00:00Doug Karsh, Scott Anderson, 97.1. We're downtown at the Hockey Town Cafe.
00:04There's going to be people looking for a place to stay dry.
00:07This is a good spot.
00:08It is a great spot.
00:09Right across from Comerica Park.
00:12We do expect there to be baseball today. There might be a delay. We shall see.
00:16Gator, I thought the story of the game last night was Javi Slide.
00:19And Replay played a big role in last night's game.
00:22It was all over the place.
00:24The pickoff that almost ended the game but didn't.
00:26The play at home where McKintree was ruled safe.
00:30They reversed it to out.
00:31Next batter, Baez was ruled out.
00:33They reversed it to safe.
00:35And the game, they got it right.
00:39Javi Slide was ridiculous.
00:40I mean, ridiculous.
00:42It was great.
00:43I mean, a foot first slide and looking to tag the base with your arm
00:48and then lifts it up because he sees that Perez is right there
00:51and then sets it down at the right moment.
00:53It was great.
00:54It was great.
00:55The other thing that was great, I mean, you saw two unbelievable throws
01:00from right field to Jack Heaglione.
01:02Yep.
01:02And when that guy was at college, I watched some of the World Series,
01:07the College World Series games that he was in, and I was like, this guy.
01:11Was he in Florida?
01:12I believe he was Florida, and I believe he pitched.
01:15So, you know, when they're going crazy about how the look of his arm,
01:18I'm like, yeah.
01:19This guy was, I mean, a legitimate pitcher.
01:23He was a great pitcher, but also obviously has the frame
01:27and the wherewithal to be a really good hitter.
01:29He's one of those guys I really, really liked in the draft
01:31and was hopeful that he would have slipped a couple years ago,
01:35but there was no way he was going to slip that far.
01:37So, fortunately for the Tigers, Javi Baez is El Mago, the magician,
01:43showing off what he can do, and that was a move, man.
01:47That was great.
01:48I love to see it.
01:50Love to see plays like that, and, you know, that's where replay is great
01:54because you want to get the call right.
01:56You know, there's a spectacular play.
01:57Did they get it right?
01:58They did.
01:59And it was a spectacular play on both ends.
02:02You had this great throw and a great slide,
02:04and the slide was better this time around.
02:06One thing that I've grown accustomed to in talking with fans over the years
02:10is that you start to understand that some fans, not all of them,
02:14will latch on to one thing that a guy can't do
02:17and say, for that reason, he shouldn't have the job he has,
02:22needs to go, blah, blah, blah.
02:24And in Javi's case, it's laying off a breaking pitch outside the strike zone.
02:28It's amazing how much he swings and misses at.
02:31If he didn't make $23 million, if he made $8 million,
02:34this town would love him.
02:35He plays two positions well.
02:38He has hit for them all over the order.
02:40He does have some pop at his bat.
02:42And he makes some plays in the field that make you go, wow.
02:46And then that slide last night, that slide very directly led to the win.
02:53Like it very directly in a 2-1 game to be out by a step at home plate
02:59and to be able to go crouching tiger, hidden dragon,
03:02a little parkour to touch the plate was amazing
03:09and very directly led to that win.
03:12And, you know, the flaws of our players are well documented.
03:16People call Sports Talk Radio to complain more than a compliment.
03:20But the – when you kind of total up what Javi's done for this team
03:26and price tag aside because price tag is –
03:29Price tag matters, but yeah.
03:30When you get a big raise in the game,
03:32if your production doesn't follow the raise,
03:36you hear it from fans.
03:37And he – you know, it's been a contract that has been well documented
03:42and people – I never would have thought, though,
03:46that when they got good, I could put everything aside
03:50and appreciate what Javi does.
03:52Like because Javi was supposed to be a guy that elevated the organization.
03:55And when it didn't happen right away, it was like,
03:58this is going to be a painful five years.
04:00As it turns out, the team got good around him.
04:04And now what he can do to help you, I appreciate more.
04:07Yeah, there's two things out of that, I think.
04:11One is that he is a gifted, natural athlete.
04:16I mean, the fact that you play the two toughest positions,
04:20you know, at shortstop and center field,
04:22and you play them both near flawlessly,
04:24it speaks volumes to your athleticism.
04:26And the way he's able to track a fly ball
04:28as well as he's able to dig out a ground ball in the hole,
04:31it's impressive.
04:33The other thing is, and that slide, what it showed,
04:36that's where when people talk about sports IQ,
04:39baseball IQ, football IQ, that's it right there.
04:42That's just knowing what you have to do.
04:44It's instinctive.
04:46And it's because it's someone who loves the game,
04:49loves the nuances of the game,
04:51and can immediately process it to make a game-changing play.
04:58And that's what that was last night.
04:59You know, we've seen those plays before,
05:01and it's amazing that Derek Jeter famously,
05:03you know, with that wild behind-the-back tag
05:06of Jason Giambi in the ALCS, I think it was,
05:10on that relay throw, it's like,
05:12they couldn't possibly have gotten him.
05:13And then you slow it down,
05:14you're like, he absolutely tagged him,
05:16and it was unbelievable.
05:16You mean, in foul territories between home and first,
05:19that play where he picked it up
05:20and flicked it to the catcher?
05:21Yeah, it was, yeah.
05:22It's just, there's amazing plays.
05:25And those are baseball IQ plays.
05:27And Javi's got that high baseball IQ that matters.
05:32And you're hoping that that's what we're seeing
05:34that rubs off and that the young Kevin McGonigal
05:37soaks it up like a sponge.
05:39All accounts is this is another guy
05:40who's got a high baseball IQ.
05:42Players that love the game,
05:43whether it's baseball, football, basketball,
05:45hockey, golf, whatever, you know,
05:47if you love the game,
05:48you're going to have an aptitude for it.
05:49And there's no question Javi has it.
05:51And I think that we've got several Tigers
05:53that really have that kind of aptitude.
05:54Well, it's really fun when it's working
05:57and when your team is winning
05:58and you can document the little things
06:00that when you stack them upon one another
06:03lead to the wins.
06:04That slide, I guess that slide
06:06isn't even really a little thing.
06:07That was a big thing.
06:08That was a huge way of stealing a run
06:12away from an out.
06:13I mean, it was an out and inning over.
06:16And here he is.
06:17They got on the board that way,
06:19they stayed a tie game
06:20until Wenzel Perez came up
06:22and took care of business.
06:23And who was it that got thrown out at home?
06:25McKinstry.
06:26McKinstry, okay.
06:26And Z-Mac's trying to do the same thing, right?
06:29He's wide of the base.
06:30He's doing everything he's supposed to do.
06:32But it's just a play.
06:34It was a play made by Kansas City
06:36and it happened like that.
06:38You know, both of those plays
06:39get reviewed and get overturned.
06:41And that's kind of a...
06:42Both of those plays are plays
06:43I kind of have sympathy for the umpires,
06:45which normally I don't have much for.
06:47But in those plays I do
06:48because it's so close.
06:49It's so tight
06:50that you really have to slow things down.
06:51And it's all about positioning.
06:53And, you know,
06:54I'm not faulting the umpire
06:55for missing the call on both of those.
06:58You know, it's just fine.
07:00Replay takes care of it.
07:01And it shows how baseball
07:03is truly a game of inches.
07:05In the meantime,
07:06Wenzel Perez.
07:08I mean, big clutch home run
07:09for a guy that was told
07:11three weeks ago,
07:13you're going to have to go to the minors.
07:14And went down to the minors.
07:17Stayed sharp.
07:18Maybe even got sharper.
07:20Comes up.
07:20I thought AJ's story this morning,
07:22and we'll play it for you later in the show,
07:24was great about
07:25he's put in the game
07:26in an emergency situation.
07:28He's getting ready to bat right-handed.
07:30And then there's a change.
07:32Now he's got to bat left-handed.
07:33And he hits a bomb.
07:36It was great.
07:37Cool moment.
07:38You know, I said earlier,
07:39he golfed it like it was a pitching wedge.
07:41And he did.
07:42You know, it's 120 yards out.
07:44And he's just able to reach down and get it.
07:47It wasn't terribly dissimilar
07:49from a Kerry Carpenter home run we saw recently.
07:51It was kind of the same thing.
07:53Reach down there and get it.
07:55And look, this is why,
07:57one of the reasons why he's up here
07:58is because he's got the versatility
08:00to play anywhere in the outfield
08:01and a couple places in the infield.
08:03And he's a switch hitter.
08:04This is what gives him that advantage.
08:07And it wasn't a surprise
08:09he was going to be the first player called up.
08:10And, you know, make the most of your opportunity.
08:13I think once a Paris is a fine addition,
08:15I don't think he's, you know,
08:17a starter in Major League Baseball,
08:18but he's a piece on a team
08:20when you need backup players
08:22and guys that have the versatility
08:23to play all over the place.
08:25They're going to, I mean,
08:26if he stays up the rest of the year,
08:28they're going to find a way
08:29where he's going to get like 300 plate appearance.
08:30Probably.
08:32Probably if he stays up.
08:33I mean, you know,
08:33the only reason he's here
08:34is because Parker Mental
08:35is going to be gone for a while.
08:37Yeah.
08:37So he's going to get his opportunity.
08:38And you need those guys,
08:42guy 22, 23, 24 on the roster
08:45to find a way to contribute.
08:47And that was,
08:47it was big last night.
08:48A little miscommunication in the outfield,
08:51which led to a drop five ball.
08:52Ian Carpenter.
08:53Yep.
08:53Yep.
08:54But in the end,
08:55it didn't burn him.
08:55So, all right.
08:57We'll have Tiger talk throughout the day.
08:58And if you missed AJ Hinch this morning,
09:00we'll play the best of what he told
09:01our morning shows.
09:02We are scheduled to lead
09:03into Tiger baseball.
09:04We'll see if they get this one underway
09:06if it starts in a delay,
09:07but we'll know as the day goes on.
09:10If you're making your way down here,
09:11stay tuned for updates.
09:12In the meantime,
09:13we got some new NFL draft news.
09:17We aggregate it all in one place
09:18called the draft aggregate blitz thingy.
09:20And we will get to that today at 1031.
09:23It's Carson Anderson,
09:24downtown Detroit
09:24for the Hockey Town Cafe
09:26and the Sound Space Studios
09:27here on 97.1.
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