6/25 H1: Michael Conforto leads charge in Dodgers win over Rockies; Patrick Saunders; Sox fan banned

The Dodgers held on to beat the Rockies last night as Michael Conforto had a couple of hits including a homerun. Patrick Saunders from the Denver Post joins us to talk about Colorado's struggles in recent years. A fan in Chicago was tossed after heckling Ketel Marte about his deceased mother.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, let's do this, Fred Rogan Rodney Pete on
a five to seventy LA Sports two hours for us today.
Rodney's the guys are still up in Denver taking on
the Rockies. Good sized crowd in Denver last night. That
had nothing to do with Denver. They had nothing to
do with the Rockies. They had everything to do with
the Dodgers. They're not rallying behind those Rockies to see

(00:20):
if they can make a comeback. Ft. No, they're really not.
They're you know, they're not rallying behind the Rockies. And
the thing about it is Dodger fans. And even before
the Dodgers had Otani, they were the number one draw
on the road in baseball, even before they had Otani.
So every team praised they can play the Dodgers thirty
five times a season at home, because if that's the case,

(00:42):
it's only good news. It's only good news when it
comes to selling tickets. So they had over thirty thousand
last night. That's a good crowd and the game was close,
closer than it needed to be. But in the end, Rodney,
the Dodgers did what needed to be done to the Rockies,
as everybody does that to the Rockies. Yeah, and there
are no moral victories. So a loss for Colorado, a

(01:06):
win for the Dodgers, and uh, look who stepped up,
Look who woke up? Look who maybe coming out of it?
The question is is he? And that's Michael Conforto. It
was really good to see, you know, but we've seen
this movie a little bit before. Fred I think it

(01:27):
was who did go back and play? I think when
they say the Mets, I think they went back and
played and he had a he had a really good
couple of games, and we thought, uh, and then there
was another time where he had three doubles in a game.
I believe we thought that was the moment that he
was breaking out of that slump. So you know, we
so see, but I think there it would be you know,

(01:50):
obviously fantastic for the Dodgers if he was able to
get it turned around to provide that left handed bat
and provide that that play and or left field that
he can play against right handed pitching, because that's what
they brought him in for, is to have that left
handed bat that can be solid, they can hit for
power and h he did that yesterday and showed signs

(02:12):
of why they signed him in the first place. So
hopefully this is uh, this is a sign of things
to come for him and for the team, because if
he gets hot, Fred, that that makes it even more
I mean, we always we always talk about how dangerous
this lineup is and this team is. But when you
get guys like that get hot, and we're seeing that

(02:32):
from Andy Paez, then as an opposing team and opposing pitcher,
you look up and go, God, you know, I don't
have no breaks. I can get through the top three.
But still I gotta face Max Munsey who's getting hot.
I gotta face Will Smith, who's been hot all season.
And now you're telling me I gotta face Edmund and
Confordo down at the bottom of the lineup. This is

(02:54):
not This is gonna keep me up at night. Okay, Well,
nobody's being kept up by Michael Conroy right now. No
one's roll around. He's ready, he's rolling now. He's got
it all wised out. But the worst is behind him.
Well yeah, and you have to hope that it's funny.
Andrew Friedman recently said something like, you know, it's good

(03:15):
to see snapping out of it. You know, we've given
him a time and Hopefully, Uh, that's going to help him.
Hopefully that time is now when he's going to snap
out of it. A few days later, Dave Roberts basically said,
if you want to summarize it, if he doesn't hit,
he can't play. We've got to play people that can hit.
So Andrew Friedman saying, well, this is good. You know,

(03:37):
we're giving him the time, a little more time. Maybe
he's coming out of it. A couple of days later,
Dave Roberts and these guys are usually in locksteps, so
that was kind of interesting to me, said, yeah, if
he doesn't hit, we're going to play somebody that can.
That's basically what he said. So I think whatever is
going to happen with him as the trade lined approaches,

(03:57):
the trade deadline approaches, whatever's gonna happen, We're gonna find
out because yeah, yeah, I mean that's the look I
want to say, captain obvious. But yeah, if you don't hit,
you don't play. You know, they brought him in for
a reason, and yes, you hope, and you see signs

(04:20):
of it, and it's you know, in recent weeks he's
shown signs that he's starting to come out of that thing.
Like I mentioned, he had one game where had I
think two or three doubles and was breaking out, and
you know, yesterday went two for five and with a
home run. I think that you know, you kind of
wait and see. The beauty is that the Dodgers have
the luxury. And I will say this is this is

(04:44):
benefiting Michael Conforto because imagine if Michael Conforto they brought
him into another team that didn't have the lineup and
the depth that the Dodgers have, how long and how
long a leash would they have get given him or
would they be giving him if he's on a different
team right now. But the fact that the Dodgers have

(05:05):
that kind of depth and they have the capability of
scoring runs and bunches from multiple guys, he's allowed to
play through the slump. I don't know if that happens
with other teams right No, it doesn't. But then again,
nobody was going to bring him in to hit cleanup.
Nobody was going to bring him in as the bat.

(05:26):
That wasn't going to happen. But nonetheless, the Dodgers brought
him here for one very specific reason, and it's just
it speaks to how they conduct their business. You know,
you don't wish ill on anyone. You want him to succeed,
You want him to turn it around, you want him
to get into it. And just maybe that could be
the trigger last night. But I think we said that

(05:48):
the last time he had a good game, maybe that
could be the trigger. Maybe that could be the beginning.
So it's wait and see the luxury. The Dodgers have,
yes depth, but you know what we heard, and they're
looking for a left handed power bat. And that's not
to replace Tommy Edmund. Right, They're not looking for that

(06:10):
bat to take Muncie out. They're not doing that either.
There's one guy so uh though he's got a month,
he's got a month left to make to make do
and make good on what they brought him in for.
And you know what better time to start than in Colorado.

(06:31):
Colorado fixes a lot of problems, right, As we've said
in the past, when you need a fix, you need
a that that good loving feeling. Hey, let's go to
the male High City. Poor guys. Uh, let me ask
you one more thing about CONFORDO Rodney and uh, I

(06:51):
want your perspective as a guy that played. So let's
say now he comes out of it, right, He's making contact, uh,
balls falling in, he's getting on base, he's not turning
to cover off the ball. Let's not say that quite.
At least it's not as bad as it was. He's better,
he looks better. Yeah, what is enough? What is enough

(07:15):
to say yeah, we're good? And I don't know what
the definition of that is. What if he hits three
hundred for an entire month, you go, Okay, he's back.
What does he have to do to confirm yes, I'm here,
I'm staying and I am a contributor. What does he
have to do? That's that's a good question because he

(07:36):
started off so slow, so slow, that he's fighting an
uphill battle. So now every game now is it's just
glaring hitting you in the face and the eyeballs are
on you because you did start so slow, and there
was an expectation of bringing in a left handed hitter
to this lineup. And when you start that slow and

(07:59):
you're in that kind of slump and you're a new
player on the team, you know, it's no longer guys
are in the in the dugout, you know, chopping it up,
eating their seeds, you know, having conversations. They're like confortos, up,
what are you going to do this time? Okay, what
is he going to do this time? You know, And
it becomes more and more obvious with each in every game,

(08:22):
and so there's a tremendous amount of pressure, you know,
on him to perform over these over these next thirty
days or whenever the draft is coming at the end
of the month, first of August. Uh, it's a it's
a tough situation to be in. But you ask, what
does he need to do? What does that look like.
Let's see, he doesn't have to go out and hit

(08:42):
fifteen home runs in the next thirty days and hit
three point fifty, but he has to show a level
of consistency. That is going to be the key. The
level of consistency where he doesn't go in a in
a in a weekend, go you know, eight for fifteen,
they have a great weekend, and then go the next

(09:05):
ten games and go one for twenty eight. You can't
have that. You can't have that up and down those
peaks and valleys like he had early in the season.
So it's really gonna come down to how consistent he is. Well,
all right, last night was a good start. Every day
is a fresh day. It's a new season every single game.

(09:26):
So he's off to a great start in the new season.
When you saw the Rockies last night, We're gonna have
Patrick Saunders or the Desert Post come on here. As
a matter of fact, we'll do it in the next segment.
When I say, Kevin, he's at the Desert Post. He's
fall the Denver Post. On the Denver Post, I said
the Desert, Desert, Desert, Denver, Desert old habits die hard,
the Denver start with a D. Yeah, he's gonna be

(09:48):
coming on next segment and we'll talk about what happened
with the Rockies and how they got into that situation.
I just find it really interesting when you live in
LA and you can look at the way the Dodgers operate,
and we talk about it all time because as a fan,
maybe you can't appreciate it, but it is. It is
mind boggling what they do, how they do it, how

(10:08):
they're able to continue. I mean, look at it like this.
They are contending for a World Series title, yet they're
playing young players. At the same time, they have a
team that can win, yet they're developing young players at
the same time because they realize there's going to be
a turnover eventually and those young players are going to
have to play. Kim Paz rushing. Yeah, Tommy Edmond is

(10:33):
not a child. He's not a kid, but not old.
He's going to be here another three years, four years.
So they are bringing these guys in now, and look
at their pitching staff if they ever get healthy. Emit
shean young. You're seeing the young pitchers. Jack dry does
he pitch every game, by the way, it feels like it,

(10:53):
doesn't it. Jack Driver, he's like Jack Dryer private eye.
He pitches every game. You know, he's getting filled. Bickford. Yeah,
Bickford was that guy. Yes, Bickford every other day or
every day he felt Bickford's coming in. Who's warming up? Bickford.
Bickford's warming up. Oh look who's coming in the game. Bickford. Yeah.

(11:16):
And and and it feels like that way with Jack Driver.
I was impressed with Roboleski yesterday. Fred I thought he
did he gave him length and they just let him go.
And you know, there were some moments that that that
got away from a little bit. For the most part, though,
I was I was very impressed he was hitting ninety
nine a couple of times on the gun, and you know,

(11:40):
from the left side. I thought, Uh, here's a guy
that's that they roll in there. Another one of those
guys that you know, kind of the bus driver. Who
is it guy? You know he gets thrown in there
early in the season. Who is that guy? Where'd he
come from? And next thing you know, he's pitching, you know,
every three or four seven days. But I like this performance.

(12:02):
But this is a time and actually Colorado's coming at
a really good time because you think of where the
Dodgers came off of, right, they came off a series
with the Padres, the Giants and then the Padres, and
they played the Nationals in there as well. To have
a chance to kind of pack that lead and build

(12:23):
on where they are by playing the Colorado Rockies, I
would suggest Fred that this is as important a series
as the Dodgers have had in the last few weeks,
only because they have a chance to broaden that lead
that they have and plan a team that they should
beat and should sweep and take advantage of. Yeah, I

(12:45):
would agree with you. That makes complete sense. You gotta
win the ones you're supposed to win. If you do that,
what does Lasorda saying you want a third? You lose
a third, And it's that middle third that determines your season.
That's how it works. Okay, well, you gotta win the
ones you're supposed to win. Yeah, so you gotta beat
the Rockies. You gotta beat the Rockies. You look up

(13:06):
in September and it's a tight race, and you're gonna
look back and go. You know that three game, four
game set we had with the Rockies where you know
we lost too out of three, or that set we
had with the Rockies where we swept them that gave
us the edge in September, so we can we can
comfortably cruise into the end of the season. You know,

(13:26):
So it becomes important. Now is the time where it
starts to become important. We didn't say that back in
April and May, right early June. Now it's we're coming
into July. So now you can't throw away these series
that come at you. You got to you got to
be able to win the games you're supposed to win,
and they become more and more important. And you used

(13:48):
the phrase when we were talking about Dodger pitching a
couple of seconds ago, who's that? Who is this guy?
I mean Rubelski last year when he come up to pitch,
everybody who ELL's that? Right? Where did he come from?
They've always got these like what did he come from?
Who is that guy? When you watch the Rockies, your

(14:09):
question is who are those guys? Who are they? Yeah,
I've never heard it, and I mean they're big leaguers,
but it's like you don't even know them. You know them.
I mean I'm looking up there and guy, the guy
that I know the most is Kyle Farmer, who used
to be a Dodger, right, and he's kicked around like
three or four teams. Yes, yeah, when you look at him, Hey,

(14:31):
what who is this? Who are they playing? And that's
kind of sad. I mean I said it yesterday, I'll
say it again. That Chris Bryant deal just killed him.
Oh man, just murdered him. It was a bad, bad signing.
Good for Chris Bryant, not saying he doesn't deserve all
the money he can get, but that was really just
a bad deals. Yeah, and now they find themselves here.

(14:54):
So when we come back, Patrick Saunders of the Desert
Post will join us and we'll ask him how in
the world this happen. And then after Patrick a fan
has been banned in definitely from baseball and we'll talk
about that.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Hello Rogan and Rodney. Listener, Did you know AM five
seventy LA Sports has a wide range of LA Sports podcasts,
shows like Petros in Money. We are streaming Matt Dodger
Talk with David Vasse, the Dodger Podcast of Record, Clipper
Talk Without a Musk, follow us all and many more.
Just go to AM five to seventy LA Sports on

(15:31):
the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
Okay have you yeah, little silk sonic for you? Fred?
On a wonderful Wednesday, Rodney beat Fred Rogan coming back
at you Dodgers in Colorado. Still beautiful time of year
to be in Colorado. Fred, really is gorgeous the mountains

(15:57):
up there, and of course we talked about the fact,
yes today if you go up there it's hard to breathe. Well,
not just walking around. No, if you are just walking around,
just just know that it will hit you. I've been
there several times and I'm going outside just walking down,
you know, walking around the streets and in different places,
and I you know, Denver asking whatever. You go there

(16:20):
and you're walking from place to place, and I found
myself going, Wow, I'm out of breath. Oh my god,
what in the world. And then you realize, oh, yeah,
I'm in I'm in Denver. Yeah, I'm in Denver, and
this is this is what happens in Denver. But you
start to think if you're not really conscious about it,
so you to think of like, what is wrong with me?

(16:40):
Because you do your chest starts to tighten up and
you're out of breath, and you're like, why I just
walk I just walk fifteen steps and I'm out of breath.
But it hits you like that if you're not ready
for it. Well, it looks like the Rockies haven't been
able to breathe for a while because the way they play,
it's like they're inhaling nowhere. They're just out there. They

(17:03):
will be probably, well, that'll be the worst team in
baseball this year. They had the worst start in major
League history. So it's a good time for the Dodgers
to get them and a bad time to be playing
in Colorado. And what has happened with the Rockies. Let's
bring on Patrick Saunders or the Denver Post and find
out Denver Thanks or I should say, Patrick, thanks for
jumping on.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
No problem at all.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay, So I'm fascinated by how franchises fall into the abyss.
What happened with the Rockies.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
Well, in a quick recount, here's what I think happened.
Twenty eighteen. They make the playoffs wildcard team. They lost
Game one, sixty three to the Dodgers, nearly won their
very first division title. They had a terrific ball club,
Nolan Arnatto, Charlie Blackman, Trevor's story, good pitching, Djitlo Mayhew,

(17:52):
you can go on and on and on. Rather than
invest in that team at that time, the Rockies held
their cars. They didn't do much. They let Dj LeMay
you go. Their draft in development since then has been
really poor. They've made some really bad decisions. The biggest
free agent acquisition position wise in franchise history, Chris Bryant,

(18:17):
has been a complete bust. And they just don't change
with the times. They're behind in analytics, and it's all steamrolled,
and you know now they're on their way to perhaps
the worst season in modern baseball history, but certainly their
third consecutive one hundred loss season that in my mind
is in a nutshell's what's gone on?

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Hey Patrick, it's Rodney Pete. Thanks for joining us, Fred,
Fred Mitch your things. Listen. I'm fascinated by what's going on,
as Fred Minch and how do you go into the
abyss and you just laid it out, how it happens?
How do they turn it around? Now? Since you gave
us the reasons, why how do they get it turned around?

(19:00):
Is it complete new ownership? Is it just revamp in
the whole system, because it's going to be harder and
harder to get number one free agents to come there
and also get guys to stay there when they become
free agents.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
No, that's You're exactly right. The reputation for the Rockies
organization as a whole is not very good right now.
You mentioned change of ownership. That's not going to happen.
The Montford brothers, particularly Dick Montfort, the principal owner, his
two kids that are within the organization, and they're in
line to have some fairly significant role going forward. We're

(19:39):
a story of the weekend about the ownership and at
least they seem willing to take a harder look at
this team, make some changes, bringing some eyes from the
outside so to speak, some fresh blood to try to
do some things different. Now. Their counter argument as always, well,

(19:59):
we play in a differ for an environment than anybody else.
That'd be a mile high altitude, and they're right, it
is a different animal. But that doesn't mean you keep
being so insular as the Rockies are. In other words,
it always seems like they hire from within, they promote
from within. They rarely go outside the organization to look
for new blood. And indications are they're going to have

(20:23):
to do that, and they're probably willing to do that.
But in my mind, the front office needs to needs
to clean up and they need to get some fresh
eyes in here.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
So Patrick, did we congratulate Bud Black when in his
tenure finally ended or did we offer him condolences? I mean,
he had to sit there through all of that. He
seemed to be a pretty happy guy, but he had
to be the most miserable person having to endure all
of that. What was that like for him?

Speaker 3 (20:52):
You know, Buddy Black and I are pretty close. I
don't know if I've ever seen a person less capable
of being miserable than Bud Bloe Black, who by the way,
is very good friends with Dave Roberts, their neighbors. As
a matter of fact, Buddy is one of the most
optimistic people I've ever known. But yeah, it wore on him.
I don't think, by any imagination he wanted to get fired,

(21:14):
but yeah, it wore on him because when he came
in in seventeen eighteen, his first two years in Colorado,
he took him to the playoffs, but he knew that
this team didn't have the talent to match up with
the other teams in the NL West. He was trying
to buy into the Rockets draft and development, and he
knew this would be a learning curve. But I think

(21:36):
Bud Black and the rest of the team thought this
was going to be their turnaround point. They thought they
had the young talent in the system on the roster
to be able to certainly not be a five hundred
team this year, but make strides toward it and maybe
next year be a five hundred team and sneak into
the playoffs. Clearly that hasn't happened, And when Buddy got fired,

(22:00):
I don't know if he believes this, but I believe this,
and I know a lot of players believe this. Things
had gotten stale. I think Buddy's message had been lost.
But I've talked to him repeatedly since he got fired.
He's doing okay, he'll land on his feet, But yeah,
it was brutal. I mean for a guy who loved
pitching to have to make that long lockout to the
mount of Course field night after night was pretty difficult.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Yeah, I mean from afar, it always seemed like a
stand up guy. And as Fred mentioned, maybe the silver
lining was that it finally ended for him there. But
it just felt like he got it when there was
so many other reasons why, you know, Colorado was in
the position they were in, and it wasn't just Bud Black.

(22:45):
It almost seemed like he was a perfect guy to
help weather the storm. Yet as you mentioned, I guess
we're hearing that it finally got stale within the clubhouse.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
Yeah, And I think one of the reasons Bud came
back this year, well, one he wanted to because he
loves being a manager. He loves the day to day
of baseball. But I think the Rockies realized with by
Black they had a really good pr person. In other words,
he was very is, very charismatic, worked with us in

(23:17):
the media very well, was able to put as positive
as spin on the Rocky situation as possible, and I
think ownership like that to a certain extent. But then
when the team started off, you know, the worst start
in Major League history, and it was clear that things
had got in stale, it was time to get rid

(23:38):
of Buddy. And I'm not saying he was the sacrificial lamb,
but certainly you know, he was the first one to fall,
and as often happens in situations like this, the coach
of the manager, whoever, is the first one to go,
and then organizational organizational changes usually come down the pipe.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
What's the fan base about this, Patrick, How are they
reacting to all of this?

Speaker 3 (24:04):
Well, it's crazy. I don't know if you guys saw
the game last night with the Dodgers and the Rockies,
and I think it was close to thirty seven thousand
at Coors Cours holds about forty nine. The hardcore fans
are fed up, frustrated, talking boycott. They've been talking boycott
ever since the Nolan are Nato trade. You got to remember,

(24:26):
Colorado and Denver is a place where a lot of
transplants come and a lot of teams come through here
via the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mets, the Phillies, the Giants,
the CODs go on. And on last night, you would
have thought it was Dodger Stadium. I mean, the crowd
was so pro Dodger. Every time Shohe came to the plate.
It was like fourth of July. I mean, if I'm

(24:47):
a Rockies player, and you think, wow, great, we got
another thirty five, thirty six plus crowd. But you know,
at least half of them maybe more cheering for the opposition.
Can't be that, can't be any fun. But cors is
a great ballpark, and on summer night, you know, Colorado
summers are about as good as it gets, and it's

(25:09):
a great ballpark to go out and enjoy it, and
a lot of fans just come and the game is secondary.
The experience is primary. And the hardcore fans are fed
up and they're very angry. But a lot of people
come to games are not hardcore baseball fans, serving not
like Dodger fans or Red Sox or Yankees or Mets
Philly something like that.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yeah, you know, Patrick, as these two teams are playing,
you're seeing the opposite ends of the spectrum. As you mentioned,
Dodger fans. And then we've seen it here in LA
because we're very close to it with the Goggenheim guys.
Mark Walters has come in and done with Andrew Friedman,
and they've they've really spent the money on the front offers,
the scouting, the development. Dodgers have always had good farm organizations,

(25:53):
but they've taken it to a different level. And then
you've seen some other teams around the league start to
follow suit, and even in the Vision with the Padres
starting to spend the money and the Giants wanting to
spend the money and they're starting to get some guys there. Now,
do the Rockies have that capability? Are they willing to
go down that road? Because you mentioned they need to

(26:15):
enhance that department of scouting and develop and put some
money in the front office and analytics. Are they willing
to do that? Is this ownership willing to do that?
Or are they just going to sit back and be
Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and clubs like that that are just
okay with, you know, being a part of it.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
That's a great question, and it's it's it's a very
fair question. You know, there's a miss and omer out
there among people, including Rockies fans, that the Rockies won't
spend money payroll wise through the years, Like I was mentioned,
seventeen and eighteen, they were, they were in the top
certainly the top half, and you know, they were what

(26:55):
you know, fourteenth, fifteenth most highest payroll in baseball. But
you're exactly right. They need to invest in the other stuff.
More coaches at the minor league level, better analytics people,
a bigger analytics department. They need to invest in that
sort of thing. They lag way behind. And you only
have to look to Tampa Bay, which has one of

(27:18):
the lowest payrolls year after year for the players. But
here's Tampa Bay back in the playoff and again this
year because they attack it from a different perspective. I
think at some point the Rockies are going to have
to realize, you know, they may have to do without
some of the star power on the field, but get
some people in here who will study things, invest in things,

(27:41):
invest in analytics, find out the best way to make
coolers feel the nightmare for the opposition, and go at
this from a different angle. You know, they when they
spent one hundred and eighty two million dollars for Chris Bryant.
The reason they did it was because they'd lost No
Leonaronatto is the marquee star player, and owner Dick Bonfort

(28:03):
wanted another you know name player in the organization. It
doesn't matter that they spent overspent by fifty sixty million
dollars for I mean, it turned out to be an
injured product. They've got to get away from that kind
of thinking. And they've got to way get away from
the idea that there's a Rockies way to do things
and we have to promote from within and do it

(28:23):
the Rockies way. Well, Rockies Way isn't working. This is
their seventh consecutive losing season. You're right. If they don't
want to be Pittsburgh for forever or the Athletics for forever,
they're going to have to change the way they do things.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, And when you say Rockies way, what is that?
Because you know, you got certain ballparks and it feels
like obviously, you know in Colorado you mentioned a mile
high as a launching pad, but you got certain ballparks
where the Red Sox do it a certain way because
of their dimensions of Fenway Park, and the Yankees do
the same thing. What is the right way. What would

(29:00):
be the perfect situation from a hitter standpoint. Is it
more right handed hitters? I know they had that with
Arnatto and Chris Bryant. Is it a right handed hitter situation,
left handed hitter situation. What do you do to enhance
the pitching situation so you get more pitchers wanting to
come to that park? What would be the formula to
draw guys in?

Speaker 3 (29:22):
Well, you know that's a big, very difficult question answer.
I think number one, pitching is always going to be
problematic at Coors Field. It just is. You know, they've
tried everything. They've tried ground ball pitchers, which is still
a pretty effective method. They've tried high heat guys with
higher strikeout rates, which is the trend in baseball now

(29:44):
and the Rockies are trying to embrace that. But number
one on my list was you got to get some
mashers in here. You know, the Rockies, if you go
back in the day, the Blake Street bombers, right, I mean,
the teams field coming in because they didn't know what
was gonna happen. Well, Rockies, you know, they've got a
little better this season with home runs, but the last
few years they've been near the bottom and home runs

(30:07):
and in runs scored in a ballpark that should be
a beast for the opposition. You need to you need
to turn that around. You need a faster, more athletic team.
You need to push the envelope, steel bases, put the
pressure on the opposition. You know, Clayton Kersha is pitching
tomorrow at Cours. I know Kerseh I hates pitching. There

(30:28):
is thera. There is not good. Through the years, the
Rockies had the kind of people who could take advantage
of cheap hits or home runs or doubles in the gaps.
They don't have that right now.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
All right, Well, thanks for filling the gap in for us. Patrick,
We really appreciate it. Thanks for coming on. Okay, guys, Yeah,
you know the way he described the Rockies, they make
decisions just like the Angels. Same pretty much. Yeah, get
a star, put them out there. Infrastructure doesn't exist. Put

(31:00):
people in the seats. That's all we care getting enough,
we care about nulem An. Audience will be good. Yeah,
we're fine, all right when we come back. The fans
that's been banned in definitely from Major League Baseball.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
We've made it even easier to take LA Sports with
you this summer. Make AM five to seventy or your
favorite AM five seventy LA Sports podcast a preset on
the iHeartRadio app using Apple car Play or Android Auto.
Road trip all summer with LA Sports. Make AM five
to seventy LA Sports a preset before you plug in
your phone. Presets in the iHeartRadio app now available with

(31:34):
Apple car Play and Android Auto. Just another easy way
to listen to LA's best sports talk.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Oh yeah, yeah yeah. Today's afternoon Delight is Outside by
Cardi B. The star rapper dropped this late last week
after dropping a not so subtle Instagram post earlier in
the week that said we outside this Friday. This is

(32:12):
the first solo release of twenty twenty five for the
Grammy Award winner, who is expected to drop her sophomore
album before the end of the year. Again, Today's Afternoon
Delight is Outside by Cardi B. All Right, you dealt
with this when you played, and you often told the

(32:34):
story of the fans in Philadelphia, where they'd be on you,
they'd be yelling at you. Holly would be in the crowd,
they'd be attacking her. That's a tough place to be
isn't a Rodney. Absolutely, Philadelphia is one of the toughest
places to play from a fan perspective, and just leaving
your house there on you there. It's a very knowledgeable
sports base and sports fan base, and especially when you're

(32:58):
in the in the stadium, sometimes you feel like you're
the await team f it when you're playing for Philadelphia.
But if you can withstand that, you can withstand a
lot of things. You know. Eric Dickerson told the story
many times about how rude and cruel the fans are
and how they take zero responsibility for what they say
and they believe that they can say anything. As my

(33:19):
dad said many years ago, my late father, back in
the day you pay your money you have, you're saying, well,
not so much anymore. Life has changed. The way we
interact and deal with people is changed. You just can't
start shouting terrible things at people. It happened in Chicago yesterday.
Could tell Marte di'mond back second basement, they're playing the

(33:40):
White Sox. I believe he went up to bet in
the top of the seventh inning and somebody got on him.
And let's face it, I watched a portion of that
game yesterday. It doesn't matter really where you're sitting. If
you yell, they can hear you because there's nobody there,
all right, So there's that you can hear it, which
tells you that guys do here what you say. Now,

(34:00):
if there's fifty thousand people, it might be a little different,
but guys can hear what you say. And what this
guy said, he took a shot at his late mother,
so could tell Marte's mom dies. And now this guy's
taking a shot about his late mother that that hurts.

(34:22):
You're a human. If somebody cuts you, you bleed. That's
about as long as you can go. It really is.
You attack family like you can. We all usually say this,
come at me, come at me. But family's off limits.
Kids are off limits. It's not something that you do.
And that usually is a it's usually a widespread, unwritten rule, Fred,

(34:43):
is that you don't you don't go after family members.
I mean even in the mafia, Fred, they have that
code that they don't go after family members. It's really
just about dealing with the person you're dealing with. And
I remember when Marte broke in and he signed a
nice size contract and a lot of people were saying, well,

(35:05):
he he devalued himself. He didn't, you know, he could
have made a lot more. But I remember him saying
that he had an obligation to take care of his
family and it was one of those things where he
needed to do it now as opposed to waiting. And
he took the deal and took the contract and got
paid and was able to really take care of his

(35:26):
family like they've never been taken care of before. And
it was a big deal, big deal for him. And
just to see something like this, and you know, when
you talk about somebody and not not only just your
family member, but your mom who passed away, and somebody
wants to bring that up, there is no no excuse
for that. Yeah, mother got in a car accident and

(35:47):
the Dominican in twenty seventeen. So this guy lets him
have it from the crowd and katal Marte is visibly shaken.
He is visibly shaken. Well, he's in the batter's box.
Later he breaks he breaks into tears, that's how upset
he was by this fan. So the manager of the Diamondbacks,
Tory Leavello after he saw Marte, and he came out

(36:10):
to talk to him, put his arm around him, tried
to console him. They figured out who said it, and
Levello told the umpires it was him, that guy said it.
I went, okay. They threw the fan out. They threw
the fan out of the game because Lovello actually saw

(36:32):
who did it, so they threw him out of the game.
Today MLB came out and said, yeah, we support that
and we respect that decision and now he is banned
in definitely from Major League Baseball. And by the way,
this was a twenty two year old. So you start
the fan with a twenty two year old, the kid

(36:53):
got old. Kid year old? Right, So here's what where
was this again? For it? Chicago? Yeah, So here here's
what I take from it. First of all, at any age,
doing anything like that is absolutely wrong. It is wrong.
It is hurtful. We don't live in the fifties anymore,
and you have to be accountable for what you say,
and people don't really get that. So this guy twenty

(37:14):
two grew up with social media. That's a big part
of his life, and there's zero accountability when it comes
to social media.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
None.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
Say what you want, do what you want because you
are empowered to do it because you can type that's
social media. You can do whatever you want, you can
say whatever you want, and no one thinks there's any
consequences to that. I'm just speaking my mind, my first amendment, right.
So if you look at it like that, and he's
twenty two and he grew up in that world he's

(37:44):
sitting there, to him, shouting about someone's dead mother is
no different than making a wise crack on Instagram. It's
the same thing. There's no filter. He didn't have the
ability to process or separate, and in doing that, he
really hurts somebody. It was way out of bounds. And

(38:04):
another thing, Rodney, even when you played society is different today.
You know, the drunk guy goes to the game testosterone,
he's all liquored up and he starts yelling and screaming. Well,
you know those guys are drunk and they usually get
into fights. But that's not how we conduct ourselves, not
like it used to be. You have to be responsible,
you have to have some sort of compassion, and this

(38:28):
kid didn't. Not only did he get run, he's banned definitely. Yeah,
what do you think about that? Good? I think it's good.
I think he should be banned in definitely, you can't.
I get it. I understand the world we live in.
I don't need to be lectured on it. You don't
have to hit me up on ex or Twitter and

(38:49):
tell me about it. I get it. I understand the
world we live in. But somebody has to have some accountability.
There's got to be a responsibility here, and there's got
to be consequences when you cross that line. My favorite
line of yours, it's a town without a sheriff, Yeah
it is. And and there there are, you know, always

(39:10):
those those folks that sit in the basement and they
are on their computer their phone and they're clicking and
commenting on everything with no accountability. And what's also, you know,
I guess been good about the Internet that there's there's
these visilantes out there that find these people, right that
say crazy things and then they post them back out

(39:32):
on the Internet and you know, go and show it
to their employers and whoever is in their lives. And
a lot of these people have lost their jobs and
been ostracizing their community. But if you're going to do that,
you got to be prepared for the consequences. And I'm

(39:53):
good on the MLB to back this up. You know,
It's one thing that boo somebody and say, oh, you're terrible,
that was a terrible place, whatever. But when you get
personal like that, there's no there's no place for that,
especially at especially at at a Major League Baseball stadium,
inside or any arena that there's there's other people involved

(40:15):
in NBA draft is tonight. Why don't we just said
the hell of the draft. We're not having a draft.
We'll talk about that next