Speaker 1: All right, A pleasure to bring in Mark Simon of
Speaker 1: Sports Info Solutions. Mark, how are you today?
Speaker 2: I'm good?
Speaker 1: How are you well? We're doing well and dealing with
Speaker 1: the Fenway Park jinx. Let's put it that way. It's
Speaker 1: been a crazy weekend for the Giants, endeavors and everything else.
Speaker 1: But since we last spoke, the team has gone one
Speaker 1: in five and they're being outscored thirty five seventeen. Does
Speaker 1: any of this matter?
Speaker 2: I don't really think so, Like whether they finished sixty
Speaker 2: five and ninety seven or seventy and ninety two. Does
Speaker 2: it like they've had so many games like they had
Speaker 2: yesterday that shouldn't you know, for most teams, or you
Speaker 2: put them in the win column and that's it and
Speaker 2: the ninth inning ends and the game's over, and then
Speaker 2: like they've just had too many like yesterday and to
Speaker 2: the point where it's kind of like what matters year
Speaker 2: is like you want to see Eldridge continue to develop.
Speaker 2: You want to see landing route get consistent. You want
Speaker 2: to see positive things that he's taken to next year.
Speaker 2: There doesn't seem to be a lot these days, but
Speaker 2: that's what you want.
Speaker 1: To see, Yes, Dylan Smith looked pretty good. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you saw the end of the game last night,
Speaker 1: but you know they don't have relievers who go three
Speaker 1: innings anymore. Goose Gossage is gone. He's not coming back.
Speaker 1: Dylan Smith, what one great inning, and they tried the
Speaker 1: second inning and he didn't have it. It's unfortunate that
Speaker 1: relievers are built that way. But for one inning, he
Speaker 1: looked pretty good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is unfortunate. It's actually funny. I was watching
Speaker 2: a met padre game from nineteen eighty six this week,
Speaker 2: and Rich Gossage pitched three innings in that game. And
Speaker 2: you know, he's someone that gives it all, his all
Speaker 2: on every pitch, and it was just a different kind
Speaker 2: of baseball to watch to see him go out there
Speaker 2: for three innings. Supposed to these guys, that's trying to
Speaker 2: throw one hundred and one for one inning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the way relievers used to be. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: mind seeing a reliever be able to go two innings.
Speaker 1: I would like to see it, but I don't know
Speaker 1: if we'll ever get there again. The Giants do play
Speaker 1: well against some teams, and then the teams that they
Speaker 1: don't play well against. Everyone should be winning those games
Speaker 1: and they don't. What happens to them?
Speaker 2: I wish I had an answer. It is so funny
Speaker 2: to me that they are over five hundred against the Braves,
Speaker 2: and they're over five hundred against the Brewers, and they're
Speaker 2: against the Dodgers. They have won four out of seven,
Speaker 2: with more to come, obviously, but they just seem to melt.
Speaker 2: They melted against the Yankees the first three day three
Speaker 2: games of the season. They melted against Tampa Bay. They've
Speaker 2: melted against the American League in a lot of respect
Speaker 2: because you know, they're oh and two against the Red
Speaker 2: Sox the Al East, oh and three against the Raids,
Speaker 2: oh and three against the Yankees and are really ugly,
Speaker 2: oh and three and one and two against the Orioles,
Speaker 2: and one and two against the Blue Jays. They just,
Speaker 2: I don't know, it just feels like they've melted this year.
Speaker 2: They've been banning one run games. If they were a
Speaker 2: better team than one run games, you'd feel a little
Speaker 2: bit better about them. But every day it just feels
Speaker 2: kind of like the one that they had yesterday.
Speaker 1: What do you think about the Red Sox. I've watched
Speaker 1: them and I realized contraras is a tremendous hitter. Then
Speaker 1: I watch everybody else. I know Anthony is not around
Speaker 1: and he's hurt. They don't scare me, And I know
Speaker 1: they're right up there offensively in the American League, but
Speaker 1: for some reason they don't. They don't scare me. Well, Pat,
Speaker 1: do you rate the Red Sox? Give me a report
Speaker 1: on them?
Speaker 2: Sure, let's do it a little statistical kind of thing
Speaker 2: here where we combine offense, defense, and pitching. Baseball Reference
Speaker 2: does this really well, and the Red Sox come out
Speaker 2: pretty well in this, maybe better than definitely better than
Speaker 2: you think, probably a little better than I think. Where
Speaker 2: they are a top ten team pitching wise, they're a
Speaker 2: top three team. I think it is offense wise, and
Speaker 2: because their center fielder is so good and their outfield
Speaker 2: is just so good in general, and they're really good
Speaker 2: third base, and defensively, they come out as right there
Speaker 2: with the Cubs as the best defensive team and the
Speaker 2: Grand smushing together. Out of all of that, the Red
Speaker 2: Sox come out as number one, even ahead of the Dodgers,
Speaker 2: which I think is a little bit far fetched. But
Speaker 2: the logic of that is that they've got a great
Speaker 2: lineup and you see it with Faris, You see it
Speaker 2: with Saydan Raphaela. You see it with what a braw
Speaker 2: has done for them recently. They have really good pitching,
Speaker 2: maybe not the best pitching, but they have Sonny Gray,
Speaker 2: and they have what you would feel like is a
Speaker 2: competent for guys that you could throw in a playoff series.
Speaker 2: And they have a great closer, and they have a
Speaker 2: pretty good bullpen whin they're healthy. And then the defense,
Speaker 2: the outfield defense is so good that it takes away
Speaker 2: a lot of runs that that elevates them. And this
Speaker 2: formula that Baseball Reference uses actually has the Red Sox
Speaker 2: as underachieving and it has Tampa Bay as significantly overachieving,
Speaker 2: and it has the Red Sox as the best team.
Speaker 2: Whether you or buy that, I'm just giving you the
Speaker 2: argument for that. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with much of
Speaker 2: what you said, but that's kind of the argument at
Speaker 2: this point.
Speaker 1: All Right, all right, we'll see. I just don't have
Speaker 1: that feeling that they have they're gonna just go out
Speaker 1: and score a ton of runs. I just don't have
Speaker 1: that feeling. But we'll see. They get to see the
Speaker 1: tugboat today. Matt Wilkinson he's a big boy, and Jake
Speaker 1: Bennett is on the other side, twenty five years old.
Speaker 1: He's six foot six, so this should be an interesting
Speaker 1: matchup both lefties in Fenway Park. You know, there used
Speaker 1: to be a time that you'd never throw a lefty
Speaker 1: in Fenway. You do anything before you throw a lefty.
Speaker 1: And Fenway Park now lefties pitch all the time. So
Speaker 1: what about these two guys today.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's funny that you said that, because, like you
Speaker 2: think of like the Bruce Hursts and the John Tutors
Speaker 2: and guys like that that were turned out to be
Speaker 2: pretty decent pitchers that were lefties that pitched in Fenway
Speaker 2: back in the day when he and I were both
Speaker 2: younger pups, I guess. But all right, the pitching matches
Speaker 2: for today. So Jake Bennett got had this really good
Speaker 2: five or six start run in like May and June
Speaker 2: where he was very, very tough to hit, and in
Speaker 2: that he had he owned all parts of the plate.
Speaker 2: He owned the top of the zone in particular, I
Speaker 2: got a lot of guys out at the top of
Speaker 2: the zone. He's kind of faded a little bit like then,
Speaker 2: less effective recently. You should start an alrighty lineup against
Speaker 2: him if you can, and I haven't seen Todays, but
Speaker 2: you should because he hasn't allowed an extra base hit
Speaker 2: to a left handed hitter all year. He's you know,
Speaker 2: when he's very good. When he's good, he's very good.
Speaker 2: But he hasn't been very good of late. The Wilkinson
Speaker 2: thing start. I guess I'm looking at like how he
Speaker 2: sails against Abrau, who is they said it yesterday on
Speaker 2: the broadcast one of the best left handed hitters against
Speaker 2: left handed pitching in the sport. I'd like to see
Speaker 2: him go longer than a couple of innings, certainly. I
Speaker 2: think you want to see he He was stretched out
Speaker 2: minor league wise, one hundred pitches his left minor league game.
Speaker 2: Let him go. Let's see what he's got left. He's
Speaker 2: he's very tough on lefties, right e's he can be
Speaker 2: very tough on. But the issue that he runs into
Speaker 2: against right handed hitters, and you'll see it at Fenway
Speaker 2: for sure, they can hit for power against him, and
Speaker 2: I think that's something that you got to be awarey.
Speaker 1: Of lineup endeavors Damas Eldridge, Barracoto and left Lee Kinser
Speaker 1: catching Cox and center instead of Gilbert today and cost
Speaker 1: A third base, so.
Speaker 2: It's left But yeah, you want to start Devers, but
Speaker 2: and Eldridge for that matter. But Jake Bannett is really
Speaker 2: good against lefties, so they got to watch out for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Cox is in center field today. He's struck out,
Speaker 1: I think nine times in a row, so we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens with him this week. The Reds and Diamondbacks
Speaker 1: come in and we had JJ Bloedet He's hit for
Speaker 1: the cycle. Last night for the Reds, Della Cruz almost
Speaker 1: did it and they had a big win last night.
Speaker 1: Marte has still disappeared. He was seeing at the Roulette
Speaker 1: Wheel and they're coming into San Francisco next weekend. So
Speaker 1: what a week this is gonna be. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So but with the Reds, I think the thing to
Speaker 2: be mindful of is you're gonna see Chase Burns, who
Speaker 2: has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year,
Speaker 2: and he has like a two five ERA and his
Speaker 2: win loss is like very like old school really good.
Speaker 2: I think it's like fifteen and three. He does it
Speaker 2: with two pitches, which I think is really impressive. He's
Speaker 2: a fastball slider guy. He the slider is a really
Speaker 2: big strikeout weapon for him. Every so often you'll see
Speaker 2: a change up, but he is very much a power
Speaker 2: pitcher and he's elite. He's one of the best guys
Speaker 2: in the sport. He's picked second overall. And then there's
Speaker 2: salth Stewart, who is terror one of baseball's best terrors
Speaker 2: with runners in scoring position, ops over one thousand with
Speaker 2: runners in scoring position, leading in RBIs with ninety seven.
Speaker 2: Those are your two kind of highlight guys for Cincinnati.
Speaker 2: Arizona has played five hundred this month. I think Corbyn
Speaker 2: Carroll is a legit MVP candidate. He's been great this year.
Speaker 2: Perdomo has been a lot better lately. Don't let his
Speaker 2: numbers deceive you. Look out for Perdomo. Edward Rodriguez has
Speaker 2: been excellent all year with a little help from his defense.
Speaker 2: Diamondbacks are right in it. This is one where the
Speaker 2: Giants could play spoiler a little bit, but you know
Speaker 2: they got to show up to do that.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, we'll see. We'll talk to you next
Speaker 1: weekend when the Diamondbacks are here, and other than that,
Speaker 1: we'll see what this week brings for baseball. So I
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Mark, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: You got it tip all right.
Speaker 1: That is Mark Simon's Sports Info Solutions. Next up Barry Bloom,
Speaker 1: And of course he's been on our show many times.
Speaker 1: He used to write for MLB. He's been a baseball
Speaker 1: writer for years and years. But he understands what's going
Speaker 1: on in LA with all his financial business with the
Speaker 1: Dodgers and how that may affect him. And also he's
Speaker 1: based in Arizona most of the time, and he understands
Speaker 1: Terry Lvolo and CATL Marte and what that does to
Speaker 1: the National League West. And plus he's still in San Diego.
Speaker 1: So Barry Bloom is with us next right here in
Speaker 1: the Sports Leader