Softy & Dick 5-13 Hour 3: Steven Souza Jr. and Brian Schmetzer

In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with Steven Souza Jr about Dick’s Thunder take and the Mariners winning another series, then hear from Mariners Manager Scott Servais before talking to Sounders FC Head Coach Brian Schmetzer.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Coming to you live from the ElliotAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM. This is our weeklyvisit with former Mariners outfielders Steven Susa Junior,
powered by Taco Time. For allyour favorites and to order ahead from
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(00:27):
nineteen sixty two. Now with StephenSusa Junior, Here's Safti and Dick.
Hey, don't forget check out toyour local Taco Time restaurant is the Chicken
Caesar Soft Taco Chicken Caesar soald areback for for limited time at every single
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Taco Time inw dot com. Herehe is our friend. Heard us the

(00:48):
at Taco Time talk a Mariner baseball. Stephen Susan Junior, How are you
pal? I'm doing great. Youknow, the weather's turning up here.
The days are getting longer sufty.That means that should be heating up.
Yeah, and they did this weekend. And we'll talk about that in a
second. But I gotta ask youa question for a lifelong Pacific Northwest sports

(01:08):
fan, which you are? Okay, they grew up a Mariner fan,
Seayawk fan, Sonics, the wholething. Dick Fane told us on the
air that his hate for the OklahomaCity Thunder is diminishing as the years go
by. Do you feel the same, Yeah, I, you know,
obviously, thank you. Super disappointedto see him leave, you know,

(01:34):
but you know, Kevin Durant,I gotta watch him be a Sonic and
just kind of follow them and watchRussell Westbrook with them as well. And
so I've kind of followed them andthey've been my team, the plate Trailers.
Oh god, wow? What theother way? The other way?
Wow? But listen, but listen, listen. It's given me hope I've

(01:55):
followed them that we will get ateam back, and I hope as soon
as they do the Thunder we cankiss him goodbye. But I didn't expect
what do you want me to doout here? Holy Christ? You didn't
expect that answer, did Wow?No, try to set him up to
bury me and you got the oppositebrother, Steven. We're gonna have to
have conversation on there. I'm gonnahave my mom call you. By the
way, she's gonna airy your antsout. So all right, never mind

(02:16):
your stupid take on the thunder.Forget that, let's move on. You
mentioned the offense is heating up becausethe weather's eating up. Dick brought that
up on the ear today. Doyou believe that the offensive performance was about
the weather and this offense finally playingup to its potential, or was it
more about timing and playing the age? No, I think that what I'm

(02:39):
hearing is there was some talk amongstthe players about pulling it together and I
think being a little bit more aggressiveright, Like it looks to me this
weekend, and more so yesterday thanthe other two. But it looked like
there was a real intent to goup there and not try and swing at

(03:00):
the right pitches and work account like, Hey, we're going to come up
here and we're coming after you.And you could see that from the very
beginning, And I think that's howthey've got to play. I think they
can get a little bit too passive. Right If you look at their strikeout
rate, it's not a chase rate, it's not the fact that they're going

(03:20):
outside the zone. It's not theretaking pitches that are strikes, that are
hitable strikes in a quality part ofthe plate, and they're not hitting them.
So I like what I thought ofthis weekend in the aggressiveness and staying
aggressive all the way to two strikes, and if they can maintain that and
maintain the confidence with that, Isee these bats turning around for sure.
What do you see from Julio?Because even though he went over four on

(03:42):
Saturday, Scott Servis made a pointto mention it's like, ah, the
bats look different. Now he's goingto start to come along, and lo
and behold he goes two for threewith a home run the next day.
When did you start to notice Juliocoming around a little bit? Yeah,
it just looks to me like he'sbeen in between. You know. Obviously,
he hits three balls hard on Saturday, and you're like, that's that's

(04:04):
a great sign that good things areto come. But when you're just in
between, Dick, it's like you'retrying to make sure you can cover the
heater and be on time for that, all the while waiting enough to make
sure it's not a slider. Andwhen you're in that mode, you can't
cover either, and it seems tome, as aggressive as a hitter as
he is, he just has tostay on the heater and stay fully committed

(04:27):
even when he gets breaking balls.And what that does is, in turn,
it gives him better timing and hecan adjust a lot better. And
that's what I saw on Saturday andSundays, his ability to stay confident with
his timing on the heater. Andhe's so gifted and his eyes are better
than we give him credit for thathe can cover with his athleticism. Steven
Susan Junior is with us on theradio show courtesy Attack of Time, talking

(04:49):
some Mariners and I was looking atLogan Gilbert's stat line the other day and
it just stands out like a sorethumb, right, I mean, just
awful for him for nine hits,eight earned, couple of walks, four
k's, and a bomb. Clearlythe worst outing of the year for him
by far. What'd you see againstthe Twins the other day, man from
Logan, Yeah, kind of shocking, right. I think you watched the

(05:14):
game back and there was a significantgame plan to throw more cutters than he
has in the past. And youknow, he's been so good at staying
unpredictable. And I think I saidthat on the air a couple of weeks
ago, that that's what's made himthe four steamer, the splitter, the
cutter, the slider all together andmaking sure that he's not predictable. It's

(05:34):
been tough to hit him. AndI just thought he fell into a little
too much of a pattern against theTwins where he fell in love with that
cutter, or you know, maybehe wasn't feeling good with this four steamer
and he had to depend on ita little bit better. But that cutter
doesn't have the same give you up. It didn't have as much horizontal runner
or cut into lefties and cutaway fromriding as it has in the past,

(05:55):
and I think he paid for itat times. How about Cal Rawle.
His OPS has risen nearly one hundredpoints in the last ten days, and
I saw a stat the other daythat said his hard hit rate is at
forty seven percent. That's number onein baseball. So what have you seen
this month from cal Raleigh that's contributingto that. Well, I mean,
we got to acknowledge, like thisguy was atrocious last year against lefties and

(06:19):
he has absolutely turned it around.I mean, I think he's plugging somewhere
of like seven point fifty against lefties, which is ridiculous. Right, A
lot of his homers have come fromthe right side, so he's really cleaned
up his swing. He had atoe tap last year, right this year,
he's gathering really well underneath himself andyou can see his hands if you

(06:41):
guys watch him, his hands areflying out to center field and over his
shoulder. That means he's staying insidethe ball and staying through the ball a
lot better. And that's why you'reseeing sudden these balls being hit so hard.
He's already got a great natural leftyswing and it'll get better as the
season goes on. I got nodoubt about that. But I think a
big part of his year while he'sgonna have a big years because he's turned

(07:01):
that right hand and swing around.Yeah. Seven ninety six against righty's ops,
seven thirteen against lefties. But StevenSusan is with us and I brought
this up. Was it off theyear on the here? I can't remember
if we had this conversation off theor on the ear about the idea that
cal Roley should be getting an extensionright now. I mean, he's got
three years of arbitration coming up,he'll be thirty one when he's a free
agent. I cannot imagine this guyplaying anywhere else besides the Mariners. I

(07:26):
think, Steven, and you cantell me if you agree, I think
he's the leader at that clubhouse.I think he's the DNA of that baseball
team right now. You can buyout arbitration, buy out the first couple
of years a free agency, maybeat a discount. How hard would you
be looking if you're John Stanton rightnow to lock this guy up long term?
Well, two things of that firstpart. As a leader, he's

(07:49):
one hundred percent the leader of thatteam. I think his ability to hold
people accountable at a young age andyoung in the league is kind of reminds
me of like Posey, where he'snot a very loud guy. He's very
unassuming, doesn't give himself a lotof a credit. I think the fans
can really relate to him because it'sa very not ordinary guy, but he

(08:11):
does. He doesn't seem to beabove everybody else. He seems more blue
collar, so to speak. SoI one hundred percent agree with you,
and I think inside that locker room. They respect his competitiveness along with that
humility, and that is a rarecombo to Fine. As far as the
extension to you, I gotta behonest, it's going to be really difficult

(08:31):
to sign him to an extension becauseof one reason. His agent, Scott
Boris, doesn't sign extensions. Hejust doesn't let his guys sign extensions.
And if he does, it's definitelynot for a discount. So unless Jerry
and John are willing to pay whathis value will be on the market,
Kal's probably gonna end up tests inthe market, which is tough to say,

(08:52):
because you nailed it. This guyfeels like a Mariner for life.
And the way that he's gone abouthis business, from the homer to the
things he said last year to himholding this pitching staff together, all of
it just is like he cannot letthis guy go. Would Scott Morris though?
Have to make an exception for thecatcher position, because yeah, you
can sign a thirty year old,you know, first baseman to a huge

(09:16):
five, six, seven year contract, but is anybody gonna sign a thirty
one year old catcher to a hugecontract. Yeah? Look at JT.
Mreal Muto, right, he justsigned one of the bigger deals seven years,
I think one hundred and twenty million. It's the one hundred and forty
million something like that, And Ijust think that those positions last a little

(09:37):
bit longer, even if the offensivecomes down at the end. And with
Scott, it's not about the lengthof the contract. It's about how much
he's gonna get per year. Andif Cal's value is calling for you know,
is he's sitting thirty homers as acatcher. How many guys on in
the big leagues are doing that andplaying good defense, you can count him

(09:58):
on one hand. They're also right, so he's gonna command a hefty contract.
And I'm not saying he won't takea deal, Dick. I mean,
it obviously comes down to the playerwhen it's all said and done,
And if Cal wants to stay inSeattle, like he'll do that. But
at the end of the day,like, you're gonna have to pay the
man when he's worth now, totallyagree. Man Again, I mean,

(10:18):
you guys may be right on Boristhat he may want to sit, but
that's that's a long wait for ScottBoris to get this guy a contract.
A free agency to wait three yearsfor that, so it have to be
worth it. Obviously you have toget maybe a discount slightly in free agency.
But I would not like to losethis guy whatsoever. Meant. Yeah,
here's the thing to that too,Sosty is like, if you lose

(10:39):
Calen, you're not willing to paythe you know, maybe the premium price
for him. What's behind him?You just don't know, right, And
it's really difficult to find offensive catchersthat are really good defensively as well,
well, no doubt, and youit's it's funny you mentioned what's behind him,
and right now it's Harry Ford inthe minors. So let's just live

(11:00):
in a world where cal Raley eitherA plays three years and then goes to
free agency or B gets an extension. What does Harry Ford's future look like
to you with this team? Yeah, obviously if he move, if they
move on from cal, he probablygets the first shot at that job.
Right, But if if cal stays, Listen, I've seen this kid play.

(11:20):
He is an athlete. I mean, he's a really good athlete.
If if he comes up in Cal'shere for the next seven years, well,
obviously you have a trade ship.That's number one. If he's in
the top one hundred, it looksreally good to other teams, and you
can try and get what you need. But on the other hand, like
if he keeps progressing the way heis, I don't see any reason why
he can't play the outfield and runaround up there. Harry Fork can really

(11:41):
run and he can really stay athleticall over the field, and I there's
no doubt in my mind that ifthe back keeps playing, the Mariners will
keep him. The final way toget him out there Stevensuza joining us.
Josh Rojas is hitting four hundred inMay. He's got an ops a damn
near a thousand right now. So, Josh Rojas, did we just lose
them Jacksonville Jackson We did? Wedid? We lost him? You know

(12:05):
why. Somebody probably grabbed him afterthat ridiculous Oklahoma City thunder comment he made
on the air for crying out lot. Get him back on the show and
we'll keep talking baseball with him.But yeah, I mean Ross right now,
he looks like he's kind of solvedthat third base problem. He's got
five multi hit games in the lasteight games, and he's back with us
Steven talking about Josh Rojas four hundredin May an ops in May of over

(12:28):
nine hundred. I mean, didyou expect and not this, but did
you expect Josh Ross to come inand be a legitimate starting caliber third basement
offensively? It's a great question.You know, he had some He had
a couple of really good years inArizona and then had an injury and had
a hard time bouncing back from that, and then you have the switch of

(12:50):
teams and that has a lot todo with it. Josh Rojas is a
good player. I mean, hehe's really taken advantage of this opportunity and
ran with it. I mean,he's the only one that's striking out under
a twenty percent clip other than JPCrawford who's on the IL right now.
But he's just really taken to someadjustments. Really, it feels like he's

(13:11):
relaxed that front side and that's helpedhim stay through the zone a lot better.
And Brent Brown's done a terrific jobwith him. But man, you
when you trade away somebody like Ginoand you have an opportunity like this,
this is what makes really good bigleaders, and that's what Josh Rohus is
doing. Is Scott Boris or Scottservice has can't figure out a way to

(13:31):
get him out of the lineup,like you're putt him in left field wherever
you can't because yeah, back qualityis just so high. So he's doing
a great job. And I mean, if he keeps this up, honestly,
he's going to be an All Star. I mean there's no reason he
can't be. Steven Susan's with us, Curtisy at Taco time. How big
a blow is it losing Brash forthe year. Yeah, it's tough.

(13:52):
You know, I think everybody washopeful when the throwing programs started. I
know we were all a little bitsad when it in the spring training.
But you know, if Santos washealthy, it wouldn't be as big of
a deal. To be honest withyou, I think you've got some guys
that have really stepped up in thebullpen that can kind of fill it in.

(14:13):
But having missing Santos and missing Brash, and I don't know that we're
gonna see Santos this year, tobe honest with you, it just doesn't
look great. And so if you'remissing those two guys, you're gonna have
to get a power arm out ofthe bullpen. But I'll tell you what,
one thing the Mariners are good,and one thing Jerry is really good
at is really good at finding thediamond and the rough pitching, and they're

(14:35):
really good at finding the guy thatthey can develop into somebody really good.
So I have full confidence at thedeadline they'll get whatever arm they need,
or maybe it's in the minor leagues, and they'll be right back with somebody
else. Well, last week weasked you about Minnesota and what to expect,
and you were exactly right. You'vesaid great pitching, swing and miss

(14:56):
stuff, and we swung and missedall week long against them. See it
in Kansas City this week. Youknow what, Honestly, Kansas City is
the team that it feels like theMariners are trying to be right, Like
they don't strike out, they justdon't they I think they strike out in
the second second lowest rate. It'sseventeen percent or eighteen percent, right behind

(15:20):
the Astros. They put the ballin play, they don't slug a ton,
but they've got some really good armsas well, like Seth Lugo is
having one of the quietest, reallygood thy young years around. So the
pitching is gonna be matched up.It's gonna be about what gives. So
Brady Singer tonight works quick, throwsstrikes. He's a guy that's maybe available

(15:41):
to the deadline. Not that theMariners need to start in pitching, but
I think what we'll need to seegive is whether or not the Mariners can
put away some of these bats thatdon't go down swinging. And if they
can and the offense stays aggressive,I see the Mariners winning this series.
If not, you know, they'relooking at an uphill battle against a really
good pitch, no doubt. Allright, man, enjoy it and we

(16:03):
will talk next Monday. Buddy,appreciate it. Pal Ah, guys,
have a good one, all right, man, Steven susan JUNI, you're
always great with us talking baseball everyMonday, courtesy of our friends over at
Talk with Tom. We're gonna breakScott's service has spoken. What did he
say? We'll find out next.And then Brian Schmitzer after a big win
over Portland five point forty five tonightright here on ninety three three kJ irfl

(16:25):
from the R and R Foundation Specialistbroadcast studio Now back to Sofie and Dick
on your Home for the Huskies andthe Craken Sports Radio ninety three point three
kJ R FM. We haven't talkedabout the big news today in the NFL
yet today so far today, today, today, today. Hello, it

(16:48):
was it was in USA today todayas well. Yeah, your favorite NFL
quarterback is Jared Goff. Jared Goffto Dick in the NFL is like Jared
kelnickan baseball can't stand again. Well, d you can pronounced his last night
different reasons. I don't think JaredGoff is a little baby wow. I
think Jared Goff is a really mature, solid leader. I just never thought

(17:14):
he was a great quarterback. ButI'll tell you what, he has proven
to be a lot better than Iever thought he was gonna be. That's
for gangster. Well, he's nowthe second highest paid quarterback in the history
of the NFL based on average annualsalary. Jared Goff is gonna make fifty
three million dollars a year and onehundred and seventy million dollars guaranteed. And
I just guess that this is justthe way of the world and people have

(17:36):
just got to get over quarterbacks makingmore money than they think they deserve.
Because what are the Lions supposed todo? Let the guy walk, right,
I mean, they're they're kind theLions are kind of stuck because it
would be really easy if the Lionswere perpetually eight and nine going nowhere close
to the playoffs but not in theplayoffs. But no, they're they're they're

(17:59):
a next upright, But really,what this contract is going to do.
It's gonna saddle the Detroit Lions witha good quarterback making elite money. And
that's exactly what has happened to theDallas Cowboys the last five years. And
I project that the Lions will havethe same amount of success the next five
years that the Dallas Cowboys have hadthe last five years, and that's they'll

(18:19):
make the playoffs usually, but they'llbe early exits because they can't pay the
rest of their team. Yeah,I mean, I think I think part
of that's true. I also thinkthat there's a difference between making a super
Bowl and winning a super Bowl,And can the Lions get there? I
mean, it may be hard towin one, right, I think a
chance with the Cowboys, sure,but so for them getting there would be

(18:44):
a gigantic step for that French Soif Jared Goff can get them to a
Super Bowl for the first time infranchise history, that one hundred and seventy
million dollars is completely worth it.And look, I mean Dan Campbell may
be a better coach than Mike McCarthyright now. Well, honestly, as
crazy as that s best. Well, you're talking about expectations right in Cities.
Expectations. Yeah, and yes,Jared Goff, I would be much

(19:08):
much more of a proponent if Iwas a Lions fan of paying Jared Goff
that much money, then I wouldbe of a Cowboys fan paying Dak Prescott
that much money, because Cowboy fanshave delusions of grandeur. They think they
belong in the Super Bowl every yeareven though they haven't been there since Jackson
was like one. So I meanthey need the Cowboys need a new quarterback
because they are stuck in this tenand seven purgatory with Dak Prescott as a

(19:33):
quarter I mean, you got yougot twelve guys in the NFL making forty
million dollars or more at the quarterbackposition. And I told Jack off the
air that there's gonna be a guymaking sixty million dollars in the next maybe
three to four years, and beforeyou and I die, somebody's making a
hundred It's gonna happen, right,There's no question somebody's making one hundred million
dollars to play that position. Butonce you have one, I think the

(19:53):
Lions had no choice but to paythis guy. I mean, look,
obviously he's not the second best quarterbackin the nf fell, but wasn't Justin
Herbert at one point in time thehighest paid quarterback in the NFL history,
right exactly. So say it's justabout who's next. Man, It's always
about who's next. You don't knowwho's next. Now, well two was
coming up, Trevor Lawrence is comingup. I'm trying to think of money.

(20:15):
I'm trying to think of other quarterbacks, younger quarterbacks, I mean c
J. Stroud. In three yearsprobably from now, we'll see what Bryce
Young does. Most of them havedeals, Yeah, they do, they
do. Most Most of these guyshave gigantic deals. And I mean Patrick
Mahomes may redo his deal again.I know, we just readed his deal
a few months ago. He maderedo it again. Who knows? Scott
Service with the media Mariner manager asopposed to the guy that works at Shucks

(20:40):
Auto. It's not that Scott service. It's the Scott service. Just shuckstow
around, by the way, Idon't they got bought out, probably right
Scott's service. Marinor Skipper with themedia before tonight's Game one against Kansas City.
We'll get rolling here, Royals intown. You know, good serious
force over the weekend, kind ofgetting back on the winning side of those
things. So excited I think ouroffense, so some signs here through the

(21:03):
weekend of some things starting to cometogether, even though even the game Saturday
night we didn't win. We needa lot of balls hard, so hope
it continues. The Royals are offa good start. They have a little
bit different look to their team.They've been a tough team the last couple
of years. We played some crazygames against them. They put the ball
in play, they're pretty athletic.They're a very good defensive team. So
it'll be a good series. Weneed to pitch well. That's kind of

(21:25):
our key to success here is getour stars deep in the game and George
going to night he's certainly capable ofdoing that, so you've touched on it,
you guess did play some crazy gigsagainst these guys, both in Seattle
and in Kansas City. What reallystood out about how hard you guys played
against each other, It was wold, no matter what leave you have is
nothing safe on both sides. Teamswill go back and forth home runs.
They've got this guy called Salvy Perezover there that seems to end up in

(21:48):
the middle of it all. Andhe's a really hard guy to pitch too,
because he can hit any pitch nomatter where it's round. Sometimes it's
in the other batter's box, andhe can still put the bat on the
ball, and he seems to bein the in the middle of every I
think he's a long time royal,you know, he's kind of the heart
and soul of their team. Butthey do have some some young, exciting
players sort of. The shortstop isa you know, just a five tool

(22:08):
monster. He can do a lotof things with Junior Ken. So they've
got big time players that made hugeupgrades with their pitching this year as well.
But yeah, the games we've hadthem have just been so back and
forth. You get up by twoor three runs and you look up now
you're down two or three. Thatjust hasn't been typical to how we how
we normally play. You've seen Singera lot of the course of his career.
Is there something that you can pinpointthat you've been doing especially well so

(22:30):
far as here? But he's offtheir good start. He's been really aggressive,
and it's just how we pitches.You know, he's kind of got
that hrky jerky, quick delivery thatkind of jumps at the hit her.
You know, he works primarily withtwo pitches, the sinker and the sliders.
Sliders are it's it's a really goodpitch. It's a unique slider.
It doesn't maybe have quite the sweepor break to some of it, and
it tunnels exactly out of the sametunnel at his fastball does. And so

(22:55):
the thing that's a little bit differentwith the Royals pitching staff is they live
on the ground. They have alot of Singer ball pitchers, probably many
as as much as any team we'veseen in the league. In today's game,
more most teams are pitching up inthe zone. They are the opposite,
they're pitching down at the zone.So you know, you may see
us put a little bit guys inmotion a little bit deeper in counts,
trying to stay out of double playsand create some action that way. So
it's a different matchup, you know, it's different than what maybe you've seen,

(23:18):
but it's working for them, andlike I said, they're up to
a really good start. You've alwayssaid that if you hit, you're gonna
play, and you've got some guysout there that are taking advantage of their
playing time not tell us as amanager to keep everybody happy and then keep
moving those lamps, no doubt.And you're talking about Josh Rojas being a
top of the list. Josh hasplayed great because he's just so awesome getting
on base and getting big hits.We're about to get healthier here when when

(23:41):
JP comes back, probably meets us, you know, on the road trip
along with don can Zone. Soyou know, we do have to cycle
players through and keep everybody sharp.Which we've got a couple of guys out
there have been playing a lot recentlyand Demo being one of them. When
he's gonna welcome a couple of daysoff here. So you can never have
too many good players ball and keepingthose guys fresh and keeping them go and
it's going to be critical, especiallywhen you go on road trips like what

(24:02):
we have ahead of us. Youknow, you play ten games out on
the East Coast. You need everybodyget an opportunity to contribute, and we'll
have plenty of opportunities for that tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah, Obviously everybody in
the minor league is off on Mondaysnow that it's great for minor league baseball.
I love having the Mondays off,except when you have rehab guys that
you want to play on Monday.So yeah, JP will pick up his

(24:23):
rehab. Dom's already going with hisso hopefully we get those guys back soon.
The voice of Scott's service with themedia before tonight's Game one against Kansas
City. I'm looking up Julio Rodriguez. I know we had the home run.
Was it yesterday? By the wayagainst the As? Yes? He
is one hundred and thirty fifth inbaseball and OPS and that's just weird,

(24:45):
right, I Mean, I realizedit's not July, but it's also not
April tenth either. It's the middleof May, and Julio Rodriguez in the
last eighteen games as three RBIs sohoping that yesterday was a little bit of
a catapult to getting him back towhere he needs to be. Uh six
thirty three ops, one hundred andthirty fifth in baseball obviously for him,

(25:08):
is not good enough and not wherehe wants to be. He's hitting two
fifties so far this year, excuseme, two fifty with a seven or
four ops in the month of Maywith a homer and two Ribby's and both
of those came yesterday, And Idon't know, I mean it kind of
it makes me sad. And I'mnot saying that it's unfair or fair or
whatever. You do whatever you wantas fans, but you know, I'm

(25:32):
starting to see a guy Jackson andDick that's starting to take a little heat
from people about the way he's playing. You know, I had one guy
on Twitter caught him Frodriguez yesterday.Wow online, Wow. You know one
guy that just keeps hammering him overand over again. And so I want
this guy to be universally loved byeverybody in this town because I think Julio
Rodriguez has an ability to be thebiggest star in Seattle. Bar Nunn,

(25:56):
right, Yeah, he's got that, He's got the personality for it.
He's got the looks for it.He's got the flair, the charisma,
the play's got everything. He isa dream candidate for a sports marketing agent,
right, He's got everything you want, Okay, And for him to
struggle like this, it's just it'sbusting me up inside. So I know

(26:18):
we're supposed to have him on theshow tomorrow at four o'clock to visit with
Julio, But I'm just crossing myfingers, Dick that whatever work he's putting
in that yesterday was the fruits ofthat, and we'll see more of that
starting. Yeah, And I thinkit probably even started on Saturday as well,
as we talked to Steven Susan abouthe had three hard hit balls.
I mean Saturday, Oakland was catchingeverything. It was ridiculous. I mean,

(26:41):
the Marriage were hitting the ball prettyhard. They just didn't get anything
to show for it. So theyactually had three good hitting days against Oakland.
They only just had two that theyactually scored a lot of runs in.
But I mean, I think thatthe Frodriguez comment, I mean,
you don't you only have to goback to last year. Julio Rodriguez was
only on June thirtieth, way deeperinto the season than this year. He

(27:06):
was hitting two thirty eight with afour to h seven slug and a seven
to ten OPS. Julio Rodriguez didnot have a good season last year.
He had a good second half ofthe season last year, So I mean
it's gonna come, right, Imean, would what would be more surprising
that Julio doesn't come out of itor that Julio does come out Oh,
that that he doesn't sure, We'veseen way too much. We've seen way

(27:30):
too much evidence to say that heis going to come out of it.
Well, there's no question about that. But like your constant complaint that you
have every single year, and you'reexactly one hundred percent recording, why are
they starting like this right? Imean, the team has to figure that
out, and apparently he's got tokind of figure it out too. What's

(27:51):
his ops right now? Six thirtythree? His rookie year May thirteenth,
six thirty five. Okay, hedid the exact same thing two years ago,
and he was only slightly better lastyear than he is this year.
And again the question is why whydo these slow starts for her keep happening?
We're gonna break, Brian Schmetzer.At a time you can head to
Portland and beat those bastards in theirhome park. It's a good day.

(28:12):
Brian Schmetzer joins next on ninety threethree KJRFM Live from the R and R
Foundation Specialist Broadcast Studio. Now backto Softie and Dick on your home for
the Huskies and the Kraken Sports Radioninety three point three kJ R FM mish
rolled on thirty Awesome goal goes toFood of August. The left foot strike?

(28:33):
What's the goal? Ruey dz outof nothing with his left foot finds
the top corner in front of theTimbers army. They go silent and the
sound is celebrating the far corner.Timbers one, Sounders two. All right,
we're back here at the Emiral QueenCasino Sportsbook and nothing, and I
mean nothing makes Jackson felt happier thata Sounders FC win on the road at

(29:00):
Portland like we had yesterday and joiningus right now is the architect of that
victory. Our friend, your friend, head coach, Brian Schmetzer, how
are you, pal? And Jackson'sfriend Jackson's friend right, Jackson's very close
friend apparently by the way, hey, let me, uh, let me
first of all, just ask you, does it ever get old man going

(29:22):
down there and beating them in frontof their fat fans faces and their own
fat stupid park? Does it everget old? Man? Getting a win
down there never gets old? Neverever ever will it get old. It's
great rivalry and just shutting those fansup is a beautiful thing. It's just
a beautiful thing. I love it. Yeah. Just compare the joy you

(29:44):
get it. It's you're always joyfulafter a win, right, especially one
that you play really well. Andcompare the feeling walking off of that pitch
compared to walking off of you know, Austin or Nashville or something like that.
Yeah, it's different. I meanwe love going over you know,
because they stuff our fans uh dickright up in the very top smallest corner

(30:07):
of that crappy stadium that they have, and you know, we love going
over there. There's people in thisVIP section that have to see us all
get over there. There. Theygot field level seats where you know,
there's some VIPs get to sit andwe go right over to them and we're
waving to our fans and it's it'sgreat. I love it. Yeah,
well, Jackson had a good timeon the road trip. I'm just thinking

(30:30):
when or Dick and I going toget the invice to join you guys on
a road trip. What's your invite? Is always there, and I mean
anytime you guys want to come ona trip, I'm happy to take you
guys on a charter plane and we'llgo down there and have some fun and
kick some ass. All right,we're in david second schedule right now.
Yeah, hey, second to scheduleright now. Hey, the highlight that
we heard coming in there Raoul inthe fiftieth minute, Man, just another

(30:55):
unreal play by this kid. Tellus what you saw from your vantage point
there, man, Yeah, itwas a good by Danny Jackson on KJR.
I love hearing his excitement and himvoice. I was excited. I
was surprised. I mean I shouldn'tbe surprised by what Raoul can do.
We've seen him score some outrageous goals. The goal up in Philly earlier this

(31:15):
year, but man, he wasoff balance. He just hit it so
pure, so clean, the goalkeeperhad no chance. Caught the goalkeeper by
surprise, caught everybody's surprise. Andthe best of all, Softy. It
was down at their end where alltheir you know, supporters are the timbers
army and quieted him down a lot. Well, that's thirteen goals for him

(31:38):
against Portland. I read that waslike the most ever that Portland's given up
to an individual play. Like,what is it about I mean, Ruey's
always a good score, but whatis it about the Portland matches that just
gets him in the back of thenet. Yeah, we've had some guys.
I mean, Dempsey loved the bigoccasion and loved killing Portland. Montero
did it as well. But Raoul'staking it to a different level. I

(32:00):
mean he scored some really important goals, timely goals. This one was the
winning goal. He scores some outrageousgoals, so it's credit to him.
He's a big time player. Helikes these big moments. He likes rivalry
games, you know, classicos inSpanish, So he just gets up for
these types of matches. All right, Dick, what do you think?

(32:21):
May twenty fifth, Saint Louis CharlieGito's on the Hill gets Italian food Kansas
City, June eighth for some barbecuewith the boys. Outdoor. We got
to do it during during the Olympicbreak winne Houston go to Don and Charlie'
while we're down there gonna big oldfat stake. We got some options.
We're gonna be hitting you up forthat for sure. But you know,
Jackson mentioned this off the air thatkeeping Portland in last place in the Western

(32:43):
Conference. Does that add a littlespice to you for this that to this
win yesterday? Well, there was, Look, there was a little bit
of pressure there. I mean theteam, it was the last game of
the weekend that you know, therivalry weekend. The team, there's your
promo, baby, right there fortomorrow, Jackson, right there in front

(33:06):
of your face. Make it happen. And that's awesome. And in order
to get that done after you hadthe lead, I mean you needed defense
the entire second half. Talk aboutthe job that they did. Well.
The guys that started the game andstill were on the field at the end
of the game, we're gassed.I had young kids come on the field

(33:27):
and work their butts off. Itwas a total team effort. You know,
Steph only had to make one reallyclean save. You know, there
were a couple of half chances theyhad. But the defense that the team
put together, you know, theywere committed. They defended the goal.
There weren't a couple of mistakes,of course the first goal, but man,

(33:50):
towards the end, I thought we'dclosed the game out pretty well.
All right, Well, Brian Smeinsteris with us, and you got to
kind of turn it around. Nowyou got a big game on Wednesday in
Salt Lake. Talk about our Isell two days from now. Yeah,
division leader, super good start totheir season. They've got another game coming
up so there, I'm kind ofthe same schedule as US, so we

(34:10):
might face a rotated squad there midweek. They've got a home game the following
Saturday. So we're gonna try andyou know, do a weekend to go
there and steal three points. Brian, talk about the US Open Cup game,
because that was that was an unusualsituation at the end. You go
to a long penalty kick shootout situation. Andrew Thomas is in goal making save

(34:34):
after save after save, and thenit looks to me like he calls his
own number and says, I'm gonnatake the penalty kick for the win.
So was that the plan all along? And if not, are you okay
with somebody just saying I'm taking thisgreat question, Dick, Because we didn't
talk about the Open Cup victory.That was certainly something that you know,
kind of you know, kept thetrain moving down the tracks. We had

(34:58):
a little bit of momentum coming outof DC in Philly, but that Open
Cup game, sure, the youngkids put it in there. Andrew Thomas
is a super talented goalkeeper and he'she's the guy next in line after Steph
Frye retires. But that penalty kicksequence was just like this. So I
had the first five guys and thenmy number six guy, and so after

(35:21):
six, the guys on the fieldthey have to they have to talk amongst
themselves, Hey, you're going totake it. I need guys to step
up in those moments because usually youdon't. You don't go all the way
through number ten. So so whenhe made that save on the eighth Billy
kick, you know, Tommy Deucherhad told me, he had told me
he said, look, Andrew couldkick the ball really hard. So why

(35:42):
don't you have Andrew take a kick? And so I'm yelling, screaming because
Sota was walking up to take thekick, Sota Kitdahara and Andrew heard me
yelling and he just stepped up plentyof confidence and buried it for the win.
I love it. Before you go, a couple of injury updates de
la Vega and Gomes Androtti. What'sgoing on there? Uh, we are
going to take Imar on the tripwith us to rsl Okay. And I

(36:07):
can tell you this that Pedro dela Vega his his re entry to the
team is going to be Saturday againstVancouver. Wow, how about that breaking
news right here on the flagship.I love it. Brian, you're the
man, and Dick and I willget with our bosses, meeting our wives
and let you know where we're gonnajoin you on a road trip because that's
going to be damn fun. Man. All right, just be ready for

(36:29):
us. Pal'll be ready, allright, I will be all right.
But Brian Schmetzer with us on theair, big winner of Portland yesterday,
We're gonna break