The Fan Early Morning Show
Who's been responsible for the Bucs' losses; Pitchers or hitters?
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We'll talk about those. That's what we do on this show. We just kind of use our way into the sports day. It's a fan of the morning show. My name is Larry Callis. Fan of the morning shows for the average Joe and when the average Joe wants to shop like a pro, the average Joe can go to. C.J.R. Wholesale, our fan of the morning show sponsor. So the New York Mets, a team that is fighting for a wild card spot and starting this particular series. They were relatively close. I believe they were about a game and a half apart if that. Big series. There's a big series for the Pirates II of the previous series and they played the Cardinals. Pirates lost that series. Two out of three games. So Ger, you know, I didn't like to see that. Derek Shelton, I mean, those words will live almost an infamy now. He says, you know, they got to be ready. This cardinal series division games are important, but we're home. We got to win. We're home and it's a tight race. We got to win. Pirates didn't get it done against the Cardinals. Now we move on. We got a four game series against the Mets. And the first game of the series was tremendous. Was it not? Tremendous. Great game. Pirates slaughtered them pretty much in the final two innings. It was a power, you know, a powerhouse offensive performance there. Routing to Les Homer twice with a grand slam, same thing with Brian Reynolds, seven home runs. The fireworks team ran out of inventory. They hovered so many times. Paul Skeens pitched. The offense backed him up late. Backed him up big time late. It was exciting. And I mean, I heard people are more watched and read. No, not heard people really, but I read comments on social media. Like, I don't want this feeling to end. I never want this feeling to go away. This feeling is tremendous. And I felt the same way. And I was just watching and thinking, man, this is the feeling I want to feel forever. This is true. This is great. Routing to Les Hitting Brian Reynolds is hitting. You know, Paul Skeens pitching draws a crowd. I mean, Friday night was nuts. It was great to see that. But then they, and then these, these next two games, they only muster two runs. And now they can't win the series. The muster two runs in each game. I should, I should specify. But still, I mean, this is an interesting case right now where I can pull out a similarities from the Steelers. When I think about talking about this pirates team, because I don't want to blame the bullpen as much. I don't want to blame a role as Chapman. I don't want to blame the pitchers for not preserving runs better. I think there's a conversation to be had though, which, I mean, you know, who are you more mad at? Are you more mad at the offense for not giving you a similar performance? Like they did in the first game or are you mad at the bullpen for not preserving the leader? You mad at the pitchers for not preventing the Mets from scoring? I mean, five to two is tough. Losing that game three to two though is extra frustrating. Our oldest Chapman is not, I think being taken kindly into the eyes of the Pittsburgh public right now. But the pirates were close. They were getting there a little bit and then another four and a half games back. The Cardinals are kind of climbing along. Cardinals won their most recent game. They're now 47 and 42. They're really starting to embed themselves in the meat of the wild card spots here. The Padres, they're kind of other 49 and 45. Pirates had an excellent opportunity in the games down this stretch this week to really get close to a 500 and get closer to a playoff spot. The Mets have now reached 500. Oh, the series isn't over yet, by the way. That is kind of misleading. This is a weird series. There's going to be a fourth game played with the Mets this afternoon, 1235. So, it's not like the series is over. Now, the Pirates can't win the series. They can't win the series. They can only split the series. But even if they split today, which I still kind of want because, you know, you don't want to lose games that you don't have to. But even if they split the series, I mean, what does that mean? Like, what does that say? Is there anything? Is there a different message being displayed here? The answer is no. There's not a different message being displayed here. They're doing what's been frustrating us this entire time. They're just doing the perpetual thing over and over and over, and they're staying around the middle. Dan Zangrilla, I believe, was the one that brought this point up last week. Well, it was on our show or the pregame show or the post game show the one day. I mean, he just said maybe the Pirates just aren't good enough yet. They're, you know, maybe they're not good enough yet. They're not there yet. Man, that's just, that's just frustrates me. I don't mind being ahead of schedule. And this team has the tools, I think, to be a really good team. But it's just not coming together. And I mean, that's a reality you got to face too. Sometimes is that maybe it's just not the right time. I do. I feel slightly bad for a role as Chapman. I don't, I mean, I tweeted this out yesterday too. And you can follow me by the way at callus_33CALLAS_33. Talk to me there as well. And if you want a phone line, you can get one at any time, 4, 1, 2, 9, 2, 8, 9, 3, 7, 0. But I mean, I feel bad for him and I did tweet this out yesterday that I don't think he can handle the intensity of a close game in the ninth inning anymore. He doesn't have the control for that. Great setup guy. And somebody may tweet at me some statistics. Oh, well, he blew this and that and blah blah blah. That's fine. I think for the most part, he's been, when he's been on, he's been pretty decent as a setup guy. It's nice to have him preserve leads so that David Bednar can shut it down. Now, Bednar's hurt. So what are you going to do there? So you got Holderman and Chapman to lock it down for you. Holderman's been really good. He'd think it's one or two tough outings out of the bullpen. But for the most part, he's been solid. Chapman, though, just doesn't seem like he can handle that intensity anymore. It doesn't seem like it. And I feel bad. And you're paying him $10.5 million, so fans are going to argue, "Girr, you know, why is he performing?" I think we got to walk that fine line, though, or I'm going to walk the fine line. And I think you should too at some points. It's like the pirates are spending money and he seemed like a good pick up. And I'm not going to, I'm not going to fault the pirates for picking them up and trying to spend money on him and lock down that back end of the bullpen. It seemed like a solid signing. So I will not fault them there. And you might. And if you want to call in and you can express your opinion, I'm not going to fault you if you blame him. I don't think he's a great guy in the ninth inning when he pitches. I don't think he can handle that anymore. And that's, that's just what it is. But I'm still going to lean toward more of the offense, not getting it done. And I feel like I'm talking about the Steelers. I really do, because I remember saying that all of last year, I felt bad for the pirates. Or you mean I felt bad for the Steelers defense? Because the offense was having like a record number of three and outs to start a game. And the defense was out there for a long time and they were getting wear down over the entire game. Up until the fourth quarter when the Steelers offense will make the comeback in those games. Same thing with the pirates. It's like the pitchers I feel bad for because they're doing I think a lot of what we expected them to do, which is maybe give up two, three runs a start. And then you've got, you know, Jerry Jones is hurt right now, I know. But when he was pitching, I mean, he was giving up, you know, within three runs a game. Paul Skeens has been elite. And they've been the top two starters, Mitch Keller has even had his fair share of games. And then Bailey falter and Martine Perez, whenever they've pitched, for the most part, giving you a chance to win. So I feel bad talking about the pitchers because I feel like they're, you know, they're not getting a lot of help from the offense. But I feel like the pirates have more times than not this season been one or two big hits away from being on the winning end of these games. And so I just sit here right now, baffled, not really speechless, but, you know, I'm struggling to find the right words and the right answer for this team because I want them to do well. And I feel like they're good enough to be one of the three wild card teams in the National League this year. But, alas, they keep losing a lot of these games that they're capable of winning. And it is said, and there are callers on the line. You can join, or, excuse me, you can join the conversation by getting a phone line. What I wanted to say there, 4129289370, call now, get a phone line. People are already popping up, so I'm going to take them in a minute. You can also talk to me on X at Calus underscore 33, that's C-A-L-L-A-S underscore 33. We got happy things to talk about as well, and we'll do that probably in the next segment, but I guess now is the time that we want to complain a bit, and I'm fine with that because, you know, I'm befuddled, and I think it's a fair conversation to have. What should you do? Was Chapman the right call? Do you like him as a signing? He's just, you know, not a closure. You know, what do you think of this series so far? Do you think the Pirates can even split the series? Give me a call, talk to me, 4129289370, and on X at Calus underscore 33, that's C-A-L-L-A-S underscore 33. And we'll start with this caller. Good morning. What's your name? Hey, this Ted. All right, Ted, what's up? Hey, we're talking about the powers. You can't compare the Steelers to the powers. Oh, no, absolutely not. I was just saying that some of the talking points remind me of things I've said about the Steelers. No, the franchises are different. The Steelers have one more, you know, yeah, I get it. Well, I mean, like I say before, you can't even take the power seriously because they're below 500 a team. I'm not surprised at all. I'll just be honest. They have some excitement to them. But are they, you know, a contender playoffs? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That's just the reality of it is, you know, and to me, it's Sheldon and you GM. If they don't turn this franchise around this year, somebody should be fired. It's not a head of schedule. They got enough time to actually, to me, be contented to division. There's no way they should be below 500. But guess what? They're going to finish below 500 and people are going to accept it. Sure. Ted, thank you. Sorry. I got to get rolling to other callers. No, I get your point, though. I understand your point. It's always nice to hear from you. Thank you for the call. Yeah, I get the, I get the blaming on the manager and the general manager. Yeah, maybe you had a schedule wasn't the right term. I think I've heard that perspective out there and I couldn't align to that. That maybe they shouldn't be ahead of schedule. They should be on schedule. It's been, it's year five. You know, they should be doing better because it's year five of Ben Jerrington being in here and Derek Shelton being in here. I'm with you. All the people that say that I'm not going to disagree with you. I get the frustration there. So, yeah, if you, if you also believe that it's a front office and management problem as much as it is, a player is not performing problems. Sure. I hear you. I do. 4129289370, another caller on the line. Hello. What's your name? That's great. All right, Greg. Nice to hear you again. I'm doing, I'm doing all right. What's up? That's great. I think with the prize, a lot of what Ted has to say is true. I'm not going to want nobody to get fired, but the prize team is the best part that they got his keys. A Reynolds is good too, but I'm just saying you need more consistent hitting with Atlanta. And that's one of the big problems. Just like with the Steelers, they didn't need all the trades that they need. They needed a quarterback. And now they have to get the defense on the field too long last year. That's true. The defense was fine. The offense couldn't do nothing. And that's the problem. If it's going to be like that this year, which I don't think it is. I think what's the worst in them is going to get a joint start. They're going to have a good season, man. They're going to the playoffs too. And they're going one again. Trust me, I will call you back, my brother. I want to ask you something. What is the channel on the Pirates of the TV? What is the numbers on the channel? I don't know the numbers exactly because I usually just listen on the radio, but thank you for the call. No. But all the opinions about the Pirates do and stuff, that's something that I share a lot of what Greg said. I share opinions with a lot of what Ted said as well. It's just they remind me that that's why they remind me of the Steelers exactly because the pitchers are taxed a lot. So it doesn't seem like anybody's calling in furious about a role to Chapman this morning, even though I saw some some tweets and posts on X about about him and the frustrations with him for not saving that game. But, you know, two callers this morning are concerned more about the offense, I think, than anything else, pitchers are not to be blamed. The most consistent hitters for the Pirates this season, and I don't even know if you can put Reynolds in there yet because he just hit well in June. And he started to lie off pretty well. He's been doing, you know, he's been doing all right. The first game against the Mets, though, that was great too. Two homers and one of them being a grand slam. That's what you want to see. I put McCutchen into the most consistent hitter category. I mean, he gets on base consistently draws walks at a frequent rate. He's one of the leaders on the team. If not, he's still the leader on the team in home runs this season. I think Cruz took that over, actually, but, you know, McCutchen's one of the leaders in homers, but, you know, that's just a point McCutchen's been very consistent. The Pirates have needed O'Neill Cruz to be consistent to win games. And I said this last week, if O'Neill Cruz is on, the Pirates seem to do better. It just seems like a correlation that you can make. But when he's not, you know, when he's not a feared hitter in the lineup, I think teams feel more comfortable and Pirates get out more and they lose. Simple as that. So I share a great sentiment there. Consistent hitting is important. How do you get consistent hitting? Can you acquire somebody or can these players get better that are already on the team? I don't know. I don't know what the right answer is. I'm going to lean toward getting an acquisition at the deadline. But, I mean, what are acquisitions worth? Are the Pirates just seem to be sliding further back? They've now reached the losing streak category here. The Giants, the Pirates have lost their last two. The Reds have lost their last three. All of them are falling further out of the wildcard. Race Giants are three and a half back. Pirates are four and a half back. Reds are five back. Although it's still the Rockies and the Marlins that are way out of the race right now. I mean, it's not impossible to climb back in. But the Pirates, I mean, I can't say it enough. They have to go on a winning streak to be able to get into this playoff race. They have to go on a winning streak. They can't be losing games like they have against the Mets. And that's why I'm frustrated. That's it. Because if they win more of these games, it's as simple as this. If they win more of these games, they're in the thick of the playoff conversation. Splitting this series was not going to help them. And it just seems so simple. It seems like it's right there. It's frustrating because it just keeps sliding out of their grasp. And it's it's simple things. It's little things. They could help them, you know, be thrust forward into the into the playoff picture. And just right now they're not and they're sliding back. And I want them to slide back. I want them to I want them to make it. And I want them to have Paul Skeens bucked over and and you know, we can have a lot of fun. You know, with the Steelers in the fall and the Pirates and the Penguins even if they, you know, get deep it off into it. I remember how fun it was in 2013 to see that. All three teams were playing. The Pirates were in the National League division series and and the Steelers were playing starting their season. They were probably a few weeks into the season, but the Penguins were starting their season. That was fun. Let's have that again. One more caller before I go to break for one, two, nine, two, eight, nine, three, seven, zero. Good morning. What's your name? You know, I'm starting to get fired up. What's on your mind, though? Well, I just wanted to say, you know, I would love to put the blame on a road of Chapman, but. Here's the thing when it comes to situations like this, it always comes from the top. So. A road is shattering. You know, they recommend we knew that he wasn't pitching well in the final innings of games. So it's up to the coaches and the developmental staff and all that to recognize that. And to understand that, okay, maybe this guy can't pitch in the ninth inning anymore. Maybe he's a lead up, you know, to the ninth inning. And then it's tough. Who would you pitch in the ninth inning then? Well, I mean, to bed, no, it's hard. That's right. That's a bad stop. But then I also want to say, you know, in the terms you want to say this, but this is not a nutting. He's out there spending money. This is not Bob Nutting. This is this is this is coaching staff. This is this is developmental staff stuff. This is they're not recognizing. They're not they're not making the changes that are necessary. And like you said, you know, yeah, that's hard. You can't there's nobody to replace a road a shot man at this moment or hold him. And you know that those guys got to do it. So, but when he comes back, you move him out. You put him in the seventh inning. You don't put him in the ninth inning in those high pressure situations anymore. So it's just this is all coaching staff. They need to develop these guys and understand that, you know, like you said, that this guy can't pitch in the ninth inning anymore. Dan, thank you for the call. Appreciate it. Yeah, but that I mean, that just that speaks to my overarching point as well, which is I'm not going to blame. I'm not I can't blame Chapman, like, because we've already known this. The offense has to pick it up a little bit more and a little bit more consistent, you know, consistently. Now, somebody's got to be able to pitch these one score games and the pirates have to escape some of these one score games, but also give us a few more games where it's not so close in the ninth. Give us some like, give me some six to two wins. Give me some seven to two wins, you know, give me some give me some four to one wins, you know, not not two to one, you know, going into the ninth inning, maybe for the pirates offense. You got to win some of those close games or you have to win a lot of those close games to be a good playoff team, but I also think that the offense can pick up a little bit more while the pitching staff is is going through to bumps and bruises. Yeah, they could still be doing better. So that's my argument there. I mean, it's tough. It's a tough situation. So I can't, I don't want to blame Chapman personally. You know, I think the pirates offense has to do better, more consistently to win these games. More to come, more positivity to come coming up next step to this break will be a little more positive because some good news did get released yesterday. And I'd like to talk about that as well. I'm very excited. My name is Nicholas Harry Callis. This is the fan of the morning show and sports radio 937. Step up to the plate with Xfinity Internet. Get the fastest speeds and low lag streaming for an incredible viewing experience that knocks it out of the park. And you'll have the consistent connection with reduced buffering and freezing. So you can stay in all the action ending after inning. When it's game time, make sure to catch it all with Internet that's powerful and reliable. Stream sports from the best seat in the house with Xfinity because it's only live once. Actual speeds vary and not guarantee many factors affect speed. For factors affecting speed, visit xfinity.com/networkmanagement. Temp check. What kind of summer are we having this year? A family road trip summer? A beach bump summer? Or a wake me when the sun sets summer? With Instacart, choose your own adventure and skip the shopping side quests. Where available, you can get ice cream delivered to your hotel, sunscreened to the pool, or cold brew to your bed. Well, door. In as fast as 30 minutes. Wherever you find yourself this summer, you can get the goods. Download Instacart for free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for unlimited time, minimum $10 per order, excludes restaurants, additional terms and fees apply. It's been a three year wait, but the Olympics are back and the CBS Sports Podcast Network has you covered with everything happening in Paris. It's a new era for the US women's national team and attacking third will tackle all the women's soccer action. First cut will keep close tabs on golf while beyond the arc will follow the US men's basketball team on a quest for another gold. And we need to talk now will provide comprehensive coverage of women's athletes at the Olympic Games. Follow and listen to all CBS Sports Podcasts for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. I'm the fan. The fan on the morning show for the average Joe and when the average Joe wants to shop like a pro, the average Joe can go to CGR wholesale. My name is Nick Lacerri Callis. Nice to be with you. Getting kind of frustrated here, but we also got some good news to talk about for a little bit. A few more minutes. So I'll take one more call right now for one, two, nine, two, eight, nine, three, seven, zero. And it'll be this caller. Good morning. What's your name? Hi, Nicholas Terry from Legan Air. Terry, it's great to hear from you. Yeah, it's been a while. Hey, yeah, I'm sharing in your frustration. Very good. Um, yeah, I think it, I think it's just the consistency in the hitting. I mean, you got basically mccotchen. You got round. That's your two players. Rest of the guys. They're just too streaky. You get one hit to hit next game. Two more guys are maybe Gonzalez and. So, as he gets hot in the next game, two other guys get hot and they're gonna start bringing his together for letting so many guys on base. Yes, sir. Terry, I appreciate the call. Nice to hear from you. Yeah, just the same kind of, just the same kind of complaints. You know, hitters got to get more consistent. That's really it. I'm glad nobody's playing with the pitching staff as much though. I mean, it was frustrating to see that one slip away, but also acknowledging that the offense really isn't doing a great deal to to support the pitching staff right now. And it's been a little, you know, a little dinged. That's. I'm glad that you guys kind of acknowledge that all the callers this morning. It's nice to see that we're all on the same page on that front. Congratulations are in order. One I'm going to do is a personal congratulations. Mason Miller of the Oakland Athletics made the All-Star game. And I saw that yesterday, saw him in the clubhouse and I was real giddy because, you know, I played with him at Weinsburg when he was when he was there. So it's nice to see that. So I want to personally congratulate him here on the radio this morning. But also now the guy playing for the local team. Paul Skeens is an All-Star and he deserves a congratulation as well. And I am happy, very, very happy that he has been named an All-Star. It's historic as well. Guy gets caught up in his instantly and All-Star and, you know, he didn't even play a full season in the minor leagues before getting caught up to the majors. So he's doing some historic things and it's special. So cherish what Paul Skeens is doing and cherish the time that we're in. Paul Skeens is already an All-Star and we can, you know, we don't have to get frustrated about that. We can say that justice was served there. He was worthy of being an All-Star. We all thought that and it did indeed happen. So, yay, Paul Skeens is an All-Star. Okay, that's it for me. My name's Nicholas Harry Callis. Nice to be with you this morning talking about the Pirates. Oh, fan weather. Let me give you that real quick. Fan weather is brought to you by Sun Chevrolet. It's the Chevy Summer Drive at Sun Chevrolet up to 7500 in rebates. Terms and conditions can be found at sunchevy.com. Today, high of 91, low of 67. It's going to be clear all day. Well, morning, actually, then the afternoon is going to be overcast. Then tomorrow, high of 93, low of 70, overcast guys expected to expect another hot week. Top. Step up to the plate with Xfinity Internet. Get the fastest speeds and low lag streaming for an incredible viewing experience that knocks it out of the park. And you'll have the consistent connection with reduced buffering and freezing. So, you can stay in all the action ending after ending. When it's game time, make sure to catch it all with Internet that's powerful and reliable. Stream sports from the best seat in the house with Xfinity, because it's only live once. Actual speeds vary and not guarantee many factors affect speed. For factors affecting speed, visit xfinity.com/networkmanagement. It's been a three-year wait, but the Olympics are back and the CBS Sports Podcast Network has you covered with everything happening in Paris. It's a new era for the US women's national team and attacking third will tackle all the women's soccer action. First cut will keep close tabs on golf while beyond the arc will follow the US men's basketball team on a quest for another gold. And we need to talk now will provide comprehensive coverage of women's athletes at the Olympic Games. Follow and listen to all CBS Sports Podcasts for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.