Cincy 360 w/ Tony Pike & Austin Elmore -- 5/24/24

Today`s episode is live from the Holy Grail at the Banks. It is the Austin Elmore birthday bash and the last episode before Tony Pike`s highly anticipated participation in the Reading 3 on 3 tournament. Charlie Goldsmith joins the show to give a Reds and Bengals update. Tejay Antone discusses his recovery and the daily routine of pro baseball players. Joe Danneman talks about the Reds.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
To win one thousand dollars entered thisnationwide keyword on our website and Shackney,
that's shacky enter it. Now.This is Skyline Chile. Since he three
to sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,sponsored in part by Skyline Chile. Stuff
by Skyline Chili for a three wayor cheese coney today, feeling good,

(00:20):
it's Skyline time. This is ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Right it
is welcome in since he three sixtythe Friday edition on location there. It
is right here at the Holy Grailon ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station is
going to be a fantastic afternoon.We've got three hours coming up with you

(00:44):
right here. You've got plenty oftime to get down here to the Holy
Grail. And if you do betweennow and one o'clock, you can even
say hi to Charlie Goldsmith, who'salready here. Yes, he's got his
seat because he lives down here atthe Bach, so he has a seat
with his name on it right atthe Holy Grail. He's jo knucksall us
it is Yeah Evans, that's him. That's Charlie Goldsmith. He's already here.
He's ready. Uh, outside ofCharlie, We've got tj Antone that's

(01:06):
gonna stop by today and uh JoeDanoman, Yes, Box nineteen's Joe Danoman,
Uh is gonna be here as well. It's it's truly like a best
of edition of since he three tosixties. It really is. We just
go get our top guys and bringhim out to uh to the Holy Grail
and very excited about it. Beautifulday. Yeah, I mean, just
a perfect day to be down here. Dodgers in town. Lunch, Come
get some drinks. You might haveto drink a lot before you go watch

(01:30):
the Reds play, but man,I've already had one since he light Really
on the day already. It's anearly start. I didn't even see you
drink that. Yeah, it consumedquick, Okay, an early start for
me. We're of course going tothe ball game tonight. Yes, so
it is gonna be a long day. Dodgers are in town. We've got
a ton especially. We should saywe did reach out to show. Hey,

(01:51):
O, Tom, have not heardback from show? Heard back from
Show? Hey, I thought yousaid you saw him? I did.
He was at the casino last night. Gotcha is in town? The Dodgers
are in town, and this teamhas a lot to figure out, this
Reds team. We'll dive into allof that. Thank you again to the
fine folks at Holy Grail who rollout the red carpet here, and if

(02:14):
you come down here, there's actuallyfolks from Sincy Light here as well.
Yeah, there's a lot of SincyLight all over the place. You have
some a little bit on your shirt. It looks like from that drink you
had earlier. But yes, theenergy is good, and I just wish
that the baseball team across the streethad maybe helped with the energy. Yeah,
there's a lot we have to letlet's dive into last night's game to

(02:36):
start the show off, because asyou and I wrapped up, since he
three to sixty yesterday, it feltlike this team was moving towards another loss.
And then Nick Martini hits the tworun home run. Yeah, and
all of a sudden, it's extrainnings and you think, much like we
thought with the first game against SanDiego, is this something that can turn
it around? We said that againstthe Dodgers when they won Game one and

(03:00):
Elie proclaimed that La is his city. And then they went and they lost
the next three of the series.We continue to wait with the Cincinnati Reds
for something to be that moment wecan say, Okay, that's what switched,
or that's what flipped the switch.We've yet to do that. And
then maybe yesterday you think, okay, here's the Martini home run, win

(03:20):
this series against the Padres, godo something special against the Dodgers and the
Saint Louis Cardinals, and this teamis back in a different spot. Instead,
not only do they lose an extrainnings, they lose an extra innings
with arguably the best hitter on theteam not being used in Tyler Stevens.
And I'm not saying over the courseof one hundred and sixty two Tyler Stevenson's

(03:44):
the best hitter this team has.But right now, throw analytics, throw
whatever you want out. Tyler Stevensonhas seen the ball better than anyone on
this team. And yesterday we talkedabout the starting lineup, Mike Ford starting
as a DH over Tyler Stevenson,and then they went down with Mike Ford

(04:05):
as the DH and did not useTyler Stevenson. That to me was almost
malpractice in a sense that here itis something for the taking change the course
of the season, ignite this team. And Moe put it very well yesterday.
He said, you know, let'ssay the Bengals have a fourth down

(04:27):
and Joe Burrow throws a past theJamar Chase and it's incomplete. You can
live with that saying that was yourbest. If Joe Burrow no offense to
anyone else on this roster. IfJoe Burrow throws it past to Drew Sample
and it's incomplete, you would sayI had a pitch somebody. But you
would say, why didn't they godown with their best? You'd spin it
to UC basketball Gigsel James. Whydoes Gigsel James not get the last shot?

(04:50):
Why is it in someone else's handsyesterday? That's how I saw it.
If Tyler Stevenson bats and they lose, you at least say they went
down with their best. Su TylerStevenson didn't get off the bench yesterday.
Yeah, And you know, thisis the thing is that I'm trying to
figure out, is at what pointdoes this organization look and say we have

(05:10):
to do something different because it's notworking. You were built to have all
these guys on your team. They'renot here, They're either hurt or they're
suspended, or whatever it might be, they're not here. Now you have
to adjust your approach with the playersyou do have on the team. It's
like trying to put a square pegin a round hole. It's not working.
So at what point do you adjust? Now? David Bell made a

(05:31):
little bit of an adjustment, putsJacob Heartibes at the top of the lineup.
We've seen some good at bats fromJacob Hartibes, but can you continually
play matchup analytic baseball with Mike Fordon your team, with Nick Martini on
your team, with all these otherguys that are not really major league caliber
players, or can you say,listen, we're gonna try to put our

(05:53):
best players in the lineup every dayand give them a shot to get this
team right because the guys behind themare not good enough to go with our
current philosophy. Right, that's myquestion. At what point do you decide
to change? And after the game, David Bell basically said, yeah,
Tyler was ready all day, butwe just needed a couple more guys to
get on base before he would haveIt makes no sense. What And I

(06:16):
am a David Bell defender, Ireally like David Bell. I'm running out
of excuses to defend David Bell,because it's one thing if your guys are
hurt, Yes, but yesterday isa situation where you have an opportunity to
put your best player at the plate. Yep, do that and he didn't.
Yeah, Like I said, yourbest player hits, he doesn't get
a hit. Game over. We'rejust having a conversation today. But Hey,

(06:40):
the Reds came up short. Theylost another series. Yes, but
the way in which they lost that'sgoing to be the problem. Yes,
if that continues or we've had tohave the unfortunate conversation multiple times already this
year. Did it feel like DavidBell punted on that game? We asked
that going into the lineup yesterday andthen after the game again, it's not

(07:00):
Hey, Tyler Stevenson's dealing with anillness. Tyler Stevenson's dealing with a little
back. Like no, he wasready to go, he was available.
It is just maddening, Yes,maddening for the player that's playing the best
one to not be in the lineupwith a universal DH yes, and two
to not be used in either theninth or the tenth inning. Yesterday,
I think part of it, Ihim not being in the original starting lineup

(07:21):
was just David being like, hey, we've been really unlucky with a bunch
of injuries. I'm not gonna riskanother catcher getting injured yet because this injured,
because the team is playing great ball, They're just unlucky. No,
it it is for so much ofthe optimism that this season has built to

(07:41):
start this way, and to thinkjust over a month ago, this team
was sitting pretty good shape. Yeah, there were four games over four games,
over five hundred ten games on it, and we're saying, ah,
they're they're surviving and they're gonna getsome guys back from injury. Now they're
ten games under. They're spiraling inthe wrong direction. And here is this
season that was built on the premiseof so much optimism of this club,

(08:03):
this organization taking the next step.That step right now is going in the
wrong direction. And there is noElie day La Cruz or Spencer Steer or
Matt McClain to come up from TripleA this year and reignite this team.
Brett Kennedy, Brett Kennedy is backwith the team. So yes, yeah,
we could say that, but thereis not the spark plug that's waiting

(08:26):
to be brought up and say,oh, how long do you wait before
you bring this player up or thisplayer? They don't have that this year.
It tells me that's on David Bell. That's on how this roster has
been formed. And yes, tellme all you about, tell us about
the unluckiness, tell us about allthe guys that are hurt. Noelde Marte
been suspended. I understand all ofthat, but injuries are a part of

(08:50):
sports at any level, in anyprofession. You have got to work through
that. You've got to find waysto put successful, winning programs out there.
They've lost so many one run games. I also think, you know,
looking for that spark or looking forhow to fix it. There's no
real explanation on how to fix it, and there's no real hey, do

(09:11):
this and everything will change, whetherit's changing the lineup or whether it's bringing
somebody back or you know. Ithink a perfect example looking for the spark,
like you mentioned the team that wasjust here, the San Diego Padres.
They went out early and got LuisaRise, a guy who's won two
batting titles and had two four hitgames back to back against the Reds.
He hit homers, he had buntsingles, he had walks, he had

(09:33):
doubles, he did everything, andthe Padres looked around and said, hey,
we're not where we want to be. Let's go flip a couple of
mid level prospects for Luisa Rose.You think the Reds were having that conversation,
and if not, why weren't theycorrect and are they now? At
what point did they say, Okay, ten games under, we are going
to be getting TJ. Friedel backin a few weeks. We are going

(09:54):
to be getting Noel vi Marte backin a month, the schedule does open
up. Do they make a movenow they make a move? I think
that's a big question. I justit just you know, you don't want
to make a move to the pointright now where you're panicking saying we got
to do something. Then you overpayfor somebody and this stuff continues. It
just feels like to me that thisis a team that has lost confidence.

(10:16):
Like someone posted yesterday a photo oflast year the guys in the dugout after
a home run and everyone's celebrating andhappy. It doesn't feel like this team
has that right now. And Iget that there's guys not here. But
so much of what this team wasbuilt on last year was just a likable
bunch. How much time we spendlast year talking about red are just a

(10:39):
likable team, not just here inCincinnati, but across Major League Baseball.
People were talking about the Reds becausethe style in which they play, and
they have a likable team right now. That style again, we said yesterday,
you can't steal bases when you don'tget on base, I can't steal
first. They give away outs.They've given a way outs on the base
pass, they've given a way outon the defensive side of the ball.

(11:00):
And what is alarming to me,one your former All Star closer has not
looked the part this year. FernandoCruz has been up and down, and
they have wasted outside of maybe andI don't even think Montos was terrible yesterday,
but think of the outings that theyhave wasted over this last month.
A lot of quality starts, qualitystarts, guys going six innings, seven

(11:24):
innings and not seeing a win,the one run losses. Everything is adding
up for this Reds team. Andhere come the Dodgers, and then here
comes the NL Central James Paxton.Tonight here comes. So it doesn't get
any easier. And I know,again the schedule does lighten up, but
for all purposes right now, thisteam needs a spark and and and if

(11:48):
it's not a player, it's gotto be a manager. And yeah,
to kind of wrap up the pointon David Bell as well, and I've
said this before. When the thingsthat are controllable about your team you're not
doing very well, who else isthere to blame but the manager? When
you're making dumb decisions on whose ball, whether it's the right fielders of the
center fielders in the outfield, andyou can't figure that out when you are

(12:11):
getting thrown out on the base passwith stupid place, when you're calling a
delayed steal, double steal of homewith jam or Candelario in the first inning
or whatever it was. I couldlive with La getting thrown out because he's
that's who it is that I mean, that tells me you're getting desperate,
and desperation should not be an excusefor poor decision making. You have to

(12:35):
remain the same. And I'm startingto worry about the culture. We talk
about culture a lot, right,We talked about it with the guys down
the street and Zach Taylor, well, I think a lot of people owed
Zach Taylor an apology. I wouldlove to apologize to David Bell. But
when Nick Martinez says yesterday says,oh, we're playing great, we're just
unlucky, what planet are you on? And if that's the message, if
that's the message to the team,keep doing what you're doing, keep playing

(12:58):
great, everything's gonna be okay,well, then David Bell needs to really
re evaluate what he's trying to establishin the club house. I thought the
comment of Nick Martinez I mentioned onthe air yesterday was unfair to Cincinnati fans.
I thought it was almost a slapin the face to say, hey,
we're playing great ball, we're justunlucky. I mentioned that on the
show yesterday. What we did inthat end is what you just mentioned,

(13:20):
is that the message that they're receivingbehind closed doors, because that's what we've
heard from David Bell the few timeswhen we've heard him speak of, you
know, we're getting close, we'llcome around. If that's the same message
that's being relayed behind those doors,that's an issue. I don't because the
message should be it's time to wakeup. It's time to start carrying yourselves

(13:41):
like professionals and not carry yourself ina sense of everything's okay, we're gonna
come out of this, because it'snot. You're dead last in the NL
Central, you got the third worstrecord in all the National League, and
you have a team and a cityfull of optimism at least going into the
year, and now it again,it feels like it's caven in the wrong

(14:03):
direction. I'm worried about the culture. I'm worried about the messages that are
being shared. If a player isgoing to come out and say everything's good,
We're playing great ball, because thatcan't be the answer. And I
know that David Bell has a toughjob, and I know that there's a
bunch of guys out there that hedidn't plan on, you know, trying
to make lineups for I get that, but I want to see David throw

(14:24):
a chair when one of his playersmakes a stupid decision. Correct. I
want to see David throw a chairwhen there's a bad throw from Elie de
la Cruz to first base that resultsin a run. I don't want to
see him throw a chair when oneof his players gets hit. Just because
they've been unlucky. I want youto get pissed off when they're playing poorly.
Send a message that way. Youdon't even have to directly do it
at them, but hey, throwa chair in the dugout to show your

(14:46):
frustration. Not that that's going tofix anything, but at least it shows
me there's something other than just keepdoing what you're doing. It would in
turn probably send a better message tothe fan base as well. Right,
And at this point, you haveto send better messages to the the fan
base. Right now. We've mentioneda long time that there is that teetering
moment of anger or man, weneed this team to play better too.

(15:09):
Eh, what the RDS do yesterday? I didn't watch, right, that's
what you don't want to go downthat path. I mean, I just
don't want to start counting down untiltraining camps. Said it yesterday, and
we're two months away till training camp, right, And again a month ago
we're talking about how well this teamhas done to stay afloat. Yeah,
four games over five hundred, rightwhere they need to be, and they're

(15:30):
gonna start getting guys healthy. Well, here's the thing. We got all
the negative out of the way allright, optimistic, We're gonna go optimistic.
It's a beautiful day. How canthe Reds turn this got a home
weekend series against one of the bestteams in baseball? How can the Reds
turn it around? There's fireworks Friday, there's a city connect Friday. Wow,
we're at the Holy Grail at theBanks. Yes, we've got a

(15:52):
bunch of people here wearing Sincy shirts. Kevin's got a shirt with my face
on it. Incredible, and yourfaces on there as well. Yeah,
there's gonna be a lot of peoplecoming in between now and three o'clock.
Charlie Goldsmith is here, TJ andTone is coming. We're gonna talk to
mo Egger later for our normal quickHits and Locks of the Night segment.
From here on out, Tone Positive. It's positivity, okay, and the

(16:12):
Reds are gonna be back. Ijust saw Charlie not a not along,
So Charlie's ready to be positive.Charlie's ready for that. It's nothing better
than being live somewhere because you canget some immediate feedback of what you're saying.
Yeah, this fella right here islike these guys are Yeah, they
have no idea as opposed to likenormal when you're talking to a wall and
is anyone even listening to this?It's good to know that people are listening.

(16:33):
The immediate feedback can be confusing,but also yeah, inspiring. There
are there are people here, there'ssigns here with Cincy light. Yes,
I'm not gonna tell you what youhave to do, but I'd have a
sensy light if I were to showup here today. Okay, that's what
I'm having. We're gonna have alot of fun between now and three o'clock
at Sincy three to six. Areyou forgetting anything? I don't know.
Okay, I don't know if you'veforgot anything. Oh, happy birthday,

(16:57):
Happy part Austin's birth seventeen minutes intothe show. We'll celebrate that, sure,
all day to day, all nighttonight. I'll throw out a first
pitch at some point. Opening Daytwo is tonight, Yes, Opening Day
two, new season starts today.I like that. There we go.
I like that. Since he threeto sixty, now I can say we'll
be back on ESPN fifteen thirty CincinnatiSports Station Live at the Holy Grail and

(17:22):
fifteen thirty Martini Swings. Lunch isone high and deep to right, going
back Peralta, he looks up andis gone. Nick Martini ties it up
a two run, glassed out ofhere to write, we're even at four.
That's why I mentioned the five homeruns in the eighteen innings per Nielle

(17:45):
Delos Santos, because he is proneto the long bowl. That's what it
sounded like yesterday, Tony Win.Nick Martini went deep the first time the
Reds I fit a home run witha runner on base. Since April twenty
seventh, the worm has officially turnedwatch out and the home runs are gonna

(18:07):
start pouring out of this ballpark.From the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day two tonight
against the Los Angeles Dodgers, theBig Maple James Paxton has no idea what's
coming when Stuart's Fairchild and company stepin that box tonight. Well, before
we get to any of that,I'll tell you this is since he three
to sixteen. We're broadcasting today fromthe Holy Grail. Yes, then fifteen

(18:27):
thirty. If you if you're nothere yet, make it here before three
o'clock. Yes, you got twoand a half hours. I would expect
that at some point today they cancelfirework Friday because they use all the fireworks
during the game. Oh I likethat that many home runs, got nothing
left for the night. Yeah,I like that idea because they're gonna stay.
They're gonna send a message tonight.Can't even begin to forecast what the

(18:49):
lineup's gonna look like, but I'mgonna assume it's power, sure, power,
confidence, speed, speed, intelligence. They're gonna put a ton of
pressure on James Paxton from the firstinning on. It's gonna be a test
to see what we can do overthe next two plus hours. Do you're
finding positives? But we're going totry it. Do you remember last year

(19:11):
when all these young guys were here, and I know not all of them
are here right now, but thething was, they're not They're not afraid
of the big moments. They're notafraid at Dodger Stadium. They won the
series in LA last year. They'renot a series against the Phillies this year.
Yeah, they won the season serieswith the Phillies, who can beat
everybody except the Reds. It seemslike, yes, but they don't worry

(19:33):
about the moment. I do thinkthere's been times this year where it feels
like they are pressing, and theyare feeling the pressure, and maybe that's
because some of those guys aren't here, and maybe they miss Matt McClain who's
been out in California and Arizona andeverything getting ready. Maybe that's part of
it as well. But I dowonder if that's still in there, and
maybe tonight is a chance for themat home against the Dodgers, who they

(19:55):
played really tough for those three games. They had one game kind of got
out of hand, but the threegame they had in La last weekend.
You know, I thought they playedwell in those games, or the four
games, I should say they playedthem tough they did. I mean,
you're gonna run into games against aWalker Bueller where you can't get anything because
you're gonna play really good pitching.The problem is they've wasted so much of

(20:18):
that pitching themselves. As we talkedabout earlier, someone positive so much of
the conversation though, is Matt McClainand TJ. Friedel. It's gonna take
more than those guys, though,for this team to reach its ultimate goal,
of course, and that means theplayers on the roster right now have
to start playing better. That's thatis undeniable. I absolutely agree with you.
What's positive? Tell me a positive. Hunter Green's been pretty good.

(20:41):
He has, Yeah, he has. He pitches tomorrow now, tonight,
last week, Graham Ashcraft pitch.Last week or two weeks ago? You
said on air I wouldn't walk acrossthe street to see Graham Ashcraft pitch.
Yes, and today yeah, youin fact will walk across the street from
the Holy Grail to see Graham Asscraftpitch tonight. Yeah, yeah, that's

(21:03):
true. You know, life hasa funny way of working at Graham Malley.
Is that what you said? Icalled him Graham Malley. The guys
loves to throw a lot of pitchesand get very little results. Yeah uh
so, yeah I did say that, and today I have to eat my
words. Man. Look here here'sthe theist adult. We know what Mike
Ford and Nick Martini and Luke Maleyare going to be as big leaguers.

(21:30):
Sure they are borderline should they beon a on a roster type players.
But this team does still have Eliede la Cruz. Yes, they still
have Spencer Steer. Yes. WillBenson is a guy that throughout spring training
I thought was going to Oh mygod, I have a huge season.
I was ready to I was readyto build the Will Benson statue. Where's

(21:52):
the Will Benson swagger and confidence fromlast year? Which happened on a home
game against the Dodgers, Yes,a walk off homer. Where is that
Will Benson? Where is you wantto talk about a guy whose confidence is
lost? Jonathan India, Well,Jonathan India is one of those guys as
well. Will Benson, I thinkis striking out fifty just under fifty percent

(22:15):
of the time he comes to theplate. But Ellie Steer, Benson,
Jonathan India, right, Tyler Stevenson, If you're going to turn this around
and survive, uh huh, whichthey are now on the back leg here
of this tough may schedule. Surethe schedule lightens up in June. If
they're going to survive until guys gethealthy, until guys come back from suspension,

(22:41):
the players that I just named aregonna have to step up. Well.
So far this season, it's beenSpencer Steer goes on a tear,
everybody else is cold, Ellie dela Cruz goes on a tear, everybody
else is cold. Tyler Stevenson goeson a tear, everybody else is cold.
If one other guy in that lineupstarts to hit pretty well, things
can change pretty quickly, especially whenthe pitching has been as good as it
has been. So if at anypoint over the next month they can have

(23:04):
two guys hitting two fifty out orI mean, I know that's a very
low bar, but if they canhave two guys hitting two sixty or consistently
getting on base, what can thatdo for you? I mean, yesterday
they struck out sixteen times. You'renot gonna win any games striking out sixteen
times. They have to be betterat putting the bat on the ball,
and they have the players in thelineup that can do that, but they

(23:26):
have to to get those strikeouts down. But I would ask that in return,
you mentioned knowing what the schedule is, knowing where this team is,
do you go out and try tomake a move. Making a move right
now, in my opinion, woulddo exactly what bringing up in Elie de
la Cruz last year did. Itwould be enough to spark maybe the clubhouse,

(23:48):
maybe the fan base to say,Okay, I know the organization's all
in, and I know it hasn'tbeen picture perfect because guys have been hurt
in different things. But if youdo try to jolt this locker room and
you add another bat, a consistentbat, would that be enough to help
everyone else around? Because you seeit, I see it. Everyone that

(24:11):
watches the game of baseball can seeit. It's not the same team.
It's not the same team. Theway they carry themselves, it's not the
same team. The way they haveless confidence in what they're doing. That's
evident offensively, defensively, and allaround. So what is the formula?
That's where a nick crawl, That'swhere a David Bell has to find a

(24:33):
way instead of just sitting there onyour hands and saying, well, we're
gonna get guys back eventually, anduntil then, you know what, we're
playing great baseball. We're just unlucky. So how do you approach it?
Then? As a fan? Howdo you approach this stretch? If you
are somebody who loves this team andsomebody that was had very high expectations for
this team, and now they haven'tmet it met them and they're ten games

(24:56):
under five hundred, and the excitementthat you felt is really kind of dwindling,
how do you approach the next coupleof months? You know, the
hard thing about that question is whenwe talk about that in terms of the
Bengals, we would go back tothe equity that the organization has built over
the last couple of years. Right, This team went on a twelve game
winning streak last year. Without thattwelve game winning streak, which is hard

(25:19):
to do in baseball, how differentis the conversation around the Cincinnati resus.
You know what would have happened.They would have finished ten games under five
hundred, correct, without a twelvegame winning streak in June. Yeah,
this team is a sub or aten game under five hundred team. Yeah,
sub five hundred team. That isthe jarring piece, And twelve game

(25:41):
winning streaks don't just happen every dayin baseball. They took the baseball world
by storm last year in that winningstreak. Are you hoping for that?
Why did I believe so much inthis team? Because I think a lot
of people did. The pieces werethere and what we thought we assumed everyone
in paper it made six. Everyoneis gonna take the year two jump the

(26:02):
development and that's the question. Thedevelopment right now is my biggest concern because
say what you want about this yearand turning it around, this year.
I'm talking about next year and theyear after. If you're not properly developing
these players, and you're not properlydeveloping these young hitters, watch out,
yeah, because it goes from badto worse. So I would like to

(26:25):
rely on the young talent and thesolid pitching and say, Okay, that's
how they're gonna turn it around.But I don't have I'm not going to
place in any bets on that becauseof what I'm seeing every day. Well,
the good news is the year twojump starts tonight. Yes. Opening
Day two, Yes, happens tonightat Great American Ballpark between the Reds and

(26:45):
the Dodgers. It's gonna be fantastic. It will be an awesome atmosphere for
sure. And now, like Iexpect a pack packed house always, if
you're going to start going on arun, this would be a great time
because you look across the state thiscity. Schools are out now, school's

(27:06):
out, a lot of last daystoday, a lot of people, Okay,
what are we gonna do. Let'sgo down to the ballpark. Let's
go check out a game. Youwant to go down and see a winning
product. This would now be agood time to get that started. I
hear you. Do you want totake us to break? I'll take us
to a break. He's Tony Pike. I'm Austin Homore. This is since
he three sixty. We are liveat the Holy Grail at the Banks now
until three pm as we get setfor a beautiful night here by the river.

(27:33):
Reds Dodgers coming up later tonight aswell. You're listening to the Home
of the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty.Hey, Alexa, who's on the DL?
Getting ESPN is fifteen thirty from iHeartRadio. Budwiseera is prop. What's going
on in the NFL? Getting ESPNis fifteen thirty from iHeartRadio. All right,

(27:56):
here we go, Welcome back sixtythree to sixty ESBN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station, Live live atthe Holy Grail, right down here at
the banks. We're here till threeo'clock. Gorgeous day outside. Just opened
our first drink, Well, yourfirst drink, my second. This is
the first you get, Austin,I got a Sinci light. This is

(28:17):
the first sip me too. Thisis the first sip of alcohol I have
had today. I'm kind of surprised. I made it to twelve thirty seven
man to be completely honest with you, but from here on out, who
knows what's gonna be. You're afan of since He Light. Oh,
I love since You Light. It'svery good. Also, you're a fan
of supporting the Bearcats. Yes,I want. I want the Bearcats to
do well. You know there's abig misconception out there about me that I

(28:40):
hate the UC Bearcats. So youlike better? You see your Xavier.
I don't. I honestly don't haveone or the other. If you mean
you had to pick, if Ihad to pick, yes, this isn't
a political rally up here. Youcan't be the right down in the middle.
Just because I work with you,I'd probably say, you see,
if I had to pick, allright, yeah, it will be I
fear what would happen to me ifI otherwise Completely off the topic of the

(29:02):
Reds right now. As of rightnow, by a lot of accounts,
you see Xavier are both kind ofseen as top twenty teams going into next
year. Yeah, it was.Jean Millers had a really good offseason.
Wes Miller just saided Dylan Mitchell.It's really good work by both teams here.
In Cincinnati that missed out on theNCAA tournament, Like, well,
you know what, Ton, there'sno offseason tournament. We can you can

(29:26):
hang a banner for winning the offseason. But John's gotta translate. Yeah,
but I saw John Fanta said thatXavier's a top twenty five team.
He said it. John Rothstein saidthat you see Xavier a top twenty five.
So we're gonna celebrate off seasons now, yeah, what else were we
going to celebrate? We're ten gamesunder five hundred right here. Bengals don't
start for months. Yeah, SeanMiller's done some work. Oh yeah,

(29:48):
Dylan Mitchell, I think it wouldbe really cool if both teams actually made
the tournament at the same time.You see, he's got more five stars
than Kentucky. And right now Ialmost can't remember what it felt like,
do you see. It's the firsttime the Bearcats have had a McDonald's All
American in while a long time.It's a while. I just miss Dylan
Mitchell coming in. I miss Marchmadness when the local teams are playing at

(30:11):
normally it's just n KU and Xavierthat make it, and uh yeah,
and then we go fair. Whatto do from there. You see,
I'm just trying to find optimism,right, Yes, Cincinnati optimism. The
Bengals camp right around the corner acouple of months. You know, our
guy Marcus from the grove is here. He's got his UK gear on,

(30:32):
he's had The Cats are playing inthe big or the SEC tournament. Baseball.
They're playing well baseball, big gameagainst Arkansas last night. Xavier had
a tough one yesterday. You see, had a tough one yesterday. Yeah,
but at least UK played well.Yeah, anything local where we're a
melting pot of all these teams.We're trying to cling the positives today.
Yes, so we've got clinging topositive good off seasons from a college standpoint,

(30:56):
Yes, Scott Saderfield seems to havethings moving in a positive direction.
I see Nick crawl across the street. Nick is getting prepared for a big
matchup tonight. Nick is I gotsome questions. I got some questions for
Nick as well. Man, Ithink should I have yelled at him?
See if maybe he'd come over,Nick Nja. Nick got some got some
questions. Nick. If you canhear us come back, he probably wouldn't

(31:18):
like that very much. No offensebut with the way the breaks are set
up, I wouldn't bump Charlie toget Nick in here. I wouldn't either,
So actually I might just give Charliethe headset let him interview Nick.
Wow, that might be better.Now that's a show. I mean that
guy, I mean there's actually he'sa real reporter like us. We just
kind of talk about it. Maybewe could let for the next like one
to one thirty, Charlie just hostslike a live Charlie's chalkboard. We should

(31:42):
have arranged some sort of a chalkboard, yes, for him to do that.
We have a Charlie Goldsmith and TJAntone that are gonna be here on
our number two. Now, howare you gonna be tough on TJ?
In tone? Or are you gonnawe both have gone through injury battles.
You guys are brothers. We're brothersin that sense the elbows, and so
I'm gonna reach out the hand toCharlie or to TJ. All right,

(32:07):
fair enough, And joe Daniman's gonnastop by Joey d all between now and
in three o'clock for tonight. Yes, if if this is the night where
things turned back around for declaring it. It starts because of what it starts,
because of Elie de la Cruz puttingthis team on his back. He

(32:29):
is a bona fide superstar. He'sone of the most talked about players in
Major League Baseball. He's inconsistent,yes, but the Reds need him to
step up. Last year, ithappened iconic on a Friday night in the
midst of the wind streak City ConnectJerseys. He hit for the cycle.
YEP. I need him to dosomething crazy tonight. We made his major
league debut around this time last yearagainst the Los Angeles Dodgers. A little

(32:52):
later on the season, but againstthe Los Angeles Dodgers, he played great
in that series. I need Elliede la Cruz to step up and the
way that he did last year andthe way that he did for a good
part of the the first part ofthis season and be the guy and say
everybody else get on my back.Do you think the Dodgers would win like
one hundred and sixty games if theydidn't have to play the Reds. Uh?
Maybe it was between Reds and theRockies. Yeah, I mean Ellie

(33:15):
has said he owns that city.Yeah. Yeah, Now, following that
up that coming up with an overthirteen streak doesn't help. Yeah, that's
not great. Uh but no,I I'm with you. It will be
centered around Ellie Da La Cruz becauseif you want to do things, your
best players have to show up.But for me, you know what,
I gotta have a thought here ton. There's a couple of Dodgers fans here.

(33:37):
Yeah, some Dodger blue has arrived, which is unfortunate. Thanks for
coming out though, Yeah, thanksglad you guys are here. Uh do
you count the World Series in twentytwenty as a as a world series for
them? Yes? You do?Yeah, Mickey Mouse World Series. Yeah,
I mean they get a ring.I would have had a parade.
Yeah, if there were the Reds, I would have had a parade.
Yeah, shure it was COVID.Yeah, but all right, we'd had

(33:57):
a virtual parade. Yeah. Howcome they never seemed to just go over
the top. You know, hewin like one hundred and fifteen games,
but they can't win unless it's asixty games. This year is probably the
most pressure that that franchise has beenunder to win a title. We talk
a lot. It's the last yearwith Otani before he has a lifetime ban.
Yeah, with the gambling, you'reright. I asked Mo yesterday,

(34:20):
do the Celtics have to win atitle or the seasons of disappointment? He
said yes, Yeah. I wouldsay the same thing about the Dodgers.
I think that's been that way forthe Dodgers for the last six or seven
years. The team that is assembledin LA, it's World Series or bust.
Especially now the Braves have gone throughinjuries. Yeah, they're missing key
pieces to that lineup. The Philliesare scary right now, the best record

(34:40):
in all the baseball. Phillies arefun. But the way you're built,
if you're the Dodgers, it isWorld Series or bust. I will I'll
add to your comment. And hejust so happens to be pitching tonight.
This offseason, there was so muchmade about the Reds rotation, and everyone
would say Hunter Green, Nickelodolo andGraham ash Graham Ashcraft. Anytime in the

(35:01):
all season we talk about the Redspitching, it brings with it. Graham
Asscraft always got thrown into that three. And then Opening Day came and Mantassa
is your starter? Yeah, Andthen it was Green and then Lodolo's out
and then it's just been man.Andrew Abbott's been phenomenal. Graham Asscraft is
that odd man out right now fromwhere the expectations were to how he's produced.

(35:27):
It would be nice if this teamis going to turn things around.
Yes, they obviously need to starthitting. It'd be nice for Graham Ashcraft
to go seven innings to night.And it's not like Graham Ashcraft has been
bad. He hasn't been bad.It's just there's been so much left on
the table yep. For Graham Ashcraft. He just hasn't ever been dominant put
it all together. And everybody talksabout how nasty his stuff is, but

(35:49):
it's never dominance from Graham Ashcraft.And I think that's what a lot of
people want to see, is himkind of take that next step and run
through a lineup a couple of timesover, instead of working so hard and
maybe not having control over those pitchesbecause of how filthy they are, being
able to consistently throw them for strikesbig part of it. Thankfully, Hunter
Green's taking a step forward. Nicolodolohurt as always, but has been productive

(36:14):
when he's healthy. And Andrew Abbot'sawesome. Yeah, he is. Uh,
he's been phenomenal. Maybe tonight againsta Dodgers team that couldn't even score
a run against the Diamondbacks the otherright, right, Yeah, maybe Graham
Asscraft can get things going and uhand start opening day two point zero?
How excited? How excited are youas a baseball fan to see sho hey

(36:34):
Otani? Though? A lot likeI'm actually hyped about that? Yeah,
I want to Let's let's break,let's come back, let's finish the hour
with We've had the conversation before aboutseeing greatness. Yeah, if you're still
deciding to come to the game tonightor tomorrow or this weekend show, hey
is enough reason? Show is enoughto buy a ticket? Yeah? And
Jacob heurtabes, we'll get to thatand more when we get back. Since

(36:55):
he three to sixty live at theHoly Grail, he'll till Grail here till
three Cincy Lights already hitting ESPN fifteenthirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Yeah,
Hey, Alexa, what's going onin baseball? Getting ESPN fifteen thirty from
iHeartRadio. Welcome back, cinty threesix The ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

(37:21):
Live right here, at the HolyGrail. We're already at the banks,
heading into the ball game tonight.Charlie Goldsmith, tj Antna coming up
in our number two. Yes,Joe Daneman, Mowager will join us virtually
yes in our number three. Virtuallyno, digitally, digitally for Mowager,
audibly, audibly for Maurice Ager.We still got a lot to go.

(37:44):
You just gotta treat because you gotto hear some of the inside I'm scouting.
You never shut up about this MemorialDays. I am already scouting my
Memorial Day three on three tournament,which now seeing Charlie down here, I
should have got Charlie. Charlie isa certain bucket. He's a bucket.
You know. This is one ofthe things. You know, if you
have heard the term ick it,it's been going around a lot. Yeah,
you and I. One of theX that you give me, Yeah,

(38:06):
is this time of the year.You never shut up about that tournament
three. Yeah, it's a bigtime tournament. You know, your brother
Devin, who is a champion,multi time champion, Yeah, lives rent
free in your head because you can'tseem to win a little bit different this
year. Let's say I just happenedto be officiating his wedding next weekend,
right, I may not do thatif he decides to win the champions,
didn't say on the air yesterday,and you would not marry your brother,
which I was. I was happyto hear that. Yes, yeah,

(38:29):
out a lot of people that wouldbe a little bit strutting with it before
we get the show him. Kay, there's one thing I gotta say.
Yeah, you know, we allknow it's a big day in the tri
State that your birthday, world,but it's not just my birthday, Tony.
It's also the birthday of the CincinnatiBengals. Wow. It was on
this date fifty seven years ago,Wow, where Paul Brown signed the papers

(38:51):
and made it official that the Bengalswere joining the AFL. Copy birthday.
So happy birthday to the Cincinnati Bengalsand to Austin and primarily the Bengals because
Tone, we are the official homeof the Bengals here on ESPN. That's
right. Speaking of the Bengals,Joe Burrow is the type of player that
makes you want to go to thestadium and see him play absolutely home away,

(39:14):
whatever it may be. Shoe HayoTani is one of those players as
well. For sure, I hada chance. I'm not even a huge
Lebron guy. I had a chanceto go see Lebron. I did it
because how often can you say,I get you to see Lebron play.
We mentioned that with Mike Trout andthe Angels of Trout coming into town.
You mentioned Tom Brady a couple ofyears ago, came into Cincinnati. You

(39:36):
go just because you get a chanceto see in person what greatness is for
people that don't realize or know orfollow along. I know it's wis West
Coast, It's different. Shoe Hayotaniright now is doing things in the game
of baseball that no one does.Yeah one, because he's not pitching this
year, but he does both.Well think about that too. As good

(39:58):
as their pitching has been, theydon't even need him to pick correct he's
been in but he's leading in battingaverage, like he's in the most run
Yeah, he's he's been so goodhe is worth the price of going to
the ballpark and seeing him over thecourse of the weekend. And I do
think that because of everything that's goneon with show Hey and obviously being in
the city of Cincinnati, probably specialfor him to be in the land of

(40:21):
Pete Rose with all that's going on, and imagine a special connection for Reds
fans uh to show hey Otani muchlike they have with Pete Rose. You
know, if you are at somepoint today, tomorrow, Sunday, gonna
come down, gotta come to theHoly Grail fo oh yes, absolutely.
And if you're coming to the HolyRail, I'm not gonna force her what
you have to do. But ifyou're wondering what Austin and I are doing,

(40:42):
Austin's got a since he light ondraft, I've got a SINCEI light
out of the can. These cansare sweet. You know what my Memorial
Day plans are. Since he lightI'm gonna throw some darts with my crew.
That's the plan. Okay, yeah, okay, all right, we've
got Charlie. We can't make sureCarly wait any longer. He's on deck.
Is he here? Yeah? Wheredo you go? It's probably outside

(41:04):
having a cigarette. He's nervous.His nervous. Charlie doesn't smoke. I
don't, just thinking. So we'llbe here. Charlie is here when we
get back. Tj Antona's here.At one point thirty Joe Daniman is here,
coming up, all still ahead,since he three to sixty right here
on ESPN fifteen thirty from the HolyGrail, Cincinnati Sports Station, ESPN fifteen

(41:25):
thirty, Cincinnati of ell Now yourchance to win one thousand dollars. Enter
this nationwide keyword on our website.Bank that's bank. Enter it now.
This is Cinci Shirts, since hethree sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored
in part by Cinci Shirts. CincyShirts all Cincy, all day. This

(41:47):
is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati SportsStation. All right, our number two
since he three sixty the Holy Grailedition on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Our two is the service of ourgood friends at Cincy Shirts. They'll
be at the Taste of Cincinnati allweekend. They've got the Ellie Verse show,

(42:08):
Hay Tease, Let's go Ellie VerseShow. Hey also a twenty percent
off Memorial Weekend UH sale both onlineand in stores. So the stars are
out already, Austin. We're gettingready to talk to one of them.
Chase Wolf is here, and hisdad is here. Chase Wolf and his
dad are here, but more importantly, right now, Charlie Goldsmith is with

(42:29):
us. Charlie, Yes, herewe go. Here's a round of applung.
Yeah, now they're awake. Nowwe're talking a little bit different for
you though, you were saying foryou to come on in this setting.
Sure. Yeah, I have aheadset, you have a headset. We're
not talking on the phone. Wesee each other. Yes, got a
lot of feedback from me in thefirst hour based on you know, our

(42:50):
Reds conversation. What you agree with, what maybe you disagree with? What?
Where are you at right now?Because the optimism for much of training
camp and we would check in eachand every Friday, was at an all
time high. And then somehow somewaywith all the injuries and the suspensions,
they're four games over five hundred andyou think, okay, they're piecing this

(43:10):
together. Wait till they get healthy. And now you flash forward today they're
ten games under five hundred. Wheredo you stand on this ball club?
Yeah, look at kind of twodifferent things they need. First, it's
kind of a group of four FrayleyBenson, India Steer. Those are four
pieces of the corps who were invery important places in the lineup, who
aren't playing as well as they expectwho aren't playing as well as the Reds

(43:32):
expected, as they're counting on themto all very individually in different places adjustments.
They're all kind of in the worstslump of their career. Their heads
just need those guys to play betterthan the other side of it is.
As bad as the twenty twenty twored season was, they were terrible.
That team found Freyly, they foundFreedo, they found Dreary, they found
half their bullpen that year. TheReds obviously have all these guys, so

(43:54):
they didn't expect, but they haven'thit on any of them yet. And
the key, you know, oneof the keys of building it team is
having that depth that you can hiton one or two of those guys.
They need to find those guys prettyquickly. What did you make yesterday of
the comments and the decisions I did, I'm the next game that I were

(44:14):
ever managing baseball would be my first. Obviously, what David Bell is dealing
with and going through is different.And I know analytics play a big role
and how the roster is assembled.Yesterday we watched this team lose while their
best hitter right now, Tyler Stevenson, was available. According to David Bell,

(44:35):
just not in a setting where theythought to go to him. What
did you make of the usage?Because we see this a lot of Tyler
Stevenson when he plays, when hedoesn't, there's a universal DH. Now,
what did you make of the waythings unfolded yesterday? So, like
compared to football, like we knowsome coaches run, you know, West
Coast offense versus whatever style of offense, it's much harder in baseball to identify

(44:57):
like specific tendencies that one manager willdo in another won't. David Bell is
very much a guy who when aguy has a day off, it has
to be the moment with runners onbase to you know, to put that
guy like Stevenson in. Now,that's not what I do. There are
managers who do it like David.There are managers who don't. That's just
gonna be different for everyone across theleague. There have been a lot of
games like that where, like Iremember, randomly, they played the Mets

(45:17):
in twenty twenty one and Costianos wason the bench and he was only available,
threads were down a run with thego ahead runner on base, and
and well why not use him?An a tai game like that's just how
David bell A purchase it, andthat's fair, that's valid, that's his
style of play. I'd have probablydone it differently. Other managers would do
it differently. Other managers would doit like David. And that's kind of
one of those areas you see amanager really impact how a team looks.

(45:38):
But at what point does your approachchange because your team is nine games under
five hundred and nothing's going right,you don't have half your team, you're
not healthy, you're not hitting.At what point do you change your approach?
They they may change it, right, they'll the lineup's change it constantly.
They're looking for new guys, they'researching stuff. You're seeing them go
further and further in that direction.So next time do they pitch at Tyler

(45:59):
Stevenson. I think it's probably muchmore of a conversation considering how this season
looks to be trending. If ifthere is reason to say, Okay,
they're going to figure it out,there's reason for optimism. What does that
path look like for you? Otherthan saying getting guys back from injury,
getting guys back and having guys playingbetter. Here's what's interesting too. Have
been having a lot of conversations,like a lot of check ins almost around

(46:21):
there on the team, around theclubhouse, like there, and guys have
told me this. They're acting likethey're a good team, which is good.
Like if the Braves had a youknow, a month where they went
four and sixteen, they probably wouldhandle it like the Reds are now and
that now the Reds aren't the brainsand that's probably where that disconnect you're seeing.
The Reds don't quite have the marginfor air to make up for how

(46:43):
they you know, the poor levelthey're playing at, just because they haven't
accomplished anything yet there there's much lessreason to think it'll turn. But everyone
continues to just like they really dothink they're handling it the right way.
They haven't panicked, they haven't youknow, started to really press on the
gas and see that gas levels startto drop more towards empty. The consistency

(47:04):
helps when you're a good team.Another question is, I guess, are
the Reds a good team? That'swhat we're still figuring out to the point
you just made. Should it bethat way? Should this team be as
comfortable as they are at ten gamesunder five hundred or should they be pushing
that pedal a little more and showingmaybe a little bit more of the urgency
instead of, Hey, we're playinggreat baseball, we're just unlucky. Should

(47:25):
that still be the message that thisteam is sending. I think you're starting
to see more of that too,Like David Bell through a chair. Yeah,
and that's a sign, right,Like from a message, from a
postgame perspective, from an approach,you have the message that the players and
the coaching staff have been consistent with. But then ultimately, you know,
someone told me we're allowed to getmad too, And there is the understanding
and the recognition and the urgency andthe frustration of the reality where the Reds

(47:51):
are in. That's why you're startingto see them start to make some more
changes. And I bet if thisslide goes on for much longer, you'll
see some more aggressives. A momentago, Charlie, Nick Krawl walks by
and we kind of jokingly yelled athim. But if he would have come
over here and would have allowed usto ask him a question, what question
would you have asked, Nick?Carl It's a good question. How do

(48:13):
you balance here? It is howdo you balance like the Red's last year
prioritize developments. How is this teamprioritizing developmental decisions versus you've got to win
a game today decisions like, forexample, if say, like Nick Martini
might on paper be hitting a littlebetter than Will Benson against left handed pitching.
Right now, if you're manager orif you're building this team, are

(48:35):
you giving those at bats to theguy who might not be as much a
part of the long term future orare you still giving guys chances to develop?
And how do you square those thingsup from a developmental perspective? How
much longer do you keep making developmentaldecisions? How much longer do you really
start to, like you're saying,hit the urgency decisions, you know,
treating it like a playoff game withhow you approach this stuff and when is
the right time to make those tipcan a developmental emphasis and a winning emphasis?

(49:00):
Does this coexist? Well, theReds won eighty two games last year,
and that wasn't crazy. But theReds had a developmental emphsis last year,
and the they won more games thanthey are now. They just played
better, and so yes, toan extent, like the Reds do see
like they're really consistent about this,Like their whole thing is development doesn't stop
when you get like twenty seven.Sure, so they're always going to have

(49:20):
something that's their philosophy. They're alwaysgoing to have development be some big part
of what they do compared to someof their rivals. But I do wonder
where they're at at this moment rightnow, you know, Bait, compared
to this time of year. Iasked you this last week, and I'll
ask you again, what are youseeing or not seen from a guy like
Spencer Steer that would either give youcause for hope or cause for panic when

(49:45):
watching what is figured to be oneof the key foundation pieces of this team,
not only this year but going forward. Had a good chat with Spencer
a few days ago. I'll tella quick story. So, like last
late April, early May, heis like a bad ten games. He
sits down, heats an entire pizzamission, accomplished slump over. I asked,
says he tried that again this year. He said, He's multiple pizzas

(50:05):
into the slump. Oh boy,He's got to figure it out on his
own. And he recognizes that heunderstands that trying to do too much is
probably a bit of what's going onright now, trying to hit for a
bit too much power, Spencer said, and his real main message was I
have a foundation. I know whoI am, I know what works for
me. It's just about adjusting,you know. It's the latest way the

(50:28):
pitchers are pitching him. But he'snot like I think like Will Benson has
more substantial changes to make than SpencerSteer. I do think he has a
really solid foundation there. The underlyingnumbers for him actually aren't too bad.
I think he's probably the closest ofthis group to getting back to therethest I
mean, Will Benson's just missing onpitches in the middle of the David Bell's

(50:49):
book about this Pree game yesterday.This isn't a secret like last year,
Will Benson was striking out because ofpoor swing decisions and he had to completely
reinvent his approach. Right now,he's getting his pitch, he's finding his
pitch, and he's with it atthat probably requires a bigger overall process.
Sure, from an injury standpoint,where are we at with some of the
players we hope to be getting backhere in Cincinnati soon. Sounds like there's

(51:10):
the most momentum with Freedole started sweatingyesterday, that kind of stuff. Lodolo.
The expectation in the plan is holdingback on Monday. Now, plans
can change. Let's see how herecovers yesterday's bullpen. Let's see how he
responds. These things can be tricky. Let's see where he's at. But
again, the plan is Monday.Cees is an evaluation on June fifth.
That's basically the court has right now, do we want to transition to the

(51:34):
Bengals, Let's do it. Charliealso covers the Bengals for Cincinnati dot Com.
We've gone through what the first twophases of OTAs. Yes, I
think we're in phase three. We'rein phase three right now, which isn't
really all that different than the firsttwo phases, if I'm not mistake.
I think defense can be on thesame field as the offense. Now it's
like it's not like they're hitting eachall right. What do you make of

(51:58):
the T Higgins? I mean,we knew that he wasn't going to be
here. Obviously, some of thenational guys start to report about it.
Is there any indication that T Higginsis going to be back sooner? Rather
than later or is it all stilljust mums the word with t Higgins.
So at the end of the twentytwenty two season, it had a long
conversation with Jesse Bates about his wholeyou know, the whole deal. Yeah,
And I asked, Jesse, youreported it was like August tenth,

(52:20):
why that day? And he goes, I don't know, man, it
was just kind of random. Iwas just kind of feeling it. And
obviously this is a very serious businessthat Tea's going through the business side of
the game, but the human sideof this is real too, and he's
gonna be here. He's gonna bea big part of the Bengals plans this
year. Now, why did hehave a slow start last year? Because
Burrow wasn't in training camp and theyboth said the timing wasn't there right away.

(52:43):
So I do think he needs timeto hit the ground running. But
I also think it's very random andthere's a lot of a human element to
work will show up probably some timein August. In these practices that have
been happening with players in jerseys andshorts. Has anybody stood out to you
what I put more in is justa one of how guys look into just
conversations you have about guys about justhow the team is. Like, I

(53:05):
think Cam Taylor brit might be themaybe second best behind Trey, but maybe
the best player on the defense thisyear. It's kind of like Mike Hilton
told me, he's kind of pavingthe way for the cornerback room to become
Cam's room, because he is thetalent, the mindset to really become the
guy, the dude on the defense. And then you back that up with
the plays that Cam made. Hewas at a Pro Bowl level before he
got hurt last year. The combinationhe's like a five to tool corner and

(53:29):
that's not a thing, but thefact that he does everything well combined with
the lead athleticism and power helps himmatch up with any type of receiver.
I'm buying all the Cam Taylor bricks. Guys. We put a lot in
obviously to Joe Burrow's health, andyou could say about the videos his wrist
looks healthy. But what to meis more of the talking point is Joe
Burrow the leader and this for allpart of this was a quiet guy for

(53:52):
the first couple of years of hiscareer. Doesn't say much kind of stick,
nose to the ground, gets hiswork done at a very high level.
Now I'm hearing and seeing more andmore of Joe Burrow the Leader,
Joe Burrow talking with mikea SICKI JoeBurrow with Jermaine Burton. Is that just
the next step of his growth?Or is that because there is no Joe

(54:15):
Mixon, there is no Tyler Boy, there is no Jonah Williams. Why
are we seeing this uptick now andJoe Burrow the leader. It's a great
question, a question that will bethe feature of my newsletter next Oh,
the same idea, let's go.I talked to a lot of guys about
this. Like Zach's message when therookies all came in was learn the guy.
The guys who were the vets inyour room. They've earned your respect.

(54:37):
Learn who they are, follow whatthey do, and your guy like
Jermaine Burke, All right, Jamar'snot there. Te's right there, Te's
not there, Jamar's not there.Who's the vet? Jamaine Burton dream,
that's Joe Burrow. And I talkedto the captains. I talked to the
guys. Joe Burrow recognizes the stagehe's at. He recognizes what's gone.
He recognizes, you know, therewere captains who were big presences when he's

(54:57):
got when he got in there,not there anymore. This is the time
for even to take it up anothernotch. Joe is doing that. He
recognizes that. That really, tome, has been the story about t
is. You wrote about Dan Pitcherin your column the other day and kind
of the way he's putting his fingerprintson the offense. We heard Tyler Boyd
talk with the Titans this week sayit's basically the same offense I ran in

(55:21):
Cincinnati. It's all the same forme. How different is the Bengals offense
going to be? I think youmentioned that this is the most change we've
seen for Joe Burrow when it comesfrom a season to season and the way
the offense looks. What are youhearing about that? So, what the
foundation of the Bengals offense was wasthat everything looks the same. And if

(55:42):
you've ever heard of Bengals play call, the reason they were so long and
these were like paragraphs was because therehad to be so many iterations for some
you know, it wasn't that youwere running X and WID's that there was
X one x two, x threex four. Right, Well, now
it's gonna be everything won't look thesame. There will be so many more
different personnel groupings, and there willbe so much more versatility with how they
use the receiver. There's gonna bea bigger Jamar in the slot package.

(56:05):
There's gonna be again just you know, twelve personnel with Mike Yasiki in the
slot, twelve personnel with Mike Yasickiin line, Mike Yasiki out wide,
Jermaine Burton in the slot, Burtonout wide. They're gonna be mixing and
matching and platooning different types of receivers. There are all these different wrinkles that
they have never had the personnel todo, and that was all by design.
They said, let's go out andget these types of players to make
the offense more diverse. And that'sexactly where they're at. It is a

(56:28):
fascinating stage. Not only that,but now we're hearing Zach Taylor's gonna take
a step back in the spring.Is that something on Zach Taylor's side that
he's saying, Okay, I needto take a step back, or is
that something saying Dan Pitcher needs thisexperience. The players need to start to
get a feel of Dan Pitcher's style. What do you make of Zach Taylor,

(56:49):
Willian and Sane. I'm gonna stepback a little bit from play calling
in the spring. They believe inDan Pitcher. It's funny like Zach and
this has been something we've talked aboutduring OTA, is like Zach's very much
on the sideline and Pitcher is theone in the fire. And I think
again that that is exactly the typeof environment you want to build. The
whole idea when you start lose coachesis you promote from within, You empower
these guys, and you keep thatvision growing, you keep paying that for

(57:12):
that. That's such a stage ofa healthy organization. And that's what they're
doing with Dan Pitcher. And everyone'son board with it because they already knew
Dan because he was, you know, the third down guy who did all
their packages. So it keeps buildingon top of each other. It's still
Zat's offense, but you see thesevoices get brought in who can kind of
make different versions of it. Canyou stick around for one more segment?

(57:34):
Of course? All right? Wonderful, He's Charlie Goldsmith alongside Tony Pike.
I'm Austin out Moore. This isSincy three sixty on the Home of the
Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty. HeyGoogle, see three sixty carries on on
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station. Welcome back. We are in the
Holy Grail at the Banks downtown Cincinnatisince he three sixty one more segment here

(58:01):
with Charlie Goldsmith alongside Tony Pike.I'm Austin Elmore and Charlie. We have
been saying tonight is opening Day two. Yes, the season restarts tonight.
We're gonna kindle, We're gonna throwthe first fifty games out, all right,
because you're gonna win fifty and losefifty no matter what. So who
cares about the first fifty? Let'sdo A new season starts tonight. Why

(58:22):
should Reds fans be optimistic? Thestarting rotation has just been legitimately good.
There are twenty twenty five teams inbaseball who in the long run would sign
up for a starting rotation like theReds have. It hasn't been roses for
all of them, but I thinkHunter Green has had the evolution and the
maturity and the development just for whohe is as a pitcher that the Threads

(58:43):
exactly wanted to see. I thinkLodolo and he's healthy, is the best
pitcher they have. Graham Ashkrav's probablymaking a few mechanical adjustments right now,
but he still has a foundation ofa guy who can be very consistent,
you know, getting ground balls withinnings. Abbot, this is the best he's
looked and this is more sustainable thanhe looked last summer. And Frankie mont
test as a guy who win hisfastball and role and he can win you
a game. So the Reds aregetting like this is what they wanted to

(59:05):
see from their starting page. Whenyou look at the rest of the NL
Central, not the best division inbaseball, kind of like a lot of
people expected. The Reds do havea lot of matchups coming up against the
Central. How do you evaluate thatdivision to this point? You know the
Cubs. I read an article thismorning what's wrong with the Cubs offense?
And how could the Cubs fix thisterrible offense? So there's a there's not
a powerhouse in the division. I'vebeen very impressed with how the Brewers have,

(59:29):
Like we talked about the reds andneeding more depth and finding players.
The Brewers have done that. That'sbeen very, very impressive, and I
tip my cap to them for doingthat. I wonder how sustainable this rotation
is, but they just keep havingsome sort of magic from a player development
perspective, that's been impressive. Ithink Pittsburgh's got a great top two in
the rotation. I think that theiroffense is one of the worst in baseball

(59:49):
right now from a personnel standpoint,and the Cardinals seem like they're ready to
tear it down. So definitely anopportunity for there. That's kind of a
weird year in the end of CentralWhen you look at the locker room dynamic,
obviously being around a lot of theseguys, it doesn't feel, at
least on the outside, like itis a team that's lost the confidence.
How important is throwing a couple winstogether? Because you look at the twelve

(01:00:13):
games streak last year, it justlooked like they were having fun every night,
and a three run deficit felt likea tie game because they were just
playing with that wave of confidence.As you follow this team, because it
still feel like that confident bunch inthe locker room, that believes that they
can make a run. So theReds had two priorities in the offseason.
They wanted to get like overall pitchingdepth, and they wanted veterans who knew

(01:00:36):
what these stretches were like. Andlike I was talking to Nick Martinez yesterday.
Nick Martinez was in a team inSan Diego last year that was in
a tough stretch and didn't turn itaround. He's been on teams that had
the tough stretch and did turn itaround. Pegan's the same thing. Candelario
is the same thing. So thatwas what you know. This is the
situation where you know your culture andwho you are as a team get tested.
The heads did what they could tohave the right pieces to be able

(01:00:59):
to handle. Now we'll see whathappens. How about it. That's Charlie
Goldsmith, Cincinnati dot Com Friend ofthe show, great friend of the show
with us each and every Friday.Charlie, thank you for stopping by,
enjoy the weekend. I'm sorry Ididn't get you on the three on three
roster this year. And there's alwaysnext year. I'll be working here,
I'll be shooting next year. Lastdance unbelievable docum. We're gonna put like
a docu series, unbelievable. Allright, Uh, we're live at the

(01:01:22):
Holy Grail. We're here Grayil tillthree o'clock when we come back. Tj
antnes here. Yeah, we getto introduce a new friend of the show.
Friend of the show. TJ Antonis here. Tone he is h
He's gonna join us when we comeback. Sincey three sixty ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station, ESPN fifteen thirtyand my heart radio station. All right,

(01:01:45):
welcome back. It is Sincy threesixty. We are live right down
here at the banks at the HolyGrail on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
The Sinci lights are flowing extremely welltoday. All people keep them to
me. And I had your birthday. I appreciate it your birthday, but
I've only got one liver, soI don't know how much I can do

(01:02:06):
this well, you know, utilizeit, train with it and see what
can happen. I had a chanceMonday I played an fc A golf outing
here in Cincinnati out at Stone Lick, awesome course, and uh tj Antone
was able to uh to spend sometime before with a couple of words,
and uh, if you're familiar withTJ's story relief pitcher for the Reds and

(01:02:29):
and the journey that he's been on. Uh, not only in that sense,
but while you're rehabbing, you've beenup in the booth, been enjoying
a little bit of the broadcasting sideas well. So ask TJ to come
out for a little bit. Hedid. He's here with us now.
Uh, thank you, thank youfor coming out. And uh, TJ,
how's the how's the rehab going?First of all, Yeah, well,
thank you guys for for having meout, and the rehab has been

(01:02:50):
going great. Uh. You know, like I told you off there,
it's like, you know, wehave you have good days and you have
bad days, and you know,everything's been going smooth so far. I
have had more good days than baddays. But you know, there's there's
gonna be the days where you question, You're like, I don't know,
it's not feeling great today, andthen you wake up the next day and
you're like, Okay, I feelpretty good, you know, and I'm
gonna progress this thing. So youknow, that's the same thing with life.

(01:03:10):
I think I think I've just learnedso much going through rehab and now
a third time that you know,you just roll with the punches, You
deal with the cards that are dealtwith you, and you just do with
the very best that you can withthose cards. I think the thought process
is, you know, at theUniversity of since and now I had two
arm surgeries, end up having threeelbows. So at the highest level,

(01:03:34):
surgeries become just part of what youhave to do. The mental side is
the tough part, and and Iknow for you that's been a key to
everything that you're doing. How howmentally is the support staff around you and
the system that you build in place, not just for baseball or football,
any profession as you go through thosehard times, how important is your support

(01:03:54):
staff? Oh yeah, immensely.You know, doing something on your own
is just so hard. And soyou know, having my wife and having
you know, Jesus Christ is myrock, you know, just to lean
on on those hard times. It'seasy when it's easy, right, It's
easy when things are going well andand everything is going great, But it
doesn't always work like that. It'snot always easy. So being able to

(01:04:15):
have the support system, you know, and then also just trying to be
optimistic about every every single thing,like you know it, you could easily
just you know, go down thespiral and well, now my career is
over. And I think like yourmentality plays a very large role in your
healing. And so I think ifyou think that you're you're gonna be finished
and you're gonna be done, thenyour body will will accept that and and

(01:04:39):
kind of like put that into fruition. And but I think if you you
have like a positive outlook on lifeor whatever situation you're going through, like
Okay, how can I learn fromthis? How can I grow from this?
And and I think your body willwill adapt to that stimulus as well,
because your mind is very powerful.And so like that's kind of like
how I've been attacking this specific surgeryis you know, making sure I have
really good rocks in my life,my family and my my wife, you

(01:05:01):
know, Jesus Christ, my mymy teammates as well. Man, they're
you know, they're nothing but supportiveof me in in the training room and
the PT staff up and down theline. And then be able to you
know, turn to situations like this, uh, you know, where I'm
able to speak about it and andbe optimistic and you know, a lot
of other people are going through thingsin life and and that are worse than
my situation or not or not asworse as my situation, but they can

(01:05:24):
maybe take a little something and belike, you know what, that's a
really good idea I need to look, I need to be a little bit
more optimistic about what I'm going throughright now and be able to you know,
be better through this situation. Ithink a lot of people when you
said, like emphatically that you werecoming back, so we're surprised by that,
understandably so with everything that you've beenthrough, but hearing you talk about

(01:05:44):
that, it makes a lot ofsense why you decided to come back.
What have you learned about yourself?Oh? This process? Yeah, it
wasn't the first decision, you know, the first the very first thought that
went through my mind was I thinkit's time to hang it up. Yeah.
I went and got uh you know, my my MRIs read doctor Krimchek,
and he was very enthusiastic about,Hey, you know, the flexer

(01:06:05):
tour completely off the bone this time, so this surgery is gonna be a
little bit different than than the lastones. So it wasn't technically another Tommy
John. They added an internal braceto the UCL ligament and then they reattached
the flexer tendon back onto the boneversus the last time. I had a
partial tear and the flexor tendon mass, so it was a little bit harder

(01:06:27):
to repair a partial tear versus anentire tear. And so I think once
kind of I got that prognosis,I and him being enthusiastic about like,
hey, I think we can gofor this. I think this will be
better than the last one. Youknow, it gave me something encouragement as
well, and so I think that'skind of like what kind of like was
like, Okay, you know what, I'm going to go for it.
And then the fans of Cincinnati havejust been incredible to me and and just

(01:06:50):
have shown nothing but support for mein my career. And I know it's
been it was really good off thebat, and then I just been through
a lot over the last you know, two or three years, but you
know, they've they've been there forme, and this sport system is unbelievable.
So you know, I love thiscity and I think the story is
like super super cool. Yeah,especially me living through it. So you
know, I want to I wantto see it through and I want to

(01:07:12):
see if we can make this thinghappen. And I really really do believe
that it can happen. Your rolegoes from assisting this team on the field
to having a chance to jump inthe broadcast booth a little bit and have
some fun with that. One,are are you enjoying that side of it
as much as you thought? Andtwo, even though you're not able to
be on the mound, you mentionedyour teammates building into you. How much

(01:07:33):
are you in this sense through wehave still able to build through your team
and and pick them up. Isobviously no one wants to be ten games
under five hundred, but still alot of season left. So how has
your role changed in that sense asa teammate? Yeah, So, like
you said, I think you know, when you have a catastrophic injury,
you begin to open the playbook andyou know, think about all your options,

(01:07:55):
right, like, all right,what do we do here? So?
You know, with me being Ialways you to get in trouble when
I was in school, talk toomuch and so being I guess a good
talker, you know, I guessI got an opportunity to be up in
the booth, got a curtain callto to get back up in there.
And so I've been I've been inthe broadcast booth a few times, and
I've I've predicted a few outcomes.You're gonna yesterday you got the Martini homer.

(01:08:18):
Yeah. Yeah. Whenever the endingstarted, I was like, yeah,
they just need they just need towalk a guy and then hit a
home run and didn't. Sure enough, it was a walk and a home
But yeah, So like being inthe booth and be able to talk and
having you know, experiences like thisand opportunities to just like speak, you
know, I've really enjoyed those sofar. And then kind of like you
said, the dynamic in the clubhouse, you know, I want to make
sure I'm speaking life into those guys. You know. Obviously, our our

(01:08:41):
closer hasn't been like the best andthe recent outings and that's fine, like
that's part of baseball. And theother day he had a really good outing
he had he turned a double playlike out. He turned around quick for
him, and I went up tohim. I was like, that's you,
that's you right there, and Ijust wanted to make sure that Diaz
like felt that that confidence kind ofboost back into him and make sure like
we're there for him, you knowwhat I mean. Like it it's easy
to be there for someone when thingsare going well for them, and I

(01:09:03):
want to make sure that I'm speakinglife into them whenever things aren't going well.
You know. Also how important isthat, like beyond just the pitchers,
but in the clubhouse as a wholeto bring something like that when things
aren't going very well, Like howdo you get through that and be a
leader even though you can't contribute onthe field for a team that's struggling.
Yeah, you know, the wayI do it personally is, you know,

(01:09:25):
I just try to like stay inmy lane and do what, like
what I can do to the verybest of my abilities, like essentially lead
through actions. I know. Iactually the Reds actually sent when I was
in the minor league, they sentme on are There were a couple of
minor league prospects that they sent ona leadership program and the off season it
was at West Point, so welearned a lot about communication and like leadership
skills. It was very cool experience, but I learned I was always the

(01:09:46):
guy who's like I'm going to leadthrough my actions, I'm going to show
my hard work and my ethic andpeople are going to look to me for
that. And you know, onething I'd learned at West Point was like,
you know, some people need likevocal like a vocal leader, you
know, and I don't. I'mnot the rod Rock guy that goes into
the clubhouse and like let's go everybody. You know, I'm not that guy.
But you know, if I canhave that personal relationship with the person,

(01:10:08):
and just like I said, withyou is like when that situation is
going astray, right, speak lifeinto them and speak truth and and and
speak confidence into the into the personbecause confidence weighs so heavily on that field.
Is really hard. I don't know. I mean you you know how
it is, but it is reallyhard. There's a lot of pressure out
there. You know. I loveI love you. Fans. Don't think

(01:10:28):
I'm talking bad about you, butyou guys are like fans are always like
just throw strikes. It's like lookway harder than it looks. So you
know, it's uh, you know, we're doing our best, and like
that can compound on like a losingseason and stuff like that. So making
sure it doesn't just go down theslippery slope and then like speaking life into
those personal relationships like when you can. I think those are just like a

(01:10:49):
few of the really important parts.And then I think like people some of
my teammates may look to me inmy situation and be like, dude,
why is he not like depressed rightright, and just kind of being like
he's like super optimistic in this,and like why you know, for one,
it's like because my Lord and SaviorJesus Christ. But like two,
I think that, like I saidearlier, like your mentality, it weighs

(01:11:10):
so heavily on like the outcome ofwhat you can produce if you take your
situation and you're just depressed about it, like it's going to keep going down,
and so like even just like fakingit till you make it in a
sense, and like going forward inthat way, I think is a way
better attitude to have, you know, through through a trial in life.
I talk in sports a ton aboutthe word you use confidence, and I

(01:11:32):
don't think you can overstate it enough. Teams that are the most successful,
the teams that ride that wave ofconfidence. We saw that in June last
year on a twelve game winning streakwith this team, and you see it
in the clubhouse, you see itin the locker room. But the confidence
that just kind of exudes through it'sso hard to do that when you're struggling.
It's so hard when you're going throughdifferent trials. The idea of confidence.

(01:11:56):
How do you get that back whenyou're going through a stretch like this
is going through right now? Howdo you find the confidence? Is it
the small wins? Is it gameby game? Because you look, oh,
ten games under now, you can'tget it back all at once.
How do you go and gain theconfidence back that that may be shaking a
little bit? Yeah? You know, I think it's taken each day,
like day by day, first off, and like letting that day be independent

(01:12:19):
of all the others and just winningtoday and then breaking it down and boiling
it down even smaller wins like canI win at practice today? Can I
win and my catch play progression?Can I wait and my win in my
weight room lift? You know,can I win in my sleep tonight?
And like trying is to stack small, really really small wins that you know
you can control, and then likeyou know, hoping you've got to have

(01:12:40):
a little shot of luck in thereright where the thing kind of tripped,
you know, you know, youknow, turns over and goes into your
favor when it's not supposed to,and like that's the you know, the
beautiful part of baseball is you know, you can do everything right and like
I could throw the perfect pitch andthe guy can still hit a homer,
you know, and vice versa.Like our hitters can hit it perfectly right
on the button one hundred and fiveoff the bat and the header in the

(01:13:01):
outfitter catches it. So you know, baseball that there's definitely that aspect of
luck. But I think it reallyboiling it down to like small victories of
like the things that you can control, and really from that, like if
you let the outside noise get toyou, it you you're gonna get distracted
on your your like simple wins.Dodgers are in town tonight. Let's take
a break, let's come back,let's finish up this conversation. It's a

(01:13:23):
Sincy three sixty ESPN fifteen thirty CincinnatiSports Station, Live at the Holy Grail.
One more segment with TJ Ante whenwe'll get back as well. Cool
housing left Cincy three sixty continues onESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Welcome
back since three sixty Live in theHoly Grail, It's the Banks, ESPN

(01:13:45):
fifteen thirty, A beautiful May Dayright outside the ballpark Reds Dodgers Tonight Cool
at GAVP Tony Pike alongside new friendof the show TJ and Tone. Yes,
DJ just keeps brushing up on hisbroadcast skills on TV radio. Doesn't
matter, He's gonna have a YouTubeshow by the time this is all said
and done. That might and uhhappy to be with us right now.

(01:14:09):
Uh? Ton what do you got? You? Were you? You?
I just want to I want tothink when when you look at a game
like this tonight from your point ofview, is a lot different you.
One you get to watch Ellie DayLa Cruz every single day, and two
a guy coming in tonight like showHeyo Tani you mentioned before you could throw
the best pitch you ever threw atthe exact location you want to throw it,

(01:14:30):
and in baseball you get rewarded withthe ball that goes over the fence.
Seeing players of that caliber of ofan Ellie Da La Cruz of a
show, Heyotani, what they're ableto do, not just on an individual
basis, but what they're able todo for a team. We see in
Cincinnati Ellie last year when he cameup in the cycle. It's it's such
a different dynamic because there's nine players. How much can an individual player impact

(01:14:55):
a franchise or a team? Imean a ton you can say it just
with the people that you're You're aOtani and Ellie and they got Mookie Betts
and I mean you can go downthe line over there. Yeah, honestly
that you know, they spend alot of money on those guys because they
are such an impact. But Ithink it's important for us to take this.
You know, we take every seriesseriously, but you know, taking

(01:15:15):
this series very seriously because this isthe series that could give us that confidence
to launch pad us into the nextmonth. Well, walk us through.
What's it like when you're preparing fora series. I mean, obviously you
have different meetings and preparing for hitters. What's it like going into a series
where you've got a bunch of goodplayers on their team. How do you
prepare? What's the scouting report like, especially when you have a lineup full

(01:15:36):
of really good players. Yeah,that's a fun question. So a lot
of people don't obviously know what it'sall about, like what we go through
on a daily basis, So towalk you guys through, Like today's the
first day of the series, soguys will show up to the field around
one to get lunch, that's provided. We usually have practice around like two
thirty three. So they'll go outon the field, they'll warm up,
they'll stretch, they'll throw. I'mtalking specifically from a pitcher's perspective here,

(01:16:00):
warm up and throw. Some guysmay like if you haven't thrown off the
mountain in a few days, youmay throw like a bullpen, like a
you know, ten pitch bullpen,fifteen pitch bullpen, just to kind of
like feel the slope. Again,we usually go back inside around like four
point thirty or five. We haveour advanced meetings, so the day before,
so previous maybe day or two before. They'll send out our scouting reports

(01:16:20):
for the next series, so someguys start to review those. They have
like a full page PDF for everysingle player, and they'll have you know,
say it's like show hey Atani,they'll show his like what his launch
position looks like from a right handedpitcher's perspective. You know, you know,
does he swing early, does heswring first pitch? Like what's his
percentages? You know, his hearthis ground ball rate, his fly ball

(01:16:44):
rate, like all of the numbers. And then they'll have like each of
your pitches, your four seam,your two seam, your sinker, your
your slider, your curveball. Andthen like it'll have the kind of like
zones like hot and cold zones.It shows the strike zone and it'll be
like throw that pitch down here,or throw that pitch up here. This
is where you're gonna have your bestsuccess. So it gives us kind of
hot and cold zones. And thenduring our meetings we have, you know,
our advance meetings, we'll go throughevery single hitter, talk about what

(01:17:08):
they've done recently, what they're doing, what they you know, typically do
over the course of the season.You know, do they steal, do
they bond? How we need toattack them, which they show where they
barrel the ball. I mean,he gets very in depth. Some of
the guys are like very into itand pour into it and take notes and
do all that. Some guys area little bit more old school and and
you know, receive that information,but just like still attack hitters the way

(01:17:30):
they want to attack hitters. Wethen go after the advanced meetings, usually
have dinner ready. That's like getsaround six six thirty and so guys will
you know, shower, get readyfor the game, and then they're out
on the line, you know,by seven. Wow. I disliked being
injured for many reasons. Wanted becausewhen I was injured, I felt like
I had to do more than whenI was healthy. You know this as
well. I mean, you're you'rejust coming from rehab. How many rehab

(01:17:54):
sessions do you get per day orper I mean, because that's all that's
your job right now, to bethere for your teammates, to be there
for your family and friends, butto get healthy. And that's not just
hey, we'll see you for acouple of minutes every day. That's a
extensive process. Yeah. So mymy rehab is every day at eleven and
I'm usually two to three hours ofrehab and in that one session, I

(01:18:16):
usually go home for a few hoursand then I'll come back at game time
and get a full body lift onand but there's a lot and then I'll
do some more like we have likelaser therapy and shockwave magnuwet. We have
a whole array of modalities that wecan use to help us recover. So
that's I usually kind of that's likea once a day, two a day
time thing, and then and it'severy single day of the week. I

(01:18:36):
mean, I'm up here on Sundaysand right there's no off days in baseball.
I noticed no brains today. Isthat breaking news? Or we've done
with the brains. Yes, I'vegraduated out of the brain. There we
go. So what's next on thepath of recovery for you? Yes,
So I'm actually going back home toTexas next Friday, do some rehab there,

(01:18:57):
and I'm gonna do that through Juneand July. I'm gonna fly back
up here in August and get checkedby doctor Krimchek and kind of he'll probably
do an MRI or an ultra soundcheck it out, make sure everything's good,
talk about my progressions, and thenthat's kind of my next step is
like I'll start to imply a metricthrow, so like med ball tosses a
couple of single arm med ball stuff, and then we'll get into throwing.
Maybe September when you said you werecoming back, you talked about just letting

(01:19:21):
it rip and the importance of velocity. I heard you talking about this the
other day too. Kind of walkus through why is that important to you
and who you are as a pitcherinto a lot of pictures in baseball today.
Yeah. So when I came up, I worked a lot with Caleb
Coffam. He was our assistant pitchingcoach. He's the head pitching coach for
the Philadelphia Phillies now, and healways talked about, you know, your

(01:19:41):
best stuff in the zone, youknow, being fearless in the zone.
That's one of our mantras as pitchers, like, you know, fearlessly attack
hitters. And so in order todo that, you have to know that
you're better than the hitter. AndI think, you know, at least
for me, I know what mytalent and my skill set is, and
that's being really I have really goodbreaking balls, and like my fastball is
always like lacked a little bit.But I think with the velocity that I

(01:20:02):
had in twenty twenty and twenty twentyone, the you know, upper nineties,
like it really gives the hitter likea shortened amount of time to kind
of make those swing decisions, andso I think, you know, coming
back just being as nasty as Ipossibly can, and you know, being
fearless in the zone and throwing theball hard in the zone is really like
I think that's what's fun about baseball. I love being dominant, Like that's

(01:20:23):
the that's the fight. I loveis like me and the hitter, And
like when the hitters in the boxand you're you're kind of have that exuberant
confidence and you're like, dude,you have no shot right here, Like
I'm going to dominate you right here. And I think that's just like the
most fun. And so I don'twant to try to like like I was
this year, I was like kindof pitching around guys and trying to be
strategic and like they're still a partof that. But I just want to
let it fly and let it go, and you know, I'm at the

(01:20:45):
highest level in the world, andI think this is the platform to do
it on, you know, togo for it. So much of baseball
we're seeing a lot more elbow injuriesfrom pitchers. How much of that is
the importance of now velocity. Iremember when I was growing I was like,
man, can I just hit ninetyor you're watching pictures and it was
like, oh, he throws ninetytwo ninety three, It's like, man,
that's that's pumping it. Now we'reseeing the picture. You know,

(01:21:10):
Paul Skins in Pittsburgh right now,he's throwing at ninety eight ninety nine,
one hundred miles an hour. Howimportant now, because you do have the
breaking stuff, how much of adriving factor is velocity to pictures and how
much could that maybe tie into whywe're seeing more elbow injury in some pictures?
Yeah, you know, the thegame rewards velocity. You're gonna get
more outs, and then on theflip side, you're gonna get paid more.

(01:21:33):
So like guys are gonna want tothrow harder, right, so there's
an inherent like, you know,pay for velocity. So guys at a
younger age and now with technology,we're able to like kind of quantify how
do you throw harder? And especiallywith social media, you can follow me
or you can follow Paul Skins,you can watch his off season training routine.
And then we have kids ninth gradersthat are like, I want to

(01:21:55):
throw as hard as Paul Skins,and they're gonna do his workout routine,
right, and then that kid startsthrowing you know, eighty eight, eighty
nine to ninety and like you're puttingtons of tons of force on the body,
right, And so we have toremember that, you know, we're
not talking about concussions here. We'renot talking about like long term like brain
right effects, right, We're talkingabout a soft tissue injury and the elbow.
And it's like, at the endof the day, you're gonna be

(01:22:16):
able to continue life and and dostuff like if you don't make it right.
So we're we are beginning to seean increase and elbow injuries and that
is due to I believe that isdue to you know, increase a chasing
velocity. And I think that's fine, Like, you know, it sucks
that kids have to go through thatand people have to go through that,
but unfortunately that's just going to bepart of the game for a little while

(01:22:39):
until we can you know, enhanceelbows somehow. That's interesting stuff. Never
heard it explain that way. TJ. Thank you so much for spinning on
with this really really good stuff.Really appreciate it. New friend of the
show, TJ and Tone stopping by, We are live at the Holy Girl
at the Banks. One hour togo since E three Tony Pike. We're

(01:23:00):
gonna be joined by Joe Daniman injust a little bit as well. This
is the home of the Bengals,ESPN fifteen thirty. Your chance to win
one thousand dollars enter this nationwide keywordon our website, money, that's money.
Enter it now. This is PennstationEast Coast Subs. Since E three
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ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.All right, welcome back. It is
the third and final hour of sinceythree sixty Live at the Holy Grail.

(01:23:45):
Yes on ESPN fifteen thirty, CincinnatiSports Station. I'd like to I like
to equate this show to like ahorse race, really where you know,
it's a long it's not a sprint, right marathon, and we now are
are taking that turn down the homestretch. Yes, and we need a
jockey that we can rely on aswe make that turn to the home stretch.

(01:24:08):
Periots was not available today in sevenraces at River Downs today, but
we did one better Fox nineteen Zone. Joe Daniman joining us right now,
Joey D. Some people actually clapped. Yeah, how about that. I
didn't expect people know who you are. Joe's trying to figure out what's going
on because Austin has seven drinks infront of him right now. Yeah,

(01:24:29):
I even keep bringing me drinks.No idea. It was your birthday until
you showed me he's got his owncan. So you must have been living
under a rock that you didn't knowit was my birthday. Well, I've
been out doing some work today.Oh you know you work. We don't
really do that. Are you onthe clock right now? The clock?
Okay, let's go. What isa What is a day like today?
Dodgers in town? Huge series forthe Cincinnati Reds. It would be huge

(01:24:51):
if the Reds were ten games overfive hundred, but as a team that's
ten under, you feel like youreally need to get this one at home.
Let me what today like today?Look, let me tell you about
the life of a local sports TVguy. So it started about ten o'clock
this morning, we have an Athleteof the Month shoot, yes, final
one before the school year is out. So is over in Northern Kentucky's shooting

(01:25:13):
a story with a four time regionalchampionship tennis player for a story that'll err
at six o'clock tonight. So itstarts at ten in the morning, and
my day will go all the wayuntil midnight, and then I'll be working
after that because we have the Redson Fox tomorrow night to get ready for
a one hour pregame show. SoI'll be going work from about ten in
the morning till about two am.But yes, the crown jewel of what

(01:25:34):
I'll be doing today is happening rightto my left, a great American ballpark.
Look, whenever you have an eventlike we have this weekend, and
I understand what the Reds record is, I understand what the tone of the
fan base is at this point.But when the Dodgers come to town,
it's beautiful weather, it's a holidayweekend. That's the trifecta to continue your
horse racing, analogy of local television, A great American ballpark. So yes,

(01:26:00):
we'll be live at the ballpark inthe afternoon shows, and then after
the game tonight, Wow, thatwas impressive. I don't mean we should
just stop here. Yeah, itcan't get any better. The team right
now a little over a month ago, the four games over five hundred,
and the conversation is, it's amazingwhat they've been able to do with so
many guys out, and you knew. We had conversations leading up to it.

(01:26:25):
Have you seen the schedule at theend of April and into may have
have you seen what's coming up?And lo and behold, they have not
gotten healthier. They have struggled mightilyoffensively, and they are going through one
of the toughest stretches you can putin front of a Major League baseball team.
How do you view right now wherethis team is? Because we just

(01:26:46):
talked with TJ into them. Confidenceis so important. How are you confident
when the team is struggling the wayit is? How do you view the
Reds well? I think there's alot of things to unpack here, and
let me start with this. Ithink a lot of people are judging what
they hear from the team after games, whether it's David Bell, whether it's
Luke Maley. Nick Martinez has beentalked about this week. What he said,

(01:27:09):
I cautioned fans to lean on thewords they hear from players and coaches
after games. What are they supposedto say at this point? Correct,
there's nothing they can say that's gonnamake this different. The only thing they
can do is go perform better.Or if you're a person that wants to
see someone throw a chair, yousaw someone throw a chair this week.
So you've seen everything from the calmto the anger, to the urgency and

(01:27:31):
everything in between. So I cautionedto lean on what these guys are saying
as a reason to be upset orhappy with the way. The tone is
a great American ballpark. But letme go back and finish this because Austin
and I talked about this when hehad the pregame show when the Reds were
out of the West Coast in SanFrancisco, and he asked me my opinion
on this, and I'll share thishere. There's a lot of people in

(01:27:53):
this room who remember the nineteen ninetynineteen. It's one of the more beloved
teams that the Cincinnati Reds have hadthat didn't make playoffs. A ninety six
win team that didn't make the playoffs, which is wild to think about in
this modern age, But that yearthey had a lot of role players who
had career years that we wondered,could they duplicate it again in two thousand

(01:28:14):
when they added Kenrickfey Junior. Mysame concern was, could the will Bensons,
for the Jake Fraelies, for theTJ. Friels, guys who had
breakout years last year replicate that thisyear and be the supplement to the stars
who are up and coming players.Now that's not to say that the Spencer
Steers of the world, obviously MattMcLean's not playing. Ellie de la Cruz
has moments of absolute superstar Unicorn baseballand then goes quiet for a while.

(01:28:40):
It's not saying those guys are doingeverything they have to do to win.
I am just saying this as theconcern for this team that I had from
last year to replicating it and puttingthis team into the conversation of the playoffs,
could all the role players replicate whatthey did last year? Kind of
like the ninety nine team could notdo it in two thousand, saying they
can't do it, they haven't doneit, And right now you're looking at

(01:29:01):
a team who's ten and twenty.Because of all those reasons and because of
the schedule. With with that beingsaid, you start to say, okay,
what about the development? Are youconcerned about the development with so many
young players on the roster that havenot taken the step forward? And two,
if there are players that aren't performingthe way you had hoped, what

(01:29:23):
do you make of the way thingstranspired in extra innings yesterday with a Tyler
Stevenson, who I'm saying when theroster was assembled, Tyler Stevenson didn't enter
the year is your best player?But right now he's probably your best hitter.
And David Bell's response was he wasavailable. We just really wasn't the
situation. What do you make ofthat? The way that transpired, because

(01:29:46):
again so much as the metrics ofhow it's viewed by the fans, and
on top of Nick Martinez earlier inthe week, as you mentioned saying we're
playing great baseball, to follow thatup and go down with out, let's
say Joe Burrow throwing it to JamarChase on fourth down. And we've been
there before San Francisco game. Wehad that same conversation. Zach Taylor admitted

(01:30:06):
after that game, I messed up. I'll lose sleep at night because I
did not put the ball back inJoe Burrow's hands in overtime. Marvin Lewis
used to famously say, I seebetter than I hear preach. Okay,
so we can hear everything we wantto hear from David Bell after that game.
But here's what I saw yesterday wasa contradiction of his own managerial style

(01:30:26):
because he brought Alexis d as Inin the ninth inning. So he's obviously
going with the urgency of making surewe hang a zero here to win the
game at the bottom of the knife, yep. But then he doesn't have
the urgency to put in Tyler Stevenson, who right now is arguably his best
hitter. So he can say whateverhe wants to think. There's arguably about
him is he is their best hitterright now, There's no question about it.
So I think you're seeing a contradictionof urgency within his own managerial style

(01:30:51):
in that game that he put Alexisd As in the top of the ninth
but then did not use Tyler Stevensonin the multitude of situation he had in
the ninth and the tenth inning,and he said he kept waiting for the
right situation. Well, the situationwas right, there's there to lead off
the ninth inning with your best hitterinstead of putting Luke Maylee out there.
Who Luke Maley is not hitting aswell as he did last year. So

(01:31:13):
I see right there a contradiction ofhimself and the way he handled the pitching
and the hitting of the ninth andtent and even after that when guys were
on base and you had that opportunityand he didn't go to it. I
thought the point that Charlie brought upwas really interesting balancing development and winning,
because going into this year it wasall about winning, right, Like you
spent some money in free agency andyou were bringing back all these young guys,

(01:31:36):
and of course the injuries affect theoutlook on everything. That's a legitimate
excuse, that is a legitimate reasonfor why they are where they are.
However, does the now that you'reten games under five hundred change the way
you view the season? Like itshouldn't through fifty games, right, it

(01:31:57):
shouldn't, but it starts to raiseconcerns. Now when you are twe and
thirty. What you do here inabout seven weeks the trade deadline, We'll
have to see where they are atthat point. I'm a big NBA guy,
and a lot of the conversation ofthe NBA is about teams with aging
superstars and working two timelines. Now, you watch what the Golden State Warriors
have done the last two years whenyou have aging superstars and Steph Clay Draymond

(01:32:20):
also bringing in these draft picks,and they're trying to functionally play with two
timelines where you're trying to develop theseguys but also have a window open where
you can win with these current stars. That to me is the hard part
of development and winning at the sametime. It almost feels like two separate
timelines that you can blend that you'retrying to blend, and when everything goes

(01:32:42):
right like it did last year,you can blend them. However, when
things don't go your way, you'restarting to see the fracture of the two
timelines a little bit about development andabout winning. And I do wonder once
you get six weeks from now,seven weeks from now, when you look
up and you see, Okay,what are we doing here? As far
as supplementing these young stars, becausewe know what this window here, it's

(01:33:05):
the Elle window, right. Howlong is Ellie da La Cruz going to
be in Cincinnati? Three years,four years, we don't know, five
years, ten years, someone sayingten years forever? Keep Ellie here.
But let's be realistic how baseball worksand what he can be offered by teams
in bigger markets. So if thewindow is the Elle window, right,
how do we supplement the Ellie windowthat this thing is too far gone in

(01:33:27):
July? Do you move a FrankieMontas too? Then start supplementing the role
players to give more options to nextyear, better players around him, more
depth in case something like this happens. Can you rely on TJ. Friedel
to have the year he had?Can you rely on Jake Freley to have
the year he had? Is WillBenson? Is this him? Or was

(01:33:47):
last year Will Benson? So mypoint is, and you might say,
oh, Frankie Montas, you're notgonna get much for him. Look what
they got for Tyler Malley. Yeah, wouldn't you say that Montas profiles about
the same as Tyler Mallee. Theygot a few Tyler Mallley on this team.
You've got a few of those,so you could spin those guys,
turn those guys into players that canhelp next year if you are still looking
for this Elli window. But that, to me is the fracture of the

(01:34:11):
two timelines of winning and also development, and you're seeing right now it fractured
because of the injuries and the record. And by the way, if there's
one position where they're gonna flip guys, it's gonna be pitching, because they
have guys at the at the minorleague level that are close to being big
league ready that can come up andhave an impact sooner rather than later.
You know, I think back tolast year. I wouldn't trade the twelve
game win streak for anything. Thatwas the most fun Red season of my

(01:34:34):
life. Last year. I'm twentynine years old, Tom Today's day.
Yes, that birthday's my birthday.I'm twenty nine one day, thank you,
thank you, twenty birthday years old. The Reds have sucked my whole
life. That was the most funseason I've ever had watching them. However,
because of how fun it was,the expectation level shifted, and it

(01:34:56):
makes this really suck. It makesthis painful, and it also makes you
look back at the officers, andyou say they relied so much on if
if Ellie takes the next step,if Spencer Steeer takes the next step,
if TJ. Friedel and Jake Frayleycan take the next step, if Jonathan
India can become the team leader,if Tyler Stevenson can do this, if

(01:35:18):
Frankie Montas can stay healthy. Theyuse so many ifs with their decisions in
the offseason. They didn't really addanything that's for sure that you know what
they're gonna be. So I thoughttj Antone bringing up confidence was important because
I wonder I don't get to bearound the team every day. Joe,

(01:35:39):
you probably have more insight to thisthan anyone. Does it still feel like
a confident team? Someone posted apicture yesterday and said I missed this team.
It was them in the dugout lastyear on a City Connect Friday,
and the whole team was gathered aroundEllie who had just hit a home run.
Does it still feel like the sameteam that's having fun and carrying themselves
with that much confidence. To yourpoint about the ifs, I thought they

(01:36:00):
were all logical ifs. Though.Sure, I thought most of these players
and look, it's May twenty fourth, Austin's birthday, and they're still top
of the season. For these guysto continue to get out of whatever they're
getting out of, I am verysurprised Spencer Steer is struggling as much as
he is. We're seeing Ellie rightnow, the flashes of greatness over these

(01:36:23):
these bursts and then goes dormant fora little bit. But these these IFFs,
I thought all the ifs you mentionedwere very logical that all these guys
would develop, get better, Andthat goes to a different conversation about winning
in development. But you talk aboutconfidence in this team, and look when
you spend time around these guys.And I'll go back to Tuesday was the
last day I was inside the clubhouse, and I remember talking to Jeremy Rowe,

(01:36:45):
my coworker, and we both thoughthow quiet it seemed, how devoid
of energy it felt. And therewere some things we noticed different inside the
ballpark that day. The music wasloud. It was almost like they were
trying anything, they to manufacture somelife. And that's hard to manufacture confidence.
And I don't think, I don'tthink necessarily it's confidence, because I

(01:37:06):
do believe these guys as a collectivegroup look at each other and say that
guy can play, that guy canplay. Oh, that guy's going to
be a star. He's going tobe a star. However, the individual
confidence that some guys might be strugglingwith. If you look to a Spencer
Steer, if you look to aWill Benson, guys who had big years
last year who aren't having big yearsthis year, you wonder if internally they're

(01:37:28):
having confidence problems, and that wouldbe human nature. But I think as
a group they still look at eachother and look around the room and say,
look, we still have enough hereto win. Now, there's an
argument to be made about expectations andalso the idea of an excuse and an
explanation. Right, what's an excuse? What's an explanation? Isn't an excuse
that you don't have TJ. Friedel, who I would argue was their MVP

(01:37:50):
last year. Isn't an excuse youdon't have Matt McClain. And it is
an excuse you don't have Noel vMarte Christian and Chrenes Jorge. Or is
that an explanation to why this teamis ten games under five hundred and twenty
and thirty. If you had thoseguys, this team would not have that
record. So I think it's alittle bit unfair to say it's an excuse

(01:38:10):
that the Cincinnati Reds have all ofthese players. We're talking about what four
of their top seven hitters. Youtake away good players from any team,
they're not going to be as good. Now this team certainly should be better
than it is, but I dothink it's fair to say it's an explanation,
not an excuse, why this teamis where they are because of the
injuries. I think when you sayall that, the first thought I had

(01:38:32):
was is there anybody in the dugoutthat can help them? Is there anybody
that they can go to? Isthere that veteran? Is that overblown?
Do we talk about quote unquote veteranleadership in the clubhouse too much? No?
I don't think we do. Ithink it matters, but I think
it matters when it comes from someonewho is one of your best players.
So if you looked on this teamright now, if you ask me,

(01:38:53):
who do I think is the voiceof reason in that room? Who's the
adult? I think the adult probablyis Luke Mayley, But Luke Maley is
where does he fall on this team. As far as the most important players,
I do think when your best playersor better players are your leaders,
then I think it makes a hugedifference when you have a guy like good
point Joe Burrow who's one of yourbest players. And then we have this

(01:39:15):
debate down. Charlie Goldsmith and Iwere standing at practice last week talking about
the Bengals in captains and the ideadoes it have to be someone who's one
of your best players or is itsomeone who's one of your best leaders.
Now the Bengals are blessed that theyhave some of their best players, are
some of their best leaders by JoeBurrow, be at, Ted Carriss,
be at, Orlando Brown, beit, Mike Hilton, go down the
line. The question is will JamarChase graduate into that this year or is

(01:39:39):
that next year? I don't know, but I think the idea is here
that when you have a leader whois also one of your best players,
I think that becomes a difference makerwhere this team right now, they're best
players are young people who are stilltrying to find themselves in this league.
I think Spencer Steer has that writtenall over them. The question is is
Spencer Steer feel he can be aleader right now when he's not performing the

(01:40:01):
way he expects to perform. Elliecertainly is a really quiet guy, stays
to himself, very well liked inthe clubhouse, but very quiet. He
doesn't seem like a guy right nowthat can take on that kind of a
role. So I think to yourpoint, it matters, but it matters
most when your best players also havethose traits and the Reds don't have that.

(01:40:23):
Let's take a break. Let's dothat, although Joe probably doesn't need
one. No, he doesn't needa break. No water, no beer's
ready to go. We talk,Joe Daniman don't even want to break.
We have to break up. Sure, thanks, man, come in men's
colors. It's salmon, it's notpink wow, salmon. Well, we'll
be back. I'm gonna let theseguys hash that out. We're at the

(01:40:44):
Holy Grail at Sincy. Three sixtyESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
You can see three sixty is backon ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.
All right, well, I'm backrolling along our number thirty. Since
he three sixty on ESPN fifteen thirtyoh, this Cincinnati Sports station, but

(01:41:06):
live at the Holy Grail? Canwe make some noise at the Holy Ground?
Is Boston's birthday? Oh my goodness, there is so much Sydney,
Ohio in the room right now.It's I can feel it. My dad
is here. Yeah, we've gotMegan Heckler, who does a great job
for us in our promotions. We'vegot Mike and Karen Wiser here, We've

(01:41:26):
got Drew Wester Heidi in the houseback there. Man Sydney's representing since he
light in the house. Since helight, people keep bringing me since he
lights. Yeah, it's a goodthing. The good folks are helping West
Miller and the Bearcats out. Listento this tone. The good folks at
Ryan Guys just brought me a canof juicy Truth, which is one of
my favorites. At the bottom,it says, HBD Austin, and that

(01:41:47):
happened. Today's my birthday. Thathappened since we've been on air. Yeah,
they literally can this like ten minutesago, unbelievable and now it's here
unbelievable. This place rocks. Doyou drink that or you just hold on
too. I'm gonna hold onto onethe rest are gonna be drink? Has
those hood A beers from the eightiessitting in his fridge at home? So

(01:42:08):
you got to add that to likethat that's been your hooting. Yeah,
I have a few of beers likethat. That's become my biggest bourbon problem
is I used to like want toget like fancy bourbon, and then I've
never found a time to drink it. Like I've had two kids, I'm
about to have a third, andlike, if that's not a time where
you pop a bottle, when amI gonna use it? So you just
display that just sits there on display. It's it's bad form. Well,

(01:42:30):
maybe you and I can watch himwrestling and have A'm waiting to be able
to watch wrestling. I'm kind ofcurious about this. You know, later
on today on on Moe's show,he's gonna have on Brandon Spinner, who
works at a different station from you. Uh, and he does a great
bourbon show on YouTube. Okay,what would your you know, non sports

(01:42:50):
show YouTube be? What wouldn't bethe thing that you get into. Let
me tell you what I'm into rightnow. Yeah, wrestling, sports entertainment.
No, that doesn't out that's asport. Yep. So I'm you're
saying wrestling to ww DE sport,thank you? Why not have your bay
Great? There you go, I'llsay this, scratch that off the list.
Okay, what I'm into right now. So here's what I'm doing right

(01:43:11):
now. So when I get homefrom work after a full day of doing
sports, the last thing I wantto do is sports watch more. So
I start streaming and I go toNetflix and Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
I recently looked up a list ofthe one hundred top movies of all time,
and I'm starting to check off thelist of the great movies that I

(01:43:31):
haven't seen. Now you'd be surprisedhow many you have seen just through forty
years of living. But the movieslike Vertigo I recently watched Blade Runner with
I'd never seen before. So that'smy new thing, is going down this
list of movies that are considered someof the best of all time that I'd
never seen movie critic critic a littlebit, and I'm an amateur in it,

(01:43:56):
and I think that's a good thing. Sometimes having the perspective of someone
who's not a professional at something canmake it more relatable. Sure, this
is by the fact that I haven'tseen a lot of these movies and am
now seeing them later in life.I think it's a cool for Sincy three
sixty listeners. They know that thisis one of those segments that just probably
doesn't get back on track. Touchand go as a movie guy. As

(01:44:17):
a movie guy, would you ratherwatch a movie the confines of your own
home or go to a movie theater? Oh, this is a big answer
for me. Boy, that's atough question. Way that I My wife
thinks I'm crazy that I have likea select theater because I think they're nacho
cheese is great, Like I will, I will go to the Springdale Cinema

(01:44:38):
Deluxe just to get nachos. I'vetaken my kids to like six movies.
She's like, why do you takethem there? Like because of the nachos?
Really? Well, you being adad of two in almost three me
being a father of three, I'mlooking for any way I can to make
something an event. Oh, yes, I don't do them enough. My
day's offer in the middle of theweek. I work a Friday through Tuesday

(01:45:00):
schedule, So here I am ona Monday morning with you guys. Wow,
for me, anytime I can makesomething an event and go out and
do something I want to. Sothat's why I would always prefer going to
the movies as opposed to watching thefilm, But the convenience makes the difference.
Now I agree with you. Ithink movie theaters are awesome. Did
you know that you can now doordash popcorn from movie theaters. That's incredible.

(01:45:27):
Did you know I've never door dashed? Wow? This guy right here,
it's bad. Thousands of dollars.That's the problem. It's I'm cheap.
It's bad. It's too much money. You know. Someone when when
we had our first son, ourfriends got together and gave us like a
five hundred dollars door dash gift card, and that's when the sickness started.
A week later it was gone.It's gone. Man, This stuffs expensive.

(01:45:50):
Anyway, what do you want totalk about you anyway? Joe?
How did the Reds get back ontrack? If the Reds tonight use this
series? I remember last year?This is opening day two? Will Benson
walk off and against the Dodgers?Okay? If the Reds are going to
get it fixed and play better baseballgoing forward and crawl out of this hole,

(01:46:12):
it starts because of what they hitbetter. I mean, I'm not
reinventing the wheel, right. Thepitching has been good enough for this team,
I think. And we were talkingabout this during the break, and
I'll say this, and there's noway to quantify this, but if you
go back to last year and youjust remember the feel, and especially if
you pull out the twelve game winningstreak, it just felt like last year's
team was touched with just a littlebit of magic and then every time they

(01:46:35):
needed a break or a big momentor a big hit, they found away
right. And it feels like it'sthe opposite this year. Anytime something big
has to happen, it goes againstthe Reds, and it kind of feels
like it's just an unlucky stretch forthe Reds. Whether it's slumping at the
same time, whether it's injuries,guys getting hit by pitches, whether it's

(01:46:57):
having to face the team's ace.You go back to last year. I've
talked with Charlie Goldsmith about this.You went back and tracked it. The
number of times last year the Redsmissed the other team's ace really would really
surprise you thought about and again,you think about these small things that make
the difference in the margins between finishingtwo games above five hundred or seven games
below five hundred. The Reds misseda lot of aces last year, so

(01:47:18):
it felt like a lot of breakswent their way, and a lot of
breaks almost literally sometimes this year aregoing against the Reds. So they obviously
need to hit better. There's noquestion about that. Everybody in this room
who watches the Reds understands that they'vegot to get somehow, some way momentum
luck favor on their side. Idon't know how you do it. I

(01:47:40):
don't think you can do it.Sometimes you create your own luck, they
say. And I thought this teamwould do that with the way they played
the game, how hard they play, the speed. I thought they were
built to be slump proof because thespeed always shows up. So if you
look at this team at the pitchingthey're getting, the speed they have,
the fact that they're ten games belowfive hundred, to me is pretty stunting.

(01:48:00):
It's almost shocking at this point thatwe're looking at this team where they
are right now, and to bethe only reason is they just aren't hitting
well enough to be competitive. Beforewe let you go, you guys are
now the flagship television station of theCincinnati Bengals flag it and we are the
flagship flying all over the pradio stations. We're almost one hundred days away now,
yes, from Bengals football. Whatdo you guys got coming up?

(01:48:21):
How excited are you about this opportunityand training camp two months away? OTA's
and all that has it been roadtrips with Jeremy. It has flipped our
work life upside down because for thelast eleven years it's just been Jeremy and
I and now we are hiring threenew people. Really, so we brought
in one of our new coworkers,Cabby Davis game can't have mine, Yeah,

(01:48:45):
so she started. We have anotheryoung Ladies starting next month, and
we are hiring a fifth person tobe kind of a producer slash videographer because
we have so many shows planned forthis coming year, not only when the
Bengals are on fire in the regularseason. We now have the preseason games.
We're doing a training camp special that'llbe live during one of the practices,

(01:49:06):
and then during the week we havetwo hours of programming every week just
on Bengals where we are doing ahalf hour on Friday nights, a half
hour on Sunday nights, although theFriday Night might get moved because did you
know college football is going to Fridaynight on Fox the Big ten after dark.
It's gonna be wild. We havea kickoff on Fox at eleven pm.

(01:49:28):
Yes, unbelievable. We have todo the news after that. College
football sucks. We're gonna be goingon at three in the morning. That's
wild. So we're gonna do allkinds of programming coming expanded sports department at
Fox nineteen for the first time sinceBrian Geesenslaw and Dan Horde. We're doing
it at Fox nineteen. Name dropa couple of the greats here at Cincinnati.
So try really tri weekly appearances withus on Sincy three to sixty,

(01:49:54):
Perry Ots. It's gonna be useda lot during football season. No,
thank you so much, Thank you, Joe, gentlemen any time. That
was a great classic. Since ethree to sixty segment right there, I
think Anthony Edwards will shoot more thanfour two point shots tonight. That's all
he took. Yeah, yeah,he'll attack. All right, All right,
Tony, you want to take usout of here, Sure, it's
it's a Cincy three to sixty theHoly Grail Edition on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati

(01:50:16):
Sports Station. Thanks to Joe Danaman, tj Antne, Charlie Goldsmith, the
folks at Ryan Guiston, Cincy Lighterhere, thanks to everyone for coming out
today. We still got a littleon other half hour to go and we
come back touch and goat. Wegot a reds l up. Oh yeah,
Red's lineup when we come back andgo Red's lineup. Same thing,
ESPN fifteen Logger. Reality is they'reprobably not good enough. He dissects the

(01:50:42):
local sports scene. They're not consistentenough. The way up. Fourth grader
dissects a fron not reliably Mueger.Today at three on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Emery Federal Credit Union's annual Shred eventis happening Saturday, June eighth, from
nine am to one No better Way. This is Chris Tableton, who,

(01:51:06):
by the way, the new songMan. I'll tell you what. There's
one thing I love in this world, and it's Chris Stapleton, Little Tennessee
Whiskey on a on a Friday afternoon. Well, you're on a weekend and
you like Holy Grail and you likeCincy Light, and yes, I like

(01:51:26):
all show. Yes, yes,I like all these great things, and
I like what we are about todo right now. Tone favorite part of
the show, which is our Redslineup? Man, are we ready for
the Reds line up tonight against theDodgers? Dannaman tricked me. And the
sad thing is Danman said, Man, Luke Mayley's hitting lead off, and
I believe it. That's how that'show hit or missed this thing can be.

(01:51:48):
Right now. Now, there's agroup of about four Dodgers fans here
that you know they're gonna be shakyready to meet your They are my shaking
after they hear this lineup for theWhen is the world's here? What's the
first game of the world is thefirst time in October? Pencil? Yeah,
won't be there, especially when theDodgers the rest of the way we'd

(01:52:08):
win. That's a good point.All right, Here we go. Who's
ready for this? Anybody want tohear the red line up tonight? Okay,
yes, all right? If wecan get Jim up there to change
it on the board, that'd begreat. Leading off in center field.
Stewart Fairchild, how about that?Applause, small applause, Batting second,
the shortstop Eli Da La Cruz apparentlyowns the city of l A. The

(01:52:31):
third baseman is the The third batteris the first baseman, Jamer Candelario Jamber
batting clean up in left field SpencerSteer. Mike Ford must be sick.
The fifth batter is the catcher TylerStevenson. There we go, all right,
all right. The sixth batter isthe former All Star and the third
baseman, Santiago Espinal batting seventh tod h Nick Martini. Alright, not

(01:52:58):
stirred the seventh excuse me. Theeighth batter is the second baseman, Jonathan
India. Big night ahead from Jonathan. He's like one for his last fifty
seven. Big night ahead. Theninth batter is the right fielder, Jacob
Herdabes. Wow. So Herdabes goesfrom leading off to baton dead last.
Uh, David Bell's just throwing stuffat the wall. Correct granam Icecraft starts
once more. It's fair child DeyLa Cruz, Candelario, Steer, Stevenson,

(01:53:21):
Espinal, Martini, India herdibes withAshcraft on the mound. So two
things there. No power of hittingMike Ford against the left hander, James
Paxton and no Jake Fraley not asurprise against the left handed starter, but
also feels like he's gonna be onthe sixty day. I l after he
got plugged by a pitch. Youwonder at this point will the Dodgers even

(01:53:45):
start show hey or Mookie Bets orFreddie Freeman. I mean if yeah,
probably you think they're pretty good.You think they're gonna try to win this
series? Yeah, all right,why wouldn't they? Well, I mean
the birthday. I mean, you'regonna ruin your birthday? Yeah, plenty
of teams have ruined my Birthday've beena Reds fan for twenty nine years,
or Cincinnati. A lot of losseson that, I get it. Calendar

(01:54:06):
there, I get it. Nota lot of losses though. In Locks
of the Night now, and that'swhat's coming up next, we're gonna hear
from Moe Egger, who is backin the studio. Didn't get to come
have fun with us today. Mansaid he was gonna come have lunch with
us. Didn't show up, noshow. But apparently he's back at the
studio. He's gonna work. He'sgonna join us for quick hits and Locks
of the night. All right,when we get back, Tony Pike,

(01:54:27):
Austin Elmore at the Holy Grail atthe Banks for twenty more minutes on ESPN
fifteen thirty. ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnatiavailable everywhere with the iHeartRadio app fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati's sports station. It's time forCincy three sixty Quick Hits on ESPN
fifteen thirty. All right, let'sgo, welcome back. It's since he

(01:54:48):
three to sixty. This is quickhits. It's ESPN fifteen thirty. We're
down here at the Holy Grail.Holy Grail's been awesome today. We've had
Charlie Goldsmith, TJ. Antone,Joe Danaman, the folks from Ryan Guyson
since he light down here. Myfavorite are these two Dodger fans here that
could not be more confused about whathe just walked into. Well, the
other Dodger fans are now like lifelongfans of since he three to sixty.

(01:55:09):
Yeah, the TJ. Anton signeda ball for love this place. There's
this guy with all the Milwaukee Bucksgear. He's lost. Yeah, they're
not playing. They don't play anymore. They're out, they're done in These
two commers, the Brewers aren't here. Packers aren't playing, not yet.
Where's this guy at Mogger's here?Most he's not here, he's there,
he's with us. What's going Oneguy comes to your show and you insult

(01:55:29):
him? Yes? Nice, Yeah, it's good business. How good dude?
I mean he's been excellent in hisuh stints doing television and was great
with you guys. Yeah. Awesome, awesome guy and just very easy to
root for for him and his comeback. He can't help the Reds tonight though,

(01:55:50):
against this Dodger lineup. MO.But maybe Graham Ashcraft can let me
ask you before we get to yourshow. If the Reds are going to
turn this around and start this weekend, how do they do it. They're
gonna have to get some guys whohaven't been hitting to hit more. I'm
glad the Tyler Stevenson is going tobe in the lineup today. That's good.

(01:56:11):
You know, we can make funof Shak and not st Nick Martini,
and we can talk about HRDO bees. Look, the reality is they
still have even though they have playerswho are not available, the likes of
jam Or Candelario and Jonathan India,players like that who are more established Candelaria,
who they spend a lot of moneyfor, even players like Spencer Steer,
Like, it's time for some ofthese guys to kick it into gear.

(01:56:32):
And this weekend they're going to getnot so much Graham Ashcraft, who
I need to see more from,but they're gonna get their best two pitchers
this weekend. Some of these guysjust got to start hitting. And you
could do all you want talking aboutyou know, it was a Memorial Day
weekend last year, right they goto Chicago, they swept the Cubs,
and then it kind of felt likethey got the season back on track.
And then the reinforcements came. Allthe guys they called up, or they're

(01:56:53):
not calling anybody up. All thehurt guys and suspended guys are still weeks
away from coming back. The solutionare going to have to come from within.
And no, you're not gonna getNick Martini to turn into a high
end major league hitter. You're notgonna get Jacob Herdubees to start producing.
You should think that you can getthe likes of Jonathan India and a handful
of others of his ilk to startproducing. And if that happens, this

(01:57:16):
weekend. They've got a shot ifit doesn't start happening that we're gonna continue
to talk about how this team isunderachieved this year. I thoroughly enjoyed listening
to you dissect and react to DavidBell's postgame press conference yesterday. You never
really know when something like that happened. You have to react to it.

(01:57:38):
Boring anything like that happening today?What do you have coming up on your
show? Well, I'm going totalk more about that yesterday because I did
a lot of self reflection last night. I did a lot of self reflection.
Austin was with me for a bit. Yeah, I did a little
self reflecting on my drive home,and as I laid in bed last night,
and so we're laying in bed thinkingabout I was laying in bed thinking

(01:58:00):
about me, my show, andDavid Bell. I was also thinking,
like I was hanging out with Austinlast night, one of our other co
workers, and they shut off thevalve kind of early, and so I
kind of kept thinking about going backout. I'd be honest with you,
but I did some self reflecting,and I'm going to outline for the audience
what the result of that self reflectionis at the top of the show.

(01:58:23):
Earlier this week, we were talkingabout the Bengals Ring of Honor. Right,
so we're gonna vote two people inthe Bengals Ring of Honor. I've
got an idea, and it's agood idea. I'll share with you that
idea. Callum Williams from Apple TVMLS Season Pass is gonna join us.
I want to talk about the NCBLEApaying players, which is gonna be a
thing. Now. The NCBA looksreally, really stupid. We have to

(01:58:45):
find Yeah, we have to findbetter umpiring. We're gonna spend some time
on that. We announced the moYour Long Contest at four three and in
the five o'clock hour, you guyshave been down there at the Holy Grail
at a bar, and so I'mgonna have some fun at five o'clock.
Brandon Spinner from Channel nine, right, former college football player, die hard
baseball fan. I discovered his bourbonshow, so he's gonna come up.

(01:59:11):
We can talk about the weather,because that's always he's a meteorologist on Channel
nine. I was watching him thenight of all the tornadic activity, and
then I stumbled into he has aYouTube show about Bourbon Wow. And so
to kick off Memorial Day weekend,Brandon and I is coming up in studio.
We're gonna spend the five o'clock hourbarring David Bell doing something crazy Between
now and then. We're gonna talkabout bourbon for an hour, but you're

(01:59:33):
gonna talk a lot primarily about howgreat Corey Dillon is and how he should
be in the Bengals Ring of Honor. Right, I he would not be
who I would put in if Ihave to limit it to two. Really,
yeah, So I think you canlook at this through a couple of
different lenses. One lenses statistical achievement. Well, if you're gonna do that,
Corey Dillon's no bring. Corey Dillonshould be in the Bengals Ring of

(01:59:54):
Honor. Should have been the Ringof Honor years ago, because they should
have had one. Yes, Iwant to avoid another Ken Riley. I
want to avoid I want to avoidanother situation where someone gets inducted and they're
not here for it. And soif that means Corey has to wait and
throws a stink about it, thenCorey has to wait and throws a stink
about it. But here's what Iwant to know, and this is what

(02:00:15):
I'm going to bring up. Whydo we have to limit these classes to
two players? Good? Especially now? Because the problem is a backlog.
So if you look at the elevenguys on the current nominee list and you
understand more coming down the pike,you know, Geno Atkins, Kevin Huber,
Aj Green, Andrew Whitworth. Onemight argue Andy Dalton, maybe they'll

(02:00:35):
put coaches on the list. Theydeal, they deal with a backlog,
right yeah, Logan Woodside. Welook at the eleven guys they have now
and universally people will say like,oh, each of those guys are going
to make it eventually, we'll putthem in. Why do we have to
limit it to two every year?So I'm going to expand upon that.

(02:00:56):
I need to do more self reflecting. I think I think we should self
reflect while we get the Locks ofthe night. Hey Degenerates, it's time
for Lots of the Weekend presented byCincy Shirts. Visit either store in Hyde
Parker on Dixie Highway and Fort Mitchelland always online at Cincy Shirts dot com.
Now let's make you some money.So Cincy Shirts this weekend at TASA

(02:01:18):
Cincinnati Walk Up your Cincy three sixtyrappertee. There's a lot of them in
the audience. Yeah, pick upyour since there's a twenty percent off Memorial
Day sale as well going on thisweekend. MO. We were given four
and a half the other night withthe Dallas Mavericks. They're giving five and
a half tonight. I thought theMavericks. I know that Anthony Edwards wasn't

(02:01:40):
aggressive. I know they shot almostfifty threes. Dallas won that game and
only made six threes the other night. I'll ride Dallas again. I know
I'm getting five and a half.Maybe they don't win, but I surely
think they can keep it within six. I think the number is still a
bit hefty. I'm gonna take Dallasas well. I am gonna go Anthony
Edwards over six and a half Cysts. I'm gonna take the under tonight two

(02:02:01):
oh seven and a half. Thisgame, I don't think it's going to
be played an exceptionally high pace,but I'm with you, ton I think
Dallas the number is quite big.And in honor of maybe our most loyal
listener, Mike in La, whois he has shared fandom Reds and Dodgers
Dodgers are here this weekend. Right, Yes, so he's kind of torn
because he loves the Reds. Buthe loves the Dodgers. But what is

(02:02:24):
Mike brought to our lives? Beyondhours and hours and hours and hours of
sports talk radio conversation about you know, pictures from the sixties and stuff,
he is introduced to us and ouraudience the home dog strategy. Reds are
right, I believe plus sixty tonight. What's the home dog strategy? How
first game of a series? Youtake the dog. If they win,

(02:02:46):
you're good for the weekend. Ifthey lose, double back and make the
bet on Saturday. If they losethat one, take those losses, put
them on Sunday. You're betting againsta sweep. I'm gonna go ahead and
get it out of the way tonight. Come up big against James Paxton.
David Bell, doesn't do anything stupid. They have some decent homeplate on hiring.
I know I'm asking for a lotred start the weekend with the dub

(02:03:09):
thee and there are a lot,by the way, a lot of home
dogs this weekend in Major League Baseball, just the way the schedule works out.
I got seven of them just lookingat my particular app So happy birthday,
a chance to make some money.Thank you birthday, Thank you noble
man. I have a great show. Thanks man. Guys see you all
right. That is Moeger Yes,since he three to sixty. Thanks to

(02:03:32):
all of our sponsors. Thanks toeveryone that came out today here at the
Holy Grail. Thanks to the HolyGrail for hosting us. Thanks for the
fine folks at Ryan Guiston since helike for coming out here today today.
This is so cool. This hasbeen awesome. Thanks for everyone that's been
a part of this. Thanks toLiam for producing back in this week.
We have did a great job,first time he's ever done. Since he
three to sixty one as well,it will be his last time. Liamb

(02:03:56):
We'll see us soon. Hurry downhere. Yes, if you couldn't make
today, we're gonna be hanging outhere at the Holy Grail. We're going
to the game tonight. Yes,Bote bow tie bar and meet us up
there. Come say hello. Uhfor now, it's Bagger on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station