Cincinnati Reds Make Playoff Push With Dramatic Weekend Turnaround at Pittsburgh Pirates, Highlights

Cincinnati Reds Make Playoff Push With Dramatic Weekend Turnaround at Pittsburgh Pirates, Highlights

to the bench to bench. Change in the air to deeply field that goes to Indie and the team. Get out of here, baseball. It’s gone. Oh my god. You believe it. Johnny B has tried it out. The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series in force rate. It was a sweet to the clock to win the game. That ball is fair. Cincinnati’s ahead. Two games to mount. Welcome Joe to Cincinnati. Adam Dunn has done it again. Benzinger backing and calling. And the 1990 World Championship belongs to the Cincinnati Red. Marty. Yes. This is Adam from Milwaukee. Hey Adam, how you doing? I’m good. How are you? Good. Do you think Scott Henber is a good player? Done up there with the bases loaded. the outfield deep and around toward right to the 10 on the way to the plate. One on long drive right field and this one do their win and a high drive back into deep right field. Junior has just knocked the door down to the 500 blocker. They both have a family and DA Cruz is Oh my goodness. Look at this kid run. My oh my, that is a triple. Mlan’s first big league bomb. Spencer Steer’s first big league hit is a home run to straightaway center field. Trey Botto’s done it again. The pitch. Botto swings high in the air. Right field. Yes. He pointed to the dugout to say I told you. That is Joey Botto’s 315th career. Go ahead, Revy. Only Johnny Bench had more as a Red. And I can’t tell you how much it means to play in front of everyone here in Cincinnati as a Red. What a gift. What a tremendous gift. So, thank you. Thank you. I think I can speak for all of Red’s country. Joey MTO, thank you. Left center field racing back to Mara the National League Central Division champions in the air. Left center field begins win. Heat. Heat. you down the right field line for a three run home big day by Raone Hernandez a strike away and out away is home round ball to third Frasier gloves throw to first and home for the second time in his major league career has caused Heat. Heat. in the first game in the air and the win. What a dream to career Bruce. All right, Nick. Here we are. Uh, who knows what’s going on with the bottom ticker. Nobody knows. But that’s obviously not right. But I’ll know this. As soon as you think I mean I’m serious. Some people are going to think this is a bid. I’m trying to make like a maybe a joke to start the show. No, I’m being dead serious. As soon as you get to the edge of being completely done, ready to move on, starting to look at perhaps the uh the NFL slate and when it starts, starting to dig around some college football schedules. As soon as you get to that moment, this baseball team finds a way to reel you right back in. And you know what, Nick? I think it’s kind of funny they split a series against the Pirates. And boy oh boy, does it feel like maybe they even swept them. I don’t know. But that’s what happens when the team that you’re chasing can’t win baseball games either. And it’s funny how the way that other teams perform affects quite literally how you feel about your own team. Um what was doom and gloom a few days ago, Nick, is now all all rainbows and sunshine, my friend. Yeah, we left on Thursday night. We were like, what’s Sunday night going to be like? We had no idea what to expect on uh Sunday night and certainly would not have expected the vibes to be this high just splitting the series and uh on top of that losing a game on on Friday night as miserably as they did uh too. I mean it’s been a it’s been a wild season, you know. Um I just at this point just along for the ride. We see what happens. Yeah, you have to. I mean, you don’t have a choice, you know. Well, I I got to tell you, I think you’re you’re a rational person if you think this team isn’t very good. I also think you’re a rational person if you think this team just needs to find their stride a little bit and is good enough team to get to the postseason and at least be competitive enough to maybe even win a postseason series. You could convince me of both. Now, some call that, you know, um a disorder. Some might say that you have um some kind of mental kind of wiring situation up there that’s just not quite firing on all cylinders when you go back and forth as many times as I have. But I I I think it’s actually the same thing. Uh today, I said it before, I’ll say it again. I don’t know how many times this offense is going to have to save the pitching, but it feels like today we finally recouped a one to nothing loss. today felt like a genuine recoup. I’m not saying they they didn’t deserve to win. I’m not saying they stole it, but they they you tell me, look me straight in my face and you tell me that the Cincinnati Reds gave up eight runs. I I I I mean, they just don’t win those games. And yet, we find ourselves where they score 14 and it actually mattered. You know, you can score 26, 23 runs, whatever the hell it was in Baltimore. I don’t care what it was. It really didn’t matter. I mean, they didn’t need to score that many today. They needed to score them. If I told you after you watched the games on Friday and and Saturday, and I mean, both teams offensively just look putrid. The two teams look good for 30 hits. 30 hits on Sunday. Yeah. No, you’re right. I mean, they’re I don’t know where to go. Like, on a show like this, it’s kind of wild because you’re you’re you know, I mean, yeah, we’re I’m fired up. I mean, I I am I am so thrilled to death that I get more meaningful baseball. That’s what this is about to me. Okay. I know for many maybe it’s just like they they you you look at the end of the year and you say, “Well, you want your team to do X.” I’m not there yet. I I I don’t have expectations when it comes to like you said, you know, if the Reds don’t do this, I’m going to be disappointed in them. I just want my heart pumping. I want my heart pumping as long as I can get it to pump to watch this baseball team. And you know what? We got We got We got three games against a really good team at home and then we got to go play a team on the road that we all know who the hell it is. And you know what? They can’t. I’m going to put it out in the atmosphere right now. And some people are going to say I’m crazy for saying this. I’m going to say it cuz I ain’t scared to say it. They can’t keep doing this. The Brewers are not this good. We all know they’re not this good. And by God, we’re going to march right in there and we’re going to hand it to them. Watch us. I’m telling you right now, market. They’re they’re in Cincinnati. I’m just saying when they I don’t care where it’s played. I could be played on the moon. The Brewers are not going to they’re not going to do what everyone thinks they’re going to do, which is mop us. They’re not going to do it. We’re we’re going to handle business for the first time in decades and turn around the absolute pessimism that lives in this town. And you know how many times people walked up to me today and said, I tell you, they just they’re just not good enough. It’s just it’s not going to work out for us. We have been psychologically abused for so long that I’m going to I if it’s just me, I am going to make it my own willpower to get over the proverbial hump with this Brewers team. I’m sick and tired of always getting beat down by a team. Now, I say this hesitantly because they’ve won like 200 games. Can’t be this good. Well, it’s important to note that they’re in Cincinnati because I think it would be great to see a huge crowd next weekend. Really support them. And to your point, my favorite moment of Red’s fandom in terms of like the most proud I’ve been to be a Reds fan was in game five of the 2012 NLDS. It was there. Reds get down 6 nothing. And you know the history in this town. Yeah. Oh, here we go again. That crowd did everything they could possibly do to try to will that team back in. I would like to see that kind of mindset next weekend in Cincinnati. Screw what the Brewers have done in the past. Come out there, support this team, a and try to give them every ounce of energy you can in what’s going to be a huge series for this team. Massive series. Obviously playing on Apple TV on Friday night as well. Um it doesn’t really get a whole lot bigger than this in the spot that the Reds find themselves in. This is this is the type of opportunities that they’ve given themselves a chance to have now. And quite frankly, to be fair, the Mets have, too. I’m not going to not going to act like the Mets haven’t helped. But I I just I’m I guess I’m just to the point where I’m tired of being tired of being tired of being scared of the Brewers. I I And I really hope that the rest of the city finally just says the hell with it, too. I mean, I’m just let’s not let’s not just skddish around these guys. Just take it to them. Punch them right in the face when they get in town. I don’t You know what? I’ll tell you what. We’ll send a message. Throw the I know I’m I’m typically against this. So, we’re not going to try to hit them. Let’s throw three fast balls literally as fast and as high as we can right when they get in there. Not going to hit them to be clear. We’re not I’m not condoning hitting people, but Randy Johnson fasts to uh to Larry Walker for those that you know consumed baseball back then. But anyways, um, as far as the series goes, they split. I think you asked me, Nick, what was going to happen, I said, I think they’re gonna split. I didn’t think they were going to split in the manner they did, but they did split. So, uh, I don’t know. There’s a lot to talk about in a show like this. I’m sure we can jump into it. Usually, super here before we do the Bosco recap, and then we’ll jump into that and do a show. Um, per usual, as always, if you just jumped in, thank you for watching this show, as goofy and stupid as it is. Uh, please like it. Tell a friend about it. That’d be great. 74 likes, 370 people in here. That’s on That’s on me. Hand up. Accountability. That’s That’s a That’s a me problem. I haven’t told you guys to hit the like button yet. And that would be very very kind of you if you would. If you’re on your TV, I don’t I still don’t know how to do it on the TV. Got to be honest with you. So, if you’re on the TV, you got to figure that out on your own. You can ask some AI, chat, GPT, Grock, whatever other service. pull out your phone for two seconds, hit like, go back to the TV. That’d be cool, too. But, uh, let’s get some supers. Let’s do that. Jacob Doyle says, “Awkward question. Why is the cheap rental player like Andrew immediately a better hitter, not player, but a better hitter than most of our homegrown core?” I don’t know. Come on, Jacob. That ain’t the quite the super chat we’re looking for on a night like tonight, but I would say uh Marte hit hit a bomb. See that? Uh that’s some home kind of grown town. I don’t know. Are we taking credit for him? I mean, we he did come from another organization. We did pray a pay a relatively pretty price for it. Um are we just talking draft all the way through or what? You can’t take credit for that. That trade was already a loss trade for the Reds that they can never win any anything back on. I mean, the Mariners fleece the Cincinnati Reds. I mean, even though Marte doesn’t have a year of service time, I mean, the trade’s over. Mariners won. Reds lost. loser franchise. No other market that can do nothing to change that. I I I heard the sarcasm at the very beginning of all of that. So, shout out to Nick. Nick’s got so many receipts and just just absolute what would be the scar tissue, I guess, is what we’re going to call it. From all of the from all of the Reds fandom every time a Reds trade somebody to get a prospect. But that’s here nor there. That’s in the past, Nick. We’re going to move on. That’s what they teach you, I think, if you try to read some psychological books to help you move on. Nick, we’re going to move on. Uh, but as far as being a better hitter than our homegrown core, I don’t know what we’re calling our homegrown core. Is that Matt Mlan, Ellie, and Steer? And but Steer came over in a trade, so that can’t be it. Maybe CES. I don’t know. My answer is I don’t give a damn really. Who the hell Cruz is home is homegrown, I think. Yeah, he’s doing pretty well. Um, he’s okay. I mean, let’s just be thankful that the guy has played well since he’s gotten here. We’ve had we’ve had plenty of guys come here and and, you know, not foot the bill, if you want to call it that. And, you know, so far he’s playing well, but give it a week and the rest of the fan base will be out on him if he doesn’t hit some more home runs. Red’s batter up says, “Uh, I want what he had.” Is he talking about me? I don’t know. If he’s talking about me, then, you know, I’m I’m here. I’m um high on life, as they say. Mark Federer says, “Spencer Steer is good at baseball.” You know what? Spencer Steer today, that was a big day today. Good yesterday, too. Too is yesterday. Oddly enough, you know, I think I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again till I’m blue in the face. What am I going to say, Nick? What am I going to say about Spencer Steer? The Reds need him. What am I going to say? Yeah. I mean like he we as stupid as it sounds this offense goes probably maybe maybe you can convince me otherwise but it’s like it’s going to be really hard for this offense to get to a spot where you feel good about it if Spencer Sears is not a big part of it. It just is. He’s he is uh playing a premium position and at the end of the day we’ve need we need him man. And I and I think he is a little bit better than than maybe he’s played at some points this year. There’s no doubt about it you know but and he at least can hit the ball to the ballpark. I mean that’s exactly yeah that’s part of Yeah. You know, you know what? Let’s give him some more credit for that because I think if nothing else, there’s times where we’ve been down on Spencer Steer, but his ceiling is at least high enough to to to change a baseball game, right? We’ve had we’ve had enough guys in this lineup where their ceiling is is at best maybe three hits in the game and they’re all singles. And to the point like let’s just at this point Spencer Sway is what he is. We could they’re not going to take him off first base. Right out Spencer S. We could talk about it in the offseason if he’s the first baseman for 2026. Exactly. There’s no point discussing this anymore. Exactly. He’s played way too way too uh good defensively for for the Reds to even want to make even uh even a thought of changing it. And they they stuck through him when he was playing so poorly at first base that I mean there’s no way they’re going to not stick with him now. So, might as well just move on to another subject whether you agree or disagree. Optimistic Reds fan says Mets uh Mets want the Reds to make the wild card so bad. Respect. Yeah. I mean, listen, if you’re a New York fan, uh Mets fan obviously that is you you’re you’re it’s kind of falling apart, isn’t it? But this is always time to rebound if the Reds need to kind need to need to keep finding ways to win uh you know, series. And then as we all know, as I said before, there are six games in September that are back-to-back against the Padres’s and the Mets. And u that’s going to be that’s going to be a uh a massive week in this in this town if you’re a Reds fan. Uh Reds batter up says, “The Brewers are good at baseball. Face it.” Yeah, I mean, I’ll face it, but I’m not going to You know what? I’m tired. And you know what? I know as fans it doesn’t really probably matter how we feel. Really all that matters is what the what what the actual players feel. But as contagious Nick is trying so hard to get this bottom ticker to work and it’s just not going to work for him. Someone else is I think Craig might be behind the scenes and now he’s got it up and I can’t get rid of it. Gotcha. There we go. Get rid of it. Yeah. It’s just my brain is like a squirrel. You never seen squirrels like you know or what dogs with squirrels like squirrel. Anyways, back to where I was going with this. It doesn’t matter how I feel more than less or Nick feels or any of the rest of us feel in regards to whether we’re whether timid or whether we’re worried about the Brewers or any of that. All that really matters is what happens in that clubhouse. No doubt. But I I just want to have the mindset maybe for my own self to feel better perhaps, but at the end of the day I I just it just seems like we’re always fearful of what the Brewers are going to do to us. You know, it’s like you’re walking in the ring waiting to get punched instead of trying to punch someone. That’s how I look at it. I’m not dodging and weaving anymore. I’m ready to go. You know, if I get knocked out, I get knocked out. I’m I’ll live with getting knocked out, but I’m not going to sit here and tiptoe around the situation. That is the Brewers are pretty good. I also say this and and and maybe I’m completely wrong. The Brewers aren’t this good, okay? Like they’re not historically one of the best teams that’s ever played this game good over the past whatever it’s been Nick 90 days. I don’t I don’t even know the stats in front of me. But I got I got news for you. If you look at probably the last 90 days of what this baseball team’s done in Milwaukee, you you can compare it to probably the best teams of all time and they stack right up. I don’t know, man. This NL Central is is stupid. I mean, there’s only two teams in baseball that have a run differential of above plus 100. The Brewers are plus 132. The Cubs are plus 118. I mean, the fact that the Brewers are 73 and 44. The Cubs are 67 and 49 and the Reds are somehow still five games under 500 is almost hard to believe. I mean, the the Pittsburgh Pirates, like for example, I was looking at them. They’ve played terrible against the NL Central. like they they are um Oh, I had it. What What was their record against the NL Central? Maybe it’s not going to expand, but they had a they have a terrible record against the NL Central. Like, I don’t think they’re that far against 500 against everyone else. I mean, this division just may be great. Could be. I mean, not not that it could be. It It is uh at the top for sure. And I would even argue that the Pirates are are a competitive team. Now, I get that there are times where they don’t look that way, but it seems like within the division, or at least when we play them, they find a way to be pretty damn competitive. Um, so we’ll see. Uh, at the end of the day, I I guess my point is I’m I’m just done with the whole Brewers thing. Donnie Miller says, “Lie’s first AB. Each game’s looking like the candyman. Uh, need Ellie to get hot to make a run. Didn’t he get a big hit today in the first inning? Am I wrong on that? Seriously, I’m not trying to be funny. Ellie Elliot two hits today. No, I’m saying his first at bat. Pretty sure his first at bat was a was a was a was a was a base hit. No, second second at bat was what was RBI. Second one. All right. Sorry, bro. Uh, real quick. Uh, Pirates are two games above 500 against the rest of the National League. They have a winning record against the uh they’re 15- 11 against the NL East and they’re 11 and 13 against the NL West. So, they just gotten they’ve gotten beat down everywhere else and they they the American League killed. Yeah, the American League beat him up. Um, all right. Well, as always, we got uh we got our BOS recap presented by Nick Kirby. Once we get through that, we’ll obviously do the deep drive and then we’ll get into the nuts and bolts of this Red’s baseball team and see what, you know, what’s rest in store. Uh Nick, you’re ready? Take it away, my friend. All right, Reds taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Red’s looking to get out of Pittsburgh with a series split. Zack Latell against Mike Burroughs. Burrows cruised through the first two innings. He struck out four Red’s batters, but the top of the third was not as kind. Cabrian Hayes smoked a double at 103 off the bat. Then Gavin Lux walked with two outs and Ellie de la Cruz singled home the game’s first run to make it one- nothing Reds. And then Miguel Anduhar batting cleanup ahead of Austin Hayes on Sunday hit a three-run bomb to make it 4 nothing Reds. Now Zack Latell had pitched around base runners in the second and third but the Pirates scored three runs in the fourth to make it four to three. The Pirates scored another run off Latell in the fifth to tie the game and Latell would not survive the inning. Final line four and two/3, nine hits, four runs, zero walks, three strikeouts. Reds responded right away in the fifth with three runs off RBI doubles from Marte and Seir. Marte’s double hit 108 off the bat. 74 Reds. Luis May walked three straight batters in the seventh after he relieved Mole with the runner on and walked in a run to make it 75, but Graham Ashcraft came in and got the Reds out of a big bases loaded jam. The Reds responded again in the top of the eighth. Noveled and then Spencer Steer crushed a two-run home run 439 feet into the left field bleachers. The Red’s first home run at PNC Park in 10 games. Uh actually that was Andrew. Sorry, but that’s 95 Reds. Uh the pesky Pirates scored three more runs off Ashcraft in the eighth, thanks in part to a pretty ugly error from Matt Mlan to make it a 98 game. But once again, the Reds responded in the top of the ninth. Noelve Marte crushed a 427 foot three-run homer to deep center field to make it 12-8 Reds. The Reds would score two more runs in the inning on a bases loaded walk by TJ Fredel and a sack fly by Matt Mlan to make it 14 to8. Brent Sudter put up a rare zero in this game in the bottom of the ninth. Reds went 14 to8. Reds now 62 and 57 on the season and the Reds are now just one and a half games out of the final NL wildard spot. That’s Say that. Say that last part again. You can say it again. I know we got the DS. One and a half games out of the final NL wildard spot. Just one more time. one and a half games out of the final National League Wildcard spot. I’d do it again just to make it funny, but I’m not. Okay, I’m done. I’m done. Uh, deep drive of the day. I was going to I was going to do that bit and see how long we could go. I was my overunder was four and a half. I think we would have gotten maybe the over, but who knows? Uh, deep drive of the day uh is sponsored by DSC. DSC is a leader in renewable commodities for bofuel production, specializing in used cooking, oil collection, aggregation, and sales. Visit www.deepsouthcommodis.com for more information. It came off the bat of Spencer Steer, his 14th of the year. This was actually an absolute bomb. 105.6 off the bat, 439 ft. And it would give big home run. I know it doesn’t seem like a big home run. Maybe when you look at the numbers of the whole thing, it says it was only an 8% boost. Um, but boy, it felt like it was a little bit bigger than that based off the way the game was trending. Reds would be uh uh going to 96% as we all know it would be 100%. Nick, um I mean the really the story of the game is just the power. I mean that’s the story of the game. I know that maybe you could make it about just kind of the the bullpen. I I I don’t know where you kind of want to run with that uh or lack thereof, but the truth of the matter is is they they powered through. They finded a way to get some power. And it’s just funny. It’s It seems obvious that when you when you find a way to hit the ball over the fence, it’s it sounds stupid to say, but it just seems like maybe there’s been this narrative for too long that has went around town about how you don’t have to do that to be very successful. I’m not and I’m not suggesting that you can’t have some success without it, but I think today was a perfect indication of when you have some guys that can run into some pitches. Boy oh boy does it change everything. Um you find yourself, you know, pounding out a bunch of hits. Yes. But some big blows, some big swings that kind of catapulted what was uh I guess the run um the runs in this baseball game. So you have one and a half back. Uh, I don’t know where you kind of want to go off the off the box recap, but you know, there’s a variety of ways to go on a night like tonight. I’m going to let you lead us. Yeah, I mean, I guess just overall, you know, res are just obviously very fortunate to be a game and a half back with the Mets playing the way they are. Thing I would I would caution the Mets are caution with the Mets is they are a very volatile team. Uh, right before this skid, they had won seven games in a row and they’ve had seven several other big winning streaks throughout the year. So, at some point that team is going to play better. Um, but you’ve you’ve closed the gap and I guess the good news for the Reds is they didn’t really play great themselves to get to this point. So, you think maybe the Reds can have a a better run, too. Um, but yeah, I mean, you know, you’re in the spot and you know, you look at the Mets, you look at the Padres’s, you look at maybe some of the other teams that could fall back into the same spot. It’s hard to really see the this Red’s team stacking up with any of those teams, but the longer you hang around and the smaller you make the sample of games, um the the better chance you have because, you know, you get into September, I mean, you know, anything can happen. Um and we we’ll talk about it at the end. With Hunter Green back, I I I don’t want to go too far because injuries can can really deflate you quick, but the Red’s starting pitching depth, I think, is better than most of these other teams in the race. And, you know, you’re a starting pitchering injury or two away from some of these other contenders from them kind of really going into a tail spin. So, um, it’s just really just keep hanging around. I don’t care how you do it. Keep hanging around. get this thing into September and let’s see what happens. Exactly. I think that it’s just that it’s trying to we have a tough stretch of baseball in regards to the teams that we have to play. Now, the the the odd thing with this whole situation is is the way that this club has performed all year. I I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I really don’t. I I know some people would joke and say, “Well, of course you want to play the Rockies. Of course you want to play the White.” Okay. Yeah. You know, I I’m not gonna sit here and act like I I wouldn’t want to play some of the the bottom dwellers of the league, but it it seems and you just watched it. I mean, you split against Pittsburgh and to be fair, I I don’t think that you could have asked for a significant amount more. Maybe you’d think they could take three or four. A sweep of a four game series is nuts, but two and two seems like a reasonable outcome, but you do lose a series against the Braves. Uh you go back a a couple weeks ago, you lose a series against the Nationals. Every team that you’re not that you’re probably supposed to take care of, it seems like they they’re incapable of doing it. And then every team that you would say, “Oh, the Rays are coming to town. They they got a lot to play for, they have a chance to probably make some buys at the deadline, and they sweep them.” And, you know, I I don’t know. I mean, I I know it’s you can point to the schedule all you want. It just seems like that that that this year has not made all that big of a difference. Now, I hope you know, not jinxing it, knocking on wood here, but um but you’re right, hang around till September and give yourself a legitimate chance when you go and play against the Mets head-to-head that you have a chance to kind of maybe, you know, be very optimistic about it. You can kind of put the boot on the throat a little bit. You can kind of maybe take a twoame lead to a four-ame lead. Um I guess you wouldn’t be able to go two games. you’d have to go three or or one, but you get the point. So, um, last thing I want to say, and it’s not it’s not braggadocious. I don’t mean I don’t want it to come off that way, of course, but I I you know, when people sit here and suggest that these, you know, some of these games at the end of the year, you know, maybe don’t have more weight than others, but I do want to remind everybody we had we had a tie baseball game in some late innings on a Sunday in New York that many many many reasonable fans I think many reasonable fans would say we we kind of let that slip away. Um, just saying we we’d be a half game up, Nick. I I I do want everyone to understand that. We we we would we would have a half game lead right now. So, you know, you can we we can sit we can act like it’s not a big deal. We can say, “Oh, you know, just no big deal. You’re acting like a no big deal.” Okay. Well, what if I told you they had a halfame lead in in the wild card and instead of a game and a half back? It it kind of seems like a big deal, but that’s here nor there. You You got your You got your uh take on on Noel V. Marte. I just got my take off with the Sunday baseball game in New York. No, I or even that’s that’s the most complexing thing about this team is it doesn’t feel like they’ve stole that many games this year. If there’s there’s been significantly more that have gotten stolen from them than than they’ve stolen. I mean, you just you just think back the last couple weeks. I mean, that game against the Dodgers that they they gave away late, the game on Friday night, they gave away. I mean, it it’s like in some ways they’re like playing with fire, but in some ways it’s like do they does this swing back? I don’t know. I really don’t. I was thinking about that the other day. Why is it feel that way? Is it just because we’re fans? Is it because it’s the truth? Or is it because we have good pitching? I don’t know what the three of those answers are, but it it feels like maybe since we have good pitching, we expect to win the games that we win maybe three to one and we wouldn’t call maybe a game that we won. What was the game against Tampa where you know, you have Brady Singer went out and damn near threw a complete game shut out and you hold on to the ninth inning with the save there. I don’t know if that’s stealing, right? like it doesn’t feel like stealing, but you are winning some games that most teams aren’t going to win based off the fact that they don’t have the pitching that we have. So maybe if you have an offense that could maybe score with the best of them and you score three or four runs late and you take the lead late and you win, maybe it feel like you steal in that because that’s just the way your team dynamic is. But this team just doesn’t seem to have that. Like it doesn’t feel like they they they rip away games from other teams. Now, to be fair, I don’t know what of those three is is actually truthful, but it’s just something to keep in mind. Like, I don’t know if it maybe it’s just the style we play, and that’s why it doesn’t feel like we take too many of those, but but uh or or you know, you want to be the real optimistic guy, Nick. Maybe they’re maybe they’re on the way. I mean, maybe we’re due for a few few of those because if we do get three or four games that you feel like we steal that we kind of feel like you over the course of a season you’d get to, that who knows, maybe that’s the difference. I mean, they are two and seven in extra inning games. I mean, yeah, the Manford man is not good to us. No, no, that might be the worst record in baseball. No, we don’t. We don’t score the man. The Rockies are The Rockies are one and five. I don’t think I see a a team that has I think everyone has more than two wins except for the Rockies. Everyone has more than two wins. A and like not like there’s not someone that’s like three and 11 or anything either. Like they legitimately they don’t have the win the percentage there, but I’m pretty sure the Reds the Rockies are the only team that’s been worse in extra innings than the Rats. That’s a good point. I mean, I you one would like to think that you’d you’d end up being you should be right around 500. I see people in the chat trying to pull out the Bill Parcels quote, which is you are who your you know, you are what your record is. Uh, I mean the the baseball we’re we’re we’re well above 500 at this point. You’d like to think if you are what your record is, you’d be better than two and seven, right? You’d be better than two and seven in in extra inning games. But some of that might just be philosophy. I I don’t know. I don’t want to get into the weeds of that on a show like this. Who cares? I mean, it does seem like this team would be built better for extra innings. Yeah, you’re right. I I don’t know. Oh, our our our situational hitting and small ball for whatever reason can’t get the free damn runner at second base in 90% of the time, but that’s here nor there. We’re not going to get into it. Who gives a rat’s tail? We Reds are one and a half games back. They just took uh they split a series, baby. We split a series against the Pirates, you know. I I don’t know. Are you supposed to get fired up about that? I’m I’m not saying you should be, but I do think that, you know, I do think that you should take pride in the fact that this baseball team is a game and a half back when when, let’s face it, they have had stretches of this season where they have not been good. They’ve survived and advanced. They that they they that they are the definition of surviving and advancing in sports. Um they somehow they have escaped death far too often. You know what? This all comes down to one thing, man. And if we can do it for the rest of the year, I might go out and say a bull take. I was going to say they had to win five in a row, right, Nick? I think I said that and I still do believe that. But I’ll also say if they don’t get swept the rest of the year, then you know what? I I don’t sign me up. They might do it. I mean, that that’s their uh recipe for success. As much as we want to make a make a joke of it. 40 series, zero sweeps. 40 series with this team, right? They lost the first two games of the series, guys. like they could have easily I mean yeah I I I don’t know how else to tell everybody like if if you want to if you want to sit here and sit back and act like it’s not a big deal that the Reds found a way to win the last two games of this series then I mean you’re fooling yourselves. I I know you can look at it as a whole and say they split the series and be upset, but I mean get a grip get a my point is this. Get a grip on your on your fandom. If you think this team’s so damn good that they have to and or should take three or four from anybody from anybody. This team at times doesn’t look like they could take three or four from the Indianapolis Indians. I don’t know if that’s what they’re still called, but I doubt it considering the Indians word is not allowed in Major League Baseball anymore. They are. Holy smokes. Indianapolis has survived. They got some good pitch. They got some good pitching there. Do they? Of course you wouldn’t know that, Kirby. Who gives a damn what the Indianapolis I thought you were? Yeah, but I know I do. Nick, you think I You think I give a rat’s tale of what the hell the Indianapolis Indians pitching looks like? I could give a damn. Okay. I barely care about what my, you know, what my kids have to eat for breakfast in the mornings. As long as they got some food, we’re good. Anyways, I digress. Um, I guess we move to uh we move to to the offense. We are game and a half back. We’ll talk about the offense. Noel V Marte, big day today. Um, you know, I’ll let you I’ll let you just completely go to town here because I know this has kind of been a little bit of a sour subject for you. Last year was a little disheartening. I know he looked bad. He has. He has looked bad. I mean, let’s face it. He had a terrible year. He came off of peeds. He couldn’t He couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn. went to the Dominican League, couldn’t couldn’t hit there. Went to spring training, couldn’t hit there. And then all of a sudden, he really I don’t know. Do you remember this, Nick? Do you remember this? This guy was buried. Buried. Yeah. On the depth chart. Wasn’t even a thought of using him on opening day. And then all a sudden, an injury here, injury there, and here here he comes. Um, I thought you said something that was pretty, you know, nice in in in the sense that maybe you shouldn’t give up on these guys. Yeah. I mean, just think he’s a he’s a reason why why you shouldn’t like a guy like CES like like look at Noel Marte and kind of how quickly he’s he’s been able to to flip the script. And I saw a lot of people well Noel Marte was the 11th ranked prospect in baseball. Yeah, but he wasn’t supposed to be a better hitter than Christianio and Strand. The reason he was the number 11 prospect was largely because he played shortstop, not because he was going to be a right fielder. If if if the prospect ranking guys would have thought Noel Marte was going to be a right fielder, he would have been a top 50 prospect because they don’t rank those corner outfielders unless they are an elite elite hitter and he never had elite offensive numbers. So that’s why I say again, does it mean Christian Strand’s gonna going to have a resurgent in 2026? I don’t know, but it’s a reason why you shouldn’t give up and and think that’s not possible. I mean, Noel Morte last year, let’s call like you, he had one of the worst seasons in Red’s history probably. I mean, for a guy that played every day. I mean, he was bad. He was terrible defensively. He couldn’t take a walk. Like, like I had like four walks in like two, three months. Um, he’s a completely different player. His swing’s so sweet. He’s hitting the ball hard, too. It doesn’t feel it doesn’t feel fluky, you know. Um, and I think he’s gonna he’s going to have lumps. Like, he’s not I don’t think Noel March is going to have this nice little clean trajectory up by any means. Like, he’s going to go ice cold at sometimes. And I’m sure everyone’s going, “Well, no, you know, no, that he got all he got and he’ll probably go through it.” But, um, man, what he’s doing right now, it it’s not just this year. It it’s it’s the whole future of this free team because remember the one benefit of Nove taking the juice last year, he didn’t get a year of service time. He lost a year of service time. So you have this guy longer. I remember saying that last year. People spit my face. You’re so You’re so disgusting. You’re so disgusting. soon as is I I remember vividly being in the van driving through the middle of what beautiful beautiful state we were in. I don’t even remember where we were at exactly. I don’t know if it was Utah. I think we were in Utah. Yeah. I I you know where I’m going with this. You know exactly where I’m going with this. It’s absolutely disgusting the words that came out of his mouth. But I got to tell you, this is where Nick’s brain lives. It lives in service time land. He looks over at me and goes, “You know what? This isn’t good right now, but I got to tell you, having Noelvie Marte when he’s 29 years old instead of 22 years old or whatever the hell he was when he when he got busted, he said, “That might not be a bad thing.” And I was like, “This guy’s sick. What a sicko this guy is.” Man, maybe you’re right. I don’t know. Maybe that last year of service time is going to be what gets us over the proverbial hump to win the World 2030. 2030 Chatterbox Reds, man. We’re going to be lit. Boy, oh boy. Who knows where we’ll be then? Kids will probably be doing the show or something. Um Spencer Steer next in line to to maybe get some praises. Uh had had some big moments. He’s really had some big moments over the last what two or three series at this point. Dodgers had a big moment. Um had a big moment. Uh why why am I drawing a blank right now? Next series. Yeah, last series. Um Nick, I need your help right now. What am I missing? I don’t know. He’d been struggling up until yesterday. He was like two for Well, he had a big hit. 20 in in August. Why? Yeah, I think that was the only hit he had the whole month. It was the only hit he had. Cub series. Yeah, the Cubs. Yeah, he had a he had the big hit in the Cubs series. Yeah, big big hit in the Cub series. I Why am Yeah, that’s crazy. My brain I tell you what, guys, I’m He was interviewed after the game. Yeah, he was a big He was Jim Day’s guy. I I am semi concerned with my brain. It’s just not firing. Uh, might be because I had a long day today, but that’s here nor there. Um, I don’t know. I keep I keep feeling like I just do the same same take with Spencer Steer the whole time. Like I don’t mean to be rude. He’s just not been he’s not been very good this year, but he’s been he’s been good lately uh in the right spots. And and you know what? Like I I I I’m with you. There’s really no reason to sit here and discuss what you do with him or where he’s going to go, etc. He’s the first baseman. And the truth is is that he’s played so good defensively that there’s some value there that maybe we underappreciate on this show from time to time. I I’ll openly admit that. I don’t know if I give what he does defensively at first base enough credit. If we had a guy over there that couldn’t, you know, couldn’t catch a cold and was booting balls left and right and but but all but they were, you know, mashing, if you want to call it that, would we look at them a little bit better than Spencer because he just struggled? Uh he had the quote the other the other day um Nick I should say Tito had the quote the other day about Spencer Steer right um and I’m paraphrasing here but he he he basically said that you know he he didn’t have the best start I think he even he said he was injured for the first 50 or 60 um at bats I guess I’ll save it for another show but my question to Tito would have been immediately why why did you do that? What was the purpose? You just hurt the team and you hurt him. Like you basically made it seem like he was struggling when in reality he was hurt. That’s a That’s a crazy That’s a crazy ass thing to say, too. By the way, I I’m not trying to be rude to our beat reporters, but like what we’re just going to let a guy basically come right off the DH, not playing spring training at all, and be be saying he’s hurt for 50 to 60 at bats, and we’re cool with that. Anyway, that’s here there. So, I’m giving Spencer Shear some credit. That’s what I’m going to like. He was hurt. It seemed like he was hurt, but he was hurt. And I think that that if anything else, that kind of first impression of the year maybe steered uh pun somewhat intent there, steered the direction of of uh of how I felt about him for what has been all year now. Yeah, I I think he’s he’s been probably closer to he’s been closer when you when you give him the defensive value of first base and his overall offense, he’s been probably closer to an average first baseman since that that stretch. Um so yeah, I mean, but again, he he does have power. So, you know, right now you’re looking for I mean, you’re on a 40 game sprint to the finish line at this point. So, who can get hot and carry you? Guys that have power can can can give you extra boost and there’s not enough of those guys to go around. So, um I I would love for Spencer Ste to completely make me look like an idiot and we eat our words in the end of the year and we enjoy watching this team play in the playoffs. Um so, yeah. But yeah, there’s just at this point there’s no reason discussing this every night. We can table this till the off season. Is he the guy in 2026 or not? Is he the guy now and it it’s it 100%. And in 2025, Spencer Shears the first baseman, period. And there’s no really reason to discuss it otherwise. Maybe we could get into the DH. I think that’s a reasonable we could have some reasonable debate about that. Um Andrew Har, is he going to hit? Is he going to stay hitting? He got a home run today off a right-handed pitcher. I’m on the back half. All right, perfect. I didn’t know he had a back half. This show’s been it’s been a long time since we had the back half. Boy, you know the Reds are back when there’s a back half. I mean, we’ve we’ve gone maybe a week on this show with just what you get on the front. Speaking of what you get on the front, 988 is on the is on the front. And I want to let everybody know you can text and or call day or night 988 to get uh to get help when you might need it and or when maybe a loved one might need it. It’s okay to not be okay. You can alo also visit uh mantherapy.org for a variety of uh of topics that may be kind of giving you some issues within your life and uh gives you some workarounds on how to handle those and deal with it. So reminder 988 text or call anonymous hotline 247. Also want to let everybody know there is a disc golf tournament in Northern Kentucky. Now, I don’t know I don’t know if many of you kind of like understand how legit some of these disc golf folks are, but I do want you to know that the disc golf professional tour, LWS, open at Idlewood, Burlington, Kentucky August 22nd through the 24th. It’s going to feature 150 of the top disc offers in the entire world. Okay? We’re not talking just Ohio or Kentucky or Indiana. We’re talking the world, folks. The top 150 in the world. Food trucks, Ryan Beer. Free ad there. I don’t know if we’re gonna be food trucks, beer, and other vendors. Tickets at lwsopen.com or DGPT. Let me say that again because I kind of butchered it. DGPT.com. So, shout out to them. Shout out to that disc golf tournament. Looking forward to that. might sneak down there. I can’t throw a Frisbee worth a worth a damn. I’d ask you, can you throw a frisbee? No. No, I cannot throw a Frisbee. I mean, I like to think that I’m athletic and I can do a lot of things. I just That’s one thing I’ve never been able to do. Uh, you have him Miguel Anduhar on the back half of the rundown. I was going there and you said, “No, no, no, no, no. You must wait, sir.” DH, against all pitching, how long do you How long would you ride it? I don’t know. I don’t know. I surprised that he was batting in front of uh Austin Hayes. That was uh that was a bit of a surprise to me. Um, I think I understand like the the putting someone that maybe isn’t great against right-handed pitching behind Ellie because they hit crush lefty. So, Andrew and Hayes both kind of fit that that mold because it it it does make if you’re going to bring in a lefty, right, you at least have a punishment for bringing in a lefty if you’re going to have him try to go through Ellie and uh unless they’re able to perfectly time it to where they can go right after Ellie, which you can’t always do. So, I understand the value in that. I don’t really know why I would have Andrew and Hayes back to back. It feels like that might be a little much. Um, I don’t know. I mean, Andrew is a guy that that again, you’re you’re spreading to the finish at this point. He’s not terrible against right-handed pitching. Um, I’m not against it. I just I I’m not even a big Jake Frilly guy. I just I still think Jake Frill is probably a better hitter against right-handed pitching than Andy War. I don’t know if the here here’s what I would say for a for a fan base that I think clamors for the idea that we’d like a little more pop. And I think that’s a reasonable expectation from this fan base is that we need more pop. It’s been it’s pretty evident today in other games that you know what, when you hit the ball over the fence, it doesn’t really hurt you, does it? I mean, I I don’t know where that narrative started or where it’s going to go. I I I I I’m not again I’m not trying to downplay any other guys, but it seems like Andrew has a much higher ceiling when it comes to the opportunity of of providing some pop and power. No disrespect to Jake Frillley. Would I like to think that maybe Jake Frillley is probably over the course of 162 games going to have a better slash line and or perhaps have a a better OPS than Andrew against right-handed pitching? Yes, I do. I do. But I will tell you, I I don’t know and I’d like to see it with my own eyes. I think this guy could possibly be one of those like, you know, white horse coming in to save the day uh type situations where you just get over the course of a week and a half, you hit six, seven home runs and you put the team on your back for just a short amount of time and then maybe it fizzles out. But again, to be clear, as you said, this is a race to the finish. We don’t have time to sit there and look at the back of baseball cards, Nick, in my opinion, and say, “Well, you know, this is going to play itself out for sure this way.” I I’m going to play the hot hand. And maybe, again, I’ve not seen this guy hit, but for a couple weeks, um it just seems like there’s a higher ceiling than some of those other cats that we’ve ran out there. And I’m not even going to mention their names. We know, we all know who they are. I’m not going to be disrespectful to them. They can hit left-handed pitching. Yes. And so can he. But more importantly, in my opinion, when there’s a right-hander that comes in and we don’t have Will Benson, and I know people are gonna laugh when I say that, but like where where is the where’s the lottery ticket? Doesn’t seem like we have that. Maybe he’s the lottery ticket. And I mean, he’s he’s had an interesting career. like he had 27 home runs in 2018 with the Yankees and then like he only has like a handful of home runs since then. He’s had a lot of injuries. Um he’s had some years where he just completely fell off a cliff and didn’t stay in the majors the whole year. Uh I mean this is a guy that hasn’t played more than uh 75 games in the big leagues since 2018. So yeah, I don’t know. He’s he and he’s only he only he’s only played in today was his 67th game of the season. Like for some context, Will Ben has played in 61 games and Will Ben has spent half of his year in AAA. So yeah, I don’t I don’t really know what Andir is, but right now I guess he’s a guy that that has some upside that seems to be seeing the ball well that I don’t I say this with all due respect to you. I don’t think it’s like I don’t think it’s like the Austin wins level of luck. So like I have a little more willing to write it out. I’m sorry. I know that was a stray. I didn’t know I I was trying to think of another player to say. I want you to know something right now. If it wasn’t for Trovinho and Austin Wins, we wouldn’t be a game and a half back, Nick. We had an all-star catcher and they were between Trevvinho and Wins for for about three months on this baseball team. All right. Yeah. And then old Tyler Stevenson will waddles his old out, but I want to stop. It’s a kid show, so I’m kind of mumbling right now because I want to say some things. And you know what? I’m trying to be nice, but he hasn’t been an all-star, okay? Hasn’t been quite the level of production we once had between the dynamic duo of Austin wins and uh Trovinho. Now, I mean, the Reds have gotten it great this year, Trace. I mean, they had Austin wins. They got the best out of him. They ship him to Oakland, Sacramento. He hasn’t played worth worth anything in in Oakland. Now they get a guy for well, Sacramento, whatever. Now they get a guy from the A’s. He’s playing better than he play. I mean, the Reds get the best in and in and Sacramento gets the worst. Oh, I bet the folks in Sacramento are really crying home right now about that. I I I bet they’re losing sleep over the fact that they didn’t get the best out of Austin wins. Anyway, uh speaking the speaking about getting the best out of somebody, we thought we had the best in somebody on his first tart. Um Latell went out through a gym in Chicago today. Maybe not what you would consider to be a quote unquote gym. I guess your thoughts on your thoughts on on him. Uh he was never supposed to be in my opinion, he was never supposed to be the you know the shutdown guy. So what the expectations were with him, I don’t know. But we’ll see. Uh full transcript, I didn’t watch a single pitch of uh Latell. Um I was in the state of Pennsylvania today, though. Uh and I was on a pirate ship. Wow. Interesting. Uh but I was not at the uh the Reds Pirates game in in Pennsylvania. Um I I listened to the radio, got to see the last couple innings, and watched the condensed game. And you don’t really get to see a whole lot of the pitch mix in the condensed game. Um so, but I mean, I don’t know. Don’t tell him he gave up a 100 hard hit balls today, but doesn’t walk anyone even when he’s getting lit up. That guy just refuses to ever walk a batter. Um, and so yeah, I mean, I think you’re going to get some of this. You’re going to get some of some of what you saw with Chicago. He’s just another arm to help get you through a season. And he’s a hell of a lot better than than probably what well I mean based on what Chase Betty’s done the last couple starts of TripleA, he’s a hell of a lot better than what you’re getting out of Chase Betty right now. Yeah. And I think that’s what the that’s what the Red Seen, right? And I they pushed the idea that they needed bullpen help is why they did it. Um H and I’m not trying to give an out to the front office. I also think they needed they had a they had a starting pitching problem, too. Um, I mean, let’s face it, we had and we still are. We’re relying on guys that have not ever done this for this long now. Hopefully, we got a guy coming up here in a minute that we can get back and that will help the depth, but the truth of the matter is that we were skating on thin ice for a what I would call a pretty significant part of this season in regards to our starting pitching depth. I mean, it felt like between Andrew Abbott and Nick Lollo, those two guys have not showcased the ability to go all year long and pitch effectively. So, um I guess that will lead us into what could be Hunter Green, but we’ll save that for just a minute. The bullpen did come in. Ashcraft is continuing to to give up runs. Um full transparency of what you said, I did not get a chance to really see much of of that kind of outing. Um, I don’t know what to make of it. I mean, I I I just feel like we just don’t have a ton of guys we can trust back there. I don’t know how else to say it. Yeah. Outside of Santion and and Pagon. Um, and Barlo. I mean, Barlo’s definitely been insanely good. Yeah. Um, that I mean that’s that’s about it. Sam will give up a run today. But overall, I mean, I think I think I like most of what I’m seeing out of him. Luis May, I mean, just like, man, just it’s tough. Guy just can’t throw strikes consistently. But you kind of have to ride with Graham Ashcraft at this point. Whether you’re kind of losing faith in him or not, you kind of have to. I don’t know what other choice there is. No, it’s why it is it is why like the health of of Lolo and Green and and trying to get Martinez back to the bullpen. Even though Martinez just pitched to Jim his last time out, he can I mean because he can because he’s he can go two, three innings at a time in that bullpen and that just can completely change the whole look of the bullpen. Um at least on certain days. Yeah. You know, Maxwell has been a little bit of a disappointment, too, because I was hoping that he would kind of maybe be a guy that you could you could bring up and he was going to be lightning in a bottle and then all of a sudden, you know, he catches fire. And he still, I guess, is kind of like uh a guy that maybe you could say is an Anduhar or or perhaps, you know, a lightning in the bottle, race to the finish type of guy where you can maybe maybe get lucky and he throws the ball relatively well. LA last six games I have this in red zi hasn’t allowed a run he’s only allowed one hit last seven innings still walked four over that span but struck out 11 so he’s a guy that I think at some point you just got to say you know he’s not going to ever be perfect when you call him up you’re just going to have to roll the dice and bring him up um I don’t think Tito is going to allow um May and Maxwell to be in the same bullpen unless maybe you’re in September and you have that extra reliever then maybe he’s a little more willing for that. Um or May flips a corner, but I just today it’s hard to see see him flipping a corner anytime soon. Yeah. I mean, when you’re at a when you’re at a one and a half on the whip, you know, you’re kind of putting yourself in a spot where you’re you’re given too many opportunities. Um if you look at you look at basically strikes a lot of guys out. I mean, he does strikes a lot of guys out, but walks walks guys, too. So, there’s a reason he’s not here. You know, I think he found out today why Luis May at times wasn’t here. So, kind of is what it is. I mean, they look Luis May Luis May could come out tomorrow and pitch a dominant inning. It wouldn’t surprise anyone. Of course not. They got the stuff. I mean, you can’t say they don’t have the goods. They got the goods. The question is is can they can they can they effectively manage it? Um, I don’t know. you know, as uh as as many of us know about baseball, pitching is more than just throwing the ball really really hard. And they got they throw the ball hard. And it leaves them with a great chance to to get to get guys out and definitely strike guys out, but it also leaves what we also really despised in Alexis Diaz to a certain extent. That’s that’s what those guys bring to the table. Um, walking the bases loaded with nobody out is possible. They could also strike the side out, come into a game with the bases loaded and and win surprises either. So, who knows what they do. All right. There’s a pretty good chance uh there’s a pretty good chance Luis May is in TripleA tomorrow. Yeah. I mean I mean I mean like that that’s the kind the Tito uh uh Yeah, I want to say the Tito special. I’m not saying I’m not even saying this as like a a negative thing is Tito, but like that’s that’s the one thing he will not tolerate. He’s made very clear. I’m not tolerating guys that walk walk the bases loaded. Well, he did it today. So, yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. Uh, it’s not it’s not a negative towards Tito. I just think that he’s he’s if he has old school tendencies, which is he likes guys that put the ball in play, it seems, and he also likes guys that don’t walk people. So, maybe perhaps that’s why they got Latell. I like one a lot better than the other. Yeah, there you go. Fair enough. Hunter Green, uh, he is on his way back and that is positive news for us. The question is how good is he going to look when he returns? That’s to be determined, but it’s a it’s definitely a boost in the arm. It definitely seems like, you know, uh if he can be back to what he was at one point this year, that gives this team a whole another a whole another, uh what I would call notch on the ladder of where they can go. And I think most people that are reasonable believe that. So, uh I did not get to see the direct news. I don’t know if you have direct news on Hunter Green. He’s starting on starting on Wednesday. starting on Wednesday against the Phillies. That’s going to be, we’ll talk about it in a minute, but that’s going to be, I think, the toughest matchup for the Reds in that series against Christopher Sanchez, who’s probably the best pitcher in baseball that a lot of people don’t know about. He’s having an incredible year. Uh, so yeah, Green’s coming off a start. He um gave up a couple of home runs in AAA in his final, but did retire the last nine batters. Um, and look, he’s had times where he’s come off starts in the minor leagues and not looked great and then come to the majors and just completely dominated. I do think though because he’s been hurt. I think people forget sometimes how good he’s been. I mean, this guy did 2.72 RA this year. Last year at a 2.75 RA. I mean, that that’s really really good. and that’s a massive step up from whoever he’s replacing in the rotation. So, I don’t have like super high expectations that he’s going to come back on Wednesday and dominate. I wouldn’t put it past him, but I think it’s some I think it might take him a couple starts, but it’s he’s a complete he completely changes this team in my opinion. I dare to say that they have to have them to do anything meaningful because, you know, I I I’ll admit like they’ve they’ve played good baseball at times without him. They have. Um but I I don’t think it’s a stretch to to think that if they don’t have them, the postseason is going to be, and again, I’m not trying to get ahead ahead of ourselves here. Trust me. Trust me. But if if you genuinely want to talk about what what is the goal here? Is the goal just to make the postseason or is the goal to try to break the curse, which is the longest drought in professional sports uh in this country of of of a franchise not advancing in the postseason. If that’s the goal is to break that, you need you need Hunter Green. And uh I’ll leave it at that. Um, Red’s MLB. Uh, I know that on Sunday, get to a couple. You want to get to a couple super Yeah, super chats. I can Yeah, I got plenty of super chats. Big one. Big, we do have some big ones because I see purple on the board and we’ll get to that in just a minute. Um, I’m trying to find out where we left off. William William said, “Spencer Steer’s big hits lead to wins versus uh LA, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates.” Yeah, actually that that’s what I was trying to remember earlier. I should have read that. Um I did not remember Chicago, but yeah, that’s he’s had big moments where he’s gotten big hits, even though he’s won for his last 12. That one was a big hit. Which leads to believe like what would you rather have? I mean, I I I know it sounds stupid, but if you guaranteed me that a guy was going to be, you know, a 200 hitter, and he, you know, in in the two times that he does get hits were going to be some of the bigger moments of the game. I’d sign up for that over a guy that’s going to get three hits out of every 10, lead the league in average, and then all of a sudden, it just seems like every time you need him to get a big hit, he gets out. Now, of course, we all know that you can’t possibly do that, but it does seem like Spencer Steer’s been on the uh positive side of some big at bats more so than uh than the downside or the negative side. It’s been a couple times where he hasn’t been able to get a guy in from third base with less than two outs, but I’m not counting him. Uh let’s jump to I think about that. Yes, go ahead. I I was watching uh Friday night and this is going to make people mad. The whole getting guys over to third base. I just don’t I don’t see the the the joy out of that anymore. Especially it’s one thing if you have a quality at bat and you hit a ball hard to the right side and you move the guy over, but like just going up there and weekly hitting a ground ball like to purposely try to move the runner over like it felt like Kabrian Hayes and Gavin Lux did. I just don’t think in today’s baseball there’s any value to that because like players strike out like the league average strikeouts like 22%. Like back when we were kids it was like 15%. It’s just these pitchers are so good that I just don’t think you can go up there and waste an at bat trying to move a guy over anymore. You have to take your shots and try to to hit the ball hard and and and put damage on it. It’s a fair take. That’s a good That’s a fun debatable take. Um, I would say you’re definitely right if there’s one out in the inning and and and I would also say time and score matters a lot. I think people undervalue time and score way too much in baseball. Um, and what I mean by that is for those that are wondering what the hell I mean, time is simply what the inning is. And the score is obviously what the score of the game is. If you told me that you, you know, you’re down by one run and let’s just say it’s the eighth inning of the game and you, you know, it’s a two to one baseball game and there’s nobody out and you got a leadoff double. I think getting the guy to third base carries a little more weight than what, you know, call it a 000 game in the first inning. Now, some are going to say, well, run one run’s the same. I don’t think one run’s always the same. It depends. It depends on the flow of the game. It depends on who you’re facing, what the other team’s strengths are. or if they have a really good bullpen, well, you just know that it’s, you know, probably going to be difficult maybe to find a way to uh to get guys across. I don’t know, Nick. It really to be honest with you, and again, I I can’t speak for every hitter that played high high level baseball, but as I’ve said before, I’ll say it again, like once you get to a certain level within the game, the only difference between guys that make it to the major leagues and the guys that play at kind of the levels that we played at, I know people are going to be shocked by this, is really just God-given ability. I mean, is is things that you just can’t teach because they’re capable of doing that and they can’t. But it doesn’t mean the mindset changes a whole lot. I don’t think there’s that many people, Nick, that are genuinely trying to hit the ball to the right side weekly. Um, I would say more or less you would you you could focus on an area of a pitch location maybe and say, “Okay, I’m going to look for a ball that’s middle or middle away and try to hit it hard.” There should never be, to be clear, I would hope not, at least, there should never be anyone trying to hit a ball weakly anywhere. Um, I do think if you’re left-handed, you look for a ball that’s down the middle and or middle in and you try to make sure that you put a good swing on it and you’re you’re trying to basically pull. Um, but to be clear, you should only do that with nobody out if you ever even consider doing it. So, anytime you hear somebody say, and I’ll say this out loud, I don’t mean any by disrespect, but it’s gonna sound very disrespectful. Anybody says that they did a job there, oh, they did a job there, they moved the runner over and there’s one out in the inning and they got the guy to third base and now there’s two outs in the inning. You sound like an idiot. It just sounds stupid. It really does. It’s a dumb thing to do. You didn’t do Kid show at 521. You didn’t do anything. You You got the guy to third base with two outs. I mean, you’re playing Major League Baseball. You You might get a pass ball once every, you know, whatever hundred games. So, um, I’m somewhat with you. I’m not totally buying into that, but I do think it’s a fun baseball topic to discuss, and I do agree with the sentiment that you have. If more guys strike out, um, you know, the value of getting a guy to third base with less than, you know, call it two outs is not nearly as high as it once was. And I I think that the way the analytics are I hate to say this but like you know bringing guys into playing in I think has become a much like it’s it’s grown over the years. I I don’t think many teams concede runs like they used to in the past, right? Like let’s not bring the let’s not bring the infield in. It’s the fifth inning. We we don’t want to give up an extra hit. like, no, the these dudes are infields are coming in earlier in the game to where I think it’s it makes it harder to get the guy in from third base with less than two outs. Because before, to your point, you could roll over another ground ball, Nick, and score the run. Well, if you roll over a ground ball anymore today’s game, I feel like more times they’re ready to throw the guy out at home than to sit back and just take the out at first base. So, you’re on to something. I mean, the game’s changed significantly. Uh, and I know it’s passed some people by in regards to the way that it obviously operates and they think that, you know, they go to the baseball game and they see a guy hitting 260 and they don’t think he’s very good. I mean, that’s that still happens, which that’s not the case anymore. 260 is the 280. I mean, yeah, maybe higher. I don’t know. Might be higher. I would I’d argue that might be a little bit higher. Uh, fair point. Where else we going on this uh lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely Sunday? Um, William Wright says, “Barllo’s the unsung out of the bullpen.” I think he’s trying to say hero. Um, yeah, I think it’s fair. Barlo is by far the best surprise we’ve had. I mean, I I Sant has been very, very good. Yes. But I think it came into the year thinking, you know, maybe we could lean on him a little bit. Pagan was one of your veterans. Barlo was a guy that I think many of us could care less if he was in there or not. Um, he’s done a good job filling in Fernando Cruz if you want to be honest with you. You know, the void that we lost with Fernando Cruz, Barlo just said, “I’ll take that.” And shockingly, Fernando Cruz is on the David Bell. Oh, is he? Yeah. I mean, like I like the the most obvious like that guy’s not gonna survive a season. I mean, I legitimately think that was part of the reason they traded him. Like you can you can like they literally ran that guy into the ground last year and then traded him for Travidia. Yeah. Well, you’re saying they sold damaged goods. Ned Flanders says, “Uh, is the 2025 Luis May experiment over? Are we going to stick with him and hope for improvement? That was rough today.” Good super chat. I think we kind of covered that accidentally uh throughout the show. Uh, I would I’d venture to say they’re not going to. No, I don’t think they will. If they do, he’s not going to be coming in any type of what I would call even remote leverage situations. Like I I think it’s going to have to be a spot where they’re either up by a good amount or down by a good amount. And by up by a good amount, Nick, I think it’s got to be like six or seven runs. Maybe I’m crazy for saying that, but Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if he stays, it’s just more of a a not making a move because of, you know, you’re you’re running out of it’s a it’s a Yeah. You know, like you can only send these guys up and down five times throughout a year. I didn’t mean it that way. You you already have been been scooter on the roster right now. Um Yas versus Versetta pitched terribly today. I don’t think he was he’s not even eligible to come back. Um, so they have like Joel Lours is still on the 40man. He might be it. He might be the only one that that’s still Lion is has pitched bad at Triple A. Connor Phillips is is like almost a worse version of Luis May if I’m being honest. Like, yeah, he might stay, but it’s not going to be because of a belief in him. Yeah, I I didn’t mean options in regards to getting sent up and down five times. But I meant just that they don’t really have anyone else that you could you could say is going to do a whole lot better of a job. I mean that’s Yeah. And the truth be told like kind kind of what Matt Mlan was earlier this year at times where you’re like man he’s not playing well at all but who are you going to put there? What’s what’s the alternative? And then you try to sit there and you go well maybe maybe it isn’t so bad after all. Uh Lora would make a lot of L source would make a lot of sense though with with Schwarber with Harper with Marsh Kepler Scott. They have a lot of lefties in Philly. And the Brewers have a decent amount of lefties too. So he’s on the 40man. He did not pitch today for Louisville. So if you uh if you see that move at uh three o’clock tomorrow, you heard it here first. There you go. Well, big brain by you as always. is the only thing I would add to that is I don’t know how much this baseball team seems to care about righty lefty matchups, but that’s nor there. Uh Reynolds S. Reynolds 777 says, “Uh, thank you guys for sharing your Red’s love.” We appreciate that. Thank you for sharing yours. We have a significant amount of people in the chat tonight and I want to say thank you to all of you. If you have not already, hit the like button. Michael Roth chiming in again with the big old supers, the biggest bomb supers. all the supers. I mean, not only did my man go 50 bomb, he then turned around and said, “I got more to say with a $10.” He said, “I almost missed the show. House tasks are a real bee.” I think he meant real boring for those that are wondering when your wife is pregnant or anytime really. You better be careful, Ralph. Why am I painting doors and replacing shutters after five years in this house? Chromosomes. Are we back? Are we back? atto ottr. Uh I’m not commenting on any of the any any of that stuff prior to uh are we back. I am not I am not touching with a 10-ft pole. I’ve already gotten myself in a little bit of trouble when I came home. Um I guess what I would call from work today and I was a little short. I was a little shortfused if I’m being honest. Might have made a mistake. A little snappy in the wrong direction. So we’re going to stay away from the topics that is uh wives. Are we back yet? Uh yeah. Yeah, we’re back. We’re we’re a game and a half back to be exact. Um it’s it’s significant in regards to being genuinely having meaningful baseball is what I’m trying to get to. I mean I I I can’t tell you how many times I had this team dead, man. Like not even just not that I wanted to come on here and be like doom and gloom, but just just always watch them and I think, man, they’re just not good enough. They’re not good enough. Like why are we surprised they’re not good enough? And then they they just reel you back in. They find a way to play good baseball. They they scored 14 runs today, Nick. They hit the ball hard. They hit the ball hard, man. Like it is insane. Like this team is so stupid. Genuinely one of the dumbest teams out at Obtr. For those that don’t know what that means, Dan belongs to Red. Nick got anything to add to that? I mean, they scored five runs in the four previous games. No, it’s ridiculous. the run differential and you know what they do like tonight today I should say not tonight today felt like they needed them so I’m all for it Nick I’m not complaining they scored 14 runs but this stupid baseball team that we watch seems like they inevitably do do this they’ll go score 17 runs and win 17-2 they’ll score 23 and obviously uh in Baltimore that we’ll never forget or whatever it was I don’t even know it was 26 or 23 at this point I forget my point in saying that is then our our our lovely friends like Nick Kirby will bring up about, you know, well, look at this offense. I mean, look how many runs we score. Look, compare us to the rest of the league. Our offense ain’t that bad. Like, ain’t that bad. We’ve We’re on like a historic pace to score two or less runs than almost any team in the live ball era. I I don’t I don’t want to alarm anybody, but that’s a real thing, Nick. I I I’m being serious. That’s a real thing. This baseball team that we watch and we love, they are on pace to set historical records on a season of scoring two runs or less in a baseball game. But you know what? They’ll reel you right back in because they they’ll score 14 when they give up eight and they find a way to split against the Pittsburgh Pirates. And somebody like Nick can come on and tell you how the rest of the season from a holistic view they’re not that bad. I think they lost the run differential in this pirate series by a run if my my quick math is right. Well, I can tell you right now I’m I’m not good at math and I’m not good at run differentials. In fact, I would say that’s the last thing I look at on the standings, but teach their own. Uh Ralph says 519 billion people watching and only 200 likes. Hit that thumbs up, people. We got to keep Kirby’s lights on because the Bengals are about to shut off all the power in Cleveland in less than a month. That’s a hell of a super. That’s big brain thinking from Roth. By the way, you got to be honest. He knows you’re in Cleveland. He knows that he knows the Bengals are headed up there and he’s ready to turn the lights off on the whole city. I can assure you I have no uh it does not bother me one bit who does anything in the NFL. Uh yeah, the Reds got outscored by one run this week. Went four and three. Boy, I tell you what, I can’t believe it. What are we going to do with ourselves? We lost the run differential. I just can’t. Are we good or we not? Are we good or are we not? Are we good or we not? I I don’t know. I don’t know. I really don’t know. I I I want to say Can we have a heartto-he heart right now? Yes. I don’t think that we’re great. I don’t think we’re great. But this is like the first time I’ve ever in my life watched the the Reds and felt like I felt like I I didn’t have a great pulse on them. I I genuinely feel like the last few years I knew what we had. I I I I I had a pretty good thumb on it. I just don’t think we’re going to get it. But you know what? If you’d have told me that we were going to have a show on on on August the 10th, Nick, and we’re a game and a half back, and we’re finding ourselves in a spot where we have our ace coming back from the injured list, and he’s not been around for what has been basically what I don’t know at this point, two months. I would have I mean, I would have basically lost everything I own. There’s no way it’s possible. That’s what’s so sick about this. This team sucks. But are they actually good because they’re only a game and a half because they’ve sucked so bad? I don’t know. I’m serious. I can’t figure it out. My brain’s my brain is gone with this baseball team. I’m just going to say they suck because I think every time I think they suck, they actually play well. Genuinely. And every time I think they’re good, you know, I was on vacation. I was like, man, what a big what a big series stand that was. Like they the Reds are playing good ball. Real good ball. And they turn around and just absolutely laid an egg for the next week and they found themselves sliding and sliding and sliding again. So yeah, I’m just going to continue to say they’re not very good. Watch them prove me wrong. Anyway, Red’s in my LB. I’m Yeah, I’m with you. I I do have to I do I I I saw a chat I u Oh, yeah. Very curious if you know if you know this. Uh what Nick said Luis the chat said Nick said Luis May was the future closer. I don’t you said did I ever say that? No, I don’t remember saying that. No, I think I don’t think I say I don’t think I like anyone being the closer. No, I think Nick, what happens is people put words in your mouth a lot, you know. They do. They do. They put words in your mouth a lot. Yeah, people people are very mean to you. There’s a lot of people that are not nice to me, but there’s more people not that are very mean to you. I don’t know if that was mean. I I just like I don’t think I said he was a closer I think, you know, I’ll say it right now. I think he could be a future closer. Like, I just don’t think I’ve ever actually said that. At least get it right. But yeah, I’ll say it now. I think he could be a future closer. Oh god. No, he’s not. Who Who knows? Who the hell Who the hell can predict a future closer anyways? Like those guys just come out of thin eye, like thin air, I should say. IO Pagan. Ailio Pagan is our closer. Yeah, exactly. Who thought that? Who thought that that six months ago? Yeah. No. What about Luke Weaver? Did you have that one on the bingo card? Yeah. And Devin Williams sucks now. Yeah. That’s cuz he left Milwaukee. They got some magic potion up there that some every time a bastard leaves the place, they find a way to to to steal his secret sauce. Burns is uh getting Tommy John again. Like I mean, no, it’s it’s there is crazy that happens in Milwaukee. Right. Definitely not a kid show anymore, by the way, if you’re still listening. So Nick’s going to have to do some bleeping or take it all out of the podcast because there won’t be a kid show in the morning. All right, Reds. Yeah, let’s do it. What’ Louisville do? Louisville won 96 over Toledo. Uh Benson on base twice, one for three at a walk. CES only got one at bat. He left the game in the half inning after his first at bat. There was watched a little bit of it. I didn’t see any obvious reason for his exit. So, we’ll keep you in on that. South Stewart one for four with a double. Hector Rodriguez stayed hot two for four with a double. Reese Hines had a huge day. Uh three for five with a triple and two doubles. Tell you what, Hines has had a great He’s had a great year. 305 average, 969 OPS in 80 games at AAA. Whether you love or hate Ree Hines, he was not good at Triple A last year. So, it’s good to see him showing significant improvement uh this year. Uh Zack Maxwell, as mentioned earlier, uh threw an inning and a third, give up a hit and a walk, but no runs. Maxwell’s not allowed a run in his last six appearances. That’s seven innings, one hit, zero runs. Does have four walks, but struck at 11. Maxwell hit 100.9 on Sunday. Buck Farmer threw a perfect inning with a strikeout. Yazuluetta, his return to Triple A was not great. Uh, walked three of the four batters he faced and only five of his 17 pitches were strikes. Jose Franco threw three shutout innings, four strikeouts, two walks. Uh, down to Chattanooga, they only got three hits on Sunday, but they beat Birmingham 1 nothing. Um, lookouts, they won the last three games of that series. Uh, they’re now 57 and 47 on the year. And it’s kind of a I’m sure good for Chattanooga uh because they’re most likely going to play Birmingham in the first round of the playoffs. Birmingham has an a seven and a halfame lead for a second half playoff spot. These are the two teams that would match up. Birmingham the White Sox affiliate they’ve got a loaded farm system. Uh obviously not a whole lot in a game where they only had three hits. Cam Kier, he’s really struggling. 0 for three with a walk. He is three for 35. Uh that’s an 086 average over his last 11 games. Edwin Aoyo, one for four. Um some good stuff though in the bullpen. Trevor Consul, local kid from Cincinnati. Another scoreless inning from him. Uh he recorded a 16th save of the year, 1.45 RA in 37 in a third innings. And Ri Francon, two shutout innings, struck out two batters. Uh one of the more talented relievers in the Red’s uh minor league system. Uh Dayton, they fell 75 to Lake County. Dragons lost number 70 of the season. They are 34 and 70. Carlos Jorge, three for five, still was 33rd base of the season. Uh nice day from Anthony Stefen, two for five. Um he was the Red’s 13th round pick last year out of Virginia. He’s hitting .355 in the month of August. Um, and then one other note, Victor A Coast on Friday was placed on the temporary inactive list. And last but not least, Daytona got a big win 125 over Jupiter. Tortuga is now just a half game out of his second half playoff spot. Alfredo Duno, another huge day on base three times, had a double. He leads the Florida State League with a 416 on base percentage, second in OPS, 865. Um, and he’s hitting a nice 321 with a 500 on base percentage in August. Arnold Lantigua, another big day. Three for four double, two walks, stole a base. Uh, he’s hitting 310 so far in uh, 15 games since getting promoted. Um, Kyle Henley, two stolen bases, was 43 on the year. And Ichiro Canó made his low A debut, the greatest name in the Reds minor league. Uh, two for four with a double and a walk. Cano had a 437 on base percentage in the ACL. So hopefully he can keep it up at Daytona. Tyson Lewis got the day off. Cole Shower uh got rocked again. Uh he’s really struggled. That is your Reds in my LB. And that was a that was an elite Reds in my LB by the way. I just want you to know that was I mean I skipped full rundown. It was elite graphics for each one. You really put the work in. You really put the work in. Gotta give credit where credit is due. Um, speaking of credit where credit is due, Michael Roth is back at it again. He said, “No free ads, but I was on a site today that allows money towards sports teams to accomplish certain objectives.” The Reds have plus 2500 shorter odds to win the NLCS than the Giants in the exact same as the Mets. Um, yeah. I mean, listen, if you’d have told me that, you know, a month ago the Reds were going to have the same exact odds to win the NLCS as the as the New York Mets, I would have thought again, I’m living in Looney Tun. I guess I’ll continue to think I’m living there because, well, what what what odds are this what is this on? Well, that’s a good point. I didn’t look at him to be fair. I just went off of Roth and assumed that he was right. Are you talking about the NLCS or are you talking about the playoffs? Because I think those are two different things to make sure you’re looking at the correct thing, Nick. Okay. Yeah. Or no, no, I think that I’m not sure. I don’t I don’t think we got we got a we got a great debate here. All right. Well, uh, Ralph, we appreciate it. But, uh, love your love your Ralph, though. Yeah, Ralph. Some some people are saying that might not be true. I don’t know. I’m not Listen, I’m just the middleman. Okay. I’m the middleman. Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just uh trying to keep the the show moving here in a positive direction. Rough could be using the I think this would be a funny joke. I think we got all win the NLCS and the Giants in the same as the Mets. Yeah. I mean, that’s great value on the Mets. I’m sorry. Oh my. If you see that, dude. You can’t take this dude anywhere, man. I mean, seriously, you can’t take this guy anywhere. All right. I mean, Nick’s the kind of guy that when you go to the grocery store and they have the cost per ounce or or or or per piece or whatever the hell else they do, he’s he’s got his his magnifying glass looking at them all and going, “Well, this one this this one’s priced at 012 per piece. That one’s priced at 016 per piece.” What? But this one’s the better value. This one’s the better value. This is the one that we’re going with, Nick. the the the bread. One’s $289, the other one’s $2.49. Just pick whichever one you like. But I can’t hate you. If if if they’re both plus 2500, that’s incredible because Fan Graphs has uh I don’t have the to have the NLCS, but to win the World Series, the Reds are 0.2 and the Mets are 5.2%. So, if you’re getting the same odds, that’s uh that’s pretty wild, right? Or it could be a lazy sports book. Yeah, I was going to say perhaps it was on Bed Fred, but I didn’t want to go there. Uh I was gonna say a lazy sports book. I was going to say anyone. I mean, I’ll say whatever the hell I want to say. That’s how I feel about it. Um Atlantic 10. Atlantic 10 odds. Yeah. George Washington. I feel like it’s it’s it’s late enough in the night to go down the wire, which is hilarious things that happened on Bed Fred Sportsbook at one point. Do you Is it Are we past the show or No. Are we past the show? I’d love to tell one story. Can I tell one story? You can cut it in the podcast if you like. But these people in here are up late and and you know what? They deserve a good story. So, we at one time had a relationship with a sports book that might go unnamed, might have been a guy named Fred that made a book. And here’s the deal. We go to this opening event and the NFL is going on. It’s the last week of the regular season, right? I’ve never had an interaction with a sports book. Not a day in my life. Never met him. Don’t know anything. But we just signed a deal. Wanted to go down there, you know, show our face, make sure that they knew that we cared about them. And I wanted to, you know, start to start to start to show my appreciation by giving them my business. And I loaded some money into Sportsbook app. This is a true story. Now, some people are going to think this is might not be true, but you might believe it when I tell you that they ended up not making it in Ohio. And this might be the reason why. not this specific one, but maybe the the mindset behind the company. That said, um not to kick a dog when it’s down. Um not to beat a dead horse, but the truth of the matter is this. I look up at the television after after putting $100 into the app and I seen uh Tampa Bay Buccaneers were celebrating on the field, right? They’re celebrating quite literally after the game. I look down at the app. I’m scrolling the app blah blah blah. I click on futures. On the futures tab, everybody, it said odds to win the NFC. I think it’s South. I don’t know the NFL off top of my head that well, but I’m pretty sure it was the NFC South. And I looked at it and it said minus 300 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I clicked on it, it highlighted, it went into my betting slip. I then looked back up at the TV again and there was a graphic at the bottom that said NFC South champions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This was with Tom Brady. I looked at it. I looked back at my phone. I looked back up at the screen. I put $500 more dollars back into my account and I put $600. The first bet that I ever made was $600. And if I would have had it all back, I would have put the entire amount of money I had and I could possibly do in the account. And I bet that the I bet that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were going to win the NFC South. I click submit. It posts. It’s sitting there in my bet slip minus 300 them to win the NFC South. I kept looking up the screen. Now I think I screwed up because I’m like, “Wait a minute. What did I just bet on?” I look at the screen. Look down. Look at the screen. I kid you not. I 20 minutes later it cashed. I won like whatever it was. I think I won $200 because I put $600 down on a minus $300 bet. I won $200 in 20 minutes by looking at something that already happened that was in the app. Insane. Hopefully somebody thought that story was funny andor cool. But might be a little bit of insight why Mr. Fred ain’t around anymore. Anyway, um we do have more baseball to be played. Nick, a little who, what, when, where, and why. You’ve already rallied the troops to try to get them to the ballpark. You want this home stand to be rockus. You want this this home stand to give uh the the the Red’s players, you want them to know that we are fully behind them. We want them to do this thing for us. I think they know that, but maybe this is an opportunity to make it very clear. All right, Reds taking on the Phillies starting on Monday. Uh, we got some wild start times in this series. Uh, Monday 610, Tuesday 6:40, Wednesday 510. Uh, Andrew Abbott against um, Taiwan Walker uh, on Monday. Tuesday Brady Singer against Ranger Suarez. And Wednesday, Chase Burns against Christopher Sanchez. Phillies come in 68 and 49. That is the uh, second best record in the National League. They have a five and a half game lead in the NL East with the Mets recent struggles. They are seven-2 in August. Now the Phillies are 31-28 on the road. Have not been nearly as good as at home where they’re 37 and 21. Reds of course lost two of three against the Phillies July 4th week. Uh but the Reds did go four and three against the Phillies last season. Kyle Schwarber’s been incredible. Bryce Harper’s been really good. Uh player you probably don’t know about is Brandon Marsh. He’s having a monster second half for the Phillies. Reds do miss Zack Wheeler in this series. Kind of good, but they’re still going to face good pitching. The Phillies have just ridiculous pitching. Uh Taiwan Walker, he’s been in and out of the rotation. Was looking like a DFA candidate earlier in the year. Uh was just in the rotation to fill in for Aaron Nolo’s on the IIL, but he’s pitched really well of late coming off six shutout innings against the Orioles. Tuesday, Ranger Suarez was incredible early in the year, dominated the Reds earlier this year. Uh, but he has an RA of almost six over his last four starts. But in my opinion, the toughest matchup will be on Wednesday. Christopher Sanchez a 1.52 ERA over his last nine starts. He’s only allowed one earn run or less in eight of his last nine starts. Andrew Abbott tomorrow though coming off the he had the shortest start of his season against the Phillies earlier this year. Only went three and a third innings, walked five batters in that that start. So hopefully he can respond. And the Reds, you know, they are seven games behind the Phillies. So if somehow you did sweep the Phillies, you would get the tiebreaker over them as well. It could give you potentially another path just in case because the Mets and the Phillies both play each other still seven more times. just in case the Mets got really hot, swept those series or went six and one against the Phillies or something. It’s a long shot, but it wouldn’t hurt to uh to gain some ground on the Phillies. Yeah, if if if uh gaining ground on the Phillies means that the Reds continue to win baseball games and get themselves in a spot where they they get closer to 88 wins, I’m all for it. Right. I I don’t know what the exact number is going to need to be, Nick, but it definitely feels like it’s going to take about 88 wins. Um, if it’s any more than 88 wins, man, what a what a disappointing what a disappointing outcome to what we thought we were going to need to have. I mean, we’ve we’ve watched teams get in with 84 wins, 85 wins, and now we’re we’re probably genuinely looking at 88. And if it goes north of 88, it wouldn’t shock me. If if it’s 80, if it’s 85, if it’s 90, I could see it being either one. that the Mets are just such a they’re such an unpredictable team because that team clearly has the talent, but right they’re also in a tail spin right now. So, um I think Fangraph still has them at 87 is the number they have. Um and again, I usually lean on that, but they’re a team that I could I could see that I could see it being less or I could see it being more. They’re it’s really hard to predict what they do. And they do have a tougher schedule. I mean, not as tough as the Reds, but they do have the the 11th tough of schedule. They don’t have any games against the Rockies left like the Padres’s do. They don’t have any games against the White Socks left. They have a bunch of games against the Nationals. They have a bunch of games against the Braves. And it’s very fortunate that they’re getting to play the Braves now versus um earlier in the year, but they don’t have an easy schedule. Yeah, I mean, the schedule’s the schedule, as I said at the beginning of the show, it is what it is, but they’ve played well. So um against difficult teams. So it’s the fact that we the fact that we are in the position we are in is seems like a miracle. So I’m going to take it. I am going to take it and run. And uh yeah. All right folks. Um before we head off, please do us a favor. If you haven’t already, hit the like button. We’ve got a significant amount of people that have been in here. We also have more more people that obviously watch this game or watch this show on the back end. If you if you don’t mind, hit the like button, leave us a review on uh Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, wherever uh wherever else you may get your podcast. please go leave us a review and uh we very much appreciate your guys’ support. not just watching and not just listening, but even being engaged in the chat and and and and again kind of building a community is uh is really the whole purpose and the goal of what we’ve done. And and uh I hope people kind of I guess for lack of a better term understand our appreciation or or know that. I know, you know, again, I say this all the time, but sounds like we’re kind of just doing the the the song and dance of saying things like, no, I mean, it’s a it’s a genuine it’s a genuine thing that we’ve built here. And um when I say we’ve built it, it’s been a lot of us. It’s it’s all of us. And uh you telling your friends about us and and and you even sharing, you know, kind of just the the fact that you that you love this or enjoy it. I see many of you out and about and you say, “Yeah, I got my I got my dad watching now or you know, I got my sister watching.” It’s like that’s how we make it. I mean, that’s that’s how we make it. We don’t have a significant amount of money to go out and put advertising out everywhere that we have this show. So, uh each and every voice that that that kind of gives us an opportunity to uh to continue to do this, we we say thanks. So, uh Reds Reds win. Reds have now found a way to reel us all the way back in. And um I am I am hopeful that we find a way to have one of the most insane home stands that we’ve ever had. And and I am looking forward I am looking forward to the Brewer series, bud. I’m looking forward to it. I You know what? I might treat those games when I watch it like I’m playing every pitch. I’m not going to miss a pitch. I’m not going to miss a pitch. Not gonna miss a pitch. So, all right, folks. Uh, I’ll go dunk a basketball because I think that’s what many people, you know, want me to do. Uh, I don’t know if I’m in the spot in my life where I should be dunking basketballs. I’m getting old. Some are saying my muscles aren’t working the way they used to, but you know what? Maybe they’re still working good enough to be an athlete. Nick, final parting thoughts before we uh head off and and uh I guess for lack of a better term uh being back here better than ever tomorrow. Yeah, I mean big uh big week for the Reds. Um the the the Mets do have a favorable schedule the next couple weeks. So I I think the next couple weeks are just you’re trying to to to keep it close. Um if you’re I don’t I mean nothing surprises you this this year, but I think if you man if you just like if even if you lose like a game or two over the next couple weeks, I think that’s mostly okay. Um but yeah, I mean it’s just it’s we’re just really trying to survive the next couple weeks. Yeah, if you’re a game and a half if you’re a game and a half out in uh two and a half weeks, you feel great, right? I’d say even if you’re three, I mean, honestly, kind of when you look at the two schedules, I think if you if you just kept it like within three, but tomorrow’s huge because the Mets are off tomorrow. So, you could get that to one game with, you know, automatically, but just a win. So, tomorrow’s a huge game and Andrew Abbott on the mound. Yep. And, uh, we weren’t able to take advantage of Andrew Abbott being on the mound the last time he was. So, we’ll see if we can do it this time. Uh, until next time, this is uh this is myself going to go try and be an athlete. But as always, love you. Appreciate you. Go Reds. And, uh, we’ll see if I still have it in the tank to be somewhat of an athlete. So, here we go. athlete. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Chatterbox Reds Sunday Night Edition.

Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Game Preview – August 10, 2025

The Cincinnati Reds (61-57) face the Pittsburgh Pirates (51-67) on August 10, 2025, in the final game of a four-game series at PNC Park, starting at 1:35 p.m. ET. This NL Central showdown carries weight for the Reds, who are battling for a wild-card spot, while the Pirates aim to play spoiler. The series has been competitive, with Pittsburgh taking the first two games (7-0 and 3-2) before the Reds bounced back on Saturday. With the season series tied at 4-4, this finale could shift momentum.

Pitching Matchup

The Reds will send Zack Littell to the mound. Littell, boasting a 9-8 record and a 3.46 ERA, has been a reliable arm for Cincinnati. His ability to limit damage against a Pirates offense that ranks 30th in home runs and 28th in batting average gives the Reds an edge. Littell’s 2012-rpm fastball spin rate ranks low, but his control could exploit Pittsburgh’s struggles against low-strikeout pitchers. Projections suggest he’ll allow around 2.8 earned runs while striking out 4.5 batters, offering stability for Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh counters with Michael Burrows, who has struggled with a 1-4 record and a 4.45 ERA. Burrows averages just 4.5 innings per start and is projected to allow 2.2 earned runs, with a modest 4.5 strikeouts. His shorter leash (-15.7 adjusted pitches per outing) means the Pirates’ bullpen, ranked 10th-worst in MLB, may see early action, potentially exposing vulnerabilities against Cincinnati’s lineup, which includes high-strikeout hitters like Elly De La Cruz, Tyler Stephenson, and Matt McLain.

Team Dynamics

The Reds, third in the NL Central, have a 27-31 road record but excel when generating offense, going 45-25 when recording eight or more hits. De La Cruz, despite a recent slump (2 extra-base hits in August), remains a dynamic force with a .278 average, 19 home runs, and 73 RBI. TJ Friedl has been hot, batting .368 over his last 10 games with two doubles and a home run. However, Cincinnati’s offense has been inconsistent, scoring just 13 runs in their last five games, and injuries to key players like Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo strain their depth.

The Pirates, fifth in the division, have a 34-27 home record and thrive when preventing home runs (35-19 in such games). Their offense, led by Oneil Cruz (18 HRs) and Andrew McCutchen (11 HRs, 16 doubles), struggles overall, ranking last in the NL with 417 runs scored. Tommy Pham’s recent hot streak (94.6-mph exit velocity) could provide a spark, but Pittsburgh’s 3.54 runs per game highlight their offensive woes.

Betting Odds and PredictionThe game is a toss-up, with both teams at -110 on the moneyline and a total of 8 runs (O/U: -110). Predictive models give the Reds a slight edge (52-58% win probability), citing their superior offense (523 runs vs. Pittsburgh’s 417) and Littell’s consistency. Expect a close game, with Cincinnati leveraging their pitching advantage to secure a 5-4 victory, splitting the series.

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Andrew Abbott, Julian Aguiar, Graham Ashcraft, Scott Barlow, Emilio Pagán, Fernando Cruz, Alexis Díaz, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Nick Martinez, Tony Santillan, Carson Spiers, Brent Suter, Rhett Lowder, Brandon Williamson, Tyler Stephenson, José Trevino, Jeimer Candelario, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Santiago Espinal, Jonathan India, Noelvi Marte, Edwin Ríos, Will Benson, TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley, Stuart Fairchild, Austin Hays, Spencer Steer, Jacob Hurtubise, Blake Dunn

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