04-05-24 Hour 2 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Scared this morning in New York atthat earthquake. You ever lived through an
earthquake? Yes, I have.I'm still here to tell the story.
Living in Los Angeles. I wasasleep on the sofa and there was a
situation where I threw my back out. So I was before the earthquake before
so you just got a massage andput it right back. I wouldn't call
it a quiet massage because you usedme to get a massage. I mean,

(00:22):
it's relaxing, and now you feelmuch better. So I'm lying on
the sofa, I'm dreaming. Butin the dream, I'm like, why
it's everything moving? And then Iwoke up and everything was moving and I
was trying to crawl to tell mywife there is an earthquake. But then
I fell off the sofa and Iwas just there and I was like,
man, I hope this I don'tend. I don't need a bookcase falling
over it. Man, That's thefirst thing I was. I hope my

(00:44):
ending doesn't come with me having aback issue of me lying on the floor.
Oh man, All the time Iever like even close to that was
I think it was like it's liketwo thousand and eight, I guess it
was. I think it was.I can't remember exactly now, I'd have
to go back and look. ButI was driving back from Saint Louis,
where I'd been visiting family down toI was driving out a little rock.
I was going through Memphis and asI drove through Jonesboro Arc and saw like
a four point two earthquake hit whileI'm on the highway, and I'm like

(01:07):
the cars and I'm like, whatthe world's going on with the engine here,
not realizing at first that it wasthere was a magneticum four point two.
It well, it's best to beon land. Well, let me
rephrase that being in the water.Being on top of the water is much
better than being on land, becauseif there's a tsunami because of an earthquake,
being on top of the water,you really don't feel it. Yeah,
you really don't feel it. Well, yeah, I was not on

(01:29):
what I was on the highway andit was, uh, it was interesting.
I wasn't scared, and it wasjust kind of what just happened?
Did I have an engine issue withmy car? You know? That was
that was really yeah, just becauseit was like it was it was only
four two. I mean it wasn't. You know, it wasn't. I'm
glad you just said it was afour at the epicenter. I don't know
where it was what it was whereI was driving. I don't like earthquakes.
I don't like them either, butI was it was not you know,
it was noticeable, but it wasnot something that I was like freaked

(01:49):
out about all of a sudden.It wasn't very long either, just a
couple of seconds. So anyway,let's go to the Kaway commspirl hotline and
bring on Thomas Harding of MLB dotcom. Thomas, how you doing today?
I feel good, I feel cleanthat I'm enjoying this earth earthquake talk.
I'm doing well. You have neverlived on an earthquake, no,
but I lived in Memphis for elevenyears. I worked at the paper there

(02:10):
before coming out here what twenty fiveyears ago to cover the Rockies, And
there was some guy I don't knowif he was a scientist or a huckster
or what, but he was predictingthat Memphis was going to have the earthquake
up the century because it's it's notfar from Jonesborough, it's right on a
fault line. I mean, itgot to the point to where it became
a joke. We had t shirts. It's not my fault, but the

(02:32):
earthquake never came, thank goodness.I just remember being in buildings and they
said, oh, this is earththis is earthquake safe, and I would
always ask, how did you testit? Oh my goodness. Yeah,
we probably have to swap stories aboutMemphis some time. I used to get
out there when I lived. Ilived just to the east of Little Rock,
in a small town out there.Used to get the Memphis at the
time, get down at Alfred's,you know, and then a couple of

(02:53):
joys down there saw how Green playing, you know, out there on the
streets. So good. Yeah,we had to swap the stories about that
some time. I about this bit, yes, But let's talk about the
story of the day right now.And that's the Colorado Rockies winning the home
opener in dramatic fashion. Ryan McMahonnearly throws the game away and then comes
back and totally redeems himself with theGrand Slam. Bat's kind of waking up

(03:14):
a little bit. It looks likeover the last couple of games for Nolan
Jones and they desperately need that isthis Rockies team as bad as the record
has been thus far, or isthe last two games more indication of where
they can go? Well, ifyou look at Kyle Freeland has a twenty
seven ERA, I'm going to saythat he's not that bad. Exactly where
this team falls. You see thatstarting pitching struggle a bit, and actually

(03:38):
today I thought that Austin Gombert heran up a huge pitch count forty pitches
in the first inning, but endedup getting through four innings just down two
to one. The pitching has tostabilize for this team to be good.
Also, defensively, there have beena number of mistakes. You don't expect
that from this Rockies team when youlook at the identities of the guys all
around the field. So there aresome things that say that that make you

(04:00):
understand that this team probably will strugglequite a bit to season, but not
as badly as the beginning of theseason. So if you are Bud Black,
after the team kind of seem likethey squad of the league and were
able to win the game score andten runs, what is kind of your
message to your team at this point? Known as though this was the first
time Colorado fans actually got a chanceto see their team at home. Well,

(04:26):
baseball being such a day to daysport, there isn't really a big
overarching message here. Obviously you're happythat you get to win, but you
have another game to marn another thenext day, and you keep going that
way. So I think the importantthing. And it's funny. I talked
to Ryan McMahon this morning and hewas saying, in his younger years he
may have been freaking out a littlebit by the one and six start,

(04:48):
but you can't do that in thisgame. And it's hard not to do
it, but you can't do it. You've just got to simply keep sending
your pitchers out there. Basic pitchingprinciples. You're going to play defense,
you need to play defense, andjust string together they at Betts like they
have done over this game and oneinning in the Chicago, So you hope

(05:08):
it does build on things, butthere isn't really a huge overarching message because
it's right there in front of youand they have what one hundred and fifty
four more games to play, youknow. Pete Fairbanks was not happy with
the consistency of the baseball's coming induring the bottom of the ninth inning,
made it a point to talk aboutthat. I don't know if you caught
any of that. What can youtell us about that? Is that the

(05:30):
legitimate complaint there or is that justsomebody makeing excuses. I think we will
hear more of this because the lasttwo seasons the schedule has changed where every
team in the American League will playin the National League Park every other year.
So this was an experience at CourseField that he can forget that he
wants to forget. And I knowthat a lot of times when something goes

(05:54):
wrong, pictures will say, hey, there's an issue with the baseball.
Well with the Rockies went through thisback in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty where
a lot of their pitchers were struggling, But it wasn't the baseball of Course
Field. They just felt that theball was different. So there is something
that you can say. But here'sthe question. If Pete Fairbanks goes back

(06:15):
to the Mount tomorrow with the chanceto close out a game, is this
going to be in the back ofhis mind. That's what the Rockies pitchers
deal with here all the time.Maybe a cheap home run will happen or
something. A ball will land inthe spacious outfield and they've got to get
back on the mount and pitch.And if they let that get to them,
whether it's whether it's just what happenshere or the thought that maybe there's

(06:39):
some skullduggery, either of those things. If that's in your head, it
is very hard to pitch. I'llbe interested to see what Pete the Fairbanks
does for the rest of the series. Well, Tom is that's very interesting
because before you came on, Benand I was having a conversation about the
Rockies pitching and how can they elevatetheir bullpen and a lot of pictures I
mean, and speaking of the wholePete fair this may player a role into

(07:01):
it moving down the line where pitchersdon't want to come here. So how
is it that Dick Monfort and BudBlack they're able to attract more quality pitchers
to the city of Denver. Well, I don't think there is a way
to attract quality pitchers to the cityof Denver unless they're coming off injury like
the Coda Hudson. I mean,he's first free agent signing in a while.

(07:24):
What you have to do is youhave to build that through your minor
league system. And if you goback and look at the trades that the
general manager, Bill Schmid has made, I think every trade but one,
the one that got Nolan Jones,has brought in pitching. So they're going
to attack this problem with numbers,figuring if you have as many starting pitchers
as you can collect, you'll havefive of them to get you through a
major league season and maybe some ofthem will turn out to be standouts and

(07:48):
they can and they can win somegames for you. So that's the way
they do it here. Because ifyou go out on the free agent market,
I'll tell you what happens. Backyears ago, Mike Hampton and Denny
Nagels signed pretty big contracts with theRockies. If you and if you go
back and you look at what theyshould have brought on the free agent market,
it was the Rockies are up payingone year at top dollar more.

(08:11):
If you figure the later you getinto the contract, you're not as effective,
but yet you're paying top boller forone more year. So the Rockies
are pretty much out of that market. What they're going to have to do
is maybe trade for pitching like withlike Haramont Marcus where they traded Corey Dickerson
to Tampa Bay and got him inhere at the start of his career.
That is the best way to doit. The one thing I suggested in

(08:33):
the last hour from from my layman'sperspective, was, if we're going to
fix pitching here, why not goout and attempt to acquire ground ball pitchers.
You know, And that's not somethingthat the Rockies traditionally have done.
I mean, you had, youknow, you had Freeland and Gobber,
who are both in the forties interms of how how often they produce ground
bol ground ball outs in the league. But guys like the Giants have gone

(08:56):
out and got guys like Logan Webband Alex Cobb who are ops at it.
Why wouldn't that Why wouldn't you dothat and have that be an advantage
here? We actually if you lookat the starting pitchers for many years,
like guys like Freeland and Marcus andguys like that, they usually are in
the top seven to sixteen in thein the league in ground ball rate.
I mean, you know, obviouslyyou have some extreme ground ball pitchers,

(09:20):
and if you look at the historyof the Rockies Aaron Cook, baldov Menez
to a certain degree, although hewas a strikeout guy. Jeff Francis,
they have a lot of ground ballpitchers. Actually the staff, you know,
you're pitching the contact. You're tryingto get either ground ball or weak
contact. But if you look atat the end of the season, you'll
see a lot of Rockies pitchers inthe top fifteen to twenty in ground ball

(09:43):
rate. So that is one wayto do it. I know that one
of the criticisms is actually they don'thave large strikeout guys and they never have
not since Baldohennez and a few otherguys, although Marquez is one of them.
They don't have a lot of highstrikeout guys, but usually those are
guys that are proven strikeout guys,and when free agency comes and they get

(10:03):
the mega contract, they go toa team where they can still pitch,
and a lot of them are notgoing to come to the Rockies, especially
if they think they're going to getanother mega contract at the end of their
career. Well, when Chris Bryancame to Denver, he was viewed as
being one of those sluggers, butit hasn't really turned out that way.
Do you think that today's game probablyis one of those games that kind of

(10:28):
get Chris bryan back on track.The home run did help. He did
strike out next to Eatings and heardthe booze of the fans. And it's
not something you hear a lot ofin Denver. In Denver Sports and even
with the Rockies, the team thatstruggled so much, you don't hear the
fans getting on someone. But Ithink Chris Bryant is strong enough. I
mean, the guy played in Chicago, he played for a World Series champion,

(10:50):
and all kinds of different things ina big market here, So I
think that I don't think that thefan reaction is going to bother him.
The question is can he just getthe timing going. I found in spring
training his swing was in a prettygood place. I don't know exactly what
the numbers are because you don't payattention to him, but at times he

(11:11):
was hitting the ball in the air. He hit a few home runs,
he hit a few balls to thewarning track. It just seems like he's
not seen the ball well out ofthe pitcher's hand to start the seasons.
The question is, is this thefirst eight games of the season just an
eight game bad stretch that everybody's goingto have, or is something else going
on. I think that there'll bemore focused because it's the first eight games
of the season. But if ChrisBrian is professional that he knows that he

(11:37):
is, then he should be ableto turn this around as long as he
stays healthy. Y know, Brianhasn't lived up to the contract I think
that they signed him to. Ithink he would be the first one to
admit that Ryan McMahon's been on ablistering pace so far this season, but
traditionally bat's a lot lighter than whathe's been hitting out of the gate.
Who out of this Rockies team hasto step up in order for this team
to be competitive. Well, Ithink Chris Brian has to be something close

(12:00):
to what he was in Chicago,where maybe not maybe not a forty home
run guy, but if he getsaround thirty home runs, that makes a
difference. Ryan McMahon, the wayhe's hitting right now is if you look
at his career, he's had patcheslike this. If he can do it
for a longer period of time andlimit the slumps, I think he can
hit thirty home runs in the season. Brendan Rodgers has not really gotten going

(12:24):
either, and they believe that he'sgoing to be a guy who can drive
in some runs, hit some doubles, maybe in the twenty twenty five home
run range, but also drive ina lot of runs. So there are
guys that should be able to stepup. You've seen it in part of
their histories. They're just going tohave to do it consistently well. One

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of the things that you know,we were talking about was the pitching and
the bats not waking up early inthe early part of the season for the
Rockies, But there's another thing thatwas occurring with routine defensive plays. What
do you think is the reason thatwe've seen the Rockies make so many defensive
mistakes early on in the season.If you look at the left fielder Nolan

(13:07):
Jones, he set some records asfar as being a rookie throwing people out
on the basis, but he reallyput a lot of effort into being a
better all around outfielder, tracking balls, fielding balls, and I think he
pressed to begin the season. Theplay today that gave the Rays there one
run lead, McMahon bounces one overthe first base, but it was a

(13:28):
tough play there. That's one Bryanthas to be able to make. And
after the game he made no excuses. He felt that hey, hop,
one hop throw right into his glove, he should have been able to catch
that. I have seen some uncharacteristicbad defense that if you go back to
last season, they led the freeworld and errors in April and from May
on they were one of the bestdefensive teams in baseball. It was a

(13:50):
secret because they didn't pitch well andthey lost a lot of games, but
they were one of the best defensiveteams in baseball. So it may be
just getting into the season. Seewhat happens from there. Tomorrow you've got
Tyler Alexander versus Ryan Feldner both teams. The Rockies win, they get a
chance both teams to put them tothree and six. Is Tampa the team

(14:11):
that Colorado needs to be playing rightnow in order to kind of get right
well? Tampa is a perennial contenderin the American League East, and I'm
expecting them to be that team.I mean what I've watched today. Offensively,
they filed off a lot of pitches. They did strike out a lot,
but they fouled off a lot ofpitches. They really made the starting

(14:31):
pitcher at Austin Gomber work and ifthey keep hitting like that, they're going
to be a good team in theAmerican League East Division. So I don't
look at this team, even thoughthe record is three and six. I
don't look at this team as abad baseball team because you'll probably see them
in the playoff hunt. And we'veseen them in the playoffs quite a bit
in recent years. They have towin because they have to win. But

(14:54):
it's hard to look at something ninegames of the season and say, hey,
that's a bad team. You haveto beat them now. Fair enough,
Thomas, We're gonna have to gettogether talk about Memphis at some point.
It's always good to hear your voice. Look forward to having you on
again soon. Hey, thanks forhaving me guy. Absolutely take care Thomas
Harding mlb dot Com Rockies insider alwaysget a chance to always get get a
chance to talk to him. Asthe Rockies get the ten to seven home

(15:16):
opener win and get their second winof the seasons against the Tampa Bay Rays.
When we come back, we're gonnabe talking with Brian Routh, a
senior national writer for Heat Check collegebasketball is The final four for the women's
side is underway in South Carolina,absolutely decimating NC State. Of course,
the I think more heralded matchup UCon against Iowa, you know, going

(15:41):
on here in just a few Sothat's gonna be that's gonna be fun.
We'll get a chance to talk tohim about that as well as the men's
side and whether Kaitlyn Clark should takethe on three or the Big three money
either offered ten million now versus goingfirst in the WNBA draft. Yeah,
I know, big time money toplay. It's for Caitlin Clark offers out
there as it were. You arelistening to Broncos country tonight right here on

(16:04):
KAA. It's at the am ninetyfour to one FM News Talk Sports MACA

(16:30):
doubling a single on a run,score two for four on the day,
bases loaded, Rockies down around,McMahon drives it deep break fail. How
about a rock Off Grand Slam touchof all time? Ryan McMahon sends this

(16:53):
crowd into delirium. Three walks andthen a bomb Rockies walk off. Tampa
Bay final score Colorado ten, TampaBay seven, and there's Jack Corgan on

(17:22):
the call. Ryan McMahon with theGrand Slam. That was for the three
or three as to the audio,The Grand slams available anywhere. I think
you're putting it up on the KawiTwitter if it's not already up there,
but it was for you right there. Well. Brian Roth from check College
Basketball here in just a few talka little bit about these the women's and
men's Final Four coming up here.But Rockies went in dramatic fashion after having

(17:45):
the thing going into the ninth,blowing it and then turning around and pulling
it back out again, totally redeemingthemselves with Ryan McMahon and the Grand Slam
home run. What's the game?Man? That's so impressive as a player
to be a part of a teamwhere it looked as though you had somewhat
of a commanding league and then allof a sudden, the league is taken

(18:10):
back away from you. The momentumnow switches back to the other team,
and then someone comes up in theclutch. And that's the great thing a
by watching today's game, and whenI say today's game, not just just
any sport, but just today's game, like the Rockies versus the Rays,

(18:30):
that it should be one of thosethings that you watch as a fan and
you say, you know what,anything can happen. And who's to say
that this can't be the calls foran enormous turnaround for the Rockies, right
I mean, we don't know.They playing with house money this year means

(18:51):
nothing expected of them, but thatdoesn't mean that they can't come out and
put something together. And that's onceagain, when we think about the nature
of team, not an individual likeI feel for pictures because they're on that
mound by themselves, even though theyhave players all around them. They seem
as though they're on that mound bythemselves. But with the Rockies should have

(19:14):
proven to themselves. Man, look, we can help out our pitchers by
having great outfield play right the relayfrom the warning track all the way to
the plate and being able to hitthe ball put the ball in play.
That's to be on the minds ofthe Rockies. Now once again, this
is this is your first game athome. You got another one. I

(19:37):
think the game is Sunday. Canthey go out and duplicate that same level
performance? To me? Once again, this is where the season starts for
the Rockies. Right now, canyou put back to back wins together.
Well, and that's the thing youneed to you need to be able to
do that to get the confidence thatyou can do that and roll this thing
for Let's go off to the KwayCommon Sparrels Hotline to bring for Brian Roths,
international writer heat checked Colin basketball.Brian's we're watching, obviously the women's

(20:03):
basketball going on the you know,South Carolina absolutely dominating, uh dominating against
the state, and you get Yukon, who I picked in this one over
Iowa early as we look at thesethe women's Final four start, there is
just playing out the way you thoughtit would. To the South Carolina game,
I did. I have to braga little bit at the South Carolina

(20:25):
alum. You know, it's thesecond year in a row entered the Final
four un the seated, but Southcome has been the best team of the
country all season. Winning winning thatgame maybe the way they did, and
as I'm one of the fashion maybebeen a surprise, but not that they
won. This Iowa Yukon game isinteresting because I think Iowa should win as
the favorites, but the way Yukonplayed the first couple of minutes absolutely Bose

(20:48):
of all from them moving sard maybethat maybe they can pull it up that
here. Well, we've seen severalwomen athletes kind of transcend the game in
the sports that they play, andwe've seen a lot of women play this
game of basketball who became household names. But is there something to be said
about Kaitlyn Clark and her ability onthe court opening more doors for female athletes.

(21:15):
I think so. I mean,especially from a marketing standpoint, right
Like, you can see that thedraw that she is and the star that
she is, she's the biggest starin college athletics right now. You can
go to any college sport I thinkfootball included, and Caitlyn Clark is the
top star of any of them.Right on the court too, I think

(21:38):
what she's done, more than anything, has brought some of that more.
I'll say NBA salt that's where wemostly see it. But style to the
game where you have somebody now thewoman's game, who is shooting from thirty
five forty feet off the dribble,creating for herself at that range with consistency,

(21:59):
I think it's opened up in termsof on court, opened up a
new level of creativity in the women'sgame. As we look at and we
talk about the stars of the game. And I find it interesting that the
what is it the Three Man Leagueor whatever has offered Kaitlin Clark at the
offers up to ten million dollars noworiginally five million by ice QB. Now
somebody's match at ten million dollars tocome play ball out there. I find

(22:22):
that offer interesting on several levels.And I find it more interesting that there
are more marketable individuals in the women'sfinal four than I think there are in
the men's. I think the numberof them, yes, And I think
it's also important too that I thinkwomen college basketball stars have something of an
advantage because of the WNBA draft ruleswhere they can't go pro for their first

(22:48):
four years and cause they have topay it in school. So you're able
to build more of a of astar because you're going to be there for
a while, and people come familiarwith the name sarticularly when they gets to
the level of Kitlyn Clark or evenPage Becker's. People come more familiar with
them, and they're also attached tothe brands of the schools that people know.

(23:08):
When people already have a strong attachmentto the men's side, you have
that kind of season where you've becomea household name and you're done after a
year, right, you're off tothe NBA and kind of out of the
college ecosystem. For instance, likeKaitlyn park season last year. If that
happened on the men's side, thatplayer is gone and gone pro. She

(23:30):
had to come back, and thewomen's game is better off for it.
The men we're able to go pro. And I think from a college perspective,
right, that's where I think thewomen's stars why part of the reason
why they are are more prominent youmentioned than the men's tunnel for well,
speaking of the man's and it isjust brands overall. I mean, I'm

(23:51):
looking at that NC State game inthe Purdue game and the first two names
that jump out is DJ Burns andZach Edie. For you, the advantage
goes to which player. Advantage goesto Zach edy. I mean, he's
gonna have the advantage generally anytime thathe plays. But DJ Burns has been
able to have a lot of hissuccess because of his ability to win in

(24:15):
the posts right and kind of moveguys off their spot, gets to where
he wants to go and shoot overguys with his soft touch. Well,
Zach Edy is one of the fewplayers that DJ Burns is gonna face that
can match him physically from a strengthperspective, and shooting over somebody who's even
six to eleven is much different thanshooting over somebody whos seventy four Zach Edy.

(24:37):
So I think Edie is in aunique position to make things very difficult
for DJ Burns. I would obviouslylean toward ford Dy in that matchup Alabama
Yukon. Alabama a huge, hugeunderdog inting this one. Do they have
any chance against ukhn? I thinkthey do, and we're gonna, I
think, find out the first rightten minute to that game, because it's

(25:00):
gonna come down to if they're makingfreeze or not. Right like the way
Alabama plays, they are so dependenton the three point shooting and for them
to get good luck at the basket, I think Yukon wins that game comfortably.
I also see a very realistic scenariowhere Alabamo comes out, goes on
one of their little spurts and mayberips off at twelve US and run and

(25:21):
we have Yukon looking at a deficitpretty early on, and Alabama is feeling
themselves and making the game interesting.That's the recipe for art for Alabama is
getting good looks from three and makinghim a high clip, which we know
this team can do. We've seenthem being able to beat really anybody in
the country when they're playing at thatlevel. I don't expect it to happen

(25:41):
because of how good Yukon is onboth ends of the court, really,
but there's at least a game planin place. Brownie James hits the portal
declares the NBA draft does he doeshe stand a chance of being drafted?
I mean, is just anything otherthan a favor to Lebron James if he
gets drafted, well, he's gota change to being drafted because whoever draft
him is gonna feel like they havea good chance to get Lebron, right.

(26:04):
I think that's part of it.And I think some of this is
going to be unfair to Bronni because, like he is not NBA ready right
now. I think he can be. I think he can be a very
good NBA player for a long time. He's not gonna be Lebron, and
nobody can really be Lebron, sothat that's not necessarily a knock on him,

(26:26):
but I think that is some ofthe expectations. He is not ready,
but there is some pressure for himto go because of his name,
because Lebron wants to play with him. So if he goes, those are
gonna be the reasons why he maypay off for a team, you know,
two or three years some if he'shad sometimes to develop, but if
he gets drafted, it's a playon development, but also a play to

(26:48):
try and lure Bryan's your team.One thing with Bronnie too, I was
actually talking with somebody about this today. I think it's very important to remember
that Brownni is a freshman in collegewho had a heart attack men months ago,
right like he was coming back fromsome really really major stuff, and
honestly thinks the season did not goas either he year USC hoped for.

(27:08):
But there are some extracurriculars in placehere off the court that could have had
an impact in that as well.I think his long term future is still
pretty good, but some of thepressure may cause him to leave and potentially
get drafted earlier than his maybe oncourt place suggest he should. Absolutely Brian
we appreciated Brian Ross, senior nationalrider. He checked college basketball. Looking

(27:32):
forward to maybe previewing the title gamehere in a couple of days. Absolutely,
thank you guys, Take care.Brian Roff, Senior national writer.
He checked college basketball. I lovetalking to him about the men's and the
women's game. Got a lot ofinsight there as well. Rockies course winning
ten to seven on the Grand Slamby Ryan McMahon. McMahon, Who's head.

(27:52):
He blistering hot bat for the Rockiesdespite their tepid start to the season,
now two and six, chance toget to three and six tomorrow night.
We talked with Thomas Harding a littlebit earlier. He seemed cautiously optimistic.
You've course pointed out that Bud Blacksays, the season starts now,
it's baseball one hundred and sixty twogame season. It's a long slog,
it's not This isn't football where you'retwo and six year out of it.

(28:14):
I think that the Rockies need somethings to break their way. Certainly,
you're going to have to have health, You're going to have the pitching have
to come together and not have theselate game lapses. They almost gave this
one away, these late game lapsesthat they are prone to with their pitching,
but you know they've got the bats. I think to be able to
compete, you just need Nolan Jonesto over the last two games, he's

(28:38):
finally woken up do better. Youneed Chris Bryant to play up to the
contracts that he signed, and Ithink he's vocalized that multiple times. What
else can the Rockies do to getthings back on track? Try to take
the slow and steady approach. Iknow that is not something that most fans
want to hear. And sometimes aslow and steady win the race because we

(29:00):
all know the story of the tortoiseand the hair. So with the season
being as long as it is been, I think that should be the process,
trying to build upon this this win, right, and try to put
two back to back games together,because it's it's confidence booster, right,
It's it's a long season. Whenyou when you look at the National League,

(29:22):
and you especially look in the West, right, you know, the
Rockies obviously are at the bottom attwo and six. San Francisco is at
three and five, the Padres arefour and six, Arizona's four and three,
and the Dodgers are seven and three. Right, And the only thing
that you can look at even thoughsome guys will look at the standings,
is look at the opponent that you'refacing every single day, and that's every

(29:47):
game that you play as an opportunityto get better. So don't put that
pressure on you this early in theseason. It's not like we are forty
games in only we're only a handfulof games in. So don't get to
the mound and try to press you. If you are a pitcher, don't
get to the play and just sayokay, Well, when you play the
Rays on Sunday, yeah, Imean now the team you won, you

(30:11):
know, two days before with tenten to six. Now you have to
feel like you want to go outand you swing for the fences. No,
you don't have to stay in theflow in the game, in the
rhythm of the game and let itcome to you. The Rockies led six
to two going in the ninth.Let the Rays take a seven to six
lead on Ben Roardvetz scored the tiebreaking run with McMahon made a throw in

(30:33):
the dirt from third to first basemanChris Bryan, who couldn't scoop it.
Mcman of course, made up tothat in a big way. First Homer
of the season, propelling the Rockiestheir second win. Forty eight three to
ninety nine was the fan total bythe way. This afternoon. Rockies improved
to seventeen and thirteen in home openersat Course Fields since opening in nineteen ninety
five. Not exactly how you drawit up, but that's how it goes.

(30:53):
Rays really repeat. Fairbanks, whowalked the first three hitters to start
the night before giving way to Adamwho promptly struck out Chris Bryant and then
set the stage for McMahon's second careerGrand Slam, was critical of the baseballs
the Rocky's store in the Humidor,which, of course the design to control
the temperature and the moisture given inthe thin air here in Denver. The
human or has been in use inthe stadium since two thousand and two.

(31:14):
Fairbanks said they were horrible. Youcan mark that down at all caps for
me, horrible. No excuse.Throw didn't throw strikes, and that's what
happens when you don't throw strikes,you get punished for it. So I'd
love to see those come out ofthe humid Or tomorrow a little better shape
before they get rubbed up. There'snobody to blame but myself for not being
able to adjust to some of thequality issues. Sounds like he was blaming
somebody else for the quality issues.But I know at the end of the

(31:37):
day, I mean, yeah,you came out walk three batters. I
don't know you can blame that onthe ball. No, you can't really
blame that on the ball. Butthat's going to be the storyline heading into
Sunday's game. That's all everyone's goingto be paying attention to, right And
you got to think about it.I mean, Tomas Harding brought it up
himself. When you think about PeteFairbanks going into Sunday's game, is that

(32:02):
going to be in the back ofhis mind? And if it's so,
I would say it plays in thehands in the favor of the Rockies.
You want pitchers to think about thingslike that when they come into this ballpark.
Now, I'm hoping that it doesn'tdevelop into a situation where it's ongoing
all season long, because I caneasily see this developing into a much larger

(32:27):
story than what it is right now, because a handful of pitchers coming in
here that don't perform well. Nowsaying okay, well it's the ball humor.
There's something going on here, andthen now Major League Baseball has another
issue that they have to deal with. It's where how everybody else had whatever
issue? Said the same balls,you know. At the end of the
day, Tovar, of course,hit a go ahead, two run homer
and the six. Brian Addison insuranceby lining his first home or the season

(32:51):
in the eighth, but that fourrun cushion didn't hold up as the Rays
rallied with four straight hits off forlever Justin Lawrence. He had another late
game collapse there, wrote Vet tiedthe game with a two run single and
raced home on mcmaaran's errant throw.McMahon said he was upset. He said,
quote, I think I had alittle more time than I thought.
I just didn't have a great gripon the ball. Threw a mega sinker

(33:12):
over there. Some more just alittle frustrated with myself, but it ultimately
worked out and ended in a poweraid bath. McMahon thought it was great
flavor, and he said it wasa little sticky, but well worth it.
Also said quote, I knew itwas gone. That one felt good.
I turned and looked at the dugoutand started yelling. Seventy five degrees
there at first pitch warmest April homeopener in Rocky's history. When we come

(33:35):
back, talk a little bit moreabout this Rockies Opening Day, or at
least home Opener day win off theGrand Slam by Ray mcmanualis's to Broncos Country
to Night Kawa,