Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast

8am Hour - Week 1 Of College Football + Padres Take 2 From Tampa Bay

Ben & Woods start the 8am hour congratulating Ben on a big anniversary he has coming up at 10 News! Then the guys talk about an exciting Week 1 in college football before we get back to some Padres baseball and talk about the weekend series in Tampa Bay as the Padres took 2 of 3 from the Rays! Listen here!

Duration:: 46m
Broadcast on:: 03 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

"My dad works in B2B marketing. "He came by my school for career day "and said he was a big row as man. "Then he told everyone how much he loved "calculating his return on ad spend. "My friends still laughing at me to this day." - Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com/results. Terms and conditions apply. Linked in, the place to be, to be. - America's favorite place to watch football is stadium swim, located at Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Catch all the biggest games and a viewing experience built for sports fans. Chill in one of their six pools on three different levels for a perfect view of their massive screen. Plenty of seating options from cozy day beds to private temperature controlled cabanas. Stadium swim, book your spot today at circleosvegas.com. From the mind of a two foot tall talking spokespuppet comes this year's biggest challenge. It's time for Bob's Dare to Compare. The hottest game show on TV that asks, what happens when you compare Bob's to the competition? You get style. You get quality. You get beeps and boops and dings and whomps and thousands of dollars in savings. Everyone's winner when you dare to compare with Bob's to Scout Furniture. Shop in store at mybobs.com to play now. ♪ Bob in the morning ♪ (humming) Halfway home on a Tuesday bed in woods 97.3, the fan. Thanks for being here. Looks to be a very, very lovely day. Now it's an off day today. So, mind your PZQ's out there on Twitter. You know, there's usually a main character on an off day. Ben, just, I'd recommend. Just keep your mouth to yourself today. You don't really feel like getting dragged. I mean, unless you're into it. You know what I mean? Well, I mean, if the Mets lose today, the magic number goes down to 19. 19, we need to watch that game today. And you can tell us later what we need to be watching today. But the Padres will not be playing today a much deserved day off after just a gnarly stretch. And so, yeah, certainly not easy street the rest of the way. They got some really tough opponents, certainly. But at least they'll be well rested when they play them and not dangling by a threat. Some of the Mets and Diamondbacks, tough schedules. Yeah, they got really tough schedules. Not as tough going forward. Padres kind of in the middle, get like the next two weeks are all against teams that are within a game or two of 500. Tigers, Mariners, Giants, all those games, all those teams are about about 500. They're certainly dangerous, but you're not playing the Dodgers every single game. Well, the good news is, too, you're sharpening your weapons against some really good teams as you go into this stretch run and a potential first round playoff series. So, I'm Woodsy, that's Paul Reindel, the executive producer at Ben Higgins, your friendly neighborhood sports anchor. Who is coming up on a very, very monumental anniversary? So, yeah, at work, at Channel 10, they have these TV monitors throughout the building and they post kind of different announcements and then they'll show like, hey, birthdays this month and then anniversaries this month. And September hit yesterday and they showed September hiring anniversaries. And next week will be my official 20-year anniversary at KGTV Channel 10. It was actually in the building about 22 years ago, but like full-time official. Sports anchor 20 years ago, September. I remember my first day was actually, I was in Oakland covering a Chargers Raiders game in the parking lot on my very first day of work and they sent me up to Oakland. - Knowing 29-year-old Ben, you went there and you were like, - 28. - 28, yeah, you're not 49 yet. Your birthday is in November. - November? - Correct. - Third. - Yes. - Yes. - So, when the November screen pops up, they'll say, birthdays in November. - Right. - Ben Higgins. - But I can see a 29-year-old Ben and again, you'd done it, you'd covered things and been to events, but when you finally were made official, Ben, here's your assignment, you're going up to Oakland. - You had to have been. Look at it, you had to have been so, so giddy. - It was Monday Night Football season open. - Oh my God. - Oh my God. - In that parking, I was a little nervous too. - Of course. - Because you're in that parking lot with all the Raiders fans out there. But it actually went really, really well and it was a very exciting moment, but I can't say that I thought, okay, well, I'll be here for the next two decades plus. - Crazy dude, crazy. - When I took that job. So it's a momentous occasion. - That's a big one. - 20 years is a long one. - Yeah, gotta find folks at Scripps have anything special plans for you because I, let me tell you what I got about an hour ago. I got an email from Odyssey because I was born in the month of September. I have been given an early birthday present. - From Odyssey. - Yeah. - From the big bosses. The big, Adam's bosses, bosses, bosses. What did you get? - Bonus. Look, hey, check, Bob. - Kind of. - I got 10 Odyssey points. - Oh, yeah, 10, 10 of them. - Yeah, 10 of them. - You can redeem those for not much. - Collect a thousand of them. And you can get some Odyssey headphones that do not pair of Odyssey sets. - There's an Odyssey backpack. - Is on the Odyssey points store. - That's like 15 more points. - That's a lot of points for the Odyssey backpack. - It's way more than that. - 15 points. - That's 115 points. You get it for a hundred. - I feel like in the old days you hit 20 years, you get like a watch or you get a trip or something. I mean, a gift card would be nice, like restaurant out, something like that. - 20 years is-- - 20 dollars for 20 years. - 20 years is, that's a momentous occasion. Most people don't-- - 20 years in one spot. - Most people don't get to 20 years in the same job, right? - Absolutely right. - Especially media. - Especially media. You're Tony, you're Tony Gwen, dude. I'm sure those offers were rolling in from LA. - Never worked for another television station. - Never. - Just like Tony. - 20 years in the same spot. - Where do you range? - At Channel 10, as far as long as 10-year employees. - 20 years, a long time. - It's a long time, bro. - On air? - Yeah. - So it's between me and Michael Chen, who's our reporter, who actually his official higher date, like full time was before me. So he's been here longer, he's already had his 20th. But I was technically in the building on the air first, 'cause I was filling in for two years before I was hired. So it's kind of the competition between the two of us. Now, Kimberly Hunt was there before either of us, but left for a while. - Yeah. - Then came back after my 20-year-star-- - That resets. - So, kind of resets the clock. But those would be your three, I would say, longest standing on air employees. Now, behind the scenes, we've had people who have been there 30 years, 40 years, a long time at the station, so. - So Christmas is about to break your heart here. She says, "The old car dealership company I worked for, someone reached 20 years, they gave them $20,000 with one of those big checks at the company holiday party." - That is not happening. Definitely not happening at Channel 10. - 20 years on television in San Diego. Yeah, the Tony Gwen. Now, did you get other offers from time to time? But I think with TV, you have to go out and find them, honestly, unless you're like Ryan Seacrest or something that's very ambitious. You liked being here, you probably didn't have your feelers out for a time. - Yes. - I wasn't really out looking. - Right. - That strenuously. - Yeah. - I mean, when my contract came up, I would like-- - Yeah, you poke around. - Poke around a little bit, but no, I never actually got any other offers. (laughing) - They're like, "Damn it." - Ugh, you could have had me for even cheaper. - Could have had you for cheaper. - Didn't know that. - 20 years, Ben. - Congratulations. - Jay to the Joe. Half day of PTO, having in my way, yeah? - Yeah, yeah. - Feel free to work out with your manager a day you can leave early or something like that. - I wonder if they give you something. - I've never got a button for five years of service. - A button. - A button. - A button. - Just wear it? - A button. I've been here five years, button. - Five by five year button. 20 years. - We're dead in what? How many years have we been in, honestly? Almost over five? - Over five and a half. - Five and a half. - It was five in June. - Did we get anything for our five year anniversary? - No, no, no. - I don't even think I got those 10 Odyssey points for my birthday. I need to go back and check. I don't know where I'm at. - I need some like last week. - See, we give each other more than 10. - Because it was a Thursday or something. - Do you think they were planning something? And now that I've talked about it, I've like ruined it more than I'm going to? - Or they go, oh God, we better pick it up a little bit here. - That's the other thing. It could work in your favor. - That's true. - A pizza party presented by Roundtable for Ben at Channel 10. Yeah, man, 20 years in media in this town is a long, long time. Congratulations. - Technically, I'm giving myself a little golf trip at the end of next week. I'll be off next Thursday and Friday. - That's true. - My 20 year anniversary, so. - Do your own. - I'm out, people. - That's true. - Missing the Roundtable next week. I'll be there this week. - I celebrated five years at our old radio station. I celebrated five years by-- - You have been off. - You've been late five years? Oh, congratulations. I want everybody else 'cause they stopped paying the bills. Got a nice big, separate package. - Was that like five years on the nose? - It was like within a month. - A month of five years. - Yeah. - So five years there, five years here. - You're missing the Roundtable next Thursday. - Next Thursday, I'll be gone, yeah. - Who's hosting? - My Annie did it last time. I was gone and she did a great job. - Was I there? I wasn't there. - Did you miss that one? - I missed that one. - Everyone gave rave reviews for Amy Halbrin, so. Hope she knows she's got to step in next Thursday. - Is that, does she know that? - I don't know. - Okay. - And maybe Adam told her? Maybe not. - You should do it with. - Polly. - Fine, I'll do it, but you have to be on it. - Fine. - Nevermind. (laughing) - You did that solo cup with the dog as it is. (laughing) - Marty here for half of it. - I don't. - That's true. Forget it. No, I don't want to do it. Adam has not spoken to her yet. All right. Well, yeah. I think you will be there. - I will be there this Thursday. - Looking forward to it. - All right. - No, Adam, I'm not taking the broadcast equipment with me on my 20 year anniversary golf. - Is that what this is? That's what you're just what you're calling. - No, it's just happened to be the same. - It's happened to be the same. - And that's the day that of your 20th? - Friday next week, I think it'll be my 20th. - Excellent, excellent. Well, congratulations to your 20 years, certainly a long time. And I hope you get all the flowers. - What's the longest you were ever in the same job in your life? Is it this one? Or were you in one of your other jobs for longer than five years? - Maybe, maybe you're right here. - Really? - Yeah. Well, when you're at sales, you're always kind of hunting the next best opportunity. And they come to you though. You had a good quarter there. Would you be interested in doing this for us? And so yeah, it was a little different. Once I got into management though, at my last company, I thought I was going to be there forever. And then Radio came calling and I ditched it immediately. And it's been certainly all, it's been almost 15 years in San Diego, but... - That was gutsy of you. - Very, yeah. - And it was a place where you feel like you're in management now. - I was thinking, man. - Radio is, you had to even know going into it, not a stable form of employment going forward. - Yeah, especially the show I was on. - Right. - Somebody asked how long did that show last year and a half? - Year and a half, my first show here, year and a half. And I was... - See now, Big Boss Michaels has been in woods. We'll be here for 20 plus years. Put it in writing. - Throw it in writing. - We're very happy. - Yeah, we'll sign it. - We'll sign it today. - 20 is a long time though. That would be 14 more years. - How old would you be a 64 or so? - I can't do it, I can't do it. Coming in here going, all right. So calling this kid up, he's 18. I mean, I just, I don't know if I have it in me, but... - We'll try. Not this. - Yeah. - Paulie is our 50 year old producer. Like, forget it, dude. (laughing) I wanna go out on top. I wanna go out on top, but anyway. No, we are very proud of you, Ben. And that says a lot about your character. - Thank you. - And who you are and the fact that they would want to keep you there for that long is... And never once did they go, I wonder if we... - And they may have, you don't know. I wonder if we could do a little bit better than Ben. And they said, "No, the guy shows up." - Well, I mean, you know how boss is. Or you know how media is. They're always looking for the next big thing, but steady Eddie, man. Steady Eddie wins the race to 20 years. - I will say, I watched, watched a lot of college football this weekend. I mean, a lot. - And most of the games were on Channel 10. - Yeah. - Saw a lot of Ben. - Saw a lot of Ben. - I didn't see them. - I saw a few of those too. - They were like, every time. - You told us you had filmed them and you were like, "I never seen them when they were on a lot." - I saw it too. - I don't watch it on the live television. At least not Channel 10. Like it's usually the Padres game. And then back to the Roku or whatever. I was like watching like NBA finals might have been on Channel 10. Never saw them. - Never saw them. - Never saw them. - And then, saw like five times the magic. - I'd be dancing. - Randomly, not even paying attention. Sitting in my couch, watching college football. - Sport. - Today, I look at that. Taylor pointed it out. That's Ben. - 10 new sports anchor, Ben Higgins. Covering San Diego. And I look up and I go, "Oh, look." I'm staring at myself on television right now. - That's so good. - There I am. Out of boy. Good job. - Thank you. - Proud of you. This guy got a thousand-dollar bonus for his five-year anniversary. - Wow. - That should be 20,000. - He's a president. You do not want to set. Odyssey. - That's 20,000 for you. Benny, I hope you get something. They do right by you. We'll take care. Well, you won't be here, but we'll take care of you the day before you leave. - Thanks. - All right. Excuse me. - You're excused. - Thank you. - You belch you on air more than any radio host. - Probably in the history of radio. - When you say that, I mean, I have rarely heard radio hosts at all belch, but once does it, at least three or four times a week. - Just snuck up on me. Sorry about it. - All right. We'll come back. Paulie watched a lot of college football. I wouldn't mind talking a little bit about some of the games that we saw over the weekend. That was, was that Paulie? You do one. - I can't. - You can't burp on him. - I literally, no, I can't. - I've never, I've never heard him burp. I can't burp. - I can't. I can't burp accidentally either. - You don't burp. - I don't burp. - At all. - I mean, occasionally like a silent one will come out. - Like one of those. - Yeah. But I've never, I've never made a noise. - Really? - In a burp in my life. - Never. - Never once. I've had the stomach noise, but not a, not an actual burp. Ever. - Hmm. - Yet another weird thing about them. - I don't even know how to describe how to do it, but yeah, I can burp on for me. - God, you're so lucky doing it. - Ugh. - Gah. That's talent. (laughing) - On Ben & Woods. (laughing) Check traffic. See if Kelly can do it. On Sandy Coast number one support station. 97.3, the fan. - From the mind of a two foot tall talking spokespuppet comes this year's biggest challenge. It's time for Bob's dare to compare. The hottest game show on TV that asks, what happens when you compare Bob's to the competition? You get style. - Ooh. - You get quality. - Ooh. - You get beeps and boops and dings and whoops. And thousands of dollars in savings. Everyone's winner when you dare to compare with Bob's discount furniture. Shop in store at mybobs.com to play now. - Nerds. - Today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet smart money podcast. Get your head in the financial game with smart investing and budgeting tips straight from the nerds. Nerd wallets experts will set future you up for success. With dependable fact based insights, no financial misinformation allowed. Learn how to save on your summer vacation. Find your next credit card or loan for a big purchase and invest in your next index fund. Make smarter decisions in 2024. Follow Nerd Wallet smart money podcast on your favorite podcast ad. - In life, some days are good and some could be better. The same is true for recovery. Both take work, both take adjustments. Finding your path is a key part of your journey. And then it's all about walking in every day. Embrace the good days, the not so good days, and the challenges and acknowledge how you overcame them. Be open to every part of the journey and welcome it. It's unique and it's all part of you. Find the path to recovery that works for you. Learn more at cdc.gov/stopoverdose. - There's sports betting and then there's circa Las Vegas at adults only sports watching Nirvana. Now you can watch up to 19 games at the world's largest sports book on a 78 million pixel three-story mega screen. Plus it's always spectator season at America's largest pool amphitheater, stadium swim. Stadium swim is open 365 days a year and features all sports on an epic 143 foot screen. Book your reservation at circleosvegas.com. Circle Las Vegas, this is sports the way it should be. - My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day. - Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com/results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. (upbeat music) - Talking about our boss, Adam Klug. He's gotta be in a pretty good mood today. - I would imagine. - Georgia Bulldogs, I mean, they were probably the most impressive team. - Texas was pretty impressive. - They were. But they, the Georgia Bulldogs dismantled Clemson, 14th ranked Clemson, 34-3. They had everyone questioning like Dabo Sweeney's competency as coach. And you know, remember, Clemson was really, really good for a while. And now Georgia is just so good right now. They look very poised for a, another national title run at Georgia. And Kirby Smart, probably now officially the number one coach at college football. Now that Nick Saban's gone. - Supplanted Nick Saban, I would imagine. - Yeah. So really impressive win for the Georgia Bulldogs. Really impressive win for the Notre Dame, fighting Irish. Maybe in terms of like road wins going into, you know, ESPN college, game day, 100,000 plus people. Kyle Stadium, Kyle Field, at Texas A&M. Well, getting that win in a close game and then coming through in the fourth quarter like they did, Marcus Freeman's stock on the rise for the fighting Irish. - You forget how, you forget how awesome and absolutely awful it is to have a rooting interest in college football and just the standing up, screaming at the TV, the whole scene is just nuts. And what they were able to do going in there, it's such a tough place to play. I mean, you saw it. The 12th man is a real, it's a real thing. I can't even imagine how you prepare. Oh, we had, we played loud music at practice. - I did some crowd noise. - It's not even close, dude. It's not even close. And their defense Benny looks really, really, really good. And yeah, man, Marcus Freeman coming back. He's got some time under his belt, great recruiter, great defensive coordinator. It was an awesome win, man. And now you got to refocus. And they got some easy games, but as the Irish have proven over many, many years since I've been a fan, there are no easy games. - So you mentioned that last week, and I was just looking at their schedule and essentially, they got nothing but easy games. I mean-- - There's no such thing though, if you're not a big fan. - Yeah, they don't have that. - But if they can win at Texas A&M, Northern Illinois, Purdue, Miami of Ohio, Louisville, Stanford, Georgia Tech, I mean, they at least beat Florida State, but Florida State's horrible, Navy, Florida State, no longer, I mean, that was going to be the marquee game on their schedule. And they've looked absolutely awful. - I think USC is going to end up. - Virginia Army, so then that's their entire season. And then it comes down to @USC. Last game, November 30th, and USC had the other, I thought really impressive victory with, we talked about him a bit, Miller Moss, who was the Holiday Bowl star, offensive MVP last year when he filled in for Caleb Williams, who decided, hey, I'm the number one pick in the draft, I don't need to play in the Holiday Bowl, and Miller Moss stepped up. And now it looks like a potential Heisman trophy candidate himself for the USC Trojans, we just have to wait so long for that game between those two teams. - Well, and as you know, anything can happen. I mean, Louisville beat the Irish. Louisville, you just never win. - Oh, there's land mines for sure. - Absolute land mines, they'll go be favored. - They could, they'll be favored in probably every game now, at least until that USC game. And depending on how USC survives, a grueling big 10 schedule, much harder than Notre Dame schedule coming up, Notre Dame's poised to make that 12 team college football playoff, just based on basically that win on Saturday against Texas A&M. - Yeah, it was a good one, man. There's just no question about it. It was really spectacular and took a couple years off my life, I think. - There was also a local college team that had a very impressive win on Saturday night. Congratulations to the USD Terreros. - Hello game. - We played a scholarship program for just the third time in school history, taking out Cal Poly 27-21 in their season opener at Terreros Stadium. Very good win for Coach Brandon Moore, who of course had to deal with the whole hazing scandal last year, it was just a mess and a nightmare. So he's kind of going, this is actually my new first season and a good start, a restart for USD. Oh yeah, and then there was the other. - I watched local team, I did too. - I watched a lot of it. - I was very curious to see what the offense was going to look like. - I sat and watched the first half in my biggest day. - Bro, this could not be going any worse for a new coach that likes to run and gun and you can't get anything going. The quarterback, what's his name? - Danny O'Neil. - Danny O'Neil. - It sounds like she'd be playing for Notre Dame. - He really does, yeah. - On the first half, good to go. - The first half, I watched, I go, "Oh man, they're up against it, dude." And then, you know, the scene got really low. - The problem of running a fast-paced hurry-up offense is if you don't get a first down, you've just held the ball for 30 seconds. - 30 seconds, yeah. - And you're punting it away. - Defense has been sat down yet. - Yeah, and that's what it looked like in the first half. And when they trailed six to three against Texas A&M Commerce after the first half, - They're like, here we go. - It was like, hey, everyone deserves a little bit of patience as a new coach, but whoa, that was bad. - That's like, you walk into the locker room and go, do I need to change everything about this game plan? Do I need to dumb this down right now? - The penalties were absurd. - Absurd. - Undisciplined play, it was really, really ugly. But then the second half came out, and-- - And as usual, the Aztecs defense is really what flipped that game. - Turnovers were big, but O'Neill completed 11 of his last 12 passes, and this running back that they got, used to be with Sean Lewis at Kent State. Marques Cooper, they got something in this kid. Now, you may not realize that he is actually the NCAA's active leading rusher already from his three seasons at Kent State, kind of toiling and anonymity, but jumping to SDSU and getting 223 yards in your first game is gonna start getting people talking about you a little bit. So obviously there are much tougher games on the schedule, including this week, Oregon State, coming to Snapdragon Stadium, but I'll give him a passing grade to Sean Lewis in his first game as head coach of the Aztecs. - They missed the cover by half a point. - Yeah. - By the way, after a point. - It was over 32 and a half. - And they were down three at halftime, and they nearly covered in the second half. - I mean, holy smokes, I will be complete transparency. Yes, I took Texas A&M covers plus 32 and a half points. Yes, I watched another line, and I go, "Can San Diego State even score 33 points?" - Well, they got 45, they did. Like, all that, I was like, yeah, I've watched the Aztecs the last few years. I know it's different players. I know it's different coach. I know it's different system. But I thought 32 and a half is a monster number to cover. And boy, it got down to the end. I went, "Oh my God, they got the ball," and they're going for it, you know? And yeah, they ended up running out the clock, but holy smokes, man, that was a nice victory and a really nice second half of football, but-- - It was wild, man. - Six three and a half was unreal. - I watched much more of Notre Dame and real A&M. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - On Channel 10, I think they were. But I was flipping back and forth. You got San Diego State and A&M Commerce at Snap Dragon on True TV, I think it was. - Yeah, True TV. - And then I'd flip over and you go to Kyle Field on the big ESPN ABC channel. And I go, it looks like they're playing two different sports. - It's so unbelievable. - It looks like I'm watching a JV high school football game at a nice high school field. And then you go and there's a hundred thousand-- - 14,000 people. - Four thousand people, or whatever. And it's noted, like the athletes, they look like grown men. Like it was just, it's the disparity between the top of college football, D1, and lower towards the bottom. It's unbelievable. - It's pretty staggering. - And you just go back and forth in watching it. - Well, I mean, dude, I watched, I was even watching Florida State's offense last night. Dude, great. But I watched them and I go, I mean, it's more explosive and dynamic than the Irish is. You know what I mean? It's like, it's-- - I was watching every team's got its thing. - USC and LSU, neutral site, by the way, in Vegas. They sold out more than any Raiders game ever has. They had more people in that game for USC, LSU, week one, than the Super Bowl that was just in Las Vegas. - It's insanity, man. - By the way, congratulations to Woods and all the other Notre Dame fans for collecting a brand new meme this weekend of USC's Trojan mascot, trying to stab his sword into the artificial turret. - I almost-- - Well, we just stand here. - I almost died, it's concrete, okay? - Well, there must have been a plan, though. - So he gets the thing, and he goes into the concrete and it, like, rocks it. He's like, "I don't know." - By the way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way. - He knew it wasn't the turf. - But there was like a, it was like the, whatever they had placored down for the logo, and I thought, they must have a plan when they're on an artificial turf stadium. - No, I'm stabbing the turf, but it didn't look like it worked, whatever it was. - I saw that, and I thought, they're gonna lose that 60 at this point. If that happens, holy smokes, dude. - By the way, by the way, by the way, he was shaking, and it knocked it back, and then he got trying to pull it out. - Oh my God, this is, also, by the way, when you think USC Trojan, nothing against this guy. This guy's built like I am. He's real skinny, he arms. He was not like some hulking Trojan. So, I don't know how he won those tryouts, or however they did it. Maybe they only got to show up. Like, "All right, you got it." - It's yours in 5th costume, 5th costume, with yours. - I was yours. - You're Tommy Trojan, there you go. - I was dead. It was so good. - Tommy, we tweeted again, it was that good. - All right, let's take your time out. When we come back, I want to talk more about the Padres. We didn't really get through all the games in Tampa Bay over the weekend that we missed. Manny's milestone coming up as well, getting close to it. We'll get to that, and we still haven't given away those Padres tickets. I saw someone, I think, Keacon in the chat, was asking about the Padres tickets. No, we still have those to give away for a tomorrow's game against the Tigers and the City getting 20. Give away, and you Darvish's returns. Stay tuned for all of that coming up with Ben & Woods on San Diego's number one sports station, 97.3 the fan. What can happen on a three-day holiday weekend? If you'll remember, when we last joined you on Friday morning, how do managers report with Mike Schilt? It was a good conversation, by the way, one of my favorites of the year with Mike Schilt. It was really good, but they had just lost two in a row, and just wondering whether this stretch of games was starting to take its toll on the Padres, heading into Tampa into that dome, and how are they going to respond? Well, they responded with a great two out of three series win, starting woods with a Friday nights game, and I want to talk about that 13 to five win and Manny's pursuit of Padres history. Get to that right after a check of traffic here on 97.3 the fan. So remember, last Wednesday and Thursday, the Padres offense scuffled in St. Louis. They went one for 15 with runners in scoring position, and I said Friday morning, this team looks tired. They look beat, and it was understandable, given the oppressive heat and humidity and the lack of off days. So watching Friday's game with kind of a keen eyes to how they were going to respond. Oh yeah. Oh, why did they respond? Ten runs in the first four innings and a good seven for 13 with runners in scoring position on their way to a 13, five win over the race. Like, okay, this is nice. Watching the games in St. Louis was exhausting to cover. Watching them on television, I was exhausted. When Friday, 10 a.m. hit here, I literally text my wife, I go, I made it. That was the day I got up at one o'clock in the morning, I'd slept for 45 minutes, I go, I made it, I made it. When that game started, Benny, I looked up to the heavens and I said, I need a laugher. I need an absolute laugher tonight. One way or the other, I just need a laugher. I cannot be on the edge of my seat all night long after the long ass week we just had. And boy, did they deliver. Martin Perez did exactly what he needed to do. Four runs, five innings. You know, he's a fifth starter guys. Shaking that second inning with four runs was not great, but then the other four innings he dodged around the trouble and got through 101 pitches, but yeah. What they needed, five innings. They got five innings out of them. He's your fifth starter, great job. I mean, the offense picked him up. The offense knew they needed to pick him up and they did Sean Reynolds who just continues to impress me, man. All five of his outs via the strikeout, just incredible. And he got sent down and you know, hopefully he can come up. What's the, is it, does he have to wait? How long does he have to wait? Depends on if there's an injury, they can bring him right back. If not, I think he has to wait 10 days or 15 days. Yeah, 10 or 15 days. It's a bummer, man. He's been really, really good. But there's not really a lot of room anymore. I know. We need to harvest being activated. There's even less room to his back as well. Wandie came back when they expanded the rosters on September 1st. So yeah, there's a little less room on that roster. But you mentioned the offense. He has this contract. Oh, yeah. Diaz is there. And I would think he'll, he'll get a chance behind the plate at some point here fairly soon. Yeah, surprise. He hasn't gotten back there yet already. But yeah, so on Friday, he had the home runs from David Peralta, Xander Bogart, Jerkson Profar, who, yeah, he's been in a bit of a slump, but he's still kind of based five times in that game with four walks and a single and scored two runs. But it was Manny, who really did the thing on Friday, three for five, three run homers, 23rd of the season, four runs driven in. And that was his 161st home run with the Padres, tying Adrian Gonzalez for second in franchise history and talked about it a little bit last week, that the all-time franchise record, Nate Colbert's 163, a record that is steward every single day of my lifetime. It's crazy. Last home run in 1874 with the Padres. 48 years, man. And they have been 50 years. They've never had a guy who has had the longevity and power to break that record, which is the lowest total in all of Major League Baseball. But Manny seems like, oh, I was hoping it'll happen here on this homestand. We'll see, you know, you never know when home runs are going to come, but he's just two away from tying Nate Colbert now and three away from setting a new franchise record for home runs. And one that hopefully he'll be building on for years and years to come. What's he at, 23? He's a 23 this season back in the baseball card stuff. I mean, it's just crazy. It's just crazy. He's getting there creeping needs to go on to have another, you know, continue to have another another another great month. And I would love to see him get to 30. Now Saturday's game was also a laugh for unfortunately in the other direction. Randy Vasquez was hit hard four and a third innings and they let him wear it. They did it rare for Mike Schilt, but clearly had to do it. He was not going to go to the high leverage arms in the bullpen. He was not going to rescue Randy Vasquez after 60 pitches. That game was punted and it's very rare to see the Padres do that. But 11 hits, nine earned runs, and they just had to get as much out of him as possible. The real hero on Saturday. I'll check it was Alex. Straight up who was started the day in El Paso at 6 a.m. Had to fly through Denver to get to St. Petersburg, Florida. Get it. Get it west, west, north, back east arrived as the game was starting heading down to the bullpen going, do the, you need me? Do you not need me? Ends up pitching a career high three and two thirds innings just to make sure no one else from that bullpen had to throw a pitch only gave up two hits and two runs. They came in his last inning and while it was an 11 to four loss and a very one of the more forgettable games of the season for the San Diego Padres, it should not be ignored what Al Jacob did in that game to rescue the San Diego Padres bullpen and not turn a loss into something that was also going to hurt them the next couple of days and it didn't and see what happens the next couple of days, Padres used their high leverage arms in close games to get two wins and part of those two wins on Sunday and Monday where Alec Jacob and Randy Vasquez even eating it and wearing it on Saturday. That's what we're talking about when you manage for 162 game seasons. Sometimes it requires an ugly loss every once in a while to set yourself up or hopefully a close wins the next couple of days. That's it. That's textbook. Right there. That's the definition of it, man. And you give up 11 runs to the race and you used two pitchers. That's it. That's how you do it. And Mike Schilt knew it. Alec Jacob knew it. Everybody knew the assignment. Andy Vasquez was getting barreled, barreled all over the yard, walking guys. It was a terrible, terrible outing and very disappointing for Randy Vasquez. But again, to go out and go four and a third for him, let Alec Jacob come in, finish it off. Was that it? Only two. Yeah. That's it. You got up for half a second, but Jacob got through it and it was done. Yeah. You can't be crazy. That day was for Jacob, like, it's also not the worst. The situation, especially where your feet wet again in the major leagues, like there's no pressure. No. Just go out there and throw. Just go out there and throw. The game's essentially over. Yeah. Like, you know, I'm sure Ben Fritz or whoever, Niebla or Schilt told him when they called him and, hey, man, just got to get through the end of this game. Just get us there. We're trying to just get to the end here. Yeah. And they had to go out. They had to have an upper limit on the number of pitches he could throw. He had never thrown that many in his life. So at some point, they were like, oh, we might have to pull him out, but he didn't. He got through it. And that was actually big for the Padres. Jake did hit that first inning home run, thought, oh, here we go again. Yeah. And then Shane Boz kind of settled in and that was it for that game. But that really did lead to Sunday's win, four to three in a very tense one on Sunday. The one with the series in the balance, close game, Jackson Merrill had that great catch in the third inning, which was fantastic behind Dillon Cease and then hit the two run home run in the top of the fourth inning, you know, off a pitcher that had been looking pretty solid. You know, that was a big moment for Jackson Merrill to deliver again for the Padres, his 21st of the season. It, that game to Dillon Cease, you know, I sent some frustration certainly from him and I sent some from the fan base. And I mean, he really that comes out and throws what, 10 balls in a row at one point was his first five innings. He was fantastic. One hit, one walk was terrific and then came back out in the sixth and through 10 straight balls, two walks or a strike and then gave up a single and the bases were loaded. And that, that was it. Mike Schiller came and got him at that point. It had to be one of the most frustrating moments of the season. I would think for Dillon Cease to know you have a three nothing lead. You are cruising, cruising, lost the plot for a second, just couldn't find the strike zone. Got squeezed, double. Yep. Just, I mean, it, that had to be one of the most frustrating walks back to the dugout there for Dillon Cease. Jason Adam came in and he was in charge with any runs, but he allowed all three inherited runners to score. Now, kept it from being any worse, got that double play, but hit by pitch, grounded in a double play, wild pitch and all of a sudden a game that the Padres had well in hand. It's all in hand. Yeah. It is now three, three and you're going, Oh, no, then he texted us because I'm nervous. I don't get. I take you before that. Yeah, before that, because I'm a little bit nervous because that should have been a bigger lead. It felt like, eh, they're letting him in this one. And there they were. It's three, three, but jerks and pro far got the, the big sack fly and the Padres were able to, to get that win. And so I was saying to Bogart said to go ahead, Zach, find the ninth inning. Eric in the chats is it's frustrating that we punted on a game. We had to have when Arizona's playing LA, I don't know if he means punted by using Randy Vasquez, which he's in the rotation right now, you know, as we wait for guys to come back. So, or should we have where should we have tried harder to win that game? My answer, Eric has got to be no, just because the Diamondbacks are playing the Dodgers doesn't make that game any more important than any of the other 161 other games of the season. Maybe in your mind, you feel like, well, that, you know, one team is going to win and one team's going to lose, but it doesn't really change the equation. You're trying to win the most out of 162 as possible. Yes. And you're managing, if you're Mike Schill, thing to try to win as many of the 162. But to do that, sometimes it requires not winning one, one or two games. Now I don't, they didn't decide going into this game. We're not going to win this game. No, I tried to win it. You know, they were hoping Randy Vasquez could give him some, some length and keep him in the game and maybe off the ball and, and, and it would have been a different story. I would have seen Jason Adam or, you know, whoever, but once it wasn't, the right decision was made to let them wear it and just eat that loss. Yeah. I think that was absolutely the right call and it was proven the next day when they needed their back end of the bullpen, they needed a strata, Tanner Scott, Robert Suarez in the seventh eighth and ninth to keep that game scoreless when it looked like the Rays had the momentum. Looked like they were about to come back and steal one. They were able to shut the door, take the lead in the ninth inning and then win it, you know, a little bit nervous because they were over nine with runners in scoring position. Padres did in that game, 12 left on base, did not come through at re even once other than a couple of sacrifice flies. And they still won that game and it was based on the, with the pitching that they had that they wouldn't have had if they had chased fruitlessly Saturday's game. Yeah. And, you know, as we've made the point and Tim follows up in the chat, he burns a bullpen that game. We might not win the next, the next two, you know, you won two very close games the next two days. So I'll take those and, and we roll, man, you took the series in Tampa. That's what you want to do. And congratulations to Dylan Cease on Sunday, 200 strikeouts. Yes. And you guys see what happened there of course I saw that. So he strikes out to end, well, like the third inning, Luis Camposano throws it down to third, you know, the old final out throw it down to third. And then Manny, he points it, Luis, but Luis isn't looking and Dylan does like, and then he's waving like, I want that ball. I want that ball. I want that ball. Throws it to Manny. And then no, no, no, no. And then Manny throws it into the stands at Tropicana. Cease is like, hey, hey, hey, hey. And then Manny throws it to the crowd. And then like the heavy Ben, Si when it he was so man, and then they got Manny, he went back out onto the field and got the ball back from the fan. He's the only guy with 200 Ks right now. Oh, no. Derek school school in the end as well. I mean, I know. Yeah. Only guy in the end. Oh, 200. Yeah, that's on campy. That's not a man. I don't think. Can't be really looking. I mean, both of them. Campy needs to know. Was he like prepared with, hey, if I get two strikeouts this inning, it'll be 200 and you need to save that ball. Dylan also, I don't think I tell Bo use your words. He just gave one little, hey, be demonstrative. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. Oh, yeah. Manny, Manny, Manny. That's uncool. It is very uncool. Yelling out loud. Oh, and the ball. All right. Question. Is it uncool to know you have 199 strikeouts? I was thinking about this during the game. And while individual achievements certainly are trumped by what the team does. I loved why it was important to Dylan Cease. And that is he is one of the very few pitchers in the game who the last four seasons has thrown enough innings and starts to get to 200. And he knows that's what's important in baseball. And the fact that I can get to 200 means I am out there every fifth day helping my team. That's a heck of an accomplishment and one that he deservedly should be proud of. So Manny, what a man you have to exchange and he's just another ball. Yes, another ball. No, I'm not the fan. I'm going, wait. I got Dylan Cease's team. Hold on, hold on, hold on. You just want to get me a bat. You just want to get me a batting practice ball. I need a bat. I need a man. Manny's like, great. I got to give this guy one of my sticks because you're 200 strikeout. You throw it in stands though, Manny. Yeah, he can't be through it to me. But he's the captain. He got it back. He did what it took to get it back. And he got it back for Dylan Cease. Dylan's face. It was like, you think that he just kicked his cat or something. He was like, oh God. But yeah, just kind of an uneven, you know, it was really even until it wasn't there in the six in the chat. Horrible negotiation from the race fan. I get it. But when Manny Machado is looking at you and asking me the ball, give me the ball back, what are you going to do? Like no. No, I'm not giving it to you, Manny. That's a tough spot to be in the fan. It is. He wants it back. He just gave it to me. Good for good for Dylan for getting that. And he got, they did get him off the hook didn't, you know, he was, he was, well, he's never on the line. He just lost the win, which is unfortunate. He left the game. It was up three. Nothing when he left, but put at Jason Adam in a tough spot there, very, with the bases loaded. And nobody out. You figure at least a couple of those guys are coming home. Unfortunately, they all, all three came home in that situation, but again, Padres win that day. They win yesterday. They win three of four from Friday to Monday to match in the Dodgers and gaining two games on the Diamondbacks to now take the lead in the National League wild card race. All right, we'll come back final hour of the Tuesday program. Paulie's got the round of the report with some NFL news, some Joey Chestnut news and more and the Padres ticket giveaway. I'll come up next on 97.3 the fan. From the mind of a two foot tall talking Spunk's puppet comes this year's biggest challenge. 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