08-20-23 Baseball Brunch

Chris Sack and Gregg Murphy talk Phils win on Saturday over the Nationals, the ESPN Little League Classic Sunday night game from Williamsport, the week that was and the week coming up with a huge series at home against the Giants, and more.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Summer Sundays are meant for freshly cutgrass ballpark talks and the best baseball talk
you can fight. So kick backwith your bacon and eggs and pour yourself
a mimosa while Phillies announcer Greg Murphyand Green Legion Radio's Chris Sack break down
here fighting pills and take you aroundthe league right now on Baseball Brunch,

(00:28):
play Ball good More named Philadelphia andwelcome into Baseball Brunch brought to you by
Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club, powered by GreenLegion Radio and one or two point five
Fox Sports Gambler in Philadelphia, wDASAM around the rest of the Delaware Valley,
or to simply download that iHeart Radioapp and you can listen to us

(00:50):
anywhere Crystal Clear worldwide. We arebroadcasting to you live on Saturday evening for
Sunday's show. I am sitting insidemy house while Murph is inside of his
hotel room in Washington, DC ashe prepares to fly out of Washington,
DC, our nation's capital, asfar as Gump would say, early Sunday

(01:11):
morning. So you know, youguys will get all the perks and the
benefits that you normally would from abaseball brunch show with us, especially because
it was so kind that the Phillieswere playing at four o'clock on Saturday,
that we're able to get a fullweek's worth of Phillies baseball. Woman.
You guys, I'm Chris Sack ofGreenley to Radio and Murph, my partner
in crime Phillies broadcaster Greg Murphy.Murph, how are you doing today?

(01:34):
Well, you know, after tonight'sgame or this afternoon's game, much better
than I was doing after Friday's game. Friday's Friday's game was a bit of
a kick in the in the gutbecause you know, they had the six
one leade. They look like they'regoing to cruise to an easy victory.
They did not giving it right backin that fourth inning, but it was
really good to see, although ittook a little bit of time today to

(01:57):
get the bats going. And thengive credit to the Nats starting pitch or
Jake Irvin, he was really goodthis afternoon. But once the bats got
going, they got going in abig way. Five home runs in this
one. Tray Turner made a littlehistory Nick Castianos with one huge swing of
the bat on the day that hebecame a ten year major league service a

(02:17):
guy. So, you know,a big day for him in that regard.
It was just it was a greatday leaving up the series and U
so I'm feeling pretty good. I'mfeeling pretty good. Yeah, you're saying
that you were feeling a lot bettertoday, But really it was the you
know, once the seventh inning hitin the Castianos hit that home run,
which which is funny because it's thethree year anniversary, uh since he hit

(02:39):
the home run when Tom Brennaman wasin the middle of like getting fired in
Cincinnati. Uh you know, soyeah, so it was the three year
anniversary. Today. You know,then there's a home run by Castianos in
the left field and it's four nothingReds, you know. But uh but
yeah, great, great stuff fortoday. We're going to dive into that.

(03:00):
Actually, you know, Perks,my mood up a little bit and
we're gonna have some fun at myexpense because you know, as we know,
Murphy, I am not just youknow, a member of the media
to some extent here on Green LegionRadio and doing Baseball Brunch with you these
last few years. I am apretty emotional fan and you know, so

(03:20):
we're gonna dive down to some ofmy antics this afternoon prior to the seventh
and eighth inning. But first thingsfirst, this segment is brought to you
by our good friends is State Farm. Here's the deal. When you combine
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(04:05):
Saturday evening for our Sunday show,we are not going to do a ticket
giveaway today, but we will giveaway another pair of tickets on next week's
show when we're back down at ExfinityLive ahead of the Phillies and Cardinals on
Sunday afternoon, So make sure youguys step on, stop on down.
I'm not sure if it's going tobe our last show at Exfinity Live for
the season. I am trying towork on some things because being at the

(04:28):
Eagle season, they play a lotof primetime games in the early part of
the schedule. I'm gonna try andkeep our same time slot until, you
know, until the very beginning ofOctober, if that's possible. So I
am working on that with Shaw Embrace, Kyle not Amaker and Kyle the magic
Man not Amaker and the hardest workingman in show business, John Jansen.
So I'll keep you guys all informed. Hopefully we'll have some news for you

(04:50):
guys on that effective next week.All right, murv, let's get out
of the box early on here inthe show. Let's talk about this Phillies
week that was two and three sinceour last show. But hey, listen,
they got their second win and comebackfashion on Saturday afternoon with a huge
offensive explosion against the Nationals, bullpenand the seventh and eight things. Trey

(05:12):
Turner, as you said, madehistory today becoming the third player in franchise
history to homer twice in the sameending, first to do so since Von
Hayes against the Mets in Jude ofnineteen eighty five, and Andy Seminick did
it first against the Reds in Juneof nineteen forty nine. Offensive put up
runs over the course of the lastthree games here, Murph, But man,
you know it was much needed today. Staring down to barrel of the

(05:35):
gun, three nothing after six innings, and you know you're sitting there going,
man, we need to make somethinghappen here, because you can ill
afford to lose the series to theWashington Nationals, who have played better over
the second half of this baseball season. But when you are when you have
aspirations of the defending National League champions, as the Phillies are, you can

(05:56):
ill afford to lose a series toa team the caliber of the Washington national
this late in the season. Yeah, you're right about that, and you're
you're you're right about all that,and that the Washington Nationals have played much
better baseball. They have the thirdbest record in the National League since the
All Star break. But you know, the Phillies are a better team than
the Washington Nationals are and they needto, you know, take advantage of

(06:19):
that when playing against the Nats.And you know, again, it all
comes down to winning series. Sothey they lose game one, which makes
winning a series a little bit morechallenging. You gotta go out and win
the next two to win the series. And you know, I'll be honest
with you. You know, I'ma relatively positive guy for the most part,
and I'm always thinking optimistically. Yeah, but I will tell you then,

(06:42):
in the sixth inning, I wasnot feeling all that great about the
Phillies and their chances of winning tonight'sgame or tenor the nights game, and
uh, you know, I foundmyself saying, oh, you know,
are We're gonna lose two, andnow you gotta go to Williams Sport tomorrow
and you gotta win that game,and who knows what that atmosphere is gonna
be like, you know, andthen boom boom boom, couples things to

(07:03):
the bat and then big smile onthe face, and I'm like, see,
you know, if I would havejust stayed optimistic and it just stayed
positive, I'd have been feeling reallyno, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, MRF MIRF. It's okay.
Listen, you have to go tothe dark side every now and then
because I feel like when, notwhen you personally do it, but when
I do it, when I walkthat path of darkness, I feel like

(07:24):
good things happen because of it.Absolutely. I never feel that way.
I feel like I ate a shower, So you know, I like,
I like being being happy and positiveand pointing out the the optimism and the
optimistic side of things. So butyou know, every once in a while,
you can't help it. You slideinto the sack. You slide it

(07:46):
back into a into a Chris sacking, right into the crescent. I was,
I was, I was there todayin the sixth inning, but by
the seventh, iime wassen, nothingever really good happens when you hit send
on social media. But at thesame time, you know, listen,
sometimes I have to post these thingsout there because I want. I always
feel like someone in the dugout seesit for some reason and they go,

(08:09):
you know what, they're sack again. Well, you know, like Kirk
Cousins, for example, anytime Itrash that man on social media, he
winds up going off. So youknow, like and there's there's plenty of
other examples throughout the course of history. But a lot of people will say
Kirk Cousins does well when I whenI pop off on him. All right,
But let me stop you, becauseif Kirk Cousins did well every time
he read something negative about himself onsocial media, he would be a Hall

(08:33):
of Famer, first ballot, undefeatedquarterback in the end. But it's not
everybody. It's just me. It'sjust it's just me. So here's here's
my Facebook status. As you're startingto wander down that path of darkness.
This team sucks right now, nourgency whatsoever playing all of these crappy teams.
I'll say it like that. Overthe last couple of weeks and everything
has been a struggle. They're lucky. The other teams in the Wildkart Race

(08:56):
have been struggling too. Losing aserious in the Nationals is unacceptable. Then
Nick Cassiano's decides to join the partyand hits a three run home run.
So I'm sitting there on the couchand I go to my wife and I
say, and I posted this onFacebook. Cassie just hit a three run
homer to tie the game. Asmy wife turns around in the chair at
the dinner table, because she's sittingthere with Carson at the dinner table,
and she looks at me with themost serious look on her face. You

(09:18):
need to start posting negative things earlier, because she knows me all too well.
And when the game is over,I said, Phillies fans, you're
all welcome, because you know,when I when I go down that path
of darkness and negativity, it justseems to it just seems to get the
team going a little bit more andyou know, gives them a little bit
more fervor a little bit more motivation, you know, because Murphy, listen,

(09:41):
it's been a fun season, youknow, and like we we've had
a lot of great Sunday shows,a lot of fun this season, a
lot of great things to talk about. And then you know, all coming
off the legs of a world seriesof parents and you know, coming within
two wins of winning it all.You know, it's been a great last
calendar year if you're a Phillies fan. But man, like, if they

(10:01):
could just find a way to pressthat magic button, flip that magic switch
that we need, like we couldmake this wild card race irrelevant for us
and just let the other five teamsdo get out. And that's kind of
where I'm magaz. Yeah, well, and they might. They're getting to
the point where where that they're gettingkind of close to that point. You

(10:24):
know, they have to go ona run of you know, five or
six or something like that. Butif they do that, they're going to
put so much distance between themselves thatthere's not going to be much question about
the wild card it. You know, they're the only team in the National
League that can say that. Youknow, so stop to think about you
have three division division leaders, oneof which does not have as good of

(10:46):
a record as the Phillies, andyou have you have two teams in the
National League that like claim to beingthe top two teams, and that is
the Braves and the Dodgers. They'rethe two best teams in the National's been
that way for half a decade andit has and and so so you can't
argue that you tip your cap tothe those teams. But that also doesn't
mean much when you hit the postseason. We know that last year, yeah,

(11:09):
yeah, exactly. So, Sohere the Phillies are in a almost
catbird seat in terms of the wildcard, they're not there yet. I
agree that they need to, youknow, added two or three more games
of separation before you and really kindof you know, take a breath and
sit back. But remember, youknow, we went through the final road

(11:30):
trip of the year last year beforethey clenched. I have a feeling we're
not going to be sitting on theedges of our seats this year. So
other teams have flawed. Almost everyteam has flaws, and you know,
perhaps perhaps the Braves do not,but but short of that, even the
Dodgers have flaws, and the Phillieshave flaws. But but they're winning more
than they're losing, and that's whatyou've got to do them Baseball. Yeah,

(11:52):
it's just for me, like,especially like you could not afford to
lose the series with the with theGiants, with the Giants coming into town,
especially uh, you know, likeon the legs of it all.
I mean, like last week youwere staring down the possibility you were six
and two on a ten game homestandyou were staring down the fact that you
could have finished seven and three,eight and two on that homestand and like

(12:13):
there was a lot of great thingsthat happen on that homestand I mean a
lot of memorable moments, a lotof fun games, but man, it
was like, you know, that'sa kick in the you know, in
the junk and the in the gut, whatever it is, you know,
to finish that homestand it's six andfour. And then you had that game
on Tuesday night where you know,great play at home plate. You know,
Bone gets the runner out with basesloaded and Jat makes that great lunge

(12:35):
for the ball and the very nextbitch, Sir Anthony hits the guy hits
Visio on the toe and it drivesin the winning run. And you know,
they've scored runs their last three games. That that's the that's the period,
especially against Kevin Gosman. I wasworried about that on Wednesday night because
Gosman kills the Phillies, and thePhillies just did everything in their power to
make sure that you had We're down, we're coming back. We're down again.

(12:56):
We're coming back, and we're justgonna keep on tacking on. And
this is the tip of a team. Resiliency is what this team has shown
us, not just during the courseof games, but throughout the course of
the season, and you know,like Murph that that last week, the
last couple of weeks, you know, there's been moments where you feel down,
but there's been moments where they pickyou right back up and no one
that you have a shot to winthis series. Tomorrow night with Zach Wheeler

(13:18):
on the hill, that's the ultimatepickup. Yeah, and again, you
know they might lose this series.They could lose tomorrow and lose this series,
and that would be disappointing for sure, but it's also not going to
end their season, you know.And I think that's how you have to
look at it. You and Italked last week, and I thought you
brought up a great points at thatpoint, forty four games to play,

(13:39):
and you said, if they gotwenty five and nineteen get them, then
Andy wins three better than last year. So so when you stop to think
about that, and I might havesaid this last week, that's nineteen losses
that we can expect over the courseof the next five weeks, right,
and we've seen four of them thisweek. So they're gonna lose fifteen more

(14:01):
times in your scenario and still haveninety wins when it's all set and done.
So you know, baseball is notfootball. Baseball teams lose sixty games
a year, the best teams andthen it's a matter of what you do
from there. So you just haveto take them a little bit less seriously.

(14:22):
Now, should they win the seriesagainst the Nationals, especially with Zach
Wheeler on the mount tomorrow, theyabsolutely should, and I hope they do
and I think they will. Butif they don't, the Giants could come
to down that you could, youknow, beat them three straight and I
was all's right with the world againnow heading into that series against the Giants
now, and the reason why ZachWheeler is pitching on Sunday Night Baseball is

(14:43):
because Ranger Suarez is going on tothe injured list with a Grade one mild
strain of his hamstring. Which listenthat they made the move from Michael Loren's
in they've been pitching with a sixman rotation. But we've seen some you
know, like Den's in the armorhere of the Phillies starting pitching coming to
fruition over the last week, weekor two. You know, Aaron Nola's

(15:05):
struggles this season and been well documented. Taiwan Walker, you know, they
had to skip him in the rotationbecause his velocity was down. Rangers now
on the injured list, you know, and then on top of that,
you know, Michael Lorenzen got gotripped up in his first start after the
no hitter, after throwing one hundredand twenty four pitches. Uh, you
know, you're starting to see alittle bit of wear and tear here dog

(15:26):
days of summer and August with thestarting pitching staff. Out of those guys,
which one are you worried about themost heading down the stretch? Rum
Well, I mean, I'm notworried about any of them, to be
quite honest with you. The thefact that they have a little bit of
depth right now is obviously a positivething with Ranger going on the injured list.

(15:50):
But you know what we talked.I talked to Rob Thompson today and
you know, he said, look, it's it's mild, but you know
they could use that extra arm inthe bullpen. So by putting him on
the injured list, they're able tobring up Andrew Vladi who got in today's
game. And you know it's justhow long has you, guys, asked
Topper, how long Ranger has beenpitching with this like, has this been

(16:11):
the reason why he's been struggling.Happened in Toronto. Okay, it happened
in Toronto while he was working out, and it just they said, he
actually got into the shower and hishamstring started picking up on him. He
was uncomfortable, it was stiff.He told the trainers about it. They
took a day. Next day,still an issue, so they did some

(16:33):
imaging and it turns out to bethe grade one. You know, and
I think the original plan was notjust put him on the injured list,
but you know, taking up aspot when you're not one hundred percent sure
the guy is going to be ableto come back in five days is a
little bit of a risk. Sobecause they have the depth, you put
Ranger on the injured list. Youallow him to sit for ten days.
You know. I'm sure at somepoint I'll get up and throw if he's

(16:56):
feeling good, But they really doexpect that he'll come off, you know,
at that ten day period. Soit's it's not huge concern by any
stretch. It's a little disappointing.I think he had started to find his
way a little bit, but again, ultimately, in the long run,
you know, this is gonna bea ten day rest for his arm as
well as we head down the stretch. That's really never well not never a

(17:19):
bad thing, but rarely a badthing first starting pitcher, especially one that
you want to pitch deep into October. So so what's the other guys,
what's what's the rotation looking like forthe Giants series? Yeah, so it's
a very important series for us.I want to make sure that you know,
we're trotting out the best that wecan. Obviously, Wheel are going

(17:40):
tomorrow. Doesn't help that. Well, it's gonna be Nola on Monday.
It'll be a Taiwan on Tuesday,Okay, And so Taiwan we'll be back
on Tuesday, and then I guessI'm just trying to project now it would
be Lorentz. Yeah. Yeah,So you know, three guys that you

(18:02):
feel pretty comfortable, you know,going out to the mountain and getting you
a win for the most part,I would think you would anyway. So
hopefully those guys pitch up to wherethey need to be. And I think
Zach Wheel are going tomorrow in thatatmosphere, I think that's that's gonna be
great for Zach. And you know, Zach had kind of come out and
said he kind of feels more comfortablewhen he's pitching on that regular rest,

(18:26):
that four day rest every five dayskind of thing. So it'll be five
days for him and he'll get backout there, So we'll see how he
how he handles that. But hopefullyZach is uh, you know, in
typical Zach wheel or form tomorrow realquick before we go to break. It
looks like some you know, wehave some troops that are on their way
back here. From what they saidearlier on today, it looks like Brandon
Marsh is going to rejoin the teamin Williams Sport for Sunday Night baseball,

(18:49):
and then we're gonna get jo SayAlvarado back in that bullpen starting on Monday
against the Giants. Two huge additionsback to this roster, very important into
both the lineup and the bullpen.Yeah, no doubt about it. So
I yeah, Brandon Marsh will bein william Support tomorrow and h and he's
expected to be activated. There's noreason I think he wouldn't be activated when

(19:11):
he gets there. The Phillis actuallyget to add an extra player. Both
teams get to add an extra player. Tomorrow, kind of like the double
header rule. For for whatever reason, I'm feel with the Yeah, I
don't know what the reasoning is.So they won't actually have to do anything
other than activate Brandon Marsh tomorrow andadd him back to the roster. Now
a move will have to follow inthe ensuing week on Monday, and then

(19:33):
obviously when Alvarado gets added, they'llhave to make a move as well.
But you're right, getting Jose Alvaradoback healthy at this point of the season
is and it's enormous in the backend of that bullpen. And I think
Brandon Marsh the energy that he addsin the clubhouse, in the dugout,
on the field is always a positive. So you know, Johann Rojas has

(19:56):
been terrific. I mean really,I mean, he made made an error
on Friday night. The kind ofthings is gonna happen from time to time,
but for the most part, he'sbeen terrific and he's still going to
be a big part of what they'retrying to do, I would imagine.
But getting Brandon marshback is big,no doubt about it. Don't hang out
alone in the man k for baseballthis season. Try hanging out at Cheerleaders

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with sexy entertainers four dollars, domesticbeers, Champions of Specials, and awesome
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noon until two am. Coming upon the other side, we're gonna talk

(20:40):
some more Phillies Baseball and a littlebit about this Little League Classic that's gonna
go on on Sunday Night Baseball onESPN, and we're gonna go around the
league because there's some stuff that hashappened over the course of the last week
or two that we need to diveinto right here on Baseball Brunch, brought
to you by Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club onone or two point five Fox Sports to
Gamble, We'll be right back afterthis spreads totals and all the prop that's

(21:02):
in between. It's the Gambler.Welcome back. Second segment here on Baseball
Brunch, brought to you by CheerleadersGentlemen's Club on one two point five Fox
Sports of Gambler and we are broughtto you by Premier Window Cleaning. They

(21:26):
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we hate dirty Windows dot com,all right, murv. So we talked

(22:10):
a little bit about the injuries here, so I just wanted to get like
a quick update. I know youalready said that Andrew Bellatti is back with
the team, and it just hadme wondering over the course of the last
week. Uh, you know,we've we've demoted it back down to Triple
A Junior Marte and now with Rangergoing on the injured list, we bring
back Andrew Bellatti. I know youdo the minor league report during the course

(22:32):
of the week on the pregame show. Uh, how is Connor Brogden doing
down there? Because he has notbeen an option as far as coming back
up to be a member of thisbullpen, and he was pretty crucial for
the Phillies down the stretch last year. Yeah, I gotta be honest with
you, I don't really know.I haven't really dove into kind of broaden
his numbers, uh time in thein the recent past, so i'd be

(22:57):
I'd be just spitball and if ifI differently. But it's interesting that you
even bring that up, because you'reright, he hasn't been a guy that
has been talked about when these guysare being shuttled back and forth. I
have not heard his name being beingbannered about. Not Maybe I would,
but but I haven't over the lastcouple of weeks. So I have to

(23:19):
look. I would have to golook at his numbers. I don't know
what they're they are exactly, butI think it speaks volumes. The lack
of conversation with Connor Brogden's name init probably tells y'a all you need to
know right now, Well, that'syour homework for the week. So maybe
we'll have it for next week's show. Well maybe I can just go on
Google and figure it out myself.But I figured, hey, well while

(23:41):
we're while we're talking, you know, might as well see if he's if
he's around. But hey, listen, we've we've talked about this, you
know, a little bit here duringthe first segment, now into the second
segment. But man, what ison deck for the players and the broadcasters.
And there's a reason why that we'redoing this on Saturday night. We're
recording the show for a regular timeslot from eleven to noon on Sunday.
You're gonna be on a plane tomorrow, you guys are flying out of Williamsport

(24:03):
at ten o'clock. It's about anhour flight from Williamsport to from Washington,
DC to Williams Sport for you guysto go up there for the Sunday night
baseball game. It's called the LittleLeague Classic. On Sunday at Baseball on
ESPN at seven pm. But I'lltell you what, m if I really
love and join and you know,like you know, you're a father of
three. I'm a father of two. I have two little kids, and

(24:23):
I see this with a lot ofthese players like Bryce Harper and JT.
Nick Cassiano. It's like these guysare great dads, and they're great dudes
and they love their kids, butalso at the same time how they interact
with other kids. I'm really lookingforward to seeing the stuff throughout the day.
But what's kind of like the schedulelike once you guys get into Williamsport

(24:44):
and your interaction with the other teams, the international players, the US players.
I think media is playing at eleveno'clock tomorrow, so it's a shame
they might not be able to seethe players until after their game. But
you know, what's kind of theschedule like for the players and for the
media like tomorrow leading up to SundayNight baseball. Yeah, well, first
off, let me just tell youso. We had Nick Castianos on the
postgame show tonight and after Saturday Night'sgame, and the last question that we

(25:08):
asked was, you know, areexcited to head up to William Support and
be a part of of what's goingto be going on up there tomorrow.
And he said, yeah, Igotta be honest with you. You know,
interacting with kids is so much betterthan interacting with adults. And I
just thought that was as honest anduh and as great of an answer that

(25:29):
you could give. And you're right. You know, we see Nick with
his son Liam at the ballpark allthe time, and these guys genuinely do
enjoy interacting with their own kids andthe kids of other people as well,
so it should be a lot offun. I think we hit the ground
around noon tomorrow and there are twobuses. One will take the players and
anyone else that wants to go tothe little league village there. So the

(25:55):
players will head to the village forsure, uh, and then the rest
of us kind of make a decisiongo to the place where they're gonna play
the big league game, which isabout a mile away, or head to
the village. I'm gonna go tothe village as well, just to take
in all the goings on. Youknow, it's gonna be mobbed over there,
I would have imagine, but bothteams will have interaction with the other

(26:18):
teams that aren't playing at that point, a lot of pictures and autographs,
and I'm sure some playing of catchand doing all that kind of stuff.
Some media availability, I would imaginefor both the young guys and the and
the major league players. So that'llhappen until about I think about three o'clock.
So it's a couple hours over thereat the village and then on a

(26:41):
bus back to the Big League ballpark, and then it becomes business as usual
for the guys. You know,normally about three o'clock is when they start
to get their work going at homeor on the road. And that's exactly
what they'll do tomorrow. You know, they'll take BP, they'll go through
their infield drills, they'll do alleverything they need to do, and you
know, in first pitch at seveno'clock. So but the morning they were

(27:04):
right, I just should say theearly afternoon part of the day is when
all of that the good fields arehappening and the players are interact with the
little leaguers, and I think that, you know, I think it's fun
for everybody. I think that ourguys are really going to enjoy it.
I know they did the last timethey were there. And obviously the little
leaguers are going to enjoy it aswell, getting a chance to rub elbows

(27:26):
with the big league or so itshould be a fun a fun event for
sure. So'siving in a little bitof around the league here. So now
the Phillies are under forty games,I'm assuming that pretty much all the other
teams are under forty games or rightat forty games left to play in this
season outside of the National League wildcard race? Murf, what race is

(27:48):
most intriguing to you in baseball?Divisional race? The American League wild card
race? What sticks out to youis something that is going to intrigue you
the last seven weeks of the season. You know, that's a great question.
I think I would say it's theAmerican League wild Card. I know,
I know the Central, the NationalLeague Central's obviously tight, and you

(28:08):
know there's there's lots of still playfor between the Beds and the Brewers.
But but the wild card in theAmerican League is so interesting because you know,
here you have a group of teams. You know, I think you
could say that. Not a wholelot of people thought, I think,
I don't think a whole lot ofpeople thought the Yankees were gonna be missing

(28:29):
from that mix, and they prettymuch are missing from the mix. I
mean, they're there, but they'rein the river mirror. But but you
know, you have a team likeHouston who's battling for a wild card spot
right now, right, I mean, I don't think most people would have
thought that. And then you havethe Seattle Mariners Toronto, a team that
I thought was gonna be right therein the mix for maybe a division title

(28:51):
in the American League Gies, they'rebattling for a wild card spot. And
then you have the Red Sox nottoo too far away. They put some
pretty good baseball of late, soit's really intriguing to see how that's all
going to work out. And someof those divisional titles or show up for
grabs too, so you know,you might see a Texas Ranger team slide
back into that wildcard conversation and Houstonjump up into the division talk. So

(29:14):
I'm looking at that. I thinkit's gonna be fun. The National League
wildcard race is gonna be fun.I think the American League wildcard race is
gonna be fun too. It's funnyyou brought up the Yankees because the Yankees
I saw stat earlier, and there'sa bunch of can you believe it's again
this week? But what a greatlike segment we get to have you know
and you know or you know partof our final segment every single week we

(29:36):
can you believe it's But this oneright here is mind boggling. Over the
course of since nineteen ninety eight,the Yankees haven't lost eight games in a
row at any point in any season. Over the course of the last twenty
five years, they've lost seven ina row effective Saturday. So it's it's
like the number one team on thatlist, the Orioles lost eight thirty times.

(30:00):
The Phillies have only done it eighttimes since nineteen ninety eight, which
is incredible to think about. ButI'll tell you what partner the American League
Wild Card and not the American LeagueWest to me like the Rangers, the
Astros, the Mariners. The Marinershave been one of the probably the hottest
team in baseball since since the AllStar Break, and they were my World

(30:21):
Series pick this season as well.So those three teams, that's gonna be
a lot of fun. Uh.The raise for one of the hottest teams
in Major League Baseball or the hottestteam in Major League Baseball to start out
the season in twenty twenty three,and they've really cooled off over the last
couple of months here. But they'velost their ace, Shane McClanahan the Tommy
John surgery which puts him out thetwenty twenty five and then well, obviously

(30:41):
everybody knows about the Wander Francou situationthat's going on with him, and he
might never play in Major League Baseballagain. But man, how the mighty
have fallen. I mean, there'retwo games behind Orioles still still, and
they had a real firm grip onthat number one wild card spot. But
we've seen some funny thing happen inMajor League Baseball that can transpire over the

(31:03):
final seven weeks of the season.Losing your ace and losing your best player
does not spell well for what championshipaspirations or even playoff aspirations that the Rays
have had with these teams that aretrying to chase them down from behind.
Yeah, the lesson here, Baseballis a long season, and you can
have the month of all months andjust be absolutely spectacular and run away from

(31:26):
your division and all of that,and then the next thing, you know,
you have a month of all monthson the negative side and you are
right back in the thick of thingswith everybody else. And that's what happened
with Tampa Bay. You know,Tampa Bay and get Baltimore credit because they've
continued to play consistent baseball. Butthat's what it takes to be one of
the best teams in baseball. Consistency. It's not about running out and winning

(31:49):
ten in a row. It's aboutwinning six out of ten, seven out
of ten, six out of ten, seven out of ten. That's how
you do it. And yeah,the Rays, I mean, there's start,
there's start of the season was historic. It was it was one of
the best. And uh and yeah, here they are in a battle or

(32:09):
wild card spot and you know,they'll probably get a large spot, they'll
probably be in the postseason. Butwho would have thought. I thought they
were gonna have to fight tooth andnail right up to the end of the
year. So the other night,the Braves won their won their eleventh thousandth
game all time. They became thefifth team ever to do. So,
can you name the four teams thatare ahead of them eleven thousand plus win

(32:34):
teams. All right, the nearYankees? No, what, no,
I know not they the Yankees areright ahead of the Phillies. They are
eighth and we are ninth. That'samazing. I'm shocked by that. Okay,
So if not the Yankees, thenshoot, I don't even know where

(32:58):
to go next about are we talkingabout like the Dodgers, so you know
from Brooklyn Dodgers? Yes, okay, yeah, the Dodgers. A second,
okay, how about the Giants?Then Giants are number one? Okay,
so Giants and the Dodgers, andthen two more huh could it be
the Boston Red Sox. No,the Red Sox are tenth. They're right

(33:22):
behind the Phillies. Okay, allright, my goodness. You know older
franchises. Yeah, I know.Well that's what I'm naming here. The
Cubs Cubs of three. I wassurprising. Yeah, that is surprising,
very surprising. The may the Yankeeswould have more wins than the Cubs.
All right, so the Cubs,and then uh, number four would be

(33:44):
then the Cardinals. There you go, number four, the Cardinals, and
then right behind the Braves are theReds, the Pirates, the Yankees,
Phillies, and the Braves. Now, the Phillies are the all time leaders
and losses, so they're over eleventhousand. Yeah, take a guess at
who's right behind them as far aslosses are concerned in Major League Baseball history.

(34:05):
They're also going to cross eleven thousandlosses, probably in the next two
to three years. Well again,I'm gonna have to go back to the
Yankees. No, if they're notokay, so gosh, how many games
have they played? They've kind ofwe don't have much time to play with
here, but it's gonna surprise youthe Braves. The Braves that the second
most losses in Major League Baseball history. Crazy to think about, just real

(34:30):
quick, while we're on a twomurph Cardinals caught up top prospect Mason went
on Friday night against the Mets.In his second at bat, he reached
on an infield single to third forhis first major league hit, and Mets
first baseman Pete Alonzo threw the ballinto the sands, and then the girl
who caught it was resisting and givingit back to security where the fans were

(34:51):
channing give it back. Man.What a situation. Apparently, Alonso apologized
to him there, and then againat second base later on when he was
on the base pack, and thentoday he gave him a signed baseball bat
and a bottle of nineteen forty two. Uh Man, Talk about someone that's
trying to repair their image after sucha moment of just complete like boo,

(35:13):
I mean, you didn't know thisguy has his first major league hit?
Well, okay, so so there'sa couple of things there. Real quick.
I'm not a huge Pete Alonzo fan. I mean, I played than
mats if if he played for anyoneelse, and maybe like him a little
bit more. But I'm not.I mean so, but but here's what
I'll say. It was more nothingmore than a brain cramp of anything.

(35:34):
For he certainly didn't do anything malicious, right, I agree with it,
and I don't think he needs torepair his image. Like like you just
said, the person in this scenariothat is obnoxious is the girl that caught
the ball and refused to give itback like it means anything to her.
Give her another baseball that costs eightdollars. I mean, that's the obnoxious
person in this story, not PeteAlonzo. You know he made a mistake.

(35:58):
It happens, you know, andhe felt terrible about it, and
based on his actions after the fact, I'm sure I'm sure he really felt
badly. Yeah. To me,it's it's the girl in the stands that's
the problem in all of this.That's what I would say. All right,
go to green Legion dot com.Then make sure you guys get your
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(36:21):
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(36:44):
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two one five six six six fivenine four zero. That's two on five

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six six six five nine four zerotwenty one years accounting for the best Eagles
road trips around. Coming up onthe other side after break, we are
going to talk about our picks forSunday's Baseball Action. We're gonna do,
can't you believe it? And thenwe're gonna talk about the week that is
ahead for our fighting fills on BaseballBrunch here on one of two point five
Fox Sports to Gambler will be rightback after these messages. If you can

(37:29):
wager on it, we're talking aboutit. It's the Gambler Welcome Back,
final segment here on Sunday morning oneleven to noon. You can catch us

(37:52):
every single Sunday from eleven one oneor two point five Fox Sports, a
Gambler and the iHeart Radio app.This is Baseball Brunch, brought to you
by Cheerleader's Gentlemen's Club. I'm ChrisSack, he's Greg Murphy, and we
are going to have a great lastsegment here for you that's brought to you
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All right, so let's dive intoour picks for Sunday's action and we've
taken a little bit of a hiton our picks for today because the West
Coast games out in California had tomove from Sunday to Saturday because for some
undown reason, there's a hurricane that'sblowing through California and they and they don't

(39:22):
know what the heck to do withit, so they moved every Sunday game
up. That there was eighteen gameson the slate today. That's that's a
fully loaded schedule on Saturday. Murph, Yeah, it certainly was. When
I was doing the out of townscoreboard, I'm like, my goodness,
how many games do we have today? And I had forgotten the reason why.
But yeah, a couple of doubleheaderstoday because of that. Fingers crossed

(39:44):
that everybody makes that. Okay outthere on the West Coast. They're not
used to hurricanes out there, toyour point, they don't know exactly how
to handle things. But you know, hopefully it stays out to see as
as best I can and there's minimaldamage. So but but yeah, so
a limited schedule for us to pickfrom. Uh. In Sunday's games,

(40:05):
I think, well, I thinkwe'll do quite well. I mean,
I can't do any worse than Idid last week. Yeah, well,
I first, we'll start with withyou, as we always do. You
know, we always go age andBeauty before me, So you know it
one and two again last week.I think this is like your fourth or
fifth week in a row. Ihaven't updated it. It's just been one
and two again. Last week yougot the Brewers winning as the favorite.

(40:28):
But as you alluded to at thebeginning of the show, or I think
it was right before maybe we hitthe live button here on stream Yard,
you were very close where you shouldhave three points. And the funny thing
is I wasn't even paying attention toit. I was swimming at my parents'
house last Sunday, and from timeto time I get these like really aggravated
text messages from Earth. Uh.You know, because you're you're into this,

(40:52):
you're very competitive about it, andI'm competitive. Yes, yeah,
I would say I'm into it.But if I'm gonna be something that there's
a winner and a loser, Iwant to be the winner, that's for
sure. Well, I get atext much from Murf that says this is
why I don't gamble, and Ihad to look it up real quick and
I saw that the Oakland A's whichyou picked as your underdog last week in

(41:15):
Washington against the Nationals. They gaveup six runs to the Nationals and the
bomb in a ninth to lose thatgame eight to seven. So that puts
you at twenty four and twenty sevenoverall, thirty one and a half points
on the season. Again, Iwent owing three last week for the first
time this season, although I havedance with the Devil a couple of different
times. So where it almost happenednow twenty eight and twenty with Actually,

(41:38):
now I think of twenty eight andtwenty three. Is that what it is?
Yeah, twenty eight and twenty threewith thirty five points. Yeah,
it's got to be fifty one sopoints. Yeah, yeah, thirty five
points. So right now you're you'retrying to run me down. So here
we go, Uh, seven weeksleft in the season, and murf start
me off. Give me your firstpick for Sunday's action. Okay, after

(42:00):
careful consideration and deep research into allthe games tomorrow. Uh huh. That
that's Mike's story and I'm sticking toit. I could. Well, this
is about as close to the lowhanging fruit that you can possibly have from
like last year's mixed Baltimore minus onenight over the A's. I'm taking Baltimore.

(42:24):
It's my favorite over the Oakland A's. If the Oakland A's, if
they get me again two weeks ina row, shame on me. So
but I'll take Baltimore at just underthe threshold at one eight. Keep in
mind, people, we are pickingyou making these picks on Saturday night,
so I am also going after lowhanging fruit. But my low hanging fruit

(42:46):
is the Rangers at minus one eight. Yeah, at home versus the Brewers.
Max Scherzer starts for then they're tryingto avoid the sweep against the Brewers.
Sure is three and oh with aone point eight year Ray since joining
the Rangers, Houser's middling four andfour with a four point four three e

(43:07):
r A. Texas is a reallygood team. They've got two teams trying
to run them down to the AmericanLeague West. I don't see them losing
to the Milwaukee Brewers at home andbeing swept. So that is my favorite
pick. Gimme are underdog for Sunday'saction. Okay, underdog it's the Pirates
and the Twins in Minnesota and theTwins are the favorite. Pirates are plus

(43:29):
one twenty four underdogs. Dallas Kichelis pitching for Minnesota. I saw all
I needed to see of Dallas Kichelwhen the Phillies were up there. He's
got nothing left. Nothing. Sothe Pirates, they're a team that can
spring the bats a little bit.They run all over the place. So
I'm taking the Pirates over the Twinsto beat up on Kaikol tomorrow. Plus

(43:51):
one twenty four. You and Iare on the same page, and this
is what happens when we don't compareahead of time. I thought this same
exact thing else. Kikels had twostarts back in the major leagues and he
has zero strikeouts. And then,you know, you look at the other
side. I mean, like,like you said, the Pirates can swing
the bats. They can swing thebat a little bit there. I like

(44:12):
the Pirates too. I haven't metplus one thirty, but it doesn't matter.
There's still plus you know, moneyfor either of us. So me
and you both have the Pirates.Let's see if we had the same over
under Okay, overrun highly doubt itthough. Yeah. I went to the
Mariners Astros game. Uh the numberis tell me seriously, you know,
Okay, so I went over?Nine? Is I'm taking the over?

(44:35):
Are you? Are you serious?Dead serious? Well, that's no fun.
We're gonnas what happens when we haveto record, so you know,
hey, here's what we're gonna dothough offline. We're going to send each
other two new picks, all right, and and and there''s gonna be the
ones that count towards our our contest, and the folks will just have to

(44:57):
hear about him next week. Okay, all right, very all right,
not a problem, all right,So we'll we'll both see do we want
to pick one different or do wewant That's what we'll do, and it's
your choice, because the last timethis happened, you gave me the choice.
It'll be your choice to keep oneof those, and then we'll do
the do one more sounds great?I'll dive, I'll dive really deep into

(45:19):
it, and then I'll shoot youa text right after the show and then
we'll share it on the air nextweek. Got it, all right?
Murf Listen, we don't have asounder we're recording, so you know I
would love to hear Harry, rightnow, but we can't, so can
you believe it? Two things wefound interesting from this past week in Major
League baseball. Give me your firstone, all right, jose Al Twove.
I think we forget what a greatplayer Jose Al Twove is and has

(45:43):
been for the course of his career. Trash can what's that? Trash cans?
He's a great player, I know, and I and and and deservedly
so. He's a Hall of Famecaliber player. And he and another Mileston
this year. How about this fastestplayers to two thousand hits, two hundred
home runs, and two hundred stolenbases. Just those numbers in general are
pretty spectacular, but he is thefastest in Major League Baseball history. Did

(46:07):
it in sixteen hundred and thirty onegames. Willie Mays came in second on
that list, Alex Rodriguez, DataPinson and Ryan Sandberg. Is your top
five of guys that have two thousandhits, two hundred home runs, two
hundred stolen bases. I like it? Now, Listen, you might have
to help me out with this name, but I'm guessing it's Chanuel the Nolan.

(46:27):
Chanuel, the guy that made hismajor league debut last night. For
the Angels first basement. There yougo, all right, So last night
in the ninth inning, he isthe first player to be part of turning
a triple play in his major leaguedebut since our old pal South Fasano on
April third, nineteen ninety six.Courtesies Sarah Lanx, all right, yeah,

(46:49):
good old south Fasana. We seehim from time to time. Maybe
full Manshu. That's right, alsofrom Sarah Lanx. Give credit where credit
is due. This on Julio Rodriguezof the Mariners, the youngest player since
nineteen oh one with three straight fourhit games, three straight four hit games.

(47:09):
He's the first Mariner with three straightfour hit games in their history,
and one game shy of tying MiltStock from in nineteen twenty four at four
for most consecutive four hit games sincenineteen oh one. So we'll see if
he can do that on Sunday.But that's that's impressive, are you kiddings?
Twelve this and three days speaking tothe j Rod Show. Okay,

(47:30):
he became just a second player inAmerican or National League history to have twenty
home runs and twenty stolen bases ineach of his first two seasons. You
had this one a couple of weeksago. His opponent in which he did
it against was the only other playerto ever do it, Bobby Witt Junior.
Oh yeah, pretty cool, nobodyhad ever done it. And then
his span of like a week ortwo. Now you have Julio Rodriguez and

(47:52):
Bobby Witch Junior. So, Murph, we have Sunday Night baseball. Yes,
now Sunday at baseball. We hadthe Atlas Fish up this series against
the National's huge three beginning the partof a nine game homestand huge three games
set against the Giants day off,and then we had the St. Louis
Cardinals coming into town in the middlepart of that nine game homestand gotta keep

(48:15):
stacking. But may I know,listen, we gotta finish up on Sunda
Night baseball. We have to winthis series against the Nationals. But that
Giant series looms, and it loomslarge because it has a lot of ramifications
for us, and hopefully, listen, I don't like doing it, but
hopefully the Braves can can help usout by winning a series against the Giants
this weekend. Yeah. Absolutely,I mean, you know, at this

(48:35):
point, chances of the Phillies catchingthe Braves is pretty slim. So if
they can beat up on some ofthe teams that we're trying to catch,
you can bet in a couple ofweeks, do we see it? We
see Atlanta again, right, wedo twice twice. I think we sell
us seven games left. Yeah,you can bet that the rest of those
teams were hoping that Atlantic can canreturn the favor against the Phillies and give
them an opportunity to close from ground. So yeah, I got a root

(48:59):
for the Braves to be the Giants, got a root for the Phills obviously
to beat the Nationals and then turnyour focus to the fighting Gabe Kaplers as
you'd like to call them. Andlook, they're a team that beat beat
the Phillies three straight in San Francisco. So the Philly is gonna need to
sweep the series if they even wantto be in the conversation for a tie
breaker for the Walker. Now let'shope it not doesn't come to that,

(49:21):
but certainly it's nice to have inyour back pocket. So yeah, they've
got to play well. It's abig series, There's no doubt about it.
It's a big series. I hopethe Fills will play well. I
anticipate that they will and it shouldbe good. But first things first,
go out and beat the nets.So on Sunday they baseball partner are Prediam
making his work and for us tobe able to do this with recording on

(49:43):
Saturday night for the Sunday show,hope you'll all enjoyed it as always for
Greg Murphy, for super Sam Bradyfor helping us out with our stream yard
on Saturday evening, and for JohnJansen cutting this up and makes sure that
gets into the system for Sunday fromeleven and noon. I'm Chris Sacker,
Green Legion Radio, and like athree one pitch to Ryan Howard, we
are out of here. Philly's bigweek. Make it fun, but load

(50:05):
up the WS