June 27, 2024 • 11 mins
Mariners broadcaster, Gary Hill Jr. joins the show to discuss how confident he is in the Mariners as they have a nice homestand ahead, how suprised he has been with the Mariners so far this season, concerns regarding Bryan Woo, and much more.
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(00:00):
Which Mariner's dunk in the basketball?Hey, friends, you tell me four,
nine, four or five one.I know a guy who may have
an answer to this. Right here. That's Gary Hill, Junior, Mariner's
broadcaster, joining us right now onthe Beacon Plumbing hot Line without further ado.
Mariner's salvaging a win against Tampa Bayyesterday that had an adventurous ninth inning,
the road trip bending at three andsix, and now the nine game
(00:21):
homestand waits right around the corner.But Gary, as he joins us right
now, the public demands answers Marinerlikeliest to dunk a basketball Who you got?
Ooh, I like this question.I'm gonna go Luke Rayley. I
loved that too. Or yeah he'ssuper athletic. Yeah, I bet.
I bet he's throwing down a reversedunk too. I bet he can do
(00:42):
some reverse dunk. So to taketo take this further, Gary, of
the entire team, what percentage wouldyou say could dunk a basketball man?
Because I was in a deeper contextnow, I said I sit around seventy
percent and Anderson was like, noway in hell. And I'm like,
(01:03):
really, I think they're all athleticin their own ways, But go ahead,
Gary, I'm definitely not going seventypercent. Okay, there's too many
pictures. See, I think Ithink Gilbert can do it, definitely.
George Kirby clears, I think Sasatocan do it. Based on height,
I think you're right, they dohave the picture staff is full. I
swear everyone is six or four.Yeah, really helped. That's great.
(01:30):
Gary Hill Junior joining us right nowon the Beacon Plumbing hot Line Mariners broadcaster.
Gary, give it to me beforethis year, how surprised would you
have been with forty six and thirtyseven and four and a half up in
the Al West at this point ofthe season. Well, I think you
would have taken it if you wouldhave laid that out as we sit here
on June twenty seventh, and youwould have taken that in a heartbeat.
(01:53):
It's been a wild way to gethere, and when you had a ten
game lead, I know it doesn'tfeel the same as if you just kind
of zip by the Astros or whatever, but yeah, I would have taken
that in a heartbeat as we beardown in the All Star break. So
it's been a wild ride and everythinghas not gone perfectly obviously with the offense
now it's performed and the back endof the bullpen with all the injuries.
(02:15):
But I also think on the flipside, that should give a Marin de
Fence a lot of hope. Likethey are where they are with all of
this not gone to plan, andI still feel like they haven't played their
best baseball of the season yet.Like clearly the offense has not performed well
for the most part this season.I think the offense can get better.
(02:37):
I think the back end of thebullpen can stabilize as well, so I
think they can play better on theroad too. I think there's a lot
of things can get better, whichis great considering where they are. So
we'll see how it plays out.I'm right there with you. How are
you feeling confidence wise in this nexthome stand? They got the Twins,
they got the Orioles, they gotthe Blue Jays, Padres, and then
(02:59):
they get to face the aims onthe road, obviously, but how are
you viewing this Homestand I guess theparties on the road too, so excuse
me, so I guess it's Oreos, Blue Jays and Twins. How are
you feeling going into this home standerthey can. I don't know two out
of three for all these series.Yeah, tend to your point too,
is fifteen of the next twenty oneare at home, and after the Ulstar
(03:21):
break, one of those series includesthe Astros, which is looking bigger and
bigger. And as we know,the Mariners have played great at home.
They're pitching has been historic. They'reholding opponents to the lowest banning average in
history. And I'm not taking marriage'shistory. I'm talking about the last one
hundred years of baseball history. Andsame thing with on base percentage. They're
(03:42):
carrying their lowest teamy alrighty they've everhad at home by a lot. I
mean, it's absurd what they're doingat home. So I think you feel
great when the Mariners are at home. And it's not going to be easy
because Baltimore is really good, althoughthey've struggled the past week or so,
and Minnesota is not a great matchupfor the Amriners with all the lefties.
(04:03):
But I think you feel better aboutthat matchup in T Mobile Park in Toronto's
a team that truly struggled so thatthey're talented. So it's not going to
be an easy home stand by anymeans, but Americas have proven it.
Their last two home stands have wonsix of seven, which is pretty ridiculous.
I think that'd be a high ask, but yeah, I think you'd
love to take every series in thishome stand. And I don't think that's
(04:26):
too big of an ask considering howthey've played at home, and they've done
two things really well this year thathas put them in the position that they're
in, and that's they've dominated athome and they've dominated their division. And
I know they're not facing the divisionhead to head here, but they are
where they are because of those twothings. Well, they are a poster
(04:46):
team right now for home field advantage, and you have to again ask how
much can that help you outcome thepostseason? Because pitching and defense wins over
and over and over, and they'vegot the pitching thing down pat right now.
Scary Hill Junior joining us Scary numbmembers with pitching are vastly different,
however, home versus road, andI'll just kind of use Bryce Miller as
one example, but I think overall, why are we here as far as
(05:09):
a vast difference of home and road, That is a great question. I've
been thinking a lot about this,especially on this last trip, and some
of it is just hard to figureout. And I think I think it
may be a combination of factors,although I'm not one hundred percent because you
pointed out like their era at homeis essentially two and a half and their
(05:30):
era on the road is essentially fourand a half. That's a big difference
for a talented rotation and talented pitchingstaff in general. And then I don't
know, you dig even further thanthat. There's a couple of things that
I just have a tough time figuringout exactly what's going on. Like at
home, they have the best strikeoutrate in baseball, but it's quite a
(05:54):
bit lower on the road. Theyhave the best walk rate at home,
and they don't the best walk righton the road. It's more mid pack.
So there's things like that, Orit's like, why is the strikeout
rate so different between home and road? And one of the biggest reasons is
home runs. They're giving up morehome runs on the road than their home.
(06:15):
Now you piece all of those thingstogether, and Scott Servis mentioned this
when we asked him about it.He feels like they're not getting into consistently
great counts that they are at home. He feels like they're always ahead at
home, essentially. And you lookat the numbers, and not just the
Mariners, but throughout baseball. Whenyou're in an oh one count or you're
(06:35):
in a two count or a oneto two count, the pitchers ahead,
the picture dominates, the numbers bearit out like hitting is brutally hard,
as we know in general, butwhen you fall down and counts it gets
nearly impossible. And he feels likethe Mariners at home are just consistently getting
into better counts. So I thinkthe park is at play a little bit,
(06:57):
not all of it. I thinkprobably the counts are part of it,
and some of it may just bedumb luck along the way too and
matchups and things like that, andmaybe we'll see even out a little bit
more. I mean, in fact, I would expect it to even out
a little bit more because the Gulfis so wide in so many spots.
So I know that's not a greatanswer, but I think it's a nuanced
(07:17):
and complicated question that doesn't have asimple solution to it. Speaking of simple
solutions, they are trying to figurethings out with Brian Wu and it's unfortunate
that he's down again. He's goingto be on the injured list. Are
they doing the right thing with that? Because obviously he could be rusty when
he returns, all these things thatcome into play of not playing baseball for
(07:38):
so long and him being a pitcherat that. How concerned are you about
him moving forward with two different injuries, one being the hamstring and then obviously
the arm injury that plagued him afew weeks ago. Yeah, well,
I'm boy, I'm not glad probablyisn't the right word, but relieved that
it wasn't an arm injury this timearound. And you know, you never
(07:59):
want to see pitcher get injured,but you know, hamstring is kind of
straightforward and what you're dealing with.So what I am not concerned about,
because we've seen it is when BrianWu when he came back after being hurt,
he was great, like legit great, untouchable. So I'm pretty confident
(08:20):
that when he does come back,when his hamstring's better, when he comes
back, that he'll be really goodagain. He's got the disappearing fastball that
no one can see and no onecan touch, and that thing just plays
and so when he comes back,I think he'll be really good. And
I think the Mariners are uniquely equippedto try and deal with a Wu situation
because they they're stable in the fourother spots in the rotation have guys that
(08:45):
are really good. They consistently giveyou any and consistently take the ball.
So if you have one spot whereyou're trying to help Wou get through the
season or deal with some arm injuriesor fatigue or whatever is going on,
that I think they're able to dothat because of what's around him. And
I think it's worth it because whenWu is on the mound, he's great.
(09:07):
So whatever they have to do tokeep him healthy. And if that
skip is starting out again, ifit's il now and again, which has
happened with Wu, you know,that's that's part of it so far with
Brian Wo. But I think it'sworth it when you look at what he's
done. You know, eight startsthis year as era is under two,
and he's given the Marriags a goodchance to win every time out. So
(09:30):
it's not the ideal situation obviously,but I think it's worth the pain to
get him on the mound. Itreally shows that you've got an advantage when
you're not talking about maybe how muchcan you fill your rotation towards trade deadline
time, but maybe the conversation begins, well who starts game one? Who
starts game two? Because we're talkingabout a historically good rotation at this point,
and George Kirby's a part of that. Gary, I mean, I
(09:52):
read that he changed the grip andhis curveball and got immediate results. I
mean at this point, I mean, he's trying to knuck last year.
I mean, how likely are weto see him maybe try a screwball soon?
I mean, it is ridiculous.No one does that. This is
not a thing that pitchers do.Pitchers don't go to the mound and change
(10:13):
a grip right before the game andjust see what happens. But he has
the ability to do it. It'sunbelievable. And it's the thing that we
heard about him from day one thatwhen he got here and he talked to
everyone behind the scenes, and hejust has this ability and feel for pitching
and feel for his stuff to justchange on the fly add pitches in season,
(10:37):
like adding a pitch in season isdifficult enough to do. We're spoiled
because we have seen Mariners do itthe last couple of years. But that's
really hard to make happen. He'sdoing it during games and before games.
This is not a thing. Thisis not a thing guys do a scientists
(10:58):
does it. It's just incredible.Yeah, yeah, it's incredible for sure.
Well Gary, you've been a greatpeaking of information here. Thank you
so much, my man. Enjoythe off day, looking forward here to
the nine game homestand coming up twinsand tomorrow. But have a great show
as well, and we'll get youback on soon. Appreciate you. Yeah,
sounds good. I think I speakfor everyone while saying it is great
(11:18):
to be home. No more airplanes, hotels. You can sleep in your
own bed. Now that's scary,Hill Junior joining us scary. Thank you
so much again
Which Mariner's dunk in the basketball?Hey, friends, you tell me four,
nine, four or five one.I know a guy who may have
an answer to this. Right here. That's Gary Hill, Junior, Mariner's
broadcaster, joining us right now onthe Beacon Plumbing hot Line without further ado.
Mariner's salvaging a win against Tampa Bayyesterday that had an adventurous ninth inning,
the road trip bending at three andsix, and now the nine game
(00:21):
homestand waits right around the corner.But Gary, as he joins us right
now, the public demands answers Marinerlikeliest to dunk a basketball Who you got?
Ooh, I like this question.I'm gonna go Luke Rayley. I
loved that too. Or yeah he'ssuper athletic. Yeah, I bet.
I bet he's throwing down a reversedunk too. I bet he can do
(00:42):
some reverse dunk. So to taketo take this further, Gary, of
the entire team, what percentage wouldyou say could dunk a basketball man?
Because I was in a deeper contextnow, I said I sit around seventy
percent and Anderson was like, noway in hell. And I'm like,
(01:03):
really, I think they're all athleticin their own ways, But go ahead,
Gary, I'm definitely not going seventypercent. Okay, there's too many
pictures. See, I think Ithink Gilbert can do it, definitely.
George Kirby clears, I think Sasatocan do it. Based on height,
I think you're right, they dohave the picture staff is full. I
swear everyone is six or four.Yeah, really helped. That's great.
(01:30):
Gary Hill Junior joining us right nowon the Beacon Plumbing hot Line Mariners broadcaster.
Gary, give it to me beforethis year, how surprised would you
have been with forty six and thirtyseven and four and a half up in
the Al West at this point ofthe season. Well, I think you
would have taken it if you wouldhave laid that out as we sit here
on June twenty seventh, and youwould have taken that in a heartbeat.
(01:53):
It's been a wild way to gethere, and when you had a ten
game lead, I know it doesn'tfeel the same as if you just kind
of zip by the Astros or whatever, but yeah, I would have taken
that in a heartbeat as we beardown in the All Star break. So
it's been a wild ride and everythinghas not gone perfectly obviously with the offense
now it's performed and the back endof the bullpen with all the injuries.
(02:15):
But I also think on the flipside, that should give a Marin de
Fence a lot of hope. Likethey are where they are with all of
this not gone to plan, andI still feel like they haven't played their
best baseball of the season yet.Like clearly the offense has not performed well
for the most part this season.I think the offense can get better.
(02:37):
I think the back end of thebullpen can stabilize as well, so I
think they can play better on theroad too. I think there's a lot
of things can get better, whichis great considering where they are. So
we'll see how it plays out.I'm right there with you. How are
you feeling confidence wise in this nexthome stand? They got the Twins,
they got the Orioles, they gotthe Blue Jays, Padres, and then
(02:59):
they get to face the aims onthe road, obviously, but how are
you viewing this Homestand I guess theparties on the road too, so excuse
me, so I guess it's Oreos, Blue Jays and Twins. How are
you feeling going into this home standerthey can. I don't know two out
of three for all these series.Yeah, tend to your point too,
is fifteen of the next twenty oneare at home, and after the Ulstar
(03:21):
break, one of those series includesthe Astros, which is looking bigger and
bigger. And as we know,the Mariners have played great at home.
They're pitching has been historic. They'reholding opponents to the lowest banning average in
history. And I'm not taking marriage'shistory. I'm talking about the last one
hundred years of baseball history. Andsame thing with on base percentage. They're
(03:42):
carrying their lowest teamy alrighty they've everhad at home by a lot. I
mean, it's absurd what they're doingat home. So I think you feel
great when the Mariners are at home. And it's not going to be easy
because Baltimore is really good, althoughthey've struggled the past week or so,
and Minnesota is not a great matchupfor the Amriners with all the lefties.
(04:03):
But I think you feel better aboutthat matchup in T Mobile Park in Toronto's
a team that truly struggled so thatthey're talented. So it's not going to
be an easy home stand by anymeans, but Americas have proven it.
Their last two home stands have wonsix of seven, which is pretty ridiculous.
I think that'd be a high ask, but yeah, I think you'd
love to take every series in thishome stand. And I don't think that's
(04:26):
too big of an ask considering howthey've played at home, and they've done
two things really well this year thathas put them in the position that they're
in, and that's they've dominated athome and they've dominated their division. And
I know they're not facing the divisionhead to head here, but they are
where they are because of those twothings. Well, they are a poster
(04:46):
team right now for home field advantage, and you have to again ask how
much can that help you outcome thepostseason? Because pitching and defense wins over
and over and over, and they'vegot the pitching thing down pat right now.
Scary Hill Junior joining us Scary numbmembers with pitching are vastly different,
however, home versus road, andI'll just kind of use Bryce Miller as
one example, but I think overall, why are we here as far as
(05:09):
a vast difference of home and road, That is a great question. I've
been thinking a lot about this,especially on this last trip, and some
of it is just hard to figureout. And I think I think it
may be a combination of factors,although I'm not one hundred percent because you
pointed out like their era at homeis essentially two and a half and their
(05:30):
era on the road is essentially fourand a half. That's a big difference
for a talented rotation and talented pitchingstaff in general. And then I don't
know, you dig even further thanthat. There's a couple of things that
I just have a tough time figuringout exactly what's going on. Like at
home, they have the best strikeoutrate in baseball, but it's quite a
(05:54):
bit lower on the road. Theyhave the best walk rate at home,
and they don't the best walk righton the road. It's more mid pack.
So there's things like that, Orit's like, why is the strikeout
rate so different between home and road? And one of the biggest reasons is
home runs. They're giving up morehome runs on the road than their home.
(06:15):
Now you piece all of those thingstogether, and Scott Servis mentioned this
when we asked him about it.He feels like they're not getting into consistently
great counts that they are at home. He feels like they're always ahead at
home, essentially. And you lookat the numbers, and not just the
Mariners, but throughout baseball. Whenyou're in an oh one count or you're
(06:35):
in a two count or a oneto two count, the pitchers ahead,
the picture dominates, the numbers bearit out like hitting is brutally hard,
as we know in general, butwhen you fall down and counts it gets
nearly impossible. And he feels likethe Mariners at home are just consistently getting
into better counts. So I thinkthe park is at play a little bit,
(06:57):
not all of it. I thinkprobably the counts are part of it,
and some of it may just bedumb luck along the way too and
matchups and things like that, andmaybe we'll see even out a little bit
more. I mean, in fact, I would expect it to even out
a little bit more because the Gulfis so wide in so many spots.
So I know that's not a greatanswer, but I think it's a nuanced
(07:17):
and complicated question that doesn't have asimple solution to it. Speaking of simple
solutions, they are trying to figurethings out with Brian Wu and it's unfortunate
that he's down again. He's goingto be on the injured list. Are
they doing the right thing with that? Because obviously he could be rusty when
he returns, all these things thatcome into play of not playing baseball for
(07:38):
so long and him being a pitcherat that. How concerned are you about
him moving forward with two different injuries, one being the hamstring and then obviously
the arm injury that plagued him afew weeks ago. Yeah, well,
I'm boy, I'm not glad probablyisn't the right word, but relieved that
it wasn't an arm injury this timearound. And you know, you never
(07:59):
want to see pitcher get injured,but you know, hamstring is kind of
straightforward and what you're dealing with.So what I am not concerned about,
because we've seen it is when BrianWu when he came back after being hurt,
he was great, like legit great, untouchable. So I'm pretty confident
(08:20):
that when he does come back,when his hamstring's better, when he comes
back, that he'll be really goodagain. He's got the disappearing fastball that
no one can see and no onecan touch, and that thing just plays
and so when he comes back,I think he'll be really good. And
I think the Mariners are uniquely equippedto try and deal with a Wu situation
because they they're stable in the fourother spots in the rotation have guys that
(08:45):
are really good. They consistently giveyou any and consistently take the ball.
So if you have one spot whereyou're trying to help Wou get through the
season or deal with some arm injuriesor fatigue or whatever is going on,
that I think they're able to dothat because of what's around him. And
I think it's worth it because whenWu is on the mound, he's great.
(09:07):
So whatever they have to do tokeep him healthy. And if that
skip is starting out again, ifit's il now and again, which has
happened with Wu, you know,that's that's part of it so far with
Brian Wo. But I think it'sworth it when you look at what he's
done. You know, eight startsthis year as era is under two,
and he's given the Marriags a goodchance to win every time out. So
(09:30):
it's not the ideal situation obviously,but I think it's worth the pain to
get him on the mound. Itreally shows that you've got an advantage when
you're not talking about maybe how muchcan you fill your rotation towards trade deadline
time, but maybe the conversation begins, well who starts game one? Who
starts game two? Because we're talkingabout a historically good rotation at this point,
and George Kirby's a part of that. Gary, I mean, I
(09:52):
read that he changed the grip andhis curveball and got immediate results. I
mean at this point, I mean, he's trying to knuck last year.
I mean, how likely are weto see him maybe try a screwball soon?
I mean, it is ridiculous.No one does that. This is
not a thing that pitchers do.Pitchers don't go to the mound and change
(10:13):
a grip right before the game andjust see what happens. But he has
the ability to do it. It'sunbelievable. And it's the thing that we
heard about him from day one thatwhen he got here and he talked to
everyone behind the scenes, and hejust has this ability and feel for pitching
and feel for his stuff to justchange on the fly add pitches in season,
(10:37):
like adding a pitch in season isdifficult enough to do. We're spoiled
because we have seen Mariners do itthe last couple of years. But that's
really hard to make happen. He'sdoing it during games and before games.
This is not a thing. Thisis not a thing guys do a scientists
(10:58):
does it. It's just incredible.Yeah, yeah, it's incredible for sure.
Well Gary, you've been a greatpeaking of information here. Thank you
so much, my man. Enjoythe off day, looking forward here to
the nine game homestand coming up twinsand tomorrow. But have a great show
as well, and we'll get youback on soon. Appreciate you. Yeah,
sounds good. I think I speakfor everyone while saying it is great
(11:18):
to be home. No more airplanes, hotels. You can sleep in your
own bed. Now that's scary,Hill Junior joining us scary. Thank you
so much again
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