Gwynn & Chris On Demand
8.13.24 Gwynn & Chris Hour 2 pm: Padres with another W!
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Offensively didn't have his fingerprints on it, but they didn't need it. They got just enough offense. But I think the story of yesterday's game was Joe Musgrove. We'll get to that in a second. Let me welcome in Chris L.O. How are you doing, sir? I'm good, Toni. I was there last night. And as soon as that ball was hit by Brian Reynolds, the two words that flashed into my head were tie game. He had Bay on first base, pinch running for Pittsburgh. That ball gets down in the gap, he's scoring easily. And I didn't think, I thought the catch was about a seven itself, but I thought the fact that he closed the ground he did was about a nine. Remember, he's probably playing a few steps deeper because it's a no doubles defense. He had to race over, he had to race in. And the timing of the catch is an 11 because it basically saves the game from being tied. And his flair for the dramatic and the remarkable right now just continues. I mean, the legend continues to grow right now. Yeah, it was a nice play. I mean, who was that hit that ball? Was it Reynolds? Yeah, Reynolds tagged that ball. So the depth didn't matter because he hit it so hard, he just had to go laterally. And, you know, not everybody's comfortable going that direction as a right handed thrower. You know, I know I always felt better to the backhand side, diving that way versus diving to the, to the, I guess, the forehand side. So he may close the ground on it terrific. I had a great view of it. I mean, the jump was good. It was, as you said, it was probably about a seven in terms of the catch itself. But again, those, the moment you make those catches actually matters. Because not everybody can come up and close the deal and make that play there. Jackson does it. But as I said, Joe Musgrove to me was, was the story. No one really knew what to expect. We certainly had heard a lot of good things in terms of some of the changes he has made. Had really, really gotten rid of some of the pain that he was dealing with. But you never know, we get into a big league ball game and that, you know, you're just doing things a little bit crispier, a little bit faster. He looked great, man. I mean, he wasn't even like particularly sharp, you know, for a guy who has not thrown on a big league mound since May, end of May. But in typical Joe Musgrove fashion, compete it, velocity look good, spin look good, I'm saying in terms of, he didn't look sharp in terms of commanding all of it where he wanted to. But stuff was crispy, fastball was popping, and it was just nice to see my man back on the mound again, man. That's a shot in the arm for his ball club. And it certainly helped to have him out there in a game in which they won two to one. Yeah, I don't underestimate how important this was to the people in the clubhouse. You know, I mean, we think about how important it was to us, the fans and everybody. And, you know, we love Joe Musgrove as a whole here in San Diego. I'm sure there's a few fans out there that just are not Joe Musgrove big supporters. But by and large, it's pretty hard to find somebody that doesn't like Joe Musgrove. So we're rooting for this guy. And the thing that impressed me the most, Tony, is you talked about some of the changes he's made in his delivery and his arm slot, whatever he has to do to try to take some of the pressure off, you know, the injured thing, you know, to try to keep away from the injury. And usually when you make a change like that, it's, I mean, you got, you almost going to give the guy a couple of games just to figure it out. And to come in there and throw four and a third innings and allow just two hits and walk only one guy. I mean, that's, that's pretty good. I think you hit a batter too. But, I mean, my goodness, he was, he was really good and 63 pitches, 43 of them were strikes. And yeah, I mean, that was big and the Padres and bats were quiet last night. So it was important that Musgrove pitched scoreless baseball and to nobody's, nobody's surprised the bullpen came in and did what they usually do after that. But what about Donovan Solano making Manny Machado plays down the third base. He made two in a row there. If you made one on the last or actually both of them were the first two outs that Hoeing got after he came into the game. But yeah, Donovan, you guys, I think somebody said on Twitter, you got Solano'd instead of Machado's because he made two really good plays in a row. But yeah, Musgrove being a doing what he did, that means not only helps you win a game last night, makes all the fans feel good. But everyone in that locker room and that clubhouse and this organization to know that potentially they've got, you know, a solid Joe Musgrove going forward. That's a huge, huge thing. I mean, that's, I mean, the Solano thing is not a surprise. I mean, it really hasn't mattered who the Padres have plugged in a lot of time. We've really done this before. It just hasn't turned out like this. I mean, the Padres have had injuries in the past. They've had guys in and out of line up and you didn't, they didn't have the kind of depth that they have this year where you could plug someone in and not necessarily ask them to be a Manny Machado or ask them to be a Joe Musgrove or ask them to be a you Darvish or whoever it is that is missed. But everybody who has come in and this goes back to the Korean, the Korean trip, right? Where, you know, you had a Tyler Wade having got a start and no. And those guys have been so valuable in those roles all season long, whether it was a Tyler Wade, whether it's a Solano, whether it's a Peralta, it's been Johnson at times. I mean, the Padres have had a set of different guys with Zokar early in the season. They've had different guys at different moments filled the void that has been needed, that has been needed at the time. And they've, they've really, they've really hit on all of them. I mean, at some point, everybody has contributed, at this point, they've contributed on multiple occasions in different games. And so I think this is why the Padres can have a night in which the offense is relatively quiet, what six hits on both sides. The Padres did what the Pirates didn't do as well. They execute it. When they got runners on second and over, when they got their opportunity, they cashed in. And whether it's the sackbunt or sack fly or moving guys over, this is a part of what they've done well all season long. Yeah, the key statistic in the game last night was left on base, Padres left two, Pirates left ten. And execution. Yeah, the Padres got their guys in, the Pirates did not. But, you know, again, one of the reasons they didn't is because the kid makes the play. I, you know, I'm trying not to overstate this. I'm trying to get away from the rookie of the year talk on, you know, every hour of every show. But, you know, he is, he is, he has, and Mike Schultz said this last night before the game, he has forced, he has bludgeoned his way to the top of the rookie of the year picture. There is absolutely no way you can follow baseball, no matter where you are, even that East Coast bias thing. And not have seen some of the things that he's done in the last six days. You know, three tying home runs and now a game saving catch. That basically is, you know, very responsible for four wins in a six day span. That has got to get the attention of everybody. So I don't think we need to keep saying he's the rookie of the year. He's doing, he's making all of the cases for himself with his play. And his timing is insane, Tony. I mean, maybe we should have known that that was how the game was going to end. You know, I mean, because of the way things have been going for him lately. Yeah, no, Jackson's. But you said that all Jackson's playing very well right now. Just needs to keep it up for another mother and half. So I won't, I won't spend too much time in the year conversation as it pertains to Jackson. He's doing all that he needs to do. Ultimately, the voters need to pay close attention to what him and Paul Skitt is. Because that's basically the two dudes who at this point are in it. I mean, it could take, listen, I do recall Paul Goldschmidt the year he won. Was out in front for a very, very long time. And then he had like one of the worst in the middle of August on like he's struggling. All of a sudden the conversation wasn't as crispy as it was for him early. So Jackson just needs to keep playing how he's playing and that'll take care of the rest. On the flip side, the Padres had, last night I believe was the eighth time in the past 15th game that the Padres have had to use the bullpen for four innings or more. And you know, we kind of seen this a little bit earlier in the year at one point. We're after some like about a slew of great starts. There was a rough patch there where the starters were struggling. Bopping came in and did their job for the most part, but then we saw shortly thereafter the bullpen start to struggle a little bit. And that was a little bit before the Padres made the moves that they made. I bring this up because of all the things that are going right for the Padres right now. There are some things that are starting to pop up. You know, you're not having everybody at their best right now coming out of the bullpen. You brought it up yesterday about Yuki being in that high leverage spot that he hasn't been in. He's been in and out of I think this year. And you know, you're watching it yesterday was a little bit different obviously because you knew going in that Joe wasn't going to be. I mean, yes, he could have used the 60 whatever pitches and just been so efficient that he got to like the sixth inning. But if you were being real about it, that was unlikely to happen in his first start. So you kind of knew this was coming, but you know, this is not something that I think Mike Schill had hit on it maybe a couple, maybe a week ago. But it isn't something that he necessarily wants to be have to do. He would rather be able to go, you know, six, have a seventh, have an eighth, have a ninth, boom, done with it. But, you know, there has been, especially on that road trip, the Padres won all but one of those games, but that bullpen was taxed pretty good. Yeah, I think the only difference that I see this time, A, the bullpen is, you know, better and more equipped to deal with this and they were early in the season. But secondly, I think a lot of this also has had to do with the fact that, you know, maybe intentionally to a certain extent, the Padres are, you know, just not asking Waldron, not asking King, not asking, obviously last night, must grove. But not asking some of these guys to go as deep into games and try to save some of the innings for the starters as well moving forward. So I think some of this is also by design. But I know what you're saying, Tony, when you use the bullpen four and four plus innings every single game, again, they get tired and they start not performing up to the same level that they had been. So it could happen. Regardless of what the reasoning is, because we saw this coming in terms of having to monitor Waldron's innings, having to monitor King's innings, no matter how good they've been, this is a part of the, I think, the calculus. And going out and adding all of the arms that they added because they're going to have to absorb some of it. You're right. I think they are shaving innings off everywhere they can for some of the starters. And it's, that's on top of, you know, although Strata looked better yesterday, he hasn't quite been his regular self. So just something to keep an eye on, not a worry of any sort, but something to keep pay attention to as these games continue to move forward. You have to give the fans out. There's something to worry about. Some of them did not be comfortable if they didn't have something to be stressed about. Or they would come up with it on their own. I'll give them a legitimate one. Come on with them. I mean, before yesterday, everybody was panicked that the pitching wasn't very good ever again. Well, no, I think they go out and they shut it down. What? I'm just saying every day, even though they've won 17 to 20, people are coming up with something. It's it's from Padres, pen pals yesterday. This is not sustainable is what the writers said. That's right. To go back and win every single game, not necessarily came back last night, but these close games, like it's stressful. And Jerks and Profar even said these are exhausting games to play. They are. There's no doubt you got to be like the concentration level has to be so high and those type of games. And it's like as soon as that you can like let the concentration thing go, it is like you hit a brick wall at that point. And so I imagine doing that, especially on August 13, where it's like you're like in the dog days as it is. Everybody is just trying to get to September where it's like you don't have to try to get the energy. It's automatically there because it's almost like the brain and the body recognized. It's like go time, go time. It's like summer vacation. When you know you're a month out as a kid, it's like all the countdown is on. Right. You get excited. You lock into that last month. So I imagine that that's a little bit of what's going on right now for these guys. All right, let's step away. We got it off to a good start here. When we come back, Padres have a stretch of 18 games in 18 days beginning Friday. We'll talk a little bit about that. And some of the best AJ Proler moves of the year. All when we return, more winning Chris. 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. I do it while making coffee. I do it in the car. I do it when the kids are asleep. 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Well, I'm actually still looking for it. Where'd you guys see it at? CBS Sports says they have a deal in place. So whatever. Scrabie. Deny. Deny. Deny. Makes you feel better. Welcome back to Gwen and Chris. Oh, he's all. I don't want so in his feelings right now. He doesn't want to play on the 49ers on the team. Oh, you know, you sound like you're the owner of the team. It's kind of him. You really, truly do. You're just a fan and stay in your lane. Hey, the 49ers are the only thing I will lose my mind over in the sports world. And, and you do. And I do. And this has been a major distraction and this is going to ultimately hurt the team on the field. Yes, it is. Because guess who's your number one now? He's got a deal of true number one. Oh, wait, you know what? Never mind. There's no such thing as the number one receiver. So you guys would be fine. Okay. Deebo. Deebo. Deebo. I mean, he's going to be good, but nobody cares that your feelings are this hurt. No. You brought it up. Yeah. I just brought up a news story to the people that might be interested in knowing that Brandon and I, you guys apparently on his way to the Steelers. He's a stealer. You have gone into a complete utter deep depression and you're trying to make yourself feel better by yelling out, we don't want anybody who doesn't want to be a 49ers. True. Why would you want someone on your team that doesn't want to be on your team? I don't understand it. Well, when it's like, when it is your team, I won't mind you saying that, but it is still not your team. Who are you going to say, Tony? You're a fan. You're going to say it's almost like you're upset that he doesn't want to be on your team, but you also don't want them on your team because he doesn't want to be on your team. And so I can see the conundrum. No, I think deep down inside, Brandon and I, you guys like, man, they called my bluff and now I'm going to Pittsburgh. Nah, bro. That ain't it. Well, what about a Pittsburgh where Russell Wilson and Justin fields are slapping each other on the field? Yes. Yes. That's where he wants to go. Do you remember reporting that? He wants true stability. He wants to go, he wants to go, or he has a solid, you know, big league quarterback like Russell Wilson instead of some, you know, ne'er-do-well youngster like Brock Purdy. What is Russell Wilson? And he gets to play for Mike Tomlin. That is a plus. I will give him that. Oh, yeah. There's that. Mike Tomlin is a good coach. He's going to go. But I mean, Justin fields and Russell Wilson slapping each other during practice does not sound like stability. What are you? What did this slap in each other? Chris reported it a few weeks ago. I saw a picture on Twitter. The two of them, they didn't slap each other. Justin Fields threw a touchdown pass in practice and turned to Russell Wilson and sent something to the effect of, yep, the highest paid backup in the league. I ought to be working at Walmart. And then for some reason, Russell Wilson thought that was kind of a rude thing to say. So he slapped him and the bench is emptied at Pittsburgh training camp. Wait, are you guys making this up, is this real? This is real. It was a real misinformation. It was a real tweet and there was video of the brawl. Let me pull this up. That's crazy. Come on. It is crazy. It is crazy. Russell Wilson is crazy. I think he's the very definition of crazy these days. Welcome back. When in Chris, we are here. Scrappy is now going to be down and out because it looks like his man is gone. Now, even it's really funny because to listen to you complain about this, all I'm, you're saying, we don't want a yuke if he doesn't want to be here. What I'm hearing is, oh, no, we lost and that's what I'm hearing. That's what I'm hearing. I know what you're saying, but I'm not hearing that so that it doesn't hurt when he actually does get traded because it's going to hurt the team. Oh, yeah, you think it's good to lose a wide receiver with like three weeks before the regular season? Absolutely not. Like they had a deal placed with the Browns. They're going to send a Mari Cooper back and I would have been all about that. And then Brandon, I, you didn't want to get traded to the Patriots since when is he calling the shots? Come on. It's rough. Ben Scrappy. He threw his mic away. That's how pissed he was. Right? Yeah. He did. You brought this up, Chris, and you know where this would have gone. I know where it's going to go because you're, you're, you're a die hard. You're beyond the die hard. You're in a whole nother category. Chris. Yeah, it is. All right. We got the Padres and the Pirates coming up tonight. Game two of the three game series, Michael King is the starter tonight for the Padres. And we want to let you know that at some point during our show today, that means any time now between now and five 30, you're going to have a chance to win a pair of tickets to see one of my wife's favorite bands, Def Leppard. Doesn't mean you can invite her, Def Leppard and Journey, they are performing at Petco Park on August the 30th. Tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster.com. So that is going to be coming up a little later. I gotta say this. I'm searching for Russell Wilson slaps fields. I can't find this bad boy anywhere. I need you guys to tell me where to find Russell Wilson slapping fields, Justin Fields. When we did this, there were plenty of videos that came up. And I believe we got fooled, and I didn't want to call Chris out in the air for it. But I think that maybe that was an over-exaggeration. Oh, but it's a whole lot better if you go with my version of the show. It is. But I don't believe that Justin Fields turned around and said, "I guess I should be working at Wal-Mart." And then on top of that, Russell Wilson said, "Oh, that's disrespectful. Let me slap you." So you're telling me that they just had video of the brawl, and they blamed it on Russell Wilson. But it's a fake report. See, I didn't do what you do to me and immediately say, "Oh, we got a barrel, we got a barrel, we got a barrel, we got a barrel, we got a barrel, we got a barrel." Tell me it's a faggazy. It was a faggazy. It's a faggazy. I never for one day, I thought, man, Russell Wilson is a faggot. Russell, he must have really gone off the deep end if he slaps. He's not going to the loney bend if he's slapping the guy. Either way, they didn't have a fight in practice. I mean, that was a tryout. I did speaking of fights in practice. I thought this was special. Jesse sent me this. I had saw it earlier, but I didn't like save it. Jesse just sent it to me. Jared Mayo's message. Did you guys see this to his Patriot team? I did not. This is great. I hadn't heard this before. He says, "This is the rules. If you are a starter and you fight, you're playing the entire preseason game. If you are a backup and you fight, you aren't playing a preseason game at all. That's how he is going." He must be one of these coaches that is not in agreeance that these fights are okay. Does that stand seem to tell me that these are punishments? Yeah. I mean, it does sound like a punishment. Can you imagine as a star like Justin Jefferson out there, he gets to the fight? All right, man. You in the whole preseason game, every round. That's pretty... I like that. I got to say. That's pretty creative. It's hard. It's hard for one of these guys. They need to take back control of their locker rooms, man. They don't have as much as they used to unless you're Mike Tomlin. I mean, how many coaches really can even do what Gerard Mayo is doing? I like it. Throw the gauntlet down. He's definitely throwing the gauntlet down for sure. Yeah, I keep these guys at bay. Padres did win last night. Two on irits, Jackson Merrill got the final out on a beautiful running diving catch in right center field. Padres did not do much on offense. I thought Profar once again came up with the one big hit they need last night. Nobody was touching this Jake Wood for the guy was pitching probably the game of his life into the seventh inning and finally Profar rips one into the corner for a double. That set up the first run of the game, but it's not surprising that his Profar once again. He came up with that big play. Bogart's obviously had to single him in once the infield came in, Tony, but... How about his hit bat? Yeah. You talk about not just doing the job that you're asked to do there, which is getting him in. He was basically playing prep pepper. If you go back and look at the swing, he just... Yes, he was. To shoot it through the right size. That is a pepper drill type swing and it was exactly what they needed. Yeah. Exactly what they needed. That was great. Just fantastic. Padres win, finding all the ways to win these games, 17 out of 20 is the stretch. All right, as you may or may not know, Diamondbacks, they rallied to win. Dodger's got a good performance from Kershaw, so it's pretty much status quo in the N.L. West. Can't make this stuff up. Padres win, everybody else wins. Yeah. The Giants did lose a 1-0 thriller to the Braves and extra innings. Blake Snell had a no-no going there for a little bit. Snell did it again, but he actually ended up getting out-pitched by Chris Sale. So that was a really good battle of left-handers last night. That was an old school ace matchup right there that you used to tune in for every week. That matchup would happen and everybody would be dialed in. Bob Gibson against it's so boring. This is boring. But that's the thing. Those games aren't boring. There might not be any action, but watching a pitcher who's on, like we've seen Blake before, like, it's fun to watch him when he's got it going. So imagine that happening on both sides. As an offensive player, you're like, "Whoo, I just got to find a way to get on base somehow." It ain't even about getting a hit. Just get on base. That's what happened last night in San Fran for sure. Yankees fell to the White Sox, 12-2. I'm sure the fours in New York are just losing their minds today over. How embarrassing. Oh, yeah. I can't wait. Where was one, Soto, for this one? Oh, boy. Now, he's starting in on that one Soto there. I am feeling weird to me, guys, I'm going to be aware now. That was even without me. Will Leitch is coming up next. Speaking... Oops. Sorry. Sorry. Will Leitch is not a weirdo, thankfully. I don't know. I just went into break mode and turned off all the mics. I don't know. I'm going to ask you out there not to go anywhere. We may be going somewhere when Gwynne and Chris returns to the moment you missed a 97-3 the fan. While you're listening to 97-3 the fan, you can see what you missed and click to listen on demand. Miss the guest feature or if something crazy that tends to happen on this show, we've got you covered. Every Odyssey app, Search 97-3 the fan, and tap earlier today to get started. Let's jump right to our phone lines and our guests, willleitchmlb.com joins us. Will has been a minute, man. How are you? Good. I'm a little nervous to come on. I feel like I was on the show constantly last year saying, "Don't worry. The Padres are going to be fine. We're going to turn it around." And then they didn't. And now the things are going, "Wow, I hope I don't jinx them." Yeah. I hope to. We have a little bit of PTSD out this way, and I don't know if it has anything to do with you just that year in itself. But what the Padres have provided a little bit in some PTSD relief is some consistency here. And I just, on the East Coast, specifically as we have this conversation is budding about young Jackson Merrill and Paul schemes. What are you guys seeing out that way that may kind of be able to kind of tell what this story is going to end up being like? You know, it's interesting, I think one of the best that could happen to Merrill is the pirates continuing to lose, because I think that the general consensus is that while schemes may be a little bit ahead right now, the Merrill is clearly made a pretty quick run on him. You know, eventually the pirates are going to, if they fall too far out of the race, which certainly looks like it's in danger of happening, they need Paul schemes for next year and the year after. And so it wouldn't be really shocking to see a certain point for them to be like, "Okay, been a great year, schemes, but we're going to shut you down for now." And if that happens, I think that clearly opens up a lane for Merrill. If he doesn't already go ahead and make that lane himself, because clearly what they've been doing has been, well, he's been doing, it's been pretty exciting and certainly very dramatic schemes. I think he's such a central part of baseball's marketing, and he's obviously been terrific. Certainly, I think that what Merrill has been doing is some pretty high-profile moments has really been something to see. Yeah, I think the word is getting around for sure. Will Lyche is with us talking some baseball here. How surprised are you that the Padres have gone on a 16 and 3 or 17 and 3 run now and gone 14 games over 500 and all of a sudden even putting some pressure on the Dodgers? I mean, should we be a little astonished that this is happening before our very eyes out here will? I mean, I was pretty astonished that last year happened, so you're probably due for some good experience. I think that even when we talked about last year's team, I think there was a sense of that team was obviously better than what they were playing, and there was due for some good vibes, some good rebound vibes to finally happen. I think you're seeing that, but I think you're right, you touched on it earlier. The big difference for the Padres is they're getting consistency, and even as talented as last year's team was, they just never got that consistency, and I think that's what you're seeing now. I think that it's pretty exciting, and I think that, you know, even when they made that train, the offseason, one of the things they talked about was to, you know, lengthen the rotation all of it and get a little depth and just give them a little bit more of that stability. Now, there have been some ups and downs in that, obviously, but like there is a steady hand, you know, it's funny, one of my big controversial predictions of the offseason was the idea that Mike Schilt could be a sleeper candidate for manager of the year, and probably this is, I think, Mike Schilt's a pretty good manager, but also because, you know, clearly last year when there was this massive underachievement with what happened, and then so this year, that kind of bounce back, I think he was set to benefit, but you know, even with the Cardinals, you know, he had a surprising end to his career with the Cardinals, but even with those teams, he was known as a pretty steady guy and one that could kind of keep things level. I think you're seeing that now, so I think that, I think there is some good fortune coming their way in where there was so much bad fortune last year, but really, I think it's as basic as, you know, the baseball season is a long season, there's wild swings that you see, you really just kind of need to level that out, and I think you're seeing that. I think that's one of the reasons they've been able to make some ground on the Dodgers, and the Dodgers obviously have a lot of talent, and now that's this back, and we'll see what happens to the Dodgers that had so many wild fluctuations this year, and so many things that have gone this way and that way, I think there is something to that kind of steadiness, but also it's worth noting, it's really been kind of remarkable to see how the entire N.L. West has been really for the last month, it's crazy that basically three of the hottest teams in baseball come from the N.L. West, and none of them are the Dodgers. It's a pretty fun thing to happen, so it's really making for a pretty exciting race, and it's really something that the Padres are kind of so well-situated right now, particularly because, you know, you look, you certainly look at the rest of the N.L. wildcard chase, sure the Giants have been a little hotter, and the Cubs are kind of coming on, the Cardinals seem to be fading, but I don't think anything about the Mets or even the Braves looks all that scary right now. I think not only, this has been a hot run for the Padres, but when you look around, I don't see any, I don't look at those other teams and think, oh, beware of them, I think the Padres are just as well positioned as they are. The Padres have handled both of those teams well here in the regular season. Well, I got to ask you a little bit about that, the National League West that you kind of hit on. We talked at the beginning of the season, and, you know, I think about a lot of people's accounts, they thought the National League West could be one of the tougher divisions. It just took about half of the season for them to kind of start to prove that. What do you think happened in that time as simple as teams getting healthy? Probably that, but you've also seen them kind of get some stability, too. Like, look at the, like, it's funny when you look at the Diamondbacks, I've been riding by the Diamondbacks all year, and I've been pointing out that, you know, clearly, I think everyone, it was under the presumption that with some of the moves they made the off season, like Corbin Carroll presumably getting even better after his terrific year last year, that they were in fact better than the team that went to the World Series last year. Now, last year's World Series team had a certain flukish aspect to it. They were outscored on the year. I thought it was kind of funny for a lot of this year. The Diamondbacks had a better run differential than last year's World Series team, but had a far worse record. They were under 500. That's another one of those things I know. Padre fans don't want to hear about positive run differential after last year, but generally that does swing back. It didn't swing back for the Padres last year. Sorry, but it does swing back. I think you've seen that from the Diamondbacks. And I think it's remarkable, too, when you think of the things, a lot of things have gone wrong for that team. You know, I mean, Jordan Montgomery was one of their big guys, and that hasn't really worked out at all. And even with the giant half of this season, Blake Stell was a mess for them until he's really snapped back now. So I think that I do feel like a lot of things are landing just right for those scenes, but also I think it speaks to all three of those teams. The Diamondbacks, the Giants, and the Padres as well, they all went into this season with the expectations of winning. Now, the Padres took some, obviously they lost. Now they lost, so no. But I think going into the season, the idea was like the Padres were not punting. The Padres were trying to win this year, just like the Diamondbacks and Giants were. And so the idea, like at a certain level, these were the expectations for all three of those teams. And it speaks to the idea that when you have those expectations, you're not like, say, the national, the national team, were a team that was kind of around the wildcard chase for a while, but really was not that aggressive about it going after some of their needs because they knew they were pushing off down the line. All three of those teams had a lot invested in this year and did what they could to add to those teams of the deadline and stay the course. I think you're seeing the benefit of that. Well, likes is with us talking some baseball here on Gwen and Chris. Well, there's a couple of strange statistical things that could happen in this year, and I wanted to get some of your thoughts. Number one, it's looking more and more like we're not going to have a single team this year win 100 games. One of those teams could get hot and maybe get there. But at the moment, I don't think anybody's on pace for 100. And that doesn't happen very often. I think the last time was 2014, maybe even strangers, what's going on in the national league, whereas of right now, Luis Arise and Marcelo Zuna are the only two hitters who qualify over the 300 batting mark and arises the leader, I think, at 305. We could have the first season in baseball history where a league doesn't have a 300 hitter. Do these two things say anything about the state of baseball as of right now? I think the first one definitely does in a way that I think is maybe not as positive, which is to say winning 100 games, that's great. And it's very important. And if you win 100 games, great, you had an awesome season. But ask the Baltimore Orioles last year of what good that got them in the playoffs. I think you're seeing more and more teams recognizing that trying to build that super team that dominates the regular season, it doesn't mean as much as it did in 1993 or 1964 or 1967. Really, you're just trying to get in the tournament. Ask the Diamondbacks about that last year who won 85, 86 games that still went to the World Series. I think teams aren't necessarily incentivized to try to beat 100 win teams. Basically, what you want to do is you want to be your best self heading into October and not really sweat trying to become that kind of super team, which I'm not sure is great. Because I think that ultimately, I think it's good that more teams are in the playoff chase now. I think that is positive. And I think that's a good side that you get with the expanded playoffs. The bad side you get is the regular season for these really top shell teams like the Dodgers or like the Philly. They can go ahead and have a bad month and not really sweat it or not really feel like they need to go do something to fix it because really all they've got to do is get in the tournament. So the idea, like those panic chases we've seen in the past where there's that famous year where we have the Giants won 103 games that didn't make the playoffs in like the late 80s. You're just not going to see that anymore. And so teams, it's not really, teams aren't encouraged to go for a 100 win. So they're not getting a 100 win. It doesn't really matter. You get 97 and the number one C, that's the same as winning a 100. And again, the Orioles won 100 games last year and they lost all three playoff games and none of that matter at all. So I think that's why you're seeing not many hundred win teams. As for the batting average thing, I think that is just in the progression of what baseball is going. You know, the batters like I love a rise. We all love a rise, but guys like that are just, you know, that's not what teams are incentivizing when they get players. And you know, I think that's one of the things that baseball has worked on trying to correct a little bit. But I think it's going to take a while. I think at a certain level, you know, in a world of launch angle and exit velocity, the idea of being a 300 hitter is just not something that's valued. I don't think that's just true for teams. I think players also don't necessarily feel that way. I mean, if you go out to the ballpark and look at the used to be when you went to the ballpark, batting average was the only percentage you saw. Maybe you saw winning percentage, but that was it. Now you go to a game and you see all these different percentages, all these different things. And for an old school fan, that might feel strange who it doesn't mean to our players because they've grown up in this world and they're used to this. They're constantly looking at these numbers. And batting average, frankly, is just not one of them that they're looking at that much. So I do think that I guarantee it gets cool. I love a rise. I love guys and Stephen Klahn that go for 300 and so on. But they do feel like throwbacks more than necessarily something and currently in today's game. Yeah, players aren't into it because there's not incentivize. You don't get paid to have a high batting average. Yeah, yeah. You just don't. But I think you are starting to see the pendulum that swung far to the one side slowly starting to make its way back at least it makes attempt to back to the middle because I think what players are recognizing is in order to get paid, you got to be in this league long enough and some of this stuff doesn't suit every player. So we'll see how it goes. Well, I want to ask you a little bit and this is a little bit off of kind of what we've been at. I'm looking at the Oakland A soon to be Sacramento A's eventually the Las Vegas A's major league baseball clearly wants to expand two teams, but they can't do so until everybody is situated in terms of a home and a stadium that is up to the standards of today's day and age. How long do you think it'll be before this actually happens? Because you talk start to get the feeling that this Las Vegas thing is is might not be a done deal when it's all said done. Yeah, I think that that's what they need to get locked. I think Tampa, they were basically on the raise in the A's to kind of figure out their situation. The race seems to have done that. I think they've kind of figured out their stadium situation. It's going to be built in the same area which I think concerned some people. But I think certainly basically baseball has been wanting to expand. They've had to wait to get those situations settled. The race are done. The A's would like to have the situation settled but aren't necessarily there yet. But I do think that with the race situation now taking care of there's going to be more and more pressure for the A's to get that locked down and get that nailed down. It really is kind of crazy if you actually even kind of look at the way to schedule this setup for next year with the would be Sacramento A's. There's actually some wiggle room. There's actually some games that they're playing that may be at their home stadium or may be at a undisclosed other location. Like there's a lot of even for the Las Vegas things that they're talking about playing games in other places. They're trying to build some slack into there. I think they were basically going to get that figured out. But there are situations that they have to figure out in Las Vegas and with that ownership group first. They are closer though. They are closer than they've been before. And I do think when that happens you know Rob. Commissioner Rob Manfred has been very explicit thing he would like to you know he's getting older. He talked about and he's already talked about how this will probably have the last run last contract as commissioner. It's something that he is prioritized to get done before he leaves. That requires the A's thing to get done. But when you're explicit about wanting to get all that done before you leave these things tend to tend to happen. So once the A's thing get done it wouldn't surprise me to see that happen pretty quickly. Well well as always man we appreciate you coming on and talking to Padre baseball talking to baseball in general with a will catch up with you again down the line. Of course they should always have a good one. Thanks so much Will. Will Litch of MLB.com kind of breaking it down as he sees fit. He said he was a little scared coming on because last year he was the Padres biggest cheerleader and it just never quite happened. Yeah and I was doing a little looking at this 100 win team thing. There's been at least three teams that have won 100 games in each of the last six full seasons of baseball. Obviously 2020 nobody won 100 games. So in each of the last six years there's been at least three teams. This year there may be no teams. But here's why what Will Litch says is correct. Of the 20 teams that have won 100 games in the last six years only the Astros in 17 in the Red Sox and 18 won the World Series. So that's why teams don't want to win 100 games. Could that guarantee a championship at all. But that's the thing is nothing guarantees you a championship. I don't know that teams don't want to win 100 games. I don't know that there's a team that's played good enough consistently enough for a whole season. The thing about 100 games is it's from April to October basically that you plan pretty consistent baseball in order to get to 100 wins. It is not easy. And I just think we've been spoiled over the last six years of teams getting like multiple teams getting to 100. You're right in the new format and I don't even know if it has anything to do with the new format. You got to go so many rounds so much can happen in that timeframe for those 100 win teams. The Astros certainly figured it out in terms of you know the buy nobody else has though. So we'll see it's still an early project right. I mean this is year three of the playoffs right. Are you're four three? I think it'll be the third year. Three. Yeah so we got a lot of data to collect before we could start really making an assumption of how it's affecting the playoff structure. But yeah certainly right now no one on pace. Let's get to break four. No excuse me three o'clock hour on the way Daily Gabby. I do it while making coffee. I do it in the car. I do it when the kids are asleep. What are they all doing? Using Derma Clara's 100% medical brave silicone patches to fight fine lines and wrinkles. These clever patches are safe and natural and so incredibly effective that you can start seeing results in just 20 minutes per use. Jessica from New York did it while reading her favorite book and saw her fine lines fading in just a week. Megan from California did it while catching up on her favorite show and watched her stretch marks disappear within a month. Derma Clara patches enhance your skin's natural healing process with just one ingredient 100% medical grade silicone. 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