- 4 days ago
Former Braves manager Brian Snitker joined The Steakhouse and shared stories of Atlanta's historic World Series run in 2021.
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00:00Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
00:05Beautiful playoff baseball today.
00:08I'm not going to listen.
00:10If you're in sales today, you just better tell the boss,
00:13I'm taking clients out.
00:14I mean, I'm not.
00:15Come on, boss.
00:16Like, this is one of those days.
00:17You're down at the battery.
00:18I'm sure they're down at the battery right now
00:20and making things happen.
00:21Brian Snicker here is live in studio helping the co-host.
00:25Did you ever go venture into the battery after a game in any scenario?
00:30No.
00:32I think the first time I went to the battery was a few years ago
00:37in the offseason.
00:38I took my grandkids to the movie theater,
00:40and after the movies, we walked around the battery,
00:43and I was like, oh, I didn't know that was there.
00:44No way.
00:45This was there.
00:45There are some stories when teams win championships
00:49next thing they show up.
00:50I think the Cardinals did that.
00:51We used to spend time in St. Louis at a sports station,
00:54and there was Al Herboski had a bar,
00:56and the night the Cardinals won,
00:58next thing you know, Albert Pujols was bartending that place, right?
01:01Yeah.
01:01For St. Louis, they loved that kind of stuff.
01:03But the energy of the battery really translates into the ballpark.
01:07Well, you've heard people say it's one of the great venues
01:09that there is in sports.
01:10No, I don't know how there's anyone any better than that.
01:13You know, we were down there last night,
01:15and they just keep adding, and it's such a great facility.
01:18I mean, it's like no other.
01:20Do you used to do a pregame walk in other cities in the morning?
01:24Did you have time for that?
01:26Yeah.
01:26I would get up, and I had my areas that I would go to
01:31just to get out of bed.
01:33Right.
01:33You know, I just had to get me out of bed.
01:35And then I wouldn't, you know,
01:36and there's a lot of places I would go,
01:38and I'd get to the ballpark early, and I had walks there.
01:41Okay, around the ballpark.
01:42Around the ballpark and walk the rivers in those stadiums.
01:46You must have known a lot of clubhouse attendants
01:49and, you know, folks around the ballpark
01:52that you saw year after year after year.
01:54It's great.
01:55I mean, that's part of the beauty of the –
01:56the relationships are the beauty of the game.
01:58Yeah.
01:59You know, that's the thing that you miss is the relationships,
02:03and that's the special part.
02:05How old are the grandkids?
02:06They're 11.
02:07Twins are 11, and Hank is 6.
02:09Because you may be in line for, like, a baseball trip, you know,
02:13where you go to some of these places you haven't been.
02:15Yeah, well, the place I want to take them right now,
02:17I want to go to Cooperstown for, like, three days and take them
02:20and, you know, our family and stay at the Otisaka in the offseason
02:24and do the, you know, do the museum right.
02:26Yeah.
02:27I've been in and out of it a couple of times, you know,
02:30when Andrew, we were up there and –
02:32You were there this summer?
02:34We were there for a few – maybe an hour on that Saturday morning.
02:39But I want to take them because I think they're getting to a point
02:41where they would really appreciate and love some of that stuff.
02:43What kind of baseball fans are they?
02:45They're big.
02:47They get up every morning before school and watch that YouTube channel
02:49that does a recap on all the games.
02:51Oh, wow.
02:52Yes.
02:53It's crazy.
02:54My one grandson, Luke, I took him to a game.
02:58Martin Perez was pitching, and he was scoring it.
03:00Oh, I love that.
03:02I love that.
03:02I said, Luke, it's like everybody has their own way to score.
03:05There's no wrong things here.
03:07And that's when Martin had, I think, a no-hitter going into the seventh inning.
03:11And I was like – and I told him after this, I said, God,
03:14I hope he gets that no-hitter because you're scoring your first game.
03:16It would be his no-hitter.
03:18I didn't even know that was a thing that a kid would score a game anymore.
03:22He had his book.
03:23That's awesome.
03:23He showed me some games that he had scored, like watching the TV
03:27and things like that.
03:28And I thought, that is so cool.
03:29Wow.
03:30And he was paying attention.
03:31He watched every pitch of that game.
03:33The patience for a kid 10, 11 years old, just for two and a half hours.
03:37It was awesome.
03:37All right, let me –
03:38Yeah.
03:39I'm just so –
03:40Yeah, that's a great moment.
03:40I'm hoping that Martin can get that no-hitter.
03:43Let's talk about the season.
03:45Obviously, 21.
03:47And, you know, certainly had your share of moments, rough times.
03:54It was a rollercoaster ride, the Acuna injury and all that.
03:58And then the big midseason moves.
04:00How much do you know about – I mean, you knew Duval, obviously.
04:04But the other guys that you brought in and Alex says,
04:08this is what we're going to try to do here.
04:09How do you start to acclimate yourself?
04:11What do you know about the Jock Petersons and the Solares of the world?
04:15Well, you know what?
04:15We played against Jock in the playoffs and just knew he was Jock Peterson.
04:19He, you know, had a penchant for big moments and he had been, you know,
04:23was a world champion.
04:23He had played with the Dodgers, all that.
04:26So, I was not – you know, I didn't know Jock.
04:28I knew who he was.
04:30Solares, I had no idea who he was until he came in.
04:33And then I got some buddies with the Royals.
04:37And, you know, he came in in the beginning.
04:40We were just going to platoon him.
04:42And then the guys from Kansas City, their hitting coaches said,
04:44Sniff, this guy, don't look at his numbers or whatever.
04:46The last two weeks he's been really good.
04:48So, I'm like, well, hell with it.
04:49I'm going to go ahead and play him every day then.
04:51And he walked in my office and I said, by God, finally we got a real Cuban.
04:55I mean, this guy was a monster.
04:57He's a man.
04:58He is.
04:59Oh, my God.
05:00Right?
05:00That's why I said Walt still might have the greatest tackle in the NFL right now.
05:04No doubt.
05:04I was going to say, like, he'd be the guy if anything would happen.
05:08You'd say, at least we have – that's the irony of Walt Weiss taking him down.
05:12Well –
05:12But, I mean, that's like a guy that you want – I mean, certain guys fill out the
05:16uniform pretty good.
05:17Yeah.
05:17He's one of those guys.
05:18No, no.
05:18He's – it's – yeah, I got some stories.
05:21Yeah.
05:22Anyway.
05:23So, that team and that expectation – like, I don't think you sit around midseason or
05:29any time and go, like, I think, you know, my expectation is not to win a World Series.
05:33You're managing every day to win a game and get to the postseason and then anything
05:37can happen, right?
05:37Absolutely.
05:38No.
05:38You know, go back a little bit.
05:39Yeah.
05:39I know Walt and I had talked about – and he had did some legwork on Eddie Rosario in
05:43that offseason.
05:44You know, he had called some guys with the Twins.
05:48Morneau was with the Twins at the time, who he knew from Colorado days.
05:52And so, we had kind of discussed him and his kind of –
05:56And said, what, we like his –
05:58We just – we like the fact that the big moments didn't phase him.
06:02You know, he'd hit good pitching.
06:04But, you know, nothing ever came of it.
06:06I don't remember if he was a free agent or it had to be a trade.
06:09And, you know, Alex does a great job of betting the players that we get.
06:12Would the Jock Peterson personality 15 years earlier, 10 years earlier, been different
06:17for you initially?
06:18Probably.
06:20Probably.
06:21You know what?
06:22And at the time we got Jock – and I should – you know, Alex and I used to talk.
06:28And I was like, we had – he had came in and done some just great things about – he
06:33was a general manager.
06:34It just wasn't about the player.
06:35He was about the makeup.
06:36Culture, right.
06:37The culture.
06:38How's he going to fit?
06:39You know what?
06:39And we talk about when we get some guys, he'd be like, you know what?
06:42We're at a point now where we could take a guy who's a little rough around the edges
06:46because of what we got going on in that room is so strong that they're going to want to
06:49be a part of that.
06:50And, you know what?
06:52We'll be able to handle that, you know?
06:54So we get to the postseason.
06:56Brewers are – you know, listen, Milwaukee's been good for a bunch of years.
06:59This is their best team they've had.
07:01You lose game one right out of the gate, right?
07:032-1 game.
07:04What do you remember about that?
07:05I just remember, you know, I just remember I was so excited to be there and to play that
07:10game.
07:11Charlie Morton and Corbin Burns.
07:14Yeah.
07:14We lose a pitching matchup 2-1.
07:17Yeah.
07:17And then we're like, okay, you know what?
07:19We lost game one.
07:21We got a ways to go now.
07:22And just – you know what?
07:25Now we can't control that game anymore.
07:27It's time to look forward.
07:28And what are we going to do to win next one?
07:30And then you win, I think it's three in a row, back-to-back shutouts.
07:34Ian Anderson, game three.
07:36Max Frieden, game two.
07:37Just dominant pitching in both those guys.
07:39Absolutely.
07:40And both of those guys were just – like I say, I took Ian out of a no-hitter in
07:44the
07:44World Series.
07:46Because I think he was – for me, he was so wild, they couldn't hit at it.
07:49Yeah.
07:50But, no, it was just – you better have pitching.
07:53And we did.
07:54And our bullpen was really, you know, just really, really good, as is the one right
08:00now in 26.
08:00Big advantage.
08:01Big advantage it feels like, right?
08:03Huge.
08:03Huge.
08:03Especially getting Suarez back.
08:05Getting Suarez back.
08:06And now you kind of bump and, you know, you got Didi Fuentes.
08:09If you need him for two innings, you can.
08:11Yeah.
08:11So, Dodgers now beat you the year before when you're up 3-1.
08:18By the way, how tough was that series for you coming as close as you were to get in the
08:23That one hurt, you know, as did the one – yeah, the homer.
08:28Because I'm thinking, sitting there the year before, thinking we could have been – you
08:32know, we could have been back-to-back.
08:33Who knows?
08:34You know, we were that close.
08:36Well, so you know you're running into a juggernaut.
08:37You know what happened the year before.
08:39You get out of the gate.
08:40You win the first two games against the Dodgers, right?
08:43I guess it was Austin Riley game one.
08:46Got the big hit down the left field line.
08:48Yep.
08:48Eddie Rosario's making catches, getting big hits.
08:50I mean, he hit that ball off Kinley for a game winner.
08:55And then game two, tell us about the 5-4 game.
08:58It's the Eddie Rosario walk-off.
09:01Ian Anderson only lasts three innings in that game, and Jock has a big home run in that one, too.
09:05Yeah, so, you know, and it was everybody.
09:07I mean, you know, the good thing about all those guys – those guys all helped a lot that came
09:13in, that we got.
09:14And it was like always Alex would – I remember one year we got done.
09:18We played an afternoon game in Washington at the trade deadline, and when we landed, we had three new relievers.
09:24Right.
09:25And he's like – and they were like three closers.
09:27And he said, here, do with them what you want, you know, so.
09:31Yeah, it felt like everyone's like, oh, Snit's pulling all – what do they say?
09:35He's pushing all the right buttons.
09:37Every guy he pinch hits gets a hit.
09:39Every time – I mean, like, you get in a heater, right?
09:42It's kind of like being at a blackjack table or like a shooter that's like giving the ball right now.
09:48Did it feel like kind of like you get into a zone of I just have a good feel for
09:53my guys, my 25 guys?
09:55Well, you do, and you feel good about those guys.
09:58Yeah, we had really good guys to feel good about with, you know, especially like when you brought Jock and
10:03Eddie off the bench.
10:05You know, because I remember I brought Jock in during that year when Eddie came back.
10:09Because when we got him, he had an oblique.
10:10So he was on injury rehab.
10:12And then he came in, and when we got him back, I told Jock, I was like, stop Colin Wald
10:16every day to see if you're going to play because you're not.
10:18You know, because I was just going to tell him.
10:20Right.
10:21You know, I'm going to go with Eddie.
10:22I got to – you know, I just – he was doing good AAA.
10:25I'm going to find out.
10:26You know, and he says, I'll do what I'll be ready for you whenever you need me.
10:30And what do you remember about game three?
10:31You guys had – we're three outs away from going up 3-0, right?
10:35Bellinger hits a big home run against the Dodgers.
10:38You lose game three, 6-5.
10:40I don't remember a lot, honestly.
10:42Yeah.
10:42Well, because you're going the next day.
10:44Yeah.
10:44Right?
10:45No.
10:45So fans sit there, and we're like, oh, that's it.
10:47We blew it.
10:48Like, you know, we had – just like the Yankee series when we were up, you know, three – the
10:54Wohlers game, and we had this game and whatever it is.
10:57But really, it was the bullpen and the night shift in the Dodgers series that became famous.
11:04Well, and the one when Massick's thing, that Houdini act that he pulled was – I still get chills when
11:10I watch him come off the mound.
11:11Talk about that.
11:12It's bases loaded, and Mookie Betts up.
11:15And he had trouble against some lefties, so that was kind of the matchup that we were looking for.
11:20You're kind of like – you're in there thinking, well, if he can get out of this with one run,
11:23that's a huge, huge lift.
11:25And then he gets out of the damn thing.
11:27What's his stuff?
11:28What's Massick's stuff that makes him so –
11:30Right there.
11:31I mean, you know, he's a lefty.
11:32He was throwing 99 at that point in time, and he was on that one of those rolls right then.
11:38I mean, he had had some trouble with his career and throwing the ball over the plate and all that,
11:43and he got it going, and he was in his own.
11:46Nasty.
11:47That's the best –
11:47Just nasty.
11:48His stuff was nasty.
11:49Everything he threw, it was unbelievable what he did.
11:52I think for Braves fan, there was so much fear in that scenario of, like, this thing could unravel.
11:56Oh, God, yes.
11:57Because that's the moment, I think – I mean, they remember the Soler home run on the World Series, but
12:01they remember that inning, man.
12:02Oh, no.
12:03That'll live forever.
12:04Yeah.
12:04I mean, when you see that, I mean, you know, that's just something that, you know, you write books about.
12:11Yeah.
12:11And it's just, you know, I was glad I got to be there in a front row seat.
12:14A game one of the World Series, Charlie Morton, talk about what happened there.
12:18Man, I was like, he got hit.
12:20He finished the inning, and they go back, and they got this little portable X-ray machine, and I'm down
12:25in the dugout with Charlie, and I'm like, holy cow.
12:27I'm not a doctor, but, you know, this thing doesn't look good.
12:30And what inning is that?
12:32That was like, what was it, the third, second, third?
12:35So right out of the gate in the World Series, and he was a huge part of everything, Charlie Morton.
12:40I mean, he's pitching game one of the World Series.
12:42Yeah, and he could just depend on Charlie.
12:44He was going to post.
12:45He was going to eat up innings, and that was huge right there.
12:49So now you're just thinking how to get through that, and then you bring Minter into a situation that's not
12:53kind of his comfort zone or whatever.
12:55But I remember bringing him in, and he got through that inning, and he came off the dugout, and I'm
13:01thinking, well, you're going back out.
13:03Then he got through that next inning.
13:04He came in, and he says, I'm going back out.
13:06And I'm thinking, well, hell, if you feel that good about it, I'm not getting in your way.
13:09Because he was on, you know what, he was gassed up and ready to go.
13:13You also said Dylan Lee, who you started, I think you went to Kyle Wright within, like, the first, second
13:20inning.
13:20Well, that was when we sat, when we was Dylan.
13:23Yeah, you started Dylan.
13:25We started Dylan, just hoping, you know, we were just counting out.
13:28And then Kyle Wright comes in and gives you four and two-thirds.
13:30Comes in and just, you know what, the greatest thing that happened that year was the fact that we left
13:34Kyle Wright in AAA all year.
13:35He got to pitch down there in regular turns, regular rotation.
13:41His routines never got messed up.
13:43And, you know what, that was the greatest thing we ever did was to just leave him in AAA.
13:47And by the time he's ready, you know, when he came out of that bullpen in the World Series, he's
13:51ready to go.
13:52Yeah, and he was a huge part.
13:53Huge part.
13:53I mean, huge part.
13:54Well, then he won 20 games, I think, the next year.
13:58But, no, that was huge.
14:00A lot of those guys, those were their moments, Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright and guys like that.
14:05Hey, Brian Sickers, live in this too.
14:06We'll come back on Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.