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00:00Let's welcome in Jake Eisenberg from the Royals.
00:04We'll get to that.
00:05I have to start with this topic.
00:07Look, my guess is Jake Eisenberg, who travels with a lot of people.
00:12There's someone I'm sure that they travel with that does something,
00:15but everybody's eating their food or at least throwing it away, I would presume, right?
00:19I have no idea what you're talking about.
00:22Someone's just leaving food around that building.
00:24What are you asking?
00:26Okay, well, Logan, who hosts nights here at the station.
00:29I need some context.
00:31Logan, who hosts nights at this station, has a history of leaving food in the studio,
00:37or in this case, in our company kitchen, there's a half-eaten sandwich.
00:41It's been sitting there clearly since last night when he was hosting
00:43because there was no Royals game.
00:44We're just trying to figure out how is this happening on a regular basis.
00:48Yeah, that's unacceptable.
00:50Come on, Logan, clean it up.
00:51Do you ever eat during the broadcast, or are you no food for the three hours?
00:56No, I'll usually have maybe a snack or two depending upon the inning
01:00and how the game is going and also what my hunger level is.
01:03I've got a thing of cashews with me, or sometimes we'll sneak into the press room
01:08and get some popcorn.
01:09That's always nice.
01:10It's kind of frowned upon from a broadcast perspective.
01:13Popcorn's not a great broadcast food because it kind of gets caught in your throat
01:19a little bit sometimes.
01:19But, you know, I do it anyway.
01:22You know what?
01:23Rule breaker.
01:24Look at you.
01:25You like to live on the edge, Jake.
01:27That's me.
01:27That's me.
01:28I'm a broadcaster on the edge.
01:30Popcorn in the booth.
01:31I hope you wear a leather jacket tonight.
01:32We wear, you know, look real tough.
01:34Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to agree.
01:36I'm going to grease my hair back.
01:37Perfect.
01:37Just for you guys.
01:38You should.
01:39The bad boy of Royals play-by-play, you know?
01:41Yeah, Jake Eisenberg.
01:43What did you, maybe you don't want to share, but the off day for you,
01:47what do you do on an off day?
01:52So, what I do on an off day is honestly try to get my feet back under me,
01:55hit the reset button at home a little bit.
01:57We hadn't had a full off day at home without travel, I think, in about a month.
02:03And, you know, this is a little bit more information than you need,
02:06but actually we were going to have some friends come to town
02:08and stay with us for the weekend and get to, you know, hang out with them.
02:13You know, a friend of mine from high school and his wife were coming in.
02:14But there was a sinkhole at the airport in LaGuardia.
02:18I saw this, yes.
02:20And so their flights were canceled and they couldn't get rebooked
02:24because of this sinkhole at the airport, which honestly sounds like a made-up excuse.
02:29And if I couldn't confirm it myself, I would have thought that my buddy Dan
02:32was, like, you know, coming up with some curb your enthusiasm bit.
02:36But, no, there was actually a sinkhole at the airport.
02:38So we had planned yesterday to spend the entire day with them
02:41and take them around Kansas City and get some barbecue and got to dinner.
02:44So we wound up calling an audible and said,
02:47my wife and I went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and got a couch.
02:51Oh, hey, all right, all right.
02:52Mission accomplished, Jake.
02:53Yeah, mission accomplished.
02:55Like, if you're Q, like, sometimes it's like,
02:59sometimes you don't say things every time.
03:00Sometimes it's a long season.
03:01It's not a requirement to constantly give a thousand mini speeches.
03:05But you had to have told the team to treat yesterday as, like, a mental reset,
03:09the way you're talking about in the forget everything that took place for a minute
03:12and try to come back on Friday like the season started anew.
03:16They give Vinny the day off on Wednesday.
03:17I feel like that has to be the mentality or the way they're trying to let the team
03:22come in to Friday.
03:23As in, nothing's happened up to this point, and let's just start from today.
03:27Yeah, I think that's a good way to look at it.
03:29Look, I don't know that Q even needs to say that to the guys.
03:32I think these guys understand the ebbs and flows of a season
03:35and what hitting the reset button means.
03:38And I can tell you personally that yesterday, for me,
03:41was hitting the reset button in a lot of different aspects, not just baseball,
03:45but also, you know, cleaning up some stuff around the house
03:47and just feeling a little more centered.
03:49Again, it was our first full off day in Kansas City in a month.
03:53And so there's a lot going on, you know, with travel days and off days here,
03:56there, and everywhere.
03:57I'm sure there are some guys who took the entire day
04:00and did nothing baseball-related, as they should, you know,
04:03just to hit the reset button and kind of flip the switch.
04:06I'm sure there are some guys that still did some baseball activities
04:08because that's what they felt was important to do in one way or another.
04:12But I do think that it's fair to say that coming into the ballpark today
04:17and coming into this series, that there's got to be a mentality of,
04:21okay, those first 50 games that happened, they happened.
04:24Can't change those.
04:26You've got to focus on the next, you know, 112 games that are left
04:31because there's still 112 games left.
04:34And, you know, you can either let the first 50 games define you
04:37or you can let the next 112 games define you
04:41and you can continue to go one game at a time, one day at a time.
04:45You can't go back and beat the Red Sox three times from earlier this week.
04:48All you can do is beat the Mariners tonight
04:50and then try to beat them tomorrow.
04:52And I do think as much as that message can be difficult to sustain or hear
05:00because it is the same message today, today, focus on today.
05:04And, yes, the results do matter because this is a results-based game.
05:06Again, you can only control what you can control.
05:09And the only thing you can control is your effort today
05:11and how you play against your opponent today
05:13and how I broadcast tonight's game.
05:16I can't go back and correct some of the stupid things I said on the air,
05:19you know, a few days ago or last week or what have you.
05:22Do they bother me?
05:24Sure.
05:24But I can't let those things affect the way that I'm going to call tonight's game.
05:27And I'd imagine that also transfers to, you know, what happens on the field.
05:30Just because you struck out or flied out in a big spot on Monday or Tuesday
05:34doesn't mean that that's going to carry over into tonight.
05:37We're talking to Jake Eisenberg here on 96.5 The Fan.
05:39Look, this team is 20 and 30.
05:41It's the lowest point of the season.
05:42I know we all hope this is as low as it gets, sitting 10 games under 500.
05:46Where do you, I'm sure there's a lot of reasons for it,
05:48but where has it gone wrong for this team?
05:52Yeah.
05:52I mean, I don't know that there's one big answer.
05:55And frankly, I think if there was one big answer or one easy answer,
05:59then, you know, somebody much smarter than me
06:02would have already figured it out, obviously.
06:04I think it has to do with a lot of little things overall
06:08that kind of just crop up over time.
06:10You know, it does feel in some ways like there have been points
06:14where the starting pitching has been great,
06:16but the offense hasn't necessarily come through.
06:18Or the offense has had a really good week,
06:20but the rotation had a couple of rough starts,
06:23you know, a couple of turns through the rotation.
06:25The bullpen struggled to begin the season,
06:27and they turned it around and were great.
06:29Now they're back to a point where they're working with some very slim margins,
06:33and so even if they give up one run over the course of four innings
06:37or one run over the course of five innings,
06:38that one run gets magnified, you know, like it did the other night
06:41with the home run allowed to Jaron Duran.
06:44You know, if the Royals are up six to two at that point
06:47and Duran is a two-run homer, yeah, you're bummed about the home run,
06:50but you're still winning by two, right?
06:52So I think it's a matter of just not everything clicking at the same time,
06:57which does feel in some ways to what we experienced last year
07:00where the different parts of the team were really good individually,
07:03but it didn't always come together all at the same time.
07:06And then I think you can point to just some of the little things.
07:09You know, this is a team that has prided itself on doing the little things.
07:13They do take the extra base really well.
07:15They take the extra base above average in baseball.
07:18Sometimes that aggressiveness comes back to bite you
07:20and especially comes back to haunt you in those close games
07:23where you try to take that extra 90 feet and you come up short
07:26and you get thrown out here and you get thrown out there.
07:28Then there's, you know, hitting with runners in scoring position,
07:30which is always going to be something that you focus on,
07:33even if it is sort of a random nebulous thing that's hard to pin down
07:37why it's good some days and why it's bad other days.
07:40But the Royals have been great, you know, in terms of sacrifice fly,
07:42the most sacrifice flies, I think, in baseball right now, if I'm not mistaken.
07:46But in other situations, it feels like there's a leadoff double
07:49or a couple of guys on a certain inning,
07:51and it's hard to manufacture that one run.
07:53That was certainly the case the other night, too.
07:55So I don't think it's one big answer.
07:56I think it's a bunch of little things that seem to pop up here or pop up there,
08:01and it just hasn't all come together at the same time.
08:05Noah Cameron on the mound tonight, his last outing was a quality start,
08:08still not scoreless or one or two runs like maybe he would prefer.
08:12But, like, what did you see anything in his last start
08:15that makes you think maybe it's a little bit more repeatable
08:17versus where his season has started a bit rocky?
08:21Yes.
08:21I mean, and I talked to Noah the other day,
08:23and we've talked after a couple of his starts.
08:25But for him, first pitch strikes is such a key.
08:28And when he gets ahead in the count, he is a completely different pitcher.
08:32Now, that's true for all pitchers,
08:33but his splits ahead of the count versus behind of the count are pretty extreme.
08:38And so getting that first pitch strike is really important.
08:41He did an excellent job of that against the Cardinals this past weekend,
08:44not just getting ahead of the count,
08:46but also inducing some weak contact and being efficient.
08:49You know, it was six innings.
08:51He only threw 82 pitches.
08:52So it was a really efficient six innings, too.
08:55And, yes, he gave up three runs on five hits,
08:57but what stood out to me was zero walks for the first time in the start this season.
09:01So he was getting ahead and staying ahead and not giving up free base runners.
09:05That is something that is sustainable.
09:07He's also made some adjustments mechanically with his arm angle,
09:10which had dropped a little bit,
09:12and that had changed some of the movement on the slider
09:15and made it less effective.
09:16By raising that arm angle back up, the slider's a little bit more effective.
09:20It's helped his changeup, too.
09:21We saw that in his last start also.
09:23So there were a lot of good things under the surface from that last start
09:26in addition to the final numbers, which was a quality start.
09:30Lastly for you, Jake, just the Mariners coming to town,
09:33just what should we expect from them
09:34and what we're going to stand out of the Royals,
09:36face them, what, a month ago, I guess?
09:38Yeah, it's a little bit of a different Mariners team
09:40than the group that the Royals faced a month ago.
09:43Cal Raleigh is on the injured list.
09:44Brendan Donovan is still on the injured list.
09:47Victor Robles has been on the injured list all season.
09:50Gabe Spire, former Royal, he's also on the injured list right now.
09:52So this is a pretty banged-up Mariners team
09:55that has some of the same parts that the Royals saw a month ago.
09:58One big new piece is Colt Emerson,
10:00who was their first-round pick from a couple of years ago.
10:02He made his Major League debut this past weekend,
10:05called up from AAA Tacoma.
10:07He's someone that the Mariners gave a multi-year extension to
10:09before he made his big-league debut.
10:11He is their shortstop of the future,
10:13and it sounds like he's going to be their everyday shortstop
10:16while Donovan is on the injured list,
10:17and it sounds like J.P. Crawford is going to more play third base
10:20in the interim, although that hasn't exactly happened yet.
10:23It just seems to be the way that they're talking about it.
10:25So it's a little bit of a different team.
10:27They've also got guys like Patrick Wisdom
10:29that they called up from AAA.
10:31He had been on the injured list.
10:32Expect to see Rob Refsnyder in the lineup,
10:34Connor Joe in the lineup tonight.
10:35They're right-handed bats that they use off the bench.
10:38And then the bullpen's really interesting right now
10:40because they got Bryce Miller back from an injury,
10:42and Luis Castillo, La Piedro, the rock,
10:45is pitching out of the bullpen for the first time,
10:47I think, in his career.
10:49He threw 54 pitches or something like that this past Tuesday.
10:54So it'll be interesting to see how they navigate their bullpen now
10:57with Munoz still at the back end,
10:59and Ferrer's a big piece for them.
11:00But it's a Mariners team that's definitely banged up.
11:02They're three games under .500.
11:04There are very few teams in the American League
11:06that have separated themselves quite yet.
11:08You know, as tough of a stretch as it's been for the Royals,
11:11losing 9 of 10, they're still one of, let's see,
11:14I'm looking at the standings right now,
11:15one of seven teams in the American League wildcard picture
11:18that's within four and a half games of each other.
11:21So it's still pretty compact.
11:22And that's one of the things that gives you, you know,
11:25some hope and some optimism for these next 112 games that,
11:29yeah, the first 50 weren't great,
11:30but the first 50 weren't great for a lot of teams.
11:32And it's which team can now turn the page
11:35to kind of the second third of the season.
11:37Well, be careful with the popcorn tonight, all right?
11:39Be careful if you're going to grab some kernels
11:41in the fifth inning or something like that.
11:43Well, so I'm on TV this weekend with Jeremy Guthrie.
11:46He is a popcorn expert.
11:49So I'm in safe hands with Jay Guts on the popcorn side of things.
11:53We'll have to have him on the show.
11:54I need to know what being a popcorn expert actually entails.
11:57I'll tell you what, you know, everywhere we go,
12:00he manages to find, I swear, the biggest bag of popcorn
12:02you could ever conceive.
12:05I remember, I mean, last year, I think we were in Sacramento
12:07and they had some, you know, ballpark popcorn
12:10and like these giant bags and it was left over
12:12and no one was going to take it.
12:14And they were like, do you want it?
12:14He was like, sure.
12:15And he brought it on the plane with us.
12:16I mean, he just loves popcorn.
12:18And that's great.
12:19Like I love, I love popcorn too.
12:20It's a great snack.
12:21You just got to be careful with it.
12:22But we're a, we're a daring group over here
12:24on the Royals radio network and on Royals TV.
12:26All right, man.
12:27Have a good call throughout the weekend.
12:29All right.
12:30Thanks guys.
12:30There you go.
12:31That's Jake Eisenberg.
12:31As you heard there, he's going to be on TV
12:32for Royals TV throughout the week.
12:34And you, of course, always hear him on Fridays
12:35here on 96.5 The Fan.
12:37And throughout the season,
12:37you'll hear him broadcast games on 96.5 The Fan as well.
12:41Yeah.
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