6/25/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Reaction to Chase Burn's MLB Debut and another fun night at GABP the resulted in a Reds win. Plus we try to figure out how to make our phones work.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thousand dollars entered this nationwide keyword on our website.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Credit that's credit enter it now. What a night?

Speaker 3 (00:10):
What a game?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Last night at gabb Right, what's up? Five after three?
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moeger. Thank you for
listening today. Hopefully you're having an awesome Wednesday afternoon. Totally
awesome show. Rundown's available on Twitter. Go watch it at
mogar Thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union, your credit union

(00:32):
with Hart since nineteen thirty nine. The Reds hit the
halfway point of the season tonight from Game eighty one,
Reds and Yankee Cincinnati is looking for a suite. That's
not a sentence that in the middle innings last night,
I thought I would be saying, that is not a sentence.
That when Aaron Judge was batting with the bases loaded
in the top of the tenth inning last night, I
thought I would be saying, I'm not sure it's a sentence.

(00:53):
I thought I would be saying when the Reds came
to play down one with the magic runner on second
base in the bottom of the van thinning. And yet
here we are, I believe, and maybe I'm in the minority.
I'm kind of interested today in finding out this team
can contend. This team can contend. Now there's a difference
between contend and win, and there's a difference between contend

(01:16):
and advance in the postseason. They have contended through the
first half of the season. I have eighty two games
to go, including tonight. This team can contend, and if
you can contend, you can win. I think what the
Reds are doing is sustainable. Let's first talk about really
an amazing night at GABP and if you watched, if
you went, if you listened, it was one of those nights.

(01:40):
And if you're a baseball fan, I don't care who
you root for. Every game counts the same. I get
it mathematically, but emotionally that's not true. That's not true.
I've been to hundreds of Reds games, and after only
a handful of them have people left the ballpark high

(02:01):
fiving each other, high fiving total strangers following this team
for over forty years. Half of that time has been
in the cell phone era, I guess. And now there's
there's only so many games that as they're ending, your
phone blows up with people who are excited as you are.

(02:23):
That doesn't happen after a routine eight to one win
over the A's or a hu hum seven to victory
over the Pirates. Last night was one of those games,
and it was just it was an interesting baseball game,
starting with the debut of Chase Burns. What he did
in the first two winnings last night completely justified the

(02:44):
decision to call him up. And you know, let's be honest,
this is something we have talked about a lot over
the last two days, the decision to give Chase Burns
the ball. By the way, we had Jonathan Mayo in
the show yesterday who was like drunk with excitement over
Chase Burns. He's with MLB dot Com. Everything he said
we thought we see from Chase we saw last night,
certainly saw it in the first two winnings, and I

(03:05):
couldn't find anybody who thought, like, actually, you know what
the Red should do is not call him up. This
was like the one thing we could all agree on
that it was time for Chase Burns to get the ball.
The decision making and the decision making not to just
promote him but to throw him to the Wolves put
him out there on a hot night against the new
York Yankees totally justified. Now look, his second time to
the batting order, the Yankees made some adjustments and Chase

(03:27):
Burns ended up giving up three runs. And I do
not care about pitcher wins and losses. And I have
to find myself here for even mentioning pitcher wins and losses.
But for much of the night he was he was
earmarked for a loss. But even had they lost three
ZIP last night, I think all of us would have
walked away excited about what we saw from Chase Burns,

(03:47):
and we would have acknowledged that his big league debut
was a success. The good news is they didn't lose
the game. The game itself had a little bit of everything.
It had moments that made you want to second guess
the manager. I'll admit to you. I'll admit to you

(04:08):
that when Christian and Karnasi and Strand came to the
plate with a chance to tie the score in the
seventh inning last night. Now this year, he has been
better against righties than lefties. The sample size is obviously
not huge. I wouldn't have used him there. Well, I
would have been wrong. Christian and Karnasi and Strand doubles

(04:28):
all three run score. It goes from three zip Yankees
to three all. It was a night of unsung heroes.
How about the job done by the bullpen last night?
Brent Souter before him, Ian Jobo, Lion Richardson in some
extraordinarily high leverage situations in the eighth and ninth inning.
Lion Richardson has been terrific. Tony Santien wasn't awesome last night,

(04:53):
But be honest with me, man, be honest with me now.
Tenth inning basis loaded, Aaron Judge, the best hitter in
baseball right now at the plate, bases loaded. Your your
money is not on. Your money is not on Tony Santion.

(05:16):
Tony Santion gets Aaron Judge to pop out moments of frustration.
Bottom of the tenth inning. Tony and I were just
talking about the decision to have Santiago Espinol try to bunt. Now.
I'm on records for the most part, and there are exceptions,
But for the most part, bunting is a bad strategy.

(05:39):
And there's a lot of math that will will make
that point for me. Bunting's bad strategy. I don't like
giving away outs, They're precious. You get three per inning.
Why are we willingly giving one up? And so I
don't love bunting there, but I dislike it less there
with the winning run on second base and nobody out

(05:59):
that I I would in another situation. Now you know,
for me, at least I wouldn't have had Santiago Espinal
at the plate. I would have used Gavin Lux there
because Santiago Espinal is terrible against righty's and so instead
of using a hitter who's bad against righty's to bunt
and give up an out, I'd rather have Gavin Lux
come up and try to get a hit. But if

(06:21):
you're gonna ask Santiago Espal to bunt, can my guy
at least get the bunt down? He could not. Reds
don't score in the tenth. It has been maddening this
season watching the Reds not score in extra innings. And
so again, be honest with me. Now they don't score
in the tenth, they dodge a bullet in the eleventh
when the game went to the top of the eleventh inning.

(06:44):
Your money is not on the Reds winning. Now, I
gonna be honest with you, because I always am. When
when New York only scored the one run. I always
assume that in every extra inning, one run's gonna score,
whether it's the Reds or the other team, whether the
Reds are at home or on the road, and the
math dictates that, mathematically speaking, not to get bogged down

(07:08):
with a bunch of math. Mathematically speaking, when you have
a guy on second with nobody out, you have, and
over a century of baseball data would suggest this, you
have a sixty one percent chance of scoring at least
one run. Now there's mitigating factors, who's up, how fast

(07:29):
is the guy who's the pitcher, But as a general rule,
the odds are in your favor of scoring one run
when you have a guy on second and nobody out.
So I assume in every inning the magic runner, which
I still believe is a stupid rule, the magic runner
is gonna score. So when the Yankees only scored once
in the eleventh inning, I don't know about you, but
I felt pretty good. I felt even better when Ellie

(07:51):
Delacruz reach base. And let's just do this here. You
talk about frustrating moments from last night. Ellie dela Cruz
on the steer hit that tied the game, jogging to second,
Come on, now, we love Ellie. You can love someone
and criticize them. It's called being a parent. Ellie Dela
Cruz did not know the game situation last night, which
is why he was jogging to second base. He thought

(08:14):
the game was over. He thought the game was over, Like,
call it what it is. They're not gonna take away
your Ellie Dela Cruz shirt. So there's that moment of
frustration and then the moment of elation when Gavin Lux
who should have hit for Espinol, hits for Hines and
gets the hit. Reds win the ball game five four.
It was a second guesser's dream. It was a great comeback,
It was a signature win, you might argue the biggest

(08:36):
win of the season. And it was the kind of
game it felt like one pulled from two years ago. Now,
I think, and I can be accused of being guilty
of this. I think sometimes we go overboard in talking
about two years ago as if it was some awesome
season where the Reds advanced to the World Series. In reality,
they won eighty two games. But the summer of twenty
twenty three was a blast, and the summer of twenty

(08:59):
twenty three we started to think big and we started
to think about the long term future and now the
short term future of the Cincinnati Reds, and we all
agreed it was very bright. I think we're starting to
do that with this team. And last night was one
of those games that you got excited about the immediate
result and you started to think, at least if you're me,

(09:20):
you can tell me if you feel the same in
five p one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. On
my way home last night, I started to think about
this season in grander terms, like legitimately wondering are are
are we watching a team that can play in October?
Are we watching a team that can make some noise

(09:41):
in this division? The four and a half out the
Cubs of lost three straight and I might be the minority.
Maybe we'll find out this afternoon. I think what the
Reds are doing is sustainable. I think what the Reds
are doing is I can be proven wrong, and I

(10:03):
might be proven wrong within the next week. I'm not
here to tell you that they're a complete team, or
a great team, or a team that you should put
down a whole bunch of money on winning the World Series.
But I've watched the team play eighty games, and how
we've talked about them has at times not been reflective

(10:25):
of believing that this team is really all that good.
We've discussed a series of roster decisions that we haven't liked,
and some managerial decisions that we haven't liked, and some
player performance issues that we haven't liked, and some injury
issues that we haven't liked, and the tone has often
been pretty negative. Man, And there have been times this
year where it felt like the season was teetering on

(10:46):
the brink. And you have to give this team credit
because every time that has been the case, they have
found the way to steer the ship back on course,
so to speak. I think this team can compete. I
you know, we we sometimes we joke here at the
radio station, like can they just get us to training camp,

(11:09):
which is like, can they just hold everybody's interest until
the Bengals start? And that's it's sort of an overly
cynical way of looking at things. I'm thinking beyond training camp,
I'm thinking August September. I think this team deserves that.
And there is a big, big part of me that

(11:30):
believes they're four over five hundred right now, that this
team's got a shot, and that the the final half
of the season, the final eighty one games, obviously Game
eighty one tonight, The second half of the season can
be even better than the first, and I'll explain why
here in just a few minutes. Our phone numbers are

(11:51):
five point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty and eight
sixty six seven oh two three seven seven six at
Maegger on Twitter thanks to Emery, Federal Credit Union and
Delta Dental. Delta Dental building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for
all good at Delta Dental, oh dot com. Reds and
Yankees Tonight, By the way, we've got some Reds tickets

(12:13):
to give away in the five o'clock hour, we will
test your knowledge of the shared history of the Reds
and Yankees. Not coming up in the five o'clock hour,
we have FC Cincinnati Soccer tonight. Kaylin Carr from mL
s'son Pass on Apple TV is going to join us.
Coming up in just about fifteen minutes. A few Bengals
items to get to, but lots on the Reds today.
Why can the second half be better than the first?

(12:35):
I'll give you my reasons next on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
There's a line drive in the center floating and down
for ahead La thatches home and the Reds walk it off.

Speaker 5 (12:55):
Amazing comeback victory for the Reds here in this ball
game after they trail three to nothing in the fourth
and a mop Gavin Lux in between first and second base.
And that is what is so fun about this game
of baseball.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Tommy Thrang, Jeff Brantley the Cowboy on the Reds Radio
Network and seven hundred WLW. This is a call in
show and it works best when we get phone calls,
and we certainly hope to take some today. I don't
know if our phones are acting up or not. I'm
led to believe they are. So if you've tried to
get through, my guy Tarn is working on that. The

(13:35):
numbers are five, one, three, seven, four, fifteen thirty. If
you've tried to get through, I don't think it's just you.
And so I've gotten a handful of messages from people
who have tried to get through and can and I
don't think that's a you problem. We might have to
do one of those shows where you you email me
your phone number and I call you on my cell phone.

(13:59):
Reds win the game last night over the Yankees. Yep.
The comparisons between two years ago, I I don't think
I'm alone here. Two years ago did not feel sustainable.
They were in first place at the trade deadline. Two
years ago did not feel sustainable because they had terrible
starting pitching, you know. And I tried to make the
case often, and at times it was received by deaf

(14:21):
ears because people just decided they hated David Bell. But
I thought David Bell did a brilliant job two years
ago of figuring out ways to win games and keep
the team afloat despite having no starting pitching none, and
he was having to turn to the bullpen in the
third and fourth inning even when the Reds were playing
really well in June and July and early August two

(14:43):
years ago. And so there was always this sense, and
I think you would agree, there was always this sense
that the bottom is going to fall out because the
starting pitching is terrible. Now, this team this year, it's
fair to say, is incomplete. It's why we have talked
a lot about what they might be able to add

(15:03):
via trade. But it doesn't feel like there's this enormous
gaping season killing weakness, like starting pitching. They need more
production from certain positions. I think that goes without saying,
but I don't know that there is this gaping, huge,
glaring hole that you just look at and go, you

(15:24):
know what, they're playing well right now, but that's going
to catch up to them. I mean, it was easy
to see it coming from miles away, which is why
it was so frustrating two years ago when they didn't
acquire any starting pitching help at the deadline, and they
defer to my favorite trope, which was hurt guys coming
back are going to be a great trade deadline acquisition.
And as it turned out, some of those hurt guys

(15:45):
never came back. Some of them came back and weren't
very effective. The Reds had really awful starting pitching two
years ago. Number one, they do not have awful starting
pitching this year. They need Hunter Green to come back.
We'll see what role Chase Burns has more moving forward.
But Andrew Abbott has been an All Star this season.
Nick Lodolo, I still believe is mostly reliable. The starting

(16:08):
pitching is not a weakness. There's nowhere else on the
team that is as shallow and as bad as the
Red starting pitching from two years ago. That's one of
the reasons why this feels kind of sustainable. I think
also it's this man. They're forty two to twenty eight,
which is not great right there. They're on pays to
win like eighty four eighty five games, which may be

(16:32):
good enough because we've watered down baseball. Maybe it's not
good enough, but they've they've hung in there and they
have stayed afloat, and right now it feels like they're
even better than a float. And they've done this. TJ.
Friedel's having an excellent season, and Ellie Dela Cruz's numbers

(16:55):
look really good. But you know, let's face it, a
lot of a lot of what is done statistically is
on the shoulders of how he has performed over the
second half of the first half. For much of the
first half, his numbers were kind of pedestrian. For much
of the first half, Matt McClain did next to nothing
for this team. They're not forty two and thirty eight

(17:18):
on the strength of somebody having an other worldly season
or one or two players just performing way beyond normal expectation.
It's completely reasonable to expect Ellie de la Cruz to
continue to hit well in the second half, and for
Matt McClain to be better, and for a handful of
players who haven't done all that much to perform even

(17:39):
better in the second half of the season. There's nobody,
and maybe I'm wrong, there's nobody that you look at
and go, you know what, that guy is due to
cool off. For these players are due to cool off.
Not here to tell you this team is perfectly built,
Not here to tell you that they don't have areas
of concern. I there have been nights where the bullpen

(17:59):
has been torrific, and there have been nights where I
wonder is the bullpen's success in the first half sustainable.
But there's no big, major glaring hole like the starting
pitching from two years ago. And while they need some
players to perform better than they have, and they could
certainly use help from outside, there's no one that you

(18:20):
look at and go, you know what. That guy is
inevitably gonna cool off, and there's gonna be a crash,
and there's nothing to prop this team up. Once that
guy's production crashes, they'll sing. Now. Some are going to suggest, well,
the schedule over the second half of the season is

(18:40):
much harder, and I think they have the fourth most
difficult remaining schedule between here and the end of the season.
I think Colorado, Washington, and Miami. Look. Man, they've played
pretty well against better opponents. Played well against the Tigers,
caught the Cardinals at a time where they were starting
to trend upward, and played all right against They've played

(19:01):
well against the Yankees. Uh, They've played well in recent
years against the Dodgers and Phillies. I'm not nearly as
worried about that. I'm more worried about how they fare
against teams in their own division. But I'll take my chances.
Take my chances with a team that doesn't have the
starting pitching hole from two years ago. It is a

(19:23):
three thirty five, three seven, four nine, fifteen thirty if
it actually works. Taron, do we have an update on
the phones? Is it? Is it an issue with a
certain carrier?

Speaker 6 (19:35):
Possibly, but they're still looking into it.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Okay. Uh, will we be able to make a phone
call to our next guest?

Speaker 6 (19:42):
Oh, we can make We can make.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Phone calls, but we're not sure if we can take them.
We've been putting phone calls on the air in this
industry for one hundred years, and we still struggle with it.
Sometimes it's amazing. Uh Cayln Carr, mls s'son pass next
ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 4 (19:57):
To thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (20:03):
From the ec Health Traffic Center. At you see Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal, makes your best
tomorrow possible. I'd boundless care for better outcomes, expect more.
You see health dot com. Breakdown of a vehicle to
seventy five west bound after coal rain has a left
lane taken up and watch your slow down. Seventy five
south bound via doctor the Brent Spence is about a
ten minute trip right now. We also have Taft Road

(20:27):
after Victory Parkway with an accident. Police are there by
Rick Shramp with traffic.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
This report is sponsored after a ten day BREAKFC Cincinnati
is back at it tonight, first of two consecutive road games,
really the middle of three consecutive road games on the road.
Tonight against Montreal starts at seven thirty. You can watch
it on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Kaylin Carr
match analysts for MLS Season Pass. Apple TV has it

(20:53):
tonight kind enough to give us a few minutes, Kaylen,
it's good to have you get afternoon.

Speaker 6 (20:56):
How are you okay?

Speaker 8 (20:58):
Great to be on, Great to be with you.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
Thanks, It's it's good to have you. A ten day
break for FC Cincinnati, I think badly needed. Still don't
have Miles Robinson, but they're pretty much as healthy as
they have been in a while. What are you looking
forward to seeing from the Orange and Blue tonight?

Speaker 9 (21:13):
Yeah, I think it'll be an interesting night for them
because Montreal have not been good this season. They are
in fifteenth place, bottom of the Eastern Conference. So on
paper you would say, okay, this should be a pretty
easy proposition. Montreal have yet to win a home game
so far this season. It is in checking my clock, Yes,
it is June almost jo I at this point and so,

(21:38):
but that can be a tricky fixture because Cincinnati, while
they've been very good on the roadably five wins this season,
haven't been in the best form. Maybe in the last month.
I felt like the New England match is more of
a palette cleanse. You get a chance to get some
training back to the basics of defensive principles and pat noon,
and I'm sure we'll feel good about this, but I

(21:58):
think they have to also be careful because it's not
so easy with Montreal coming off their first win or
their second win of the season just last weekend.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
So FC Cincinnati did go into their break following a win,
went on the road to beat the New England Revolution.
And you know, it's funny this team this year, as
good as they have been and as much as they
have done a good job of staying in the Supporter
Shield race, it has felt like offensively, when they've been okay,
they've had some defensive issues and then vice versa. Did

(22:29):
they start to put it together a little bit in
their last match?

Speaker 9 (22:32):
I think so. I think so, But I think they're
still room to grow, and I think Patt Noon has
been pretty honest about that. But I think if you
were to ask any manager across the league and say, well,
all right, we're in second place the Eastern Conference, fighting
for the Supporter Shield and I'm a little frustrated and
we haven't quite hit our best as of yet, I
think that's a pretty nice problem. So it reminds me

(22:55):
a little bit of this Supporter Shield winning year with
Patt Noon and where he was similarly honest and saying
I don't know if we're at our best yet. And
I think that, honestly, just from my experience being in
a locker room, goes a long way to keep the
group driving forward and not allowing any complacency to creep in.
And but yeah, I think you know, the attack has
been there. It's really more for me that some of

(23:16):
the defensive mistakes and errors that are uncharacteristic from what
I've seen of Cincinnati over the past. But I think
at some point that's going to get that balance right
and I trust this team to to figure that out.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, it was interesting you say that, because during that
stretch leading up to the New England game where they
they played Atlanta, they played Dallas, there were times where
I felt like FC Cincinnati looked just discombobulated. And in
the Pat noon And era, whether they have played poorly,
whether they have played well, I've never felt that. Those
were two games that I thought were very non emblematic
of how Pat Noonan's teams usually look.

Speaker 9 (23:49):
Yeah, I agree with that, And like it's one thing
if you're if you're saying, okay, well, look, i think
I've seen some criticism of this team saying, well, it's
a lot of one goal wins, but that's really what
it looks like when it comes down to the playoff time. Like,
there's not a lot of matches you've see in the
playoffs that are just you know, running away with things
because the margins get tighter, and if you're a team

(24:10):
that knows how to win that way, for me, that's
a strength, not a negative. But I do think that
when you watch a few of those games and suddenly
you're in kind of these sort of random there's some
randomness to those performances where it was all of a
sudden three three in the game had kind of gotten
away from them. So I think those are the ones
where they'll feel a little less comfortable and try to

(24:30):
get back to the basics and then yeah, you'd like
to add the insurance goal. You'd like to see a
few blow out wins, but I think those will come
in the second half of the season.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Right now, everybody's chasing Philadelphia. It feels like the Union
may never lose again. How do you break down the
Eastern Conference?

Speaker 9 (24:46):
It's been a fun one because you would not have
expected Philly to be in that spot. New manager with
Bradley Carnell and I've gotten to call a number of
their matches, just in one just before this break, but
they've been able to just use that style of play
that is so difficult to play against, where they just
play combative, write down your throat, It doesn't matter what

(25:06):
pieces are on the field international break. They are just relentless.
So I've been really impressed with what Bradley Carnell has done.
And you know, it's been funny because I feel like
over the past, especially with the history of Pat Noonan
and Chris Albright coming from Philly, and you know, I
know a lot of the Philly staff has actually probably
changed more a second time around. But there's just been
those battles between those two clubs and once again fighting

(25:28):
at the top of the Eastern Conference. And you know,
I wouldn't be surprised to see these two face off in.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
The playoffs, all right. Well, hopefully from our standpoint, FC
Cincinnati can get three points tonight. This is a team
they should be hopefully from r N they do have
a great call tonight. Man, thanks so.

Speaker 9 (25:42):
Much, thanks so much for having me on for Shire.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
You got up. Sorry I cut them off. I hit
the button too early. I'm jumpy. Uh, Caitlyn Carr, MLS
Match analyst for MLS Season Pass, Apple TV seven thirty tonight,
And of course you could also listen to it right
here on ES fifteen thirty Sports Headlines or a service
of Kelsey Chevrolete. Are we gonna be able to carry
the game tonight? Can we get a connection to Montreal?

(26:06):
We just made that call. There was some weird beeping.
I don't know if he was on a space ship somewhere.
Should I assume that even though you can't call the
radio station right now, that you'll be able to We'll
be able to connect with the folks in Montreal tonight
to carry the match. Is that going to happen?

Speaker 6 (26:21):
Hopefully?

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Hopefully Red's series with the Yankees winds down tonight, another
seven to ten first pitch, another hot night at GABP Cincinnati,
looking for a series sweep and a fourth consecutive victory.
Rouzy give the ball to Brady's singer, Max Freed. Max
Freed has been listed as the probable pitcher, and then

(26:43):
they switched to TBA and guess Max Freed, who's having
a very good season, is going to get the ball
for Cincinnati seven to ten tonight seven hundred WLW starting lineup?
Are you ready for it? Friedel's and center, McLean's at second.
Cees is not playing shortstop. Eli Della Cruz is es
my handwriting, I wrote, I wrote E D L C.

(27:06):
And I made it look like Cees Ellie is playing shortstop.
H Tyler Stevenson is dhing a batting clean up steers
and left Travinia behind the plate resigns in right field.
Cees is playing first base and batting eighth, and Santiago
Espinal is at third base and hitting ninth. Florence played
this morning and beat Wendy City by a score of

(27:28):
seven to two. Do we have an update on the phones.

Speaker 6 (27:35):
They are working?

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Are working?

Speaker 6 (27:37):
Think it might be a Verizon because T Mobile can
get through. T Mobile can get one, we can get through.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Cricket can get through, but Verizon wireless customers are having
a hard time getting through.

Speaker 6 (27:47):
Can't call and this is just not on our station
on Wow two down the hotline number down.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
So basically, if there is a Verizon, is it a Verizon?
Like can Verizon people call Verizon people? Or can Verizon
just can't call us?

Speaker 6 (28:00):
Might just be able to call us and try doing
a break.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
So if you are a TEA Mobile customer, you are
welcome to call in at five one three seven four
nine fifteen thirty or a Cricket or Boost Mobile. I
guess if you're a Verizon customer and you want to
call the show, then borrow the phone of a T
Mobile customer and call five one three seven four nine
fifteen thirty. All right, I feel better. I feel I

(28:25):
feel better. It is you really? Do I really?

Speaker 6 (28:32):
Because during the break he got scared.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Well, yeah I did. I mean it got scary during
the break. I wasn't very happy during the break because
we have had phone issues before. And you know the telephone.
The patent for the telephone was issued in eighteen seventy six,
so that is over a century and a half ago,
and there are times where you still have difficulty in

(28:58):
connecting via tee and radio has been around since nineteen twenty,
over a century old. So when you combine those two things,
you have over two and a half centuries of technological
advancement that at times we seem to have a hard
time meshing. And that's frust when you when you host
a radio show and a big part of it is

(29:22):
usage of the telephone. It is not like, hey, this
new technology we're going to try out. Yes, it could be,
it could be frustrating.

Speaker 6 (29:32):
That's fair nice until you get that. We get this
issue faced with Verizon, callus, leave us a talk back.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Leave us. Oh yeah, we can steal from Tony and Austin.
You could leave a talkback for us. When is the
last time we did a talkback on this show? Three
years We were the first show to use talkbacks, and
then Tony and Austin took it and made a thing
of their own, which good for them. That's that's that's
not a knock on them whatsoever. So we have we
have sort of given them the talkback space five one, three, seven, four, nine,

(30:03):
fifteen thirty, and you could try it. Maybe it works.
I have no idea As a Verizon customer myself, I
can't call the radio station, but that's okay. I don't
need to. It's a quarter to four on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (30:17):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (30:21):
Traffic from the youc Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 7 (30:24):
At you See Health. You'll find comprehensive care that's so personal,
makes your best tomorrow possible. I'd boundless care for better outcomes.
Expect more. You see health dot com. We at least
cleaning up a problem on G seventy five. This is
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up to seventy four an accident in seventy five South

(30:45):
after Union Center. We've got a crash on the left shoulder.
I'm Rick Shremp with traffic.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
This report is sponsor by question, even though you called
it the DL To answer your question. Connor Joe is
being placed on the injured list the IAW retroactive to
Sunday because he has hand foot and mouth disease, which

(31:14):
I know is common among four and five year olds.
Like handfoot and mouth disease, you know that's a big
like pre k daycare maybe kindergarten thing. My daughter I
don't think ever had hand foot mouth disease, but every time,
you know, I would drop her off a daycare during
those ages, there would be like a note on the door,

(31:35):
you know, Lisa had to be taken home with hand
foot mouth disease. FYI, Connor Joe on the injured list
with hand foot and mouth disease. Hopefully he is okay.
Ryan Valaide is being called up infielder outfielder, and Noel
Marte is starting a rehab assignment a double A Chattanooga
Connor Joe to the injured list with handfoot and mouth disease.

(31:59):
I don't know if I Connor Joe has children. I
have no idea that I would guess would be how
he contracted hand foot and mouth disease. But lo and behold,
he's going to be out for at least a little while.
This is from last night the best show on television,
The Midnight Sports Center starring Scott Van Pelt, which, for
all the criticism that ESPN takes for its bad NBA

(32:21):
Finals coverage and for shoving screaming Stephen A. Smith down
our faces all the time, the best of ESPN is
around midnight every night, Scott van Pelt The Midnight Sports Center. Now,
there are folks who love to complain that their team
never gets any national attention, and there are Reds fans
who will complain that their team never gets any national attention.
Here is a Scott Van Pelt and Jeff Passon doing

(32:43):
a little MLB segment last night where Jeff starts talking
effusively about the Cincinnati Reds.

Speaker 10 (32:50):
Team, Jeff that right now, you think, all right, they're
not where I think they're going to be, because where
I think they're going to be is higher in the
standings than they currently reside. Scott, coming into today, seventeen
teams in Major League Baseball had records over five hundred.

Speaker 6 (33:09):
So it's tough to find.

Speaker 10 (33:10):
One of those sub five hundred teams. I could go
with Texas, I could go with Atlanta, I could even
go with the Baltimore Orioles. But I'm going to pick
a team that's just slightly above five hundred, and that
is the Cincinnati Reds. And tonight we saw the debut
of Chase Burns, the number two overall pick in the
draft last year, and all he did was go out
and strike out the first five New York Yankees. Hunter

(33:33):
Green going to be coming off the injured list soon,
and Elie Dela Cruz. They're all world shortstop. Terry Francona
is in his first year's manager in Cincinnati, Scott, and
he's got a lot of talent there. I think the
Reds they're maybe not a threat to beat the Cubs.
But when you're in a division that has a Brewers
team that's also very good, and has a Saint Louis

(33:53):
Cardinals team that has flashed very good, it's going.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
To be tough.

Speaker 10 (33:57):
But I think Cincinnati has the talent to really surprise
people in the second.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Half, and I think there's something to that. Jeff Passon
on the Midnight Sports Center with scotch Man Pelt, which,
by the way, did you hear me mention that is the
best show on television? He mentioned something there that I'm
not sure a lot of people would have agreed with
back in February, which is the nationally Es Central is
really good. Now the Pirates are atrocious. I don't think
anybody in this division is going to catch the Chicago Cubs.

(34:21):
Milwaukee just figures out a way to do it every
single year, despite trading away players and letting players escape
via free agency and dealing with a whole slew of injuries.
And I didn't know what to expect from the Cardinals
this season. They have exceeded expectations and maybe they're in
it for the long haul as well. So it's a
tough division, and as has been pointed out by many

(34:41):
Rats have played poorly against those three teams this year.
It goes without saying that that has to change. It
is a tough division. But they're only two and a
half back of those other two teams. And again like,
there's what they have, which is a core. Now you know,

(35:01):
the word that I have used often and going back
to January is incomplete. It is still oftentimes felt this
season like an incomplete roster. You cannot convince me that
they couldn't use some help from outside via trade. You
cannot convince me that it would make total sense for
the Reds to just set out stampad not do anything.

(35:24):
And I genuinely don't think they're not going to try.
But there is a core there and the corpse starts
with the most important part of the most important thing
in the sport, which is starting pitching, and it does
include some players like this is for me, this is
the biggest reason for optimism. They have a lot of
guys who I think we would acknowledge have spent much

(35:48):
of the first half not performing all that well and
in some cases not performing all that much because they
haven't been healthy. That it is reasonable to expect more
from it at least de la Cruz is one of them. Now,
Ellie over is last. You know, twenty five to thirty games,
has been terrific and it's probably gonna be an All
Star this year. But dude, there was a chunk of

(36:13):
the first half of the season where he was pedestrian.
I think it would be I think you would agree
it would be very unsurprising if Elie dela Cruz spent
no time in the second half of the season being pedestrian.
Five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our
phone number. I love the quotes I read today from
Joe Burrow, and I have made a Joe Burrow wager,

(36:35):
and you're gonna call me a homer for making it,
but I've made it anyway, and I'm backing it, and
I'll tell you what it is in the four o'clock
hour on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Do you
run a small business? Are you unsure to win?

Speaker 1 (36:48):
One thousand dollars entered this nationwide? Keward on our website. Greed,
that's greed, enter it greed?

Speaker 4 (36:55):
Yes, ESPN fifteenth sure half.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
What's up? Four h four fifteen thirty, Moegger, Thank you
for listening. Today Brennanvan and Jones on Baseball is just
about forty five minutes away, And in the five o'clock hour,
we're gonna give you a chance to win some Reds
tickets that includes a postgame Old Dominion concert. We're gonna
test your working knowledge of the shared history of the

(37:20):
Reds and Yankees. That is in the five o'clock hour.
I read. I've read a lot of really good things.
I like to read. Part of this job is reading.
But there are two things to me that stood out
more than any one. Is about Joe Burrow that I'm
gonna get to here in just a bit, because there's
a Joe Burrow bet. I think you should make read
that a short while ago, and I'll share it with you.

(37:41):
I subscribe to Charlie Goldsmith's newsletter. Does a terrific job
covering very very heavy Reds and Bengals emphasis his Charlie's
Chalkboard Newsletter, which is a must. And Charlie does an
outstanding job. And he's a great guest with Tony and
Austin on since he three sixty and he writes today

(38:02):
about last night's game, but the little mini surge the
Reds are on I think we called twelve out of
seventeen a mini surge and it being in part at
least the results of a player's only meeting. And this
is something that has been brought up. Tommy Thrall has
talked about this on the radio broadcast. John Sadak and

(38:23):
Barry Larkin have talked about this on TV broadcast. Has
been referenced by people who cover the team that a
few weeks ago, if you pay attention to the Reds,
you noticed more guys were on the top step of
the dugout, and you know, part of the team meeting
that was called was some of the players like Gavin
lux who won a World Series last year and Jose Travino,

(38:43):
who played in the World Series last year with the Yankees,
calling a team meeting and talking about stuff like, hey,
in the dugout, we need to be paying clothes for attention.
I'm paraphrasing here. I want you to go read Charlie's piece.
But it's about the leadership by those guys, and sometimes
I mock, you know, the idea leadership is a problem,
but I think it matters when you have talent. I

(39:04):
think it really matters when you have young talent. And
if you've watched the Reds, you know there was that
game a few Saturdays ago where Christian and karnassion Strand
came back. It was when they swept the Diamondbacks, and
he hit the home run on Friday which extended the game,
and then there was rain and then he got the
game winning hit, and then he had a home run
in the first inning. And if you were paying attention,

(39:26):
you noticed like guys were talking to each other as
they rounded the bases and scored, talking to the guy
who was in the on deck circle. And the point
was made on both the TV and radio broadcast because
I consume both that day, not simultaneously. That uh, you know,
there was a little bit extra attention being paid to

(39:48):
teammates at bats, and guys were a little bit more
in locks up with each other in the dugout, and
there was more chatter about the game and players were
sharing secrets with each other about the picture on the mound,
that sort of stuff, and Charlie writes about that today.
It got me thinking about something that we talked about
this offseason, where Brady Singer, Austin Hayes, Jose Travino, Gavin

(40:09):
lux All offseason acquisitions, all off season acquisitions involving players
who last season were on playoff teams. On Austin Hayes case,
unfortunately he got hurt when he got traded to Philadelphia,
but he was technically with two playoff teams last year,
Baltimore than Philadelphia. He had been with the Orioles two
years ago when they made the postseason. It's something that

(40:31):
we talked about this offseason that the Reds were acquiring
players who had upside, and the Reds were acquiring players
that they maybe had to find certain individual roles for.
Right Like we wondered, what's Gavin Lux's role, we wondered
to a degree at least, what's Austin Hayes' role going
to be. I don't think any of us envision Jose

(40:51):
Travino playing the role that he's played, where he's basically
catcher one B. He's not the backup catch. He's catcher
one B along with Tyler Stevenson, not behind Tyler Stevenson.
There was an effort this offseason to acquire players who
had won before and look, yeah, they you want him

(41:15):
in their prime and they've got to fit certain they've
got to check certain boxes in terms of what they
bring to the table from a skill perspective, what they
could do statistically. But for a while now, we talked
about this a little bit last year. Last year's team
was disappointing. Right relative to the preseason expectations, last year's
team was disappointing. Joey Vada was not with the Reds

(41:38):
last season because he was attempting to come back from
injury and join the Toronto Blue Jays. But when the
Reds were really scuffling last year, scuffling and only in
baseball word, when the Reds were really struggling last year,
many wondered. And on days where our phones worked, I
heard from people who wondered, like who's leading, who's providing

(42:01):
some leadership here? You know, there were times we talked about, like,
you know, mistakes being repeated on the basis on defense,
that sort of thing. Now, ultimately, the inability or unwillingness
to correct those things cost David Bell his job. But
many wondered last year, like who's the veteran guy who's
pulling guys aside, going hey, you can't do that, or hey,

(42:24):
pay attention to this, who's putting their arms around their
teammates who are going through a batting slum, And you know,
there were times where it felt like Jonathan India tried,
at least publicly to be that guy. From what I've
been led to believe, and according to the folks that
I've talked to, that never really took. Nothing against Jonathan India,

(42:46):
but that never really took. And you know, for a
team that last season and even two years ago, very young,
not a lot of players who have you been in
a pennant race, much less have appeared in the post
season core of this team home grown? Who was providing leadership,

(43:08):
who was providing perspective? Who was going to be the
guy that called the team meeting that players in the
meeting paid attention to? And I think we now have
the answer, and you could read Charlie's piece. That team
meeting has been well documented. But I think to a
large degree, you got a credit Nick Krawl for doing

(43:31):
that specifically. And I don't know if they specifically decided,
you know what, we're gonna go get Gavin Lux because
he played for the Dodgers last year. Gavin Lucks had
to fill a certain role. Right, here's what we're looking for,
and maybe You could have gotten that guy from the
Tampa Bay Rays, of the Seattle Mariners or anybody else,
but it certainly couldn't have hurt that this was a
guy who was with the Dodgers last year and yes,

(43:52):
expendable and no, not a star player, but was on
a playoff team every year he was in Los Angeles.
And so Gavin lux has had some cool moments. He
certainly had one last night. He's had maybe you could say,
an up and down season that the numbers don't wow you,
But there's something about a guy from a winning program.

(44:12):
Something the Bengals have talked about a lot, right like
Joe Burrow t Higgins, players like that Jamar Chase came
from winning college football programs. This is something Zach Taylor
has talked about a lot, like we want guys who
have won before, won on big stages and were big
parts of not just you know, scoring touchdowns and putting
up a bunch of numbers, but were team captains for
teams that won big. And then you look at the

(44:35):
Reds this offseason and it's not an apples to apples
comparison by any stretch of the imagination. Oh, Jose Travino
the Jose Travino trade. There were a lot of folks
who went and happened didn't like it. By the way,
Fernando Cruz pitched against the Reds last night and Jose
Travino was deemed expendable and when they acquired him, and
nobody made a real big fuss about it. Now, what

(44:56):
we've come to learn about Jose Travino is like this
guy's all in, dude. That you got to imagine the
pictures love throwing to Sam Luquier was on this show
Go listen to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app and
talked about how much the pictures love throwing the Jose
Travino part of a winning team in New York and again,
maybe anexpendable part, but part of a winning team in

(45:17):
New York. And you know that the Kansas City Royals
were bounced by the Yankees last year in the postseason.
But Brady Singer part of a winning team in case
and Austin Hayes and I think, as as much as
you can knock Nick Crawl for a lot of different things,
and he's kind of taken a little bit of a beating,
and I think to a degree, a slightly unfair one

(45:39):
for the Jamber Candelario thing him not working out.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
I think maybe you don't want to do it specifically
with Nick, so maybe just make it about the Reds
front office targeting players who tangibly, you know, what they've
brought to the table. And like Austin Hayes has been
terrific when he has played, the dude has never had
health and that's something that has to change in the
second half of the season. But this was a theme

(46:05):
last year, Who's gonna lead? And many of us wondered
this offseason. Okay, first of all, the players they acquired
have to do something tangibly. You know, you can't have
a guy who's leading but who never gets a hit,
or who never plays or you don't want to put
in the game, or who has no role. But are
they acquiring leaders? And if you come to learn about

(46:26):
that players only meeting and you watch how they have
played since, and it's not it's not just that they've
won some games since. I think if you pay attention
to the Reds day in and day out, there has
been a slightly different look to them. Now that that
game that Saturday, the second game with that doubleheader against
the Diamondbacks, it was it was striking. I think they

(46:48):
scored five runs in the first inning, and every guy
who scored, like pull the on deck hitter aside to
say something to him, and maybe it was about, you know,
the starting pitcher tipping his pitches, that sort of thing
like that was something I didn't seen from this team
all season long. And then you know, being at the
ballpark the last couple of nights and look, they've won,
and so it's easier to do when you're wining, and

(47:09):
you know, last night's game was a thrilling game, and
so it's a little bit more, a little bit easier
to be engaged in the game like last night's as
opposed to a nine to nothing snoozer. But I think
you've you've seen a team that just as you watch
from where you may sit, they look more involved, look
more engaged, looked more invested in each other. And that

(47:32):
certainly is being conveyed to us as fans as something
that is a result of leadership and the leadership example
set by players who are acquired from other teams this offseason,
and that at least to me, speaks to the value
of acquiring players from teams that have already won, and

(47:56):
it certainly did feel like this offseason that was something
that was prioritized and it needed to be prioritized, and
so far, at least prioritizing those sorts of players from
those sorts of teams has paid off. Five point three

(48:18):
seven four nine fifteen thirty is our phone number we
because we've had phone issues today and I think unless
you're a Horizon customer, they have been rectified. But we
we said, okay, well, if you can't call the show,
we'll steal Tony and Austin's bit and we'll do Now,
we're not going to do talkbacks with like the characters
because that would be blatantly stealing. But the talkback feature

(48:40):
on the iHeartRadio app is available to all of our shows.
It's not just theirs. Scott Sloane used the talkback feature
last week. So Tarran tells me we have some. We
haven't done a talkback on this show in two and
a half years, but Tarran tells me we have gotten some.
We'll have those coming up here in just about fifteen minutes.
I mentioned the other thing that I read today, and

(49:02):
it was Joe Burrow esque. And there's two things I
love about it. I'll tell you what they are and
the bet that I think you should make. And you're
gonna call me a homer for saying it, but I'll
do it anyway. On ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (49:16):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (49:22):
From the ec Health Traffic Center. At you See Health,
You'll find comprehensive care that's so personal makes your best
tomorrow possible. It's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more
you see health dot com. Now we're seeing the sod
downs on two seventy five at the Carrol Cropper Bridge,
both westbound and southbound bridge. Work continues through at least
Midsummer of seventy five. Southbound Hopple to the Brent Spence's

(49:44):
about a ten minute trip, and northbound seventy five from
the US forty two to Fifth Street in Kentucky's up
to about a fifteen minute drive. I'm Rick Shrepp with traffic.

Speaker 2 (49:53):
This report is sponsored by SEES Today. I've gotten a
text and now an email about the commercials for the
Big They're very popular. Ride them Inte Jones on Baseball
thirty minutes away. Back to the Reds Here in just

(50:18):
a bit I mentioned the two things I read today
that I liked. One was based on something that Joe
Burrow said during the team's mandatory mini camp, which was
two weeks ago. This from Bet. I believe it's Ben
Baby of ESPN because he's the Bengals reporter. Although there's
no byeline on this this story on ESPN dot com,
I don't know why they would not include the byeline

(50:39):
of the author. So if somebody besides Ben wrote this,
my apologies. I'm assuming Ben, who does a really nice
job covering the Bengals, I assume he wrote this because
he covers the team. But it would be cool if
the Worldwide Leader would include my guy's name on the
piece that he wrote. But he wrote about Joe Burrow
and Joe Burrow taking the initiative to make some improvements
this offseason, and including quotes that have been talked about

(51:01):
before because they're nearly two weeks old. Quote at the
end of the day, you win and you lose with
your quarterback play. So I'm going to take that to
heart and be better this year. And the crux of
the piece focuses on Joe Burrow taking it, taking the
responsibility to improve. Now, that's, as Ben points out in
the story, is that's that's pretty big standard to clear,

(51:21):
right because he was an MVP finalist, He led the
league in passing yards, he led the league in passing touchdowns.
He was also the Comeback Player of the Year winner.
He was awesome last season. I think Joe Burrow is
the best quarterback in the NFL. That's obviously a subjective take.
Many will disagree, but he's You can't have the conversation,
I believe, at least without including the name Joe Burrow.

(51:46):
What I like about this is it it's sort of
it points stuff out that Joe Burrow gets talked about
a lot because on those those those shows where they
just scream at each other about sports that they like
to debate quarterbacks, and when they debate quarterbacks, folks who
are not as all in on Joe Burrow will yell

(52:07):
and scream about certain deficiencies in his game, and the
yelling and screaming at times dilutes the point. But if
you read Ben's piece, he will point out that while
Joe was awesome last season, there are some areas in
which he needs to improve. The fourth quarter and By
the way, this is supported by what Joe has said

(52:29):
about the need to improve this year. He's got to
get better in the fourth quarter. He was third in
the NFL last year in total QBR, but in the
fourth quarter his QBR dropped to twelve. QBR was seventy
four point seven, but in the fourth quarter sixty two
point eight. And he did have twelve touchdown passes in

(52:51):
the fourth quarter and had some cool fourth quarter moments.
But he also threw five picks in the fourth quarter
last year, which is as many as josh Alan, Jalen Hurts,
Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson had combined. There's also and
Ben writes this, and I'm not going to give away
all of his content, but he writes, there's also a

(53:11):
matter of Burrow's performance when throwing into tight windows, when
a receiver has a yard of separation or less by
the time the ball arrives. Burrow posted the second worst
total expected points added in those situations, minus fifty four
point four according to Next Gen Stats. Now we're diving
into the weeds here. These are advanced metrics, and so

(53:33):
if you don't like advanced metrics, I'm sorry, but only
GENO Smith now with the Raiders, then with the Seattle Seahawks,
only Geno Smith was worse. So Joe has taking it
on himself. I don't know that you can necessarily improve
in the fourth quarter in mini camp and during the
off season, but you can certainly work on throwing in

(53:54):
tight windows. And that's something that Joe Burrow has taken
it on himself to improve. So I get a quarterback
who has already established himself as one of the best
in the sport, who is a two time MVP finalist,
who might have won the award last year had the
Bengals snuck into the postseason. I'm guessing he doesn't, but
we'll never know. He was at least a finalist, and

(54:17):
he's made a Super Bowl, which Josh Allen has not
and Lamar Jackson has not. Joe Burrow is a star
and a lister, might be the greatest Bengals quarterback of
all time already, and yet there are these deficiencies that
he has that he acknowledges, which is the most important part. Right,
got to get better in the last quarter and got
to get better thrown into tight windows. Imagine what we'll

(54:44):
be talking about in relation to his play, specifically if
that work pays off. And Joe talks about in the piece,
and again, these are quotes from a couple of weeks ago,
so you may have heard them or read them where
he talked about like it's awesome to put in the
work and see the results. It's kind of addicting. So
you have a quarterback who is a gym rat that's

(55:04):
well established, a quarterback who takes his job very seriously,
which you had to point out to the chuckleheads who
got mad at him for skipping one offseason workout when
he went to that was it the met Gala. Yeah,
went to that quarterback who's a gym rat who has
improved in phases of his game every single year as
a pro, who is coming off in many respects his

(55:25):
best individual season. We talked yesterday about the continuity of
Dan Pitcher. Year two, another season with Jamar, another season
with t another season and now with a fully established
Chase Brown, another season with Mike KASICKI. An offensive line

(55:47):
that I, as much as I don't know how good
the offensive line is going to be, I cannot imagine
it's worse. I just I have a hard time believing
that the guard play could be any worse, So an
offense of line that should be at least slightly better,
and a guy taking on the challenge of improving in
the few areas where he is deficient. Joe Burrow to

(56:11):
be NFL MVP is at plus six hundred. He has
the second shortest odds behind Lamar Jackson, who has won
it twice. Josh Allen won last year. My vote would
have gone to Lamar Jackson, not that Josh Allen was
an undeserving winner. Frankly, any of those finalists could have
won and it would have made sense. But I think

(56:34):
you and I both know that when it comes to
MVP voting, there are voters who sort of look at
someone and go, okay, it's their turn. This was common
during the NBA in the nineties and two thousands, where
we would say, like, you know what, Jordan's already got
a few, so let's give one to Carl Malone. And
in no sane world, was Michael Jordan ever not the
most valuable player in the NBA during his last like

(56:58):
ten seasons in the league, and he didn't win MVP
every year, And so my money's on Joe Burrow. And
you could call me a homer for doing this, and
the odds may lengthen if he and the team gets
off to a slow start. He was an MVP finalist
on a nine win team last year, So clearly you
have people who are willing to look past the team's
deficiencies and give Joe Burrow strong MVP consideration. Now, if

(57:22):
Joe has the sort of season he had last year
and gets better in the few areas where he wasn't
very good, as much as I have no idea how
good the defense is going to be, as much as
I think we all have legitimate questions about how significantly
better the team as a whole might be if Joe
plays a full season and plays at a comparable level

(57:42):
the last year. And if Joe plays in a full season,
plays a full season and not only plays at a
comparable level the last year, but improves in these areas
where he's not great, they're a playoff team. They're a
playoff team, maybe a division winner. And this is a
regular season award, and it's an award that always goes

(58:04):
to a quarterback. No non quarterback has won it since
twenty twelve, and it's an award where people often look
at Okay, who hasn't won one or whose turn is it?
It's gonna be Joe Burrow's turn to be MVP plus
six hundred. That's where my money's going. And if Joe

(58:28):
Burrow's MVP of the team's gonna be just fine. I'm
not here to tell you they're gonna win the super
Bowl because the MVP is going to be voted on
before the playoffs start. I'm taking a guy who's already
one of the best in the sport, who plays the
most important position, who plays the only position that ever
really gets legit MVP consideration of those Saquon Barclay got

(58:49):
some last year, along with just understanding how voters do this.
Sometimes where it's someone's turn plus six hundred, it's short.
Those odds are short. They'll evolve during the season. You
might get more value making the wager in the middle
of the year. My money's on Joe five one, three, seven,

(59:10):
four nine, fifteen thirty getting emails about the phones now,
you know, I just I just do the show man. Sorry, ah,
we'll do the uh well player talkbacks. Why not ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (59:28):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (59:34):
From the you See Health Traffic Center. At you See Health,
you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal makes your best
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Brent Spence in Kentucky. Seventy one southbound A data to

(59:55):
four seventy one. It's about a five minute trip. Now
Glen Way at Winfield accident houlding some on the scene.
Rick rep Worth trafficking are.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
A service from Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime powertrain protection
and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for
life Kelsey chev dot Com. Reds go for a sweep
tonight against the Yankees, whom they swept last year. Seven ten.
Tonight's first pitch on seven hundred wl W Reds with

(01:00:24):
the walkoff winner last night. Tough task, excuse me, Tough
task tonight for the Reds. Cy Young hopeful Max free
throws from New York against Brady Singer. You want your
Red starting lineup. I think you do. I think you do,
and even if you don't, I'm gonna give it to
you anyway. TJ Friedels and center, Matt McClain and second

(01:00:45):
base Elie Tylor Cruz that shortstops Stevenson is Dhing Steers
and left Trevino behind the plate resigns in right field.
Cees is at first base, Santiago Espinal is at third.
By the way I referenced, tonight marks the midway point
of the season, Let's do some basic math because the
pushback is well. The All Star break isn't for a
few weeks. The first half of the season are the

(01:01:10):
first eighty one games. Tonight is game eighty one. After tonight,
they'll have eighty one games to go. I don't care
when the All Star break is. The midway point of
the season is tonight, it's after tonight's game one six
two divided by two is eighty one. They will have
played close to, if not more than, one hundred games

(01:01:31):
by the time the All Star break gets here. This
is apparently hard for some folks to understand Red's making
some roster moves. I have never seen a player go
on the injury list with hand, foot and mouth disease.
But that is apparently what has plays Connor Joe in
the injury. He's dealing with hand and I don't want

(01:01:52):
to trivialize it, because I'm sure it sucks to have
hand foot mouth disease. It's just it's something that I
only associate. It's it's like chicken pox. Now, adults got
chicken pox back in the day, I guess. But you know,
when you think chicken pox, you think you know, you know,
when I was a kid, when I was in kindergarten,
I had the worst chicken pox too. But anyway, Connor
Joe handfoot and mouth disease. Ryan Valade, who can play

(01:02:15):
all over the place, has been called up from Louisville.
Do you want me to tell you everything I know
about Ryan Valaide, I'll be happy to. At the time
of his recall from Louisville, he was batting two sixty three.
He spent earlier some time earlier this season with the
Saint Louis Cardinals. He has appeared in twenty seven Big
League games with the Colorado Rockies and the Saint Louis Cardinals,

(01:02:41):
and he's a career won forty one batter Florence Yaws
beat Windy City today. I'm doing this off the top
of my head because I lost my notepad, but I
found it seven two winners. This morning they played one
of those weekday afternoon games, seven to two. Florence beats
Windy City. ESPN fifteen thirty tonight has FC Cincinnati Soccer
as the Orange Blue plays for the first time in

(01:03:01):
ten days. Obviously, the league's schedule has been sporadic with
the FIFA Club World Cup happening FIFA Club World Cup.
One of the players in town for the FIFA Club
World Cup was at GABP the other night and a
Red staffer had this player walking the concourse and I

(01:03:24):
said Hi to him, and then someone came up to
me and said, do you have any idea who that is?
And I said no, But apparently the guy was a
very big deal. FC Cincinnati on the road tonight against Montreal.
That game starts at seven thirty Pregame coverage on ESPN
fifteen thirty at seven o'clock. So Brendan, Mian and Jones
on Baseball's Coming Up. We're giving away some tickets to

(01:03:44):
go see the Reds and Marlins next month and there's
a postgame concert in Old Dominion Concert now, tarn Are
we going to be able to stage this contest given
the fact that our phones today the service has been
spotty at best.

Speaker 6 (01:04:00):
Yeah, that just hit me about that, and it won't
be fair for people who have Verizon phones.

Speaker 2 (01:04:05):
So are we are we totally sure that our phone
issue today is limited solely to Verizon customers.

Speaker 6 (01:04:12):
I'm come to that conclusion because we tested multiple phones
and they have gotten through the only one.

Speaker 2 (01:04:18):
So the phones are working for most carriers, but this
one there seems to be some sort of our is
is work being done to rectify the issue?

Speaker 6 (01:04:27):
Yeah? I emailed two people in our im in I
and no one has got to be back.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
Back to me. All right, Well they're very very busy.
So uh so we we believe that we'll be able
to stage the contest at five thirty five, but just
not for carriers, not for people who subscribe to this
one particular carrier. But because we have had some phone
issues today, we invited. We haven't done talkbacks on this
show I think in three years, and when when the

(01:04:52):
iHeartRadio app launched its talkback feature, you know we we
played them on the show. And we had a lot
of fun with them, and and then to their credit,
man Tony and Austin made the talkback thing a staple
of their show and it's funny and so like that
is their thing. But you know, we do need to
hear from other voices today besides mine. And so we said,

(01:05:13):
all right, we're gonna dust off our talkbacks and see
how many do we get.

Speaker 6 (01:05:18):
We got four?

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Four talkbacks? All right, very good. This is not gonna
be a regular thing on this show because that is
Tony and Austin's real estate and they do a great
job with it, and their listeners do a great job
with it.

Speaker 6 (01:05:30):
True, but wasn't in our real estate first. They just
told it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
You know, it was everybody's real estate. The talkback feature
is available to everybody and other shows use it, but
we were the first show to use to. In fact,
I shot a video when the talkback feature first launched.
It was right when we moved to these studios, showing
folks how the talkback feature works. And we had fun

(01:05:54):
with it. But Tony and Austin took it and made
it their own, which is great. Like that is every
show should have their own thing. There's his talkbacks. Me
is just a moron a coast so, but because we
need to hear other voices, we decided to uh put
out the APB for talkbacks and we got a whopping four.

(01:06:15):
So terror go ahead, play play play the first talkback
for me.

Speaker 11 (01:06:21):
Talkback experiment from Verizon customers in here, Oh Gamo. Ever
since I called a few weeks ago screaming to the
gods about how ridiculous this is with the Reds and
something needs to happen. They've went on a run, so

(01:06:41):
maybe I'm the magic Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
I like that, take credit for it. Ian's the magic. Ian. Congratulations.
If the team wins the World Series, you will get
a ring and also good for you. I heard that
in the background using your turn signal.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
Mike, if you call in today, Moses Malone actually committed
to Maryland before he went to the ABA. Not trying
to step on your toes or anything, but you see,
was not the only school he visited.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
Hope you're doing well out in LA and we always
love hearing you call in. Did Mike refer to Moses
Malone on a different show, maybe with Tony and Awson?

Speaker 6 (01:07:24):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
I was told today by a loyal listener of this
radio station. Mike from LA is I think I'm comfortable
saying this. He is our most loyal listener. He is
listening right now. He is emailing me about his anger
over the phones. He has some strongly worded things he
would like me to convey to our IT department. I'm

(01:07:46):
not going to do that, ORIT department works very hard.
But I was told earlier today that Mike from LA
called in successfully to the Dan Patrick Show. Now we
don't feel check on the Dan Patrick Show airs in
the morning when you know this show isn't on, and

(01:08:06):
since he three sixty isn't on, But Mike from LA.
A buddy of mine named Rich texted me and texted
Tony as well and said, I just heard Mike from
LA on the Dan Patrick Show. So we do hope
Mike is doing well. And you know, he calls the
radio station a lot, and he's been through some some
health issues and you know, call on the radio show

(01:08:28):
is just something that means a lot to him. But
he's not able to do it. I guess he's a
Verizon guy and so Verizon customers can't get through.

Speaker 6 (01:08:36):
We know he's doing well when he's sending a very
nasty emails.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
That's how I know Mike is feeling well. And I
know he had a recent medical procedure and he talked
about it a little bit on this show, and it
had been a while since I had hurt from him,
and so much so that like I got concerned and
send him an email and I'm like, hey, man, just
checking in, hope you're okay, you know, let me know
what's going on. And then we heard from him Monday.

(01:08:59):
But the emails have been few and far. But there
are certain nights, honest to God, where I'll look at
my phone at like eleven o'clock at night and there's
six emails from Mike just about whatever is going on
in sports today. The fact that he is emailing angry
with the fact that he can't call in tells me
that Mike is having a good days. That's nice to hear.

(01:09:20):
Do we have any others?

Speaker 12 (01:09:23):
Hey mo, great show.

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
Two quick questions.

Speaker 12 (01:09:26):
What do you think is the Red's biggest need for
a trade pick up before the deadline?

Speaker 4 (01:09:31):
A bullpen arm or a bat?

Speaker 12 (01:09:33):
And two names I'm thinking about a Roldist Chapman and
Ryan O'Hearn from the Orioles. If you get you to
one of those guys, which one would you rather have?

Speaker 2 (01:09:40):
Number two?

Speaker 12 (01:09:41):
Who's your favorite favorite musical artist from the Cincinnati area?

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
Thanks? All right, very good. So I think they need
a bat. Now, look that clip from Jeff Passon outline
seventeen teams with winning records. This might be a seller's market.
And I'm not making excuses for the Reds, but this
this the list of buyers could be larger, and you
probably have some teams that are still trying to figure

(01:10:08):
out what they are. But there's gonna be a lot
of competition for all the things the Reds need. You
could check every box, right. They could they use a
bullpen arm, yes, which team couldn't. Could they use starting
pitching depth? Yes? Who couldn't. That might not be as

(01:10:29):
much of a pressing need. But if if I could,
if I could get a bat, and like they need
a thumper, they need a guy who can hit the
ball out of the ballpark. Again, who doesn't Ryan O'Hearn
would be fantastic and not a thirty He's not a

(01:10:50):
thirty home run guy. I think Ryan O'Hearn, I think
the most amount of home runs he is hit in
the season. I think he had fifteen or sixteen last year.
Is in the middle of a career, posting a career
high ops. He is due to be a free agent
at the end of this year. He could play both
corner outfield positions. He could play first base. He's probably

(01:11:11):
he is having a better season than they have gotten
from him in Baltimore. But yeah, if I can get
Ryan O'Hearn, sure, the Orioles are going nowhere this year.
I think the biggest need is a presence in the order.
The first base production hasn't been great. We've talked about
the corner outfield production. They need help. Now Austin Hayes

(01:11:32):
comes back and stays healthy, that's an ad It is
completely reasonable, completely and totally reasonable to not feel like
Austin Hayes is all that reliable. What was the other question?
Favorite artists locally the Eisley Brothers. How is that not

(01:11:55):
the answer? Now? The National is also really good Afghan Wigs.
I saw on concert when I was I think just
out of college. I met Bootsy at a UDF. Who
am I missing? Walk the Moon? Had that one song?

Speaker 6 (01:12:14):
I got to ask favorite Brothers song?

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
Hm hmm. I like this old heart of mine, I
like between the sheets shout, yeah, yeah, I gotta go
with the isid Brothers. Am I forgetting somebody? Am I
forgetting somebody like am I forgetting somebody that's just painfully obvious? Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:12:40):
No, I think Brothers, the big one, the boy Uh
yeah uh.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
Booty Collins was on The Jim's God Show when I
was a kid producing it. And I'm not sure I've
ever been around somebody who smelled more like pot than
Bootsy Collin. You that's fine, that's his thing whatever. But
he smelt like weed. You know, some people just the
scent just follows them. I don't know if Bootsy had

(01:13:10):
been around people who were smoking it. I don't know.
I don't know if Bootsy does smoke it. I just
know that day, that morning, my guy smelt like weed.

Speaker 6 (01:13:18):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:18):
Well, that though, we have more talkbacks, but maybe the
phones will work. I have no idea. We have Bredianman
and Jones on baseball coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:13:25):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:13:29):
Traffic from the ec Health Traffic Center.

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Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:14:52):
Oh you're waiting for me to start talking. My bad.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. I was just in another
studio recording something the kind of professional that I am.
Five after four ESPN fifteen thirty, My apologies. There, it's
been a day. It's it's been a day on this show.

(01:15:12):
By the way, I got like three more emails from
Mike about the phones, about talkbacks, about my Joe Burrow
take Mike, by the way, is a Spectrum customer. For
what it's worth. We have had phone issues today. We've
had issues with the host arriving in the studio. We've
had issues today. Here's what I could use right now,
an ice cold michelob Ultra. It see mikeelob Ultra five

(01:15:34):
o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty. It's hot out. Oh,
it's hot out. It's been a hot out for now.
I love the heat. I love the heat because I
love cooling down on the heat, and there's no better
way to cool down with them with an ice cold
michelob Ultra. One of those sounds amazing right now. If
you're headed to the ballpark tonight, enjoying ice cold michelob Ultra,

(01:15:54):
Superior Tay Superior light beer, and of course, please drink responsibly.
We're gonna try, I think we're gonna try to give
away some Reds tickets. Reds have a game coming up
against the Marlins. There's a postgame Old Dominion concert. We'll
try to do that giveaway, assuming we can maybe make
the phones work. Coming up in just about thirty minutes.
Last night was a truly truly awesome night at the ballpark.

(01:16:16):
Last night was a truly awesome night if you're a
Reds fan, and even if you weren't at the game itself.
There are certain games during the course of a season,
ideally when your team is in the thick of a race,
and I'm gonna go ahead and say it, I don't
think I'm going out in much of a limb here.
The Reds are in a race. Reds are in a
race right now. There are certain games during the course

(01:16:37):
of a season if your team is in a race
where you know, your phone blows up. Your phone blows
up as the game is being played, your phone blows
up as the manager is making certain decisions. The phone
blows up right when it feels like the game is
about to slip away. And the phone blows up when
your team gets a walk off win, especially when it
comes against a team to caliber the Yankees. And this
Yankee team has offensively been a wreck now for a while,

(01:17:00):
but still it's the defending American League champions. It's a
night where out walking out of the ballpark and this
doesn't I'd say this is a Red season ticket holder.
This doesn't happen every night when the Reds win. Last
night was one of those nights strangers high fiving strangers
that doesn't typically happen in the middle of June, that
typically doesn't happen at any point after any game of GABP,

(01:17:24):
but being there last night, it happened. It was a
really fun night for a lot of different reasons. The
Chase Burns debut, how good he looked so early on,
how ill at ease, how comfortable he was. If you
were watching last night, and most were not, But if

(01:17:45):
you were watching last night through the lens of OMG,
I wish the Reds were giving Chase Burns a softer
landing than having him pitch at home in the heat
against that team with that lineup. I'lbe it last night
without John Carlos Stanton, and you were worried that maybe

(01:18:06):
the moment was going to be just a little bit
too big for him. I would have to imagine that
those fears were eased after the first inning when he
struck out the side in order, capping off the first
inning by striking out Aaron Judge and then with a
single to Jazz Chisholm, who got thrown out of the

(01:18:28):
game later last night in the middle. He recorded the
next three outs in the second inning via strikeout. Now, yes,
the Yankees would make some adjustments and catch up to him,
and when Chase Burns exited, the Reds were trailing three nothing.
I don't think as much as we love TJ. Friedel,
I don't think TJ. Friedel did him any favors by

(01:18:49):
diving for a ball that he should have pulled up
and fielded, because that cost the Reds a run. If
you look at the box score, you see five innings
of six hit baseball, gave up three runs. You're probably
not overly wowed. His debut required you to pay attention.
His debut required you to watch. His debut was at

(01:19:12):
times electrifying. His debut helped them win the baseball game,
and his debut provided a glimpse into what so many
evaluators love. Change up the fastball with ease, the at
times pitch efficiency. He's not a finished product. He probably

(01:19:33):
has some growing pain still ahead of him. All young players,
all young pitchers do, and who knows what the plan
is going to look like moving forward. I think the
good thing is the Reds showed with promoting Chase Burns
that they're willing to adjust on the fly what they
did with Chase Burns, and we had talked about this
on Monday and Tuesday, calling him up and putting him

(01:19:54):
in that slot. The Reds needed a starting pitcher, they
went with their best option. Chase Burns did not make
them re at that last night. The bullpen for the
most part last night was terrific. You know, there's always
moans when Ian Jabou is the first guy out of
the bullpen, but he was fine. Brent Souter was terrific
lyon Richardson in some really high leverage situations. Was fantastic

(01:20:16):
last night. Tony Santien, you know, it could be a
little bit of a roller coaster with him. Let's be honest.
Aaron Judge is at the plate, bases loaded, top of
the tenth inning last night, your money is not on
Tony Santian. Tony Santien got Aaron Judge to pop out
and Connor Phillips minimize the damage after giving up a

(01:20:36):
run on the wild pitch last night. In the eleventh inning,
there was Christian and Karnassi on strand. That was a
fun game to play along with the manager. In the
seventh inning last night, I wasn't sure that Cees was
the guy basses loaded. Gavin Lux is on the bench.
It's righty versus righty. Terry Francona sticks with Cees Ces

(01:20:59):
rewards his face by hitting a bass clearing double the
Santiago espinall bunting in the bottom of the tenth inning.
That was one of those I'm kind of the anti
bunt guy, and the reason is, you know, lots of
data suggest that bunting is bad strategy. I do think

(01:21:19):
there are times where it makes more sense than others.
And in that situation last night, if I have to
use Santiago Espinal against a right handed pitcher with a
guy on second base, I might not love bunting, but
I at least understand it more than I can other
situations in the game. Now, the preference for me would
have been to use Gavin Lux there and not Santiago

(01:21:40):
espinol In that way, I can have Gavin lux not
give up an out, But Terry Francona played it the
way he did. If he gets the bunt down in
the red score, it's the right decision. When Santiago Espinal
couldn't get the bunt down when the Reds didn't score
again in the bottom of the tenth inning. And it
has been uncanny this year how bad they've been offensively
an extra inn. You gotta be honest with me, man,

(01:22:01):
you didn't think they were gonna win that game. I
felt pretty good when the Yankees only scored once in
the top of the tenth inning. We know what happened
in the bottom of the eleventh. One more just frustrating
moment was when Ellie Dela Cruz jogged a second on
the steer hit that tied the game, and you got
the sense that Ellie thought the game was over. And
you don't have to make excuses for him, you don't
have to rationalize it. I think Ellie had a brain

(01:22:24):
fart there. I think you thought the game was over,
and it's okay to say that they're not gonna take
away your Ellie Dela Cruz jersey if you say that
out loud. Most importantly, it was a come from behind win.
Most importantly, it was a win like that's to me
the fun part of where we are right These games matter.
I said about the team two years ago that what

(01:22:44):
I loved about the twenty twenty three Reds. A year
after the misery of the one hundred loss season, and
after years and years and years of us not really
talking about baseball when we talk about baseball, last night
was a night to talk about baseball and talk about moves,
and talk about the win and what it meant, and
to scoreboard watch and see what the Cubs were doing,

(01:23:06):
and see what the Brewers were doing, and see what
the standings look like, and see how the other wild
card contenders were doing. It's fun to do that in
the middle of the summer. That's the fun part of
being a baseball fan. Not complaining about ownership, not talking
about why you're not going to games, not complaining about
the economic disparity that exists in the sport, but talking baseball.

(01:23:27):
Last night was a fun night to talk about baseball.
Last night was a fun night to dream, to wish,
to think ahead, to imagine. We haven't done that a
lot around here, man, We really haven't. At least with
the Reds for the better part of the last decade
or so, we haven't done much of that. And look, man,
they may lose tonight, they may lose this series against

(01:23:49):
the Padres, they may fall out of the race by
but the All Star break, although, boy, if they could
just get through this next week and a half or so,
there's a whole lot of marlin and hockey in front
of them. Although admittedly they didn't play very well the
last time they played Miami, this team still has a
lot of work to do. This team still has some

(01:24:10):
tough decisions to make about the roster and about the
trade deadline. But tonight they'll play their eighty first game
of the season. There have been times during the first
half of the year where it felt like they were
a game or two away from dipping into irrelevance, And
there have been times over the first half of the
season where it has felt like the season has kind

(01:24:32):
of been teetering on the brink a little bit, where
maybe the second half of the season was going to
see them play out the string, or maybe they were
going to be sellers. Gordon Wenttmeyer of The Inquirer wrote
a few weeks ago about how they should prepare to
be sellers, and when he wrote that it I didn't
necessarily entirely agree, but the premise made sense, and that

(01:24:53):
was a reflection of what the season had been to
that point. What the season is now is on the
season is on. And you may laugh at me for
saying this, I think this team's got a shot to
hang in there till close to the end. A lot
of comparisons to this team between this team and the

(01:25:14):
one the two years ago, and they make sense, right.
The team in twenty twenty three kind of treaded water
for the first two months and then got going in
June and played so well and went on such a
tear that they're in first place for much of the summer.
They were in first place at the trade deadline that year.
I think the difference between the two and one of

(01:25:36):
the reasons why I'm encouraged is the Reds have starting
pitching questions. Let's be honest. They called up Chase Burns
and had to alter their plan because of a large
vacancy in the starting rotation. It's never good to have
vacancies in the starting rotation, and using Chase Burns every
fifth day may not be what they want to do,
but they did it and last night it worked. We'll

(01:25:58):
see what they do moving forward, but you know, their
their lack of pitching depth has been exposed a little
bit here and it's tough to watch this season play out.
The way it's playing out without Hunter Green being much
of a factor. And I love Hunter Green, He's my
favorite Red. But even I'll admit to you like I
have no idea what to expect from that guy. Don't

(01:26:18):
know when he's gonna come back. When he comes back,
is he gonna stay off the injured list if he
comes back, and if he stays off the injured list,
I think I know how good he's gonna be, but
I'm not sure I can count on that right now.
But the team two years ago it just as fun
as it was, as rejuvenating, rejuvenating as it was, as
much as as much as it re energized everybody, even

(01:26:41):
at its best that season two years ago, even at
their best that team two years ago, you still you
waited for the other shoe to drop. You waited for
their just stark, profound lack of starting pitching to catch
up to them. You could see it coming. It's what
made the inactivity at the deadline two years ago so maddening.

(01:27:02):
Like anybody could see, even folks who don't pay close attention,
anybody could see how bad the starting pitching is. If
you don't address it, if you don't fix it, it's
gonna catch up to you, and it did. That team
with average starting pitching two years ago plays in the playoffs.
The Reds have starting pitching questions this year. They don't

(01:27:24):
have the starting pitching deficiency that the team two years
ago had. They got questions. Is Andrew Abbott going to
keep this up? Fair question? Is the bottom gonna fall out?
Can they withstand another injury? Is Hunter gonna come back?
All fair and legit questions. But I don't feel like
there was this huge, gaping, just wide open, enormous hole

(01:27:49):
that you just know is way too big to fix
and if they don't even try to fix, it will
catch up to them. I don't see that anywhere on
the team. They've got some areas that aren't great. They've
got some areas they've got to fix, They've got some
areas they need to address. They've got some areas that
have to be better in the second half of the season.
I don't think, And if you have the right phone service,

(01:28:11):
you could tell us if I'm wrong. I don't think
they have this thing on their team that you just
look at and know that's gonna end up dooming them.
I could be wrong. It's happened before. I'm optimistic. Optimistic, isn't.
I think they're gonna win ninety games. I think they're

(01:28:32):
gonna advance in the postseason if they get there. Once
they get there. But relative to the way a lot
of this has played out here in the first half
of the season, if you would listen to shows like this,
if you will look at social media, which I will
admit sometimes aren't the best barometers, you would think this
team is twenty games under five hundred. You would think
this team is going nowhere. You would think this team
is gonna spend it's summer getting ready to liquidate. You

(01:28:54):
would think this team has no promise. In fact, they do.
One of the things that I think is encouraging and
interesting is they have some players who are having good seasons,
but they have gotten through the first eighty games without
Matt mcclan putting up great numbers. Not obviously over the

(01:29:16):
last couple of weeks he has been really good, but
it took a while. What if this recent surge by
him foreshadows a really strong second half of the season.
What if the last thirty games or so from Ellie
Della Cruz sort of portends If you will Ellie making

(01:29:40):
the leap we've all been waiting for in the second
half of this season. There's some guys who are having
good years. They have some guys who are having uneven seasons.
They have some guys who have to come off the
injury list and help this team. They don't have anybody.
There are times where you can look at a team
and go, they're overperforming here. These players are playing better

(01:30:05):
than their baseball cards would suggest that they are capable
of playing and it's going to catch up to them.
I don't think this team has that either. I'm also encouraged,
and I could be proven wrong. Number One, the team
made greater if they lose sixteen of their next twenty
games or something like that. All of this is mood,

(01:30:28):
But in twenty twenty one, the Reds were in the
thick of things and didn't pretty much nothing at the deadline,
added some relievers. Last two years ago, we know what
the Reds did didn't fix their biggest efficiency. Not very aggressive.
The way that the Reds have operated here recently, with
two things in particular, would suggest, not guarantee, but suggest

(01:30:53):
that maybe things are going to be a little bit
different this summer. The Chase Burns thing is one of them.
They went with the best option. They didn't throw caution
to the wind as it relates to the future, but
they they kind of prioritized winning that game last night.
Let's go, let's let's use our best option. Let's not
go sign a guy off the street or call up
some guy from Louisville who's really not a major league pitcher. S,

(01:31:16):
we're going with Chase Burns. A lot of folks thought
he can get to the big leagues quickly. Let's get
him to the big leagues quickly. It was also the
Jamber Candelario thing. Man, all right, you know what, he's
not one of the best twenty six. He's not performing.
He's out. By the way, we've talked a lot about accountability.
That is accountability. Yeah, sorry, you were hurt, but you stunk.

(01:31:37):
We have players who are better than you. We have
got a guy who's starting a rehab assignment of Noel
f Marte who is better than you. So we have
players who are active who are better than you. We
have a guy who's not yet playing who's better than you. Yes,
you're making a lot of money. Yes, it's going to
be a painful pill to swallow, but yes, we are
moving on from you. That is accountability. It's also a

(01:31:58):
prioritizing using an fielding the best players. Those two things
maybe not to you, but I believe suggest that the
front office is going to behave a little bit different
assuming assuming this team is still in a month, could
be dead wrong. But there's a lot of other things

(01:32:22):
that have to do better, right, Like they can't have
the gaping hole in the two spot in the batting
order that Matt McClain stuck them with for so much
of the first half of the season. And they've got
to be better against teams in their division. That goes
without saying of any prayer of catching the teams in
front of you in the central you got to play
better against them. But I saw a lot of this

(01:32:45):
on social media last night that there's some very twenty
twenty three vibes to this year's team, And part of
that's true. It's sort of a different type of team.
You know last year or the team two years ago
was you know, fueled by youth and in experience and
the enthusiasm that comes with it. This team certainly has enthusiasm,

(01:33:07):
but it they don't feel quite as immature, feels like
they're led better internally, and they don't have the gaping
hole that that team two years ago had, and the
team that two years ago wasn't helped by the front
office at the deadline. I think this year, based on

(01:33:29):
what I'm seeing, time will tell if I'm right or wrong.
If they're in a similar position to the one two
years ago, if they were in a similar position in
a month to the one they're in now, I don't
think the front office is going to leave them hang
out to dry. Twenty three minutes after five o'clock five

(01:33:50):
to one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty can possibly
get you in. We'll see. We've had phone issues today,
and those happen. I guess some times we are going
to attempt to see if we can get some folks
to play a stupid game at about twelve minutes to
win some Red's Marlins tickets and see the Old Dominion

(01:34:11):
Show after the game that coming up at five thirty
five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:34:17):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:34:22):
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(01:34:48):
the right shoulder bym Rick Shrimp with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:34:52):
This report is spotball Daanner Junior. Yesterday he was awesome.
We talked about the stadium issue, big big meeting tomorrow,
County Commission meeting. I have heard some good things today
that would suggest things are moving in a more positive
direction as it relates to the stadium. But Paul was
really good on that topic yesterday, and we talked about
a whole bunch of different things from Dan Pitcher. He

(01:35:14):
wrote a great piece about Dan Pitcher this offense, a
few training camp storylines as we get closer and closer
to the start of training camp, and so much more.
If you missed that conversation, go listen to it right now.
Go listen to it in thirty minutes. Go listen to
it tonight. It's on the iHeartRadio app. By the way,
when you go to the iHeartRadio app, make sure you

(01:35:34):
set ESPN fifteen thirty as a preset thank you. Podcasts
of this show are a service of long Next Sports Grill.
So we have a couple of tickets where giving go.
We have a pair of tickets today and a pair
of tickets tomorrow. I actually a pair of tickets for
I'm not here tomorrow, a badly needed day off to
go play golf in the heat. But anyway, we have

(01:35:56):
a pair of tickets. The Reds take on the Marlins
on July tenth, and as part of the Ohio Lottery
Postgame concert series, there's a postgame show involving Old Dominion.
I don't know that anybody has ever described a concert
that way. Has anybody ever said, hey, we're going to
the game that I there's going to be a concert
involving Old No, there's an Old Dominion concert after the game.

(01:36:18):
And by the way, you could upgrade your ticket for
a field pass and be up close. You can go
to Reds dot com slash tickets. We have a pair
of tickets to give away. Now, the original plan when
we sat down to map out the show today was
we were going to do a stupid trivia game Reds
Yankees trivia connections between the Reds and Yankees, given the
fact that the Yankees are in town right now, and

(01:36:41):
chances if you listen to the show, you know how
we do this. We do five questions. They are multiple choice.
If you get three or five, correcting when the tickets.
If not, we give it to somebody who had to
do absolutely nothing. This requires contestants to play, and the
only way we get contestants to play our silly game
or to call in five one, three, seven, four, nine,

(01:37:01):
fifteen thirty. We have had phone issues today now. Some
carriers seem to not be working, others perhaps so. So
we're gonna try this and it may not work, and
if it doesn't work, then we'll just we'll do two
giveaways on Friday. But I really I jotted down these

(01:37:22):
Reds Yankees questions which will not work on on Friday
because the Reds aren't going to be playing the Yankees anymore.
So if you want to go see the Reds play
the Marlins, this is on the tenth, which is what
a Thursday. Yeah, Thursday night, July tenth, Reds Marlins and
stick around for the Old Dominion concert five one three

(01:37:42):
seven four nine. I see line one is ringing five
one three seven four nine fifteen. We need contestants five
to one three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. I just
want to do this so we know the phones are working,
and uh we'll do sports headlines when we come back,
and then we'll play our stupid game and see if
somebody can win these tickets. And if the phones don't work,

(01:38:03):
then I don't I'll put them up for auction or something.
I have no idea. Uh So five point three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty. If you want to go see
the Reds and Marlins and an Old Dominion concert after
the game. Next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:38:18):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:38:25):
Ec Health Traffic Center. At You See Health, You'll find
comprehensive care that's so personal, makes your best tomorrow possible.
I'd bound this care for better outcomes. Expect more. You
see Health dot com. We have traffic selling seventy one
at north bound Martin Luther King Junior Drive to data
accident and the clearing stages and Anderson Ferry north and
south of River Road. Two lanes blinked with a crash.

(01:38:46):
People can't get to the ferry right now. The cleanup
is underway seventy five heavy from Hoppele to the Brent
Spence Bridge about a fifteen minute delay by Rick Shramp
with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:38:55):
This report is sponsored zero service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home
of lifetime power train and protection and guarantee credit approval
from their family to yours. Go to Kelsey chef dot com. Curiosity.
I can do FM radio, I can head post now
with me, I can absolutely nail posts. This is old dominion.

(01:39:17):
Who's going to be playing after the Reds Marlins game
on July tenth? And we're gonna give away our phones worked?
We have contestants. The phones worked at least for the
people who had the carrier. We might have to ask
these folks waiting on hold which carrier they use, because
for certain carriers we couldn't get ahold of the radio
station today before we play our game. Red's Yankee tonight

(01:39:39):
at GABP Brady Singer Max Freed seven ten tonight, first pitch.
It's on seven hundred wl W. Red's looking for a
series sweep and a fourth consecutive victory. Starting lineup Tonight Friedol, McLain,
de la Cruz, Stevenson's, d Hing Steers and left Jose
Travino is playing catcher Reese Hines and right field Cees

(01:39:59):
at first Santiago Espinol's at third base. Connor Joe head
the heads to the injured list with a handfoot and
mouth disease, which a guy emailed me a few minutes ago.
We were joking about this, and I certainly understand the
gravity of any sickness, but handfoot and mouth disease. And
I say this, my daughter's in the third grade, so
I feel like in the pre k years. Like every

(01:40:21):
week we got an email from daycare telling us one
of the kids had handfoot mouth disease, and gentleman Glenn,
who emailed me here says if an adult kids that
it can be pretty bad, can be pretty serious. So
hopefully Connor is okay. Red's calling up infielder outfielder Ryan
Valaide noelve Marte is set to begin a rehab assignment

(01:40:42):
at Double A. Chattanooga Florence a winner today over Windy
City by a score of seven to two. FC Cincinnati
on the road tonight against Montreal at seven thirty Pregame
on ESPN fifteen thirty begins at seven pm. All Right,
Rad's Marlin's Game on July tenth, Old Dominion Concert app
after uh taren, who do we have? Who should we

(01:41:03):
go with here? Who should we who should we give
a chance to win these tickets?

Speaker 6 (01:41:06):
I'll let you decide that.

Speaker 2 (01:41:07):
Okay, very good, Make me be the bad guy. All right, Well,
I think Nick called first? Nick? Is the phone? Actually Nick?
The phones? Can you say something to me, Nick? Say hi, Hi,
Oh my goodness, the phones are actually working. We're gonna
give you an opportunity to go see the Reds and
Marlins and see the Old Dominion Show. Are you a

(01:41:28):
Reds fan? Yes, I am. Consider yourself a knowledgeable Reds fan.
I would like to think though very good, so would I.
But I also I also prove that I am not. Well,
We're gonna ask you five questions related to the history
between the Reds and Yankees, and if you get three
of them correct, you're going to go see the Reds

(01:41:48):
game and the Old Dominion Show. And if not, we're
gonna give them to somebody else. Okay, sounds good, All right,
very good. Are you sound enthusiastic? Are you ready? Are
you excited about this? Get it? Okay? Here we go,
all right? Question number one got to get three out
of five their multiple choice. Two players appeared for both
the Reds in the nineteen ninety World Series and the

(01:42:11):
Yankees in the nineteen ninety six World Series. One of
those players was Paul O'Neill. Who was the other? Was
it a Hal Morris, b Marianto Duncan or C. Glenn Braggs.
Let's go with Glenn bragg Do I have Glenn Braggs tarn.

Speaker 6 (01:42:31):
Here?

Speaker 2 (01:42:32):
I'll do it for you. Eh no, thank you very much.
It was Marianna Duncan. Marianna Duncan appeared for the Reds
in the ninety World Series, actually hit a home run
against the Pirates I think in Game four of the NLCS,
and was with the Yankees in the nineteen ninety six
World Series. That is okay, Nick, you just got to
get three of the next four? Correct? Are you ready yet?
The first ever regular season game between the Reds and

(01:42:55):
the Yankees took place in Cincinnati on June third, two thousand,
and three. It was a four to three Red's victory.
This player had the game winning walk off hit in
the bottom of the ninth inning. Was it a Jason LaRue,
b Aaron Boone or c Wan Castro? Was it one

(01:43:15):
Castro Taran You could tell by the sound of my voice. Yes,
one Castro Aaron Boone played in that game. He actually
made the first out of the ninth inning. He drove
in Jason LaRue with the game winning run. Congratulations, very good,
one for two. Gotta get two more? Correct? All right?
The Reds owned the fifth overall pick in the nineteen
ninety two MLB draft. The Yankees had the sixth overall

(01:43:36):
pick in the nineteen ninety two MLB draft. With the
sixth pick in the draft, the Yankees took Derek Jeter,
which means the Reds did not take Derek Jeter with
the fifth overall pick. Instead, who did they take? Did
they take A Chad Mottola, B. C J Nikkowski or C.
Scott Sullivan c J Nikowski? Do I have a CJ. Nikowski? No,

(01:43:58):
they took Chad Mottola.

Speaker 6 (01:44:01):
C J.

Speaker 2 (01:44:02):
Nikowski was taken I think the year before, but it
was Chadmantola. That is okay, unlike the Reds taking Derek Jeter.
You still have a chance. Are you ready? I didn't
put that look like the Reds not taking Derek Jeter.
You still have a chance to do something good. Fifteen
more minutes. All right, here we go. Question number four.
On November third, nineteen ninety two, the Reds traded Paul

(01:44:25):
O'Neil to the Yankees along with a guy named Joe
de Berry in exchange for who Which player did the
Yankees send to Cincinnati? Was it a Bip Roberts, b
Thomas Howard or c Roberto Kelly? Nick? Do you have
an answer? Roberto Kelly? So, Roberto Kelly Terry, Yes, Roberto
Kelly traded by the Yankees to the Reds. That deal

(01:44:50):
sort of one sided for New York. All right, here
we go. Last one? Do or die? Question number five?
In the nineteen seventy six World Series, which, as you
probably know, Nick pitted the Reds against the Yankees Cincinnati.
During that four game series sweep hit four home runs.
Three of those home runs were hit by future Hall
of famers Joe Morgan had one and Johnny Bench had two,

(01:45:11):
which leaves one home run for a non Hall of Famer.
Who was the non Hall of Famer who homered for
the Reds in the seventy sixth series. Was it A
Dan Dreesen, B. George Foster or C. Ken Griffy. This
was a little bit.

Speaker 9 (01:45:27):
Before my time, but I'm going to go with Ken griff.

Speaker 2 (01:45:30):
Do you have Ken Griffy? I'm sorry. With a home
run in Game three of the seventy six World Series,
Nick Dan Dreeson became the only other non Hall of
Fame red to Homer in that series. My apologies, all right,

(01:45:50):
do you have anything to say for yourself? Oh?

Speaker 8 (01:45:54):
They were all complete gettos.

Speaker 2 (01:45:55):
That's okay. You know, most of life is guesswork. We
appreciate you trying to play, Nick, Thank you for listening,
and thank you for trying to play our stupid game.

Speaker 9 (01:46:06):
All right, thanks both.

Speaker 2 (01:46:06):
You're very welcome. There you go. Hey, Jay, you did
absolutely nothing, but you're going to the game on the tenth.

Speaker 6 (01:46:12):
Okay, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:46:15):
You're very welcome. Don't thank me. Thank Nick. Jay's online
three is going to the game. You can join Jay
at the ballpark on July tenth, when the Reds take
on the Miami Marlins and and and then there's a
postgame concert. Old Dominion will take the stage. That game,

(01:46:35):
did I mention? Is on July tenth. You can get tickets.
We're going to have more to give away on Friday.
Just go to reds dot com. Go to reds dot
com and you can go to the game and there
are field passes available. And oh but it's not it's
reds dot com Slash Concerts. I believe it or not.

(01:46:59):
I've been on the radio for eighteen years. Reds dot
com Slash Concerts, Red's Marlin's Old Dominion July tenth. It
is twelve minutes away from six o'clock. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:47:14):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the ec Health
Traffic Center.

Speaker 7 (01:47:22):
At you See Health, you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal,
makes your best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes.
Expect more. You see Health dot com. We have traffic
selling seventy one at north bound Martin Luther King Junior
Drive to Data accident and the clearing stages and Anderson
Ferry north and south of River Road. Two lanes blinked
with a crash. People can't get to the ferry right now.

(01:47:43):
The cleanup is underway. Seventy five heavy from Hoppele to
the Brent Spence Bridge about a fifteen minute delay. My
bricks shramp with traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:47:51):
This report is sponsor.

Speaker 2 (01:47:52):
Perfect Meteorologist on Channel nine and I follow her on Instagram.
She also coaches hockey. Do you think she could also
take on the role of the official hockey correspondent to
this show. We're in the middle of the off season.
We have time to find out. By the way, April

(01:48:14):
eighteenth is International Amateur Radio Day. I think in honor
of today's broadcast they might move it to June twenty fifth.
That may be the case. I think, in honor of
the three hours that we have offered the audience today,
June twenty fifth the new International Amateur Radio Day. In

(01:48:35):
all seriousness, it's really fun talking about the reds in June.
And that sounds like an obvious statement. I started doing
this show in two thousand and seven, and my favorite,
my favorite two years doing this show were twenty ten
and twenty twelve for a variety of reasons, but chief
among them, those were the first two years that I
was on during a winning red season, and it's just different, man,

(01:48:57):
It's just different. Twenty ten was entirely because the Reds
surprised a lot of people. Twenty twelve was a little
bit more expected, and you know, thirteen was okay, and
twenty twenty just sucked entirely. In twenty twenty one for
a while, was fun. In twenty ten, it's fun. And
I said this often two years ago, it's fun when

(01:49:19):
we talk about baseball, to talk about baseball. I am
off tomorrow and I'm back here on Friday. I do
want to remind you of something that I've posted on
social media. A guy who did shows that were the
exact opposite of this, meaning they were good, is going

(01:49:40):
to be honored on Saturday night. And I've often talked
about my deep affection for and relationship with the legendary
Jim Scott, who passed away just about a year ago,
died from complications of als, and there is going to
be an event on Saturday that I am truly honored

(01:50:00):
to be a part of at Mount Saint Joe University,
where we're going to get together for a few hours
and celebrate the life of Jim Scott, tell some stories
there's going to be music, and equally as important as
honoring and celebrating Jim, we are going to be raising
money for I think a very worthwhile and noble cause.

(01:50:24):
We're going to be raising money for the UC Gardner
Neuroscience Institute ALS Clinic Endowment Fund. And that's a little
bit of a mouthful, but what this fund does is
it helps people who are living with ALS, and so
this is something Jim would have wanted us to do.
This is going to be a lot of fun. You
can go to Mount Saint Joe's website. I've posted links

(01:50:46):
all over social media and it's going to be a
lot of fun and I am truly honored to be
a part of it and tell some fun stories and
celebrate somebody who's who we've missed but certainly is worth celebrating.
Back here all day, Thanks to Terran for producing, Thanks
to you for putting up with me today. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati sports station.