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It's time for another edition of the Brett Boom podcast. I've ever read you almost with the blows. You lose that me down three times too, so I know what you're talking about. It's your host, MLB All-Star, Brett Boom. A lot of line is, you will become a successful major league hitter by hitting pitchers mistakes. As he sits down with his sports entertainment friends from around the world, you are not going to be a successful major league hitter if you hit pitchers pitch. This isn't just any form of jocks podcast. It's a change outcome, you got to change the income. You got to change what goes in, and that changes to what goes out. Often duplicated, but never replicated, just like his back flip. Okay, now the party starts. The responsibility starts now. Now in its fourth year, this is the one and only, Brett Boom podcast. Welcome to the Brett Boom podcast. I'm Brett Boom, today I'm joined by a 12-year MLB veteran. He won a gold glove in 2007. He's currently lead TV analyst for the Atlanta Braves. He's known as Fretchie. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, Jeff Fran Core. Jeff, thanks for coming on the Brett Boom podcast. Well, thanks for having me, Booney. I'm just glad you're okay after your home run derby experience at a long time. Oh, no. Stop. I wanted to make sure you didn't pull anything, pull it away. It's unbelievable. And as we get, and you're not there yet, but you'll see, oh, I can still do this, I can still, but when you get to like 55, your body acts like you think, yeah, I can handle this. I can pull it off. You get out there. It's just a different animal. You lose your legs is what you lose. You got no oomph left in that. There's no explosion. Dude, I get it. You know, I had an AB for the Savannah bananas back in March when they came to Atlanta. And I put a ball in play, and I could not believe how slow I was getting from home around first bed. How about this? I played in this game. Okay. This is about a month ago. I played in this game. It was some legends game. So I show up and I think it's going to be one of those, you know, tipped your cap. Yeah. How you doing? You know, guy lay it in there for me, put it in play, run it out, go into the dugout. So I get there and post said Nick is leading off for me. On the other team, I've got Ray Langford, who's three years my senior, he's 58 years old. He's, he can still hit. He's gained a few little weight, but he can hit. So anyway, you've got some, you've got a bunch of ex players and then sprinkled in with some college all-stars. So I get in the box, my first at bat and I'm walking out there going, wait a minute. Are these guys serious? Like I can't, I don't, I'm not ready for 90. This guy's coming at me. He's trying to get me out. Reggie, first pitch, he, he, he freaking spikes a change up and I'm going, what do we do in here? They just go and slide. Yeah. Slider. I go one one. He drops it in there for a strike. Anyway, all the thoughts are in your mind. Like, all right, it's, it's eight, probably 88, 90's probably being a little generous, probably 88. But you're still thinking, wait a minute, I'm older. I got to get it going. I got to cheat a little bit when really you don't and I'm out in front of everybody. I didn't do it. I didn't do a double play. By the way, I did double off the bottom of the wall, left center and it's everything I had and I go ahead. It does are so good. You know, I remember, remember Ron Washington, when he, when he was my manager in 2010, we went to the World Series, he played an old timers game in Minnesota in August. And dude, he was taking this serious, Clint Hurdle was throwing a BP every single day. Like he was getting ready. So we get to the game, right, and all the Rangers, we come out to watch him. And dude, I could not believe he got, he got up to the plate. He freaking was trying to hit C. Everybody else, Kent Hurdle back there laughing, joking, will wash blue out running the second. He blew his hand me out. And so they had to like limp them off the field, dude. The rest of the season, when he would go make a pitch and change, man, he was limping to the mound. But like he, he still talks to this day. If I ever see him, he goes, yeah, but I was three for three mother. You know what he was. Yeah. Unbelievable. Some guys are like that too. They're ultra competitive. And even though they get older, they're thinking, Oh, no, I, I can still do this. I can still do this. But it's, man, it's, it's, and, and rhino is the guy because I kept, you know, I said, Rhino, you got to carry us because Rhino is still younger than me. I said, Rhino, you got to carry us. He's like, I have booney. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. And then Rhino didn't hit that many. I still apologize in a month later, and I make him feel like I'm a rhino. You really let me down, man. I expected a lot more out of you. It's like the problem is, is you can relax and enjoy it. Rhino's going to carry with that for a while. Like, you know, he's really worried about where that. That's what I'm saying. He's going to wear that for a while. He really is. It is funny. All right. I got a couple of different things I want to talk to you about a year ago. Braves won 104 games, best offense in the National League. But before the games even started, we lose a kunya for the MVP a year ago. You lose a Spencer Strider, who's your number one. To start pretty much at the beginning of the season, Ollie Matt Olson, who I love. I had Maddie in the minor leagues. He's got 25 homers a year ago he had 54. You can't expect somebody to hit 54 home runs, but that's just the way the Braves off season has gone. Alby's has been in and out of line. He's on the IEL currently as we speak, Riley's out of the lineup with a broken bone. Azuna's been the guy carrying that offense, having an MVP caliber a year. If it weren't for Showee O'Connie, the one thing they can really do, Jeff, and you watch it on a daily basis, is they can really pitch top staff in the National League this year, whole pens really solid. With all this adversity and since Snicker took over, and I believe he took over a second half in 2016, that Braves organization has been a juggernaut, kind of like it was in the 90s where, hey, you win every year and he's got a great, you got a great guy at the top and then you got a great staff, as you know, with Walt D. Weiss on the staff, a bunch of guys, Walt, still to this day, one of my favorite guys. Don't mess with Walt Weiss, I'll tell you that. Don't mess with him, he's an MMA guy. You played for Bobby back in the day. Your Major League debut, Bobby Cox, '05, '09, and you played, I don't know if you played for SNIT in '16 or not. I did. Okay. So you've played for both of them. You know what it's like, all that the adversity that the Braves have had, and it's pretty cool when you can call this adversity when you're still right there in the hunt to go into playoffs on your worst year. How has SNIT handled all this? Brian Snicker. Brian Snicker. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think the great thing for him is, this is in the minor leagues for what, freaking 41 years, 42 years, like, this guy gets how hard the game is from so many different angles, right? From just grinding day after day to get to the big leagues. You know, a lot of people don't know this booty about SNIT, but he was a third base coach when Freddy Gonzalez took the job in Miami. So here he is for eight years as a third base coach under Bobby. And then in 2013, he gets fired. He basically was the scapegoat for what they were. I guess you could say they got knocked out of the playoffs and they fired the third base coach like it's his fault. All right. Shouldn't have said him. Exactly. All of a sudden, though, instead of griping all this, he goes back to AAA for the Braves and he manages for three more years, doesn't say anything and finally gets his opportunity. Then in 17, he was one day away from getting fired. A lot of people don't realize that. And then all that stuff happened with John Hart, John Coppola with the international scouting stuff for the Braves. And so all of a sudden, Alex and Thoughtless comes on and he's like, you know what? I'm not going to ruffle feathers. I will keep this guy in there for one more year. Alex has told me himself, like I had planned on keeping Snip for a year and bringing my own guy in. And then in 18, the Braves make that improbable run to win the division and it kind of just started what they have now. But I think the great thing for Snip is he's a player's manager. He gets how hard the game is. You know, and I'll say this, I know you know your brother, better than anybody. But you know, I do the Tuesday night, TBS games, you know. So I'm in LA here. I got the Dodgers Cubs tonight. And I walk in there with your brother. He's the same guy, mostly day in and day out. You know, I know he's behind the scenes. I'm sure he talks to you. He's frustrated. He does this. But to the players, to the media. And that means a lot to a team. When all of a sudden you know that, hey, this guy, whether we've won five in a row or we've lost five in a row and you know playing for Bobby, man, the time you were in Atlanta, that's how he was. He was not going to show you that he's panicked. He's not going to show you that it's any different. And so I think that's one of the reasons the Braves have stuck around because these guys know, look, at the end of the day, but you know, Snit is who he is. He's not going to, he's not going to run from adversity. He understands when guys go down, it's next man up, is it, is it in convenience? Yeah. Do you wish you had Ronald Acuna, Spencer Strider? Yeah. But you've got to play with who you have. And so I think that's why all those things make Snit such a great manager and a guy that's the perfect guy for the perfect job. I think you're right. And you know, I've had Snit on the podcast before and it, I don't know him well, but just that hour I sat down with him, he's got a way about him. He's, there are certain guys you play for that have that it factors. Snit has that it, that it factor. He's had so much experience. He's had so much humble pie, like you mentioned at the top in this game. It wasn't just handed to Snit and he had this unbelievable run. You talk about grinding and putting your time in. He definitely did that. And I just got a sense that, man, this is a guy that if I, if I could rewind the tape, I'd, I'd want to play for a guy like him. So you love, you love the honesty, right? Like that's, this is what I hate about our game today. Everything's like a hidden secret, right? Like be transparent beyond your brother last year. He had me rolling, we, me and Brian Anderson walked into his office because we did a Tuesday night game with the Braves and Yankees and you know, the Braves were setting all sorts of records. The Yankees last year, they didn't know who was going to be in the lineup day to day. And I remember your brother, your brothers that's there and he puts the Braves lineup and the Yankees lineup next to each other goes, what the hell am I supposed to? What do you want me to do? You know? You're right. You're right. Like you look at these lineups and you're like, what, what do you want me to do? One team superior to the other at this time. And I think that's the great thing about Snit is you go talk to him, Boonie, and it's like, hell, we're just trying to score a run today. We can get one run, maybe we can win a ball game. And to me, that's refreshing, man. Yeah, he's, he's got that way about him. I mean, and, and, you know, I think, I think something they have on their side too is, is that culture in Atlanta, they definitely had it obviously in the 90s. I got to play at the very end of the night, just for one year in Atlanta, but I got to see that culture and it was, they don't take it for granted, but they expect it when you walk in that locker. Here's what we do. We went every year. I remember, and I've told the story before, I was a new player in 99 myself and Brian Jordan came over and, uh, via trade. And I remember Bobby having his, his, uh, you know, how they gather everybody around first day of spring training. He kind of was addressing, he was addressing the new guys. And he said, Boonie, Brian, this is especially for you. We here in Atlanta, what we do is I'm going to put the lineup up every day and we're going to go out and we're going to steam roll our opponents. That's what we do in Atlanta and everybody was kind of looking around like, yeah, that's what we do. I remember later in the year going to a, a shares meeting as you have for who's going to get, how much money for the playoffs. Tommy Glavin was kind of, you know, he was kind of run, he ran the meeting and we're giving out shares and, and, uh, you know, it's like, well, how many are we going to give the grounds crew and I'm going, wait a minute, man, we give a lot of shares out here. Now raise my hand. And he said, yeah, we're going to give the concession people a share and he looked at me with a smile and he goes, Boonie, it was right along the lines of what Bobby said, we here in Atlanta, we win every year. So we like to take care of the guys. And I just, everybody kind of laughed and I put my hand down. I said, okay, you know, I was going over from Cincinnati. I'd been to a couple of postseason, but definitely it wasn't one of those things where it was year in and year out and we're just winning. That's what this brings. I look at this run there on it, just first place, first place, first, this is the first year in a while where you kind of been on the outside looking in. And I think for Atlanta, it's a great thing that on your worst year and today's the day, this podcast will be coming out tomorrow, Wednesday, the 11th. It's now the ninth for the first time all season. The Atlanta Braves are really on the outside looking in there. One game out of that wild card with these crazy Mets and the season they've had coming back. I'm going to leave it up to you first, you want to talk about the Phillies or you want to talk about the Mets because I want your perspective on that division. Well, let's go Phillies first because I think it's they've been the most dominant team all year from top to bottom. And I mean from starting rotation to the lineup, of course, a juggernaut they have and the bullpen. Now one thing I would tell you this second half, I think we've seen the backing of the rotation, whether it's getting tired or showing, you know, showing some, some wear and tear. And a few of their bullpen pieces, I think, you know, they're a little more beatable at times. But I think, you know, as well as I do, man, I did, I did that NLDS and NLCS up there. That is a true home field advantage in Philadelphia. I mean, that place in October is it's an SEC football game. It's insane. You know, I watched that a year ago and you probably remember this. Remember when, when Arizona went there and they got beat, they were down to and I said, in that atmosphere and Philly, you're right above and beyond the rest of the, the rest of the postseason venues a year ago, Philly was like, it was a different animal. And you almost had the sense that when Arizona was in Philly, no chance on earth. What are the Vegas line? What was the Vegas line? A hundred percent, no chance of winning. And the fact that that Diamondback team won that series, that's one of the most impressive things I've seen in the, in the modern game. 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 a hundred dollar credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/resolts to claim your credit, that's linkedin.com/resolts. Terms and conditions apply, linkedin, the place to be, to be. Hey, fantasy football owners, the road to winning your fantasy football championships starts now. I'm Matt Harmon from Reception Perception. Join me and James Co as we take a deep dive into the position that's going to make or break your fantasy roster. Wide receivers. 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I remember me and Ron Darling sat in Toriela Velo's office in Game 6 in Philly and he even looked at us and said, "Man, I don't know how we're going to pull this off two games in a row." The thing they did was when they won Game 6, Game 7, there were a lot of nervous people walking into that stadium. Now, don't get me wrong, the atmosphere was incredible, the fans were going crazy, but we kept saying the longer they stay in this, I'm telling you what, man, the more nervous this stadium is going to get. When they won in Game 7, me and Ron Darling at the same time, we literally, because him being a Mets guy, we both know what Philly is all about. We stepped back about six feet in our chair and I remember Brian Anderson looking at both of us like to the right, "What are they doing?" I said, "I don't want a beer bottle coming right through my forehead right here because I thought those fans were going to burn the city down after they lost that one." It was unbelievable. It's probably going to, you're going to get to see that electric atmosphere this post season because Philly, you know, it's been, like you said, they've kind of been the class of baseball year with the exception of the second half in their bullpen. They've had some injuries here and there, but Shwarver's gotten hot. You got a Trey Turner and a Bryce Harper, Castellanos is hitting some home runs again. Their young third baseman, Baum, has kind of had a breakout here, I believe he's on the IEL right now, and then you look to that rotation, Nola Wheeler, Suarez and Sanchez, who are kind of two unsung guys. You always hear about Nola and Wheeler and Wheeler's the annual Cy Young candidate, but Suarez and Sanchez are good. I think, I think Suarez a year ago really kind of in the post season kind of made a name for himself, but he's continued to do it and that starting rotation top to bottom is as tough as anybody with, for me though, I still give this slight advantage to the Atlanta Bryce and if it worked for Chris Sale, Wheeler's probably the Cy Young winner this year, but it's always done. And I think that's the thing for Atlanta, right, to finish on that, if they can just sneak into the post season, no one wants to see that rotation. There's not a team out there that wants to face that team, especially in a three game series. You throw sail, low pebs and freed, you got swelling box, a glacier, it's like you can do some serious damage and that's a crazy thing, right? We're talking about the Phillies and you mentioned all those players. We haven't even mentioned J.T. Romuto, right? He gets lost in the shuffle because he's been injured. He's had a little bit of a down year, but I think we both know that guy in the post season will show up. You know that he'll be ready to go and put some good. I agree. And I think he makes a big difference behind the dish with that rotation and the, you know, the more I get away from the game, Jeff, the more I appreciate that catching position and how much they mean to not only a rotation, but a team, when those, when your guys, your guys that are going every fifth day, they come into a ballpark and they have a positive sense of who they're throwing to, that relationship between pitch or catcher. It's more important. I think more important than people give it credit for, for a success because who's the most important ball guy in the ballpark every night, whoever's on the mound, you're starting pitching and as long as he's happy and he loves his, his battery mate, that being real Muto, one of the best in the game, I think he adds beyond the stats. I think he adds a huge, is a huge part of that team as a whole. You know what's funny is I think in today's game, look at your Garrett Coles, your Zach Wheeler, your Chris Hill, look at your aces. But now, Boonie, show me which one of those guys doesn't call their own game. We all see how they have the little thing. Watch Zach Wheeler. He could easily just say, "Hey, I'm calling my game, I'm doing this." He trusts J.T. Real Muto so much, he doesn't press a single button. He's just sitting there listening to what J.T. tells him and he throws it. And I think that's the perfect example of a guy that has the full respect because if he was just an offensive catcher or someone that, you know, didn't care, you would have Zach Wheeler, you'd have Aaron Noel out there pressing their buttons, calling their pitches all the time. But they trust J.T. so much, they don't have to do it. And I've talked to Zach Wheeler about that, he said, "Dude, it's a breath of fresh air for me because I don't have to worry about pressing a button. I literally sit there, J.T. tells me what to throw and I trust it." It is unbelievable. And I tried to liken it, and I don't think it's a fair analogy, but to the middle infield because I played with some great short stops and I played with some years with some challenges. And the difference of having the full trust and confidence in my middle infield partner it enables me to make that unbelievable play, to take a risk, take a chance because if I come up fire and I'm not picture perfect with my feed, the great short stops I played with, they would make it look like a great feed. So I didn't have to worry. I could just play my game and now other times I'm thinking, wow, they come across the back too fast. If it's put off, it'll go in the left field. It really disrupts your game from the defensive side. I don't know if it's a fair analogy to pitch or catcher, but that's the closest thing. And the only thing in my experience I could relate it to because having that partner in the middle that you trust, it just takes a facet of the game and it throws it away. Defense becomes simple because it's like, I got my guy over there. He knows he's got me and it makes defense so easy. One less thing you got to worry about and having a great catcher I think to your point really makes it an easier transition and one less problem to worry about. I think that's a great thing in baseball, right? And I remember you coming on the air with us and talking about Barry Larkin. And I love it because it's like, you trusted him. You knew exactly where he was going to be all the time. You never had to worry about it. It was one less thing for you to concentrate on what was going on. And like you said, it gave you a chance to go out there and make the tough play. Maybe do something you usually wouldn't do with another guy and ends up being one of the greatest double plays ever turned. And so I think it's the same thing with that. Like if you're pitching and all of a sudden I don't have to think about what I'm throwing. I just throw it. Holy smokes, man. It should free you up to go out there and just be a stud. Let's turn to the Mets. Tell me what you see with this Mets. I don't know what to make of this Mets team. I saw them early. I don't think there was any, there's always high expectations in New York. But I think from the baseball world, the analysts, I don't think anybody was thinking two months ago that the Mets were going to be a factor. All of a sudden they found their way back into the playoff mix as of today. The third team in the wildcard, if the season was over today, the Mets are in. What do you see? You got Lindor's had a big comeback year. People are talking about MVP. Once again, I think in the National League, I don't think that's going to happen. He has had a great year, Alonzo. With all the back and forth with Alonzo, he's still sitting there. He's got 30 plus homers again, even on a down year. He's a guy that you can count on for that. Look at that rotation. Peterson's been a big boon to that rotation. Severino's really with all his years in New York and the injuries and in and out, you know, on that IL, he had Tommy John surgery. He's really been an anchor at the top of that rotation. Give me your thoughts, Mets, overall. Let me tell you this. When David Sterns got hired there, I remember thinking of Stevie Cohen will get out of the way and let him run this team. Let him build this team. Boonie, you know as well as I do in New York, don't care what the media says. Do not pay attention, Stevie Cohen, if they're trying to say you've got to sign this guy, you need to get this guy. So I think that's number one. They put Carlos Mendoza in there who learned, obviously, was one of your brother's right-hand man for a long time and who's I think ready for this job. He knows what New York is. He knows what's expected. And so he's been kind of even killed the whole time. But the number one thing I think they've done is they've given these guys a chance to play. And by that, I mean, Mark Vientos has finally been able to show what he can do. Last year, man, you know as well as I do in this game, if you're young, that's why I got lucky when I was young. I came up for Bobby Cox. If I went 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts, I was in the lineup the next day. I didn't have to worry looking over my shoulder wondering, shoot, am I going to play today? Am I going to be on the bench? Vientos the last two years has gone up and down, up and down. There's been no chance for him to build confidence. And all of a sudden now, you have Lindor Bat and Leadoff. You got Nemo Bat in second. You got Vientos. JD Martinez, when, you know, he's been able to be healthy and be in there, you have Alonzo. You have this flow of a lineup now. One thing I get so mad at in baseball now is the matchups and what they do. I know there's platoons in baseball. It's natural with certain positions. But when I see a lineup and I see a guy hitting third one day, and I see him hitting eighth the next day because of a variety of lefties, that's a warning sign to me. You believe this guy can hit third one day, but then you think he's the eighth hitter of the next day, like that, to me, that can't happen. And I think if you've looked what they've done now is they're putting Lindor, their face of the franchise out there to hit Leadoff. Look at what the Dodgers are doing with O'Tani now. Brian LaCouney in Atlanta, like I remember Brian McCann in '19 when he came back to the Braves. We had this talk because we were talking about, I thought I was like, "Hey, Acuna, why would you not move him to third or fourth give him a chance to drive him more runs?" And Brian was like right away, no way. That other manager and that pitcher, they know when they throw the first pitcher of the game, dude, they're in for a long ride because of who's that in first. And so I look at that and I'm like, they put Lindor Leadoff, his energy now has been incredible. And his meds team, dude, they're fun to watch or believe in. And I think for the first time in a long time, I played there in 2009, 2010. All they cared about was what the Yankees were doing, what the newspaper said. And for the first time, I think this team actually could care less what the media thinks. And I think the manager, the way David Sterns, the way Stevie Cohen's going, they're letting them just play baseball. And I'll tell you what, man, this med team is fun to watch right now. Like they give him the playoffs, they could make some noise. Their new skipper Mendoza. And he was on Aaron's staff. I didn't know him from Adam. Aaron said, "Hey Brett Mendoza, he's going to be really good. He's a really good signing for the Mets." And I was in Cincinnati early in the season and doing an event there. And I was there throughout the first pitch, and I was on the field before the game, and Mendoza came over to me. Probably because Aaron and his relationship, and I felt like I knew him my whole life. "Bootie, what's going on?" And I'm going, "Okay, this is Mendoza. I don't know if I've met him before." And I had about a 10-minute conversation with him. I was really impressed. Once again, not to overuse the phrase, but he had a way about him. And I think having a way about you, when you're the skipper, man, it's not a thing that everybody has. And I think when you got it, you run with it and you've probably got a good thing. So I agree with you on the Mendoza. I think he's been a real plus for that organization. Let's get to your Braves. You know, I mentioned the top, the things I saw, the things I highlighted. What is the key for this Braves team down the stretch? I think we got, what, 16-17 games to go. One game out, as of today, what do they need to do down the stretch to secure that playoff spot that they're so used to having? Score a damn run. I mean, score one run for God's sake. You know, we sit here as we're doing this. They lost 1-0 to the Reds last night in a make-up game. And it's like you were getting dominant starting pitching from all five guys. Sale, Lopez, Treet, Swellenbach, Morton, even Charlie at age 40 is still giving you six innings and one or two runs. But Boonie, this is what we talk about. You've got to find a different way to score, man, like this team is usually hitting long balls. And next year, with a Koonya back, with Riley back, with Albie's back, they're going to do it again, right? Like this team is going to be really good again next year. And you had Stryder back into the rotation, but with 18 games left, you got to score, however, you got to score. And I watched, I called Sunday's game against the Blue Jays and Eli White for the Braves dropped a bunch with a guy on first. The defense for the Blue Jays didn't know what to do. I mean, because no one butts anymore, right? Like no one knows how to defend it. He threw it away and next thing, you know, they had second and third and they won an extra inning. My point to that is right now, you've got to find a way. But score three, four runs, however, we got to do it. If it's a bunch to start an inning, when the guy's playing back and you get them over, you do it. But this team, look, if a Zuna or Olsen's not hitting a long ball right now, they're not going to put up cricket numbers, right? So find a way to score a few runs because with that starting staff, that's all you need. But you know this, man, it's demoralizing to some of those, to these pitchers, if they continue to go out there and they're losing one, nothing to one, it is so tough to continue to win like that. And so my big thing is like you've got to find a way to score a few runs and manufacture, but the problem is this team's never really had to do that. They've always just outslugged people. And right now it's kind of shown they don't know how to score like that and it's been a big problem. Yeah. They, you know, they almost mirror, if we go over to the American League, they mirror this, the Seattle Mariners. I mean, top to bottom staff, nobody wants to face it, but they lose two to one. You know, I watched Gilbert the other day go eight and all of a sudden I look up at the end and it's two nothing final and I'm going, you know, and you're right as a player, as a position player, I don't know how often you've got, but I've had a couple of years where it seems you don't score for that one starter. And after a while, it's snowballs and you start to feel bad. And now all of a sudden he's pitching tonight and as position players, we're like, hey, we got to score some runs for this guy tonight. Well, you just put that on top of this game that's already hard. And it seems like once again, you're looking up in the sixth inning and it's two to one and you haven't done it again. So putting that, you want to score so bad for him. It's almost like you got to, you got to try less because it, the more you try, the worse it gets. In 2012, I was in Kansas City and we got James Shields from Tampa, the big Will Myers trade that off season. And it was that booty, James Shields lost like five games to start the year, like one nothing to one and he was going seven eight inning and we were just as an offense. Do we got to score? We got to score. We put it so much pressure on ourselves and like you said, the game's already tough enough. Then you're trying to do this. So look, man, you're either going to be able to get in by scoring a few runs here or there or you're going to be on the outside looking in and you look at it like you said with Seattle. They were able to get past it for a while. But now it just catches up. If you can't score at all, eventually this league is going to catch up and that's what it's done. What Houston's up five games on him now and back in June, I kept sitting here going, man, let me tell you, you do not want to face Seattle during the playoffs. Like you talk about going through that rotation and now bearing a miracle. I mean, they're not even going to make the playoffs. So that's the same kind of thing. You might have the two best pitching staffs in baseball, the Braves and the Mariners not in the playoffs and all these other teams are going to say, thank God. Is that unbelievable too? Because as a player, as a position player, you just think you give me a staff that's number one in the league. I'll put a AAA offense out there and we will get to the postseason, especially in this new format where 12 guys get a seat at the table. You're going to find it and you're right. That's interesting right there. There is a chance that the Atlanta Braves with the number one rotation and pitching staff in the national league doesn't make it. And there's a scenario where the number one staff in the American league doesn't make it at probably the easiest time in the history of the game. It is to get to the postseason with six spots and when we talk about this, right? Like, so, okay, let me ask you, because this is, I'm big on this right now. These hitters meetings that everybody has, right? There's all talk. Let's have hitters meeting. I'm not a big guy for a full, I talked to Sean Casey about this, you know, who is last year in New York with your brother and it's like, each hitter is different, right? Like, if you're going up there, you're telling me that Justin Verlander is approaching labor Torres the same way he's going to approach Aaron Judge, not a chance in hell. So why are we having this talk about how they're pitching it? Like, I thought the other day with the Atlanta Braves, they had this big hitters meeting and Kevin Gossman was on the mound for the Blue Jays and I remember thinking, he's not throwing to Marcel Azuna the same way he's throwing to Orlando, RC. I always felt like hitters meeting should be, you know, hey, why don't, if I'm the hitting coach booty, I'm going to come up to you real quick and say, hey, look, you might be susceptible to sliders away. So with your Gossman, look early to get a fastball because when he gets ahead of you, he's going to start bouncing out or he's going to go to that split. We watch pitchers, right? You know, pitchers and catchers get a meeting, they go over each hitter, not as a whole. They go over each hitter, how we're going to attack. So I've always said it from a hitter standpoint. Why do we not have individualized hitters meetings with certain hitters to say what they're going to do? Because they're not approaching an offense as the same. And also, you know this too, booty, when you were hot, you didn't care who was pitching. Even though he might have owned you the year before, if I'm hot right now, throw me something in here, I'm going to hit it. Just like we know, just because you owned a pitcher when you're struggling, you're not as confident going into that a bad. So I just think so many of these times, there's so many meetings and I go back to what George Brett taught me so many times when I was in Kansas City, he's like, Frenchie, this is an easy game. And we make it so much harder than it needs to be. Between meetings, between numbers, it's see the ball, hit the ball. You know, when it comes to those meetings too, it's so individualized like you were saying. The best meeting, the best thing you can do for yourself as a hitter is gather all the tape you can gather. Let's go over this guy's last outing. Let's see how he pitched. And like you said, in my day, it wasn't, I don't care how you pitched to Ichiro, the first batter of the game, I want to know how you're going to pitch to me with a base open in the eighth. Yeah. That's what I want to do. So I think the players, the onus is kind of on them to go, all right, who am I, who am I on that other team? Let me see this last game he faced and let me pick out a guy that I can relate to that he'd probably pitch me similar and do the research that way. Not 84% of the time in this particular situation he throws, that's the biggest nonsense I've ever heard. It's like, okay, 84% of the time in one, two county goes to the off speed, I said, okay, what about the last time I was in a one, two count and he hung me a slider and I hit it off the facade. Does that mean he's going back to that or is it safe to say I could throw those numbers out the window? You're right. It's a very individualized thing and why with all these strides were supposedly making, why are we still having that kind of archaic, okay, let's have a big group and here's what we do. Okay. He throws this, this, it's an individual thing. Because you know, as well as I do, it's covering your ass, that's all it is. You know, if I have this meeting, it's like, I showed up Friday and the Braves were early hitting and it's like, who gives a rats, please hit it seven, ten, not at five o'clock. You know, and I'm not saying don't do early hitting and don't do this, but I agree. When these players got to go, hey, I remember with Chipper, man, he used to tell me all the time, go pick out a guy that they just played that's very similar to you, that has kind of your stuff and go look how he attacked them because that's what he's going to do to you. He's not pitching you the way, and I remember talking to Derek Lowe about this. He's like, Frenchie, I never wanted to throw sinkers down and into you because you had that golf swing where you could get it and pull it. He's like, I knew I wanted to come up in the zone to you and try to lock you up. He's like, where with Andrew Jones, I wanted to get that sinker down because he would roll over because if I lived up here with Andrew and you remember with Andrew, you're gone. You're not getting that ball back. So my thing is, let's get back to approaching it that way, not as a team. It's a lost thing. It should not happen. Individualized. All right, Braves, I looked at their schedule down the stretch. They got four with the Dodgers, three with the Mets, three with the royals who are surprisingly hot and in the playoff picture, and then the Mets, they have seven with the Phillies. That's going to be a challenge for them. Three with Atlanta and three with Milwaukee. So I'd say overall, Braves have a little bit easier of a stretch, but both of them are definitely, definitely present their challenges. I think it all happens, right? Like those last three games against the Royals, Boney, if the Royals have that fifth or sixth place locked up, you know, then maybe they're not going to do it as much, but you can't rely on that. If you're the Braves, you've got to tell yourself, this team's going to play it out to the end. The scary teams to me are like the Braves go to Florida for three games. They have, they could care less, right? Like they're letting it all hang out. It doesn't matter. Those are the scary teams sometimes. So again, it's going to come down to the Braves, can they, if they can score, if they can average three and a half to four runs a game, the next 18 games, they're in the playoffs with that staff. If they can't, you know what? They're going to spend October watching the Mets and the Diamondbacks and the Phillies and everybody else play. Okay. A few things off topic. I'm going to let you go. He continues to impress me. I never thought we'd get to a point in the game where this was happening, but it is. I've kind of gotten over my awe of a couple of years ago with Otani doing what he's doing, but 46-46 as of today. He never kind of ceases to amaze Azuna, you know, early and Azuna in his own right, having an unbelievable season. I think 37 home runs right at 100 ribbies hitting 300 plus and they were telling Azuna the whole time. Great year, but you can't win it because you're a DH. Now the sudden Otani's going 46-46 and they're talking about MVP watching this guy getting a, getting to see him live. Are you as impressed as I am and is he just as good as, as, I don't know. Do you have, do you have any thoughts other than, can you believe that he was doing what he's doing? No, and it's not a comparable, I mean, so let's just throw that out there. If people have tried to compare, this guy is big, he's fast, he's strong, and Booney, he's going to win the MVP and he hasn't even pitched. So there's an opportunity that we might see him roll off five or six straight national league MVPs, honestly, because if he's doing this just on an offensive year and going to win, what about when all the sudden he's pitching next year, he wins 15 games with a 2-6. I mean, he's going to have this thing locked up and I tell people this, just enjoy it, man, because we're watching something special. I mean, we really are. It's unbelievable. And I thought, you know, they, oh, they should give Judge the MVP. I said, if you're pitching and at worst, he's a number two, at worst, doing the things on offense that he's doing, nobody else is even in the conversation. You're the automatic MVP because you're, you're pitching and hitting at an all-star level. Like you said, there's not a comparable, nobody else can compare to that. Okay, real quick on the new rule with the, with the two disengages and we're seeing stolen bases up. I'll tell you what, what they did with that rule. I see what they did. Now they want to encourage people to steal bases again and, and they've reached that goal. People are starting to steal bases. It's becoming a part of the game. I think it's great for the game, but the two disengagement rule, I think eventually when everybody starts stealing bases, you're going to have to kind of tweak that. I don't know what the answer is, but take me back to being a first baseman. You were a Gold Glove caliber first baseman, you won one in '07. How would you handle it at first base right now? When you know the two disengagement rules, would that be different for you knowing they can't come over a third time or if they do, they've got to pick them up? Any challenges to being a first baseman now because it is so much easier to steal bases. You know, it's funny. I've talked with Freddie Freeman a lot on this because, you know, I feel like he's got a great grasp on, on what it is. And I think one of the main things there is exactly what you said. This rule did what they wanted it to do, Boonie. They got more stolen bases. They got action back in the game. But I do think they're going to have to tweak some of this. But I think you can tweak it some, but I still am waiting. I have not seen it yet. I want to see the dude that goes back for a third time and tries to pick them off. I'm still waiting for that. I'm dying for someone to try it. And whether it works or not, I think it's awesome because if a guy dies back in and he's safe, he just gets to walk to second base. Like, I'm ready to see this, but there are times that I sit there and I'm like, if this guy has any good move right here, this guy's picked off, he is so far off the bat. Wouldn't you know, as a base runner right now, get a, get a one-way lead with after the second? No, no, but get a one-way lead or, or go the other way just to get back to draw the throw to get the automatic, the bag right there. I don't know. Absolutely, but we don't see it. No one throws it over. But I don't know. All right. You're still doing a podcast, Pure Athlete? I am, man. It's been great. I want to hear about it. Tell everybody where they can listen to it. What's the premise? Thanks, Tony. It's pureathleteinc.com. You can get it on Spotify, Apple, all that stuff, but it's all about you sports, man. And you know, as well as I do in today, in the travel world with every sport, club, volleyball, all this stuff. Look, I'm all about competition. I'm all about making yourself better. But at the same time, let's be realistic and let's have some fun. Let the kids play. Let them enjoy what they're doing. Let them develop. I think that's one thing that gets lost in translation. I coach my daughter's 11-year-travel softball think, "Look, we play to win. Absolutely. I get on the girls, but I'm continuing to develop them." They're still young. You know, Davey Paula came on. He said, "The best thing ever said, until kids go through puberty, you don't know what you're working with. You don't know who you are." That's right. And it's so true. Another big thing is like, let's keep developing. So it's really just, we talk to athletes, giving them a platform and talk about their experiences being young. You know, I talk at all the time, but we continue to play multiple sports, man. We talk about the injuries and these baseball players, these injuries and these football guys that are just doing it year round and year round. There's no break for their bodies to do anything else. So it's more or less just bringing awareness to that and letting these parents realize that, "Hey, look, every kid's not going to be Bryce Harper, right? Every kid's not going to be Kaitlyn Clark, not going to be the next, you know, it doesn't matter who it is. You know, the next Tyree Kill. I mean, just let them have fun and they will tell you, that's what my dad always said. It's 16, Jeff. I knew you wanted to go all in, so we did it. But he's like, "Your brother, he didn't want to." You know, he just had fun playing golf and doing whatever. So we did it. So know your kid and have a realistic expectation. You're right. You got to have that passion. And I love what you said about the puberty thing. I say it all the time. I said, "Little Johnny's 12. We have no clue what he's going to be. How many kids did you play with them when they were 12 and they were the best?" And all of a sudden, they're 16. They can't even make a high school team. Everybody else caught up and quite the contrary to a guy that was just, it was never on your radar. All of a sudden, he's on that varsity team in high school and you're going, "Where did he come from?" A late bloomer. Like you said. The puberty thing, huge for me. I've been using that for years. Jeff Redcor, I appreciate you taking the time, man. I know you're busy. I appreciate you coming on the Brett Boom podcast. For those of you watching the Brett Boom podcast, we now have our own YouTube channel, check it out there. For those of you listening on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast, until next time, keep it here. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
