Cincy 360 w/ Tony Pike & Austin Elmore -- 7/7/25

Tony and Austin recap the 4th of July weekend, talk about the Reds series loss in Philly, check in with Charley Frank and Michael Anderson from the Reds Community Fund, talk with Mo Egger, and more on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Skyline Chile Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in part by Skyline Chile. Stop by Skyline Chili
for a three way or cheese coney today. Feeling good,
It's Skyline Time. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good afternoon, Happy Monday, Welcome in at the latest edition
and the latest week. Here getting started of Cincy three sixty.
You're listening on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station and
a service of our good friends at Skyline Chile. Anytime
you're feeling good and hungry, it's Skyline Time. Happy to
have you along. Thank you if you're listening via the
iHeartRadio app as well. If you are listening via the app,

(00:45):
go ahead and leave us a talkback. We'll get to
those talkbacks today today at the start of our number
three and the best talkback of the week we'll get
themselves a Sinci Shirts gift card at the end of
the week. The reason we are moving talkbacks to three
o'clock or two o'clock this afternoon is because at one

(01:06):
thirty we're gonna be going joined by Charlie Frank of
the Reds Community Fund. Because there is a big telethon
happening tomorrow, the twenty five year celebration of the Reds
Community Fund. So our guy, Charlie Frank of the Community
Fund will be in in studio with us at one thirty.

(01:27):
So he's at one thirty, talkbacks at two today. Adjust
your schedule accordingly.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
There you go. Now you know, now you know.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
We'll talk today about the Cincinnati Reds, who dropped two
of three over the weekend in Philadelphia, the reginal eight
games back in the Central more so because the Cubs
are red hot two and a half back in the
wild Card as they embark on their final seven home
games against the Marlins and the Rockies before they get
to the All Star Break. We'll talk about the All

(01:58):
Star break today. We'll talk about who's going to be
representing the Cincinnati Reds at the All Star Game as well.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
There are so isn't and who is going to be
representing the Reds and who isn't. Unbelievable, actually, very believable.
It is believable. Unfortunately, I'm disgusted.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
We got some small updates on Trey Hendrickson and Shamar
Stewart that we'll get to. Uh, there was another Austin.
Very low grade given to the Bengals offensive line by
a major I would call it a major outlet.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Pro Football Focus. Okay, pretty major.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
We'll talk about what they had to say about the
Bengals offensive line and so much more. Between now and
three o'clock. Phone lines will be open five to one,
three seven, nine, fifteen thirty. We should start. Obviously, it
affects everyone. We have seen this here at iHeart with
the station's affected. Our thoughts and best wishes to everyone

(02:54):
going on with with what the floods have done in Texas.
I don't know if you've followed along as much Austin
Now was one of the scariest things I've ever seen
or read. Hearing that the water rose twenty five thirty
feet in a matter of forty five minutes in some
places absolutely terrifying. And rescue efforts are still ongoing in Texas,
so we certainly send our best to everyone involved in

(03:17):
Texas and all the first responders hoping for some good
news coming out of a tragedy that's happening in the
state of Texas. Last night we saw the gold medal match.
Do I have this right? Gold medal of the CONCA
CAF Gold Cup.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Not quite Okay, it's the Gold Cup, and Tony, if
you'll excuse me, I just unlug my headphones. Oh I
can't hear it. That's the worst moment. Okay, here we go.
That's the worst. I just did it with my arm.
It was the Coca Caff Gold Cup that they played
for during the summer, and the United States men's national

(03:58):
team lost to Mexico to one. It was questionable a
few of the calls late. US got up to an
early lead one nil. That lead lasted about half an
hour and then that was erased because of Mexico, and
then Mexico scored late to take home the Gold Cup.

(04:20):
First time they have gone back to back Gold Cup
in a long time, has Mexico. But but don't overreact
too much. Christian Polistic didn't play, and Weston McKinney didn't play,
and I think Tim reim all these way, Tim Way,
there's a bunch of people that didn't play. So for that,

(04:43):
don't worry too much. But you would hope that the
Stars and Stripes can round in the form a bit
prior to World Cup cycle beginning.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Okay, okay, big news yesterday here locally and for the
University of Kentucky. Matt Ponatowski, the All World quarterback and
baseball player from Molar High School, has committed to play
both football and baseball with.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Big Blue Nation. Congrats Matt.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
So that's a big time win for Mark Stoops and
the baseball program at Kentucky because Matt is a heck
of a quarterback and he's a heck of a baseball player.
Ninth ranked quarterback in the country right now according to Rivals,
and often considered a baseball first prospect. So congratulations to

(05:39):
Matt and to Kentucky as well. Congratulations also, Austin. I
haven't had a chance because we were off Friday. Congratulations
to Joey Chess now Joey Jawls, and I know he
was disappointed. He only had seventy and a half hot
dogs on the fourth of July, but that was more
than enough to re restake his claim at the top
of the competitive eating World.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Joe est Nut. He wonted eighty.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
He was on pace for that for much of the time,
but did slow at the end, finished seventeen and a
half dogs. But Joey Jawls sits the top of the
competitive Eating World.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
All is right in the world again, as Jaws returned
to Coney Island and participated in the Hot Dog eating
contest and listen to his DPM early was at a
high rate. I was sitting there watching and he continued
to just house dog after dog after dog, and I'm
thinking Joe could go for a hundo here. And I

(06:33):
believe after the first three minutes he was at a
ten DPM. That's a pace of one hundred dogs. Wow.
He ended up slowing down as one does, ended up
hitting a big wall late, but still comfortably won. And
I'll tell you what, there's nothing more American than seeing
Joey Chaws and Joey Chestnutt being able to win that.

(06:53):
I saw Mickey Pseudo, I believe won the women's competition again,
She's an animal. And I missed the chug I missed
bad Lands Booker and the Lemonade chug Man, So honestly,
I don't even know what happened. I got so sidetracked
or throwing some meat on the grill with Joey Chestnuts
all the days happen. Yeah, I missed it.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
We saw over the weekend as well, the first ever
seven team NBA trade officially went down seven teams, seven
teams involved to get Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets.
It was the first seven team trade in NBA history.
All told, the deal involved the Rockets, the Atlanta Hawks,
the Brooklyn Nets, the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers,

(07:36):
the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Phoenix Suns. Six players Durant,
Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, Clint Capella, David Roddy, and de
Kwon Plowden and a first round pick used by Phoenix
in this year's draft. That, along with cash considerations, made
up the seven team deal. That's one of the crazy

(07:57):
How do you get seven teams involved to make a trade?
I have no idea. I don't know how the NBA
works in that sense, but I know that there were
seven teams involved, and that is the most ever for
an NBA trade. We mentioned USA Mexico earlier. How about
FC Cincinnati, who now sits Austin atop the MLS Eastern

(08:17):
Conference standings. They sit atop these standings as a whole
between the East and West, now forty two points on
the season, thirteen wins, three draws, and five losses. They
are red hot right now is FC Cincinnati and they
beat Chicago two to one thanks to Evander Man. Evander
scored a goal and then assisted on a goal to

(08:41):
Kevin Denke right, you as good as the goal was,
I don't know if you'll find a better pass than
what Evander delivered in that match as well. For FC Cincinnati,
who remains absolutely on fire, it was go ahead.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
I was gonna say, I saw a tweet over the
weekend from Taylor twelve minutes. That's what I was going
to bring up. Who kind of gives FC Cincinnati the
credit of knowing, all right, we'll move on from Luciano Aacosta,
will go get Evander and this is a dude who's
certainly going to compete for the MLSMVP Award. I mean,
I guess the assumption is it's going to be messy,
but I mean the performance of a Vander and what

(09:25):
he has done for this team to keep them afloat
and kind of put them on at times, put them
on his back, put them on his shoulders and carry
the team has just been really fun to watch. And
there they are right back at the top of the
table and the hell is real. Derby coming up this weekend,
Hell is real. Saturday certainly felt like hell outside a

(09:50):
couple of over the weekend.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
You know, a lot of folks Austin are talking about
Big twelve Media Day. They're saying, well, where where are
the Bearcat's going to be ranked a Big twelve Media Day?
The answer nowhere because now, much like the model that
the Big Ten has adopted, there will not be a
media poll coming out preseason.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Everybody wants to be the Big Ten. Yeah, yeah, everybody
wants to be the Big Ten. Now, well, they've had
back to back national championships, only one of them was legitimate,
but they do have right to back Technically.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
My understanding is that with all the moving and shaking
that happens anymore in the offseason, with the transfer portal
and things like that, from a media standpoint, it's just
too hard to navigate where these teams are going to be.
Case in point, last year Arizona State was picked dead
last and they won the Big Twelve.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah. I appreciate people just saying, hey, we don't really know,
so we're not gonna talk about stuff we don't know about.
Imagine that like some actual honesty. Yeah, it's like, oh,
I don't know how this person's gonna fit and all
these different moving parts and this system and how these
coaches are changing. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Listen,
we don't know. It's all unpredictable, so we're not gonna

(10:57):
make production, which is essentially how about that for some
like honesty.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
It's essentially how I've tried to navigate the offseason when
I'm asked about like I think, you see, football has
some really good pieces, but until you get to camp
and see how the pieces mesh, I don't know what's
gonna happen. I don't know how these teams are gonna play.
So it is it' it's it's a breath of fresh
air with honesty that that you love to see. From

(11:23):
a media standpoint. Wimbledon is happening right now, Austin Wimbledon.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
It's still going on. I thought that was over. Oh no,
it's still going on. Maybe that's why the sheriff's not
here today. That's right.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
The joker earlier this morning advanced on center court, and
right now the American Ben Shelton, Ben Shelton, he is
in the third set. They are Shelton might be they're
tied at a set of piece. Ben Shelton gained some
headlines over the weekend. Now he dates Trinity Rodman of

(11:56):
the US women's national team. She was in attendance. Ben's
parents were in attendance, and he's enjoyed. He's a top
ten player in the world. He's enjoying this run at
Wimbledon right now. And after the Roman of course, the
daughter of Dennis Rodman. And after the match he said,
you know, it's it's been great. My parents are here.
My girlfriend's here, he said, But unfortunately my sister's here
and she's like my good luck charm and she works

(12:17):
for Morgan Stanley. But they won't let her have the
time off and she's got to be back on Monday
to work.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
And so Morgan Stanley came back and said, you know what,
take the whole week off.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
So Ben Shelton using his muscle a little bit over
at Wimbledon.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Shout out to Ben Shelton.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
So that's happening today. I know that Carlos Alcarez is
still alive. Taylor Fritz, the American is still alive in
this as well. I think in the women's side, I
believe there were six of the top seven seeds were
eliminated early in the tournament. So still a lot to

(12:57):
watch from a Wimbledon standpoint and then from a baseball standpoint.
And we'll use this to kind of transition into the Reds.
As we get into the segment number two Reds, they
lose two of three, which we'll dive into. But the
Reds do have an All Star and Ellie de la Cruz.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
That's true.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Ellie is the All Star of the Cincinnati Reds. We'll
talk about someone who is not an All Star and
I think we all think and agree should be. But
other news from Major League Baseball. Pete Alonzo is not
going to partake in the home run derby. He said, no,
oh Neil Cruz, not Ellie de la Cruz. Oh Neil Cruz,
who used to play in the infield right Austin an infielder.

(13:36):
I think he did. He threw a ball from the
outfield yesterday one hundred and five point two miles per
hour to cut down a runner at home.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
It was a dot one five point two. The runner
thought he was scoring. Yeah, he didn't even slide. Didn't slide.
And then he's getting tagged like on the waist. It's
it was an unbelievable throw. Yeah, it was actually pretty awesome.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
The game tied early. Paul Skeins was on the mound
for Pittsburgh in that game, and it brought me to
one of the most insane stats I've seen on the
season so far.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
Austin.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Paul Skeens has a one point seven to ERA on
the season. He has one win in his last thirteen starts,
with a one to seven to two ERA on the season. Yesterday,
the Pittsburgh Pirates lost won nothing in a Paul Skien start.
I can't even imagine the frustration from the Pirates or
Paul Skins on that one point seven to ERA and

(14:33):
you have lost twelve or not lost, you've only won
one of your thirteen starts. That's insane. It's absolutely insane. Elsewhere,
from a broader point of view Major League Baseball, there
is a new leader atop the Al East Yankees. Tough
weekend against the Mets opened the door for a team

(14:54):
who's won eight straight Austin. The Toronto Blue Jays now
sit a top the American League East.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
David bells Anto Blue Jays. That's right here. They come.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Fifty two and forty eight are the Blue Jays. The
Detroit Tigers took care of the Cleveland Guardians over the
weekend in sweeping fashion. The Guardians have lost ten games
in a row. I hate, I.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Hate that for that's a real shame. I hate that
stinks for them. They really miss Chris Veleaka, don't they?
They miss uh? They can't score, miss Valaka. They got
Steven hit the kwan and that's it. They missed Tito
the magnificentness they do. They miss a lot Steven vote
not happy was Buddy's throwing sunflowers? Other managerial news, how

(15:35):
about the Nationals say they fired their manager, Say Davey Martinez,
who is David the World Series winning manager? Right with
the Nationals and their GM. I believe the name Mike
Rizzo a week from yesterday when they fired them. So

(15:56):
six days from now, the Nationals have the number one
pick in the draft. Okay, they fired their GM a
week before he has the number one pick in the draft. Oh,
by the way, the GM who is now seeing the
fruits of his labor come to the big leagues in
James Wood and Mackenzie Gore and others whom he acquired

(16:18):
for Juan Soto. Oh boy. So because ownership won't pay
Wan Soto, you have to trade him. And when you
trade him, you have to rebuild. And so you rebuild
after winning the World Series and then you get canned
because it's not going fast enough. I don't get it.
I hate baseball sometimes some of the people in baseball

(16:41):
just don't make all sense. You people.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
We have the season two of Netflix, The Quarterback coming
out right, Yeah, comes out tomorrow now. I saw Jay
Morrison tweeted out he did a pre watch yeah of
the series. He has got connections, dedicated story times. Joe
Burrow gets one hundred and nine men Goff gets ninety
five minutes, and Kirk Cousins gets eighty seven minutes. Jay

(17:04):
also points out six of the seven episodes begin with
Burrow after the opening montage, here you go, so looking
forward to that. From a Cincinnati, Bengal standpoint with Joe Burrow.
Our Revivefitnessystems dot Com pole question today, Austin would say what.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Aur Revive Fitness Systems dot Com pole question brought to
you by Rervivefitnessystems dot Com and coach Pja Street. How
many games will the Reds win during this final home
stand before the All Star break. Option one zero, Option two,
one to three, Option three, four to six, or the
final option all seven of them. Right now, sixty six

(17:44):
percent say four to six, thirteen percent say all seven
of them, twenty percent of people say one to three,
and zero percent say zero.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Zero to three would be absolutely devastating and unacceptable.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
I got them. I got him at four to six,
and I'm leaning six now. Miami's playing good.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
They are six and one would get them to what
fifty two and forty five.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
At the break. I'd be thrilled with that seven.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
That five and two would put them at fifty one
and forty six. I think I I think I stopped
short of four. I think five or above. And you
feel pretty good about where you are going into the break.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Have you seen this picture that they're facing tonight? Does
he throw left handed? His I don't know. No, he's
a right hand okay, But his name is Jansen Junk
oh j u n K junk. He's throwing junk up
there right now. It might be I'm guessing it's it's
maybe Johnson yunkol or Jansen Yunk Johnson. Remember there's that

(18:46):
one remember, uh, the one dude that plays for the Rangers.
His last name is pronounced Young, but it's spelled j
u n g, so maybe this is the same. I
don't know anything about this guy, so first I've ever
heard of him. But over his last three appearances, he
has a four point nine to one ERRA all right, yunk,
and he's on the season has a three point six

(19:06):
to two EER. So I'm trying to figure out everything
I can about Johnson or Jansen Junk. Maybe Charlie Frank
can help us. Maybe he's a junk ball pitcher the
Red's Community Fund. Only one Red has ever faced him
in the past, and that would be Jose Travino, who's
one for two with an RBI off of Hi Love It.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
So he's in five hundred. Yeah, I get him in
the lineup tonight. Jansen Junk, you know you can't win
all seven if you lose number one.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
That's true.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
That's the goal for tonight. Find a way to beat
a very hot Miami Marlins team. Let's uh, let's take
a break, jameson Junk. We'll open up the phone lines
here now we're number one, five, one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen, thirty.
Let's recap a disappointing weekend series for the Cincinnati Reds
when we will return on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station,

(19:54):
a service of Skyline ChIL.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Now no shows, some patience for the moment. Now Lucas
switching it over to Evander on the right side, I
have yet then an overlapping run, Evander to the edge
of the box.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
Take the shot, gorso Hey, spectacular strike from the MVP
candidate and the.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
Origin bou lead one new at home.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
That is how goal number one from Evander sounded on
Saturday night at TQL Stadium. That is our guy, Tom
Gallairder on the call. A spectacular strike.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Spectacular strike, a little bit of alliteration there from Tommy G.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Not bad from Tommy G. Not bad from FC Cincinnati.
They went again. They sit atop the MLS standings. As
we sit here today, it's Sincy three to sixty. Thanks
to Skyline Chili. Thank you for listening on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Let's recap the weekend that was
for the Cincinnati Reds. It started Austin. I'm pretty much

(20:58):
the best way you could possibly do, because they won
Game one of the series. That's correct, and they won
a game where Andrew Abbitt wasn't his best. Yeah, Andrew
Ebbitt was roughed up early on Nick Castiano's two run
homer in the bottom of the first made it three
nothing Philadelphia. So you know, if you just go into
the game in that sense, Austin, you're going up against

(21:19):
a left handed starter in Jesus Lozardo, who again wasn't
is not great on the year, but he's a left
handed starter and you are dealt a three to nothing
deficit after one inning. That is not ideal, and I
don't think many people would have been happy about that
as they sat down to celebrate the Fourth of July.
But Red's hitting rallied. They got on the board in

(21:42):
the second thanks to an air from the Philadelphia Phillies
and then just an onslaught of hits. Elie de la
Cruz with an RBI single, Austin Hayes with an RBI
double Spencer Steer scored two on an RBI double noelve.
Marte had a sack fly I only had another RBI.
Will Bensingred an RBI Santiago Espinol on a fielder's choice

(22:05):
scored Tyler Stevenson. They didn't do it with the long
ball on Friday, Austin. They collected over the course of
the game eleven hits. That was good for nine runs.
It wasn't great defense on both accounts espinol Head and Air,
Noove Marte Head and Air, jt Real Muto Head and

(22:26):
Air for the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies had fourteen hits
on the night, and they did make it interesting late
in the game. Tony Santion was able to induce a
strikeout with the bases loaded in the bottom of the
eighth inning, and the Reds were able to beat the
Philadelphia Phillies in a game. Again, they didn't get the
best starts ranjow Abbot, and they hit a left handed

(22:49):
starting pitcher really, really well. I think those are some
good positives you can take away. Sam Mall pitched a
solid inning and a third line. Richardson gave up two
in his inning of work. Taylor, Roger, Scott Barlow, Tony Santian,
and Emilio Pagan went the rest of the way for
the Cincinnati Reds, who win Game one nine to six.

(23:11):
And I thought Austin said a good tone to start
the series.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Yeah, I think the big takeaway is that they were
able to and have been a little bit better against
those left handed pitchers like that's been to me one
of the biggest things about the second half of the season,
that the biggest obstacle that they need to be able
to overcome consistent production from right handers and being able
to get a little bit of something out of left

(23:35):
handers against left handed pitching, and so doing so against
a guy like Lazardo. He's not the best pitcher in
the world, but he's not by any means a pushover.
Like he's a good, good player. So that and overall,
I think I've also been pretty impressed with Sam Maull,
who wasn't necessarily lighting the world on fire in triple A,
but he's come up and been able to get some
guys out. I think that's really important.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Saturday's game unfortunately fell apart in the wrong way for
the Cincinnati Reds. Nicolodolo I thought was fantastic through five innings,
just a solid outing through five. I'm sorry, through at
least four, it fell apart a little bit. Sosa homeward
for the Phillies in the fifth Boem homeward in the
bottom of the sixth, Swarber homeward in the bottom of

(24:18):
the eighth. Things kind of fell apart for the Reds.
Lodolo's final line with six innings, four hits, three earned runs.
He struck out eight. Graham Ashcraft worked a perfect seventh,
but then a Brent Suiter inning which he gave up
two runs, one of those being earned because of another heir,
this one by Matt McClain, and the Reds fell five

(24:39):
to one in a game Austin. They actually led after
the top of the fifth when Will Benson homered. This
was a gift against Ranger Suarez, who's been phenomenal as
a left handed starter on the year. His ERA is
under two for the season, but the Reds were able
to do next to nothing against Suarez over the course
of the game, and against the Phillies bullpen either, they

(25:01):
didn't amount to much. What did you make of Nickolodolo's
day on the mount?

Speaker 3 (25:07):
Uh? You know, he's okay, Like he's fine.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
It's almost like every other start we've seen from him.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah, Like he pitched well enough for them to win,
but they just offensively didn't really put any pressure on
Philadelphia and eventually the Phillies were able to put the
bat on the ball, hit the ball out of the ballpark,
took him deep a couple of times on mistake pitches,
and you know, as much as you get excited about
what happens on Friday, you then worry about the inconsistency

(25:34):
of Saturday because again you face a left hander, this
time a better one, and he pretty much entirely shut
you down. Now you are thrilled about Will Benson going
left on left homer that he absolutely smoked, but no
other production from the right handed bats in the lineup
really at all, outside of Elie day La Cruz. I
do think there's an uptick a little bit in Santiago

(25:55):
Espinal looks like he's playing a little bit closer to
form and who we expect him to be. They did
give Friedol the day off, Yeah, pinch it late in.
The big thing with me about the Saturday game was
it it kind of felt like a punt game. It
felt like a It felt like a punt because you
put Espinal back in the two hole. And I get,

(26:15):
I get you're giving Freedol a day off. He deserves
a day off, but there is absolutely no reason for
this organization to continue putting rees Hines on the field.
We know who Reese Hines is, and we know Reesehines
can't hit left handed pitching. There's a big enough sample
size of that now, and yet they keep trying to
force that, And I don't understand it. I don't know

(26:36):
if it's a Nick Krawl thing. I don't know if
it's Terry francona thing. I don't know what it is,
but there's there's gotta be another way, Like, you know,
put Hayes and I know under understand Austin Hayes got
a little bit banged up Friday going at one of
the home runs on the wall. But put Austin Hayes
in left field and do something take Reesins out of

(27:03):
the lineup. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
I h I also thought if there was ever a day,
just a day.

Speaker 3 (27:12):
Also espen All was playing left field. Yeah, that's what
I'm saying, Like.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
If there was ever just a day, a one day
sample size to move Ellie to number one in the order,
that would have been it. Yeah, maybe McClean was over
five and the McClean didn't have a great series.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
Yeah, McLean just keeps two where he'll he'll look good
for a couple of games and then go silent for
a couple of games. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
Ah, it was a bad series for Mount McLean had
the air oh for five at the dish and then, uh,
I wouldn't even say bad day for mclaan. It was
a bad day for pretty much all the Reds hitters
yesterday against Zach Wheeler Austin I. You know, Lance tweeted
during the game it felt kind of like Roy Holliday
when he pitched for the Phillies against the Reds in

(27:57):
the playoffs. Yeah, you could just tell that was the
kind of day that Zach Wheeler was having. Zach Wheeler
on the day yesterday, he won a complete game. He
gave up one hit. That hit was a home run
to Austin Hayes, who you mentioned Austin in what sixteen
other ballparks.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
That's a fly ball.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, and we're talking about a perfect game yesterday for
Zack Wheeler.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
Yeah. I don't even know that I get upset that
much about about yesterday because that dude was just nasty,
Like he was one bad pitch away from throwing a
perfect game. And when those games happened, like there's not
much you can do. Yeah, honestly, so like, yeah, he

(28:41):
was just nasty. He's been nasty for pretty much his
entire career, and he had the stuff yesterday. It was.
It was unbelievable to watch. It was. Honestly, it was.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
If you're a fan of baseball and you're a fan
of pitching, what Zach Wheeler did was incredible. His is
the r Rays now to one seven on the year.
But for me, Austin, it was on the other side
of it that impressed me as well. Chase Burns pitch yesterday.
He went four and two thirds. He gave up just
two hits, one earned run on the day. He struck

(29:16):
out seven, he did walk four ye But for me,
what I watched Philadelphia do, especially in the first two innings,
that reminded me offensively of how you can win a
championship in Major League Baseball because they didn't necessarily hit
Chase Burns well, but my goodness, they made him work.

(29:38):
Like every bat, every at bat seemed like a battle
where they would get two strikes and they would just
find a way to They're not even trying to put
the ball in play, just make contact and foul one
off and move to the next pitch. And what it did,
It eventually ran Chase Burns from the game after ninety
one pitches.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
It was.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
It was some of the most competitive at bats and
as you're watching along, all you're doing is thinking, man,
they are just eating into the pitch count of Chase Burns. Now,
I did think Chase Burns battled and I thought his
stuff was electric. I think the inconsistency in the strike
zone obviously hurt him a little bit with the four walks.

(30:22):
And if you want to pick a part, and if
you want to question things at all, Austin, I guess
you would question. In that fifth inning, there's a runner on,
he had just retired two batters, and Kyle Schwarbur's coming
up to the dish, and you make the decision, if
you are Terry Francona, to go to Sam Mall to
try to get out of that inning, and it blows

(30:43):
up because Schwarber hits a double and then the run
scores he was at ninety one pitches. Would you have
had a problem if Terry Francona left Chase Burns in
for one more batter.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
No, No, But I mean Gosford is one of the
best hitters in baseball. With him, though it doesn't really
matter if it's a right hander or a left hander.
He's shown over the course of his career he can
hit both of those both. So to me, it's like
it didn't really matter who faced him. But for whatever reason,

(31:16):
and maybe there was some advanced numbers or whatever where
they're like, all right, we like Sam Maull in this
situation because of the pitches that he throws, or his
angle or whatever it might be. So I had no
problem with it, but I wasn't all that surprised with
the outcome.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
It was a game with another air, this one from Ces.
I don't know what to make of the Ces experience
now either. I'm kind of ready to move on from
him as well, and he's just not getting it done,
just not very good. And if you're if you're not
going to be consistent hit or you better be an
above average fielder, and he's made too many mistakes from
a fielding standpoint as well. I thought Scott Barlow was awesome.

(31:54):
He had runners on first and third with no outs
and got out of the with no runs allowed. Graham
Ashcraft was strong Tony santion Man. He's been awesome for
the Reds all season. Bryceon Stott hit him up in
the bottom of the eighth for a two run home run,
which was the deciding factor for the Reds again. Zach

(32:15):
Wheeler pitches a complete game, one hit performance, striking out
twelve Reds along the way. The Reds pitcher struck out
fourteen collectively from the Philadelphia Phillies. But at the end
of the day, Austin, you lose two out of three.
You lost two out of three in the series at
Boston as well, so it does put more of an
emphasis on where this team goes over the final seven

(32:38):
before the All Star break. When we come back, let's
get to a little Terry Francona audio from the post
game yesterday and where this team stands. We'll talk some
All Star Game and more with the Cincinnati Reds as
we go. Since he three to sixty, you're listing on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, a service of Skyline Chile.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
You ever worked everyone around you and.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Welcome back since e three to six the ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station thanks to our friends at Skyline Chilli.
Thank you for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
The remaining schedule for the forty six and forty four
Cincinnati Reds. It is four games against the Miami Marlins
that's starting tonight, running through Thursday at Great American Ballpark,

(33:24):
and then a weekend series Friday, Saturday, Sunday against the
Colorado Rockies. That is these seven games that will finish
the first half of the season for the Cincinnati Reds.
Before we talk anything about that or the All Star break,
here's just a minute and a half of Terry Francona
after yesterday's loss.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
Yeah, we sure did.

Speaker 5 (33:43):
I mean, he's he got all the weapons and obviously
got the last weapon, which is like the compete mode.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
You see a guy.

Speaker 5 (33:50):
You don't see guys going out there for the ninth
too often anymore. That some impressive, you know, hazy with
a real good swing. You know, we're trying to make
one hit, you know, and we're being competitive. You know,
we we have a chance, But that's a hard way
to that's a hard way to win.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
Obviously a tough moment there for Santiana in the a.

Speaker 5 (34:09):
You know what I mean, And he's so good and
he's been so good and he will be so good.
He just left the fastball in the wrong place.

Speaker 6 (34:15):
Impressed that your other pitching, I mean they were. It
was a battle type of day and working around some draft.

Speaker 5 (34:21):
You know, I mean, starting with Chase early. You know,
he wasn't commanding his breaking ball. I don't think he
was throwing his fastball enough. DJ went out and kind
of tried to get him to start repeating his fastball.
And we saw a few things today won you know,
all the things we'd heard.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
He'll compete. You know, he did him back down.

Speaker 5 (34:40):
It's not an easy lineup and he won't command and
there's a lot of pitches, but he did.

Speaker 6 (34:44):
Okay, the wheels gonna come off there in the first
with that bad against Harper, did it kind of just
kind of locking back in.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
It Sure seemed like it helped, I know what you're saying,
Like even though it's first and second, Yeah, yeah, I
think I'm gonna Boston looked like he was trying to
stay away from some contact early and then even in
fastball counts he was getting his fastball by their barrel.

Speaker 7 (35:08):
I think that should give him some confidence.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
All right.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
So that is Terry Francona after the Reds loss, and
you mentioned and I think we can all agree Santia's
been great. He made a mistake and left the ball
over the plate. Pitchers do that, and as Rob Dibble
told us last week, it doesn't matter if you're bad an, eighth, ninth,
or wherever you're in the lineup. These guys can hit
fast balls and they can hit mistakes. And Santion made
a mistake at the wrong time and the Reds lose

(35:32):
at three to one. That might have been their only
chance to win Austin was getting to like the tenth
or eleventh and having Zach Wheeler exit the game. Yeah,
in all honesty, they would have had to get to
extra innings and get a new pitcher in there and
maybe have some success against him. Now, before the game,
it was made known for the Cincinnati Reds that Elie
de la Cruz is now a two time All Star.

(35:53):
He is the lone representative for the Cincinnati Reds in
this year's All Star Game, and Ellie talked about it.
He said, everyone that plays this game wants to go
to the All Star Game, so it means a lot.
And Nellie even went into detail that he's playing every day.
He's good with that and controlling what he can control.
And I think it was a quiet start to the

(36:13):
year for Elie de la Cruz. A lot of people
we mentioned what the spring training was, and he just
started the season a little bit slow. But he's been
consistent as of late. Since May nineteenth, he's slashing three thirteen,
three eighty five, five and one with ten homers over
his last forty two. He had four straight games to
home run in the middle of June there and it

(36:33):
has given the Reds a lift to put them into
the spot where they're in contention right now in the
wild card.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Now.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Terry Francona went on to say this about Elie day
la Cruz. He said, quote everything he kind of told
me this winner When I say that he's not a
big talker, but he told me what he wanted to
be and how he wanted to get there.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
He's doing that.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
He's growing up and one of the things he has
to battle is everyone is always talking about his ceiling.
I just want to kind of impress upon him that
if we see it within the confines of the game,
it's really going to be special. I think he's doing
a really good job of that, Austin. That's something we
kind of talked about, is the stealing and the pressure
that Ellie faces. And I think Terry Francona is alluding

(37:12):
to that here that everyone outside of this team puts
the weight to the franchise on Eli Dela Cruz.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Yeah, I was kind of talking about this on Sunday too.
When you kind of look at it from the sense
of the home run derby, to me, I think it
says a lot about him kind of putting the team
first and saying, hey, I'm not going to go and
do that. I know that I need a break, I
know that I need to be a leader for the team.
I know that they need me every single day. And
being able to know that and you know, take away

(37:43):
it kind of like, put the team before you. You
have an opportunity to be an even bigger star than
you already are, and I just think that sort of
leadership is really important. And on top of that, he's
been remarkably consistent this season. He's been pretty much the
entire guy all year. Sure, he'll have a stretch of

(38:05):
ten to fifteen at bats where maybe he doesn't get
a hit, but then he'll come back and have a
couple of multi hit games, and so yeah, I think
he's been more than advertised. Surely the home run numbers
and the stolen based numbers, you would like to see
them a little bit higher. But I think you could
say that about stolen bases as a whole for the
entire team. For whatever reason, they just don't run anymore. Yeah,
But you know, Ellie, I think just continues to be

(38:28):
a leader, and not just vocally. I think he's a
bit of a leader vocally, but also just by the
process each and every day.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Francona had a team meeting before the game to let
them know that Ellie was selected. Terry Francona also pointed
out the strong first half performances by Andrew Rabbit and TJ.
Friedle that he thought should have warranted All Star consideration.
Now TJ. Friedl has dipped a little bit over the
last week or so. He's gotten two eighty eight home
runs thirty one RBIs in eighty six games, and for

(39:00):
Andrew Abbott Austin seven and one now a two to
one five ERA over the course of fifteen starts. Obviously
did not get awarded his first All Star game. But
how about this dot He's got a higher war Austin
wins above replacement. Then eight of the eleven starting pitchers
selected to represent the National League in the All Star Game.

(39:21):
It is, in my opinion, criminal that Andrew Abbott did
not get the nod. Terry Francona said, I wanted to
be upbeat because it's a very much a great honor
for Ellie. I also wanted some of the guys to
know we care like Freedom and Abbott. I love this team.
We may have one All Star right now, but I
will take this team, said Terry Franconer.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
I think the big thing with Abbott is in some
of the statistical categories he doesn't quite meet the innings requirement.
I forget exactly how it works in baseball, but it's
like certain number of innings pitch per games your team
has played something along those lines. So Abbott is I think,
just a little bit short of that. And so I

(40:01):
think because of that, it kind of pulls him from
People don't see his name in there among the leaders.
But there's a pretty good chance he gets in via
a replacement. Injury replacement. For example, Chris Sale is hurt
right now, he's not going to be able to be
on the All Star team. I think there's gonna be
at least one other one. So it's it's interesting if

(40:23):
he'll get in there or not. But it was cool
to hear Terry Francona say that about the team, and
it's it's it's frustrating because Andrew Rabbit most certainly is
as deserving as anybody. The Giants have three starting pitchers
on the All Star team. Yeah, it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Another player that's not going to be making the trip
as Juan Soto, you would think with the New York
market as well Austin. He's hitting two sixty three on
the season and his UH, his on base percentage is
north of four hundred. He leads the league and walks
and one would say that Pete Alonzo is enjoying getting

(41:01):
to hit behind uh Juan Soto, But again, I think
that's more so the standards he is set. Where you're
about in two sixty three and uh, you're still one
of the better players in the sport and not making
the All Star team. But every year that's gonna happen.
You're going to have All Star snubs. When you when
you relate it to an All Star game. Not everyone

(41:21):
can be happy. Let's take one more break, we'll get back.
We'll close up our number one, We'll open up the
phone lines to start our number two, five to one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty, and as I mentioned, Charlie Frank of the
Reds Community Fund will join us at one thirty and
we'll push talkbacks to the start of our number three
right at two o'clock. That is still ahead on ESPN

(41:42):
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, a service of Skyline chilet
Wise Cincinnati.

Speaker 8 (41:48):
Getting ESPN fifteen thirty from iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
Welcome back since he three to sixty ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station, thanks to Skyline Chilli. Thank you for
listening today on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. I
saw it over the weekend on MLB Network Austin. We
have given this stat today about how good Andrew Abbot
has been, and we also talked at the same signs
of how good you know Chase Burns has pitched to

(42:26):
start his career, what Hunter Green has been at the
top end, and MLB Network actually looked at the Pirates
and the Reds starting pitching depth and they asked the question,
which rotation would you rather have at full strength next
season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Let's start with the Reds.
The Reds, what they have listed in no particular order

(42:48):
is Andrew Abbott, Hunter Green, Chase Burns, Nick Lodolo, and
then in that fifth spot they listed as either Brady
Singer or Rhet Louder. Now, I don't think you could
go much wrong in the sense of that being your rotation.
That's pretty good where you stay at Austin.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
Now, from a.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
Pittsburgh Pirate standpoint, Mitch Keller has an ERA of three
six four over eighteen starts this year. Jared Jones is
expected to return from Tommy John mid season, but he's
been fantastic this season. We mentioned Paul Skeins in nineteen
starts as an e RAY of one point nine to four.

(43:28):
They have Bubba Chandler that is coming through their system
as well, along with Hunter Barco. I don't know much
about the last two. But if you're sitting on the future, Austin,
can you make the case for the Cincinnati Reds having
the better staff for the future.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
Yes, I think so, Midley, I don't know anything about
Bubba Chandler, Hunter Barco. Those guys might be nasty. Yeah,
but I would still take the Reds just because I
think the sum of the parts there. I think there's
a decent drop off between Paul Skans and Mitch Keller. Sure,
then I think there's a pretty decent drop off between

(44:06):
Mitch Keller and Jared Jones, and Jared Jones is good.
I don't think there's as much of a drop off
like in the top three between Abbott, Green and Burns
as there might be.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Would that be your top three going into next year? Yeah,
as we sit here right now. Yeah, probably so, because
if you relegate Lodola to your fourth or fifth guy,
that's pretty good.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Still. My hot take is that the Reds should trade Nicolodolo. Mmm,
like by the end of this month. Okay, I can
get behind that. I haven't given that a lot of thought,
but like it's just been coming to my mind. He's
got team control, he's left handed, he's good, he's not great.
Maybe some other teams can unlock something from him, like
a team like Arizona for example. They would take him

(44:49):
right now, I would assume.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
And you would think even if you dangle him in
maybe a competitive wild card race or an American League team.
There are teams that are always going to need starting
pitching and above average left handed starter.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
I think the case against it would be the fact
that the Reds are never healthy when it comes to
starting pitching. But if Burns is who you think he is,
if Abbott is who you think he is, if Louder
is who you think he is, there's always, you know,
younger pitchers coming up. Then if that's the case, maybe
now's the time to trade Lodolo, especially because if you

(45:25):
look at a team like the Dodgers. Now, I know
the Dodgers are a bit of an anomaly, but they
have a ton of pitchers hurt and they're just outscoring
team the Chicago Cubs. They have an all star pitcher
and Matthew Boyd.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
But the Cubs.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
Not even saying that, but think about the Cubs. They've
got solid pitching, They're okay pitching wise, they're not overpowering,
they're not dominant, they're not great, and yet they just
mash the ball. They score a ton of runs. Saint
Louis is like that too. Their pitching has been all
right and at times extremely and the bullpen and yet

(46:01):
they're right there in the conversation because they can score,
they can put up runs. You know, Atlanta has a
lot of good pitching. They can't score. Sure, Like to me, yes,
pitching is valuable and pitching depth is always going to
be important, but at some point you gotta start saying,
all right, we're playing this tiny little ballpark, let's go

(46:23):
score some runs. And you met like the opposite of that.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
You mentioned what San Francisco's got three pitchers, they're twenty
fourth in baseball in offense. Correct, they can't score enough runs?

Speaker 3 (46:34):
Right? And they? I mean they and they've got three
all stars live in a ballpark where it's just begging
for extra base hits and at times home runs. So
it's just like to me, I would like to start
to value offense. And you talked about the approach at
the plate from Philadelphia over the weekend, and you could
tell those dudes are professional hitters, and those guys are

(46:55):
all experienced, and they're a bit of an older team.
And I get you're not gonna get that with every
team in baseball, but the threat like, oh gosh, here
comes Schwarber. Yeah, there's Harper, all right, here's Castianos, Alec
Boem has been a hero in the postseason, and Bryce
and Stott and oh yeah, Trey Turner is still really

(47:17):
good betting in the game, and yeah j t rol
Muto is right there in the conference. And they signed
Max Kepler in the offseason. So to me, it's like,
can you get some guys that can put together professional
at bats? Like I give Nick Carl credit for Max
uh Gavin Lux right, Lux is like the only dude
who I feel like uber confident in him to put

(47:39):
together a professional at bat. He can really really work counts,
He can foul pitches off, he can walk, he can
hit the ball out of the ball bark, he get
the ball in the gap, he can slap it the
other way. They need more of those type of hitters,
those pesky hitters. You know at times, that's what McClain
can be. But he's not on you.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
If you look at the top, Houston Astros winning their division,
best offensive team in baseball right now, Dodgers a ton
of injuries to starting pitching. Number two in offense in
the National League, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, the Yankees,
the Red Sox, the Tigers. Those are the top nine

(48:19):
teams in Major League Baseball Austin. From a scoring standpoint,
they all have that in common. They score, they hit
the ball. And the team coming into Great American Ballpark.
Who you've talked about being red hot, the Miami Marlins.
They're number ten on that list. So I know we've
talked for years defense, wins, championships and starting pitching. But

(48:40):
to your point, I think there could be something when
you look at the ballpark you play in to say, yeah,
these starters are great. And the Giants are the prime
example because three of their starters are going to the
All Star Game.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
And we've said it all along, the Reds have not
done a good enough job building a team that fits
the ballpark they play in.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
Yeah, I was just so impressed with Philly's ability to
battle every at bat. And it's got to be frustrating
from pitching standpoint when you're making the pitches and they're
just fouling them off. And the Reds do not have
enough players, if any, that do that. From a competitive standpoint,
every time they under the plate, we'll get a break,
we'll come back. Hour two, We'll get underway. Next phone

(49:21):
lines five, one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
We're just getting started.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Two to Go Cincy three sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 9 (49:29):
WCKY, Cincinnati.

Speaker 10 (49:30):
Make us the number one pre set on your car
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Free never sounded so good, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
Do you run us on ONCI three to sixty about
Cincinnati from Cincinnati, Sponsored in part by Cinci Shirts. Cinci
Shirts All Cincy, all Day. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,
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Speaker 2 (49:57):
Welcome in Cincy three to sixty ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station, and a service of our friends at Cincy
Shirts now Cincy Shirts. Austin, I need to make a
trip to Cinty Shirts this week because I need to
see if they got any of the beach towels still
available because I'm out of town next week. Yeah, that's

(50:18):
right where they got the Skyline Chili beach towels. They
got that Ellie de la Cruz like basketball jersey. That'd
be great for the beach. So I need to make
my way to Cincy Shirts. You can too visit any
of their retail locations or check out Cincy Shirts dot
Com and I saw this on social media from the

(50:38):
one of the head folks at CINTI Shirts. Our guy,
Josh need has a new special that's coming out this Thursday.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
Did you see this? I did, fat Ryan? He calls it.
I don't know about that word fat Ryan. I take
offense to that. Shout out to Josh need Man, best
of love to Josh. I saw. Sincy Shirts also got
a deal with Dick Sporting Goods. But those Pete Rose
t shirts in some of the local Dick Sporting goods,

(51:10):
so you can find them there too. I guess how
about that. It's good they're everywhere. Sincy Shirts is doing
some big things. They're growing.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
They are right before our eyes. They're sprouting. Shout out
to Cincy Shirts. We have some Bengals that we can
get to. I also know we got Charlie Frank coming
in about one point thirty to talk the telethon tomorrow
night for the Reds Community Fund, which is such a
big initiative and has done so much over the last
twenty five years. So we'll talk more about that at

(51:40):
one thirty. Your talkbacks come up at two o'clock this afternoon.
If you missed early on in the show, and you're
waiting for a Big twelve media football poll, there's not
going to be one because they're not doing a media pole.
Neither is the Big Ten. That's how today's football is.
You just kind of wait and see what you got.
That's the latest. Matt Ponatowski, the All World quarterback and

(52:02):
baseball star for Mueller High School, has chosen to take
his talents to the University of Kentucky, where he will
play both baseball and football for the Wildcats, citing the
opportunity for his family to be able to get to
essentially any game they want to with the shorter drive
right there to Lexington. So shout out to Kentucky, who's

(52:26):
got a big one coming in, and shout out to
f C Cincinnati who continued their winning ways over the
weekend and have gotten themselves back atop the Eastern Conference
standings in the MLS. Do you think people are still
sleeping on f C Cincinnati Austin, Because I saw something
over the weekend that I think correlates in a big way,

(52:48):
and I don't think I want I didn't save the tweets,
so I don't know who it was from. But to
kind of put it into context, it was essentially saluting
what f C Cincinnati has done, because you lose a
guy who was unhappy here in Luciano Acosta, who had
won an MLS MVP and had brought so many bright
things to Cincinnati, and without even taking a step back,

(53:11):
they move on from Acosta and in duinso bringing a
guy and a vander who is right in line for
an MLS MVP as well. So it was more or
less applauding the efforts of FC Cincinnati to to not
be satisfied with where they are, to constantly look for
what's next or what's the next move that can get

(53:33):
them over the hump. I mean, it's a team now
sitting in first, but it's not a team Austin that
operates like they're at the top of the standings. It's
a team that's constantly trying to make themselves better. And
I don't know the way the money or the contracts
work in MLS compared to other franchises, but when you
look at some of the frustrations that people do bring

(53:54):
up with other organizations here in Cincinnati, I think there's
a lot to like about not only what f c
Cincinnati is doing on the field, but the way the
ownership group is attacking things off the field as well
to make sure that this team has the best opportunity
available to win.

Speaker 3 (54:09):
Yeah, it's pretty much the expectation with them is that
that's crazy, right, Yeah, because that's what they've done the
entire time. They've made a lot of the right decisions.
They've checked their egos at the door. They've said, let's
turn to people who know what they're doing, Let's not
get stuck in our ways, Let's not try to keep
somebody here that shouldn't be here. They haven't waited around.

(54:31):
They've been an aggressive pursuit of a championship really from
the moment they got to Major League Soccer. So to
the idea that they're being slept on, I don't know
that they really are in MLS circles.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Well, I was thinking right now they're at the top
of the standings. But MLS Power rankings came out today
in the ranked fifth.

Speaker 3 (54:47):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know that that's necessarily insulting.
I mean, how many Eastern Conference teams are ahead of them?

Speaker 2 (54:55):
Is Nashville in the East? I believe so Nashville the Philadelphia, UNI,
and Inner Miami are all ahead of them.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
Okay, so Miami gets all the attention because of Messi. Sure,
and you could most teams in MLS. You might even
be able to argue fly under the radar because of
the fact that MLS is almost singularly identifiable because of Messi.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
And it is worth noting to that point, Austin. Most
teams in the East have played twenty one matches, intern
Miami's only played seventeen, so they have four matches to
make up. Granted they're ten points behind f C. Cincinnati,
but they are four matches behind from a point standpoint.

Speaker 3 (55:29):
Yeah, So I don't know if I'd necessarily say they're
being slept on. Whenever you're in the top five of
the power rankings, you're pretty good. Yeah. I think it's
just kind of the expectation now. It's like, oh, what
is that Sam Noonan's really good and Chris Albright's really good,
and that organization is always hunting down good players to
bring in. They're not what's the word I'm looking for, Like,

(55:53):
they're not patient complacent? Yeah, exactly, they're not complacent.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
But does that say more about what they've been able
to do in such a short amount of time or
what some of the other organizations have not been able
to do at this point in Major League Soccer. No, no,
I'm talking about from the City of Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
I don't think they're mutually exclusive. I mean everybody should
try to run their organization the way f c Cincinnati does.
The financial structure and you know, rules and salary aggress
it's all aggressive. It's all a little bit different and
probably not fair to compare them, but you look at
the way that they do business and it's undeniable that

(56:35):
their top priority is to win. Now they're doing the.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Pursuit of a championship for something we often talk about
on this show.

Speaker 3 (56:42):
They're they're trying to be good business people and good
in the community and good for the city of Cincinnati,
but also try to win. I think there's sometimes the
lines can get blurred that like, oh, some people just
try to make money and they don't really care about winning. Like,
you know what f Ccincinnati is doing, whether you like
them or not, what they have done to the West End,

(57:04):
and the development plans that they have for that with
different bars and restaurants and hotels and conference centers, and
what they want to build that up into is hopefully
a net positive for the community. And oh, by the way,
they're really freaking good on the field too. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
I just think it's remarkable, you know that they have
had some things that they could probably lean on for excuses, Well,
a cost is not here or think of that. How
many injuries have we talked about already with FC Cincinnati.
We just talked to Tommy G on Friday about another
one or Thursday about another one, and it's never well,
they're going to have to figure out how to go.

(57:44):
I mean, Tommy G says, well, they're probably going to
be aggressive and trying to fill that role. So even
when they get handed something difficult, it's okay, what can
we do to fill that and not lose a step?

Speaker 3 (57:54):
Yeah, And also, like you know, it's easy to say, oh, well,
messi's in our conference now, or Columbus has won a
couple of MLS Cups and they've got so and so
or whatever it might be. Instead they've you know, I mean,
Columbus is a good example. Like what they've done, they've
performed well, but they've also gotten rid of their best

(58:15):
players and haven't adequately replaced them. And Columbus fans are
really upset by that, and they have a standard that
they became used to for all those years in Columbus
that now that's unacceptable and fans are angry. Are they
in the top five or six or whatever it is
in the East, Yes, but that for them is not
good enough. And so this is good for the organization,

(58:38):
not only now but for the future, because you're training
your fan base to say, hey, we demand that you
are in aggressive pursuit of a championship. This is how
you've raised us, this is how you've cultivated us, This
is how you've shown us that you do business to
the point where now you hold them to that standard
moving forward. And teams often are afraid to do that
because they don't want to be held to that standard.

(59:00):
And teams that are in aggressive pursuit of a championship
are not afraid of being held to the highest standard
of what they do. FC Cincinnati deserves a ton of credit.
Now they've only gotten one trophy out of this, and
that was this Reporter Shield, and that's a big deal.
And I think maybe too many people dismissed that. And

(59:20):
it's just the way that americanism and sports I guess
you want MLS Cup. And they obviously blew that lead
in the Eastern Conference Finals to Columbus and that was
a heartbreaker. But like they didn't just sit around and
count their tears and you know, try to worry about
how are we going to recover from this?

Speaker 2 (59:40):
They reloaded. They deserve a lot of credit. They lose
in the season. Nick Haglin, one of their best defenders.
Defense has been better. I'll being to Wobedo. We talked
last week has to go undergo surgery, and we talked
to Tommy g the voice of FC Cincinnati every Friday,
and it's well, expect them to be aggressive on this front.
Here's where the next window opens. Expect them to to
try to make a move to fill that void. Miles

(01:00:02):
Robinson is out on international duty, Sergio Santos is out
with a Lagendrey U a Cuba is out with an ankle.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
They just.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
It feels injuries are never an excuse for f C Cincinnati,
Nor is losing your MVP who says he wants out.
What do they do? They just go find the next
eventual MVP in a vander Kevin Denk has been fantastic
and at the at the helm. Pat Noonan feels like
the perfect guy that continues to steer this ship. So

(01:00:30):
shout out to to FC Cincinnati. I know we discuss
them a little bit, we don't We don't give them
at times the flowers that they deserve for what they
continue to do. And uh, they should be commended for
what they do here and what they've done in such
a short amount of time in the MLS. Competing this
early on is is remarkable and where they were just

(01:00:51):
a couple of years ago at the bottom of the
standings to your point, egos one aside, Hey, let's let's
pass this off to people that know more about what
they're doing than we do. And they've done that and
they've seen the results for it. Shout out to FC Cincinnati.
We'll be back plenty more still to go. A couple
of minutes when we get back, and then we'll welcome
in Charlie Frank from the Red's Community Fund to talk
about their telethon that they got going on tomorrow night.

(01:01:13):
Of course, that means talkbacks will get moved to our
number three, will kick off our number three at two
o'clock with your talkbacks. All that's still ahead since E
three sixty ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks to
Cinci Shirts.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
Now your chant sincey three sixty is back on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Since E three sixteen ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's Sports Station,
a service of Cincy Shirts. We've reached the point, Austin.
We're gonna get back to the Reds in just a
few minutes, which Frank and talk Red's Community Fund. But
we've reached the point, and our guy, Jeremy Faller, friend
of the show, Jeremy Faller, is now doing this where

(01:02:09):
we're now on the cusp of NFL training camps and
it's time for the insiders of the league to make
their voices heard. So they're going through and their surveying executives,
coaches and scouts and what they do over the next
week or so as they rate the top ten players
at eleven different positions across the NFL. It's the six
year in a row they've done these rankings, and the

(01:02:30):
schedule as it pertains is today. They started with running backs,
It'll go to d tackles, edge rusher's, safeties, tight ends,
interior offensive linemen, tackles, quarterbacks, linebackers, wide receivers, and corners.
Throughout the next few weeks, the running backs lead off Austin.
Give me your top three guesses as how the running

(01:02:51):
backs in the league were rated.

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
Sakwon Barkley Yes, Dereck Henry Yes, AFC or NFC, NFC,
Christian McCaffrey close, Jamiir Gibbs. Oh, yeah, he's a beast.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
He is ranked number three on their list. Number four
b Jhon Robinson number five. Isn't a weird How little
we're talking about Christian McCaffrey because of last year.

Speaker 3 (01:03:25):
Yeah, I mean it's that's how it works. Out of sight,
out of mind.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Number six is Josh Jacobs one of the most slept
on running backs in the league.

Speaker 3 (01:03:33):
Yes he is. Number seven is johsh j Tail if
I'm not mistaken, had like thirteen hundred yards last year
and almost twenty touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
Yeah, he was phenomenal. Yeah, thirteen twenty nine and fifteen touchdowns.
How about that? Look at me? Not bad not bad ballner.
Jonathan Taylor comes in at number seven. Yeah, James Cook
at eight.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
That dude's worth like ten games a year. He gets
hurt all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
What about James Cook. I like James Cook. Seems like
the perfect spot in Buffalo.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
James Cook, I believe is in the midst of a
contract dispute with the Buffalo Bills, and he's got the
same agent as Shamar Stewart. Oh boy, write that down.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
Joe Mixon is number nine, Okay, Joe mix Alvin Kamara
is number ten.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
Alvin Kamara is one of those guys that's a little
bit slept on. Yep. I think he's gonna have a
big season. If you want to talk, you want a
fantasy tip right now? Alvin Kamara, Well, yeah, he's the
only thing on the same time quarterback exactly right. My goodness,
he might throw a couple of touchdowns this year.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Now, listen to some of these honorable mentions. Austin, Bucky Yrvin.
I like Bucky, Aaron Jones, He's good, Bryce Hall, James Connor.
Players also receiving votes kyn Williams, David Montgomery, Brian Robinson Jr. Right,

(01:04:53):
Juba Hubbard, DeAndre Swift, Yeah, Kenneth Walker right, K nine.
Should Chase Brown be listed as an honorable mention?

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
Yes? Why is he not? People don't know about it.
He's not even on the list of receiving votes. That's
all right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
These are executives, these are scouts in the NFL, and
you're going to sleep on.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
Keep sleeping on Chase Brown. Sixteen games last year, just
under a thousand yards, big part of the past game
as well. Chase Brown is going to be just fine.
Keep sleeping. Yeah. I don't care what executives think. If
if there's a lot of teams that stink, there's like
what six teams in the NFL that like are really

(01:05:33):
really good, really well run organizations.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
Yeah, what's his ceiling? If Chase Brown has the year
that we're expecting him to have, what's his ceiling this
year by the end of the year.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
I want to say it's it's somewhere between like Bijon
Robinson and Jamier Gibbs, like a top five running back
in the league. Yeah, And I don't think of that
of just like, okay, thirteen fourteen hundred rushing yards and whatever.
I could see him easily hitting like twelve hundred and

(01:06:04):
thirteen hundred rushing yards, seven hundred, eight hundred yards in
the passing game, Like, I think the goal for Chase
Brown should be two thousand yards from scrimmage two thousand
all purpose yards, twenty touchdowns. Yeah. Like, I think he's
absolutely capable of doing that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
I think he's got the ceiling of a top ten
running back in the league this year. I genuinely do.
We got a couple of minutes before we get to
Charlie Frank with the Retch Community Fund, we got a
phone call to take what's up, Mike?

Speaker 11 (01:06:38):
Am I on what you tell?

Speaker 12 (01:06:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
What's up?

Speaker 11 (01:06:40):
Mike? I'm sorry, guys man, Yeah, I Chase, I'm interesting.
I wasn't gonna talk about that. I'm glad you brought
that up. How can we have high I'm not. I
hope the guy does great. But with this offensive line,
typically if I's got my numbers correct, and I probably don't,

(01:07:00):
But like Ted Carris is highly ranked as a well
ranked as a pass blocker, and mobought up the point
four guys always having to make up for the guards
on either side of him, especially in the run game.
So based on our offensive line, our right tackle still
being unproven, Orlando Brown being averaged at this point in

(01:07:21):
his career, that's gonna dictate what he does. Am I right,
it does?

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
And I wonder if you look at where this team
was last year, the offensive line was still an issue.
He somehow managed four point three yards per carry, and
I think his ability to help in the passing game.
He had three hundred and sixty receiving yards last year
for the Bengals. I think that number is gonna go up.
And for whatever reason, I don't think the Bengals used

(01:07:47):
him properly to start the season. It was more Zach
Moss and then Chase Brown later. But I thought late
in the season I thought he was a really good addition.
But to me, the ability of Chase Brown to be
successful is what defense does want to do if you
and and it does come down to the offensive line,
because if you can consistently get pressure on Joe Burrow
by rushing four and dropping seven, then the only alternative

(01:08:10):
you have if you're the Bengals is to give Chase
Brown the ball more and hopefully he can find avenues
to to crease a defense that is rushing four, because
it doesn't matter the numbers that if you can't run
and you can't pass versus four man rush, you're you're
gonna you're gonna be fighting an uphill battle all season anyway.

Speaker 11 (01:08:28):
Now, is he good between is he better between the
tackles or when he goes outside.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
I love him between the tackles because of how hard
he hits the hole. But he also possesses the ability
that he can hit a home run every time he
touches it.

Speaker 11 (01:08:40):
So the rookie from Texas Tech then might provide that
outside thing that we're looking forward.

Speaker 13 (01:08:46):
James Brooks maybe not that good, but.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
I think he was one of the best, if not
the best, pass blocking running backs in the draft, and
back to back thousand yard seasons rushing the ball. I
think he's a nice alternative for the Bengals.

Speaker 11 (01:09:01):
And he's not.

Speaker 14 (01:09:02):
He's not a real big guy.

Speaker 3 (01:09:03):
Is to No, He's a little bit smaller, but stout strong.

Speaker 11 (01:09:07):
Yeah, I got your big sick of legs, the whole deal.
All right, That's all I had, guys, And I'm sorry
that the Abbot got screwed. I I know why they
did it for Kershaw out of respect, but I still
think Kershaw.

Speaker 13 (01:09:20):
Should have not gotten on the team and Abbit should have.
And if my friend's in LA, don't like me saying that,
but that's how I feel. Clayton's had plenty all Star
games and plenty all accolades.

Speaker 11 (01:09:30):
And Abbott is the guy who should have been all
everybody knows, to quote Donald Trump, everybody knows.

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
Mike, we appreciate you have a great Moneyay, thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:09:41):
Yeah, that was the thing I didn't even know existed
that Rob Manford has a like, yeah, what is that
legend pick? And he just chose Clayton Kershaw. Yeah, okay, incredible,
take that. Cool another Dodger. Yep, that's what everybody wanted.
Thanks a lot. Once you put Trout in, dude, how
about that? Yeah, Mike Trout, Yeah, yeah, we are uh yeah,

(01:10:04):
I said it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
We're waiting. They're making their rounds. So ideally when we
get back, we'll have Charlie Frank of the Red's Community
Fund with all right, ideally so well, you know, we
play things by year here anyway, but he should be
around very soon. We'll do that next ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks to our friends at CINTI Shirts.

Speaker 8 (01:10:22):
Have a center tee up this weeks you found Cincinnati's
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
All right, welcome back. It's Cincy three to sixty. Thanks
to Cincy Shirts.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
Talkbacks will go kick off our number three with us
today we have Charlie Frank of the Reds Community Fund
coming on in a couple of minutes to talk about
their telethon that's going to happen tomorrow night. They're running
a few minutes behind Austin, So why not just give
something away while we wait?

Speaker 3 (01:10:48):
How about a couple of tickets to see? No, we're
not seeing, we're not seeing, we're playing playing. How about
Upper Deck Golf? What inside Great American Ballpark. This is
a three day event and it will sell out July
seventeenth through the nineteenth. You got a chance to play
golf inside Great American Ballpark. They put the greens and

(01:11:11):
the t's and the targets and everything down on the field.
You get the launch golf balls into GABP. You can
learn more at Upperdeckgolf dot com. PXG is the exclusive
equipment partner of Upper Deck Golf and they're gonna have
brand new clubs that you can play with, including Sugar

(01:11:31):
Daddy Wedges, Wildcat Irons, Black Ops which I thought was
a video game. All players will receive PXG Extreme Tour
golf balls to play on the course as well, and
there's all sorts of different stuff. You can book t
times upperdeckgolf dot com or reds dot com. Check out
the Upper Deck Golf and it is gonna be inside

(01:11:55):
Great American Ballpark July seventeenth through the nineteenth. At Great
American Ballpark, We've got a pair to give away right now, Tony,
pick a number between one and six, three three. You
are the third caller. If you are caller number three,
you'll receive a pair of tickets to play Upper Deck

(01:12:17):
Golf inside Great American Ballpark July seventeenth through the nineteenth.
Starts ten days from now at Great American Ballpark.

Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
Five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty Caller number three.
So you're telling me they're gonna set up golf bays,
yeah up there, Yeah, at the ballpark, and you're gonna
be able to hit down on top of the ballpark
on the targets. Yeah, they got a picture of it.
This happens g clubs. This happened last year, I think
maybe two years ago. So they're running it back, brand
new clubs, golf balls, all sorts of stuff. They can

(01:12:47):
have a lot of fun with it at Great American Ballpark.
Five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. Coller number
three we'll get the tickets.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
How about this? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Are you going? I don't believe so it's almost like
a ok I'm not gonna say. It's almost like something.
But you can't go down there and hit driver. You
can't or you can't, can you. I'd imagine it hitting
a driver that far would be trouble.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
I would think you can. Oh, looks like we have
a winner here. Who is it? Is this caller? If
you can hear our voice here on the air, is
this Aaron and Dayton?

Speaker 11 (01:13:26):
This is MAVs in seven waves?

Speaker 3 (01:13:28):
In seven Congratulations, You've just won two tickets for upper
deck golf at GA BP. Let's go, Let's go, MAVs.
Are you gonna wear a MAVs jersey? You better believe it?
Are you a golfer?

Speaker 11 (01:13:44):
I got my I got my Cooper flag on order
right now?

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
Oh my wow. You just keep giving them your money,
don't you.

Speaker 11 (01:13:52):
It's it's a it's a tough look for the for
the program, for being honest.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
Are you a golfer? MAVs? You I am? Okay? All right, Well, congratulations,
let's go, baby. Okay, hold on, thank you, hold on,
I'm gonna get your information. Hold about that there we go, all.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
Right, get Aaron's information when we come back. Ideally we're
talking to Charlie Frank. Yes, the Red Community Fund next
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:14:19):
Thanks to Cinty.

Speaker 9 (01:14:20):
Shirts from the Wyoming Air Temp Star Weather Center.

Speaker 1 (01:14:23):
Continues on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Welcome back, It is Cincy three to sixty thanks to
Cinty Shirts. Thank you for listening. On ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station. We'll get to Charlie Frank in just
a moment or two. They are finishing up down the
hallway Red's Community Fund. The telethon happens tomorrow night. Can
I revisit something that we talked about at the end
of the last segment there when Mike called in.

Speaker 3 (01:14:59):
What's that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:01):
The ability of Rob Manfred to come in and essentially
name an All Star starter or an All Star player.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
Yeah, the legend selection. Yeah, apparently the more I think.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
Clayton Kershall is one of four left handers that's ever
struck out three thousand batters. I don't know that it's
terrible to include Clayton Kershall into the All Star Game.

Speaker 3 (01:15:26):
I think he's deserved that over his career. Why he's
been to a bunch of All Star Games, he won
a bunch of World Series.

Speaker 2 (01:15:34):
Right, which means he's one of the best ever doing
He's struck out three thousand batters.

Speaker 3 (01:15:37):
Why do they need Clayton Clayton Kershall this year? I
think as in honor of how good he's been.

Speaker 2 (01:15:43):
Now, what I do think is that's why you look
into the pitchers that are being used, Like I have
no problem with Zach Wheeler being an All Star starter.
But from the appearances of Jason Adam, Matthew Boyd, Edwin Dias,
Mackenzie Gore, Clayton Kershaw, Freddy Peralta, Robbie Ray, Randy Rodriguez,

(01:16:07):
Chris Sale, Paul Skin's Logan, web Zac Wheeler, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yeah,
the reason I just wanted to say Yamamoto again. But
through those players, could you have made a legit argument
that Andrew Abbott should have been should have been picked
over any of those, because.

Speaker 3 (01:16:24):
That's where I slide.

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
Yeah, of course, if you're going to give a legend
pick to a guy that's got three thousand career strikeouts, okay,
then he's a legend Clayton Karshall is a legend of
Major League baseball.

Speaker 3 (01:16:34):
Yeah, I mean I would have given it to a
guy like Andrew McCutcheon. Andrew McCutchen this year's hitting two
sixty one, I would say, what's Cutch doing this year?
We've got thirty one homers, you know, in maybe not
having the best season. I would have maybe given it
someone like Andrew McCutcheon. Does he get a legend thirty
eight years old? Does he get that for both American

(01:16:54):
League and National League? Or can he just use one?
I have no idea. I literally have never heard of
this until now. And maybe that's me being a bad
sports talk radio host, but I didn't know it was
a thing. I didn't either. Maybe we need to look
that up before we keep bloviating about it. Yeah, Kershall
being the pick is not that big of the deal.
It's just I don't know if I would have picked him.
He's been to a bunch of All Star Games, won

(01:17:14):
a bunch of World Series. He's another LA Dodger. There's
already a ton of them in the All Star Game.
And again you're saying to the smaller fan bases, it
almost appears as if there's Dodger bias. Now, that's already
a thing that people think about major League Baseball to begin.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
I read that they did this for Albert Poolholson Miguel
Cabrera in twenty twenty two because both were headed for retirement.

Speaker 3 (01:17:36):
Yeah. Yeah, so like almost more since doing that with McCutcheon. Right,
he's a little bit more in line with the way
those guys were playing at the time. Yeah, but again,
probably the recency bias. Kershaw was hurt. He just struck
out his three thousandth batter. Okay, cool. How many starts
as Kershall made this year? I'd like three maybe, I

(01:17:56):
don't know, all right, and as he doined decent. Well,
I'm pulling up the page right now. Ninety starts. He
has a three point four to three ERA in nine starts. Well,
that ain't terrible. With thirty three strikeouts and forty four innings.
Thirty two strikeouts and forty four innings, that's not terrible.

(01:18:17):
He's an MVP three times, cy Young, ten time All Star,
Gold Glove Pitcher of the Year, Clemente Award, ERA title,
five times, twenty twenty World Series Champion, Triple Crown, and
MVP Award, yeah. I mean he's it's no doubt, he's
absolutely me he's a deserving deserving of that. Yes, sure.

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
And if you think legend, you know, eighteen years in
the big leagues, that's that's a pretty legendary career. Okay,
So who would you guess right now? Are the top
five active leaders in war in Major League Baseball?

Speaker 3 (01:18:53):
Oh? Position players? I have no idea. Mike Trout is
number one. Still he's blowing everybody out. Eighty six point
six is his career war Okay, career you're talking about? Yeah,
active career war leaders.

Speaker 15 (01:19:12):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:19:16):
And the other thing too, is the legend selection, Like
that doesn't take away from Andrew Rabbit, just to be clear,
like that was just, hey, we're gonna throw this guy in. Yeah,
he didn't take a roster spot from somebody. That was
just Manfred using his power to do that. Okay, So
it's not like he got in over Andrew ad is
Otania war guy. Uh, he is not in the top five.

(01:19:38):
Mike Trout, bet, Mookie Betts is number two. How about
Paul Goldschmidt? Wow? Third among active players, Freddie Freeman, Manny Machado.
That ain't bad there. I wouldn't have guessed Manny Machado
either fourteen years in the big leagues, Manny Machado is
a war of sixty point three. Did Mooki Bets make

(01:20:01):
the All Star team? Yeah, he's starting, I believe. Okay, okay,
Mooki Mookie bets Yoshi Nobu Yamamoto Yamamoto? All right, well end,
what other stuff can we come up with while we wait?

Speaker 2 (01:20:20):
Legends? This is the This is the I guess. This
is the dangerous side of live radio. No, no, no, this
is the beauty of live This is the beauty of it.
I root for stuff like this, you know, you root for.
We have a producer here by the name of Liam.

Speaker 3 (01:20:35):
You know Liam. I know Liam. Liam says every time
you see him, you'll say, hey, how you doing? He says,
greatest day of my life so far. And then he
always says that he prays for adversity. And here we are.
We've got a little bit of adversity, you know, and
so we've got to fill some time. I feel for
our listeners right now. They wanted their talkbacks. They could
have gotten them, Yeah, could have got them. And you know,

(01:21:00):
do you wanna do you want to dive in real quick?
Maybe to our Postman Law Injury report. Uh, you can
do that.

Speaker 16 (01:21:04):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:21:05):
While you pull that up, I'll give us a quick
update on our Revive Fitness Systems dot com. Hold question,
which is how many games will the Reds win during
this final homestand before the All Star break? Sixty six
percent say four to six of those seven games four
against Miami, three against Colorado.

Speaker 2 (01:21:21):
Smart, smart folks. Our Postman Loall injury report delivered by
Postman Lall. Injured Postman delivers call eight four to four Postman, Uh,
Hunter Green Austin's going to begin to rehab assignment Triple
A Louisville on Tuesday.

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
That's tomorrow. That's tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:21:36):
Him and Carsonspires, Him and Carsonspires Triple A Louisville Tuesday.
Connor Joe was in Triple A. Okay, he started at
first base and went oh for three for Triple A
Louisville on Friday. No timetable yet on the end of bo.

Speaker 3 (01:21:52):
Glad to hear that Connor Joe is back to being
able to be around to people. Correct sounds miserable. Correct,
That's where we are on our Postman Loll injury Report.
Fantastic Injured Postman delivers now. I know these guys at
the Reds Community Fund are busy. Yeah, and I know
they're also fans of the show. We appreciate them, we do.
We love them.

Speaker 2 (01:22:12):
Now I'm concerned that if and when they do come in,
how much time do you really have to talk?

Speaker 3 (01:22:18):
Yeah? We might. We might just have to call it now,
we're up against the eight ball. If it were me
putting my producer hat on, Okay, what do you do?
It would it would say that we're just not going
to be able to do it. Yeah, not gonna be
able to have them. Yeah, which is sad because it's
a big night tomorrow night, it is, but we will

(01:22:40):
be able to tell people about what to expect tomorrow night.
I believe you have the sheet in there with you
all the different stuff, and I know there's a bunch
of different packages as well that the Reds are doing.
You can get a Terry francona bobblehead if you There's
like an MVP and a MVP Premium package that you

(01:23:03):
if you donate to the Reds Community Fund, It's Reds
dot Com slash telethon. In the MVP package you get
a Red's Windbreaker, a Terry Francona bobblehead, a Red's Community
Fund engraved water bottle, and a Community Fund rope hat.
The MVP Premium package has all that stuff plus an

(01:23:24):
exclusive Lie De la Cruz pin and a random authenticated
autograph baseball and display case from one of your favorite
Reds players. Really we did not get that, but it's
Andrew Abbitt, Graham, Ashcraft, l E. C. E. S Espinall Frehley, Francona,
Friedel Green, Steers, Singer, Stevenson McClain, Martinez, Lux Lodolo Hayes.

(01:23:47):
All of them have autographed baseballs for this. You can
go to Reds dot com Slash Telethon if you want
to donate that and you also you don't have to
donate specifically that amount. You can also donate other amounts
as well, and they can be doing the telethon all
light tomorrow night. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:24:07):
The Reds Community Fund has now been around for twenty
five years. It's the thirteenth annual Reds Community Fund Telethon.
It's an hour long Reds Live pregame show at six
The game production postgame show is going to highlight and
raise funds for the Reds Community Fund. I have a
couple of notes here about the Reds Community Fund. Their

(01:24:28):
Reds Youth Academy is a state of the art thirty
three thousand square foot facility featuring an indoor field, weight room,
and four newly renovated baseball fields that serve as the
home to all Reds Community Fund outreach programs, including free
fall and winter clinics and activities. Since its inception in

(01:24:49):
two thousand and one, the red Community Fund has used
baseball and softball as a vehicle to enhance the lives
of youth and to improve on this community. So they
have done amazing, amazing things throughout the community and continue
to do these amazing things throughout the community. So whether

(01:25:10):
you can donate a couple of dollars or more, anything
is obviously welcome with the Rech Community Fund and very
thankful for all that they continue to do. I saw
video Terry Francona was shown the bobblehead. He's a fan
of it.

Speaker 3 (01:25:22):
Yeah, yeah, we have it in the studio right now.
They said. Last week they dropped off a box for
us with all this stuff. It's really cool, said, it's
very lifelike. And just to be clear, the MVPD donation
is one hundred and twenty five dollars or more, and
the MVP premium is two hundred and fifty dollars. Man,
and then obviously you can you know, donate and whatever
increment that you feel comfortable with. But yeah, all right,

(01:25:44):
really cool. So that's it. We'll get them on next time.

Speaker 2 (01:25:48):
Of course that now they're standing outside, Yeah, and they
just it's over, guys.

Speaker 3 (01:25:52):
It's all right, boys. We'll blame Bill cunning here, I
blame will it. It's his fault. It is h Moost.
Things around here are.

Speaker 2 (01:25:58):
It's Sincy three to sixty on ESPN fifty thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 9 (01:26:01):
Thanks til Uckwy Cincinnati.

Speaker 10 (01:26:04):
Make us the number one pre set on your car
radio and on the free, new and improved iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 9 (01:26:08):
Free.

Speaker 10 (01:26:09):
Never sounded so good. ESPN fifteen thirty East CoA.

Speaker 1 (01:26:13):
Subs since e three sixty of About Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in part by Penn Station East CoA Subs. Handcrafted
hot grilled subs, fresh cut fries and lemonade.

Speaker 9 (01:26:24):
It's all about good taste. Pennstation East Coast Subs order
online today.

Speaker 1 (01:26:29):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:26:36):
All right, welcome back our number three thanks to Penn Station.
Thank you for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty. Our guys
at the Reds Community Fund Austin are so dedicated to
wanting to talk to us and fans of the show
that they're going to wait around till after talkbacks to
join us.

Speaker 3 (01:26:49):
Wow, that is impressive.

Speaker 2 (01:26:51):
I told them, Okay, we'll get right into talkbacks because
we got a talkback since he church gift card to
give away on Friday, and we'll do that and then
we'll bring the guys in that.

Speaker 3 (01:27:00):
Time for tarbacks.

Speaker 17 (01:27:01):
Press the microphone and record your message for us. Stand
in tone, please keep it clean and don't be mean,
and a sprinkle sprinkled drip drip.

Speaker 18 (01:27:13):
It's that time for talkbacks.

Speaker 17 (01:27:15):
It's our favorite part of Sancy three sixties Austin. Buddy
played that talkback on your screen and please try not
too Saba Taja.

Speaker 19 (01:27:27):
So, guys, Big Kahunay in Kentucky watched some vintage college
football over the weekend.

Speaker 9 (01:27:30):
Came across ninety four Texas A and m.

Speaker 19 (01:27:32):
Yeah they was good with Leland, Michael Roy ten oh
and one, but couldn't make playing a bowl game.

Speaker 9 (01:27:36):
But you know what I'm tired of as the coach.

Speaker 19 (01:27:38):
RC schlockem I'm tired of him being crowned great. He
was thirty four and six during the time of the
Southwest Conference, but when they moved to the Big twelve,
he was thirty four to twenty two at conference play.
Won one conference fight on ninety eight because Kansas State choked.
That was a great team with Michael Bishop. But Arcie Slopem,
You're not great. You are not great.

Speaker 3 (01:27:57):
Not every thought has to be turned into a talkback.

Speaker 12 (01:28:01):
Oh yes, this is mister Richard Hurts of the law
firm Mayso and Moon. We've been informed that a mister
Jeff from Virginia may have been disqualified from winning a
T shirt last week in the talkback competition due to
a mere slip of the tongue on.

Speaker 3 (01:28:17):
A lyric interpretation.

Speaker 12 (01:28:20):
We will be instigating an action mister Jeff from Virginia
versus Tony Pike in the English language.

Speaker 3 (01:28:27):
Man gosh ah, mister Richard Hurts.

Speaker 12 (01:28:33):
And we will be seeking all appropriate compensation up to
and including a T shirt voucher from Cincy Shots.

Speaker 3 (01:28:41):
Thank you, thank you, mister Richard.

Speaker 20 (01:28:45):
I'm sorry for the background noise. AC and my car's running.
You know, most people insis are like, oh it's too
hot or oh it's too cold.

Speaker 3 (01:28:54):
You know, I say, please move anyway.

Speaker 20 (01:28:58):
I think I've turned into from Dayton or something that
maybe I'll get a banjo off marketplace or something. Hey,
why do the Reds always win the first game and
then lose the last two, or lose the first two
games of a game three game series and win the last.

Speaker 3 (01:29:15):
That sounds like a question for Terry Frank. Come even
Dick and Dayton are probably a little bit more similar
than I originally thought, so.

Speaker 6 (01:29:21):
Slick Wigly's the last act as acting president was to
mke me to act and talk about the president.

Speaker 3 (01:29:28):
Whether I don't know too much about running tangs out
of use, secretary of Transportation or something like that. Other
I ain't got no games in it.

Speaker 21 (01:29:35):
So my last act is I'm going to resign and
send it on to Ken the Congressman.

Speaker 3 (01:29:40):
I think you guys will be in great unbelievable take
care gods. People are awfully afraid of responsibilities and power.

Speaker 18 (01:29:48):
Austin's such a hard worker filling for their people.

Speaker 9 (01:29:51):
We have part time Pike.

Speaker 18 (01:29:53):
Maybe we need to overtime ilmore no.

Speaker 3 (01:29:55):
No tax on overtime now right, no tax, big beautiful stuff.
I'd have to use that to my advantage. Yeah, I
wish some of those Mexican hold on, let me reak. Yeah,
we're just gonna move on.

Speaker 15 (01:30:12):
I'd be Mondy Fellas, Steve West West Junior. I gotta
wonder why you guys keep sticking all those venues right
by the river with all the crime and all that
going on. It's like walking through the DMZ because you
don't have enough parking secured park So I gotta say,
I'm never ever ever going to that those venues because

(01:30:39):
of the cronker.

Speaker 3 (01:30:41):
Okay, Steve, first of all, I think you're on the
wrong station. Second of all, you're one of those people
that's afraid to go downtown, and that's becoming a big thing. Now.
I'm downtown all the time. Like sure, there are times
when you're like, maybe time to get out of here.
But I'm telling you it's not nearly as safe, not

(01:31:01):
nearly as unsafe as it's portrayed to be. I'll just
leave it at that. The people that are terrified of
going downtown and tell people how awful it is all
the time, don't spend any time downtown.

Speaker 21 (01:31:14):
Hey, it's vice president of Baseball Operations and assistant general
manager of the first place Toronto Blue Jays, David Bell.
Just calling in to check on Cincinnati, see how things
are doing, and let them know that when I can
actually make my own decisions, success is sure to follow.
And let me leave the Reds with the little advice

(01:31:36):
move Ellie to center field. It's where he belongs. Okay,
that's worth three to four more wins on your season
versus three losses.

Speaker 3 (01:31:44):
Now, I will say Ellie rebounded with a very good
month of June. He did defensively, him and Pete Crow
armstrong league leaders and ou it's above average.

Speaker 22 (01:31:53):
Hey, guys, top back matters. Guy, I hope you had
a wonderful fourth of July.

Speaker 19 (01:31:58):
Safe one.

Speaker 22 (01:32:00):
And well, there's a couple of things. Probably people are
gonna hate on me. Sorry, the win I met lunking.
I think we give Ellie a lot of passes. I mean,
I know he's young, but I still think we give
him too many passes.

Speaker 7 (01:32:14):
And then the next thing is freedom should make it.

Speaker 22 (01:32:17):
And I think that habit we'll still get put in
for All Star.

Speaker 3 (01:32:22):
Get what are some of the passes that we get
I would like to know.

Speaker 2 (01:32:25):
I think the many when we're pretty hard on Ellie.

Speaker 3 (01:32:28):
Yeah. TP fifteen. I actually got berated online because I
was too hard on.

Speaker 23 (01:32:33):
Elli TP fifteen from the uy Fellas Tony super jealous.
You're hitting Siesta Key. You got to hit that. Captain
Kurtz get that clam chowder. My lords also autome quick
question about regarding the state of Maine. I know you
like to visit up there, and my better half said,

(01:32:55):
of the other day, why don't we ever visit a
different state, maybe like Maine? So looking for some options
city to head all that stuff, So any options, thanks.

Speaker 3 (01:33:03):
Maine is the most beautiful state in the continental United States,
and it's not particularly close. I visited Portland and the
surrounding areas. I loved it. I know somebody who's just
up in a Kadia National Park. One of our producers
here was up there. They loved it. I know my
family has gone to Kinnebunkport, Maine quite frequently. They love that.

(01:33:24):
It's beautiful. That's where the Bushes, George w George hw
All them had their residences in their summer homes. You
can't go wrong anywhere up in Maine and then the
actually the background on my phone right now is the
Portland headlight, which was the most beautiful thing I've ever
seen in my life. You must not know me very
well if you think I'm getting that claim. Chat Tony

(01:33:45):
wouldn't touch it. If it's not like just basic meat
and cheese, Tony doesn't want it. Annie, I had a
great July for the weekend the Reds. Yesterday I had
the Tipic Cats to the pitcher. He was awesome. Saturday
should have.

Speaker 11 (01:34:04):
Played better, agreed Samons. Always his offense is just not
consistent enough.

Speaker 3 (01:34:10):
And by the way, Tony the Legend was on my show, Wow,
he's been.

Speaker 2 (01:34:19):
That might be the last domino to fall if Moles,
If Mo's holdout is over, mine might have to end
as well.

Speaker 14 (01:34:26):
Hey, guys, how you doing. It's been a while and
I'm not doing a Bengal call today. I want to
play this start bench cut thing all hit me and
I'm gonna do it with three sports that I don't
care about, but an icon from each sport I believe anyway, Okay,
uh Novak, Djakovich, Yes, Lionel Messi, Caitlin Clark, start bench cut.

Speaker 3 (01:34:50):
Wow, you guys are great You're great, Brooklyn Bengal fan.
Thank you. I will start the joker.

Speaker 2 (01:34:55):
I'm a big tennis I will bench Clark and I
will cut Messy because he place for Inner Miami and
he's an enemy.

Speaker 3 (01:35:01):
I'm starting Messy, Caitlin Clark cutting Novak joking Joe for
the first time, he seemed likable this weekend when he's
doing that dance thing with his daughter. Yeah, it was
the first time I found Novak Djokovic to be a
likable athletes change people.

Speaker 24 (01:35:19):
Still repping my city out here in sunny hots On.

Speaker 13 (01:35:23):
Man.

Speaker 24 (01:35:23):
At least we didn't get swept. I smelled the hell
coming a mile away about a fifth inning. They couldn't
figure the guy out. I mean WILLI was Dylan. You
gotta give it to him. Do you have to typic tailor?
Just finished strong and win the series at home. That's
the only thing that matters. Give it up to FC Cincinnati.
These boys is running the East. The Beast is in
the East and it's orange and blue. Lucho, who man,

(01:35:46):
I don't even know what you're talking about. Evan is
the real deal.

Speaker 3 (01:35:49):
How about that period you see it's an orange out
at TQL Stadium. This weekend.

Speaker 25 (01:35:54):
Yep, hey guys, hope you had a great holiday weekend.
Watching the Reds Philly series over the weekend got me
to thinking about the most insufferable fan bases in sports.
For obvious reasons, Philly fans were booing when the Reds
were leading on Friday. Of course, they ended up winning
the next two games and they're in first place, so

(01:36:15):
they're a great team, but they still somehow boom and
show little appreciation. So my top three most insufferable fan
bases in sports, and I'll last the city here.

Speaker 18 (01:36:26):
Start with Cleveland.

Speaker 25 (01:36:27):
They're the lowest on the best ranking list for me,
just because they've seen the least amount of success. Calves Guardians,
and of course the Browns. Philadelphia is number two or
maybe one. B They just bow way too much, they
don't appreciate anything. They just won the Super Bowl last year.

(01:36:47):
And finally, New York. Easy choice for me.

Speaker 18 (01:36:50):
Those fans are the most insufferable, and this goes for
every single sport. I hate New York fans.

Speaker 3 (01:36:55):
Honestly, I might put Ohio State on my list because
there's a lot of Ohio State fans that I think
are insufferable. Good first one that comes to mind, is Dallas.
Any sort of Cowboys fan is usually one of the
worst people I've met.

Speaker 8 (01:37:11):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:37:11):
I actually love Philadelphia. I love their fans. Kind of
going back to the whole hold hold people accountable, hold
teams to a standard. They were booing Austin Hayes and
the dude tried to play through a kidney infection for them. Yeah,
they didn't play well enough, so they boot him. Bad luck.
I love that about Philadelphia. Is there another team that

(01:37:32):
really despise Ohio State? Okay? Would you like to like
contribute it to any of the questions that you asked her?
I think base, I do think they're insufferable. Now I'm
a I'm a Kentucky basketball fan. I think Kentucky basketball
is insufferable. I think that fan base is toxic. But

(01:37:52):
I think it's toxic at every level. I mean I
literally I had a chance a couple of weeks, a
week or so ago, I talked to Marcus Freeman, who
just went to the National title, and there's already pressure
on him not doing enough or what have they done
in the portal? Talked about it with Ohio State. They
won the national title, and all the question is, now,
what are you doing this year? I mean, it is,
it is relentless, but I guess sometimes that's what it
takes to be at the top. I think I would

(01:38:14):
say Ohio State, Michigan, and the Dallas Cowboys probably my
three least favorite. That's fair. Quick, honorable mention, Lee, hurry
it up?

Speaker 18 (01:38:23):
Yet the Pittsburgh And this is mostly for the Steelers.

Speaker 25 (01:38:26):
They stink any now, I know from Cincinnati, I'm supposed
to hate Pittsburgh, and I do. There's nothing more in
sports than I hate than the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 18 (01:38:35):
But it's the team. It's not the fan base.

Speaker 25 (01:38:38):
I think they're actually a pretty decent fan base, very loyal,
and they don't bother me as much themselves.

Speaker 18 (01:38:44):
It's the team. It's the dirty style of play over
the years, and it's them owning us. Okay, so, honorable
mention Pittsburgh.

Speaker 3 (01:38:51):
Fair. I mean, I don't know anybody that actually likes Pittsburgh.

Speaker 26 (01:38:56):
Nope, good afternoon, I hear mores werblin. Yeah there, man,
I'd be remissful if I didn't tell La Mike that
the Astro swept his Dodgers this week in La at Kershaw,
making it over Abbott. That should be a fourth degree misdemeanor. Bingals,

(01:39:20):
maybe you can still sign a guard.

Speaker 20 (01:39:25):
I think the passes with LA daily careers are the
ball's going in the center field.

Speaker 3 (01:39:33):
Huh.

Speaker 20 (01:39:34):
Actually the ball's going ten feet over the first baseman's head.

Speaker 3 (01:39:38):
No, I'll tell you that you guys got to get
a little bit more consistent throwing the ball to first base.
That that is a fair criticism.

Speaker 27 (01:39:46):
Congressman Kean from the Commonwealth of keen, Entucky.

Speaker 3 (01:39:49):
Here in the immortal.

Speaker 27 (01:39:51):
Words of Linda Baines Johnson, I shall not seek nor
will I accept your nomination as president event of talkbacks.
Thanks Kevin, but no, thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:40:04):
Gosh, who he's an Anna Marie. He don't even know
what's going on today.

Speaker 3 (01:40:09):
Yeah, he immediately goes to camp. David ass gets appointed president. Man,
all right, that was our last one.

Speaker 2 (01:40:16):
All right, So now when we come back, we actually
will talk to Charlie Frank maybe hopefully he's outside right now.

Speaker 3 (01:40:24):
Okay, he's right outside the studio.

Speaker 23 (01:40:26):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:40:26):
They told me before that segment started that when noon
comes around, they make sure that they're listening to Cincy
three to sixty every day. Love that they are very
complimentary conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:40:37):
That the show is played in the bowels of Great
American Ballpark.

Speaker 2 (01:40:40):
That's right, Tino, the magnificence probably listening right now, getting
ready for us to talk to Charlie Frank. He's joined.
Michael Anderson is here as well. We'll talk about a
big night ahead tomorrow night for the redch Community Fund.
Next on the ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks
to Penn Station Sincy.

Speaker 1 (01:40:58):
Three sixty is bad on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:41:06):
All right, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (01:41:07):
Welcome back since the three sixty makes the Penn station.

Speaker 3 (01:41:10):
Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2 (01:41:11):
On ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Austin. It's a
big night tomorrow night. It's a uh it's the Red's
Community Fund telethon. And this is something that I've been
able to see and and kind of grow over the years,
and to look at at the way the Community Fund
has given back and what they've provided and still running

(01:41:32):
as strong as they've ever been. It's certainly special right
here in the city of Cincinnati and the surrounding area.
So Michael Anderson stopped by today, Charlie Frank stopped by today.
They are both here and and Charlie's spreading the good
word about everything that's going on with the Reds Community
fund Fellas.

Speaker 28 (01:41:49):
How you guys doing doing great? John, Yeah, Austin, thanks
for having us.

Speaker 2 (01:41:54):
This is something that's even more exciting for us because
you guys are actual legitimate listeners to since you don't
get like the whole Hey, the show's great. You guys
actually know about the show.

Speaker 3 (01:42:04):
You know what.

Speaker 28 (01:42:04):
Love the show and appreciate you guys talking this up
last week. Manah, that was really nice, and appreciate just
all the Red Sox Man. I mean, you know we
were talking off era when you guys were on for
an hour and then two hours and this is you know,
I mean for what Michael and I do and just
kind of how we're wired. Man, this show is awesome.
So we appreciate you guys. As someone who's normally concerned

(01:42:25):
about late June early July, we have many thanks to
give the Cincinnati Reds this year because what they've been
able to do over the first half of the season
and now again, you would have hoped things would have
went better the last two series, but you come home
for seven before the All Star break with an opportunity
to build on a good resume and get some good
momentum going into the break is a really cool thing.

Speaker 7 (01:42:42):
Boy, we could use it.

Speaker 28 (01:42:44):
And you know, I think people just assume, oh, Miami
and Colorado, and Miami's been playing well, really well, so
you know, but so are the Reds. I mean, yesterday,
obviously they ran into a guy that came within one
pitch of a perfect game and Zach Wheeler. But you
know that having avoided a sweep all year, you just
cannot put a value on that. I mean, it's allowed

(01:43:06):
them to stay above water and allow guys to come
back healthy. And you know, the feeling is around the
ballpark Tony and Austin is if you can keep hanging around,
you've got a manager that could potentially steer you home.
I mean, he's a guy that knows how to win,
knows how to win in the second half, and you
feel his presence down there every day.

Speaker 7 (01:43:27):
So I'm a big believer.

Speaker 2 (01:43:28):
Big addition, obviously, getting Hunter green back will go a
long way, and what Ellie's been able to build on
and the electricity out of Chase Burns, there's a lot
to like about this team right now. Tomorrow night, not
only is the game going to happen, But the thirteenth
annual REDGS Community Fund Telethon is going to happen as well.
This is now twenty five years of the REDGS Community Fund.

(01:43:50):
Any inkling of idea in its inception of the Community Fund,
what it would grow into and what it is.

Speaker 28 (01:43:57):
Today, not really. I mean I arrived in year three,
so this is season twenty two for me. And you know,
it really moved into warp speed when the Casteline came
in O six because they had spent ten years as
limited partners with the Cardinals. They had owned pieces of
the Rangers and the Orioles before that, so they really

(01:44:18):
knew what they wanted to do. And fortunately it was
very similar to what we had begun, which is, you know,
there are so many great nonprofits in this community doing
amazing work that we should really try to focus on
our game building and growing our game. And I can
tell you when you guys will both understand this. I mean,
back in two thousand and four when I arrived, this

(01:44:39):
was a nice to have, but it is absolutely a
fundamental need to have now that you have a part
of your business that's focusing on the next generation of
kids that play your game. You know, baseball and softball
are expensive, they're complicated. We've you know, had a lot
of headwind with you know, youth football, you soccer, youth lacrosse.
I mean, there's been so many changes and challenges to
our game, but in country, in this region, it is

(01:45:02):
still so important. So we've really been armed by the
Castellini's to go out and build ball fields, build our
youth academy, support hundreds of teams each year, work with
different high schools, really get into the weeds with all
the nooks and crannies of kids four to eighteen that
are playing our game.

Speaker 2 (01:45:20):
How much do you look at obviously early on to
make a difference as one thing, But then as you
get into year twenty five or how long you guys
have now been at it, you get the backside of
the reward of seeing what it does for these kids,
and it probably puts even more pressure on to continue
it because now it's not just a dream of what
it could be, but you're seeing how many kids it's

(01:45:42):
impacting in the city. It has to be rewarding, but
it also has to continue to put the pressure on
to continue to operate at the level. You guys are
to continue to impact so many people in this city.

Speaker 7 (01:45:51):
Yeah, that's such a good point, Tony.

Speaker 3 (01:45:53):
It's both.

Speaker 7 (01:45:54):
It is rewarding.

Speaker 28 (01:45:54):
I mean, our player progress while at the Youth Academy
is littered with young men and women that are coaching
with us, working for us, interning with us, giving back
to us. You know, That's that's part of the secret
Sauce is you know, getting you know, and a lot
of these kids. I mean you'll and you'll hear about
him if you're watching our telethon tomorrow, which will not

(01:46:15):
only air on the Red Radio Network, but will air
on FanDuel Sports Network and Fox nineteen on simulcasts, but
you'll hear from kids that have been at our Youth
Academy for seven years, eight years. I mean, you know
that this has really impacted their lives. So you know,
we get to see that and every day having exposure
to that is the privilege. You know, It's hard to articulate,

(01:46:37):
but it also does raise the bar so's it scares
me to death.

Speaker 7 (01:46:42):
Every day of you know, how are we going to
keep this up?

Speaker 28 (01:46:44):
Because the nonprofit fundraising world is a tricky space, you know,
and a lot of people think, oh, you're the Reds.

Speaker 7 (01:46:50):
You know, it must come easy.

Speaker 28 (01:46:52):
There are a lot of advantages because we have a
generous ownership group and we have a generous clubhouse. But
they helped us, you know, double down on what we
do in operating our youth academy. That's a million dollar
endeavor every year. So you know, tomorrow's telethon, whether you
are watching, whether you're listening, whether you are at the game,
it will be the first time that it's really activated
across each medium. We're really going to try to hammer

(01:47:14):
home the importance of fans being able to participate in
this because I like you guys, if you care about
our team, if you care about our game, this is
a way that you can make a difference. And you know,
for one hundred and twenty five dollars donation, you get
an incredible kit of stuff that you guys were nice
enough to talk about last week, the francona bobblehead which
we see, the water bottle, which you know now that

(01:47:36):
we live in ninety eight degree humidity for ninety percent
of our lives, we're nice to have this Red Community
fun hat, this really cool wind break or pull over.
And then for another one hundred and twenty five you
get an autograph baseball and a display case with either
Terry Francona or one of our players. So this is
a way for people that really care about this mission
and care about our team and making sure that our

(01:47:57):
game has a future by letting kids know how it
works and how to play it and how to engage
this is a great way for people to get involved.

Speaker 2 (01:48:05):
In the last twenty five years. Just talk about some
of the things that you guys have accomplished with the
Community Fund. Obviously the Reds Youth Academy at thirty three
thousand square foot indoor facility, what you guys are able
to give back annually. You look across the city and
drive through and you see ballparks that have been renovated
and redone thanks to the Reds Community Fund. Just the

(01:48:27):
impact that you guys have been able to make because
of the generosity you've been given over the last twenty
five years is incredible.

Speaker 7 (01:48:34):
It is and that's how it works.

Speaker 28 (01:48:36):
I mean, we knock on a lot of doors, and
we are lucky we have more doors than you know
many nonprofits our size do. But it does require fan support,
and I don't know that there is a single day
in the calendar year where it comes to light more
than it does on the evening of the telethon, because
over the years that we've hosted that telethon, we started

(01:48:57):
and it raised about fifteen thousand dollars back in two
thousand and eight and it's become something that generates over
three hundred thousand dollars because of our audience and because
of you know, Jim Day is incredibly skilled at connecting
with the fan base and letting them know why this matters.
And you know, fan Duel or Bally Fox before them
always gave us an extra half hour to tell our stories.

(01:49:19):
So there'll be five different vignettes that are layered throughout
the pregame show and postgame show tomorrow to let people
know this is this is why it matters. It's not
just hoping that the Reds win and it lifts the community.
It's because you know, this game can teach people something
that other sports can't. You don't have to be the biggest,
the fastest, or the strongest. Joe Morgan was five foot

(01:49:40):
seven and he was the greatest player arguably on the
greatest team of all time.

Speaker 2 (01:49:44):
I live it every single day because my My four
year old wants to go to bed watching Ellie de
la Cruz highlights. Thank you, m I have a kid
that wants to watch Reds games with me every night,
which is fantastic because I'm watching it for what I
tell my wife, work purposes each and every night to
be able to talk about it the next day. But
you go to a and there's a buzz from the kids,
the kids that are at the ballpark of wanting to

(01:50:04):
see these guys. And from what I've seen over the
years is not only what you guys have done, but
you get willing participants from the team as well that
that will take an off day and come out and
be a part of what you guys are doing. Talk
a little bit about just the not only importance of that,
but what that does is well to spark.

Speaker 3 (01:50:22):
It's it's a.

Speaker 2 (01:50:23):
Long season, one hundred and sixty two, not a lot
of off days sprinkled in there, and for a player
or players when they're off to donate their time and
to come out obviously has to have a lasting impact
as well well.

Speaker 28 (01:50:34):
I mean when you were in the NFL, I mean
you know that, you know, I think it was every
Tuesday as a community Day, right, And obviously it depends
now that they play every day of the week, but
you know, so there's that built in cadence and MLB.
It is a bunker from February to October and hopefully November.
I mean, and there are only a handful of days
that you're in town and not traveling. So our ability

(01:50:54):
to ask guys to get involved when the calendar might
suggest it makes sense, We've got to be very mindful
of it. So you know, we tip will ask guys
to get involved late mornings, early afternoons on days that
we play at home. And the turnout from our team,
whether it's children's hospital visits, whether it's our Friday make
a Wish visits, whether it's the countless visits that our
players have made over the years, and none bigger than

(01:51:16):
Joey Vado out to our Reds Youth Academy. I mean,
our academy is one of the four you know spots
that he made in that enormous tattoo, So thank you, Joey.
I mean, it's tremendous in baseball too, man, It's this
game breeds humility, right, I mean how many? I mean,
Mike Leak is the only guy in my tenure here
that went straight from you know, college to the big leagues.

Speaker 7 (01:51:38):
It just doesn't happen.

Speaker 28 (01:51:39):
So, you know, if you're a Strasbourg or a Bryce
Harper or a Chase Burns, it doesn't matter. You're gonna
you know, and Chase Burns only had a couple months.
But you're gonna ride buses, you're gonna play in the
minor leagues. It's gonna build in some humility. So our
guys are great and they're generous. We got a guy
like Brent Souter, who is of you know, I mean

(01:51:59):
like most professional athletes you know, went to Harvard and
studied sustainable energy.

Speaker 7 (01:52:05):
I mean he is.

Speaker 28 (01:52:07):
He is such a presence at our youth academy. We
literally have a Brent Suitter Jersey that hangs there because
we're not gonna bother Rixtow in the Red's Clubhouse. Yeah,
because he's too frequent. And you know what, he came
out of time when he pits for the Brewers and
with the Rockies because he's local and he's just such
a great dude.

Speaker 2 (01:52:24):
The telethone is tomorrow night, and you mentioned different avenues
for folks being able to partake what are those avenues.
And for listeners right now, what's the easiest way that
they or you would recommend they get involved.

Speaker 28 (01:52:36):
Well, we hope that folks will go to reds dot
com Slash RCF twenty five. That is our landing page
that's celebrating all the things that we're rolling out tomorrow
night with the twenty fifth anniversary. There's going to be
a there is a huge new wall banner right in
the gap at the ballpark. So we hope that people,

(01:52:57):
you know, tap into this because it really is a
nice miles and as you said earlier, Tony, there's been
so many cool things that have happened to hopefully grow
the game here. But you can also go to reds
dot com Slash Telethon if you're watching tomorrow night or
listening tomorrow night, that's another way to get to these
two packages, the one hundred and twenty five or the
two hundred and fifty dollars one. And if you go

(01:53:18):
to reds dot com Slash Community, that'll tell you all
the stories that you need to know about what we
do day in and day out to grow the game
for kids ages four to eighteen and really focus on
those that wouldn't be playing otherwise.

Speaker 4 (01:53:29):
And you know, obviously the game is televised by FanDuel
Sports Network, but tomorrow Night's game is also on Fox ninteen,
so our friends are at Fox nineteen are broadcast right
just about every Tuesday game. Yeah, so you can tune
in for an extended pregame show, watch the entire game,
and they'll be hitting it during the postgame show as well.

Speaker 2 (01:53:48):
Obviously with the MVP package or the Premium MVP package,
you don't have to if you're not at that point
that you can obviously still make any type of donation
of course, anytime twenty four hours a day as well.

Speaker 3 (01:53:59):
With the community.

Speaker 28 (01:54:00):
Absolutely, if you go to redstt com slash community, there
is a donate now opportunity. And you know, we are
incredibly fortunate there are so many people in this region.
I mean, the reds are over one hundred and fifty
five years old and playing every day for seven months.

Speaker 7 (01:54:15):
I mean, it is you know, I know, for the.

Speaker 28 (01:54:17):
Four of us, it's part of the fabric of our lives,
you know, for from this area. So it's amazing the
way there, you know, the fan base incorporates us into
right of passage activities, So, uh yeah, find out more
how how you can donate. But tomorrow night it's a great,
really fun way to donate if you want to get
a really cool package of Reds items.

Speaker 2 (01:54:38):
Lastly, because I was asking this over the weekend, if
if you're going to the game tomorrow, is there still
a way there? Belved Obviously with a Tuesday nights three
to one night, a lot of people going down to
the ballpark. With the weather, obviously you never know with
how hot it is. But for those that are going
to the ballpark, is there are still a way they can? Yeah,
Tony and Austin.

Speaker 28 (01:54:58):
For the second year in a row, we're offering fancy
opportunity to purchase these gift packages in person. It'll be
on the fan Zone stage. N went really well last year. Yeah,
so it was cool to be able to roll that
out and we'll be doing that again this year because
we don't want anyone to miss out. It used to
be was only for the TV audience, and we finally realized, well,
wait a minute, you know, and we're going to have

(01:55:18):
Red's Community Fund, coaches and student athletes and all kinds
of our leaders out in the crowd. We're going to
have them part of the pregame, part of the in
game activities. So anyone who attends the game tomorrow is
going to get a full flavor of the Red's Community Fund,
and in advance, I want to thank people for.

Speaker 7 (01:55:36):
Making this possible.

Speaker 2 (01:55:37):
Yeah, well, we thank you guys, obviously, both Charlie Frank
and Michael Anderson. The work you guys do on the scenes,
behind the scenes, the hard work that goes into this.
We certainly appreciate you guys and appreciate you coming on.

Speaker 28 (01:55:50):
Well, thanks for all the good work that you do
promoting our entire sports community. But you guys couldn't be
any better to all things read, So keep up the
great work, lusha it.

Speaker 4 (01:55:58):
Yeah, and as loyal listeners for you guys every day
listen at my desk. A couple of weeks ago, we
were coming back from Bristol, Yeah, and listening the entire
day coming back from a press conference in Bristol, Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (01:56:10):
You were able to verify the CODA big wave.

Speaker 3 (01:56:12):
Yes. Yes, the other day as we were talking about
it on air.

Speaker 4 (01:56:15):
Yes, I was in the car with mascot mister Red
and we drove three and he's a big fan as well,
he wasn't driving.

Speaker 3 (01:56:21):
Lizzie, he might be.

Speaker 2 (01:56:24):
You guys are awesome, man, Thank you guys so much,
and I can't wait to see how everything goes tomorrow night.

Speaker 7 (01:56:29):
Well, we hope to see you guys down there Austin.

Speaker 3 (01:56:30):
Thanks so much, Thank you guys, Tony. Thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:56:33):
It is since he three sixty thanks to our friends
at Penn Station. On ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:56:39):
Loweger reality is they're probably not good enough.

Speaker 9 (01:56:43):
He dissects the local sports scene.

Speaker 3 (01:56:45):
They're not consistent enough.

Speaker 9 (01:56:46):
The way up.

Speaker 2 (01:56:46):
Fourth grader disects across not reliable Loweger Today at three
on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:56:54):
First, he continues on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station,
It's time for Sincy three sixty quick hits on ESB
in fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:57:06):
Was looking for mo I'm looking for him as well.
He should be in here any moment.

Speaker 3 (01:57:10):
Last I saw him, he spend some time over at
the printer.

Speaker 2 (01:57:12):
Yeah, he looked like he was printing some stuff off,
probably for today show prep. Yeah, show prep for Mowager
happening right now?

Speaker 3 (01:57:21):
How about this mid July? I guess early July, going
into mid July. Five shows this week for the Eggman. Wow, impressive.
How about that? He's like, uh, he's like Ellie daa Cruz.
He plays every day, plays every day?

Speaker 15 (01:57:34):
What?

Speaker 8 (01:57:34):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:57:35):
Pretty good?

Speaker 2 (01:57:35):
What are our final results from today's pole question.

Speaker 3 (01:57:38):
Ah, Revivefitnessystems dot Com. Pole question brought to you by
coach PJ. Street and Revive Fitnesssystems dot Com is how
many games with the Reds win during this final homestand
before the All Star break? Sixty seven percent say four
to six? Okay, I like twenty two percent say one
to three. Just eight percent say all seven of them.

(01:57:59):
Let's do reads. By the way, have just made a move. Oh,
the Reds have activated Connor Joe. Connor Joe is back,
and they have optioned Reese Hines.

Speaker 2 (01:58:10):
All right, Connor Joe your immediate thoughts.

Speaker 16 (01:58:14):
I'm glad that the hand, foot and mouth disease that
Connor Joe had did not present a long term problem.
I don't think Reese Signs is a major league caliber hitter.
We'll see if Connor Joe is there.

Speaker 3 (01:58:25):
You go. What else you got coming up on the
show today?

Speaker 16 (01:58:28):
Well, to answer the question, the Reds have to go
six and one this week. I'll give him a loss, okay,
although not against Colorado, who's on pace to maybe lose
one hundred and twenty two games, have the worst record
of all time.

Speaker 3 (01:58:38):
I think six and one is mandatory this week. Uh
do you guys?

Speaker 16 (01:58:43):
A lot of people are mad at Nick Krawl for
what he said, But I don't blame him for what
he said because I don't think he's wrong. I think
there are multiple truths when it comes to the Reds.
At the trade deadline, we will discuss all of those
multiple truths. I am looking forward to that. We have tickets,
We have multiple ticket giveaways today. Yeah, we got Dirk's Bentley.
Oh yeah, and we have golf upper deck upper deck

(01:59:05):
golf at gabp man, if you know your Reds all
starred trivia okay, Plus Andrew Abbott was excluded, not snubbed.

Speaker 3 (01:59:15):
Well, all right, interesting, there's a difference win to a
Dirk's Bentley concert. But he bailed. He got sick right
before really, so then what happened? I can't remember. I
was drinking heavily.

Speaker 2 (01:59:29):
The folks last week at Sharp Football ranked the Bengals
offensive line thirty first heading into the year. Today, the
folks at Pro Football Focus ranked the Bengals at thirty
first going into the year now consistent now the Big Twelve.
They did away with the preseason voting because there's too
much that has happened in the offseason. Media polls are gone.

Speaker 3 (01:59:47):
Got it wrong with Arizona State last.

Speaker 2 (01:59:48):
And I know it's it's tough at times to crystal
ball and look forward. You don't want to make too
much about these, but I think sharp football is pretty reputable.
I think Pro Football Focus is very reputable. Both view
of the Bengals as a bad offensive line, yeah, what
are the ramifications? If we're talking about an offensive line
in the high twenties, early thirties.

Speaker 3 (02:00:08):
Then the offense doesn't reach its full potential and you
waste another year.

Speaker 16 (02:00:12):
And Joe Burrow is being hit more than he should be,
and then you're playing with fire. Look, he could get
hit and get hurt playing behind a good offensive line.
I mean that's you know, all it takes is one.
But I've said for a while now, I would love
to see what Joe Burrow in this offense could do
with him performing behind a really, really, really good offensive line.

(02:00:33):
I just I feel like we say it with the defense. Boy,
they've just got to be okay. Yeah, we say it
with the offensive line. Boy, they've just got to be okay,
playing with fire.

Speaker 3 (02:00:43):
I feel like that's still putting a little bit too
much on the quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (02:00:46):
Those are two different things, though. Being okay on defense
is one thing, because the offense is great. Sure, Being
just okay on the offensive line is playing with fire
because you can overcome some bad defense.

Speaker 3 (02:00:57):
Can you. They didn't last year?

Speaker 2 (02:00:58):
Not enough, But you can't overcome nine missing games.

Speaker 16 (02:01:03):
No, I mean you're right, I mean the defense isn't
going to jeopardize Joe Burrow's health. But I still feel
like we're still talking about the relatively low ceiling for
multiple units. Like you know, you might say, well, defensively,
they just have to be middle of the pack, and
I in theory I agree with that, But hey, what
if it's I don't know, twenty seven to twenty one.

(02:01:23):
They've got to get a stop in the fourth quarter
and Joe Burrow's on the sideline at that point. I
need an average defense to be really, really good. But yeah,
it still feels to me like the ceiling for a
lot of different units on this team is not very high.
The offensive line, I don't think it's gonna be thirty
first best. I don't have a list of offensive lines
in front of me because I still think Orlando Brown's

(02:01:45):
a really good player. I still think mariusms can be
a really good player. And I think Ted Carris could
be aided by not having to clean up the messes
left by Cordell Volsen and Alex Kappa. But at guard,
I have no idea, man.

Speaker 3 (02:01:57):
And it's just clu.

Speaker 2 (02:01:58):
It's going to be another training where we talk about
the offensive line again.

Speaker 3 (02:02:03):
It's been every training camp since Joe Burrow's been here
and going well back before then.

Speaker 16 (02:02:07):
They haven't had a good, like legitimately upper crust offensive line.

Speaker 3 (02:02:12):
In ten years. Yeah. So, and you just let the
microphone fall down. I don't even know if I let it.
That thing just drop that that's happened to me. But
let me hold this here, mo.

Speaker 2 (02:02:23):
The Reds lost two of three, and the Phillies did
something yesterday that I wonder, do the Reds do the
Reds have one hitter on the roster that can work
at bats like I felt everyone on Philly did yesterday
because Chase Burns didn't have his great stuff. But I've
never seen guys just willing to just foul off more

(02:02:43):
pit All you do is you start watching the pitch
count in the second inning. And if you want to
win in October and play postseason baseball, you have to
be competitive. And I'm not saying I don't think anyone
in baseball would have done that against Wheeler yesterday, but
at some point, like I watched that in the lens yesterday,
I say, man, I wish the Reds handsom hitters that
put pitchers through the hell that the Phillies pitchers are

(02:03:05):
putting Chase Burns through.

Speaker 13 (02:03:07):
Great.

Speaker 16 (02:03:07):
Yeah, Jeff Brantley talked about that during the broadcast on
TV yesterday, how like that they they have guys who
just they could just frustrate you to the end, right like,
because you're making good pitches and you're putting the ball
where you want it, and you have good stuff and
you're throwing the right pitch and the right particular uh,
the spot in the in the at bat, and they
just spoil it. They just you know, Chase Burns pitched

(02:03:29):
well yesterday, but he was gone earlier than he maybe
should have. Would I think I would have, Yeah, I
think I I think I would have now I understand
what uh Tito the Infallible was doing. I don't think
it was a bad move, but there was a part
of me that's like, you know what you've You've pitched
to this point of the game. You have good stuff.

(02:03:50):
Let's see if you can get the guy out. But
I think there's a lot of managers with the guy
in his third big league start would have done what
Tito the Infallible thought.

Speaker 2 (02:03:57):
In the third and fourth he had found more of
his stuff than in the first and second, no question,
so at that point, just go go finish the fit first, finish.

Speaker 3 (02:04:03):
The first inning.

Speaker 16 (02:04:04):
It felt like Chase Burns was going to have a
start like he did in Boston and did a good
job bouncing back. But losing a series like that is
is not acceptable. I mean, like Cala what, I went
to it four. It's neat that they won the two
games the way they won, but they went to and
four for a season where they have almost no margin
for error and they have fallen eight games behind the
Chicago Cubs, and you might go, well, wait a minute,

(02:04:24):
it's all about the wild card and okay, but wouldn't
be kind of cool to be in a division race
going into the second half of the season, and now
that doesn't feel that.

Speaker 2 (02:04:33):
Did it feel at all on Saturday like they punted
a little bit after winning Game one.

Speaker 16 (02:04:37):
I heard you guys talking about that, and I agree.
Yesterday sort of felt like we That game on Saturday
felt to me like the last game of the Yankee series,
where there was sort of this we got one yesterday.

Speaker 3 (02:04:49):
We're good and.

Speaker 16 (02:04:51):
I'm not gonna say that. That's what everybody was thinking.
And Philly's starting pitching had a lot to do with
Zach Wheeler was awesome yesterday, but sad did kind of
have that feel.

Speaker 3 (02:05:02):
Yeah, be careful for the next three hours. Good job
putting that microphone back.

Speaker 2 (02:05:06):
I don't know, I don't know how tight or trustworthy
it is. It's good engineering work by Yeah, But at
this point you get this to deal with for the
next three hours. That's Moeger. We're done. Thanks to everyone
that made this show possible to do.

Speaker 3 (02:05:18):
I think I was gonna say that. I thought was
gonna make you guys laugh, and I totally forgot what
it was.

Speaker 2 (02:05:24):
Maybe you can save it for tomorrow. Moe's next on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Have a great rest
of your Monday.

Speaker 9 (02:05:35):
Until Cincinnati.

Speaker 10 (02:05:37):
Make us the number one pre set on your car
radio and on the Free knew It Improved, iHeartRadio add
Free never sounded so good.

Speaker 9 (02:05:44):
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (02:05:46):
All right, man, the summer's here. That's longer,