August 29, 2025 • 15 mins
Sam LeCure joined us to talk about the Reds, who aren't very good right now.
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
After five. This is the Michelo Ultra of five o'clock
Happy Ho. We're on ESPN fifteen thirty moegg Or Redskin
Cardinals tonight. Sam Leck here is getting ready to go
on TV Fandel Sports Network. You are the most optimistic
person I know. I gotta be honest with you, man.
Wednesday night in Los Angeles, five to one loss, that
kind of felt like it sunk them to four and
a half back. They've obviously credit closer because the Mets
(00:22):
lost last night, but I think you have a lot
of folks who kind of felt like, all right, that's
the season. Time to move on. So as as a
glass half full guy, why shouldn't folks put a bow
in the twenty twenty five red season.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Because they have head to head? I think that's it.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I know the schedule's tough, and everybody keeps kind of
referring to that, and I think that's skewed a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I mean, is it a tough schedule. Yes, some of those.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Numbers with the winning percentages, I mean you're talking about
Milwaukee and LA and Philly, you know, teams like that
that are way over five hundred. So that kind of
skews that total win percentage for the group you.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Know that they're gonna face. That's it's still a tough schedule.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
So people should stay on board because there's head to
head with the people, all the people that are directly
in front of them, and there's nobody else in front
of them. They don't have to leap frog anybody like
they just have to beat the Mets, you know, they.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Have to play well enough. They don't have to jump
the Cardinals, they don't have to jump the Diamondbacks.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
To get to the top spot outside of the wild Cards.
So there's there's the easiest path is for them in
that regard, all right.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
That makes sense. They've got to start.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Look, I mean it's a reach. It's a reach a
little bit. Look, I'm not gonna lie you sit. I'll optimistic,
I am, but it's still a little bit of a
reach because I understand what's at stake and what they
have to accomplish over the past, you know, or the
next twenty seven or so games when they haven't shown
the consistency of doing that.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Right. So that's the thing I mean, Right, that's the reach.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, So for me, it's it's the math of it, right,
They don't have a winning streak longer than five games
all season long. Enough, if you win five straight, if
you win, you know, sweep the Cardinals when you're for
next week, that'll make a dent. But you're asking this
team to win a lot of games in a short
amount of time when it's been a team that all
season long hasn't played well enough to go on a
six or seven game winning streak, which it kind of
(02:10):
feels like they're gonna need to do.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
They have to. I mean, they don't need they have
to or that or that is it.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
So I mean you're talking about probably, I mean, you
gotta win I think I think it is twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You gotta win eighteen to twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I mean you pretty much have to win eighteen of
twenty seven because then if even the Mets go five hundred,
you still may not make it up, right, So you,
I mean you have to do that. And that is
basically what they preach all year. What every team goes
into each series doing is trying to win the series.
So if they win two of every three, that's eighteen
to twenty seven, then you, I think the opportunity is there.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
But now you need help.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I usually get you onto talk pitching, and I love
talking pitching with you. And there are a handful of
pitchers we'll talk about, but I want to start with
Ellie Della Cruz. The second half of the season, eleven
extra base hits, one home run at the plate, it
feels to me. Yeah, and we'll talk about the defensive
part of it as well, but but offensively, like this
(03:10):
team is built around him carrying such a big load
that in the second half he hasn't been able to carry.
When you watch him through the lens of a pitcher,
is he just becoming more easier to pitch to for
lack of a better way of putting it.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, And I think and that's but that's his fault,
you know, He's he's made himself easier to pitch to.
It's not that he's getting pitched any better. They've just
they're just continuing to exploit his over aggressiveness because he's
chasing the extra basin he wants it.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
There was a period, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
For probably and he was still poking some home runs
and hitting some doubles, but it was a lot of
singles there. Kind of in May June, you know, the
average was up the slagon percentage, you know. I mean
it was fine because he hits the ball, he's got
a chance to get a double. But I feel like
he's just chasing him a little bit, and I feel
like they all are. I mean, I think a lot
of the struggles with them are from trying too hard.
(04:01):
And I mean you can't fault them for it, and
you can't explain it to them to try less because
that doesn't add up in your head, like you want
me to do better and try less.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I don't get that. I mean, that's a struggle for
every player who's ever played this game.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And he's just chasing it a little bit because he
there was a while where everybody around him was doing.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Enough that he could just be a piece of the lineup.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And when they're not, he knows he's the guy, and
he's adding pressure on himself to go out there and
try to carry him and and it's working in reverse.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
He's doing less.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I mean, I'll spill I'll spill one of the slates
for you right now. Already wrote him today and it's
main guys. You know, it's you got to have your
main guys step the f up right now. I mean,
you know period, you know, when you're when you're on
the big stage, when you're in the playoffs, you have
to have your star players be stars.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And right now it's star time. Maybe I'll maybe I'll
change it to that. I haven't main guys, but you know,
maybe it's star time and they need to be that.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You know, the hunter greens need to go out there
and dominate outings. The back into your bullpen needs to
shut them down. Your role players need to play their
roles and play it well, but your star players have
to be their star players.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I can live with errors for my shortstop. What I
don't like is when the ball is hit to him,
I literally hold my breath. I have no idea what's
going to happen. He may he may make a great throw.
He may make the sort of acrobatic play that nobody
else can make. He may make a play that should
be very routine, look like it's almost impossible. When's that
(05:33):
gonna go away?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I think I and I think it's similar to what
happens at the plate with guys like Ellie's so fast,
twitched like he had like it's he has to move
fast to be in rhythm. But when he's trying to
move too fast when he's trying to hit the fast
ball and alls he's getting the sliders. He's ahead of everything,
so his hands are moving too fast when he's trying
to field the ball. And obviously Barry would be a
guy who could, you know, probably give you some more insight,
(05:57):
you know, to the mechanics of it. But he's just
moving too fast and he doesn't have to move that fast.
You're here talking about slowing the game down, which ke
Brian Hayes field of ground ball.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
It looks like he's in slow motion.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, and Ellie everything is real twitchy, it's fast.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You know, it's fast, and Ellie's faster. That's part of
his game.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
But there's still a sweet spot that you've got to
find both on your offensive game from a tempo standpoint,
and defensively, probably even more so, to be in rhythm
to make the routine plays all the time, because that's
my third slate.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Baby, you're hitting all the nails. It's mistake free.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
You have to play mistake free baseball because when the
Reds play clean baseball. It has been rare this year
where I've said, oh, they played a clean game and
got beat it's pretty I mean, it's gonna happen, obviously,
but it's.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
They're tough to beat if they play gooseball. So they're
not playing good baseball right now.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Guess what they're getn't beat you, Well, they're beating themselves often.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Yeah, no, and it's frustrating.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Often and you cannot be doing that. And it just
surprises me with Tito at the Helm, that that's been
the case.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
This late in the season.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Though, this late in the season, right you know, two
errors on one play the other night in Los Angeles
like this, I thought, Okay, April and May, there's gonna
be some of that and it's gonna be smoothed out
and it's gonna be corrected. And I just there's still
there's still some slop and this team's margin for error
is not wide enough for them to overcome that slop.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
There's no question about it.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And you look at and I think that I bet
you on the pregame show before the first game of
the year, I said, at the end of this we're
gonna be looking at their record at one run games
because they're gonna play a lot of close games, because
they're not gonna go out and blow you out.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Now they have at times, but that's been rare.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
They're gonna play a lot of tight games to where
you see the amount that Santion and Barlow and uh
Pegone are getting used. I mean they're up there in
games pitch because it's every night they need to be
available because it's all a nail bider.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's tied going into the ninth. It's you know, one
run games either way.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You know where you feel like, well, shit, man, we
got to put in Santion because we can't allow them
to stretch the lead to two runs because.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
We don't have the offense to make it up. So
it's it's hard work.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So I can understand that they're exhausted right now because
they have to play hard every night to be in
these games, and they're all in hand so to speak,
like they're not really getting blown out. So there you
always feel like there's an opportunity for a bloop and
a blast and they're back in it.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And that hadn't happened much.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
You mentioned Barlow and Santion, who are you know they've
they've each pitched in sixty five games, which is tied
for second in the sport and appearances, and those guys, look,
they've they've had their their moments where they've you know,
coughed up games that sort of thing. But I think
for the most part, both those guys have been reliable
the formula for much of the summer, Santian and the
eighth Pagan and the ninth it worked. But over the
(08:47):
last five months, is there something that could have been
done in the dugout to ensure that they weren't leaning
on those guys as much as they have.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
In the dugout?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, I mean score more runs, sure, score more run,
score more runs. I think you know, get get hits
with running scorn position more often. But from the no,
I don't think so, because that's that's kind of the answer,
or having other guys step up, and you've kind of
seen Tito try to implement you know, a Lion Richardson
(09:18):
or you know Ashcraft has had moments like that, and
I'm trying to think of who else you know, I
mean Luis may right, I mean, because you see the upside,
but they those guys haven't gone out there and sees
the opportunity each time they've gotten it. So Tito feels
like his hands are tied a little bit to where
he can't He knows the margin for air is so
(09:41):
small and he can't afford to go with kind of
an unknown, which is why the move to put Noelvie
Marte in the outfield is so it's stressful because he's
I mean, say what you want, he's gonna be a
good outfielder because he's athletic. But I mean, even the
other day in La the balls that blopped blooped in.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Front of him. Man, you've shagged a lot of batting.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And I feel like I've got a pretty good shot
to make those plays myself. And I'm a hundred, you know,
And it's just but he's only I can hit, you know,
So you have to keep him in the lineup. So like,
how do you manage those cars? Can you sacrifice offense
or defense? Are you sacrificing both? You know what's the answer?
(10:20):
And you got to put your faith in Tito because
he's got two twenty thousand wins more than I do
in the big leagues.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I think though, that speaks to what frustrates me and
a lot of Reds fans. Right Like at the trade deadline,
Nick Krawl talks about we're gonna lean in the defense.
And then this past road trip, I'm watching Santiago Espanol,
who's an infielder by trade, though he has Malfield experience
play right field and Noelve Marte start for the first
time in centerfield. And I don't know how you say
(10:48):
we're leaning into defense, and that's what you do. And look,
Nick Krawl's made some good additions. Miguel Andrew Harr has
been terrific. I understood the thinking behind acquiring Zach Lttel.
This isn't, you know, beat up on Nick Crawl, But
you know, you say one thing, we're gonna lean in
the defense, which you do with keep Brian Hayes. And
then in the outfield, I'm watching guys who shouldn't be
out there.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Were well.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And again that is the right field is probably the
easiest position defensively to play them. They're none of them
are easy. They're not because there's different reads off of
the bat. And you know, those blot balls are full
swings that are getting caught off the end of the bat.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
They're tough reads.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
You know, you see Mookie Bettz take a full swing
on the ball and make contact and you assume that
it's hit right, so it's off.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
The end of the bat and it bleeds. But you
have to have him in the lineup somewhere.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know, you have to have Martin in the lineup
somewhere because otherwise they eat.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
The infield defense has been better with bry in it.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
It's just you're not gonna take Elliot day La Cruise
out of lineup. The team's built around him, Like, you're
not gonna do that because you have to have him
in there too.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Because that's what I'm saying, what do you sacrifice?
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Like you have to try to find a way to
create offense because you can defend all you want and
lose to one you know, or you have Noelbian there
who's been your best hitter for the past two months,
and you have to have him in there somewhere, and.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
That's that's the spot.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
That's the spot you got to put him in because
he has to He just has to be in there.
So it's again back to kind of the first question
you ask. There's a reach here when you're asking for
my optimism because pitching a defense wins ball games, and
their defense hasn't been very good.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Their pitching is, but their defense.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Their pitching looks probably worse because we're only talking about
the plays that have been called errors. There's been a
lot of plays that should have been made that weren't,
you know, called airs. So it's, uh, yeah, it's tough, man.
I I understand the whole conundrum with all of it
from both sides. You know, I understand more of the
(12:50):
fan perspective now than I ever have. But I really
understand what Tito's trying to go through too. He's trying
to find lightning in a bottle because there hasn't been
a ton of lightning. And what frustrated me probably most
this season was not that they lost the game on
Wednesday and got swept whatever, it was.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Just the last four innings.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I will never dog this team unless I feel like
they're dogging, and I felt for the last four innings,
even when they created some scoring opportunities, there was none
of that fire where TJ.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Friedl gets a.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Hit and looks into the dugout and kind of really
headbutts Colin Kalgill like he does, and kind of yells
in the dugout like let's go.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Why not? It's a three run game, right?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And I didn't see any of that the last four
innings of that game, and that's that was the most
frustrating thing probably for me all season. It looked like
they just felt like they couldn't beat them, and they
kind of and maybe that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And again I go back to that road trip wore
me out.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I know it's tiring, but damn man, Gavin Luck just
got his World Series ring.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, and if you can and if you can't, fire.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Up to try to get in the playoffs because they
have they're a problem with Hunter and Lodolo and Abbott
at the top three.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
They're a problem for teams.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Nobody wants to face those guys, right, and that gives
the Reds like a little bit of a leg up
and they start getting too the playoffs and all of
a sudden their spoiler a little bit. Yeah, there's a
new kind of attitude that comes with that. So it's
it's frustrating, man, I get it. And let's not close
the door just yet. But this is this is go time,
which is slate number one. I set them all, dude,
(14:26):
wow them all you.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Are spoiler alert. Wow in just for you, you are
the best.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
All right, Well, you've got to go get dressed and
put makeup on and be on TV.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
So I appreciate the time. He's always man, thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Just say no fashion show, you got it by the anytime.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
That's our guy, Sam LeCure.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
By the way, Sam's done a bunch of radio games
here recently, and he and Tommy Thrall. This is no
knock on Chris Welsh or Jeff Brantley or anybody else,
but they're awesome together. I love having Sam Lequre on,
and we've had him on more this year than any
other year. So he can't complain on social media that
we don't invite him often enough. Uh, let's see, We're
gonna look ahead to what is going to be a
(15:04):
really fun night at what looks like an awesome new venue.
Next on ESPN Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
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After five. This is the Michelo Ultra of five o'clock
Happy Ho. We're on ESPN fifteen thirty moegg Or Redskin
Cardinals tonight. Sam Leck here is getting ready to go
on TV Fandel Sports Network. You are the most optimistic
person I know. I gotta be honest with you, man.
Wednesday night in Los Angeles, five to one loss, that
kind of felt like it sunk them to four and
a half back. They've obviously credit closer because the Mets
(00:22):
lost last night, but I think you have a lot
of folks who kind of felt like, all right, that's
the season. Time to move on. So as as a
glass half full guy, why shouldn't folks put a bow
in the twenty twenty five red season.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Because they have head to head? I think that's it.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I know the schedule's tough, and everybody keeps kind of
referring to that, and I think that's skewed a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I mean, is it a tough schedule. Yes, some of those.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Numbers with the winning percentages, I mean you're talking about
Milwaukee and LA and Philly, you know, teams like that
that are way over five hundred. So that kind of
skews that total win percentage for the group you.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Know that they're gonna face. That's it's still a tough schedule.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
So people should stay on board because there's head to
head with the people, all the people that are directly
in front of them, and there's nobody else in front
of them. They don't have to leap frog anybody like
they just have to beat the Mets, you know, they.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Have to play well enough. They don't have to jump
the Cardinals, they don't have to jump the Diamondbacks.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
To get to the top spot outside of the wild Cards.
So there's there's the easiest path is for them in
that regard, all right.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
That makes sense. They've got to start.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Look, I mean it's a reach. It's a reach a
little bit. Look, I'm not gonna lie you sit. I'll optimistic,
I am, but it's still a little bit of a
reach because I understand what's at stake and what they
have to accomplish over the past, you know, or the
next twenty seven or so games when they haven't shown
the consistency of doing that.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Right. So that's the thing I mean, Right, that's the reach.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, So for me, it's it's the math of it, right,
They don't have a winning streak longer than five games
all season long. Enough, if you win five straight, if
you win, you know, sweep the Cardinals when you're for
next week, that'll make a dent. But you're asking this
team to win a lot of games in a short
amount of time when it's been a team that all
season long hasn't played well enough to go on a
six or seven game winning streak, which it kind of
(02:10):
feels like they're gonna need to do.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
They have to. I mean, they don't need they have
to or that or that is it.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
So I mean you're talking about probably, I mean, you
gotta win I think I think it is twenty seven.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You gotta win eighteen to twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I mean you pretty much have to win eighteen of
twenty seven because then if even the Mets go five hundred,
you still may not make it up, right, So you,
I mean you have to do that. And that is
basically what they preach all year. What every team goes
into each series doing is trying to win the series.
So if they win two of every three, that's eighteen
to twenty seven, then you, I think the opportunity is there.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
But now you need help.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I usually get you onto talk pitching, and I love
talking pitching with you. And there are a handful of
pitchers we'll talk about, but I want to start with
Ellie Della Cruz. The second half of the season, eleven
extra base hits, one home run at the plate, it
feels to me. Yeah, and we'll talk about the defensive
part of it as well, but but offensively, like this
(03:10):
team is built around him carrying such a big load
that in the second half he hasn't been able to carry.
When you watch him through the lens of a pitcher,
is he just becoming more easier to pitch to for
lack of a better way of putting it.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, And I think and that's but that's his fault,
you know, He's he's made himself easier to pitch to.
It's not that he's getting pitched any better. They've just
they're just continuing to exploit his over aggressiveness because he's
chasing the extra basin he wants it.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
There was a period, you know.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
For probably and he was still poking some home runs
and hitting some doubles, but it was a lot of
singles there. Kind of in May June, you know, the
average was up the slagon percentage, you know. I mean
it was fine because he hits the ball, he's got
a chance to get a double. But I feel like
he's just chasing him a little bit, and I feel
like they all are. I mean, I think a lot
of the struggles with them are from trying too hard.
(04:01):
And I mean you can't fault them for it, and
you can't explain it to them to try less because
that doesn't add up in your head, like you want
me to do better and try less.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I don't get that. I mean, that's a struggle for
every player who's ever played this game.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And he's just chasing it a little bit because he
there was a while where everybody around him was doing.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Enough that he could just be a piece of the lineup.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And when they're not, he knows he's the guy, and
he's adding pressure on himself to go out there and
try to carry him and and it's working in reverse.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
He's doing less.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I mean, I'll spill I'll spill one of the slates
for you right now. Already wrote him today and it's
main guys. You know, it's you got to have your
main guys step the f up right now. I mean,
you know period, you know, when you're when you're on
the big stage, when you're in the playoffs, you have
to have your star players be stars.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And right now it's star time. Maybe I'll maybe I'll
change it to that. I haven't main guys, but you know,
maybe it's star time and they need to be that.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
You know, the hunter greens need to go out there
and dominate outings. The back into your bullpen needs to
shut them down. Your role players need to play their
roles and play it well, but your star players have
to be their star players.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
I can live with errors for my shortstop. What I
don't like is when the ball is hit to him,
I literally hold my breath. I have no idea what's
going to happen. He may he may make a great throw.
He may make the sort of acrobatic play that nobody
else can make. He may make a play that should
be very routine, look like it's almost impossible. When's that
(05:33):
gonna go away?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
I think I and I think it's similar to what
happens at the plate with guys like Ellie's so fast,
twitched like he had like it's he has to move
fast to be in rhythm. But when he's trying to
move too fast when he's trying to hit the fast
ball and alls he's getting the sliders. He's ahead of everything,
so his hands are moving too fast when he's trying
to field the ball. And obviously Barry would be a
guy who could, you know, probably give you some more insight,
(05:57):
you know, to the mechanics of it. But he's just
moving too fast and he doesn't have to move that fast.
You're here talking about slowing the game down, which ke
Brian Hayes field of ground ball.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
It looks like he's in slow motion.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, and Ellie everything is real twitchy, it's fast.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You know, it's fast, and Ellie's faster. That's part of
his game.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
But there's still a sweet spot that you've got to
find both on your offensive game from a tempo standpoint,
and defensively, probably even more so, to be in rhythm
to make the routine plays all the time, because that's
my third slate.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Baby, you're hitting all the nails. It's mistake free.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
You have to play mistake free baseball because when the
Reds play clean baseball. It has been rare this year
where I've said, oh, they played a clean game and
got beat it's pretty I mean, it's gonna happen, obviously,
but it's.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
They're tough to beat if they play gooseball. So they're
not playing good baseball right now.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Guess what they're getn't beat you, Well, they're beating themselves often.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Yeah, no, and it's frustrating.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Often and you cannot be doing that. And it just
surprises me with Tito at the Helm, that that's been
the case.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
This late in the season.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Though, this late in the season, right you know, two
errors on one play the other night in Los Angeles
like this, I thought, Okay, April and May, there's gonna
be some of that and it's gonna be smoothed out
and it's gonna be corrected. And I just there's still
there's still some slop and this team's margin for error
is not wide enough for them to overcome that slop.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
There's no question about it.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And you look at and I think that I bet
you on the pregame show before the first game of
the year, I said, at the end of this we're
gonna be looking at their record at one run games
because they're gonna play a lot of close games, because
they're not gonna go out and blow you out.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Now they have at times, but that's been rare.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
They're gonna play a lot of tight games to where
you see the amount that Santion and Barlow and uh
Pegone are getting used. I mean they're up there in
games pitch because it's every night they need to be
available because it's all a nail bider.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's tied going into the ninth. It's you know, one
run games either way.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
You know where you feel like, well, shit, man, we
got to put in Santion because we can't allow them
to stretch the lead to two runs because.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
We don't have the offense to make it up. So
it's it's hard work.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So I can understand that they're exhausted right now because
they have to play hard every night to be in
these games, and they're all in hand so to speak,
like they're not really getting blown out. So there you
always feel like there's an opportunity for a bloop and
a blast and they're back in it.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And that hadn't happened much.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
You mentioned Barlow and Santion, who are you know they've
they've each pitched in sixty five games, which is tied
for second in the sport and appearances, and those guys, look,
they've they've had their their moments where they've you know,
coughed up games that sort of thing. But I think
for the most part, both those guys have been reliable
the formula for much of the summer, Santian and the
eighth Pagan and the ninth it worked. But over the
(08:47):
last five months, is there something that could have been
done in the dugout to ensure that they weren't leaning
on those guys as much as they have.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
In the dugout?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, I mean score more runs, sure, score more run,
score more runs. I think you know, get get hits
with running scorn position more often. But from the no,
I don't think so, because that's that's kind of the answer,
or having other guys step up, and you've kind of
seen Tito try to implement you know, a Lion Richardson
(09:18):
or you know Ashcraft has had moments like that, and
I'm trying to think of who else you know, I
mean Luis may right, I mean, because you see the upside,
but they those guys haven't gone out there and sees
the opportunity each time they've gotten it. So Tito feels
like his hands are tied a little bit to where
he can't He knows the margin for air is so
(09:41):
small and he can't afford to go with kind of
an unknown, which is why the move to put Noelvie
Marte in the outfield is so it's stressful because he's
I mean, say what you want, he's gonna be a
good outfielder because he's athletic. But I mean, even the
other day in La the balls that blopped blooped in.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Front of him. Man, you've shagged a lot of batting.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
And I feel like I've got a pretty good shot
to make those plays myself. And I'm a hundred, you know,
And it's just but he's only I can hit, you know,
So you have to keep him in the lineup. So like,
how do you manage those cars? Can you sacrifice offense
or defense? Are you sacrificing both? You know what's the answer?
(10:20):
And you got to put your faith in Tito because
he's got two twenty thousand wins more than I do
in the big leagues.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
I think though, that speaks to what frustrates me and
a lot of Reds fans. Right Like at the trade deadline,
Nick Krawl talks about we're gonna lean in the defense.
And then this past road trip, I'm watching Santiago Espanol,
who's an infielder by trade, though he has Malfield experience
play right field and Noelve Marte start for the first
time in centerfield. And I don't know how you say
(10:48):
we're leaning into defense, and that's what you do. And look,
Nick Krawl's made some good additions. Miguel Andrew Harr has
been terrific. I understood the thinking behind acquiring Zach Lttel.
This isn't, you know, beat up on Nick Crawl, But
you know, you say one thing, we're gonna lean in
the defense, which you do with keep Brian Hayes. And
then in the outfield, I'm watching guys who shouldn't be
out there.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Were well.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And again that is the right field is probably the
easiest position defensively to play them. They're none of them
are easy. They're not because there's different reads off of
the bat. And you know, those blot balls are full
swings that are getting caught off the end of the bat.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
They're tough reads.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
You know, you see Mookie Bettz take a full swing
on the ball and make contact and you assume that
it's hit right, so it's off.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
The end of the bat and it bleeds. But you
have to have him in the lineup somewhere.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know, you have to have Martin in the lineup
somewhere because otherwise they eat.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
The infield defense has been better with bry in it.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
It's just you're not gonna take Elliot day La Cruise
out of lineup. The team's built around him, Like, you're
not gonna do that because you have to have him
in there too.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Because that's what I'm saying, what do you sacrifice?
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Like you have to try to find a way to
create offense because you can defend all you want and
lose to one you know, or you have Noelbian there
who's been your best hitter for the past two months,
and you have to have him in there somewhere, and.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
That's that's the spot.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
That's the spot you got to put him in because
he has to He just has to be in there.
So it's again back to kind of the first question
you ask. There's a reach here when you're asking for
my optimism because pitching a defense wins ball games, and
their defense hasn't been very good.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Their pitching is, but their defense.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Their pitching looks probably worse because we're only talking about
the plays that have been called errors. There's been a
lot of plays that should have been made that weren't,
you know, called airs. So it's, uh, yeah, it's tough, man.
I I understand the whole conundrum with all of it
from both sides. You know, I understand more of the
(12:50):
fan perspective now than I ever have. But I really
understand what Tito's trying to go through too. He's trying
to find lightning in a bottle because there hasn't been
a ton of lightning. And what frustrated me probably most
this season was not that they lost the game on
Wednesday and got swept whatever, it was.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Just the last four innings.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I will never dog this team unless I feel like
they're dogging, and I felt for the last four innings,
even when they created some scoring opportunities, there was none
of that fire where TJ.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Friedl gets a.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Hit and looks into the dugout and kind of really
headbutts Colin Kalgill like he does, and kind of yells
in the dugout like let's go.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Why not? It's a three run game, right?
Speaker 3 (13:31):
And I didn't see any of that the last four
innings of that game, and that's that was the most
frustrating thing probably for me all season. It looked like
they just felt like they couldn't beat them, and they
kind of and maybe that's not the case.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And again I go back to that road trip wore
me out.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I know it's tiring, but damn man, Gavin Luck just
got his World Series ring.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, and if you can and if you can't, fire.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Up to try to get in the playoffs because they
have they're a problem with Hunter and Lodolo and Abbott
at the top three.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
They're a problem for teams.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Nobody wants to face those guys, right, and that gives
the Reds like a little bit of a leg up
and they start getting too the playoffs and all of
a sudden their spoiler a little bit. Yeah, there's a
new kind of attitude that comes with that. So it's
it's frustrating, man, I get it. And let's not close
the door just yet. But this is this is go time,
which is slate number one. I set them all, dude,
(14:26):
wow them all you.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Are spoiler alert. Wow in just for you, you are
the best.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
All right, Well, you've got to go get dressed and
put makeup on and be on TV.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
So I appreciate the time. He's always man, thank you
so much.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Just say no fashion show, you got it by the anytime.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
That's our guy, Sam LeCure.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
By the way, Sam's done a bunch of radio games
here recently, and he and Tommy Thrall. This is no
knock on Chris Welsh or Jeff Brantley or anybody else,
but they're awesome together. I love having Sam Lequre on,
and we've had him on more this year than any
other year. So he can't complain on social media that
we don't invite him often enough. Uh, let's see, We're
gonna look ahead to what is going to be a
(15:04):
really fun night at what looks like an awesome new venue.
Next on ESPN Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. Trusts the same
team for your care that keeps the UC Bearcats on
the field. Count on Ucehealth Orthopedics and sports Medicine no
matter the injury, Visit ucehealth dot com. It is now
the two left lanes blocked off from an accident eastbound
two seventy five between Princeton Pike and seventy five in Sharonville.
(15:35):
Delay times are down to fifteen minutes now back from
Springfield Pike and another accident on Glendale Milford Road at Plainfield.
I'm at ezelic with traffic this report
Mo Egger News
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