May 20, 2024 • 36 mins
In the first hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Hugh Millen react to the Oklahoma City Thunder being eliminated from the NBA Playoffs, talk about the Mariners series loss in Baltimore last weekend and New York series ahead, then react to some Fun with Audio.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This is an intentionally recount Holdroom threecorner Cord jam and Wills no better than
Las Mavericks. For the second timein three years. I'm going to the
Western Conference Finals. When you hitthunder, don't you get too scared.
Just grab your thunder buddy and saythese magic words you thunder. You can
(00:22):
You can't get me thunder because you'rejust God's fuss. Hey, we made
it F you thunder Day right hereon a Monday afternoon on ninety three three
KJR FM, Hugh Mellon, Happyf you thunder Day, my friend.
How are you pat? What ishappening? How are you? I'm good
man, even better after that?You right. People always ask me who's
(00:44):
your favorite NBA team, and Isay, who's playing the Thunder, And
that's my favorite NBA basketball team.So I'd like to think say thank you
to Jason kidd, Luca and theentire Maverick organization for saving us all the
grief. Yeah, gotta watch theOklahoma City Thunder and the Western Conference Finals.
Thank you to Dallas for pulling thatoff for us. Yeah. No,
I I get the sense that thatit's kind of sei life and death
(01:07):
for you. Uh and and Ithink I'm a little bit more measured along
the Dick Vane line of of yeah, every year you're whatever, however you
were impacted, it's got to dissipatesomewhat every year, right, And so
yeah, I think it was reallyhard when they had durant that that every
(01:30):
that was painful. I think it'sbeen less painful for me in that regard.
And and certainly it'll be a rivalryin my mind, and I think
a lot of people's mind when whenthe songs come back and and they'll have
that with Oka. See. Ican't wait for the first home game against
Okay see. But but I dothink that the sting dissipates. Yeah,
(01:52):
well not for me. You guyscan take that ridiculous take and shove it
up or you know what, becauseit's not gonna go anywhere for me.
You ever do something for a longperiod of time, Hugh, and after
about maybe five, ten, fifteen, twenty years, you kind of realize
you have no idea why you're evendoing it anymore. The thing for me,
the thunder hate has become such abig part of who I am as
a sports fan when it comes tomy DNA. As a sports fan like,
(02:15):
there's certain things, certain memories,certain scars, certain experiences that are
just kind of part of who youare, right, I mean, losing
to Denver in ninety four, theinterception against the Patriots, the victory against
the Broncos, the ninety five slidewith Edgar. There's just little things are
a part kind of a part ofyour DNA. And hating the Oklahoma City
Thunder for me is still to thispoint a massive part of who I am
(02:38):
as a sports fan. So Iagree with you that it's gonna be a
great rivalry when the Sonics come back, and they will come back. That
first game and even that first yearwhen the Thunder and the Sonics play together
in Seattle is gonna be unbelievable.So I'm always gonna find myself hating them.
I'm always gonna find myself hating HowardSchultz. Yeah, I'm always gonna
find myself hating Greg Nichols and neverever ever letting those guys off the hook,
(03:00):
because no matter what happens with theNBA back in town, one day
HU and they will come back againvery soon. We were robbed of Kevin
Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrookand who knows how many titles in this
city. So I'll never ever forgetthose sobs ever. Yeah, No,
I listened keenly to what you justsaid, and I think that's a very
sensible, reasonable, and more measuredtake than ripping every single person that doesn't
(03:25):
by the way, time out justin a second time. Why does everything
with you have to be measured?Why can't somebody just be irrational and you
just accepted it? Yeah, well, you know, I don't know.
I'm mostly irrational, but I'm nottrying to be all right, I'm trying
to be sensible from time. Butbut I think that No, I that
that is fair, that's a fairtake. Like, hey, that's how
(03:46):
it impacts me. And as you'vealways said, fan, how you want
a fan? Right? And youknow so, I'll tell you one thing.
I got one of my very bestfriends in life. We are best
friends in high school. I wasthe best man in his wedding talk all
the time, very very close,and he was the most ardent Sonic fan
that I know. Very successful guy. Now if he moved on from Seattle,
(04:09):
went to Roosevelt High School with me, he's got a very successful businessman
in San Diego. He is sucha strong Sonic fan that right from the
jump with no animosity, you're gonnayou're gonna, you're gonna cringe with that.
You might vomit when you hear whatI'm gonna say. He would.
He was an instant OKAC fan tothe extent that he got the NBA pass
(04:30):
and he's still DVRs ok C games, and for him, his Sonic love
was carried over to Okac. Now, I granted that is the vast,
vast, vast minority. But again, fan, how you want a fan?
I think for you, and ifwe can speak candidly, and I
don't mean this to be disparaging whatsoever, because I love you like a brother.
I think for you, uh uh. And as emotional as you are,
(04:55):
let's face it. Number one you'reliving is involved with sports. You
don't have kids, and and sothe passions that maybe were Dick's talking about,
like, hey, I just don'thave the bandwidth to keep my sports
hate up for okay. See youknow, some of those factors may be
a part of it. Or youmight have eight kids and okay and hate
(05:19):
okay, see just the same.I don't know, but but it is
interesting. We love you for it. That's that's who uh and and who
you are and what makes you you. But yeah, I just can't get
there. I was, but Ican't get there now. I totally understand
what you're saying about the bandwidth,because there's there's a lot of room left
in this brain for things like hatefor Oklahoma City Thunder. Yeah, when
(05:42):
you don't have kids, I mean, you've got two kids. Dick's got
two young kids. Your kids,you're in school, obviously, out of
the house, all that stuff.But when you're not, you know,
babysitting kids all day long, andyou're just more concerned about where your dogs
are, you have a lot oftime to think about stuff like that.
So I totally understand that. Ijust think again. For me, it's
it's it's been sixteen years, we'retalking almost two decades now since these guys
(06:03):
took off, and I have notbeen to a Starbucks since sixteen years.
My hate for the Oklahoma City Thunderhas not dissipated a bit. I still
love and completely enjoy watching those peoplefail. It's petty, no question about
it. But I can't get overit, and I don't think I'm ever
going to be able to get overit, because it's now such a huge
part of who I am. Sobig thanks to Dallas for ending that thing.
(06:25):
I think it would have been painfulas hell to watch these guys in
the NBA finals. And I gottabe honest with you, I had a
fear this year that with this younggroup of kids in Oklahoma City, including
SGA and Chad Comer, and thatmaybe this was the year where they'd be
able to kind of pull this thingoff because there's so much parody right now
in the NBA. And so Dallasending them when they did not even making
the conference finals was a huge relieffor me. Will Yeah, And so
(06:48):
you get relief, and we'll waitfor that rivalry. And look, I'm
root against Oklahoma sity my buddy Dean, he can do that all he wants.
I'm an anti thunder guy. Butyou know, for me, and
we've discussed in this in the past, I've mentioned this, this analogy,
I still think it's app It's beenmany years. I'll just say it again.
(07:10):
You know, I had a housein Huntington when when I was playing
for the Rams and they were stationedin Orange County, and the Huntington Pier.
Right, you know that you gotthe h the Manhattan bee'st Pier,
and you know there's various piers overthe ocean in southern California. Go out
on the piers and you look down, and you know those waters are frequented
by sharks. Now I've never seenone, but there could be. There's
(07:33):
great white sharks and and mak o'sand all kinds of stuff. Right,
if you're on one of those pierslooking down and you saw let's say,
like a four foot dorsal fin,like the biggest great white of all time,
you could just look there and watchin the total comfort of being on
top of that freaking stable pier.And the only reason that you're in danger
(07:56):
of that shark is if you decideto climb over the ledge and jump in.
Now you got a whole another setof problems, but it's not a
problem if you're on the pier.Jay Bennett was a shark. Everybody knew
that's a shark's nature. We knewwhat he was gonna do. It was
playing to anybody with any sensibility.And here we are, you know,
Shultz are standing there on the pier. It's not a problem, and we
(08:20):
as Seattle fans, are on thepier with them. Oh isn't that cute.
Look at that shark. Oh that'sa hell of a shark. Look
at him looking for food. Lookat him. Look at that predator just
swimming around trying to find prey.But the problem was is freaking Howard Schultz
made the decision. He got tipping. He didn't he didn't have the patience
to deal with with the political process, and he decided, oh screw it.
(08:43):
You know, you know, GaryPeyton doesn't want to hang out with
me, and I'm tired of dealingwith the city council and so I'm gonna
just jump in the freaking ocean.Well, now it's a problem because now
you're getting devoured by a predator.But you knew his nature from the beginning.
You had a safe position, anduntil he put it up, he
sold it to that guy, everythingwas fine. So to me, it's
not about okay, you know aboutit's it's about Howard souls. But this
(09:09):
is a reminder of all of thatis this is this is the door that
opens up every spring that reminds meof everything you just talked about. And
by the way, You may havenoticed this section as Hugh begun to use
that shark analogy and the peer analogy. As he kept talking and his little
commentary continued there, I could tellyou getting more and more pissed off as
(09:31):
the seconds went on, as youtold that little story there, your voice
was getting higher and higher. You'regetting louder. Oh yeah, you were
getting way. Your blood pressure wasgetting ways. Exactly So these every single
spring, when I have to watchthese sons of pictures play in the post
season every single year, I'm remindedof what we went through sixteen years ago.
(09:52):
So you you need an explanation ofwhy I hate these SOPs. That's
why we're gonna break. Steven SusanJunior will join Talks a Marina Baseball before
Game one against the Yankees today inNew York next on ninety three three KJRFM,
coming to you live from the ElliottAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three
point three KJRFM. This is ourweekly visit with former Mariners outfielders Steven Suza
(10:16):
Junior, powered by Taco Time.For all your favorites and to order ahead
from any Taco Time restaurant, downloadthe Taco Time Northwest app today from the
Apple App Store or the Google PlayStore. Taco Time a Pacific Northwest favorite
since nineteen sixty two. Now withSteven Susa Junior, here's Safti and missus
(10:37):
it intentionally redound home drown three CornerCourt, Davin Wims no by the Dallas
Mavericks for the second time in threeyears. I'm going to the Western Conference
finalists. When you hit Saba Thunder, don't you get to skid? Just
grab your Thunder, buddy and saythese magic words you Thunder, you can
(10:58):
get you can't get because all right, we only play that for one reason.
They're Hugh Malling because Steven Susan Juniorhad the gall last week. And
I appreciate the honesty, but thegoal to admit, as a former Sonic
fan that he was still indeed rootingfor the OKC Thunder. So I wonder
what made Steven Susan Jackson more forKlempt watching the Ems lose two out of
(11:22):
three to Baltimore or his beloved Thunderdropping one to the Mavericks over the weekend.
Steven, how are you a bow? What's going on? And by
the way, by the way,just for the record, that was Jackson's
idea, not mind, how areyou man? I'm doing good, I'm
not bad and touched to the thunder, so watch them lose. I'm okay.
(11:43):
But uh yeah, that was Itwas a tough series this weekend,
no doubt about it, no question. Good for us, bad for them,
which is good for me. ButSteven Sue's a junior with us courtesy
at Taco Time and Hugh milling herein for Dick Vane Stephen. But give
us your thoughts on what you sawover the weekend against against the Orioles.
A chance to kind of show whatyou can do against one of the premier
teams in baseball, and you droptwo out of three. Would you make
(12:07):
of what you saw this weekend inCamden Yards. Yeah, I think listen,
anytime you go to the East Coast, it's extremely difficult. When you
come from the East Coast to theWest coast, it's not as tough,
and then you're gonna go play oneof, if not the best team in
the American League. I think theywere. They were playing an uphill battle
to begin with, but listen,they stuck in a lot of those games,
(12:28):
and I thought they did a heckof a job battling back. There
was some you know, some keyplays that I think really turned the game.
And what I didn't like to seeis the ball on the ground.
A lot of the Mariners were hittingthe ball on the ground ton this series,
and they got to clean that up. Talk about the key plays that
made an impression on you, Yeah, I know, I just think,
(12:50):
uh, what I really loved wasCal coming through. That was clutch.
But you know, like Julio,there's a couple of situations there where Julio
hitting the ball on the ground tothe first base side, he just doesn't
look great, you know, Andand watching him in this series was crucial
for me. It was he lookslike he's getting ready in a place where
(13:13):
he's super disconnected, right And youknow, I'd love to talk about it
more, but we need him,honestly, to get going or this offense
is gonna being up and down offensiverest of the year. Well, we're
gonna talk about more about Julio andthat comment, But the first guy you
mentioned was Cal. I'm just curiousyour take when they sent Cal and he
(13:33):
was just you know, sitting duckat a carnival at home plate. What
did you ever react. I mean, I'm sitting there going, don't get
hurt, like, what are wedoing? Like, okay, give us
a baseball perspective on that play.Yeah, you know, it was a
basic to right field, and Ithink you got Corbyn Burns on the mound
right He's been really good and soyour runs are gonna come at a premium
(13:56):
with that type of picture on themound. So if I'm manniact, you
know, obviously Cal's not the fleetestof foot, that's not his strength on
a baseball field. But sometimes inthose moments you got to push the envelope
because trying to string multiple hits againstCorbyn Burns just nobody's really doing that this
year, and so you got to. You know, the Oils did a
(14:16):
great job keeping the ball down,making a good enough throw and they got
a Cal. So I don't reallyfault Manny for being aggressive there because if
it was their fifth starter, youknow, if it was Grayson Rodriguez,
hey maybe there's he would be alittle bit more passive there and let the
next guy come up. But guylike Corbyn Burns and the way he's been
rolling this year, I think youtake your chances. Well. Steven Suza
(14:39):
Junior with us courtesy at Taco Time. Chicken seas are soft, Taco chicken
sees are salad now, both availableon every single Taco Time restaurant. And
you mentioned Julio there, And Ithink we have a situation here, guys
and Steven, I'm curious to getyour take on this, and Hugh you
as well, where the numbers arekind of maybe not telling the whole story.
You know, Julio Rodriguez in thelast seven games is hitting four point
thirty the ten to twenty ops.He's hitting three h four In the month
(15:03):
of May, he went five forthirteen against the Baltimore Orioles. Yet you're
not paying Julio Rodriguez to hit singles. He's on pace so far for forty
eight RBIs and seven home runs.His power numbers are way down after forty
seven games compared to where they werelast year and where they were his rookie
year. So what's going on withthis guy? Talk more about that,
(15:26):
And is this a situation again,Steven, where maybe the numbers are not
really telling the entire story with thisguy? Yeah, you know, I
went and I took a deep diveinto him to try and figure out,
like, what's going on with thisguy? And I watched a bunch of
video from last year, and Iwatched a bunch of video from this year
to see if you do with somethings and then set up where's he going
wrong? And you know, tome, from my eye, it looks
(15:48):
like he's trying to make an intentionalmark to try and do less with the
ball and hopefully the strikeout numbers comedown the walk rate goes up. But
what's really happened is in his gatherhe's really not if you watch him tonight,
and maybe he cleans it up tonight, but consistently he's not getting into
his legs. He tips his batand it's kind of a casual rock to
(16:11):
get ready, and what it's doneis it's made him really late because he's
not getting his lower half ready toreally fire into the baseball, which that
violent swing that we're so used to. And I think, you know,
I think he was trying to makea positive change in the fact of like,
hey, I'm gonna tone it downa little bit because I have a
lot of power. But what's happenedis he's shutting his lower half down and
(16:33):
hitting the ball on the ground.Listen, if Julio couldn't run, we
would be talking about some really badnumbers because a lot of these hits are
infield hits that he's just beaten outwith his speed. So I think if
he was hitting singles and he's sittingthe ball hard all over the yard and
lining to the center field, that'sa completely different story. And I know
that he's doing a better job ofbeating those balls out. But the reality
(16:56):
is is he's got to drive theball. He's the number one player on
that offense that's got to get itgoing, and they're going to rely on
his MDP caliber offense in order toride him into the world too. Steven
Susan with a Steven, I'm surethat many of the golfers among us are
gonna have a somewhat similar take towhat I'm about to say and ask you
whether or not it applies to thebaseball swing in Julio. So for me
(17:21):
and I think many others, youget your very best drive when there's a
sense of Okay, I'm not gonnayank from the top, I'm just gonna
be a little bit. I'm gonnahave this feeling that I'm accelerating through.
Let the club head be used likea hammer, but don't yank from the
top, because then you cast theclub and you lose the kinetic energy.
(17:41):
Right, and you don't hit itas far because you're trying to You're trying
to kill it from the beginning,Right. Is it possible a does that
type of a dynamic play in thebaseball swing and be if it does in
any way, could it be partof the problem where Julio's trying so hard
that he's yanking you. I mean, you mentioned some other reasons, but
(18:03):
is that also a reason that couldbe in play. Yeah, So,
I think as far as those similaritiesin the swing, when you get to
the top of your golf when youkind of want to let it smoothly back
out right, come out and aroundthe top. As far as the baseball
swing, when you get to thetop of your gather, it's attack,
it's accelerate to the top of theclub. And that's why when baseball players
(18:25):
go and hit golf balls, theyslice a lot because they're so used to
being at the top and accelerting tothe ball. I think it's not so
much more at the top where theacceleration is the problem for Julio. It's
the intent to get ready. Ifyou watch, like if you go back
in the video from last year,there's just an immediate lower the hips are
(18:45):
loaded, bam, like he sitsin the ground. We're so used to
that now it's kind of a casualset and read the ball, and then
he's trying to catch up and explodeand it's too late, and so I
would rather have him be super earlythe rest of the year kind of find
it from that framework, as opposedto, Hey, I'm going to be
too casual and then try and catchup, so I don't chase as much.
(19:07):
I don't think that's too Leo Well, Steven Susan Junior with us again
courtesy Taco Time normally at five o'clock, but the EM's got the Yankees in
Game one coming up this afternoons,a little bit of an earlier start with
Steven here on the air. Fortyseven game mark, we're kind of getting
close to the one third poll ofthe Major League Baseball season. The standings
say that there is a clear differencebetween New York, Baltimore, Cleveland,
(19:29):
and maybe even Kansas City and therest of the al are we now convinced
that if the Mariners are going tomake the playoffs, they're going to have
to win this division to do it, because the rest of the league is
just too strong. Yeah. Notonly that, you just don't want to
go into Yankee Stadium, you don'twant to go to Baltimore and Kansas City
(19:51):
is a different type of ballparks.Now. I know we took care of
them at home and they looked reallygood in that series, But the reality
is, you want those home games. You want Luis to Steer or George
Kirby or Logan Gilbert to sit upon their home now and feel the most
comfortable going into those games. Youwant you want to make those guys travel
to play. That's the biggest thingto me. I do. I think
(20:11):
this team could win on the road, absolutely, but trying to trying to
go against New York right now andplay in the Bronx uh in the playoffs,
that is one of the toughest thingsyou'll have to do in your career.
So absolutely, I think the divisionshould be high priority. We saw
George Kirby get rocked around a littlebit yesterday. Seemed to me like,
you know, his fast stuff wasgetting hit, his breaking stuff was getting
(20:33):
hit, and what have you.Doesn't mean he's not a great pitcher.
Just give us if you were ona team coming in. Let's let's say
we'll just take the Yankees. You'rethe Yankees, you're a hitter on the
Yankees, and you have a scoutingreport on this pitching staff. Let's just
say for the hypothetical that you're you'regoing to go, you know it's a
five game series and you're going tosee all five of the starters. What
(20:56):
what is the current update on howteams would look at this pitching staff ace,
who's hit able? Where's the concernsthat those type of questions. I
think they would look at them like, hey, this is still one of
the best pising stats in the league. I mean, this is power stuff.
You're going to have to take advantageof the hitter scounts when you're getting
(21:17):
them, and I would be aggressiveearly, right, Like, you don't
want to fall into it with anyof these guys, whether it be Brian
Wu, Bryce Miller, George Loganor Casile. You don't want to fall
behind on these guys because they're putaway pitches are nasty. Now, I
think you want to be very selectivein what you want to do with these
guys, right Like, you haveto hit their mistakes because if you end
up going outside of the zone andtaking it trying to be a little bit
(21:41):
over aggressed, you're going to findthat you'll you'll be out really quickly with
these guys, they're just too good. The stuff is high octane, high
d low power breaking balls and theyexecute a high And now obviously obviously they
they struggled a little bit from timeto time. But if you're going to
win the Stie Young, you're gonnahave the opportunity to mess up, right
(22:03):
Like, you can't go thirty startsand have thirty starts where he's just absolutely
domb and nobody's ever done that.So these guys are still the best pitching
staff in the league in my opinion. I'm going to continue to do that.
Well, that's a good overview ofthe staff. Give us just a
half a sentence on each one,like how they differ from one another.
Yeah, So because the power stuffis power sinker, power slider with a
(22:26):
change up to to go against,and when he's locating, it's hittable,
I mean and simple if you getGeorge Kirby on the mount. It's just
power location, right, like thestuff his two steamer. But when he
is locating that two seamer and hittingthe spots, he just can't be beat.
(22:48):
He stays in the quadrants, thefour quadrants on the outside, the
upper, inner, and top downmost of his ads, and he's got
to be Logan is super extensive.Yeah right, Steve, Steven, your
phone's breaking up. I'm gonna putyou back on hold for a second half.
Jackson grab you were getting a littlebit of an issue with your cell
phone there. You guys know thisone of my biggest pet peeves in radio.
(23:10):
How much this drives me freaking crazy. But when it does happen,
I just kind of keep calm andjust keep you cool, stay a professional.
So Jackson will get him back onhold there in a second. And
I think all of us agree asthis pitching staff has the potential to be
elite. I do wonder at times, and I want to ask Steven this
question when he comes back on hold. Hugh, you've played team sports before.
I wonder how much the lack ofoffense just kind of inevitably gets to
(23:33):
you. If you're Logan Gilbert,if you're George Kirby, Bryce Miller,
Brian Wu, Luis Castillo, whoever, so Steven's back, will ask him.
You were talking about these pictures andkind of breaking them all down.
How much does the lack of offenseyou think inevitably even subconsciously creep into their
minds knowing they have to be superduper fine in order to win these games
because the offense so far just isn'tthere. Yeah, you know, I
(23:59):
think the guys have a good identityof who they are. I don't think
that they mind themselves too much aboutthe offense. Now. They shouldn't have
to carry the burden like this forthis many years. I mean, this
is crazy, But the reality isis they know how good they are the
staff. I think Service has saidit many times in press conferences that this
is a team that's going to relyon their pitching staff, and they embrace
that identity. And it's just thefact that when they give it up,
(24:23):
it's hard for this team to winthose games. And so to ask them
to do that all year long,I don't think it's fair, but we
do have to give them grace whenthey give it up because they're so dominant
for most of their outings. Whatabout Haggarty and the torn achilles. Obviously
we're all saddened by him on apersonal level, but how does the team
(24:45):
replace him? What do you missmost from him? And how do you
see whatever that void is being filled? Yeah, I think can Zone has
done a good job of that,right, Like it's super unfortunate with and
he brings such a unique skill setof versatility and speed with a switch hitting
(25:06):
combination that's just really hard to find, you know. And he's done a
good job transition to the outfield whenthey needed him there to play. So
all the best of him and hopehe comes back. But you know,
I see this this kind of lineupwhere Luke Raley kind of starts to begin
to slide over the first base andDominic can Zone starts to get more at
bats in the outfield. Is Asraelistarting to have a better month. But
(25:29):
Dominic Canzone he's made some adjustments inhis swing. Him and Brian Brown or
JD have made some adjustments where it'sa lot smoother in his gathering. He's
having the ability to impact the baseballconsistently, you know, And I think
we saw that at times last year. But this is just chance, right,
This is a chance to take advantageof the opportunity and run with it
well. And it's also a chanceto get this lineup looking the way it
(25:52):
was supposed to look. I meanwhen we all envisioned the bullpen over the
offseason, it was brash, itwas Santos, right, it was Munno's,
it was sarcito. Is everybody togetherout there doing their thing and that's
not going to happen because two ofthose guys are banged up and maybe both
of them are out for the year. But JP Crawford's back, Steven,
He's in New York. He's notin the lineup as of tonight, but
(26:12):
he has been activated. Leo Revas, who got a cup of coffee,
is going back down to the miners, but he hasn't played since the twenty
third of April. So this lineupthat Jerry Depoto has put together has barely
had a chance to even play together. Give us your thoughts on getting JP
Crawford back, probably tomorrow in thelineup and what that could mean for these
(26:32):
guys. Yeah, you know,he really is the fuel for the engine.
I mean, at the top ofthe lineup. He just works such
a good at bad. He's stillpatient. He takes such a veteran quality
at that over and over. Nosituation never gets too big for him.
So having him back, and Iknow he struggled early on, but you
know, I think consistency, consistentlyover the last couple of years, he's
(26:53):
shown that he is a fourth atbat to the top of the lineup.
I think you need him for thestability at shortstop and his leadership that he
brings in there. So having himback is huge. But you know what,
I thought, Dylan Moore did anunbelievable job though, and then Leo
Revas did a good job and DylanMoore same thing. Has found some adjustments
in his swing to be successful rightnow, Okay, just one follow up
(27:18):
on that with JP. You know, he's just under the Mendoza at one
ninety eight. Last year he hadan eight eighteen OPS, which is more
than a hundred points higher than anyother year that he'd had in his career.
So are you all concerned that therewas a little bit of for him
kind of regressing to his norm.I'm not saying one ninety eight because he's
(27:41):
never been below two hundred but lastyear was definitely a career year. I
mean, I mean, we havethis image of what we think he can
be and want him to be,but he really was only that one time.
Yeah, you know, I thinkin the terms of baseball, right,
if that's his best year, Idon't think he's going to regress to
a six to eighty OPS. Youknow, if he regretses to somewhere in
(28:03):
the seven forty seven to fifty,he's still a really good player because of
the value that he brings on defense. And the thing that JP, the
reason why his OPS is so highis he walks in absolute ton right,
like he's at the top of thelineup and he's getting on base. I
think he was in the top tenfor the American League and walks almost watching
this year for sure. But howmany at bats do we have. We
(28:26):
don't have that many at bats enoughto judge him and the real exactly right.
So let's let's look at two hundredat backs and let's say, hey,
here's what we got. This isJP this year, at least the
start. I think he's going todo a fantastic job. He made them
to your point, Hugh, hemade some adjustments last year and his swing
to really start rotating around the balland trying to get the ball in the
(28:47):
air a little bit better. Now. He tried to do that again this
year and a lot of the resultswere on the ground pool side. So
I think he'll do a better jobof making the adjustments on his way back
from the rehab and again, aslong as he's a seven fifty seven forty,
he'll be a super PRODUCTI hitt atthe top that Liane up. Yeah,
he was on pace for over eightywalks when he got hurt, so
(29:07):
we'll see. I think JP Crawford'stime in Seattle has proven what he is
and I think he will be amuch better player when he comes back.
But they need him, they needeverybody healthy, and they have not had
a chance to put that lineup outthere much yet this year. Our dude,
great stuff. I'm sorry about yourthunder and we're talking a week all
right, pal, all right,good, all right? See him?
Man steven Susan Junior with some thoughtson the Ems, who opened a four
(29:30):
game series against the Yankees today.Your favorite segment, Hugh of the radio
program Fun with Audio Slash, Hay, did you hear that? With an
NBA twist. Next on ninety threeto three KJRFM, It's now time for
someday in Dick's Fun with Audio.Jimmy Gawn Star, Jimmy mister Garoppolo.
Now let's have some fun with audio. Alrighty, here we go big four
(29:55):
o'clock. Goury curras Sebold from Hten WHB and Kansas City join us and
give us the reaction out there tothe Harrison Butner controversy at four point thirty.
Also today on the radio show,we'll talk some Nuggets. Coming up
at five point thirty, we willhead to Denver, Colorado, your former
hometown by the way, you andtalk to Darren McKee from out the two
(30:17):
sports get their reaction to the Nugsdropping the series and thus giving up the
idea of a consecutive world title inDenver at five thirty tonight, All right,
right now on the radio show,it's time for a little fun with
audio slash. Hey did you hearthat? Hey, Hugh, did you
happen to hear that? What's that? Dick? We start in the NBA
or after their loss in Game sevenlast night to Minnesota, Nuggets head coach
(30:38):
Mike Malone stepped to the podium andwas asked by Bennett Derondo of the Denver
Post about absorbing the loss after leadingby twenty points. How hard is it
just to absorb a loss like thisafter going ahead by twenty nice question,
Man, the season is over.That's what's hard being up money, season's
(31:02):
over. You don't understand that theseason's over. It's hard. Stupid ask
questions. Uh here, You've donea lot of media people in your careers
play okay. So a lot ofpeople have said on social media things like
it was a dumb question and Malonehandled that appropriately. Others have said,
like me, that Michael Malone justcontinues every single day to show the country
(31:29):
what a world class jackass he reallyis. What you mean, A hundred
percent on your side, like Iyou know, for what it's worth,
I've been on both of those,you know, I've done the questions.
I've been asked the question. Ifyou started in the NFL, you're gonna
you're gonna face a lot of questions, you know. And and for the
Patriots, they say there's more beatwriters covering them than even the Giants.
(31:49):
Because of all the cities and townsin New England, so you know I've
I've you know, I've I've playedcrappy enough and lost off enough that I've
faced a lot of questions. Isthat that you know that that you know
if a guy's trying to get underyour skin or what have you. But
I mean, my god, that'san eminently reasonable question, right, you
(32:10):
can sting more stingore game correct?Yes? Yes? How is that not
a relevant question? It's a totallyrelevant question. Is it's It's right after
the game, right, This isnot like Wednesday and you're doing a season
review press conference. This is rightafter the game. Well, he had
(32:31):
the incident with the reporter yelled thathe yelled at the reporter saying his name
was Michael and not Mike. Hewent after a referee on the court during
the Lakers series, he went aftera fan during the Minnesota series behind the
bench, and now he had thisthing. I mean, there's more there.
I'm not following jackass. Yeah,I mean, if that's not nothing
(32:52):
else, I knew you could justsay. Anybody who's capable of having that,
right, I mean, I guesseverybody can make a mistake. If
if he came back the next dayand he said, look, I want
to make a public apology. Whatan ass I was? Uh, you
know I was in the wrong mood. I'm I need to be better.
I completely apologize, Like, like, there is a way you could dig
(33:14):
out of that, but I doubthe will. No, it's not as,
it's not as it's not as personalityto do that. He has not
proven that at all since he's beenthe coach of the Nuggets. All right,
h next up, Hey here didyou happen to hear that's that Dick?
We stay in the NBA. Aftertheir victory over the Nuggets, t
Wolve stars Karl Anthony Towns and AnthonyEdwards were asked by Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo
(33:35):
Sports about losing before they found successin twenty twenty four. This is way
the one of you guys, Andusually in an NBA history says you have
to lose and lose big before youwin. What is it about this team
that says we lost last year?Yeah, that's different. You have to
lose at a bigger stage. Usuallyteams us it's the playoffs. We lost
last year, we lost the lasttwo years. Damn what we gotta lose
(33:59):
much? You want us to lose? Lose for twenty years. I mean,
that's just the truth. So Ithink what he was getting at the
reporting view, and I can't speakfor the guy, is that, hey,
you make the conference finals, youmake the NBA Finals, you lose,
and then you win the whole thing. Blah blah blah. Yeah,
but they did lose in the firstround two years in a row, just
(34:22):
like the Sonics did, by theway, and then they made the NBA
Finals. This is only the secondtime since two thousand or sorry, since
nineteen ninety seven that the Timberwolves franchisehas won a playoff series. They made
the conference finals in two thousand andfour and now they're in the conference finals
in twenty twenty four. Every otheryear they've made the playoffs since ninety seven,
(34:45):
they've lost in the first round.Yeah. I get the question.
I think it's a fair question.I think it. You know, there's
some nuance to the question that theplayers didn't quite get. So I'm a
little bit on both of their Iunderstand the player's perspective. I didn't think
they were trying to think. Imean, think about home Gren was so
(35:06):
good with the media when he wasa coach, Like like if he was
asked a question that wasn't quite phraseright or didn't have the context right home
Gren could you know and a halfa second pause and say well, this
is what I think the guy means. He'd be very courteous and professional to
the media, and he'd answer itin a way that that was asking the
you know. And and I don'tthink those guys, Now, those guys
(35:28):
don't have the maturity of Mike Homegrinso so I think in that moment,
they weren't trying to say, well, oh, what you mean is is
we didn't we never got it asfar as the conference finals or you know,
it was all in good nature.I mean, it was good fun.
I mean, those guys are AnthonyEdwards. Anthony Edwards is fast becoming
the face of the NBA. Andmaybe he can't do that in a place
like Minneapolis, Minnesota. Maybe he'sgonna take off and go play for the
(35:51):
Lakers or the Knicks or Boston orwhoever. But Anthony Edwards can never If
you've never seen him play, dude, you got to check this guy out
because he is badass. I justgot one quick one here before the break.
Hey, here, did you happento hear that that Dick we go
to baseball on Saturday. Former WhiteSox infielder and former Mariner. By the
way, Gordon Beckham made his coloranalyst debut for NBC Sports Chicago after making
(36:13):
a slight mistake on an advertisement readNBC played by play voice John Shriffin defending
Beckham and in the process took ashot at radio hosts, Hey, it's
my first game. You're good.Don't worry about it. All good.
If any of those radio losers clipit and trying to make fun of you,
nobody cares about that, you knowwhat. He realized what he was
(36:35):
talking about. By the way,he's talking about you and me right now,
we're the radio losers that just clippedit and put on the air.
Were good. We're gonna break.We're gotta break. The Harrison Butcker thing
just will not go away. HWhat do you think meaning Hugh his reaction,
how would this play if you werein the same locker room as Harrison
Butcker? Next on ninety three threeKJRFL
This is an intentionally recount Holdroom threecorner Cord jam and Wills no better than
Las Mavericks. For the second timein three years. I'm going to the
Western Conference Finals. When you hitthunder, don't you get too scared.
Just grab your thunder buddy and saythese magic words you thunder. You can
(00:22):
You can't get me thunder because you'rejust God's fuss. Hey, we made
it F you thunder Day right hereon a Monday afternoon on ninety three three
KJR FM, Hugh Mellon, Happyf you thunder Day, my friend.
How are you pat? What ishappening? How are you? I'm good
man, even better after that?You right. People always ask me who's
(00:44):
your favorite NBA team, and Isay, who's playing the Thunder, And
that's my favorite NBA basketball team.So I'd like to think say thank you
to Jason kidd, Luca and theentire Maverick organization for saving us all the
grief. Yeah, gotta watch theOklahoma City Thunder and the Western Conference Finals.
Thank you to Dallas for pulling thatoff for us. Yeah. No,
I I get the sense that thatit's kind of sei life and death
(01:07):
for you. Uh and and Ithink I'm a little bit more measured along
the Dick Vane line of of yeah, every year you're whatever, however you
were impacted, it's got to dissipatesomewhat every year, right, And so
yeah, I think it was reallyhard when they had durant that that every
(01:30):
that was painful. I think it'sbeen less painful for me in that regard.
And and certainly it'll be a rivalryin my mind, and I think
a lot of people's mind when whenthe songs come back and and they'll have
that with Oka. See. Ican't wait for the first home game against
Okay see. But but I dothink that the sting dissipates. Yeah,
(01:52):
well not for me. You guyscan take that ridiculous take and shove it
up or you know what, becauseit's not gonna go anywhere for me.
You ever do something for a longperiod of time, Hugh, and after
about maybe five, ten, fifteen, twenty years, you kind of realize
you have no idea why you're evendoing it anymore. The thing for me,
the thunder hate has become such abig part of who I am as
a sports fan when it comes tomy DNA. As a sports fan like,
(02:15):
there's certain things, certain memories,certain scars, certain experiences that are
just kind of part of who youare, right, I mean, losing
to Denver in ninety four, theinterception against the Patriots, the victory against
the Broncos, the ninety five slidewith Edgar. There's just little things are
a part kind of a part ofyour DNA. And hating the Oklahoma City
Thunder for me is still to thispoint a massive part of who I am
(02:38):
as a sports fan. So Iagree with you that it's gonna be a
great rivalry when the Sonics come back, and they will come back. That
first game and even that first yearwhen the Thunder and the Sonics play together
in Seattle is gonna be unbelievable.So I'm always gonna find myself hating them.
I'm always gonna find myself hating HowardSchultz. Yeah, I'm always gonna
find myself hating Greg Nichols and neverever ever letting those guys off the hook,
(03:00):
because no matter what happens with theNBA back in town, one day
HU and they will come back againvery soon. We were robbed of Kevin
Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrookand who knows how many titles in this
city. So I'll never ever forgetthose sobs ever. Yeah, No,
I listened keenly to what you justsaid, and I think that's a very
sensible, reasonable, and more measuredtake than ripping every single person that doesn't
(03:25):
by the way, time out justin a second time. Why does everything
with you have to be measured?Why can't somebody just be irrational and you
just accepted it? Yeah, well, you know, I don't know.
I'm mostly irrational, but I'm nottrying to be all right, I'm trying
to be sensible from time. Butbut I think that No, I that
that is fair, that's a fairtake. Like, hey, that's how
(03:46):
it impacts me. And as you'vealways said, fan, how you want
a fan? Right? And youknow so, I'll tell you one thing.
I got one of my very bestfriends in life. We are best
friends in high school. I wasthe best man in his wedding talk all
the time, very very close,and he was the most ardent Sonic fan
that I know. Very successful guy. Now if he moved on from Seattle,
(04:09):
went to Roosevelt High School with me, he's got a very successful businessman
in San Diego. He is sucha strong Sonic fan that right from the
jump with no animosity, you're gonnayou're gonna, you're gonna cringe with that.
You might vomit when you hear whatI'm gonna say. He would.
He was an instant OKAC fan tothe extent that he got the NBA pass
(04:30):
and he's still DVRs ok C games, and for him, his Sonic love
was carried over to Okac. Now, I granted that is the vast,
vast, vast minority. But again, fan, how you want a fan?
I think for you, and ifwe can speak candidly, and I
don't mean this to be disparaging whatsoever, because I love you like a brother.
I think for you, uh uh. And as emotional as you are,
(04:55):
let's face it. Number one you'reliving is involved with sports. You
don't have kids, and and sothe passions that maybe were Dick's talking about,
like, hey, I just don'thave the bandwidth to keep my sports
hate up for okay. See youknow, some of those factors may be
a part of it. Or youmight have eight kids and okay and hate
(05:19):
okay, see just the same.I don't know, but but it is
interesting. We love you for it. That's that's who uh and and who
you are and what makes you you. But yeah, I just can't get
there. I was, but Ican't get there now. I totally understand
what you're saying about the bandwidth,because there's there's a lot of room left
in this brain for things like hatefor Oklahoma City Thunder. Yeah, when
(05:42):
you don't have kids, I mean, you've got two kids. Dick's got
two young kids. Your kids,you're in school, obviously, out of
the house, all that stuff.But when you're not, you know,
babysitting kids all day long, andyou're just more concerned about where your dogs
are, you have a lot oftime to think about stuff like that.
So I totally understand that. Ijust think again. For me, it's
it's it's been sixteen years, we'retalking almost two decades now since these guys
(06:03):
took off, and I have notbeen to a Starbucks since sixteen years.
My hate for the Oklahoma City Thunderhas not dissipated a bit. I still
love and completely enjoy watching those peoplefail. It's petty, no question about
it. But I can't get overit, and I don't think I'm ever
going to be able to get overit, because it's now such a huge
part of who I am. Sobig thanks to Dallas for ending that thing.
(06:25):
I think it would have been painfulas hell to watch these guys in
the NBA finals. And I gottabe honest with you, I had a
fear this year that with this younggroup of kids in Oklahoma City, including
SGA and Chad Comer, and thatmaybe this was the year where they'd be
able to kind of pull this thingoff because there's so much parody right now
in the NBA. And so Dallasending them when they did not even making
the conference finals was a huge relieffor me. Will Yeah, And so
(06:48):
you get relief, and we'll waitfor that rivalry. And look, I'm
root against Oklahoma sity my buddy Dean, he can do that all he wants.
I'm an anti thunder guy. Butyou know, for me, and
we've discussed in this in the past, I've mentioned this, this analogy,
I still think it's app It's beenmany years. I'll just say it again.
(07:10):
You know, I had a housein Huntington when when I was playing
for the Rams and they were stationedin Orange County, and the Huntington Pier.
Right, you know that you gotthe h the Manhattan bee'st Pier,
and you know there's various piers overthe ocean in southern California. Go out
on the piers and you look down, and you know those waters are frequented
by sharks. Now I've never seenone, but there could be. There's
(07:33):
great white sharks and and mak o'sand all kinds of stuff. Right,
if you're on one of those pierslooking down and you saw let's say,
like a four foot dorsal fin,like the biggest great white of all time,
you could just look there and watchin the total comfort of being on
top of that freaking stable pier.And the only reason that you're in danger
(07:56):
of that shark is if you decideto climb over the ledge and jump in.
Now you got a whole another setof problems, but it's not a
problem if you're on the pier.Jay Bennett was a shark. Everybody knew
that's a shark's nature. We knewwhat he was gonna do. It was
playing to anybody with any sensibility.And here we are, you know,
Shultz are standing there on the pier. It's not a problem, and we
(08:20):
as Seattle fans, are on thepier with them. Oh isn't that cute.
Look at that shark. Oh that'sa hell of a shark. Look
at him looking for food. Lookat him. Look at that predator just
swimming around trying to find prey.But the problem was is freaking Howard Schultz
made the decision. He got tipping. He didn't he didn't have the patience
to deal with with the political process, and he decided, oh screw it.
(08:43):
You know, you know, GaryPeyton doesn't want to hang out with
me, and I'm tired of dealingwith the city council and so I'm gonna
just jump in the freaking ocean.Well, now it's a problem because now
you're getting devoured by a predator.But you knew his nature from the beginning.
You had a safe position, anduntil he put it up, he
sold it to that guy, everythingwas fine. So to me, it's
not about okay, you know aboutit's it's about Howard souls. But this
(09:09):
is a reminder of all of thatis this is this is the door that
opens up every spring that reminds meof everything you just talked about. And
by the way, You may havenoticed this section as Hugh begun to use
that shark analogy and the peer analogy. As he kept talking and his little
commentary continued there, I could tellyou getting more and more pissed off as
(09:31):
the seconds went on, as youtold that little story there, your voice
was getting higher and higher. You'regetting louder. Oh yeah, you were
getting way. Your blood pressure wasgetting ways. Exactly So these every single
spring, when I have to watchthese sons of pictures play in the post
season every single year, I'm remindedof what we went through sixteen years ago.
(09:52):
So you you need an explanation ofwhy I hate these SOPs. That's
why we're gonna break. Steven SusanJunior will join Talks a Marina Baseball before
Game one against the Yankees today inNew York next on ninety three three KJRFM,
coming to you live from the ElliottAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three
point three KJRFM. This is ourweekly visit with former Mariners outfielders Steven Suza
(10:16):
Junior, powered by Taco Time.For all your favorites and to order ahead
from any Taco Time restaurant, downloadthe Taco Time Northwest app today from the
Apple App Store or the Google PlayStore. Taco Time a Pacific Northwest favorite
since nineteen sixty two. Now withSteven Susa Junior, here's Safti and missus
(10:37):
it intentionally redound home drown three CornerCourt, Davin Wims no by the Dallas
Mavericks for the second time in threeyears. I'm going to the Western Conference
finalists. When you hit Saba Thunder, don't you get to skid? Just
grab your Thunder, buddy and saythese magic words you Thunder, you can
(10:58):
get you can't get because all right, we only play that for one reason.
They're Hugh Malling because Steven Susan Juniorhad the gall last week. And
I appreciate the honesty, but thegoal to admit, as a former Sonic
fan that he was still indeed rootingfor the OKC Thunder. So I wonder
what made Steven Susan Jackson more forKlempt watching the Ems lose two out of
(11:22):
three to Baltimore or his beloved Thunderdropping one to the Mavericks over the weekend.
Steven, how are you a bow? What's going on? And by
the way, by the way,just for the record, that was Jackson's
idea, not mind, how areyou man? I'm doing good, I'm
not bad and touched to the thunder, so watch them lose. I'm okay.
(11:43):
But uh yeah, that was Itwas a tough series this weekend,
no doubt about it, no question. Good for us, bad for them,
which is good for me. ButSteven Sue's a junior with us courtesy
at Taco Time and Hugh milling herein for Dick Vane Stephen. But give
us your thoughts on what you sawover the weekend against against the Orioles.
A chance to kind of show whatyou can do against one of the premier
teams in baseball, and you droptwo out of three. Would you make
(12:07):
of what you saw this weekend inCamden Yards. Yeah, I think listen,
anytime you go to the East Coast, it's extremely difficult. When you
come from the East Coast to theWest coast, it's not as tough,
and then you're gonna go play oneof, if not the best team in
the American League. I think theywere. They were playing an uphill battle
to begin with, but listen,they stuck in a lot of those games,
(12:28):
and I thought they did a heckof a job battling back. There
was some you know, some keyplays that I think really turned the game.
And what I didn't like to seeis the ball on the ground.
A lot of the Mariners were hittingthe ball on the ground ton this series,
and they got to clean that up. Talk about the key plays that
made an impression on you, Yeah, I know, I just think,
(12:50):
uh, what I really loved wasCal coming through. That was clutch.
But you know, like Julio,there's a couple of situations there where Julio
hitting the ball on the ground tothe first base side, he just doesn't
look great, you know, Andand watching him in this series was crucial
for me. It was he lookslike he's getting ready in a place where
(13:13):
he's super disconnected, right And youknow, I'd love to talk about it
more, but we need him,honestly, to get going or this offense
is gonna being up and down offensiverest of the year. Well, we're
gonna talk about more about Julio andthat comment, But the first guy you
mentioned was Cal. I'm just curiousyour take when they sent Cal and he
(13:33):
was just you know, sitting duckat a carnival at home plate. What
did you ever react. I mean, I'm sitting there going, don't get
hurt, like, what are wedoing? Like, okay, give us
a baseball perspective on that play.Yeah, you know, it was a
basic to right field, and Ithink you got Corbyn Burns on the mound
right He's been really good and soyour runs are gonna come at a premium
(13:56):
with that type of picture on themound. So if I'm manniact, you
know, obviously Cal's not the fleetestof foot, that's not his strength on
a baseball field. But sometimes inthose moments you got to push the envelope
because trying to string multiple hits againstCorbyn Burns just nobody's really doing that this
year, and so you got to. You know, the Oils did a
(14:16):
great job keeping the ball down,making a good enough throw and they got
a Cal. So I don't reallyfault Manny for being aggressive there because if
it was their fifth starter, youknow, if it was Grayson Rodriguez,
hey maybe there's he would be alittle bit more passive there and let the
next guy come up. But guylike Corbyn Burns and the way he's been
rolling this year, I think youtake your chances. Well. Steven Suza
(14:39):
Junior with us courtesy at Taco Time. Chicken seas are soft, Taco chicken
sees are salad now, both availableon every single Taco Time restaurant. And
you mentioned Julio there, And Ithink we have a situation here, guys
and Steven, I'm curious to getyour take on this, and Hugh you
as well, where the numbers arekind of maybe not telling the whole story.
You know, Julio Rodriguez in thelast seven games is hitting four point
thirty the ten to twenty ops.He's hitting three h four In the month
(15:03):
of May, he went five forthirteen against the Baltimore Orioles. Yet you're
not paying Julio Rodriguez to hit singles. He's on pace so far for forty
eight RBIs and seven home runs.His power numbers are way down after forty
seven games compared to where they werelast year and where they were his rookie
year. So what's going on withthis guy? Talk more about that,
(15:26):
And is this a situation again,Steven, where maybe the numbers are not
really telling the entire story with thisguy? Yeah, you know, I
went and I took a deep diveinto him to try and figure out,
like, what's going on with thisguy? And I watched a bunch of
video from last year, and Iwatched a bunch of video from this year
to see if you do with somethings and then set up where's he going
wrong? And you know, tome, from my eye, it looks
(15:48):
like he's trying to make an intentionalmark to try and do less with the
ball and hopefully the strikeout numbers comedown the walk rate goes up. But
what's really happened is in his gatherhe's really not if you watch him tonight,
and maybe he cleans it up tonight, but consistently he's not getting into
his legs. He tips his batand it's kind of a casual rock to
(16:11):
get ready, and what it's doneis it's made him really late because he's
not getting his lower half ready toreally fire into the baseball, which that
violent swing that we're so used to. And I think, you know,
I think he was trying to makea positive change in the fact of like,
hey, I'm gonna tone it downa little bit because I have a
lot of power. But what's happenedis he's shutting his lower half down and
(16:33):
hitting the ball on the ground.Listen, if Julio couldn't run, we
would be talking about some really badnumbers because a lot of these hits are
infield hits that he's just beaten outwith his speed. So I think if
he was hitting singles and he's sittingthe ball hard all over the yard and
lining to the center field, that'sa completely different story. And I know
that he's doing a better job ofbeating those balls out. But the reality
(16:56):
is is he's got to drive theball. He's the number one player on
that offense that's got to get itgoing, and they're going to rely on
his MDP caliber offense in order toride him into the world too. Steven
Susan with a Steven, I'm surethat many of the golfers among us are
gonna have a somewhat similar take towhat I'm about to say and ask you
whether or not it applies to thebaseball swing in Julio. So for me
(17:21):
and I think many others, youget your very best drive when there's a
sense of Okay, I'm not gonnayank from the top, I'm just gonna
be a little bit. I'm gonnahave this feeling that I'm accelerating through.
Let the club head be used likea hammer, but don't yank from the
top, because then you cast theclub and you lose the kinetic energy.
(17:41):
Right, and you don't hit itas far because you're trying to You're trying
to kill it from the beginning,Right. Is it possible a does that
type of a dynamic play in thebaseball swing and be if it does in
any way, could it be partof the problem where Julio's trying so hard
that he's yanking you. I mean, you mentioned some other reasons, but
(18:03):
is that also a reason that couldbe in play. Yeah, So,
I think as far as those similaritiesin the swing, when you get to
the top of your golf when youkind of want to let it smoothly back
out right, come out and aroundthe top. As far as the baseball
swing, when you get to thetop of your gather, it's attack,
it's accelerate to the top of theclub. And that's why when baseball players
(18:25):
go and hit golf balls, theyslice a lot because they're so used to
being at the top and accelerting tothe ball. I think it's not so
much more at the top where theacceleration is the problem for Julio. It's
the intent to get ready. Ifyou watch, like if you go back
in the video from last year,there's just an immediate lower the hips are
(18:45):
loaded, bam, like he sitsin the ground. We're so used to
that now it's kind of a casualset and read the ball, and then
he's trying to catch up and explodeand it's too late, and so I
would rather have him be super earlythe rest of the year kind of find
it from that framework, as opposedto, Hey, I'm going to be
too casual and then try and catchup, so I don't chase as much.
(19:07):
I don't think that's too Leo Well, Steven Susan Junior with us again
courtesy Taco Time normally at five o'clock, but the EM's got the Yankees in
Game one coming up this afternoons,a little bit of an earlier start with
Steven here on the air. Fortyseven game mark, we're kind of getting
close to the one third poll ofthe Major League Baseball season. The standings
say that there is a clear differencebetween New York, Baltimore, Cleveland,
(19:29):
and maybe even Kansas City and therest of the al are we now convinced
that if the Mariners are going tomake the playoffs, they're going to have
to win this division to do it, because the rest of the league is
just too strong. Yeah. Notonly that, you just don't want to
go into Yankee Stadium, you don'twant to go to Baltimore and Kansas City
(19:51):
is a different type of ballparks.Now. I know we took care of
them at home and they looked reallygood in that series, But the reality
is, you want those home games. You want Luis to Steer or George
Kirby or Logan Gilbert to sit upon their home now and feel the most
comfortable going into those games. Youwant you want to make those guys travel
to play. That's the biggest thingto me. I do. I think
(20:11):
this team could win on the road, absolutely, but trying to trying to
go against New York right now andplay in the Bronx uh in the playoffs,
that is one of the toughest thingsyou'll have to do in your career.
So absolutely, I think the divisionshould be high priority. We saw
George Kirby get rocked around a littlebit yesterday. Seemed to me like,
you know, his fast stuff wasgetting hit, his breaking stuff was getting
(20:33):
hit, and what have you.Doesn't mean he's not a great pitcher.
Just give us if you were ona team coming in. Let's let's say
we'll just take the Yankees. You'rethe Yankees, you're a hitter on the
Yankees, and you have a scoutingreport on this pitching staff. Let's just
say for the hypothetical that you're you'regoing to go, you know it's a
five game series and you're going tosee all five of the starters. What
(20:56):
what is the current update on howteams would look at this pitching staff ace,
who's hit able? Where's the concernsthat those type of questions. I
think they would look at them like, hey, this is still one of
the best pising stats in the league. I mean, this is power stuff.
You're going to have to take advantageof the hitter scounts when you're getting
(21:17):
them, and I would be aggressiveearly, right, Like, you don't
want to fall into it with anyof these guys, whether it be Brian
Wu, Bryce Miller, George Loganor Casile. You don't want to fall
behind on these guys because they're putaway pitches are nasty. Now, I
think you want to be very selectivein what you want to do with these
guys, right Like, you haveto hit their mistakes because if you end
up going outside of the zone andtaking it trying to be a little bit
(21:41):
over aggressed, you're going to findthat you'll you'll be out really quickly with
these guys, they're just too good. The stuff is high octane, high
d low power breaking balls and theyexecute a high And now obviously obviously they
they struggled a little bit from timeto time. But if you're going to
win the Stie Young, you're gonnahave the opportunity to mess up, right
(22:03):
Like, you can't go thirty startsand have thirty starts where he's just absolutely
domb and nobody's ever done that.So these guys are still the best pitching
staff in the league in my opinion. I'm going to continue to do that.
Well, that's a good overview ofthe staff. Give us just a
half a sentence on each one,like how they differ from one another.
Yeah, So because the power stuffis power sinker, power slider with a
(22:26):
change up to to go against,and when he's locating, it's hittable,
I mean and simple if you getGeorge Kirby on the mount. It's just
power location, right, like thestuff his two steamer. But when he
is locating that two seamer and hittingthe spots, he just can't be beat.
(22:48):
He stays in the quadrants, thefour quadrants on the outside, the
upper, inner, and top downmost of his ads, and he's got
to be Logan is super extensive.Yeah right, Steve, Steven, your
phone's breaking up. I'm gonna putyou back on hold for a second half.
Jackson grab you were getting a littlebit of an issue with your cell
phone there. You guys know thisone of my biggest pet peeves in radio.
(23:10):
How much this drives me freaking crazy. But when it does happen,
I just kind of keep calm andjust keep you cool, stay a professional.
So Jackson will get him back onhold there in a second. And
I think all of us agree asthis pitching staff has the potential to be
elite. I do wonder at times, and I want to ask Steven this
question when he comes back on hold. Hugh, you've played team sports before.
I wonder how much the lack ofoffense just kind of inevitably gets to
(23:33):
you. If you're Logan Gilbert,if you're George Kirby, Bryce Miller,
Brian Wu, Luis Castillo, whoever, so Steven's back, will ask him.
You were talking about these pictures andkind of breaking them all down.
How much does the lack of offenseyou think inevitably even subconsciously creep into their
minds knowing they have to be superduper fine in order to win these games
because the offense so far just isn'tthere. Yeah, you know, I
(23:59):
think the guys have a good identityof who they are. I don't think
that they mind themselves too much aboutthe offense. Now. They shouldn't have
to carry the burden like this forthis many years. I mean, this
is crazy, But the reality isis they know how good they are the
staff. I think Service has saidit many times in press conferences that this
is a team that's going to relyon their pitching staff, and they embrace
that identity. And it's just thefact that when they give it up,
(24:23):
it's hard for this team to winthose games. And so to ask them
to do that all year long,I don't think it's fair, but we
do have to give them grace whenthey give it up because they're so dominant
for most of their outings. Whatabout Haggarty and the torn achilles. Obviously
we're all saddened by him on apersonal level, but how does the team
(24:45):
replace him? What do you missmost from him? And how do you
see whatever that void is being filled? Yeah, I think can Zone has
done a good job of that,right, Like it's super unfortunate with and
he brings such a unique skill setof versatility and speed with a switch hitting
(25:06):
combination that's just really hard to find, you know. And he's done a
good job transition to the outfield whenthey needed him there to play. So
all the best of him and hopehe comes back. But you know,
I see this this kind of lineupwhere Luke Raley kind of starts to begin
to slide over the first base andDominic can Zone starts to get more at
bats in the outfield. Is Asraelistarting to have a better month. But
(25:29):
Dominic Canzone he's made some adjustments inhis swing. Him and Brian Brown or
JD have made some adjustments where it'sa lot smoother in his gathering. He's
having the ability to impact the baseballconsistently, you know, And I think
we saw that at times last year. But this is just chance, right,
This is a chance to take advantageof the opportunity and run with it
well. And it's also a chanceto get this lineup looking the way it
(25:52):
was supposed to look. I meanwhen we all envisioned the bullpen over the
offseason, it was brash, itwas Santos, right, it was Munno's,
it was sarcito. Is everybody togetherout there doing their thing and that's
not going to happen because two ofthose guys are banged up and maybe both
of them are out for the year. But JP Crawford's back, Steven,
He's in New York. He's notin the lineup as of tonight, but
(26:12):
he has been activated. Leo Revas, who got a cup of coffee,
is going back down to the miners, but he hasn't played since the twenty
third of April. So this lineupthat Jerry Depoto has put together has barely
had a chance to even play together. Give us your thoughts on getting JP
Crawford back, probably tomorrow in thelineup and what that could mean for these
(26:32):
guys. Yeah, you know,he really is the fuel for the engine.
I mean, at the top ofthe lineup. He just works such
a good at bad. He's stillpatient. He takes such a veteran quality
at that over and over. Nosituation never gets too big for him.
So having him back, and Iknow he struggled early on, but you
know, I think consistency, consistentlyover the last couple of years, he's
(26:53):
shown that he is a fourth atbat to the top of the lineup.
I think you need him for thestability at shortstop and his leadership that he
brings in there. So having himback is huge. But you know what,
I thought, Dylan Moore did anunbelievable job though, and then Leo
Revas did a good job and DylanMoore same thing. Has found some adjustments
in his swing to be successful rightnow, Okay, just one follow up
(27:18):
on that with JP. You know, he's just under the Mendoza at one
ninety eight. Last year he hadan eight eighteen OPS, which is more
than a hundred points higher than anyother year that he'd had in his career.
So are you all concerned that therewas a little bit of for him
kind of regressing to his norm.I'm not saying one ninety eight because he's
(27:41):
never been below two hundred but lastyear was definitely a career year. I
mean, I mean, we havethis image of what we think he can
be and want him to be,but he really was only that one time.
Yeah, you know, I thinkin the terms of baseball, right,
if that's his best year, Idon't think he's going to regress to
a six to eighty OPS. Youknow, if he regretses to somewhere in
(28:03):
the seven forty seven to fifty,he's still a really good player because of
the value that he brings on defense. And the thing that JP, the
reason why his OPS is so highis he walks in absolute ton right,
like he's at the top of thelineup and he's getting on base. I
think he was in the top tenfor the American League and walks almost watching
this year for sure. But howmany at bats do we have. We
(28:26):
don't have that many at bats enoughto judge him and the real exactly right.
So let's let's look at two hundredat backs and let's say, hey,
here's what we got. This isJP this year, at least the
start. I think he's going todo a fantastic job. He made them
to your point, Hugh, hemade some adjustments last year and his swing
to really start rotating around the balland trying to get the ball in the
(28:47):
air a little bit better. Now. He tried to do that again this
year and a lot of the resultswere on the ground pool side. So
I think he'll do a better jobof making the adjustments on his way back
from the rehab and again, aslong as he's a seven fifty seven forty,
he'll be a super PRODUCTI hitt atthe top that Liane up. Yeah,
he was on pace for over eightywalks when he got hurt, so
(29:07):
we'll see. I think JP Crawford'stime in Seattle has proven what he is
and I think he will be amuch better player when he comes back.
But they need him, they needeverybody healthy, and they have not had
a chance to put that lineup outthere much yet this year. Our dude,
great stuff. I'm sorry about yourthunder and we're talking a week all
right, pal, all right,good, all right? See him?
Man steven Susan Junior with some thoughtson the Ems, who opened a four
(29:30):
game series against the Yankees today.Your favorite segment, Hugh of the radio
program Fun with Audio Slash, Hay, did you hear that? With an
NBA twist. Next on ninety threeto three KJRFM, It's now time for
someday in Dick's Fun with Audio.Jimmy Gawn Star, Jimmy mister Garoppolo.
Now let's have some fun with audio. Alrighty, here we go big four
(29:55):
o'clock. Goury curras Sebold from Hten WHB and Kansas City join us and
give us the reaction out there tothe Harrison Butner controversy at four point thirty.
Also today on the radio show,we'll talk some Nuggets. Coming up
at five point thirty, we willhead to Denver, Colorado, your former
hometown by the way, you andtalk to Darren McKee from out the two
(30:17):
sports get their reaction to the Nugsdropping the series and thus giving up the
idea of a consecutive world title inDenver at five thirty tonight, All right,
right now on the radio show,it's time for a little fun with
audio slash. Hey did you hearthat? Hey, Hugh, did you
happen to hear that? What's that? Dick? We start in the NBA
or after their loss in Game sevenlast night to Minnesota, Nuggets head coach
(30:38):
Mike Malone stepped to the podium andwas asked by Bennett Derondo of the Denver
Post about absorbing the loss after leadingby twenty points. How hard is it
just to absorb a loss like thisafter going ahead by twenty nice question,
Man, the season is over.That's what's hard being up money, season's
(31:02):
over. You don't understand that theseason's over. It's hard. Stupid ask
questions. Uh here, You've donea lot of media people in your careers
play okay. So a lot ofpeople have said on social media things like
it was a dumb question and Malonehandled that appropriately. Others have said,
like me, that Michael Malone justcontinues every single day to show the country
(31:29):
what a world class jackass he reallyis. What you mean, A hundred
percent on your side, like Iyou know, for what it's worth,
I've been on both of those,you know, I've done the questions.
I've been asked the question. Ifyou started in the NFL, you're gonna
you're gonna face a lot of questions, you know. And and for the
Patriots, they say there's more beatwriters covering them than even the Giants.
(31:49):
Because of all the cities and townsin New England, so you know I've
I've you know, I've I've playedcrappy enough and lost off enough that I've
faced a lot of questions. Isthat that you know that that you know
if a guy's trying to get underyour skin or what have you. But
I mean, my god, that'san eminently reasonable question, right, you
(32:10):
can sting more stingore game correct?Yes? Yes? How is that not
a relevant question? It's a totallyrelevant question. Is it's It's right after
the game, right, This isnot like Wednesday and you're doing a season
review press conference. This is rightafter the game. Well, he had
(32:31):
the incident with the reporter yelled thathe yelled at the reporter saying his name
was Michael and not Mike. Hewent after a referee on the court during
the Lakers series, he went aftera fan during the Minnesota series behind the
bench, and now he had thisthing. I mean, there's more there.
I'm not following jackass. Yeah,I mean, if that's not nothing
(32:52):
else, I knew you could justsay. Anybody who's capable of having that,
right, I mean, I guesseverybody can make a mistake. If
if he came back the next dayand he said, look, I want
to make a public apology. Whatan ass I was? Uh, you
know I was in the wrong mood. I'm I need to be better.
I completely apologize, Like, like, there is a way you could dig
(33:14):
out of that, but I doubthe will. No, it's not as,
it's not as it's not as personalityto do that. He has not
proven that at all since he's beenthe coach of the Nuggets. All right,
h next up, Hey here didyou happen to hear that's that Dick?
We stay in the NBA. Aftertheir victory over the Nuggets, t
Wolve stars Karl Anthony Towns and AnthonyEdwards were asked by Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo
(33:35):
Sports about losing before they found successin twenty twenty four. This is way
the one of you guys, Andusually in an NBA history says you have
to lose and lose big before youwin. What is it about this team
that says we lost last year?Yeah, that's different. You have to
lose at a bigger stage. Usuallyteams us it's the playoffs. We lost
last year, we lost the lasttwo years. Damn what we gotta lose
(33:59):
much? You want us to lose? Lose for twenty years. I mean,
that's just the truth. So Ithink what he was getting at the
reporting view, and I can't speakfor the guy, is that, hey,
you make the conference finals, youmake the NBA Finals, you lose,
and then you win the whole thing. Blah blah blah. Yeah,
but they did lose in the firstround two years in a row, just
(34:22):
like the Sonics did, by theway, and then they made the NBA
Finals. This is only the secondtime since two thousand or sorry, since
nineteen ninety seven that the Timberwolves franchisehas won a playoff series. They made
the conference finals in two thousand andfour and now they're in the conference finals
in twenty twenty four. Every otheryear they've made the playoffs since ninety seven,
(34:45):
they've lost in the first round.Yeah. I get the question.
I think it's a fair question.I think it. You know, there's
some nuance to the question that theplayers didn't quite get. So I'm a
little bit on both of their Iunderstand the player's perspective. I didn't think
they were trying to think. Imean, think about home Gren was so
(35:06):
good with the media when he wasa coach, Like like if he was
asked a question that wasn't quite phraseright or didn't have the context right home
Gren could you know and a halfa second pause and say well, this
is what I think the guy means. He'd be very courteous and professional to
the media, and he'd answer itin a way that that was asking the
you know. And and I don'tthink those guys, Now, those guys
(35:28):
don't have the maturity of Mike Homegrinso so I think in that moment,
they weren't trying to say, well, oh, what you mean is is
we didn't we never got it asfar as the conference finals or you know,
it was all in good nature.I mean, it was good fun.
I mean, those guys are AnthonyEdwards. Anthony Edwards is fast becoming
the face of the NBA. Andmaybe he can't do that in a place
like Minneapolis, Minnesota. Maybe he'sgonna take off and go play for the
(35:51):
Lakers or the Knicks or Boston orwhoever. But Anthony Edwards can never If
you've never seen him play, dude, you got to check this guy out
because he is badass. I justgot one quick one here before the break.
Hey, here, did you happento hear that that Dick we go
to baseball on Saturday. Former WhiteSox infielder and former Mariner. By the
way, Gordon Beckham made his coloranalyst debut for NBC Sports Chicago after making
(36:13):
a slight mistake on an advertisement readNBC played by play voice John Shriffin defending
Beckham and in the process took ashot at radio hosts, Hey, it's
my first game. You're good.Don't worry about it. All good.
If any of those radio losers clipit and trying to make fun of you,
nobody cares about that, you knowwhat. He realized what he was
(36:35):
talking about. By the way,he's talking about you and me right now,
we're the radio losers that just clippedit and put on the air.
Were good. We're gonna break.We're gotta break. The Harrison Butcker thing
just will not go away. HWhat do you think meaning Hugh his reaction,
how would this play if you werein the same locker room as Harrison
Butcker? Next on ninety three threeKJRFL
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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