Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast

8am Hour - In-Studio Sammy Joins The Show!

Ben & Paul start the 8am hour by welcoming Padres pre and postgame show host Sam Levitt to the studio as a special co-host for the rest of the morning! Listen here as the guys talk Padres baseball, if this is the best stretch that Sammy's witnessed in his 2 years here covering the team, and the critical stretch coming up for the Padres as they continue to push towards the playoffs!

Duration:: 47m
Broadcast on:: 05 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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And as you guys know, I am a big tier one. I listen well beyond when I'm on the show every Monday at around 835, 840. So good to be here. That would see guy. I mean, just leaves town, hard of a playoff race. Unbelievable. How hard of a worker is Sammy? Well, we know that that he does, I don't know, 158 or more of these games a year. I mean, it's a rare you may take a day off or two for like a wedding or something to go to, but you're pretty much going to work every single game. So from spring training, when you show up, when they report in mid February until the last hopefully playoff game is over, you're working 95% of the days for that stretch of time. Yeah, and spring training. Yeah, nowadays. So February 15th or so until hopefully, yeah, hopefully early November. I mean, it hasn't been that late yet for the San Diego Padres. But as my life as they go, my first year in 22, it was long. It felt like a real, real grind. Now that was, I didn't go to spring training, but I also only got here a week before the season started. And the whole thing was such a whirlwind. By the time it was over, I remember rock out here too. Yes. Yeah. It was like the weird like, we didn't know when we were going to spring training. We were waiting on all that to happen. Adam's like, guess what? You guys going out next week? We're like, okay. Right. Yeah, I remember actually. Yeah. And we, um, while I was in the process of interviewing for this job, the lockout was still going on. And in my head, there was a period of time where I thought to myself, well, what if, what if they don't start till July or what if the season doesn't happen? I didn't tell Amarillo for a while that I was, you know, maybe, and I was pretty transparent with them, but I didn't tell him for a while because I didn't know what was going to happen. I saw a scenario in my head where I could get this job. The season doesn't happen. Who knows if I actually get onboarded to do the job until whenever, and maybe I would, you know, be back in Amarillo for some portion of the season, if because that was the thing the miners were going to play because they weren't part of the union yet at that time. They were going to play regardless. How did that interview go? Was it just you and Adam or I mean, we had an interview with Adam. We met him like in a coffee shop. I went to the, I was late, which is usually not a great thing on your interview. Like you show up late to the venue. You don't get the job. Yeah, the, the, the very first interview, which was just Adam. Just Adam. And I remember he was, yeah, Zoom. He likes to use the, the blurry background. Have you ever seen that? He always likes the blur of the background on Zoom. I remember that. It was focused in the back. It was pretty, it was pretty good. Well, pretty well. Yeah. Very well. Very well. Yeah. Questions he asked you. Like, really like strange questions. Like, I remember, I remember like NFL combine. I remember he was very concerned with just the ability to do the job day in, day out, like the schedule part of it, which I understood, because they were really looking for somebody to do all of it, which it hadn't been here in the past, right? But there was one guy. So, yeah, no, we had a, they were very worried about it up. I mean, it's great. We did some brain did some. I did some. I even was, you did a couple of them. And we just kind of, yeah, but that's not the best way to go. It's such a better show when someone can take ownership and hold it down and pride over the pre and the post game shows. And when I did it with Craig, we did four years. I missed like one day for the birth of my child, but essentially in four years, neither of us missed a show. And you've been kind of the same way, which is so impressive, which brings me to my question, because you work so hard. Obviously, I would think you're very tired at the end of all these days. So I wake up this morning and the first tweet I see and right now it tells me on Twitter how long ago it was. So this was five hours ago. So it's eight a.m. now, which means that three a.m. You're up tweeting the pitching probables that have been announced for the Pontry's pirate series. Why are you up at three a.m. tweeting pitching prob? 28 a.m. was sent to 28. There you go. Yeah. Well, I did go to sleep. And then I like I typically do now. I take it. You were just coming back from the bars at last call at two a.m. Staggering last night after the game. I did go for a nice walk in dinner and PB last night, but I didn't come home that late. So I was home by like 10 30. I did go to sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night. A lot. I was on my phone. I received the information with the probables. And I tweeted them out. No surprise, really, in the probable thing. I mean, you didn't think I could wait. I could go back to sleep and just do this in the morning. You wanted to make sure news on Ben and Woods if I wanted that it got out to him at two 28 a.m. I want to make sure that if there are Pontry's fans who just happen to be up right now, they're going to get the Dylan cease versus Bailey falter matchup for Tuesday. It's not even today. It's not until tomorrow, Tuesday. You want you want to be first of the point? They're going to get beat on the probable size. I saw it first for you. So and I will say because I was I had to go look at um at who was pitching for the pirates because I couldn't remember that off the top of my head. So I did have to make it to work because yeah, they had that Marco Gonzalez listed for Tuesday initially, but you found out that it's going to be better. That's at least what? Yeah, they've listed. Then Marco Gonzalez and then Luis Ortiz and a TBD for the Padres. They still can't give us an entire series. That would be that would be too bold. Yeah, three starters. I was kind of racking my brain about that way over. Yeah, because both parries and Vasquez would be on four or more days rest. I guess Paris be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Yeah, that would be four days rest. Vasquez would be even more. Um, you know, what's your theory? So is it Joe related? I think it is a little Joe related. Yeah, it could be. And I feel like if they if they think the bullpen, now Joe's not going to pitch on Thursday because he pitched yesterday. They're not going to throw throw three days away. So it's going to be either Perez or Vasquez. But if things are going well, my guess is they wouldn't mind skipping Vasquez because Vasquez, we don't talk about him like King and all the innings that King has racked up, but Randy Vasquez is pitch way more than I think we anticipated he was going to. Well, he has some of the same young in his career has not built up, you know, no 200 inning seasons in his past either. So they may want to save some of his innings for, you know, September and October, not that I expected him to be in the playoff rotation. I think that's why we've been talking about King. Yeah. Because he's so good and so dominant. But Randy Vasquez could be a swing man for them, you know, or a long inning reliever. And they might want to save some of those innings. And I don't, I don't know that Martin Perez, now if he pitches like he did on Saturday, who knows, he may go every fifth day the rest of the season as long as he throws like that. But they probably don't mind throwing Perez, who had some time off, was injured, came back, has not used as many innings. He could be a work course, especially if he throws well and get him as often as possible every five days if he's pitching well. And if they eat him up at the end of the season, no big deal. He may not even make the, the postseason roster, but he could definitely be leaned on heavily for innings as a veteran, who's done it before, has been doing all start games pitched deep into seasons before. He might be the guy you want to go a little more often. So they're probably thinking about that. Yeah, I agree with that. And Perez was great, I thought. And he pitched a little bit differently in that start. You could already see sort of the, the Ruben Niebla effect, if you will. He got a lot of swinging miss in that game more than he's got throughout the season. So that was encouraging. And I think that's a pretty good theory on the innings part of it. And then if the bullpen's, you know, if CSUN King throw well and the bullpen's really fresh, they can then plot maybe in the Miami series to bring Joe back, knowing, hey, we may only get three or four innings, but we've got a pretty fresh pen. We'd feel comfortable having him pitch on the big league level rather than going for another minor league star. Yeah, it could be like a sort of TBD thing. I'm with you because Joe through, what was it like 43 45, 35 strikes. Yeah, right. So that puts him for his next outing, wherever that is, if it's in the major leagues and minor leagues, I don't know, probably somewhere in the 60 ish pitches range, which is not nothing. But you can't, and Joe's talked about this. You can't bring them in a bad position with their bullpen. Like, that's something, especially this time of year, you don't want to do. So who knows? I mean, where Joe makes that next start, that next outing, if it's a rehab start, or if it's in the major league, you're right. It may be sort of day by day to see where the bullpen is, where they are, how they want to bring them back. But you would assume the earliest he would come back would be Friday, because that would be kind of a normal for the race. You know, we've got seats going, like you expect seven, but get count on it. Get count on it. You know, that's why plans can change. But I think in their mind, they would be looking at, okay, we've got the off day, you got a cease day. All right, we might be able to make something happen. Right. I think with the moves that they made of the trade deadline, though, and you know, we saw the trickle down effect yesterday. Potters were up 10 to two, and they still threw Yuki Matsui in the ninth inning. Yuki Matsui. Don't tell anybody. It's been great. Really great for like now, what, about a month and a half, Sammy? I mean, really good. I mean, if you look at his numbers in a vacuum, he's a good relief pitcher. He had some struggles. He had some strike zone problems. He's he's fixed those. He's like 22 strikeouts, one walk in his last how many appearances. He's a very effective reliever, but right now he's your number six, seven option out of the pan. He's coming in and eight run games in the ninth inning, and he's he's good. He's a he's a guy that other teams would be like loving to have and maybe the seventh inning right now. And the Padres have a like some riches right now in the bullpen, thanks to the moves that they have made, which should give them more flexibility over these next couple of months at the end of the season with what they want to do, whatever, with the starting rotation. Yeah. And Yuki, even if you go back, I think a little bit farther than that, he had a really good stretch. Remember that Sunday game in Kansas City where they put him out there to close? And that was because Stephen Cole, it gave up all the runs and they had to go in the Friday. We're going back to the waves here. Going for the sweep. Yeah. But even before that, Yuki had been pretty solid for a handful of weeks and then had that outing in Kansas City. And really, since then, I know there's been a couple of tougher ones in there, but you're right. He's been really, really good. And look, the bullpen has the potential to be number one, the best in baseball and number two, just an enormously huge strength for this team. And you saw it yesterday. I mean, attend to game. Think about who pitched. It was Morahone, Estrada, and Matsui. And by the time Morahone came in in the sixth inning, well, it was a 3-1 game then, then the home run by Peralta made it six to one. But the point is they had the luxury to go to somebody like a Jeremiah Estrada in a game that was not particularly close. Imagine saying that a week, week and a half ago. I mean, basically they had three high leverage guys you could really trust in a big spot. And now that has totally changed, it is a really, really big deal. And Morahones give it a little bit of ground lately, but they can be careful with them and they can pitch them in slightly lower leverage situations. And they still got good stuff. You know, he could get locked in again and be very valuable down the stretch, even though he's, I wouldn't say struggled, but he keeps giving up. There's a home run here and a home run there. Not necessarily always costly. It wasn't yesterday, but you keep an eye on that sort of thing, but you have other options now. And those are young guys. I mean, look, Adrian Morahone has been, I think, a pleasant surprise this season. I mean, think about how you viewed him going back to spring training on who he's been. Very talented arm. Great stuff. I think we all understood that. But somebody that struggled to stay healthy and was up and down in his major career. Trying this again, huh? Right. Right. And to his credit, Adrian has been just great this year. And obviously, Estrada has been a wonderful find as well. But the other thing it does, we talked about the innings a day like yesterday, Matt Waldron. Now there was a match up there, lefty on lefty in the sixth inning, but he ultimately threw 80 pitches and five and two thirds innings, gives them the ability with King with Waldron with a Vasquez, you know, to as best they can, shave off some innings, shave off some pitches. So that deep bullpen, it really could have an effect in a lot of different ways. And I guess that's why you make the moves right to make it that kind of pan and give you that kind of advantage. Let's take a time out. We'll fix Sammy's camera on our YouTube stream. And I want you to think about this question when we come back. This is now your third season of Padres pre and post game. Is this the best you've seen them play over an extended stretch? Or, you know, are you going to go back to the 2022 playoffs? Is there a better stretch upon his face about than what you've seen, basically, since the all star break? Talk about that with Sam Leavitt. He's in studio. We'll check traffic with Kelly and then back in a minute here on 97 three, the fan worried about letting someone else pick out the perfect avocado for your perfect and press them on the third date Guacamole. Well, good thing. Instacart shoppers are as picky as you are. They find ripe avocados like it's their guacamole line. They are milk expiration date detectives. They bag eggs like the 12 precious pieces of cargo they are. So let Instacart shoppers overthink your groceries so that you can overthink what you'll wear on that third date. Download the Instacart app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. You don't just live in your home. You live in your neighborhood as well. So when you're shopping for a home, you want to know as much about the area around it as possible. Luckily, homes.com has got you covered. Each listing features a comprehensive neighborhood guide from local experts. 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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 5 star reviews to prove it, visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast10 to get 10% off. 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. Get your laugh on with me, Chris Jericho and the Talk is Jericho podcast. We've got Guns N' Roses Hall, Famer Duff the Kagan, and his joke of the week every Friday, plus regular visits from the hilarious Brad Williams and special appearances by everyone from Gabrielle Fluffly Iglesias, Mark Marin, Dennis Miller, Cheech Marin, Kevin Neeland, if they're funny, they're on Talk is Jericho. So listen to and follow Talk is Jericho now on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. I left Sam Levitt with the question over the last two and a half seasons of him doing Padres pre and post game shows. And let's give it to the regular season here. Have you seen a better stretch of Padres baseball? They've won 11 of their last 13 games 11 and three total since the all star break. They've won all five series since the all star break. I did the math for you. I went back and looked quickly. There's only been one stretch in which the Padres have done better than 11 and three in 14 games in the last two and a half seasons. And none of us really care that much about it because it's when they won 14 of 16 last season when it was kind of too late at the end of the year. And I don't know that you can give them a ton of credit for that. But other than that, there was a good start to 2022. 22 was a very good start. 14 and 7 in their first 21 was a really good stretch. They played good baseball to start that season. After that, they kind of slowly built their way kind of into playoff position. Last year, of course, there was really until the end, there was no great stretches beginning of this season that just just wasn't, you know, they did their five game thing and then fell apart and then five game thing again. I don't know, Sammy. Is this the best stretch of Padres regular season baseball in the last three seasons? Yeah, I think so. And I went back and looked at the start of 2022 because I'm with you. I mean, the end of 2023, they did play great in September last month, but it was a totally different situation. Obviously, the start of 22 was really, really good. It's easy to forget because from about mid June to the end of the regular season, they played 500 ball, right? And for a while it was below that and then they kind of got hot towards the end again. But the start of 22 was really, really good. Like I was looking at it here. There was a stretch in in late April. They won a lot of games, but you look at some of the series like they swept the Reds twice, once at home, once on the road. They had to play the Dodgers for three games. I think this stretch, not only because they're 11 and three since the break, but also because of the quality of the opponents. I mean, you have three series, eight games out of the 14 they've played so far in the second half have come against first place teams and like, not flooky first place teams, all very legitimate, talented, good first place teams in the Orioles, Guardians, and obviously the Dodgers. So the quality of the opponent, and they've, I guess they've gone six and two against those teams, like quality of a opponent. And I said it during the road trip at some point towards the end of it. Like you just feel it too. You feel like this is what clicking looks like. Like we talked a lot last year and a lot early this season about this team clicking all together at once, whatever definition you want to have for the word clicking. And it does feel like for the first time in a long time, the start of the second half, they are clicking as well as they have in a while. What I like is the variety of the wins in the first 14 games of the second half of the season. And feel free to save that, Paulie. They've won some games in which the offenses carried them. They're 12, three win in Washington, 10 to two yesterday, scored nine in Baltimore in that middle game. They've also had some games where starting pitching has been the key. They've had the bullpen be the key. Sometimes it's been the stars. Sometimes it's been the role players at the back guys coming off the bench. They really have won in a variety of ways over these last 14 games to start the second half of the season. And that, that to me is the sign of a good team, a good team. You know, okay teams can win. If they've got a good, really good pitching staff and you know, pitching staff goes on a good run, you're going to win some games. But as soon as the pitching staff gives some ground, well, you give it back up and they haven't had great starts every single time the starting pitching has been very good. But they had a game where Waldron gave up five in the first inning and they found a way to win that game. They've had other starts that that haven't been perfect. For the most part, it has been very good. You're not going to win 11 out of 14 when you're starting pitching is not good. But I feel like it's been a variety of ways. And I don't discount the six games against the nationals and the Rockies, which are the kind of games that this team has traditionally stelped their toe against other than the Friday against the Rockies. That's five and one beating the teams that you should beat has always been a stumbling block for the Padres. Yeah. And they've done that as well. I think it's a good point on the variety of wins just on this home stand alone. You have the Tuesday game against LA where they fall behind five. Nothing. Come back to win it. The game after against the Dodgers was kind of an easy one. Yeah, crews often showed up in a big way lose on Friday and then look, let's be honest about it. Saturday's game. The offense did not do a whole lot at all. They got great starting pitching from Paris. That was a one one game heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. They finally got the saw young candidate Tanner Gordon out of the game on Saturday. And by the way, I asked Xander about it after the game. I said kind of what happened in that seventh inning offensively. First thing he said was we got the starting pitcher out of the game. So once they got into the Rockies bullpen, they finally had some hits, but three to two. I mean, it's not like the offense exploded. And then yesterday, they, you know, they got it rolling late offensively. You mentioned your interview with Xander. Is that where he talked about room and abla and how his message to Martin Perez? Yeah. So the second question I asked Xander on Saturday. Yeah. Was about. Yeah, it's on. It's on the 97th. It's actually the the clip dancers on my Twitter if you want to pull it up. But I hear this show. I'm sure it's a good answer. We should play it. Xander. I asked him about Martin Perez. And by the way, not only had Xander faced Perez a lot in the American League, but he was also his teammate in Boston. I'd have to look at what the years were, but in the last in the last few years. And I asked him, you know, what, what he thought about how, how Perez pitched playing behind him. And the first thing he did was really start talking about Ruben. You're starting pitcher, Martin Perez, quite a Padres debut. Six strong innings. You've seen Perez a lot over the years as an opponent. From your perspective, what did Perez do so well today? I had him as a teammate, you know, a couple of years in the Red Sox. And I mean, he was dotted. I mean, I'm in second. I'm right behind it. Oh, man, you actually thought it so much today. You know, you have to kill your pitchers well. I remember the moment he got here, I said, hey, you see Ruby right there, Ruben? Everything he said, you just do. All right. Because I mean, I've seen this guy work so hard with his pitchers, you know, and, and, and I know how much you care for those guys and it's one of the first time I'm telling you that's, uh, that's something though. I mean, you expect the pitchers to say it from a position player, a star position player. Yeah. I mean, something I've known position players probably don't know who the pitching coach on the team is sometimes. I would expect Joe Musgrove to pull him aside and be like, Hey, that's the guy right there. Listen to him. But yeah, that speaks volumes. Pretty cool. And by the way, the Padres have also quietly put aside some of the narratives of the first half of the season. Remember left handed starting pitchers? I do. They couldn't be. I kept a running list of starts numbers. I don't know if you have the numbers lately, but it's I don't have the overall. I think they've won like 10 out of 11, 10 and starters. I don't know what changed. I think part of it was, Donovan Solano and getting Xander Bogart's back, Manny Machado getting hot. The things that we kind of said when they were struggling against lefties, well, they need to get some of the right handed hitters going and they have done that. And Solano's been big. Peralta has been big, maybe not as consistent as Solano, but he's had now two games that I could say are the David Peralta games. Right. Yesterday was one of them and he had the other one with the big home run as well that he's made some contributions, you know, obviously against the righties on the other side of the plate, but getting those contributions from unexpected sources has been huge for the Padres this year. Yeah, I think first on on Solano, he's been great. I mean, you can't say enough about what he's been. And every time he's in there, he impacts the game, right? Whether that was pin shitting late against the Dodgers to win it, whether that was the other day, hitting a home run, like he always impacts the game every time he's in there. Peralta's had his moments. Look, the Padres could really use David Peralta, you know, to have some more moments because we don't know when Fernando is going to be back. And right now that's a big question mark in in right field. And, you know, anything about him, all I can tell you is that Fernando was out there throwing earlier this week. But once they started doing drills in the outfield, like they did some outfield stuff at some point during the homestand some point this weekend, he went to the bucket and was, you know, just kind of helping out. So he was okay to throw and stand out there. But anything that was, you know, running wise as they did drills, that was that'll be the big sign that he's close. Once he's once he's running without worry and pain shouldn't be that long after that. He comes back. That means that I would think fully healed at that point. I would think once he's running, once he's taking normal BP, I would agree with that. Is he going to need a rehab assignment? I don't know. This is a lot of time to miss, but we're late enough in the year where, you know, maybe they just do live BP's and they didn't back out there. I mean, Xander didn't go on a rehab assignment and he's a lot of time. He dinner, league season ends. Well, that center center was down there for like through. I'm sorry. You're right. Xander did go on a rehab. But I will say to T says a track record of like miraculous returning to the lineups. Like remember when he had COVID and and he came back and I can't remember if he had two home runs or the first game and everyone goes yeah, you must have found a way to really stay sharp. And he goes, no, I did literally nothing for 10 days. I sat I sat in my room alone for 10 days. Place the bet for whatever game he comes back. He will hit a home run. He does it all the time. Nothing. Nothing. Yeah. No, I just sat and watched watch TV. Like it's a bummer. We have video games. It's a bummer. We have such an extensive history of him coming back from an injury or whatever. But every time he comes back from missing some time, he comes back with a monster home run. He does. He does. And so maybe they just feel comfortable when he's ready. He's he's ready to go back. Yeah, you would you would assume that it wouldn't take that long for him to get going. Like Xander missed a lot of time and he took some live VP and he did some stuff and then he was on the rehab. And I think with Xander with the shoulder injury, there's a process of building up confidence. They're not going to let Fernando start running until he feels confident enough that, you know, whatever. And my guess is once he does it and there's no pain, he's not going to really think about it again. Because if you're there, it's not and once it's healed and it's healed and there's no pain and he can push off, you know, he takes a swing and runs toward first. He sprints in the outfield. Once you've done it once or twice, it's good. Now with Xander, those swings, the dives, the things that, you know, could re-aggregate the shoulder. He even talked about it. Like, yeah, I didn't fully trust myself. It's taken a while to come back and now you've seen some of the power come back tightly. With Tetis, I don't think it's necessarily going to be as mental of a thing for him. I'll tell you what, as a viewer, still, every time Xander has the lunge to make like a diving tag at second base, which has happened a few times, I always think in my head, once he does that, I'm like, I hope the shoulder's all right. Because just know where it is on his body. And you imagine that and he talked about still, you know, kind of dealing with it as he started to come back. But he's, he's been okay. By the way, I mean, hopefully it's not getting overlooked. Xander's been great. It's been really, really good. Like this is, this is the Red Sox guy. He's over 400, you know, and there hasn't been a ton of thump. There's been more lately, but he's been really good. He's, he's very important for this club. And it's no coincidence that as he's played, well, let's come with them winning too. Exactly. All right. Let's take a quick time out. We got Sam Levitt in studio in for Woods here on a Monday, would you be back on Wednesday? I want to go through some of the rest of the baseball weekend that was, as Sammy would call it, his out of town scoreboard on his post game show. Take a look again at where the Padres stand and the playoff chases and all the context and what's coming up this week as well, as we talked about earlier, Paul, maybe an opportunity week for your San Diego Padres, given the matchups that are coming up. I know you just say that and then nothing ever works out the way you expected to, but we'll, we'll look ahead and look back when we return next after a quick timeout here on 97 through the fam. Really common occurrence the last couple of weeks. I look up on my TV, which we often have on MLB network and they're talking about the Padres. We'll picture of AJ Preller. They'll shake into the LA Times. Never shy to trade top prospects. AJ Preller makes Padres a threat again. Yeah. The conversation that continues to be centered segment on the Padres bullpen about an hour ago around the Padres. And for good reason, they've been moving up in the world. We got Sam Levitt in studio. We're going to talk about the playoff races and the weekend that was in Major League Baseball right after a check of traffic here on 97 through the fan and baseball coverage on 97 through the fan is presented by T mobile, switch to T mobile and you can get tons of benefits and still save on every plan versus AT&T and Verizon use their savings calculator to find out how at T mobile.com/switch. So this past weekend, first of all, in the nationally West race, it wasn't Sammy expecting the Padres will be able to make up much ground considering the Dodgers were facing the A's. They did stumble in the first game of that series on Friday, but then came back with win Saturday and snuck out a 3-2 win yesterday that was, it was all the offense. I think four of the runs were the first inning. The Dodgers scored two in a Kiki Hernandez double and then Brent Rooker hit a home run on the bottom of the inning. And then the only run the rest of the game, I think was a third inning RBI single by, by Bijio, Kevin Bijio and that was it. And I think the A's loaded the bases and had some chances. The Dodgers bullpen, which has been very shaky, managed to cobble it together for about half the game. And they snuck out that 3-2 win to get what would have been a costly series loss if they not, have they not even taken two out of three from the A's, but like the Padres lose the first come back, take the last two and the Padres remain five, four and a half games back in the in a West. Yeah. And I think not the disappointing, that's not the right word, but I guess the unfortunate part of even the last couple of weeks after the all-star break for the Padres is that they haven't been able to pull away to no faults of their own, right? There's not this big gap between them and the rest of the wild card teams. This is a true six teams and maybe even more than that race. I mean, look, the Giants have played a lot better. They're on the outside looking in, kind of out of that group of six, but this is a real race, like that's the thing for the Padres. They cannot afford, I'm not saying they can't lose a game, like on Friday, you know, I, I had some of the calls and some of the social media posts like people were some people were freaking out on Friday after losing to the Rockies and two things can be true at once. Rockies should be a team you can beat and also it's one game at a 162 and good teams lose. It's a bad teams all the time. We saw the A's beat the Dodgers on Friday like you alluded to. So, um, look, they're not going to win every game the rest of the way. They do need to keep playing really, really well because the, the margin for, for error, unfortunately, in this wild card race in particular is just not very big. All right. If you do want to catch the Dodgers, though, and it's definitely within the realm of possibility, I would suspect that this would be a week you're going to want to make up a game or two and get a little bit closer because the opportunity is there. Now, the Padres series in Pittsburgh is not an easy one, but you are missing Paul Skeens who pitched yesterday and will not face the Padres in the next three days while the Dodgers, meanwhile, are taken on the Phillies for the next three days starting tonight. Now, Phillies haven't been playing great either. They did win yesterday. Thanks snapping a six-game losing streak, but I'd imagine that they're both teams are going to be pretty up for that series. And then as the Padres go to Miami, and again, you're going to be nervous because the Padres need to take care of business against a team like the Marlins. The Dodgers then get the Pirates, but they will have to face Paul Skeens likely in that series, whereas the Padres will skip him. So, you know, you can at least see a scenario where the Dodgers, you know, they're not a three and three week isn't terrible for the Dodgers. The Padres had a good week, four and two on the road, or, you know, even could go like five and one, whether it's, you know, take two out of three, yeah, from the, from the Pirates and then sweep the Marlins, if that's possible, you could make up a, maybe a couple of games there and really tighten up this nationally, West race. And I'll take it a step further because it's beyond even just the Dodgers who have a rougher week than the Padres do. The Diamondbacks play the Guardians this week. The Brewers play the Braves. So that's a tough series for Atlanta. And then the Mets have to play in. So they played in Anaheim yesterday. They have to fly to St. Louis today to make up a game. Then they play tomorrow in Colorado. It's a wacky road trip. They have to make up the game. So they flew to St. Louis last night, make up the game fairly early today, a little bit earlier than the normal and then go to Colorado after that. So they have a rough travel week and look, I mean, things get wacky in Denver, right? With the altitude, like that's a tough week for the Mets. So you saw the Rockies aren't, I mean, they're not playing terrible. No, they took one for the Padres and could have had that second game as well. So maybe now they can give the Mets a little trouble this week. So hypothetically, yes, it could be a good beneficial gaining ground separation type of week for the Padres. Of course, with that, you know, it seems so often the obvious stretches where those things should be true, where there should be good things that happen. So often doesn't work out that way. And then when you have a nine game road trip to open up the second half facing two first place teams goes extraordinarily well. So who knows? You mentioned the Braves, they're going to be facing the Brewers and they've been teetering a little bit. They, they only took two or four from the Marlins this weekend, including losing both Saturday and Sunday. They got shut out seven nothing yesterday. The Padres have made up some ground. We have the stat earlier, but since the all-star break, Padres 11 and three now they haven't gained any ground on the Diamondbacks half a game since the break. The Diamondbacks are 11 and four, but the Braves have gone seven and nine since the break. So you've made up five games in the standings on the Atlanta Braves since the start of the all-star break. And now in a virtual tie for the top wildcard spot, technically the Braves are a percentage point ahead because they've played two games fewer and they have one less loss, but that will even out at the end of the year. They'll both play 162. And the Padres again have that tiebreaker locked up if it comes down to it. So essentially give the Padres, I think the edge right now in that wildcard race against the Atlanta Braves. The Diamondbacks are the team to me that they're the worrisome team at the moment. They've actually been the best team in baseball. If you go back before the all-star break, they've had the best record. I think, you know, arbitrary end point. July 19 and eight since July, something early in July, they've been playing really good baseball lately. They continued that over the weekend, taking two of three from the Pirates, including facing schemes yesterday. And while they were losing early for nothing, they got a couple of schemes and then they, you know, did that Padres thing where they plucky and rallied back against the bullpen, getting a three run home run by Jack Peterson. Go ahead. I think in the seventh inning and then went on to a six, five over the Pirates. That was a big one for the Diamondbacks, both game and series to keep the momentum that they have built really strongly since since early in July. Yeah, Diamondbacks to me are pretty scary for a few reasons. Number one, they've been there done that, right? They've been able to make the postseason, get hot enough to make it. They know what it's like to be there. They've got veterans on that team. They've got young players on that team. They've got some good starting pitching on that team. And I'm a big fan of Tori Lavello. I am. I think he does a really good job. I think he's a really good manager. So I'm, I'm with you. They scare me a lot. Atlanta is really interesting because I feel like with them, it's a lot of pedigree in who they've been. And there's a lot of reality about this season that would tell you with the way they're playing the injuries they have, maybe there's a kind of legitimate chance that when this is all said and done in a month and a half, two months, they could be on the outside looking in of this whole thing and they haven't played well. And I didn't love what they did at the deadline. The Braves are interesting because I think we've all sort of like penciled them in to one of those spots. And I'm not totally sure they're going to get there. I really not. I called that in the round table like three weeks ago. I said, I don't know if the Braves, they're too many injuries at some point. Yeah. As good as you are at overcoming injuries and they want a world series overcoming huge injuries. You can't do it forever. And Strider and Akuna again, and Albie's, it's just too much for any team necessarily to overcome. And I'm not surprised by the fade that we've seen. Now, the Diamondbacks are scary, but they can't take away your playoff spot right now because they have one of the playoff spots. They could pass you, but they can't take it away. The meds are the first team behind you that actually is trying to break their way in. And they were kind of the scary team a little bit before the all-star break. They've cooled off a little bit. They're nine and seven since the break, but just five and five, I think in their last 10 drop two or three to the Angels. So I'm not counting out the Mets by any stretch of the imagination, but they're not as hot as they used to be, but their team definitely keep your eye on them because as long as you hold off the teams that are now behind you, which include the Mets, the Cardinals, who just dropped three of four at the Chicago Cubs. So they're in kind of a spot where they kind of need to pick things up. The Giants are not out of it either. They, you know, with Blake Snell on a second half Blake Snell heater, even though they're a game under 500, they're still on the fringe of contention. What are they about four and a half, I think out of a playoff spot, five somewhere around there. And then you've got the Pirates, who the Padres will this week have a chance. The Pirates have to face the Padres and the Dodgers. There's a chance the Pirates are pretty much irrelevant after this week. They know that though, so they're going to be coming basically like their season is on the line over the next three days against the Padres and then three days after that against the Dodgers. And you really start looking at this. Like if the Giants were to make a run, they're four and a half out. So they're kind of outside of that quote unquote group of six right now, but striking distance. I mean, there's a world where it could be San Diego, Arizona and San Francisco. If the Giants got hot, I'm I may be more worried about the Giants than the Braves. It's crazy because where the standings are right now, when I see Blake Snell start to look the way he's looked and they've got web and they've got good players in Robbie Ray pitch. Yeah, Robbie Ray. Well, coming back as well. I didn't see what he did in his last. But his first story was good for sure. Took a no hitter like through something. I there is a world where the Giants are right in this thing. And there may be three NOS teams like right there. It's crazy that they sold off a little bit at the deadline. Yeah, they didn't they weren't aggressive. I mean, they didn't do a full sell-down, but but, you know, I wonder if you give up a starting pitcher and you're like your outfielder when you're thinking you have a chance at making a run and they're trying to have their cake and eat it too. They want to pick they wanted to play the market and pick up, you know, in a seller's market what they could, but also they still want to compete. And right now they're towing that line. Okay, they're not out of it. They still have a chance and they have more momentum than some of the other teams in the nationally wild card race right now. And, you know, those are teams, the Padres and the Diamondbacks that are the Diamondbacks and the Giants of the Padres don't don't have a season series lead against I believe. I think they're a game or two under 500 against both of them. Yeah, I think so. I'd have to look those last series remaining against those two teams could be very, very critical. Like we've said last year is against the Dodgers late in September. And like we've said like there is and it doesn't mean you can't lose one two three in a row at some point. Personally, I think you can't go on any type of extended skid. No more five games. Can't have it. Right. That's what's going on in the playoff race. Paul has got some headlines in the round of report. Also want to look at the bottom of baseball and what's going on there as well. One more hour Samian studio next year on The Fan. You don't just live in your home. You live in your neighborhood as well. So when you're shopping for a home, you want to know as much about the area around it as possible. Luckily, homes.com has got you covered. Each listing features a comprehensive neighborhood guide from local experts. Everything you'd ever want to know about a neighborhood including the number of homes for sale, transportation, local amenities, cultural attractions, unique qualities and even things like median lot size and a noise score. Homes.com. We've done your homework today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast ready to expand your financial game. 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