Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast
9am Hour - The Reindl Report + Mark Loretta Calls In!
Ben & Woods kick off the 9am with The Reindl Report and Paulie’s top stories of the day, including new rules coming to this month’s Home Run Derby. Then the guys talk about the San Francisco Giants appearing to host “Mickey Mouse Day” when they took on the Los Angeles dodgers this weekend!? And at the bottom of the hour we get a special call-in from Padres Special Assistant Mark Loretta and hear all about his experience in Boston this weekend watching the Padres take 2 of 3 from the Red Sox! Listen here!
- Duration:
- 56m
- Broadcast on:
- 01 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
But actually, a pretty educational weekend for me with Padres at Fenway Park, not a venue in which the Padres have played a ton of games. They hadn't been there since 2013. They put that line up out. Boy. Pedro Saracco. Saracco. That's a short stop. Yeah. I had totally forgotten about Pedro Saracco. Mark Casa in the D.H. slot that day. And second stint with the Padres. Yeah. End of his career. Yeah. That was something. That was so educational. I learned, and Don and Mud talked about it on the broadcast, about the green monster. And obviously, the renovations that they put the seats on top of the wall looks fantastic. But the fact that they left that ladder on the wall as a historic artifact, they used to use that ladder to climb up after batting practice to go get the baseballs that had gotten caught in the net. Mark. So they could use them again the next day. Now they just go into the seats, and fans get to take them home, or they head on out to the, what, as Lansdowne Street, that's out there. Yocky way. Used to be yocky way. But now it's not. Not. Yeah. It was like a man who's a great sauna or something. Yeah. But like whatever's out there. Yeah. And then I think I had seen before that people go inside the wall, and they sign their names like players. Jeremiah Strata did it, and he took a picture where you see him. There's that, that little opening in the wall where the people who work behind can see what's going on in the game, like a window in the wall. Slit. But. Yes. It's just a slit. I mean, it's like a square. It's like a, it's a, it's enough to like put your head in, and that's about it. Well, then there's slits all around it too, because Jesse took a picture of a slit. Yes. But there's an actual. Make it up for your eyes. And like window in the wall, and they said it's, that, that one's always open there. But no ball has ever gone in into that window in the history of Fenway Park, which is pretty amazing to think about hundred and twelve, thirteen years, and that, that's always been there. And no one's hit a one offer that bounced right through the wall in the entire time it's been there. Yeah. Yeah. That one's big enough for a ball. The slits are not big enough for a ball. No. You know, Jerkson out there kind of guessing he had the one that bounced off the wall then the track and that's right over his head didn't cost an extra base. It was going to be a double anyway. But the intricacies of playing that outfield with such quirky dimensions and then knowing if it hits the scoreboard, or it hits one of the numbers on the scoreboard, or it hits the ladder or anything, it's getting bounced completely differently than if it just hits the wall solidly. It's like a guessing game out there. Well, I mean, you saw Jerkson. Yeah. Yeah. And as soon as he was running back on it, I went, you're too close. You're too close. You're too close. You're not going to get. Oh, but the, but the, once the ball caroms off and Jerkson runs to get it, do you know how far he is from? Check it. He's 10 feet away. He's right there. It's so close. Underhand there. He couldn't take an extra base because he's going to get there. The throw is like right there. I loved, loved mud story about when he went there and he said he went back to the wall and he leaned up against the wall and he's like, do they move this thing back for the games? Because this is really, really close. I mean, if you're ever, if you go to Fenway, I went once, um, oh, it's with Yankee's Red Sox series. There was insane everywhere you sit, you're like, Oh my God, I'm in this guy's back pocket. Like I feel like I'm right on top of this dude. And that's cool. It's very intimate. And that's kind of how old Yankee Stadium was too, but man, you're, you're in that ballpark and you're like, yeah, it's just, it's very, very tight, very tight, pesky pulls only like 300 feet right there in the corner, three or something. So we got one. Duran's home run was not that long. It was into the corner yesterday as well, but just those very quirky dimensions for a team. We don't get to see play our team there that often it was kind of interesting and educational for me this weekend. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And then of course Jackson Merrill's got to go out and play centerfield that has that funky, you know, and he played it well. He played it. He always does. No played it. The one thing that I wanted to know that no one ever addressed. So when Jackson Merrill hit the home run to his mom, yeah, and they were all sitting there, but then the next day was covered in a tarp. So they talked about it. Did someone say that? They never heard about it. They changed it for day games. Mud was talking about it. No, Jesse posted on social media and he was talking about it on the broadcast as well, how they just blacken out those seats for day games for the batter's eye, but for night games. I feel like it's okay. Night games. He said like capacity changes between day games and night games by like 400 seats. Yep. I was wondering if that was something to do with that. It's quirky, man. And quirky is cool. I mean, look, you'd hate, you'd hate 30 ballparks like that. You know, I think you would eventually be like, Oh God, but you know, I like the, I like the quirkiness of it. Really cool experience. Honestly, just complete symmetrical arcs all the way around. Remember those days, man? I mean, that's, that's the, that's the baseball, watching like that. Arlington stadium. Oh my God. Just front. I mean, you know, they all seem kind of the same, but that was the height of architecture back then when they could get it perfectly symmetrical, that would look, they were like, we've done it. This is exactly what too much, too much quirk and really feel too many quirks in Fenway park. Let's get this nice and even. They made made parking. They put a flag pull and a hill on the field. Okay. We've jumped the shark a little bit in, in ballpark design at this point. I will never forget that hill. That hill in center field was just, you had to see it to believe it. And what are we doing? Center field was like, come on. Come on. Uh, no, it was, it was awesome. I, it's just, if you, if you, if you're a baseball fan and you've never had the chance to go to Fenway park, you have to put it on your list of, of must sees. It is spectacular. I know we got to get to the Ronald report. I feel like the Padres, until this year, the Petco porch always seem to do more for the opponents. But this year, all of a sudden they've hit like a bunch of home runs into that corner this year. Jake, Jackson Merrill, just jerks and pro far's grand slam. That porch has been very effective for the Padres this year. They're finally taking advantage of one of their own stadium quirks for once, which has been nice. All right. Uh, Paul has got some other news for us. Let's get to it. The Ronald report and get things started here with our addition today's edition of the Ronald report. Are you laughing? The. The. The. The. All right, gentlemen, we will start off in Major League Baseball, and I thought we could actually all work through this together. I did not know that new rules were coming for the upcoming home run Derby, that three weeks from tomorrow, two weeks from tomorrow, two weeks, two weeks from tomorrow, two weeks from today, tonight, yeah, yeah, two weeks from tonight in Texas, uh, the home run Derby. Now they made the changes eight or nine years ago, where it was going to be timed and everyone freaked out. I actually loved it from the start. I thought it was outstanding. I like it as well. You know, I was. But it's really good. So we need to change it. Right. Yeah. Right. That's how baseball likes to work. I was reading about it. One players had complained about like fatigue, yeah, how many swings can get in two minutes to get worn out, but I, uh, I saw the, hey, we're doing an announcement tonight on Sunday night baseball. We're going to explain it all for you. And I watched a little bit of Sunday night baseball, but late, and I saw the rules pop up. I gave them one cursory glance and I said, I'm just going to wait for Ben to explain it to me. I had no idea what they're doing. Well, let me give you the rules and then we'll see if Ben can accurately. I've looked through this and I for the most part understand it. So ESPN kind of broke it down. So the competition flow first round eight hitters. Top four will advance. A tie is broken by the longest home run in the first round. That's a difference from previous years where it was like a bracket and you just had to beat the one guy you were going against. Now, you know, you could have hit the second most home runs in the first round, but if you were facing the guy who hit the most, you're eliminated. Now you would move on to the second round, you know, no matter where you hit, you just have to be in the top four. That makes more sense to me than eliminating a guy who had 24 home runs because the guy he went up against hit 25. So I like the bracket. I did. You did like the break. Well, you'll get a little bit of both because that's the first round top four out of the eight will advance to the semi finals. Semi finals will then be a bracket one versus the four seed two versus three and it's based on the first round home run totals and then in the final, the top two will face off the winners of those two semi final brackets. No longer timed is the time. All right. So that's the change in the rules. Yes. The first round and the semi finals, you will have a three minute round still timed 40 pitches max one time out and I saw it kind of compared to like in the three point shootout, you only have X amount of basketballs to shoot from correct. You don't just get to keep shooting until it's also a clock. And if you run out of time, they don't necessarily let you shoot the last three or four baskets. Correct. So this is a way that it's not just a race to see how many swings you can get in your three minutes. You know, you only get 40. So you can slow it down just a little bit and know as long as I get the maximum 40 opportunities, I'm good. I don't have to race to try to get four. I think the average was getting up to like 43. Some guys were hitting, you know, getting 45 or 46 swings and they were saying it's exhausting to try to do that. So this will back it off a little bit for guys who said this is becoming a real grind to try to do the home run derby says you get three bonus outs. Okay. Well, the bonus round. I don't know if that's timed or not. That is not a timed round instead of a instead of a time bonus round like it used to be. It'll just be three outs and an out is anything that you swing and it doesn't go over the fence. I mean, you get a liner off the fence, you get a foul ball, swing and miss. That's an out. Anything that's not a home run. Okay. You can also let it go and just spit on it. I spit on that if you're, if you're, if you're batting practice pitcher is not in the zone on the time, on the non time round, you can just say, don't like that one. I'm waiting for a better one. You will also be able to get a bonus fourth out in the bonus round. If you hit a home run of 425 feet or further instead of a bonus 30 seconds, which, you know, would have been another seven swings or whatever it was. So now it's just one more out where you can take your time. Okay. And then in the finals, it'll be a two minute round, not three minutes, 27 pitches, not 40, you get one time out and then the same bonus rules apply. All right. Is it complicated? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. It's too complicated. We'll get used to it. It'll be fine. No explain it as they go. Don't worry about it too much. You don't have to do it. You're just watching it. I'm excited for it. You'll be fine. Yeah. We don't know. We just know Gunnar Henderson said he is in it for sure. Anyone else? They have not announced. Aaron Judge wanted to. I don't know that he's going to. He's got daunted on the day. Robert said he doesn't want show. Hey, to do it, please do it. But those are your new rules. All right. Shipped over to the NBA. We briefly talked about NBA free agency. Yes. What's the tampering period? You know, it's July or June 30th with like three hours to go or something. You can officially start talking and that's when all the players can legally start texting each other and colluding and figuring out where they want to be. I've been and I can't even figure it out. If we actually had a team and I had to figure out like the salary cap and the apron and the penalties, I would have to spend like all day every day, you know, trying to understand it. Right here. All I know is at midnight. These like mega million dollar deals are just signed and agreed upon. But in like eight minutes, it's weird. But I guess the big news that you need to know is LeBron opted out of his contract with the Lakers as expected and he's doing that because he wants to restructure. He's willing to do a team friendly deal if it means going out and getting some veteran help and the leader in the clubhouse right now would be Clay Thompson. He is his time is running out in Golden State. What does that do for you, Betty? Well, you know, his dad, Michael Thompson's long time radio analyst for the Lakers and that would be a nice story. Clay is not the same clay. He was five or six years ago. Lakers need some shooters though and he's been a really good one. If he got Ronnie James is a shooter. How'd that do for you? Not much yet. You like that your favorite basketball team, they're just doing bits now. Let's get the, let's get your podcast buddy will draft your son and then we'll get the radio announcers kid to come in and do shoot some threes from time to time. I think though the pressure LeBron knows like this better work though, you know, it would look bad for me if it didn't. So he's gonna, you know, go to, he's doing the Tom Brady thing where he'll take a little less to try to make sure Lakers have the best chance to succeed at least. Some of the other deals, it's just, it blows your mind every year. At least it does for me. The NBA's media deal has just allowed some of the most absurd contracts. If it was any other sport, it would be just ground breaking news every time one of these guys signed. Paul George opted out of his contract with the Clippers. He signed a four year, $212 million max contract with the 76ers. 76ers also signed Tyrese Maxi to a five year, $204 million contract extension. The Clippers though, you know, they got the new arena and Kawhi, you know, half healthy is coming back and James Harden coming back, but in an extraordinary salary and then what else do they have? I don't know. I mean, I'm looking at like, Hey, what's, have you ever heard of Isaiah Hartenstein? It was the guy I'm a mix a good, pretty good role player for the playoff run, but they ran into now cat problems because of the trade. And now he gets a max deal somewhere else. He has to go somewhere else. Three years, 87 million to the Oklahoma City Thunder. It's wild. Crazy. But everyone's waiting to see what the Lakers do right now. And then finally, usually I give you a weird story, but if I don't have a weird story, I do have weird audio. So this will keep it in sports here. This is nuts. Um, what the hell is going on? It was this the white socks broadcast? What's that guy? What's his name? The, uh, Steve Stone. No, no, no, no, no, no. This was the other guy, the one that's getting all the grief in Chicago, uh, the one that's that has the radio beef. John Shiffrin. Shiffrin. Yes. John Shiffrin. He is. He is really, um, I think to his, I think to his credit, he's trying real hard to create some excitement around a really bad baseball team. This was one of the wilder calls, listen to this home, you will ever hear. He's the one that's going to be the one that's going to be the one that's going to be the. You know what I mean. We can see Jessie or Don doing that. Can you imagine scan? Can you pull that off? Well, Fox fans are just, they're like enough already with you, man. And they lost their beloved Jason Panetti and they get this guy believable man. Oh god. Kill be done. Should you be allowed to have any fun as a broadcast when your team is so, so far back in the standard. 30 games out worst record in baseball at 24 and 62. I don't know how I'd feel if I'm like a white Sox fan watching that game. I think you're mad dude. He's trying something. I think you're mad. I'm like, is he on drugs? I don't know. People are always complaining that baseball is boring. These guys at least trying to make it fun for a crafty. I get it. I do. Hey, just don it might. I do do that for a long time. They did. They did. And you know, I'm sure I'm sure people got annoyed with that too, but I wasn't one of them. This guy, this is not a, you can't look at this in a silo as Mike show likes to say. It's not an asylum. It's his body of words throughout the season and if nothing else, it's absolutely hysterical. Save that. That'll be in the tournament of drama. And, you know, the, I mean, the white Sox, they won the World Series in like 2015, I wanted to say, you know, just, it reminds me that someday it's going to turn bad again for the Padres because it does for every game at some point could be next week. Oh, that's going to really be hard and I know that these last few years have been far from perfect. In fact, they've been more frustrating. Yes. It was fine for the most part, but can you, I can't even picture now going back to like not like being 30 games out in July. I know. I know. What that feels like in a more relevant or entertaining or whatever, there's been something like since the Chargers left, yeah, like it was like a, like a one or two years. And then, you know, whether it was Hosmer, where I know, but at the time, we were, oh, my God, we're spending money. Yeah. Manny Fernando. And then the rest has been written. But when they were and it was shocking and it was interesting, whatever, we were talking about that lineup from the last time the Padres were in Boston and my wife goes, how, what did you, how did you guys cover them? We didn't. We started the next year. I was still here. I was playing walk the moon, buddy. We're good. I was, I was, but they're there. It's not a lot to say. It's, you know, you're always looking two, three years down the line, which is tough. It's tough. I'm sure it's with Whiteside fans. Somebody tweeted. Right to picture hit that guy, Shiffrin doing that right and Steve Stone is right in his face. I'm just sitting there like, what is the hell am I doing in here? Why am I here? So good. I love that. I was doing a hundred times over the weekend. Let's go to the tournament of drops for sure. We've got a special guest surprise. Surprise guest. Oh, and he's a good one. He's a good one. Coming up. Shall we tease it? No, what? Actually, why don't we wait and when we come back, you'll find out who's going to join us in our final segment. That's a tease. Got a lot of help. Got a lot of hits for the San Diego Padres. I'll tell you that's true. A lot of hits. Some for the Red Sox as well. Get to that coming up next after traffic here on 97 through the fan. Seeing some guests is in the chat as to who our guest is going to be at the bottom of the hour. Mentioned they had a lot of hits with the San Diego Padres and also a few with the Boston Red Sox. Saw Adrien Gonzales, guests in there. You know, Adrien is not going to be with us in our next segment. Dave Roberts had hits in most of Padres in the Boston Red Sox. Yes, it's Dave Roberts. I was going to ask him how you do a great job, how it felt to get beat by the Giants on Mickey. Did you guys see this Mickey Mouse day when they had the they gave out Mickey Mouse hats at Oracle yesterday? Maybe it was just a coincidence. I mean, that is insane. And they did it. They beat the crap out of the Dodgers. If we did it, we would have lost by 14 runs. Yeah, we're in partnership with Disney. We just have been cursed for 40 years. Yeah. We just happened to be giving away these Mickey Mouse hat and they just dominated Mickey on the field. Now you're saying it's because the Dodgers won a Mickey Mouse championship in 2020? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. That's I mean, it just happened to fall. I mean, that was so good. That is incredible. They did make beat L.A. shirts on the night before and they got smoked by the Dodgers. So it was it was it was like watching an old pottery game and I was watching the end of that game. Giants have bases loaded one out in the 10th. All they need is a lazy sack fly to win the game strikeout foul out and I'm like, oh, so then Bob Melvin throws this guy out there hit, hit, hit, hit, walk, hit, hit Homer walk hit. Seven runs later. And here's Bob. Just standing there. Where are you? Why is this following me? Why is this following me bro bases loaded one out again, beating him on a walk off the day before and all you need is a sack fly, you know, ground ball with eyes and win that game. But oh my Lord. It was like it was a PTSD watching Bob Melvin sitting there rock back and forth on his guys can't get a sack fly and while his next guy can't get it out in the top of the 11th band. The correct answer though was going to join us as some of you has figured out is pottery special assistant Mark Loretta who was at Fenway Park this weekend and wanted to check in. So we've saved some time in our final segment for low and we will speak with Mark Loretta when we come back. Don't go anywhere more better woods on the way on San Diego's number one sports station 97 three the fan. All right unexpected treat here looking forward to chatting with Mark Loretta he is standing by spent some time in Boston with Padres and fans this weekend and he's going to join us here on our final segment woods right after our last check traffic you're on 97 three the fan. It's funny because you know on the occasions when there are Dodgers fans that show up at Petco Park which you know happens from time to time Cubs fans visit everyone always rings their hands a lot. I saw tons of Padres fans at Fenway Park over the weekend all over the place you could hear the hot song Kim Chance like during the game at Fenway Park and part of the traveling party this week is Padres special assistant Mark Loretta who wanted to call in joins us right now here on 97 three the fan low good morning to you. Good morning boys thanks for having me on I'm fired up I'm very tired this morning but I am very fired about the weekend it was a lot of fun what a blast it it was so much fun to watch those game nice to kind of put your feet up for two games I mean I like that I like those blowouts man I've played enough ball where people like man I like the closer games no no no give me the nine to one where I can put my feet up Robert Suarez can get himself a nice break enjoy the scenery in Boston and not have to worry about getting getting hot for a game low it was pretty awesome. It was yeah and I haven't heard this term thrown out there but I'm going with immaculate offense of any for the nine up like a nine or without an out without it but not even out recorded so I don't know how often that's happening in MLB history I'm sure we could find that out but that was a really fun ending there was no question about it I just you know I wanted to call in and just thank the fans and and and show some appreciation for just the traveling party so many I was hundreds of fans it wasn't just like and I know Fenway Park is a bucket list item for a lot of people and maybe see a couple dozen who want to do the freedom trail and oh by the way kept keep a catch a padre game this was not the case this was hundreds of people like you said they had the host on Ken Chant gone man the man the man he was going it was awesome and you don't see that at Fenway you know I played there and you would never see that back you know 10 or 15 years ago it was it was almost like the Red Sox going on the road you know to say like Baltimore or something like that it was it was impressive and I think it fueled the team it fired them up you could tell they were interacting with the crowd guys were chanting Giggy and on Sunday the day or Saturday the day he was off and talking about you know how he owns the western metal supply it was it was really cool you know we Eric Grouper and I were sitting up and he invited me up to Sam Kennedy's box at present the Red Sox and we were looking on just just an amazement of how well the Padre Padre fans showed out and I'm sure some of them are listening today so just wanted to give them a shout out phenomenal job is that weird to sit in the president of the Red Sox box and your team is kicking the ever loving hell out of their team we couldn't share as much as we wanted to share but me in the press box Sam had a family wedding conveniently so he he had he jacked in pretty early oh good it may have been a made up wedding I don't know but you know either way it was it was somber in there but we were internally going going up but like the Red Sox are having a bad season all fans are looking to unload their tickets at all they're playing really good baseball as well and they're right in the thick of the American League playoff chase I imagine fans are pretty excited about that team which makes it even more impressive how vocal and how prominent the Padre fans were this weekend yeah I mean they've had a couple tough years in a row but this year they're they're really playing well I've got some really good young talent they're pitching well I had a long conversation with my friend Alex Cora and he's he's excited about the team and and yeah I think the the Red Sox were fans were caught off guard I was in the hotel on my way out yesterday and a couple came in I said oh where are you guys visiting from I don't know we're local we're here for a wedding they said where are you from I said well from San Diego and you know we're here for the pottery goes man I didn't know the Padres traveled so well I said yeah man you're telling me I guess you're telling me a local you're telling me a local didn't look at you and go oh that's maklaretta I remember you I didn't know you didn't say maklaretta Patriots day yeah maklaretta oh man well no I looked it look it represented really well on television yeah but you know I heard one guy wearing Manny out so bad and a guy DM me said the guy that was wearing Manny out that you could hear on the broadcast got ejected they were dragging him up the the aisle as Manny steps in and hits that bomb and silenced him it was pretty special nice to see him swing in the bat a little bit better over the last month or so low because you know when he goes we go we need we need him to keep doing that he was he was awesome this weekend no doubt no doubt particularly with you know Fernando and Bogey and some of those guys out I mean you know Manny Manny can carry this team he's an aircraft carrier type player and I I think he gets fired up with the booze I really do yeah I mean you know they remember you know a slide he made with the Orioles back who knows ago they have long memories in Baston Boston but you know yeah he silenced them I mean he was unbelievable and Jackson Merrill you know growing up a Red Sox fan you know hitting the homers heaven I don't know seem like 10 hits on the series pretty awesome but just guys passing the torch man it's really we're deep lineup we have good quality of bats and yeah I mean you know it's it's been an up and down season no question about it but you know it feels like they're hitting their stride and and they you know hope like you guys talked about earlier hope you know yesterday was kind of a blip on the radar and they get after it to Texas which I think they will talking to our pal Mark Loretta here on Bennett Woods this morning you're around the team last year as well I mean there's a you know there's a visible difference when you're watching on television there's a difference when we go down there you know once a month to check in and say hello you can definitely feel that these guys really really pull for each other they really really love each other it seems to be making a difference on the field I you know listen they're not running away with the West or anything but man they're hanging around and overcoming injuries and stuff like that how much credit do you give to the the skipper Mike shill yeah I give Mike a lot of credit no question I mean he stayed so steady this year you know it's it would have been very easy for him to to sort of you know not jump off the wagon but pretty critical this team and you just said you know stay the course and I think that's that's really energized this team and and there's a lot of young players I mean you know with Jackson you know then you get I think we have a lot more depth than we had last year you know you got you got a guy like Sullivan come up in a home run obviously Higgy but you know Solano and some of the some of the veteran presence and and it's it's really it's really fun to watch it's team baseball it feels like every time we lay a bump down we win all right let's settle down on that on the bunting and I'm gonna lose my mind but boy alright sorry hope you take out we're taking this job more you know giving this more attention than you did a fantasy camp the last go around well yeah this is more important fantasy well I mean so you say it's debatable yeah that's what you ask by the way we just we just finalized our coaching staff for fantasy camp it's it's all our cap so I don't want to trade it again can why just put that out there and it's not like Terry Kennedy is doing a trade it is he did you know it's TK coming back yeah who who TK oh yeah he's going back yeah I'm not going we got yeah but David Becky and and Boonie's going to be out there here the best you know Greg Garcia is coming out Garcia is coming out yes oh it's gonna be great just a bunch of scrappers we got Marco Loretta on the line to mark one of the things that makes baseball great are all these inner woven threads and this weekend Matt Waldron was a big story going to Fenway Park where Tim Wakefield pitched and got some advice on the knuckleball from Tim Wakefield it was obviously emotional now when taking Wakefield pitch for the Red Sox his personal catcher was Doug Mirabelli who of course you were traded for from the San Diego Padres to the Boston Red Sox in the 2005 off season and didn't work out very well they they missed him because no one could catch Tim Wakefield and ended up having to send him right back I've always wondered though and and God rest Kevin Towers love KT more than anything why in on earth did he trade you for Doug Mirabelli that makes no sense to me 18 years later yeah yeah you know that was the second time been traded and it was you know obviously loved playing San Diego and KT called me you know I was I was bummed out and then he said well you know you're going to the Red Sox that's kind of cool then I asked him well who would you trade me for and then I was a little bummed out after that you know back up back you went to the old start game that next year what was going on there you know I mean I don't know I mean I was making decent money it wasn't you know maybe that was part of it for me at least you know I'm decent back then but I don't know yeah it was it was a little bit of buzzkill when when Mirabelli's name was mentioned however it became it became a a folk legend story when he had to get come back he got traded on the day that Wakefield was pitching one of his returns in the rotation and Doug landed like 30 minutes before game time and they picked him up in a police escort they had his uniform in the car oh my God he paid in the car he caught the first inning straight from the from the car without a cup on never forgetting I'm like wait wait we're like wait a second you're you're you're a backup catcher you're you know you're you're not this God coming in as a savior but he took it well I mean he didn't he didn't have good things to say about San Diego when he left it's kind of BS but yeah that's the threads of baseball that's the beauty of it there's so much connection could be worse could be traded for a guy on another team that has like a shredded hamstring but they don't like you so much that they want to get rid of you and it's fine you know it does not for the Padres because you know when they when the bread socks just for demeated Mirabelli back they kind of fleeced them they did they did yeah Jack Bard yeah so we're a good contributor Katie was playing the long game on that one apparently yeah I was thinking about tooth brakes down a line but yeah I know you come in Waldron is is pitching and talking about Wakefield and and you've got the you know the Tim Wakefield honoring that's been going on this year at Fenway Park and it's just all kind of connects together Mark they really does yeah and Wakefield was a great team and I got a chance to play with him and you know his wife unfortunately passed away right after him as well it's just crazy story but yeah special place Fenway no question about it and again I'm sure there's some of the some of the people who are on the trip or listen today I just want to you know thank them give them a shout out and what what the fans have done at Petco with averaging 40,000 and you know what Eric Grouppner and his group have done you know I think where it's you know that the franchise is in great shape and just got to get some separation from 500 which I think we're starting to do yeah let's keep it rolling my friend and looking forward to July always a really exciting month around around these parts so hopefully AJ can get creative and and you know if we need to bolster the rotation of the bullpen man it's it's been a fun fun first 80 or so games man it's been incredible good house it has and I know I owe you guys a golf can you do look at that looks at the schedule all right let's get it thanks Mark take care okay guys take care Mark Loretta Padres special assistant was in Boston with the team and impressed with the turnout of Padres fans over the weekend at Fenway Park last couple of minutes and obviously no game today we'll talk more about the upcoming series against the Texas Rangers tomorrow I so the Rangers are defending of course their World Series title it has not gone that well for Boach so far this season in fact looking at the American wild card standings right now the Texas Rangers are eight games out of a playoff spot eight games out of the third wild card spot wow at 38 and 46 eight games under 500 just ended a six game losing streak and another five one though a couple of weeks ago just does not really come together for Boach's team the way it did last year and I mean what's yeah there's a few players difference and there's some injuries but it's not that different of a team from last year it's it's simply health and you know a couple of factors that go you go from World Series winner to team that a seller at the deadline unless they go on a run here in the next couple of weeks and potteries better not start started here in the next three days they're going to be a team that's probably selling pieces at the deadline because they eight games out and they're behind the Blue Jays who are already in in cell mode they're behind the Rays four games behind them the Astros who are who are rising behind the Red Sox who are a game and a half out of a playoff spot I don't know it's just not a it's not really a feasible road to get back to the postseason I don't know if they're sellers I really don't I I think don't they have de Grom coming back Scherzer coming back I don't know his pitching and he's a is he throwing against us in the game of the series on 4th July so I just I don't know man I don't know if if I don't know if you can look at that team and say well they're certainly not capable of but unlike the National League where it looks like you know eighty four eighty five wins is enough it might be more like eighty nine ninety wins to get to the postseason in the American League because so many teams are already at forty seven wins or higher which means they'd have to go I mean they have to go forty fifty two and you know thirty the rest of the way they'd have to play the insane baseball they got some time to figure it out you know they do and like I said hopefully it doesn't doesn't come at our expense the next few days there they're the team we beat last year that gave us the hope you know remember that that's right we beat the Rangers and said oh swept them last year we should we should definitely go out and buy right now because we are going to storm our way into the playoffs it just didn't happen so I don't want to be the team that gets them right certainly Corey Seager got hit on the hand the other night he's out I don't know if he's going to be bad I don't think they put him on the injury they have not necessarily available either yep so I mean they're there you know Andrew Haney pitch yesterday I'm so glad we missed him he was he was brilliant last night against the Orioles I watched a lot of that start but yeah man I mean these are these are winnable games against a team that's kind of on the out there are five teams in baseball that have a worse record than the Texas Rangers Rockies Marlins White Sox A's and Angels that's it those are the only teams below the Rangers in the standings those are the five worst teams in all of baseball that's that's where the Rangers are right now it's wild coming off their World Series champion I had them picked to take a big step back this year because that World Series hangover is a real thing I mean that's why those dynasties are really really hard to do man to keep keep guys healthy keep guys moat not motivated but keep guys playing at that level but you are starting to see like Langford was a guy that had struggled early in the season they moved him I they brought him up as a rookie betting they had him D.H. and he's like guys I am a I'm not a D.H. I'm a young outfielder I can fly like put me in the out there and yeah they got him sitting there waiting to hit for you know between innings and no he's he's out in the outfield now he's playing much better so hit for the cycle last night they're they're a dangerous team I don't least Garcia still he stepped up to the plate last night I just went oh my god I forgot what a unit I haven't seen much Texas Ranger baseball at all but again Scherzer coming back could be a lift they got the month of July to figure it out I don't expect them to I don't expect them to continue on this pace but I'd like them to get it started next week not this week after we're done but if they don't get it started then this week or next it's gonna be too late to get it started they and they got boats and company they got pieces that they can absolutely move so they could they could do that it's just really hard to sell to the fan base hey I know we just won a World Series we continue to be easier to sell or maybe it's easier I don't know maybe it's easier I mean look C.Y. is a really good GM he's a really good GM as evidenced by his World Series win last year and and boats is a good manager I think if there's a team that gets a little bit of leeway it's probably them but we'll see man we'll see we got to take care of this well we'll have more on that series tomorrow we'll be joined by Jesse Agler for the Incorporated live from Dallas Texas here in Dallas Jesse will join us and much more on a Tuesday looking forward to it that's it for us today for Paul Reindel for Stephen Woods I'm Ben Higgins Annie and Braden coming up next Craig on that road trip but you'll have Annie and Braden for the next four hours right here on San Diego's number one sports station 97 three the fans along everybody all right unexpected treat here looking forward to chatting with Mark Loretta he is standing by spent some time in Boston with Padres and fans this weekend and he's going to join us here on our final segment woods right after our last check traffic you're on 97 three the fan it's funny because you know on the occasions when there's or Dodgers fans that show up at Petco Park which you know happens from time to time Cubs fans visit everyone always rings their hands a lot I saw tons of Padres fans at at Fenway Park over the weekend all over the place you could hear the Hassan Kim Chants like during the game at Fenway Park and part of the traveling party this week is Padres special assistant Mark Loretta who wanted to call in joins us right now here on 97 three the fan low good morning to you good morning boys thanks for having me on I'm fired up I'm very tired this morning but I am very fired about the weekend it was a lot of fun what a blast it it was so much fun to watch those game nice to kind of put your feet up for two games I mean I like that I like those blowouts man I've played enough ball where people like man I like the closer games no no no give me the nine to one where I can put my feet up Robert Suarez can get him get himself a nice break enjoy the scenery in Boston and not have to worry about getting getting hot for a game low it was pretty awesome there was yeah and I haven't heard this term thrown out there but I'm going with immaculate offensive innings for the nine up I like it or without an out without it but not even an out recorded so I don't know how often that's happening in MLB history I'm sure we can find that out but that was a really fun ending there was there's no question about it I just you know I wanted to call in and just thank the fans and and show some appreciation for just the traveling party so many I was hundreds of fans it wasn't just like and I know Fenway Park is a bucket list item for a lot of people and maybe she a couple dozen who want to do the freedom trail and oh by the way kept keep a catch a padre game this was not the case this was hundreds of people like you said they have the host on can champ gone man the man the man he was gone it was awesome you don't see that at Fenway you know I played there and you would never see that back you know 10 or 15 years ago it was it was almost like the Red Sox going on the road you know to say like Baltimore or something like that it was it was impressive and I think it fueled the team it fired them up you could tell they were interacting with the crowd guys were chanting Higgie and on Sunday the day or Saturday the day he was off and talking about you know how he owns the western metal supply it was really cool you know we Eric group and I were sitting up and he invited me up to San Kennedy's box at present the Red Sox and we were looking on just just an amazement of how well the Padre Padre fans showed out and I'm sure some of them are listening today so I just wanted to give them a shout out phenomenal job is that weird to sit in the president of the Red Sox box and your team is kicking the ever-loving hell out of their team we couldn't share as much as we wanted to do that for sure but me and the press box Sam had a family wedding conveniently so he he had he jacked it pretty early oh good I it may have been a made-up wedding I don't know but you know either way it was it was somber in there but we were internally going going not but like the red Sox are having a bad season all fans are looking to unload their tickets at all they're playing really good baseball as well and they're right in the thick of the American League playoff chase I imagine fans are pretty excited about that team which makes it even more impressive how vocal and how prominent the Padre's fans were this weekend yeah I mean they've had a couple tough years in a row but this year they're they're really playing well I guess some really good young talent they're pitching well I had a long conversation with my friend Alex Cora and he's excited about the team and and yeah I think the the Red Sox were fans were caught off guard I was in the hotel on my way out yesterday and a couple came in I said oh where are you guys visiting from and like oh no we're local we're here for a wedding and I said where are you from I said well from San Diego and you know we're here for the pottery goes man I didn't know the Padre's traveled so well I said yeah man you're telling me I guess you're telling me a local shot you're telling me a local didn't look at you and go oh that's maklaretta I remember you I didn't know he didn't say maklaretta Patriots day yeah maklaretta oh man oh no I looked it look it represented really well on television yeah you know I heard one guy wearing manny out so bad and a guy DM me said the guy that was wearing manny out that you could hear on the broadcast got ejected they were dragging him up the the aisle as Manny steps in and hits that bomb and silenced him was pretty special nice to see him swinging the bat a little bit better over the last month or so low because you know when he goes we go we need we need him to keep doing that he was he was awesome this weekend no doubt no doubt particularly with you know Fernando and Bogey and some of those guys out I mean you know Manny Manny can carry this team he's an aircraft carrier type player tonight I think he gets fired up with the booze I really do I mean you know they remember you know a slide he made with the Orioles back who knows ago they have long memories in Baston Boston but you know yeah he silenced them I mean he was unbelievable and Jackson Merrill you know growing up a Red Sox fan you know hitting the homers heaven I don't know seem like ten hits on the series pretty awesome but just guys passing the torch man it's really we're deep lineup we have good quality of bats and yeah I mean you know it's been an up and down season no question about it but you know it feels like they're hitting their stride and I you know hope like you guys talked about earlier hope you know yesterday was kind of a blip on the radar and they get after it detects us which I think they will. Talking to our pal Mark Loretta here on Bennett Woods this morning you're around the team last year as well I mean there's a you know there's a visible difference when you're watching on television there's a difference when we we go down there you know once a month to check in and say hello you can definitely feel that these guys really really pull for each other they really really love each other it seems to be making a difference on the field I you know listen they're not running away with the West or anything but man they're hanging around and overcoming injuries and stuff like that how much credit do you give to the the skipper Mike Schill. Yeah I give Mike a lot of credit no question I mean he stayed so steady this year you know it's it's it would have been very easy for him to to sort of you know not jump off the wagon but but pretty critical his team and he just said you know stay the course and I think that's that's really energized his team and and there's a lot of young players I mean you know with Jackson you know then you get I think we have a lot more depth than we had last year you know you got you got a guy like Sullivan come up hit a home run obviously Higgy but you know Solano and some of the some of the veteran presence and and it's really it's really fun to watch it's team baseball it feels like every time we lay a bunt down we win. All right let's settle down on that on the bunting I'm going to lose my mind running for a boy all right sorry hope you take out we're taking this job more you know giving this more attention than you did a fantasy camp the last go around. Well yeah this is more important than fantasy camp. Well I mean so you say I actually it's debatable. It turns on who you ask. Yeah it turns on who you ask. By the way we just uh we just finalized our coaching staff for fantasy camp it's it's it's all our cap so I don't want to trade it again can why don't you put that out there and it's not like he's trading is the one who traded you. He did you know. It's TK coming back. Yeah. Who? TK oh yeah he's going back. Yeah he loves you. I'm not going. We got it. Yeah but Dave is back he and and Boonie is going to be out there with your uh the best you know. Her Greg Garcia is coming out. Garcia is coming out yes. Oh my gosh it's going to be great. Just a bunch of scrappers. We got Mark Loretta on the line. So Mark one of the things that makes baseball great are all these inner woven threads and this weekend Matt Waldron was a big story going to Fenway Park where Tim Wakefield pitched and got some advice on the knuckleball from Tim Wakefield. It was obviously emotional. Now when taking Wakefield pitch for the Red Sox his personal catcher was Doug Mirabelli who of course you were traded for from the San Diego Padres to the Boston Red Sox in the 2005 off season and didn't work out very well. They they missed him because no one could catch Tim Wakefield and they ended up having to send him right back. I've always wondered though and God rest Kevin towers. Love KT more than anything. Why in on earth did he trade you for Doug Mirabelli? That makes no sense to me 18 years later. Yeah yeah you know that was the second time been traded and it was you know obviously love playing San Diego and KT called me uh you know I was I was bummed out and then he said well you know you're going to the Red Sox. Oh that's kind of cool. Then I asked him well who would you trade me for? And then I was a little bummed out after that. Yeah it was back up. You went to the old start game that next year. What was going on there? You know I mean I don't know I mean I was making decent money. It wasn't you know maybe that was part of it for me at least you know decent back then. But I don't know yeah it was it was a little bit of buzzkill when Mirabelli's name was mentioned. However it became it became a a folk legend story when he had to come back. He got traded on the day that Wakefield was pitching one of his returns in the rotation and Doug landed like 30 minutes before game time and they picked him up in a police escort that had his uniform in the car. Oh my God. He changed in the car. He caught the first inning straight from the from the car without a cup on. Never forget it. I'm like wait we're all like wait a second. You're you're you're a backup catcher. You're you're you know you're you're not this god coming in as a savior. But he took it well. I mean he didn't he didn't have good things to say about San Diego when he left. It's kind of BS but. But yeah that's the threads of baseball. That's the beauty of it. There's so much connection. It could be worse could be traded for a guy on another team that has like a shredded hamstring but they don't like you so much that they want to get rid of you. And it's fine. You know it does not for the Padres because you know when they when the Brett Sox just for doing needed Mirabelle back they kind of fleeced them. They did. They did. Yeah. Yeah. Jock Bard. Yeah. So we're good contributors. Katie was playing the long game on that one apparently. Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking about two traits down the line. But yeah. Now you come in Waldron is is pitching and talking about Wakefield and and you've got the you know the the Tim Wakefield honoring that's been going on this year at Fenway Park and it's just all kind of connects together Mark. It really does. Yeah. And Wakefield was a great team and I got a chance to play with him. And you know his wife unfortunately passed away right after him as well. It's just crazy story. But yeah special place Fenway. No question about it. And again I'm sure there's some of the some of the people who are on the trip or listen today. I just want to you know thank them. Give them a shout out and what what the fans have done at Petco with averaging 40,000. And you know what Eric Groupner and his group have done. You know I think where it's you know the franchise is in great shape and just got to get some separation from 500 which I think we're starting to do. Yeah. Let's keep it rolling my friend and looking forward to July always a really exciting month around around these parts. So hopefully AJ can get creative and you know if we need to bolster the rotation of the bullpen man it's it's been a fun fun first 80 or so games man. It's been incredible. It has. It has. And I know I owe you guys a golf game. You do look at that looks of the schedule. All right. Let's get it. Thanks Mark. Take care. Appreciate you. Okay guys. Take care. Mark Loretta. Podray Special Assistant was in Boston with the team and impressed with the turnout of Podray's fans over the weekend at Fenway Park. Last couple of minutes and obviously no game today. We'll talk more about the upcoming series against the Texas Rangers tomorrow. So the Rangers are defending of course their World Series title. It has not gone that well for Boach so far this season. In fact looking at the American Wild Card standings right now the Texas Rangers are eight games out of a playoff spot. Eight games out of the third Wild Card spot. Wow. At 38 and 46 eight games under 500. Just ended a six game losing streak and another five one though a couple of weeks ago. Just does not really come together for Boach's team the way it did last year. And I mean what's yeah there's a few players difference and there's some injuries but it's not that different of a team from last year. It's it's simply health and you know a couple of factors that go you go from World Series winner to team that a seller at the deadline. Unless they go on a run here in the next couple of weeks and Podray's fans don't want to start started here in the next three days. They're going to be a team that's probably selling pieces at the deadline because they eight games out and they're behind the Blue Jays who are already in cell mode. They're behind the Rays four games behind them on the Astros who are rising behind the Red Sox who are a game and a half out of a playoff spot. I don't know it's just not a it's not really a feasible road to get back to the postseason. I don't know if they're sellers. I really don't. I think don't they have de Grom coming back Scherzer coming back. I know he's pitching and he's he throwing against us game in the series on 4th of July. So I just I don't know man. I don't know if if I don't know if you can look at that team and say well they're certainly not capable of but unlike the National League where it looks like you know 84-85 wins is enough. It might be more like 89-90 wins to get to the postseason in the American League because so many teams are already at 47 wins or higher which means they'd have to go I mean they have to go 40-52 and you know 30 the rest of the way they'd have to play insane baseball. They got some time to figure it out. You know they do and like I said hopefully it doesn't doesn't come at our expense the next few days. They're they're the team we beat last year that gave us the hope. You know remember that? That's right. We beat the Rangers and said oh swept the last year. We should we should definitely go out and buy right now because we are going to storm our way into the playoffs. It just didn't happen. So I don't want to be the team that gets them right. Certainly Corey Seager got hit on the hand the other night. He's out. I don't know if he's going to be bad. I don't think they put him on the injured list but he's not necessarily available either. Yep. So I mean they're they're you know Andrew Haney pitch yesterday. I'm so glad we missed him. He was he was brilliant last night against the Orioles. I watched a lot of that start but yeah man. I mean these are these are winnable games against a team that's kind of on the out. There are five teams in baseball that have a worse record than the Texas Rangers. Rockies, Marlins, White Sox, A's and Angels. That's it. Those are the only teams below the Rangers in the standings. Those are the five worst teams in all of baseball. That's that's where the Rangers are right now. It's wild coming off their World Series champion. I had them picked to take a big step back this year because that World Series hangover is a real thing. I mean that's why those dynasties are really really hard to do man to keep keep guys healthy keep guys moat not motivated but keep guys playing at that level. But you are starting to see like Langford was a guy that had struggled early in the season. They moved him. They brought him up as a rookie betting. They had him D. Hing and he's like guys I am a I'm not a D. H. I'm a young outfielder. I can fly like put me in the outfit. Yeah. Very few up there and yeah they got him sitting there waiting to hit for you know between innings and no he's out in the outfield now. He's playing much better. So hit for the cycle last night. There are there are dangerous team. I don't least Garcia. Still he stepped up to the plate last night and I just went. Oh my god. I forgot what a unit. I haven't seen much Texas Ranger baseball at all. But again, shares are coming back could be a lift. They got the month of July to figure it out. I don't expect them to. I don't expect them to continue on this pace. But I'd like them to get it started next week not this week after we're done. But if they don't get it started in this week or next it's going to be too late to get it started. And they and they got boats and companies. They got pieces that they can absolutely move. So they could they could do that. It's just really hard to sell to the fan base. Hey, I know we just want a World Series. We continue to be easier to sell. Or maybe it's easier. I don't know. Maybe it's easier. I mean, look, C.Y. is a really good GM. He's a really good GM as evidenced by his World Series win last year. And Boats is a good manager. I think if there's a team that gets a little bit of leeway, it's probably them. But we'll see man. We'll see. We got to take care of this. Well, we'll have more on that series tomorrow. We'll be joined by Jesse Agler for the Incorporator live from Dallas, Texas here in Dallas. Jesse, you'll join us. And much more on a Tuesday looking forward to it. That's it for us today for Paul Reindel for Stephen Woods. I'm Ben Higgins. Annie and Braden coming up next. Craig on that road trip. But you'll have Annie and Braden for the next four hours right here on San Diego's number one one sports station ninety seven three the finance along everybody [MUSIC]