Speaker 1: Episode three ninety two of Bucco Banter.
Speaker 2: Oh, we're gonna talk about the weekend series versus the Cubs,
Speaker 2: the Wolf Game, oh against the Diamondbacks. Very important series
Speaker 2: this week. Thank you for tuning in, Scott, cue the music.
Speaker 3: I fe one on one to see a couple of
Speaker 3: them in my taste with he and my lemonade, because
Speaker 3: I let the way taste beth Seas as the Pirates
Speaker 3: and he let me run the base. Yeah, my time
Speaker 3: is like my money because I can't.
Speaker 4: Afford to waste.
Speaker 3: Oh why see is alloyans in my date to my
Speaker 3: dates or to stick by the plate syndic case have
Speaker 3: the case from my race at my pace cleared brands
Speaker 3: that snake.
Speaker 5: Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Banter and fellas.
Speaker 4: We are on.
Speaker 5: The precipice, the eve of probably the most pivotal game
Speaker 5: of the Pirates season, and ironically it's the Wolf Game.
Speaker 1: It's the Wolf Game. Let's go. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: Let's give ourselves a pat on the back here because
Speaker 2: the timing of the Wolf Game was impeccable.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we really did it.
Speaker 1: We did it.
Speaker 2: We pointed our fingers at a calendar at the beginning
Speaker 2: of the year, and we said July twenty seventh, this Monday,
Speaker 2: it has to be the Wolf game. It has to
Speaker 2: be Diamondbacks first Pirates on a Monday in July. Little
Speaker 2: do we know it's gonna be the most important game
Speaker 2: of the season. It really is, Scott. They didn't play
Speaker 2: well this weekend. They salvaged a series. The offense is
Speaker 2: going a little bit all right, but you have a
Speaker 2: wild card contender coming into your territory.
Speaker 5: There are one game above us at them, one game
Speaker 5: like this series means so much in all seriousness, it
Speaker 5: means so much. And I for one, and we'll get
Speaker 5: into it. I like the pitching matchups for the most part.
Speaker 5: I think they have a big opportunity here to have
Speaker 5: a good week to salvage this homestand.
Speaker 2: Yeah they do. It didn't get off to a good start.
Speaker 2: I mean, like, let's address it real quick. Show to
Speaker 2: Imanaga has a point what two four era against point? Now, yeah,
Speaker 2: the only Pirate to have an earned run off of
Speaker 2: Show to Imanaga is Tommy Fam.
Speaker 1: A home run from Tommy Fam. That's it. That's it.
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
Speaker 5: They didn't have an extra base hit Friday or Saturday.
Speaker 5: And this is an offense that has produced extra base
Speaker 5: hits pretty easily this year, at a higher clipton most teams.
Speaker 5: So that's saying something. I thought maybe they could jump
Speaker 5: out on Matt Boyd. But the soft tossing lefty strikes
Speaker 5: again in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: It really did.
Speaker 2: And what we deemed to be the most important homestand
Speaker 2: some time got off to a rough start again.
Speaker 1: You won Game three. You're still above water.
Speaker 2: You're able to go in to this week on a
Speaker 2: positive note. The offense is going a little bit more.
Speaker 2: Brandon Lao seems to have snapped out of it today.
Speaker 2: All did all took was to change his walk ups
Speaker 2: sound yeah to a little h lol, Wayne remix there
Speaker 2: so a Millie and he got going all right. Ryan
Speaker 2: O'Hearn gets off the schneid, hits a grand slam on
Speaker 2: his birthday, as Marilyn Valdez was having good at baths,
Speaker 2: wasn't going deep. Hits a home run Sean Ross.
Speaker 4: Let's talk about Sean Ross.
Speaker 5: I was just gonna get to that plus rob power,
Speaker 5: plus rop power. I mean, this is this the guy
Speaker 5: that has hit home runs at very easily throughout the
Speaker 5: miner It's an awesome story there.
Speaker 4: Signed out of indie.
Speaker 5: Ball from Puerto Rico, played Juco in Texas and made
Speaker 5: it all the way up to the bigs and he
Speaker 5: got an opportunity and salvage did it.
Speaker 4: Shout out to Sean ross Man. That's a tremendous story.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: With the Pirates having the catching situation they have now,
Speaker 2: Andy will be getting evaluated in Pittsburgh this week and
Speaker 2: then the decision will be made. Henry Davis obviously has
Speaker 2: had his struggles throughout the year. Rafael Floor is headed
Speaker 2: to the i L. So it's next man up mentality,
Speaker 2: and he got the start on Sunday and he took
Speaker 2: advantage of it. He was a big piece and then
Speaker 2: winning this game, squad a really big piece. Braxton took
Speaker 2: the mound. It's a better start than it was in
Speaker 2: New York. It wasn't real quick.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because something I want to talk about was Braxton.
Speaker 5: Are we at all concerned about Braxton Ashraft? Because I have,
Speaker 5: for one, I'm a big believer in Braxton. I know
Speaker 5: the last few starts have been four to five earned runs.
Speaker 5: You know, that could be a sign of fatigue. He's
Speaker 5: thrown more than he ever has, But are we are
Speaker 5: we concerned at all about him? Like, is there what
Speaker 5: is the panic meter at for Braxton ashraft On?
Speaker 2: A skilled to once to ten, I'd probably tend being
Speaker 2: let's move him to the bullpen right now.
Speaker 5: I'm not like a two, I would say, yeah, I
Speaker 5: would say I would say probably four, but like three,
Speaker 5: three maybe I think four might even.
Speaker 1: Be stretching in the right there.
Speaker 4: Three Yeah, yeah, there we go.
Speaker 5: But uh, I would be open to pulling in a
Speaker 5: Foster Griffin from the Washington Nationals in a trade if
Speaker 5: it included a believer or to I don't know what
Speaker 5: relief were Week one from the Nationals, but like, he's
Speaker 5: a guy that I think could pitch in long relief
Speaker 5: and could also spot starter stretch out that rotation to
Speaker 5: a six man rotation if you were able to reprove
Speaker 5: the bullpen and give some guys some rest, Like, I
Speaker 5: think he could be super valuable also give a different
Speaker 5: look from the left side. So yeah, I'm not too concerned.
Speaker 5: You know, I think he's gonna have everyone.
Speaker 4: It's a long season.
Speaker 5: It's one hundred and sixty two games, and guys are
Speaker 5: not going to look pitcher perfect every single game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're gonna want to start controlling his innings.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if you get a start here
Speaker 2: where it's number of pitches or innings, whatever comes first.
Speaker 2: And I think it happened to Jared Jones in year
Speaker 2: one against the Mets, where he went five innings fifty
Speaker 2: pitches and then he got pulled and the excuse for us, Hey,
Speaker 2: we're controlling his innings. He's a young pitcher, he hasn't
Speaker 2: thrown this much. I could see this is the same
Speaker 2: happening for Braxton coming soon. But if you do make
Speaker 2: a move to extend that rotation to give a little
Speaker 2: bit more help on the back end, I'm a little
Speaker 2: bit less concerned.
Speaker 1: Jay has some breaking news here.
Speaker 2: He said, it's not exciting, but it is actual news
Speaker 2: and by the time you hear this, it will be
Speaker 2: old news.
Speaker 1: But Jay, what do we hear right now?
Speaker 6: The White Sox have acquired jose Yorkati. Not sure what
Speaker 6: the return is, but they just traded for him.
Speaker 1: So okay.
Speaker 5: I'm actually shocked because out of all the guys that
Speaker 5: they had to dfa to make room for Sean Ross,
Speaker 5: I thought that he would have had the less likelihood
Speaker 5: to be acquired. But to be honest with you, he's
Speaker 5: pitched the most of this year that he had than
Speaker 5: he has in the past two years.
Speaker 4: He's gotten better as the year's gone on, So good
Speaker 4: for him.
Speaker 6: Good for him for sure.
Speaker 1: Maybe it was a move that they knew they were
Speaker 1: gonna be able to make a trade for. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but Scott.
Speaker 2: The offense was quiet since the last game in New York,
Speaker 2: all the way up until Game three, and we talked
Speaker 2: about it a little bit in terms of what we
Speaker 2: saw from guys like O'Hearn and Law and just the
Speaker 2: struggle that they've been going through up until today at least,
Speaker 2: And I think it was just more of a product
Speaker 2: of the situations that they were putting themselves in the lineup,
Speaker 2: a little bit of fatigue, But there was really nothing
Speaker 2: with the swing that I was worried about, and I.
Speaker 1: Think that showed today.
Speaker 2: They were able to get arrowed the ball, do some
Speaker 2: damage and good counts and strike early on and that's
Speaker 2: just gonna help this.
Speaker 1: I mean, when they go we go right, there's very little.
Speaker 2: I mean, like obviously as Maryland hitting home and slugging helps,
Speaker 2: but when you have guys like that at the top
Speaker 2: of your lineup that aren't doing anything, it's a lot
Speaker 2: harder for the rest of the group to tag along.
Speaker 1: So very excited for that.
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that that carries over and they've gotten over
Speaker 2: that slump. We got Felix Dori Tero back right handed
Speaker 2: pitcher back to the Pirates. For Katie, I have no
Speaker 2: information on him whatsoever, So Jay, if you do, feel
Speaker 2: free to hop in.
Speaker 1: But I'm happy that the Cubs are out of town. Scott.
Speaker 4: I'm looking up his numbers right now. Looks like he's
Speaker 4: on the complex.
Speaker 6: Twenty one year old in the Complex League has a
Speaker 6: four point five r and eighteen innings with twenty four strikeouts.
Speaker 6: So I think for Jose or Katie, you're definitely happy
Speaker 6: to walk away with that that return.
Speaker 1: Okay, I mean we don't have to spend really any
Speaker 1: more time on that six.
Speaker 4: There.
Speaker 1: You go, all right, that's fine, that's fine.
Speaker 4: People are going to freak out.
Speaker 2: People will freak out because he's had a couple of
Speaker 2: good starts, but.
Speaker 1: You know, it is what it is there, Scott.
Speaker 2: I'm excited just to get to the Diamondback series because
Speaker 2: I you know you can go back to the Brave
Speaker 2: Bean Live show. I went on a rant a little
Speaker 2: bit this morning about obviously the bullpen still having the
Speaker 2: issues and us talking about trying to steady the ship
Speaker 2: until August third. We're getting closer and closer now. The
Speaker 2: games are getting more meaningful. Every day matters. You got
Speaker 2: to find a way to close out these ballgames and
Speaker 2: then give a little bit of relief quite literally, relief
Speaker 2: to these starting pitchers and to keep you into ballgames
Speaker 2: and guys like Brandon Eisert. It's not cutting it. Isaac
Speaker 2: Mattson really struggled the other day. Ron Marenaccio didn't play
Speaker 2: well in his first game back. We talked to Ron
Speaker 2: on Saturday. That episode will be out on Wednesday about
Speaker 2: some of the characteristics about what the Pirates believed in
Speaker 2: him and what they've talked to him about in his
Speaker 2: first couple of days with the team. But you know,
Speaker 2: just not the best start to his Pirates career. And
Speaker 2: it's kind of just been the same with the entire bullpen.
Speaker 2: Right There's been some guys that have been better as
Speaker 2: the year has gone on, Mason Montgomery being one of them.
Speaker 2: He's really come into his own a little bit of
Speaker 2: issues still with Walks, but he's.
Speaker 5: Always going to be susceptible to that long ball too.
Speaker 5: I mean today he gave up one to give it
Speaker 5: make it a one run game. But I thought like
Speaker 5: he was in contention for Pitcher of the Week this
Speaker 5: week because he was the only reliever that was really
Speaker 5: contributing at all throughout the week and he made an
Speaker 5: impact there. So you know, he's a guy that I
Speaker 5: think is still young. He debuted last year and this
Speaker 5: is he's someone that I think could be a future
Speaker 5: high leverage guy that you could rely on.
Speaker 1: Jay, come on in here, you guts something to say.
Speaker 6: I feel like I just wanted touch on this really
Speaker 6: quickly with the fan base lately. There's been so much
Speaker 6: quit lately, I feel like that I've seen and I
Speaker 6: wanted to mention this really quickly because it's been driving
Speaker 6: me off the wall. This team, like you said Scott
Speaker 6: earlier in this episode, is one game out of a
Speaker 6: way out card spot right now, and it seems like
Speaker 6: with every tough loss this team goes through, people just
Speaker 6: want to sell and be done. Like I've seen so
Speaker 6: much white flag waving from people that were so tired
Speaker 6: of losing through those bad those bad teams, and I
Speaker 6: just wanted to put out a call to action, like
Speaker 6: where where did the belief in this team go? Because
Speaker 6: although the offense has struggled within the last like series
Speaker 6: or two, this is still like arguably the top three
Speaker 6: offense in the sport, and they're going to get guys
Speaker 6: back after the after the trade deadline, not not even
Speaker 6: mentioning whoever they might add to the bullpen as well.
Speaker 6: I just feel like I've seen a lot of quit
Speaker 6: in the fan base lately. I just wanted to remind
Speaker 6: people that this is such a good team that if
Speaker 6: you're going to buy into a Pirates team, buy into
Speaker 6: this one. There's no reason to be calling for a
Speaker 6: sale right now at all.
Speaker 5: No, they definitely should not sell, and I think it
Speaker 5: would cost a lot of people their jobs if they sold.
Speaker 5: Something I was going to touch on today I couldn't
Speaker 5: make it to the live was for someone that has failed.
Speaker 5: So you don't see too many people do so poorly
Speaker 5: at their job and keep their job for seven plus years.
Speaker 5: So I feel like there is definitely some sense of
Speaker 5: urgency here. Even at the five hundred mark, you've got
Speaker 5: to go for it.
Speaker 4: You just have to.
Speaker 5: So that's where we're at right now, Guys, I don't
Speaker 5: think selling is remotely an option, and the pirates are
Speaker 5: going to make every effort to buy. Now that could
Speaker 5: from what we want versus what they actually do, could
Speaker 5: be wildly different, right, but there is going to be there.
Speaker 5: They are going to go into this deadline with the
Speaker 5: buyer's mindset.
Speaker 2: I touched on this this morning. Look at it this way.
Speaker 2: For ten years, you really haven't had any meaningful baseball
Speaker 2: to watch, even close to the All Star break. Right,
Speaker 2: It's all been doom and gloom pretty much all of it.
Speaker 2: Every move, every season, every game up until this point
Speaker 2: has not been meaningful. And Scott, every year we talk
Speaker 2: about it. All we ask for after the All Star
Speaker 2: break is to show up to the ballpark and have
Speaker 2: a meaningful baseball game, something that matters that you're hanging
Speaker 2: on for every single inning because it means something.
Speaker 1: And you have that right now.
Speaker 2: So don't quit. I love what you said, Jay, don't
Speaker 2: quit on this team. I know it's frustrating. I know
Speaker 2: that baseball is reactionary and after one game getting beat up,
Speaker 2: it's sell the farm. This team doesn't have it people
Speaker 2: want to fire everybody. It's baseball. Guess what, You're gonna
Speaker 2: have another couple of games like that. Now, you can't
Speaker 2: keep saying that, like, hey, that's baseball, that's baseball, it's baseball.
Speaker 2: Obviously something has to change, this team has to go
Speaker 2: on a streak. But why not just be bought in
Speaker 2: right now. I'm not trying to be an apologist, but
Speaker 2: you're watching games that mean something, right, so as a fan,
Speaker 2: just enjoy enjoy it right now. Be critical, that's fine, yeah,
Speaker 2: but don't be irrational.
Speaker 5: Just know that you're watching meaningful baseball games. Like, not
Speaker 5: every game is going to go your way. And recently
Speaker 5: we've had we had a bad weekend. We were able
Speaker 5: to cap it off on a positive note. But like,
Speaker 5: just know that you're watching games that mean something. You're
Speaker 5: not watching a team that is already out of it,
Speaker 5: which was what we're used to over the past decade.
Speaker 5: Right at this point of the season, so yeah, let's
Speaker 5: let's you know, be critical when necessary, but also know
Speaker 5: that you're watching meaningful baseball and and that's important. And
Speaker 5: hopefully we can say that in September two because I
Speaker 5: think that we have a big opportunity with this offense
Speaker 5: here to to really make a name for ourselves here
Speaker 5: in Pittsburgh, and you know, push the Cubs, push the
Speaker 5: Diamondbacks and and be in contention when it's all said
Speaker 5: and done.
Speaker 2: And I'm not telling you to just be hey, they lost, lucky,
Speaker 2: we're in it type deal, just happy to be here situation.
Speaker 1: This team should be here.
Speaker 2: They're too talented not to be You should be angry
Speaker 2: when they lose games because it's meaningful, right, but the
Speaker 2: whole season's over, pack it up type deal.
Speaker 1: The stick is old, it really is.
Speaker 2: And I think it's lazy just to lose a game
Speaker 2: and say, hey, the season's over. Okay, it's not. Crazier
Speaker 2: things have happened. Look at what the Red Sox have done.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that the Pirates are.
Speaker 1: Capable of that.
Speaker 2: They haven't proved to us yet that they can go
Speaker 2: on a streak. But crazier things have happened. And again,
Speaker 2: this team is too talented not to be in the situation,
Speaker 2: or to be at this time of the year and
Speaker 2: not try and win ball games like they have the
Speaker 2: roster to do it. You got to make the moves.
Speaker 2: You should be pushing the team to make these moves,
Speaker 2: but don't be a lazy fan and just call it
Speaker 2: a day when a couple of games don't go your way.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I agree one hundred percent with that said, Like,
Speaker 5: you're allowed to and you're allowed to feel however you
Speaker 5: want to feel, but you're allowed to be very angry
Speaker 5: because as I am that this team has yet to
Speaker 5: address a very glaringly obvious.
Speaker 4: Issue, which is the bullpen.
Speaker 5: They've left games on the board week in and week out,
Speaker 5: which feels like one or more every week. Like this
Speaker 5: team could be ten games over five hundred at this point,
Speaker 5: Like they really could be even more. And I know
Speaker 5: that sounds crazy, but they definitely could be. So the
Speaker 5: unwillingness and the inability to change that, Like be upset
Speaker 5: with that. I am Adam is Jay, everyone is like
Speaker 5: you should be. But they're still with all that happening,
Speaker 5: there's still in contention, and all we can do is
Speaker 5: hope that they make those necessary changes and continue to
Speaker 5: contend here in these meaningful games.
Speaker 2: It was one home run shirt short, one as Marilynd
Speaker 2: Baldez home run short of getting a wand tattoo you.
Speaker 1: Want to talk about being bought in, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: I'm putting my body on the line out here, all right, Permanent,
Speaker 2: I'm willing to get a magic wand tattoo for this team.
Speaker 1: What are you willing to do? Now?
Speaker 2: He didn't hit the home run, he didn't hit a
Speaker 2: second one. So you know, I did look to Scott
Speaker 2: after the first one. I said, oh, buddy, here we
Speaker 2: go coming down to the wire here. But this team
Speaker 2: has shown that they can fight back, that they can
Speaker 2: go through a little bit of a rough stretch and
Speaker 2: then get the bats going again. They don't have quit
Speaker 2: in them by any means that there's still a lot
Speaker 2: of questions that need to be had. Scott, did you
Speaker 2: see anything else's series they really stood out to you?
Speaker 2: Or maybe that you were slightly disappointed in coming back
Speaker 2: for the first home sand.
Speaker 5: No, just you know, I think some of the decision
Speaker 5: making that we've talked about already, right, Like, I think
Speaker 5: that's been the that has been the theme of the series.
Speaker 5: I think a lot of things could have potentially gone differently. Obviously,
Speaker 5: you can't help that the offense came out kind of cold, right,
Speaker 5: They've got to find an answer to soft, soft tossing lefties.
Speaker 5: They've gotta they've got to find an answer. They're not
Speaker 5: going to be much of a contender if they don't.
Speaker 5: And they've got their next test this Wednesday.
Speaker 4: We'll get into that. But that's an obvious issue.
Speaker 5: You go up there and face the Jamison tie on
Speaker 5: at righty like it's it's no problem, and they jump
Speaker 5: jump on them right right at the moment, right at
Speaker 5: right at the beginning of the game. But you gotta
Speaker 5: find an answer for the left handed pitchers. And I
Speaker 5: think that's that's something that continues to worry me, along
Speaker 5: with their bullpen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the same issues. It's the same issues every
Speaker 2: single time. We we sound like a broken record talking
Speaker 2: about it. But I think if I were to pinpoint
Speaker 2: one thing that I saw this series where I'm just
Speaker 2: like got them, I'm over, it is Marcelo Zuna. You
Speaker 2: know again, I'm kicking a dead horse.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: It's been said a billion times, but with a little
Speaker 2: bit more playing time, it's just like, ah, man, we're
Speaker 2: going through this again. The bats just have not been good,
Speaker 2: the approach has not been good. It's not worth it
Speaker 2: to see the one game where he goes one for
Speaker 2: three with a single and you're like, oh, maybe the
Speaker 2: swing's coming back. That's the one thing I think this
Speaker 2: organization needs to get away from is the hope in
Speaker 2: somebody after an extended period of time where you've let
Speaker 2: the leash go to the very end and then some
Speaker 2: That's the one thing I'm curious about what's going to
Speaker 2: happen in the next week. If he stays on this roster,
Speaker 2: they just cut their losses. If they cut their losses,
Speaker 2: I'd be impressed because this team would stretch it to
Speaker 2: the very end if possible. But really, I mean, with
Speaker 2: with some additional at bats, that's the only thing.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, Man, this lineup, it's a dead end
Speaker 1: right there.
Speaker 5: They could be a lot more flexible of a team
Speaker 5: without him. And you look at their record with him
Speaker 5: in the story line, but I think it's like twenty
Speaker 5: five and thirty nine or something crazy like that. He's
Speaker 5: out of the lineup today after being in the lineup
Speaker 5: Friday and Saturday, and look at the off how quick
Speaker 5: they got off to a jump start. I'm not saying
Speaker 5: he's the only reason, but like, he is a whole
Speaker 5: and we have to acknowledge that and hindsight twenty twenty.
Speaker 5: We like the signing at the at the forefront, right.
Speaker 5: We were all for it, but they could have hindsight.
Speaker 5: They could have used that twelve million to sign.
Speaker 4: Two or three believers.
Speaker 5: I think they have the opportunity to write ship. I
Speaker 5: don't think you can go through the end of the
Speaker 5: season with Marcelo Zon on this roster.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're going to be a serious contender, right
Speaker 2: and you're looking for that flexibility. I think when Horowitz
Speaker 2: gets back, I'm fingers crossed that he's okay with getting
Speaker 2: hit in the head the other day because his rehab
Speaker 2: has gone well otherwise. But you're just allotted so many
Speaker 2: more options when Spencer Horowitz is there in terms of
Speaker 2: the DH right field and first base, between him, Valdez
Speaker 2: and Ryan O'Hearn, you're giving a ton more options right there.
Speaker 2: Ryan O'Hearn can get a lot of days off, right,
Speaker 2: Valdez can get some days just in the DH spot.
Speaker 1: Okay, even Horwitz can as well.
Speaker 2: So there's a trio there that is to be desired,
Speaker 2: but we just really haven't been able to see yet.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited for that.
Speaker 2: I'm excited when August eighth comes around if this team
Speaker 2: is still playing good baseball, what the status is with
Speaker 2: O'Neil Cruz. But we just really been robbed of seeing
Speaker 2: everything come to fruition this year.
Speaker 1: Scott.
Speaker 2: It's frustrating because we talk about the talent and it's
Speaker 2: just you can't get it all in the same room
Speaker 2: at the same time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, it's frustrating. And hopefully that comes sooner
Speaker 5: rather later, because Andy's on the precipice of coming back,
Speaker 5: and god willing, Spencer Horwitz is not too far away,
Speaker 5: and then we'll see what's going on with O'Neil Cruz.
Speaker 5: But I think they can manage with Jake Makeham in centerfield.
Speaker 5: In the meantime, Adam, do you want to get into
Speaker 5: the preview for this upcoming series because this is a
Speaker 5: very very big series for Rates.
Speaker 1: I do, I really do. But before we do.
Speaker 2: I need to give a shout out to forty four
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Speaker 2: seen them just as a product of being in the
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Speaker 1: Some of these guys have some crazy looking gloves.
Speaker 2: I mean look at Jacob Mizerowski has about a billion
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Speaker 2: couple of years and creating these wild concepts, and part
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Speaker 2: a kid's game. You want to have fun with it,
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Speaker 2: and it goes viral just by showing it on the
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Speaker 2: I'm proud to announce that we've partnered with forty four
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Speaker 2: been working on this.
Speaker 1: They're just great people.
Speaker 2: They love baseball, they love the personality of the game,
Speaker 2: and they do a great job providing these guys with
Speaker 2: not only great custom gloves, but really high quality gloves.
Speaker 2: Scott and I have had forty four gloves way before
Speaker 2: this even took place, which is the funny part about it.
Speaker 2: We play Men's League softball with forty four custom gloves.
Speaker 2: Scott has two Italian flags on his glove.
Speaker 5: To four man like was it was a no brainer
Speaker 5: from the get go, and look at us now we're
Speaker 5: working with forty four.
Speaker 2: Any other company would be like, absolutely not, We're not
Speaker 2: doing that.
Speaker 1: But forty three allowed you to express yourself. Yeah. Two
Speaker 1: they say, listen, do you want three? Do you want four?
Speaker 2: We can make the whole thing Italian, and they would
Speaker 2: and you can go. And the point I'm getting at
Speaker 2: this is not just for pros. This is not just
Speaker 2: for guys in the show or playing professional baseball. This
Speaker 2: is for all the baseball players out there, all the
Speaker 2: softball players out there. You could go to forty four
Speaker 2: Pro right now and customize a glove all the way
Speaker 2: down to the seams man, all the way down to
Speaker 2: the seams, to the stitching logos, everything and more. You
Speaker 2: just go to their website and guess what if you
Speaker 2: type in Buco twenty on the website, you're going twenty
Speaker 2: percent off a fully custom glove. Again, Buco twenty at
Speaker 2: forty four pro and you get twenty percent off your glove.
Speaker 2: So huge shout out to that new partnership of Bucko Banter,
Speaker 2: and we appreciate them for supporting us.
Speaker 1: And anytime you see a guy.
Speaker 2: With a forty four pro glove, just no Buco Banters
Speaker 2: right there with them along the way. All right, So Scott,
Speaker 2: that being said, let's get into the previews versus the
Speaker 2: Arizona Diamondbacks.
Speaker 4: Let's do it.
Speaker 5: The Diamondbacks enter this series fifty five and fifty one
Speaker 5: second in the NLS, one game up in the wild
Speaker 5: Card above us tomorrow the Wolf game. Bad day, bad
Speaker 5: day to be Meryl Kelly, I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 4: He's going up against Mitch Kelliber. He's also going.
Speaker 5: Up against the Wolves, a PNC part Meryl Kelly enters
Speaker 5: eight to eight with a five twelve ERA and eighteen
Speaker 5: games one hundred and three point two things pitched six
Speaker 5: five k's and a one four to eight whip.
Speaker 4: He'll throw a deep arsenal at you.
Speaker 5: He throws a four team change, cutter, a curve, slider, sinker,
Speaker 5: plus command command. Walks are usually not an issue. Velocity
Speaker 5: is a below average. If his command is off, his
Speaker 5: fastball can be hit hard, can be vulnerable to the
Speaker 5: left handed power. That's something that we don't lack. Mistake,
Speaker 5: change ups or cutters can leave the yard. Not a
Speaker 5: huge strikeout pitcher. He prefers we contact over chasing punch outs.
Speaker 5: The chase the change is the signature pitch here, guys.
Speaker 2: Tuesday, he got Bubba Chandlerver's right handed pitcher Brandon fat
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six five and one of the four four
Speaker 2: three e r A in eighteen games, sixty five innings,
Speaker 2: forty five k's with the one three to two whip.
Speaker 2: The arsenal is a four seam sinker, curve, sweeper, cutter, change.
Speaker 2: Excellent strike thrower, consistently attacks his own and rarely beats
Speaker 2: himself with walks. The fastball command is strong when he's
Speaker 2: locating at the top of the zone. Hitter struggle to
Speaker 2: square him up trending upward. Since his recall, he's delivered
Speaker 2: multiple quality starts. He is susceptible to the long balls,
Speaker 2: and he stays in the zone so often. The sweeper
Speaker 2: best swing and miss offering features significant horizontal movement and
Speaker 2: is particularly effective against right handed hitters. That is Tuesday's game.
Speaker 2: By the way, if you want all of these, you
Speaker 2: can go to bucko banter dot com, enter in your email,
Speaker 2: go to your email opt in. Very important that you
Speaker 2: do that, and then you will get all the pitching
Speaker 2: breakdowns and more. Scott closes off with Wednesday, probably the
Speaker 2: toughest matchup of the entire show.
Speaker 4: I kind of hinted at this earlier.
Speaker 5: We've struggled with Leeftenant pitching, and we've already struggled with
Speaker 5: this guy at Twardo. Rodriguez is going to face Jared
Speaker 5: Jones on May fifth against the Pirates. He went seven innings,
Speaker 5: two hits nowhere and three walks seven k's in a
Speaker 5: nine to zero Arizona win nine.
Speaker 4: To three with a two six four ERA.
Speaker 5: This year kind of reinvented himself one hundred and twenty
Speaker 5: two and two thirds innings pitch eighty six k's he
Speaker 5: throws a four scene change curve cutter sinker, excellent command
Speaker 5: when he's ahead, and account changes speeds effectively keeps hitters
Speaker 5: from squaring the ball up consistently.
Speaker 4: Fastball Velo is below average.
Speaker 5: If hitters force him into this so early in accounts
Speaker 5: of stuff is much more hittable to change.
Speaker 4: The best weapon throws to both lefties and righties. Guys.
Speaker 4: If there's a.
Speaker 5: Theme here, we're facing three starting pitchers that live in
Speaker 5: this z out. We're not gonna We're gonna see guys
Speaker 5: that aren't gonna walk. Many guys give up free passes.
Speaker 5: We're seeing a lot of fastball change up guys too,
Speaker 5: guys that don't have overpowering stuff. I think this is
Speaker 5: a big opportunity for the Pirates to go on and run
Speaker 5: and also stend this streak against lefties.
Speaker 2: Seriously huge series. Massive. It's time to show up. You
Speaker 2: showed up for uns or Palooza weekend. You had some
Speaker 2: good giveaways. I know the results weren't there, but you
Speaker 2: really want to show your fandom.
Speaker 1: Show up to panc Park this week. We got to
Speaker 1: have that place.
Speaker 2: Rocking Man again, meaningful baseball show that Pittsburgh is a
Speaker 2: baseball town because it is. I've seen the way that
Speaker 2: people show up and root for this team when things
Speaker 2: are going their way, and we really haven't seen it
Speaker 2: too much in our lifetime, but the small sample size
Speaker 2: that we do have, it's been electric and it is
Speaker 2: awesome to see that crowd in a full PNC park.
Speaker 1: So let's keep it going.
Speaker 2: Hey, we got our hitter and picture of the Week,
Speaker 2: brought to you by Smashed Waffle in Oakland. You go
Speaker 2: to Smash Waffles in Oakland, you mentioned the Bucko Banter
Speaker 2: home run of the Week, you get twenty percent off
Speaker 2: your entire order. You might remember those Bucko Banter waffles
Speaker 2: from the Bucko Banter tailgate that were all eating the
Speaker 2: entire thing, one hundred of them gone. That's because they
Speaker 2: are delicious, and all you have to do is go
Speaker 2: to Smashed Waffles in Oakland, mention the Bucko Banter home
Speaker 2: run of the week, and you get twenty percent off
Speaker 2: your entire order.
Speaker 1: I'll get it started with a hitter of the Week.
Speaker 2: It's none other than Nicky Knocks, Nicki Barrels, Nikki g
Speaker 2: Nick Gonzalez of the Gonzales Gonzales Law Firm. Nine for
Speaker 2: twenty six three forty six average, one bomb in three RBIs.
Speaker 2: He's just been mister consistent this year. Just barrel to
Speaker 2: ball all the time, great at bats. You see him
Speaker 2: talk about his swing on will Be, talked about it
Speaker 2: on bench banter. He's really just learned his mechanics very
Speaker 2: well and finally he's healthy and it's working to his
Speaker 2: advantages here.
Speaker 5: Scott, Yeah, absolutely gotta love what you're seeing from Nick
Speaker 5: Gazella is like top five and hits in the whole
Speaker 5: league I think right now one hundred and eighteen. So
Speaker 5: hopefully he keeps it going. He's been mister consistent. Let's
Speaker 5: go to picture of the week. This is a new one,
Speaker 5: Bubba Chandler, who started off the year kind of slow,
Speaker 5: right He's this is a guy that I could see
Speaker 5: breakout in the second half, and he did in this
Speaker 5: last start six and the third two hits, no earn.
Speaker 5: I think the big stat here is one walk five
Speaker 5: k's generate eleven whiffs. Bubba Chandler is our picture of
Speaker 5: the week. There was a lot of guys to pick from.
Speaker 5: Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, Wilbert Dutell's return was awesome, so
Speaker 5: that's a positive. But Bubba Chandler is the guy to
Speaker 5: take the cake this.
Speaker 1: Week, and it leaves me with one last thing to do.
Speaker 2: By the time you listen to this episode, it's either
Speaker 2: late on Sunday night or Monday on your way to work.
Speaker 2: You got your nine to five, you got it a
Speaker 2: day job that you're grinding through. And it's hard to
Speaker 2: show up in the summer when it matters most, but
Speaker 2: it's easier to do it when you got your pack
Speaker 2: behind you. And the Wolf Game is perfectly scheduled for
Speaker 2: that because the Monday, and it's a meaningful one. You
Speaker 2: gotta continue to win ball games. You gotta continue to
Speaker 2: stack wins, and going out there on the top of
Speaker 2: the rotunda with all of your friends and having a
Speaker 2: good time is what matters at the ballpark, and what
Speaker 2: you're doing matters because it's gonna help the Pirates beat
Speaker 2: the Diamondbacks on Monday, and then that's gonna propel into Tuesday,
Speaker 2: and then that's gonna carry over to Wednesday, and then
Speaker 2: you're gonna go to Cincinnati and you're gonna kick some
Speaker 2: masks there. The Wolf Game matters, ladies and gentlemen, all right, Jay,
Speaker 2: get in here real quick.
Speaker 1: Let me hear it. There we go.
Speaker 4: I didn't hear out of that guy?
Speaker 2: Yeah, love it dropping out WU in the comments here.
Speaker 1: Let us know.
Speaker 2: If you're gonna be at the Wolf game, we'll be
Speaker 2: at the top of the rotunda. We'll have some wolf stickers.
Speaker 2: Got a wolf flag coming around, We got some wolf tattoos.
Speaker 2: All right, it's gonna be a good time. We're letting
Speaker 2: loose tomorrow. Man, we're letting loose. I I know a
Speaker 2: lot of people that are coming to the Wolf game.
Speaker 2: Just have a good time.
Speaker 1: Man. Let's let's let's go ball out all right.
Speaker 2: Enjoy the buckos, play in baseball, Scott, unless you got
Speaker 2: anything else.
Speaker 1: Let's let's get out of here.
Speaker 4: Let's get out of here. Let's uh have a good
Speaker 4: week at the ballpark.
Speaker 5: Let's enjoy the wolf game, and let's hoist it.
Speaker 3: Be seats as the pirates can't he let me run
Speaker 3: the base. Yeah, my tame is like my money because
Speaker 3: I can't.
Speaker 4: Afford to waste.
Speaker 3: Oh why see is all my date to my dates?
Speaker 3: Or to stick by the plate sitting