7-9 H2: Daniel Kramer Joins, Reading Your Texts & Cross Talk

Daniel Kramer, covers the Mariners for MLB.com, is back for his weekly visit to talk about all things Mariners as we head toward the All-Star break. We read listeners messages regarding the Mariners, and much more. To close the show, Ian Furness joins in, and shares what he has planned for his show. 

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome back Greg Belin the News Tribuneand Christopher Kidd for the second hour on
ninety three point three kJ r FM. Coming up Daniel Kramer MLB dot com
Mariners beat writer from San Diego totalk about the MS Podres series that begins
tonight. That'll be on the BeaconPlumbing Hotline after headlines brought to you by
Venue Kings dot com. Those Marinershad those six games between today and the

(00:27):
All Star Break to keep their leadover Houston top the American League West.
Tonight, they'd begin a two gameseries at the Podres. Mariners the lost
six consecutive series, Seattle's lone AllStar The logan Gilbert gets to start tonight
six forty first pitch on Roots SportsSeattle is two in San Diego, four
games over five hundred. The Podresare and holding a wildcard spart in NASH
League. Then the Mariners play fourat the Last Place Angels before the All

(00:50):
Star Break begins on Monday. Theybegin play tonight, two games ahead of
the trash Cans in the American LeagueWest. The Sounders play tonight at Sacramento
FC in the US in the quarterfinalsof the US Open Cup. Seven thirty
pre game eight pm start on nineto fifty. K am Our sister station
Seattle's won the US Cup four times. The semifinals of the European Championships for

(01:12):
Soccers today at noon, Spain againstFrance in Germany. The semifinals of Copa
America begin tonight Leonel Messi and Argentinaagainst Canada in the New Jersey Meadowlands the
Storm. We're going to have ZieMegaborg, Sammy Whitcomb and legend Lauren Jackson
representing them on the Australians women's nationalteam at the Paris Olympics. The Olympics

(01:33):
begin at the end of this month. And Bernie Cossar, the former Cleveland
Browns quarterback that's still the love toNortheast Ohio and beyond. At age six,
he tells Cleveland Magazine he's suffering fromliver failure and Parkinson's disease. All
the best to him and his familyin that battle. Before we get to
Daniel Kramer in San Diego, yourchance again to win one thousand dollars is

(01:53):
right now in ninety three point threeKJRFN because we're bringing you the Grand Slam
Cash Giveaway presented by Sharp Vision Modeland Lasik. The nation wide keyword to
enter this hour is money mon Ey. Enter that money at nine three three
KGr dot com for your chance towin one thousand dollars. And now our

(02:13):
man Daniel Kramer, who joined usfrom San Diego. He's probably on Ocean
Beach or Pacific Beach, probably maybejust getting off a board. I don't
know what are you doing San Diego, Daniel. You're a surfer. I'm
a big bike rider. When Icome down here, there's a little bike
shop over in Ocean Beach that youcan rent for pretty much an entire day.

(02:38):
It's not very expensive, and it'sjust like an easy drop drop off,
even after hours you can drop itoff. And so I just love
getting a bike and going all theway to the Sunset Cliffs and taking it
all the way up to Pacific Beachtoo, and grabbing some tacos and maybe
maybe a pit stop or some beachvolleyball or something. Bike bulb dropping on

(03:00):
beach. You scool him a littlebit. I'm not very good. I
came back to a buddy a coupleof years ago and he was like,
really really into it. So Idabbled a little bit. So I gotta
get my game up a little bitmore if I'm going to be hanging with
some of these pros out here andPacific games. You you just play for
the scenery on beach volleyball. I'msure, right, Daniel, Uh yeah,

(03:23):
it's just great. It's a greatvibe. Yeah, League, I
was gonna say, there are someThere are some worse professional sports road trips
than the San Diego I'm still missingthe Chargers being the other Okay, Daniel.
Six games between now and the AllStar break and very broad based terms,

(03:44):
besides hit the ball, what dothe Mariners have to do to keep
the American League West leader? Really? Just have themselves feeling better going into
the All Star break. I think, just finishing on a strong note.
I know that they haven't played verywell on the road at all this season,
but you have an opportunity against thePadrias team who is playing a lot
better. I think they've won twelveof their past seventeen coming into this one.

(04:09):
They are currently occupying a playoff spot. You've got two games here.
For the most part, You've playedwell in this ballpark through the years.
You know that team well because youshare a spring training facility with them,
and then you go up to Anaheimwhere you face a team that you've kind
of owned for you know, thebetter part of the past two or three

(04:29):
years, and so you got fourgames there as well. So it's it's
I mean, it's a lot easiersaid than done, but just finishing on
some semblance of a high note,to have some momentum going into the break
and also proven to yourself that youcan win away from home, because even
that hasn't really been a guarantee afterwhat was a disappointing nine game stretch there

(04:49):
at T Mobile Park. So yeah, I think it's in most simplistic terms,
it's just find a way to,you know, get through this six
game stretch with or maybe five winsif you can, especially against a realing
Angels team when you do get upthere to Anaheim and try to carry some
momentum going into the break. Whatcan you tell us about Hulio Rodriguez and

(05:13):
his health status. Well, Idon't know a ton because he didn't really
want to talk about it the dayhad happened or the next morning, So
all that we got from him wasin passing in two different exchanges that he
said I feel okay, and thenthe other one was that I should be
okay. So you saw him comeoff the bench and pinch hit. I

(05:35):
think that's an encouraging sign to notbe completely concerned about the long term status
of what he's dealing with. Butimmediately after he was pinched run four.
So I think that also kind ofshows you, you know, that they're
going to be cautious about his actualrunning and testing the quad in that regard.

(05:58):
You know, Scott's servis when wetalked to he said that Julio just
you know, it kind of tightenedup on him when he was doing some
running drills leading into Saturday's game.You know, he's a competitor. He
wants to stay in there. Hewants to give it a go. So
he does go out to center fieldand he starts the game out there,
but he just wasn't feeling right,so he came out and that's that's kind

(06:19):
of all the details we have.I don't know if it's something that's been
lingering. I don't know if it'syou know, really just something that happened
in that one instant, maybe becausehe didn't really want to talk about it.
So that's kind of where it standswith him. I would anticipate,
based on you know, what they'vebeen telling us and kind of the mood

(06:39):
of the situation, that he willprobably be back in the lineup, if
not tonight tomorrow and they'll go fromthere. So that's kind of where things
stand with Julio staying on the injuryfront. How soon after the All Star
break could the Manners get Brian willback? I mean, if possible he makes
this his start when when his rotationin turn comes up this weekend in Anaheim,

(07:01):
they haven't ruled that out. Hethrew forty five pitches and his first
rehab outing for High A Everett overthe weekend, and you know, had
I think it was just the onlyruns he gave up and the only hit
was a two run homer. Sohe's, you know, continuing to mix
in the secondary pitches. The bigthing with him though, is like,

(07:24):
and Scott said this pretty bluntly,like, it doesn't make sense for the
Mariners to activate him unless he canpitch four and five innings in a major
League Baseball game, because otherwise,you know, you're you're just going to
be putting a burden on the bullpenat that point, So he's got to
be able to give them length inthe form of what they'd like to see

(07:45):
is at least seventy some odd pitches, and if he feels that he can
do that, maybe they activate himthis weekend in Anaheim, and if not,
he would probably necessitate another rehab outing, at which point then yeah,
he's probably not going to return untilafter the breaks. But the fact that
they auctioned Emerson Hancock yesterday down atTacomo, who's been his you know,

(08:07):
primary filling the entire time that he'sbeen sidelined with his various issues, you
know, kind of maybe shows thatthey are leaning in that direction of wu
making that start before before the AllStar break, just because now that Hancock's
down, can't bring him back upfor the ED. Like, I can't
remember the exact amount of days,but it's it's a few, and so

(08:30):
that could kind of be a hint, as you know, how they're mapping
out their rotation over this final roadtrip that used to be ten days,
but that was twenty years ago whenI was a Baseball beat writer. Many
rules have changed since then. That'sthe voice of Daniel Kramer, MLB dot
Com beat writer for the Mariners talkingto us from San Diego, where the
MS played The Potter's tonight to begina two game series in a six day
road trip. Gregory Santos off thesixty day injured list yesterday onto the active

(08:56):
roster. What slot does he gointo the bullpen you think starting tonight?
Yeah, I'm really really curious.Among a lot of negatives that have been
going on with this team, thiscould be potentially a big positive, especially
just the reports that you know,the Mariners were giving us based on what
he was throwing and in the rehaboutings between Tacoma and Everett, and then

(09:20):
you know the live vps that wewatched with our own eyes in both Miami
and back up in Seattle. It'syou know, high nineties power arm that
can miss BA and that's something thateven though that they've you know, had
an above average bullpen this year,Munios has kind of been the only guy
that has consistently been able to embodythat those types of characteristics. So I

(09:45):
think Santos bringing that kind of abilityinto late leverage moments. I don't I
wouldn't anticipate that they're going to justeat him in to try to to try
to help him, you know,kind of get his feet under him.
You know, he's they've been slowplaying this recovery, you know, really

(10:05):
over the past four four and ahalf months at this point, and you
know, if he's got really goodbullets to use, and you know,
I would imagine that they're going togo out and fire him, especially if
you know, late innings moments callfor it against guys like Tatis Machado.
I mean, they've got some boppersin that lineup over there. So the
only limitations that I would think thathe has over the first you know week

(10:28):
that he's back, which is basicallyjust this final road trip before the break,
is I don't think you'll see himgoing back to back days or multiple
innings. That is one thing thatthey've kind of been pretty clear about in
terms of monitoring his workload. ButI think you know, management have waited
with you know, for an extendedperiod to see what this guy can bring.

(10:50):
And you know, now that he'sfinally here, and you know,
based on everything we've heard, seemsas advertised, it should be should be
fun to watch them get out there. Daniel, you talked about what the
Mariners can do to basically keep thislead going into All Star Break. The
big question is do you see themkeeping this lead when they returned from All

(11:13):
Star to take on the Astros.Was that Friday, July nineteenth, Do
you see them still having that lead? I would think so. It's a
two game lead, and you know, the Astros they've played the Marlins and
the Rangers at home to lead intothe break, so that's you know,

(11:35):
it's not a it's not exactly avery difficult stretch for them. You know.
I shouldn't say that about Texas.Those teams always play each other very
tight. But you know, theMarlins have you know, been one of
the worst teams in the National League, So they certainly could gain gain those
two games over the next week andthen set up for you know, even
if they don't pass them, likeI would anticipate that series coming out of

(11:58):
the break in Seattle. Between theseteams, it's going to have first place
on the line. Clearly. Idon't really see the Mariners like gaining much
more ground over the next six games, but you know, two games as
well, with the Astros trailing behindthere, it'll be close going into the

(12:20):
break for sure, And I thinkjust looking at that big series coming out
at te Mobile Park, especially tostart the second half. Crowds are going
to be there and everything. It'sgoing to be one of the more anticipated
in bigger series at home that we'veseen so far this season. That's the
voice of Daniel Kramer, Maren's beatwriterMLB dot Com, talking to us from

(12:41):
San Diego and the Beacon Plumbing Hotlinewhere the Mariners are playing the Podres tonight
in the first of two games thatgo park. Daniel, what's the vibe
in the clubhouse after six straight seriesloss, ten game lead down to two
and you've told us how sometimes it'sjust crickets in there. It's hard to
find guys after games, and I'vebeen there. I know how that goes.
But when you do talk to guysthere even before games, what vibe?

(13:05):
What do you sense about the teamnow in the middle of a two
and a half week brutal stretch.Yeah, well, it's completely different pre
game versus post, especially its postis you know, after a tough loss,
I will give them credit when theydo show up to the park every

(13:26):
day to get ready to go,Like I get the sense that the page
has been turned and that morale isin a bad place, just you know,
monitoring the way that they kind ofcarry themselves, the way that they're
interacting with each other. You know, you look up on the video board,
you see all the team meetings andeverything, and I do think it

(13:46):
is a tight knit group. Idon't. I don't think that. You
know, they're just saying that,you know, just for the sake of
it. But you know that saidafter after some of these losses. Yeah,
it's it's it's been tough. Yousee. You see guys sitting at
their lockers, you know, infull uniform on some occasions, just kind

(14:07):
of like breaking down. You knowwhat happened individually. You can just see
it in their eyes, you know, how they're sitting there and reflecting on
it. And I you know,we've talked about this here on the show.
It's just you know, some ofthose conversations are aren't exactly easy to
have as they're they're in these toughstretches. And you know, when we

(14:31):
talked with cal Rawley postgame the otherday, you know, the first thing
he said was, you know,there's nothing left to say, like we
have to we have to be better. It's basically kind of a paraphrase of
it, and it's it is hardbecause you know, some of these these
questions that we've had all season aboutthey're struggling often you know, they still

(14:54):
remain and there's still some of thesame questions that we've you know, continue
to have to ask and find differentwa I used to ask it, but
you know that's those those issues continueto persist, and so I don't know
if there's going to be changes comingsoon. I would anticipate it, given
that, you know, we arethree weeks out of the trade deadline,

(15:16):
and you know, you look atsecond base and what Jorne Polanco has given
you since he's coming back. Ijust I would have a hard time envisioning
how, you know, Scott continuingto run him out there every night.
You know, they did sit himfor three straight days to try to help
him work through some adjustments before hestarted on Sunday then went oh for four

(15:39):
with two strikeouts and you know,was one of the one of the outs
with the bases loaded there late inthe game. I you know, I
don't know if a breaking point ishas manifested or where they're you know,
that part of it is also likewho they go with, do they go
with a rookie and Ryan Bliss,who's you know himself had some strikeouts challenges

(16:00):
and you know, other than acouple of big games in Miami, is
you know I think in a onefor twenty five stretch over the past two
or three weeks, Dylan Moore iscooled significantly. I think his OPS over
the past month plus is three hundredpoints lower than when he was on that
really toward streak in New York inlate May. So it's not great where

(16:21):
things stand at second base. Andbut I would imagine, like I just
can't really see them continuing to rollout Polanco unless he really finds something here
and can you know, finish thefirst half strong? And and I don't
really know what that looks like ifyou know he's not starting games. Could
they possibly Daniel trade him and agreeto give up and pay some of his

(16:45):
remaining stalary ten point five minute prorated portion of that? Could he they
package him potentially with prospects to geta bat to audition by subtraction in the
truest sense, or is he atone eighty nine now or whatever he is
won ninety two it's so damaged thatthey couldn't even package him in a deal
if they wanted to. Yeah,that's that is a good point, Greg,

(17:08):
if they were to find a partnerthat could maybe buy into the fact
that, hey, this has beena really tough transition. You know,
another central league hitter going to Seattlethat plays the middle infield and couldn't really
find its footing. I mean we'veseen that a lot. And you know,
so if they could find some sortof trade partner that still thinks that

(17:32):
there's something there in the tank,because I don't think his career's over after
you know what I mean, Like, you know, I still see he's
going to play in the majors nextseason. I don't know if it's going
to be on the team option thetwelve million that he's earning, or if
he signed some sort of lower leveldeal. But I you know, you
look at what Colton Wong did afterhe left too. He had some success

(17:56):
with the Dodgers. I think hewas even on their playoff roster. So
and then Adam Frazier obviously went toBaltimore and found a power stroke after he
left. So I think, youknow, that is a good point.
If they were to do it,then yes, they would be eating a
ton of money too, though,you know, just because it is a

(18:17):
lot and he is he has struggled. But if they were to find a
way to do that and then youknow, you get something back for what's
been a struggling player. Yeah,I wouldn't think that that's completely out of
the realm of possibility. Daniel.I'll let you get back on a bike
and head out to Pacific Beach.PB is pretty good this time of year.
I appreciate your time and enjoy thisroad trip, and then hopefully we

(18:40):
can give you a few days offeredAll Start break and how valuable those can
be for a baseball writer. Thanks. Thanks, right, So we'll be
working the We'll be working the draftnext week. Oh that's right. The
baseball did that to you. They'reverally kind of you. No breaks in
this job. Yeah, thanks Joeys, talk to you next week. Thank

(19:00):
you. Daniel Kramer from San Diego, the Mariners beat right for MLB dot
Com. That's just mean for baseballto put the draft over the All Star
break. No breaks that. WhenI was at the News Tribune and the
A's were rolling as A's beat writer, they used to ask me, we
want to go to the All StarGame. No, I don't care where

(19:21):
it is. I don't if itwas in the Bahamas, if it was
in Tahiti, I wouldn't have wantedto cover the All Star Game. No,
give me four days off please.Yeah, that's too bad that there.
Daniel Kamer will be doing the draft, so we will talk to him
next week. But the highlights somebodyjust talked about before we get the text
to the next segment of four fiveone, or your reaction to what Daniel
Kramer just said on four nine fourfive one, to tell them we're doue

(19:44):
text sign this game time. It'sTully time. He says, I just
can't really see them continuing to rollout Placo. That was really interesting.
He thinks they've reached the breaking pointwith him. Didn't you not to ask
him? No, he volunteered thatthat's true. I was gonna ask,
yeah, that's true. Is thisit? He entertained the possibility of the
Mariners eating most of his ten pointwell pro rated now ten point five million
dollar contract for the rest of theyear in a trade with a team,

(20:07):
and he cited two very good examplesin Frasier. And there have been many
for examples of mariners hitters that havesunk in Seattle that go somewhere else and
thrive. You can throw taoscar Hernandezinto that. There's some leadoff hitter for
the Island of Braves. It's doingpretty well right now. Yeah, so

(20:30):
perhaps that is the solution to theJorge Polanco quagmire. They're going to have
to eat salary either way. Ifthey bench him, they're putting ten point
five million on the bench. Ifthey trade him, the only way they're
going to get a partner to tradewith them is if they get it,
if they take on a lot oftheir salary instead of just dumping it on
another team. No team's going totake a pro rated ten point five million

(20:51):
for a one ninety hitter. Comingup next your reaction to that four nine
four to five one the telling Abodetext line. We will read back your
text next on ninety three point threeKJR Welcome back, Greg Bella, the
news told being a Christopher Kidd withyou, ninety three point three KJRFM.
The music means either Boogie Knights isabout to start on the radio or it's

(21:14):
time to go to the telemore dotext line four nine four or five to
one. When it's game time,it's Tully time. This time it is
again the latter man. As soonas we throw. As soon as Daniel
Kramer mentioned possibly trading Polanco or thatthe Mariners at the end of the rope
with him, the text line litup. I'm not surprised. We've had
multiple discussions about Polanco and what theyshould do, and I am on board

(21:36):
of putting them on the bench.I get it. Take that l now
and don't take it after the playoffsand you miss it. Make a move,
be better, and hopefully you canmake a playoff run. So back
to your point to regard the text, let's get to it. Starting off
with the from the four, twofive, someone says, get Polanco six
more games until the break to seeif anything is there. If not,
bye bye. Two great hitters needhitters around them. Get a bat that'll

(22:00):
basically actually help with Julio and maybehe'll flourish. And then three canzone looks
like dirt Diggler. Oh, Ididn't think of that, Joel. I
didn't need it, Joel. Nowthat's now I gotta ken wish he looked
like from the two six. Ifthe Mariners go four for six and get
a few pieces before the deadline.It'll give me lots of hope for this

(22:22):
team. The vibes have not beengood, but it seems that they were
better without Polanco. Go Mariners,Okay, I like that idea. Four
to six, get some pieces.All is right with the Mariners? Two
five, three. You mentioned Wongand Fraser when they left, they started
hitting. It's not the Mariners,it's their coaching staff. That's the big
problem is the coaching staff. Somethinghas to change. Jared de Hart needs

(22:47):
to be fired. He had zeroexperience as a hitter. Jeff from the
three to six over and the textline brought this up too. We asked
if we heard the SUSA on themorning show. Yes, Steven Susa talking
to Chuck and Buck this morning.I did. It was pretty startling for
him to say that when he came. SUSA came here to be on the
staff from the Dodgers, come tothe Mariners. From the Dodgers, excuse

(23:11):
me that they did not want Susanto say anything to the Mariners about what
the Dodgers approaches to hitting were.No, we do it our way in
Seattle. The Dodgers. If youcheck baseball history. They've done pretty well
over the last oh century. Maybewhen they teach Dodger hitting, the people

(23:32):
should listen. Susan comes here andsays, well, here's how we do
it, the Dodgers, and here'sthe approaches. Uh uh, we do
it the Mariner's way. We situnder a marine layer, we cry about
it. Flyballs go to die.We all try to worry about exit velocity
and velo's and launch angles and strikeout thirty two percent of the time.
It's great here, don't listen towhat anybody else does. Sounds like a

(23:52):
little bit of ego from our friend. In the five six two you mentioned
a player that I went to LakesWhat was his name again, Greg Teddy
ball game playing for the Seahawks NCgotel Lakes High School, West Florida.
Well, he was also part ofthat Lakes Lansers class of nineteen seventy seven.
That's our guy, Teddy Teddy ballgame. Nice. Let's see he

(24:15):
walked onto the Arkansas Razorbacks team coachedby Lou Holtz. Oh, how did
I know that? Then? InTexas? Lou Holtz is from thirty minutes
away from where I grew up.He's from East Liverpool, Ohio. So
we followed his career where back whereI'm from, And I remember the nineteen
seventy seven Arkansas Razorbacks in the SouthwestConference run in the Verer triple option playing

(24:36):
Texas. That was a couple ofyears after Texas and Arkansas played a national
championship game that Richard Nixon as presidentattended and after the game crowned Texas the
national champions for winning that game.In the locker room, So the way
they used to do it back thenfrom the four two five, Greg earlier
went down and talked about the positionsdefensively, who's going to start? Seahawks

(24:57):
are in trouble at middle linebacker.None those guys mentioned should be starters on
a good team. They're all backups. Greg, Is that a fair assessment?
Do you think the Seahawks are reachingat linebacker or yes? I do?
Okay. Terrell Dotson was a parttime player in Buffalo who was barely
fifty percent of time on the fieldlast year. Has not been a full

(25:17):
time starter, has not been aproven guy in the Green Dot calling the
defense. Jerome Baker, coming offa wrist injury, another somewhat part time
player, not the majority or aroundfifty percent of snaps a lot of his
years in Miami. That to meis why they gave him one year deals.
I don't think they even won yeardeals expecting them to only last one
year. I think they gave himone year deals to prove it and give

(25:40):
him this chance to start. Butthere's no doubt that there's a huge risk
to go from Bobby Wagner and JordanBrooks to Terrell Dotson and Jerome Baker,
especially when neither of them were onthe field all offseason from the two six.
If McDonald's sees immediate success on bothsides of the ball, offense and
defense, obviously, will that bean indictment of Carol and Shane Watden's of
pope and tactics offensively, Yes,wouldn't you think. I mean, that's

(26:04):
one of the reasons they hired MikeMcDonald to change the results, and if
they Ryan Grubb too, I guessmay hire Ryan Grubb to absolutely change the
results on it. One of thereasons they've hired Ryan Grubb is to maximize
this DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett,Jackson Smith and jig but Gino Smith window.

(26:26):
That window is about to slam shut. Yeah, I think it would
be. I mean they're hoping it'san indictment or else this is going to
be eight to nine or nine andeight, and they either sneak into the
playoffs or don't make it. Sneakinto the playoffs one round, maybe win
one round, second round, goto San Francisco, Green Bay, Philadelphia,
get boat raced in there. Waythey'd have been the last decade.
So yeah, absolutely, wouldn't youwhen you think that would be an indictment

(26:51):
A welcome indictment, right, yeh, it'd be tough. I can't see
a way that it's not right.You bring in someone else first, your
head coach first. Sure, offit's a coordinator and they're lighting it up
and they're ten and seven. Yeah, that's that's a that's a tough one
for a thing. Ten and sevenwon't even get him out of the division.
Probably probably not, that's the thing. So now you're right back where
you were the last decade. Yougot one more win. Yeah, what

(27:14):
good would that do? But shetook the over in Las Vegas. That's
the only thing that's good for No, I hear you from the two o
six All Caps Polanco is done.Period. More Bliss. Please, we
went almost the entire show. Appreciatethat. What is that ninety nine minutes
into the show we got a moreRyan Bliss. Please appreciate that. I
get it. Daniel camer brought uplast segment that Bliss has looked overmatched.

(27:37):
One of his last twenty five plateappearances, the high fastball eats him up.
But my point is, even ifhe runs into one or gets hit
by a pitcher walks. I rememberhe had like seven walks in his first
twelve plate appearances. After he gotcaught up, then you got some,
you're in business. Polanco's Sadn't heeven be the only thing Polanco's done to

(27:57):
get on base, it seems thelast month is get hit by a pitch
every once in a while, Butthen he's just another static player on the
basis. Get put Ryan Bliss onfirst, he's on third and three pitches.
I keep saying this, but Iremember that Saturday afternoon game against the
Angels. I went to and Blisstook a walk, got picked off first

(28:18):
and was fast enough to beat thethroat a second the first baseman started to
second base. The next pitch hestole third or next couple pitches. In
four pitches, he went from awalk to first base to third base,
scored on a fly ball. He'sthe only kind of team that can do
that. Raley can run, butdoesn't ever do that. That's why I
say more Ryan Blisz, not becauseof his batting average, because of the

(28:38):
chances when he gets on base,of what he could possibly do. Grey,
you asked an interesting question earlier onthe show, and that was reguard
to do you care about the storiesof some of these athletes, Like you
mentioned, you are writing stories becauseyou want to hear more about the players.
You're on that side of the people. Yeah, and two six s

(29:00):
Marcus couldn't care less nothing against themthat I watch and listen to sports for
sports. Okay, yeah, Iget it. You did say that you
won't be surprised that someone does isfeeling that type way, and you have
no problem with it. Man itYeah, but I'm still going to continue
to Wrett. That's not stopping Gregby it. My point is, you
know what they did on the field, you watched it. My job is

(29:22):
to give you beyond the field Ithink have you Otherwise I can stay home
and do it from blogging from mymom's basement. I mean the fact that
I have an accent I've gotten ona plane, I go to a city,
I cover a locker room after agame. I need to bring you
what the locker room smelled, sounded, felt like, and many of that
is what the players said. Andthen if you do anyway, I'm not
gonna get a soapbox about why Ido what I do. But more and

(29:48):
more with smartphones and watching games ontablets and devices, everyone sees what they
did on the field, but notcontinue to report that too. Just whenever
I have the opportunity, I'm goingto try to maximize the chance to talk
about the players as people. Wealready said six more Polanco was done.
Oh you already said that. Yeah, And there's a lot of service as

(30:10):
milk toast soft manager needs to goimmediately get him out. That's what it
sounds like. Would they fire afirst place team firing a manager? That's
crazy. If anything, it'd beafter the season. I would again I
would think, so I don't andyou know what else about the Mariners.
It would take Stanton, much likeit took Jody Allen and Bert Cole to
fire Pete Carroll Jerry to POTO.I don't see him firing Scott's Service.

(30:33):
They've been lockstep for nine years,like Snyder Carroll. It wasn't Snyder that
fired Pete Carroll, it was JodyAllen and Burke Cole. It would take
John Stanton to fire Scott's Service andkeep the POTO, which is why I
think if Santon would make a change, he would jettison them both to POTO
and Service at the same time.But again, why would you do that.

(30:56):
You're still making revenue. Hand overfizzed. You're in first place,
even if the rest natives are restless. You're still making money on fireworks and
bibbleheads. What needs to change?You're winning. You're winning fifty four percent
of the time. Everything's good man, We're doing the fans a favor.
The Mayor of Maple Valley Ian Forness, He joins us. Next the ninety
three point three kJ RFM, Welcomeback ninety three point three kJ r f

(31:27):
M. The friends like music meansthat our friend Ian Forness, the Great
Mayor Maple Valley joins us, gentlemen, how we doing Whitworth Pirates Football joins
us, Yeah, we've got tofly the Colors Northwest Conference champs. Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah. So we werejust talking off the air and said
that we should probably bring this upon the air. We talked about the

(31:48):
Seahawks, who I thought their elevenstarters are on defense, and we talked
about Julian Love. Is about timeto give him a new deal if you
are like you have been in thepast, and give him what guys you
count on deals entering the fine you'rethe contracts right playing out. Who are
the guys on defense now that BobbyWagner's gone? You know, I think
it's an interesting conversation because the wholetenor and personality of the team has undergone,

(32:13):
at least on that side of thefootball, a dramatic change. No
Jordan Brooks, no Bobby Wagner,you know, no Quandre Diggs and no
Jamal Adams. And I think theDigs. It's so funny because I thought
the world of Quandre Diggs. Ididn't think the world of Quandre Digs when
Jamal Adams was here, if thatmakes sense. But I do think that

(32:34):
Julian Love has I mean, hewas a team captain with the Giants.
I think, you know, forpeople that don't remember that he was a
team captain for the Giants and thenhe comes here and he's kind of a
bit player. Hell, he hada two or three games stretched Greg where
he was in the twenty to thirtypercent snap count range for on defense.
Due still makes a Pro Bowl.I think he made a mistake in the
last game of the year. However, whatever went down with cigar Gate,

(32:58):
I think it was a mistake.I think it was a bad error in
judgment that also fed into a lockerroom that was divided and screwed up and
it was dysfunctional. It led topart one of the reasons Pete Carroll got
let go. But I think atthe heart of the matter, Julian loves
a guy that you kind of wantto have as one of your leaders on
your football team. And I think, yeah, I think getting him signed

(33:20):
would be good. I think he'sone. I think shennan Uosu, it's
not just that he got hurt.I think they lost a lot more than
just the football player when he wasout for most of the season. I
think those are two guys that canbe kind of the dudes. Now.
Jaren Reid is in a different waylike he's just such a junkyard dog.
You know, he leads in adifferent way. A lot of guys have

(33:43):
talked about him, Morris and others, But yeah, I think those are
kind of the dudes. There mightbe another two or a couple guys too.
Some would say Draymond Jones because ofhis contract, but I don't all.
I never saw that even last year. It's not who he is.
It doesn't seem like he is.No, that is not that time.
Maybe if he's putting a position tobe a better football player, because I
don't think he's put in that positionlast year. Maybe you know Leonard Williams,

(34:07):
maybe none of the linebackers got there. I mean a guy that's going
to lead by how he plays becausehe never shuts up his witherspoon. You
know, La fitness, try hardguy that has all pro you know talent.
I love the La Fitness try hardthat's great. That's what you know.
That guy never shuts up right,just talk talk talk talk Doc.

(34:30):
The difference is he's La fitness youknow, pick up basketball guy, try
hard guy that is an all pro. You're right, he's our best player.
I think he's the best player.He's their best player. He's our
best player. He's he's a lotof been to an LA Fitness with a
player that good. No No,I brought that up to Jake Bobo.
He's like LA Fitness, try hardguy with all pro abilities. Like that's

(34:53):
a different that's a different beast,but he has that. You go to
LA Fitness and you play hoops pickup man, and it's just like chirp,
chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, try hard, try hey,
slow down. He kind of remindsme remember when when Cliff and and Michael
got into a big almost like abrawl with Earl Thomas in a walk through.
It's like, dude, like Clifftells us story Gray, It's like,

(35:13):
dude, it's a walk through.Relax, Like slow your ass down,
right, sunflower seeds exactly. Yeah, We're got a coffee cup and
sunflower seeds, and twenty nine's outthere taking dude's heads off. It's like,
hey, man, I mean,walk throughs aren't walking. We all
know that, but it ain't onehundred percent full speed, try hard guy,

(35:35):
And that's Witherspoon. So I like, I like the personality of their
defense a lot better than I didlast year, so I think it'll give
me a good shape. What doyou get today, Joe Shean's going to
join us weekly visit one o'clock today. Well, we'll jump in a little
bit into the Stevens, SUSA,Chuck and Buck in conversation this morning.
I'll let the pros talk about it. I didn't hear it. Andrews was
part of the show. He toldme, you got we got to replay
a chunk of that. We're gonnado that coming up at twelve twenty.

(35:58):
I guess it's must listen to radiosfor that. I am going to touch
in on something a little bit different. I'm not a big Mount Rushmore radio
talk show host guy. That's that'slike, that's a lazy topic. A
lot of times, especially we doit a lot across the street somewhere else.
I don't know, I'm unnamed stations, but but I saw a stumbled
across a thing today. I've beenreally into college listening to like a lot

(36:21):
of stuff with college football getting readyfor the season without all re alignment,
and I saw a thing today aboutblue bloods in college football and who they
are. And we're going to touchin on that. A little bit,
because I think it's an interesting dynamicbecause we move to this new world of
re alignment, because there's some thatare blue bloods or some that aren't.
There's some that think they are.That we'll kind of touch on who the
who the real power brokers are incollege football about one thirty today. I
would guess most of her in theSEC and the Big Ten, most not

(36:46):
all. Which is interesting is we'llget to that. We'll get to that.
That's the infanatus every day twelve tothree, including this day right here,
right now. Anders Hurst will bejoining him as well, Greg Bello,
the Newster Being, and Christopher Kidd. Thanking you for again listening to
us from tenan noon. We'll doit again tomorrow after the Mariners. We'll
see what they do with their roadtrip opener in San Diego Tonight. We'll

(37:07):
lead off with the Mariners, mostlikely tomorrow in ninety three point three KJRFM