WEBVTT - Daniel Murphy joins Mets'd Up 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:10.039 What is up? 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:12.320 Mets fans, Welcome back to a special episode of the 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.000 metsa Podcast. If you're listening to us, I suggest you 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.400 hop on over to YouTube because you will see we 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.000 are joined by a special guest today, former New York 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:25.720 Met World Series All NLCS hero Daniel Murphy joins us. Daniel, 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:27.920 thank you so much, man, appreciate it. How you been. 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.880 What's going on doing well? Mark? Thank you for having me. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.159 James you as well. Well. It's Sandlot season and we 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:36.320 get to start a little earlier down here in Florida 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.320 then in the Northeast, which is why all the lads 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:41.800 are down in spring training. So we've been bawling. My 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.760 two boys they bowl played baseball ten Noah and then 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.800 seven Drew. And then my daughter's been doing some ice 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.120 skating which keeps us a bit cool. And then we 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:54.640 got a little one, Jake, who's two years old, and 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.880 he just bosses us around without using much words, like 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:00.880 a few words as possible. So we're doing good. Thank 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.800 you for asking. I'm in my wife's her office right 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.679 now that she has for her charity prom series, so 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:09.440 she let me, she let me steal it to hang 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:10.120 out with you guys. 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.200 That sounds like a lot of fun. What was your 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:12.960 wife's charity do? 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:18.080 So its main focus is girls who are in the 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.920 foster care system middle school to high school age, and 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.720 she throws events for him. So the first one was 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.840 in Denver where she brought all the girls who were 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:32.240 in foster care in, got the wives, girlfriends, and fiancees 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.280 to come and help as well, got prom dresses for them, all, 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:37.319 got their hair and makeup, done it a suite for 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:41.160 a ball game. And now she's probably done that, I 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.040 think in maybe fifty like twenty stadiums like an event 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.440 like that where she's been there, and she's been able 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.000 to host an event in every major league stadium like 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.480 it's been she's been really well received. And you know 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:56.840 baseball and you know the wives of our guys who 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.760 have you know, we leave for the ballpark one o'clock. 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:02.520 You know, you kind of can end up having a 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:04.559 lot of free time and something to sink your teeth into. 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:08.000 So they've really rallied around my wife, Tory and her 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.840 heart for children in the foster care system. So thank 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:11.360 you for asking. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.040 That's that's awesome to hear. That's that's amazing stuff. To 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:17.160 switch the conversation a little bit, just to go back 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.000 to baseball now, talk about you. We're gonna talk about 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:21.800 the Mets. We're gonna talk about twenty twenty five Mets. 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.079 But I think for me and James's lifelong Mets fans, 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.120 there's a few things that we got to know about 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.560 and that we want to ask you specifically about that 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.600 twenty fifteen season. We were texting before we got on 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.000 the show, and we were talking about a lot of 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.000 the moves that the Mets made this offseason. But during 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.440 the twenty fifteen season, the Mets made a particularly big 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.120 move bringing in you an assessments at the trade deadline 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.160 as a player on that team, especially because that season 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.600 was super up and down to begin with, What was 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:48.120 it like bringing in a guy like Yo. 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.440 Well, the roller coaster ride of how we got there, 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:56.360 of kind of thinking it was Carlos Gomez and then 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:01.400 you know flow, you know, just revealing that we're human beings. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:03.360 He just happened to do it in front of, you know, 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.760 the entire city and world to a certain respect. But 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:13.320 when Yo came in, like he just is also in 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.760 conjunction with getting Kelly Johnson in your rebay, it's like 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:18.760 all these guys came in, but when you came in, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.280 you could feel like Sandy, you know, just like telling 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.600 the ball color, we're going for it. And then we 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:25.760 added those other guys as well too, and so that 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:28.200 was like just to be in the clubhouse and to 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.359 get that confidence from the front office that like we're 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.079 we're in this and we're going to go for it, 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.640 and we're gonna we're gonna sacrifice some of ourselves in 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:38.400 the future, which was I think, Michael foellmore, if I'm 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.600 not mistaken, you know, to make a move right now 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.240 to try to win in the present, and it was 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.560 it was really a huge lift. And then to add in, 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:49.680 you know, the guys I talked about like those are 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.200 I kind of those are like sand Lauders, Like they 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.720 know how to ball, and they know how to win 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.280 games and get in position to win games. And I 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.240 learned so much from Kelly Johnson, like I love of 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.040 Kelly and so I had a treat playing with him. 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:05.680 And it was a wonderful run that we were able 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:06.040 to go on. 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:08.800 What was that feeling like in the first half of 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:10.800 that season when you guys had a veteran team, a 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.800 lot of talent. You guys probably knew that you should 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:15.240 have been playing better, but we weren't playing up to 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.400 your own standards. How do you stay motivated? And what 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:19.560 was kind of like if there was one a galvanizing 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.520 moment during that first half that kept everyone locked in 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:23.320 with the goal in mind. 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:27.080 Yeah, I think looking back on it, we made a 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.520 really I think we had like we go like eleven 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.000 and like we won like eleven in a row or something. 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:35.080 I think that was like we just kind of came 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.680 out of the gates really hot. And I think selfishly, 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:40.680 I remember I wasn't playing very good. I was pumped 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:42.320 we were winning, and I feel like I was doing 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:44.160 some things to help us win. But like I didn't 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.360 feel like I was playing nearly as well as I wanted. 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.400 But we were. But no, we were winning, which was 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.800 the best part. We kind of rode that eleven game 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.159 winning streak in some of those ups and downs and 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.240 kind of were able to cling to that. And then 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:58.240 also you could say maybe at the same time that 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.640 the Nationals were under performing to what they thought were 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.760 going to do for their standards, So you know, we 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.760 just remained in it the whole year, even though it 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.240 would have felt like we were kind of trying to 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.200 keep our head above water other than that real, real 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:13.680 good stretch of a week and a half or two 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.600 weeks we had. So I think what maybe Galvinizers was 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.320 being in the hunt deeper into the season than we 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.039 had been in what eight I mean we're talking. I 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.000 think that that's the last Pennant race I had remembered, 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:29.599 and I was, you know, I was up for that one, 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.080 but like you know, David had been through those wars. 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:33.920 I hadn't been through that. Like I was only up 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:36.560 for two months, you know, Nick Evans and I coming up. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.359 So I think maybe as I think about it, and 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:42.000 you asked the question, and kind of the the energy 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.280 came from being in it, you know, like really being 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:45.880 in it, and then you get the bolt from the 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.200 front office and then we start playing well. And also TC, sorry, 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:51.320 TC brought us in when we made the trades for 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.880 Kelly Johnson and your eBay and these guys coming in, 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:57.800 and he brought me and Flores and Tahada, and due 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.640 to on the infielders, David must have been busy. I'm kidding, 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.800 because what TC was telling us that this is a meritocracy. 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.240 Now you know. I mean we got like, there's like 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.320 four you in here, we got two come in and 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:10.960 you know number five is going to be on the menu. 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:15.320 So whoever plays best gets to play. And that was unique, 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.240 not that we weren't playing the best players, but that 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.120 we kind of had that many options of good ball players. 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.160 And so, yeah, how was. 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:27.400 It playing around David Wright? Us Mets fans have such 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:29.159 like a he had such an aura for us. He 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.000 was so much bigger than life. What was it like 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:31.679 to be his teammate? 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.560 Well? I got to know him kind of in the 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:37.680 intimate settings where he lets his guard a little bit, 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:39.479 so he would be bigger than life at times. But 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:41.159 also like you could get in there and you'd be 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.520 needling him and back and forth and have like just 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.640 that locker room banter where you're just you're just getting 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.880 on each other. But David's willingness I thought to take on. 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.560 So he's already the most recognizable player we have because 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.960 he's the best, and he plays every day. So he's 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:03.560 taking on like that responsibility of posting and showing the 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.200 whole club and the organization what it looks like to 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:11.320 go out and play hard every day. Also trying to 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.440 be the best teammate he could, which is a choice. 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.880 You don't have to choose to do that. I've chosen 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:17.560 not to do it enough times to know you you 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.560 can choose not to. So now he's taken on that 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:24.520 that like he's looking around to help those around him, right, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.360 And then you add in the fact that like for 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.280 the stretch of mostly what I remember, we weren't as 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.000 good as we wanted to be. We weren't very good, 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.120 and they ain't come talk to me after ball games. 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.040 They went and talked to David. And so now he's 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.280 representing us in the organization again through the media, and 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:41.800 you just see, like it's a lot of weight to 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.520 take on that he did voluntarily, and so I was 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:46.720 always so impressed at how he could do that and 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.520 still be so good on the field because it was 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:53.320 a long season and you could you could not see 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.160 it where you could just see that's a lot, that's 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:56.960 a lot to take on. It was a it was 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:58.960 a it was a heavy burden for him to advocate 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:00.600 for us as much as he did because he was 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.320 good and I really wasn't, but he was still standing 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:03.720 up for me. 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:06.880 I think you found your shry at some point that season, 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:09.360 But do you stay in touch with any guys from 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:09.840 that team. 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.800 I reach out to de Grom a little bit, so 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.240 and then so Jake, and then you know, David, and 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:23.080 then so Saton wasn't on the fifteen club, but I 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:27.000 still we end up golfing together. So David, myself, Zimmerman, 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:28.520 and Josh Shatton have been able to go on to 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:30.880 like a golf trip the last two years, and so 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:37.160 we're hoping to keep that going. Let's see who else, Harvey. I. 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:38.800 You know, I've been able to reach out to Matt. 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.320 My wife actually ran into him Game four of the NLDS, Yeah, 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.360 and the team store, and Matt was in there spending 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:49.000 some of his shekels for the for the Metropolitans. Then 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.599 I ran into Ruben Tahta and Long Island when I 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.120 went and played in twenty three, so he was coming 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.400 in to play with walking with Wally. He had had 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.360 some visa troubles and I was just leaving to head 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.600 to Salt Lake City and so we just missed each other. 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:04.160 But we got to see each other again and it 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.719 had been oh man, that'd been the first time I'd 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.520 seen him in a while, and I like I remember 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.240 Ruben we were an instructional league together when he was sixteen, 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.800 Like he's running around at short, stopped making every play. 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:18.280 So like I know in Ruby Tuesday Forever, it was 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:18.839 a good group. 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:21.600 You had a pretty good look at the slide from 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.120 Chase Hutley going into Ruben Tata as a player, because 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:26.720 I mean as a fan, we all went Berzurik as 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:28.800 a player. What are the initial emotions going on when 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:30.280 you see something like that happen. 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:34.560 Well, there's there's immediate anger and then there was also 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.280 some how do I want to describe it on my part, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.920 Like I'd say responsibility. I didn't get Ruben a very 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:44.440 good feed at all, Like I didn't really want the 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:45.800 ball and I kind of gave it to him like 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:49.400 I didn't want it. Now, I wish that Ruben would 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.480 have taken the out and secured it and got the 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:53.640 hell out of there, you know what I mean, and 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.800 protected himself. But my boy wanted to play. I've seen 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.360 him do it since he was sixteen. He wanted to 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.000 make a play out on the other end, at least 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:05.520 coming in and Chase's goal is to make sure that 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.680 the guy on deck gets to turn it back. I 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.600 think that's the only goal he has. Now. Can you 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:14.720 say was it dirty? Did he go in there like 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:16.880 like he whacked him? He could have gotten him without 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.960 getting him like that, without a doubt. It was high, 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.760 it was late, and he went in to make sure 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:26.040 that you know, the on deck batter hit like pretty ferociously. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.199 And I say this but after playing against Chase Chase, 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:32.720 if you were to talk to him about it, and 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:34.199 I've you know, not talked to him about it, but 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.000 I've seen him. We did the home run derby last year. 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.320 We were part of the old London you know performance, 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:43.040 and so what Chase would say, though, if you were say, 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.160 is like I'll be out at second base tomorrow night 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:48.719 and if you want to get me, you can come 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.200 and get me. And that's the way Chase played his ball. 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:53.880 And what David would do was he would try to 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.120 get his ass, you know what I mean. And so 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.080 that's the kind of ball we played. But it hurts 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:02.120 your heart to see it turned out that way for 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.280 you know, for Reuben getting hit so hard and high. 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.640 But then the like the honestly, the Sandlauder in me 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.719 understands where Chase is coming from. It's like we want 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:14.760 to get one more turn it back, and so that 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.240 part I get, But it just I wish it didn't 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.280 take my boy's leg to get there without a doubt. 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.720 Yeah, it's just that's a moment that sticks with every 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.199 Mets fan, least of our age, forever, because like the 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.520 watching your short SUPs leg get broken on a field, 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.480 It's like, not how many baseball fans but we'll ever 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:32.280 see that in their lives. It was crazy. You also 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.720 had a pretty first hand view of the Wolmer floors 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.520 night you mentioned it before. At what point did you 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.640 guys know what was going on and when you initially 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:43.000 saw your shortstop in tears, what did you think was happening. 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:48.680 I think we sorted out that there was like a 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.160 move and flow was involved in it. But every other 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.319 time there's a move like that, you get hooked out 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:55.520 of the ballgame and the flow was still out there, 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:57.840 you know what I mean, So obviously it wasn't something 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:00.720 was going on. I don't know. I'm I tried. I 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:02.600 was excited when I was in the lineup and tried 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.439 to play. I was oblivious to all sorts of stuff. 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:06.080 David would have to tell me what was going on. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.160 He'd be telling me, I didn't know what was going on. 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.560 I was just like a little puppy dog chasing a ball. 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:13.480 Then you look out there and you just see the 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:18.439 real humanity of like we're people like with families. And 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.880 again I go back, like flow, Flow is an instructional 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:23.920 league too. I remember him when he was sixteen. He 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.200 was taller than Reuben, but they was about as skinny 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.160 as each other, and so all he knew was the 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:34.200 Mets And to kind of have all this swirling around 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.320 with you, like and you're on display. I think that's 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.720 what we saw. We saw a human being put on 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.120 display in a way that that that most of us 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.840 get to do, you know, and in a more private 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.600 setting like his, Like if you get you get traded, 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.480 or you get moved on from your line of work 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.920 or to another company, like you don't, you're not, it's 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.120 not on us. And why you don't run the highlights 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.360 on the ESPN for Sports Center and so the humanity 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.720 aspect it it made my heart hurt for him, you know. 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:04.880 But then I got we got to see his courage 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.160 and stand up in the face of that, and we 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:12.160 really like we really rode flow, you know, obviously through 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.320 the series with the Nationals, but even kind of more 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.280 in the long term. He ended up being the shortstop 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.440 after Ruben got hurt, and you know, you could say 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.200 maybe be and Flow could have caught the ball better 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.319 in the middle, but you know, we was out there 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.760 trying trying to go and so yeah, that's kind of 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.040 the way I think about it when I look back 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.720 at Wilbur and that set up going. 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.320 To the twenty fifteen playoff run again, you were so 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.560 insane in the zone. I mean, something that we really 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.439 haven't seen from many players ever in the history of 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.360 the playoffs in the World Series. What is it like 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.760 to be that locked in for that period of time 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:50.920 in the biggest games of the entire year. How are 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:51.440 you feeling? 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.840 Well, somewhat I'd say, first, somewhat nervous to not touch it, 0:13:57.880 --> 0:13:58.959 you know what I mean, Like, I don't want to 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.080 mess with this. I don't want to this cocktail is 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.040 really good, you know what I mean, And we're playing 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:05.080 well and I don't want to mess with it. But 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:08.320 the next way I've thought about is like when my 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.880 eyes would tell my body to do something, like it 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.120 would just do it, and it kind of did it fast, 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.000 and it was doing it dangerously, and my eyes were 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.520 telling me to swing at like good balls. We were 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.080 picking good balls. Well, like I kind of dug into 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:23.960 like I've been going back into the past. I've been 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.560 consuming my baseball lately, from like nineteen hundred to like 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.880 nineteen forty. This is the baseball. And Ted Williams used 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:31.720 to ask every great hitter he'd run into, what's it 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.280 take to be a great hitter? And Roger Hornsby told him, 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:36.520 get you a good ball to hit. You'll hear me 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:38.640 say it one hundred times at our eleven U game. 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.040 We played a tournament all year. Get you a good 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:42.880 ball to hit? You know what I mean? Well, I 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.480 was choosing good balls and my body was doing what 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:48.880 I wanted. And then at that point there's kind of 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.040 this scuffle between the pitcher and the batsman at who's 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:53.920 going to push you back? You know what I mean? 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:56.720 Because like the pitchers want they want you to retreat, 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.280 they want to push you back. But if you can 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:03.120 get into attack mode as the batsmen we are on offense, 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.640 and you can start anticipating where you think the pitcher's 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:08.520 going to go and where he's going to be there 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.600 are less places for the pitcher to go, then the batsman. 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:13.720 Then the batter gets to go. We get the whole outfield. 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:15.600 He gets the strike zone, and so if I pick 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:18.800 make him make a good ball, that gets even smaller 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:22.640 and you can kind of anticipate when you come here, 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.000 we're gonna let you know that we was looking right there. 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:30.280 If that makes sense. Yeah, and so you just kind 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:32.640 of start riding it, and that's that would be the 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:34.640 way to describe it. I think when I got, you know, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:38.400 personally to the World Series, the Royals were able to 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:40.640 push me back a little bit and I got defensive 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.760 and I wasn't as attacking, and I started swinging it 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.800 at bad pitches and then you could just feel this 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.000 ebb and flow between the twirler and the batter. It's 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.560 like they get to go first, you know what I mean. 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.040 They initiate and they're trying to push you back. But 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:57.120 the price for going first is they don't get to 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.080 go last, and they're further away from the fight, you 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:01.800 know what I mean, we're fighting over this straight It's 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.800 one thing Sandy Alders seems to talk about the strike 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:07.000 zone like I think he nailed it. It's a fight 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.320 over the strike zone. You can feel it in the postseason, 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.440 like when Francisco Lindor gets one to zero with a 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:14.440 runner on first, You're like, he's going to score him. 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:16.680 He's gonna score him right here on this good ball 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.400 he's gonna hit, gonna split this gap. And that's what 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.000 I tell the boys in our baseball for the Blue 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:23.960 Claws over the weekend, Like we get somebody on first, 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.200 I go score him. Well, the only way you're going 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:28.400 to score him is you better beat the infielders. You 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:30.320 got to beat the first line of defense most of 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:32.520 the time. And so you kind of start talking ball 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:35.160 like this, and so I would say that fortunately for 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:40.360 fifteen and that stretch run, I just kind of gotten 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.200 a moment, and you know, I was never going to 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.320 take over a baseball game or two defensively, so needed 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:47.120 to be on offense. 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.760 Does that Does that ever affect your playgause? Earlier in 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:52.560 your career, you were moving a lot between the infield 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:54.360 the outfield. There were some good times, there were some 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.240 bad times. What's it like getting into the box when 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.480 you know you're going through struggles in the field to 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:01.720 the second anyway. 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.760 Yeah, certainly, because there's more pressure on it, like you 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:07.760 can feel when you're a one dimensional play. Were trying 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:09.560 to win ball games around here, like I want to 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.360 score more runs than the other guys, and if I'm 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:16.359 not catching it on defense, that's not helpful. And and 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.080 so as we you know when you're when you get 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:21.800 in there and you know you're not going good on defense. 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:25.600 It was Damien easily said something. When I was a rookie. 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.000 He would say, and I haven't I got my hat 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.000 back where someone would do that, but he would. He 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:31.560 would pick his hat up when it was time to 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.640 play defense, and he after it a bad and even 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:35.080 if it was a crabb he goes, this is my 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.920 defensive hat. Now it's time to defend, and he'd put 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.400 it on boom and he'd be like, okay. So it's 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.600 a way to separate the two. So what I learned 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:45.560 it was easier for me to separate a bad play 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.600 on defense from offense because I knew if I didn't 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:50.040 go on offense, I wasn't gonna get to play, and 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:53.840 so I would I would like I would have coaches 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.200 sometimes and they would want to talk about a play 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.600 on defense, and I might be hitting first or second 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:00.560 and I was easy for me to say, like it's 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:02.560 time to put my helmet on, like you know, Easy 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.600 was talking about put his hat on, and so with 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:07.240 that it would be like I want to talk to 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.760 you about that. Boo boo. I just made I promise, 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.960 But I gotta go hit right now, and I'm hitting third, 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:14.720