00:00Dwayne, was there a moment in the season when you went, yes, this team here?
00:06Because when we talked earlier, we didn't really know, as I said, what we were looking at yet.
00:11You know, a lot of people thought this was going to be a transition year.
00:15You know, there was talk with all the things going on off the diamond with the stadium and all.
00:20You know, Bob Nightingale was telling me the whole time, he goes, hey, if this team went 70 or 80
00:24games, that'll be a great year for this team.
00:27And all of a sudden, like we said, it started gathering steam.
00:30Was there a moment in the year where you went, hey, this team's going to, this team's for real?
00:35Was there that moment?
00:36You know, it's really, it's interesting because the team, I don't know if there was one exact moment or one
00:42game that did that, but they did start to grow on us.
00:46You know, and I think it was a developmental situation.
00:49You know, Brian Anderson is our analyst and, you know, I love pitchers and left-handed pitchers, especially.
00:56I think are kind of fun and, and he's like that.
00:59And, you know, we'd kick around after a game or, you know, back of the hotel or whenever we were
01:07together, you know, what's the story on this team?
01:10Because you could not anticipate, for an example, the year that Baker had, Cam Boozer comes in.
01:18I mean, here, here's a guy who not only was, you know, for a time out of the game, but,
01:23you know, maybe out of life itself.
01:26He overcame some great challenges and turned out to be this unbelievable left-hander out of the bullpen.
01:33And, and, and those are the kinds of things, you know, you have, you do have to ask yourself, as
01:37good a team as this raised team is, you know, what if Baker doesn't work out as a closer or,
01:44or what if they don't have Boozer show up and develop into this, this outstanding, reliable left-handed arm out
01:53there?
01:54So it's, you know, and that's one of the great things about baseball is, as you well know, we all
01:59do this.
02:00We try to, we try to figure out early if a team's going to be good.
02:04And, and I think my take on this team is that first week or so of the season was, was
02:11semi-problematic, but, you know, you write that off, you go, look, it was cold in Milwaukee and it was
02:17cold in St. Louis and uncomfortable and all of that.
02:21And so, you know, you can't get a really good feel for a team under those adverse conditions, especially St.
02:28Louis, you know, at least you had the, you had, you know, the, the protection in Milwaukee, but I, it
02:36took me a while to look at this team and then look at each other on a day-by-day
02:43basis and go, you know, this is a pretty good team.
02:45And I, you know, the question you ask is always a great question.
02:49What was that seminal moment that you said, Hey, this team is really good.
02:53And, and there have been teams like that, but this team grew on me, you know, game by game and
02:59almost pitch by pitch and at bat by at bat.
03:03No question about it real quick here, Dwayne, who's the unsung hero for this race team this year?
03:10And again, there are a bunch of them, you know, for an example, um, I, one of the, one of
03:17the young players I like they got from the Marlins is this Victor Mesa jr.
03:21And I, I, you look at him and, um, I, I don't know if you saw the throw he made,
03:28you know, in, in that, uh, final series game, but he, um, he is an outstanding defensive player and looking
03:39toward the future.
03:40He's also a great left-handed bat with, with some pop in that bat.
