GROUP THERAPY: Please Make It Stop

Craig, Chris, and Raphie are reunited after a week and a half apart, only to be welcomed by the Padres getting swept out of Petco by the Orioles and losing 8 of their last 10.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello. We don't need any deep hellos today, just hello.
Come on in readings. We've got tissues. Over here, there's
a soft couch. Please have a seat. Relax, clear your mind.
It's time for group therapy. This one may feel more
like it than than others, for which the show was

(00:23):
also named. But hey, Greig, Chris and Rafie back together again.
Welcome back from gay Perry Rafee.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Oh, thank you, thank you very much. I was in
I don't know, bisexual Bordeaux, so maybe not gay Perry,
but you know, a little bit of both. It was fantastic,
It was really good. I was a little wedding for
a couple of friends of mine who a fun fact
about the wedding industry in California, it is cheaper to

(00:52):
fly to France and get married at a chateau than
it is to have a wedding in southern California. So
that's what they did.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
An keeper for the guests, definitely.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
The guest, No, it is not, but I was happy
to oblige them in my particular case. So anyway, happy
to be back, and.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
You welcome back there where you were.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
If you don't want me at your wedding, make it
happen in France. Yeah, thank you very much. I was
in mountains better than the Alps or whatever those French
people have. I was in the Sierra Mountains, just fantastic
natural splendor. Absolutely loving my vacation while staring at Game

(01:42):
Day on my phone as more and more balls got
put into play with runs while the Padres started pitchers
were we're doing their jobs.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well, I stuck around and it sucked. So here we
are together. We got a good gathering of our listeners
as well. Of course, we're recording this live in front
of our patrons on our Discord channel Padres Hotop Discord channel.
We are releasing this show out to the full feed

(02:14):
because overlapping schedules didn't allow us to put together a
main show with video component etc. Today. But I didn't
want to keep going, especially with the team in crisis
the way it is without us having something on the
main feed. So be fully warned as you come up
that this one's going to go out on the big
feed as well. But I know we've got a lot

(02:36):
of big questions in the text audience, and I'm sure
that the three of us could chat and just take
up the hour as well. Let me just start with this.
I feel a lot better about the club than I
did three hours, three and a half hours ago, when
I was sitting inside the Nachos, a restaurant that we

(03:01):
ordered from after James's shadow day at Helix, we got
to follow James around school today and then we were
sitting in the taco shop, which, by the way, delicious.
Carnelisata really on point, like really really good, but watching
just like Nachos. It's called Nachos, it's called yeah yeah.

(03:21):
It's on Park and University, Parks and University. It's like
two blocks from the school. And it was great. But
what was not great was Nester Cortes giving a three
consecutive homers and the team falling into a bleak, hopeless
black hole of which they attempted to emerge. They at

(03:43):
least didn't roll over today. They at least didn't do
Puppy Dog laid Down, which they had done multiple times
in the past week. And at least Manny Machado got
a big hit and Fernando Tatis Junior got a homer,
and of course, you know, Manny's big hit wasn't homer,
so you know, those two dudes went deep and the
Padres ain't going nowhere if those two guys don't start

(04:07):
to really get it started, not just be average, but
really get it going. So that part makes me feel better.
And I don't know if you guys got to see
or hear or engage in any way with Mike Shild's
post game today, but he, you know, and I saw

(04:28):
something that he kind of, you know, didn't put me
on blessed but said, like, you've been really really critical
of Mike Shild lately. You've been railing against him. And
one of the things that I think grows increasingly irritating
when a team is not playing well is to have
the guy in charge just kind of smirkingly tell you
that everything's fine, you know, and that everything's okay, and

(04:50):
you're you're the problem. You're the problem for bringing it up.
And today Mike Shild did not do that. I thought
he was his most honest problem in his entirety of
his Padres tenure, because he's always had that glaze on
everything that he says, either glazeer irritability or kind of both.

(05:11):
But he acknowledged the team playing poorly. He definitely spoke
to the fact that the team is not just giving
up too many home runs as starting pitchers, but also
like the bad walks, the hit by pitches preceding home runs,
that the team has had two leads in the fifth
in the last ten days. And he said, I need

(05:31):
to be better, which can can be completely a nonsense
statement or it can be something that he takes seriously,
but he said it. He said, I need to be better.
There's responsibility here with me. And he ended it by,
at least the part that they showed on the postgame show,
he ended it by noting, without exactly saying it in

(05:55):
these words, noting that these were the worst ten games
he's had as manager. The Podreys that this is the
worst they've played in in ten games. That you know,
he said, you know, every once in a while, you
get games like we've played, because he said, there's no
there's been no rhythm. We haven't played with the rhythm
that we normally play with. We haven't had that successful rhythm.

(06:17):
And sometimes you get that game and there's nothing you
can do about it, and sometimes you even get them
back to back. But this has been ten games. And
he goes, and I'm here to say, and he said
it with a little smile. He didn't say it like Patton,
you know, to the troops, but he said, I'm here
to say that that ends now, it's done over. And

(06:38):
I'm like, okay, you took responsibility, you spoke about your
team honestly, and you put your neck on the line
because you said it ends today, and that means we're
going to go to Colorado and win on Friday and
went on Saturday and hopefully went on Sunday and get
this team on a roll, and that this team is
going to go on a role. And that's literally all

(07:01):
I care about now, guys, And obviously I want to
hear from from both of you these This poor audience
has heard me blather on for a week straight. But
that's all that matters to me is this team finding
its form. I don't care whether they finish second, third, fourth, fifth,
sixth in the playoff bracket. I prefer it not be sixth.
But all that really matters is then finding their form.

(07:23):
If they don't find their form, they can finish anywhere
and they will lose in the first round. They need
to find their form and they need to do it.
And I liked the honesty of speaking to the fact
that the form has been poor.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
Yeah, and he made the assertion that the form was
going to get better.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
I'm sorry, I guess I said it stops. Yeah, he
said it stops today. He said it stops now that
they're playing, you know, the rhythmless baseball that we've seen
them play. So we'll see if the beat comes back
on Friday.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
We will, we will. And you know, I think if
there were any team to go up against where you
could say it ends now, you know, it's against the Rockies,
and one would hope that it ends now. And we've
been texting the three of us a little bit the
last few days, and I think what we were kind
of taking away from last night, And correct me if

(08:16):
I'm paraphrasing either of you incorrectly, but just like, as
long as they get hot by the end of the season,
it doesn't really matter. Like the division stuff pisses me off,
just because I've been watching Padres baseball for my you know,
my whole life, and they've only managed to win the

(08:37):
division a couple of times since I've been alive, and
I would really like to see them do it again.
And I would also really like to see them play
home baseball playoff games, because I think that that is
very tightly compacted into their win condition. It's very intertwined
for them both as a successful organization who needs to

(09:00):
in Kerr revenue, which is supposed to prop up this
machine that is spinning and only getting more expensive as
the years go on, and as a baseball team which
has like a you know, six sixty something win percentage
at home versus not that on the road. So I
think that those things are very important. I also think

(09:21):
that we are in danger of falling into traps that
this team has fallen into in past seasons that haven't
necessarily gone well. And Craig, I will let you speak
a little bit to that if you want to later
on in the show. But I wanted to put a
theory forward for you guys, since it's been some time

(09:44):
since we've been all together, and theory we're talking.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
We're talking, right, Do I need aluminum foil or not?

Speaker 2 (09:54):
You don't need aluminum foil. You need a stratumatic machine.
Does it call it a machine.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Craig, No, it's a decade cards car, all right. Yeah.
I guess it's a computer program too, so that's the
type of machine. Yeah, I mean really is it the.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Computer that wrote they wrote the program on it's a device.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
So I'll ask you guys this, how would you say
this team is built to win? What would you say
the strength of this team? What is the win condition
for the twenty twenty five Padres? Like, how are they lead?

Speaker 1 (10:31):
They're supposed to get a lead, They're supposed to protect
it with the best bullpen in baseball. They're supposed to
play tight defense, uh and be an opportunistic team that hits,
gaped a gap and runs the base as well.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Okay, couldn't have said it better myself. That is exactly
how the Padres are meant are meant to be built.
They haven't been able to do that in these last
ten games. And they haven't been able to do that
why because they're starting pitching is putting them behind every
every time, and they're playing behind every time. And what
the Padres do have is a super pen, as you said,
and and you know, obviously we haven't gotten to speak

(11:05):
since Jason Adam went down, and that was a massive
blow to the team and UH to the organization and
their future not just this year but next year. Because
it's probably likely that Jason Adam will be pitching the
majority of next year, uh, if he pitches at all.
But the Padres still have four components that were back
to four horsemen. Our our five finger One of our

(11:26):
fingers has been chopped off, lopped off in uh some
sort of terrible bar saloon game, and now.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
We're like Simpsons, it's four fingers.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
I would say that if you were playing stratamac, if
you were playing OOTP and you were and I were
Mike Schult and I were managing the Padres, what I
would do every every game, if it were possible, is
I would have each of our four horsemen face the two,
three four hitters of every team that they're facing, and

(11:59):
just fill in the gaps in between. Because they are
playing really bad teams the next two weeks, awful teams,
atrocious teams one could even say in the Rockies, or
they're playing seven times the next two weeks, and the
characteristic that every bad baseball team has in common is
that they really probably only have two maybe three good

(12:21):
hitters and everyone else is dogshit. And so I would say,
just put your best pitchers against each of those guys
every time through the order, and then fill in the
gaps and figure it out the rest of the time,
because right now we have one, maybe two starting pitchers
who you would feel safe putting into the game. And

(12:41):
I'm kind of like, this team is built not to
have starting pitchers right now. They're built and bal to
have a bullpen. I know this will never happen. I
know it's impossible, but I don't know, like how else
this team is going to win games if they're not
going to have more than two starting pitchers who are
capable of throwing more than four innings. That's all.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Rice, would you like to respond, I've got an answer
to I.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
I feel like, well, first of all, our condition to
make the playoffs has gone below ninety seven percent for
the first time in a few weeks. It is now
down to ninety six point eight. Yeah, And I feel
like I have seen a lot of very reactionary, hyperbolic

(13:36):
opinions on Padre's internet with in regards to their impending collapse,
which I think is a little overdone. And I would
also not want the club to get too reactionary in
its tactics because, like we have noted, they just lost
a finger. They're back down to being pony boys and

(14:00):
overworking guys, using them in ways they're not accustomed to,
like I would be worried about it. The fact of
the matter is the starting pitching has to do better,
and it has been better for nearly the entire season.
Reuben Neebla needs to do his job. He needs to
live up to his reputation, to the esteem the Padres
fan base has given him, and you know the esteem

(14:23):
he has within the organization. And they have to play
better guys like because I don't want to see them
overworking the bullpen. The Detroit Tigers last year unleashed pitching
chaos and it worked for them. And if we want
to do that, as we get a little bit closer,
like I'm game like, let's win games, however we can.
Let's let's skal all monkey style on Major League Baseball.

(14:44):
But going into Colorado, I don't want to see the
chaos of that place. Get to Mason Miller and have
him give up three bombs and then all of a
sudden decide his stuff needs to be worked on, Like
I want the starting pitchers to pitch better, God damn it.
And if roster resource is right, which coin flip and

(15:06):
Michael King's coming back I feel like that's gonna solve
a lot of our problems, But it all comes down
to the pitching guys. Like it's I've tried to get
perspective on just how bad they've been, and it's really
hard to do using the tools I have at my disposal,
because I can't isolate it to starting pitching. The relief pitching,

(15:29):
while back down to terrestrial levels hasn't been hasn't been
bad by any means, and I feel like they've been
keeping the team er at bay. But I've seen a
lot of comparisons to twenty twenty one lately, like that's
starting to become a bub buzzword. The trauma of that

(15:52):
collapse is starting to get into us and folks, they
had like five or six or six or eight different
eight game stretches that year that were all worse than
the eight game stretch that they've undergone this past week.
And the only other thing that I would note, I'll

(16:14):
get to a.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Little bit later.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
I don't want to. I don't want to take up
a ton of the time, but like, I feel like
this team did what they did against the Dodgers, which
is kind of adopted a similar attitude of the fan base,
Like against the Dodgers, the fan base was like, these
are incredibly important games. We gotta win them, we gotta
win them. And so they they pressed and it didn't work,

(16:38):
and the past ten days whatever, they adopted the attitude
of the fan base, which was like, Oh, this is
the greasy part of the schedule. This is where we're
gonna stock up for the winner on calories and bank
some wins and we you know, we barely even have
to show up. And then they didn't. And you know,
these teams, while not good team teams are filled with

(17:02):
players who are playing for themselves and they're playing for
contracts and they're playing for roster spots next year. And
the team like like a bad judoist judo judoman, judo.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
Judan. What do we call people who do judo? Ju
ju doer? Ju do wait? I don't want. I don't
think ju doer is right. I think that's I think
that's an internet kink.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
I'm something of myself.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
A judo practitioner, like a bad judo practitioner.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
God, they've been pushed.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Off balance and uh, you know, good on Mike Shilt.
Like we've talked in the past about you know, Bob
Melvin needing to fire his bullet, you know, the manager
only getting so many Like damn it, Mike, I hope,
I hope the chamber is empty after that sweep.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
I first, first things First, best relievers facing the two, three,
four every time through the order other than the first
time through. I mean, I get it, I completely get it.
That's the playoff formula. You just can't do it all month.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
You can't do it, but you can.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, but you can do it in the playoffs. And
they absolutely should do that. If this team makes the playoffs,
which I still think they will, I'm gonna say this
again before I say the next thing I say. All
that really matters is the form for this team. The
Potters have banked enough wins to make the playoffs. They
can do it just by being mediocre but finding their form. Okay,

(18:51):
if they can get back Michael King. If they can,
which I understand based on what I've seen in our discord.
He had a uh rehab appearance today, which puts him
online for Cincinnati for home against Cincinnati, for his return
to the rotation, if he can give four starts, if
he can be a part of the playoff solution, so

(19:12):
be it. If Darbish can find a form of some
sort that's not home run Pez dispenser with a wacky
side arm delivery, so be it. That's these are things
we can ride with, okay. And if this team finds
its form, unless it's the sixth seed facing LA in
a series in Dodger Stadium two out of three, I

(19:35):
feel like they've got an ability to still compete in
this playoff. And I'm not going to completely eclipse the
idea that this team could go to the World Series
or win the World Series. All those things are still
theoretically in play as they're playing right now. It doesn't
matter where they'll finish, because they'll just lose out. It
doesn't matter. It does not matter. So you either find

(19:58):
your form or whatever you're you know, whether it's an
O two in Chicago and two in La whatever, or
you lose entirely because you go one and eight the
next nine days and the Giants go eight and one,
and all of a sudden, just like twenty twenty one,
that unthinkable thing is happening and the Cardinals are rising
in the standings while you're falling. You know, guess who

(20:20):
was by the way taking advantage of that. In twenty
twenty one, Mike shild he was the guy who won
seventeen in a row while the Padres collapsed, and three
of those were against San Diego.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Famously, that's when Manny and Tatis got in their fight
in the dugout.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes in Saint Louis. In Saint Louis, Okay, with all
of that said, and with folks putting up their hands,
and we can't wait to get get into this as well,
there are twenty twenty one parallels right now because it's
directly to the starting pitching that year. The Padres were

(20:57):
rolling out and injured Ryotweathers, Reese Kinnear, Jake Arietta, Vince Velasquez. Yeah, yeah,
and I think it was Musgrove was the fifth. I
think it was Muskrove. Maybe it was Starfish. It might
have been Darbish. I just saw Ace put him through
that hurt. No, that's right, so then it was it

(21:18):
was it was probably Muskrat then. Right now, Nestor Cortes
Jake Arietta, handshake me. Okay, they they are duplicating one
another's performance. Right now. Nestor Cortez is doing exactly what

(21:39):
Jake Arietta did in twenty twenty one, which has put
his team in a three nothing, four nothing hole right away,
where the bad vibes continued. And you know, every once
in a while he would throw four and two thirds
innings with two earned runs.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
You know, And by the way, you could look it up,
the way Cease is pitching and Vincent fucking Velasquez.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Are pretty damn similar. Three to four walks, three four innings,
get you know, get punked three four runs and get
pushed out of there. Reese kinnear, Ryan Weathers on a
bad ankle, and you darvish the way he's going right now,

(22:27):
pretty much the same picture, okay. And and what made
twenty twenty one a collapse was that every single night,
the starting pitching put them in a hole, and the
team's response was to fight one another, to play badly,
to actually get worse, to like weaken every time that

(22:48):
they fell in a hole. We've seen that the last
ten days. We've seen it. That's why I was happy
seeing them. We haven't seen them no, not not no, no,
not fighting, but seeing their level of play diminish as
they fall behind over and over. And it's been recognized
Cornowards said yesterday, this is the worst we've played. Shilt

(23:12):
said it today. So that's what it's not. To find
your form.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
It's an it's an eight game sample, it's a ten
game sample. Or even if you want to go back
to the Padres hot to mug announcement, it's a nineteen
game sample. It's not. And when you compare it to
the you know, let's just go for let's go a
straight fifteen games. The Padres have no fifteen game stretch

(23:45):
where they had an e RA over six. And in
twenty twenty one they had an entire month of it,
basically from September to the end of it, and in August.

Speaker 1 (23:58):
This is September, and in.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
August they had ten game stretches. It was more prolonged
like it was. It was two months of what we
have seen in ten games. That's the only reason why
I don't like the comparison is just because you know,
they had three and twelve stretches. They had four and

(24:21):
eleven stretches in there. I'm not I understand going back
there because it was a traumatic event and I feel
like these guys are better. I don't think Nestportez is
Jake Arieta, he's what twelve years younger. He's probably also
not going to be on the team much longer. And

(24:42):
they have other guys behind them that that could Unlike
in that year where they had absolutely nothing like they
still got Jpcars and Randy Vasquez who can come up
and maybe stop this bleeding. My guy, Randy Vasquez standing
behind Cavalry a man on his horse.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
I just I feel like this was a shitty, shitty,
shitty stretch from the starting pitching, the worst of the season,
and adjustments need to be made, and like the club
has to play better.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
I also want to say what's different between now and
twenty twenty one is that in twenty twenty one, the
Dodgers and the Giants won one hundred and six and
one hundred and seven games respectively, and the Dodgers in
twenty twenty five are not only there are three games
as we speak right now ahead of the Padres, but
they are now nine outs away from losing to the Pirates,

(25:41):
depending on how the rest of that game goes. I
no know, Craig, Craig, because if if this result holds,
they'll be down to the Dodgers will have a two
and a half game lead over the Padres race and
the Dodgers' next series. Over the course of the next
you know, uh, you know, few weeks they're playing the Orioles,

(26:02):
the Rockies, and then they go Giants, Phillies, Giants, d Backs, Mariners,
which are not cupcake games. And the Padres have Rockies, Reds, Rockies,
the imploding New York Mets, White Sox.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
They're about to pass in the standings Brewers. The Mets
are about to pass us in the standings. One Sodas
didn't go homer every day?

Speaker 2 (26:26):
I thought Ryan Helsing, he just blew up again today?

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Did he not? They? Did they lose today? They're ten
games over? Did they lose today? I don't know. They
literally Sota is hitting a homer every day they've been
were twelve games over in their ten games over, they're
a game behind us.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
Guys, there's like five teams as good of us us
and like I I like the Mets. The Brewers fuck
it like uh not Cincinnati, They're not going to go anywhere,
but the Phillies, like there are good teams. The Padres
need to play better. Like my whole thing this entire
time is who cares about how strong the schedule is.
The team needs to play.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's okay, And again, like I'm starting to like with
this in my head. So I am not here trying
to say that we are. I'm on the twenty twenty
one run. Okay, That's not my goal is to present
that argument. It is, however, my duty to note that

(27:24):
elements of twenty twenty one exist. And when you say, yeah,
there was a ten game run and then there was
a terrible month, well guess what, we just did the
ten game run and here comes the month septeen.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
These guys are better. There's no Natives one, there's no
there's no Michael King coming back. Joe Muster twenty one wasn't.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
Ever seen year.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
There's the Blake's stay Blakes.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Now, this team is better than twenty twenty one's team.
We agree. However, twenty twenty one one team was seventeen
games over five hundred, and then they went twelve and
thirty four, and this team was eighteen games over five hundred. Okay,
so we were equally gobsmacked at this time in twenty

(28:12):
twenty one. We were equally unwilling to imagine a world
where it would happen at this time, and two weeks
later it looked like a goddamn reality.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
So every season since we have been all too willing
to accept that we're standing on the precipice, on the
precipice of doom.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
I do not think we are necessarily on the precipice
of doom. I will restate everything remains in play. But
the only thing that matters is this team figuring out
their successful rhythm to win again. And that's it we
Everything else is semantics. Everything else is semantics. It's quibbling

(28:56):
over margins. It's well, it's actually this, No, it's that,
it's one and a half. No, it's two and a fifth. No,
it doesn't matter. All that matters is this team figuring
out how to play well again. If they don't, then
wherever the dye lands, it ain't fucking landing on championship,
and it ain't landing on winning a tie, you know,
on winning the Pennant. If they find their form, they

(29:19):
can do it. If they find their form immediately and
win like the next eight games. I mean like literally,
go to Colorado and sweep. Go come home to Cincinnati,
keep it rolling, go six straight. Now you've got the
Rockies do a Shilt. If they go nine and one
in their next ten games, they go eight and two

(29:40):
in their next ten games and erase what they just did,
then yeah, they could win the division. They could. But
the second that we got too close to the sun rafee.
The second that we started as a franchise going like,
oh well, we won, and the Dodgers did this and
the Cubs did that, they started not just losing but
playing horribly. And they've played horribly for the last two weeks.

(30:07):
So that's why all the rest of it, to me
is in the background. The team's playing bad. If they
don't start playing good, it doesn't matter if you face
the Rocky seven times, because you go three and four,
you know, along the way, and then everyone's freaking the
fuck out. I'm gonna freak out now before it happens

(30:30):
and say this is the time. And I think that's
what Mike said today. I think Shilt said now's the time,
and then I'm putting it on him. He says this
team's gonna turn around. He says he needs to be better.
I think he's a good manager who has gotten into
some ruts this year, and I hope he uses this

(30:51):
day off to recognize a couple of the ruts that
he's in and to do his part as well to
get this team turned around. And that is not simply
a Luisa Rise comment, by the way, either. That's that's
in general. Yeah, what are you gonna do? Not playing
the position? But yeah, he got three hits in a game,

(31:12):
he got a homeer in a game. You're not gonna
bench a player who's doing that, But you are benching
a player who has been doing that getting two doubles
a day in o'haran or sheets when you agree to
keep playing. When you agree to keep playing a Rise
and Merrill who is playing terribly and he's just back now,
he's just turned back up, So it's unfair.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
I really wanted to do a little bit of research
before Jesse got home, and I didn't. But guys, it
does feel like Jackson whenever he comes off of injury,
because he gets put back in the lineup immediately because
the team needs him so bad with you know, very
little rehabbing, it does feel like he needs a ramp up.
And I have no statistical basis of which to think that.

(31:58):
It's just what it seems like, right.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
Your eye test nails it. Your eye test nails it.
I've seen the same thing. And you know, honestly, the
two weeks in August before he went down again was
the second best he had played all year since in May, June,
and July. Other than being injured, Jackson Merrill has generally
been an ineffective player. And I really am I'm tired
of us picking on Luisa Rise over and over again.

(32:22):
Luis rises who he is. Next year, He's going to
be out of our lives in all likelihood. Manny Minchato
went through August playing horribly, horribly the whole year, the
whole month, okay, And Jackson Merrill has been a shadow
of himself. He's he swung through in the eighth inning
three pitches that last year he drilled to left field,

(32:45):
like drilled to left field, and he pulls off those
pitches and misses them every single time. Now, I've seen
more swing and miss in Jackson's game in the last
two months than I had ever seen in it before.
And and honestly, you know, every time you bring up Jackson,
it's a bad thing because it's like everyone loves Jackson.
I love Jackson, but if our best lineup in the
outfield is sheets Loreano Tatist, then that's who we need

(33:06):
to play down the stretch. And I know they're not
going to do that, but it's.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
Not like you just noted he was fantastic in August.
Once you know his career, he.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Had a seven ish ops. He was not fantastic. He
was just good. He's only been fantastic in April, and
then he was bad, injured, bad, pretty good and hurt.
And since he's come back, no.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
Hits, well yeah, two games, yeah, two games, And then
that's what I'm saying, Like two games no hits, Like
that's gonna happen as a major league player, Like this
is a dude who will be receiving MVP votes for
most years of his career and should be in the
lineup all the time. I don't know, Hey, maybe he

(33:53):
can play shortstop, Like maybe there's a short disastrous move
that would be the most disastrous, be fucking awesome to me.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
I think you're absolutely right, Chris, Like I think you're
absolutely right that he's someone who needs a ramp up.
And I also think he's someone who as he's what
twenty two do I about? Right, He's twenty two years old.
Like everything that we've heard about him is that like
when he's in a bad way, he just like tries
harder and tries harder and tries harder. And I think,
actually Tatis is a good comp for this, because I

(34:24):
think that that's something we saw with Fernando early on
in his career, and we've seen Fernando adapt and do
a completely different player. Also, I think we're thirty minutes
in the show and we should we haven't knowledged that
that Mason Miller threw a fucking immaculate inning today, and
I just want to say, I just want to acknowledge
that because I'm sure there are people that are upset,
but like Bason Miller threw an immaculate inning and like

(34:44):
that's you can't, you really can't. I mean, like you
have to be fucking nasty. But it also so much
of it is still luck. But it's just it's cool.
It's more rare than a no hitter, Like that's that's
pretty cool. But uh, I just going back to Jack, like,
I just think that as his career goes on and
as time goes on, he will mature and he will

(35:07):
not be just trying so hard, trying so hard, trying
so hard all the time, and he'll learn to be
a little bit more patient with himself. I think kind
of like what you guys were saying earlier of you know,
let's stop blaming Luisa Rise when there's other people necessarily
that you know, aren't stepping up in the lineup. The
Padres have hit one hundred and twenty one home runs

(35:30):
this year, one hundred and twenty one home runs.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
All we need is is fifty nine all in September.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Fifty nine home runs this month, Well.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
We can get like twelve this weekend.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
So we might be able to get twelve this weekend.
That that is true, Just really carve into that number.
But I'm looking. So the Padres are twenty ninth right
now in Major League Baseball with one hundred and twenty
one home runs, and the next team in playoff position
is Milwaukee with one hundred and fifty one in nineteenth place.

(36:06):
So like all of the quibbling about who's hot, who's
not and all that stuff, I almost feel like that
is like losing the forest for the trees, which is
that like this team is having to figure out a
way to win without hitting home runs. And without starting
pitchers going more than four innings, and.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
That's really hard to do.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
And as long as both of those things are true,
they're not gonna win games. Do I think that both
of those things will be true forever for the rest
of the year. Probably not. My guess is they probably
figure out some ways for some starters to throw more
than four innings. But until both of those things are true,
you know, we can just fight all we want, but
they're not gonna win.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
Right, No, that's exactly right. And the only thing is
that once we get into the we structurally don't have
enough homers. That just leads us back to the Arise
Briar patch. Even though we did hit his seventh home run,
which means he's only two behind Meryl, So like, holy crap,
let's bring up a big patron MTL. Ryan. Obviously, the
three of us haven't even got to talk to each other,

(37:06):
like you barely even text for a week, so we
have a great eagerness to chat to one another. But
it is group therapy. And here's MTL. Ryan. What's going on? Bro?

Speaker 5 (37:18):
Hey, y'all, I'm not sure if you can hear me
super well, this is my first time calling from.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
The road sounds good, do really well.

Speaker 5 (37:29):
Great, you know, greetings from the Santa No Frey Tatas
because that's where I'm at. But yeah, you know, I
was just thinking about how the fan base has a
lot of PTSD. You know, there's a little bit of
schilt derangement syndrome with him. He's somehow pulling all the
strings to destroy the club from.

Speaker 6 (37:50):
Within, and.

Speaker 7 (37:52):
You know, YadA YadA.

Speaker 6 (37:53):
But like, if there's anybody who gets it, it's probably
the Group Dog because you know, you gotta look down
the stretch and I really think what's gonna pull us
together as a fan base are the final two Bobblehead
Days of the year, celebrating twenty twenty five fan favorites Dylan.

Speaker 7 (38:13):
Cse and Louisa Eyes. So you know, all the credit
to Group Dog for uh.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Yes, for bringing us, bringing us together as a community. Hey,
don't forget Los Takanas and Candalita coming your way, I
believe September twenty eighth. So the vibes are you know,
the Group Dog, Vibe manufacturing company, working grinding theme game.
Get your theme theme Chicken, don't screw up again, JJ,

(38:38):
get your theme game ticket. Okay, get that theme game
ticket and do it at padres dot com. Sorry, was
there anything else today? No?

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Thank you mto Ryan for a drink car. As always,
we also have something witty standing their patience.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Yes, Elson, you're with the what's happening, I'll go with
the gentlemen.

Speaker 8 (39:02):
I come as an evil person. I'm gonna be a sure.
Hopefully at least it's entertaining.

Speaker 9 (39:11):
Uh So, Okay, Craig, you I appreciated I didn't get
to he Shilt's press conference, but I appreciated that you said, like,
he's putting his money where his mouth is. But you
were also the dude that got us all on board
with Shilt two years ago, before he was even hired.
You were like, man, maybe this guy, maybe this guy,

(39:33):
and then we all got on board.

Speaker 8 (39:35):
And then you've been shitting on him for the.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
Past month my thought.

Speaker 9 (39:39):
And now you're saying, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
he's putting his money where his mouth is.

Speaker 8 (39:46):
Guys, maybe we're the problem.

Speaker 9 (39:49):
We're the ones that wanted Maldonado off this lineup, no
matter what. Well, we got him off the lineup, and
we lost Berger. And I'm sure as hell would have
liked Burger to pitch to. You know, it is our
day to day reactions. It seems to me that is pausing.

Speaker 8 (40:09):
Aj Preller to make these crazy decisions. We're the one,
We're the guy controlling, uh, the the puppet. We're the
puppeteer here. We are the ones moving the strings on
aj Preller, and then he makes.

Speaker 9 (40:25):
These crazy moves and then we've suffered the consequences, which
is we have a lack of starting pitching now and
it sucks. And you know what, a dead nine in
the order is better than a dead starter.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
Oh my lord, something wait and.

Speaker 9 (40:45):
On top of that, you guys have just been hitting.
This arises, the problem arises, the problem arise.

Speaker 8 (40:49):
Of the problem.

Speaker 9 (40:51):
Well, it's like, well, where's the accountability for Manny and
Toddy too?

Speaker 8 (40:56):
Man Manny's got like a two to eighty seven. Oh yes,
the last month.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
They're not leaving the lineup though, Like there's there's things
you can change and there's things you cannot change.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
He here's the thing, there's rhythm.

Speaker 8 (41:12):
What he hit on today right was like we are
out of rhythm. Well what is our rhythm?

Speaker 9 (41:17):
Are we a contact oriented team or are we going
for what Rafie has been shooting?

Speaker 8 (41:24):
For since pre day one. We have to hit one
hundred and eighty home runs like.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
We have to home runs.

Speaker 9 (41:32):
And and our discord, our community hasn't chosen a path
for the padres.

Speaker 8 (41:38):
I think this is on us, fellas. We need to
choose a path.

Speaker 9 (41:41):
What is our way to the playoffs? Y'all tell me
what is our way? Starting now? A couple of minutes ago,
we can't. We don't have starters that go five innings,
we don't have home run hitters.

Speaker 8 (41:55):
So given the facts we have, what do we need
to do?

Speaker 3 (42:02):
What we need to do is have better starting pitching
and something with you. That was an amazing call. Uh.
Nineteen games ago, in the midst of a winning streak,
in the midst of this team doing really well, this
podcast released a mug that said baseball is stupid and
no one should watch now. Really was a decision that

(42:26):
was a decision made by this podcast.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
You wanted to kill a moron with fire?

Speaker 3 (42:32):
Oh you you yeah? My positivity, my bloomerism wanted to
release keep Calm and more hone shirt that we will
be releasing this week as a trial, a trial versus dumerism.

(42:54):
This is hope.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
The shirt is keep calm and more. I you're.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
I beg this fan base to embrace the mantra, to
reject the cynicism of the mug that says baseball is stupid,
that we released in the middle of a winning streak,
and embrace the faith and the zen aspect that comes

(43:26):
with our fantastic, young long time padre who is having
a career season.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Hang on, let me, let me just are you fucking
kidding me?

Speaker 3 (43:42):
Nope, I have put him in the discord, had to do.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
The Jordan the Stallion right there, throw the glasses. Look,
that's a really bad idea. But let's just uh, let's
just continue moving forward. More.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
No, this is happening. It is going to be on
our store by the end of this week. As a trial.
Something do you say if.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
The trial fails? What happens if the trial fails?

Speaker 3 (44:12):
I will take full responsibility.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
What is that?

Speaker 3 (44:17):
I will never release a shirt again.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
What I don't know? I'm bringing up I'm bringing up Eddie,
Bring up Eddie, Please, Eddie, Eddie? My man, what do
you have to say?

Speaker 10 (44:35):
We're still got to keep rea shirt until one worse,
at least Calf, keep Calf.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
I've ever heard of my.

Speaker 11 (44:50):
Life Okay, get some of the fans not doing yah yeah, oh,
guests starting pitching. That's an easy topic to talk about.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
But honestly, I think.

Speaker 10 (45:15):
Has been really lately.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
And you I.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
Think you, oh boy, we've got back there.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
Uh better, Sorry, buddy, Uh let's do a reconnect on
this one. Uh we we caught like eleven percent of
what you said, all right, and it was agreed it was.
It was tough going trying to figure out what that was.
But uh oh that he.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
Has a cadence to his voice that is, you know,
very paced.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Yeah, yeah, what was he saying? It's the defense. Yeah,
the defense has been bad. That's the team's been playing horribly.
They have not been playing well and losing. They've not
been tip your cap tough luck. They've been falling behind
and not coming back. They've been getting to a point
where they're behind and at a stress moment, and just

(46:19):
like today when that stress moment went over the wall
and then two balls after it immediately went over the wall.
You know, the other day it was cronin Worth making
an error that could turn yeah, could have turned a
double play to end it. Instead it winds up being
a five run inning. Croninworth in another error the other
day that led to another run. You know, it's been
these little sloppy moments. The team's played sloppy. The at

(46:42):
bats have been poor, you know, honestly, And that's why
I brought it up before, when I was mad, like
if Roco ball Deli doesn't punt that Saturday game straight punt.
One of the least competitive managerial decisions I've seen in
my life to bring back Nick Abel for his second
inning of relief after he'd thrown forty innings in allowed

(47:03):
like seven base runners. If not for that, we're sitting
on a seven game losing streak right now. So the
team has been That was a decision by a manager
to give another team a win, I mean a literal decision.
So the team's playing bad and there's no sugarcoating it,

(47:26):
but there's also no denying that there's the ability to
play better. The team can play better, you know. To
just get back to a couple of the things from
something witty, Why is Mike Shilt more in the microscope now?
Because the team is more in the microscope now because

(47:47):
they have He has more tools in his cabinet today
than he did two months ago. So today the decisions
he makes matters more. To Rayfie's point, When you're fifty
nine homers shy and you've got a guy who could
hit twenty five homers on your team, and you've got
a guy who can hit maybe eight, and you keep

(48:10):
playing the guy with maybe eight over the guy with
twenty five, you're not directly addressing the issue that is
directly affecting the team. So you're gonna get talked about more.
When you sacrifice bunt guys from first to second base
in the first inning, you're gonna get talked about because
you're you're doing a Dodo play.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
You know that we're in the in the fifth ending,
that Monday decision by Luis arrives to play for the
tie in the fifth ending as opposed to.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Dodo play Dodo play, Yeah, it's a Dodo play. So
in these moments, Mike Shilt needs to be directly discussed
because these decisions are having game impact. I still think
he's a better manager than Jase Tinkler. I'd still rather
have him than Bob Melvin. If you swapped out Shilt

(48:56):
for Melvin today, I wouldn't feel better about the team's
chance to go on a run and to win in
the playoffs. So it's I do think he's better than
Andy Green, you know. And I think he respects his
clubhouse respects him more than they respected Andy Green. So
it's not like you can critique a guy without saying

(49:19):
he needs to lose his job. You just want him
to do better, you know. And I'd like Mike to
do better at the moment when he's in the crosshairs.
But having said that, I just want to echo something
Eggy just put in the chat and I wrote earlier
to respond to something when he wrote about this in
the discord as well. I think Mike Schild is borderline

(49:42):
excellent at managing the bullpen. I think, honestly, yeah, I
think he basically makes no mistakes running the bullpen. Almost
never do I disagree with a decision he makes, even
when it comes to when to pull the starting pitcher.
I think he's borderline perfect, like excellent at what he

(50:03):
does there, lineup construction, bunting. These are the things he's
adopted from Tony LaRusso over the years that he has
not given up, you know, And I'd like but when
he says he's going to be better and the team's
rhythm's going to change. I wonder if he's going to
use this in the off day as an opportunity to
exert influence. And I'm really excited to see what it'll be.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Yeah, I don't know, we have a good God.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
I just want to say, like, there are players in
the clubhouse who disagree with Mike Schildt on some of
these things, like and who knows what those guys want
done differently, but they have opinions about everything as well,
and with what he said today, like I don't know,
maybe things will change, but yes, go ahead, ray Fie Gustavo.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Yeah, Well, I was just gonna ask as a thought experiment,
because we're saying, well, Melvin would be bad at managing
the bullpenalties better than Andy Green? Is there anyone out there?
Is there any active major league manager who you think
you would rather have managing the Padridge right now than
Mike Schilt Just as a thought experiment.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
I'm suppose, because I'm a caller into into what's his
name show.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
I'll tell you that boat back in the day, Boachie
sure was a heck of a manager.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
Boachie, anyone else?

Speaker 12 (51:22):
A J.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Hinch? Yeah, I think is pretty damn good. He's a
really good manager. Pat Murph, No, that's hilarious. That's hilarious.
I think they're pretty cool. I actually do too.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
Yeah, I think they're very similar dudes, Cora, but with
Murphy is a really good manager.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Skip Schumacher might be a guy I would think about.
You know, uh, he's In other words, I don't know
that Mike shilt is the third best manager in baseball,
but he's a guy that's done really well hereah, you know,
and his teams have succeeded, and I'm certainly not Sai

(52:06):
And listen, I have one, literally one scenario that you
will hear me calling for Mike Schiltz's head at the
end of the year. I guess he could do something
truly stupid in the playoffs, so I'll reserve that card.
But it's only a twenty one. If this team pulls
a twenty one, which I do not hope or dream

(52:27):
or predict, Okay, but if they did continuing thought experiments,
AJ would be fired and so would Mike shilt Like
that would happen if the team completely went out of
the playoffs altogether. Both those guys would lose their jobs.
And I wouldn't be here to advocate for it. But
something that the team literally described as a once in

(52:49):
a generation thing would have happened two times in four years,
five years, two times in five years. So it would
be pretty hard to get away from that, from trading
away your whole system and then bailing out of the playoffs.
But they're not gonna be short of that. Short of that, Okay, like,

(53:09):
that's that's garb. You know, that's the worst, worst, worst, worst,
worst case scenario. Short of that, I think we're gonna
be loaded for bear ready to go in twenty six
if we don't finish anything good in twenty five.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Yeah, and uh, and we should bring your stop up.
But I should just say yeah, I mean, if this
team fires aj Preller, like we're fucked, because they're going
to bring in a general manager who's just gonna be
like cost control. Uh, there's gonna be talks of a
pivot and that needs to be built in whatever way.
So we are pray to god we make the playoffs
and aj Preller continues because again, like we said on

(53:42):
the show multiple times, he's built a machine and he's
the only one who fucking knows how.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
To offer you better or for a yes, sir, yes, sir,
absolutely send him now. Yeah, the Mark Loretta era, you know,
and I love Mark is a human being, but the Mark,
the Mark Loretta era, is going to be a financial
restraint and seventy five win seasons, that's what it's all
gonna be about. And we're gonna get there eventually. We're
gonna get there eventually, but I want that to be

(54:08):
a like twenty thirty one. So here's Gustavo.

Speaker 13 (54:13):
Hey, guys, can you hear me?

Speaker 1 (54:15):
Mhm yes, all.

Speaker 13 (54:17):
Right, well first time, long time guys. I just wanna
say hi, bring back the positive vibes to the chat.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
Gaty to hear your boys, Gustavo. Thanks man.

Speaker 13 (54:28):
Yeah, well, I was just thinking about the shild point
because that's two years. I just think Mike Shield is
a classic National League manager through and through, just bunting
guys over, even with the DH. I think that you said,
Craig like, he's up just straight larusa pupil. So we

(54:49):
just gotta live with that, the good and the bad.
Like however it comes out, we just gotta live with
that and make our peace with that. I think the
bunts last year were a great addition to the club
from the twenty three version of the club, and I
think he failed, especially with Profar and Kim, who were
excellent bunting over guys and getting hits with that. But
I think he failed to adjust the bunting from last

(55:12):
year to this year, which I don't know. I mean,
it's too late to adjust to that by now, but
maybe for next year or whatnot. But what I find,
what I think is most interesting for us, especially this
last month of the season and hopefully get into the playoffs,
if Mike will employ the corningworth at short a rise

(55:33):
at second starting on Friday, because if there's one place
to do it is in I think it's in Colorado.
For the offensively, I don't think he will. I think
he'll stick with the Glisses as short and just play
it as is. But that would allow you to play
everyone in your lineups, as most of the chat will want.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
But I don't know.

Speaker 13 (55:52):
I mean, we'll see what he does, because he might
be getting desperate enough to switch it up. And I
hope he's the guy and hope he stays here for
a long time, but I don't know. We'll see.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
Appreciate you Guestavo. You know, honestly, guys, She'll talked to
this yesterday, Yes, because because he made this move like
in the seventh inning, and then he was asked about it,
and he said, straight up, this is only something we're
going to do if we're chasing a game late in
a game. We're not going to do it otherwise, and

(56:26):
that is the correct decision.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
Guys, Jake Cronenworth and Luisa Rise under a full season
of each being at second base and shortstop, respectively, would
be negative thirty runs on the season. And I forget
how many wins that would be, but it would be
an absolute ugly disaster.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
Yeah, I'd be in a negative three and a half when.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Something like that. It would be terrible. And it would
be the best way to keep the losing going, you know,
because if you're struggling now with run suppression, when your
starters are really having a hard time, just imagine mixing
in a couple more balls that get through the infield
and a couple more errors and and what what that means,

(57:13):
What that means to the team. Here's the very last
thing I wanted to say. Uh, and I see Caminiti
Snakers is coming up, and I know you've got to
build real quick rape So the show's about to come
to an end. But this is a stat We've tracked,
and we've talked. We've talked realistically and honestly about the
issues plaguing the team. I do not believe it's some
weird statistical scimitar that's being held over our head. Okay,

(57:36):
So with that said, the Padres just through yet another
fucking one and five up against the American League. Okay,
wait too, and seven too, and seven because it was
it was the dipshits from from Seattle before. Then, what's

(57:56):
the thing that's truly blunted our mentum? Momentum since the
Giants Dodgers said it's playing the American League. We went
to and seven. Guess what our record is now? The
San Diego Padres against the American League are eighteen and
twenty seven to twenty seven. That equals what the Nationals

(58:20):
have done this year. It's about the same as the Athletics. Okay,
the Orioles have been way better, like most of the
teams in the league other than Colorado have been better
than us against the American League or against the National League.
And we have three games left against the American League
this year, they're in Chicago against the White Sox, and.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
If we can succeed, they funniest thing.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
Right, you shut your mouth absolutely. The rest of them
are against the National League, the league we do well against.
We are twenty one games over five hundred against the
National League, twenty one games over five hundred against the
National League, and we are negative nine against the American League.

(59:13):
So that adds up to twelve over, which is where
we are, and that's crazy. So maybe, just maybe the
gun in the Moon can realign heading into Colorado and
we can remember how to play baseball again. I know
I'm not looking forward in the World Series. Okay, I'm

(59:36):
wondering forward to getting there, but I feel very bad
about our chances. Here's Kevin any stickers.

Speaker 7 (59:44):
Yeah that's a good problem to have. I'll take my chances.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
In the world Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 7 (59:51):
But you guys have made some good points to the show.
The first one.

Speaker 12 (59:58):
There's been a lot of talking about the schedule, you know,
and I think it's it's mainly just because you can
look at it now and it looks like a football schedule.
Of a sudden you can actually remember what's left and
you can you know, count on your hands all this stuff.

Speaker 7 (01:00:12):
The games are showing so few.

Speaker 12 (01:00:14):
I have never been a believer in really drink the
schedule in baseball.

Speaker 7 (01:00:18):
It obviously matters you play the other team. There's a winner,
there's a loser.

Speaker 12 (01:00:22):
I'm not I'm not discounting it or saying you're dumb
for looking at the schedule. But I've always thought the
main thing in baseball, and which is the point you
made earlier, Craig, is you just need to play well.
Here's who you're playing. Didn't play well. You play well,
you'll probably win more often than you'll lose. You know,
It's it's about finding their form. They need to start
playing well. This is the worst they've played all year.

(01:00:45):
Uh And it's and it's obviously because, in my opinion,
it's because of the pitching.

Speaker 7 (01:00:49):
We just haven't seen that.

Speaker 12 (01:00:51):
I was, you know, watching that Twins series and it
was just like a slap in the face, like this
is weird, Like watching hit after hit after hitting. It's
like this is not something we are already used to
seeing at all. Is this pitching staff just getting hit
hit here? And so it's been a real slap in
the face. You gotta believe they can. They can write
the ship. Hopefully Michael King will be a big part

(01:01:13):
of that, but I don't know if they don't. It's
the same thing it's with the hitting side. If Chiana
and Tatis are doing nothing, we can debate the batting
order and cheats her Arise be in it all they want.

Speaker 7 (01:01:25):
It's gonna be really hard for them to win.

Speaker 12 (01:01:27):
And it's gonna be almost impossible for them to win
if they can't go out there and stay in a
game past the second or third inning, you know.

Speaker 7 (01:01:34):
So that's the big thing.

Speaker 12 (01:01:36):
And you know when you were talking about Shield manager,
if you're looking for the perfect head coach or manager
of your team, you just keep looking. You're just gonna
look and look and look and look. I've been on
the fence and just reguards with Preller and and Shield.
I've been, you know, I've been on the fence. I've
said many times about Preller. I think he's a good GM.

Speaker 7 (01:01:57):
I don't think he's a very good Baseball President of
Baseball Operation.

Speaker 12 (01:02:01):
But I'm with you Raybe totally. I do not want
to see him leave. I like the job that Mike
Shield's doing. Is it perfect doing? And there are things
you can disagree with or that some thing's not working
out of course, but I.

Speaker 7 (01:02:13):
Feel like that's the way it is. It's always gonna
be that way.

Speaker 12 (01:02:16):
And I give Mike Shieldz some credit for maybe making
the baseball the baseball operation sides of Driller's job maybe
even better. I think maybe he stabilized that. And then
there's always the course you you uh, you learn and
you evolve as a human.

Speaker 7 (01:02:31):
I mean a J.

Speaker 12 (01:02:32):
Preller, I would assume, you know, learns from his mistakes
and involved and it's probably had different ideas now than
he had then. Bottom line is you do a hell
of a lot worse than a J. Pueller's your GM
and Mike Shilt is your manager. I don't want to see.
I don't want to take that chance. I think they're
doing a good job. Are they perfect? Is everything perfect?

Speaker 8 (01:02:50):
No?

Speaker 12 (01:02:50):
But you do if you're looking for perfect, you're just
gonna keep looking and keep looking. It's all you're gonna
be doing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
And I'll leave you with.

Speaker 7 (01:02:58):
One last thought.

Speaker 12 (01:02:59):
Uh, I'm not in the discord very often, so if
someone has come up with this little slogan before, by
all mains take credit for it. But I haven't heard
anyone say this. I'll try to be clever on my own.
The theme of this year's Padres it should be it
is bunting for bunting.

Speaker 7 (01:03:18):
You can think about.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
It if you have to yes bunting to put up
the bunting. I thought you were gonna say, keep calm
and more home. No, nobody is saying that.

Speaker 3 (01:03:29):
Nobody are all saying it. It's happening. It is happening,
and I guarantee the Padres will have a better record
than the mug Era.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
It's just JJ, I agree with you. I agree with you. JJ.
Just doesn't even make.

Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
Sense, makes perfect sense. It looks good.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
I mean, sure, the patting's fine. It's nice shirt. If
someone else wants to put it out, it's gonna be
a great shirt. No, we're going to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Well that's it for therapy today. Yeah, when today's show.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
When Adrian Morehone and Melanie break up, what are we
gonna what are we gonna do?

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
Exactly all of those speedboat pictures of Melanie, but now
with a different dude on her hip.

Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
Like, you guys are wrong, that's not gonna happen. No,
it's gonna be more than that. I'm saying like that
was the game.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Trust me, Bro, I'm so I love you and I've
never been more mad at you than right now. Just yes,
this makes sense. We've said it for ten years. It's

(01:05:02):
not the mug's fault. The mug is wonderful. It's sturdy,
carries your coffee. You can put rice in it or pasta.
You're doubling down the delicious Natos posting.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
The shot again, just manifesting.

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
All right, shows over Chromaniacs tomorrow. By the way, I
had to keep up the SDFC backdrop. Let's go SDFC.
That's the San Diego team that's getting the job done.
Right now, let's see what's going on. We'll be back
with postgames later this week, we hope, because the Padres
will win some games, we hope. Otherwise, until then, for
Chris and Rafe, I'm Craig saying no T shirts. I mean,

(01:05:39):
go Padres.