Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast

Sam Levitt Recaps Padres vs Brewers

Ben & Woods are joined by Padres pre and postgame host Sam Levitt as we are each Monday morning! Listen here as Sammy gives us his thoughts on the Padres taking 3 of 4 from the Milwaukee Brewers, Fernando Tatis Jr's injury, Jackson Merrill's power surge, and more!

Duration:: 19m
Broadcast on:: 24 Jun 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature, whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to, or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it. But the outdoors is closer than we realize. With all trails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently. With offline maps and on-trail navigation, download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders, and pencils. And they've got your back. When your kid casually tells you, they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say, "I'm sorry." And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep. And when you don't get the rest you need, your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience, because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips, and support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam. And thanks to over 1,400 air chambers in the gel flex grid, you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the Restore Hybrid Collection that combines gel flex grid with coils and the rejuvenate lux collection, the height of luxury. With over 112,000 to five star reviews to prove it, visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. So when you host close to what over 300 pre and post game shows over the course of a season, including half of them from the chaotic loft at the Western Metal Supply Company, there's going to be an incident or two. And unfortunately, our Sammy Lovett had one over the weekend. Protesters? No, no, I think this was self-inflicted. Sammy, what happened this weekend? Good morning to you. Oh, yeah. The vibes were off from very early on yesterday. Like if you if you would have asked me whether the Padres were going to win or lose that game, I probably could have told you at about 12.35. I had a large cup of water on the table. This is not the first time I've done this, spilled it all over my laptop. Now, the incredible thing is that the laptop shut down immediately and the YouTube stream all that went off and I was frozen. The whole thing was met. The amazing thing, the laptop came back on. I would say about an hour later and it has been cruising ever since. I have no idea. I don't know if that is a good omen for the rest of the Padres season or not, bouncing back. But I am happy with where we're at right now. We'll see how long we go here. But the laptop has been absolutely cruising ever since. Well, if it was a little crazy, yeah. If it works half the time, then it will be the perfect metaphor for the Padres season. Same work on Monday. Might work on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday off. Doesn't work. A big pain in your ass. And then, oh, it's back again on Friday. Look at that. I believe in this laptop again. The laptop could be the metaphor that we were looking for this entire season. But I know you've had a chance to spend some time with Jackson Merrill. We did too, a spring training. And he sat down with us and was brimming, brimming with confidence even then. And yeah, my one of the members of this show, I don't want to mention him, was actually saying, I don't know, like this kid's a little cocky. Cocky was the word that this person used, Ben. And I said, Ben, he's very confident. He is very confident. And you kept asking the question, could that cockiness be misconstrued or that confidence be misconstrued as cockiness? I think the answer is yes. And it's great. I love it. He's a leader already, Sammy. Yeah. I mean, he just continues to be remarkably impressive. And I'll talk about, you know, his numbers in a second. But I know you played the audio from what he said inside the clubhouse. That was at the start of the home stand. And to be honest with you, I mean, I wasn't very surprised that the answer from Jackson. That would be way out of character for what we know from him. If he were to say something like, oh, yeah, you know, that would be pretty cool. I, as the question was being asked, I said, I know it's coming. But, you know, he had a couple of answers post-game to me on when he hit the home run to center. So that was Saturday. A couple answers to me post-game that I thought were really interesting. Number one, you know, I asked him, you know, because he's talked a lot about, hey, he's not trying to hit these home runs, right? He's just trying to hit the ball. And, you know, I think he called home runs happy accidents at one point. And I still kind of pressed them on a post-game on Saturday and asked them, can you point to anything that's leading to this kind of power surge? I mean, seven home runs and ten games. That's not all accidents, right? And he said one word at the very start of the answer. He said, confidence. And it's an extension, I think, of who Jackson is and who he's been since the very start of spring training. And then, you know, I asked him after that about the injuries and basically to kind of take me inside this team's mentality is they battle all these major injuries and guys out of the lineup, especially on Saturday with Pro4 entities, out of the lineup. And, you know, when he said another kind of, you know, great line where we talked about, you know, that he said to himself the night before, hey, I got to step up and not try to do too much, but step up. And just because guys are injured, it doesn't mean that, you know, they can't play as hard as they possibly can. So he is a, as we all know, a great interview and he keeps just some great lines and they are very tweetable and quotable. But beyond that with Jackson, I just, I think it's a good moment halfway through the season and especially with what he's done in the last couple of weeks with the power to just recognize how remarkably impressive this is. I mean, we showed it up at spring training in Peoria and it was very clear from very early on that he was going to be given every opportunity to win a job at a spring training, which let's be honest about it. I don't think a lot of us anticipated before we showed up in Peoria that that would be the case. But it was the case from very early on and they put him in last and then ultimately put him in center. And when you consider the limited experience in the upper levels of the minor leagues, playing a position that he's never played before in his life before spring training and now doing it at this level as well as he has and the fact that he started this year at 20 years old and now we're seeing this power. And you guys look at the numbers. He ended Saturday hitting 290 with 10 home runs, 30-something RBIs. I mean, you couple that with the defense. It is, I am remarkably impressed with what this young man has done. I mean, I really am and you consider all the factors. And look, I think that the Padres deserve credit, right? I mean, again, it was very clear very early on despite some of those things I just said, the limited experience, the age, learning a new position. It was very clear from the outset that he was going to be given every opportunity to win a job. He did that and so far so good. Yeah, I saw that quote in the interview did about him saying, I need to step up a little bit with other guys hurt, but I can also put all the pressure on myself to do too much. And that's the trick, really, isn't it? You have to have that next level without feeling like you need to put the entire team on your shoulders. Talking to Sam Levitt, Padres pre and post game show host, it's because of those injuries. If there is some concern, you play the audio on the post game show is listening last night. We played it earlier. Mike Schilt, discussing Fernando Tetis Jr. and his health and you try to explain it. I tried to explain it this morning as well, but Mike Schilt left a lot of uncertainty based on those comments. Wouldn't you say, Sammy? Yeah, I mean, look, he said he would have been available off the bench in the right spot. You know, I think what's concerning really are two things. Number one, the fact that he hasn't been in the lineup the last couple of days, and there was kind of a lot of room left in the answer post game. And you know, look, he hasn't looked great to forget about the elbow before he got hit by the pitch. I mean, there was that ball down the line, you know, on Friday night where, you know, that's the ball Fernando catches that looper down the line. And he is just whether it's on the bases or in the field, he doesn't look right running. And I think we can all see it. And it's hard to ignore. So, you know, look, I'm going to be fascinated to see today when we show up in the clubhouse is being the lineup. And if not, what does that mean, right? Because that's going on three days out of the lineup. And again, just from what you saw with your eyes, even before he got hit by the pitch, you know, it did not look like Fernando running. He just did not. So, look, I don't have any more information on it other than what you guys have. But, you know, I'm interested to see what the update is today and, you know, between the getting hit by the pitch and the quad situation. Yeah, he's seemingly very banged up right now. And we'll see today. I'm intrigued to see what happens today with it. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature, whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to, or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives. Well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it. But the outdoors is closer than we realize. With all trails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently. With offline maps and on-trail navigation, download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders and pencils. And they've got your back when your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say, "I'm sorry." And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep. And when you don't get the rest you need, your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience, because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips, and support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam. And thanks to over 1,400 air chambers in the gel flex grid, you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the restore hybrid collection that combines gel flex grid with coils and the rejuvenate lux collection, the height of luxury with over 112,000 to five star reviews to prove it. Visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. Yeah, as am I, Sammy, I mean, you know, things, things trickle out and you hear things that people are talking and, you know, when you don't see a guy for for 72 hours, you do start to worry, you know, and it's like every game, every time that lineup comes out now, every day, we don't see him, you're gonna start freaking out. He's not a lineup today. Yeah. And again, based on everything we've heard, I don't expect them to be. And if you just watch the games, you know, I mean him trying to limp around the bases. And you know, again, I said it the other night when I was watching these guys grind through it, man, I think it was Friday night, the nice comeback victory. Guys are playing way less than 100%. I respect the hell out of that. I do. And I know it drives people crazy. I really, really know it drives them nuts. When guys are hurt and they're trying to play through it, unless they perform. And then when they perform, it's admirable when they do it. It's a weird kind of double standard we have. Yeah. And I think the thing that stood out about the Fernando situation was was honestly that ball on on a night that that, you know, that was the blooper down the line. I mean, he catches that ball to me like 100 times out of 100. That's the one, man. Yeah, yeah, I feel like we've all been the last handful of days, you know, not looking great running and clearly the the gate is off. And but it was that ball where I was like, man, that's it's really affecting him in a way that I don't think we've seen. So look, again, I'm intrigued to see what happens today with it. And look, well, our first, our first piece of information will be the lineup. And then we'll we'll sort of go from there because I think once you're going on three days out of the lineup, then it becomes a real question of is this an IL situation or not? If you guys want, I'll give you two keys to this series against the against the Nationals. Please. Okay. I did some I did some number crunching this morning. So the Padres, you may have mentioned this already. Maybe not. They will face three left-handed starters in this series against the Nationals. In the last 22 games, left-handed starters against the San Diego Padres have a 1-6-4 ERA. So key number one, got to figure out a way to hit lefties in this series. That is a must. A left-handed starter. Key number two, I took I went back to the last road trip. Okay. The one to New York and Philly. I took out the Matt Waldron starts, which is which have both been great, and Matt Waldron pitches tonight. Other than Waldron since the start of that road trip, a 696 ERA for the rest of the starting pitching. So to me, the keys are pretty clear in this series, and hey, I do this keys to the game segment every day, but the keys to the series hit lefties, and the starting pitching has to be quite a bit better. And look, they have a good opportunity, quite honestly, to do that with Waldron today, and Darvish coming off the IL tomorrow. You'd imagine he'd be on some sort of pitch limit tomorrow, but and then sees on on Wednesday. So, I got to got to get it done, got to reverse some of what's been going on both against the lefties and and with the starting pitching. So I think you start there with the series against the math. This will really test the left-handed scenario because other McKenzie Gore, who's who's had a an okay season three and a half year, right? Not bad at all. The other two pitchers they're facing, you know, in Patrick Corbin, it's not not good tonight. Mount Waldron's going tonight. He's been fantastic. This is kind of feels like, take this opener, please find a way to win this one. The last guy in the series, DJ Herrs was only made for four starts this year, four and a half year or a, you know, point one war. There's an opportunity to win a series here. And I don't, I mean, nationals have been better than people have expected. CJ Abrams obviously has had a decent year here here, Sammy, but they're just a half game behind the Padres. They're looking at this series as their chance to move into like a wild card spot this week. So, you know, start in the second half of the season. This is a pretty big one. Yeah, it's a great point. And, you know, again, and with the the wave, the wild card, you know, all the playoff spots work now with the tiebreaker rules. Yeah, it's something I already wrote down. These games are really important in the bigger picture of of the season. I mean, look, no matter what you think about the Padres and the nationals and where you think they should be based on their talent level and based on their payrolls. And obviously you can intertwine the Soto trade and to some of it as well. No matter what, you said it, the nationals are half game behind the Padres and nothing to say that you won't get to late September and you're sitting there battling for a final wild card spot with a team like this. So, you know, look in modern baseball now with the expanded playoff field and with the new, you know, playoff tiebreaker rules. Yeah, these kinds of games are actually really important when you look at the standings in late June and see two teams right next to each other. And, you know, hey, even the Brewers, right, they're in first place in the NL Central. I think they're going to win that division. But, you know, let's say, you know, and let's say they do end up flooding for a wild card spot. Well, one feather in the Padres cap is that you've won that season series. And those things can prove to be really, really important at the end of the year. So, yeah, these games are big. No doubt. Well, Sammy got three more. And then finally, an off day on Thursday. I know the Padres have had what 26 out of 27 here. That's also Sammy means he's been working 26 out of 27. So, don't tell Adam because he'll find something for you to do anyway. You can join us on the round table on Thursday. I love to have Thursday. Oh, I'd love to have the pizza you can eat, Sammy. We'd love to see you. Oh, I'd love to have you. You know, but I will say one thing about the pizza. The one time I did do the round table in person, I've done it twice. One's in Peoria and one's in person. Or I did it from home, whatever it was. The pizza came like right before we went off. Yeah, terrible. How do you both eat? Yeah. I mean, we got they got to adjust that. It's after. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. All right, Sammy, have a good show tonight. We'll talk to you later. All right, guys. All right. 641st pitch 540 eco water. So Cal pregame show with Sam Lovett tonight. Today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet Smart Money podcast ready to expand your financial game. Nerd Wallet can coach you on smart strategies like choosing investments, finding your next credit card and setting a budget that works for you. Score major points towards your summer vacation by learning expert tips for choosing a high yield savings account and how to build wealth by investing in index funds. Slide into summer with smarter decisions in 2024. Follow Nerd Wallet Smart Money podcast on your favorite podcast app. Future you will thank you. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again. With North Sides and Bullion as you're not so secret ingredient, you can skip the drive through and do dinner at home. Nor taste combos provide a menu of delicious, affordable and well-balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less. Visit nor.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home cooked weeknight dinners. It's not fast food, but it's so good. It's the most anticipated WNBA season in history. And you know what that means. Court is back in session. Welcome to Queens of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoop, and I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long will be bringing you interviews with star athletes, analysis on your favorite teams and lots of hot tape. Order, order in the court. Follow and listen to Queens of the Court on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.