March 26, 2025 • 29 mins
In the second hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with Petros Papadakis about the hype surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers, plus Bronny James and Troy Taylor, then they talk to Mariners first baseman and outfielder Luke Raley before Opening Day.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation with college football analyst
Petros Papa Nakas.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Not that I'm a smart guy, I'm stupid.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Brought to you by Sweet James Accident Attorneys forty one.
If you're hurting an accident, called Sweet James right away
at eight hundred, five hundred and fifty two hundred. Sweet
James will be sweet to you, but tough on insurance
companies that will bully you.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Don't know bo.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Now with Petros, here's Dave's softy muller.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
All right, if boys and girls, here we go on
a beautiful Wednesday afternoon day before Opening Day. Baby right
here on ninety three three KJIRFN cannot wait until tomorrow.
The A's the Mariners will get it on Game one.
I've won sixty two, but a guy whose team is
already I believe two zero.
Speaker 5 (00:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
After a couple of wins in Japan over the Chicago Cubs,
the Prince of Piskin, what half the fabled legendary Petros
and Money show in Southern California. Father of the Month,
husband of the Year, my friend, and one damn fine
Greek American Petros Papadocus brought to you bye yea.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
That would be the one and only Sweet James, the
dense bearded justice, who can come through for you. You know,
if you've ever been in a car accident or a
motorcycle accident, or maybe you've been bitten by a dog,
whatever has happened, even if your house burned down, Sweet
James can come through for you.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
They have a massed over a billion dollars for thousands
of clients over the years, and you could be their
next success story.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Give him a call at eight hundred nine million. That's
eight hundred and nine zero zero zero zero zero zero.
Hello softy, you're gonna go to Opening Day? Is it
at Mariners Park or wherever?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
The Yeah, it's a Tea Mobile park? Is the name
used to be the bigger field? Who goes to Team Mobile?
Remember Catherine Zeta Jones used to do their commercials? Do
I do?
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Yeah, I'm just like some English guy with stylishly long hair.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'm not a T Mobile customer, but yeah, they're uh,
they sponsored the ballpark.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Out here, all right, Well, good for you.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Then, yeah, you know what else happened? By the way,
speaking of ballparks and stadiums in Seattle, twenty five years ago.
Today they blew up the Kingdome.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Oh my gosh, were you there for that?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
I was right across the street watching from the left
field deck of Safego Field.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
That seems like something you would do a show for. Yeah, right, right,
But that's a big deal to blow up the Kingdome.
The Steve Largin's built, that's.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Right, Alston, Steve Largin, Jim Zorn, I'm Jacob Green.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Did Sean Alexander ever play in the Kingdome? Uh? No,
he did not.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
He did not play in the Kingdome.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
No, all right, Well, who's coming to town? Are you
going to go out and get drunk and make a
fool of yourself and be past out by the third inning?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Well, a'mout working Friday, so maybe all right?
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Well, good luck.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I got Friday off for basketball. Hey, what the hell, man,
the Dodgers people are fired up for them. They got
the super team going on. You talk a lot Dodger
baseball on your big time radio showdown.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
There, Well, softy, since I can tell you want to
keep with the baseball topic. Yes, the Dodgers are a
big They're a big Can you imagine that the Dodgers
are a big deal? I don't think anybody foresaw.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I mean, it was a sexy or cool talking point
to make when the Dodgers signed Otawanni, to say, and.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
It's a business move, and this is more than just
a baseball player. This is an entire global key to
a whole new market, right.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I mean, people said those things, and yeah, you knew
they were true, and you just kind of took them
with all the other talking points about Otani to the Dodgers.
But now that you kind of see it in action
and you see what it actually means, and the fact
that Tani is a bigger deal than maybe any Dodger
(04:04):
ever in the history of our lifetime other than Jackie Robinson.
That's a pretty big statement there, man.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
I mean Jackie Robinson of course, and the story that
changed baseball forever, but Shoe Otani and the global inference
of what he's doing and how much it means to
what was already I mean, we're talking about what was
already one of the most recognized franchises in the history
of sports, which is the Dodgers, Brooklyn Dodgers, Los Angeles Dodgers.
(04:33):
They're up there with the Lakers and the Yankees, and
we all just saw what the Celtics sold for and
they don't even own their stadium, I don't think. And
they sold for what six point one billion dollars? So
you see how much the Dodgers are worth and when
they were. And remember it wasn't that long ago, maybe
(04:54):
thirteen fourteen years ago that baseball, which is very rare
MLB baseball under Bud Selig created an owner's coup to
dethrone or basically strip Frank McCort of the Dodgers and
get him away from the franchise and sell it to
(05:15):
this Chicago Guggenheim group. And you can't say that these
guys aren't playing like three D checkers and everybody else
is playing connect for the deferred contracts and and you know,
they make a ton of money. I mean they make
a ton of money for what they sell at Dodger Stadium.
For how much tickets are the TV deals. The Otani
(05:38):
jerseys are three hundred and fifty dollars a pop.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I saw they made four million dollars a game
last year, by the way.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
The shirts, the T shirts. An Otani T shirt jersey
is sixty five dollars. Wow.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Wow, So they're making money but the one thing they
are doing is they are they're putting that money back
into the franchise, right. You know, they're signing everybody they
can possibly think of. They're pitching staff always has some
guy that has Tommy John that is coming back that
used to be in the starting rotation. This year it's
(06:15):
Dustin May, it's Tony gonselin the cat Man, and all
those things are happening, and yet they still go out
and sign two times Cy Young winner Blake Snell last year.
You know, they have their pitchers, they have all their things,
and then they turn around and sign Tyler Glass now.
So they're never they're never satisfied. You know, they win
(06:38):
a World Series, you think they're gonna blow up the
team and not want to pay guys more that we're
even really endearing to this team, and they still go
out and bring back ti Oscar Hernandez. So it is
a pretty remarkable thing to see what they're doing. But
it is also very interesting. I mean, the Dodgers. You
never would say the Dodgers were ever struggling, right, I
(07:00):
Mean maybe they didn't win a World Series since nineteen
eighty eight, but in our lifetimes it's been the most
visited sport year in and year out on Earth is
Dodger Stadium and Dodger Baseball and the Latino fan base
and so on and so forth. But when we first
started doing the Dodger stuff, Softy, I mean, we were
(07:22):
out there ten games a month maybe, I mean we
were out there all the time, back to back days
for home stands. We had a whole setup with our desk.
And now they don't need us there. They don't really
want us there. It's not easy for us, even though
we're the flagship radio station to get credentialed. I mean,
(07:43):
the amount of media following the Dodgers, the amount of
space that's at the stadium that they don't use for
anything anymore other than advertising or to shove more people
and do to charge more money for tickets is pretty remarkable.
They are a cash cow.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
The Strip Club in a spring breakdown, Well, I didn't
mean to make it all about baseball and atani. I
just thought though, that was a great history lesson by you.
I mean, you know, sometimes we get accused here on
this segment of just talking about you know, boogers and
wieners and goofing around and being sophomoric and stupid, and
I thought that was a really great little history lesson
(08:20):
you gave us.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
There, man, So well, it is it is interesting. I mean,
you know your stuff. There's even more, you know. I
mean when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in the fifties,
they started playing in the Colisseum and they won a
World Series playing in the Coliseum with the Wally Moon
teams with the Wally Moon shot ye vally unbelievable unibrow
Anthony Davis like unibrow on Wally Moon. But you know,
(08:43):
it's very controversial in LA. They moved a giant Latino
population out of Chavez Ravine. Chavez Ravine was kind of
like Alvera Street where you went to buy you know,
Latin nick knacks and things like that. And they moved
all those people out to build the stadium and related
the city council and this and that, and it was
a long standing kind of beef between the Dodgers and
(09:07):
the Latino community in Los Angeles. And you know how
that got erased. Huh Fernando Mania, Oh yeah, right, you know,
Fernando Mania began and suddenly, you know, the Dodgers became
the most endearing team to any Latin I mean in
Latin America.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
The LA Dodgers are the team of record for for
anybody who's Hispanic or Latino. So it's it's pretty remarkable
how that changed as well. You know, the Beach Boys
got moved too. They used to live where the one
oh five Freeway is now. I think you told me
that when Fernando passed away, you gave us that little nutt.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Yeah, well there you go. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well look I'm I'm I'm excited for you guys down there.
We're hoping.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Well, it's kind of no fun, you know. I mean
when they win, and they win every night, it's kind
of like, okay.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, that kind of sucks. Right, Yeah, why do you
crimea river man? We're Mariners are coming off a very
disappointing year and they got a great pitching staff. I'll
find out about the offense. And don't even know if
Opening Day is going to sell out tomorrow, So, well.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Who's your GM? Is it to Poto or Cadesta? It's
one of those.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Jerry Depoto is the president of Baseball Operations and you.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Don't like him, right? Are you in bad terms with him?
So much to wear he did on the show anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Well, he hasn't come on with us in a while.
I don't think he's in a hurry to come on
the show. If you know what I mean, I'd put
him on. I got no problem with putting.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
You guys are very critical of him in the way
he handles the Maria.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I would say, I would say, we're critical in some ways,
but we're more critical of the ownership than we are
of him. You know, it is a very it's an
interesting conundrum, you know, because everybody in baseball is making
a lot of money. I mean, anybody who owns a
professional sports team. It wasn't always like back in the day,
owning a professional sports team was more of a vanity
(10:48):
play for billionaires. And not that it's not still a
vanity play, but it's it's it's profitable. They all make
money every single way. Why do you think, why do
you think Russell Wilson stuck money into a soccer team
because you love soccer.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
They make money, they make money. But that that that
being pointed out, uh, they don't make them put the
money back into the team. Right in the world of
pro sports because and that's what's even more and more
interesting about what happened with the Dodgers and Frank McCort
because the owners, even if they don't like each other,
(11:25):
even though they compete against each other, they are are
They are the most peer most like each other of
any of the peer groups that control sports. These billionaire
guys have a real tendency to protect the hell out
of each other. You know, if one of them goes
down for going to the Asian house, you know, and
like Robert Kraft, you know, then they're all going down.
(11:47):
You know what I mean. They want to protect each
other from being embarrassed, so you know, you know what
I'm saying. So, I mean, they don't make each other
generally do anything r which makes it even more crazy
that they all got together and Houston Frank McCory.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Well, they just don't like, they don't like telling each
other what to do. Yeah, you know, in case one
day somebody wants to do something, they want to have
full authority and autonomy and do whatever they want. But uh, yeah,
I mean it's a good u good eleven minutes on baseball.
I mean, hell, you filled half the segment there. I
was gonna ask you about Bronni dropping thirty nine in
the G League the other day.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Would you know who's been the leading scorer in the
G League the last few Bron's coming back with his
podcast with Steve Nash. Yeah, you gotta be fired up
for that, baby. Uh, do you know who's score? Who's
like the leading scorer in the G League these days?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I Bronnie had no idea. No, it's Max McClung. Yeah,
you can't even get into the league, right, Not an
NBA player. He can be in the Dunk contest though.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yes, not an NBA player. Not an NBA player.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
So you're saying that Bronni is not a Look, I
don't care.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
I'm just tired of the meet. There's so much medium manipulation.
If he's so good, if he's put him back in
the NBA. Go put him in the first quarter of
a game, and on the road and the Philadelphia and
what happens again, He'll put him in in the first
quarter of an NBA game.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Let's do that again, let him play forty minutes. See
what happened. Yeah, go get out there. Yeah, put him.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
I'm just so tired of it.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
The real thing though, I mean, no one ever said
that the guy was incapable of defending himself on a
basketball court. Sure, but that being said, this could actually
be a great story if he was doing what he's
supposed to be doing and playing in college right now
and developing and learning the sport in that way. But
(13:29):
instead it's got to be a vanity play for his dad,
and all of his successes and all of his failures
have to be overly documented by idiots like us, and
it becomes tiresome. And the next time a guy scores
thirty in the G League name not named Brownie James,
I don't want to hear about it, because we never
hear about it. There's a reason, because no one wants
(13:50):
to hear about it because it doesn't matter. You know,
if you go play garbage time in an NBA game
after they strategically place an athletic art that makes it
seem like you're a sympathetic figure for some reason, but
you're the father is the one that created this entire situation.
I'm just tired of being manipulated and I'm tired of Look.
(14:10):
I got up late this morning. I was supposed to
do an interview at five am, right with fine stage,
and I woke up at five am, right, so you
know I'm down here, my mouth is dry. I gotta
go to the bathroom. And you know, what do you
think about Roddy who he's going to the Julia Games?
It's like could we die? Like could you not? Can
we not be victims of this every single time? Anyway?
(14:35):
So bru yourself together. It's opening day tomorrow. I know
I'm fired up. Do you know who you guys are playing?
The A's Can you name one guy on that team?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
No?
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Can you?
Speaker 5 (14:45):
I know they have a lady announcer.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Sort of the Tacoma Right Ears. They hired a new
twenty three year old gal Riley pay. She's very very good.
By the way, forty one you it's Beth Mowens.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
By the way.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Sam Darnold was on with Ian Ferness yesterday our our
midday guy, and he played that clip.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
For oh really, were you pissed off that you didn't
get him?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
No, I'm cool with that. Ian does a good job.
Asked him if he remembered how long his first touchdown
pass was, and he said forty five yards.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Forty one yards, So he was wrong.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
He was wrong. Didn't even know his first pass was
forty one yards. Hey, by the way, what happened to
our guy Troy Taylor? Remember he was Jake Browning's high
school coach at Balsom. Apparently he went to college and
he became a creep and Andrew Luck just fired him.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
I don't know if he's a creep, but he's probably
an ay hole.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
But did you not hear about what he was doing?
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Well, what specifically did he do?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
So I don't know specifics he was making. Apparently, according
to ESPN dot com, Yeah, he made some comments. It's
him inappropriate comments. There's some feedmaes, look, I get it
and do it twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
And it's Stanford, which is not a place where you
can really get loose, you know' that's not you tap.
Let's just put it like that.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
So you get away with that stuff at you tep
and I'll pass, you know, I don't. I don't know exactly.
I mean, every football coach I ever played for was
an a hole in one way or another.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
I mean, that's it's.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Who is the biggest one? Biggest one?
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Oh you gotta go deep, I mean, way, just come
just broke. We had a decordinator. He was the head
coach at San Jose State for a short time, not
San Jose State, somewhere else. Keith Burns.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Tough to be around.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
But you know, there's a lot over the years that
you just come across. I mean, it's a it's a
tough sport. You're moving from place to place, you have
a family, you're recruiting, you're traveling all the time. You know,
one year you could live in La next year you
could live in Corvallis, the next year you could live
in College Station. I mean, it's not an easy life.
And these guys are really you know, deep, they're saying
(16:51):
all the right things, but in many ways they're scratching
and clawing over each other like wild drowning rats to
get the next job because you can, well you could
easily get fired like that. And you could be a
really great coach and be connected with a head coach
that doesn't have success or doesn't have enough success for
whatever the situation is, and get fired and now you're
moving to El Paso again. You know, that's not an
(17:14):
easy life. So I don't want to give these guys
too much grief. But Troy Taylor, I mean, he's a
capable play caller. I knew that he's a former cal quarterback, right, right, correct?
So I mean it's at Stanford where they have like
eight teachers per student, and I'm not even kidding. I mean,
(17:35):
you can't. You really do have to be a certain
kind of David Shaw buttoned up. And the Troy Taylor
story doesn't really tell me anything about Troy Taylor. I mean,
I'm not surprised when a football coach turns out to
be a little bit rough around the edges, or you know,
what's inappropriate today is certainly different than what was inappropriate
many years ago. But it really does boggle my mind.
(18:00):
Long Harbass survived there, and not only that Harbaugh survive there,
but flourished there and was able to manipulate the administration
as far as the admissions board goes to get who
he wanted into the school. You know, it's not like
he got a bunch of bloods and Cripson or anything
like that, but he definitely was able to get people in.
(18:22):
And Stanford has the toughest admissions for any athletic kind
of endeavor that you can think of. So, I mean,
it tells me less about Troy Taylor and It makes
me wonder how Harbass survived so long at Stanford being
the abrasive. You know, he was younger too, and a
lot more competitive, and he was a really fiery guy
(18:45):
at USD. But I'm sure Troy Taylor will emerge somewhere
calling plays for somebody, and if he has success, he'll
be a head coach again and there'll be a big
feature on ESPN or Fox, depending on what he goes
to about how he's turned it all around.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
All right, man, good stuff. Enjoy the rest of the
week with the Dodgers back in town tomorrow at home
of Chavezerne. Yes, yeah, Detroit Tigers, and I'll be there.
I don't know what Troy Taylor said, you know what
I mean, right right. I don't know if there was
like some big girl like serving water and he called
her a manatee or something like that.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
You know what I'm saying. I don't do.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I feel you all right, man, good stuff, And if
I had more details, I'd be able to make less.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Broad brought him a judgment of morning.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Maybe next week we'll dig well, I'll call my Stanford context.
We'll dig a few up. All right, good stuff, and
we'll talk in a week. Enjoy the game of Marl
Palll go get him. Yeah whatever, se Man, Betross Papadakas
with us, We're gonna break a lot more to get to.
On a busy, busy Wednesday, Larry Stone, courtesy of the RAM,
is back at five tonight. Baby, right here on ninety
(19:55):
three three kJ RFM, Larry Stone.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
To the exclusive home of the Huskies, the cracking and
march madness. Now back to SOFTI indig proudly brought to
you by Emerald Guin Casino on Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ r FM.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
This is into the quarter and really tagged well back
and up to the second deck. Luke Raley, that is
an opposite field to halt run and it's true as
four man that was punished.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Oh this is smash lace all.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
Right, field of Screamer just gets over the wall. Look
rally with an absolute rocket over the face and the Mariners.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Take the lead. All right, what do you saying? We
head down to t Mobile Park. Big thanks and Petros
for joining us on the radio show. Larry Stone coming
up at five courtesy of the RAM. But joining us
right now in the radio program. The m's having a
workout right now at team all. We'll getting ready for
tomorrow's opening night. Marriner first baseman, slash outfield or slash
do everything man. Luke Rayley joining us right now on
(21:02):
the radio program.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
Luke, how are you, man?
Speaker 6 (21:05):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Can't complain.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah, good man, I appreciate you doing this. Thanks for
jumping on. And let's just first of all, talk about this, man.
I mean, the fans get all jacked up, the media
is getting all jacked up for opening Day. There's something
special about opening day in baseball compared to other sports
around the country.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
What's the anticipation like in that clubhouse? What's it like
for you right now?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Man?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, just a lot of excitement. Myself personally, couldn't be
more excited to be back your first second year and
just get things rolling again. And how the team's really
excited to get back out there. I think we have
a really good team and we're going to, you know,
go out there and try to take care of business.
Speaker 7 (21:45):
We'll evaluate your season last year because I mean, twenty
two bombs nearly an eight hundred ops. I mean that's
a pretty good start for your first year in in Seattle.
How do you think it went last season for you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, I think it was kind of an up and
down years. Times where I was really good at the plate,
and there's times that I wasn't. So I think just
throughout the off season my plan was to just kind
of be more consistent, not not go through the so
many peace and valleys. So yeah, that's just just kind
(22:17):
of it. I think that there were some really good
things and some things that I could clean up.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Well, Luke Rayley is with us. I want to ask
you about those things you want to clean up in
just a second. But Dick Luke mentioned your near eight
hundred ops last year, and I'm looking at your splits
and something's wrong here because they look kind of backwards
to me. You had a nine to oh one ops
at home at a six sixty six ops on the road. Wow,
(22:43):
that's supposed to be flipped because everybody says you can't hit,
you know.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
At Tea Mobile Park. So how did you do that?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
How did you get comfortable at Tea Mobile Park to
end up having that kind of a year in what
is supposed to be a pictures ballpark.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, I think it's just one of those things I said,
like the ups and down It's like, I just think
that that a lot of the ups happened at t Mobile,
and I don't necessarily think it had anything to do
with the park. It was more, you know, like felt
more locked in at the plate. And it's just one
of those things. I know, in the year previous when
I was with Tampa, it was the opposite where I
(23:20):
didn't hit great in Tampa and I hit great on
the road. So it's just one of those things like
when when your swing's right and you're feeling good and
just so happens to be where you're playing at that,
you know, that week or whenever you're feeling great.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah, well, if you want to repeat that nine oh
one ops at home, I'll take it, man. I won't
complain about that, I promise you. But Luke Rayley's yeah exactly. Luke,
you mentioned just a couple of things you want to
kind of really improve on. Are there a couple of
specific things that you kind of focused on over the offseason?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Man, Yeah, I just think I think the consistency comes with,
you know, just trying to use the whole field more
and be more accurate with my barrel and consistent contact
kind of cut down the strikeouts, and you know, strikeouts
are going to happen, especially when when you swing hard
and you're trying to hit for power. It's it's one
of those things that come along with it. But I
(24:10):
think that there's definitely situations where I need to be
able to turn it down and you know, just use
the whole field. Hit line drives, get base hits. So
that's that was really my my focus in the off season.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
That sounds like Kevin sites or Edgar Martinez baseball right there.
Speaker 7 (24:25):
If if you ask me Luke, and you know, the
word approach at the plate came up. The term came
up so much last year and you guys changed that
significantly almost immediately when Dan and Edgar showed up. How
has that approach evolved even more now that you've had
the entire spring with them and with Kevin Sitzer.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, I think I think they just you know, kept
kind of pounding in our heads the same thing, like
line drives up the middle and let that play. Let
that be your approach, and you know, if you're a
little late, you're gonna hit it to the opposite field.
If you're a little early, you're gonna pull it. Just
just have your site set up the middle, it gives
you more feel to work with and I think I
think it really looked great in spring training, throughout the
(25:04):
throughout the whole team. Just the approaches were really good.
There's a lot of bullets up the middle, and you know,
opposite field hits, full side hits. It's just we're we're
using the whole field.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Well, Luke Raley again is with us on the radio
show Mariners having a workout a team mobile park before
the opening day tomorrow against the A's, and uh, Luke,
look man, Obviously, cal Rawley has become a fan favorite.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
You were lucky enough to be a teammate of his
last year.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
They haven't officially announced this big new fat extension for
him yet, so I'd be ready to ask him for
a steak dinner when that thing is is confirmed and official.
But can you give us just a thought from your
from your perspective, Luke on on what cal Rawley means
to that clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I think I think cal is the heart and soul
of the team. Honestly, it couldn't happen to a better guy.
And he's just the kind of teammate that it doesn't
matter who you are You're glad he's on your team,
and he's you know, he's just a great person through
and through and obviously a really talented baseball player, but
he's just a really, really good guy and very deserving
(26:10):
of the contract.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
Well, he doesn't remember the Bash brothers, Dave, but how
about the Rayley Rally brothers. I mean, that would work
in the middle of the line, no, no question about it.
You know, Luke, the rest of the infield there's some unknowns,
we'll put it that way. There's some trepidation from Mariner
fans as far as the production from the rest of
the infield. What are you seeing offensively in spring that
(26:33):
maybe can lift those Mariner fans hopes a bit?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, I mean I think I think anyway, it's set.
I think everyone had went out and had a pretty
good spring, and you know, they're maybe not the greatest starts,
but whoever didn't start well really finished well. And you know,
it's just one of those things. I think everyone really
really had a nice spring.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, Luke Raley again is with us.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Luke, I'm not sure how much you look at odds
and things like that online, but there's a website Fangrafts
dot Com and they got you guys with the second
best chance in the AL to make the playoffs behind
the Yankees. I mean, that's that's a potential Pennant winning
team right there. What is success, in your opinion for
this baseball team look like in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, I mean, I think it getting into the playoffs
is the first start, and then obviously we'll take it
from there. But I don't think that there's a limit
to what this team can do. I think it's we're
really talented. Obviously, our pitching staff is great, they were
great last year. Everyone's back, and you know, we're just
I think I think getting brashed back and having Santo's
(27:35):
healthy this year is I just think that we're going
to take that next step.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
There hasn't been.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
It seems like there hasn't been a lot of earn
urgency by the prior coaching staff as far as getting
wins early, they've been very like balance, Hey, if you
lose early, we got a long season. But you guys
have been put behind the eight ball for years now.
I know that you only played here last year, but
how about the April and May getting off to a
good start.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
What type of urgency does there need to be because
if you lose.
Speaker 7 (28:04):
The game and lose the division by one game, a
loss in aprils just as important as a loss in September, Right.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, I think I think just our minds, it's a
lot different this year with Dan has kind of pounded
in our heads. It's one hundred and fifty two battles
and you know they're all important. So I think we're
maybe a little bit more for Parry coming into the
season this year, and guys are really ready to go.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
Look before you go, and again, man, appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Can't wait for tomorrow night seven to ten against the
A's Luke Rayley with us on the air, and maybe
just leave us with your thoughts on you know, Dick
mentioned some of the skepticism. Phenomenal pitching staff, phenomenal bullpen.
You had a great year last year, but a lot
of fans are just left hoping for bounce back years,
right from guys like Garver, guys like JP, guys like.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Palanco.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
For the skeptics out there who don't know if this
team has enough offense to compliment the pitching staf have.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
What do you say to them, Luke, Yeah, I just
just wait and see.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I just I think that that they couldn't be more wrong.
You know, all those guys that you mentioned are extremely
talented hitters and in baseball players, so you know, down
years happened in the sport and it's it's tough, like
you can really get into a mental spin and yeah,
I think I think coming to a new year and
fresh start it can change a lot of things.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
Love it.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Hey, listen, good luck to you man. Go get them,
no pressure, Just repeat that nine oh one ops on
home and we'll all be happy.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
All right, pal, Yeah that sounds good, good stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Luke, thanks man, congratulations on a great year, and we'll
talk soon, buddy.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Luke Rayley with us
It's time for our weekly conversation with college football analyst
Petros Papa Nakas.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Not that I'm a smart guy, I'm stupid.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
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If you're hurting an accident, called Sweet James right away
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Speaker 3 (00:23):
Don't know bo.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Now with Petros, here's Dave's softy muller.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
All right, if boys and girls, here we go on
a beautiful Wednesday afternoon day before Opening Day. Baby right
here on ninety three three KJIRFN cannot wait until tomorrow.
The A's the Mariners will get it on Game one.
I've won sixty two, but a guy whose team is
already I believe two zero.
Speaker 5 (00:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
After a couple of wins in Japan over the Chicago Cubs,
the Prince of Piskin, what half the fabled legendary Petros
and Money show in Southern California. Father of the Month,
husband of the Year, my friend, and one damn fine
Greek American Petros Papadocus brought to you bye yea.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
That would be the one and only Sweet James, the
dense bearded justice, who can come through for you. You know,
if you've ever been in a car accident or a
motorcycle accident, or maybe you've been bitten by a dog,
whatever has happened, even if your house burned down, Sweet
James can come through for you.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
They have a massed over a billion dollars for thousands
of clients over the years, and you could be their
next success story.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
Give him a call at eight hundred nine million. That's
eight hundred and nine zero zero zero zero zero zero.
Hello softy, you're gonna go to Opening Day? Is it
at Mariners Park or wherever?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
The Yeah, it's a Tea Mobile park? Is the name
used to be the bigger field? Who goes to Team Mobile?
Remember Catherine Zeta Jones used to do their commercials? Do
I do?
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Yeah, I'm just like some English guy with stylishly long hair.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'm not a T Mobile customer, but yeah, they're uh,
they sponsored the ballpark.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Out here, all right, Well, good for you.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Then, yeah, you know what else happened? By the way,
speaking of ballparks and stadiums in Seattle, twenty five years ago.
Today they blew up the Kingdome.
Speaker 5 (02:24):
Oh my gosh, were you there for that?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
I was right across the street watching from the left
field deck of Safego Field.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
That seems like something you would do a show for. Yeah, right, right,
But that's a big deal to blow up the Kingdome.
The Steve Largin's built, that's.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Right, Alston, Steve Largin, Jim Zorn, I'm Jacob Green.
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Did Sean Alexander ever play in the Kingdome? Uh? No,
he did not.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
He did not play in the Kingdome.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
No, all right, Well, who's coming to town? Are you
going to go out and get drunk and make a
fool of yourself and be past out by the third inning?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Well, a'mout working Friday, so maybe all right?
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Well, good luck.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I got Friday off for basketball. Hey, what the hell, man,
the Dodgers people are fired up for them. They got
the super team going on. You talk a lot Dodger
baseball on your big time radio showdown.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
There, Well, softy, since I can tell you want to
keep with the baseball topic. Yes, the Dodgers are a
big They're a big Can you imagine that the Dodgers
are a big deal? I don't think anybody foresaw.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I mean, it was a sexy or cool talking point
to make when the Dodgers signed Otawanni, to say, and.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
It's a business move, and this is more than just
a baseball player. This is an entire global key to
a whole new market, right.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I mean, people said those things, and yeah, you knew
they were true, and you just kind of took them
with all the other talking points about Otani to the Dodgers.
But now that you kind of see it in action
and you see what it actually means, and the fact
that Tani is a bigger deal than maybe any Dodger
(04:04):
ever in the history of our lifetime other than Jackie Robinson.
That's a pretty big statement there, man.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
I mean Jackie Robinson of course, and the story that
changed baseball forever, but Shoe Otani and the global inference
of what he's doing and how much it means to
what was already I mean, we're talking about what was
already one of the most recognized franchises in the history
of sports, which is the Dodgers, Brooklyn Dodgers, Los Angeles Dodgers.
(04:33):
They're up there with the Lakers and the Yankees, and
we all just saw what the Celtics sold for and
they don't even own their stadium, I don't think. And
they sold for what six point one billion dollars? So
you see how much the Dodgers are worth and when
they were. And remember it wasn't that long ago, maybe
(04:54):
thirteen fourteen years ago that baseball, which is very rare
MLB baseball under Bud Selig created an owner's coup to
dethrone or basically strip Frank McCort of the Dodgers and
get him away from the franchise and sell it to
(05:15):
this Chicago Guggenheim group. And you can't say that these
guys aren't playing like three D checkers and everybody else
is playing connect for the deferred contracts and and you know,
they make a ton of money. I mean they make
a ton of money for what they sell at Dodger Stadium.
For how much tickets are the TV deals. The Otani
(05:38):
jerseys are three hundred and fifty dollars a pop.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I saw they made four million dollars a game
last year, by the way.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
The shirts, the T shirts. An Otani T shirt jersey
is sixty five dollars. Wow.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Wow, So they're making money but the one thing they
are doing is they are they're putting that money back
into the franchise, right. You know, they're signing everybody they
can possibly think of. They're pitching staff always has some
guy that has Tommy John that is coming back that
used to be in the starting rotation. This year it's
(06:15):
Dustin May, it's Tony gonselin the cat Man, and all
those things are happening, and yet they still go out
and sign two times Cy Young winner Blake Snell last year.
You know, they have their pitchers, they have all their things,
and then they turn around and sign Tyler Glass now.
So they're never they're never satisfied. You know, they win
(06:38):
a World Series, you think they're gonna blow up the
team and not want to pay guys more that we're
even really endearing to this team, and they still go
out and bring back ti Oscar Hernandez. So it is
a pretty remarkable thing to see what they're doing. But
it is also very interesting. I mean, the Dodgers. You
never would say the Dodgers were ever struggling, right, I
(07:00):
Mean maybe they didn't win a World Series since nineteen
eighty eight, but in our lifetimes it's been the most
visited sport year in and year out on Earth is
Dodger Stadium and Dodger Baseball and the Latino fan base
and so on and so forth. But when we first
started doing the Dodger stuff, Softy, I mean, we were
(07:22):
out there ten games a month maybe, I mean we
were out there all the time, back to back days
for home stands. We had a whole setup with our desk.
And now they don't need us there. They don't really
want us there. It's not easy for us, even though
we're the flagship radio station to get credentialed. I mean,
(07:43):
the amount of media following the Dodgers, the amount of
space that's at the stadium that they don't use for
anything anymore other than advertising or to shove more people
and do to charge more money for tickets is pretty remarkable.
They are a cash cow.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
The Strip Club in a spring breakdown, Well, I didn't
mean to make it all about baseball and atani. I
just thought though, that was a great history lesson by you.
I mean, you know, sometimes we get accused here on
this segment of just talking about you know, boogers and
wieners and goofing around and being sophomoric and stupid, and
I thought that was a really great little history lesson
(08:20):
you gave us.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
There, man, So well, it is it is interesting. I mean,
you know your stuff. There's even more, you know. I
mean when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in the fifties,
they started playing in the Colisseum and they won a
World Series playing in the Coliseum with the Wally Moon
teams with the Wally Moon shot ye vally unbelievable unibrow
Anthony Davis like unibrow on Wally Moon. But you know,
(08:43):
it's very controversial in LA. They moved a giant Latino
population out of Chavez Ravine. Chavez Ravine was kind of
like Alvera Street where you went to buy you know,
Latin nick knacks and things like that. And they moved
all those people out to build the stadium and related
the city council and this and that, and it was
a long standing kind of beef between the Dodgers and
(09:07):
the Latino community in Los Angeles. And you know how
that got erased. Huh Fernando Mania, Oh yeah, right, you know,
Fernando Mania began and suddenly, you know, the Dodgers became
the most endearing team to any Latin I mean in
Latin America.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
The LA Dodgers are the team of record for for
anybody who's Hispanic or Latino. So it's it's pretty remarkable
how that changed as well. You know, the Beach Boys
got moved too. They used to live where the one
oh five Freeway is now. I think you told me
that when Fernando passed away, you gave us that little nutt.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Yeah, well there you go. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well look I'm I'm I'm excited for you guys down there.
We're hoping.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Well, it's kind of no fun, you know. I mean
when they win, and they win every night, it's kind
of like, okay.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Yeah, that kind of sucks. Right, Yeah, why do you
crimea river man? We're Mariners are coming off a very
disappointing year and they got a great pitching staff. I'll
find out about the offense. And don't even know if
Opening Day is going to sell out tomorrow, So, well.
Speaker 5 (10:06):
Who's your GM? Is it to Poto or Cadesta? It's
one of those.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Jerry Depoto is the president of Baseball Operations and you.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Don't like him, right? Are you in bad terms with him?
So much to wear he did on the show anymore.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Well, he hasn't come on with us in a while.
I don't think he's in a hurry to come on
the show. If you know what I mean, I'd put
him on. I got no problem with putting.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
You guys are very critical of him in the way
he handles the Maria.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I would say, I would say, we're critical in some ways,
but we're more critical of the ownership than we are
of him. You know, it is a very it's an
interesting conundrum, you know, because everybody in baseball is making
a lot of money. I mean, anybody who owns a
professional sports team. It wasn't always like back in the day,
owning a professional sports team was more of a vanity
(10:48):
play for billionaires. And not that it's not still a
vanity play, but it's it's it's profitable. They all make
money every single way. Why do you think, why do
you think Russell Wilson stuck money into a soccer team
because you love soccer.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
They make money, they make money. But that that that
being pointed out, uh, they don't make them put the
money back into the team. Right in the world of
pro sports because and that's what's even more and more
interesting about what happened with the Dodgers and Frank McCort
because the owners, even if they don't like each other,
(11:25):
even though they compete against each other, they are are
They are the most peer most like each other of
any of the peer groups that control sports. These billionaire
guys have a real tendency to protect the hell out
of each other. You know, if one of them goes
down for going to the Asian house, you know, and
like Robert Kraft, you know, then they're all going down.
(11:47):
You know what I mean. They want to protect each
other from being embarrassed, so you know, you know what
I'm saying. So, I mean, they don't make each other
generally do anything r which makes it even more crazy
that they all got together and Houston Frank McCory.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Well, they just don't like, they don't like telling each
other what to do. Yeah, you know, in case one
day somebody wants to do something, they want to have
full authority and autonomy and do whatever they want. But uh, yeah,
I mean it's a good u good eleven minutes on baseball.
I mean, hell, you filled half the segment there. I
was gonna ask you about Bronni dropping thirty nine in
the G League the other day.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Would you know who's been the leading scorer in the
G League the last few Bron's coming back with his
podcast with Steve Nash. Yeah, you gotta be fired up
for that, baby. Uh, do you know who's score? Who's
like the leading scorer in the G League these days?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
I Bronnie had no idea. No, it's Max McClung. Yeah,
you can't even get into the league, right, Not an
NBA player. He can be in the Dunk contest though.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yes, not an NBA player. Not an NBA player.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
So you're saying that Bronni is not a Look, I
don't care.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
I'm just tired of the meet. There's so much medium manipulation.
If he's so good, if he's put him back in
the NBA. Go put him in the first quarter of
a game, and on the road and the Philadelphia and
what happens again, He'll put him in in the first
quarter of an NBA game.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Let's do that again, let him play forty minutes. See
what happened. Yeah, go get out there. Yeah, put him.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
I'm just so tired of it.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
You know.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
The real thing though, I mean, no one ever said
that the guy was incapable of defending himself on a
basketball court. Sure, but that being said, this could actually
be a great story if he was doing what he's
supposed to be doing and playing in college right now
and developing and learning the sport in that way. But
(13:29):
instead it's got to be a vanity play for his dad,
and all of his successes and all of his failures
have to be overly documented by idiots like us, and
it becomes tiresome. And the next time a guy scores
thirty in the G League name not named Brownie James,
I don't want to hear about it, because we never
hear about it. There's a reason, because no one wants
(13:50):
to hear about it because it doesn't matter. You know,
if you go play garbage time in an NBA game
after they strategically place an athletic art that makes it
seem like you're a sympathetic figure for some reason, but
you're the father is the one that created this entire situation.
I'm just tired of being manipulated and I'm tired of Look.
(14:10):
I got up late this morning. I was supposed to
do an interview at five am, right with fine stage,
and I woke up at five am, right, so you
know I'm down here, my mouth is dry. I gotta
go to the bathroom. And you know, what do you
think about Roddy who he's going to the Julia Games?
It's like could we die? Like could you not? Can
we not be victims of this every single time? Anyway?
(14:35):
So bru yourself together. It's opening day tomorrow. I know
I'm fired up. Do you know who you guys are playing?
The A's Can you name one guy on that team?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
No?
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Can you?
Speaker 5 (14:45):
I know they have a lady announcer.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Sort of the Tacoma Right Ears. They hired a new
twenty three year old gal Riley pay. She's very very good.
By the way, forty one you it's Beth Mowens.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
By the way.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Sam Darnold was on with Ian Ferness yesterday our our
midday guy, and he played that clip.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
For oh really, were you pissed off that you didn't
get him?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
No, I'm cool with that. Ian does a good job.
Asked him if he remembered how long his first touchdown
pass was, and he said forty five yards.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Forty one yards, So he was wrong.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
He was wrong. Didn't even know his first pass was
forty one yards. Hey, by the way, what happened to
our guy Troy Taylor? Remember he was Jake Browning's high
school coach at Balsom. Apparently he went to college and
he became a creep and Andrew Luck just fired him.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
I don't know if he's a creep, but he's probably
an ay hole.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
But did you not hear about what he was doing?
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Well, what specifically did he do?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
So I don't know specifics he was making. Apparently, according
to ESPN dot com, Yeah, he made some comments. It's
him inappropriate comments. There's some feedmaes, look, I get it
and do it twenty twenty five.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
And it's Stanford, which is not a place where you
can really get loose, you know' that's not you tap.
Let's just put it like that.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
So you get away with that stuff at you tep
and I'll pass, you know, I don't. I don't know exactly.
I mean, every football coach I ever played for was
an a hole in one way or another.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
I mean, that's it's.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Who is the biggest one? Biggest one?
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Oh you gotta go deep, I mean, way, just come
just broke. We had a decordinator. He was the head
coach at San Jose State for a short time, not
San Jose State, somewhere else. Keith Burns.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Yeah, he was.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Tough to be around.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
But you know, there's a lot over the years that
you just come across. I mean, it's a it's a
tough sport. You're moving from place to place, you have
a family, you're recruiting, you're traveling all the time. You know,
one year you could live in La next year you
could live in Corvallis, the next year you could live
in College Station. I mean, it's not an easy life.
And these guys are really you know, deep, they're saying
(16:51):
all the right things, but in many ways they're scratching
and clawing over each other like wild drowning rats to
get the next job because you can, well you could
easily get fired like that. And you could be a
really great coach and be connected with a head coach
that doesn't have success or doesn't have enough success for
whatever the situation is, and get fired and now you're
moving to El Paso again. You know, that's not an
(17:14):
easy life. So I don't want to give these guys
too much grief. But Troy Taylor, I mean, he's a
capable play caller. I knew that he's a former cal quarterback, right, right, correct?
So I mean it's at Stanford where they have like
eight teachers per student, and I'm not even kidding. I mean,
(17:35):
you can't. You really do have to be a certain
kind of David Shaw buttoned up. And the Troy Taylor
story doesn't really tell me anything about Troy Taylor. I mean,
I'm not surprised when a football coach turns out to
be a little bit rough around the edges, or you know,
what's inappropriate today is certainly different than what was inappropriate
many years ago. But it really does boggle my mind.
(18:00):
Long Harbass survived there, and not only that Harbaugh survive there,
but flourished there and was able to manipulate the administration
as far as the admissions board goes to get who
he wanted into the school. You know, it's not like
he got a bunch of bloods and Cripson or anything
like that, but he definitely was able to get people in.
(18:22):
And Stanford has the toughest admissions for any athletic kind
of endeavor that you can think of. So, I mean,
it tells me less about Troy Taylor and It makes
me wonder how Harbass survived so long at Stanford being
the abrasive. You know, he was younger too, and a
lot more competitive, and he was a really fiery guy
(18:45):
at USD. But I'm sure Troy Taylor will emerge somewhere
calling plays for somebody, and if he has success, he'll
be a head coach again and there'll be a big
feature on ESPN or Fox, depending on what he goes
to about how he's turned it all around.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
All right, man, good stuff. Enjoy the rest of the
week with the Dodgers back in town tomorrow at home
of Chavezerne. Yes, yeah, Detroit Tigers, and I'll be there.
I don't know what Troy Taylor said, you know what
I mean, right right. I don't know if there was
like some big girl like serving water and he called
her a manatee or something like that.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
You know what I'm saying. I don't do.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I feel you all right, man, good stuff, And if
I had more details, I'd be able to make less.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
Broad brought him a judgment of morning.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Maybe next week we'll dig well, I'll call my Stanford context.
We'll dig a few up. All right, good stuff, and
we'll talk in a week. Enjoy the game of Marl
Palll go get him. Yeah whatever, se Man, Betross Papadakas
with us, We're gonna break a lot more to get to.
On a busy, busy Wednesday, Larry Stone, courtesy of the RAM,
is back at five tonight. Baby, right here on ninety
(19:55):
three three kJ RFM, Larry Stone.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
To the exclusive home of the Huskies, the cracking and
march madness. Now back to SOFTI indig proudly brought to
you by Emerald Guin Casino on Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ r FM.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
This is into the quarter and really tagged well back
and up to the second deck. Luke Raley, that is
an opposite field to halt run and it's true as
four man that was punished.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
Oh this is smash lace all.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
Right, field of Screamer just gets over the wall. Look
rally with an absolute rocket over the face and the Mariners.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Take the lead. All right, what do you saying? We
head down to t Mobile Park. Big thanks and Petros
for joining us on the radio show. Larry Stone coming
up at five courtesy of the RAM. But joining us
right now in the radio program. The m's having a
workout right now at team all. We'll getting ready for
tomorrow's opening night. Marriner first baseman, slash outfield or slash
do everything man. Luke Rayley joining us right now on
(21:02):
the radio program.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
Luke, how are you, man?
Speaker 6 (21:05):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Can't complain.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah, good man, I appreciate you doing this. Thanks for
jumping on. And let's just first of all, talk about this, man.
I mean, the fans get all jacked up, the media
is getting all jacked up for opening Day. There's something
special about opening day in baseball compared to other sports
around the country.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
What's the anticipation like in that clubhouse? What's it like
for you right now?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Man?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Yeah, just a lot of excitement. Myself personally, couldn't be
more excited to be back your first second year and
just get things rolling again. And how the team's really
excited to get back out there. I think we have
a really good team and we're going to, you know,
go out there and try to take care of business.
Speaker 7 (21:45):
We'll evaluate your season last year because I mean, twenty
two bombs nearly an eight hundred ops. I mean that's
a pretty good start for your first year in in Seattle.
How do you think it went last season for you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, I think it was kind of an up and
down years. Times where I was really good at the plate,
and there's times that I wasn't. So I think just
throughout the off season my plan was to just kind
of be more consistent, not not go through the so
many peace and valleys. So yeah, that's just just kind
(22:17):
of it. I think that there were some really good
things and some things that I could clean up.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Well, Luke Rayley is with us. I want to ask
you about those things you want to clean up in
just a second. But Dick Luke mentioned your near eight
hundred ops last year, and I'm looking at your splits
and something's wrong here because they look kind of backwards
to me. You had a nine to oh one ops
at home at a six sixty six ops on the road. Wow,
(22:43):
that's supposed to be flipped because everybody says you can't hit,
you know.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
At Tea Mobile Park. So how did you do that?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
How did you get comfortable at Tea Mobile Park to
end up having that kind of a year in what
is supposed to be a pictures ballpark.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah, I think it's just one of those things I said,
like the ups and down It's like, I just think
that that a lot of the ups happened at t Mobile,
and I don't necessarily think it had anything to do
with the park. It was more, you know, like felt
more locked in at the plate. And it's just one
of those things. I know, in the year previous when
I was with Tampa, it was the opposite where I
(23:20):
didn't hit great in Tampa and I hit great on
the road. So it's just one of those things like
when when your swing's right and you're feeling good and
just so happens to be where you're playing at that,
you know, that week or whenever you're feeling great.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Yeah, well, if you want to repeat that nine oh
one ops at home, I'll take it, man. I won't
complain about that, I promise you. But Luke Rayley's yeah exactly. Luke,
you mentioned just a couple of things you want to
kind of really improve on. Are there a couple of
specific things that you kind of focused on over the offseason?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Man, Yeah, I just think I think the consistency comes with,
you know, just trying to use the whole field more
and be more accurate with my barrel and consistent contact
kind of cut down the strikeouts, and you know, strikeouts
are going to happen, especially when when you swing hard
and you're trying to hit for power. It's it's one
of those things that come along with it. But I
(24:10):
think that there's definitely situations where I need to be
able to turn it down and you know, just use
the whole field. Hit line drives, get base hits. So
that's that was really my my focus in the off season.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
That sounds like Kevin sites or Edgar Martinez baseball right there.
Speaker 7 (24:25):
If if you ask me Luke, and you know, the
word approach at the plate came up. The term came
up so much last year and you guys changed that
significantly almost immediately when Dan and Edgar showed up. How
has that approach evolved even more now that you've had
the entire spring with them and with Kevin Sitzer.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, I think I think they just you know, kept
kind of pounding in our heads the same thing, like
line drives up the middle and let that play. Let
that be your approach, and you know, if you're a
little late, you're gonna hit it to the opposite field.
If you're a little early, you're gonna pull it. Just
just have your site set up the middle, it gives
you more feel to work with and I think I
think it really looked great in spring training, throughout the
(25:04):
throughout the whole team. Just the approaches were really good.
There's a lot of bullets up the middle, and you know,
opposite field hits, full side hits. It's just we're we're
using the whole field.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Well, Luke Raley again is with us on the radio
show Mariners having a workout a team mobile park before
the opening day tomorrow against the A's, and uh, Luke,
look man, Obviously, cal Rawley has become a fan favorite.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
You were lucky enough to be a teammate of his
last year.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
They haven't officially announced this big new fat extension for
him yet, so I'd be ready to ask him for
a steak dinner when that thing is is confirmed and official.
But can you give us just a thought from your
from your perspective, Luke on on what cal Rawley means
to that clubhouse.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I think I think cal is the heart and soul
of the team. Honestly, it couldn't happen to a better guy.
And he's just the kind of teammate that it doesn't
matter who you are You're glad he's on your team,
and he's you know, he's just a great person through
and through and obviously a really talented baseball player, but
he's just a really, really good guy and very deserving
(26:10):
of the contract.
Speaker 7 (26:12):
Well, he doesn't remember the Bash brothers, Dave, but how
about the Rayley Rally brothers. I mean, that would work
in the middle of the line, no, no question about it.
You know, Luke, the rest of the infield there's some unknowns,
we'll put it that way. There's some trepidation from Mariner
fans as far as the production from the rest of
the infield. What are you seeing offensively in spring that
(26:33):
maybe can lift those Mariner fans hopes a bit?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, I mean I think I think anyway, it's set.
I think everyone had went out and had a pretty
good spring, and you know, they're maybe not the greatest starts,
but whoever didn't start well really finished well. And you know,
it's just one of those things. I think everyone really
really had a nice spring.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, Luke Raley again is with us.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Luke, I'm not sure how much you look at odds
and things like that online, but there's a website Fangrafts
dot Com and they got you guys with the second
best chance in the AL to make the playoffs behind
the Yankees. I mean, that's that's a potential Pennant winning
team right there. What is success, in your opinion for
this baseball team look like in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah, I mean, I think it getting into the playoffs
is the first start, and then obviously we'll take it
from there. But I don't think that there's a limit
to what this team can do. I think it's we're
really talented. Obviously, our pitching staff is great, they were
great last year. Everyone's back, and you know, we're just
I think I think getting brashed back and having Santo's
(27:35):
healthy this year is I just think that we're going
to take that next step.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
There hasn't been.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
It seems like there hasn't been a lot of earn
urgency by the prior coaching staff as far as getting
wins early, they've been very like balance, Hey, if you
lose early, we got a long season. But you guys
have been put behind the eight ball for years now.
I know that you only played here last year, but
how about the April and May getting off to a
good start.
Speaker 4 (28:01):
What type of urgency does there need to be because
if you lose.
Speaker 7 (28:04):
The game and lose the division by one game, a
loss in aprils just as important as a loss in September, Right.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yeah, I think I think just our minds, it's a
lot different this year with Dan has kind of pounded
in our heads. It's one hundred and fifty two battles
and you know they're all important. So I think we're
maybe a little bit more for Parry coming into the
season this year, and guys are really ready to go.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
Look before you go, and again, man, appreciate you doing this.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Can't wait for tomorrow night seven to ten against the
A's Luke Rayley with us on the air, and maybe
just leave us with your thoughts on you know, Dick
mentioned some of the skepticism. Phenomenal pitching staff, phenomenal bullpen.
You had a great year last year, but a lot
of fans are just left hoping for bounce back years,
right from guys like Garver, guys like JP, guys like.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Palanco.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
For the skeptics out there who don't know if this
team has enough offense to compliment the pitching staf have.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
What do you say to them, Luke, Yeah, I just
just wait and see.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I just I think that that they couldn't be more wrong.
You know, all those guys that you mentioned are extremely
talented hitters and in baseball players, so you know, down
years happened in the sport and it's it's tough, like
you can really get into a mental spin and yeah,
I think I think coming to a new year and
fresh start it can change a lot of things.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
Love it.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Hey, listen, good luck to you man. Go get them,
no pressure, Just repeat that nine oh one ops on
home and we'll all be happy.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
All right, pal, Yeah that sounds good, good stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Luke, thanks man, congratulations on a great year, and we'll
talk soon, buddy.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
Luke Rayley with us
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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