Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
All right, it is a fiveo'clock hour on the speakeasy on ninety seven
won the Freak, and it isa Wednesday. What do you think,
Grooves, Do we do the funthing or do we just go straight to
the thing thing? Emily? Yeah, okay, let's just see that.
We'd like to welcome you to Gatewayto the Rangers, brought to you by
Gateway Buick GMC, where we visitonce a week with our dear friend and
one of the finest people in theworld to talk Texas Rangers baseball with the
(00:25):
great Emily Jones. Hello, Emily, Hi am I not a fun thing?
Well, you're a fun thing.We just don't feel like we have
to play the fun drive whole song. We could just go straight the fun
is implied with you. Yeah,yes, you stand on your own,
just making sure, just making sureI had not done anything wrong. Yeah.
Besides, it's one last time weget to hear that song, so
(00:47):
that's a good thing. Yeah.Yeahbably trying to wean ourselves off of that
song is what we're doing. Howare we doing? I think we're having
a great time. We're doing awonderful We're having a great time. We're
doing a wonderful radio show, andyou're looking forward to talking to you and
are killing it? Emily, Yeah, we're crushing. We're crushing. How
are you doing? That's the betterquestion. Fantastic fantastic. Had lunch with
(01:08):
my dear friend Jenny Kavnar, theplay by play voice of the Oakland Ad
and uh, I had a littlepregame convo with Bruce Bochie and you know,
just chop it up with my friendDave Raymond and I'm doing all the
Ranger things. Do you want tohear a call from your friend Jenny that
(01:29):
we think is really relevant and timelyto our discussion right now? Oh?
Okay, I haven't heard Is it? Is it number three? Yeah?
Is it the third one? Yeah? Because we talked about it. We
talked about it and she said sheplugged the first one, second was stronger,
but she killed the third. Let'ssee, but I haven't heard it.
She swings at the first pitch.That is send d in the heart
(01:51):
of Texas, shae Lei Alaiyers,have yourself a game on three homer game
the Old glean A's take the leadfour to three against the Texas Rangers.
Closer. Someone came to party Okay, that's going to make a great drop
by the way, Yes, andyou can take that. You can came
(02:12):
to party, you can take that. Okay, that needs to be my
ring tone. Yes, I'll sendthat to you. Some one came to
party. Thank you. What doyou think you kill it? What do
you think the odds are that thenext time the Rangers have a lead in
the ninth inning that it turns outshe's a liar. And that was not
off of the Rangers closer. Um, well, I mean technically it was
(02:35):
still would be true in the moment. I'm just it was my way to
segue into the do you think thenext time out, Bruce Bochie will go
a different route? So? Okay? So I asked him that very question
in almost those exact words today,and I told him preface the question by
saying, Boach, if you wouldlike you or welcome to take this microphone
out of my hand and whack meover the head with it. But if
(02:58):
you if it's a one run game, you are up in the ninth inning,
is hotel Lea Clark coming in thegame. And he promptly grabbed the
microphone out of my hand and threatenedto hit me over the head of he
gave you a boat cheeses of didn'the? He did, And basically he
said, like, look, wehaven't made that decision right now, so
(03:19):
I can't tell you definitively either waybecause honestly, we don't make those decisions
period. At this point in theday, that conversation was at four.
They don't make those decisions till afterthe players come off the field and they
have those little hey, how youdoing, how you're feeling, what's your
arm feel like, what's your buttfeel like? All those kind of things,
And so I believe him when hesaid that that they truly don't know.
(03:40):
But he also went on to say, look, it's our job to
put guys in the positions where theyare most likely to succeed, where they
have the best opportunity to succeed.And so if that pocket of hitters,
which has become a very in vogueyou term lately, is the pocket of
hitters now that they have to paythree, whether you're talking about the fifth
inning or the ninth inning, thatthey're going to put the guys that they
(04:04):
feel like, you know, we'llgive them the best chance to win.
Now with spores down you're you're limitedwith your options, but Yates and Robertson
are both viable options in addition tothe Clerk, so it's not like you're
just tied to one guy. Ido not believe that this will be that
last night will be the last timeyou see jose La Clerk in the closer's
(04:26):
role, But I can't say withcertainty that he would be the guy to
get the ball in the ninth today. I think a lot of it would
depend on where they are in thelineup. Who's you know, who's coming
up that you know pocket of hittersas they say, so, I guess
that's a really long winded way ofme saying I really don't know, and
you know, I think probably onlyyou know two guys know, and that's
(04:46):
Mike Maddox and Verrus Boshi. Nownobody cares what I think here, but
if that if this were me,I would look at the way I handled
him last year, where they movedhim out of the closer role early in
the season when things didn't go verywell and used him in a little bit
more of a set up middle inningguy for a while, let him get
(05:10):
his confidence, and then brought himback as the closer at the end of
the year, and he was quiteaffected. Do you think they're thinking that
that might be a possibility. Yeah, So here's the deal. So I
had a long conversation before all beforeall of this yesterday with Jose in the
clubhouse. And the thing I loveabout Jose is he's brutally honest, like
(05:30):
where most guys won't admit, likeyou know that you know the mental they'll
talk about the mental aspect of thegame, but they won't necessarily talk about
how it's affecting them, you know. And Jose's just very forthcoming with the
way that he's feeling and all thatkind of stuff. And I'm grateful for
that for someone in my role.So he and I talked for probably ten
minutes yesterday about the differences between lastseason and this season and how he feels
(05:56):
physically, how he feels mechanically,and he said, physically he feels good,
but the thing about last season ishe wasn't physically right all of last
season, and so there was aneed to do that this season. I
feel like he's said at least he'stelling me he feels good. Maybe a
little tweak here and there with themechanics physically, his arm like he feels
physically, he feels good. He'sthere's something a little off in his mechanics
(06:20):
with that's affecting his command. Andthen you couple that with not being able
to execute the pitches that you want, and it plays into the mental side.
And he's he is someone and we'vetalked about this a million times,
right, but he's someone that caresdeeply and he's not afraid to show it.
He's not afraid to talk about it, all those kind of things.
And he told me yesterday, I'vegot to I've got to trust myself and
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I've got to trust myself. Idon't know why I'm doing this. I've
proven it at the highest level.I don't I've got to quit telling myself
that. I've got to impress that. I've got to impress people and I've
got to prove something. And youknow, we have had that conversation.
I was like, you're right,like you've proven it. You know you
are capable, you know you cando it, and now everyone else does.
Whereas last season at this time wewere talking about that, but not
(07:05):
everyone else knew it. Now everyonedoes because you did it on the biggest
stage, in the highest leverage situation, and so I think he's just I
think he's fighting himself a little bitright now. But we're you know,
we're we're ten games into this thing. I mean, let's let's, you
know, give it, give ita little bit of time eleven or whatever
it is. Anyway, I'm justsaying, like, you know, and
(07:26):
I heard and I put fire andoff texts at Ben today and Jeff and
all that, and the whole thingI get I get frustrated with is like
Ben's talking about like, well,I mean, we did we not know
that this was a huge issue,you know, in the off season,
And I'm like, wait, you'retelling me that on November tewod you were
you were like, we've got togo get a closer right now. We
go get Josh Hader right now becausethe jsela clerk can't be counted on.
(07:48):
Ben's an idiot. I had yourback that whole time. Ben is an
idiot. You you are so fullof it. But I'm just right,
bins a baseball idiot. Let's justkeep things in perspective. Don't tell me
like that was the number one needwas like we were got to go get
Josh hater because you can't count onhose lo Clerk. No one was saying
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that on November second. No one, not one person on the planet.
And if you were, you're you'rewell, you're an idiot. Oh no,
No, I'm not an idot.I was right, you are.
Okay, so you're going to proclaimyou were right after eleven games? Yes,
Mike Riner, Yes I am.I am. No, come come
(08:31):
talk to me in mid August.Okay, all right, I will talk
to me in mid It's a badtime. It's a bad time to talk
to her. I don't like talkingto her around that time. But what
I'm saying is I'm not It's notlike I'm saying, like, what are
you guys talking about? Everything's fine, hose Loah Clark's great. No,
it's obvious he is struggling. Yes, do we need to pay attention to
(08:52):
this, Yes? Do they needto pay attention to this, yes,
like we've got things need to befigured out. Sure, But the bottom
line is when you look at whatthis team did in the off season,
they brought in a Kirby Yates anda David Robertson who do have experience in
those high leverage situations. Josh foris coming back, and now Josh Fords
is out. So yes, weare in a bit of a predicament that
(09:13):
you didn't anticipate being in. Butdon't anyone, I just don't see the
whole Like I told you so aboutjose La Clerk when they were all,
you know, on his job,you know, the entire month of October.
Sorry, I just don't have awhole lot of confidence in him.
But if they would handle him theway they did last year and give that
a try, I think and Ithink they will. Yeah, Okay,
(09:39):
all right, I think that wouldbuild my level of confidence in the guy.
I don't listen, Bruce Bochie isnot going to keep running him out
there if he keeps getting lit upperiod in of story. The dude's too
smart. And so that's what Iguess. That's another reason why I'm not
worried about it, is because it'sBoach pushing the button. Yeah, and
he doesn't push all the right ones, but the vast majority of the time
he does. And when you putMike Maddocks in his ear, I mean
(10:03):
I've got great confident. I mean, look at the way they maneuvered that
Bulton in the playoffs. Yeah,Andrew Keeney coming out and throwing like four
and two thirds and crazy f likethat. Like I'm willing to like let
this ride out for more than elevengames before we start hitting the panic button
any kind of fun. By theway, one more thing on Ben's point.
(10:24):
Have we seen Hater's numbers this year? Oh? The dude got lit
up like a Christmas tree already too. So it's like, come on,
man, it happens. It doeshappen for all of them pretty much.
Yes, you know there's Mariano Riverais not walking through that door. No.
And it's like we've talked about amillion times. It's it's like centers
in the NBA. It's not like, oh, every team you pick your
(10:46):
center, which center would you like? You get a center and you get
a center, and you get acenter. Oh in Facebook, you get
a closer and you get a closerand you get an ace And it doesn't
work that way. There's not onefor every team, and they're they don't
make them like Marianna Lavera anymore.They just don't. And that's a you
know, once in a generation typeof talent that you that you had in
him, and it just doesn't happenthat often. It is fun, though,
(11:09):
that people are carrying this much aboutoh, the Rangers eleven games into
the season, when you have theMavericks playing so well, the Star's playing
so well, and people are sittinghere getting all worked up about jose lh
Clerk. Now. I don't knowif that's just my tiny sample size in
this room, but I think alot of people are just we're very excited
to see what the Rangers were goingto put out there this season and kind
(11:31):
of just want to see a continuationof what we saw in the World Series.
And they're shocked that, like we'renot winning every game or whatever.
But I'd love to say it's funright well, and Julie, I completely
agree with you, And I askedboth about that yesterday. I was like,
you know, you drop you whata series against you sin, you
know, but you win the firsttwo, then you drop the last two
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and then it's almost like everybody's like, I mean, what's the deal,
Like what's going on? And He'slike, yeah, yeah, this is
what happens when you raise the barand when the expectation level comes up.
And he said, and we weowe it to our fans, like we
saw how they came out, youknow, in the opening weekend against the
Cubs, and how they came outagainst the Astros, and we they have
(12:13):
been behind us. They they're gettingbehind us, they're supporting us, and
it's up to us to put togethera good product and to give them something
entertaining to watch every night. We'veraised the bar and we're fine with that.
We're glad that people expect us towin every game because we do as
well. It's a good thing.What oh good? I was just going
to say, so tonight, forexample, what do you think they would
(12:37):
do if they were in that samesituation? Who do you think would step
up to take that closer role?Would it be Robinson Robertson? So I
don't know. I mean, Idon't think trying to think none of neither
one of them pitched too terribly.I need I say, this is a
bad radio prep. I have notlooked back looked back at their usage over
(12:58):
the last two games, because wearen't. You have to remember, too,
we're in the stretch of seventeen gamesin seventeen days, so we're in
the middle of that. So you'vegot to be mindful of that as well.
I love that, so, youknow, I would have to look
back at how who's been how muchRobertson has been used, how much Yates
has been used. Neither one ofthose guys would have been used though,
(13:18):
because we got blown out by Houston. It was ten five. I got
you, I got you, Igot you, Emily, I'm on this
episode. Do you have yesterday Yatesthrough twelve and Robertson through nineteen? The
day before that, neither one ofthem through the day before that, neither
one of them through. So Iguess in the theory Yates through the least,
if you're willing to throw them onback to back days. But I
(13:39):
guess either one. Yeah, AndI think probably my gut would tell me,
And it would depend on, likeI said, the pocket of hitters,
who's up in that ninth inning.That that's going to depend a lot.
But I would my gut would sayYates, Okay, they would put
they would put Jose in a highI mean, I don't think there are
(14:00):
to put him in a high leveragesituation at all. They may just do
it a little bit early earlier inthe game. Then that way it gives
you a little bit more margin forerror to where if he does slip up,
you know they we've got some timeto come back from it. And
if he doesn't, then it giveshim that confidence. So you know,
there's a lot that can transpire inthe first six seven innings of a game.
But I mean, if I'm justgoing to have to pick between those
(14:20):
three, I'll just put my moneyon Yates. Now, with the lineup
like yesterday's lineup with Seeger got aday off. That was a weird looking
Rangers lineup. When you have noJosh Young, no Nathaniel Low, no
Corey Seger's like, wow, thisis a lot of names I was not
expecting to see in a lineup.And without saying anything negative about any of
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the fine young men who are takingsome of these at bats and some of
what are doing a nice job withit. I would love to get to
business as usual for the Rangers offenseas soon as possible. Do you have
any idea on Nathaniel Low how soonthat could be So Nathaniel Faith live pitching
today for the second straight day,will go start his rehabit time at this
(15:07):
weekend with Fritzko. Then I believenext week with Round Rock and then could
possibly rejoin the team as early asnext weekend in Atlanta. Okay, that's
where he is, and Josh gotmoved to the sixty day I l and
there's no way to change those things, right, So he will miss sixty
days from the date of injury.Yeah, yeah, yeah, which that's
(15:30):
I think you're free and clear ofthat. I think he'll be relatively close
to it. But I mean that'seight weeks. I mean, he's he's
a good you're talking about. Imean, I think he's gonna he's young,
and he's it's not like he's oneof these frail you know, like
the smaller frame. He's a bigboy with big buffles and big train.
I mean, I think he can. I think he'll be able to work
his way back, you know,on the quicker end of that, you
(15:54):
know, eight to ten week window. But he's still got He's not doing
anything right now because he can.So he's still in the you know,
the arm brace and not really movingthat that hand and wrists. Everything's just
kind of stabilized right now. Soyou know, I mean, it's going
to be a process getting him back. But if you remember I think we
talked about this last year when Coreywas out and you know, the acception
(16:18):
and did such an admirable job,and the offense was still clicking on a
lot of levels, and then Joshwent out, and not saying that it's
just because of Josh, but youknow, when Josh went out last season,
the offense struggled a lot more.And you know, I think we're
seeing a little bit of that,especially when you pair it with him and
Nathaniel boasting out. And I feellike Nathaniel gets a really bad rap on
by a lot of people. Imean, who are like, you know,
(16:41):
let's get another first basement in here. That and then you look at
like the stats from last season andNathaniel it was like top three in every
category offensively and played a good firstbase. I'm just like, I don't
I don't feel like he gets thecredit that he deserves for his place in
this lineup. So it's a it'sa deal when you've got, when you've
got, you know, two guyslike that missing Cody Bradford goes tonight.
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Now, I've been a Cody Bradfordguy for some time. I mean,
even going back into last year.I looked at him and I thought,
Okay, there's something here. Idon't know what it is. I don't
know what it's going to take toget at it, but there is something
here. And the other night hewas just shockingly great. What do you
(17:29):
think they're looking for from him tonight? That's I mean, that's going to
be really hard to replicate. SoI think here's the thing about Cody,
Like he's he's a bit like he'sso quiet and just very like calm demeanor,
but I think he is so incrediblycompetitive and is this is don't take
this literally. Is offended by thefact that people are like, well,
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he's going to be the one outof the rotation when you know, Mally
gets here when all these guys comeback. He's like, oh, okay,
well we'll see about that. WhenI shoved you know, seven and
two thirds scoreless up your rear endfor a few straight starts. And I
think he's fueled by that, andI think he's taking it personally his desire
to stay in the starting rotation.He's just got a he's got a very
(18:15):
calm way about him. He's notgoing to, you know, totally dazzle
you with his stuff. But heknows how to pitch, and he's supremely
confident. He's extremely prepared, andI you know, I mean he can't
he can't replicate the last performance everytime out. But I think he's one
of those guys that can consistently overthe course of a season, over you
(18:37):
know, twenty thirty starts, thatcan give you a pretty repeatable performance.
That's what I think too. Imean, I don't I don't think that
was I don't. I think thatwas on the upper end of the spectrum,
But the lower end of the spectrumis not that far away from it.
Did I just make make any sense? There? No absolutely that that
that the gap between you know,the bad outings and the good outings isn't
(19:02):
isn't that big? Which that's that'sreally what you're looking for. I mean,
you know, you want that smallgap because then you know what to
expect. You're not You're not Jeckeland hide out there. So no,
I know exactly what you're talking about. I completely agree with you. Plus
everybody knows it's Heeny and John Graythat are fighting to get thrown out of
the rotation. So far, notmy words, it's not my words.
(19:26):
What's anybody going to do about them? I don't know. I mean,
it's hard to figure out because theythey have been a little jeckel and hide,
right. We've seen like just thesebrilliant outings and then you see somewhere
You're just like, is this eventhe same guy I watched, you know,
five days ago? And I thinkyou give them some time early in
(19:48):
the season. I think, justlike with everybody. I mean, I
think you do that with position playersas well, Like give everybody, you
know, twenty thirty games to geta good samplify for starters, give them
four or five starts before we startdrawing a ton of conclusions about what we
think they're going to be for thenext five months. So I think that's
where we are. I mean,those guys haven't had it, and they've
(20:08):
they've acknowledged it. They're very wellaware of it. It's not like either
one of them are baring their headsin the sand about you know, about
what they've been able to do sofar. And I think, you know,
just like we talked about with Bradford, they're both motivated to stay in
the rotation because I think that they, you know, feel like they've got
(20:29):
the ability and the stuff to doit, but it's a matter of if
you can't execute it on the field, then you know something's going to have
to be done. Emily, wetalked about it a little bit on the
mom Game podcast this week, butuh, pretty cool that the Rangers all
experienced the solar eclips together. Andyou said they were all kind of like
giddy, acting like a bunch oflittle kids about it, weren't they.
(20:52):
Yeah, they were super funny.So we walked in the I walked in
the clubhouse that day, and Iwas like, what y'all think? And
Never was like, oh, it'sso cool, and Marcus like, oh,
look at this picture I got,and they were all out there together,
and Boach was calling it a teambonding experience, and you know,
as someone who really kind of Ididn't poo poo the whole thing. But
I just wasn't really that into it. I was like, you know,
(21:12):
if I'll step outside and take alook, and you know, hopefully i'll
find some some of those cool gogglesso I don't burn my retinant. But
once I was in the middle ofit, I went over to a girlfriend's
house and we you know, gotsore necks, from looking up at the
sun. But I thought it wassuper cool, and I think they felt
the same way that they really Iguess maybe didn't know what to expect,
(21:33):
but it was fun to all kindof get out there together and uh,
you know, hang out and takea look at the moon sliding in front
of the sun. Have you everbeen in the Rooms to Go lounge?
Oh? Good question. Oh that'sa great question. I have not.
I think that I don't know thelast time I stepped foot in that studio
(21:53):
in Last Polena's okay, but youknow where the room lounge is? Good?
Yeah, it's in the studios inLast cleenas I believe, Okay.
And the last time I was therewas during COVID when we were doing a
stupid remote broadcast on the cloud andI was like in a closet watching on
a monitor. It was so dumb. But you can yeab or what so
(22:15):
many jobs? I got twenty fourjobs? Yeah? Are we're done with
COVID? Right? Yeah? NowI'm good man. All right, here's
what I want to do. AndI want to see if you want to
string this together for me. Well, they're doing the Rooms to Go ound
spot. I just want to kindof walk onto the set and just kind
of look around a little bit,maybe pick up some stuff. Dpping.
(22:37):
Yeah, I'm shopping in the roomsto go. Get somebody to get up
because you want that chair start pullingout. Yeah, I'm positive that could
be arranged. Yeah, do youthink they could be arranged? Yeah?
Yeah. I ask if that throwpillows for sale, asking if you can
take a look at the sofa thatthey're actually sitting on. You guys have
(23:00):
that in green. There's a ifthere's a pull out bed in that cout,
you streak that together and I willdo it. I will absolutely do
it. Make Rooms to Go Loungeclearly. All right, Okay, I
(23:22):
can't wait to talk again in midAugust and we'll check in on Yeah.
Everything will be all right then,I hope. So all right, well,
okay, all right, I'll talkto you next week from Detroit Rock
(23:42):
City. All right, okay,she is the great Emily Jones. We're
going to be on a remote andthe Rooms to Go Lounge. We need
to do a show from the Roomsto Go Lounge. It's literally just an
of one of the studios, Soworry about that, sir. It's the
Rooms to Go Loung It's not somecorner God. All right, thank you,
(24:07):
Emily. Okay, gateway to theRangers, don't gateway Beuty Janey.
I've nailed it. Mavericks at Heattonight six point thirty tip, which means
six o'clock pre game, which meansit's almost five thirty. I bet my
bottom dollar we'll get to talk toKevin Gray and talk a little Dallas Mavericks
basketball with you next