00:00Ooh, sorry about this, but will you go ahead and play me cut four?
00:05Again, I'm really sorry about this, but I think this is relevant.
00:10The two-strike pitch.
00:12And that's lifted high into the air.
00:14Deep right field.
00:16Nimmo goes back at the wall.
00:18It's gone.
00:22Max Muncy hits his third home run of the night.
00:28And he will give the Dodgers an 8-7 walk-off win here this evening to open up this series.
00:41We love it.
00:42Kevin, that was Friday.
00:45That was almost two months ago, it feels like.
00:49I thought Friday was the most consequential game of this series.
00:53There were three games.
00:54I know.
00:55And I thought this was the one that should have had us winning the series.
01:01That's interesting.
01:04Because we did discuss, hey, what if you take two or three from the Dodgers this weekend?
01:08You look like you could compete against the Dodgers.
01:10That's true.
01:11That's something that, like, you've.
01:12Were you nervous at all about that before Sunday's game?
01:15That even though, like, that Friday game had been super close, that you were on the cusp of, like,
01:20looking like you couldn't compete with the Dodgers?
01:22A thousand percent.
01:23Okay.
01:23And granted, I, mmm, the Friday night game had me feeling like I could if just Max Muncy didn't exist.
01:32He has one other home run in the rest of the season.
01:36And then he had three in that one.
01:39And for people who are like, why would you pitch to Max Muncy?
01:42I wouldn't.
01:42Because I would, because Jacob Latz was like, I'm even better.
01:46I had given up no hits to anybody.
01:48Then he said, stupid pitch clock.
01:51Yeah, pitch clock sucks.
01:53But it's also awesome.
01:55So, you know, here we go.
01:56Just in that one moment, I did not care for.
01:59So, as I've kind of discussed early in the season, after you win two, sometimes there is a,
02:07eh, we won the series already.
02:09And there's a letdown on the next day.
02:11So, maybe that happened to the Dodgers or maybe the Rangers just figured it out and
02:15Roki Sasaki isn't that good.
02:18But Friday night, yeah, Friday night's one of those moments where you proved, dude, Kamar
02:23Rocker can go out there and give you a game.
02:25And if it wasn't for a couple of blips here and there, you're a good team.
02:30You scored enough runs.
02:31The Corey Seager home run, I was like, all right, guys, we scored three runs.
02:35That should be enough to win this game tonight in my mind.
02:37That's how I was thinking.
02:40But, yeah, early in the season, I still feel like you can compete against the Dodgers.
02:45It would have been sweeter to take away two out of three.
02:48I'm going to ask you, if it's okay, can we go back to the bottom of the fifth inning in
02:53Friday's game?
02:54Sure.
02:55That's what you want to revisit, dude.
02:56I want to revisit it because that was one of the two pivot moments.
03:01Well, probably three, obviously, because Robert Garcia exists.
03:04But it was one of the moments that I was like, son of a gun.
03:08The Rangers had a shift on.
03:11And it was the shift that cost them a double play.
03:15Like, if you look at it, it ended up being a thing where Corey Seager was going to make
03:20a go at it, and then he thought Josh Young was going to get it, but Josh Young was never
03:23going to get it.
03:24And so Corey Seager had backed into position in case you did have the opportunity for a
03:29double play.
03:29And then that stupid ball just dribbles into the outfield.
03:33And it ends up being a hit.
03:35And eventually, the Dodgers get a run out of that to pull it to four to three.
03:40Although, props to Kamar Rocker for getting a double play to get out of that inning anyway.
03:44But that should have been a double play right there.
03:48And if that's the case, if I'm remembering correctly, it would have been two outs, no
03:53on in the bottom of the fifth.
03:56And I think you get out of that inning without that extra run that eventually scored on the
04:01sack fly.
04:02And it's still 4-2 instead of 4-3 in a game where, obviously, every little bit counted.
04:09And then in the bottom of the sixth, I saw social media just like everybody else.
04:15Panic?
04:15Yeah.
04:16And they were furious about Robert Garcia.
04:18And then that pushes you all the way into the ninth when we just played the Max Muncy
04:23walk-off.
04:24But that play right there, I get...
04:26Is he the only one to get Max Muncy out?
04:29Oh, is that right?
04:30I don't know.
04:31I'm going to have to revisit this.
04:32Oh, my goodness.
04:32He did get Muncy out on the...
04:34Yeah, he did get him.
04:35No, it was a fielder's choice.
04:37Oh, okay.
04:38I was like, that would be...
04:39That would be so weird.
04:40And that just defines the oddity that is sport.
04:43Yeah.
04:43In that, like, in a game where this dude couldn't be stopped except by the one guy that it feels
04:47like people are angrier about with this fan base than anybody else.
04:51And then you go...
04:51No, no.
04:52Muncy scored on the...
04:53Okay.
04:53On the double right, yeah.
04:55And then you go to the bottom of the ninth.
04:59And hitters were 0 for 30 against Jake Latz.
05:04Jacob Latz, if you will.
05:06Although he told us he didn't care.
05:07And he had already struck out two to start the inning, including Freddie Freeman.
05:14And he had an 0-2 count on Max Muncy.
05:17There was no part of me that it was like, don't pitch to this guy.
05:20I was like, do it.
05:21You are unstoppable at this moment.
05:24Latz said afterwards, in hindsight, I would have rather just taken the ball and reset because
05:29he said he felt rushed because of the pitching clock.
05:35And he goes, instead, my pitch went right where he wanted it.
05:38And that's unfortunate because maybe it was the bottom of the fifth.
05:42Maybe it was Robert Garcia in the sixth.
05:45Or maybe you would have been in a position then where you wouldn't have pitched to Max Muncy.
05:51Or maybe it was just the pitch clock.
05:53All of those little things.
05:54I can't help but keep thinking about, man, I really feel like that game was there for the taking.
05:59And obviously you won yesterday's game.
06:02And it's just one game pivot either way.
06:05But walking in and saying, hey, we just took a series from the Dodgers on their home field
06:10when they had been playing super well.
06:12That just would have felt amazing.
06:14But I am glad that DeGrom controlled the way after the first hitter yesterday.
06:19And you did not get swept.
06:20What do you mean?
06:21What did DeGrom do with the first hitter?
06:24Shohei Otani, for the second game in a row, hit a leadoff home run.
06:28But was it a two-run home run?
06:29Well, again, it was a leadoff home run.
06:33Four-run home run?
06:35Six-run home run?
06:36It was just a solo shot, huh?
06:38It was just the one.
06:39Kevin, does it feel like DeGrom's given up a solo shot in every game he's started this year?
06:43Hey, look, it's Ferguson Jenkins.
06:45Go way back with Fergie.
06:46And he's like, it's not the solo home runs that are going to kill you.
06:50And I feel like, don't you kind of feel like Schumacher said that on Wednesday as well?
06:54Kevin, and Boach said it last year too.
06:57He has given up a solo home run in every game he's started.
07:01Oh, well, there you go.
07:03Every single game he's started this year, he's given up one.
07:07So we told you that was kind of the case.
07:11Here's the thing that I really loved seeing this weekend.
07:16The Rangers were able to collect some runs.
07:18That's good.
07:19That's a positive.
07:21Glassnow early looked like he kind of had it, and you're like, oh, no.
07:24Yeah.
07:24But then the Rangers, you know, Corey Seager got to him on the second time through.
07:29That was nice.
07:30But the Rangers starting pitching attacked.
07:33They were going at first pitch strikes.
07:36They were going into the strike zone.
07:38Like, that was the thing.
07:39Nobody was nibbling against the Dodgers.
07:44Because here's what happens when you nibble against the Dodgers.
07:47You try and do that, and you get yourself into 3-1 situations more often than not.
07:51And they're going to punish you.
07:53And granted, you still lost the series.
07:56You did.
07:56But the Rangers pitching was like, we know the formula.
07:59The formula is going.
08:00It looked like in that start against Glassnow, Mike was like, here's what they say is going to happen.
08:10Here's what the scouting report says.
08:12And Glassnow was consistent.
08:13First pitch fastball, and then he would get ahead of you.
08:16Bam, he's going curveball at you.
08:18The Rangers knew that, and they waited on it, and they got to him a little bit.
08:22The Rangers pitching staff did the same thing.
08:24They knew what they wanted to do, and they went at it.
08:27I really respected the way that they went at it.
08:29It told me that Skip Schumacher has this team in a different focus state right now.
08:35Because last year, there was just kind of, you'd be like, what is happening?
08:38There looks like a bunch of clueless stuff going on.
08:40But right now, I felt like watching the pitching staff attack the Dodgers, this is the Dodgers.
08:46Yeah.
08:46And they're like, we're going at them.
08:48We're going right at them with the strike zone.
08:50Now, again, we know the bullpen is going to be a roller coaster this season.
08:53But seeing the starting pitching go at them.
08:55Man, have they lived up to that already.
08:56Lighters game, we're going to have to have a different conversation about that.
09:00But for the most part, I really liked what I saw from the starting pitching this week.
09:03Yeah, and somebody just brought this up.
09:04And I think we talked about this a decent amount last year from the 6-8-2.
09:10Did y'all realize DeGrom hasn't gone a start without a home run since last August?
09:15So I decided to just double-check that real quick.
09:17It was August 31st.
09:19So in his last seven starts, he has given up a home run.
09:22And I think that's the difference between DeGrom is really good right now.
09:28Because I feel like we'd all agree DeGrom is really good right now.
09:31And DeGrom is that terrifying monster that steps up on the bump.
09:37And you're already like, I'm already lost.
09:39You know what I'm saying?
09:40I think that's the difference.
09:41He has shown himself to be very susceptible to home runs.
09:45Now, the good news is if you stick with just a solo home run a game, I think we can
09:51all live with that.
09:52Yeah, because what does that mean?
09:53That he's getting most of the other guys out, not putting a bunch of runners on, and then deciding to
09:59attack.
10:00He's like, look, I'll challenge you.
10:02And if you win it, tip the cap to you.
10:04But I don't have three walks on my ledger right now.
10:06Yeah.
10:07And bases loaded or two runners on.
10:09And then I'm going, if I have runners on, now I've got to treat this a little bit differently.
10:13Because he's a veteran pitcher.
10:14He understands that.
10:15But he's still got the stuff.
10:17That's the thing with DeGrom is he's still got 97.
10:2097 can touch 99 if he really wants to.
10:22And then has nastiness all over it.
10:24You know, and I just saw this.
10:26Somebody goes, I'm glad that Edwin Diaz didn't embarrass them on Friday.
10:31Not only that, is the Rangers, man, they showed some fight.
10:35Because you'd think going into the ninth down 7-4, this would be a fairly paint-by-numbers save opportunity.
10:42But it most certainly was not so much so that the Dodgers are now looking into Edwin Diaz's early season
10:50velocity drop.
10:51He said that he feels fine and there's nothing wrong with him.
10:54But his average velocity has gone from 97.2 to 95.8 in his first six appearances.
11:02So just six appearances, but that's already a drop of 1.4 miles per hour.
11:06And so they're investigating maybe why that is.
11:09And that 1.4 miles per hour, maybe that makes all the difference in the world.
11:13Maybe Evan Carter would have hit a home run either way.
11:16But I thought that was encouraging as well.
11:19And that's why I focused in.
11:21Look, I know they won on Sunday, but that's what I focused in so much on Friday.
11:24I thought Friday's game was so consequential, right down to the fact that they didn't just roll over in the
11:29ninth inning.
11:30And their OPS last year when they were trailing was awful.
11:35Well, 6.23, that was third worst in the league, by the way.
11:39It's early, but you know what their OPS is when they're trailing so far this year, at least after Friday's
11:44game?
11:457.69.
11:47That is a massive jump up.
11:49And you're going to have to have that if you're going to have any hope of coming back in any
11:53of these games,
11:54which felt like it was a lost cause last year.
11:56I do have an interesting, like, I'd love to see now how that team plays with our best three pitchers
12:03versus their best three pitchers.
12:05Yeah.
12:06Because we didn't get either shake on both sides there.
12:09But we did get some really good pitching outings.
12:12And you got your five, your fifth guy, to give you some pretty good innings.
12:16Yes.
12:17I'm excited about this, man.
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