7/2/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening, spending
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(01:02):
right now is the game at Fenway Park. So chances
are you know this. But the Reds and Red Sox
last night their game got suspended after three innings, and
they it rained, and it kept raining, and it rained
all night and thunder and all that stuff. So they
banged the rest of it. They resumed last night's game

(01:25):
just about started resuming it just about thirty minutes ago.
Spencer Steer with a home run and the Reds, despite
facing an early to nothing deficit, have a three to
two lead. As the Red Sox gets said to come
to the plate in the bottom of the sixth innings,
Sam Mall two very good innings. He was lights out.
Scott Barlow now on for the Reds. Brady Singer obviously

(01:45):
pitched last night. He wasn't gonna come out tonight or
for the resumption of the game today. So Red's going
with a bullpen over the final six innings and hopefully
not beyond three to two. Good guys, bottom six, Reds
trying to even the series and give themselves a chance
to take the series. Tonight, the regularly scheduled game. We'll
start at seven to ten. We will have for you,

(02:06):
of course, instant reaction to today's game, the finish of
last night's game at Fenway Park as soon as the
game goes final, and lots of Red's issues to get
to between now and six o'clock. You see, football has
new uniforms, which is cool and I like them, and
we can spend some time talking about them, but you know,

(02:28):
we are getting closer and closer to an extraordinarily important season,
which we're gonna get to here in a bit, I'm
gonna go back seven years because Scott Sadderfield has an
opportunity to do what Luke Fickle did seven years ago.
I will make that make sense a little bit later on.
There's no real hard Bengals news today, but I've been

(02:50):
thinking a lot about Trey Hendrickson today. Specifically, I think
most of us as Bengels fans, about a lot of
time thinking about Trey Hendrickson, both his contracts status, what
he can do for this team this coming season, what
the year may look like if they get the deal done,
what the year may look like if they don't get
the deal done, and then obviously, you know, spending a

(03:11):
lot of time wondering whether or not he's going to
be on the field for Week one. Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh,
the Steelers and TJ. Watt continued to be at an
impass and didn't show up for mandatory mini camp. TJ
Watt is like Trey Hendrickson thirty one years old. TJ
Watt like Trey Hendrickson has one more year remaining on

(03:35):
his current contract. TJ. Watt, though, if you believe the
reporting done from Pittsburgh, including that from Jerry Dulac, the
longtime Pittsburgh newspaper writer, was on the Riche Eisen Show,
I guess earlier today talking about how TJ. Watt desires
to be the highest paid non quarterback in the NFL.

(03:55):
And you talk about something that has leapt into our
The way we talk about the NFL highest paid non
quarterback in the NFL is not verbiage I recall ever
really using prior to this year, but we've used it
a bunch and obviously the owner of that title right
now is Jamar Chase Well.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Watt, according to this report, wants to be the highest
paid non QB in the NFL, which would make him
obviously the highest paid edge rusher in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
And if you were to.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
Become that, well, then you know there's an impact on
the market, I guess, and maybe there could be an
impact on Trey Hendrickson. Now, let's compare the two here
for a second.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
TJ. Watt is the better player. TJ.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Watt's the better player TJ versus Trey because TJ is
better against the run. Trey I don't think is as
bad against the run as many make him out to be.
But let's just use the simple grade of Pro Football
focus against the run. Trey Hendrickson last season grated at
sixty five point nine, which isn't terrible. TJ Watt was

(04:57):
a ninety one point four. He's a more a well
rounded edge guy. But their their pass rush grade last
year it was very similar. Tray slightly better ninety point four,
TJ Watt ninety point one, So we'll point that out here.
But you know what both players are known more for
than more than anything else, is their ability to get

(05:18):
to the quarterback.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Watt's had a marvelous career, probably a Hall of Famer.
It's been awesome in Pittsburgh. We've obviously watched TJ. Watt
play against the Bengals. It's terrifying. TJ Watt last season
statistically was good. He was not as good as he
was in twenty twenty three. Now that is a really

(05:41):
high bar to clear. It's like, you know, Trey Hendrickson
this coming season from a sack perspective, by the way
Red Socks have tied the game at three bottom six.
Trey Hendrickson this coming season, Let's say he plays purely
from a sack perspective, coulda have twelve sacks this season, which.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Is a good year.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
And by the way, if the Bengals have improved their
pass rush around him, then you're gonna look at him
as a big part of a really good pass rush
and improved pass rush. Let's say Joseph Osai proves that
the Bengals faith in him is deserved. Let's say that
Miles Murphy finally the light bulb comes on. Let's say
that Shamar Stewart actually signs his contract and plays, and

(06:20):
as a result of all this, the Bengals have a
much much better pass rush. Trey Hendrickson might statistically not
have as great as a year, but the Bengals overall pass
rush could still be better and Trey would still be
a big part of it. A twelve sack season is good.
It's not seventeen and a half like last year, where TJ.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Watt.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
If you look at his twenty twenty three versus his
twenty twenty four very good. In twenty twenty four very good,
but a lot of the numbers were down and again
down from a big place, but approximate value was down,
which is kind of an advanced metric. His sack total
was down from my team to eleven point five. His

(07:02):
quarterback hits were down, his quarterback hurries were down. Like
still a very good player, finished fourth and the defensive
Player of the Year voting.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
But you could argue that decline has come.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
And yet despite that decline, if you believe the reporting
coming from Pittsburgh, he wants to be the highest paid
non quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Watt's going to turn thirty one here very soon. Trey
Hendrickson will be thirty one by the end of the season,
so both players at a similar stage in their career.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Watt compared to Trey Hendrickson is being unreasonable. Like I've
not loved a lot about how Trey has handled this.
I say that as a fan. As a talk show host,
I've loved how he has handled this because he's given
us almost NonStop content.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
But I don't know how.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Productive it is to grant stand to the media to
go on a bunch of different shows, to go on
Pat McAfee to talk about the Bengals, But I don't
know that his general stance is wrong. His general stance
is the market has shifted. I want a new contract
that reflects how the market has shifted as well as
what I have done. I'm coming off a great year.

(08:13):
I was a Defensive Player of the Year finalist myself.
I'm one of the elite pass rushers in the NFL.
I don't want to be the twentieth paid, twenty highest
paid edge rusher in the sport. I want to be
paid more and I want to capitalize. That stance is
not at all unreasonable. We could quibb all about how
he's gone about it, and we can discuss whether or

(08:34):
not the Bengals should have traded him. We can make
fun of Trey for maybe not understanding what he was
signing up for when he signed his most recent contract extension.
But I believe at least his general stance is not
an improper one. And given the fact that he has
stated publicly that he's not necessarily looking to be the

(08:56):
highest paid edge rusher or there's nothing coming from Trey's
camp that would suggest he wants to be the highest
paid non quarterback in the sport, I don't think he's
being unreasonable.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
Watt is the same age. He has been a better player,
but he's coming off a season that was not his best.
The Steelers look at TJ Watt, I think the same
way the Bengals do, which is, we're not nuts about
paying you down the road for pass production. That's, you know,
the cruxt of what the Bengals position has been, right like,

(09:32):
we'll pay you more, We'll give you a pay raise.
There's a contract offer out there, but we don't want
to pay you in twenty twenty six for twenty twenty
four production. We don't want to pay in twenty twenty
seven for twenty twenty four production. And so you know,
we're not necessarily going to give you every dime you're
looking for, but we will.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Give you more money.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Again, not an entirely unreasonable position at all. And so
I think that the Pittsburgh situation is fascinating because I
think what TJ. Watt is looking for, it certainly feels
like it's a lot more than what Trey Hendrickson is
looking for. And Trey may look at this and go, well,
I want to see what happens with TJ.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Watt.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
I want to see what impact on the market that
has and see if I can benefit from it. But
if we're gonna compare the two and I've I've spent
a lot of time over the last couple of weeks
using the word reasonable because I think there's room, if
both sides are reasonable, for the two parties to come

(10:30):
to an agreement. There's time. Training camp starts in three weeks,
the season begins in over two months. The first preseason
game is more than a month away, Like.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
There's time.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
As much as this feels like it's going to be
played out all through training camp, all through the preseason,
and we're gonna be playing a waiting game right before
the season actually starts to see whether or not Trey
is gonna show up and play for the Bengals, there
is time, if you have time and reasonable parties. Maybe
I'm looking at this overly optimistically. I think there's room

(11:06):
for a deal to get done in Pittsburgh. It feels
like one side is maybe being unreasonable. TJ Watt, with
likely his best years behind him, wants to be the
highest paid non quarterback in the sport, and maybe it's
a little bit easier for him to make that request
because he doesn't have the guy who currently occupies that
title on his own team, but with the Bengals in

(11:30):
tray like, you cannot convince me if both sides are
being somewhat level headed, if both sides are gonna pledge
to not be obstinate or stubborn, if both sides could
could find room in their hearts or their minds to
be reasonable, then they can't come to some sort of

(11:55):
an agreement. And maybe this is completely impossible. Maybe once
or the other is going to be unreasonable. And I
think Katie Blackburn's public take on this at the Owner's
meetings three months ago, whatever it was, which was, you know,
he's basically just gonna have to be happy with what
he's been offered and you know, uh, sign it or
you know, deal with what's next. I think that's kind

(12:16):
of an unreasonable take. If if we're willing to move
on from that, if we're willing to move on from
here's the offer, take it, and Trey Hendrickson is being
level aheaded enough to not demand something outrageous, Why then
can't they find some room between what Trey has been
offered and what he is not asking for and find

(12:42):
some common ground and get a deal done. And I'm
asking this rhetorically because I'm not sure anybody really has
the answer. Maybe Trey Hendrickson himself or his agent don't
have the answers. Maybe the people who run the Bengals themselves,
uh don't have the answers. But I I just I
feel like in any negotiation you need two things. Number One,

(13:04):
you need a willingness to walk away. And in any
real negotiation, like one side of the other has to
be willing to say all right, see you. And I
think for something to truly get done, both parties have
to be acting within reason, and the way that starts
is by showing some flexibility and at least having an

(13:26):
understanding of the other side. I don't think it's hard.
I don't think it's hard to understand either side's side.
I don't think it's hard to understand Trey Hendrickson's point
of view. I don't think it's hard to understand the
Bengals point of view. It perhaps has been seemingly hard

(13:47):
for those two individual parties to see the other side's
point of view. But I just can't help but think
if you got both both sides at the negotiating table
and said, look, We're going to resolve over the next
couple of weeks to get this done so that training
camp can start with Trey Hendrickson on the field with
his teammates, preparing for a year in which the Bengals

(14:10):
have legitimate Super Bowl aspirations that you could compel them
to get a deal done. I look at Pittsburgh and
I see one side who is being kind of unreasonable.
I don't think Trey is doing that, So I don't know, man,
I'm Chances are we're going to be sorely disappointed. Chances

(14:31):
are it feels like the most likely outcome is is
Trey is still holding out not doing anything. When camp
gets here, we will see. But there is time and
if both parties can be somewhat human about this, I'll
try to be optimistic and hope that both sides can

(14:52):
be a little bit reasonable and get a deal done.
Nineteen after three five point three seven four nine fifteen
thirty is our phone number. Eight sixty six seven two
three seven seven six works as well. You can send
a tweet at malegar thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental
is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all. Go to
Delta dental Oh dot com. Uh, we haven't done a

(15:16):
ton of UC football stuff in recent weeks. New uniforms
today which are out there on the internet, and I
think they're cool looking. I'm a little bit more interested
in what they put on the field. Let's see it
is that eight weeks from tomorrow in Kansas City, because
that opportunity for Scott saderfield reminds me of one that
Luke Fickle once had a little while ago. We'll get

(15:38):
to that coming up here in just a bit. Another
question that I'm not sure we have the answer to
that's Bengals related is next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
Swall on a high fly ball deep to left field.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
It's high enough? Is it deep enough? And it is.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
Out of here right top big green monster in left field.
Spencer Steer continues his hot hitting launches one high in
deep and it's a one run ball game for the
Reds as they take to leave three to two.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Yeah, they don't trail anymore.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Spencer Steer got that one way up there and it
just kept carrying and climbed right over the monster.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
And lap helps.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
If I turn the microphone on the Great Chris Welsh,
who should win the fourd Seed Frick Award one day
along with Tommy Thrawl on the Reds Radio Network. Spencer
Steer's tenth home run of the season gave the Reds
a three to two lead in the top of the
fourth in the game they resuming that started last night.
Boston has since tied the game with a sacrifice fly

(16:47):
in the bottom of the sixth inning. Boston is batting
bottom seven to three to three. The home run by
Steer came off Brian Bao, for what it's worth, and
I do not think this was intentional, but Steer got
hit his next played appearance in the seventh inning, ball
kind of came in on him on his wrist. I
don't think in a tie game that Brian Bao, the

(17:07):
same pitcher that he hit the home run off of,
is trying to hit him. But nonetheless, Spencer stayed in
the game. Reds didn't score.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Lyon.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Richardson is on the mound for Cincinnati. It's three to three,
bottom seven, Reds trying to even up the series against
the Red Sox, and Ellie Dela Cruz just made a
good throw to first base. And as you know, as
much as we all love Ellie Dela Cruz. For some
of us, when a ball has hit his way at shortstop,
we hold our breath when he makes the throw. Fortunately

(17:37):
we didn't need to there three to three ball game
instant reaction from Fenway Park. As soon as the game
is over, five point three seven nine, fifteen thirty is
our phone number.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Let's go ahead and take a phone call or two.
Why not, Mike? Go ahead, You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Hi, Mike,
what's up?

Speaker 5 (17:55):
Hey? Tal You sound full of them and vigor today.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
God love you and vigor.

Speaker 5 (18:02):
Yeah, he sounded really wired up. You must be ecstatic
over the acquisition of Mike Brown.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
I am Mike Brown's good coach, two time Coach of
the Year. He's walking into a situation where he's got
a team that has had success.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
I think he is a slight upgrade from Tom Thibodeau
because I think he's going to manage the regular season
better and I don't know how much of a tactical
advantage he is going to give them in the postseason.
But the guy that Tims lost to in the postseason
right now has to try to figure out how to
replace two starters once the season begins. So I don't
know that Mike Brown would have been my first choice,

(18:37):
but I'm not that displeased.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
With them hiring him.

Speaker 5 (18:40):
Well, at least they got a choice here here we go,
because I think that's what was bothering everybody was they
were him hauling around too long. It seems likely. Well,
I know the other thing I wanted to mention is
the who might have mentioned it in sports highlights Unless
a couple of nuts, big night in baseball, Clayton Curse
will become the third left handed pitcher that's done his

(19:05):
whole career with one team to reach thirty three thousand
strikeouts and are two thousand strikeouts and the twentieth pitcher
of all time and arguably the best pitcher since the
dead ball, best left handed starter since the dead ball.
You're at better than Kokeba's Carleton Lawrence baond kick one.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Well, he's a Hall of Famer, I'll grant you that.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
Unfortunately for him, what a lot of people are going
to bring up or his postseason issues. I do think
those issues have clouded Clayton Kershaw's regular season success to
a degree that he's actually underrated. I think there are
folks who are listening to this conversation right now, who
don't fully comprehend how good Clayton Kershaw has been for

(19:51):
as long as he has been good. Obviously, you know
this season, he's been excellent since coming back. What he
was in the early twenty ten was otherworldly. He hasn't
been otherworldly, I think, unfortunately for him. And I don't
know if I'm willing to say he's better than Kofax,
so the Kofax only pitched nine years. I don't know
that I'm willing to say he's better than Steve Carlton.

(20:12):
Steve Carlton pitched for a bunch of really bad teams.
But I think, I think, I think because of how
he has talked about and how the sport as a whole,
and maybe how all the sports are talked about, what
people go to first are his postseason failures, and by
the way, he's pitched some really good postseason games, and
I think they go there first, and that keeps them

(20:32):
from appreciating how good he has been, because man, at
his peak, he was the best pitcher in baseball.

Speaker 5 (20:39):
And the craziest hurk Jerkee wind up one of the
craziest ones him and very unusual hrcee jerky motion coming
to the play. I think what they based that rating
on with him Dean was was he had the he
was the only sub two point five point two five
zero pitcher since the Dead Ball era left handed starter,
So that's what it was. That was what distinguished him.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Now.

Speaker 5 (21:02):
I don't know if he may still not be uh
that we on the er those just last year and
of course it didn't count the postseason.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
So his RA at this stage in his career is
two five one. But you know, there aren't that many
guys who have five ERA titles. There aren't that many
guys who have multiple times as pitchers led their league
in war There aren't that many guys who three times
have led their league strikeouts. There aren't that many guys

(21:30):
who four times have led their league in ERA plus
like he's. Aren't that many guys who multiple times have
led their league in strikeouts to walk ratio like he's
been awesome. I mean, first ballot, no doubt, Hall of Famer,
I think because Hall of Fame voters are often stupid.
You and I both know Mike when he's eligible, there's
gonna be someone because this has happened with every player

(21:51):
except Marianna Rivera.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Someone's gonna look at his resume and go.

Speaker 5 (21:54):
Nah, yeah, yeah, he got out of bed on the
wrong side. Somebody hit a home. Now you're right, most prep.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Twenty nine people, twenty nine people.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
When Willie Mays was on the ballot, twenty nine people
looked at Willy Mays and said, yeah, I'm good. Look
are There are certain players that I understand, like why
it took him a while, Barry Larkin, it took a while.
I believe he's a Hall of Famer. I could understand
why a voter might say no. Or Ryan Sandberg or
Scott Rowland or Gary Carter, those types of players, men

(22:30):
who each deserve to be in the Hall of Fame,
but you could understand why someone may vote against them.
And then there is a caliber of Hall of Famer,
and again there's been no unanimous guy except for Mariano Rivera.
Someone looked at Greg Maddox, someone looked at Ricky Henderson,
someone looked at Steve Carlton, someone looked at Tom Seaver.

(22:50):
Someone looked at Derek Jeter, someone looked at Babe Ruth,
someone looked at Stan Usual Willie Mays. And when they
were on the ballot said, I'm not giving them my vote. Astounding, crazy, astounding,
And someone's gonna do that with Clayton Kershaw.

Speaker 5 (23:05):
Yeah, you're right. One other quick thing I've been noticing.
You know, we were talking about how dominant that NL
West was before the season, how dominant it was going
to be, and then how dominant it has been. However,
if I look closely, if people look closely, now NL
West and NL Central, the except for the two top

(23:27):
teams are the NL Central has caught up in terms
of win loss records.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
It's pretty cool if if if you would, if you
would have said to most fans myself included back in March,
that we would be entering July fourth weekend with four
teams in the NL Central having winning records, somebody would
have asked, what you've been smoking? I think we expected
that with the NL West, which we still have. Because

(23:53):
Arizona is a game or two over five hundred, we're
going to go into fourth of July weekend.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
I should look this up.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
When's the last time I'm four teams in this division
we're over five hundred going into fourth of July weekend.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
Well, that's a good one. I'm going to Google as
soon as we hang up. That's a very good one.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Enough homework, Mike, homework, that's.

Speaker 5 (24:14):
A good homework. Well, buddy, Okay, So it's still three
to three.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Uh, it's three three Friedles on first. McLean's at the plate,
one out in the eighth inning. Hopefully we get a
good result today. Mike, I got a run man. Good
to hear from you.

Speaker 5 (24:26):
Thanks for a play by play.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Take care, You're very very welcome to McLean has just
hit into a six four to three double play to
end the Reds half of the eighth inning. We're going
to the bottom of the eighth. Reds and red Sox
tied at three. On ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

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Speaker 3 (25:31):
Reds and Red Sox resuming last night's game that was
suspended because of weather in Boston.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
It's three to three Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
And Boston tide bottom eight, Red Sox hitting because of
the home team in the bottom of the eighth inning
with the guy on first base and one outline. Richardson
is on for Cincinnati. The second game tonight, Reds and
Red Sox will started seven ten at Fenway Park with
Nick Martinez getting the ball. The Red Sox say they
are still undecided about who their starting pitcher is going

(26:00):
to be. Meanwhile, the Florence Yawls are on the road
again tonight against Schomberg. That game begins at five thirty.
If you miss anything on this show, Chris Trepasso. By
the way, CBS Sports an awesome new NFL newsletter, Bullish
on the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
Like having people on who are bullish about the Bengals.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
If you want to hear why Chris is bullish on
the Bengals, go listen to the interview. It's available on
the iHeartRadio app. Also baseball related, Sam Lequiri yesterday was awesome.
We dove into the issue of pitch tipping, which Chase
Burns I think apparently was guilty of, maybe in a

(26:43):
very subtle maybe almost unconscious way, or subconscious way, I
guess is a better way of putting it. Sam was
really good at talking about pitch tipping, not just as
it relates to Chase Burns. So if you miss that interview,
go listen to it on the iHeartRadio app. And while
you're there, make sure you set ESPN fifteen thirty as

(27:03):
one of your presets. You see, football got new uniforms.
This is an audio medium. I think the uniforms are
cool looking, and I will I'll make an admission. Sometimes
sometimes sports fans will not admit if if their team's
uniforms aren't awesome. I used to have this struggle with

(27:25):
fellow Bengals fans for years. I think the uniforms the
Bengals have now are cool looking. They're not among the
league's best. But they're upgrades from what they were. They're cleaner,
they're nice, They're far better than what they wore for
a very long time. I always felt like those were
too busy. I frankly thought they were ugly. These, the
Bengals uniforms now that they've worn since twenty twenty one,

(27:47):
are not ugly. In recent years, you seees football uniforms
I don't think have been ugly, but there's been a
lot about them that really doesn't do it for me.
And maybe you disagree, and that's okay, But like you know,
the claw marks and the pants and the triangles that
are patterned after the windows on the linder center, like,
give me something a little bit cleaner. They've what they've done,

(28:09):
I think is I think that's the term we use now.
They're cleaner looking. There is a bit of a Texas
tech look to the black uniforms, but I think they're
cool looking. They're more simple, The numbers are better looking
than they have been. They're good looking threads. I think
if you're a UC fan you'll agree with this statement.

(28:29):
Though they can go two and ten in these threads
and it ain't gonna matter. Give me eleven and one
in the old threads and I'll be happy. This is
a really important season for UC football. And I think
that goes without saying when you've you've had two bad years,
two years where you haven't made a bowl game, haven't

(28:52):
really contended for a league championship, and you've you've done
so for with a coach who when he got the
job was frank just not that popular. Like year three
is big, Your three is huge, And it's not just
that it's this is always a topic when it comes
to UC football. It was a topic when Cincinnati hired

(29:12):
Luke Fickle, and it was a topic when Cincinnati hired
Tommy Tubberville. And it was a topic to a degree
when to a very large degree, when Cincinnati hired Brian Kelly.
Maybe a little bit less so Butch Jones. But there's
always the sometimes stated and perhaps sometimes unstated responsibility of

(29:37):
energizing a fan base. When Tommy Tuberville left, which we
were all happy about, we discussed that at nauseum, if
you will, with Luke Fickele, and not just with Luke Fickle,
but whoever took over for Tommy Tubberville, which obviously that
became Luke Fickle like, all right, you've got to recruit locally,

(29:57):
and you've got to repair the roster. It has to
be a higher level of physical fitness and more preparedness.
And it would be nice if the new coach would
actually take his job seriously, which Tubbs quite frankly did not.
But got to re energize the fan base. Got to
re energize the fan base. It's always talked about. Scott
Sadderfield has to re energize this fan base to go

(30:20):
from the fever pitch for UC football in twenty twenty
in twenty twenty one to what it is now. It's
night and day. It's almost dormant. I don't know what
season ticket sales look like. I don't know what individual
ticket sales look like.

Speaker 2 (30:34):
No idea. Here's what I can tell you.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Number One, I know nobody who's going to Kansas City
for the first game. That may change. You know, it's
still eight weeks away. I know folks who have decided
I'm not a season ticket holder anymore. So you've got
some folks who have walked away, and you have a
lot of folks who maybe they're waiting to be energized.
This game against Nebraska, you remember Luke Fickles second season,

(31:02):
they played a game on the road against UCLA. Now,
the year before they had won four games, and frankly,
they were like three plays away from finishing one and
eleven and game one first game of the season. Year two,
the Bearcats go to Los Angeles and they take on UCLA.
That was Chip Kelly's first season in Pasadena. Now, the

(31:24):
UCLA team that the Bearcats would play in the first
game of the season September one, twenty eighteen ended up
being a pretty bad team. The Bruins that year went
three and nine. The Chip Kelly era never really took off,
but nobody was talking about that going in. It was
the Bearcats are going on the road in an iconic venue,
but going on the road to play a Power five

(31:48):
school in a year where and I remember this vividly,
that second season, everybody said best cases six and six,
best case, best best bet case might be seven and five,
but best case is probably six and six. I remember
those conversations. They go to Los Angeles and again, that

(32:10):
wasn't a great UCLA team by any stretch. They won
three games, and it wasn't a very intimidating atmosphere nobody
was there, although the Rose Bowl itself was beautiful. U
See won the football game, des Ritchard came off the bench,
Bearcats came from behind, won the football game after facing
an early ten to nothing deficit twenty six to seventeen.

(32:35):
They ended up going eleven and two that year, and
again UCLA ended up not being very good at all.
But what that win did is it made people excuse me,
It made people perk up, made people take notice. I
don't recall off the top of my head what the
vibe was like at Knippert Stadium for the second game

(32:58):
they played Miami. They played well, they won that game
twenty one nothing. I do know what the vibe was
around the program and with the fan base and that
game they played twenty one nothing winners against Miami. I
think that game was in Oxford. They ended up going
eleven and two, ended up going eleven and two. Now,

(33:22):
I don't think this team can win eleven games this year,
but they've got an opportunity in front of them in
that first game. Now, I'm gonna guess this year's Nebraska
team with Dylan Royola is better than the UCLA team
that Luke ficklebeat to start his second season, and the
atmosphere is going to be a lot better because Nebraska

(33:44):
fans travel well. Games in Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium. I
don't know how many Bearcat fans are going to go,
but I remember there being no atmosphere that day at
the Rose Bowl. I don't think that's going to be
the case at Arrowhead. So it's not apples to apples,
but I remember that game that day. Number one, there

(34:06):
were a lot of dudes on the field who played
like a freshmen or you know, in some cases maybe
sophomor is getting their first real taste of playing time.
And I remember even writing about this because I was
writing for the Athletic at the time, and it was like, man,
there's a lot of pieces that were on the field
today that looked like building blocks for what could take off,
and it did take off. Des Ritter may be chief
among them, Sauce Gardner, a whole bunch of guys. College

(34:28):
football has changed obviously dramatically since then, because we're gonna
be talking about a lot of UC transfers this year.
But Scott Sadderfield has in front of him a game
they're gonna be underdogs. You see, was underdogs against the UCLA.
They're gonna be underdogs on a neutral field Kansas City
against Nebraska. Some sports books have their Week one or

(34:52):
I guess it's Week zero.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Is that Week zero?

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Some sports books have their early college football lines out,
and I've seen Nebraska laying six and a hal half.
My guess is that number goes up and it's probably
closer to seven and.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
A half or eight and a half. Regardless.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
You see may win some games in the Big twelve,
of My guess is they do. I don't think the
league is gonna be that good. They may come back
from Kansas City and win their next two games at home.
You talk about something that gives Scott Sadderfield an opportunity
to energize a fan base that could use a jolt.

(35:30):
That Nebraska game is for Scott Sadderfield. What that UCLA
game for Luke Fickle turned out to be. I remember
that win. I remember its immediate aftermath, Like nobody thought
they were gonna go there and win. Nobody I did
talk shows leading I did a show from Los Angeles.
Nobody thought they were gonna win that game. They do,

(35:50):
and there were a lot of folks who are like, hey,
maybe this is different because they were terrible the year
before four and eight and I'm telling you like maybe
three plays away from finishing one any But what it
was was this, this tangible piece of evidence to suggest
against a school that people had heard of, that you
know what, this program is worth paying attention to. Week

(36:13):
two is not going to give Scott's Sadderfield that opportunity.
Week three is not going to give Scott's Saderfield that opportunity.
I'm not sure that many games early in the Big
twelve schedule are going to give Scott Saderfield that opportunity.
The Nebraska game does nine minutes away from four o'clock,
Reds are down to the last out. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 8 (36:33):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (36:38):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 7 (36:42):
care is here called five one three, five eighty five UCCC.
There is an injury accident on McMillan Street at Auburn Avenue,
running slow northbound seventy one seventy five between Burlington Pike

(37:04):
up toward the Brent Spence Bridge, looking at a ten
minute slow down. I'm at Ezelik with traffic.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Your chance to win one thousand dollars. Enter this nationwide
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Speaker 2 (37:21):
It's up.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
It's four minutes after four of This is ESPN fifteen
thirty on Moweger. Thank you for listening. Hopefully having a
good Wednesday afternoon. The day before of the day before,
at the fourth of July, not a good afternoon in
Boston for the Reds. The resumption of last night's game,
they went to bed trailing two to one. Spencer Steer

(37:42):
gave him a lead. Cincinnati was up three to two
in this ballgame. Unfortunately, the Red Sox will go on
to score three times, five to three the final score
at Fenway Park. Reds have lost the first two games
of this series. They'll play the excuse me the series finale,
pardon and the nightcap coming up at seven to ten tonight.

(38:02):
A couple of things from this game, and our phone
lines were open at five point three, seven four nine,
fifteen thirty and eight six six seven oh two three
seven seven six. The Red Sox tied the game in
the sixth inning, and they would go on to win

(38:22):
with two in the bottom of the eighth inning. But
they would tie this game at three in the bottom
of the sixth inning. And I feel like we sometimes
have to thread the needle here because you know you
have folks for whom Elie Dela Cruz can do no wrong.
It's like, you know the game last week where he
didn't know how many outs there were in that game

(38:43):
against the Yankees where they walked him off in the
eleventh inning. I guess he knew how many outs there were.
He thought the game was over when he was on
first base, Red's get a game tying hit and he
kind of jogs over to second. And you and I
both know there is no shortage of people who went
out of their way to make excuses for him. And
it's like you, he could be your favorite play. You
could acknowledge Ellie made a mistake there. You could say

(39:04):
Ellie's got to do better. You can love your kids
and still acknowledge they make mistakes, they do things they
shouldn't do.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
So you and I both know.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
There are folks they hear any remote criticism of Ellie
Dela Cruz and they're intenna go up, and you and
I both know there are people that just wait in
the weeds, waiting to pounce on the guy, who will
not acknowledge the fact that the guy's having a really
really good offensive season, that he's one of the better

(39:35):
offensive players in baseball and capable of doing things both
offensively and defensively that very few others are capable of doing.
And so you kind of have to thread the needle.
So I'm gonna try to do that here. In the
sixth inning, Ellie Dela Cruz played recklessly. So if if
you didn't see it, Boston's down one, bottom six, Abraham

(39:59):
Toro at the plate, and he leads off the sixth
inning with a double. Now, if you look at the
playby play on MLB dot com or you know something
in the paper or something like that, you're gonna see
Toro doubled to center, which is factually true. And then
he would advance on a wild pitch Scott Barlow is
on the mound, and he would come around to score

(40:21):
the game tying run on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Novaians.
We'll get to what happened later on that gave Boston
the lead A lead that they would hold on to
for good. But on the ball that Abraham Toro hit,
it was a bloop and maybe a little bit in
no man's land, but the ball was hit to center field.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
Friedel, the red centerfielder, is charging in to make the catch,
but he's charging in pretty tentatively. Ellie dela Cruz, from
his shortstop position basically runs to mid range center field.
And Fenway Park has configured a little bit differently.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
We know that.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
But Ellie de la Cruz runs from his position at shortstop,
and I'm doing the best I can to describe this.
Chances are you can find the highlight on the internet.
Ellie runs from his position at shortstop to essentially, let's
just say, mid range center field. I have had a
chance to watch the replay exactly once. I saw it
in real time as I was on the air. I've
seen the replay exactly once, and so maybe I'll change

(41:29):
my assessment based on another viewing.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
But TJ.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Friedel is charging in, but he's doing intentatively because here
comes Ellie with a full head of steam, and Ellie
makes an attempt to catch the ball and he doesn't,
and it turns out to be a double. Now, credit
Abraham Toro for hustling all the way and turning a
ball that frankly should have been caught into a double.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
There's two things here.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Number one, I'm not going to pretend to be Johnny Baseball,
but I've played enough in my life and enough center
field of my life for what that's worth, which is
nothing to know. Centerfielder charges, that's his ball. He's got
to be vocal about it. I'm not sure TJ was.
He looked he looked like he was giving way. He
looked like he was afraid to hit Ellie Dela Cruz.

(42:15):
He looked like he was afraid to take charge. So
there's that, Like TJ. You're the center fielder charging and
catch the ball. You got a better chance to catch it,
and there was no one on base, so it isn't
like if Ellie does catch it, he's got to quickly
turn around and get the ball back into the infield
to keep a runner from advancing. But still, that is
a centerfielder's ball. Centerfielder's got to take charge, whether the

(42:37):
shortstop is somem Rando or it's a star like Ellie
Dela Cruz.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
So there's that.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
There's also Ellie, Like we love Ellie. We love how
hard he plays, We love the fact that he can
cover a ton of ground. We look at the amount
of ground that he covers and we start to dream
of what that may look like in the outfield, even
though I shake my head at the people who just
want to throw him in the outfield without any training.

(43:04):
So you love aggressiveness, and you like a guy that
wants to get to every ball, and you love the effort.
I thought that play right there, maybe you've seen it,
maybe you have not. I thought that crossed over into recklessness,
and it gave the Red Sox two bases. Toro hits
a double, he ends up scoring without the Red Sox
getting another hit. That ball's got to be caught. That

(43:26):
ball's got to be caught by the center fielder, and
the center fielder needs to take charge, and the shortstop
needs to get out the way, and Ellie Tyler Cruz
there was not really in a good position to catch
it if you were watching it in real time, and
I was watching it on real time. As I was
on watching it in real time, as he's drifting back,
you never had the sense that, like Ellie's about to

(43:47):
do something really cool here. Now, if he catches it,
I'm not talking about this. If he catches it, maybe
the red still lose the game. If he catches it,
maybe it's a highlight reel play and Ellie's being talked
about for covering a ton of ground. I'm the first
to admit that. But he didn't catch it, and not
only did he not catch it, he didn't give his
center field or a chance to catch it, and it

(44:08):
cost the Reds two bases and essentially helped the Red
Sox tie the game. That's a situation where Ellie was
trying to do a little bit too much, and when
you're trying to do a little bit too much, sometimes
you're doing stuff recklessly. I think in that instance, Ellie
was Boston, for what it's worth, would go on to
score two in the eighth inning. Lion Richardson gave up

(44:30):
the runs that gave Boston the lead and the win.
I do not care about pitcher win lost total, so
I'm not gonna mention it. But Lyon Richardson was on
the mound Red Sox score to make it a four
to three game on a will a bray you hit
and then would score another run of Bray would come
around a score on a Trevor Story double, he would

(44:51):
get thrown out, kind of slipping just past second base
trying to get back after making the turn and originally
trying to get to third. Five to three, the final score.
Terry frank ConA chatting with reporters just a few minutes ago,
thanks to our friends on the Fandel Sports Network.

Speaker 8 (45:06):
Outside of the steer swing, how are they able to
neutralize there?

Speaker 10 (45:11):
Well, I mean if they had a starter going and
he's got a good arm, and you know, you saw
the guy in the last inning, that's pretty special stuff.
But you know, with steer swing, it gave us a chance,
and with Mall going to and really crisp, you know,
it got us a little excited. It's steer Okay, per

(45:33):
game two, we'll see he's he's pretty puffy and pretty
already turning colors and you know, Sets hit him off
the top of his foot where he had last time.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
So will we'll figure it out. How encouraging was Mall today?

Speaker 4 (45:48):
Oh man?

Speaker 2 (45:48):
So much?

Speaker 10 (45:49):
You know it's like he fell behind the first hit
or two. Oh got the ground ball where Ellie made
the play that probably nobody else makes and it looked
like it just he settled in after that and started
throwing that breaking ball like he can. It's not often
we get to talk about two games with you, but
still a chance to make it an okay day to night.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Are you okay in the bullpen in that regard?

Speaker 10 (46:06):
Yeah, our guys have done a good job and we
actually have some guys that need to pitch. So again,
hopefully you know, Nicky Mark gives us what we need
and we can run together.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
We should be okay.

Speaker 11 (46:17):
You stare out pretty, that's rare.

Speaker 10 (46:20):
I don't believe so, but I haven't even I haven't
even come back there yet.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
And then toe like, but mall, just have you seen
improvement from maybe April.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
To now how he's look.

Speaker 10 (46:35):
I mean, it's the first time we've seen them. I
mean it's hard if need to give it up runs
and you ask me, I'm not gonna say he thinks
you know, I mean I thought I really thought he
threw his breakaball really well. I think confidence is a
big part of our game. Like it's like we got
that first hit around and you just like get locked in.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
All right.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
That's Tito Francona after the game. Thanks to our friends
at the Fandel Sports Network. Tito loves those questions from
Charlie Goldsmith Dunny a couple of things there. So you
heard the question about Spencer Steer. So Steer hit a
home run off Brian Bao, and then the next time
up he was hit by a pitch kind of came

(47:15):
in on his hands. I don't know if it hit
the lower part of his wrist, but he did not
leave the game. But you heard Tito mention that Steer
was a little puffy, So his availability for tonight at
least a little bit in question. I'm sure the Reds
are going to post their line up here soon. That's
a guy you know, you don't want to make a

(47:36):
big deal about it. Again, he didn't come out of
the game. Spencer Steeer has been swinging a really good bet,
including hitting a home run today, so you don't want
to have to have him miss anytime. Sam Mal was
really good today and he was the first guy the
Reds used. He pitched the fourth and fifth inning, did
not give up a base runner, struck out for obviously
hadn't pitched at the big league level since March. Remember,

(47:57):
dealt with the shoulder impingement pitched I think, in two
of the first four games of the season and then
has been a wall, kind of a forgotten guy. He
was terrific. Today, Reds lose the ballgame five to three.
Try to avoid a sweep tonight, by the way, for
what it's worth, And we can do this now, right
we can. It's July and the Reds are in the hunt,

(48:21):
so we could scoreboard watch. So let's do some scoreboard watching.
I'm not even gonna do this at the bottom of
the hour, so chances are you know where the Reds
are in the pecking order in the National League Central
They are now six and a half games behind the
Chicago Cubs in the division, but right now they're chasing
a wildcard spot. So as things stand, right now, the

(48:44):
Reds are behind the Saint Louis Cardinals by two games.
Coming into play today, the Cardinals held onto the last
wildcard spot. Saint Louis lost to a Pirates team that
is playing really well. Pittsburgh has won six consecutive games.
Saint Louis lost five to nothing earlier today. Mitch part
of a bunch of Pirates pitchers who shut out Saint Louis.
So the Reds failed again ground on the Cardinals. They're

(49:08):
also playing the chasing down the Milwaukee Brewers and Milwaukee
right now owners of the top wild card spot. Brewers
are playing a double header today in New York. They
won the first game seven to two. The final wildcard
spot as things stand right now is occupied by the
San Diego Padres and San Diego A playing a double

(49:31):
header today as well in Philadelphia, and they won the
first game of that one, six to four. So San
Diego leap frogs Saint Louis. So the Reds lose ground
to San Diego, lose ground to Milwaukee. They hold steady
against the Mets, who are the second team. It's probably
a little bit too early to be doing all this,
but right now the wildcard spots are Milwaukee, New York,

(49:53):
and San Diego. They lose a game to Milwaukee game
two of that double header tonight. They failed to gain
ground on the Mets. They lose ground of the Padres.
They failed again ground on the Cardinals. More important, gotta
win tonight just to avoid a serious sweep.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
So there you go. So a lot on this game.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
And I haven't even talked about the bunt decision last night,
and I have to.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
I have to.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
I'm not as anti bunt as I come as I
come across. I'm you know, I pride myself on open mindedness.
I love open minded people. There are times when bad
strategy isn't that bad. I understand what Tito was doing
last night, bunting TJ Friedel. I get what he's trying

(50:45):
to do. I still didn't like it. We'll talk about
it next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (50:51):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (50:55):

Speaker 7 (50:58):
The University of Since Cancer Center has the most comprehensive
care is here called five Wine three five eighty five UCCC.
There's an injury accident on McMillan at Aumburn Avenue. Plan
on some delays on eastbound two seventy five between Mastellar.

Speaker 9 (51:20):
And Wards Corner Road.

Speaker 7 (51:21):
You're up to a ten to fifteen minute delay on
that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Twenty one minutes after four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
You are not being pulled over right now.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Don't worry. Brendaman and Jones on baseball.

Speaker 3 (51:36):
Coming up in just about thirty minutes more football stuff.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
A little bit later on.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Redslues five to three, the resumption of the game that
was suspended last night, Cincinnati giving up two in the
eighth inning of game and led at one point three
to two before Boston tied the game in the sixth inning.
So last night it's a two to nothing ball game.
And in the top of the third inning, the Reds
get the first two guys on base, Will Benson and

(52:04):
Christian and Carnassi on strand the eight to nine hitters.
So two on nobody out, third inning, two nothing game.
And I'm watching the TV broadcast and John Sadak and
I'm paraphrasing him here with Jeff Brantley says, I think
he asked the cowboy, could we see TJ.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Freed to lay down a bun?

Speaker 3 (52:24):
And the cowboy initially kind of dismisses it, and then
you know, sees TJ square around, and he starts to say,
and I think accurately, so like he's a guy that
when he bunts, it's not necessarily just sacrificing. He's a
guy that could bunt for a hit, handles the bat well,
he was bunting for a sacrifice and while you know

(52:47):
you want the guy to make the play close at first,
it really wasn't. He ends up moving the runners up.
Will Benson the third, cees to second. Matt McClain is
then up. He hits a ground ball to third. Look
like the contact play. Boston throws out, Cincinnati scores two
to one game, Ces holds it second. Ellie Dela Cruz
comes up, two out, guy on second, two to one game.

(53:10):
Ellie flies out, and I put on social media. Play
for a run, score a run, play for one run,
score one run, which I think is kind of what
the Reds did. Let's give up an out to move
these guys up. Let's give up an out to move
the guy to third because he could score from third

(53:31):
with less than two outs on a ball hit to
the outfield, on a ball hit to an infielder playing back,
that sort of thing. I don't like this for just
a couple of different reasons. One is the basic math. Now,
I've been doing this show for seventeen years. Over the
course of that time, we've talked a lot about certain

(53:54):
decisions managers have made about bunting as a general rule,
allow with many others are anti bunt and for me,
it's it's kind of a math thing. It's not entirely
a math thing, but it's kind of a math thing.
Are a lot of people way way smarter than me,
which frankly are most people way way smarter than me

(54:17):
who have done the real deep dive into why bunts
in many situations, if not most, mathematically work against you.
A slight illustration of this could be found on ESPN
dot com during the game last night, so chances are
you have seen on ESPN dot com other websites use

(54:39):
the same thing. Win probability. Win probability at times can
be painful to look at. Right like, I'm an NBA fan,
I like the Knicks. The Knicks win probability in Game
one against the Indiana Pacers with about four minutes ago
was ninety nine point nine percent. That in ninety nine
point nine percent chance of winning up by thing fourteen
at the at the time. They lost game. So take

(55:01):
your win probability and shove it. Win probability is not
one hundred percent last night in the third inning. They
do this with baseball, and the probability adjusts with every play,
as it does in every sport. Last night, when Christian
and Karnassi on Strand reached on an infield hit to

(55:21):
give the Reds runners on first and second and nobody
out in the top of the third inning, trailing by two.
At that point, with TJ. Friedl coming to the plate,
the Boston Red Sox win probability was sixty four point
one percent, far from a guarantee to nothing. Lead is

(55:43):
obviously not insurmountable. Plenty of time and the Reds were threatening,
had a guy in scoring position, two guys on base,
nobody out, twenty one else to play with. Boston's win
probability sixty four point one percent.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
When TJ.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
Friedel laid down the bunt, a successful sacrifice, a good bunt,
a well executed baseball play that does have some esthetic appeal.
So now with a guy on third and a guy
on second, but now one out with Matt McClain coming
to the plate, the score hasn't changed, it's still to nothing.

(56:24):
ESPN's win probability changed and it went from Boston having
a sixty four point one percent chance of winning to
a sixty six percent chance of winning.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
So giving up the out.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
Even though you're advancing the runners and putting another one
in the scoring position mathematically, and you might not like math.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
Trust me, I hate math.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
But objectively speaking, here the Boston Red Sox chances of
winning the game went up slightly, but still went up.
Why then would you be okay with the strategy that
statistically enhances the other team's chances of winning. That's what

(57:12):
Tito Francona did last night. Now you might go, that's cool, MO,
but you can't expect Terry Francona to know that going in.
I don't expect him to know the exact odds. I
would like to think that Tito, with his experience and
knowledge and all the information he has at his disposal,
and all the people the Reds hired to compile such information,

(57:34):
that when he makes that decision, he knows, well, even
if this play works, and the way it works, to
perfection is TJ. Friedel beats out the bunt, the Reds
have the bases loaded, and they have a better chance
of having a beginning. But he has to know if
the play is executed as it's designed, which is, the
two runners move up and there's a play at first base,

(57:57):
are chances of winning the game go down? Not dramatically,
but the chances of winning the game go down. So
part of this is a math thing to me, and
I get into it with buddies of mine who are like, wow,
you know that's how they played baseball all these years
and then still a big part of the game, And
I go, that's cool, man, Like a bunt play can
be beautiful, and there is something I guess people love

(58:17):
about a batter sacrificing for the greater good.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
I'm a human being. I can relate to that.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
But I got math on my side, and a math
would indicate in many situations, including last night's bunting made
no sense. So there's that. Ignore the math though for
a second. It's too nothing. I'm looking for a big inning.
I have an offensively flawed team, a team that offensively
has some guys who are swinging better bats. Ellie de

(58:44):
la Cruz, Matt McClain, DJ Friedel's been good most of
the season. Spencer Steer has been red hot recently, but
still kind of an offensively challenged team. The score is
not tied. It's too nothing. I need three run doing
the game. Maybe I can peck away and get one
in the third, like one in the sixth and one

(59:06):
on the seventh and I hold them. The two runs
chances are, when you're down two in the third inning,
the other team is not done scoring, You're gonna probably
need a multiple score inning at some point. What better
chance to get one than having guys on first and
second and nobody out and your top three hitters at

(59:27):
the plate.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
Friedl, who's hit into one double play in the last month,
having a good season, has cooled off, but having a
good season, Matt McClain, who's been better over the last month,
and Elie de la Cruz, who's having an all star
caliber season, why would you give away an out? They
might go, well, you're you're trying to avoid the double play. Well,
if you hit into a double play the worst, you

(59:49):
still got a guy on third base, two outs, tying runs,
still at the plate. Why not have a guy like TJ.
Friedel you know, swing the bat? Why not play for
the beginning? And the other part of this to me,
and this obviously didn't end up being that much of
a that big of a deal, But in the third
inning last night, you could look at the weather forecast
and go, huh, we might have rain. We might have rain,

(01:00:14):
and the tart might be pulled onto the field now. Thankfully,
when the tart was pulled onto the field, it was
after three innings. They didn't resume the game last night.
They finished it up today. We know what happened, but
you don't know. And so for me in that situation,
I'm looking at the third inning like it might be
the seventh. Hey man, we might only get three more

(01:00:37):
times at the plate. We need three runs to win
this game. I don't want them to bang this. Scoring
one run is not gonna do it for me. I
guess if we score it twice, they're gonna have to
resume it tomorrow, no matter when it ends. I'm trying
to win the game there in the third inning with
the hitters, I feel like I can win the game

(01:00:57):
with so I know how this works. Like whenever a
successful bunt play happens. Oh, you say never bunt as
a general rule. No, there are times when it makes
sense if you have a bad hitter at the plate,
like if you want to bunch Santiago Espinal and there's
no better option on the bench, bunt away, my man. Like,

(01:01:17):
there are times where it makes sense. A couple of
times this year, I think Terry Francona has done it
where it doesn't make sense. It makes no sense in
the top half of an inning, in the tenth inning
or beyond, because you got to play for two runs,
because I think you have to assume the other team's
going to score in their half because they start with
a guy on second base. I think in that situation
last night, I don't want to take the bat out

(01:01:39):
of TJ.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
Friedel's hands. I'm not that worried about a double play.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
I want to play for a big inning because I'm
down by multiple runs. Red Sox scored five runs in
the game. The game may have played out exactly the
way it actually did.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Had TJ.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
Friedl swung the bat, maybe he pops one up, maybe
he's try Maybe he does hit into a double play,
maybe he hits into a triple play.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
But isn't there a part.

Speaker 3 (01:02:08):
Of you that last night and today you look back
and go, man, I would have liked to have seen
how that game would have played out had the top
three hitters in the batting order each had a chance
to swing away. Again, maybe the outcome is exactly the same.
But knowing that you're gonna need a big inning at
some point, or at least understanding there's a strong likelihood
that you're gonna need a big inning at some point.

(01:02:30):
Knowing how the game did unfold, wouldn't you have liked
to have the third inning back to see if the
Reds could have put up a two spot or a
three spot or maybe even more. Giving away outs doesn't
always come back.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
To haunt you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:43):
There are plenty of instances where a team uses a
sacrifice bunt and they still score. They still score a
bunch of runs. It works and everybody's happy. But for me,
and I can only speak for myself as a general rule,
giving away outs is just not sound strategy. I don't
think it was last night, and the math backs me

(01:03:05):
up twenty seven away from five o'clock. Jake Fraley's on
the injury list, but he's going to try to play
through a torn labrum and then have surgery at the
end of this year. I have questions. We have one
of the doctors from Orthos Cincy to answer them. Next
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 8 (01:03:23):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:03:27):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. The University of
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(01:03:48):
shoulder southbound seventy five. An accident on the ramp to
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is sponsored.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of lifetime
powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family the
Yours for Life kelseyshed dot com. Reds lose five to
three first game today. They wound down or wound up.
The game started last night. Cincinnati took a three two
lead Spencer Steer with a two run homer. Cincinnati gave

(01:04:22):
back the lead, gave back the run of the six.
Boston scored twice in the eighth off line Richardson. Cincinnati
has lost two straight, lose the game that was picked
up in the fourth and will play tonight's seven to
ten first pitch Nick Martinez in the regularly scheduled game.
You could listen to it live on seven hundred WLW

(01:04:42):
We do this every single week, usually on Wednesdays, and
today is a Wednesday. We talk injuries with one of
the experts from Orthos Sincy Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. The
great thing about Orthos, since he is they have specialists
and locations and services all over the Tri State. This
includes walkin orthopedic urgent care at five locations with extended

(01:05:04):
evening and weekend hours in Edgewood and Anderson. Learn more,
go to Orthosincy dot com. That's Ortho ci Ncy dot com.
Doctor Brandon Coors is with us from Ortho Sincy. I
want to talk extensively about Jake Frehley, who is gonna
need shoulder surgery on his torn labrim at the end

(01:05:25):
of the season. The plan though, and it's worth mentioning,
it's his non throwing shoulder. The plan now though, is
taking a cortisone shot and when he can come off
the injury list, he's gonna give it a go and
try to get through the season. We'll see if this works.
Let's let's begin with this walk me through the differences
between a torn labrum that would require immediate surgery and
one where the procedure can can wait a bit.

Speaker 12 (01:05:49):
Number one saying on that would be where the exact
tear location is. If it's a more anterior inferior tear
so front bottom commonly seen with a shoulder dislocation shoulder
instability event, that tends to, you know, require more surgery.
You tend to be more aggressive with those. But you know,

(01:06:10):
even like you saw show Heyotani last year, I think
he had a dislocation event with that and he took
you know, a little bit of time off and then
got back into playing in the World Series as well.
So even those you can rehab and the good thing
on him, so a few things. If you look at
the mechanism when you watch the play, it almost looks
like his elbow kind of slams into the turf resulting

(01:06:32):
in his shoulder almost being forced backwards. So you wonder
if in him, if it's more of a posterior label tear,
which is a tear in the back of the shoulder,
those you actually tend to start out with more nonoperative
management where you treat a lot of those noncergically, where
you rehab them. And that's actually so switching sports again,
Logan Wilson, I think he had a posterior label tear

(01:06:52):
in his shoulder. And you know what did he do.
He took a few weeks off and then got back
to playing, played in the super Bowl, and then I
believe he got surgery after the season. So those and
then and then you also have superior So what's called
a slap terry. You might hear people talk about superior
labor antier to post here slap, that's what that stands for.
And those are also injuries that you can treat nonoperatively,

(01:07:16):
especially initially. Now I would say too in overhead throwing athletes,
there is a very high percentage of label tears, especially
in especially pitchers, but anybody who's an overhead thrower. I
mean you look at asymptomatic label tears and that specific population,
it's pushing forty fifty percent in some of these individuals,
so very high, just baseline. So let's talk about Jake.

(01:07:38):
So it's a non throwing shoulder, which is good. Based
on the mechanism. You know, probably I'm guessing more posterior
superior type label injury. And so you know, hopefully cortizone
injection calms that down. You get him on some MANSI
inflammatory medications, get him back to you know, baseline pretty
quick and hopefully he doesn't lose a lot of time

(01:07:58):
throwing shoulder maybe a little different, but non throwing shoulder,
and you know, you anticipate a full recovery with this
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
All right, so the good news is non throwing shoulder.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
But is he still incurring the risk of damaging this
even further and then complicating the surgical process and his
comeback from that.

Speaker 12 (01:08:15):
It depends on the tear severity, and without seeing the
MRI or the advanced imaging that was obtained, kind of
hard to tell the exact type of tear that he has, right,
There's always a risk that you can injure something more.
I think with a postior label tear, you know, superior
label tear, even anterire labeltair. As long as that shoulder
is not coming out of socket, and a lot of

(01:08:37):
times that takes a pretty good amount of force to
do that, it's typically pretty well tolerated. And you know,
I don't think there's a huge risk of you know,
major significant injury without any other significant trauma.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
He's having a cortisone shot. What does that do?

Speaker 12 (01:08:53):
I tell people, A cortizone is like a super anti
inflammats were in medication, So you have your insids non
steroidal time inflammatory medications. Well, a cortizone injection is a
steroidal anti inflammatory medication. So if you draw, you have
all these little pathways or even you think about it
like a like a you know, like a tree, like

(01:09:14):
a genetic tree where you have, you know, your brothers.
It's up at the top, you have the corti zone,
which is blocking the inflammatory pathway downstream, and then below
that you have all these different inflammatory pathways. So it's
basically a more potent non steroidal you could think of
it as that. So it's basically going to decrease all

(01:09:34):
the inflammation in that shoulder.

Speaker 3 (01:09:36):
Is it the sort of thing where you have one
and then you're good for a while. Is this the
sort of thing he's going to have to have on
a frequent basis as he tries to play throughout the
course of the next three months?

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
Now, and you don't want that.

Speaker 12 (01:09:49):
And typically you only do cortizone injections three to four
times a year, so that's usually once every three to
four months. You know, long term, if you do a
bunch of shots over time, there can be some detriment
mental effects to the joints. I think one or two
is typically pretty well tolerated, but hopefully this is a
one time thing where you have that it calms down
the inflammation unless you do something to flare that back up.

(01:10:11):
You should be good from an inflammation pain standpoint until
you do something else to irritate it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:17):
Let's assume for a second that this works out and
he gets through the rest of the season and then
has surgery once the off season begins. Number one, what
does that timeline look like? And I guess with that
number two, are we talking about something that could jeopardize
the beginning of his season next year.

Speaker 12 (01:10:31):
I think he's probably good as far as next year
and return to play as far as the specific timeline
on surgery. So what we would typically do here at
Arthur since he is you know, you do the surgery,
you have a nerve locks of your arms and NOUMB
helps it with immediate pain relief. You typically start therapy
about three to five days after surgery, so pretty much
right away we're starting on gently stretching that shoulder back

(01:10:53):
out and working on some passive motion, which means that
somebody else is moving your arm you're typically in a
sling for four to six weeks and you're doing formal
physical therapy for probably three to four months to some
degree with you know, for something like this, probably a
sixth month, I would say six months to a year
until you're as good as you're gonna get. You're probably

(01:11:14):
looking at, you know, six to nine months recovery, until
you're you know, really solid, really stable, and ready to
get get back out that playing again.

Speaker 11 (01:11:23):
All right.

Speaker 12 (01:11:24):
One, I don't think I think if you sorry, I
was gonna say, I think if you have all season
surgery right after the year, you know, you should be
good to go by the beginning of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:11:33):
All right.

Speaker 3 (01:11:33):
One other Reds injury situation to talk about. Ian Jabou
is the third Reds pitcher this season to have to
miss time because of a shoulder impingement.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
Uh and and he's had this multiple times.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
I feel like we've heard about impingements more this season
than at any point that I can recall. So let's
talk about what the injury is and what the symptoms are.

Speaker 12 (01:11:52):
With shoulder impingement, there's two types of impingement. There's what's
called internal impingement and external impingement. So external impingement is
typically what we're going to see in our general population,
where you sleep wrong on it, you move something wrong
and create some inflammation. You basically get pinching between your
humorous bone and your chromium bone and the roofbone of

(01:12:14):
the shoulders. You kind of pinch the rotator cuff, causes
some rotator cuff tendonitis. Potentially, that's what he has going on.
But the other thing you can see, especially in overhead throwers,
is what's called internal impingement. And this is very common
and high level baseball players. It's based on the mechanism
of throwing, which is a very unnatural position to be in.
So when you go to externally rotate your arm, so

(01:12:36):
when they're really pulling their arm back to get ready
to throw, you can end up pinching basically the rotator
cuff between the humorous bone and the back part of
the socket to actually end up irritating the undersurface of
that rotator cuffs. You can get some bicep irritation, some
undersurface rotator cuff issues, some posterior superior label issues as well,

(01:12:59):
and I would anticipate that's probably more than likely an
internal impingement type situation, which is just based on the
mechanism of throwing a baseball really hard over time, you
can get that. Now, things you can do to mitigate
that is proper stretching and actually improving your internal rotation.
So you get what's called gird, not like you get

(01:13:19):
for reflux, but glenny humoral internal rotation deficit where you
can't where you lose the ability to internally rotate your arm.
And if you actually look from side to side and
a lot of these pictures, you'll see they have more
loss of internal rotation on their throwing side than they
do on their non throwing side. And the goal is
to stretch that out. That then improves the mechanics of

(01:13:40):
the shoulder and allows the shoulder to move in a
more natural position. So when all those capsules and ligaments
in the shoulder are tight, your shoulder moves in a
more unnatural position. But with that being said, you know
when you lose internal rotation, a lot of times you
gain an external rotation of the arm seriability to rotate
the shoulder back, which gives you more torque and allows

(01:14:01):
you to throw the ball faster. So it's kind of
a compensatory response to like to throw a baseball harder,
but you just got to make sure you're working on that.
And these are stretches that these guys are doing that
the training staff is working with.

Speaker 11 (01:14:13):
I'm on.

Speaker 12 (01:14:14):
I just think it's the mechanism of, you know, throwing
a ball really really hard, over and over again over
an extended period of time that predisposes you to these
types of injuries.

Speaker 3 (01:14:22):
Yeah, and unfortunately for Ian he has dealt with it
often this season. Doctor Brandon core Is from Ortho sincey,
tremendous stuff is always.

Speaker 2 (01:14:29):
I appreciate the expertise. We'll do it again soon.

Speaker 5 (01:14:32):
Thanks me.

Speaker 3 (01:14:33):
That's our guy, doctor Brandon Cors. Awesome stuff as always
from him Orthossinc. Dot com. We do it every single week.
I say this every single week because it is absolutely
true that the awesome thing about Ortho since he is,
you never need an appointment right walk in. Appointments are available.
You don't have to call ahead, you don't have to

(01:14:54):
look ahead. Just go to Orthosinc. Dot com and you
can learn more. They've got extended evening and weekend hours
in Edgewood and Anderson evenings nine to nine and on
Saturdays nine eight to one. Pay one p in both
Edgewood and Anderson. It's more convenient than an er and
it's definitely cheaper. Whenever you have an urgent orthopedic issue,

(01:15:17):
check out Orthosinc dot com. That's ortho ci Ncy dot com.
Runneman and Jones on baseball is next.

Speaker 8 (01:15:25):

Speaker 9 (01:15:29):

Speaker 7 (01:15:32):
care is here called five one three, five eighty five
UCCC southbound seventy five. It's an accident on the exit
ramp to westbound seventy four. An injury accident on McMillan

(01:15:53):
at Auburn Avenue in stop and go traffic south seventy five.
Hopple the Fort Washington Way. He sound like with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
This report is sponsor.

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Speaker 3 (01:16:14):
He said, what's up? Good afternoon, mowegor ESPN fifteen thirty.
Thank you for listening. Hopefully you're having at the coolest
and greatest and most fun Wednesday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
Ever, we have been busy today. These two hours have
flown by.

Speaker 3 (01:16:30):
Red's lost Game one of the pseudo doubleheader today, five
to three to the final score. By the way, Number one,
it's five o'clock technically five oh five, which means it's
the michelob Ultra five o'clock Habby Hour. Thanks to michelob Ultra,
superior taste, superior light beerd No matter what you're doing

(01:16:51):
this holiday weekend, make mikelob Ultra a part of it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:55):
Number two.

Speaker 3 (01:16:57):
I was talking last hour about the game today, so
they picked it up. In the fourth inning, Reds took
a three to two lead on a Spencer Steer home run,
who we're going to talk about here in just a second.
Boston tied the game in part because of a play
that we criticized Ellie Dela Cruz for where he goes

(01:17:18):
way back in the center field on a ball that
was hit to the centerfielder and instead of TJ Friedel
charging on to make the catch, Ellie Dela Cruz kind
of got in the way had the ball go off
his glove. Abraham Toro was the hitter and he got
to second base and would come around to score after
a while, pitch and a sacrifice fly and it's okay,

(01:17:40):
you can do it.

Speaker 12 (01:17:41):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:17:42):
Sometimes you could say, well, Joe Burrow had a bad game,
or Joe Burrow should have made that throw. Doesn't mean
you don't love Joe Burrow. We love Ellie Dela Cruz.
In that instance, I think it would have been better
for him to get out of the way of the
center fielder. Scott on email Moe at ESPN fifteen to
thirty dot com says, got to say the same thing
about Gavin Lux in left field making the catch on
the ball that scored Toroh kind of stepping right in

(01:18:05):
front of Spencer Steer. Spencer Steer probably has a better
chance of throwing the runner out than Gavin Lux does.
Little things, little things that when the Reds have played
well over this last stretch of four or five weeks
coming into this series, obviously they're not going to win
the Boston Series. They had won six six out of seven.
They had done a lot of really good things, really

(01:18:26):
really well. Today and last night not so much good
news is this. We played the audio for you about
thirty five minutes ago. Terry Francona acknowledging Spencer Steer. Spencer
Steer hit a home run today and it gave the
Reds a brief three to two lead. His next played appearance,
he got hit on the wrist, hit kind of there
on the inside of the wrist, did not leave the game.

(01:18:48):
Tito was asked about it afterwards. He acknowledged that Spencer's
wrist is a little puffy, a little swollen, and so
we were wondering is he going to play in the
second game tonight. The good news is, as of right now,
first pitch is still a little bit more than two
hours away. Spencer Steer is in the starting lineup for
Game two, playing first base and batting fifth. He obviously

(01:19:10):
is swinging a hot bat, as we say, and so
hopefully that continues tonight. He's not a guy the Reds
wanna lose. Look, they weren't gonna win every series they
had one coming into this one six out of seven.
You can't get swept, and you know you don't. You

(01:19:31):
don't want to make too much of any individual loss,
but I mean, all the games the Reds have made
over the last couple of weeks. You don't want to
give a bunch of a back by losing a bunch
of games in a short amount of time. And let's
be honest. You know, this game tonight is interesting for
two different reasons. Number One, Nick Martinez takes the ball
for the first time since Friday when he nearly threw
a no hitter, and in the immediate aftermath of that game,

(01:19:56):
there were two things being discussed. One should that ball
that was hit in the ninth inning against him? Should
that have been caught? Should Ryan valaid the left field
or should he have done more to catch it? I
think most level headed, common sense filled people five days
away or five days from removed from the no hit

(01:20:19):
attempt have come to a consensus that that ball was
not being caught by anybody.

Speaker 2 (01:20:23):
So we have moved on from that. The other one, though, that.

Speaker 3 (01:20:28):
Was talked about, and I don't know that one hundred
and twelve pitches is an insane amount for many pitchers,
but he was brought back out for the ninth inning
and he finished with one hundred and twelve pitches. Let's
let's be honest, which we always are on this show,
it was an eight to nothing game. If it was

(01:20:50):
an eight nothing game, and Nick Martinez was working on
a shutout, but had maybe allowed four hits instead of
zero going into the ninth inning. Pretty decent chance that
Tito is having somebody else finish it. I don't know
that for sure, but that is the most amount of
pitches that Nick Martinez has thrown in a game this year.

(01:21:12):
He has only eclipsed one hundred and two pitches once,
and for what it's worth, in his next outing after
he threw one hundred and two pitches six days later,
didn't get past the fifth in a game against the
Detroit Tigers. Now, he wasn't awful that day, but he
wasn't as good as he has been this year. He
obviously was awesome on Friday night, but it was a

(01:21:36):
question that a lot of people asked in the immediate
aftermath of that game, is is he gonna be okay?
Is he gonna be okay in his next start? And
I certainly don't believe that Terry Francona or Derrek Johnson
were acting irresponsibly. It's not like he had thrown one
hundred and forty five pitches, but still one twelve not

(01:21:56):
an insignificant workload in this day and a just ashley
when you consider like Nick Martinez hadn't pitched into the
eighth inning at all this season, much less than ninth
and in his two longest starts innings wise, you know,
he had that game against Kansas City where it felt
like the Royals were hitting the first pitch in the air,
uh every time a hit or stepped to the plate.

(01:22:18):
He went seven innings and only made seventy nine pitches
and two starts. Prior to that, against the White Sox,
a bad White Sox team, he was awesome. He dance
circles around that team seven shotout innings, gave up just
two runs and through just ninety six pitches. We'll see,
we'll see. We're paying attention to. Could use a big
Nick Martinez performance to night so the Reds could avoid
a series. Suite five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen

(01:22:41):
thirty and eight six six, seven oh two three, seven,
seven six are our phone numbers.

Speaker 2 (01:22:45):
And look, man, I.

Speaker 3 (01:22:47):
Did a ten minute segment about thirty minutes ago on
uh Tito last night with the bunt play, and it's
it's it's the kind of like parsing through a decision
that we're not doing. If the Reds are twenty games
under five hundred and it's it's like the minute sort
of hardcore dissect a certain individual decision baseball that can

(01:23:13):
be overdone at times, but it's not overdone. When your
team is a in a playoff race, they're in a
playoff raise, they're not favored to make it. They have
a lot that has to go right. They have a
lot that has to go right that hasn't gone right
yet for them to make it. But they're in a
playoff race like today's game had consequence lost ground against

(01:23:37):
teams that have won like Milwaukee, like San Diego, failed
to gain ground against teams that didn't, like the New
York Mets and the Saint Louis Cardinals. Sign me up.
Whether you think that my views on the bunt play
are stupid and off base, and that's totally okay if
you feel that way, or whether you think I'm one

(01:23:59):
hundred percent dead on right, which i am. I'll take
breaking down a manager's decision to bunt in the third
inning of a two to nothing game ten times out
of ten versus the alternative, because the alternative is something
that we have spent way too much time on. The
alternative is we're not talking about the baseball game, or

(01:24:22):
the batting order, or pitching decisions, or roster composition or strategy.
We're talking about why people aren't going to games, why
they're not watching, why they want the owners to sell
the team. Two years ago I said something similar to
what I've always said about twenty ten. Twenty ten. And

(01:24:45):
I know I'm kind of talking about myself a little
bit here, which I don't love doing, But twenty ten
was my one of my favorite years to do this
show because I started doing it in two thousand and seven.
The Reds were bad that year, they fired their manager,
and eight they weren't very good. Oh nine there were signs.
But twenty ten is the first season that the Reds
won while I was on the air. It was the

(01:25:06):
first season that we talked about baseball. When we talked
about baseball, we talked about the games and the lineups
and the strategies and the decisions and the composition of
the team, the trade headline, baseball, and it was incredibly refreshing.

(01:25:28):
Up until then, when we talked about baseball, it was attendance,
maybe firing the manager, who the GM is, that sort
of stuff, And.

Speaker 2 (01:25:36):
Then two years ago.

Speaker 3 (01:25:37):
I will always have a special place in my heart
for that team two seasons ago, because in twenty twenty two,
I don't recall one baseball game that we actually talked
about understandably, so they started three and twenty two. The
games didn't matter. If in the middle of July you're
talking about the decision to lay down a bunt in
the third inning, who cares? There are a billion games
out of first place. So instead it was a filled

(01:26:00):
with hating Bob, hating Phil talking about why you're not
going to games, selling the team, that sort of thing,
all at the time relevant and timely topics. None as
fun as something that happened in the game and that
team two years ago. And I said this often, it
was so much fun when we talked about baseball, to
discuss baseball. So yeah, man, when you talk about this sport,

(01:26:24):
because there are so many games and so many small plays,
you could overdo parsing one decision or crushing or crunching
one decision. I'm as guilty of it as anybody, but
I think you have to admit discussing the merits of
having TJ. Friedel laid down a bunt in the third
inning of a baseball game in July, with the Reds

(01:26:45):
down two runs in the middle of a playoff chase
beats whatever it is we were talking about a year ago,
whatever it is we typically talk about in July during
the normal baseball season here, So sign me up for it.

Speaker 2 (01:26:58):
Sign me up for it.

Speaker 3 (01:27:00):
And none of this means that Tito Francone is a
bad Tito Francone has been fine. I think this is
this team's record is what it is, regardless of who
the manager is. I think he's been fine. I think
there have been some things we've really liked, and there
have been some things that we've kind of second guest,
and that's okay. That comes with the territory. Terry fran
Cone is a big boy. He's been second guest before.
He's working in a town this where he's been second

(01:27:22):
guest to a sharper and more iron hot degree than
he ever will be here.

Speaker 2 (01:27:29):
So there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:27:30):
Sign me up for discussing the merits of a bun
play instead of why the team should be sold any
day of the week, sixteen minutes after five o'clock, five
point three seven fifteen thirty is our phone number. I
started the show uh at three o'clock talking about TJ.
Watt and Trey Hendrickson and the situation in Pittsburgh. It's

(01:27:54):
it's been bizarre last few weeks, from making it official
that Aaron Rodgers is going to be the quarterback to
that franchise is desperation to bring him in, what he
has had to say about his long term future. Obviously
the trade where now Jalen Ramsey is a Pittsburgh Steeler,
John who Smith is a Pittsburgh Steeler. I think I
like that deal more for Miami, but I certainly believe

(01:28:16):
the Steelers are a lot more interesting than they were.

Speaker 2 (01:28:19):
And then there's the TJ. Watt thing. It's interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:28:22):
TJ. Watt is probably a Hall of Fame player, I
do feel like, and maybe it's been because they've had
the Aaron Rodgers thing hovering over the entire offseason, as
well as trading George Pickens and the deal they made
this year. I kind of feel like there are some
NFL fans and I'm not you know, this isn't a
criticism that sort of just found out that, Yeah, TJ.

(01:28:45):
Watt is also you know, upset about his contract and
wants more from the Steelers and is threatening to hold out.
I think he's being more unreasonable than Trey Hendrickson is
and Treys being somewhat reasonable. Said all along, I think
neither's dance is wrong. You just hope that the two
sides come together in the coming weeks. I refuse to

(01:29:06):
subscribe to the belief that this has to go to
training camp and has to be the sort of thing
that just lingers all summer long.

Speaker 2 (01:29:15):
I just I refuse to believe that this has to be.

Speaker 3 (01:29:18):
It may be feels like the most likely outcome is
we get to training camp and Trey is still not there.
But you cannot convince me that that has to happen.
There's three weeks, and if both sides are being reasonable
unlike what I feel like is happening in Pittsburgh, there's
room for the two parties to find some common ground.
Above and beyond that, Above and beyond all that, there's

(01:29:38):
a piece that is a series of tweets that have
made the rounds about the Bengals in their offensive line play.
And to me, there's been something really remarkable about this offseason.
And I tell you what that is. Coming up in
fifteen minutes. It's offensive line related On ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:29:56):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN two thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:30:02):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. The University of Cincinnati
Cancer Center has the most comprehensive blood cancer center in
the nation. The future of cancer care is here called
five one three, five eighty five UCCC. On southbound seventy one,
there's an accident after Ronald Reagan Highway that's on the

(01:30:22):
right shoulder. Northbound seventy one to seventy five. Accident on
the left shoulder that's approaching Dixie Highway. I'm at eazelic
with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:30:32):
The game today I mentioned in the last segment of
twenty ten Reds and watching a rold As Chapman pitch
against the Reds today for the Red Sox in the
middle of what might be an All Star season for him,
and he has appeared in seven All Star Games. A
rold As Chapman has had a weird career. He is

(01:30:55):
I think.

Speaker 2 (01:30:55):
I'm right about this.

Speaker 3 (01:30:58):
I believe he is the le last remaining player who
played for the twenty ten Reds, which is a season
that a lot of us hold in such high regard
because it was the first time in forever the Reds
had been to the postseason. I believe, and I'm kind
of doing this off the top of my head. Johnny
Cueto pitched last year. He has not appeared. I think
he has been pitching in Latin America in twenty twenty five.

(01:31:19):
I don't think he's pitched in the United States this year.
Beyond that, I don't think there's another member of the
twenty ten Reds who is still active a role as Chapman.
It is impossible, at least for me, it is impossible
to watch him pitch and not think about not so

(01:31:42):
much his time in Cincinnati, which obviously was filled with
a lot of high points, but his debut in twenty ten,
which was like I think August thirty first, right before
the deadline to expand rosters, was against them Milwaukee Brewers.
He pitched in the eighth inning of a game the

(01:32:04):
Reds were winning pretty comfortably. That was such a fun
summer for a thousand different reasons. One of them was
Rat's kind of had some bullpen issues that year, and
we spent all year wondering, like, are they gonna call
up Chapman, Why don't they call up Chapman. If they
call up Chapman, can they just make him the closer.
It's co Co Cordero at the time, and there were
all these like you know, sort of twenty ten ish

(01:32:26):
viral clips of him pitching in the minor leagues. And
while he's going to be a starter, do we want
to make him a reliever now? And then do we
pivot back to him being a starter? But you talk about,
like the memory from that day that I think people
still bring up the most, maybe aside from getting no
hit in the postseason, was roald As Chapman's debut. I
will never forget being a gabp that night. Jonathan Lucroi

(01:32:51):
was the first batter that he faced. And like to
illustrate to a degree at least how much baseball has
changed just since, which it's been fifteen years. Eroaldas Chapman
was throwing pitches that night in the ballpark at least,
and I'm sure for folks watching at home, you know,

(01:33:12):
we really weren't used to seeing radar readings at the
ballpark of over one hundred miles an hour, and yet
it's what everybody was doing that night. Like he'd throw
a pitch and then like everybody looked over toward that
radar reading in left field and now everybody throws so hard.
I was watching Daniel Poleensia of the Cubs last night.

(01:33:32):
They were playing the Guardians, and what was a really
fun game to watch. At one point Cleveland recorded three outs,
all on the base pass. But Daniel Palencia, the Chicago closer,
is just awesome and was just throwing gas and it
was center cut stuff and you're helpless to hit it.
And watching him last night was the first time that
I have seen the camera go to the the stadium

(01:33:55):
radar gun reading where people were losing their minds over
the fact that he was throwing one hundred and two. Now,
like so many guys throw hard, we don't make that
big a deal of it. But when roll As Chapman
got called up, you talk about like one of the
weirder chapters in Red's history, and there was a lot
of sort of just goofiness to his time in Cincinnati.
But he comes up, he's in relief. He ends up
being on the playoff roster, and then they pivot back.

(01:34:18):
He was going to be a starting pitcher, and then
they they got away from that, and then they were
gonna try to make us starting to make him a
starting pitcher again. And then now, actually he's going to
be a reliever. And you talk about debates we had
that were ongoing, they should have rolled his start or relieve.
Thing kind of took on a life of its own,
and it's it's still now like he's He's pitched for

(01:34:39):
so many different teams. I think people would be hard
pressed if you said, like, name all the teams that
a roll As Chapman has pitched for. Most would say, well,
you know, he's with the Reds, is with the Yankees forever,
gave up a walk off home run to Jose Abreu
and the Alcs in twenty nineteen that clinched the pennant
for the Astros. He's pitched for the Pie It's pitch

(01:35:01):
for the Royals, won a World Series with the Rangers
that year with the Cubs where the Yankees sent him
to Chicago, I think, and he wasn't so great in
the World Series that year. Carl Edwards wrapped up the
World Series for the Cubs in twenty sixteen. Now in Boston,
and you know closers in the Hall of Fame, it's

(01:35:25):
there's a lot of closers with more saves than a
Walds Chapman, who are not in Cooperstown. But he's still
just thirty seven years old. He still throws gas, he
still looks like he could pitch for a.

Speaker 2 (01:35:36):
Very long time. Like who knows, man, who knows?

Speaker 3 (01:35:40):
Closers I think are gonna start being looked at a
little bit differently because of Billy Wagner getting into the
Hall of Fame this year, and saves aren't the best
metric in many cases to look at closers. But watching
him in the ninth inning today, it's like, God, fifteen
years ago. Man, time flies. That dude's thirty seven years old,
and it feels like we watched his debut esse yesterday.

(01:36:04):
John and Finley, thank you for hanging on through that.
Duy Drob, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 11 (01:36:09):
Hey, mo boy, that brought back a lot of memories.
I know, I only go to a few games a
year down there, but one of the most memorable times
I can remember, and this was probably a few years
after twenty ten, but when Chaplin was the closer and
he was the guy that in the ninth inning, when
he would come out, the bullpen door would swing open

(01:36:33):
and it's all music.

Speaker 3 (01:36:34):
Blair.

Speaker 11 (01:36:34):
I mean, that was you talk about electric. That atmosphere
was like you could run through a wall. I think
at that point was that was just so cool. And
then of course he'd come in and just slam the
door most of the time, so that that wash.

Speaker 3 (01:36:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:36:48):
I can't believe he's pitched for fifteen years. It doesn't
seem like it's that long.

Speaker 3 (01:36:52):
Fifteen years for a whole bunch of different teams, some awful,
some not so much. He has two World Series rings.
There are a We've seen a lot of guys throw hard,
and we've seen a lot of guys be dominant in
the ninth inning. There's only a couple of pitchers that
I have seen hitters outwardly look like they were afraid
to face.

Speaker 2 (01:37:10):
Randy Johnson would.

Speaker 3 (01:37:11):
Be one, uh mid eighties, Doc Gooden would be one.
A role as Chapman would be one where you had
the sense that some hitters at the plate when when
he first got to the big leagues, it wasn't so
much that they were afraid of getting hit. Maybe they
were afraid of getting embarrassed. Aren't a whole lot of

(01:37:32):
guys that I felt like genuinely were scaring the guy
standing in the batter's box. He was able to do that,
and he's still pitching at a really high level. He
was really good today.

Speaker 11 (01:37:41):
Yeah, and he was The thing was he was just
he wasn't He was just wild enough that you just
you probably didn't want to stand in there and get
your feet were all set real good because he was
just a little bit wild that and you probably didn't
want to get hit. But then the unfair part was, Okay,
you're geared up for the fast. Here comes a slider
at like ninety two, and it's like you talk about

(01:38:03):
some silly swings. I mean, you're you're way out in front,
and all of a sudden the ball starts moving around,
and yeah, it's you probably right a little bit of
both and not getting hit and not wanting to get embarrassed.
But are you okay? Now you need a break? Okay, Well,
I was tired to actually talked to Tarn about it
a little bit. We had that probably the longest conversation

(01:38:25):
I've ever had with a producer. But my thought was,
is Burns pitched on Monday and he only threw one
third thirty three pitches. Is there ever any consideration for
bringing that guy back in a couple of days? He
obviously wasn't exhausted when he came off the mound. He
just had a bad day. But it never seems like

(01:38:48):
major league teams ever jumped that guy ahead a couple
of days. Today would have been a good example. Uh,
you've got a bullpen game going on, Maybe bring him
in for a couple of innings just to get us,
just to get himself back on track a little bit.
And I know it's the whole starter built bullpen mentality
and stuff like that, but it's like, I think, at
this point with this kid, you just like to see

(01:39:10):
him get major league innings in when he can.

Speaker 3 (01:39:14):
I think it would have been interesting and could be
interesting tonight to see if Terry Francono was confronted with
a situation where the game was lopsided and you're like,
all right, look, let's run him out there and just
see if he can get three outs and maybe that
helps him. Now you know what that would do for
the rotation. They have an off day tomorrow and then

(01:39:35):
I don't think they have an off day the rest
of the way, and so they're gonna need his spot
in the rotation. But you're right, he only threw what
was it thirty three, thirty five pitches, thirty six pitches. Yeah,
somewhere in there, he's gonna do a bullpen. This is
probably an overly simplistic question that requires a more complex answer,
but I would wonder if, like let's say tonight, it's

(01:39:58):
nine to two, it's the eighth inning. Either way Reds
are winning or losing, is there a thought to let's
run him out there, to let him let him get
some hitters out now. The flip side is, these are
the guys that just clubbed him around the other night.
You know, what if, what if? What if? What if
the same thing happens? And then you know what do
you do to his confidence? And then you know what?

Speaker 2 (01:40:21):
What? What next?

Speaker 3 (01:40:22):
I would imagine the plan is, let's keep him on
the normal turn, Let's have him do the video work
as it relates to the pitch tipping. Let's have him
stay on his turn, and we think that mentally he's
gonna be able to flush what happened on Monday, and
he'll be okay when he pitches against Philadelphia. But sure,
I think there's always something to experiencing some success as

(01:40:42):
soon as possible. And I think it would have been
interesting because of the pitching situation today, if they run
into a situation where they could just use him to
get some outs and really not have it out impact
the outcome of the game, I do wonder if that's
something they would even consider.

Speaker 11 (01:40:57):
Yeah, I don't know, and I know the whole between.
I mean, starters obviously take longer to warm up than
relief pitchers are used to getting ready quickly, so you'd
almost have to have him go out and do some
throwing ahead of time, and then to the point where, okay,
can you get loose in twenty twenty five pitches and
do it that way? But I guess that's probably not

(01:41:18):
on the table. But I just thought about that the
other day. I'm thinking, well, in almost any other kind
of baseball, be a high school, college, whatever, you tend
to flip flop pit pitchers around all the time just
because you got to get people, got to get games play,
and you gotta get people out. But at the major
league level, they issue is a completely different system for that.

Speaker 3 (01:41:40):
Yeah, it's a little bit more regimented. You know, the
Reds have used bullpen games this year. They have adjusted
their plan on the fly. My guess is that's not
something they would want to do. But I think it'd
be interesting if you were sitting next to Terry Francona
in the dugout and the game kind of got out
of hand and he said, you know, let's give Chase
a chance to get three hit.

Speaker 2 (01:42:00):
I wonder what he would.

Speaker 11 (01:42:01):
Say, Yeah, boy, and you got You got a veteran
guy like Suitor, which that's exactly what he does. He
can start, he can come in early in a game,
he can come in the mental, come in late. I mean,
he's pitched all over the place. But there's just very
few guys that are even in that mode.

Speaker 3 (01:42:17):
Yeah, no question. I think that the key is, thank you, John.
The key is he just has to be better his
next start. Because the good news is Hunter Green did
throw off the mound to day. I didn't see if
that was a simulated game. I believe it was, but
I did see while I was on the air footage
of him throwing on the mount at Fenway Park today,

(01:42:39):
which that is a step in the right direction. Key is,
Jase Burns has to be better against a really good
Philadelphia lineup this weekend. We will see. I enjoyed the
the eroldis Chapman discussion, there are you know, in terms
of like memorable nights at GABP. Great American Ballpark is

(01:43:00):
two years old. Let's be honest, The Reds have never
won a playoff game there, So it's not like there's
a long list of postseason successes that people remember. And
then there's Clinch Miss twenty ten, Jay Bruce. You know, I,
for my money, beyond that, the greatest night at the
history of the ballpark was when Adam Dunn hit that
home run off Bob Wickman of the Indians June thirtieth,

(01:43:22):
two thousand and six. Todd Frazer's home run like not
a ton, let's be honest, not a ton of like
iconic moments. Yes, Scooter Jeanette hitting four home runs was cool.
Homer Bailey's second no hitter, which you know, people don't
like Homer Bailey, so they pretend like he didn't throw
two no hitters, but he did. But just not a
very long line of like extraordinarily memorable moments that when

(01:43:45):
you say him to pretty much any Reds fan, they go, yes,
I remember that. Eroaldas Chapman's big league debut in twenty
ten is one that I think everybody who was watching
listening or who was there. Remembers pretty vividly, and I
remember he faced Jonathan Loucroy and Craig Counsel were the

(01:44:08):
first two hitters. I cannot remember who the third hitter was,
but I remember like like Craig Counsel looking at the
umpire and just kind of looking at whoever going, like really,
and he played a long time in the big leagues, Like,
how am I going to hit this?

Speaker 2 (01:44:23):
Dude?

Speaker 3 (01:44:24):
I've watched a lot, we all have. We've watched a
lot of great pictures. There haven't been many that I
feel like genuinely scared. Not all the hitters, but some
of them. And part of it was, you know, he
could be effectively wild. You know, Randy Johnson, there were
times early in his career with the Expos and then
the Mariners were you had the sense he had no

(01:44:45):
idea where the ball was going to go. There's the
famous All Star at bat John Kruck where he like
turned his helmet around and batted right handed and just
couldn't wait to get out of there. A Roald As
Chapman maybe wasn't quite that, but like I'm watching him
today and it's like, damn fifteen years. That guy's still early,
still having a good year. He's pitching a lot of
big games, gotten a lot of saves, still not even

(01:45:09):
thirty eight years old, and looks like he could pitch
for a long time.

Speaker 2 (01:45:14):
Good for him. Twenty two from six. We are way late.

Speaker 3 (01:45:17):
This is the michelob Ultra five o'clock Happy Hour on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 8 (01:45:22):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (01:45:27):

Speaker 7 (01:45:31):
care is here called five one three five eighty five
UCCC northbound seventy five. It's an accident at Norwood Lateral
off onto the right shoulder, northbound seventy one seventy five.

(01:45:51):
Another accident on the left shoulder, this one approaching Dixie
Highway and a crash Central Parkway north of Finlay. I'm
at ezelic with trap.

Speaker 3 (01:46:00):
The sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Shevard Life
Home Up Lifetime powertrain Protection and guaranteed the credit approval
from their family to yours for life kelseyshev dot Com.
All Right game resume from last night. Reds lose five
to three to the Red Sox. They went to bed
last night trailing two to one. They took the lead

(01:46:21):
in the fourth inning Spencer Steer with his tenth home
run of the season, A two run shot gave the
Reds a.

Speaker 2 (01:46:26):
Three to two lead.

Speaker 3 (01:46:27):
Unfortunately, Cincinnati could not hold on to the lead. Red's
allowed the Red Sox to tie the game on a
Carlos Narvaia's sacrifice fly that came off of Scott Barlow,
and then Lyon Richardson gave up two runs in the
eighth inning. Cincinnati falls five to three. Yon Richardson saddled

(01:46:50):
with the two runs that Boston used to win the game.
I almost said saddled with the loss, but I did not,
So I can't be fine. Will your a Bray you
with the game winning hit for Boston Game two, Game
three of the series. Game two of the day is tonight.
You could hear it live starting at seven to ten
on seven hundred WLW. Nick Martinez will get the ball

(01:47:14):
for Cincinnati. You're starting lineup tonight for the Reds. I
could not feel more disorganized than I am right now.
That's neither here nor there.

Speaker 2 (01:47:24):
TJ.

Speaker 3 (01:47:25):
Friedels in center, Matt mcclean's at shortstop. Ellie Dela Cruz
is dhing tonight and he is batting third. By the way,
Ellie did make a really nice play during the game today.
We banged on him for going out to like, you know,
medium center field to get in TJ. Friedle's way, which
he's got to get out of the way there, but
will balance things out. He did make a really nice play,
a nice throw at shortstop today. He is dhing tonight

(01:47:46):
batting third. Hazen left Steers at first base after getting
hit by a pitch in the eighth inning. Today, Tyler
Stevenson is catching Gavin Luxe at second base. Reese Hines
and right field is batting eighth, and Santiagoes All will
be at third base. He is batting ninth. What else

(01:48:06):
do we have? What else do we have? The Florence
yawls are taken on Shopberg today. There you go, Paul.
Questions on this show come your way thanks to United
Heartland Insurance. My friends that United Heartland Insurance can set
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(01:48:26):
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Learn more at uhi ns dot com. So the UC
football team unveiled their new uniforms today. I I like

(01:48:48):
them a lot. I really really like them a lot.
I love them, I'll say, I'll say I love them
if the team is good this year. How's that the
numbers are better looking. I think they're cleaner, getting rid
of some of the more gimmicky parts they've had of
their uniforms in recent years, the triangles, the cat scratches,

(01:49:11):
got rid of all that. I was told today there's
a little bit of a Texas tech feel to the
black uniforms, which there's some validity to that. That is okay.
I think they're good looking uniforms. What most of us
are more concerned with is will they have a season
in line with their look? How many games will they
win this year? Vote now at moegar four choices, because

(01:49:33):
that's all Twitter allows. So I gave you four different
ranges at moegar. We'll see. I want to know and
I think all of us do who care about UC football.
You know there's gonna be a lot of talk of
transfers and who they brought in from other programs and
another year in the program and better physical fitness than

(01:49:54):
last year, and all that is fine. Brendan Sorosby, does
he take a lead. You don't want to make it
all about the quarterback. Brendan Sorosby checks so many boxes
in terms of intangibles and leadership and tone setting. I
remember going over to UC before fall practice started last
year and talking with two coaches and a member of

(01:50:18):
the staff who's not a coach, and it was like, man,
this guy's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:50:20):
Treats it like a job.

Speaker 3 (01:50:22):
Leadership sets the tone, does all the stuff you want
a quarterback to do.

Speaker 2 (01:50:27):
And that sounds great.

Speaker 3 (01:50:30):
But when he had to throw the ball downfield in
the second half of the season last year, he didn't do.
So I think of what I think of last year,
where they were five and two and then never won
a game. I think of an offense that just it contracted,
it went into a shell. And as much as I
really like Brandon and we've been lucky enough to have
him on the show, a bunch of times. Brendan Sorosby

(01:50:51):
is going to have to cut it loose more often
than he did last season, and he's gonna have to
be better when he does cut it loose. Look, there
were times early in the year last year where it
felt like, boyd, they've got a bonus, like big twelve
caliber quarterback. You know, how he played against Texas Tech
and how he played in some of the games in
the first half of the season. In the second half,
it fell totally off the cliff. And that's not entirely

(01:51:13):
on him, but I'm really curious as to with a
year of being the guy behind him and this really
kind of feels like it's his team, does his play
rise to the occasion, because in the second half of
last year it did not. I think one of the
things that's also interesting about this year's team is last

(01:51:34):
year they had all sorts of special teams issues. It
was field goals, it was punt coverage. And you know,
Carrie Colmes has obviously moved on, and Carrie has had
an unbelievable football life and has done a lot of
really good things coaching college football, but he oversaw the
special teams last year and the special teams for a
variety of reasons, was simply not very good. Number one.

(01:51:57):
When the offseason started, you might remember Scott saturday Field
and he talked about this on our show. The plan was, well,
special teams is gonna be sort of coached by everybody,
and then after springball they hire a special teams coach.
This team is probably gonna have to win in the margins.
They're gonna have to win in the hidden yardage department.
They're gonna have to be better in the punt game.

(01:52:18):
And that's not just having a good punter. They're gonna
have to be better at covering punts. They looked really
disorganized on special teams last year. They had all sorts
of issues converting field goals. That's got to change. If
that changes, and if the quarterback play is I was
gonna say significantly better, but at least marginally better, they've

(01:52:40):
got a chance to be okay. I talked about this
earlier in the show. Week one, U see goes on
the I was gonna say, go on the road against
it's technically a home game. They're gonna play in Kansas
City against Nebraska. It's year three for Scott Sadderfield. He's
got to energize the fan base. It's got to get
people talking. You see football again. There's not a ton
of buzz right now. That is the byproduct of two

(01:53:02):
seasons where you're very underwhelming, where you lost your last
five last year and you and I saw those crowds
at Nippert Stadium. Part of that job is to always
energize the fan base, keep him invested, keep him engaged.
Luke Fickel had this same task, and what he did
in year two, game one is he goes on the

(01:53:23):
road and wins. Now, that UCLA team he beat that
season ended up not being very good, but they were
not expected to go to Pasadena and beat Chip Kelly.
They were not expected to win that game in the
Rose Bowl, and they won it, and they won it
going away, and say what you want to bet the
caliber of that team that made people perk up. I

(01:53:43):
remember that well. They were four and eighth the year before,
They were a handful of plays away from finishing one
and eleven, and they win that game against UCLA and
people started to pay attention.

Speaker 2 (01:53:54):
Then the team went on to go eleven.

Speaker 3 (01:53:56):
And two, and that started the ball rolling toward the
twenty five one season where they obviously went undefeated and
played in the.

Speaker 2 (01:54:02):
College Football Playoff.

Speaker 3 (01:54:04):
But that day, that Saturday, people perked up because there
wasn't a lot of buzz and the expectations that year,
remember it was well, best case they go six and six.
Scott Saderfield has a similar type of opportunity in front
of them. It's gonna be a different venue, more fans
at it, better atmosphere, and a better team and I

(01:54:24):
think a significantly better quarterback. They can go six and six,
they can go seven and five. But you only get
so many opportunities to really make people perk up. Go
to Kansas City, home of the Chiefs beat Nebraska week one.

Speaker 2 (01:54:41):
I promise you people will perk up anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:54:45):
Vote in my poll question at Moegger. We are back
at it tomorrow three h five. Probably Tarn and I
two of the only people in Cincinnati who will be
working tomorrow afternoon. We look forward to it. It's been
the michelob Ultra five o'clock happy Hour. Thank you for listening.
Thanks to Aran for producing. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (01:55:07):

Speaker 9 (01:55:11):
Traffic from the UC Health traffic center.

Speaker 7 (01:55:14):
care is here called five one, three, five eighty five
UCCC three right lanes all blocked from an accident on
eastbound two seventy five approaching seventy five in Sharonsville, about

(01:55:34):
a twenty minute delay from Princeton Pike and on Central
Parkway an accident north of Findley Street. I'm at ezelic
with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:55:42):
This report is sponsored by twenty twenty

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