Best of Chuck & Buck 10-16

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lady and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen beholding US sixty one guard from Brighton,
Illanois and former high school basketball stand up.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
What in the hell does that mean? Don't jumped any conclusions.
Not a god, You've got to lower lower your expectations.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hard to believe he could once send a fastball to Pluto.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
I'm getting Bucky Jacobs and vibes and former I'll just
openly admit I'm a fat, out of shaped X athlete.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Now there's been a noticeable spike in your blood pressure.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
A five seven guard and a former college water polo
and national champions.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
A lot of useless crap up here.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Wow, this is Chuck and Buck in the Morning with
Ashley Ryan. What do you buy to Lado Casino Resort
and quill Seed The Creek Draft KINI sports book where
the action never stopped.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Hey, good morning, Welcome into the Thursday edition of Chuck
and Buck in the Morning Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ R FM. My name is Chuck Powell, former
Mariner Bucky Jacobson us here Ashley Ryan as well as
we roll out the Thursday edition of our radio show,
and we do so without celebration. Here today, as we're

(01:29):
coming off a loss last night in the American League
Championship Series thirteen to four, the final score. The Blue
Jays Bats finally showed up in the series. We'll be
talking about it quite a bit throughout the course of
our broadcast Morning with You, but we'll sprinkle in some
other things as well as So we we do have
four hours together, we might as well really get to

(01:50):
know each other day. That's great. Yeah, nice in that
hoodie sweatshirt you got on. Oh, we thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, yeah, you look warm, looks like you should be warmer.
That's probably true. That much I do know about her.
I mean, today's about getting to know each other better.
But yeah, she's the coldest person ever. Yeah, and you're
the warmest. Yeah, I'm I'm hot.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
I wouldn't mind if you gave me some of that.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
I could show you the way. It's just extra fat,
that's all you need.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, And it's not just about the three of us.
I want to get to know all of our listeners
better today as we you know, heal from a loss
last night. For example, Kevin, you know who I'm you
know I'm talking to Kevin. Yeah, when did you lose
your virginity. I've been wondering that for a long time. Question. Yeah, Margaret,
you can hear me, Margaret. Yeah, well, how many taxes

(02:46):
did you not report? How much of your income did
you not the area? Yeah, well I don't know. These
are just things i'd like to know about our listeners. Yeah.
I think it's a great idea.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Just go ahead, you can text us, you can hit
the talk back by let us know the laws you've broken,
and we will not report you.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
I like to start all like personal relationships, with knowing
your deepest, darkest secret, and then I can judge you
going forward. Yeah, yeah, agree, that's why I agree.

Speaker 5 (03:14):
I think that's a good way to start. You don't
mean to unfold after time.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, a lot of first dates, just start and write
that way in my lifetime.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
Just down what's your Social Security member?

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Just so I can get an idea of your financial background.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Not a lot of second dates, as it turns out, surprising. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
a lot of first law Yeah, definitely. Well, good morning.
We have to have a little bit of fun, because
that wasn't too much fun last night. I mean it
started great. Julio Rodriguez, it's the two run Homer. It
was undeniable that all the concern about whether or not

(03:48):
Toronto Canada Blue Jays We're going to take over our stadium,
that didn't even come close to happening. I mean, it
was a little tricky visually to kind of figure out
how many Blue Jays fans are here, because I did
spend some time doing that. I even took a picture
of a Blue Jays family and was going to tweet
out something about could the security please escort these people

(04:10):
out of here? And they were such a sweet family,
like a mom and dad and two little kids, and
they couldn't wait. And I was about ready to plan
a weapon on them. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
Good, Yeah, that would have been a good idea.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, and then call security and uh and yeah, I
just decided not to go there. And it's a good
thing I did, because they hardly made a ripple last night.
Mariner fans were just uh, they were outstanding again last
night for as long as they could be. Yea, at
some point the game gets so lopsided it's hard to
you know, it's hard to keep that energy up, understandably,

(04:41):
But yeah, that was not an issue last night. So
it got off to such a great start the national
anthem and the old Canada song. Those triplets knocked that
out of the park. So there was like a really
good vibe there for a while. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for
a while.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah, I mean it was I was a little I
wasn't overly concerned about them coming in. I kind of
thought there's gonna be some Blue Jays fans there, and
you're right, it's hard to tell because of their royal
blue and now we have the city connects and so
it just kind of but when they were announcing the
lineups and the rosters, it was abundantly clear that they

(05:17):
were a gigantic minority and and and they showed up.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
I mean, I'll say.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Even even though the game got completely out of hand
when we went when a Rosarina and col hit those homers.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
They blew up again. The crowd sat down in.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
The middle innings when they were giving up crooked number
after crooked number, where they hadn't basically sat down since Friday.
I mean, I don't think really, literally anyone in Seattle
had sat down since last Friday. So uh, they did.
Finally the legs got tired and what they were watching
wasn't They weren't getting a whole lot to cheer about,
and so it made sense where it kind of quieted down,

(05:56):
but they still you could tell that they were they
were hyped up.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
I mean even like eighth or ninth inning.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
There was people above the hit it here, Cafe Hip
Hip hoor hey man, I'm.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
Still trying to cheer and yeah, like the city's string
down nine runs, they still were bringing it. Yeah, they
were bringing it, that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, the team not so much. But that's the way
that it happens. Sometimes you're going up against a good
team and George made some mistakes and they pay.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
He had to pay for it.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
Well. And I don't think anyone thought that like Toronto
was just gonna roll over and die. And I think
anyone I didn't think it was going to be a
sweep by any means. So I didn't leave that game
thinking that's the worst thing. I mean I left I
was like, well that was disappointing. Okay, on to the
next one.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, And that feeling carried over into our post game
show last night. I mean, Jimmy's remained pretty packed. You know,
a game got over at eight thirty ish, eight twenty ish,
So it's not like it was all that late. But
Jimmy's remained pretty packed throughout the our entire post game
show last night, probably because of Bucky and I. Yeah,
people can't get enough of us, Yeah for sure, But

(07:02):
it remained and there was there was no feeling. I mean,
there was even a member of the Mariners organization we
won't say any names. So it was there, you know,
smiling and hanging out with friends and having a beer.
So nobody took it too seriously. And look, a lot
of fan bases do take a loss, take it a

(07:22):
little too far, you know, and certainly Seattle fan bases
have been known to do that. We've already had this
fan base, half of it, give up on the postseason
twice this postseason already.

Speaker 5 (07:34):
See how many people thought it was over after we
lost to Detroit in game one.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Game one and Game four. Yeah, and so, but there
wasn't any of that. Now that comes with a two
two game cushion, certainly, and taking both of those in Toronto,
but everybody that we chatted with it came over and
talked to us, and certainly the vibe in the bar
was we're good, We're all right, and I do think
we're good and I do think we're all right, and

(07:58):
I still think there's a very good chance that we
don't go back to Canada and we end up taking
this thing in five. But obviously, to Ashley's point, uh,
Toronto wasn't gonna roll over. They obviously have some talent.
George wasn't hitting his spots, and this is just the
lineup to take advantage of that. You're not gonna hit
your spots against the Toronto Blue Jays. They're gonna score

(08:19):
double figures against you.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
Yeah, yeah, I mean they have they have some really
talented hitters. And they while they cooled off, Bryce cooled
him off, and and for the most part, the pitching
staff cooled him off in Game two two didn't necessarily
let him get off the off the mat against George.
It just is a it's a recipe for disaster if
he's not locating, and and it just means because he

(08:43):
pounds the zone.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
They know that he pounds the zone.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
They know that he trusts his stuff, and so he's
gonna come after you with fast balls and sinkers, and
and if he falls behind, there's a really good chance
the next one's in the zone and he will miss
over the plate versus miss off of the play because
he trusts that his stuff is good enough. Well against
this team, they were aggressive. They had a great game
plan where they were just saying, hey, we're gonna go

(09:08):
up there. I mean that third inning where it kind
of started going off the rails. There wasn't a guy
that saw more than three pitches. And in that bat
I think with the exception of the Kirk walk where
they had a base open, they basically uninttentionally around them,
you know, was like base ope, we're go go go
ahead and put him on so we can try to
get that force at home. And so to me, it

(09:30):
just was they executed a game plan and George didn't
execute his. It's not that he needs to change his
he just needs to execute. They executed, and that's the
name of the game.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
I think in the.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
Playoffs, every pitch means more. You make a mistake, then
it does the hitter capitalize on it. Last night they
capitalized on it. When he made a mistake.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
They hurt him. I have such faith in our starting
pitching and have for so long. Whenever I see one
of our guys get tattooed that badly, and he got
tattooed and it came out of nowhere. The first two innings,
they wouldn't have all that left the infield. He had
an infield single that he gave up that you know,
it was just a high chopper. I mean, there's not
much g Gino tried to rush the throw and ends

(10:10):
up throwing it away, but he didn't. He got a
lazy fly ball to center field, I guess to close
out the second, but I mean, there was no indication
that George was in store for any kind of struggle
through those first two innings, and then all of a sudden,
I mean there wasn't a cheapie in the inning. I mean,
it was just crush, crush, crush. Eight nine hitters are
the ones that got it started. And Andre's Jimenez, who's

(10:33):
outstanding defensively and not much of a hitter, ends up
hitting the two run homer to tie it, and then
it just wasn't over with. And so I'm such a
big believer in this group. My immediate thought is he's
tipping his pitches, and nobody hits George that hard if
they don't know what's coming. I don't want to feel

(10:54):
I don't know if that's it. There's any truth to that.
Maybe there is some truth to that, but I can't
just Hey, one of our guys gets hit. They must
be figuring out what he's throwing. And then I went
home because most of the games that I watch with
the Mariners are from my television set. I don't usually
watch them deep in right field, and so I get
home and I see all the highlights and he was

(11:16):
just everything right over the heart of the plate and
they were murdering it. I mean, like Dalton var Show,
I didn't even realize what a bullet he hit. Yeah,
I knew Guerrero's because Guerrero's almost is double almost took
Gino's head off, and it hit off the wall. So
I'm like, that's hit pretty hard. Yeah, But I mean

(11:37):
the entire inning they just crushed him, and the entire
inning after from the second to the third, he went
from locating fine to not locating at all, and he
paid and suffered the consequences. Yeah, it's gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
I mean, that's the beauty of just sports in general, right,
is that they're human. And while they show you over
the course of a year, thirty starts or you know,
multiple seasons how good they can be. Every single person
is going to have a time at some point. You
hope it's not in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
Everybody.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Everybody's gonna have a time where they're not on their game. Now,
the difference is how many mistakes do you make versus
how many mistakes do they make. And when I'm saying,
I'm saying the pitchers making mistakes over the heart of
the plate, because inevitably just comes out to numbers. If
you make twenty mistakes over the heart of the plate
against a good hitting team, which once you get to
the final four of any sort of sport you have

(12:32):
good teams, you then have good players on If you
make twenty mistakes and they make ten, you're probably gonna lose.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
I mean, it really can.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
You can simple it up to that, because even if
you capitalize on eighty percent of years and they only
capitalize on seventy percent, they are beating you at that
point in time. I mean, it's just a matter of
you're not gonna capitalize on every mistake. Nobody expects that,
but at this point in time. That's why the precision
and the attention to detail is so paramount.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
You don't want to be having to throw.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Extra pitches because you give extra outs, because sure enough,
if you make a mistake at that point in time, boom,
there's a two run homer. That wasn't the case necessarily
last night.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
It was just George in that inning.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
They were going to ambush him, they were going to
jump on him early in counts and he would either
fall behind and then they know for sure, this dude
doesn't go fall behind two. Oh, he's coming with something here.
He's going to give me something good to hit. And
sure enough they were on time and on plane and
squared something up.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
It wasn't there.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
He didn't get any balls that were hit hard right
at anybody. And so, I mean, it's just the recipe
for bad things to happen when you don't execute and
the other team does. I mean, if you were in
the middle of May, you might get away with a
few more mistakes, or he definitely you don't. You're in
the beginning of August, and you might get away with

(13:53):
a few more mistakes. In the postseason. You're just not
going to do it against a good hitting team that
was quiet. The first couple of games found themselves painted
into a corner to some degree and they were like,
all right, boys, it's time we got to wake up.
We're not going out there expecting Shane Bieber to shut
him down. We know what George Kirby is going to
try to do against us. We're going to go in
with a good game plan and if he's hit missing

(14:13):
over the heart of the plate, we're gonna crush him.
And that's exactly what they did last night.

Speaker 5 (14:17):
I think we should have let him score forty three runs,
just get it all out of their.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, yeah, just drain the bucket.

Speaker 5 (14:22):
Yeah yeah, here, ye here, just batting.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Practice, less fun. Yeah, it would have been a longer night.
It was long enough night as it was.

Speaker 5 (14:30):
Actually, let's just wear them out now.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
Though, there is the question about where do you go
with this rotation from here, because Brian Wu continues to
be you know, every single series, every single sports talk
radio show or baseball show is going to talk about
an X factor a wild card, And sir, sure enough,
we did it in our roundtable. Softy went around the room,

(14:55):
watch the wild card in the first round. Well, here
we are in the visional round, and I don't know
if I ever brought the question up, or excuse me,
the Championship Series round. I don't know if I ever
brought the question up. I don't know if I was
ever asked a question. I think it was too obvious.
It's Brian Wu, like, what is his availability? When is
his availability? How good is he going to be if
he gets called? And so now you have to consider

(15:18):
what George just did and then having the possibility of
Brian Wu returning, but not knowing how good he's going
to be upon his return as you shape the rotation
for the rest of the series. Blue Jays are back
in this thing, and you just you got to plan
for it to be a long series. And so the
only thing we know for sure is that Luis Castillo

(15:41):
is pitching tonight. That's obvious to everybody, as he should
and maybe he should have pitched last night. I don't know.
But the only thing we know for sure is that
he's going to pitch tonight. Beyond that, I mean, I
just the last thing that I heard last night about
the Mariners was that maybe the Mariners aren't so convinced
that Brian Wu's going to start Game five after all,

(16:02):
and that maybe he's gonna come out of the pen
for his first playoff appearance just to gauge how ready
he is and how Brian Wu like he actually is.
But you do have the possibility here of Wu starting
in game five, and because you're the only organization left
that actually has five quality starters if Wu's healthy, I

(16:24):
mean the Brewers have one. No, the Brewers have one.
We have five.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Now, if Wu's healthy, do you now looking to see
what happened with George last night? Do you go Wu five,
Miller six, and then Gilbert seven. I mean, I think
the plan was going into the series that George is
pitching three and seven. Well, Game seven, with the way

(16:52):
Toronto knocked George around, I mean, I trust George. If
we only had four starters, I'm bringing George Game seven.
I'm just gonna trust he pitches more like he did
against the Tigers than he did last night. But the
truth of the matter is we have more than four starters.
And now that Bryce looked so good in his last start,

(17:13):
I mean, I don't think anybody should have any reservations
about him getting the ball in one of these remaining
games in the series. So if Wu's if they're going
to roll the dice on WU being healthy in game
number five, Maybe George doesn't start again. Maybe he's the
guy that comes out of the pen if you need
him in game six or game seven. It's possible.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
And I'm with you after the you know, yesterday during
the third inding, I think it was there was reports.
I didn't notice it, but that Wu went out to
the bullpen, and so you know, Dan Wilson was asked
what was that all about? When what was the situation
in which you would have used him? And he played
it off as it was really more so of letting

(17:54):
him go out there and feel what it's like in
case that's the manner in which we use him. So
it brings in that and to your point of what
you've been a little bit concerned about since he's been injured,
and when will they use him to kind of knock
the rust off and see exactly how he feels, because
I think you correct me if I'm wrong, but you're

(18:14):
a little concerned about if they bring him out there
to start and now it's just not right, the inflammation
and his peck flares up again. And now said you've
got eight innings or nine innings you have to cover
with your bullpen. I think they might have a little
bit of concern because while in his press conference he says,
I feel good. The last thing that I need is
them to give me the ball, tell me, you know,
tell me when I'm pitching. He also says went to

(18:37):
answers Angie Mintig's question of what's your percentage of Well,
I mean, nobody feels great at this point.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Okay, Well that's not what I wanted to hear.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, I wanted you to hear you say I've had
two weeks off, I feel one yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
And so yeah, give a heel, kicker.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
I wouldn't be too terribly surprised, honestly. I mean, you're
gonna have Luis today, you still are pretty much on
regular rest. If you were to then go Bryce in
game five and Logan Gilbert in game six if needed,
and then and then you still.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
Have George Kirby.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
I'm not gonna be I'm not gonna sit here after
this and say George Kirby I don't trust him in
game seven, I still would even as bad as yesterday looked,
because it was one of those they capitalized on in
just about every mistake in that third inning, and then
the dam broke, and next thing you know you're down
twelve to four.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Well, I'm only saying it if Wo's gonna pick right,
because we started this series with him saying tentatively he's
starting Game five. That's the only reason I'm bringing this up.
I mean, if George has to pitch game seven. He
pitched Game five against Trek Scooble and he showed up right.
But to see him get hit around a little bit,
and knowing that we do have potentially little embarrassment of

(19:47):
riches this time of the year, I don't think it's
out of the question that we don't see George start
another game this series. But we'll find out. All right,
we got a lot to discuss today. Let's find out
what's on tap for the rest of the show.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
On chucking, But what what's on te what's untech?

Speaker 1 (20:04):
All right? Thirteen to four Jays over the MS coming
up at six thirty Mariners morning after we've been doing
it all season long. We're not going to shift now.
Luis Castillo versus Max Scherzer is the pitching matchup. We
will talk about Max Scherzer coming up on the show.
That's an interesting story. Five thirty eight, First pitch there,
Game three of the NLCS will be played tonight as well,

(20:24):
so doubleheader this evening. The Dodgers are up two to
zero in that series and they get to go home
to Los Angeles to face the Brewers. Cracking back in action.
They still have not lost a game. Well, I guess
they did lose a game in overtime, but they got
a point. They still haven't played a game in which
they did not get a point. I was talking to
Mike Betton a little bit last night because it's all
he thinks about, and he's like, they couldn't be off

(20:48):
to a better start under Lane Lambert. I mean, they
just love the guy. So let's carry that into Ottawa
tonight against the Senators. Sounders play their last regular season
game this weekend. The NBA starts on Tuesday. Oh, by
the way, as if we didn't have enough to discuss,
Husky's at Michigan on Saturday, Sophtie will join us at
seven oh five. We'll try to ask him a question

(21:10):
about the Huskies. Something tells me he just wants to
talk Mariners, but we'll try to balance him out a
little bit. Nobody else has been able to. We'll give
it a shot. Seahawks Texans Monday Night football. This week
Mike Sando will join us to preview Thursday Night football
Steelers versus Bengals. So obviously a lot to accomplish today,
Mariners Morning After comes your way. Next, it's Chugging Buck

(21:32):
in the morning. Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.

Speaker 6 (21:37):
Rodriget Stris Surfield is the high fly ball off to
the Bata Jimenez that's carrying well.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Who plays Jeames and watches a club?

Speaker 7 (21:52):
It's the nine header and Joyce Hemenez fuck off people.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Giving turn off to sue the desperately needed. It's tied
at two.

Speaker 7 (22:04):
Got a chase, but it's a wad pitch and the
Blue Chase take the league. Varshot takes the high lines,
rut the right field, US rochards of a fall. Two
runs will score Farshot with a double. The Blue Jacks offenses.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Come to life. Top five run.

Speaker 7 (22:22):
Third, Glad Junior sends a high drive to deep center field.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
We rigas time it's gone. Cirk sends a fly ball
the other way. Roblays retreating to the truck to the
ns here hah.

Speaker 7 (22:36):
Opposite field glass for Alejandro Kirk and a dozen for
the chase.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
On their fourth com hunt Fox Sports on the call
of that bloodbath. Last night, the Blue Jays ended up
at one point, scoring twelve unanswered runs on the way
to a thirteen to four convincing victory and Game number three,
but have no heere. The Mariners had a little leg

(23:03):
up in the series. They won both games in Toronto
and so still have a two games to one lead
in the series. Of the Blue Jays still have a
lot of work just to catch up to the MS.
Let's hope it never happens. Game number four will be
played tonight out at T Mobile. Luis Castillo gets the
ball for US. Max Scherzer will be starting for the
Toronto Blue Jays. We'll talk more about that pitching matchup

(23:25):
later on in this hour. First pitches at five thirty eight.
So the American League Championship Series rolls on right here
in Seattle. Mariners remain two precious wins away from the
World Series. We're gonna talk more about that with our
next guest coming up here in a little bit, but
first let me rip through some headlines brought to you
by Frost Brewed cors Light Choose Chill. We'll start with

(23:49):
the Thursday night football game tonight. Pittsburgh's gonna be at Cincinnati.
That gets the brand new week of the National Football
League season underway, a battle of forty plus year old
quarterbacks Rodgers versus y A Tittle. Also, the Seahawks are
in action this Monday night against the Houston Texans. Texans
off to a two and three start, but have the

(24:10):
number one defense by far in the National Football League.
That Sam Darnold and company will have to contend with.
Husky's a huge game against the Michigan Wolverines in the
Big House in ann Arbor this Saturday. It's another topic
we'll discuss with our very high profile next guest here
in a little bit. And the Kraken will be in

(24:31):
action against the Ottawa Senators tonight, their fourth game of
the season. They still have not played a game this
season without coming away with at least a point. Let's
see if they can keep that trek going tonight in Ottawa.
But right now we have to talk to our lovable
co worker, friend and face of the franchise. It's David

(24:51):
Softy Maler.

Speaker 8 (24:52):
Yeah, it kind of helps when you turn the microphone on, Bucky,
but we don't blame you.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
After last night. What time did you guys hit the
sack last night? By the way, I.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Went to got in bed about eleven thirty and then
fellas about two thirty.

Speaker 8 (25:05):
Yeah, yeah, one of those Just stare at the wall
and just yeah, it was awesome. Over every little thing
from the game before. How did you handle it? I
thought I handled it okay, to be honest with you, you know,
I mean, honestly, I'm sitting there watching this train wreck
unfold in front of my very eyes, and I'm thinking
to myself, I know, and this franchise knows exactly what

(25:29):
it's like to be doing what Toronto's doing, because in
two thousand and one, the Yankees came here and they
won two games in Seattle, and I remember waiting online
to get into the clubhouse. After game two. Lou Panella
comes walking by the media on his way to the
media room and says, we're going to bring up back
here for game six. And then they went to New

(25:50):
York and they hammered the Yankees in game three, just
like the Jays hammered us last night. And the Yankees
won a dramatic Game four, famous Game four. I got
scars from that Game four. And then they kicked our
ass in Game five and the series was over.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
So we were.

Speaker 8 (26:07):
Exactly in the same position the Blue Jays were in
twenty four years ago after winning a big Game three.
And I'm just kind of wondering if the Mariners had
lost Game one in Toronto but now won the last two, right,
what would the vibes feel like?

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Then? Well, I let let's hope for that same pattern.
I'm sorry about what happened to you in two thousand
and one, but I'll take that exact game plans. Let's
do that.

Speaker 8 (26:34):
Well, I mean, look, guys, here's the deal. And I'm
getting text from people, and I'm sure you're thinking the
exact same thing I am. Can we kind of agree
that it may have been better just to get our
ass kicked last night? If we're going to lose a
game three like that, let's not burn through bizarre O,
Let's not burn through brash, Let's not burn through spire munyos, whatever.

(26:55):
Let's have everybody available for game four. Just get drilled
in game three, Like, do you really give a damn
if you lose two to one or twelve to four,
whatever the hell the score was last night. This point
of the year, a freaking loss is a freaking loss, right, so.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Who gives a damn?

Speaker 8 (27:10):
And I'm kind of wondering if, honestly, if you're gonna
lose the game, is that kind of the way you
want to go do it?

Speaker 1 (27:16):
For sure?

Speaker 3 (27:17):
There's no doubt, I mean, because you didn't have to
blow through anybody while you're in the middle of playing
a back to back to back home series. I mean,
I am wondering. I mean, it sounds like you're handling this.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Very well, which is very very adultaprising well, I uh, look.

Speaker 8 (27:33):
Man, I mean sitting there in the stands, that was
no fun, and I was like living in the moment,
you know, kind of with everybody else, you know, kind
of cursing Wilson beyond belief.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
What the hell is the guy doing? Blah blah blah.
Got him out of there.

Speaker 8 (27:44):
But I mean, I just again, you know, you're you're
allowed to be emotional during things like this.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
You're allowed to be logical during things like this.

Speaker 8 (27:51):
And you go home and you clear your head and
maybe you think about it a little bit. You know,
you're not really using your brain when you're at the park.
You're kind of using your heart a little bit more
than your head. And then you get home and you think,
all right, well, the guy was at twenty four pitches
after two innings, which is perfect, right.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
I mean, that is just a phenomenal start by George Kirby.

Speaker 8 (28:08):
And then boom, the wheels fell off the bus fast
with that first day b in the top of the
third with that double by Clement, and then you're thinking, okay,
you know, maybe at five to two you could have
yanked him. I would have probably yanked him at six
to two, guys, to be honest with you, after the Springer,
Homer thinking, ye ah, right, with the Jay's bullpen, you
still maybe have a shot to come back from a

(28:29):
full run deficit. But you know, once he started wearing
it even more, you just kind of threw in the
towel at that point, and you're just making sure you
don't have to burn any real legit arms.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
Out of the bullpen.

Speaker 8 (28:40):
So again, I just got to think that this decision,
and let's go back to the decision in game number
two to start Logan Gilbert over Luis Castillo because Castillo,
and you guys correct me if I'm wrong, his last
start was last Monday, October the fifth.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
You threw fifteen pitches and.

Speaker 8 (29:00):
That game Friday night against the Tigers in the fifteen
in game, which you could just assume was kind of
a bullpen day for him. So they could have started
him Monday in Toronto, but they didn't want to get
him on the road. They wanted to keep him away
from the Rogers Center, where his splits on the road
are ridiculous compared to his home two point six at
home four point seven era on the road. So the

(29:20):
decision to save Luis Castillo for to day. We're about
to find out from Dan Wilson today if that was
the right call, and a better Dan well be the
right call.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
It feels like a good matchup, feels like a favorable matchup. Sure,
he's been really bad over his last six starts of
the regular season, but how do you map it out?
I mean, do you take anything from the Kirby onslaught
and with the Wu factor existing here and now suddenly
Bryce Miller, I'm not sure we don't want to give

(29:51):
him the ball. I think we all maybe want to
give him the ball again before the series comes to
a close. So looking beyond, we know Castillo's starting tonight
last night changed the way that you would structure the
rest of the series starting pitching. Well, I think, if.

Speaker 8 (30:05):
If Luis Castillo doesn't have it tonight, I think Brian
Wu's coming in out of the pen. That's my call tonight.
In this game, I think, I think you got to
go to Brian Wu today. I mean, this is this
is you know I thought yesterday again. I know, logically
technically it's not a do or die game. I wanted
them to approach it like it was a do or
die game and act like they were down oh two,

(30:25):
and go get the three to zero lead and deal
a death blow to Toronto and just finish them off.
But I don't want nothing to do man with going
back to Toronto, and I certainly want nothing to do
with letting those guys tie this thing up at two
games apiece. So I would approach Luiska Stillo tonight exactly
almost the way that the Mariners approached Logan Gilbert on Monday,

(30:46):
and the way the Blue Jays approached Shane Bieber in
Game three of their Yankee series. You know, after a
couple innings, if it's if it's obvious that the big
guy doesn't have it, I'd get Brian wu up, and
I'd have them ready to go and to ready to
enter this game as early as maybe the second or
the third inning, because they've they've got to win this
game tonight, Chuck. For exactly the point that you just made,

(31:06):
You've got Luis Castillo versus Max Fings Scherzer. This would
be a huge gift for Toronto to win this game tonight.
You can't let that happen.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Well, it's gonna be tonight. Yeah, Yeah, I think he
will too, man, I think so.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
I mean, I don't know if he's gonna be perfect.
This team can hit, but I think that we should
be able to outdo our offen, should be able to
outdo theirs.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
I mean, so, it sounds like you're in the right frame.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
Of mind, and I'm proud of you for that.

Speaker 8 (31:35):
That could change in an hour, by the way, I
know we're jumping online and reading social media and blah
blah blah.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
That could change in an hour.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
Yeah, and yet I don't I mean, if if things
were to not go according to plan tonight and then
you find yourself tied up, then I'm certain that you
and a bunch of other people here in Seattle will
But I mean when it comes to a couple guys,
I mean trying to find silver linings in this whole.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
I mean, Randy goes deep. It would be nice to
get him going. Geno Toatson ball hard.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
That would be nice to get him going because I
think that you we have a better pitching staff and
we could go out there and shove against these guys
just like we did the first couple of games. There's
an opportunity though, this group of hitters you're going against
that they could score four or five a game against
whoever you're putting out there, or maybe a couple guys
in the bullpen or whatever it might be. So how

(32:26):
are you feeling about just the hitters and what you
think maybe they can do the rest of the series.

Speaker 8 (32:31):
Well, here's the thing, Bucky, And again, this is what
I'm talking about when you're talking about just being emotional
and living in the moment and all that stuff. And
you know, am I glad that Randy went yard last night?

Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (32:42):
But I'd like to see him do it in a
different spot besides down ten nothing or turn two. Whatever
the hell the score was last night? Was it twelve two?
When he hit that? Momb had twelve two? I got
no idea. So look, I mean, if that's him heating up,
if that's him finding something for today's game, then great,
But if not, no, I'm not going to get jacked

(33:03):
up at all about a guy going yard down ten
and basically pop in a meaningless bomb when the game
was over.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
So I need to see more from him.

Speaker 8 (33:12):
But yeah, I mean, we know the Mariner offense is
much different on the road than they are at home.
They have been all year long, I mean, and that's
why last night was so disappointing out of George Kirby,
and it's why I kind of feel good about Luis
Castillo tonight. First of all, you know when was the
last time well, I mean, going back to the Mets
and Phillies trip, obviously, you know the idea of seeing

(33:34):
these guys just get raked for three games in a row,
Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, and now Luis Castillo. I would
bet money against that happening. And the number two, the
pitching staff at home has been balls all year long.
So if I can't count on a guy in Luis
Castillo who's got a split of home versus road of
over two freaking runs to deliver in the biggest game

(33:57):
of the year, then when count I count on that, right.
So I don't think this will be a high scoring game.
I don't think the Mariners offense is capable consistently of
putting up a lot of runs in that ballpark, but
traditionally nobody is. I know the Blue Jays did it
last night, but you know, let's hope that was just
kind of a flash in the pan. So I'm not
expecting Bucky the offense to do fireworks tonight. What I'm

(34:19):
expecting is another nail bier, just like we had in
Game four of that Yankees series in two thousand and one.
I think you're going to see a tight game and
the seventh inning, and I think, hopefully in the end
knock on wood. The idea that you were able to
rest all your good arms in the bullpen last night
will pay dividends tonight in the seventheithh to night.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
Tonight and tomorrow, because now you can use all four
of your best guys the next two nights. Softie is
with us here on checkerback in the morning. He always
joins us every Thursday Thursdays with Softy Sports Radio ninety
three point three KHRFM normally we talk Huskies and so
we do need a couple of minutes. I mean is
a huge game, I mean huge. Jetfish does get his
you know, road win in the Big Ten, his road

(35:01):
win number one, and then his road win in the
Big Ten. So he's knocked a couple things off the
list of things he has to get accomplished this season.
But he really needs a big, nice, fat win that
gets notice and that could come this weekend at Michigan.
So how big do you think this game is for
the Jetfish program? Well, here's here's what I think, man.

Speaker 8 (35:25):
I think there's a lot of people out there that
have a lot of fantasies about what Husky football could
do this year, and if they win this game Saturday
at Michigan, a lot of those people that have those
fantasies are going to get louder and louder and louder
with their take about the college football playoff. Honestly, you
win this game and you're six and one, and you're
looking at Okay, a bad UCLA team, a bad Purdue team,

(35:48):
a bad Wisconsin team that's nine wins right there.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Illinois's coming to town.

Speaker 8 (35:53):
They've proven that they can get smacked by anybody. They're
a good team, but they've also proven they may not
be a great team. And they're coming to town. That's
ten wins right there. And then all of a sudden
you're talking about, Hey, is that Duck game in November
maybe gonna be for a spot in the College Football Playoff?
I mean a ten to two Big Ten team? Does
that team get left out of the tournament? So I

(36:16):
think this is a huge fork on the road game
for you, but a huge fork on the road game
for Jed Fish because I just look at the rest
of the schedule and I just think, again, Ucla, Perdue, Wisconsin,
Illinois at home. Those are games the Huskies probably should win.
And that's ten wins guys, right there, ten before the
game with the Ducks.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
So this game is everything. Yeah, yeah, unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
I mean, how confident do you feel going into the
Big House? I mean a road game is one thing
against Rutgers, but I mean a road game in the
Big House is a different ball game.

Speaker 8 (36:50):
Well, I've never seen a victory there as a fan,
so I'm not going to this one. I'm staying home, right,
I'm taking one for the team. Every time I go
to Michigan, weird things happen. Twelve men in the field,
we got our ass kicked by somebody, blah blah blah.
The last time we were there was the well Mike
McDonald was the the DC from Michigan and he kicked
our ass. And that's the day that Dick Beard quit,

(37:11):
by the way, last time he went to Michigan to
take on the Wolverine. So I've had a lot of
bad memories from those from those those games in that stadium.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
So I'm I'm staying home for this one.

Speaker 8 (37:22):
But I feel, you know, I feel better about it
because they got a freshman quarterback in Bryce Underwood.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Bucky. I'm not sure how ready he is.

Speaker 8 (37:28):
I think he might be a really good player down
the road, but I mean, my god, I would take
Demon Williams as a red shirt freshman one hundred times
out of one hundred over Bryce Underwood right now as
a true freshman. And you look at Michigan, man, this
is not the same defense that we saw a couple
of years ago play the Huskies for the national title.
They're eleventh in the Big Ten in total defense, thirteenth

(37:48):
and the Big Ten in past defense. They are third
and rushing, but then they gave up one hundred and
sixty yards to a freaking walk on last week against
USC So this might be the week that Jonah Coleman
starts going. Is he really hasn't done much, by the
way in the Big Ten. He's like sixteenth in rushing
yards in Big Ten games only after three games. So
it's time to get number one going. So I'm not

(38:09):
saying I'm overly cocky about walking into Michigan and getting
a victory, but I feel a lot better about it
now than I would have two or three years ago.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Absolutely, well, you better get cocky. We need some we
need cocky hand Do.

Speaker 8 (38:20):
I need to get cocky? I need Louis Castillo to
get cocky. I need Louis Castillo to go out there
like he's the best freaking picture, walk in the face
of the freaking earth and shove it right up there,
kannuck asses tonight.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
That's what I need.

Speaker 8 (38:36):
And by the way, did you guys notice that there
was a lot less Blue Jay fans in the stands
last night than there normally is for a regular season game.
You know what, though every single one of them was
in My god, darn section, every single one, including some
Jackwagon that was in full blue Jay gear pants and
uniform and hat. Godoni, sons of bitches. I'll send you

(39:01):
a picture, Bucky. You would have knocked this guy yeat,
just on principle. Yeah, yeah, he can't work for he
was a freaking cup and some iblack.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Not good. We have to win just to beat that guy. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (39:14):
I don't know what it is about these Canadians man
with their little.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Beady eyes and they're flappy gum off. Yeah, I hear you.
I wanted to fight everybody. All right, man, Well we'll
see you later on today. How about that? Okay, buddy,
good job last night, guys. Hey, thank you David Softy
Maller joining us here every Thursday to talk some husky football.
But of course he's got other things on his mind

(39:39):
right now. All right. Coming up next on the program
Factor Fiction Plus, we will discuss Max Scherzer. I've been
teasing this for like three straight segments. We might as
well get that done. Next. Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ rfm's Hard and social Media, because that's kind
of what social media is that you want. They want
you to take pictures and send them out. So I'm
trying to do my best yesterday. And so I'm trying

(40:00):
to take a photo of some scene outside the ballpark
yesterday as I get to the stadium four hours early
for goodness sake, and I'm trying to size up my
photo and I'm not good at taking pictures. And there's
three people that I start walking into the frame and
I'm like, good lord, get out of the way.

Speaker 4 (40:19):
I'm trying to take a picture.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
And I take down my phone and it's Tim Kirkchin,
Karl Ravich, and Edward O. Perez. Oh just snap that.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
One, Okay, Yeah, maybe not a dad far.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
Might I might have and didn't even realize it. You
never know what you're gonna see him baseball. I'm just
walking out of the stadium and there's this guy trying.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
To take a picture of something entirely different.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
He suddenly he's taking photos of me and Carl and
his hair piece. He told me to get the hell
out of the way. You got yelled after just walking
to the ballpark. That's Tim for you. That's Kirkchon all right,
ABC's of DMS. We left off of the letter D yesterday.
D is for Dingers all dingers have different kind of
values to them. There's no question about it. Jimenez his

(41:06):
dinger had a pretty good value to it yesterday turns
out Julio's not so much. But I'm wondering the value
that we could potentially place on what seemed like a
meaningful moment in a thirteen to four blowout. Yesterday, Randy
rose Arena finally hit a home run. It's his first
and one hundred and seven at bats. It's been a

(41:28):
long time since Randy has felt that groove, that swing
to put on a baseball where it leaves the yard.
I mean, he hit twenty seven of them during the
course of the season, looked like he was well on
his way to a thirty thirty season, and he ends
up not hitting another home run for a month and
it's extended into the playoffs. I mean, this is a

(41:49):
guy that has authored one of the greatest postseasons in
the history of baseball. That he has just I mean,
he's had a couple walks here and a hit by
pitch and some stolen bases, and he's made a nice
defense grab in Toronto, but he's not doing damage. Does
what kind of value do you place on a guy
that's accustomed to doing damage with his bat hasn't done

(42:11):
it for a while. And even if it was a
meaningless home run late in the game, does that potentially
remind Randy a Rose Arena in his mechanics of Oh,
that's how it's done. Okay, don't worry, guys, I got it.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
Now it can It doesn't guarantee it, and I hope
it does, because, yeah, I mean it. You can go
from scuffling, and he has been scuffling. He hasn't been
contributing as much as we would like. Now he's had
some moments that have been helpful in some of these wins.
Played eight games and you've won more than you've lost,

(42:45):
and so you know, he's gotten some hit by pitches
or some walks and some decent abs and stole some
bags and scored some runs, but he hasn't done the damage.
And a lot of times it does take for sometimes
guys that aren't supposed to hit for power. JP Crawford
in particular, he'll hit one out and you've said it before, like,
oh no, now he's going to try to do that again.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
I told the guy in Detroit, the beat writer sitting
next to men I said, well, if you're rooting for
the Tigers to win this game, don't worry about JP
Crawford anymore. He's done for the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
There's times and he will we'll get into.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
A little bit of shit. A home run and now
he's a home run. I like doing that.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
Yeah, God, I like doing it too. But certain guys
should try and certain guys shouldn't. I think Randy's kind
of a He's a mixture, right. He's a guy that
can hit, but he's a guy that has some serious
pop too, And you put him the lineup because you
want him to do damage, but you also want him
to be a catalyst for the guys behind him. And
he hasn't been doing that part, or the doing damage part,

(43:44):
very well. So yeah, it can. It can turn into
you take a swing and you're like, ooh, that's because
that's basically what he went to sleep with was that swing.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
It was a good pitch to hit.

Speaker 3 (43:54):
He had taken one in the exact same spot earlier
in the bat. He took strike one right down the middle,
took strike two in that up and in spot a
little bit, and then later on in the ab got
that same pitch and capitalize on it.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
It can be a Okay, that felt right. I get
with that. Obviously it felt right.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
But if it clicks, then yeah, you could see you
could see a little bit of a turnaround.

Speaker 1 (44:15):
That would be hugely important. Let's have that.

Speaker 5 (44:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Do you like the way I pronounced Dingers Dingers? Not really?
You just don't mess with home run glossary terms around this.
You know you better say it the right way. You
better should.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Dingers and made me immediately go to, like, oh, Dingers,
like Dingler.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
That's what I did think up to is Dylan Dingler first,
But then I realized what you were doing, and I
thought it was.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
He is for e Walk. I realized that Vladimir Guerrero
Junior is the most intimidating presence in the Toronto Blue
Jays lineup. But man, that e Walk that they put
it catcher, Uh, he is just he is just he
has a rough customer. I mean, he worries me as
much as Vladimir Guerrero Junior in a big moment. Yeah,

(45:05):
he just knows how to hit. He just gets the
back to the ball. He's he's like al Tuove but fatter, Yeah,
like a lot fatter.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
It's like all two Vays next to each other.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
Yeah, he's like two AL three ve maybe AL fourve.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Uh yeah he does. He worries me too. Him.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
He's and he hasn't been hitting most of this postseason.
And yet there was an ab in one of the
games in Toronto where he went the other way line
drive the other way, and I'm like, oh, because he's
he understands the the length through the zone and that's
why he is as good of a hitter as he is.
He's not just a pole guy, but he also is
swinging to do damage on a regular basis, and he

(45:44):
gets that chubby Ewok body behind it and hit it out.

Speaker 5 (45:47):
Also, I feel like the Ewoks are way cuter. That's
kind of an insult. Oh, they're adorable. Yeah, Wicked is
the cutest Ewok of all time.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
I know I'm going to get a bunch of hate
mail from ewalks.

Speaker 5 (45:58):
Yeah, yeah, Wicked because he does have.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
A big I'm sorry Walk community.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
And for the record, no one on my Pool League
team has a worse physique than that.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
I think Ryan Heally had some really gross assumptions.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
It was really fair.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
I don't really know. He thinks all my friends are chubby.

Speaker 5 (46:16):
Like, well, to be fair, it was at a pool league,
so it's what you don't really think of, like athletic
prowess at the bar.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
Plain pool you don't. Yeah, well that was the point.
Yeah exactly. I still think that Poorhouse number one before.

Speaker 5 (46:31):
It's not like he was just like, oh do you
think Bucky's friends are all fat?

Speaker 1 (46:35):
What it is? I wasn't exactly setting a high bar
for their physiques, yeah, exactly, comparing them to all and
he were sitting a very low bar, and he thought,
that's beneath that. Yeah, I don't appreciate. I love how
your rallied did. The defense of your buddies really means
a lot to deserve.

Speaker 4 (46:51):
They appreciated it.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
And finally is for fresh. I mean, all this consternation
about Brian Wu will be right once this number is called.
I mean, is there a chance that a couple of
weeks off and little wear and tear and the peck's
perfectly fine and he comes out fresher than ever when
he does pitch again, Oh, more fresher than we've seen him.

(47:14):
I'll tell you this about Brian Wu. He is very
self aware of like how the whole machine works. That
is Brian Wu. I mean, remember all last year and
he'd take himself out of games. I guess something's not right,
something's not right. I mean he never went he never
really got to the point like he was injured for
any really amount of time last year, but he was

(47:35):
aware enough of when his body was out of sync
that to avoid serious injury. I think I need to
shut this downskip. So is there a chance that maybe
this guy just knows his body really well, and if
he's telling us I'm ready to go, we're gonna see
the freshest Brian Wu we've seen since the all start.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
There's a possibility. I don't know, and I wish I did.
I wish that, you know, they would just be one
hundred percent truthful and that they kind of can't and
don't necessarily want to, because you're not gonna say, oh,
I feel better than I've ever felt, and you're obviously
then you're also not going to be like, I'm not
one hundred percent, but I'm ready to rock and roll.
I don't one really prescribe to the idea of rust.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
And I don't.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
I just don't because I've I've done it myself. I've
missed months of time and then been a little bit
worried about. Man, this is I'm jumping right back into
the fire, and felt great when I did it. And
then there's been other times that I've struggled right out
of the gate, and I don't necessarily think, well, that's
because of that, or it's because of that success or failure.
Sometimes it just happens. And yet I wouldn't be surprised

(48:36):
one bit if he comes out in the first opportunity.
He gets just absolutely most people down.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
He does it more often than not.

Speaker 5 (48:41):
He don't ask me, just so question clean that's what
he's gonna say when he walks out there.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
Oh he does, I do too, because first of all,
that'd be a really great take on your part. Make
a promo out of that if he does that, I will, Okay,
Ashley was Ashley was on that before it even happened.
All Right. We got Ryan Heay coming up at nine
o'clock in another a second day of surprise surprise for
Ryan Healey as well, coming up at nine o'clock today.

(49:08):
Coming up next, speaking of f FS for Phish because
Jed Fish has a big game this Saturday. Sports Radio
ninety three point three KH a RFM. So Ryan Bucket
salute takes place every show. Now, Yep, pretty cool. Well,

(49:31):
I don't think anybody would deny this. I mean, we
are very happy Ryan Healey has been a part of
our post game coverage here and I think all of
our listeners really like Ryan Heally. And we are getting
so comfortable with avon Ryan Healey on our radio program
that we surprise. We surprised him yesterday by introducing the

(49:55):
old Judge, and today we offer another surprise for Ran
Healy joining us with Ryan this morning is a fella
he happens to know. Kevin Palar is joining us. Former
Blue Jay meets former Mariner on our radio show this morning,

(50:16):
and so we're gonna have them both here to break
down the American League Championship Series? Are we not? The
fullest surprise is Healey? How about this?

Speaker 9 (50:26):
Were you guys mingling the media room yesterday?

Speaker 1 (50:28):
How'd you get kpd on here?

Speaker 4 (50:29):
He should be sleeping right now. It was the first
person I met in the press box yesterday.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Right at you?

Speaker 4 (50:35):
Yeah, I mean it was kind of it was organic.
We were talking and he asked me to come on
the radio show, and I said, yeah, I think I
can make it happen. And then he just kept talking.
He's like, yeah, we have Ryan, And I was looking
at his credential and I'm like, I know that credential
and cause we mean, you just talked the night before.
And then I started explaining on my drive home we
were chatting and that we were gonna shack up together.

(50:59):
He made it up we were gonna be we were
gonna we're gonna and I was like, that's how close
we are. I was gonna share the bed with this guy.

Speaker 9 (51:07):
What's the text that I sent you back when you
said that.

Speaker 4 (51:11):
That you were Big Spoon or Little Spoon.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
I can't remember my DIBs on Little Spoon argues for
Little Spoon.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
Heey, well, it's funny because he's bigger than me.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Yeah, I had marching orders Ryan. My boss was like, hey,
it'd be nice to have like a Toronto feel on
your show. Everything's been great, but let's do can we
get a Toronto spin on it? And he shows me
the list of people. I said, Kevin Polar is working
for them. I mean he played this year. He just
like retired like fifteen minutes ago. He would be great
to get on. So first person, I run into is

(51:44):
Kevin Polar in the press box. We start having a conversation.
I tell him about your story with us. He goes,
that's like one of my best friends in the world
right there. And so here we are. We're all together.
How about that, Polar? See how magic radio is.

Speaker 4 (51:59):
Yes, I got up early for you guys.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (52:03):
No, it's not really early. Trust me, newborn at home.
This is me. Slipping into eight is like a dream
come true.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
Well all right, well let's let's get your analysis here.
So I'll start with our guest Ryan, and then you
can just piggyback off of what he says. What did
it mean to the Blue Jays to show up yesterday
Kevin and remind people, hey, we can hit the hell
out of the ball.

Speaker 4 (52:27):
Yeah, I mean, I honestly think it was a series
altering victory for them.

Speaker 1 (52:32):
You know.

Speaker 4 (52:32):
I think if they go in and you know, find
a way scratching Claude to get a win, maybe a
three two game. I think the Mariners are sitting over
in their dugout talking about maybe a pitch here, or
in a bat here, or maybe a defensive play here
where you know, maybe they still feel like they could
have won that game. Maybe that's one that got away.
But I think there was definitely a look in the

(52:53):
mirror moment for the guy, the Mariners guys going into
the clubhouse yesterday with how dominant the Blue Jays were,
not only from the pitching side, but from the offensive
side too. You know, coming here, you listen to all
the TV shows, the radio shows. You know they were
talking about sweet sweet. You know, the Mariners did everything

(53:13):
they needed to do when they went into Toronto. They
stole two games there. They won game two very decisively.
They looked like the better team, and it looked like
Toronto had their tail between their legs. The Mariners had
their pitching lined up for, you know, their first big
playoff game in twenty four years, a rowdy, excited crowd,

(53:34):
and the Blues Is just decisively handed it to them.
And I think it kind of really flipped the narrative
and potentially a little bit of the momentum in this
series to the opposite.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Dugout, Wait, make it that.

Speaker 9 (53:45):
Here's the hard here's the hard part about bringing Kevin
on the show today after what was it a thirteen
to two absolute well, thirteen to four, but who when
we had two homers there late in the game. But
you know, here's the challenge here is we went to
Toronto and felt like we shocked the Blue Jays fans
in our home stadium. Came back home, Julio hit that
home run the first inning and the crowd was as
loud as I've ever heard them. And then all of

(54:06):
a sudden, Bieber came out and answered and silenced that
team with striking out the side in the second inning.
And I felt like, in playoff baseball, you can generate
and keV, you can attest this. You can generate momentum
on both sides of the baseball. And Bieber stepped up
for the Blue Jays yesterday and he came out, he
made adjustment c XQ pitches. He looked like himself, the
guy from the Cleveland Guardians that you and I faced

(54:27):
a lock keep. When he's mixing that fastball, slider, cutter, curveball, calmbok,
he's deadly. And then the bats came alive. I didn't
feel like the Blue Jays had poor bats in Game one.
In Game two, I felt like there was a lot
of loud barrels right at the defenders. So we knew
that they were gonna get hot. This is a team
that led the major leagues and batting average, third in doubles,
and manufactured a ton of runs all season long. This

(54:48):
team has a lot of fight left in him. This
series is going to be a dog fight till the end.
The fact that the Mariners came out and got a
lead early and shock them was big. But now they're
a little shocked right now and they have an opportunity
to respond.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
Yeah, idea of getting off to a good start in
Toronto obviously is important. And yet I didn't think this
was going to be a sweep.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
I didn't.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
I don't think it's going to be an easy series.
It's you're down to the final four teams and it's
going to be a battle uphill. I would wonder, like Kevin,
I'll go to you first and then you can respond
to it as well. Hey, I mean, when you're going
up against a guy like George Kirby, what they it
looked to me like they were doing was they were
aggressive early. You know a guy that's going to pound
the zone, he trusts his stuff, and yet they just

(55:28):
weren't letting him get off or get away with any mistakes.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
Left over the heart.

Speaker 3 (55:31):
Is that something that you know that the Blue Jays
were preaching because it looked like it.

Speaker 4 (55:36):
Yeah, I mean it's a matter of fact. All eighteen
hits came within the first three pitches of the bat.
And when you have a guy like George Kirby, who
you know historically is in the strike zone, loves to throw,
you know, strike one of the zone has elite stuff.
The way you beat elite pitching in this game, you
you have two ways when you have these hitters meetings.

(55:57):
You go into this hitters meeting and you say, were
they going to get him or he's gonna get us?
But we're going to do it early, because if you
get the two strikes, his arsenal is too good to
really overcome. So the Blue Jays had a really distinct
plan to attack early. I don't know if you guys
heard John Snyder's press conference pregame. He was talking about
less jabs, more uppercuts, you know, and that's code for, Hey,

(56:20):
we need to sit on pitches and be aggressive and
when you get your pitch, don't be afraid to swing it.
The Blue Jays have this superpower as a team to
put the ball in play and they are going to
continue to do that, but it's how they put the
ball in play. They emphasize not necessarily swinging for the penfenses,
but getting a good pitch and trying to drive the

(56:42):
ball and void did they answer?

Speaker 9 (56:44):
Kevin, You talked about this a little bit on another
show you did recently about the team wide execution of
approach and how there's been some teams in the playoffs
that do it better than others. And yesterday was an
absolute clinic by the Toronto Blue Jays of let's execute
a team wide approach. I mean, eighteen hits from the
first three pitches. I heard that stat. I did a
radio show late last night and I heard that sat
and I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. It was impressive.

(57:06):
But there was two at bats that I thought were
really decisive for the Toronto Blue Jays offense.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
It was Vladimir.

Speaker 9 (57:10):
Guerrero's at bat that double hit through the left field
wall in that third inning he threw he got two
hanging sliders. George Kirby did not have the same feel
for that slider that he has this whole postseason. And
then the kirk Get bat when he walked him with
runners on second and third. He was trying to get
that sinker to clip the outside corner. He had a
really hard time commanding his pitchers at the glove side

(57:31):
on right handed hitters, which is the outside corner. He
couldn't get that sinker to come back, and the slider
just kept kind of spinning in the middle of the play.
And when you cannot command the outer half of the
zone and the hitters able to split the split the
plate in half and really sit on one part of it,
it's really really dangerous for a pitcher that day.

Speaker 4 (57:47):
Yeah, there was guys, you know, Ernie Clement, whole guy,
kind of a free swinger, ambushed the first pitch sinker
in for the double to kind of get the wheels
going a little bit, you know, andres him Andez hit
the two run homer where he said he was just
trying to move the run over and talk about this
kind of team approach. Sometimes when you do less, you
do more. You know, the Vladia bat you were talking about,

(58:10):
he took the first slider in that at bat and
kind of didn't even offer at it as a way
of kind of like saying, throw it again, you know.
I hope you throw it again. George Springer, first pitch,
homer four, se him up in the zone, got it.
Like guys, you talk about having this collective approach, which
you've seen through the Toronto Blue Jays the entirety of

(58:32):
the year, and if you kind of flip the script
to the Mariners, they're a team that just kind of
relies a lot on the home run, a little bit
more free swinging. I don't have the statistics in front
of me, but what I've seen through the first games
was all the kind of small things that you would
want to do right from a team approach. The Blue
Jays kind of led every statistic, but when it came
to like slug and home runs, you saw the Mariners

(58:55):
like the swing amiss. The strikeouts were all in favor
of the Mariners. So it's very interesting that trasting styles
of both of these teams.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
I know one statistic Mariner's two games of Blue Jays won.
That's a pretty important statistic. At this point, Kevin Malar
is with us, former Blue Jay and former Mariner Ryan
Heay with us on the same show. Turns out their
best buddies, and they're joining us here this morning to
talk about the American League Championship Series. So it feels
to me like momentum is just something that's like a

(59:26):
figment of our imagination in this sport, this time of year. So, Ryan,
even though Mariners get stomped yesterday by this lineup, what
kind of chance do you give Luis Castillo just to
reverse that momentum here tonight.

Speaker 9 (59:39):
I'm gonna let Kevin touch on the realities of momentum
because he's played some big posts and games. But just
as an unwritten rule in baseball, you can see things
throughout the course of a game on both the offense
and defensive side, of confidence of players walking to play,
or the way the pitcher toes the rubber. Luis Castigo
as an opportunity tonight to get the crowd involved really early.
If we can put his Europe early, get the offense included,

(01:00:02):
it's gonna be a really exciting game. I'd love to
see more of a you know, a three to two
or a four to three type game. That's more of
the Mariner style that we saw in the DS. They
had the Game four against the Tigers that got out
of hand when the Tigers' bats came alive and they
responded with a fifteen inning game to win it in
the decisive game five. I hope we don't play fifteen tonight,
but I do hope it's more competitive and looks like
the brand of Maritags baseball we've seen all season long.

Speaker 4 (01:00:24):
Yeah, in terms of momentum, I mean, it's real, but
I think as soon as that final out is caught,
the momentum kind of goes away, and that really kind
of shifts into belief. I think what the Blue Jays
have is a ton of belief. And to your previous
point is the Mariners are still up two to one
in this series with two more games left, you know,

(01:00:45):
And that was that was my big talking point post
game for the Blue Jays, was kind of everything that
we had mentioned before, like they kind of that win,
decisive win yesterday really just kind of switched the narrative
of the series to like allow people maybe outside that
both of those clubhouses, people like us in the media, fans,
to really believe, like the Blue Jays do have a

(01:01:06):
chance to win this series. But I got a chance
to talk to George Springer before the game yesterday, for
you know, about a half hour. Couldn't have been any
cooler calmer being down oh two in a series. It's
something he wasn't he was familiar with in his time
with the Astros. And he's like, it's and we both
agreed on this. It's a much bigger deal to everyone
outside of that clubhouse than it is inside that clubhouse.

(01:01:28):
But I do believe the Blue Jays are going to
show up with even more confidence today after what they
did yesterday. But I don't think the Mariners are ultimately
phased by what happened. I think they had a moment
of reflection in that clubhouse to be like, Okay, this
isn't going to be easy, you know, not to say
the first two games were easy, but they went into
a tough place to win two games coming off a

(01:01:50):
super emotional, you know, fifteen inning victory across country flight.
You show up to media day, your your head's kind
of spinning. You know, even know where you're at, you know.
And I was even saying going to that series, and
I texted Dan Shulman before Game one, I said, this
is the one I'm afraid of. Because blue Jays have

(01:02:11):
everything in line. They have rest, they have Gosman on
the mound. The Mariners are coming off this emotional victory,
their pitching plans are kind of in shambles, and the
Mariners just showed up and stole one and then they
won decisively. But I think momentum really does kind of
end when that final out is done for the game.
You're able to kind of wash your hands, you know,

(01:02:32):
rinse everything that happened from that game. But I think
we're going to see two very very competitive teams, very
confident teams showing up today, and that first inning is
going to be very, very pivotal for Luis Castillo. I
think if he can decisively get through the first inning,
you know, I think if he goes, you know, three up,
three down. I think if he gets into a little

(01:02:53):
bit of trouble but gets out of the inning, I
think there's going to be more of a sigh of relief.
I think you'll hear an exhale. But I think if
he can go one, two, three and show some sort
of dominance in those first three hitters, I think you're
going to give that offense a chance. With a very
rowdy crowd and Max Schurz is on the mound, I mean,
I think this is the biggest mystery box of a

(01:03:15):
starting pitcher you know you're ever going to see in
a postseason game. He hasn't pitched in a month. He
says he's healthy. He had an awful year this year.
He's forty one years old. He ain't the same guy,
but he does he have the potential to, you know,
turn back the clock for just maybe eighteen outs today.
I think that's the biggest storyline of.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
The game, Kevin.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
I'm going to ask, since you played with him just
this year, I mean, probably one of the scarier hitters
to step into the box is Vlad And so I mean,
what is it that he has to work on you?
When you guys were in the batting cage, so we
know what his weakness is. We'll relay this to our guys.
I mean, what is it? Is there anything that this
dude doesn't cover when it comes to him up in
the dish because a four for four we can't afford

(01:03:57):
that tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:03:58):
No, he really has no weakness. And me and some
of the media guys were in an uberes today moving
to the bar. We were just kind of talking about
the stuff. We were talking about Vlattie, like, he really
has no weaknesses. At the home play he's basically his
dad with plate discipline. He's got the power, he has
the ability to use all fields. He hits all pitches.
But he is also one of the few superstars in

(01:04:21):
the game that he can be the guy he was
last night. But then he'll have a period of time
where he can't hit water if he fell out of
a boat. It's not like he has these like he
just has these really big ebbs and flows. But obviously
he has you know, more peaks than he has valleys.
But right now what you're seeing from him, and he

(01:04:41):
talked about it kind of towards the end of the season,
he was kind of struggling a little bit. He got
those couple of days off during the Wildcard series. He
found something in his swing that clicked. And he's been,
you know, the flatty that everyone in Toronto when they
signed him up to that fourteen year deal expected him
to be. He's been carrying this offense. He hasn't been

(01:05:05):
doing it alone, but he's been the real catalyst at
the top of the lineup. He's come up with huge hits.
He sets the table and really he has no weaknesses
at home plate when he's locked.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
In Ryan, as we get ready to close shop. And
this has been a lot of fun. I could do
this for about four more hours. You guys into it.
Kevin Polar has authored some of the greatest defensive catches
that the baseball game of baseball has ever seen. What
do you send your buddy when you see him on

(01:05:34):
the highlights? What kind of text do you send him
when if you send him anything at all, when you
see him climb the wall in Toronto and take home
runs away.

Speaker 9 (01:05:45):
It's usually banter. It's usually just like how reckless he
is with his body? Like we talk about that a lot.
And we've spent a lot of time with our families together,
so like when we both have kids, So when the
kids are reckless with their body, like Kevin, that's you, Like,
that's genetic. You gave that to him, you gave that
to your daughter. Then you showed them how to be
reckless with your body and it got you a ten
plus your career. But man, you got some cool stories

(01:06:06):
to tell for me. And I'm glad he never took a
hit away from me. I don't think you did, keV.
But he was there for my first major league kids,
So him and I got some deeper than history together.

Speaker 4 (01:06:12):
Yeah, do we have time to share that story? Please?

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
Please?

Speaker 4 (01:06:15):
You want to hear this story? Yeah, go ahead and
tell it well as I was telling you. Ryan's sister
is married to my childhood best friend since I was
like two years old. So we've known each other pretty
much our whole life. Me and Ryan's age gap. You know,
when you're a kid, the age gap is a little
bit more serious, you know. You know, I'm four years
older than Ryan, so you know, I'm he's four. I'm

(01:06:35):
not playing with a four year old as much when
I'm eight. So but his older sister, his older sister
is only what two years younger than me, maybe a
year younger than me. So my best friend has a sister.
Their sisters grew up together. So I've known his sister
my whole life, and Ryan I knew very little. But
as we got older, baseball kind of brought us together,

(01:06:58):
especially once he got into professional baseball. I was already
in professional baseball. We actually made this very courageous decision
to move to Arizona together at some point in our
career because getting out of California was a better tax decision,
but it was also a better baseball offseason, there was
more resources for us to explore, and we thought if

(01:07:21):
we did it together, you know, we would be able
to kind of push each other, motivate each other, work
out together, hit together, to kind of just expand our careers.
But going back to that, we were I was still
we were both living in California at the time. I
was in the major leagues. Ryan was in Double A
with the A's. Our All Star breaks had overlapped. Was

(01:07:44):
that the year you play in the Futures Game?

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (01:07:46):
So I went Future Game in San Diego and I
went to Kevin's house, Yeah, for a barlaving your wife's birthday.

Speaker 4 (01:07:52):
My wife's birthday. And he at the end of the barbecue,
I walked into the front door. He said he had
to catch a flight al Paso. And you know, like
you said, we like to banter a lot. And I said, hey,
don't call me to You're in the big leagues, buddy,
And that was like the last thing I said to him.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
And where were you up that second half?

Speaker 4 (01:08:12):
We were opening in Oakland, So he flew to al Paso.
I stayed the night at home. I flew to Oakland
the next day for like the workout. Uh, the next
morning he calls me. I'm like, what do you want, buddy,
told you not to call me. You're in the big leagues.
And sure enough, they called him up to the big
leagues to start the second half in Oakland, and I was.
I was there for his debut. I saw his first hit,

(01:08:35):
which I think was a home run off of Jay
Hap or Dicky r A.

Speaker 9 (01:08:39):
Dickey All right, Dicky go yeah, but then I think
you hit over the next day, right, No, I got
the half the happ the halp.

Speaker 4 (01:08:46):
Was the later in the series later, Yeah, okay, but yeah,
I was there. His family was there, Your whole family
was there. My whole family was there, my uh, you know,
my best friend who's married to his sister was there.
So it was just kind of a cool story where, uh,
you know that I was with him the day before,
you know, thought he you know, he was in double

(01:09:07):
A stone El Paso. You know that I thought he would,
you know, and he, to his credit, you know, repeated
double A and he didn't feel like he needed to,
and he just had a great attitude about going back there.
But typically the natural jump would be getting the call
from you know, going from double A to triple a
you know, never in a million years did I expect

(01:09:27):
to get a phone call a day later for him
to make his debut. And you know, the universe has
a funny way of rewarding people, and and the baseball
world is just so small and intimate sometimes that I
got to be uh, not only a front row seat
to you know, his debut, I got to compete against him.
And the last thing I'll say is that little wall

(01:09:48):
scraper he hit. He was lucky he didn't hit the
center because I would have brought that thing back.

Speaker 3 (01:09:52):
He'd still be.

Speaker 4 (01:09:53):
Still be he'd still be searching for his first one.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
I knew where I could could have hit it. Okay,
well this was awesome, so Ryan, hopefully we didn't catch
you too much off guard with our little surprise we
had for you. But great having you two on surprise.
We'll work. Appreciate Thank you, Keev, I.

Speaker 4 (01:10:11):
Could have done it forever. Appreciate you guys.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
I'll see you guys, all right, Yeah, we'll see out
of the ballpark. Kevin Polar, Ryan Heay joining us here.
Farmer Blue Jay, former marin Or breaking down the alcs
for you right here on Chuck and Buck in the mornings,
we'll talk to Mike Sando. Next Sports Radio ninety three
point three KJRFM.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
With Mike Sando of the Athletic and brought to you
by Hunt Services.

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
Get on the horn and call Hunts Now with Mike.
Here's Chucking buck ah Man. We didn't get to chat
with Mike last week, so it's good to hear his voice.
This week, we get ready for Thursday night football. We
also get ready for Seahawks Texans Monday night football. So
much to discuss. Good morning, Mike, Good morning, how you doing.
I'm great. Are you excited to watch ya Tittle versus

(01:10:58):
Auto Graham tonight?

Speaker 4 (01:10:59):
I am?

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
I am.

Speaker 10 (01:11:00):
I like what the guys you know, guys in my well,
they're younger than me, but I mean, you know, they're
they're the closest to our age range, I guess out there,
so that's kind of funny.

Speaker 1 (01:11:09):
I think Rogers was a senior when I was a junior,
if I remember correctly, you know, right? Yeah? I mean,
is this Pittsburgh's division? I mean, based on the fact
that Baltimore is just kind of collapsed and Cincinnati doesn't
have Joe Burrow, I mean, are the can you just
circle the Steelers as division champs this year.

Speaker 10 (01:11:27):
I mean probably, But what's to say that Aaron Rodgers,
age fifty eight, doesn't have an entry in the next
two weeks That totally changes their season? Right, So yeah,
right now they probably have a seventy five percent chance
to win that division just the way that it's going.
And the thing about Baltimore is like Lamar Jackson is
going to come back, but is he going to be
the same He had a hamstring injury. So clearly the

(01:11:50):
Steelers are in the driver's seat. But they got the
oldest quarterback of you know, of the bunch, and that
could lead to injury too.

Speaker 3 (01:11:59):
Who's the the biggest surprise you Jags, Colts or is
there's somebody I'm missing?

Speaker 10 (01:12:06):
Probably the I mean the Colts were one that I
had circled as potential, but I think just the level
they've been playing at offensively to me is surprising. You know,
did I think they could be good and and win
ten games?

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (01:12:20):
I think that was realistic, But they're like top five,
you know, a lot of different things offensively, and so
I would say I didn't really see it coming to
that degree.

Speaker 1 (01:12:30):
Mike Sander is with us our NFL Insider joining us
here on Chuck and Buck, as he does most every
Thursday throughout the football season. Well, let's talk about the
Seahawks opponent on Monday night, the Houston Texans. What a
strange start that they're off to. They've got a sub
five hundred record, yet their rank number one in the
NFL and defense and c. J. Stroud still hasn't picked

(01:12:51):
back up where he left off at the end of
his rookie year. So how good a team is this
Houston team? Are they good at all?

Speaker 10 (01:12:59):
Well, they're definitely good, and that they haven't allowed more
than twenty points in a game this year, so you
know you're going to get a be in for a
scrap with their defense. And then the other thing is
you know they're going to they're coming off a bye,
so you know they've had lots of time to really
dissect Seattle and they should have a really good plan defensively.
Plus they're going to know exactly what Clint Kubiak wants

(01:13:22):
to do offensively because you know they have some history
going against that type of a scheme. Denico Ryans was
with Kyle Shanahan in with the forty nine ers, so
you're probably going to get a really you know, the
best defensive test probably of the season so far, will
be this week against Houston.

Speaker 3 (01:13:42):
What is it that they do that is the scariest?
Is it the pass rush? Is it the fact that
they got some ballhawks in the back, or just get
good complimentary football on the defensive side?

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
What is it that well?

Speaker 10 (01:13:53):
They, yeah, do they have a very good pass rush,
and they've invested in that. They have a couple of
new faces this year, but they have good pass rush
and then they have, you know, a top five cornerback.

Speaker 1 (01:14:06):
In the league as well.

Speaker 10 (01:14:07):
So I think that that's a really good combination for
a you know, a defensive head coach who's what in
his third year there, so they've got their program pretty
well established. I think it's a really good, you know,
just whole operation on the defensive side.

Speaker 1 (01:14:22):
One more question about this game, and we got some
other ground to cover. In the National Football League, you
do your quarterback tiers, it's award winning. Everybody loves it.
Everybody except maybe some of the quarterbacks maybe they don't
like it so much. But if you were to do
wide receiver tiers, where's JSN Which tier does he rise?

Speaker 10 (01:14:42):
To, Well, he's got to be in Tier one unless
your tier one of receivers requires you to be you know,
six foot two and two hundred and twenty pounds and
just an absolute physical mismatch. I think one of the
interesting things is you look around the league, though, is
the leading receivers in the league aren't that guy?

Speaker 1 (01:14:58):
Do you notice that if you.

Speaker 10 (01:14:59):
Look around the guys with the yardage, there's a lot
of guys who are just super productive because they can,
you know, get open, catch the ball. They're well schemed
and and that. So I think you have to put
him in the top tier based on his production, well,
just allowing for the fact that, hey, you know, historically
there are some guys that are more physically imposing.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
He's a special though, Man, is he special? Mike Sando
is with us our NFL inside. You can follow him
at Sando NFL there on X joins us every Thursday.
San Francisco's got another major injury. I mean, they're without
Bosa and Warner. We've talked about this team a lot
in our sessions together, but how are they going to
hold this thing together?

Speaker 10 (01:15:40):
I don't think they're gonna And also their quarterback, both
of them have been banged up, but you know, brock
Purty hasn't really shown an ability to be durable over
the long term, and he's got a you know, the
type of a foot toe type thing that could bother
him a little bit longer term, you know, may linger
for him, or the type of thing that could be recurring.

(01:16:01):
So they don't get a bye to like Week fourteen either.
So I just think it's a tough grind. They're competitive,
they play hard, they're tough, but that's a lot to
ask to really overcome. You know, losing two players in
Bosa and Fred Warner, who might be the best player
on any team in the league if they went on

(01:16:22):
that team.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
Think about that. Those are stars, no doubt about it.
Speaking of stars, Baker Mayfield, I mean, can you envision
a world where he ends up the MVP of the
NFL this year?

Speaker 4 (01:16:34):
I think I could.

Speaker 10 (01:16:35):
You know one thing about them, though, is they've won
all of these super close games, so you know, sometimes
that doesn't be sustained.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
Right.

Speaker 10 (01:16:45):
We saw last year the Chiefs were eleven and zero
in one score games, and then this year they started
owing three in those games. The Bucks are in some
ways not as good as they were last season because
of injuries. But Baker has been keeping their head above water.
So I see his path to the MVP being this,
continue to get guys back from health so you don't
have to win, you know, by one point every week.

(01:17:07):
And we saw last week they beat the forty nine
ers by more than that forty nine ers obviously hurting,
So I think he's right in it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:13):
I do. I think they lose to Detroit though Monday,
don't you.

Speaker 10 (01:17:17):
I mean they could, yeah, but they could, they could,
they could, They could score them too.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
Last thing for you, we've seen the first head coach
get fired of the season. But man, it seems like
they're hot seats all over this league. Is Are we
going to see a lot of firings? Do you think
before the year comes to a close. Not necessarily.

Speaker 10 (01:17:39):
I mean, there could certainly be another one, but I
don't necessarily think that as I looked through to sort
of the teams that are down there, like the Jets
have a first year coach. You know, Cleveland's been super
patient with their guys, so I suppose they could, but
you know, maybe Miami's want to watch it. It's just
been weird stuff at the podium, you know, and yeah,

(01:17:59):
that's everything a couple of years now. Yeah, that might
be the one that I would look for if it
just gets out of hand with you know, tuas talking
about leadership and all that. It just there's a lot
of noise around that team with an owner who probably
could be a little impulsive than Stephen Ross.

Speaker 1 (01:18:12):
All right, well, enjoy the old folks home tonight and
we'll talk to you again next week. Hey, thank you
appreciate it. Mike Sando from the Athletic You can follow
him at Sando NFL. They're on Twitter, and of course,
I mean he podcasts and he writes fancy stories and
all sorts of things, and he joins us nearly every Thursday.

(01:18:33):
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