10/1/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 4 (00:08):
All right, what's up? Good afternoons. I'm all EGRN. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Thanks for listening. Hopefully we're having
an unbelievable Wednesday. We are, and holy hell, do we
have a lot to discuss. We are broadcasting from our
Tuesday spot now. Typically we're at Oakley Greens on Tuesdays,
but chances are, you know, like for us, the whole
schedule gets moved around at Monday night football, and that

(00:30):
means Tony and Mo football show happens on Tuesday instead
of Monday, which moves our date here at Oakley Greens
back to Wednesday. But it is a gorgeous summer October
Wednesday afternoon here at the place that we have relabeled
Oakley Reds. If you have not been here, look, you're
thinking I gotta go out and watch game to tonight,

(00:51):
right unless you're one of those that were They lost,
so it's over like, yeah, well you didn't think that
on Monday. So Red's and Dodgers tonight, all the base
playoff action. We've got the Guardians and Tigers on right now.
It's a full day of baseball, Cubs, Padres, Red Sox, Yankees,
all elimination games. By the way, that Detroit Cleveland game
is won to one as the Guards as they call them,

(01:14):
get set to come to the plate in the bottom
of the sixth inning. And then tonight Zach Lttel the
Reds put their season in the capable arm of Zach Lttel.
He gets the ball for the Reds tonight. If you're
looking for a place to watch, how about Oakley Reds.
Oakley Station great plays for your football watch parties, loaded
college Football Weekend, whatever it is. They've got Bengo on

(01:38):
Monday and Thursday nights for nationally televised NFL games, Mini golf, cornhole,
you can rent a cabana. They've got a great staff,
two bars, indoor and out. You can be outside but
under cover. You can be outside but in the sun, whatever,
whatever your game is, Oakley Greens has now. Typically when

(01:59):
we're here, Paul Danner Junior's with us, because it's typically Tuesday.
Paul is not here with me because a big working day.
You got Zach Taylor talking, you got Jake Browning talking,
you got a player availability. Paul is gonna call in
coming up in just about thirty minutes, and we are
looking forward to that. I'm not so sure we are
looking forward to Bengals and Lions.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
On Sunday. We'll get to all that here in a bit.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
I'm gonna play some audio in a bit Terry Francona
talking about how he handled the Reds comeback, which didn't
work last night. But the story of last night's game
either way, I thought coming in was gonna be Hunter Green.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
Now.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
I put this on social media last night about an
hour before the game. I'm a big Hunter Green fan.
I love to watch him pitch. I think he's a
kid who's mature beyond his years. I've had three interactions
with Hunter Green that I've walked away from feeling like, man,
I like that dude, and he's He's had a set,

(02:59):
a good season, an injury interrupted season. He's pitched big
and big moments. I thought the most important game of
the season during that charge to the postseason, if that's
what you want to call it, was Sunday, September the seventh,
a day where everybody had moved on to the Bengals,
and Hunter Green pitched brilliantly against the new York Mets.

(03:19):
Remember they had lost on Friday, they won on Saturday,
and so either they were gonna come out of that
series six games back, which kind of felt impossible, or
four games back, which might not have felt likely, but
it was at least doable, maybe manageable. And Hunter Green
across seven innings that afternoon was awesome against a good
New York lineup, twelve strikeouts. I think that was the

(03:40):
biggest game.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Of the season.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
I'm a big Hunter Green fan, but I put this
on social media last night. I know there's a lot
of folks who are they're not quite as all in.
They have reservations. Maybe it's because of injury. Maybe it's
because you don't like the investment the Reds made. That
doesn't make a ton of sense to me. But okay, maybe.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
You just like the other pitchers more. Whatever it is.

Speaker 4 (04:04):
Maybe you just simply don't think he's that good. Maybe
you want him traded. By the way, Jason Williams wrote
that column about a month ago suggesting that the Reds
trade Hunter Green this offseason, and I asked a pole
question about it. They're like thirty eight percent of you
who are like, yeah, I'm on board trade Hunter Green
again doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But
I know, I know there are folks for whom like

(04:24):
the Hunter Green thing. It's just they like him, they
respect his talents, but maybe believe that somebody like me
overrates Hunter Green. And so I viewed last night as
for Hunter a chance to win some folks over, a
chance to win some holdovers over here he is pitching
in the biggest stage of his career against the defending

(04:45):
World Series champions, in a best of three scenario where
there's such a premium on every game. Game one is big,
and a best of seven Game one is big, and
a best of.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Five game one's bigger, and a best of three.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
And so here was this chance to take his team,
which is probably not going to score a ton of
runs against Blake Snell, which has offensive limitations, and put
it on the doorstep of advancing in the postseason for
the first time in thirty years, and maybe he can
win over some holdovers. I'm led to believe, based on

(05:18):
conversations I've had, that there are folks in the Reds
organization who aren't quite as all in on Hunter Green again.
Maybe it's the injuries, maybe it's the way he's chosen
to recover and come back from injuries. Whatever it is,
last night was an opportunity to win over some holdovers,
both from inside and outside. Needless to say, he did

(05:41):
not take advantage. And this is easy to say in hindsight,
I thought after the first inning, Hunter Green and the
Reds were extraordinarily lucky to be down one nothing, because
whether it was nerves, whether it was he just didn't
make the right pitches, whether he might have been tipping
something off, or maybe it was simply the greatness of
those Dodgers' hitters for whatever reason, from the get go,

(06:02):
I think it was pretty obvious Hunter ain't gonna have it,
even if you're like me, And after the first inning,
you thought, you know what, they only scored once Otani
hits the bomb. He got out of trouble. They're only
down one. Now, he'll settle down and he'll be okay.
When it was five nothing, quite frankly, it felt like
it could have been eight or nine nothing. Hunter was

(06:23):
not good last night. There's no getting around it. There's
no sugarcoating it. That was a missed opportunity for him.
It was obviously in the grand scheme a game that
now puts the Reds behind the eight ball. Tonight, Zach
Lyttel's gonna take it. The season is on the line.
They've got to win their next two. The odds are
not in their favor, like for the purposes of winning
the series. Hunter Green failed the team last night. But

(06:46):
I just thought from a perspective standpoint, from from the
standpoint of how we talk about this guy, I felt
like he had a real opportunity last night to win
some folks over, maybe a statement, and he did not
take advantage. I don't know if it was nerves. I

(07:07):
don't know if it was the moment being too big
for him, but there were This isn't a great apples
to apples comparison. Johnny Cquato Johnny Cquato is one of
my five favorite all time Ruds. Johnnyquato started for the
Reds in the twenty thirteen Wildcard game. And it was
a weird year for Johnny Equato, not too dissimilar from

(07:28):
Hunter Green. You know that year Johnnyquato only started eleven
games because of injury, but he got the ball against
the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, granted Johnny had pitched in the
postseason before twenty ten, briefly in twenty twelve, but that
night it felt like the moment got to be a
little bit too big. You had all those Pirates fans
chanting his name. He drops the ball right on the mound,

(07:49):
and he got clubbed and the Reds lost. Now, last night,
that crowd in LA was not like it was that
night twelve years ago in Pittsburgh. When the game started,
it felt like there were five to ten thousand and seats,
and understandably so. It's six o'clock in LA for a
crowd that traditionally shows up late anyway. But whatever it is,
he didn't exactly drop the ball out there, but metaphorically

(08:10):
he did.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
I don't know if the moment was too big for him.
I don't know if he was rattled.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
I don't know what it was. I don't know if
he just made a series of bad pitches. But what
he was throwing last night, frankly, looked like batting practice.
It put the Reds in a deep hole. They tried
to come out of it, and now the Reds are
in a one nothing hole. So we're gonna talk about
Hunter Green today. I'm not gonna make any excuses for
the guy. That was a chance for him and he

(08:35):
didn't take advantage. I hope he gets another one in
Philadelphia in the second round. For that to happen, the
Reds are gonna have to win two. The other thing
about last night's game, and you're gonna hear Tito try
to explain this in just a few minutes. Look, man,
they gave up ten runs last night. You give up
ten runs at the end of the day, isn't really
that much to break down. But they did. They did

(08:58):
make an attempt at a comeback. And this is a
situation I I need somebody to make it make sense
for me. Okay, they're down eight to two, they have
pulled within six. They have two on and two outs
in the top of the seventh inning. They have seven

(09:19):
outs to play with key Brian Hayes is up. We
talked extensively yesterday Tony and I about what do you do.
We had one guest on in Sam Luquire, who said,
put the glove out there and keep Brian Hayes.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
You gotta prevent runs. It's gonna be a low scoring game.
Prevent runs.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
We had Doug Lanville on called the game last night
for ESPN and he said, I don't know, man, I'd
put in a stick. I'd want an offensive guy, gimme
Sal Stewart. Regardless, right, Tito did what he did. But
if there was a moment that called for a bat,
it was two on, two outs, down by six in
the seventh inning. Key Brian Hayes is at the plate.

(09:57):
Keey Brian Hayes was acquired by the Red for a
long term commitment now because he is great with his
glove and in this sport as a third baseman, he
has no peer right now. He might not have a
peer on defense in the entire league at any position.
He's marvelous with the glove. If the Reds are winning

(10:19):
in the eighth inning, if they're up eight to two,
if they're up three to two.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
I want to keep Brian Hayes in the game.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
I'll let him bat. I'll put up with what I
gotta put up with. I want the glove. But he
is also one of the worst hitters in baseball. Like
that's not a subjective statement.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Look at the metrics.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
There are not many hitters in baseball worse than Key
Brian Hayes. And it's not like he's in the middle
of a hot stretch. I think, what four of his
last forty one coming into that plate appearance are coming
into last night's game, by any metric, a well below
average big league hitter on the bench at that point,
Sal Stewart, your guess is as good as mine as

(10:58):
to how good Sal Stewart's gonna end being. I think
we're all really excited about his upside. He certainly looks
like a guy who's going to be able to hit
the big league level and hit for power.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
How good defensively he'll be. Don't know what position's he
going to play?

Speaker 4 (11:13):
Don't know, but I find it hard to imagine that
any one of us who remotely cared about that outcome
last night, in that situation would have preferred Key Brian
Hayes ahead of Sal Stewart.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
We know what happened.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
Key Brian Hayes batted for himself again, two on two out,
seventh inning, a chance to get back into the game
with one swing of the bat, and Key Brian Hayes
hit a week round ball to second base.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Inning over.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
Now, it's worth mentioning Key Brian Hayes would come back
up to the plate in the cop of the eighth
in it. The Reds were down by five. It's a
ten to five game. They've mounted around, they're drawing walks.
Tyler Stevenson strikes out great at bat. Thought he swung
at ball four a couple of times. Key Brian Hayes
bats in the top of the eighth inning, bases loaded,

(12:11):
chance to make a dent in the scoreboard, chance to
make those Dodgers fans who looked really uncomfortable last night
even more uncomfortable. He pops up to first base. Now
the second time he's up, there's there's Will Benson's on
the bench, left handed batter.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Maybe that's not who you want.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
Gavin lux Is on the bench, lefty on the mound.
Maybe that's not who you want. Or they could have
used Sal Stewart in the seventh inning. And here's the
real puzzling part about this. After Key Brian Hayes made
the last out of the seventh inning, chances are you
know this? Terry Francona took Austin Hayes out, He took

(12:49):
Spencer Steer and moved him from first base to left field,
and he inserted Sal Stewart into the game at first base.
Five three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
I am all ears.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
Please, for the love of God, someone make this make sense,
because I do not get it.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
I am an open minded person.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
I think one of my weaknesses is a sports talk
radio host, is I try to see the other side.
I absolutely cannot see the logic behind. We're gonna put
south Stewart into the game anyway, but not until we
let Key Brian Hayes bat. By the way, you also
took out Austin Hayes. Tito Francona says, Austin Hayes is fine.

(13:34):
He's one of the guys you would want at the
plate against the left handed pitcher. The Dodgers have a
whole slew of lefties in their pen. When you're down
by a bunch of runs at that point, don't you
want all the good bats in the game. Key Brian
Hayes doesn't have a good bat. Salth Stewart may have
batted for Key Brian in the seventh inning and he
may have struck out, may have popped up, may have

(13:56):
hit a three run homer and they still lose. But
I need someone to make this move make sense. At
the end of the day, Look, the main reason why
the Reds lost, Hunter Green gave up a billion runs,
and then the Dodgers kept piling it on against a
succession of relievers. But man last night from a managerial perspective,
Terry Francona, who is being given a lot of credit

(14:17):
for getting this team to the postseason, and much of
it deserved. I thought last night managed the game like
it was may or manage the game like the bigger
deal was boosting key Bryan Hayes's confidence. Even said I
put salth Stewart into the game for Austin Hayes because
I wanted him to.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
Get an at bat.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
Okay, how about give him an at bat where he
has a better chance to make a difference than the
dude you let hit to end the seventh inn.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
I do not get it. For the life of me,
I do not get it. You'll hear.

Speaker 4 (14:53):
Terry Francona addressed that situation in just a few minutes
at Mulegger on Twitter, which by the way, is a
service of Delta Dental.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Delta Dental's building healthy.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
Smart, vibrant communities for all good at Delta Dental oh
dot com. Also show rundowns available on Twitter at Moegar.
Thanks to share facts. Credit Union sets the stage for
game too. Tonight, Zach Lettel is gonna pitch, and look,
I get it at Zach Lettel. Would you rather have
Nickolodola or Zach Lettel niicck Lodola. Would you rather have
maybe Brady Singer instead of Zach Lettel? Would you rather

(15:23):
have Andrew Abbott on short rest? He's obviously set to
pitch tomorrow. Maybe the answer is Andrew Abbott. But I'm
gonna stick up for Zach Lettel to a degree. Coming
up in just a bit, we also have the Bengals
to get to. Zach Taylor talked earlier today. The Detroit
Lions come in town on Sunday. This game on Sunday,

(15:44):
I feel the way I felt about every Bengals game
on the Wednesday before from nineteen ninety one through two
thousand and two. We'll get to that coming up at
a bit. Paul Danner Junior is gonna join us. There's
a lot of ground to cover. We're here at Oakley
Green's Oakley Station. Right off, I seventy five all the sports,
all the time. I'm all at Oakley Greens, I said,
I seventy five, and then I seventy one. Do you

(16:04):
know I I had been driving for probably fifteen years
before I stopped referring to seventy five and seventy one
as Dayton and Columbus because that was the only way
that I could remember him.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
That is a thing.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
My first wife, I used to drive her nuts because
we'd go up seventy five and I'd go, that's Dayton, right, Yes, idiot.
I finally got it right, except just then I got
it wrong. I seventy one Oakley Station, kid friendly, dog friendly,
fan friendly. It's gonna be a blast here at Oakley
Greens and again the Red's game tonight twenty one after
three o'clock. My name is Mowager. Thank you so much
for joining us. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati,

(16:43):
twenty five, twenty six after three o'clock. We are at
Oakley Greens, Oakley Station. By the way, if you have
like a party, like you and your friends, and it
could be any age group.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
We were here a few.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
Weeks ago and there was like a child's birthday party
happening in one of those cabanas, which is pretty cool.
Or it could be you and it can be just
you like, here's what I want to do. I want
to rent one of those cabanas and not invite anybody
and just sit there with a like a bucket of
bud light and just people watch and oh hey can
I no, sorry, it's my cabana. Like that sounds amazing. Ever,

(17:17):
go on vacation by yourself. I have went to Key
West by myself once, the best five days of my life.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
Not entirely.

Speaker 4 (17:25):
If you can't get to Key West, you could just
post up in a cabana. You could have all your
friends join you as well. They are perfect, great for
happy hours, watch parties, work, get togethers, Bengals games, you
name it. Ask the staff at Oakley Greens and they'll
take care of you. Now we have folks waiting on hold,
and we do have to talk with Paul Danner Junior
in a few minutes. Our guy Mike from La Big

(17:48):
Dodgers San and I know since last night he has
been chomping at the bit to laugh at Hunter Green
and laugh at me. And that's fine, that's what we're
here for. I emailed him last night during the game
and I'm like, where are you? Like I've expected to
hear from you, like I don't know if so, but
I want to give him ample time.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
We have JT on hold. I want to give him
ample time.

Speaker 4 (18:07):
I don't know if JT wants to laugh at me, but
we have to maintain clock integrity, so to speak. So
I'm gonna play the Tito audio and we'll hear from
other folks here in just a few minutes. I don't
gratuitously rip Tito Francona or Zach Taylor.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
I don't believe in that.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
I think it dilutes when you do this for a living,
it dilutes the product. It makes you sound silly as
a fan. When they deserve credit, we give it to him.
When they deserve criticism, We give it to him when
they deserve second guessing. I'm not even sure Tito last
night any of us were second guessing. Key Brian Hayes
could have hit a three run home run and we
would have said Tito played the hunch, went with his gut,

(18:45):
and I still would have said. Outcome doesn't always dictate
whether or not a decision was good. You can drink
eighty two beers and get behind the wheel of a
car and arrive at your destination safely. Doesn't mean you
made the right decision. But as it turns out, keep
Brian Hayes made the last out. I just I'm looking
for someone to explain the logic to me, because last
night after the game, Terry Francona was asked, and I

(19:06):
still don't understand the logic.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Go ahead and play the audio, Okay.

Speaker 5 (19:10):
I just wanted at the time, we were down eight,
and I really want him to play tomorrow, and I
thought to be fair to him with everything he's been through.
And I also kind of wanted to get silent that bat.
I thought it would be good for him.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
Anything else, huh, like legitimately, huh. You just want to
get him in at bat. You had a chance in
the seventh inning. Don't buy six runs, two guys on base,
two outs. Again, the story of the game last night
was the La Dodgers just deed off on Hunter Green.

(19:46):
I mean, you put your team behind the eight ball
like that, five runs in the first three innings, It's
gonna be hard for anybody to come back, regardless of
the makeup of your team, whether it's a game in
April or a game in October or a game on
September thirtieth, us against a team like that, you knew
they weren't done scoring. That LA lineup is really really good,

(20:07):
and so Hunter leaves, it's five zip and you're like,
chances are they're not done scoring, and they obviously were not. Hell,
they weren't done scoring after key Brian Hayes ended the
seventh inning. But you're operating in this series with a
very small margin for air. The Dodgers, top to bottom,
have the better team, the better roster. They won the
World Series last year. They have more bench options, they

(20:27):
have more guys who can do damage in their lineup.
Their bullpen's a mess, and the Reds took advantage of
that last night. It puts a premium on good defense.
You can't have Noelve Marte throw to third with nobody
covering like that. Just that can't happen. And the game
is kind of had a hand by that time that
play took place, and you've got to use all of

(20:48):
your tools, all of your players at the exact right
spot in the moment that can can best take advantage
of their abilities. For lack of a better way.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
Of putting it, he didn't do that last night.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
Yeah, not the reason why they lost. And if they
lose this series. Maybe not the biggest reason why they
lost the series, but I will wonder like as interesting
as things then got in the eighth inning when they
scored three more times. Sal Stewart, by the way, had
a hand in that with a walk and a little
backflip after the walk. How does the rest of the

(21:23):
game unfold if they use sal Stewart. He may have
struck out, he may have hit a three run homer,
and they still lose that decision making last night, I
think most of Tito Francona's decisions that he has made,
even if for me I haven't liked them, I at
least understood them.

Speaker 6 (21:41):
Right.

Speaker 4 (21:42):
You might not like a decision, but you can understand
the logic behind it. Last night, not so much twenty
nine away from four o'clock. By the way, the other
two or the two of the other four, two of
the other three Wildcard series are having their game twos
right now. Top seven Cleveland and Detroit are tied at one,

(22:03):
and the Padres have an early one nothing lead over
the Cubs at Wrigley Field in the top of the
second inning. More on the game last night, More baseball
still to come. Paul Tanner Junior is going to join
us talk about the Bengals when we come back on
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (22:16):
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Speaker 1 (22:55):
Did someone say cat fight?

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Sorry? Best stuff?

Speaker 10 (22:59):
Push thing came into my mind.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
Let's move on.

Speaker 10 (23:02):
Detroit rulls into Cincinnati to take on on.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
They loved Bengals.

Speaker 10 (23:05):
Will the Orange and Blacks and the Lions back up
I seventy five with their tale between their legs. Catch
the goal live from Darren Word and Dave Lapham. Coverage
starts Sunday at twelve NOE stream for free are the
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official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (23:26):
Deadlines are a service at Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime
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Yours for life, Kelsey Chef dot Com. Reds and Dodgers.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
We can legitimately say today must win for the Reds.
We don't have to debate it. Nine oh eight, Game
two tonight, Zach Lettel, Yoshi Yamamoto on the Hill. You'll
hear the game live on seven hundred WLW nine oh eight.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
First pitch the other games.

Speaker 4 (23:53):
Right now, Guardians and Tigers are playing in Cleveland Die
Game for Cleveland, do or Die game for the Guardians
that is one to one as they head to the
top of the eighth inning padres a one zip lead
over the Cubs bottom two at Wrigley Field, Chicago, leads
that series one game to on. Red Sox and Yankees tonight,

(24:14):
Game two in New York. A Bengals update, Zach Taylor
today expressed confidence in Jake Browning because apparently he didn't
watch the game on Monday. Paul Danner Junior is going
to join us in just a second. Bengals game plan
tonight from six to eight on ESPN fifteen thirty. And
if you did not watch any of those shows on
Cable Sports TV where they scream at each other, you

(24:36):
probably might you may have missed the fact that Dylan
Gabriel is going to start at quarterback for the Browns
this week and not shud Or Sanders. Paul Danner Junior
is typically with me here at Oakley Greens on Tuesdays,
but we're here on Wednesday. Wednesday is a big work
day for everybody connected with the Bengals, including Paul, Theathletic
dot Com, the Growler Podcast, and somebody I enjoyed a

(24:58):
beverage with in Denver.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
Paul's with us. Now, how's it going?

Speaker 2 (25:02):
We did you? Your spirits were much higher.

Speaker 6 (25:04):
Than I'm gonna imagine that they have been since then
when we when we last chatted after the Reds clinched.

Speaker 4 (25:10):
You know, for me once, shame on you fool me twice.
Shame on me is that the saying on Sunday night
I was with the Bengals, I was operating with a
blank slate, all right, you know what? You laid an
egg in Minnesota. No biggie bunch of fluky stuff happened.
It's been a tough week or two. Even good teams
sometimes don't show up cool. I feel like a dope

(25:32):
for feeling that way after what I watched on Monday.

Speaker 6 (25:35):
Yeah, you you were thinking, Okay, bad games happen and
that was just a one one little blip and aberration. Instead,
it confirmed your worst fears that this is who they are,
this is who they're gonna be. They're gonna be lost,
they're gonna be non competitive, they're gonna look clueless on

(25:58):
offense and defense and historical levels of ineptitude in terms
of being able to do really anything. And you just didn't.
You wanted to convince yourself otherwise, which is understandable, Like, look,
I saw what happened when Joe.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Went down against Jacksonville.

Speaker 6 (26:17):
They there they were, They were still plucky and competitive
and found a way to win a game, and all
of those.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
Things kept you thinking like, look, yeah, this.

Speaker 6 (26:27):
Team they can hang in there, and then they can
play at a five hundred level and who knows what
things look like in December, And then you have what's
happened the last two weeks, and you just you.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Don't know where to start. I don't know how you
look at it and say like, oh, yeah.

Speaker 6 (26:45):
This is a team that you can see it here,
they're close or with this, I don't know where you
start in terms of getting this thing back onto track
right now, because it just it made you feel like, oh, no,
this is what the season is going to be.

Speaker 11 (26:59):
Like.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
I said this to you last week that I think
the most damning thing you could say about an athlete.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
Or a collection of athletes is they quit.

Speaker 4 (27:09):
And a lot of people went there after the Vikings game,
and I was reluctant to do that, in part because
I quit during that game and started to watch something else.
But I think that's a heavy accusation. I think the
worst thing you could say about a coach is that
his or her team isn't prepared for me. And I've
watched a lot of football in my life, man, I

(27:30):
think I know what an unprepared team looks like. That
was an unprepared team. I don't say that, knee jerk.
I don't say that because you know Zach Taylor's low
hanging fruit right now. I don't know how you could
watch that game on Monday night and arrive at any
other conclusion. And you know, I care about play calling,
but not as much as others. I care about the
team being ready to play, and when it's not, there's

(27:53):
where I start to point the arrow at the head coach.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
Is that fair?

Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah? No, I think that's fair.

Speaker 6 (28:00):
I mean the amount of times where it's like, Okay,
there's too many men on the field, and then there's
not enough and ones running over there, and then when
they're out there, they're all confused and pointing, trying to
figure out where to go. And that was on the
good side of the ball on Monday night. You know,
they're just you seems like you have a script. But

(28:20):
then it just goes They kind of go away from
it and it's third and manageable and you're just throwing
jump balls to t Higgins and it just feels like,
you're right. It feels disconnected. It doesn't feel like there's
any level of focus. You know, the focus and the
discipline stuff is stuff that now in different ways through

(28:42):
two weeks. It's all we've been talking about the turnovers
in Minnesota, right, what is that other?

Speaker 11 (28:47):
Yah?

Speaker 6 (28:48):
Yeah, okay, the other team they made a few plays
on it. But I mean, you know, having those turnovers,
the focus and the discipline to avoid that, and then
all of the penalties, more penalties than first downs.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
What are we doing?

Speaker 6 (28:58):
I mean that's the that's where you come away and
you just say, Okay, this is all coming back to
them not feeling ready, not feeling like they have the discipline,
and not feeling like they have the ability to go
out there and execute a.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Game plan or be comfortable in it. They look like.

Speaker 6 (29:16):
The last two weeks, they look like a team that
lost their belief, that they lost their guy, and they're
playing like a team that lost their guy that doesn't
quite believe anymore.

Speaker 4 (29:27):
So you know, I've said to you in this you
mentioned the issues getting the eleven players on the field,
sometimes too many, sometimes not enough, And I've said to
you for years, I've said on this show for years,
I want to be the director of common Sense, And
for whatever reason, the Bengals had been reluctant to allow
me to do this. But I've come up with a
new role. I'm a big church festivals guy. Yeah, so

(29:50):
this summer I took my daughter to Victory fest and
they had a fun house and there's only you know,
so many kids they allow in the funhouse at any
particular time. I'm you know, fire hazard, safety hazard. So
they have a guy who has what looks like a
ball strike indicator, like counting the people in and counting
the people out.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
And I could stand next.

Speaker 4 (30:12):
To Zach Taylor and the coordinators and be the guy
that does that to make sure, okay, we're ten, we
need one more, or hey, twelve we need I'm thinking
about running this past the Bengals to see if I
don't know what the job title would be. I'm looking
for some sideline gear and I only want to work
on game days.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
Do you think they'll allow me to do this?

Speaker 2 (30:35):
I like the idea.

Speaker 6 (30:36):
I think you could do it, you know, just get
do it from your seats, like you know how in
college they would hold up the big signs that would
have like four things on it. One of them will
be like a skyline chili. The other one would be like,
you know, there's Gary Coleman or whatever. It would be
like always you do you hold it up and it's
just it's just a thumbs up you got eleven, or

(30:58):
it's just the number ten or twelve, or just a
question mark or a man shrugging or something, and you
hold it up for them to be able to see
from your spot in the stands, and then that way
they can always they know, they can always look up
and you'll be letting them know.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Do you believe they have at all?

Speaker 4 (31:14):
I know what Zach said today publicly, but do you
believe they have at all started to revisit what they're
doing right now at quarterback?

Speaker 2 (31:24):
I don't know how you don't, And I think you know.

Speaker 6 (31:30):
The question I posed today was was strictly like, look,
this is are you do you need to add something?
You need to add competition? And that wasn't even necessarily
going outside. Is that is that to give? I mean,
I don't, I don't can't believe we're at this point.
I'm going to say the sentence. Do you give Brett
Rippon a part of this conversation? Do you talk about

(31:52):
Mike White?

Speaker 2 (31:53):
You touch?

Speaker 6 (31:54):
I mean, do you do you look at at a trade?

Speaker 2 (31:57):
I think yes.

Speaker 6 (31:57):
I think they're evaluating that because I don't know how
many more games like that you.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Can legitimately watch and.

Speaker 6 (32:05):
Not do something like even if you have years of
belief in Jake Browning and you believe in him as
a guy. Whatever is happening now, whether it's on him,
whether it's on Zach Taylor, whether it's on whoever we're
blaming for this, whatever that is, it's not working, and
you are flushing a season purposely if you don't try.

(32:28):
I mean, it's as accessible as it can get right now.

Speaker 12 (32:31):
Mo.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
Baltimore is falling apart.

Speaker 6 (32:33):
Pittsburgh gets whatever Pittsburgh's gonna be with Aaron Rodgers. I
mean that's flimsy at best. Cleveland is whatever it is.
I mean, you're sitting here and if you can just
get this thing back on the tracks, if it is
as much as adding a quarterback, I don't know how
you don't, especially when it looks so lost right now.

(32:56):
They have belief in him. I believe every word that
was said about that today They trust them. Him working
out is the ideal scenario here. That is the best
thing that could possibly happen. But I don't know how
you go through that and don't say, hey, what are
we doing? We can't just flush the season down the drain.
That's something that despite all the you know a lot

(33:20):
of things that are said about your organization in terms
of acquiring people and whatever you want to say about
their the way they do things of personnel they've it's
usually been through the lens of we want to give
every season a full chance to go win every game
and be there in every game no matter what, whether

(33:41):
the season feels lost or they're in it, and not
be thinking about future years and other stuff. Well, I
don't know how you don't go back to that right now.
You can't just flush this season and say, oh, I
don't know, didn't work out with Jake. We trotted them
out there for ten games and we had eighteen first
downs total.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Like you can't. You can't. It can't keep.

Speaker 6 (34:03):
Looking like it has the last two weeks with the
same problems. So yes, I think they're reevaluating it. I
think they're looking into what those options are. I think
you're also going to see some wish for Jake Browning.
I just you can you can feel it getting tighter.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
I watched Cam Taylor Brick get benched on Monday, seen
that before.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
I watched Genos stick that up to.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
What's that total up to? Now? What are we up
to on is there?

Speaker 6 (34:31):
Do we have a ratio in somewhere on ProFootball reference
dot com for games played to benchings that I can
reference because I'm trying to figure out that number has
to exist right.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Now, right.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
So I watched him get benched for the third time.
I watched Geno Stone continue to take angles that defy
basic geometry when he tries to make a tackle.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Uh. Now, Jalen Rivers is a starting guard.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
So we've we've gone from Lucas Patrick to Dalton Reisner
to Jalen river So I'm I see some things that
we talked about them needing to fix back in March
that are cropping up as problems again in September. And
I don't know, man, Like, I don't know how if
you own the team, you don't say to Duke Tobin, like,

(35:17):
what did you.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Do all off season?

Speaker 4 (35:19):
I mean it sounds harsh, but what is the answer
for We're seeing some of the same guys who were
complicit in the team's demise last year be complicit in
their demise this year.

Speaker 6 (35:34):
Yeah, I mean, these are you know, these are the
bets that were made that you know this the scapegoating
that happened of lu An Arumo of it was just they're.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Not getting stopper.

Speaker 6 (35:50):
We we think that it'll be different in a different
scheme with a different coach. Well, at some point you
I guess there's an element of give it time to
play O don't.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Yeah, so much of it just feels and looks the same.

Speaker 6 (36:04):
It's under different coach or different coaches if you're talking
about the offensive line or whatever you're talking about. Yeah,
I there are everybody's hands in this one, you know,
everybody everybody that is seeing anytime a team looks as
bad as this team has looked, and every week is like, oh,
what's the new historical and aptitude stat We're gonna truck.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Out this week two weeks in a row.

Speaker 6 (36:28):
Now, Like when it's like that, that's that's where it goes,
and it should.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Because it's this has been obvious stuff.

Speaker 6 (36:37):
And I don't you know, I don't know where you
go with that because we know the setup here organizationally.
But they're they're gonna hope that the coaching over time
will make it look better. But yeah, this is the
problems that we knew were problems are problems, and we're
here to cover up a lot of them. So it

(36:58):
makes them even more glaring than they already would have been.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
Don't don't you wish you were here for an hour's
worth of these questions.

Speaker 6 (37:06):
I really don't and I can't and I can't believe,
and I can't believe.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
That we've reached that that there's still like three.

Speaker 6 (37:14):
Months left of this season that already feels like what's
the hope? Like when you were talking about the church
festival earlier, I thought you were going to talk about
bars and bells, because I kind of think about this
season like a lot of Bengals fans are viewing the
season like when they go to play bars and bells
at the church festivals, Like, Look, I'm resigned to the
fact that we're that this is going to be a

(37:34):
losing game, but hopefully a couple of times I turn
over two cherries and a.

Speaker 11 (37:39):
Bell or three of something and I feel.

Speaker 6 (37:43):
A moment of winning and a moment of happiness and
then get to the.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Eventual losing of me me losing all of my money here.

Speaker 6 (37:49):
I felt like that's where we were going to go,
because I feel like that's kind of where the season
feels like it's bad right now.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
It does.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
And I have found a go Go electronic tally counter
with a lanyard four digit LCD counter for nine ninety
nine on eBay.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
So yeah, I'll provide my own equipment.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
Okay, okay, you bring your own it. You bring your
own equipment. I'll be looking.

Speaker 6 (38:11):
I'll be looking for you in the stands holding up
the big the big number eleven on the poster board.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
Yeah, I'll be there. I'll be there on Sunday, and
it's gonna be fun. Paul, Thanks very much, FMO. Make
sure you listen to Paul's podcast, The Growler. Where you
get your podcast read him at the Athletic dot com.
It is seven away from four. We are way late.
We're here at Oakley Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (38:43):

Speaker 9 (38:46):
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would lateral now come? Pl deletely blocked off due to
an accident between seventy five and Paddock Road. Police and
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(39:07):
right lane blocked off from an accident approaching Miniola Pike.
Traffic backed up from seventy one to seventy five. I'm
at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
To this report.

Speaker 6 (39:16):
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this nationwide keyword on our website.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Bank that's the banking Enter it now, Thank fade.

Speaker 4 (39:26):
I can't tell you what man like the weekday playoff baseball.
When you get four games in one day, it's pretty awesome.
Pretty awesome. So is Oakley Greens, which is where we
are playing. Small editor, This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Thanks
so much for joining us. Hopefully you're having an awesome Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
We are. It's gorgeous out. It's like a summer day.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
So I heard someone say, and they didn't say it
to me because they knew my reaction and.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
Kind of ready for the fall weather. Seriously, we got
summer weather in October. This is the best. This is awesome.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
Or at Oakley Greens, by the way, you could be
outside but undercover. Tons of free on side parking. I'm
asked that question all the time on parking. You don't
have to pay now one of those places where you
got there's no guy standing out there like I need
five bucks. None of them Okay, none of that, and
you don't have to like take a tram after you
park to get here on side parking by the way,

(40:20):
Tonight Fairway Feud, which is team trivia family feud style,
So if you're a trivia buff, you could play family
family feud style trivia tonight at seven and then at
nine o'clock. Reds game can make a whole night of
it here at Oakley Greens. We're calling it Oakley Reds.
Two baseball games happening right now, Wild Card Game two.

(40:42):
The Guardians score twice in the bottom of the eighth inning,
Brian Rokio with a tie breaking home run, followed up
by a run scoring Dan Schneman single, actually it was
a double, and the Guards are leading three to bottom eight,
still batting with two guys in scoring position and two out.
Cleveland trying to even up that series at a game apiece.

(41:02):
Padre is trying to even up their series at a
game apiece. San Diego on the road at Wrigley taken
on the Cubs and the Padres have a one nothing
lead in that one. In the top of the fourth inning,
Chicago turning to showed Amanaga. In the second inning of
that ballgame, and what do we have now, Drew, tell
me what has happened.

Speaker 6 (41:21):
We have a bow Naylor three run homer in the
eighth to make it six to one Guardian.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
Night six to one Guards So there you go. Looks
like Cleveland.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
Looks like Cleveland's going to extend that series to eight
decisive Game three, which, by the way, this is my understanding.
The Reds played tonight at nine oh eight. They played
last night at nine oh eight. If they are the
only game tomorrow, they would obviously have to win tonight.
But if there's only one game tomorrow, they will play

(41:48):
at seven point thirty. If there are two games, they'll
play both at night, and the Dodgers being the one
West Coast team hosting a game, the Reds would still
play it, I guess at nine o'clock right right now,
the plan is for that game to be at nine
oh eight. But if for some reason, the Tigers come
back and win this game and they're down by five
headed to the ninth inning, if there's another game, then

(42:13):
if there's only one game tomorrow, it'll be at seven thirty.
And if that's the Reds, and the Reds will play
at seven thirty. If there's other games, and the Reds
are playing, they'll play. You know what, just win the
damn game tonight, Zachlettell. We're gona talk about Zach Mattel
here in just a few minutes. Our friend Amy Wagner
from Dean Dorton's gonna join us as well, plus Brennenman
and Jones on baseball.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
But I know he's chomping at.

Speaker 4 (42:32):
The bit, and I know he's he's got all sorts
of takes on the series and Hunter Green, and he
got mad at me on email yesterday because I said,
even as the guy who doesn't love bunting, I'd be
okay if the Reds bunted early to get a run
on the board. Dodger fan Mike for Flora's yours.

Speaker 11 (42:52):
I'm all, thanks a lot, appreciate it.

Speaker 13 (42:55):
Yeah, well, you know what I mean. I'm a native Cincinnati,
so I mean, if the Dodger's got to lose and
the Reds winn, I really can't lose. I mean, I'm
not going to lose any sleep over either way.

Speaker 11 (43:07):
But but if the Reds can pull it out, then good,
then I can root for my hometown team. If not,
then I roll with my Dodgers, and that's it. You
can have two allegiances if you live in two different
cities for thirty and forty years, and if you say
you're a.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
Fool, I completely I'm completely on board with that. I
am completely one on board with that.

Speaker 11 (43:29):
Vin Scully turned me into a Dodger fan. I had
no idea what was going to happen. He turned me
into it solely. I'll say one thing though, real quick
at the padres get the lead. That bullpen is just filthy.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
Best in the game.

Speaker 11 (43:43):
So yeah, so tonight we got well. First of all,
let me ask you this. I'm sorry I took some
heat on Tony and most show today about you know,
the Dodgers fan and the Dodgers and that their payroll off.
Would you explain to the audience that the Dodgers are

(44:06):
playing within the rules that were set up by the
union and the owners. Would you explain that to the employees?

Speaker 4 (44:14):
Yeah, I mean to to to Tony and Austin are
to everybody else, so the audience I never have Yeah,
So I think there's you could take issue with how
the rules are constructed and hope that the owners and
the players come up with a different framework. For the sport.
That's that's totally fair. I do not blame anybody for

(44:36):
playing by the rules. I do not if you have
an economic advantage, I would hold it against you if
you didn't try to take advantage of it.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
So I I know you hear this often.

Speaker 4 (44:47):
You know I'm not rooting for the big money Dodgers
of the big money Yankees.

Speaker 3 (44:51):
Now I come up with my own ways of rooting.

Speaker 4 (44:53):
Sometimes it's maybe a bet, or it might be a
player or manager on one of those teams that I like.
I never hold it against big mar could teams for
taking advantage of rules and the structure of the sport
that may be advantageous to them. If you want to
say that Major League Baseball should have a salary cap
and they should come up with ways to even up economic.

Speaker 3 (45:14):
Disparity in the sport, there's some validity to that.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
Intrinsically, I'm sort of anti salary cap because I don't
believe in restricting what people want to pay others. But okay,
if you want to have that conversation, but we're not there.
We don't have one. There are advantages that the Dodgers have.
I don't have a problem with them. Taking advantage of it.
When you and I have.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
Talked about this before.

Speaker 4 (45:35):
Yes, they can pay all they can pay more money
to Freddie Freeman and Mookie Bets and show Heyotani, and
they could buy their way out of mistakes, and that's fine.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
But you and I have talked about this before.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
They have also, over the last twelve years, been really
good at developing players, really good at developing players. If
you look at the backbone of the teams they've had
that have made the playoffs. Correct me if I'm wrong.
The last twelve years it's happened mainly on the shoulders
of homegrown guys. So it's one thing to say, well,

(46:08):
they buy a championship. First of all, there's no guarantee
that the most expensive teams win, just as the New
York Mets. Second, if you can combine great player development,
good drafting, putting together a good farm system with the
ability to take advantage of the rules, I can't hold

(46:29):
that against you at all. It does not bother me
when a big market team spends. It would bother me
if they didn't. I think more fans should be put
off by what the Pittsburgh Pirates do. I think more
fans should be put off by what the Oakland A's
did when they were in Oakland. You know, the Reds
have spent, they haven't spent, maybe as much as people
would like. But you look at the Pittsburgh Pirates and

(46:49):
what that owner does. What should rankle baseball fans? Which
should piss off baseball fans as we have normalized in
this sport not spending, including by big market teams. It
wasn't that long ago that the owners of the Boston
Red Sox tried to claim poverty. Wasn't that long ago
that the owners of the Chicago Cubs tried to claim poverty.
Franchise is worth five billion dollars. They've monetized every square

(47:13):
inch around Wrigley Field. I get bothered when owners don't spend,
not when they do.

Speaker 11 (47:19):
That is the I'm so glad you did it because
you're so much better at explaining to people than I am.
So I really really appreciate that. Now, last night, well
it is interesting, is the best hitting catcher in the
National League, Will Smith, didn't even play. They played a
back And so this is what I'm bringing into to
the band. How critical adventures are keyk Hernandez ain't knocking

(47:39):
down fifty million dollars a year between Key K and
Tommy Edmunds, who they stole from the Cardinals, really and
and then the backup catcher that they had. Three guys
that were instrumental in part of the game that hadn't
to hit a home run. That are bench players. So
this is the importance of what you just said, player development,

(48:03):
building the roster correctly, that kind of thing. You hit
it right on the head. Thank you so much. I
appreciate that more than you are Now tonight, we've got
even though Segi has a hell of a pronounced you
have almost two point four nine, about a zero point
nine to nine whip, one hundred and seventy three innings,

(48:26):
pitch two hundred and one. K's tough, tough pitcher, tough.
Now how long can he go? We'll see Kershaw, you know,
isn't even on the roster right now. He won't be
back on the roster until if they hit they make
the National League Championship Series, unless the Reds knock come
out to him. But you see what I'm trying to say.

(48:48):
It's not just always the superstars. These other guys are
integral parts of the teams. Just like with the Reds,
with a couple of our bench guys that have been
integral in our success.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
Correct, without question.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
I you know, Yamamoto pitched against the Reds here in
late July and was terrific. You know, Pinpoint Control struck
out nine. I think he gave up three or four
hits in that game.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
But no, you're you're You're right. I mean it's it's
the bit play.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
We talked about this bit Doug doug Landville from ESPN
on the show yesterday, and I said, all right, everybody knows, Yeah,
everybody knows Otani, Freeman and Mookie Bets, and Mooky Bets,
by his standards, had a down year. He was really
good in the second half, but across the board his
numbers weren't great. So you know, those three guys. Not

(49:41):
a lot of folks know a ton about Ti Oscar Hernandez,
although they should. He's played on a huge stage, but
on a World Series team. But it's those other guys
like you, Shoe Hee. Otani's tough to pitch to. Freddie
Freeman is tough to pitch to. Mookie Bets is still
not easy to pitch too. You cannot allow the other
guys in that lineup to Beata and the Red It
did last night, And by the way, we haven't even

(50:02):
talked about how good Blake Snell was. Now, what's a
little bit different about tonight and tomorrow is Blake Snell's
not lefty. The Reds are awful against left handers. Does
does getting to flip Ellie around to his normal side?
Does using a lineup that they have had more success
against right he's with give him more of a chance tonight.

(50:22):
But at the end of the day, like Tito Francone,
is gonna have to show his value tonight because he's
probably gonna have to use four, maybe five pitchers to
get through the nine innings tonight, because you just you
don't exactly believe that Zach Lttel is gonna give him
longer than you know. He's averaged five and a third
is last four. If he's still pitching in the sixth inning,
it means he is defying all expectations. So I think

(50:45):
it's gonna be interesting to see how he uses him.
I think it's gonna be interesting to see how he
uses Nicolodolo and if he uses him early. Now he's
got one lefty and that one lefty last night through
thirty four pitches, and you need lefties against LA's left
handed hitting hitters. I I'm really fascinated to see how
that unfolds. But you know just last night that that

(51:08):
Dodger lineup is terrifying. You can't you can't let some
of those dudes lower in the batting order beach you
and you're starting Pitcher camp puts him behind the eight
ball the way Hunter Green did last night.

Speaker 11 (51:19):
Well no, well, well just shocked the whole team. When
when when the Japanese jackhammer came out and that was
the last thing I expected to Hunton, wasn't it?

Speaker 3 (51:27):
You sure?

Speaker 4 (51:31):
But you know you you make a mistake and the
next two times Otani was out, Hunter Green and Scott
Barlow both made really good pitches to strike him out.
But you throw that bitch that Hunter threw the show
like to me, you know, like we want Ellie de
la Cruz to be great. I still don't think he
takes advantage of Pitcher's mistakes. You make a mistake to

(51:55):
show hey, Otani he's gonna hit the ball five thousand feet,
and that's what he did last night. Hunter Green to
start the game makes a mistake, but it just snowballed
from there. I thought, Mike, he was lucky to be
down just one nothing after one.

Speaker 11 (52:06):
Any I do too, I really did. Now, let me
ask you one question. I know you gotta go. I
really like the Mariners in the al No.

Speaker 14 (52:14):
I like the.

Speaker 11 (52:15):
Mariners a lot, right now, what do you think?

Speaker 3 (52:18):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (52:18):
Yeah, so I don't think I talked about this, but
I wagered on a Seattle Milwaukee World Series.

Speaker 11 (52:27):
Oh excellent, you did. Yeah, I did well. I sure did.

Speaker 3 (52:34):
Great minds, great minds.

Speaker 11 (52:36):
Yeah maybe yeah, maybe we probably jinxed each other. Thanks mom,
I know you got to go take that.

Speaker 3 (52:41):
All right, Thanks, thanks very much. We'll see.

Speaker 4 (52:44):
Yeah, I wagered on a Seattle Milwaukee World Series. I
obviously don't want to be right about that, but that's
where I put my money, all right. Seventeen minutes after
four o'clock, we're at Oakley Greens. Let's talk about Zachlettel
when we come back on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (52:56):
Cincinnati Sports Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (53:02):

Speaker 9 (53:05):
clinical trials and treatments. You won't find anywhere else. Call
five one three, five eighty five UCCC on southbound seventy
one before four to seventy one. An accident off on
the right shoulder. Traffic is slow from data right now
A ten minute delay east found Norwood Lateral. It's another

(53:27):
accident after I seventy five. That one is off onto
the left shoulder. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 7 (53:33):
This is football in the NATI, brought to you by
Modern Office Methods on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home
of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (53:46):
Twenty four minutes at for four o'clock. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Cleveland wins six to one Game three, decisive
Game three tomorrow in Cleveland, Padres still love one zip
on the Cubs.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
Game four. The game's on Channel nine, which is bumping
pre emptying.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
I guess the Channel nine news, so we're not going
to be able to watch Tanyoll Rourke do the news
at least until the ball game's over.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Pitch clocks. I'll be over by five thirty. I guess.
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
We're Oakley Greens here in Oakley, we do. We do
have to talk about Zach Taylor. When the Bengals played
the Vikings last week, a lot of folks said they quit.
I think that is the harshest thing you could say
about an athlete or a team, and so I don't

(54:31):
like going there because I think questioning a player's effort
or a collection of players effort.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
Is something you don't do lightly. I think the worst
thing you could.

Speaker 4 (54:42):
Say about a coach is that his team is not prepared.
I also don't say that lightly. Zach Taylor's team on
Monday was not prepared. If I'm saying about your team
the worst thing that I can say about any team
and any coach, that's a problem. I don't care about
play calling. It matters, It doesn't matter as much to

(55:03):
me as it does others. I care about a team
looking prepared. When you can't have the right number of
players on the field, when you're getting delay of game penalties,
when your guys can't line up, it is not ready
to play. Now, yes, every player has a baseline level
of responsibility to ensure that they're ready, but ultimately, the

(55:24):
number one job of any coach any sport have their
team ready to play. You cannot convince me that Zach
Taylor had his team ready to play. That matters to
me more than anything else that Zach is in charge of,
involved with, or gets blamed for. If I am now
questioning your team's preparedness, I start questioning whether you're the guy, even.

Speaker 3 (55:49):
If you've been the guy for a while Like this is.

Speaker 4 (55:52):
There have been other times early in the season where
I felt like the Bengals aren't prepared. The number one reason,
number two reason one's been Joe Burrow's health. Two why
they've gotten off to slow starts in recent years is
they haven't looked prepare. I have been willing and I
think most of us have willing to kind of chalk
that up to, you know, just one of those things,

(56:13):
how they prepare for seasons.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
And Okay, when I'm saying that.

Speaker 4 (56:17):
About your team after a week four game, all I
heard for a week was that what they did against
Minneapolis or Minnesota wasn't indicative of who they are and
they look as unprepared as they did on Monday. That
is the poorest possible reflection of.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
The head coach.

Speaker 4 (56:39):
So when we are now talking about the poorest possible
reflection of the head coach, it is completely in bounds
and totally fair to arrive at the conclusion that this
head coach ain't the guy. They ain't gonna get fired
and might move on from him at the end of
the season, or maybe they move on from him if

(57:01):
this gets really bad in the season. But he's gonna
coach the game on Sunday, So all right, Yes, win
the game, pull off the upset. They're ten and a
half point dogs. This is gonna be a monumental task.
We're we're kind of back to the basics now, as
far as I am with Zach Taylor. Spend the next
three months fielding a team that looks like it's ready

(57:22):
to play. I can't believe a seventh a seventh year
head coach we're doing that. Put a team on the
field that looks like it's ready to play. In the
absence of that, I don't know how you conclude that
they should have a new head coach otherwise, I don't
know more of your phone calls coming up here in

(57:43):
a bit. Amy Wagner is gonna talk sports and money
with us, And if you Zach Lettel's gonna pitch tonight
for Cincinnati, And I think if we all had our
way Nick Lidolo would be pitching tonight, but they had
to use him on Sunday, and Tito managed that game
the right way. You could not look at the scoreboard
and go, ah, you know what Miami's taking care of

(58:04):
the Mets like, leave nothing to chance, do what you
can to win that game, and if it compromises your
ability to win in the postseason, you gotta get there first.
So we've crushed Terry Francona for how he managed last night.
I thought he managed Sunday the right way. Reds didn't
win the ball game, But because they had to use
Nick Lidolo, they're not going to start him tonight.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
So Zach Lettel is.

Speaker 4 (58:29):
If Zach Lttel can give the Reds basically what he
has given them over his last four starts, which is like,
on average five and a third. In fact, i'll do
it right now. Last four starts he's lasted five and
a third. He's given up on average two point three runs,

(58:49):
half a homer. First of all, I find it hard
to believe he's going to pitch into the sixth. Two
runs for the Dodgers might be enough tonight, I'll take it.
I'm interested in how Tito handles his innings. I'm interested
in what the plan moving forward with the bullpen. Charlie
Goldsmith is Charlie's Schockboard newsletter. He's written a good piece
about the plan for the bullpen today. When they acquired

(59:14):
Zach Lettel, they needed a starting pitching depth. But to me,
when they acquired Zach Lyttel, it's you acquired this guy
because you have faith in him winning must win games. Now,
maybe you didn't think back in late July must win
was gonna be in game two of a wildcard series,
But okay, the Reds are trying to get a playoff spot.

(59:35):
Chances are if they do, they're not exactly gonna have
one locked up by mid September. So you're acquiring Zach
Lettel to pitch an important, high leverage games and get
high leverage outs. When they acquired him, we were all
okay with it. He has pitched, Okay, he's pitched like
a back of the rotation guy, because in this rotation

(59:57):
they've got studs Abbott last night, not with standing, Hunter Green,
Nick Ladolo. But you acquired him knowing we're sliding him
into the rotation and he's gonna make ten twelve starts
in important games for us. If you were comfortable with that,
then you shouldn't entirely be uncomfortable with him pitching tonight.
I'm not telling you the guy's gonna throw a gem.

(01:00:19):
I'm not telling you I wouldn't rather have Andrew Abbott.
Ohth you gotta win two games, so why not have
Andrew Abbat's pitch on his normal rest tomorrow? But like
all right, I wish they would have won last night.
I wish they would have had margin for error. But
am I comfortable with Zach Lettel pitching this evening? I
don't know why I'm doing this thing, Why I'm asking
myself questions? Yes, because I was comfortable with them trading

(01:00:43):
for him, And when they traded for him, he has
given them a small degree of reliability, at least over
his last four or five starts.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
So I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:00:53):
I don't think all is lost. I certainly understand the
uphill battle they have. That Dodger's lineup is terrific. Yoshima
Yoshiyamamoto is awesome. He stuck it to the Reds in
late July. But like this Zach Lttel thing is, he's
not the most ideal guy.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
And he ain't gonna pigeon of the seventh inning no
matter what.

Speaker 4 (01:01:12):
But if you were comfortable with the Reds picking him up,
because this is a guy we want on the mound
in important games. Guess what, he's on the mountain night
in an important game. I'm giving him a shot. We'll
give Amy Wagner a shot. Next wordt Oakley Greens on
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 7 (01:01:28):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's
ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 9 (01:01:47):
five one three five eighty five UCCC northbound seventy five
Queen Davis Street and Shepherd Lane. The left lane is
blocked off from a disabled vehicle. Right now, traffic stop
and go back from Galbreath A three to five minute delay.

(01:02:09):
Northbound Montgomery Rode. Another accident, this one approaching Weller Road.
I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:02:16):
You know we're broadcasting from Oakley Greens. This is an
awesome setup.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
You can hang out, You could throw some bags. There's
a couple here throwing backs.

Speaker 4 (01:02:26):
When I got here this afternoon, you could You could
go outside and play mini golf and then go inside
and get a get a cold beverage post up. You
could watch watch one of the ball games. You got
you got the Reds tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
Come on.

Speaker 4 (01:02:38):
This is the absolute best Oakley Greens. We love Oakley
Greens and if you haven't been here, you gotta check
it out. Obviously, the Bengals are on Sunday, it's a
home game. If you don't have tickets, tickets on the
secondary market are absurd. Obviously, you could watch here at
Oakley Greens all the college football games Red's playoff games.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
Noticed I use plural.

Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
Reds playoff games, including tonight. Check out Oakley Greens at
Oakley Station. The only thing about being at Oakley Greens
today is I don't get a chance to spend time
in studio with my friend from Dean Dorton Private Wealth,
Amy Wagner, who joins us every week to talk about
money in sports. Amy, I wish you were here, but
I understand you couldn't be here today. Nonetheless, it's awfu.

(01:03:20):
It's awesome to have you.

Speaker 15 (01:03:22):
Well, you know, if I was there, they'd probably beat
you and be golf.

Speaker 12 (01:03:25):
So maybe it's better for you that I'm not.

Speaker 4 (01:03:27):
There beating me and golf does not put you in
very exclusive comfort.

Speaker 16 (01:03:33):
It would also be a long shot me beating anyone
in golf.

Speaker 17 (01:03:37):
You've been an interesting kind of rough week for Cincinnati
sports fans.

Speaker 12 (01:03:42):
I feel like we.

Speaker 16 (01:03:42):
Should talk about like baby goats or something and Chaid today,
but you know, like we've got another shot at it tonight.

Speaker 15 (01:03:50):
I love the fact that you're talking about games ahead
of us as Red Stands, because you know, it was
a little rough last night and a little rough money
night with the Bengals. I've seen a lot of coverage
about payrolls these major league teams that have made it
this far in the season, you know, lots of coverage

(01:04:11):
about kind of the Mets meltdown when you're spending so
much on a team. In fact, I went back and
looked on June thirteenth of this year, there was a
ninety six percent chance that the Mets would be sitting
where the Reds are right now.

Speaker 12 (01:04:27):
Right, I mean, yes, ninety six percent chance.

Speaker 15 (01:04:31):
I mean, anyone who bets like that's pretty much as sure.

Speaker 16 (01:04:34):
Bet you know, four hundred and thirty million dollars payroll,
including of course payroll in the luxury tax, but you know,
to the Reds one hundred and twenty million. So interestingly,
when it was the Reds that shot out into the
into the playoffs scene versus the Mets, everyone was talking
about the.

Speaker 12 (01:04:50):
Fact that much smaller payroll. Yet here we go, you.

Speaker 15 (01:04:54):
Know, and I think sometimes, and let's chase it, think
back in every sports movie that we love like, we
love like a good underdog story, and that's what the
Reds looked like kind of coming in these playoffs. Uh,
you know, we we hoped for a great show from
the red last night didn't necessarily happen. I thought it
was interesting today that the headlines kind of turned the tables,

(01:05:16):
because before it was like who needs a large payroll?
Look what the Reds just did, and then it was
disparity and payroll redbud.

Speaker 3 (01:05:24):
Right, you see what I'm saying here, Yeah, no, totally totally.

Speaker 4 (01:05:31):
But I think if there's if there's one thing, and
this is to me the beauty of sports, right, you
could you could spend We see this in college sports too, right,
where one school has a huge recruiting budget. Now in
the era of revenue sharing in NIL, one team spends
a lot on its players. And like in the NCAA tournament,

(01:05:51):
it doesn't mean that a fourteen can't beat the three
or a fifteen can't beat the two.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
We love stories absolutely and you you can you could
also apply something similar to sports.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
It's it's maybe not quite apples to apples.

Speaker 4 (01:06:06):
But one of the one of the beautiful things about
baseball where there's no salary cap, where every team can
spend pretty much what they want, is you can assemble
all the talent in the world and you can go
get the most expensive players.

Speaker 3 (01:06:19):
It guarantees you nothing.

Speaker 11 (01:06:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (01:06:22):
Daly Cruth had a great comment and he was like,
you know what, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 12 (01:06:25):
We've play together, we day together, we support each other.

Speaker 15 (01:06:28):
And I think that speaks to that kind of intangible
that you're talking about.

Speaker 12 (01:06:31):
Like at some points, for some teams, it just clicks.

Speaker 15 (01:06:36):
It's culture, it's momentum, it's you know, magic, it's whatever
the words, whatever the adjectives that you want to use
to describe it. You know, I think for you know,
for those of us who don't necessarily work for or
play for the Reds or the Bengals.

Speaker 12 (01:06:50):
You know, in our normal.

Speaker 15 (01:06:51):
World, it's like workplace culture, right Like when you're in
a place where people love to be there and people
feel like they're a preciated and they love working together,
some of the special happens.

Speaker 16 (01:07:03):
You know, And and I think that's what we saw
from this Reds team coming into playoffs.

Speaker 12 (01:07:08):
I agree with you.

Speaker 16 (01:07:09):
I think we've pulled this off tonight and I think
we live to play another night. And it's not going
to necessarily be the story about payrolls tomorrow. It's going
to be about that magic that's happening with the Reds
right now.

Speaker 12 (01:07:20):
That's what I'm that's what I'm hoping for.

Speaker 4 (01:07:22):
Yeah, you know, we we talk about it in all
the sports where you could you could attach a number
to anything, right, you can quantify so much stuff, but
there and this is this is one of the big
I don't know discussions that we've had for years in baseball,
which it's it's the push pull where you you measure,
you you measure what the analytics tell you to do

(01:07:43):
when it comes to making a decision or signing a player.

Speaker 3 (01:07:46):
But chemistry matters.

Speaker 4 (01:07:47):
How much the guys love playing with each other, matters,
how much the guys love coming to work, matters how
much the guy trust the manager, and sometimes the trust
the manager might have in a player in spite of
what his statistics might tell you.

Speaker 15 (01:08:01):
It's all those intangibles, right, I mean, it's just all
those intangibles layered on top of each other. They add
up and I think they make a difference, and I
certainly hope that we see that difference tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:08:12):
You know.

Speaker 12 (01:08:12):
I think another thing to talk.

Speaker 16 (01:08:14):
About when it comes to the Reds is home field advantage.

Speaker 12 (01:08:17):
You and I were at the Grail.

Speaker 15 (01:08:19):
Last week before we had the full playoff picture, talking
to our friend who owns the Grail, and we were
trying to figure out in our head, like, Okay, if
we win, if we pull this out right, we're going
to end up oh, not here, obviously, We're going to
end up out in La. You know, for local businesses,
it actually makes a big difference.

Speaker 16 (01:08:40):
You know, we need to win these games out well
so that we.

Speaker 12 (01:08:43):
Can come back and get some money pumping in the
local economy.

Speaker 16 (01:08:47):
The home field advantage from a pure game standpoint, actually isn't.

Speaker 12 (01:08:53):
That much of a big deal anymore.

Speaker 16 (01:08:55):
Okay, so since the playoff field expanded, right, went to
twelve teams in twenty twenty two, listen to this Statmo
home teams are sixty and sixty four in the postseason. Really, yes, yes,
no advantage, And I think it kind of goes to
some of those intangibles that you and I were just
talking about, kind of the underdog, right they're coming into this.

(01:09:16):
We've got something to prove, you know, doesn't matter who's
bat and lands around here.

Speaker 15 (01:09:21):
We've got this and it hasn't proven out to be
such an advantage from a game standpoint, it is undeniably
an advantage from an economic standpoint.

Speaker 12 (01:09:32):
You think about the difference. If we were hosting this week,
you'd have red flans from out of town flying in.
You'd have every hotel downtown full. The banks would be
crawling with people right now.

Speaker 15 (01:09:43):
Even seasonal employees at Great American Ballpark, right they lived
to work, you know, a few extra days. It's money,
money in their pockets, money in the local economy. What
we have right now is merch sales. You know, you
can get your Sincy shirts, T shirts. You know, Clynchmiths
or Can't Kill Us the Cockroaches shirts for twenty seven bucks.

(01:10:04):
Their MLB has those October Red shirts anywhere from like
forty bucks to eighty if you want a hoodie.

Speaker 12 (01:10:10):
So I mean, I think if you want the October shirt,
just buy it today. Just buy it today.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:10:17):
Yeah, it's funny, you know, Amy, My birthday is Friday,
if you didn't know. And my wife told me, and
she didn't tell me what they're getting me, but she
and my daughter went to rally House and they wanted
to know my size. And she said to me, and
this was on Monday, Like the clerk at rally House
told her suddenly, like all the reds merchants flying off

(01:10:37):
the shelves. We couldn't sell it all summer, and now
we can't keep it in stock. It's amazing how that works.

Speaker 17 (01:10:45):
It is, you know, I was thinking about earlier today
and this is the conversation that George Vogel and I
actually had years ago on the anchored ESKA Channel five.

Speaker 16 (01:10:54):
And it's kind of like the plight of the Cincinnati
sports fan, you.

Speaker 18 (01:10:57):
Know, and it's just you give up on something, you know,
they come come rallying back particularly. You know, it's like
years starts and we are counting down to opening day
and this is going to be the year. And you know,
after maybe the first series, maybe by the end of April,
we're like, when does the Bengals preseason start? You know,

(01:11:19):
preseason starts to get a little bit in and they're like,
when do your pitchers.

Speaker 12 (01:11:22):
And catchers reports?

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
Yes, it never ends. We do it every year.

Speaker 12 (01:11:28):
We know it, we love it, and we still come back.

Speaker 17 (01:11:31):
And you know, I think regardless of what happens to night,
what happens Sunday.

Speaker 12 (01:11:36):
It is who we are. It's in our blood, it's
in our DNA, and we will come back year after year,
season after season. You know, they always give us enough
to cheer about.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
We need.

Speaker 4 (01:11:46):
You know, there's baseball playoff games happening as we speak.
We need the Reds to advance so they can play
in a daytime playoff game so you and I can
talk about the lost productivity for area businesses.

Speaker 17 (01:11:58):
I actually saw an article in The enquire the other
day about how you should deal with the lack of sleep.

Speaker 11 (01:12:04):
From late.

Speaker 12 (01:12:07):
And I was like, hmm, like which reporter.

Speaker 15 (01:12:10):
Pitched that that's an interesting angle on it, But I
gotta tell you.

Speaker 12 (01:12:13):
A few days into this, it's not a bad angle.

Speaker 15 (01:12:15):
Apparently you're supposed to get up the same time every morning,
regardless it when you went to bed.

Speaker 4 (01:12:21):
Yeah, that didn't happen in my life, but maybe maybe
in fifteen years. Amy Wagner Deandortonwealth dot com. Amy is
a wealth management advisor for Dean Dorton. Joins us every
single Wednesday to talk about sports and money.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
We'll see you back next week in studio. We can't wait, Amy,
thanks so much.

Speaker 12 (01:12:44):
Well, well, we'll still be talking about that Reds postseason.
Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:47):
Let's hope. So there you go, Amy, you're the best.

Speaker 11 (01:12:50):
You too.

Speaker 4 (01:12:52):
It is twelve away from five o'clock. We're in Oakley
Greens Here in Oakley. By the way, Manny Machado two
run dong in the fifth inning is given the Padres
a three zip lead of the Cubs at Wrigley Field,
San Diego, trying to even up that series at a game.

Speaker 3 (01:13:08):
I'm a fan of calling home runs dongs.

Speaker 4 (01:13:11):
Brenivan and Jones on baseball Coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 7 (01:13:15):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center.

Speaker 9 (01:13:23):
five one three five eighty five UCCC northbound seventy five
between Davis Street and Shepherd Laney. Left lane is blocked
off from a disabled vehicle. Right now, traffic stop and
go back from Galbreath a three to five minute delay northbound.

(01:13:46):
Montgomery wrote another accident, this one approaching Weller Road. I'm
at ezelic with traffic this report. He is sponsored by
dollars entered.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
This nationwide keyword on our website.

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Check that's check.

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You enter it now.

Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
Night.

Speaker 4 (01:14:02):
It's four minutes after five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen
to thirty. Thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 3 (01:14:08):
We are broadcasting from Oakley Greens today, an amazing place tonight.
First pitch four hours away.

Speaker 4 (01:14:16):
Looking for a spot to watch Reds Dodgers. Look at
for a spot to watch REGs Dodgers, and you know,
be outside while you do it. Come to Oakley Greens.
By the way, They've got a game tonight. It's family
feud style trivia from seven to nine. So you could
do that and then watch the ball game tonight. Quickly
before we get to a Richard Skinner. The Reds lineup
is out. Are you ready for it? Against Yoshi Yamamoto. Freedol,

(01:14:39):
Steer Lucks, Austin Hayes is in left field and hitting forth.

Speaker 3 (01:14:44):
Sal Stewart is starting. It's playing first base and batting fifth.

Speaker 4 (01:14:48):
Elie De la Cruz, Tyler Stevenson, Key, Brian Hayes, and
Matt McClain. Richard Skinner is with us as he is
every single Wednesday, Local twelve and Local twelve. Which co
class manager do you think had a bigger chuckle? Sean
Payton as he watched what the Bengals were doing on Monday?
Or Dave Roberts when Terry francona let Key Brian Hayes

(01:15:10):
bat in the seventh.

Speaker 11 (01:15:12):
Yeah, and then put salth Stewart in for defense.

Speaker 14 (01:15:14):
Right.

Speaker 11 (01:15:14):
I mean, that was that was Geane. I that was genius.
I mean, I mean, the dude's got two World Series title.
He got this team in the playoffs. Somehow, it's it's
hard to be critical, but that when I'm sitting I
literally I got home last night, I flew, I flew
in late, but I was able to watch the game
on on the plane, and I got home about that
time and I literally sat the eversa. I said, am
I missing something here?

Speaker 14 (01:15:34):
What?

Speaker 9 (01:15:35):
What?

Speaker 11 (01:15:35):
What are we doing?

Speaker 2 (01:15:36):
What is this?

Speaker 4 (01:15:37):
I did the exact same thing I did the I like,
I looked online to make sure I didn't miss like
Sal Stewart pinch hitting earlier in the game.

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
See his name in the box.

Speaker 4 (01:15:46):
They worked at him already, I I I looked at
everybody who covers the team. I looked at their timelines
to see, like, did Sal Stuart injure himself during batting
practice or something? And then it was before TV came back.
I saw Sal Stewart first. I'm like, they just put
him in the game. It's rare that I'm speechless last night,
sitting by myself, speechless of what Terry Francona.

Speaker 3 (01:16:08):
Decided to do.

Speaker 11 (01:16:10):
Yes, I was speechless also at the performance of one
hundred Green. So we're speechless on both parts.

Speaker 3 (01:16:15):
No, no question about that.

Speaker 4 (01:16:17):
And yet I'm not sure which was more disconcerting, any
of that or what we both watched in person on Monday.

Speaker 11 (01:16:26):
I mean, it was really hard to watch. It's funny,
you know, they get that late touchdown I made twenty
eight to three, and even at twenty one three, it
felt like it was forty one to three. We had
how much that was a dominant game. You know, we've
all gone to stats on the fourth biggest yard is
differential in franchise history, and the other three are quite
chuckled with. One was a sixty eighteen the expansion team,
another was when they sacked starters at the end of

(01:16:47):
a season because they were getting ready to go play
in the playoffs. And another one was just kind of
an egg day laid up in India a few years ago.
I mean, it is inept in every which way, shape
or form. And that's kind of what I wrote after
the game of you know, what I'm watching is just
simple a bad football team. I can talk myself into
the five turnovers in what happened in Minnesota. I think
it's fair to point that out. But then you start
watching this and the only thing that crosses your mind

(01:17:09):
is this is just a bad team. It doesn't tackle,
it doesn't block, it doesn't throw, it doesn't catch, it
doesn't run, it doesn't cover. And that's what struck me
is and that now, you know, starting this week, it's
like trying to write your way back into into those
narratives of you know, this is just not good party.
I just wrote a piece on the defense and us
p f F grade for all the key guys. I mean,

(01:17:31):
they're just not good enough, and took that's sobering to
think of. You thought my new defensive coordinator new things,
knew this new that's there's not much new on defense.
There really isn't's mostly the same guys. I decided to
running back with a new voice, and it's not working.
And you know, the offense, okay, you know, maybe maybe
had two roted opponents and maybe you had two conservative
a game plan in both. And I thought Jake played
awful tentative on Monday night and maybe just let him

(01:17:53):
cut it loose a little bit. Great, So the offense
scores twenty three points this week. Is the defense really
gonna give up les than twenty three points to these
guys this week?

Speaker 4 (01:18:01):
You know, you talk about them on defense, And what's
so frustrating to me at least is reoccurring themes. I
watched Cam Taylor Brent get benched twice last year. Yep,
now it's a third time. I watched Geno Stone take
poor angles on tackles. Last year, I watched them not
being able to stop the run. I watched them leave
guys wide open with no resistance whatsoever, with largely the

(01:18:22):
same guys. There are some new characters. Got no problem
with Demetrius Night. Unfortunately Shamar Stewart's not playing. But I
think what is frustrating is when you see bad play
and you see things that we saw last year and
wondered about all offseason. Okay, we sure we're doing this,
we sure we're bringing back all these guys on the secondary,
We sure we're running it back with all these guys,

(01:18:43):
and then you see some of those same players do
what made us wonder about them last year.

Speaker 11 (01:18:49):
That's what's so sobering, and that that's kind of the
piece I heard today, that's what's really sobering. I mean,
you know, talking out Golden today, he talked about, you know,
some of these things are fixable, and I saw sixty
great plays on Monday Night on film and that's out
of eighty mind you and he's right in some degrees.
I mean, there's something. I mean the first three series
in the second half, they forced three straight punts. First
series of the game, was a three and out there's

(01:19:11):
but then you also look up and it's five hundred
and twelve yards allowed, and it's another one hundred yard
rusher and it's twenty eight points. It would have been
thirty five if though Nick doesn't throw it the interception
right to meet Dmitri's night and in the end zone. So
and to your point that the opening fact is there's
this no new blood that makes you go loud. Maybe
Chamar will eventually, but we haven't seen him because of injury,
and that's just it. Where's the upside? I just don't

(01:19:34):
think there is any on that side of the ball.
I do think there's still is on offense, but I
just don't think there's enough on defense.

Speaker 4 (01:19:42):
It feels to me like there's a lot less upside
with Jake Browning though than I would have thought two
weeks ago.

Speaker 11 (01:19:47):
Yeah, I just I'm looking at just I honestly think
they were so conservative that, especially this past week, of
those only interceptions, don't thrown interception, don't down interception. And
that's the thing that kept going through my mind when
he held the ball a couple of times on Sack,
so when he wouldn't pull the trigger on maybe a
quick first read that he looked like he could get
one in, and I just don't think you can play
the position that way. I'm willing to give it a

(01:20:08):
pass of two good defenses on the road, but I'm
not so sure how much longer that pass can be given,
because you you're gonna dig yourself a big hole. And
he's not the only thing, mo I think you would
agree with this. I mean, they don't run the ball.
They can't run the ball, they don't pass block very well,
so you can't you know, you can't take take three
second drops. You got to get out your hand and
play quick game. It all kind of melds together.

Speaker 3 (01:20:29):
I know, the.

Speaker 11 (01:20:29):
Quarterbacks easy focal point, and Jake has not played well.
I'm not trying to tell you that he's definitely not
played well, but it's I think it's just it's more
than just Jake. And I think that's a sobering thought too,
that let's let's not forget Joe Burrow played one game
this year and what a quarter and a half. And
the offense isn't exactly clicking in those five and a
half fours either.

Speaker 4 (01:20:48):
Yeah, look they're they're a missed kick and a shaky
p I call away from being going four, and they're
playing the best team that has appeared on their schedule
on Sunday, Like we went into Minnesota and Denver going
okay with a competent backup quarterback. Those are winnable games.
I absolutely cannot see a pathway that leads us down

(01:21:08):
a road where they're they're walking out of that stadium
on Sunday with one more victory than a loss. And
I think that's the thing about Monday night.

Speaker 3 (01:21:16):
Is you just you. You started to ask, like God,
how bad is this gonna get?

Speaker 6 (01:21:21):
Right?

Speaker 11 (01:21:21):
That's right? I think today I heard somebody say ESPN
pick the Bengals to not win another game this year.
That's probably very very very very very far fetched. But
it is hard to start looking for victories unless you
see this team play better. It's a weird league. Maybe
they do on Sunday. Maybe they just all of a
sudden make us go, hey, we're all idiots. It was
just two road games, two small sample sives. Maybe that's
just all on us. But I don't know, man, that

(01:21:43):
this this path Monday made me just go it's a
bad team.

Speaker 3 (01:21:46):
Yes, yeah, often all right? Thank you? As always enjoyed
seeing you on Sunday. We'll do it soon. Thanks so much,
Thanks too.

Speaker 4 (01:21:56):
That's our guy, Richard Skinner Local twelve dot com on
Twitter at Local twelve skimming more on the Bengals here
and a bit Sean Saya. It's gonna join us. By
the way, Bengals game plan is tonight at six on
ESPN fifteen thirty. You could check that out as soon
as we are done. We're broadcasting from Oakley Greens. By
the way, it is the bud Light five o'clock Happy Hour.

(01:22:16):
My producer Drew Wester Heidi may or may not be
enjoying a nice cold bud Light.

Speaker 3 (01:22:22):
Didn't say definitively that he was.

Speaker 4 (01:22:24):
I may or may not be enjoying a nice cold
bud Light didn't say definitively that I was.

Speaker 3 (01:22:28):
Either.

Speaker 4 (01:22:29):
Padres up three zip. That game is headed to the
top of the seventh if you missed it earlier. Today,
the Guardians win six to one over Detroit, so that
series heads to a game three. The question is tonight
to the Reds Force at game three. So we'll spend
a few minutes on last night because you might not
have been here at three o'clock. Number one the headline
Hunter Green, and look, man, I'm the Hunter Green guy.

(01:22:50):
I gets if if it's still okay at my age
to have a favorite player, it's Hunter Green. I put
this on social media last night. I am a big fan.
I think the most important game that any Red Red
starting pitcher through this season was that Sunday game against
the Mets. And the Bengals were playing their season opener,

(01:23:11):
and so maybe not as many people were paying attention.
But on that Sunday against the Mets, Hunter Green struck
out twelve held at a very good New York lineup,
and instead of the Reds being six back after that series,
they were four back. Obviously still an uphill battle, Hunter
Green has limitless potential, now I do understand, and this

(01:23:32):
is why I tweeted about this last night.

Speaker 3 (01:23:33):
There are some who aren't quite there.

Speaker 4 (01:23:36):
Maybe need to see him getting through a full big
league season, maybe need to see him pitch on a
bigger stage. Maybe don't necessarily buy that he was the
smart investment that the Reds made that I think he is.
I have been told that there are folks in the
organization who are not quite as on board with Hunter

(01:23:57):
Green as I am. So my take on the game
last night was be on the obvious. You're trying to
win two out of three. That was an opportunity for
Hunter Green on a big, big stage, defending World Series champions,
really short series, to win some folks over.

Speaker 3 (01:24:12):
He did the exact opposite.

Speaker 4 (01:24:14):
There is, though, a long list of starting pitchers who
have laid eggs in the postseason. Greg Madnox's first playoffs
start he gave up eight runs. Clayton Kershaw, who's going
to be in the Hall of Fame, has starts in
the postseason where he has given up seven.

Speaker 3 (01:24:28):
Runs, eight runs, six runs.

Speaker 4 (01:24:30):
Tom Glavin in the Hall of Fame had a postseason
start with Lanta Braves where he gave up eight runs.

Speaker 3 (01:24:37):
So it happens. It's a clunker.

Speaker 4 (01:24:39):
But when you're a guy like Hunter Green and this
is the biggest stage you've been on, and you have
folks who aren't quite as bought in, I thought it
was a missed opportunity for Hunter to win some of
those holdovers over. I thought at the end of the
first inning last night, he was lucky to be down
one nothing. His pitches looked fat, they got too much
of the plate. He was being barreled up. I talked

(01:25:03):
myself into after the first inning. You know what, Now
he's gonna calm down and be okay. That was not
the case. He was lucky. He only gave up five.
And so now does Hunter Green get another chance. He's
not gonna have anything to do with whether or not.
The answer is yes, his team will the other one.
And you heard Richard Skinner and I talk about it

(01:25:24):
for the life of me. And look, I don't gratuitously
second guest Terry Francona or any manager, but I thought
in the seventh inning last night, Tito Francona did something
that made absolutely no sense. Two on, two out, seventh inning,
you're down six kee Brian Hayes is up. You can't
let him hit there like you You cannot let he

(01:25:46):
is one of the worst hitters in baseball.

Speaker 3 (01:25:49):
He is.

Speaker 4 (01:25:49):
He was acquired not for his bat, but for his glove.
If I'm up eight to two, I care about his glove.
Down eight to two in a situation you have seven
outs remaining, with one swing of the bat, you can
get back into the game. The guy more likely to
do that than Key Brian Hayes is Sal Stewart. And

(01:26:09):
then at the end of that inning, Tito put sal
Stewart in the game, takes out Austin Hayes, shaking decision
as far as I'm concerned, because of all the lefties
the Dodgers have in their bullpen. He moves steered to
left and he puts sal Stewart into first base. He
was gonna put him in the game. Nonetheless, I'm sorry.
I know Sal Stewart's a rookie. He's been in the

(01:26:31):
big leagues for a month. You cannot convince me that,
in that moment, needing a swing to get back into
the game, that Key Brian Hayes is a better option
than Sal Stewart. And I'm willing to bet that if
in that moment you went to the Dodgers, dugout and
put your arm around Dave Roberts, first of all, he
would wonder how did he get here? But the second

(01:26:53):
thing you would go is, hey, Dave, who would you
rather be batting right now? Key Brian Hayes or Sal Stewart.
Promise you, with no way of proving this, of course,
I promise you. I promise you, the answer is Key
Brian Hayes. If you asked Dave Roberts in that moment,
would you rather pitch to keep Brian Hayes or Sal Stewart.

(01:27:13):
He's gonna say, key Brian Hayes. Terry Francona did what
the other team's manager wanted him to do. Might not
be the biggest reason why they lost the game. They
lost the game because they gave up ten runs. They
lost the game because the starting pitcher was non competitive.
They lost the game because Blake Snell was terrific. But
there was a chance in the seventh inning. Plus knowing
what we know about how the eighth inning unfolded, that,

(01:27:34):
by the way, also ended with a key Brian Hayes
at bat in the seventh inning last night. Terry Francona, again,
I don't second guess him gratuitously. Every manager during the
course of a season gets that stuff right, gets that
stuff wrong. But that's a moment that you can't get wrong.
And he did because he did what I will bet
the other manager wanted him to do. We'll talk about

(01:27:55):
tonight because this team's brand is cockroaches can't kill him.
Does that continue this evening. We'll spend time on that
coming up about fifteen minutes. But first our guy, Sean
Sayat Stats and Scheme Newsletters, going to join us to
try to do the impossible.

Speaker 3 (01:28:09):
Next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:28:10):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:28:16):
From the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 9 (01:28:18):
five one three five eighty five UCCC On northbound seventy
one approaching Smith Edwards's two right lanes are blocked from
an accident up to a fifteen minute delay back from
Martin Luther King eastbound State Route twenty eight. Another accident

(01:28:42):
after two seventy five that's got the left two lanes
blocked off. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:28:47):
This report is sponsor by This is Football in the NATI,
brought to you in part by Postman Law and Vice
Skyline Chiley. On ESPN fifteen thirty, the official the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (01:29:03):
So typically Sean Saya Stats and Schemes newsletter joins us
on Tuesdays, but.

Speaker 3 (01:29:08):
You need to move everything because.

Speaker 4 (01:29:09):
Of you know, Monday night football, and uh stat's given
Sean twenty four hours more to come up with a
way to fix what I think is the unfixable the Bengals,
their offense, their defense. You should subscribe to his newsletter,
Get it at Summer sports dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:29:28):
How's it going, Sean, No.

Speaker 14 (01:29:30):
It's you know, maybe gone a little bit better for
me than the Bengals overall. You're right, you know, you
get that extra time. You just kind of mulling things
a little bit. And I might be lying if I
said I had some grand solution for what's going on
with the Bengals this season.

Speaker 3 (01:29:43):
Well you can't.

Speaker 4 (01:29:44):
I mean, you have an offensive line of guys that
can't run blocks, so you can't run the ball. You
have a backup quarterback that's not thrown to the right guy.
Like I don't, I don't know. I don't know that
there's a scheme that can overcome those things. And look,
they they have elite playmakers on the outside. But but
when your QB doesn't throw the ball to the right guy,
I don't know what schematic advantage you can come up with.

Speaker 14 (01:30:06):
You know, I certainly agree, and I think because I
feel like everyone knows that, then you turn to all
the things that you actually can control, whether it's things
that are coached whether it's the overall discipline of the team,
whether it's those just minute details not getting illegal formations
on big throws like that is what I think we
can really focus on now and say, okay, well are
these like operational aspects of this team and issue And

(01:30:29):
you could say, okay, well you drop one player and
then it kind of it hurts everyone, Like absolutely, I
get that there are still things in your control that
I think, no matter who you're putting out there, you
would hope are able to get to a certain level.

Speaker 4 (01:30:42):
Well, it starts with having the right number of players
on the field and then having them line up correctly,
and then you can come up with something, is there
is there anything schematically that if you're Zach Taylor you
can try that you haven't tried yet.

Speaker 14 (01:31:00):
I feel like you lean as much on the run
game as you can. As you said, you know, your
offensive line is maybe not the best run game unit overall.
You're trying to just like shrink the kind of margin
for error that your quarterback can sort of have. Now,
you could say, hey, like let's call up New York
see if James Winston wants to make the trip a
little bit out to to Cincinnati, Ohio. Maybe you look

(01:31:22):
at that just a little bit, but I feel like
the only solution is okay, heavy runs, heavy play action
shots to the outside.

Speaker 8 (01:31:28):
But when you're already down, you.

Speaker 14 (01:31:30):
Know pretty quickly in these games, and I think teams
are probably sitting on that type of approach.

Speaker 2 (01:31:35):
It makes it pretty hard.

Speaker 14 (01:31:37):
Like it's sort of disheartening to have to watch it
and kind of think about it and look at it
and say, okay, well there's just no solution, like that
can't be it. So you are leaning into just you know,
maybe you're able to get just one or two just massive,
massive games from Chasin Higgins and you're able to ride
that into the sunset.

Speaker 4 (01:31:55):
So Jake Browning plays seven games two years ago, and
the one thing they did, I think you and I
have talked about this. The one thing they were able
to tap into was a screen game. They still had
Joe Mixon, they started to use Chase brown a little
bit more, and we joked about it here, like they're
going to screen pass their way into the postseason. So
I go to this game on Monday, and the Denver Broncos.

(01:32:15):
One of their deficiencies has been allowing a lot of
yards to running backs when they're used as receivers. So
I don't know how you don't marry those two. Here's
something we have used in the past with this quarterback
against a team that has this particular weakness, and late
in the third quarter before the game totally got out
of hand, they had one.

Speaker 3 (01:32:37):
Reception for Chase Brown.

Speaker 4 (01:32:38):
So I guess my question is, like, isn't that something
they should be tapping into because they have had success
with this quarterback in the screen game before.

Speaker 14 (01:32:47):
I do think the screen game is a smart way
to lessen the burden on your offensive line a little bit,
Like your quarterback.

Speaker 11 (01:32:53):
Is not really having to make a full read kind
of decision.

Speaker 14 (01:32:57):
Obviously, you have a playmaking running back in Chase Brown,
So I do you think that's a smart way to
approach it? That to me, it also goes back to
the details of the kind of approach, like if you
have a sloppy screen game, that sometimes is the sign
of like an offense that you know you're not on
kind of all of your details all the time. If
you look at the Buccaneers last year had just this
absurd screen game where it's like everyone's foot is in

(01:33:18):
the exact right.

Speaker 8 (01:33:18):
Spot exactly what it needs to be.

Speaker 2 (01:33:20):
You're able to get defensive linemen.

Speaker 14 (01:33:22):
Up the field, and I want to just yeah, probably
does go off through the rest of the season, just
because you're looking at it like this week saying in
Hutchinson really running back up off his injury and say, okay,
well we got to have something that can flow back
guy down.

Speaker 3 (01:33:37):
Let's talk about the Lions.

Speaker 4 (01:33:38):
So they lose both coordinators, Ben Johnson, renowned for his
work with that offense. They had a hiccup Week one. Offensively,
it feels like they haven't skipped a beat. It's very
good personnel. Jamier Gibbs is terrific. I love him on
Ray Saint Brown. Jared Goff has sort of rebranded himself
in Detroit. Why though, given the fact that everybody talked

(01:34:01):
about the brain drain this offseason, are they doing Are
they running the exact same offense? Are their dramatic schematic differences?
Why have they barely skipped a beat on that side
of the ball in Detroit?

Speaker 14 (01:34:13):
You know, I wouldn't say it's the exact same offense.
I think there's like in Week one, for example, we
saw the Lions use a lot less motion, a lot
less play action. I do think they got back to
a lot of those things. It feels like last year
you could almost steel how like the kind of showiness
and the play falling a little bit like and you
could see that against the Lions or sorry against the
Ravens on that money make game where you have those

(01:34:34):
kind of trick plays in there, and could you see something.
As the season goes on, it kind of continues to
be like, Hey, we're gonna beat you, and we're gonna
do it in like the most stylish ways possible. I
do think a big deal is like their personnel is
just really really good and they have a lot of
the structures there. More than that Isim are the offensive
coordinator there more and is really familiar with Dan.

Speaker 2 (01:34:53):
Campbell as well.

Speaker 14 (01:34:55):
So you do have some different pieces along the offensive
line that maybe you can attack up front a little bit,
but the team is settling in. I would absolutely say
like this is the top top end unit in the
NFC where they have so many.

Speaker 8 (01:35:06):
Different ways to attack you.

Speaker 14 (01:35:08):
I think that the lines struggled a little bit against
the Browns last week, in particular when they were able
to get pressure. So if you can get guys in
Jared Boff's face like Trey Henderson.

Speaker 2 (01:35:17):
Hiad, let's go ahead and make and try and win
us his game.

Speaker 4 (01:35:20):
That sounds great, But you know, I watched last week,
or I watched on Monday night cam Taylor Brick got
benched again. I watched Geno Stone take poor angles when
he's trying to make a tackle. I see collectively the
same lack of pass rush. Admittedly, they don't have Shamar Stewart.
There are some young players on defense that I think
are interesting, like Demetrius Knight, but I.

Speaker 3 (01:35:42):
I don't you know, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:35:43):
Sort of a similar question to what we talked about
the Bengals on offense. I don't know that Al Golden
can come up with anything given the fact that he's
got the same players that got the previous defensive coordinator fired.
When he's going up against that Detroit offense, which is
easily the best one they've played so far.

Speaker 14 (01:35:58):
You know, and you're a team that is just like
a drastic underdog. I think the Bengals are like ten
and a half point underdogs. And me, the approach is
like you lean into variants as much as possible, so
you are because if you're like on odds probably going
to lose, So why don't these go down swinging? So,
like you increase your blitz rip, you're taking more deep shots,

(01:36:19):
You're mean onsie kicks obviously different now, but like those
are the types of things that if you're that out match,
even in a league where look, anything can happen in tweek,
Like I'm not gonna say the Bengals have zero for
them a chance to win on paper, of course you're
gonna prefer to be.

Speaker 2 (01:36:31):
The lines in this one.

Speaker 14 (01:36:32):
But you then look at, well, what are just all
the ways that we can have a weird win, Like
is it a special team's block that we could maybe
kind of scheme something up, kind of fly me to
just get get something that you're able to get a
block there? So like do you want to see all
these guys blitz and then you're now putting your cornerbacks
in one on one situations like play affter play.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
Maybe not.

Speaker 14 (01:36:52):
But then also like sometimes you look at maybe the
earlier days in the Minnesota Vikings Brian Flora's defense and say, okay,
well they're just you weirdness, Like the Cardinals did this
as well as they they've been trying to grow their defense, Like,
get as funky as humanly possible and just show these
crazy non traditional looks because it's like, look, at the
end of the day, this game mind not be close anyway,

(01:37:13):
So let's go down and swinging.

Speaker 3 (01:37:15):
Boy. That inspires confidence, now, doesn't it?

Speaker 10 (01:37:18):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (01:37:18):
Sean say of the stats and Scheme newsletter, I am
a huge fan.

Speaker 3 (01:37:22):
You know this.

Speaker 4 (01:37:22):
For those who haven't subscribed yet at Summer sports dot com,
tell them what they'll get.

Speaker 14 (01:37:27):
Appreciate that, mo, Yeah, Summer sports dot com, slast subscribe.
You're gonna get advanced data and details for every single thing.
So if you're curious, like is there anything that the
Bengals are really good at that they may have any
advantage against the Lines, you get these nice color coded boxes.
Game reviews for every single week.

Speaker 11 (01:37:42):
Game reviews for every single week has been a lot.

Speaker 14 (01:37:44):
Of fun to do, and I'm excited to write up
the Bandals versus the Lines again this week.

Speaker 4 (01:37:49):
It's that's one thing that's exciting about this game. I'm
having a hard time coming up with anything else. Sean,
you're the best. We'll talk to you next Tuesday in
your normal time.

Speaker 3 (01:37:56):
Man, Thanks so much, Thanks so much.

Speaker 2 (01:37:58):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:37:59):
You got it twenty nine away from six o'clock.

Speaker 4 (01:38:01):
Sean sayad Stats and Scheme newsletter is awesome. What was
not awesome was last night in Los Angeles. Reds pounded
by the Dodgers. Hunter Green was clubbed. Cincinnati's bullpen was
not great, the defense was terrible. Blake Snell stuck it
to them. So chances are you feel like they have

(01:38:24):
no chance? I don't know, man, I don't know. I
it's it doesn't take into account the caliber of the opponent.
The LA Dodgers are the defending World Series champions. I
would like to think that there's something the Reds do deserve,
and we'll get to what that is next when we

(01:38:44):
come back to Oakley Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 7 (01:38:49):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI brought to
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Speaker 4 (01:39:56):
Tonight, LA Game two, Reds Dodgers nine oh eight, first
pitch seven hundred WLW Zach Littel, Yoshi Yamamoto, you're starting
lineup for Cincinnati tonight. Of course, get out your scorecards
and pencils. And by the way, it's interesting the Reds
on social media. The Red social media team is like

(01:40:16):
standard setting in the industry and has been for fifteen years.
But they tweet out before every game the lineup, and
the lineup today has a picture of sal Stewart on
it not unintentional.

Speaker 3 (01:40:28):
Maybe aimed at me.

Speaker 4 (01:40:29):
Starting lineup this evening, they've tweeted things that I've thought
like they're sub tweeting me. I've noticed that before starting
lineup tonight, friedel Steer lux Steer is playing left field,
Austin Hayes and Wright Sal Stewart's at first base, Elie
Dela Cruz at shortstop, Lan Stevenson behind the plate, Kee

(01:40:50):
Brian Hayes at third, Matt McClain playing second base and
batting ninth. I'm gonna bet on a Matt McClain home
run tonight. How about that he did hit fifteen. I mean,
Matt had a disappointing season, and that's putting it mildly,
but he could run into one, to use the parlance

(01:41:10):
of the day again, nine o eight tonight on a
seven hundred WLW, Guardians even up their best of three
series with the Tigers at a game of piece after
a six to one win. Padre is trying to do
the same San Diego bottom eight. Dylan Cease has been
awesome today and they've turned things over to I don't think, arguably,
I think to the best bullpen in baseball and when

(01:41:32):
I say Dylan Seas was awesome, he was awesome for
four and two thirds, three and two thirds. Padres lead
that game three two bottom eight, trying to even up
that series at a game of piece Yankees and Red Sox.
That was a great game too. Last night, Game two
of that series in New York, a little bit after
six o'clock. Bengals getting set for Detroit on Sunday. Your

(01:41:55):
Bengals injury report. Now, mind you, today's practice was a walkthroughs,
so the report is an estimation as if they held
a full practice. Noah Fan limited still in concussion protocol,
Charlie Jones and Nogo with the achilles issue, and Shamar
Stewart continues to not participate because of that ankle problem.

(01:42:16):
Logan Wilson a guest of Dan Horden Dave Lapham on
Bengals game plan tonight at six. As soon as we're
done on ESPN fifteen thirty, we are broadcasting from Oakley Greens.

Speaker 3 (01:42:27):
Now let's do a couple.

Speaker 4 (01:42:28):
Of things for you next three Let's just talk about
the next three days here at Oakley Greens. So you
got Fairway feud tonight starting at seven o'clock. It's a
family feud style trivia that ends and then the Reds
game starts, or tomorrow you could have a Reds game.
I'll say it, you will have a Reds game. Good
Thursday night game San Francisco and La and Bengo.

Speaker 3 (01:42:53):
You can do that.

Speaker 4 (01:42:54):
Or how about this, now, this has nothing to do
with sports. On Friday, performing here at Oakley Greens, Tracy Walker.
I first saw Tracy Walker perform in nineteen ninety nine.
She has been She's open for the Indigo girls like
I just I'm gonna I'm gonna reveal too much information here.
I went to the men's room, okay, and on the

(01:43:15):
you know above the year and old, there is the
here's what's coming up? And I'm like, dude, Tracy Walker.

Speaker 3 (01:43:19):
Friday.

Speaker 4 (01:43:20):
You know Friday is my birthday. I might come see
Tracy Walker. Tracy Walker years ago, I'm not making this up.
When I worked on the Jim Scott Show. So I'm
like twenty one years old, Tracy Walker came up and performed.
She is awesome and she's gonna be performing here on
Friday night. So if you like live music, I think
we're gonna have great weather. Come to watch Tracy Walker.

Speaker 3 (01:43:43):
On Friday. You will not be sorry. She is. I
saw that.

Speaker 4 (01:43:45):
I'm like, damn, that's cool as hell. It's a good
get for Oakley Greens. It's almost as good of a
get as getting our show. So check that out on
on Friday night. The Reds are heavy underdogs in this
series than they were before last night the La Dodgers,
and it has nothing to do with economics. You know
we were talking before. The Dodgers spend what they're allowed

(01:44:09):
to spend. The Rents are allowed to spend the same
amount of money. I mean, like that is allowed to happen.
If a if a trillionaire bought the Reds, I would
want them to be the highest spending team in the league.
And by the way, I don't believe for a second
they can't spend more than they do. They have twenty owners.
They never go to them for money. So the Dodgers
spend what they're allowed to spend. If I was a

(01:44:30):
Dodgers fan, like I would want them to spend more.
As a baseball fan, like get mad at the owners
who don't spend, Get mad at the clown who runs
the pirates, get mad at the a's, get mad at
the owners.

Speaker 3 (01:44:42):
Who just choose actively to not spend.

Speaker 4 (01:44:44):
So I don't get mad at all at the Dodgers
for taking advantage of the rules. And by the way,
if you want new rules, root for a lockout at
the end of next year, which we're probably gonna get.
Dodgers are the defending World Series champions, star studded team.
They're playing at home. They were great at home this year.
The Reds were a below five hundred team at home.
So to win this series was going to require the
Reds to win a very uphill battle. It was going

(01:45:06):
to require the Reds starting pitching to be at its best,
because it's the one it's the thing there best at.
So the most disappointing thing about last night's game is
Hunter Green didn't show up. I do think, though, as
much criticism as I think Tito deserves for how he
managed the game last night, and for as much heat

(01:45:27):
as Hunter Green might be getting for how poorly he
pitched last night, I think if there's one thing we've
learned about the twenty twenty five Cincinnati Reds is you
don't count them out. And that sounds hokey and it is,
And the whole cockroaches thing might be sort of cliche,
but for me, and I'm sure if you're a Reds

(01:45:50):
fan you're the same way. There have been a lot
of different mile posts over the course of the season
that I look back on and go, you know what,
I counted them out there. I remember doing our first
show from training camp July twenty third, the day before
the Reds had lost to the Washington Nationals, and Tony
and I were down there and we were like, yeah, man,
they literally got us to training camp. That was July

(01:46:12):
twenty third. I remember thinking to myself, like, yeah, they
kind of feel like they're cooked. And I kind of
felt like they were cooked a few times during August,
and it was fair to I think they were cooked
after that Friday night game, excuse me, the Mets that
came a day, a couple of days after they blew
that five nothing lead against the Blue Jays, and I
sort of thought they were cooked when they lost that

(01:46:34):
Saturday night game to the Brewers where Ellie de la
Cruz had in the air. I watched that game here
at Oakley Greens. I thought they were cooked. After they
lost three straight games in Sacramento to the A's. Frankly,
I kind of feared they were cooked after last Wednesday's
game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and every single time, every
single time you thought they were done, they found a
way found a way to stay in it. Look, this

(01:46:56):
is not a great team. They're eighty three and seventy nine.
This is a team that the front office has, I
think a lot of work in front of it to
make it dramatically better. The idea next year isn't to
sneak into the postseason. The idea next year, I think
should be win the National League Central, be one of
the top two seeds in the division. So the Reds
are a playoff team. Not every playoff team is a

(01:47:19):
great team. This team has all sorts of flaws offensively,
They've played one hundred and sixty three games that matter.
We know what they are. But I would warn anybody
against counting them out. And as much as I don't
understand Tito's decision making last night, it is a manager
who knows his way around a must win game. It

(01:47:39):
is a manager who knows his way around a game
where he has to use five or six relievers. It
is a team that oftentimes this season, right when it figured,
right when it felt like they were out of ways
found a new one. And so does that mean they're
gonna win the series.

Speaker 3 (01:47:55):
No.

Speaker 4 (01:47:56):
In order to do that, go to win two games
on the road against the LA dot facing two very
good pitchers, They're gonna have to find out ways to
neutralize a lineup, and we saw what they can do
last night. But I'm I'm I'm not. I'm not gonna
be among those who have decided like last night was it.
I just I feel like this team has deserves better,

(01:48:19):
has earned not no, not so much the benefit of
the doubt, but they have They've They've earned us not
counting them out. So I'm not gonna And again that's
that that flies in the face of stats, that flies
in the face of the obvious differences between these two teams,
the the fact that the Dodgers are markedly better. I

(01:48:42):
think the Dodgers, their offense is better than the offense
of a ninety three win team. They're they're their bullpen
at this year different points of the season has been
a liability.

Speaker 3 (01:48:52):
But I do think this team.

Speaker 4 (01:48:53):
Has earned us not counting them out. And I'm not
trying to rally the troops or anything like that. That's
not my my My guest at the beginning of the
series was they would lose in three. I said that
on ESPN Radio yesterday, and a bunch of people sent
me nasty tweets like the top to bottom, the Dodgers
are a better team.

Speaker 3 (01:49:10):
A pick to me is a.

Speaker 4 (01:49:11):
Pick that you make objectively, and the Dodgers everywhere are better.
You might argue, not the bullpen, but the one advantage
the Reds have over most teams as they're starting pitching.
So I thought before the series the Dodgers will probably
win a three game series. After they won Game one,
there's no reason to change my mind. But if you
are viewing tonight with dread, or you've decided you're not

(01:49:33):
gonna watch or listen, and you're already viewing the season
is over, I guess what I would say is, I
do think this team has I think this team deserves better,
and I think this team has earned not being counted
out because they lost one game. They may get destroyed
to Zach Wottel, may get crushed. Wouldn't be stunned. The
Reds bullpen just simply might have enough. Wouldn't be stunned.

(01:49:55):
The Reds might make a bunch of really good pitches tonight,
and great Dodgers hitters may hit them a long way fine,
And look, I think there's gonna be some really interesting
whenever this ends, meaning the Red season, I think there's
gonna be really interesting discussions over the next few months
about how they make their team better because they simply cannot.

(01:50:15):
I think at least sent a round ago. Well, we
made the playoffs. We're just naturally gonna be better next season.
Like Nickkral has a lot of work to do this offseason.
But number one, I'm hopeful that the offseason doesn't start
for at least another couple of days. And I don't know, man,
I just I can't help but think they have one
more pick themselves off the map moment left in them.

(01:50:39):
Maybe I'm dead wrong. Maybe they do and they still
lose tomorrow. I don't know, but I can't wait to
watch the night. As fired up as I was to
watch the Reds play in the postseason last night, I'm
as equally fired up to see if this team can
live up to its brand. It was talked about heck
on the TV broadcast last night. You know the cockroach
thing where cockro you can't kill us they've leaned into this.

(01:51:02):
It's part of the makeup, part of the branding of
the twenty twenty five Reds. I can't wait to see
if they live up to that brand one more time tonight,
and it should be a lot of fun. And again,
like Zach Lttel in an ideal world, he is in
an ideal world, like Ratt louder is pitching tonight, or
Chase Burns is better equipped to pitch in this game.

(01:51:23):
And you know chances are next year, if the Reds
are in a playoff series, Chase Burns is gonna get
one of the starts. But all right, they acquired Zach
Lttel because they felt comfortable with him pitching in high
leverage games, pitching in big games down the stretch. This
will be the biggest one as a Red that he
has pitched in, and I think it's reasonable to expect
that for the duration of time he is in the game,

(01:51:46):
whether it's two innings, three innings, five innings, six innings,
I think it's reasonable to expect him to give his
teammates a chance to win the ball game. I expect
that tonight because that's why they acquired for So we'll
see here's what we're doing. Okay, if the Reds win
tonight's you will hear Mike Petrellia in my time slot tomorrow,

(01:52:10):
the reason being we have the round Table show hosted
by Lance. Lance though will have Reds pregame coverage, So
I will do Lance's show from a location in northern
Kentucky and Mike Petrelliu will do my show.

Speaker 3 (01:52:24):
So if the Reds win, good.

Speaker 4 (01:52:25):
News for you. You get to hear another host. If
the Reds lose, well then I'll be doing my show
from three to six. Also, if the Reds lose, I
do my show. Tarren gets wings because I got to
pay off my Bengals vikings back. So Tarren now probably
rooting for the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (01:52:43):
We are finished.

Speaker 4 (01:52:44):
Want to thank the staff here at Oakley Greens for
their hospitality. They are awesome. Come by watch the ball
game here tonight. Go watch Tracy Walker on Friday. That
is Tracy Walker's awesome And thanks to Drew Western Heidi
for producing on site. Well, you put that beer back
pretty quickly at your first and of course our guy
tarrem Land that could kipch He's already tasting the Winds.

(01:53:08):
Have a great night. Bengals game plan is next. Logan, Wilson,
Dan and laps Gast have a great night. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:53:17):
Fish Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:53:31):

Speaker 9 (01:53:34):
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Stop and go from Montgomery Road southbound seventy five after

(01:53:56):
Shepherd Lane. The right lane is blocked off from an accident.
Zelic with traffic.

Speaker 12 (01:54:01):
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