00:00Hey, the Braves, speaking of kicking it around, they kicked it around defensively yesterday.
00:05I mean, you want to talk about an anemic offense of late, right?
00:09And I'll ask Bo, like the Mike Yastrzemski thing they had where you had a nice story
00:15a couple of weeks ago when you had a couple of walk-offs, right?
00:18Dude, that was a bad last at bat with a guy, I think Dom was on second, was it Dom?
00:23And then they pinch ran for him and they got a guy on second base.
00:25It's kind of a microcosm of Mike Yastrzemski and the whole struggles out there in the outfield
00:30in general for that left-field position.
00:33And then we know the struggles of Austin Riley.
00:35We know we haven't hit it all in June.
00:37Like, what jumps out at you more than anything else?
00:39And the Yas thing has not worked.
00:41We agree with that, right?
00:41Yeah, well, it's become health.
00:42You didn't bring Yas in here to be an everyday left fielder, right?
00:45You brought Yas in here to be a platoon guy, probably with Eli White.
00:49So we got to get Ronnie on the field.
00:50And that's been the big story.
00:51It's been health.
00:52Yeah.
00:52You know, Austin Riley struggles.
00:53You know, you may have to just chalk up to being a bad season.
00:56Hassan Kim, who knows what's going to happen there.
00:58But he's coming off of the worst statistical June of any team in Major League Baseball.
01:02Yeah, not good.
01:03I don't know if that should make you, you know, well, that's kind of an anomaly.
01:06Maybe that won't happen in July.
01:07Or does that keep going into July?
01:09Hopefully it doesn't.
01:10Here's the thing.
01:11Here's the thing.
01:13The way we looked in April and May, I remember sitting here with Sandra going like,
01:16we're going to have a crazy October.
01:18We're going to the NLCS.
01:19We're as good as the Dodgers.
01:21We're better than anybody in baseball.
01:22You know, you get yourself all riled up.
01:24For sure.
01:24It's like, look up and down the lineup.
01:26Look at the year the Elders have it.
01:28Look at the year that Chris Sale's having.
01:30Look at the bullpen, best bullpen in baseball.
01:33I go, there's not an out out there.
01:35Drake Baldwin, Michael Harris, Ozzie's got it going.
01:38Olsen's hitting.
01:40Now, what did Bo just say?
01:42Like, you know, is it an aberration?
01:45Does not feel like an aberration.
01:46It feels like what plagues us is real, and it's not going to have an end any day in sight.
01:52And maybe because the Giants are one of the worst teams in the majors.
01:57And by the way, do you hear the numbers that Rafael Devers has put up against the Atlanta Braves?
02:04I think it's 14 homers in, like, 38 games.
02:09He has 44 or 45 RBIs against them.
02:12I'm just shocked how many games he played against them.
02:15I guess that means the Red Sox and Braves played every year six times for the last, you know, seven
02:22years.
02:23For him to get 38 games against the Braves, and by the way, just wore them out over the weekend.
02:28But when you're losing to the Giants, and Bryce Helder is struggling the way he is, and the offense looks
02:33the way it does,
02:34I guess Hurston Waldrop on Friday was a good sign?
02:38Yeah, Hurston Waldrop with two great innings.
02:40I think he allowed two hits.
02:42Ronaldo Lopez also had a great outing.
02:44So if you want to split those guys up in another start, by all means, go ahead.
02:47Or offer them each their own start.
02:49We'll see.
02:49They both got to get stretched out.
02:51A.J. Smith-Shauver starting a rehab, doing a rehab start in Augusta on Tuesday.
02:57So his last five games this season, he won three of them last year, had a three-and-a-half
03:01ERA, a little high.
03:02But a little bit of help maybe on the way, at least enough to get us through the All-Star
03:06break,
03:07where maybe we can hype up some trade talks there.
03:09Yeah, the Ronald thing, you know, there'll be plenty of time to talk about the legacy of Ronald Acuna in
03:16Atlanta.
03:16But it is such an example of there is very few clear paths to greatness or that people's storyline is
03:27exactly as one would predict.
03:30And I've heard people say, look, Bron James is one of the greatest examples in sports history of whatever the
03:34hype was.
03:35He lived it in way past anything he ever could have imagined, right?
03:39Because he was hyped that way in high school, right?
03:41Yeah, the best ever with the expectations that was set out in front of him.
03:44I mean, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a junior in high school.
03:47And now he's, you know, arguably one of the best basketball players of all time.
03:50And my point is whether any of you listening had kids who went to play D1 sports,
03:54and I told you that 90% of any parent I know that went somewhere where their kid,
03:58this is before NIL even, or, you know, before Portal and all that stuff,
04:03but that, you know, 90% of those dads, their kid ended up two or three places just because of
04:08injury,
04:09or they decided they were done with the sport, or playing time completely changed.
04:13Now, they weren't going to four schools, but they never ended up where they started,
04:17and it was never the path they imagined.
04:19That's more or less what happens in sports.
04:21Ronald Acuna, early in his career compared to Willie Mays, Mickey Man,
04:24like there's no name that you couldn't put out there.
04:27The ultimate five-tool player, right?
04:30Nobody's ever run like that, that could hit for that kind of power,
04:33that the arm that this guy had, that also could hit for average,
04:36that also, like people would say, you sit in the batting cage and watch him,
04:39and you go, this guy is going to change baseball.
04:42And that has not happened because he can't stay healthy.
04:46And if you look at the long term and what his numbers, and he's hurt again,
04:51and you just start to say, like, you know, that legacy is,
04:55we're going to have to rethink the narrative on the career of Ronald Acuna.
04:58The best ability is availability, and he's not available.
05:02He has not had it.
05:03He has not had it.
05:05And that's just a huge source of frustration.
05:08Something new every year, too, with Ronnie.
05:10Yeah.
05:10You know, it's left knee, right knee, now it's hamstring.
05:14Now it's, you know, and all these injuries are unrelated.
05:17Right.
05:17What are the thoughts around Austin Riley?
05:19I mean, the guy is a complete lightning rod right now.
05:21Now he's pressing, and he's trying to do too much with every at-bat that he gets,
05:25which has him swinging at pitches outside the stride zone.
05:28It's a very cyclical thing being in a slump in Major League Baseball.
05:31Right.
05:32And you don't really get opportunities to, like,
05:34you want to go down and maybe face lesser pitching to get caught back up.
05:38That would help him a lot.
05:39But you don't send Austin Riley down.
05:40That's just not a thing.
05:42No, it's not a thing.
05:44And what is he going to work out down there?
05:46I don't know, man.
05:47Gain confidence against minor league pitchers.
05:49There could be an option for Hassan Kim that they may be able to explore,
05:52but he would have to accept going down there.
05:54He could decline a DFA, you know, but you could give him an assignment.
05:58It works for some guys.
05:59Austin Riley, 209 batting average on the season.
06:03You know, those scoreboards in Major League Baseball,
06:07those video screens are enormous, and I don't want to overstate it,
06:10but when you get up to plate and you're staring at that number back at you
06:14and you realize the path to get to 230 and 240.
06:17Not exactly positive reinforcement.
06:19No, I mean, it's just overwhelming.
06:21I mean, like, you know, I know we're in a different era,
06:24but 209 is 209, man, right?
06:27I mean, you know, this guy is just –
06:31you just figure the back of the baseball card, don't lie,
06:34but, you know, maybe it is in this case, and maybe like Bo said,
06:38it's just a year you're going to have to –
06:39Hassan Kim.
06:41Eight home runs, 95 strikeouts for Austin Riley.
06:45Do you see the Baldwin strikeouts since he's been back?
06:47Did you see the numbers on Baldwin since he's been back, Bo?
06:50Yeah, like two for 30.
06:51Two hits.
06:52It's worse than that.
06:53It's – I think it's two for – in the high 30s or 40s.
06:57He's got one hit was the home run when he came back,
06:59and one hit after that.
07:00His strikeout numbers are extraordinary.
07:03So, yeah, there is a lot of –
07:04there is a lot of stress around the Braves.
07:07Now, they are coming home.
07:09Mets made their move to remove their managers.
07:13You're going to get four with the Mets starting Friday.
07:17Yes, and 4th of July, 8.08 first pitch, nationally broadcast game on Fox.
07:21And then you wake up on Sunday.
07:23That's the 12.30 NBC Peacock game.
07:26Get ready now for the English Army Tuesday night, probably.
07:30Yep.
07:30Tuesday night.
07:31That will be awesome.
07:32Game one of the Cardinals, I would think.
07:34Right, guys?
07:34That English Army will decide their truest.
07:37That's the perfect place to spend their night.
07:39Take it over.
07:39It's also going to be so hot this week, too.
07:43Imagine if these games were outside.
07:45Peachtree Road Race?
07:47Oh, that's right.
07:48I didn't even think of the peach.
07:49Well, you've got it until next – no, you've got it until Saturday.
07:51Yeah, which is supposed to be, I think, the hottest day.
07:54It's Saturday, right?
07:55It's like 98 degrees.
07:56Dude, can you imagine some of those people that are just like for blanking giggles?
07:59We're going to run the peach tree.
08:01Oh, yeah, we're going to do that.
08:02What they're going to realize when you get near those hospitals,
08:05is you're going to run up that hill in Buckhead?
08:07Damn, bro.
08:0894 degrees is the high on Saturday.
08:10And the humidity – I played an hour of tennis yesterday, like a lesson.
08:15And I'm telling you, that humidity – I was like, I don't know what it's like in Denver
08:19with – what do they say with the –
08:21Altitude.
08:22I was like, I couldn't get – and I'm not in horrendous shit.
08:24I couldn't get from point A to point B with a sprint.
08:27He's like, I'm going to hit you short, and you're going to come to net.
08:30I was like, okay, do you have a defibrillator?
08:33Because if I come to net a fourth time, then I'm going to be lying on the –
08:37A defib on the left side of the core, oxygen tank on the right side.
08:40I was like, I know what the drill is.
08:42Here's another drill.
08:43Keep steak alive.
08:44Let's go with that drill.
08:46It was so frigging hot yesterday.
08:48Anyway, we come back.
08:49Lots more to get to.
08:50Wimbledon starting.
08:51Just watch the Nadal doc talk about that.
08:57Also, we got some thoughts on NBA movie you may not have heard about on the Hawks.
09:00Sports Radio 9 tonight.
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