rangers and have a nicelead, a good lead, a confident
lead. Andrew Haney is starting tonight for Texas. He's two and seven
as a four point six era.Nathan Valdi is starting tomorrow for Texas.
(18:44):
The veteran former Boston Red Sox starter. He's three and two as eras under
three two point six's eight, whichfor Texas is pretty good. Their history
of pitching, of course, isoften has derailed them. Dane Dunning starts
on Sunday against Logan Gilbert. Dunningis four and five with a four point
eight o ER so tonight, Castilloagainst Haney is a matchup the Mariners obviously
(19:07):
like, which is why they switchedand made the move and pushed Castillo back
from yesterday to tonight. And thenKirby is going to have his hands full
with the ball. He was beena veteran picture has always been effective.
I can't remember off the top ofmy head his numbers against the Mariners,
but if it's been in the lastcouple of years, and he's a decent
pitcher, he's probably shoved against theMariners offense because that's the way the lineup
has been. Anyway, there's achance here, big three game series,
(19:30):
the big opportunity to open up awide gap atop the American League West.
The Mariners against nine games over fivehundred entering the three game series tonight.
If you missed us mentioning it earliereleven o'clock, we're gonna have kJ Wright
on. He talked about a wideranging of things. He's now the defensive
(19:51):
quality control coach with the San Franciscoforty nine ers. He talked to us
about what exactly he's doing. He'sunder the wing of a veteran linebacker co
coach. He can tell you allabout that. And we taped it this
morning and laired at eleven o'clock infull, and he talked about his Seahawks
time, and we teased him aboutthe forty nine ers and of all the
(20:11):
teams he would go to the coachand he said, yeah, he's heard
it from teammates, his former teammatesat Seahawks teammates Bruce Servin in particular.
Yeah, doesn't surprise me at all. He would be hearing it from Bruce
Irvin. But he said, Igot to take care of me, and
I got to take care of kJWright. And you will listen and hear
(20:32):
that the forty nine Ers were nothis first choice, and his first choice
was to stay right here in Seattleand be a Seahawks assistant coach. I
won't say anything more than that,and I'll let him tell beyond that,
and why that didn't come to pass. But it was a very interesting conversation,
and he teased us after the factthat he may have revealed too much,
(20:55):
or would he say, damn GregBell, damn Greg Bill. Like
I mentioned, he's in my topten of I've been doing this for twenty
five years, covering as a beatwriter for baseball and now football. He's
in my top ten of guys I'veever met, just genuine. He's a
gentleman. It was really cool thathe met his wife here in Seattle.
(21:22):
Her family is from here, andthat made him convince that he's going to
live here the rest of his life. It didn't work out, but he
wanted to retire as a Seahawks player. He did come back for a one
day ceremonial contract, signing to retireas a Seahawk. It's an interesting question
four nine, four to five oneand tell him to do text line do
you think he's a ring of honorguy? I get asked that a lot
(21:42):
about players. Do you think soand so as a ring of honor guy?
Chuck and Buck the other morning askedme do I think Tyler Lockett is
is a ring of honor guy?The answer to that is, yes,
kJ Wright. I'm not sure onePro Bowl, one Super Bowl championship,
ten years here, the best tenyear of the Seahawks franchise history, of
course, right next to Bobby Wagner. Somewhat overshadowed by Wagner, of course,
(22:06):
because Wagner's a six time All Proand it is going to be a
Hall of Famer Pro Football Hall ofFamer that will be in the Ring of
Honor. But you could make anargument that Right should be there, and
you could also make an argument thathave in twenty maybe even ten years,
when you look up at the Ringof Honor, the majority of those guys
should be from the legion of Boom, Super Bowl back to back Super Bowl
(22:27):
era because that was the best eraof Seahawks football. Ever, I don't
know how big the Seahawks want todo their Ring of Honor, and they've
been conservative in adding people to it. But whether he's a Ring of Honor
guy or not just not diminished tome. The quality of the person of
kJ Right and his impact here inSeattle and how he embraced the city in
(22:49):
the city embraced him. It wasreally cool to talk to him in this
setting with him now being a newhead coach, or excuse me, a
new NFL coach, he teases me. He told us that he didn't think
he'd ever be a coach, andI'd asked him that the day he retired,
and he about laughed at me.No, I'm no way, I'm
(23:10):
not doing that. He'll explain startingat eleven o'clock how he went from no,
I'm never coaching to now being anassistant coach with the San Francisco they
Hated San Francisco forty nine ers.That interview will aer at full right after
headlines at eleven o'clock here on ninetythree point three kjr FM. We'll talk
a little bit about the Seahawks andwhat they have in store for heading into
(23:32):
training camp. We'll review again theMariners. That big weekend series, the
US Open is going on. We'vegot updates coming from there. A lot
to talk about all coming up nextto ninety three point three KJRFM. Welcome
(23:55):
back, Happy Friday to you,great Batal of the News Tribute and Christopher
Kidd with you as we are everyweekday from ten am to noon on ninety
three point three KJRFM, Chris Crawfordis going to join us at eleven forty
five and then from twelve to threewith Jessmonn Mcintyrean Arness is taking the day
off a family day. The USOpen Round two is going on at Pinehurst
(24:15):
Number two in North Carolina. ThomasDietree has a has tied Patrick Camentley for
the lead minus five. De Tree, the German, has a four under
today sixty nine through fifteen holes.Currently, just played his first hole and
parted, so he remains minus five. Bryson Dish and Bow is at minus
four. His day is done.He was a minus one today, a
(24:37):
sixty seven. We'll have an updatefrom Pinehurst from Westwood one at eleven twenty.
That's after we interview kJ Wright willair his full interview. We interviewed
him earlier this morning. He's movinghis family down to San Francisco, where
he is the forty nine ers Qualitycontrolled defensive coach, assistant linebackers coach,
(24:57):
and he'll tell us all about howhe got to there rather than still here
in Seattle, and how much hemissed football and wanted to get back into
it. It will talk to him. That's starting at eleven o'clock or just
after eleven o'clock after brief headlines thisweek if you well, really not just
this week off spring, people haveasked me who stood out to you most
(25:19):
on the field. They weren't inpads, yet still to me, the
best player on the field Devin Witherspoon. He really is an impact player.
On practices. You cannot help butnotice him. He taunts, he struts,
he intercepts passes and points the ballback at the offense. He's the
(25:41):
swag guy. I'm not saying he'sas good as Richard Sherman, but that's
how Sherman got to be, andhis practices here with the Seahawks against Russell
Wilson, well that's what Devin Witherspoonnow does at Seahawk practices. He is
the swag guy. And while everybodyelse on the team is learning the schemes
and defenses and their heads are swimminga little bit on learning the terminology of
(26:02):
new coach Mike McDonald on defense andRyan Grub on offense, Witherspoon is not.
His head doesn't look like it's swimmingin anything but his own excellence.
The fifth pick in last year's draft, played inside at nickel and outside,
started games as a left corner.It appears from first looks at the defense
through OTA's in mini camps that MikeMcDonald's going to play even more nickel.
(26:25):
Seventy nine percent of the time withBaltimore last year when he was the Ravens
defensive coordinator, they were in nickeldefense, and almost all of the eleven
on eleven in OTAs in mini campswas Witherspoon inside at nickel and Trey Brown
as the left corner, and thatappears to be the predominant defensive set they're
going to go with. They obviouslycan't take Witherspoon off the field. He
(26:49):
said he loves the nickel role.I asked Witherspoon about what he likes in
particularly. He says, because he'sinvolved in everything run stopping, scheming and
messing with the linebackers, dropping thecoverage, different receivers motions. He loves
how involved in central he is inthe middle, literally in the middle of
the defense as a nickelback. Healso said he really likes how open the
(27:11):
communication style of new coach Mike McDonaldis. He said he's a brain and
I said he's a little nerdy,and he said, yeah, absolutely,
for sure. He is nerdy,and I think that McDonald may have read
that or heard that by the timehe talked after practice on Wednesday, because
(27:32):
when we asked him about Devin Witherspoon, he kind of chided him. And
I'll read the quote to you thathe said when someone asked about Devin Witherspoon's
energy and the fact that he's struttingand all of that, which, again,
that's Devin Witherspoon, that's his personality, he said. The quote from
(27:52):
McDonald he was asking about Witherspoon's energyon Wednesday was quote I told him today
I couldn't believe he was the smartestfootball player of all time. And it's
only his second year in the NFL. He's got an answer for everything.
And he said, no, hey, be yourself. That's who he is.
We love him. He's a greatplayer already in this league. We're
really excited about him. Again,all those guys are great man. Energy
(28:15):
is right where we want it.And he was asked if his defense in
particular needs guys like that, andhe said McDonald's quote, absolutely, Yeah.
We talked about it the other day. As a team, we got
to be a player led team.Championship teams. Coaches can only take the
guys so far doesn't matter. Youcan lead from whatever role your role is.
(28:37):
Devin has a unique role that's specificto him, which were like U
Chenna's role Chenna WILLSU would be alittle different than his role, more vocal
with the guys. We want tostart in the roles you're in. Let's
rock and roll. Yeah, theenergy is pretty great and for a guy
who's been was described by Withersman asbeing in a brain and nerdy. Mc
(29:00):
donald was asked how does Witherspoon stackup football IQ wise, and McDonald said,
quote, it's high for a secondyear guy to be able to take
something from the meeting registered quickly.The questions he asked are really spot on,
like no BS type questions. Heunderstands a concept, he understands.
You can tell he's visualizing himself goingthrough all the rules rules of the defense.
That is, when he's clear,it's good. When it's not,
(29:23):
he nails it. He takes itright to the fit. Yeah, it's
it. His football IQ is prettyhigh. So it's obvious that they are
going to feature Devin Witherspoon and whenthey move him around the defense, it
could be as a nickel, itcould be playing back, playing up toward
the line of scrimmage, disguising wherehe's coveraging. It doesn't look like so
(29:45):
far in early indications that it's goingto be much as an outside left corner,
where the Seahawks had him splitting timelast year. So that could be
the difference this year is that heis almost predominantly inside at nickel because that's
predominantly the defense that Mike McDonald hasplayed in Baltimore, and again it worked
Baltimore last year, the first NFLdefense to ever lead the league in fewest
(30:06):
points allowed, sacks, and turnoverscreated in a single season. And that's
why he's the head coach right nowat age thirty six, youngest in the
NFL, instead of Pete Carroll comingup next. We've teased it long enough.
We're going to just play the kJWright interview in its entirety. You
don't want to miss it. Itwas really cool. It's great to hear
from kJ Wright. He's on yourair next in your ears on ninety three
(30:30):
point three KJRFM.
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