6/16/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show w/ Mike Petraglia

Mike Petraglia of CLNS Media fills in for Mo talks Reds, Bengals FC Cincy and more!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
ESPN fifteen thirties Cincinnati sports station.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
An A good Monday afternoon, everyone. My name is Mike Petrellia,
otherwise known as Trags, and you've got me for the
next three hours on the Moegger Radio Show on Cincinnati's
ESPN fifteen thirty A lot to get to on Monday.
Monday always seems like a natural, obviously to wrap up

(00:31):
the weekend, and it was certainly a terrific weekend for
the Cincinnati Reds. Didn't start out great. They lost their
opener in Detroit to the Tigers. They had lost too straight.
They were two and two on the six game road
swing through Cleveland and Detroit, and the prospects for a

(00:51):
series victory against the team with the best record in
all of Major League Baseball not promising, to say the
very least, But hold. The Reds pull off a victory
in overpowering form on Saturday, eleven to one, and then
they wrap up the series with a victory over the
Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon, come from behind fashion. They

(01:15):
were zero and twenty nine trailing after seven innings before Sunday,
and they score four times in the eighth inning to
wipe out a four to two deficit, score two more
on an insurance two run dinger from Elie Dala Cruz
and they win that game eight to four. A feel
good vibe around the Cincinnati Reds and joining me to

(01:39):
lead off this three hour extravaganza on the Moegger Radio
Show is the one and only Pat Brennan. He's become
a frequent friend on this show. Someone I rely on
to bring the heat, as they say in baseball, and
he never fails to do that. The one and only
Pat Brennan from the Cincinnati Inquirer in Cincinna, covering all

(02:01):
things Cincinnati Reds, and we'll get to the Bengals because
he was at mini camp last week. How was your weekend, Patrick.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Tracks, It's great to be on with you, and it
was a good weekend.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Nice and slow.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Actually got out to the Club World Cup yesterday, so agree,
and we can talk about that as well.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yes, definitely, well if you.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Want to, but that was that was I was actually
really impressed by the whole experience.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
So but yeah, real nice weekend, real nice weekend. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
All right, let's talk about the Cincinnati Reds and what
impressed you the most and what has impressed you the most.
Pat Over the last nine games, the Reds or seven
and two. They swept the Diamondbacks, which I think on
its own was impressive. The Diamondbacks have been kind of
clinging around that five hundred mark, very similar to the
Reds for the first two months of the season plus.

(02:56):
And they sweeped the Diamondbacks at Great American Ballpark, and
everybody's like, Okay, that's nice. But now we're going to
see and I remember you and me having this conversation
in the Great American Ballpark cafeteria. Okay, they're gonna get
tested in these next six games. Maybe they win the
series in Cleveland. They did that, but then they're going

(03:17):
to have their struggles up in Detroit. But lo and behold,
they come through with some clutch game, clutch performances on
Sunday afternoon. They win that series. And I don't know,
I've got a good vibe about this team right now,
because I thought, without question, Sunday was the best win
of the Terry Francona era.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Yes, I saw you tweet that in real time, and
I gave that idea some thought.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
I have to agree with you.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Going back to your original question, I think you can
hear me.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Okay, tracks loud and clear. Are you hearing me? Oh?

Speaker 4 (03:54):
Yeah, yeah. I just want to make sure no.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
No, no, this is not a podcast where my WiFi
will cut out in the middle. Now I hear you,
allow and clear?

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Okay, budd, Well, look, I think you can put a
lot of the recent success at the feet of Ellie
de la Cruz, who is in you know, he's he's
in freak show mode right now, you know, gutting people
down from shallow outfield areas close to one hundred miles

(04:27):
per hour at the plate. You know, home runs in
four straight games. You know, it's been a total team effort.
I think, but when Ellie gets hot like this, he can.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
Carry the team by himself. And I do put a.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Lot of what's happened over the last nine games at
his feet. But yeah, the fact that it's really it
should not be lost on anyone. The significance of the
fact that against the best team in baseball as we
as things stand today, or entering the weekend, that the

(05:04):
Reds came back to win a series after dropping the
opener on the road, which is something they hadn't done.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
They hadn't done anything like it all season.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
That's really important, and that's striking to me just based
on how this team doesn't deviate very sharply.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
It hasn't deviated sharply.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
In any one particular direction, good or bad this year.
That's kind of the nature of being a five hundred club.
But to come back and take that series off the
Tigers tells me that maybe things are going to start
to get really fun, and maybe maybe things are going
to start to get fun and special around here soon.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
They have to sustain it. You and me both know that.
I think every Reds fan listening to this they want
to believe and I said this on the Red postgame
show on the Extra Inning Show yesterday following the broadcast
on WLW, that everybody wants to believe that this team
can make a run at the playoffs, but they have

(06:09):
got to sustain it over an extended period of time.
Nine games over one hundred and sixty two games is
not an extended period of time. We can all agree
on that. Okay, However, the elements are there and two things.
The starting pitching has really been there from the beginning
of the season. Wade Miley, he was good enough yesterday

(06:31):
he gave up the two solo home runs and then
Graham Ashcraft gave up a couple of two out runs
in the seventh inning. But the pitching has been solid.
It has certainly been good enough, but the offense late
in games has not been good. And to me, the
biggest takeaway yesterday, certainly from that victory, was the Red

(06:53):
scoring six runs in the final two innings. They really
hadn't done that all season long. I started off this
show talking about the twenty nine mark when trailing after
seven innings going into yesterday's action, that has changed. It's
one game, but it just it felt so different to
me against a superior team in the American League that

(07:15):
it made me think, Okay, you got me, and I'm
sure you've got other Reds fans. Uh, let's see if
you can continue this.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah, I completely agree with everything you just said. I
think also, you know, Wade Miley is worth highlighting here.
I know a lot of people were down on that
signing when it came across during the last Threads home stand,
and they were down on Nick Krawl and I think
a lot of the negativity around that came after Miley

(07:46):
went out.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
I gave up you know, like four runs over relief appearance,
but that was a throwaway appearance against Milwaukee.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
It was it was I think people have to be
fair recognize that for what it was. Terry Francona was
smart enough to know that they could shake off some
of the rusts by getting him out there that day.
The offense wasn't in a position to do anything close.

Speaker 5 (08:08):
To it was yesterday in terms of comeback, and we're
already down.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
Six to one, I believe.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
So I think, you know, Wade, you described Wade Miley's
outing yesterday is good enough. I think that's what you're
gonna get from Wade Miley most days.

Speaker 4 (08:21):
Good enough.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
And if they play well and if they play smart
defensively behind him, and that they can hit the baseball
even a little bit, they're going to have a chance
during that Hunter Green. It's when that Hunter Green spot
and the rotation comes up with Wade Miley in there
for the time being, and yeah, you know they they
frankly it. You know, it's two very different styles of

(08:43):
pitching obviously from two players that kind of opposite ends
of their careers.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
But uh, you are not missing a beat right.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Now, incredibly with without Hunter Green uh in the starting rotation.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
They have the credit to the credit to Miley.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Speaking with Pat Brennano the Cincinnati Inquirer in Cincinnati dot
Com covering the Reds and the Bengals. Okay, here's what
I want to see the Reds do. Take care of
business in your next six games. You are taking on
a Minnesota team that's lost four straight, they've lost seven
of ten. They're struggling to put runs on the scoreboard.

(09:23):
You've got them at Great America and you need to
take two of three there. Then you have a Saint
Louis Cardinals team that you have finally reached and finally
caught in the National League Central. You're dead even with them.
You both have thirty seven and thirty five records in
the division. You have them at You're going there. You're

(09:44):
going to Saint Louis. I want to see them try
to take two out of three there. You go four
and two over your next six games. After going four
and two through Cleveland and Detroit, then I think, and
that is heading into the Yankee Great American Ballpark a
week from tonight. Then to me, you're starting to develop

(10:06):
an extended run of good play.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
I agree, everyone's been asking when is the run?

Speaker 4 (10:13):
When is the run? When is it coming?

Speaker 3 (10:15):
You know, with Pepper, anytime anything starts to even look
like remotely like it's turning, Terry Francona and players in
the clubhouse get asked some version of that question. Now
we're in territory where we're wondering is this it?

Speaker 4 (10:28):
Has it already started? Are we looking at it? And
I but I agree with you.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
You have to take care of what is probably what
is certainly today as the two teams exist, an inferior
Minnesota Twins team, you must take care of that team
at Great American Ballpark. And the Cardinals series will be
on the road. But that's a chance. You know, a

(10:52):
lot of the Reds are going to have to play better.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
In the division. Okay, they have won what yeah, that's yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
I'm probably undertelling it a little bit because they have
won one of seven series against the visual opponents, and
that one win was a sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates
back in April. Like the you know, we're talking less
than three weeks into the season at that point, I
think drags.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
It would be so meaningful too, especially if you were
in a position to overtake the Cardinals at their home field.
I just think that would be such an impressive and
important statement of intent about what this Reds team is
about if they were able to do that at some
point this week. Go ahead, go no, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
What did you make of Matt McClain finally moving back
up to number two in the batting order. I think
to me that is his natural spot. That's where the
Reds need him most to be productive. If this lineup
is to be what I think it can be and
what I think a lot of fans think it can be,
then he needs to hit second in the batting order

(12:09):
and be productive there. He's still hitting below the Mendoza line.
He's hitting one ninety one, but you're starting to see
and you know, Chris Welsh made this observation a couple
of times on the radio over the weekend, and Cowboys
made this observation. Tommy Thrall, who will be on at
the bottom of the hour here on ESPN fifteen thirty,

(12:29):
he has made this observation, Matt McClain is starting to
hit the ball hard the other way and up the middle.

Speaker 5 (12:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I'm sure I'm echoing what those
guys have and have said, which is that when when
you see that happening, and Terry frank ConA tells us
this all the time, when you see guys hitting the ball.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Hard the other way, Okay, good, good things are happening.
They're seeing the ball well, and they're in a good
sead space in terms of there at bats. But once again,
I love it if we could get into a debate tracks,
but you and I like minded on on these issues. Anyway,
I do think Matt McClain needs to be in the

(13:10):
two spot for this Reds offense to be what it
to to realize its full potential. You mentioned his batting
average as.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
It stands today.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
You know it's it is below two hundred, but it's
up a little bit from the last time the Reds
were the last home stands, So you know, you're you're
seeing signs of life. There's a pulse there and uh
little it's you know, it's little things. I remember last
home stands, Matt McClain had a drag bunt up the

(13:44):
first baseline that he said wasn't even intended to be
a hit. He was trying to sacrifice the runner over
ended up reaching on an infield single and uh, you know,
so he's not even taking as much credit as he
could for the things that are going his way right now.
But little things like that I have just started to

(14:04):
accumulate over the last two weeks. You've seen the power
and I do think that, you know, there was always
evidence to suggest that Matt McClain was too good of
a player to stay you know, where he's been throughout
this season up to this point. And like I said,
we're seeing signs of life now. I think hopefully, you know,

(14:26):
maybe within a few weeks here. If we're talking about
the Reds. But I'll put it to you like this
tracks if we're talking about the Reds having had success
through that brutal stretch of Yankees padres at Boston, at
Philly before they come home right before the All Star break,
if they're successful there, Matt McClain will have made a

(14:48):
big contribution to that.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
He has to this team cannot win any other way
over the long haul.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
I would agree with that. Let's move on to the
Cincinnati Bengals. They wrapped up mandatory Mini cam last week,
finished up on Thursday, Nay, like most every other NFL team,
now off for five weeks before training camp opens on
July twenty third. Your biggest takeaways from what you saw

(15:16):
what you heard inside the Bengals locker room last week.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, I mean, I think I know that when we
speak to the coaches, and I'm going to talk about
what Al Golden told us about and Zach Taylor told
us about the progress of the defense, because the defense
and the inability to tackle was such a glaring issue
for so long, such a long stretch.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Last season tracks so much of what.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
We hear during this time of year is happy talk
from the coaches. There's no games at stake, there's no
outcomes results to scrutinize, so they can kind of paint
whatever picture they want to. But I'm encouraged by what
I heard about what sounded to me like a defensive
unit that in terms of install and adapting to Al

(16:09):
Golden's scheme, it sounds like they are on schedule, if
not ahead of schedule, and have put themselves in a
really good position for when training camp fires up. I mean,
that's what I want to hear about the defense at
this stage.

Speaker 4 (16:24):
And again, that could be happy talk.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
But I took it as sincere and genuine analysis.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
Of the defensive unit.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
So I'm encouraged about that, and you're you know, you're
always curious about where that's going to be under a
first year coordinator in Al Golden. So encouraged by that,
and briefly tracked. I liked Zach Taylor talking about some
of the changes that will be made this year during
training camp and how they're going to approach it as

(16:54):
a team. Obviously, I think in the name of trying
to get out to a hotter start in September, this
team has been dogged for years by the slow starts
in September. I don't need to even say the numbers
and stats. Your listeners already know them.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
Yes, you know this team.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
This team cannot survive September. And I was really interested
to hear some of the changes, even small things that
might seeming insignificant, like practicing in the morning instead of
in the heat of the day. I was really intrigued
by what Zach Taylor had to say there. So that's

(17:31):
kind of what stood out to me. Obviously, there's good
health right now, a couple key pieces outstanding, as you know.
But yeah, that's what I took away from Oka's in
mini camp.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
What I thought was interesting is Zach Taylor saying. And
I had Jeff Hoobson of Bengals dot Com on my
latest Jungle Row podcast, which is out now on YouTube
dot com. Go there if you would like to download
that or anywhere you download your podcast. But Whatich told
me pat that the fact that there's going to be

(18:02):
so much more focus on the Bengals, on themselves and
not the opponent, not joint practices. The Bengals the last
several years have instituted joint practices and there are some
advantages to that because you're able to get real hard
snaps and padded situations in a controlled environment. The games

(18:23):
are not controlled. Obviously, even in preseason the games are
not controlled. Well, the Bengals are shifting gears there. They
want the bet. They want their players in real game
situations at game speed, because even in joint practices, it's
no replication for actual game speed. And I think that

(18:44):
is something that's going to help Joe Burrow. He's mentioned
that time and time again. So that's what I took
from Zach Taylor, and I know Jeff Hobson observed that
he wrote about that on Bengals dot com and so
to me, the Bengals focus on themselves what this training
camp is going to be about more than anything else,

(19:04):
I do think, and I'm going to stand by this
and until I'm proven wrong, and that could easily happen.
Trey Hendrickson is going to sign his deal. There's some
reporting out there, certainly from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN and
Ben Baby of ESPN Cincinnati, that talks have resumed between
the two sides, and I take that as a positive

(19:26):
that things are moving in the right direction. And I
think Shamar Stewart is terms and additions. Once that gets
ironed out, he's going to be on the field in
training camp. That's what I believe. I want to wrap
up here with Pat Brennan of the Cincinnati Inquirer talking
about one of your favorite subjects, club World Cup. You
were there over the weekend at TQL. What was the

(19:48):
environment and what was it like watching the team's play.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
Well, it was really cool, Tragson. I appreciate you asking.
Soccer is obviously something very close to my heart. You know,
you saw a legitimate world beater in Byron Munich. Byron
Munchin actually taking off taking.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
On one of the minnows of the tournament. One of
it's a.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Semi professional team that actually couldn't even bring a full
roster of players to America for this tournament because some
of them simply couldn't get away from work for long enough.
Which is incredible is the golf and talent there, and
that was reflected in the score, which was ten to nothing,
but which is crazy.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
That's like an insane.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
Score for competitive what's supposed to be a competitive soccer match.
But getting past the score, it just it felt like
I've been very skeptical of this tournament, but when it
finally came to Cincinnati yesterday, it felt like Cincinnati was
a significant participant in something greater and it is. This
tournament's taking place all over the country. There are three

(20:53):
more games that will be staged in Cincinnati coming up
here in the next seven ten days, and it's like
an Olympics. Tracks it felt like an Olympics. You're walking
around the streets Byron Munich did a beautiful takeover of
a bar across the street from TQL Stadium.

Speaker 4 (21:10):
Their branding was all over the place.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
You had uniformed personnel who all spoke a variety of
language languages there, and their presence was designed to help
visitors from anywhere in the globe really find their way
around Cincinnati, find their way to the metro buses.

Speaker 4 (21:29):
And the streetcar.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
And these people fanned out, these officials fanned out for
blocks and blocks and blocks, and that's more something along
the lines of what you would see at, like I said,
on an Olympics or a World Cup, which this is.
So it was really cool. It felt like a little
taste of something international and a taste of something special
in Cincinnati.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
It's really cool.

Speaker 2 (21:50):
Yeah, we've got to wrap Uplica thirty seconds. What's the
next step for this event? Yesterday was just the first
leg of the event, I believe.

Speaker 3 (21:59):
Yes, yeah, the next step, well, they'll be in the
group stage, if that's what you mean. Yes, foreseeable future,
two teams will emerge from each group, and then we'll
get into the single game elimination.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
So similar to what the World Cup is for international
competing teams, it's just for club teams around the around
the world.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
Exactly for the layman.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
Instead of countries playing each other, it's the club teams
the best of the world.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
All right, he is. Pat Brennan does a fabulous job
covering all things Reds Bengals, and certainly has done great
work in the past on the Orange and Blue FC Cincinnati.
He had the opportunity to cover Club World Cup, or
at least a ten Club World Cup over the weekend
at TQL Stadium here in Cincinnati. You do great work, Path,

(22:49):
Thank you for joining me on the Mowaga r Great American.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
See you there, all right, Bud, All.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Right, when we come back, we'll have to tell me
Thrawl voice of the Cincinnati Reds on the Reds Radio Network,
talking more about the successful trip that the Reds are
coming off of through Cleveland and Detroit. That'll be coming
up after the bottom of the hour. Break For now,
my name is Mike Petralia Trags, and you're listening to
the Mowagar Radio Show on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Speaker 2 (23:58):
This report a sponsored by three thirty five. Back here
on the Mowegger Radio Show on Cincinnati CESPN fifteen thirty.
My name is Mike Petralia Trags. You can follow me
on the xat trags Trags. Also follow me online at
CLNS Sincy with a y dot com and the Jungle

(24:22):
War Podcast. You can follow that and download at YouTube
dot com, slash at Jungle War Pod. The phone lines
are open here at ESPN fifteen thirty if you want
to talk Reds Bengals.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
The celebration that was Club World Cup over the weekend
at TQL Stadium. Pat Brennan just did a great job
articulating why that is a significant event for the city
of Cincinnati. We want to hear from you. Five to one,
three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty five to one three
seven four nine, one five three zero. Now we go

(24:59):
to one of my favorites at Great American ballparking anytime
the Reds are playing, and I have the station tuned
down the dial at seven hundred WLW, the voice of
the Cincinnati Reds, Tommy Thrall. Tommy, you did a great job.
You always do a great job. Obviously, bod you did
a terrific job handling the call of yesterday's thrilling come

(25:22):
from behind eight to four win over the Detroit Tigers.
Are you, aside from doing this interview, you enjoying your
day off?

Speaker 8 (25:30):
Yeah, yem, I appreciate that. Thanks for the kind works tracks.
It was a fun day of baseball yesterday. It was
a fun road trip altogether. But yeah, yesterday, seeing this
team come from behind, I mean, you see the Tigers
get those runs and the seventh things kind of the
way things have gone, you think, eh, it's gonna be
a tough road especially as good as the Tiger's bullpen

(25:51):
has been.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
But they showed a little fight yesterday. That was good
to see.

Speaker 8 (25:55):
And you know, you finished this road trip four and
two against two teams that were battling and out in
the Alds last year.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
That's that's not nothing.

Speaker 8 (26:03):
At this point, you look back to the sweep over
the Diamondbacks, in the homestand and then this road trip,
and this team's got a little momentum right now.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
You just hope they can keep it rolling. But yeah,
it's been a good off day.

Speaker 8 (26:14):
It's always more fun to enjoy the off day after
winning road trip like that.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
It must be fun to call Ellie daily Cruise's games
simply because that art go ahead. I'm sorry. The first RBI,
the four run eighth inning on a change up that
he drove to right field. I love that call of yours.
And then the home run the opposite way. It seemed like,

(26:38):
just based on your call, that ball kept carrying and carrying,
and it was a line drive and you thought, all
it'll get over the left fielder's head, and eventually it
went over the wall for a key to run Homer. Yeah,
I thought.

Speaker 8 (26:52):
I thought when he hit it it had a chance
to get over Green's head because he hit it hard.
Then you realize, well it's over his head, and oh
it's over the wall.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
So it was. It was crazy.

Speaker 8 (27:03):
I mean, yeah, it's to say it's fun to watch
this guy on a nightly basis is an understatement.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
I mean, it's a treat.

Speaker 8 (27:10):
I mean, it's it's really something to be able to
watch this kind of a talent day in and day out.
And you know, I think I think by and large,
all of us here in Cincinnati understand just how special
this player is. But then when you when you hear
about how fun he is to watch from the other side,
other broadcasters come up and be like, man, it must

(27:31):
be fun to watch him every day. It is, and
you don't take it for granted. And you know, look,
he's gonna go through his ups and downs, just like
any player does. And I think I think what we're
starting to see with him is what we've seen with TJ.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
Friedel this year, and that.

Speaker 8 (27:47):
Is he's he's widening the gaps of the peaks and valleys,
and I think he's starting to level things out. Look,
I don't want to make too much of it, but
it's been an incredible month of June. Here we are
just past the halfway point this month, and he is
on an absolute tear. And it's not just been a
few games now, it's a legitimate two weeks that he's

(28:09):
been on fire.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
It's special. I mean, it's just everything he can do
on the field.

Speaker 8 (28:14):
I think he's becoming way more discipline on the bases
and let's not forget the throw that was almost one
hundred miles an hour on a cutoff the nail or
run at the plate the other day and a huge play.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
So he can do he can literally do everything.

Speaker 8 (28:27):
And I know he's got the airs shortstop, and you know,
the critics will want to point to that and say,
maybe he could be a little more consistent there. Yeah, probably,
so that's probably not all wrong. But keep in mind,
this guy makes some plays that you scratch your head
and think, wow, how was that play? How did anybody
make that play?

Speaker 4 (28:44):
That is?

Speaker 8 (28:45):
And he does that on a pretty consistent basis too,
So I would say that, you know, just the eye test,
he takes away a lot more runs than he gives up.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Obviously, we're talking about one of the best, pure, most
dynamic talents in all of baseball and Daily Cruz four
home runs in each of his last four games. He
has a single home run in each of his last
four games. He has sixteen for the season. But as
much as we want to talk about Ellie and it
is a blast talking about Elie Daily Cruise, obviously, the

(29:16):
team aspect of what they were able to accomplish yesterday
late in the game and for the series for that matter,
losing the first game of the series against the team
with the best record in all of baseball, then coming
from behind him winning both Saturday and Sunday and winning
the series. But then the microcosm of what happened in

(29:37):
the eighth and ninth inning yesterday, And I mentioned this
several times on the postgame show yesterday on WLW. They
were oh and twenty nine Tommy going into the eighth
inning when they were trailing yesterday, and they finally won
a game when trailing after the seventh inning. To me,
that's a milestone win.

Speaker 8 (29:58):
Well, I think you look at a lot of things
here that have happened over like the last oh, what
is it, probably two three weeks or not even that,
probably the last week and a half.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
You've seen this team do things.

Speaker 8 (30:10):
That they haven't been able to do here of the
last couple of seasons for that matter, most recently, like
you talked about overcoming a late deficit, picking up a win,
overcoming a series opening loss, winning the series. They did
that that snapped a long streak. You don't have to
dig very deep into Twitter to figure out how long
that streak was. They hadn't come from behind more than

(30:32):
two runs all year.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
They did that.

Speaker 8 (30:34):
The other day won a game and I think it
was three runs down. I think in the Arizona series
they did that. They finally got to win an extra
innings and they finally scored a run in extra innings.
These were all hurdles that through the first part of
the season they had not cleared. Now they've done that.
I think those are signs that this team is starting
to play some winning baseball. They've been able to preserve

(30:56):
and win a low scoring, shutout game. They were able
to win a one run game. You've had a picture
go the distance wayde Miley, I think just keeps getting
better now with each of his first two starts, I
think yesterday was better than the first one. So, you know,
I think you're just starting to see this team in
every aspect make progress. And you know, I'm not here

(31:19):
to knock the previous regime, but I think there were
some things and some mistakes that this team was making
on a fairly consistent basis last year that needed to
be cleaned up this year, and look they're not. I've
told people this a lot throughout the course of the season.
When they say, well, we're seeing a lot of the
same mistakes. Yeah, you're going to for for a little while,

(31:41):
because you don't just clean everything up overnight.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
It doesn't just take.

Speaker 8 (31:45):
One day, one spring and then all of a sudden,
opening day hits and suddenly bad habits are corrected all
at once. It takes a little time. You have to
realize the mistakes that you've made, why their mistakes, why
they need to be cleaned up, and you have to
correct some bad habits. And I think we're seeing the

(32:05):
process of that, and we're seeing the fruits of that
labor come to fruition at this point. And I don't
know everybody that everybody that's ever watched Terry Francona manage
a team, and we just got done playing Cleveland, and
nobody knows Tito more than those guys, and everybody says, look,
you're probably going to be right around five hundred in
the first half, and then all of a sudden, this

(32:26):
team's going to go on a run the second half
and then look out, and it kind of feels like
we're starting to see this team maybe turn the corner.
There's no doubt in my mind that this team has
plenty of talent.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
Well, and that segues into exactly what I wanted to
bring up next, and that is Terry Francona and how
much credit he deserves for sticking to his core principle,
which is, and you know this, Tommy, don't panic, right,
don't be worried about who you're going to play in
a week, Don't be worried about who you're going to

(32:58):
play in three days, don't worried about who you're going
to play tomorrow. Be worried about the game you're about
to play. And that is all you really care about.
And by taking that philosophy, which is sometimes hard to do,
I mean, look, we on the outside, we know that
they're playing Minnesota, Saint Louis, the Yankees, the Padres, the
Red Sox coming up. It's our job to know that.

(33:20):
But for him, it's his job to get the players
to focus day, today, today and hammer that attitude in.
And to me, this is where it starts to pay dividends,
because the players aren't thinking about the game that happened
three days ago or the game that's coming up in
three games in three days. They're thinking about just tonight.
To me, I know it sounds simplistic and basic, but

(33:44):
that's how you improve. I think you're right.

Speaker 8 (33:47):
And look, you can look at it and think, boy,
it's a tough schedule coming up all these good teams. Yeah,
you can look at it that way. But if you
look at it that way, that's not really a winning approach.
And I get it. You kind of look at it
in terms of, all, right, where the win's gonna come from.
The wins are gonna come from beating the other team

(34:07):
that you have on your schedule that night. That's where
the wins come from. And you got to figure out
a way. And there's nobody better at it. In my
mind that there might be two of the best managers
in baseball right now at doing that, and one of
them is in the Reds dugout, the other one probably
down in Texas. Bruce Bochi absolutely one of the best
managers in the game, and the.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
Reds have played some other good ones here lately.

Speaker 8 (34:28):
I think, you know, Craig Council does a great job
with that, as much as that pains me to say,
as long as he's been tormenting the Reds in an
opposite dugout in this division, I think Aj Hinch is
another guy that's really good at that. But all that
is to say, enough credit for those guys. But what
it comes down to is are you a winning team?

(34:48):
And if you're a winning team and you think you
are good enough to be a team that can battle
for a postseason spot and not just that, but winning
the postseason, it doesn't matter who's on your schedule. You
got to be to figure out a way to beat him.
And you know every team is going to go through
its ups and downs. The Reds probably didn't play the
quote unquote easy part of their schedule as well as

(35:09):
they would have liked.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
But that's behind him.

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Now.

Speaker 8 (35:11):
It's a new day every day and you got to
figure out how to win. And like I said, if
you're a good enough team, it doesn't matter who's on
the schedule, you still figure out a way to beat him.
And as long as this team plays as a unit
like we've seen them do You talked about the opposite
field hitting by day La Cruz. I think the opposite
field hitting that we saw from Matt McClain was certainly encouraging.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
TJ.

Speaker 8 (35:32):
Friedel has quietly been one of the best, if not
the best, leadoff guy in the National League and certainly
one of the best hitting center fielders in the game.
And I will plead with anybody that'll listen, if that
guy's not in the All Star Game, that is just
a shame and what are we doing? Because he has
done everything imaginable to deserve a spot in the All
Star Game, So hopefully he ends up there. Tyler Stevenson's

(35:54):
hitting his stride after getting off to a slow start
coming back from injury. There's just a lot of encouraging
signs right now on this team, and it's hard not
to get excited about about where they're headed because this
pitching staff is certainly proven that they're they're certainly capable
enough to be a winning staff.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
You know who I don't think gets talked about enough
and who has really been clutch offensively for this team
when they were not scoring early in the season. Gavin Lux.
He's hitting to eighty one and he, to me, is
your ideal bottom third of the order hitter, simply because Tommy,

(36:30):
you're not throwing away in it back. You know, you
get to the bottom of the order and on some teams,
the pitching other picture knows they're going to get a
bit of a breather. Well, when you expand the lineup
and then when you know Austin Hayes comes back, if
you can push Gavin Lux to seventh, maybe eighth, and
you get him hitting, you know what he is now
to eighty one and his OBP is you know, north

(36:53):
of three forty three point fifty. Uh, that is a
significant boost to your offense.

Speaker 8 (37:00):
Well, yeah, I mean I think that's a great point
because you talked about the quality of a bat, and
I think that's probably the most noteworthy thing when it
comes to Gavin Lux, because there are few guys on
this team that have given consistently professional at bats the
way he has. You know, I think you can dive
into the numbers a little deeper and you find some

(37:21):
situations where maybe he struggles a little bit, but whenever
he comes the plate, whenever he's in the box, you
kind of feel good about your odds. You like your
chances just because you know that he's going to be
up there battling. You know that he's going to give
you a good a good fight in the box. And
know the way it's been going right now for him,
he's been extremely productive.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
I think that's a great point.

Speaker 8 (37:43):
I think he was a big pick up for this team,
and I think he's gonna be another one of these
guys that just continues to make progress. He made a
lot of progress in the second half last year. He's
a professional, He's been around it. He knows what it
takes to win because he has been on the franchise
that epitomizes winning in this sport. And I know the
superstars certainly helped, but he also is a guy that

(38:06):
understands it's more than just the star power that leads
the wins.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
We will wrap it up with a segue into speaking
of superstars. How shocked were you when you read the
news of Raphael Devers being traded to the Giants. You know,
I was sitting there. I actually watched the game.

Speaker 8 (38:22):
I think they played what was it, We had the
day game Saturday, so yeah, they were Saturday night. They're
on TV National TV against the Yankees, and they were
talking about the tumultuous situation with with Devers and the
Red Sox, and I was sitting there thinking to myself,
I'm like, they just need to trade this guy.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
Today.

Speaker 8 (38:40):
After the game, I see whoa he was actually traded
actually did it and so I guess I can't sit
here and tell you I was too surprised because I.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
Was sitting there watching the game on TV, thinking maybe
they need to trade him.

Speaker 8 (38:51):
Uh So, I guess yeah I was, but I was
still shocked.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
I mean yeah, I mean I was too. I mean
I could see that happening. You know. I cover the
Red Sox, covered the start of Dever's career in Boston,
and after watching what happened with Mookie Betts, to see
this happen with Raphael Devers in a period of now
five years is just incredible.

Speaker 8 (39:13):
I'd like to know if they could go back and
do Mookie have a redo with Mookie Betts, if they
figure out a way to keep him. I mean, that's
the one, more than anything that stuns me, because I've
heard nothing but good things about him, and he is
as good of a player as you could ask for.
And this is a guy that is seemingly as humble

(39:36):
as you could ask On a team that is full
of superstars, and on just about every other team in
Major League Baseball, he would be the star. And he
just assumes his role there in LA and goes about it,
goes about his business and a professional manner. He's everything
you could possibly ask for. I don't I mean, I
don't necessarily fully understand that situation letting him go. But

(40:00):
it's not like they don't have the resources in Boston.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
No, that is true. Well, we've got to wrap it
up here, Tommy. I want to let you enjoy the
rest of your well earned day off. It's not just
the players that need the day off, it's the broadcasters
that travel with the team. Enjoy the rest of your
Monday day off, and you will be on seven hundred
WLW as always on Tuesday night as the Reds open
a three game series with the Minnesota Twins at seven

(40:24):
ten at Great American Ballpark. Tommy, thanks so much for
joining me Trags anytime. Thanks so much, appreciate it. All right,
he's Tommy Thrall. My name is Mike Petralia, and you're
listening to the Mowagger Radio show on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (40:38):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (40:41):
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(41:06):
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Speaker 2 (41:17):
Mike Petralia tracks back with you for our number two
of three here on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. This is
the Moeger Radio Show. Thank you once again to Moegar
for allowing me to sit in the high chair for
these three very fortunate ours. Also thank you to Taring Bland.

(41:40):
It's doing a great job as always getting all the
calls set up, all of our guests, set up all
of the sound. Maybe we'll get to some sound later
in the broadcast. We'll see how the show flows along. Also,
phone lines are open. We want to hear from you
about your belief level. In the twenty twenty five Cincinnati

(42:00):
Reds after taking two of three from the Cleveland Guardians,
two of three from the Detroit Tigers on the road,
and they've won seven of nine. Of course, they swept
the Arizona Diamondbacks. What is your belief level and the
ability of this team to win either the National League
Central or at least just get to the playoffs, make
a run and get to the playoffs for the first

(42:23):
time since twenty twenty, but the first time really in
a legitimate season since twenty thirteen. What is your confidence
level in the Cincinnati Reds five to one, three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty five one three seven four nine
fifteen thirty Want to talk Bengals. Is Trey Hendrickson going
to get done before training camp or will it bleed

(42:46):
into training camp? Or will he hold out? Will he
miss regular season games? I want to know what you
fans out there of the Bengals think is the most
likely scenario with Trey Hendrickson. If you want to talk
Shamar Stewart, fine, but I think people are burned out.
It's a procedural matter. In my estimation, in the estimation

(43:07):
of other people who are paid to cover the Bengals
on a regular basis, I think it will get done.
It's a matter of a rookie contract getting ironed out.
But if you want to talk to Shamar Stewart, if
you want to talk about the Bengals moving their training
camp practice from the afternoons to the mornings to try
and get a head start on their mental focus for

(43:29):
the season, which is what Zach Taylor's trying to do.
We can talk about that as well. My next guest, though,
we want to talk about a pope pirie of sports items.
I want to talk about what JJ spawn was able
to accomplish with my next guest. That is Alex Frank,
my colleague at colns Sinc dot com. He's a regular

(43:50):
on this program. He's a regular on WLWE I host
Extra Innings. Alex, how you doing, bud.

Speaker 4 (43:58):
Well, Mike.

Speaker 10 (43:58):
I'm great. As I'm saying, the draftic heading back to
downtown Cincinnati, and I have to.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Ask please don't get into an accident, Please do.

Speaker 4 (44:05):
Not do that.

Speaker 10 (44:06):
I can assure you that won't happen, but I will
ask you this. What's the longest putt you've ever made
on a golf course.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Okay, I'm ballparking this about fifty feet. I've legitimately made
in competition of fifty foot putt and it was almost
a lappable when it goes in the hole at that distance.
You're like, Okay, I had no expectation that the putt
was going to go in. And I was sitting enjoying
a Father's Day meal with the lovely Deborah Ann and

(44:39):
her daughter yesterday evening and watching the conclusion of the
US Open. By the way, I was shocked but that
they could actually get the rest of the US Open
in during daylight in Oakmont, Northeast Pittsburgh. But they were
able to do it. But the longest put I've ever
done is about fifty feet.

Speaker 10 (45:00):
Well, that's impressive, first off, And to your other point
about how the weather was yesterday at Oakmond, I made
the comment to several of my family members I was
with last night on Father's Day, it looked like I
was watching the Open Championship, right, and the thickness of
the rough and just I mean, it was like I

(45:21):
was watching the Open on a Thursday or Friday morning,
and I'm watching the final round of the US Open,
which made that sixty four foot putt from JJ spawn
even more impressive. And I saw on Twitter today that
someone tweeted that JJ spawn Sunday started at three am
when he went to a CBS near the golf course

(45:42):
because his daughter was sick. And then he wins the
US Open on Father's Day. So you want to talk
about that's unbelievable.

Speaker 11 (45:50):
It truly is?

Speaker 7 (45:51):
It?

Speaker 4 (45:51):
Truly is?

Speaker 2 (45:53):
I love a story like that. And then he's able
to let that daughter that he got went to the
went to the CBS four, actually hold the trophy that
her dad won.

Speaker 12 (46:04):
It is.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
It's a surreal story. It's one of the better stories because, look,
we've become cynical and we've become critical of these athletes
and I and I understand why that is a lot
of it's because in pro pro team sports, it's all
about the money. And I get that. And even in
the live golf turn tour era that we're in, it's
all about the money. Who can get paid the most,

(46:27):
who can set the conditions of the competition the most,
Who has the most power uh at the top of
the golfing ladder. And to see a guy understand that
JJ spawn was on the brink of leaving golf. I
don't know if anybody's watched Stick you do? You know
what stick is on Apple Plus? Alex heard of It's

(46:50):
Owen Wilson.

Speaker 12 (46:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
Owen Wilson is this woe begone former golfer who was
on the PGA Tour, lost his brains, lost his mind,
and competition got into a fight. But it's you know,
it's it's kind of a funny take on what happens
on the PGA Tour, and he takes up the cause

(47:14):
of this young, very very young, seventeen year old golfer
with all the talent in the world. And the point
I'm making here is, you know, it is amazing to
think that a guy that close to quitting golf altogether,
had never made the cut in the US Open, has
never played, like you mentioned overseas in the Open Championship

(47:36):
in Great Britain. The fact that he was able to
come from five to six strokes back on the back
nine yesterday and win that tournament in those conditions is astounding.

Speaker 10 (47:48):
Well, and that's why we love sports, right yep, the
humanity element when you hear whenever you hear a story
about a guy that was almost going to quit the
sport that he's in or she's in, and then they
win something as miraculous as the US Open, given the
weather conditions that was prevalent yesterday at Oakmont, it's just
really really impressive and it goes to show you again,

(48:11):
the human element to sports. I know, I know we
can overlook it very easily, but if you don't overlook it,
you can really get some great stories about incredible athletes
and even guys like you've never heard of before this weekend,
probably like JJ Spawn. So just a tremendous performance from him.
And I tell you if you we talked about this

(48:32):
mic on Friday with hockey, but with golf, if you're
not into it now, this is a great year to
get into it because of how good the Masters were,
the PGA Championship and Skye Schffler's dominance, and now this
incredible US Open that we're coming off of. Now we
got the Open Championship in Northern Ireland next month. It's
a great time to get into the sport. I mean,
the weather's getting really nice, you can go play golf recreationally.

(48:54):
I'm telling you, it's a it's a great sports stale
watch but also.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
Take part in. Yeah, great points, Alex, and I couldn't
have said it any better. I just didn't see when
JJ spawn fall off, fell off the track at about
five or six over uh in the first round. I
think he had five straight fives on his card in
the front nine yesterday and to come back is just

(49:21):
something nobody expected. I'm curious, speaking of other sports, the
NBA Finals tonight. We have a lot of Pacer fans
in the audience listening to this. And by the way,
five one, three, seven, nine, fifteen thirty, if any Indiana
Pacer fans want to call in and talk about tonight's
massive game number five in Oklahoma City Thunder and the Pacers.

(49:46):
With the series tied at to to alex the Pacers
had a golden opportunity on Friday night to go up
three to one, and I think if they had won
that game they would eventually win the title. I'm not
so sure.

Speaker 10 (49:57):
Now you're right, And you know what this series reminds
me so much of is the twenty fifteen NBA Finals
between Cleveland and Golden State, where the Caps the Warriors
were clearly the better team going in and ultimately winning
the series, but Cleveland led two to one and they
had Game four on their home floor. If they had

(50:18):
won that game, maybe they could have gone on to
win the series. Golden State takes that game a close game,
but they go win Game five back in the Bay
Area and then they wrap it up in Game six
back in Cleveland, so it kind of reminds me of
that this series. But I think what's interesting going into
tonight's game is like twenty fifteen, can Indiana re group?

(50:40):
Can they you know, apply pressure on the Thunder? Because
the Thunder had the momentum right now, especially after the
way they won Game four. So if you're Indiana, you
got to come out and just immediately apply pressure. And
that's not just defensively, because their style of play is
can they hit threes early to make it a fast

(51:01):
paced game? The Thunder being the best defensive team in
the NBA, they're oven for more of a slower pace game.
But if you're Indiana, get out and make them run,
you know, catch them off guard. They're not expecting that.
You got to throw that first punch early with the
momentum that Oklahoma City has, So it's going to be
I think the first quarter is going to be really interesting,

(51:23):
and if it's close, great. If you can get to
halftime and the game is within two possessions and you're
the Indiana Pacers, you'll take that, I think.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
I think if you're within single digits at halftime, you've
got a chance. I think that's what you don't want
to see, and we've seen it a lot in these
NBA playoffs. I mean, these have been the playoffs of
the comeback. I get that. Well, we've also seen twenty
and thirty point leads by halftime, and obviously Indiana needs

(51:53):
to avoid that. Indiana goes in as nine and a
half point underdogs, but the Pacers have not wins this
postseason as an underdog going into a game. That's a
fascinating stat to me. What do you make of that?

Speaker 10 (52:10):
Well, it's great and it goes to show you how
resilient they've been. You can never count the Indiana Pacers out.
I mean they've been underdogs this entire season. They I
mean think about this. They were a four seed and
they still are. They were a four seed in the
Eastern Conference, and you know, they were being overlooked because

(52:31):
you had teams in the East Lake Cleveland that was
so good in the regular season. You had Boston who
were the defending champions. So they were being heavily overlooked.
But they have just kept coming and coming and coming
and coming in waves. And I think the interesting thing
to me is they have proven themselves so much time
and time again throughout these playoffs that it's not just

(52:52):
about their comebacks and their ability to pull those off,
it's their ability to dominate teams. I mean, you look
at the way they play so Tyres Halliburton and other
role players like aaron Ne Smith and Edrew Nemhardt and
Pascal Siakam who's won an NBA title with the Raptors before.
And then you think about I mean, you can look
at what TJ McConnell has.

Speaker 12 (53:13):
Done this year.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
I love TJ McConnell. Oh great, it's just so much
fun watching him play. And Dustin Depirak, who we have
had on here of the Indianapolis Star, he says, you know,
he's not going to blow anyone away with quickness, speed
or even his strength, but what he has in determination

(53:37):
and experience, he just beats guys on gile love TJ McConnell.

Speaker 10 (53:44):
He's been like that ever since he was at Arizona
ten years ago on those Wildcats teams that were really good.
So it's no surprise to me that he's doing what
he's doing. But you're right, it's just that, you know,
he may not be the quickest, he may not be
you know the best shooter, but he will outwork you
and now tough you, and that that is something that
Indiana fans in particular will adhere greatly to because of that.

(54:08):
And he completely turned Game three around. He comes off
the bench and he's flying into the crowdies, you know,
saving balls from going out of balance. He's pertaining possessions
for the Pacers like I think him tonight. DJ McConnell
may be the not only the X factor, but the
key tonight for Indiana and providing that spark on the
road because you don't have the lamentum right now. But

(54:31):
if you're Oklahoma City, you're gonna focus on Halliburton, You're
gonna focus on Siaka Man, even Miles Turner. You can't
overlook TJ McConnell.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Give me a winner of the series.

Speaker 10 (54:40):
And why I sat Thunder and six at the beginning,
I still am gonna maintain that. I just think they're
the better team. I think in a series of this magnitude,
they have the best team. They have the best player
in shag yogis Alexander. I'm gonna stick with Thunder and six,
but I wouldn't be shocked if Indiana wins tonight or

(55:00):
at the very least win Thursday and forces a game
seven on Sunday night.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
You know what they say, Alex, if you get a
series to game seven, anything can happen. Anything.

Speaker 10 (55:12):
Well that I am a scortal agreement on that.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
All right. I wanted to bring you on to talk
FC Cincinnati and we hadn't spoken since Friday, and they
won a big, big game in New England at Gillette
Stadium one nil on Saturday night as Kevin Denke scored
the only goal for the Orange and Blue, and it
was a massive win for the Orange and Blue simply

(55:39):
because they were struggling. They obviously still feel the effect
of losing Nick Haglin, their star defender and backer. What
did you make of what they were able to accomplish
on the road in Foxborough on Saturday night?

Speaker 10 (55:55):
I make that day got back to who they were,
you know, their team that play off of playing great
defense and a clean sheet, which was really important. And
then the way that match was unfolded. I texted you
this during it. It was intense on both sides. I
mean both teams were attacking offensively, there were a lot
of shots on goal early and then in a game

(56:17):
like that, all it takes is one goal and a
guy that you mentioned, Kevin Dankey eleventh n LS regular
season goal this season in the twenty sixth minute. And
then give Roman Celentano credit and give the f C
Cincinnati defense credit for, you know, keeping New England off
the scoreboard, because there were chances in the second half

(56:37):
for the Revolution to get back into the game and
tie it. But you think about what f C Cincinnati
had been through since Nick Haglan got hurt. You know,
they had not won overall since May fourteenth, and you
go on the road tough environment. I mean, here's the
crazy thing. And you know this because you, Mike, you
lived in Boston for so long. It was fifty six

(56:59):
degrees a Saturday night soccer match in Jillette Stadium in
New England. Now, obviously it's in the Northeast, so it
can be a little cooler in the summers, but fifty
six degrees in the middle of June on a Saturday night.
I mean, give Vessie Cincinnati credit for going up there
in the elements sweeping the team that they had not
swept in their entire MLS existence going back to twenty nineteen.

(57:20):
So very very good win and now here's the great thing.
You get another lengthy layoff eleven days before you go
face Montreal, and then you go face an Orlando team
that's in fifth place. So you're gonna be facing a
lot of tough, tough teams coming up, which is why
you had to get a win against a really tesky

(57:41):
New England team that the standings do not nearly reflect
up the way they have been playing.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
And as you texted me, I'll return the favor. The
Orange and Blue have home matches coming up in July
at TQL against Chicago Columbus and Inner Miami FC. Those
are should be three terrific games. It should be a
great slate of games for FC Cincinnati that I don't

(58:07):
want to say get well, but certainly entertain what I
think will be sellout crowds at TQL.

Speaker 10 (58:13):
Oh, you're absolutely right. I mean, that's that's the thing
I'm most looking forward to, especially the summers down here
in Cincinnati, with an MLS team in FC Cincinnati that
is once again in contention for the Supporter Shield and
is going to get a really good seed in the playoffs,
so long as they continue to do what they're supposed
to do and win matches like Saturday night, but I

(58:35):
mean those are going to be like I mean the
Inner MIAMIFC game. I know it's a Wednesday night, but
in the summer you're gonna be able to get a
sellout crowd because of Leonel Messi coming.

Speaker 4 (58:44):
And we all.

Speaker 10 (58:45):
Remember twenty twenty three in the League's come. How thrilling
I will be it devastating that match was?

Speaker 2 (58:53):
All right, he is Alex frank does a great job
of covering all things sports for Cincinnati Sports, that is
for clnssinc dot com. Also, Alex, if you will plug
some of your other sites that you do work for,
especially when it's college football and college basketball.

Speaker 10 (59:12):
Season, well mainly college basketball and college football SB Nation,
a Sea of Blue for Kentucky, Cincy Jungle for the Bengals,
and now Land Grand holy Land for Ohio State. And
they can check all that workout on my Twitter at
Frankie underscore Natty with two ends.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
That is terrific. Well done, my friend, Well well done.
All right. I hope you get to where you're going safely.
Please keep your eyes and hand eyes on the road,
hands at ten and two. All right, you don't have
to worry about me.

Speaker 10 (59:41):
Mike, I'll be all right, but thank you so much,
and it's always great talking with you and Tarin.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
All right, sounds good. He is Alex Frank. My name
is Mike Petralia, and you're listening to the Molwagger Radio
Show on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen third Traffic from.

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Speaker 6 (01:00:33):
This report is.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
All right. We have a few minutes here. My name
is Mike Vietralia, filling in for the one and only
Moager on the Moager Radio Show on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
Do have phone lines open, and we do want to
take your calls on whether or not you think this
Reds team is for real after winning seven of their

(01:01:00):
last nine games, winning the series in Cleveland, winning the
series in Detroit after dropping the first game on Friday
night and winning two straight, something they had not done
all year long. Also last night or yesterday afternoon in Detroit,
they did something they hadn't done in twenty nine previous tries,

(01:01:20):
and that was win a game when they trailed after
seven innings. They accomplished that on the road against the
Detroit Tigers, winning that game eight to four. We want
to hear your thoughts on the Reds. Want to hear
your thoughts on the Bengals. Five one three seven four nine,
fifteen thirty. Again, that's five one, three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty. After the bottom of the hour break, we

(01:01:45):
will be talking with Alex Barth of ninety eight five
the Sports Hub in Boston. Why you ask, well, I
want to get the reaction from the belly of the
Beast on one of the biggest, most stunning trades that
we have seen in Major League Baseball this early in
the season in quite some time. Raphael Devers going to

(01:02:07):
the San Francisco Giants essentially for prospects and not much
more than that. And I want to get the temperature
of that fan base in Boston, which is unlike any
other in Major League Baseball. They lost Mookie Betts, of course,
when he left as a free agent and signed with
the LA Dodgers. Now they've lost the other prize prospect

(01:02:30):
that they had in the mid to twenty tens. They
lose Rafael Devers. He's off to the San Francisco Giants.
We'll talk with Alex Barth about that coming up after
the bottom of the hour. Also, we'll talk about the
Cincinnati Bengals. And I want to focus on a player
that I think got some attention in the offseason, but

(01:02:52):
not enough, Dax Hill. What is his role going to
be in Al Golden's new defense as he takes over
the rain from lou Anarumo This year, There's been a
lot of talk about what Al Golden's going to be
able to do with the Bengals defense. He wants to
put players now before the season begins, in positions of uncomfortability,

(01:03:18):
if you will. He used the term tyranny of comfort.
The tyranny of comfort he wants to avoid. He doesn't
want guys being comfortable. He wants to make guys uncomfortable.
And I think, you know you can read between the lines,
but that may be a shot at the previous way
that Bengals were playing defense. Too many guys were relying

(01:03:39):
on being comfortable, being relying or relying on what they
did the best, and not getting out of their comfort zone.
And so Al Golden, I think, is trying to not
only get guys play different positions, but look at the
defense in a different way. We'll have that and much
much more coming up as The Moegger Radio Show can

(01:04:00):
on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (01:04:04):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:04:08):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

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A seven minute delay I'm at Ezelic with traffic Monday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
My name is Mike Betralliat Trags, as you might know
me on the X also sealing us Cincy with a
y dot com. I'm filling in for the Moeger radio show.
I'm filling in for Moeger on the Moager Radio Show.
I should say on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen, what in the

(01:05:01):
world are they doing in Boston. Look, I understand I
have some bias here because I used to work there
for a long, long, long time. I have a lot
of friends and families still up in the New England
slash Boston area, and a lot of them are loyal
Boston Red Sox fans, and they have to be scratching
their head, or maybe not, maybe they're like, well, this

(01:05:22):
is part for the course with the Red Sox trading
away without question, the most potent and powerful and consistent
offensive bat in the Red Sox lineup to the San
Francisco Giants for essentially four prospects. I'm curious as to
what the temperature of that city is, because they go

(01:05:43):
nuts when something like this happens, and it's the one
time where I kind of wish I could transport self
transport for a day just to go back there and
watch the people, specifically listen to sports radio. I can
do that naturally. I can do that online. Anybody can
do that, but I want to. I would love to
be in the area to kind of soak in the cynicism,

(01:06:06):
but to give me a taste of that. Right now,
I welcome back a good friend of this program, a
good friend of my own, and that would be Alex Bart,
a former colleague at Sealing S since the Sealingsmedia dot com.
I guess he still does some work there. How you doing, Alex?

Speaker 4 (01:06:23):
Uh?

Speaker 11 (01:06:23):
You know, I'm still kind of in shock for being honest,
Like the day, I don't remember the last time we
had a news day as impactful around here as this.
This is, this is, and I mean the day is
still going because the Red Sox, as they're one to do,
the press conference isn't even until eight o'clock tonight. That's

(01:06:44):
going to be more than twenty four hours after the trade,
So we're not even done with the and this will
be talked about all week. Like you said, it's hum
in the water for Boston Sports Radio. But you know,
to trade away the face of the franchise, and Sam Kennedy,
the team president, and Craig Brezlo's. The fact of GM
won't even speak until twenty six hours after the trade

(01:07:09):
alone is jarring enough. That's not even the most jarring thing,
But that's just right go and it's you know, what.

Speaker 6 (01:07:14):
Is this day like?

Speaker 11 (01:07:16):
Well, we're all just kind of waiting to see how
they're going to put their foot in their mouth even further.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
So, you and I both know that they are all
about image pushing the image pushing the message. They are
so critically tied in and worried about that every second,
every waking second of the day. That's why they're taking
this long, Alex, You and I you should know that
by now right, I mean they are having meetings upon

(01:07:42):
meetings upon meetings about what is the best way to
put this in a way that favors us and throws
the exiting player under a bus. That's the way they've
always been and this is going to be no different now.
The difference here to me is, and I can't belie
even I'm going to say this, the Red Sox do

(01:08:03):
deserve some sympathy because I think towards the end it
was obvious that Rafael Devers did not want to play
the way the Red Sox wanted him to play. Play
where they wanted him to play specifically, and that was
because of different injuries, different roster manipulations. Player lost here,
player lost there, and they wanted him to fill in.

(01:08:26):
And I think whatever it was, the first domino to
fall was who was it that injured himself at first
base running over? Yes, Tristan Cossas. I would say that
was the largest domino to fall in all of this
starting to happen.

Speaker 11 (01:08:43):
I think goes way back before that. And this is
the question I've kind of posed to people, say, did
this trade become inevitable because Rafael Devers didn't want to
be here yet? Did Rafael Devers not want to be
in Boston? Or did the Red Sox create a situation
in which Rafael Devers did.

Speaker 10 (01:09:01):
Not want to be in Boston.

Speaker 11 (01:09:03):
It really goes back to well, I mean, we can
go all the way back to John Lester, and they've
been chasing contracts and dampr for a decade now. Part
of the reason they signed Devers is because fans are
so upset about them losing Mookie Bets and Xander Bogarts,
and by the way, we were sold at the time
that Mookie Betts was traded because they had to do

(01:09:23):
that so they would have the money to pay Bogarts.
It's pay Devers. Now all three are in the NLS.
But in this specific instance, it goes back to this
offseason when according to reports, Devers saw the news that
the Red Sox were interested in getting Alex Pregnant or
Nolan Aaron Ottaw or one of these third basemen that

(01:09:44):
were out there, and he kind of went to the
team and said, Hey, what's going on. I'm a third baseman,
and he was basically told, don't worry about that, it's
media speculation. They then obviously signed Alex Bregmant and then
he was told that Pregnant will be playing second he
wouldn't change his position, and then that never came true,
and then he was told to d h and they

(01:10:05):
didn't want him playing the field, and then Kassas gets hurt.
And I understand why some people look at that and say,
it's extenuating circumstances. Why would he do it for the team,
And there is a case to be made there. Rafaeld
Bevers did not handle as well he was childish, but
I also understand his hesitation when he signs the contracts
three years ago, albeit with a different GM. He signs

(01:10:27):
the contract three years ago, is total he's going to
play third, then as told the team isn't signed, isn't
looking to sign another third base than they do. Then
is told that he's still going to play third, which
he isn't. Then he's told that they don't think he's
good enough to play the field. For them to come
back two months later and ask him to play the field,
it was a real It became a really ugly relationship

(01:10:48):
in both sides are at fault. I don't think this
was raf field Evers just putting his foot down in
the Red Sox Avenue trade an insubordinate player. This was
another case, as it was with Moviie Betts, as it
was to John Less, as was with a handful of
other players, of them getting under the skin of a
star to the point where that player can no longer

(01:11:08):
remain in the organization.

Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
What are they getting back in return? I mean, what
I don't understand is, Okay, you're upset with the player,
but why the need to rush him out of town was?
It was something going to happen. Did the Red Sox
think something was going to happen with Raphael Devers if
he stayed around the club?

Speaker 3 (01:11:27):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
And that would damage the club, would damage their young prospects.
Did they really think he was going to be that
big of a detriment to the young players? And granted
they have a trio of very talented prospects coming up,
did he think that he was going to damage them?
I mean that might have been part of it, you know,
to the.

Speaker 11 (01:11:48):
Point where they couldn't have waited another month till the deadline.
But here's the thing. I think in their mind, what
they're getting back is the Giants took the whole contract. Yeah,
they're off the hook for the whole contract. Soh you know,
if you wait, well, now maybe the Giants go out
and they find another bat and now they're not interested.
And how many teams are really going to take that

(01:12:08):
whole contract. I think they saw an opportunity to get
the contract off the books and they took it. I
think that's what it was. And you know, maybe the
Giants put a clock on them and said, yeah, we'll
do this, p us to let us know by whenever.
So I think that was the major part of it.
I some of it was probably they didn't want them
around the younger players. They were worried about his influence there.

(01:12:29):
I wonder if some of it was you mentioned how
pr conscious they try to be. I wonder if there
was a thought of, well, we have all this good buzz.
We just swept the Yankees. We won eight of ten,
so maybe that lessens it a little bit, which, if anything,
made it worse because oh, you're actually on track for
the first time in three years. Now you trade them.
But their pr senses aren't always exactly right.

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
But I think it was just they saw.

Speaker 11 (01:12:52):
Somebody to take the whole contract, and they jumped at
the opportunity to offload the money.

Speaker 2 (01:12:57):
Okay, what is the breakdown of blame? What is the
percentage in the blame pie game?

Speaker 11 (01:13:03):
Here?

Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
Devers versus the red sox on your airway, I.

Speaker 11 (01:13:08):
Mean on the airwaves?

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Yeah, Like, what's the temperature? What is the temperature of
the fans.

Speaker 11 (01:13:17):
So it's been interesting because there's been a lot of
people who have been hard on Rafael Devers since the
spring when he wouldn't be flexible in terms of changing
his position. This has been a story since February, but
you have a lot of people today the take is
kind of yeah, but I don't think what Rafael Devers
did is right, and he deserves some sort of repercussion

(01:13:41):
for the way he acted, But you don't salary then
the top ten hitter in baseball. Like that's kind of
the take. There's no way. Well, there's a winner and
it's the San Francisco Giants. Nobody's doing winner loser Red
Sox Devers. It's loser loser Red Sox Devers, who screwed
up work? And I mean, you know how it works, right, Yeah,

(01:14:03):
that is a true good point. There is no winner here.
There is no winner. Both sides loss, both sides look bad.
I think the Red Sox end up work because Raphiel
Devers is still getting paid and he's going to go
to a team where he can contend for a World Series.
The Red Sox lost the top ten player, and I
know people will say, oh, well, you know they have
the money to replace him, but they actually do that,

(01:14:23):
and they don't have a great track record of doing
that over the last decade.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
Speaking with Alex Barth of ninety eighty five the Sports
Hub in Boston, UH after they play the Miami Marlins.
Guess who the San Francisco Giants have this weekend? And
I know you wrote about this for ninety eight five
the Sports hub dot Com. Isn't that ironic?

Speaker 4 (01:14:42):
Yep?

Speaker 11 (01:14:43):
Yeah, that's another thing the pr conscience Red Sox. Some
people point to that out tod they have waited a
week so they don't play them.

Speaker 2 (01:14:50):
Now that if you're if you're committed to this, and
you're right, if they're going to take the what three
hundred and thirty million dollars, right, so it's three point fifteen, Yeah,
three thirteen.

Speaker 11 (01:15:01):
It's a three hundred and thirteen contract. I think the
Red Sox already paid out like sixteen million of.

Speaker 4 (01:15:05):
Its something like that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:07):
I mean, if you have a team that's willing to
do that, you do not care that you're playing him
again this coming weekend. So what there's a reunion in
six days that has nothing. I just find that to
be so typical Red Sox. The drama.

Speaker 11 (01:15:24):
Well, and I'll tell you this, because this is all
centered around the fact that Devers refused to play first base.
Buster Posey or might have been the manager. Somebody from
the Giants today came out and said, yeah, Devers might
play some first and might play some third with us.
I think Devs is being introduced to the media tomorrow.
I'm sure you'll hear him say that he'll do anything

(01:15:44):
for the team. He's going to be in that lineup
against the Red Sox playing first base Friday night. I
can feel it. And boy, is that going to be
an egg on your Facebook for the Red Sox who
who couldn't get him to do with Heurope because of
the way they handle them, And it's it's going to
kind of prove the point it was he in a
bubble being selfish or did the Red Sox between Craig
Breslo and Alex Kora and their disagreements create a bad

(01:16:08):
situation that led to this?

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
All right, we got about ninety seconds here, Alex bigger story,
Raphael Devers being traded or Jason Tatum blowing out his achilles.
I think I know the answer here, but I want
to get your take.

Speaker 11 (01:16:23):
It's Devors because there's so much more, like Tatum's out
for a year. That sucks, but Tatum's out for year
and then we're gonna need to reset anyway because the
team just sold and they're up against the luxury tax.
It changed the direction of the organization. It didn't exactly
torpedo the organization the way that this devers trade money.

Speaker 2 (01:16:43):
Oh I like that take, you know, I think it.
I think the injury itself when it happened shocked a
lot of Boston fans because I think if if Jason
Tatum stays healthy, they lose that game, and but they
that would have put him down. What in the series

(01:17:03):
that would have put him down.

Speaker 11 (01:17:05):
They would have put it down three one. The series
would have been open. But they won it bitle last
year like that, Core accomplished its goal.

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
Yeah, but I remember back in two thousand and eight,
and you know, they that team should have won a
lot more. And I get the feeling that we're going
to look back on the twenty twenty four Celtics and
say the same thing. But anyway, it's been a pleasure
having you back on, Alex Barth of ninety eight five
the Sports Hub. I'm sure Boston scene will always keep
you busy. I have no doubt about that.

Speaker 11 (01:17:36):
Oh yeah, I can't wait to see it's next.

Speaker 2 (01:17:38):
All right, he's Alex Barth. My name is Mike Petralia
filling in from Oeggar on the Moegger Radio Show on
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

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(01:18:17):
and debris in the roadway northbound seventy one after Dorwood Lateral.
I'm at exelic with traffic. This report is sponsored by
Are you ready for some football?

Speaker 11 (01:18:29):
We are. This is Dave Lapo and you're listening to
the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
Heading into the final hour of the Moegger Radio Show
here on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. My name is Mike
Petralia Trags, as you may know me on social media
on the xtr Ags. It is five oh six. The
phone lines are open five one, three, seven, four nine
fifteen thirty five, one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty,

(01:19:04):
get in line and talk all things Bengals, Reds, FC Cincinnati.
If you want to talk Club World Cup, I'll take
a swing at that. The event that got underway or
one of the venues that certainly hosted the beginning of
the event this weekend, That would be TQL Stadium, home
of the Orange and Blue FC Cincinnati. But right now,

(01:19:26):
I want to talk Bengals and Reds, and I want
to break out the crystal ball with one Joe Danoman,
sports director of the official TV station of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Joe Daniman with Fox nineteen. Of course, how you doing, Joe?

Speaker 13 (01:19:41):
Hi tracked Happy Father's Day day after Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
You and likewise to you, as Marty wished Tracy Jones,
a happy belated Father's Day to you. I am not
going to get into their line of conversation, which had
to do with snowblowers and leaf blowers. We won't be
doing that in this part of the Moegger Radio Show.
I want to know what's going to happen with the

(01:20:06):
stadium lease regarding the Bengals. I want to know what's
going to happen with Trey Hendrickson. I want to know
when Shamar Stewart is going to get rid of his
concern or his agent's going to get rid of his
concern about terms and conditions on his rookie deal. When
is all of this going to happen. Let's start with
the stadium lease as you know it right now. And

(01:20:27):
I realize and we as sports reporters, usually stick with sports,
but obviously this has to do with the future of
the most popular sports team in town right now, the Bengals.
What do you know in terms of the latest on
the least negotiations.

Speaker 13 (01:20:45):
Yeah, not to make myself look foolish, I can speak
about it in generalities. You know, I'm curious of it
as most people are. I'm not in the day to
day reporting of it. But there are people I work
with who are In the conversations I have with them,
they seem generally optimistic that it gets done sooner rather

(01:21:07):
than later. And I pose the question to a coworker
who's been covering this story for the most part of
when it's been hot here in the last few months,
and he said, of the three deals that need to
get done, that being Shamar Stewart, Trey Hendrickson.

Speaker 4 (01:21:22):
And the stadium lease. He believed the stadium lease.

Speaker 13 (01:21:25):
Was the one closest to the goal line at this point,
so he seemed positive speaking in generalities about it, that
it's going to get done. It feels like from an
outsider's perspective, that one side once a longer lease, one
side once a shorter lease. And if it feels like
that is the main sticking point right now, and I

(01:21:46):
can't say for sure that it is, but from an
outsider's perspective looking in on it, it feels like that's
one that can be resolved and that will get done
sooner rather than later. I do feel like there's a
lot of optimism that that will get done sometime soon.

Speaker 2 (01:22:01):
I just want to know if I take an elevator
at pay Corpse Stadium or an escalator that it's safe
to do so, because obviously Hamilton County Commissioners recently voted
two to one to replace the six escalators, but they
needed the way I understand the story here, all they
needed a unanimous vote to move forward with the one

(01:22:21):
point five million dollar project. But I think again that'll
get probably folded in if you will, with the lease
agreement and all the maintenance issues. But essentially, the reason
this matters is and the reason I think that the
stadium lease deal is the closest to the goal line
is because the deadline is the closest that we're approaching

(01:22:44):
right now, and that, of course, it is June thirtieth
for a two year extension to the current lease, or
they could just tear up the lease and write a
new one, and that could happen, and all of this
is key in terms of the Bengals and Hamilton County
moving forward with the eight hundred and thirty million dollar
memorandum of understanding on stadium renovations. All right, that's out

(01:23:07):
of the way, Joe, don't worry. We'll stick to sports
the rest.

Speaker 4 (01:23:11):
Of the way.

Speaker 2 (01:23:11):
Is that a deal?

Speaker 13 (01:23:13):
Well, it's funny though, because you use the word deadline,
and that's the important word, because there's a deadline on that,
and unfortunately, there's not a deadline on Shamar Stewart and
Trey Hendrickson. And that's where I think this can kind
of get sticky for the Bengals is what will this
look like when they get to training camp? Because you
and I remember what it looked like last summer.

Speaker 4 (01:23:36):
With Jamar Chase.

Speaker 2 (01:23:37):
Yeah, and I also remember what it looked like with
Jesse Bates. And the more I think about this, I think,
and I don't know if you agree. That's why I'm
having you on to talk about it, debate it, whatever
you want to do. This feels more like Jesse Bates,
where Trey Hendrickson sits in the luxury suite and starts
tweeting in the middle of a of a preseason game.

(01:24:00):
I think it was with the Cardinals. I don't remember,
maybe it was I thought it.

Speaker 13 (01:24:04):
You're correct.

Speaker 2 (01:24:04):
I think it was with the Cardinals a couple of
years back, in his final year twenty twenty two. And
it feels like that. But then over the weekend we
get the story from ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, and I think
Ben Baby contributed to this as well. Did some reporting
that the two sides have started up in negotiations. Again, Well,
I take that as nothing but a good sign, because

(01:24:27):
if things were really far apart, I don't think they
would be talking at this point.

Speaker 13 (01:24:33):
Yeah, and it's it's going to be interesting how it
looks at training camp if this is not resolved, and
I'm with you, that can only be a good thing
that they are communicating at this point, because the alternative
would be quite catastrophic for a team who just doesn't
want any distractions after what happened last year, and Joe

(01:24:54):
talked about it, Zach talked about it last week when
they both spoke before the Bengals left town for the
five week break mandatory Mini camp, that yeah, it is
a distraction. It's something they have to manage, but that's
part of playing in the NFL. To me, what does
it look like if Trey isn't signed before training camp?
I think it's the interesting discussion. Would it be better

(01:25:16):
for him and for the Bengals if he's not here
and he's out of sight, out of mind, so to speak,
Because you think back to last week at mandatory Mini Camp,
we show up and he's not there, and then Shamar
Stewart becomes the story. In a week where Joe Burrow
talked and talked at length and a week where Trey
Hendrickson wasn't there, Shamar Stewart stole the headlines, not just

(01:25:36):
here locally, but also nationally, and I think part of
that was because Trey wasn't here. If Tray was here
and standing on the sidelines, all the cameras are pointed
at him, and they're all wondering what's going on and
why is he here? And you think back to last
summer and I mentioned this briefly, Jamar Chase was here,
and it felt like every single live report we did

(01:25:57):
at training camp started with at lead a fifteen second
shot of Jamar Chase on the sideline. What's he wearing,
what's the body language like? Is he talking today? And
then you would move on to whatever subject was of
the subject of the day. And I'm curious if Trey
isn't signed to any kind of extension and decides that
he does want to skip out on training camp despite

(01:26:19):
having the one year left on his contract until he
gets what he wants, will he decide to be here
and just show his face and stand on the sideline
or will he be out of sight, out of mind.
I think that would be better for the Bengals, but
also at the same time having the guy in the
building for whenever it does get done or wherever he
does decide that it's time to go, that he's ready

(01:26:41):
to go. So I see both sides of it. But
I do think if they get to the point where
training camp starts and Trey still isn't happy and is
deciding he doesn't want to participate in training camp until
he is happy or satisfied with whatever the Bengals put
in front of him. I think it probably would be
better for both sides if he's not here. We'll just

(01:27:02):
have to see what that looks like if something isn't
done before July twenty third.

Speaker 2 (01:27:07):
Do you think that Zach Taylor goes radio silent with
Trey and vice versa given their very close relationship, Obviously,
I don't think Zach Taylor wanted to necessarily send that
text that kind of spurred that impromptu press conference on
the training camp fields on I think it was May

(01:27:27):
thirteenth or May twentieth, I can't remember May thirteenth, I
think it was, and he just held court for twenty
five minutes and it was because of that text he
got from Zach Taylor and the two and he even
said Trey did that day. We have a great relationship.
I love Zach, but that text message really got to
me and really bothered me. I just wonder if the

(01:27:50):
two sides have agreed, Hey, look, until this gets resolved,
we're staying radio silent.

Speaker 12 (01:27:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (01:27:56):
I think it's an interesting point you make, Trags, and
I also think it's Zach Taylor is in a unique
situation here in Cincinnati. Uh, when you're the head coach,
it can feel like you're more than just the head coaches.
I've always had the organization, not not just publicly, but
sometimes I think internally that might happen where in this case,

(01:28:17):
Zach was asked and we don't know and and and
Zach has when he was asked questions about this, he
said it was it came from him, he was comfortable
doing it, and the text message is on him. But
at the same time, it just doesn't feel like something
that would fit into Zach oh the way he does business, right.

(01:28:38):
I think we both agree on that. But but I
think he's in the unique spot here with this organization
where sometimes that is lobbed onto the head coach and
his role. We saw it with Marvin Lewis. Uh, We've
seen it now with Zach Taylor a bit. I don't
know if that's the right plan of action, is for

(01:28:58):
the head coach and a star player to go radio
silent and something like this. It depends on the relationship
and to your point you made it. You made the
correct point that that Zach and Trey uh seemed to
have a very good relationship, and especially from what Trey
said about Zak, but certainly that text message caught him

(01:29:19):
off guard from who it came from and it being
the head coach. But I think that's more or less
just a product of the unique situation of Zach Taylor
in the head coaching spot in Cincinnati, where you have
to be the voice of the organization for for everything good,
everything bad, everything controversial, and then sometimes you also have

(01:29:39):
to do that internally as well. And I think that's
the situation that Zach Taylor found himself in with Trey
Hendrickson and this now infamous text message. I think it's
obviously repairable. Trey said that the day of this isn't
anything that's going to I think hurt the relationship long term,
and we saw it with Jamar. Jamar was a guy

(01:30:01):
that was very upset, very angered, very frustrated, and then
when he was taken care of, he was awfully happy.
I think most athletes are.

Speaker 4 (01:30:11):
Going to be that way.

Speaker 13 (01:30:11):
So if Trey gets what he wants, I think all
things are all fences are mended. So to speak with
with Zach Taylor, but I don't know. I think it's
unique to the coach and player situation how they handled
this next five weeks leading up the training camp, and
it feels like Zach and Trey need to have an
open minded communication.

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
And Zak said as much on his.

Speaker 13 (01:30:33):
Last little press conference before he left for the five
week break, that they have been in communication with Trey Henderson.

Speaker 2 (01:30:40):
Speaking with Joe Daniman, the sports director of the official
flagship TV station of the Cincinnati Bengals, that would be
Fox nineteen, I think I know more about default language
than I ever wanted to know in the NFL rookie contract,
and still I don't know nearly enough to really sound
intelligent to tell people what's going to happen with Shamar Stewart,

(01:31:03):
the first round pick now represented by Zach Hiller of
I love the agency. Zach Hiller works for loyalty above all.
What a great name for a sports agency, What a
great name. But anyway, Zach Hiller is trying to be
loyal to his client naturally, and he's trying to protect

(01:31:24):
that rookie client. And I think my only criticism is
Shamar Stewart coming out and ripping the Bengals publicly on
the first day of mandatory mini camp with the veterans around.
And if I'm a veteran and I know Ted Kerris
said all the right things on Thursday, I get that
and that's what makes him a captain. But privately that

(01:31:46):
couldn't have come off very well.

Speaker 13 (01:31:49):
This is interesting to me because, and I'm going to
spin it like this trags because whenever there's a situation
like this, it feels like most people watching and observing
it from the outside looking in, as Bengals fans are
doing now, people tend to naturally pick a side of
a debate like this, of a dispute like this, and

(01:32:12):
it kind of feels like the further we go into it,
it feels like the pendulum is starting to swing more
towards people being on the Bengal side. I would say
a week ago it kind of felt split. I would
say before that, it felt like, what are the Bengals
doing to drag this along and make this more difficult

(01:32:33):
than it needs to be. But I feel like after
Shamar Stewart spoke and spoke very boldly for a rookie
who has never played it down much less a practice
play here in Cincinnati and then left before the end
of mandatory mini camp. So what he's done is unique,
it's bold, and I think it's starting to swing the

(01:32:54):
pendulum for people who are interested in this story. Back
on the Bengal side, I think for me, this is
one of those things that I think in about a month,
when this thing is finally put to bed, and I
do think it'll be put to bed before training, I
think people will look back on it and say, Okay,
move on, forget it. Who cares it's over? But I

(01:33:17):
think the bigger picture then will be for a guy
who's trying to separate himself. We can all be in
agreement that if Trey Henderson is a Bengal and we
anticipate he'll be a Bengal in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (01:33:27):
We anticipate he'll be on the field. He's this team's number.

Speaker 13 (01:33:30):
One defensive end by a mile. You have three other guys, okay,
the Miles Murphy, Joseph Osai, Shamar Stewart, Cam Lamb players
and Cam Samples. Good point, Yes, Cam Sample's in there
as well. How do you separate from those three of
those four? Okay, if you put those four in a bucket?
How are you separating those guys? And look, there is

(01:33:51):
a new defensive line coach here, and we've seen Miles
Murphy work with him. We've seen Joseph Osai work with him.
We've heard those guys talk about Jerry Montgomery, the new
defensive line coach, the attention to detail, him being zeroed
in on technique, and Shamar Stewart has got none of
this and we all get it, right, Are we fully

(01:34:12):
expecting him to be an impact player, a five to
seven SAT guy in year one with the Bengals?

Speaker 4 (01:34:18):
Maybe we are.

Speaker 13 (01:34:19):
And that's what the Bengals need. They need impact players
defensively right away for this team. They're on the cusp
of going right back to the playoffs. And when you
get into the playoffs and you have Burrow and Chase
and Higgins, you've got a shot against anybody. But they
have to have this defense better. And Shamar Stewart, by
what's going on with him right now, whether it's his fault,

(01:34:41):
whether it's the Bengals fault, he's in this grouping of
four other guys trying to separate himself from the pack,
and the fact that he's gotten no work in the offseason,
rookie camp, offseason workouts, mandatory mini camp. If he gets
this thing done before training camp, the first time he'll
put on him Bengals helmet and go out there and

(01:35:01):
do actual football work in Cincinnati is training camp. It
feels like he's behind.

Speaker 4 (01:35:06):
And that's my point.

Speaker 13 (01:35:08):
That's gonna be the big point of this. I think
it'll get done. It'll be much ado about nothing once
it's over.

Speaker 4 (01:35:13):
Yet.

Speaker 13 (01:35:13):
Okay, that happened, It was annoying.

Speaker 11 (01:35:15):
It's taken care of.

Speaker 13 (01:35:16):
But here's a guy now that's missed out on so
many reps to try to separate himself from guys who
have been in the league for multiple years. And I
think that's going to hurt him whenever he gets this done.
If he wants to be an impact player in year one.

Speaker 2 (01:35:31):
You know why, I think, Joe Daniman, the Bengals are
going to start ten to zero this year. You want it?
You want one reason why?

Speaker 13 (01:35:38):
Oh, I'd love to hear this.

Speaker 2 (01:35:40):
Because they moved their training camp practices from the heat
of the afternoon to eight ten am to noon every
single day. I love the idea, and I'm selfish because
I'm going to be out of there a lot sooner
than I would have been had they kept the practices
in the afternoon. Seriously, though, I think it's a good idea.

(01:36:01):
I do think the retention of information, both from a
physical and a mental standpoint, is much better in the morning.
And I've seen other teams with great success. You know,
the one team I'm thinking of right now, they always
did their practices in the morning and then they went
over tape later in the afternoon, but they were able
to give their full force, their full effort in the morning.

(01:36:23):
I think it's a terrific idea. What do you think?

Speaker 4 (01:36:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (01:36:28):
I spoke to Joseph Asai about this minutes before he
left for the five week break, and we spoke about
the idea of everything Zach Taylor and his coaching staff
is trying to do to get this team off to
a better start, and whatever it is, it's just do
things different right. And the big debate during training camp
is going to be about the preseason and how many

(01:36:50):
snaps should the big three play or the starters play
in the preseason, the risk reward of speeding Joe Burrow
up and helping him get to the point where he
feels more comfortable playing better football, and we won. We
can save that debate for training camp.

Speaker 9 (01:37:06):
But what they've done as far.

Speaker 13 (01:37:07):
As changing training camp, I think goes back to the
point you made. Joseph Osai said it the same as
you just said. It's the fact that they would get
into the afternoon and they would be mentally He didn't
use the word exhausted. He said mentally tired. That they've
been there all day long and going over everything they've
gone over, and then they unleash these guys out on

(01:37:28):
the field and expect them to be at their best.
And you know that this could be splitting hairs of
guys trying to find excuses for reasons why this might work.
But his point was, listen, it wasn't working what we
were doing, so might as well try something different. He
does believe guys when they get there in the morning
and they practice in the morning, they will be fresher.
Plus they're not working in the heat of the day,

(01:37:49):
and I think that's important too for the guys to maintain.

Speaker 4 (01:37:52):
And Zak has always talked about this, right.

Speaker 13 (01:37:54):
He always has an eye on the big picture at
the end of the year of guys being as fresh
as they can be in November, December, January, when the
games matter most. That maybe, guys, it's the smallest, the smallest,
right you're trying to win in the margins here. Then
maybe if guys are a little bit more fresh days
on training camp, get good work, get better work, that

(01:38:15):
this will lead to them throughout the year trying to
maintain whatever small percentage point difference they can of keeping
their team fresh, healthy, better sharp when they play December
and January.

Speaker 2 (01:38:28):
I know you've got to run now, Joe, to get
ready for your newscast. I've got to run to take
a break for the bottom of the hour, Joe Daniman.
I really appreciate you taking time sports director for Fox
nineteen here in Cincinnati.

Speaker 13 (01:38:40):
Take care, Joe, anytime track talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 (01:38:43):
You bet all right. My name is Mike Petrolia. Coming
up at the bottom of the hour. After the bottom
of the hour, we'll talk more Bengals. For now. You're
listening to the Moagger Radio Show on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:38:56):
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Speaker 2 (01:39:33):
This report is sponsorble Mike Katralia tracks back with you,
filling in from Oegar on the namesake show, The Moeger
Radio Show here on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Hope you
all are having a wonderful Monday after Father's Day that
would be June sixteenth, twenty twenty five. We are wrapping

(01:39:57):
up the final segment here heading into the final thirty
minutes of the Moweger Radio Show for a Monday afternoon.
We'll be talking a lot of Bengals in the final
half hour. Hearing from Al Golden last week, I want
to kind of break down what Al Golden said because
I think there is a lot to be interpreted in

(01:40:18):
his comments in his final press conference before heading out
on the five week break. He gave that on Wednesday.
Zach Taylor gave his final news conference on Thursday morning.
But what Al Golden had to say, I thought was
pretty fascinating and kind of gave us a window into
what he is going to do to approach the Bengals

(01:40:39):
defense differently in twenty twenty five as opposed to lou
Ana Rumo for the last six years here in Cincinnati.
So we'll get to that, hopefully get to your calls
five to one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. The
phone lines are wide open. What will make the Bengals
more successful this year just be playing better? Or will

(01:41:02):
some of the adjustments that Zach Taylor is making. We
just talked about it with Fox nineteen's Joe Danoman. Moving
more a training camp practice from the afternoon to the morning,
maybe the players retain some of the information better, Maybe
they're fresher, they execute better. Maybe that's a big deal,
maybe it isn't. But what will make the difference to

(01:41:24):
you for the Bengals to not only get off to
a better start, but to play more consistently throughout the
course of the regular season. Five one three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen point thirty will also go over the latest Reds
news look ahead to their series opener with the Minnesota
Twins tomorrow night seven ten at Great American Ballpark, a

(01:41:44):
three game set, and they head back out onto the
road for three in Saint Louis before a big three
game set against the New York Yankees at Great American
Ballpark one week from tonight. All that and more in
the final half hour of the Mowagar Radio Show. My
name is Mike Petralia, and you're listening to the Mowagar

(01:42:06):
Radio Show on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Speaker 2 (01:43:03):
Heading into the home stretch of the Moagger Radio Show
for a Monday June sixteenth, twenty twenty five here on
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. My name is Mike Petrelli. I
want to thank you for giving this show a listen,
giving me a chance to come into your home, come
into your car, come into your office, wherever you might

(01:43:25):
be listening right now. I would like to thank you
very much for giving us a listen, giving me a
listen for the last couple of hours. We have a
lot to get to in the final couple of minutes
that we have together here. The phone lines are open
if you want to talk. Bengals five one three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty. Five one three seven four nine

(01:43:46):
fifteen thirty. I think one of the biggest hires that
the Bengals could have made this offseason was bringing in
Al Golden, not necessarily because of what he did at
Notre Dame, which was impressive. But the attitude that he
is going to bring and the different approach he is
going to force not only other coaches, not only himself

(01:44:07):
to look at the defense. He's going to force the
players to look at themselves, at their roles in his
defense much differently. He used a word last week, and
I think we're going to hear it in the comments
from Al Golden in just a few moments. A term
that I love, the tyranny of comfort. What does that mean?

(01:44:27):
It simply means when somebody becomes comfortable at their job,
they're tied to wanting to stay in that comfort zone,
the tyranny of comfort. He wants the Bengals to get
out of that tyranny of comfort. He wants the coaches
to get out of it. He wants the players to
get out of it. He wants the expectations of the
fans to get out of that comfort level of Hey,

(01:44:49):
we're a good team, Maybe we make a run in
the playoffs, maybe not. He wants everybody to be on
board with raising the level of expectation from day one,
and he want he wants his players to be able
to play from an uncomfortable position, meaning that not everything
is going to go your way in these NFL games.

(01:45:10):
Something breaks down, some coverage, somebody blows the coverage in
the secondary. Somebody's got to be there to say, oh,
I see the blown coverage. I need to help my
teammate and get back. And instead of the game being
forty yards downfield, maybe it's twenty, maybe it's twenty five.
Saving those twenty eight to twenty five yards can be
the difference in winning and losing. And the Bengals obviously

(01:45:34):
saw that last year and the number of one score
games that they lost early on in the season. It's
a big reason they started the season four zero to
three and four and eight. So I think the way
Al Golden looks at this season is very fascinating. He's
got the right attitude. Nobody has worked harder, and Zach
Taylor told us that last year, nobody has worked harder

(01:45:56):
at trying to make the transition from the longest college
football season any team's ever had, Notre Dame two trying
to get ready for the NFL Draft in very very
short order when he was hired in late January early February.
So let's hear from what Al Golden had to say,

(01:46:17):
last week last Wednesday at Bengals mini camp.

Speaker 10 (01:46:24):
Al, have you gotten in a lot of what you
wanted to get in before rot started?

Speaker 12 (01:46:28):
As it's done the way you've wanted it to go
for most part. Yeah.

Speaker 14 (01:46:30):
Just the guys have exceeded expectations in terms of their
preparation and the staff has done a great job delivering
the message and getting it taught. So just goal line
and end the game stuff is all that's left for
training camp. So that's a pretty remarkable job by everybody.

Speaker 12 (01:46:47):
And I love the attitude of the players to attack
that the way they did.

Speaker 10 (01:46:52):
With Schamar, obviously he's been in meetings and Zach's talked
about as a tenant miss How is it with him
not being able to take physical rips that will maybe
his development? Yeah?

Speaker 12 (01:47:02):
Again, you know that's not really our concern.

Speaker 14 (01:47:05):
Our concerns teaching him, making sure he's learning, he's engaged,
he's on time, He's had a great attitude in the meetings.
That's all we can control right now. I think it's
a lesson for him in the NFL to control what
you can control. And from our standpoint, he's done a
good job in terms of the learning. We're as excited
as anybody. Get him out there. That's the only way,

(01:47:26):
you know. Again, it's I've been around long enough to
know these things. Sometimes they take some time, or they're
more complicated than they are on the on the on
their face, and we're hopeful to get this resolved in
the next five six weeks and get him out there and.

Speaker 12 (01:47:40):
Really looking forward. I love the young man.

Speaker 14 (01:47:43):
He's had a great attitude, He learns really well, he's attentive,
he asked good questions. So from that standpoint, he's he's
doing everything we're asking.

Speaker 10 (01:47:53):
And a trade it's a little bit of a different
situation because he's had so many years in the league
that he might not need as much practice.

Speaker 7 (01:48:00):
But from the standpoint of what you're trying to implement
that might be new from a past rushing standpoint, how
much are they missing.

Speaker 10 (01:48:08):
Out on not being able to be on the practice
skill And.

Speaker 14 (01:48:11):
Speaking on those two, yeah, you know, I think there
are two different cases. Obviously, Trey brings a you know,
a developed skill set already to the past game. In
a lot of ways, we have to cultivate the defense
around that, and we will. I'm confident and obviously in
Trey's intellect, his approach as a pro that he'll get
caught up, you know, in those forty seven days before

(01:48:34):
before the opener.

Speaker 12 (01:48:35):
So you know, I'm confident of that. So just looking
forward to seeing them again and coaching them.

Speaker 14 (01:48:40):
How much is affected by the defensive line right now
between Tray Schamar and PJ not.

Speaker 12 (01:48:45):
Practicing right now?

Speaker 2 (01:48:45):
How much does that affect that you guys are.

Speaker 14 (01:48:47):
Trying to get It affects us in a positive way,
as ironic as that is, because you're already preparing for
that injury when it when it exposes itself during the year,
you're forced guys into playing multiple positions you know what
we call you know, basically just horizontal depth, you know,
ends playing tackle, tackles playing end, some linebackers playing on

(01:49:08):
the edge, those types of things. So I think from
that standpoint, we always see the we always see the
good in it and the opportunity. Uh And I'm being
serious on that. Some guys have really taken advantage of
their reps and their opportunity, and obviously I think it
will be more formidable when those guys come back.

Speaker 12 (01:49:24):
You said, some guys have really taken advantage.

Speaker 4 (01:49:27):
Who listened?

Speaker 14 (01:49:28):
Well, man, Joseph or Size had a great camp camp
sample coming off the Achilles has has overachieved to this
point only because I didn't expect that type of athleticism
to spring back as quickly, so that that's been great.
I think Chris Jenkins has really done a great job.
He's had an awesome attitude all camp and I'm sure
I'm leaving some guys out, but at the end of

(01:49:49):
the day, Cedric Johnson's another one that that has really
seized that opportunity. So you know, from that standpoint, we're
just we're all pros here, We're all trying to get
to the end game. And from that standpoint, we're coaching
the guys that are here. We miss the guys that
aren't here, but we have to move forward. And that's

(01:50:10):
in a lot of ways, that's kind of emblematic of
what happens during the year. So guys are gonna have
to step up. You're doing some things different I'm sorry, Well,
obviously you're doing.

Speaker 4 (01:50:19):
Some things differently.

Speaker 14 (01:50:20):
What indicates to you both in the film room, classroom
and on the field that they're picking up the different
things you're trying to do. Yeah, I think the details
the communication again I'm not looking for it to be
perfect right now, because it's it's really been a heavy
lift in terms of having an install. Every day in
training camp will have an install and then maybe two

(01:50:42):
days in between or some walkthroughs at night or the
walkthrough proceeede the install. So I'm not worried so much
about it being perfect, but I am excited about a
the communication and then be that I don't see the
same mistake twice, which are awesome, and that's credit to
the coaches as well.

Speaker 2 (01:50:59):
And that is Al Golden, the new defensive coordinator of
the Cincinnati Bengals. I asked him there as you heard
my question, you know, in terms of what he's been
able to see in terms of the install, and he said,
the attention to detail is really has been very good,
not only on the field, but in the film room
as well, and I think that's a foundation that he

(01:51:21):
is obviously looking to build. A couple of other key
takeaways is that he loves what he sees from Schamar
Stewart in the film room, in the classroom. Obviously he's
not getting the reps does fall a little bit behind there,
there's no getting away from that. But in terms of
his attitude. He says all the right things that Shamar
Stuart's attitude has been terrific in terms of the opportunity

(01:51:47):
for others to step up and maybe fill some roles
that may not be there or may be more available
there in training camp because Trey Hendrickson may not be
ready to go. Chamar Stuart right away may not be
ready to go. He's really liked what he has seen
from guys like Joseph Osi and Cam Sample coming off

(01:52:07):
that ruptured achilles. He is athletically overachieved. I thought that
was pretty fascinating as well. So it'll be an interesting
time for the Bengals over the next five weeks. They're
going to get their rest, but obviously a lot of
fans are going to be wondering what kind of attitude
are they going to take into training camp, How will

(01:52:29):
this training camp be any different, How will this preseason
be any different and different? What changes will be made
to make sure that the Bengals don't start slow again again.
Defense will be a big part of it, because defense
at the beginning of last year really let them down.
All Right, my name is Mike PETRELLI. I want to
thank all the terrific guests that we had on this program,

(01:52:53):
starting at the three o'clock hour with Pat Brennan of
the Cincinnati Inquirer. He was to refic I always love
talking to him, Tommy thraw all the Reds Radio Network,
Alex Frank of Clnssincy dot com, Alex Barth of the
Sports Hub in Boston, and of course Joe Daniman of
Fox nineteen. My name is Mike Petralia. Thanks so much

(01:53:15):
for tuning in. You've been listening to the Moager Radio
Show on ESPN's on Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 9 (01:53:23):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:53:40):
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