00:00Good morning, Jim Costa, John Jansen, Heather Park, Gov and Greg behind the glass.
00:05It's a Wednesday, middle of the week, hump day.
00:07John, good morning.
00:08Hey, good morning.
00:09How you doing?
00:10Good.
00:10I tell you what, it took five games, but I finally saw a World Cup game that was decided
00:20not by a tie, but by somebody actually scoring more goals than another team.
00:27It took five games.
00:28And I did hear that on Monday's performance of four ties in four games, it was only the
00:38second time in World Cup history.
00:41Now, it's probably going to be more common because there's more teams, more games, but
00:44it's only the second time in World Cup history that that's happened in one day.
00:49I think the last time was like 1958.
00:51Right.
00:52So just bad timing, I guess.
00:55Yeah, don't judge it by Monday, judge it more by yesterday, where France, some firepower,
01:01especially to start that second half.
01:03Mbappe.
01:04Mbappe gets a couple goals.
01:05Messi had a hat trick late in the night.
01:07He actually had some winners and some big performances.
01:09Yeah.
01:09What is Messi?
01:1039 years old?
01:1138.
01:1238.
01:12I think it'll be 39 by the time this is over.
01:14Yeah.
01:15You got Ronaldo playing today at 41.
01:17Yeah.
01:17It's remarkable.
01:19And I mean, athletes are playing much later into their careers than they previously had.
01:24Some are.
01:25Some are retiring actually earlier because the money is so great.
01:28But there are a lot that are playing later.
01:31We saw Tom do it.
01:32We've seen now the Williams sisters are talking about a comeback in doubles.
01:37LeBron's still playing.
01:38Yeah.
01:40So it is fun to be able to see some of the great players play longer because you want
01:47to be able to enjoy their careers.
01:49And again, I'm not a soccer guy, but when you have a guy like Ronaldo or Messi, and I
01:54know that there are huge fans around the world of these, I'm happy for them that they get
02:00a chance to see their heroes play later into their careers.
02:03Yeah.
02:03I don't want to call them old, but the elder statesman of sports.
02:07Athletes they are.
02:07Yeah, but like we just saw the oldest consummate winner in hockey.
02:11The elder statesman are having a moment right now.
02:13Messi with a hat trick if you stayed up late to beat Rock Chalk Algeria.
02:18Stop it.
02:18You know that just annoys me.
02:19That's the only reason you say that.
02:23I'm not going to go the way I did yesterday.
02:24I'm trying to, you know, goosefraba.
02:27A little spicy start to yesterday show.
02:29Yeah.
02:29Okay.
02:30But here's where we're at with the Tigers.
02:31Oh, come on.
02:32Now.
02:33Okay.
02:34I don't bring this up to anger you.
02:36I here's where we're at.
02:38I don't even know how much time we should spend on them.
02:40Like, I don't know how much you guys listening care.
02:43So I could present a blame game from last night, right?
02:48But I don't know if the game mattered enough.
02:49If people are angry enough or if they've checked out because they're not building momentum.
02:55They're just yo-yoing.
02:56Win one, lose one, win one, lose one.
02:58Last night's loss.
02:59We could look at Joey Cora with an aggressive sender on third.
03:03We could look at pinch hitting 0 for 3.
03:08Jemai Jones comes in.
03:09Jake Rogers was used as a pinch hitter last night.
03:12Well, you were watching the game.
03:13Yeah.
03:14And Jemai Jones comes in.
03:16Now, Kerry Carpenter, right?
03:17He wasn't lighting it on fire.
03:18He had a walk, but, you know, two at-bats, one strikeout, and just, you know, put the bat
03:23on the ball another time.
03:24But nothing when Jemai came in, did you turn it off?
03:30No.
03:32Then you're partly to blame.
03:34It's my fault.
03:35So if you want to blame, you can blame me.
03:36You can blame Jemai.
03:37You can blame AJ.
03:38You can blame Jake Rogers.
03:39You can blame McGonagall and Dingler, who had a couple blunders in the field.
03:42Uncharacteristic.
03:43Yeah.
03:44You can blame the bullpen.
03:45I know that's Tom's big thing.
03:46It's been an issue all season.
03:47Blown lead.
03:48We could play the blame game.
03:49I just don't know what the reaction is going to be.
03:51I don't know if people are getting to the point where they just throw their hands up
03:55in the air.
03:56What do you want me to say?
03:57What do you want us to talk about?
04:01So I guess maybe it's more.
04:06When did you turn it off?
04:08I mean, I had it on until the end.
04:11Okay.
04:12And I was into it until Jemai came in.
04:18Then I'm like, you know what?
04:19No, I'm done.
04:20I'm not going to watch it anymore.
04:22I'm just not.
04:23I am protesting.
04:24It is my one single protest that as when he is in the game, I'm not watching.
04:32And I think I mentioned it a couple of days ago.
04:34Like, I'm just going to turn it off.
04:35And last night, I turned it off and just never turned it back on.
04:38But it's normally like three, four minutes because I just can't take it anymore.
04:44He's hitting a whopping 129.
04:48129.
04:50And if you want to talk about the quality of the at bat, John, I know you had turned it
04:54off at this point, but it was a little pop up in the infield.
05:00So no power.
05:01So no, no power.
05:04And I believe it off the double check.
05:05I think he took two strikes and then 0-2 popped it up.
05:11Yeah.
05:12Strike looking, strike swinging, pop out.
05:17There are some coaches, there are some players, and I watch this a lot when, when, you know,
05:23Jack and Ellie are playing.
05:25It doesn't matter.
05:26Baseball, softball, who are, hey, a lot of, a lot of batters go up there and take the first pitch.
05:32That's part of why I love watching Kevin McGonigal, because every time he goes up there, even
05:38if he's not successful in a baseball, you're going to be unsuccessful more than you're successful.
05:42But it's like he's in attack mode every single time.
05:46And when somebody like Jemai goes up there, this is why I turn it off, because it infuriates
05:52me, and they watch one go by.
05:54Now, if it's low and outside and it just barely nicks the strike zone, fine.
05:58All right, I understand.
05:59You get a pitch that you can't do anything with.
06:02I get taking that one.
06:04But the amount of times that he's up there and it's middle, middle, and he takes it.
06:08I'm like, why are you not swinging?
06:11We need more swings.
06:12You need more opportunities to put bat on ball.
06:16Can you help me with this one?
06:18Probably not.
06:19Jake Rogers is a pinch hitter.
06:23Anybody got it?
06:24Any?
06:25Well, maybe he's a better option than Jemai is, but.
06:29And I guess the argument is he's pinch hitting from McKinstry, who's not done much either.
06:35I don't know why Jake Rogers would ever be called off the bench to swing a bat to drive
06:39in runs.
06:41Well, you've got a guy with a 515 OPS in Jake Rogers coming in for a guy with a 502
06:49OPS.
06:51How about that for the numbers?
06:53This team has so many faults that they can't get.
06:57They always get in their way.
06:59Yeah.
06:59Like last night, obviously, invest wasn't helped by the McGonagall error.
07:04Yeah.
07:04You know, but they have four guys with four blown saves.
07:07They have a guy who had no power all season, hit three home runs the other night, and he
07:12happens to fall down and hurt his wrist and couldn't play Colt Keith.
07:15So they have Torres and Keith both on the bench, essentially unavailable.
07:19And what I would call a hitter's friendly ballpark.
07:22You know, this maybe he starts getting hot, so they don't get that.
07:25You know, Valdez had been struggling.
07:27They get a solid start out of him last night, and then the other faults get in their way.
07:32And this pinch-hitting crap gets in their way.
07:35It's just they can't get.
07:37They have so many problems that one will always rise up.
07:41So the next time around, they'll score five runs, but Valdez will have a rough start.
07:46You see what I'm saying?
07:47That's what's happened to this team.
07:48They're just kind of.
07:49It's always something.
07:50They can't get out of their way.
07:51Yeah.
07:51They're always something.
07:52There's always something.
07:53The always something team.
07:55Texter says pinch hit more like pinch a loaf.
08:01Fast forward to the middle of July.
08:05Jemai Jones is going to get a pinch hit knock, snapping an 0 for 57 streak.
08:10And AJ will say, I told you so.
08:12Yeah.
08:12He was due.
08:14I'm not doing the he was due at all.
08:19I'm just not.
08:22And at some point, hey, the old saying, a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
08:28I'm just not going to celebrate any hit that he gets unless he can string together four or five games.
08:35Like, just give us a torque.
08:37I'm not even asking five, five home runs in five games or a Colt Keith.
08:42Hey, all of a sudden, you know, it feels like the light bulb goes on.
08:45You have one home run that all of a sudden you have a game with three.
08:48Like, Jemai, I don't even think he has that.
08:52Like, he just can't randomly do that.
08:55No.
08:57Do you remember how many games back they were when the month started or what?
09:00How many games below 500?
09:02They were was like 16 below 16.
09:04And what are they right now?
09:0513.
09:05Okay.
09:06So and I they're going to be a team, I believe, for the rest of the season that goes anywhere
09:13from seven back of the division.
09:19To nine or 10 back of the division, like it's just going to be this yo-yo back and forth
09:24to where there's there's a week like we had where they win six out of seven.
09:29You're like, okay, we're going.
09:30But the longer it goes, the less important that is because they just aren't digging out
09:36of the hole that they dug themselves in in May.
09:38And you look at the wildcard standings, which is you would think, okay, six games back at this
09:44point, you're like, ah, that seems manageable.
09:47But they're not doing anything to make up ground.
09:53Look, they could win today with Mize on the mound.
09:55But do you trust them to take two or three against the first place White Sox in the series
09:59that follows?
10:00Right.
10:01Verlander will get a start on Sunday.
10:02That was the big news yesterday.
10:03Do you have any confidence that he's going to be a stabilizing force?
10:08The guy struggled to stay healthy at 43 years old.
10:10They're just really struggling to consistently.
10:12They need to get on fire.
10:15They're struggling to build momentum.
10:17But they have to be on fire, given the fact that the clock's running out.
10:20If they can win today, you win the series.
10:23That's four out of five series.
10:24You get back to 12 under, you have a 10-game homestand coming up.
10:27Yep.
10:28And you're really going to have to go seven and three minimum.
10:31Yeah.
10:31You'll have to be.
10:32I mean, it'll have to be gangbusters.
10:33That includes the Yankees and White Sox.
10:35Yep.
10:37Yeah, but they got Scooble with the opening one.
10:41They get a day off Thursday.
10:43Scooble on the mound Friday to start things off against the White Sox.
10:46Set the tone.
10:49I mean, that's good.
10:51And hopefully that works out.
10:52But the next two days are Montero and JV against the White Sox offense.
10:57You're just digging into going in the bullpen early, it looks like,
11:01in both those games.
11:02And it's just, then you trust the bullpen.
11:03I mean, look, I still contend that just not being able to close out games
11:09is this biggest, is why this team has probably no chance to get out of this.
11:13If the three closers all had three blown saves, which isn't good enough
11:17in mid-June, okay, that would be, they'd be 10 under.
11:21And you'd be having maybe a little bit more glimmer of hope.
11:24I don't expect big audience participation on it, but just around the room.
11:27Biggest reason they lost the game last night.
11:31Tom, you can lead off if you'd like.
11:34I know I've been a bullpen hater, but I think it's the pinch hitting.
11:37Okay.
11:380 for 3 with pinch hitters last night.
11:39Yeah.
11:40Including Jake Rogers in a big spot.
11:42Jemai Jones again.
11:46Greg, what's the biggest reason they lost that game?
11:49Messi's hat trick.
11:50Okay.
11:51That's a valid answer.
11:52John, biggest reason they lost that game?
12:00I'll say bullpen.
12:01I mean, you give up three in the eighth.
12:04Like, you had a chance to win that game.
12:09You're up 2-1.
12:11You just take the lead, and then you turn around, and you give it right back.
12:18Because you've got no stability.
12:20You've got no one that comes in and just takes control of the game.
12:26But you could say hitters.
12:30My answer is defense.
12:34Uncharacteristic, but Dingler, pass ball, there's a run, gave him life.
12:39And McGonagall, as much as we want to bitch about the bullpen, if he fields the ball cleanly, there's no
12:43bullpen blowing a lead.
12:44So, it's an unlikely source of ire or blame, but I think McGonagall and Dingler in the field were the
12:51biggest reason they lost.
12:52I mean, it's a continuation of all the things we've seen.
12:55Bullpen, pinch hitting, Messi's hat trick.
12:57Well, and this is where they're at, right?
12:59Because you need your best players.
13:02You need your best players to be perfect.
13:04That's impossible.
13:05Right?
13:06No, I know.
13:06That's why I didn't throw them.
13:08Not that you're throwing them under the bus.
13:09It's a valid reason as to why they lost that game.
13:11But if you're expecting Dingler and McGonagall, a rookie, to be perfect every single time, that's your expectation?
13:20But that's why I say it goes back to they can't get out of their own way.
13:22You finally get a good Valdez start.
13:24You're in a ball game.
13:26You get a lead.
13:27And then somebody makes an error that rarely does.
13:31And a gold glove catcher has a miscue.
13:35Of course.
13:36It's like chasing your tail.
13:38These tigers, these cats.
13:40Hey, speaking of cats, we'll play cat or kitten coming up at 635.
13:46Explain what that means.
13:47Plus, spotted in Royal Oak.
13:49It's just too much.
13:51We'll do that at the end of the hour.
13:52It's 97.1.
13:53We'll do that at the end of the hour.
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