- 6 weeks ago
Miami Marlins Radio Host Jack McMullen joins the show to discuss the Marlins' wild card chase, Sandy Alcantara starting tonight, Griffin Conine's big night, Javier Sanoja's hot streak and Tobin's infatuation with fountains!
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00:00Miami Marlins yesterday won a thriller against the Kansas City Royals.
00:05It was crazy. That game was wild.
00:08Mostly courtesy of Griffin Conine, who had the Superman cape on yesterday.
00:12I mean, he did it all.
00:13And so let's talk a little fish.
00:15They are two and a half back in the wild card right now.
00:17And the radio voice joins us now.
00:19Jack McMullen, always great having you on the show.
00:22Jack, how are you, man?
00:23We're living large, especially after yesterday.
00:25You can hear I'm like a little hoarse right now.
00:27So I got to do a lot of great plays yesterday.
00:29I mean, come on, man.
00:31And like the back-to-back homers for insurance in the ninth, too.
00:33It's like, all right, there's just another level of screaming that I wasn't expecting to get to on a Wednesday
00:37night.
00:38So here we go.
00:39We recalibrate.
00:40We're back in the saddle tonight.
00:42How many times on these road trips do you think of yourself,
00:45I just don't know if they're going to dig themselves out of this one.
00:48And yet they sit here.
00:49You know, you lose three out of four to the Nats.
00:52And then you come back.
00:53You get a thriller yesterday.
00:54And you're still two and a half out.
00:55And you got, you know, 20-plus games to go.
00:58I mean, do you feel like with this team this is going to come down to the absolute wire because
01:04that's just what the theme has been, a rollercoaster ride all year?
01:08Yeah, I think it would be pretty silly to just like pack it in for the last three weeks of
01:13the year because what we learned in May and April and even March with this team,
01:18like people forget game three was that come from behind Owen Casey walk-off homer.
01:23Like that was one of the moments of the year.
01:25And it like happened in game three.
01:27This is what they did last year.
01:29Honestly, they hit a hard reset going into the 25 season.
01:33And they had a brand new coaching staff.
01:35They had an almost entirely new roster.
01:36And the fabric of this roster and this coaching staff is the game's not over until someone's in a handshake
01:44line.
01:44And that is kind of what this team embodies.
01:48Like yesterday, it's so easy to pack it in when your front line arm allows five runs in the first
01:54inning.
01:55But they don't because there's a lot of baseball left.
01:58And that Casey bullpen is bad.
01:59So it's like there's always an angle to come back in a ballgame here.
02:03And what's so cool is I think ignorance is bliss works in the way of the Marlins at points because
02:10it's such a young roster,
02:12because all these guys are experiencing meaningful September baseball for the first time or the second time.
02:18Like they don't know any better.
02:20Like they don't know to pack it in after six.
02:21Like let's keep on going the eighth and ninth.
02:24It's such a joy to watch them go about their business in that way.
02:28Because I feel like some of the other veteran teams around the league,
02:31like if they're down four in the sixth, it's all right, we'll try again tomorrow.
02:34Is that from the uncertainty of knowing what your future holds in the sport?
02:40There's a lot of guys who are back and forth and back and forth.
02:43And they're like, I got to make the bet.
02:45And it seems like there's a rotation of like two or three players that you'll call up or you'll bring
02:51in.
02:52And all of a sudden they're lighting it up.
02:55Whereas, you know, certain guys get sent down.
02:58And like that would be the most nerve wracking thing to me if I played baseball,
03:05that some guys get the luxury of going 0 for 20 and other guys don't.
03:12Right.
03:13Yes.
03:14Short answer to the question is yes.
03:16I think that that absolutely impacts it.
03:18And the longer answer is, even if it's not concretely like, oh, if I'm bad for the next three games,
03:24I'm going back down to AAA Jacksonville.
03:27It's I'm trying to solidify myself as a major league baseball player or as an everyday major league baseball player,
03:33or as a guy that's lining himself up for a payday down the line.
03:36Like that angle exists for every single player.
03:40There's not a guy on this roster that is under contract through their age 40 season.
03:44Philly's got like four of them.
03:45So, I mean, we're talking about different types of situations where there are guys and stars around the league
03:52and also guys that are far beyond their peak that are set like financially, contractually.
03:57They're getting paid through the age 39 season.
04:00That's not the case here.
04:01You've got a lot of guys that are still kind of getting their footing
04:04and still trying to not only push like their earning potential,
04:08but push their status in major league baseball.
04:11Kyle Stowers was an all-star last year.
04:13If he's an all-star again in 2027, we're just talking about that guy's a star bat in major league
04:18baseball.
04:19And there are 29 other fan bases that are circling his name.
04:22Come see Kyle Stowers in the Miami Marlins play.
04:25If Otto Lopez repeats next year as an all-star, we're talking about a two-time all-star shortstop in
04:30the national league.
04:31Like that is status.
04:32That's cachet that these guys continue to hunt.
04:35And it's, you know, the old cliche about baseball is it's a team sport played by a bunch of individuals.
04:41They are a very good team.
04:43Like it's a well-constructed team.
04:45But at the end of the day, the individuals are the ones that kind of push forward in their career
04:50and have 10 to 15-year careers, whether it's with the Marlins or somewhere else.
04:54And it's really cool to watch these guys in real time over the last two years,
04:59like really solidify themselves as players, star players, everyday players in major league baseball.
05:06So obviously task at hand today, it's a big one.
05:10You got Sandy on the bump trying to get this sweep, going into a monster this weekend with the Cubs
05:15coming into town.
05:16But what do you think that would kind of do for the momentum?
05:19Because, you know, you got to step up in weight class a little bit, take care of business against the
05:23Royals.
05:23But Sandy being able to cap this one off and getting momentum going into the weekend, how huge would that
05:28be?
05:29I think it would do a lot, especially with the expectations that this team had going into the road trip.
05:34You know, it was seven in Washington and seven in Kansas City.
05:38Washington and KC were two of the three teams under 500 that were remaining on the schedule.
05:43Like everywhere else you look on this upcoming schedule is a gauntlet.
05:47And even the Mets, who, you know, season record doesn't look good.
05:51They're playing better ball after the trade deadline.
05:53I don't know what it is, but like they've somehow just kind of kicked it into high gear.
05:56KC was playing good ball, but I think a lot of Marlins fans would have looked at this upcoming road
06:01trip in Washington and KC and said,
06:03you got to take five of seven or you got to take four of seven.
06:06You got to come back with a winning road trip.
06:08They were behind the eight ball.
06:09They lost three of four in Washington.
06:11So if you can recapture some of that and have a four and three road trip and almost like a
06:16backdoor cover on that road trip,
06:18like that would be awesome to have that coming back to Chicago and the Mets and the Dodgers.
06:25Why do they beat the hottest teams in baseball?
06:27Like, like the Warriors were 12 and two.
06:30Like, and we're like, holy smokes, the way they played against Washington.
06:34Now we're going to play one of the hottest teams in baseball right now.
06:37Forget the record.
06:38I never could get a beat on them.
06:38It's like they're the weirdest team, Jack.
06:41It's like every time you think that they're done, like they come out and they, you think they're buried and
06:45like,
06:46all right, there's too many teams to climb.
06:47And then, you know, nope, here we go up like the undertaker.
06:50I do it the worst.
06:51I do it with pitchers, right?
06:52Oh, we got a Uri and Sandy back to back.
06:55We got this.
06:57And Uri gives up five in the first inning after having a two run lead.
07:01I'm like, oh, I think I honestly, I think it's why I love baseball because like you have no idea
07:09what's going to happen each time.
07:11Like I remember there was a game in Toronto at the end of May and the kid that was amazing
07:16for Toronto last year,
07:17Trey is savage in the world series.
07:19He was just diabolically good through his first like three, four starts and he's making start four or five and
07:24he's against Jansen junk who was struggling.
07:26I was like, okay, you know, like if there is a scheduled disadvantage here, it's probably this one.
07:31And the Marlins win that game like eight, two.
07:33And I'm like, you know, I'm just going to stop thinking.
07:35I know what's going to happen and just say what I see.
07:37And we're good.
07:38Hopefully that's a good thing moving forward.
07:40But I keep on coming back to the ignorance is bliss thing.
07:43Like this roster is too young to know that they're not supposed to beat the 12 and two Royals over
07:48the last 14.
07:49So it's like, yeah, you drop three or four in Washington.
07:51But frankly, like who cares who's in front of you?
07:54You got to beat them.
07:55And if you want to get where you want to go, you got to beat like a lot of these
07:59good teams and a lot of these good arms and a lot of these hot teams.
08:03What have you made of Conine's second half of this season?
08:06You know, I feel like he's just been coming through with big moment after big moment for this team.
08:11Obviously, it's got to be a ton of pressure playing in your dad's franchise with, you know, his role with
08:17the team and whatnot.
08:18But man, I mean, that performance by him yesterday was so sick.
08:21Yeah, I mean, huge credit to Jeff for not placing that pressure on Griffin.
08:27Like Jeff Conine is around all the time, but he is a resource not only for Griff, but for hitters,
08:34really any player that wants to talk to Mr. Marlin.
08:37He's around the ballpark.
08:38So I think tip of the cap to Jeff Conine for being who he is.
08:42He's a great guy and a great ambassador for the organization.
08:46And like that's got to be a really hard thing.
08:49Like Leroy, you've got kids in sports, right?
08:51No, no, no.
08:53They, they, they, they're about, but it's my coffee cup, but that's okay.
08:59Like, you know what?
09:01It's kind of, it's kind of one of those things where I like as kids, I took them out, right?
09:08Ran them around and I'm like music, you know, like you just, I'm not, I'm not going to force
09:15my kids to do something that like clearly is going to be, you do it for the right reasons.
09:21You do it for the fun of it.
09:22You played a little right ball and, and that's where it's going to end.
09:26And I'm not going to put any pressure on you.
09:28A hundred percent, a hundred percent.
09:30And like, I feel like every single other professional athlete that I talked to, it's
09:37a similar sentiment when they are bringing their kids up where it's like, I love this.
09:41You don't have to love this.
09:42Like, I'm not going to make you, you know, I'm not going to shoehorn you into being the
09:47next version of me and getting there.
09:49Like that was never the deal with the conines.
09:51It was never like, well, Griffin's going to follow in my footsteps.
09:54It was just, you know, like Griffin is so internally motivated.
09:57He's a gamer.
09:58I think we've learned that very, very quickly.
10:01And he's also just a really good baseball player.
10:04And this guy had some, you know, like swing and miss issues in the minor leagues.
10:08He's mitigated those quite a bit.
10:10Like he's a really good defender in the corner outfield spots.
10:13He's picked up first base.
10:14He's learned it really well.
10:16And he swings as hard as really anybody we've got.
10:19Like he's built like a Greek God and he uses that to his advantage with the arm and with
10:24the swing.
10:26I mean, dude, like you look at the whole career sample and I understand that there are a couple
10:30of, you know, shoulder issues and hamstring issues that have gotten in the way of him getting
10:34consistent run.
10:35But Tobin, to your question, like this is the first time we've seen Griff get consistent
10:40run in the major leagues.
10:41And I think we're just learning.
10:43He's just a good major league baseball player.
10:46Yeah, no, he is.
10:47He is a ton of ways to come through as does Javier Sano.
10:51I love him.
10:51I think he's my favorite player on the team.
10:53He's my favorite player.
10:54You can't strike him out.
10:55He's so much fun.
10:56Like, it's amazing how he'll do that little practice swing and his next five swings won't
11:03even be intentionally to get a hit.
11:05There's just guys you watch.
11:06They're just like, I'm just going to, I'm going to file this off because it seems kind
11:09of close, but, but don't throw me something I can hit.
11:12There's guys you watch.
11:14You're just like, that guy is having more fun than anybody else.
11:16And it's, it's like, it's just a delight to watch him do his thing.
11:20Yeah.
11:20A hundred percent.
11:21It was funny.
11:22I saw him in the dugout the other day and he started doing this like statue take is
11:27what you can call it in baseball, where he just doesn't load.
11:30It doesn't look like he's ready to swing.
11:32And he just stands there bad on his shoulder.
11:34And it's like, if strike one goes by, it's okay.
11:37Like he knows he's not going to strike out here.
11:39So he started doing that statue take.
11:41And one of the very few guys that does that in baseball is Luis Arise.
11:44Like, if you remember back to Arise, he just stands like a statue for the first pitch
11:49because he's so supremely confident that you're not going to beat him in a one strike
11:53or two strike counts.
11:54It's like, you know, I, I'm good.
11:55I'll just concede this and play some mind games here.
11:58And I saw him in the dugout the other day.
11:59I was like, I like that Arise statue take me.
12:01And he, he lit up, dude.
12:03I mean, it was like the biggest smile on his face.
12:05He is so fun.
12:08And I think like emotional in a good way on the baseball field to your point, Tovin,
12:14like that guy just has a ton of fun.
12:16Like, that's really cool to watch major league baseball is a game that seems like it's rooted
12:21in stress a lot of the time where to your point earlier, Leroy, it's like, you don't
12:25know if you're going to be here in Jacksonville tomorrow, but like, you might as well make
12:30the most of it when you're here.
12:31And not only has Javi done that, but he's also gone through so many different like checkpoints
12:37in his major league career.
12:39I was walking through this last night.
12:40And he was, I'll call it a quote unquote org guy in the minor leagues where it was like,
12:45okay, whatever you need at double A, he's just going to go do.
12:48And then whatever you need at triple A, he's just going to go do, but he's not really a
12:51prospect.
12:52He's just someone that kind of fills out a spot in the lineup or on the bench.
12:55He makes the jump from that to, oh, this guy might have a shot to make a major league
13:01debut.
13:02And then he makes his major league debut.
13:03Oh, this guy might have a shot to be like the 26th guy on the roster and be on the
13:08roster
13:08consistently.
13:09He does that.
13:10Oh, this guy has a shot to like play a hundred games.
13:13He wins a utility gold glove award last year.
13:16And then like now he's on this graduation from utility guy to everyday player and super
13:23utility player.
13:24Like all the checkpoints he's passed through in his two year and change major league career
13:30is just ridiculous.
13:31That's the terrifying thing for me in baseball, like growing up, what made me choose between
13:37football and baseball, that, which you just talked about.
13:41Yeah.
13:41Like it's just the, the, the path sometimes has nothing to do with how good you are.
13:50It just happens to be where you are in that organization at that time.
13:56Yeah.
13:57Yeah.
13:57And I like, yeah, go ahead.
13:59But no, I like to think of baseball as like a meritocracy.
14:02I like to think of it as, you know, if you hit, you're going to keep climbing and, you
14:07know, thankfully we've turned into that a little bit, but to your point, Leroy, like
14:11there is some organizational need where it's like, okay, you can do that and be a short
14:15stop in the Royals system, but you're not playing shortstop for the Royals because they
14:20got Bobby Witt.
14:21Right.
14:21Exactly.
14:23How is that ballpark?
14:24By the way, I love fountains.
14:26I love fountains.
14:26I was, I've always wanted to see, we were talking about it.
14:29The, uh, it was a couple of weeks ago where the guy got arrested for going for the Perez
14:32home run.
14:33But, uh, how is that, how is that, uh, that fountain stadium?
14:36Yeah.
14:37It's a cool thing to love fountains.
14:38Like it's a very niche thing where it's like, it's like brick, right?
14:41I love lamp and anchorman.
14:43Um, but you love fountains.
14:45Uh, this was ballpark number 30 for me.
14:48So I, I'm officially at all 30 ballparks, which feels good, but yeah, I was excited to
14:52go to Kaufman and, uh, it's really cool, man.
14:55What I will also say from just like a broadcast dork perspective is we have a very low booth.
15:00Like it feels like we're kind of on top of the action.
15:03Yeah.
15:04Yeah.
15:04Like it kind of matters.
15:05And, you know, Lone Depot is kind of like normal, but we go to Washington and I mean,
15:10birds are flying under us.
15:12I'm like, all right, this is a problem.
15:15But I mean, we come to Kaufman here and we're like sitting in line with the backstop and
15:20it's like, oh, this might just be actually like a good seat in the house.
15:23But old school baseball, like the announcers, everybody's close.
15:27Yeah.
15:28It's really cool.
15:28I'm working with AJ Ramos right now and, and AJ is, you know, one of those guys that
15:32like, we've got monitors like TV monitors up in the booth and we can watch the telecast
15:38while we call the game on radio.
15:39And, you know, he's one of those guys that will like watch the TV the whole time for pitches
15:44because that's the only way to really see it and decipher it.
15:47But he was like, this is the first ballpark where I don't have to do that.
15:50I can just watch the game.
15:51I can't.
15:52Well, it's like touching grass.
15:54Well, Jack catches broadcast tonight on the, the airwaves here on WQAM 740 is your first
16:03pitch.
16:03Steve is wrong.
16:03We'll get you going at seven o'clock with Marlins on deck as the fish still in this wild
16:08card hunt.
16:08We appreciate the time, man.
16:09Safe travels back home or a big series against the Cubs and hopefully they keep this train
16:14rolling.
16:14Yeah.
16:15I appreciate you guys go fish and make sure to get out to Lone Depot Park this weekend.
16:19Yeah.
16:19It's a monster.
16:20They got a MVP candidate coming in and Pete Crow Armstrong.
16:23And so see if the fish can shut his ass down and stay in this chase.
16:27Thank you, Jack.
16:27Appreciate it, man.
16:28Thanks, Jack.
16:28I appreciate you guys.
16:30We will take a break here on the program.
16:32I wanted to hit him with it, but he's so, he's so cool.
16:35Oh, about the, the Jordan?
16:37Yeah.
16:37Oh yeah.
16:38I wanted to hit him with it and I'm like, you know what?
16:41I like him.
16:42I don't want to, I don't want no side.
16:44He seemed to find it weird that I like fountains.
16:46You don't like fountains?
16:47It's a very odd thing to like.
16:50You don't like fountains, dude?
16:51I admit to.
16:51I love fountains.
16:52I just, I just picture taking you somewhere.
16:56Ooh, fountains.
16:57What is my favorite thing to do in Vegas?
16:58I love going to see fountains.
17:00I was going to say, you really love Vegas.
17:02I love, I love fountains.
17:04You need to go to Europe.
17:05I go and walk.
17:06I'll go to, like Leroy's like, where'd you go?
17:07And I went to Caesars Palace because they have great fountains.
17:09That's such an odd thing.
17:11I, I, I have lived in Vegas.
17:14I've spent time.
17:15I used to go to Vegas for like a month every off season and going to Vegas with you.
17:22I've seen parts of Vegas.
17:24I've never seen like the aquarium.
17:26Why would I care about it?
17:27Oh, that was number one.
17:28I went, I went to Mandalay Bay because they had an aquarium, a shark aquarium, Brittany.
17:33But number two was Caesars Palace because I wanted to go see fountains.
17:37That, that's, so.
17:38And the, uh, the Bellagio too.
17:40They all love fountains.
17:42With music.
17:43Oh, yeah.
17:45I love a fountain show?
17:46Fountain show.
17:47What?
17:48Have you ever been to Fantasmic and Disney?
17:51It's, it's a great water show.
17:52Have I?
17:53I don't know.
17:54It's at Hollywood Studios.
17:55I don't know.
17:56But I, yeah, you don't like fountains?
17:57It's not that I don't like fountains.
17:59I mean, they're, I guess they're cool.
18:01You're cool, isn't that a make or break trip for me to go see a fountain?
18:05I'm not marveling at fountains.
18:07There's this great thing at the, uh, when I was walking around Houston, because there's
18:11not much, I didn't love Houston that much when I went there for Dirty Boxing, but they
18:14had a, they had a fountain wall.
18:16And I was like, oh, this, this made the Houston trip for me because I love fountains.
18:20Dude, like, what is so weird?
18:23Yeah.
18:23Man.
18:24It's great.
18:25You're, you're a weird, you're a weird bird.
18:28Like, man, I just.
18:33J-Fig says, fountain of youth.
18:35Disappointing.
18:37Never been.
18:38Never been.
18:39Oh, you need to go.
18:40Where is that?
18:41Now I'm not going to go because J-Fig said it sucks.
18:44I don't want to see a bad fountain.
18:45Maybe she's not appreciative of fountains as much as you are.
18:48I don't know.
18:49She's very emphatic, you know, and she was probably around there for Rockville or something
18:53like that.
18:53Yeah.
18:53So she, maybe she wasn't in the fountain frame of mine.
18:57Who's not in the fountain frame of mine?
18:58Like, it's, yeah, it's great.
19:00Dude, I could walk right by a fountain and go, nice fountain.
19:03And keep it moving.
19:05I'm not going to sit there and go, ooh, pretty water.
19:08Like, I just picked it.
19:10I mean, you don't have to love fountains.
19:11I'm just saying I like fountains.
19:12Yeah, but a lot of times when we go places, I'm like, you know.