Gwynn & Chris On Demand
9.16.24 Gwynn & Chris 2 pm: Padres sweep Giants
The seasons may be changing, but the deals at the Sharpest Rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on, it's your girl Tasha McKia, and I need you to join the Sharpest Rides for their fall into savings event, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right, everything is on sale now. Shot from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The Sharpest Rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures. Plus, with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at the SharpestRides.com, right from the palm of your hands. Or, check other massive inventory in person at the Sharpest Rides, located 2250 South Sea Home Street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out, head on over to the SharpestRides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDul, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's fandul.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with FanDul, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real moneyweights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bet set expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanDul.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800-522-4700. Yes we are, and welcome into another week here on Gwen and Chris. Monday edition of the program, 201 is the time. Chris Sello, Matt Scravey alongside here at the Odyssey Palace Studios, and of course Tony Gwen Jr. is down at Petco Park where the Padres get ready to start their final home stand of the regular season. Can we already be here? The Houston Astros are in town tonight to start a key three-game series. Get to the Padres momentarily. But before that, I think Tony would agree that we should take a moment and thank friend of the show and congratulate friend of the show. And Matt Scravey's best friend, Kevin O'Connell for a phenomenal coaching performance yesterday. Wonderful job, wonderful job. I got no reaction from you over there. We started the show with that. I think it was a good place to start, wasn't it? Clap it up for your very best friend. You're not going to show any appreciation for your best buddy in the National Football League? Tony, tell Dave that your microphone's a little wonky. Are you hearing that too, Chris? He sounded a little screech. He sounded a little sketchy. Hey, they said my mic is a little wonky. It is, yes. One of the channels is not working. What did he do? He was, you know what's funny is he was just testing my mic. Oh, there we go. He does just like dolphin sound that. He's like, how does that every time he tests it? So I thought it was good because he did that sound. He said it down. Said it was good. I think it's better. Yeah, it's better now. It's all fine now. Yes. Okay, so about my best friend. Yeah, he did do a great job of... Dave said he accidentally pressed the wrong button. Ah, no worries. No worries. Sound checks. All right, no, I'm joking, obviously. I wanted to see if Scrabby would respond. The way any good producers should, which is, you know, caring about the show more than himself. And if you cared more about the show than yourself, you would have played the applause... Oh, no, no, no, no. You should talk about how you and Kevin O'Connell are such good friends. Please return my phone calls anymore. He wasn't returning your phone calls. He wasn't returning your phone calls ever. He got on this show because he was returning my phone calls. Yeah, that was a little luck. And then the Vikings PR staff came in between us. They stepped in. They stepped in. I keep getting this answer from the Vikings PR staff. Why don't you check it a little bit further down the road and we'll see if we can make something happen. I'm like, "This is the third time you've told me this." Yeah, like we're further down the road. I don't know if we can get it any further at this point. Yeah. All right, I was watching football all weekend. That's what it sounds like. I was. So Tony, how was the weekend in San Francisco? Did the Padres do anything? I too watched football weekend, but I also watched some baseball, and then the Padres went in there and just took care of business. Yes, like we expected them to. Yeah, they did a hell of a job. I want to thank the Giants for at least coming out and scoring a few runs on Sunday, but they couldn't get any Friday. They couldn't get any Saturday. And whatever concerns people have about the Padres starting rotation was at least temporarily put to sleep. After Dylan, Cease dominated, and then Joe Musgrove dominated even more than that. And then Martin Perez did pretty much more of the same yesterday. Padres sweep the Giants. It was an unbelievable weekend for the Padres. All things considered. They gained two games on the Dodgers. They gained two games on the Diamondbacks. They gained two games on the Mets, and they gained one game on the Braves. So this has to be like one of the best, like a three game span where the Padres have actually gained the most ground all season. Oh man, it was all went their way. And you know, as a result here with two weeks to go, the job is certainly not done. Nobody's going to even suggest that. But the Padres are sitting pretty now. They are one and a half ahead of the Diamondbacks, first of all, for that home field. And they are a much, much more cozy. Three and a half ahead of both the Mets and Braves for the final wild card spot. The Padres would have to get passed by both of those teams in the final two weeks of the season. And I would say that's unlikely. And then on the other side of it, you know, if you can keep playing well, look, the Dodgers are only three and a half clear for the division. Although I do caution. Padre fans that are getting delusions of grandeur, Dodgers still have seven games left against the Rockies. And they have the easiest schedules of the remaining teams involved. They do, but the Padres do get them for three. So, you know, if you hang in there, you might still be able to put some pressure on the Dodgers, but you're going to need help from our friends in Colorado to make that happen. But Tony, I don't quite where to start. I think there's a lot of places to start for the weekend. Obviously, the starting pitching was, you know, unbelievable. Come on. It was, you know, they didn't give up a run until the sixth inning yesterday. But I want to go to a couple of other ones. First of all, you know, Luis Arise, two more hits yesterday. I thought he had the biggest hit of the game, frankly. In the 10th inning, it was a double. It's set up. The Padres getting that second run in the 10th inning, which is what they needed to, you know, stay clear of the Giants. He had a huge hit on Friday night, a two-out knock that made it three-nothing and set the victory into motion. And, you know, I'm not going to say, I'm not going to even speak the word analytics, except to say that I just said it. But this guy is, he's just my favorite of all time. The other guys I want to just mention real quick, a couple of things that I think hopefully we can put to bed. Number one, this ridiculous notion that the Padres are somehow better when Fernando Taty's junior is not on the team. And another notion I would like to put to bed is, again, analytically based, I must say, it's the one that says, Jake Cronworth really doesn't cover a whole lot of ground playing second base. Because if you watched the game yesterday, the guy looked like a gold glover over there. And I thought the place he made helped save that game in a lot of different ways. So Tony, I'll let you take it from there. I'm not even going to entertain the Fernando one because it's so stupid. It's so stupid, yeah. Can I get in there for a second? No, you can't. You can't get in there, absolutely not. Sorry. Especially if you're about to entertain. No, I'm not going to give any credence to it. I'm just saying that the record may have showed that there was something to it. But I never believed it. It's all I was going to say. I should have let you in. This is why I should have just stepped with my first thought and not let you, not even let you say that. Because it's so stupid that I can't even like wrap my mind around it. In terms of Jake, we know what the Padres have. They got a bunch of gamers. Yeah. Like they just got a bunch of dudes that are gamers, that love baseball. And sometimes it ain't going to look the way we want it to look. But most of the time, it gets the job done. And Jake is a good example of that. I thought this weekend was a great example of just a methodical baseball team that just did. They did everything right. They made one mistake yesterday or maybe it was the day before yesterday. The day Solano started it says, oh, Saturday, I believe it was. The one that went off his glove for a couple. Went off his glove. They pretty much played flawless baseball all weekend long. And when they do that, they are extremely tough to beat. No matter who they're playing. It's the games that they played prior to this road trip. They pretty much played 500 ball since coming out of that heater that they were on. And in each of the losses, there was something that went wrong. And they would end up losing by one run in most of those games. All the rest of them that they won, they played perfect baseball. And they did that this weekend and the one game they didn't, they still were able to overcome it because of the great starting pitching they got. And yeah, man, there is a whole lot to like about this team. And I know it to be true because even way more, I don't know if I ever heard it in 22. But and I told you guys this and I heard it again this weekend. We go to different places since the second half began. All of these places we go to got a team or the people up top or the folks that we deal with in the media are like, right? You guys got a really legitimate chance to win a world series. Like that's how good this team has played for the entire second half. And it's just, you know, I think the San Diego's that have been here as long as I have just just enjoy to ride right now because this is as good of a team right now that I can remember maybe since 98, you know, going into a playoff. And now they haven't clinched it yet. There's still some work to be done obviously, but this is setting up to be one of the, I think one of the better teams that Padres have had. Well, Tony, you can at least tell us from your birch above the 20 game over 500 mark because the last time the Padres were there was your team in 2010. So it's got to feel pretty good to be 20 games over 500, which is what the Padres are right now. And, you know, again, you talk about the starting pitching. Combined this weekend, Cease Musgrove, even Martin Perez, 17 innings, nine hits, three walks, 20 strikeouts and one lone run on that. I don't know how that ball went out of the ballpark, by the way, Donovan Walton. There must have been a breeze that came up there. Oh, it was just a breeze. It was howling. Yeah, how to. That's just like it was yesterday. Yeah, that's the only way. But look, the starting pitching, I will say this, if any team gets starting pitching like that, they're going to be impossible to beat. But the Padres have the chance to get starting pitching like that. Again, look, you didn't even see Michael King and you didn't even see Darvish in this series. That obviously sets the tone Fernando yesterday coming off the bench. And I want to say another thing that is getting a little annoying to hear over the last few years. Tony, you bet you've heard it. Why Mr. Nando always swing at the first pitch. Well, that's why. OK, I mean, he just lit up that pitch from Tyler Rogers. I get him confused and just launched it out of there. You know, it was huge, obviously. And I just, this team is good. They're good. I've been saying it all along when it got got down to crunch time Thursday. I said I wasn't worried because I think the Padres have the best club. And I don't think anything different. Obviously after what I saw this weekend. I did a deep dive on the Scrappy show in the off season about, or maybe in the beginning of the season about Fernando swinging first pitch. And it completely changed my thought in that because Fernando swinging first pitch is much better than him not swinging at the first pitch. And I'm trying to get those numbers real quick. But, well, go ahead to his career for his career. He's two 88 swinging at the first pitch and he's two 74 and not. And he's had 200. Let me see. Whereas it played a per year 800. He's like had almost 125 less at bats and he's hit 49 home runs versus 75. Sometimes and I, you know, I know we need to do this because this is, you know, makes our show our show. But sometimes we just got to leave the professionals to do the professional stuff. You know what I'm saying? If Tommy wants to swing first pitch, let's let him swing first pitch because chances are none of us can do what he does. So let's just, you know, I think we got to kind of back back sometime and just let the professionals do the professional thing. I agree with you. I do. I do. He clearly, he clear, it's not just Toddy, by the way. First pitch in baseball at this point is a much higher average than a lot of the other counts outside of 203-110. It's the next best count to take a hack at. And, you know, in his case, it might be the only pitch that is a good one for him to attack. In most situations, if he gets one later, likely it's a mistake. He's not supposed to get another good pitch to handle. So he takes his, he takes his whacks at the first pitch. It doesn't work out all the time, but 28% of the time, 29% of the time it does. It's pretty good. Yeah, it was a beautiful thing yesterday. It was just a jolt and that's the kind of thing. Again, this pottery team is capable of giving you, you know, doesn't it feel, doesn't it feel like, I said this to Jesse, we said it on the air. The big dogs, it's like they know what time it is. They know it's time to, it's time to, you know, strap it up, put the backpack on and let's go. Because we've seen Manny come out, we've seen Toddy step it up, we've seen Bogie step it up, Jackson is in that group as well. So like, I mean, again, let's let the professionals be the professionals. Yeah, and the same thing goes for a rise. If you want to say, I left him out, sorry, just a lot of the strike zone. Let him hit it. Just let him do what he's doing. He does it better than anybody in baseball and I love this guy for it. So Padre's role over the Giants. They are 20 games over 500. They're 85 and 65. They're a remarkably good 45 and 30 on the road. We are 150 games in, there are 12 to go. There's a Kevin O'Connell clap. Yeah, there we go Kevin, you finally got your love. Kevin O'Connell out there and we finally got you the love you deserve. Do I sense that Tony is extra spicy towards me today? These are the ones that I'm going to just say this. He knows that he's probably not going to get a lot of Mondays to make fun of your 49ers. So he's going to probably take full advantage of it. I don't think it's about that. I feel like there's something else going on. No, no, that's definitely not what got me onto this path. But the 49ers only just widened the path a little bit before we saw it. Let me just say, I am not someone who's going to be like Fernando, you stink because you swing at the first pitch because again, I can't do it myself. I think more so like it's frustrating when someone swings into the first pitch and it's a quick out when you need runs and when you need base runners. Let me ask you a question. Is it less frustrating to get three two and do the same thing? Um, no, I guess not. Okay. I just, it's all about me wanting the Padres to get base runners. Guy swings into the first pitch, quick out. I feel like the momentum of the innings already dead. And I know this has nothing to do with actual baseball stuff. Let me just say that. This is how I feel when I'm watching the game at home. Chris, come on. You got to feel a little bit of something like that. I hate making it out. On the first pitch or the fifth pitch. Right. I know it's bad. Thank you. I really do. And I just thought yesterday was just a, it was a moment. You know, you have moments. There's been a great moment. There's been a ton of moments this year for the Padres. Pro-Fars had a million of them. Meryl's had a million of them right on down the line. This is a one one game where nobody's getting a hit. I think it was three hits apiece at that point. And the game's destined for extra innings. And they bring in this side winding guy who's throwing off the ground. And Fernando walks up and just swats one 400 feet. And it's amazing. I loved it. And I love that he did it. So I'm not saying... He spoke first pitch. That wasn't my argument. He, I'm not going to ever do that again because the numbers proved me wrong. So yes, yeah. Well, the number, but stupid numbers. You guys are making me hate them. Because you, because you brought up the fact, well, the numbers still showed that they're better when he's not in there. Can we go back to that for a second? Just stop saying that. It's ridiculous. Because in the grand scheme... It's ridiculous. In the grand scheme of things, all that matters is wins and losses. And while Fernando sometimes... I don't believe this stat. Just let him just let you know. Then stop bringing it up and doing regurgitating it then. Because, okay. All right, fine. You're right. I'm done. Good. Good, he says. What did I do? What did I do? And this is the first day... Tony and I are together for the next two weeks. This is going to be, going to be interesting. Yeah. Uh, Chandler Rome from the athletic covers the Astros. They're in town. They're always a fun team to talk about and go see. But these are big games. And we're going to talk with him in this hour. Plenty of football on the show. Of course, we will recap everything that happened over the weekend from college to the NFL. Good, bad, ugly week two NFL is in the three o'clock hour. Daily gambit, Christopher, the fans, the big five. When we come back, we haven't mentioned it yet. So I'll be the one to do it. Is there one fly in the ointment right now for the Padres? There are some who think so. I think Tony and I will just spell it. Don't look at the camera, Chris. Don't look at the camera. Dispel it when we come back on winning Chris. The seasons may be changing, but the deals at the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl, Tasha McKia. And I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings events, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right. Everything is on sale now. Shop from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The sharpest rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures. Plus with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at the sharpestrides.com right from the palm of your hands. Or check other massive inventory in person at the sharpest rides, located 2250 South Sea Home Street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out. Head on over to the sharpestrides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. And tell them that your girl, Tasha McKia sent you the sharpest ride, affordable, sexy, sharp. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. 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Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the restore hybrid collection that combines gel flex grid with coils and the rejuvenate lux collection, the height of luxury. With over 112,000 to five star reviews to prove it. Visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast10 to get 10% off. [MUSIC PLAYING] 224 on the clock. It's only when Junior Cressello, Matthew Scravey. It's been a little spicy to begin the show, and I like spice. I'm not beating up on my head. It's not too hot. Chris mentioned fly in the ointment. Chris, what were you referring to there, buddy? Well, a couple of swings of the bat that I think have, you know, concerned Padre fans. One was the Grand Slam off Robert Suarez. And then yesterday, the home run by Ramos to tie the game in the ninth inning. So what this means in the minds of, you know, fans, Robert Suarez has blown two of the last three save opportunities. He's given up five runs in his last three innings pitched. He's walked a couple. Anyway, I'm saying that's the fly in the ointment. Well, I'm saying it's not a biggie. I like what Mike Schiltz said, which was it's baseball. The guy at the Grand Slam, that was a one off. The home run went off. The home run yesterday, he threw it 100 miles an hour. That's the only way you can get a splash hit from a right-handed batter. Was that really the first time that's ever happened? The first time ever happened. That's crazy. So that should tell you also, at Tony, just said, that's a one off too. Nobody hits a home run up to right field. Unless, you know, the guy hit 100 miles per hour fastball. I, as long as here's my thing, the only, the Detroit game wasn't concerning, but he did walk too. He struggled with his command in that game. Bingo. That was, you know, that, that, the only thing would ever worry me about Suarez. As long as he's throwing strikes, getting ahead in the count, you know, it's baseball. We talked about this a million times. He was untouchable for five months of the season. Maybe Eric Gagne, the year he went 88 saves in a row or something, but it happens to every reliever. They're going to give up a home run. So I'm not concerned about Suarez at all. And guess what? Even if I were, I've got two guys that I feel pretty good about standing right next to him. So I don't think this is keeping anybody up at night, except for some fans that are just looking for at least something to worry about. I know one guy is keeping up at night. Matthew. I knew it was about my tweet yesterday. I knew it was about this tweet. And it took, I mean, it took everything in my power. There you go. Not to reply to the tweet. I almost sent it to our group chat. Like, oh, this what we're doing now. Oh, but I stopped myself. Which one, do you want to say it? You know what? I'm going to save it for the show. And so I say all that to say, I am not going to let people like Scrappy and Friends ruin, you know, the fun I'm having watching this team. I'm just not. So you guys can worry about that if you want. I'll worry when Mike Shilt worries. And even then, as you said, Chris, there's options there. So I refuse, I refuse in these last two weeks to let you guys steal my joy in watching this team. Yeah. So have at it, ladies and gentlemen. We can worry about it all you want. Those were, by the way, those were the first two home runs he's given up since July 4th. So, you know, we might be panicking a little much. I think it's kind of in, I think it's kind of in our, in our nature here in San Diego. Right. To kind of look for whatever small thread we can pull on to. Yeah. How can this go wrong? Yeah. I'm not doing it. I'm not participating in 2024. I'm leaving to Matt Scrappy. Okay. I, I kind of knew this was the, he's, he's turned his back on me. He's turned his back on me. Hang on a second. Oh, now Chris has turned his back on me. Now I'm not this guy. All I did was post stats and the more I thought about it, the more I was posting false stats because one grand slam messes up all of those stats. Thank you. Oh, thank you. So it doesn't, it's not like putting a starting picture stats up. Right. I, I, after I posted, I thought about that. I was like, maybe I should have thought about that before I posted. But here's what many people replied with. He can't just throw the fastball. And before you come at me, I'm not saying this. I know that he's done it all year, but does he need a secondary pitch? Are you kidding me? He has a secondary pitch. Yes. I think he's thrown four different pitches this year. Well, he does have a secondary pitch. They hit the fastball yesterday. I'm going to pull it up. They hit a fastball on the two home runs because they're both three, two pitches and he didn't want to walk somebody. That's why you're not throwing a change up in that spot. He does have another pitch. Look, Tony hit it. You hit it before you even turned it over to us. He got people out for 30 some odd saves. 32 saves using pretty much exclusive fastball. Nobody complained. Now all of a sudden, everybody's worried about this. Mariana Rivera coughed up game seven of the World Series one year. By the way, that's a man who literally had one pitch through one pitch. I'm assuming the talk shows that week were saying, I think it's time for Rivera to learn a new pitch. And Rivera is like, yeah, I'll take my pitch to the Hall of Fame as the only 100% vote getter. Yeah, Tony's right though. If Suarez, for some reason, can't get anybody out the next two weeks, which I don't think's going to happen, we've got plenty of options. So we're worried about something that we really don't. Here's the other thing you said. Had it looked like the outing against Detroit, I might feel a little differently. Yeah, but it didn't. After the homer he gave up, he went through the first next three guys pretty quickly. Right. And so the command, his issue will always be, if he's commanding the baseball, he's got a really good chance to close out the game. It's really outside of the hell he had Ramos splash it. First time ever, I remind everybody that he really, if he's not, if he's commanded a baseball, it's pretty much been lights out. It's only when he's walked guys or put guys on via walk as he got himself in trouble. The only thing that worries me is the potential of a walk, but he's walked 14 over 59 innings this year. So I don't think it's something to be terribly concerned about. And the fastball that he threw yesterday was a rarity in the sense, Tony, that he doesn't normally catch a lot of the plate with the fastball. You know, that one he caught a little more than he'd like to. But the guy give a, give the other major league hitter a little credit. He did something that no player ever has done. Literally. Right. So let's, let's at least give a little credit to the guy swinging the bat and not blame it 100% on, you know, Suarez. I mean, I think the right-headed hitters that went through that stadium there. Like, yeah. Maguire went there. Like, I mean, there's a, there's a dude who could hit the ball a long way. Sammy, no one's ever hit it in the water. Sammy Sosa played there, others. Yeah. So it was a hell of a, hell of a hit. And I think Tony's right, man. He bared right down, got the next three, kept in the ball game. You won the game. I'm glad we got that out though, because I knew there's something between Tony and I. And it was my. Now it's all settled straight. We go back to our normal selves. All right, cool. But let's not though. It's much more interesting this way. Oh, Tony, like foreshadows at 1 p.m. that he has something he wants to talk to me about. And then I have to sit here for 90 minutes. Yeah. Okay. I don't have my iPad in front of me. Where are we going? We are going to be joined by Chandler Rome of the athletic. He covers the Astros. Chandler Rome covers the Astros who are in town tonight. I'm currently watching them just finish up their early BP. There's some congregating amongst the Astros and Padres right now. So we'll get back to you. On the other side. Talk to master of Padre matchup. We're going to Chris. Going in Chris. All right, welcome back to going in Chris. Really is something I said it in the first segment. Tonight starts the final homestand of the regular season. I mean, we were just in Peoria what like five years ago. It seems like the season's been really long and really fast at the same time. So I don't know quite how to categorize it other than the fact that we have now hit 150 games. We got 12 to go. We get the Astros and White Sox. We go to LA for the Dodgers. We finish in Arizona. And the postseason is looking pretty good after the Padres swept the Giants. And have a three and a half game lead over both the Mets and Braves. If you're doing a little scoreboard watching tonight, the Mets are home to Washington this evening. The Braves are home still to the Dodgers. And the Diamondbacks are playing in Colorado. If you're going to root for any team the last two weeks beyond the Padres, it's going to be the Rockies because they got the Diamondbacks now and then seven games against the Dodgers down the stretch. Nothing like casting your lot with the Rockies. Huh, Tony? Hoping for some help from Dick Monford's company. I'm sorry, Tony. I'm sorry. I didn't do it on purpose. He's probably saying great stuff. I know you're you're there now. I'm sorry. I was I was saying you mentioned the Mets and Nationals. I was saying no Lindor. And then when none of you guys said anything, I was like, okay. He's a killer guy. But that's right. Lindor. Yeah, Lindor is hurt. That is not good. Got it. Thank you. Not good timing for the Mets to have Lindor get hurt. This is trying. It's hard. It's just to move through everything going on in this room in this area. Yeah, Lindor is not in the lineup tonight. Did he did he not injure himself by just not sliding at second base? Was that the cause of the injury or was it something else back? It's being kind of bothering him before that. That might have that might have irritated it more. Yeah. Well, bad news for the Mets. Sean and I will pitch tonight for New York in that game. Dodgers beat the Braves last night only with a seven run ninth inning against Rayzel Iglesias of all people. The closer for the Braves who'd been almost untouchable all year. So get him out of there. Yeah, that's done. Yeah, he's done. Suarez and Iglesias both put him on the scrap heap. So anyway, those are the games to keep an eye on tonight as the Padres get set to host the Houston Astros. And we're going to have our guest here coming on from the athletic. Talk a little Astros baseball Chandler Rome. And I'm going to ask him, Tony, about this. But the Astros have been so linked to the controversy and the trash cans and the whole thing in the World Series. But one thing that we, I don't think have paid enough attention to. We played enough. We paid a lot of attention to that. Chandler Rome is with us. Chandler, thanks so much for joining us as the Astros get set to take on the Padres tonight. And I was just saying, I think around the country, we still talk too much about what happened to the Astros in 2017. And the scandal, we haven't paid enough attention to the fact this team is now on a seven year run of making at least to the championship series in the American League, four times World Series, two time champs. We should pay more attention to this franchise. They've really been amazing as you join us. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you guys? Good. Thanks. I mean, I don't know, like the dynasty word gets thrown out a lot. And they've only won, you know, two championships in that span, one of which they illegally stole signs during the season. So I view them as a dynasty. I don't know if the rest of the sporting world does or wants to, but you know, it's been unprecedented what they've been able to do. I think you're not paying attention to baseball. If you don't think consider this team a dynasty, they continue to get to the AOCS or deeper. Seems like every year, Chandler, how have the nerves calmed in Houston? I know I was doing a lot of radio hits early. And it just seemed like everybody was losing their mind as, you know, the Astros trying to find their way with a new manager, some new pieces out there. But it seems like, as we like to say, water has found its level with the Astros, has the city started to kind of calm down a little bit about this ball club? Oh, the city doesn't care. The city's so focused on the Texans. They could care less. This is a football town that only cares about baseball in October. And the Texans have been so god awful for the last four or five years that they started caring about baseball. And their expectations are just completely outsized. It's not a great baseball town from that aspect. So to be honest with you, like no, like they haven't calmed down because everyone thinks every time they lose a game, it's the end of the world. Because it's a football, they had that football mindset. But I mean, as far as the team goes, you know, they, everything that could go wrong in April went wrong. I mean, they're back three in their bullpen, probably had some of the worst months for their careers collectively. They played a difficult schedule. And just skies were just late and not ready to go right out the gate. And I think certainly just water does rise to its own level. But you have to look at this division too. The Mariners, that's a since the all-star break. I think only the White Sox have a worst record in the Mariners. They're in the worst division in baseball. And pretty much they just had to kind of get their muscle memory, kind of flip the switch. And look, they had to make some difficult decisions along the way. They cut Jose Abreu with $30 million left on his contract. They cut Rafael Montero with a bunch of money left on his contract. They've had to make some difficult decisions, call some guys up. They made the big trade for Kakuchi. So it hasn't been without difficulties. But this team just, it's just the same guys you see over and over again, have just kind of risen to the level and kind of played like we're accustomed to see them play. Chandler Rome covers the Astros for the athletic Astros. Padres hooking up tonight in an old NL West division battle. I always like to think back to the days when the Astros were in our division. In fact, the first ever Padre game was played against the Astros just for you. People that care about such absurd tidbits. Uh, Joe Espada, the manager of the Astros. I know Tony and I, Tony kind of touched on it. We were, we were all saying in April and May, uh, the Astros, we knew they were going to be missing Dusty Baker. He was a pretty good calming force for that franchise. Joe Espada didn't know what he's doing yet. Uh, looks like he's knows what he's doing. All right. Uh, how's it, how's the season gone for Joe? Yeah, it's always like the players matter 10 times more than the manager in any situation. But look, I think Joe certainly had some first, I mean, this is his first time ever managing period. So he was going to always have those pitfalls. The fact that they coincided with a 12 and 24 start. I mean, really kind of pushed tested every kind of piece of his medal going forward. He had a team meeting in Chicago after they got swept at Wrigley Field. Um, they were going to Mexico City right from there. They were going to go play the Rockies, which I guess you're going to have a team meeting play, do it before you play the Rockies. Um, you know, they were going, but the, but the message was they were going to Mexico to play two against the Rockies and one of those, it was one of those showcase games where they were going to announce the whole team that were going to have the opening day festivities. And they basically said, you know what? Look, they're going to do the opening day festivities out there. Like let's treat this as the start of our new season. Like let's wipe 12 and 24 clean and this is going to be the new start. And I believe they have the best record in baseball since that day. So, um, it, you know, it has helped that Alex Bragman's hitting. It has helped that the pitching staff has really rounded into form Hunter Brown, has turned into one of the best starters in baseball that no one's talking about. Fromber Valley does pitching like an ace. Um, the back end of his bullpen has really, you know, solidified and pitched like we know they're capable of. So I think that's all helped, but you can't overstate Joe's meeting here. You know, it would have been very easy for a first year manager to lose that clubhouse or to lose just everything after starting 12 and 24 given what the expectations are for this team. And it's a credit to him that this thing has stayed afloat. No doubt about it. First year managers usually take a little bit to kind of get their feet under. Certainly seems like Joe has found that kind of level. Let's talk a little bit about, you talked about the back end of that bullpen, Josh Hader, who was formerly a Padre. Got off to a little bit of a rookie start there in Houston, but he also has kind of gotten back to doing what we grew accustomed to seeing Josh Hader do closing games out. How have you seen his kind of transition to a new team and kind of, you know, kind of feel in where, you know, it was, it was a little difficult. It seemed like at the beginning. Yeah, he, he did not have a great beginning to a season. I think he blew three or four saves in April and it wasn't just him. Ryan Presley didn't have a great April Brian to bring you to have a great April. But Hader has been everything they could have asked for and more. And when you're paying him $95 million, he is, he has met that expectation. He is giving up more home runs this year than we've, I believe he's ever given up in his career. And it, they have come, a lot of the home runs he has given up have come at really an opportune times. And it kind of magnified some of the slip ups, but I mean, there was a string earlier this year where he had converted 27 consecutive saves. It has been dominant. And I think something obviously that you guys didn't see in San Diego that we're seeing in Houston is he has been willing to pitch more than one in it. He's gotten, he's gotten more than three. I don't have the number off the top of my head. But I mean, look, Joe Espada has, has used him. He really pushed him in games that they needed to win. And I'm not talking about in August. I'm talking about in May and May and in June when this team was teetering a little bit and they really needed to win it to kind of write the ship. They were pushing him for five and six outs. He made that clear from the moment he signed the contract that he would be open to going back to getting six outs. And they've, they've allowed him to do that. And look, he has been, he's been everything they could have hoped for when they gave him that big deal. Chandler, we appreciate it. And I know the pottery fans who are on their way to the game appreciate you reminding us of all of that so that we don't forget to win tonight when he comes into the game. Chandler Rome from The Athletic is our guest. I want to ask you about a guy that I just think is one of the greatest players in baseball. And I think when people say that about the Astros for some reason, Al Tuva comes to mind and Breggman. And there's a bunch of them for lander and on down the line. I think the guy that is the man, the Astros in this world of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto and Shohei is still your down Alvarez. I just, I don't want to face him, but I love to watch him slug. And he's doing it again this year. He's got 34. He's hit a nine, six, one OPS. How underappreciated is this guy? I don't know if he's under, he may be underappreciated on a national stage. Certainly, you know, and people love him in Houston. And in the American League West, he's a very much know who he is. You know, maybe it's because, you know, he can go on these streets where he doesn't Homer. But I think the thing about Alvarez that really doesn't get appreciated is how good of a pure hitter he is. Yes, yes. Like everyone wants to talk about that he hits Homer's and he does. He hits a massive home run. There are 34 home runs, but the plate discipline he has, the pitch selection that he makes, the way he's able to do this. And look, I'm not comparing him to Aaron Judge in terms of not getting pitched to. But earlier in the season, like when the Einer D is still wasn't hitting and when their lineup and Bregman was scuffling a little bit, like no one was pitching to him. And he's still finding ways to get on base to help this team. He's not, you know, losing his mind that he's not seeing anything to hit. He, he is as steady and as good of a hitter. He is, and I had people tell me, you know, even when he just came up to the league, the international guys that got him for the Astros and people in the Astros were like, look, the power is going to step out, but this is a hit tool first guy. The hit tool is over the power tool. And as crazy as that it sounds, it's really born out. It is, it is manifested itself in his major league career. Yes, he's going to hit a ton of home runs, but the hit tool is something that I think is very underappreciated with Jordan Alvarez. There's no doubt in for those who haven't seen a lot of your Don, you'll get a chance to see it tonight. I mean, he is as good of a hitter as we have in our league, put the power aside. He handles the zone and the bad as well as anybody. One of the, one of the, under the radar deals that the Astros pulled off Chandler was, was bringing in Kakuchi. I don't know that even the Astros expected to get the kind of performance they've gotten from him, but he's been a great pickup for it is for this organization. I mean, but it's between him and Michael Copac, I think for the most impactful trade deadline acquisition, maybe, maybe Jack Flaherty, but I mean, he's pitched better than Jack Flaherty for the Dodgers. He has been sensational. The Astros have won every start he's made since his acquisition. There ain't no in games he has started. I'm sorry about the horns in the background, but there, that's our crazy San Diego traffic again. Love it, love it. But, but, but look, there ain't no in games that Kakuchi has started. I thought Scott, well, I took Scott Boris and Anaheim this weekend and I thought he brought up a good point and that the Astros are allowing Kakuchi to go back to how he pitched really in Japan. He's, he's a two pitch guy now, fastball slider. And they've, they've worked with him on, on manipulating the shape of the slider a little bit thrown a slider to back foot, back door locations to right-handed hitters. Stuff he really wasn't doing in Toronto. They've basically told him the ditch is curveball. He's thrown his change up more. I know everyone got excited. His first start he threw about 20 change ups. And everyone thought that was the big fix. But no, I mean, it's been a more nuanced approach than that. He's elevating his fastball more than he did in Toronto. And I think too, just, there was a lot of outrage in Houston when the trade was made because of his ERA. I mean, he had a 70 ERA and his prior six starts before the deadline. But if you looked at the FIP, if you looked at the BABIP, if you looked at the underlying metrics and look, even with that 70 ERA, he was still striking out 10 per nine. The stuff was always there. And I think they just kind of, they thought that, look, the Blue Jays have one of the worst bullpen in baseball. It was pretty clear that the mood there was not great, that they were going nowhere fast. And I think obviously just a change of scenery, getting into a competitive, more competitive clubhouse with a better bullpen coming in to relieve him. I think it really has been a perfect fit from start to finish. And I think to Gucci, certainly some of the Astros have to look at maybe putting in their plans for next year. He's a free agent after this year. He is a Scott Morris client and Scott Morris clients usually don't do extensions. But they need to really consider, you know, maybe giving him a couple extra years here because he has been, you can tell, he really likes it here. He's really assimilated well. And that's something he had struggled to do in both Seattle and Toronto. If you look at his first seasons in both Seattle and Toronto, they were not good because from what I had heard, you know, he took a little time to get used to situations, took a little time to assimilate and ingratiate himself to, you know, American culture and different things like that. It has been seamless with the Astros. And I think that's something that you can't quantify, but it's certainly something that helped them out. Chandler Rome, great stuff. We really appreciate that and funny too. We always love a, we love some good humor on the program. Enjoy the week in San Diego, enjoy the series and good luck to the Astros. Hopefully we'll see in the World Series also. Thanks, Chandler. Hopefully, hopefully so. I'd love six more days in San Diego. There you go. Appreciate it. From the athletic channel, Rome, our guest, the Astros are indeed in town. Yeah. Go ahead. See real quick. That's, that's to me is like the beauty of analytics, right? You can get a guy like Kakuchi. The analytics tell you, hey man, you need to throw your fastball at the top of the zone, right? You need to ditch that weak breaking ball and use the slider more. And he's getting, that's the kind of production he's getting because of that, that, that extra information right there. We can give analytics some credit for something for a change. I don't know what, what did the people at home think, Tony? I don't know. When he started saying, "bap-up" and "fip-fip" and not like, "fip-fip." I don't know what that was, but it all worked out for the Astros, so good for them. More going and Chris is coming up. Hour number two starts with a daily gambit and includes good, bad and ugly week to the NFL. The seasons may be changing, but the deals at the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl, Tasha McKia. And I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings event, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. 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