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Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast

7am Hour - Xander Clutches Up + Update On Yu Darvish

Ben & Woods kick off the 7am hour talking about Xander Bogaerts' clutch at-bat in the bottom of the 7th inning last night to score the Padres first run, and we get to an update on Yu Darvish, courtesy of Dennis Lin and The Athletic. Then it's time for "Don't (And DO) Do This" before we take an updated look at the National League Wildcard standings which sees the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks atop the standings. Listen here!

Duration:
42m
Broadcast on:
13 Aug 2024
Audio Format:
mp3
We would be remiss, Ben, if we did not talk about the guy that just did the promos, Andrew Bogotz, who had just such a phenomenal AB last night. Our pal letters to AJ wrote a little piece about it, situational hitting, citing last night from Xander Bogotz. And one of my favorite things we've ever learned here on Ben & Woods was this mentality that Adam Jones, five time All-Star, a guy that ditched us for golf today, by the way. We were supposed to play golf with him, and, you know, listen, he had a better opportunity at a better golf course and a chance to make some money doing his opportunity. He had a business opportunity, and then they're going to go play a better track. And I said, all right, I get it, it's fine. So now Benny and I are going to be playing with our buddy John Ashworth and Matt Chanel today, which is going to be great. But you know. Matt, me and you against those two? Yes. All that we're going to play? Those out are 100%. Yes. Absolutely. And no strokes. I've got you straight up. Me? Yeah, I'll take you. I'm like a 15. I know. But I feel like you make some birdies. All you need to do is... Oh my God. Some birdies. We just need to ham and egg it a little bit. All right. John's... I mean, they're both really good players. Yeah, they're good. I'd say John's a little better than me, though, and Matt's a little better than you. So we'll be underdogs. All right. Let's get it. But I think we can do it. Let's pod raise them up. Yeah. Rally roaching my wallet would be good to go. Exactly. He's told us, you know, a year ago, he said, "My mentality was always the first two swings are for me. And the last one is for the team, you know? And I love that. I teach my little leaders that. Those two are for you. Get your hack in, man. Swing it. That last one when we get two strikes on you, now it's time to knuckle down and, you know, get one for the team here. Xander on 3-1 last night decided, no, this is the swing that needs to go to the team. The pass ball got pro far over the third. So now a 3-1 count. And again, let her stay, Jay, if you're not following him on substack, you should. He breaks down. Dude, Xander Bogart's been on a 3-1 count. You know what? His career opiates 1.557. Wow. I mean a stack. So he does damage on 3-1 counts. Immediately noticed. I'm not going to get the pitch to do damage with here. I'm going to get something, you know, away. And what does he do? Not the world's prettiest swing by any stretch, but with the drawn-in infield. Boom. Right through the hole. Pottery's get on the board. It was really, really special. Mike Schiltz also pointed out after the game. I think it was from Saturday when Jackson Merrill hit the two run homer in the eighth inning to tie it. Xander put together a great at bat to get on base in front of Jackson Merrill to set that up. A consistent run of really good at bats from Xander Bogart's, who's played really good baseball here in the second half of the season. If you don't think that that's one of the huge reasons why the Pottery's won 17 of their last 20 games, you're not really paying attention. It's sometimes so easy. Yeah. Jackson Merrill is doing the spec. Sure. You know, Manny's been slugging pretty well and the bullpen has come through with all the new acquisitions, the new shiny toys, the names we're getting familiar with. But if the guy's Andrew Bogart's who has, for, you know, a lot of his tenure here in San Diego, taken some arrows, you know, from the fan base for not producing necessarily the way he did in Boston, who has been a consistent contributor here in the second half of the season. Yeah. And he also highlights something that Victor Rodriguez says. If you put the ball and play, you have a better chance to do something, especially with men in scoring position. And I think from day one, we've preached, let's score one more run than the other team. And now we're going to do that by knowing situational hitting, by having a two-strike approach, an approach in which it doesn't matter if you have two strikes, you still have a chance. And, you know, I realized last night watching Woodford, you know, again, attack the zone and you just didn't barrel him up. It's tough. I mean, he's at 65 pitches through six or something. He's averaging like 10, 11 pitches and that's not ideal, but I think that they are stubborn in their approach. And are we really going to come on the radio this morning and be like, I really should have got to that guy a little earlier in his 741 ERA. You're not. They're stubborn. I've been saying it about them all year. They're stubborn. They're not going to change their approach for anybody. And look, it's going to work out some nights. What do they always say? We're going to put ourselves in opportunities, give ourselves as many opportunities to win a baseball game as we can. That's what they're doing. They have a, they have a genuine philosophy for maybe the first time, Ben, since we started covering the team at one point last night, their backup was like one 18. Yeah. Yeah. And their XPA wasn't that good either. Right. 240, but it was still a hundred points higher than what they were getting. Just getting unlucky. You know, putting the ball in play hadn't, had only struck out twice, but weren't finding any holes, but you keep doing that. And eventually good things do happen and they did in the seventh and eighth innings offensively for the Padres. All right. Before the Eudarvish update, want to get a contestant on the line for take on Woods. This is your time to call in. You want to challenge Woodsie. Uh, we had a five, five game yesterday, which was outstanding. Ty goes to the contestant, which means you can qualify for our trip to Las Vegas coming up here. 833-288073. Open the phone lines right now, 833-288073, call in for your chance to play. against Woods coming up here in about three or four minutes. So good reporting here yesterday. He's got good sources around town, usually these are the kind of sources that you usually have. Yeah, usually. But Dennis Lynn in the athletic said that Eudarvish through live batting practice on Sunday at a San Diego area high school. And Darvish has been working out and throwing on his own since he went on the restricted list on July 6th, peered healthy and in good form according to multiple observers. And he says the, uh, Darvish is still not told the team whether he plans to return or not this season. Is he continues to deal with the personal matter, but the throwing session does show that he's keeping his options open about a potential comeback here later this season. I love that. I love it. I love to hear that that's what he's doing. Obviously I would want him back as soon as possible. But I'm also, you know, I've, I've resigned myself to the fact that he's got something going on. We don't know what it is. And that's okay. But man to hear that he's still out there working with a potential, the potential of him coming back, Benny is just, it's, it's a very positive, um, very positive note yesterday. And you remember he did pitch well at a 3.20 ERA in his 11 starts before he went on the IL. So it would be a lift if they can get Darvish back. You can't count on it. And even, you know, Mike Shill continues to say, I don't even ask him about it. We're just supporting him and we'll, he'll let us know when he's ready to come back and, and that's fine. I feel like if I was manager, I would really still be kind of wondering, like, am I going to get a backer? Am I not? Yeah, it's totally going to get a backer. Am I not? It's really, really tough. But if you just want to know, yeah, I just want to know one way or the other, but you don't want to, I'm not mad. I just need to know. You also don't want to force him into saying, okay, fine, but I'm not coming back. Right. If you need to know, if you need to know, if you don't, if you don't need to know, then I'll keep the options open and hopefully continue, you know, the possibility of coming back. But if you absolutely need to know today, you might not like the answer. Now, they do get that sense. Maybe that's kind of what's going on here. Well, the tier ones have a game on Sunday. If you're free at one o'clock, you and you need a couple of innings on the bump, I can make it happen. Heathbell, is it? Are you worried that he's not going to be fully back and informed though that you've got a guy who still. No, I'm using the rice. Right. Yeah. I'm using the rice. Like you could work him in for an inning or two. Yeah. I mean, even like 80%, you think you Darvish has a chance to get some outs in your league? I think so. Darvish at 80%. I think so. Yeah. I mean, he's got a couple guys who probably still can go 100% for you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You think Darvish at 80% might be better than. I think he'd be pretty good. Maybe your options are. Yeah. Just if he wants to taste the competition again, because it's one thing to go out and throw a bullpen at a high school minute. Yeah. Interesting on the line. A winning streak on the line. You guys have won, you know, 18, 19 in a row? Well, yeah. Andross says, I'll find a lane for him. Yeah. Like Skip says. Yeah. Good. Yeah. Three or four good batters. You know, right. Yeah. I'll find that. Might have trouble with some of his off speed stuff in your league. I know they're pretty good hitters, but you may find someone that that he can handle. Get some confidence builder. I mean, confidence builder. Talk to PR. They got my number. Tax me. We'll get, get you in a tier one jersey. It's by the way, it's going to cost you. You've got to bring money for ump fees just so you know, like $10 for ump fees and don't biggling it. Yeah. Don't biggling it. 10 bucks. Rump fees and we'll figure it out. We can just take care of the field afterwards. You can't just, you know, I'm just going to rake in the live water here. They do his or clay. All right. I'll do the mound. It's the greatest. It is the greatest. I love you, Darvish so much. And I hope he comes back, but I most importantly, I hope he's doing okay. Absolutely. All right. Are you ready to get to our game? Let's put a little take on woods. It's time for take on woods. What? All right, take on woods is brought to you by Valvely and instant oil change only takes 15 minutes. You don't have to get out of your car for directions and discounts. Go to socoutoilchange.com. That's socoutoilchange.com. We've got Adrian on the line. Hello, Adrian. How are you? What's up, guys? Hey, all right. You're okay. And if you can beat her tie woods, we'll put you into our grand prize drawing for August at two nights stay at Resorts World Las Vegas and two tickets to carry under wood reflection at Resorts World Theater, her new residency starting October or August 14th. That's like tomorrow or two days from now and then ending October 26 tickets on sale at access.com and rwlossvagus.com. All right. Here are your categories for today's game. The afterlife, five song titles and artists, including the word after, Sprecken's Edoich. We got five German related music bands and questions and singing the blues, five song titles and bands that include the word blues. So the afterlife, Sprecken's Edoich or singing the blues. What would you like to choose? Which category? You get to pick. The afterlife. Afterlife. All right. There's your category. Again, five song titles and artists, all including the word after somewhere. We'll have 60 seconds. If you don't know an answer, you can say pass. We'll come back to it. If there's time left on the clock. First question is the two second song, Paul is going to play a little music. You need to give me the title and the artist to score that point. And then we'll go on from there. Adrian, you're ready to play. All right. Good luck. 60 seconds on the clock. The category, the afterlife. Your time begins when Paul plays our music. Good luck, Adrian. Let's take on Woods. Correct. Whatever could a Starland vocal band be hinting at when the band wrote which signature hit in 1976. No, pass on that one. Which British rock band recorded a successful English language cover of their commerce are by German band, your commerce are? That's all right. JJ Kale actually wrote which song became a signature hit for Eric Clapton, even appearing in a 1987 Michelobe commercial. That's all right, which 80s R&B group founded by the brothers of babyface Edmonds release top 10 hits ready or not and can't stop. What's our category? Oh, we just had a five for five yesterday. They can't all be as easy as yesterday. But you got time after time by Cindy Lauper, which is good playing, Starland vocal band is afternoon delight. After the fire recorded their commerce are after midnight is the Clapton classic and then after seven R&B, I don't think Woods is going to get all five. I mean, he'll get a couple, I think, but we'll see what his score will be. Adrian, hang on just in case. Bring Woods back in. I said they're predicting how many they think you'll get in this category in the chat. We'll see. All right, 60 seconds on the clock, your time begins when Paul plays the music. Good luck. Woods. Let's take on Adrian. Time after time, Cindy Lauper. Correct. Whatever could Starland vocal band be hinting at when the band wrote, which signature hit in 1976 pass, which British rock band recorded a successful English language cover of Der commerce are by German band or commerce are? Is that Falco? Incorrect. J. Kale actually wrote which song became a signature hit for Eric Clapton, even appearing in a 1987 Michelobe commercial cocaine. Incorrect. It's R&B group founded by the brothers of babyface Edmonds, released top 10 hits ready or not and can't stop. Say it again, which R&B group of the 80s founded by the brothers of babyface Edmonds released top 10 hits ready or not and can't stop. Heart hurt. See, without the category. I have no idea. The category is none. Starland vocal band be hinting at when the band wrote, which signature hit in 1976. This one's going to make me nice. I know this one. I don't know the category. I have no idea. One. Give me one. I'm done. Wow. Adrian and Glenn, hang on. One. We got a tie. You are kidding me. Geez. Tough one today. The category was the afterlife. So time after time. Okay. So a Starland vocal band. Oh, some afternoon delight after the fire was there. After midnight. And after seven is the name of the R&B ever heard of them. Tough one today. Tough one. Too easy yesterday. Too hard today. Woo. We'll need to goalie locks it tomorrow and see if we can get it just right. I didn't JJ Kale also write cocaine. He might. I think he did. But it didn't have the word after it. It didn't have the word after it. That hurts you. We don't have the category. Good job, Adrian. That's why I said, you know, you never know what's going to happen in take on woods. Next up though is don't do this. And we know that we'll be talking about Jackson Merrill's Rookie of the Year candidacy. Yes. We will. You know, again, MLB network. They had some interesting comments yesterday, the very, very spray tan Steve Phillips wanted to weigh in on Jackson Merrill and Kevin Burkhardt, who we adore. I actually feel bad for putting him in don't do this, but he had one of those goofy things that you just say. And then it's come back to bite him a little bit. It's pretty funny. We can kick it around. Before we get there, baseball coverage in 97 3, the fan is presented by T mobile switch to T mobile. You can get tons of benefits still save on every plan versus AT&T and Verizon use their savings calculator to find out how a T mobile dot com slash switch back with don't do this after traffic next to 97 3, the fan. Hey, fantasy football team owners get ready for the draft with reception perception, whether you're in a PPR league or not, wide outs, make or break your fantasy team. You can listen to a podcast that specializes in wide receivers. Don't get embarrassed this season with a new tattoo that your friends pick out for you because you finish last listen to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday on the honesty app get ready for draft day. It's reception perception. All right, I'll get us started today. And you actually pointed this one out to me, but I did think it was pretty funny Kevin Burkhardt who yeah, he's a very solid major league baseball broadcaster was appearing on a show Bloomberg's the deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly. And he suggested that to try to up the offensive quotient and get back to a better brand of baseball that the strikeout has become too commonplace. And he said, he talked to the greats, they used to be embarrassed to strike out. It doesn't matter anymore. And I think we've got to find a way to make that a penalty to increase a strikeout. So I said, I would find a way to penalize a strikeout more than just an out. I got an idea. And now how about that as your penalty? And out, you're out more than just an out, like what a shin kick. A nutcrab. Like what do we do? Two outs. I mean, it seems like a lot. It's ridiculous. It's definitely hard to add. I mean, you already can't advance runners on a strikeout. I mean, there is kind of an extra penalty to striking it. Well, dude, but also certain respect. Also Kevin. I mean, think about it. How much? How many times does a guy come up with a runner on first? And he strikes out. And there's a part of you that goes fine. You know what he didn't do? He didn't hit into a double play. The potteries are a contact team. The potteries don't strike out a ton. So maybe that's why we're all taking it a little bit personally. But when you talk about, by the way, the all-time greats being embarrassed to strike out, let me just give you just a few of the career strikeout leaders in Major League Baseball. And you guys tell me if these guys are any good. Reggie Jackson, Jim Tomay. Good. Sammy Sosa. Alex Rodriguez. Miguel Cabrera. Willie Stargel. On down the list. Mike Schmidt. Some of that is because they're so good they last so long that they compile them. But look at this year's leaders in strikeouts. And you'll see some of the best players in baseball. Tiasker Hernandez, Kyle Schorber, Kyle Raleigh, all among the top 10 in most strikeouts this season. Matt Olson. Good players that strike a Nolan Gorman strikeout a lot. It's not. It's not the taboo that it used to be. It's not. And I think, you know, listen, I don't know what, and I love Kevin Burkhardt. I really do. I don't. What else? They're already out. You're out. That's your penalty. You're out. You didn't come through for your team. You know, that's the, that's, it's a built-in penalty that's probably good enough. You know what Kevin Burkhardt needs to do? Just watch more Padres games because the Padres don't strike out a ton. Right. They're playing a good brand of baseball. I'm trying to go down the list to find the first Padre on the list of most strikeouts this season. I'm at 85 and I haven't gotten there. There it is. Manny Machado has the 86th most strikeouts in baseball this season and that is, that leads the Padres with 92 Ks. That's crazy. And I, I mean, look, when we were kids striking out, you're like, well, that's it for me. Just put me in a box because I can't still feel that way. I still don't necessarily like it. But I also know that, especially with the big leaguers, these guys, I mean, the pitching, by the way, Kevin, is really nasty. It's really nasty. And the guys coming in in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, all throw, you know, a hundred miles an hour with nasty breaks. Joseph with a suggestion that would not fly in the chat. Oh, you pull your, yeah, yeah, pull your, like when you don't hit it to the red teas. Yeah. And your golf group, you have to. Have you ever done that? No. Can you imagine? All right. I'll go back to the dugout now. Pants, right? Pants, right? Your ankles. These struck out. Just like. I love Kevin. I love Kevin. But listen, some of the rule changes have helped with more contact. I don't know. I don't know. I don't have the numbers at my disposal right now, but our strikeouts up since last year are they up since two years ago, they up since three years ago. I have no idea where it's trending. But I certainly like this Padres brand of baseball a lot more than maybe other teams. So fine by me, man, but I don't, I think an out is good enough. I think it's, it's absolutely good enough. All right. I will, number two here was watching somebody include me into MLB network. They were doing a little debate as they've been known to do on the rookie of the year potential in the National League. And it was John Heyman taking the side of Jackson Merrill. And it was Steve Phillips, former Mets GM, very tan, talking about Jackson Merrill and just a little quip as he was pleading his case to the judge about why it should be Paul Skeens over Jackson Merrill. Jackson, girls go player. They're not buying tickets to watch him play. Are you sure? That's why Pecobarg is empty every now, but are you sure because girls go player. They're not buying tickets to watch him play. They absolutely are. He has done the thing that he's did when he got here. Now you're sure you still see some 13 jerseys. You still see some 23 jerseys. Everybody wants a number three. My six year old, he loves all the guys. That's his guy. Now, dad, I want fly balls. All right. All right. All right. I'll throw you some fly balls. Jackson Merrill plays outfield. All right. Okay. He wants to be number three. They are absolutely buying tickets for Jackson Merrill. He's one of the most dominant young pitchers we've seen not just this year, but in a decade or so. I mean, since Strasbourg sort of came in, this guy has taken over the game and everybody wants to watch him play. Jackson Merrill's go player. They're not buying tickets to watch him play. They're buying tickets to see this guy go out there and pitch. Both things can be true, by the way. Listen, he's not wrong. You're not wrong. Yeah. If I'm, if I have a chance to go watch Paul Skeens pitch, will I buy a ticket? Yes. But if I have a chance to go watch Jackson Merrill do what he's been doing every single night, will I buy a ticket? Yes. 100%. He's one of the huge reasons to go to Petco Park right now. So it's going to be an interesting race because some people, I was listening to Steve Phillips this morning, Eduardo Perez was going, I think it's Jackson Merrill. I don't think it's that particularly close right now. And, you know, Steve Phillips continued to say, well, I mean, he's Paul Skeens is putting up Cy Young type numbers. And you know, you can't give him the Cy Young, give me the Cy Young winner and not the rookie of the year. If, you know, if you had that good of a season, still don't know what we're going to see. I think it's going to be determined in the last month and a half. Yeah. Skins ends up getting shut down, which with the way the pirates have been playing makes perfect sense for them to do. I don't know. There'll be much of a debate by the end of the year. Good. The unanimous toward Jackson Merrill. Good point here by Brandon. Well, just look at the Padres attendance against the Pirates attendance. I mean, yeah, Paul Skeens is games. They sell a lot of tickets, Jackson Merrill's games. They sell out every ticket, so I mean, I don't know. He's an everyday player, plays a premium position, Paul Skeens throws every five days. So yeah, man, he is, he is, he's the truth. There's no question about it. I did not care for that comment. It was a little bit flippant by Steve Phillips. He knows better. Finally, a little doo doo doo this mega doo doo. This was ESPN's NBA Today show originating out of their Los Angeles studios. Malika Andrews was the host and what a composed, poised moment as yesterday's, what, 4.7 earthquake hit up in Los Angeles and you can hear it shaking in the studio. She is doing an interview on a screen with Rebecca Lobo or so Rebecca's not there. Malika's just there, you know, on a set with lights above her camera and going and she reacts to it live and just listen out, professional, she handles this. Oh, there we go. Restart and go. Blimp. And it was so much fun to see, particularly the crowd sort of getting behind as we have a bit of an earthquake here in Los Angeles. So we're just going to make sure that our studio lights, everything stays safe, everything shaking, you good, Mylin, everybody good. All right. Thank you so much for bearing with us through that. Our studio was shaking just a little bit, Tarsi, if you're still good in the studio and in the everyone's so good. All right. Perfect. And then on with the interview, handled it like a total pro. I'm sure I would have handled it the same just as evidenced by the roach that was in here. Yeah. Like almost quit my job over a golf road. So yeah, I'm sure we've all would have been totally, totally fine, but she handled that like a people in, you know, like the Midwest where they never had an earthquake or like losing their mind. Oh, yeah. How can you be that calm? The earth is literally shaking and you are just as cool as a cucumber. You're checking your lights. You're checking your colleagues. I get a text every time there's any semblance of an earthquake here from like three family members. You don't, you good. I'm like, I didn't feel it. I never do. So knock on wood. Let's keep that rolling. Thank you. Yeah, that's don't do this. Don't and do do this for Tuesday. It was don't do this with Ben and Woods on 97 three, the fan. All right. The wild card race, the playoff chase continues to heat up. We'll have an update on how the rest of Major League Baseball did in context with your San Diego Padres coming up next with Ben Woods on San Diego's number one sports station 97 three, the fan is brought to you by Express employment professionals. If your supply chain demands a flexible workforce higher with Express employment professionals with contract and full time workers from Express employment, you get the staff you need and manage contingent labor costs. Learn more at express pros.com. That's express pros.com. No one really given an inch in the National League right now. We'll give you the update on the standings and how things went last night coming up after a check of traffic here on 97 three, the fan. Did anybody see a mookey bets is first at that? I did. Luckily, I didn't the injured list last night. Luckily, I was smart enough to know that he's a pretty good player and I wasn't about to run my mouth. Early. I did see a lot of people jump the gun there. It was not the prettiest day for striking out dude and then and then in his second at Betty at a home. Yeah. Tank. Absolute missile out of there. Three RBI growth. My friends growth two months on the aisle with a broken hand comes back and leads the Dodgers to a five to two win on the road over the Milwaukee Brewers. Show. Hey, Tony. It is 36th of the season. A two run shot, the Dodgers remaining three and a half games ahead of the Padres in the National League West. Also some of it's a mookey returns to the Dodgers, but did not return to the team hotel. The fister in Milwaukee. He got an Airbnb again because he's afraid of the hotel in Milwaukee and fister because of the ghost. Yeah, he does not like not stay there. Not a fan of the fister. Mm hmm. It's hard to imagine. I hear it's a very nice place, but you know, Jesse stays there. He got me a pen from the fister. Got you. I have a fister pen in my, you will not stay there because of the ghost stories from the hotel. I think it's a bister. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. You would stay there at the fister. Sure. Yeah. That's that was the answer. Ben, would you stay there? Bister. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. 100% unlike mookey who will not stay. Like we've talked about his teammates in Milwaukee. I mean, is that not being a bad teammate? You want to stay with the rest of your team? No, it's not. You want him playing at his best. It's not because I don't like being around you guys. If he's like, I'm legitimately scared of ghosts that are at the fister, then I'm not, I'm not doing it. You want me at my best? I'm going to need to get an Airbnb was about to thank the Colorado Rockies after giving the pot raise so much trouble. They were doing the same to the Arizona Diamondbacks last night in Phoenix had a 4-1 lead and the sixth inning. And then the Diamondbacks scored two in the sixth and then two in the seventh, both on wild pitches to take a 5-4 lead and they would go on to the 5-4 win as they remain as hot as the San Diego Padres in the second half of the season. Both teams still three and a half games behind the Dodgers, tied for second place, 14 games above 500 and tied for the first wild card spot plus four games now on the Atlanta Braves who also won last night, which was probably the game of the night in Major League Baseball. We talked about it a little bit. No question. Yesterday, the match up, Chris Sale against Blake Snell when it lived up to its billing as a great pitchers duel and then some and then some Blake Snell 11 strikeouts took another no hitter into the seventh inning. His pitch count was climbing though eventually gave up a hit to who wasn't that he gave up a hit. Oh, no. Yeah, it's just finished with two hits allowed, but the Giants could not score against Chris Sale who struck out 12 and the game went all the way to the 10th inning scoreless where the Braves got a single and then a sack fly by Travis Darnell to score the only run of the game in a one nothing win in a pretty critical matchup between two teams that are right now are fighting for that third playoff spot. The Giants fall two and a half games behind the Braves in that race and the Braves add a half game over the Mets who were idle. So they're one game up on New York for that third and final playoff spot in the national league. Oh man. Yeah, it's kind of one you dream of playing in a game like that, man. Everybody pitching is on their game, defense on their game, but Blake Snell is just he's just unreal. The second half Blake Snell is like is just something I've never really seen. And you know, I watched some of that last night, of course, some highlights. I thought to myself, had we been able to swing it, you know, at the deadline, if they were really going to move him or actively shopping him, that would have been so incredible because as we've seen him in his career, something like the clock strikes the all-star break and he just turns it on to the next level. He missed spring training this year, obviously set him back, but but it didn't miss it last year and he still got off to a slow story. Yeah, and still, I mean, it's crazy. It's easy to blame the late free agency and missing spring training, but maybe he was going to struggle anyway. Yeah, I have no idea if like, no, he's just the second half monster, he's doing it again and keeping the Giants. I honestly, I wasn't sure who I was cheering for in that game. Yeah, it was a tough one. You know, the Braves are closer to the Padres, so, but I'm the Giants worry me maybe a little bit more because he turned into the web. Yeah, in terms of the trending the Braves with their injury seem to be trending down and the Giants are kind of trending up. So you want to keep them from getting momentum? I don't know, either way, you know, there's going to be two more wins and two more losses in that series and the Padres keep winning, they'll add to their lead over one or both of those teams over the next couple of days. So that's the Rockies. That's an important series. That one was an easy one. Yeah, you wanted the Rockies to win that one and they could not get it done, but you don't want to be in a spot where you're counting on the Rockies to be rivals and the Padres aren't there. They're taking care of business, they're winning games, but so are the Arizona Diamondbacks, which by the way, I heard Jesse on with winning Chris yesterday, he'll be on with us at 835, but he was mentioning the fact that he couldn't remember what the season series was between the Padres and the Diamondbacks. It's five five with three games left. The last three games of the year in Phoenix to end the season. Now, if you look at the standings, the Diamondbacks have the tiebreaker simply because of division in old record, but that will be irrelevant because head to head is the first tiebreaker. And unless they don't play one of those games, someone's going to be up either seven, six or eight, five at the end of the season. So that last series will determine the tiebreaker and possibly the wild card and possibly the division at the end of the year. Remember, if the Padres win that series, they'll have the tiebreaker over both the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks. If it comes into like a three way tie, that would give the Padres the edge over both of those teams to win the National League West. That's how critical these games are going forward. I do have to apologize to you guys. I got you all excited for that potential trip out to Arizona. I blew it. I texted you guys yesterday afternoon because I got asked by like three or four different people over the weekend from like different circles that we're listening and they all asked me, Hey, oh, are you guys going to be out in Arizona next month? I go, what the hell? And I looked like, Oh, wait. Yeah. Yeah. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It could be very pivotal weekend. I go, did you guys talk about this? Cause a bunch of people asked me, you know, yeah, we, we mentioned it. We talked about it. I think on Friday, Adam, and we said, Hey, maybe we, we go and I was like, that's a great idea. Great idea. Easy trip. Those could be really monumental games. Let me look at some Airbnb options. Hey, what do you guys think of this one? We're great. I'm in. I say. Cool. You know, I'm a live button like about to enter my information and reserve the house. When Woods texted us again, I walked into the kitchen and I go, babe, just so you know, I said, if, uh, if that series in Arizona at the end of the year turns out to be as big as it potentially could be me and the fellas going to do the show on Friday, we're going to jump in the car and then we're going to drive out to Arizona, play golf on Saturday, go to the game Friday, play golf on Saturday, go to the game Saturday, drive home Sunday. And she goes, what's the date? I said, it's the last weekend of September. She goes moron. I'm in, I'm, I'm out of town. I'm going to Hawaii with my friends. I go because you have the kids, she both, both, yeah, I'm doing her best. Ben, both, both kids I have for like five days, which is fine. I can do it standing on my head, but they got to get to school. So we had to do all this. We have sitters coming to take them to school. I'll pick them up. So unless and, and Paul, you missed this yesterday, unless that Friday, I get them out of school early and they come with us to Arizona. Now Ben made very clear yesterday. He hates my three year old son Taylor. He said it. I hate him. I, I feel like Hannah also made it fairly clear clear on Twitter. Yeah. That's ridiculous. She wasn't a big fan of her own kids. He's tough. He's a tough one. I think that'd be great. Me, the three of us will put Ben in the backseat with two boys in between the middle, in the back and I'll have Bo and Taylor on each side. They'd be great on a six hour drive. I'm sure. I'm happy meals for you guys back there. Yeah. Now that's my only other option. I can bring them. If you guys still want to do it. Why does he hate Taylor? I don't know. I don't hate Taylor. He's just, he's the wild man, you know, I don't relate to him very well yet. He's three. Give him some time. So that's an opportunity. If the, if it's still, I probably won't be able to play golf, but we could go to the games to take the boys to the games with us. Big family trip. That what you had in mind when you were plotting it. The thought of it, the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach of, of dragging them to games. Why don't we just rent an RV and I'll stay in the RV. That sounds even better. Film the whole thing and make a reality TV series about it. So you guys should, if you still want to go, you guys should both miss you, you should still go and I'll be home. But yeah, I mean, honestly, I, you know, they'll probably be starting a playoff series like two days after that as well. And I mean, that's a lot. It's a lot. The last weekend of the season. But here's what's going to happen. Now that this has all gone down the way it has that weekend's going to like be for the division or for the one, you know, the top wild card spot or. Yeah. And I'll be watching it on TV. You guys should go, man. You absolutely should go. I mean, I would definitely encourage any listeners like it's worth at least putting some plans in place. Yeah. If you can get a refundable hotel or Airbnb, then maybe it won't matter. It would be some really elite content though, the five of us going there. I'm still, I'm all in on this. I'll think about it just to make him super uncomfortable for the whole time or he can drive himself. He can drive solo. And home. Yes. They're in like 12 hours. He's just at the casino. At night, every night, I'm explicit. Maybe we were flying over there this time since it's downtown and it's near the airport. You don't. I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense to fly when you all then have to go 50 minutes back out to Peoria. Yeah. You know, but when you're going down to Chase Field, that's really close to the airport. There's a hooters down there. Might be pretty easy just to fly in for an hour trip and not do the six hours in the car thing. We'll see. We'll see what happens. I'm planning on taking them somewhere when Hannah's gone. So I'm planning on taking them somewhere might as well be Arizona. They both love the Padres. So you know, you never know. But I didn't believe either an Airbnb with a pool or just a hotel or something. Yeah, you're not going to want to share a house with those kids. He hates them so much. They're very cute. They're cute. Very, very sweet. Yesterday, though, we talked to Scott, you missed this as well, Paulie. Scott Lewis tweeted August 12th is just too early to start school. And I literally called him out by name on the air. He was listening. He called in. And I, we, I wanted to get to the bottom of why he thinks it's too early. Well, his kids are 13 and 11. So he's actually having fun hanging out with his kids. I got home from work yesterday. They had taken two boxes of top space ball cards and basically flung them all over the house. They could not have been, they could not have been any worse than they were. They were beating the crap out of each other the whole day. There were black eyes and bloody lips the whole day. It was like, all right. It's time. And my, my six year old is off to his first day of school, first grade, which is nuts. But man, it was, it was like, all right, yeah, this is the, the last day of summer for them. Couldn't have come at a better time. We also invented camp in '97, '73 while you were gone as well because, you know, woods is paying hundreds of dollars for these camps. We thought, well, why don't we put on a camp here and you can send your kids and just they, they hang around the studio for a week and we charge you a hundred bucks and we just have little ones running around. It sounds like Ben's actual night of a literal different activities, you know, a sales staff can give them spots to record, make it their own. Yeah, make it your own. Here's the bullet points. Put your own spin on it. Yeah, put your own spin on it. You do it with some vigor is the one I got recently. They do this spot, them and vigor. With some them and vigor. I don't know what his name is. I've never heard of that. You've heard of vigor. I've heard of vigor, but I've never heard of them. Is that a thing? It goes with vigor sometimes. It does. I'm not sure if it's different or similar. I don't even know the definition of vim. It's incredible. I've heard of vim and vigor. It's just incredible. I just assume it's a synonym for vigor, but I don't really know. You know, there was an idea I had a while back and last year was playoff house. And this team right now is, you know, you're feeling pretty good about their playoff. I thought it's probably you had the numbers earlier this morning, 91% chance of making the playoffs. I don't want to count your chickens before they hatch, but 91% yeah. So playoff house is an elite idea. It's where we all get a house and we live there until the Padres are out of the playoff. Do the show there. Do the show there. Live there. The whole staff. Everybody. Scrabie. Tony. Tony. And he's going to be like, I'm out. Tony's going to be, I got to call the games. Yeah, Tony. Yeah. But like we all do our shows from playoff house and we hang out and we watch a game together. And I think it's an elite idea. So Adam, sales staff, you're listening playoff house needs to be a thing. We'll do it for just our show. That's fine. Playoff house. Full sponsor. Full sponsor. We just move in and we stay there until it's over. Haven't filmed like the real world. Yeah. 100%. Cameras in around the house. I love the idea of playoff house. And I think yeah, we have tier ones come by. We can rage and stuff. It'll be fun. Sure. There's insurance that needs to go into that, but I think it's a good idea. Quickly, a couple of other scores from last night, Red's beat the Cardinals six to one. So St. Louis dropping a game in the wild card standings. The White Sox surprised everyone by clobbering the Yankees 12 to two. That can't feel good for the Yankees. Old friend, Angel De Los Santos gave up seven in relief for the Yankees in that one. Brutal. And then did you see a Billy Wagner's son made his Major League debut last night for the Toronto Blue Jays got hits in his first three at bat. What have you tweeted? Can they only draft sons of big leaguers in Toronto? Is it like a rule that they have to do? This is Willie Wagner. Will Wagner. Will Wagner. Really? He's got three knocks. He's got three knocks in his first three at bat. He was betting a thousand out of three career A.B. Imagine Billy Wagner's your dad and you're not a pitcher. Like that's crazy. Crazy cool. I love that. I will come back. I get everything started again. Second half of Ben and Woods, including Jesse Agler right around the corner with the Incorporator all ahead on San Diego's number one sports station, 97-3 the fans. 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