Friday, June 13, Hour 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifth Day, powered by Nova Insurance Services Insure your most prized possessions.

Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Y on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In with me today is my usual Friday gainst jaycin Zez And he's wearing red and blue and a little blue, A little blue, a little blue. Game of inches, baby.

Yeah, you know, yeah, it's just too bad. Guy hits a ball, you know around so, you know, with two strikes on him and he's just protecting the plate and then it hits on the line and then I'll help breaks leaf.

So that was just too bad for the Cats.

But that's baseball, right, you know, I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of second guessing about, you know, when you bring in Tony Pluta, you know, how long you live together your pinch hitters and all that kind of stuf up. You know what, this is baseball, and and things happen. You make moves, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

Uh uh.

You know, Arizona could have won that game as well as they lost it in Coastal Carolina.

We'll be talking to itself. Sure, yeah, no, no question in with us today?

Is Ray manning the board talking every now and again when he gets the sign to talk.

What's the sign? Ray, I don't know what the sign is. He gives me the I got something. Oh, he gives you the sign? Got it? Okay? I thought it was the other way around. I mean between two rivals here, got the Giants jersey.

You know, I left my house the second the game, you know, like the game ender, I turned off to the ship.

I would have put in the Dodgers.

I forgot he was a Giants fan, and so I'm a little upset that he's in here in Giants gear and I've got I got no Dodger, no Dodger gear on.

What's the Steelers wheel song? Jokers to my left? It's craziness to my right? What's that one?

Jokers to the left? Something to the right way. I don't remember the Steve Miller band.

Yeah, but uh, you know, big series coming up. But you know, the Dodgers took two out of just took two out of three from the Padres, and now they go, they go, what they've got San Francisco. They're at in Dodger Stadium. So that's uh, you know, that's how I'll be. I'll be going home to watch that baby tonight my wife. My wife's out of town, so I'll be glued to the all three games.

Economy of Arizona Tucson just got bigger question.

The question is do I go?

Do I go Lucky Wishbone, Popeyes or churches tonight or the e r from the thing is the US Open is going on too, and so there's all these things, the College World Series, all these.

Things going on. Yeah, it's Father's Yeah.

My father to Day, the least celebrated holiday of all Father's Day. I saw funny, Okay, I said, you just see a funny video of a comedian.

Yeah, yeah, I've seen. I've said that to the we're sitting the number twenty.

Number twenty six, number twenty six out of twenty six.

He said, Arbor days even ahead of and I don't even know what I know what it is. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, yeah, I forgot. If I get it tied, that'd be a good thing.

I'm cooking on Father's Day because my wife's not home for who you right, father?

Yeah?

Anyways, but it's you know, hey, it's a it's a good it's a you know, it's.

Good to be a day just with this, just call it father what about me day? Yeah? Exactly.

But you know what the funny thing is, though, if I get to just sit home and sit in front of the TV and watch and watch the US Open and then the Dodger game all day, I'm that's that's a good day.

That's a good It's a radio station.

I'm not sure if it was on our station or not said what would you pay a few thousand dollars for on a normal day? I can just kind of off the top of my man, what would you pay for for a decent amount of money? I'll just say twenty five hundred dollars uh, to get for father to day? For no, for any any day? What would you what would you pay for? I'm good, I guess I don't understand.

It was a question the people call in and try to get if.

You would pay, ex I'd pay twelve hundred dollars to go to Game one of a World Series, which I did last.

Year, right right, I'd the fund a trip to themha, probably if I got you know what.

The answer was the most piece and quiet funny, not to be bothered because we live in this world of craziness.

Just to be not yeah, to not have to listen to any of it. That's a good one.

No one got it, because who would.

Think that that's a good one. I mean, that's definitely a good one. I would love to not have to listen to any of that crap for one day because you can't get away from it.

No, no, no, yeah. And it's all our own fault too. I'm sure you're on the phone stupidly for whatever reason.

I'm on my phone all the time.

I spend I spend an hour or two, you know, going flipping TikTok, and when I see something political come up, I flip through it really fast to try and try and let them know I don't want this crap on my feet. Give me, you know, give me baseball highlights, give me you know, sports stuff, give me music and stuff like that. And you know, as soon as I see whether it's you know, no matter what, if it's political at all, I flip it real fast because I want the thing to know.

I don't want to see that you're going to be flipping for a while. I know it's bad flipping for a while.

Today a good week of shows, and we've got Friday show, another good week. We have Javio and Morales. We'll return this week and he's in Omaha. He covered the game, so I think they'll be done by by three in about fifteen minutes or whatever it is with their press conferences and things. Is that the game went in three hours.

Yeah, it went long. It went long.

So we'll have him, and then we'll have Greg Hanson, who has been through many of these type of things over his career, so we'll talk more about that.

Greg had some interesting comments about the Big Twelve and is uh not I think I think it was last week's Notes column talking about how.

Overall the Big Twelve is kind of EH in all sports as a whole, I would agree.

Which, you know, when you put the way you put, I'm like, you're right, I said, But then I said him a thing I said with a note saying except all was the most fun we ever had, no question when we talk about it's football, it's and then all that, you know, it just kind of doesn't win and not to a lot of national champions. Track and field seems to be you know, the biggest most successful sport for

It's better than where we were.

Right football, I'm not so sure, but certainly basketball and it's gonna want it's gonna be a step brother to SEC.

It's just it is what it is, right until they kind of put everything together and say.

Well, you know, you know, you know, I was thinking about that last week.

You know, here's what I wish, not wish, but I mean, I wouldn't mind if just if the SEC and the Big ten just going going the wrong. Go have your go, have your league play each other, do your little things, you know, and just play each other and get the hell out of here. And if you want to call yourselves national championships, not.

You, that would not yourself. For the rest of us, I don't care about them. So what you do, you're the champion.

Everybody else play each other. I'd love you, know, I'd love you. But see the thing about it, is though that USC and U C, l A and Oregon and Washington are all in the Big ten.

I'd want them back. If you had something to wish for, I want them back.

Give us them back, and then you guys gonna make your own league of everybody else.

Christy Brinkley, if you're there, we granting wishes today.

But I'm sick of those guys. I'm sick of those guys. We are undeniably the best. We're going to do whatever we want, and screw the hell they're leadings without those guys. Yeah, no, I get that. I get that their leaders. I'm sure there are people within the system. There are two people over there I want to smack really hard, the commissioners, Greg Burned and and Greg Sanky.

Yeah, well, I'd like to slap the hell out of you, Like I said, even in their own SEC quadrants. There's people at like the boxes. Yeah, get us out and let us play.

I'd love to slap the hell out of both of those guys. Greg burn right now, if you're listening, I want you in here. I want to smack you in the face. I got we can call.

You know next Friday, if we can, we will because I've asked. I've seen him a few places, get shorstee whatever. But yeah, yeah, we'll say, you know, Greg, I have something to talk about. You know, he'll gladly talk about it, you know, but you know you don't have a spin to it, of course, would.

He is the spinner? Ye yes, yeah, no.

No, okay, but I get what you're saying. But it wouldn't be fun. It wouldn't be no, because you wouldn't be the champ. Well, you are the champ of this, but what about the big boys.

You can't compete with the big boys. I don't mind competing against them. They don't want to compete against us. They don't want to play. They don't want to play us.

Well, they want, they want.

I love playing those guys because it's a chance to tell them to shut the hell. Attita is a perfect example. Ryeah, we are, we are, we are, and then they didn't do right. There's three pack tip Pac twelve teams in the in the in the in the conference series.

That's my point, Steve. They they think that we're beneath them, and they don't. They shouldn't have to deal with that, that's no doubt. But that's the part.

So if if you think that, go have your own league and call yourself national champions. But we will say, I don't know, you're not. I don't think the Big twelve is like that. No, but SEC is like that. Yeah yeah, the.

Big ten isn't so much like that.

Yeah, but the SEC and okay, SEC, you know what, take your sixteen teams, have your own little league, have your own NFL, and if you want to call yourself and give us the Big ten, we'll play the Big ten.

What's that song you kids play? They're not like us? What's that? Who sayds?

Oh?

Yeah, they're not like us. It's Kendrick Yeah, Kendrick Lamar. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm sick of their their crap. I'm really I know, I get it. I get it, especially in football basketball. You know they have this little great year. Okay, I have you a great year, but you still.

You know well, I mean I remember a couple of weeks ago I saw I think on the boards his name, the Alabama head Cooks yeah, and he was like, well, we should have got a shot to get in. And it's like, well, dude, you were nine and three and you lost to a six and six.

Yeah, you got you what you do?

You know what I mean?

And that's what I'm saying. Yeah, just because we're Alabama. We're better than you for no other reason. No, no, you had you shot you blew it?

Yeah, move on exactly. Okay, so again have you I just have to say hello, Hello, Jay?

You know what?

Don't say hello?

It said I'm on the show once a week and I get all this pent up stuff by Friday, and it's all it's I'm just like I'm a I'm a ticking time bomb.

Man.

Gabrielle, You're going to heaven a lot of times. She's been gone since Monday.

Well, got your pent up. She's been gone since Monday. I've been cooking for myself. The dishes are the sink is full of dishes.

You know I've got I've got to take it out on the SEC. There's three cats at my house who don't talk to me. I needed a guess today. That's why you're here.

It's tough man. Yeah, Well we'll see what happens. We had Tommy Lloyd yesterday. I don't know if you saw any of that. We haven't written anything. No one's really written much about it. Uh just you know, yeah, it was thirty minutes of Tommy Lloyd.

You know, he got on me a couple of times. What did you do?

Uh?

Where?

Well, your son Adam was kind of the moderator, right, and we wanted he wanted to kind of end it with about twenty two minutes. And I asked one of like last question and asked him about something I can't remember what it was. And he says, no, I'll say. He says, well, you're buying lunch, you know, just flipping you buy lunch. Yeah, I'll bring in snork noggs. And I gave him like, I don't want that I want and he looked at me, you don't like snorre dogs.

Right. I don't see very many, if any mock drafts anywhere saying that he's gonna be in the NBA or get drafted.

He took kind of offense to my question. I don't think I praised it incorrectly, but he who you talking to? I'm thinking he says, well, the people I'm talking to say is, well, you probably know more people than me. But he says he's going to be in the NBA. Okay, about three four minutes later he kind of he's gonna get a chance to be in the NBA. There's a difference. There is a difference.

He'll get a chance.

He'll get I have no doubt about that. He'll get a chance, no doubt about that. He'll get He'll sign a free agent, he'll go somewhere. He'll be on the court, no question. The question does he make g J McConnell went that went that route right, and look what he's doing.

Two different players. The point being I get draft.

I get you give me a one off. I know, I know, I know he is, but you know he didn't get drafted. He will have the opportunity. And when you're Caleb Love, that's all you can ask and give me a chance to get on the court.

He brought up his player at Zaga, the guard at Indiana. Uh, tell me pretty good, guard. He's playing very well right now, and hey, I wouldn't doubt Caleb Love is capable. It's just that I'm saying nobody else out there projecting, he's not. You know, he's not projecting. And he wasn't invited to any of the.

Camps right or to the things the G League camp that's the G League combine. But that's the point. Yeah, No, I hear you, and I'm not trying to. I just I just asked the question.

Well, the thing about Caleb Love is that there's a lot of guys like him, guys about his height who can shoot and candle can and do those things. The guys that make are the guys that have something that stands out.

For For P PJ, t J.

McConnell, it was his his court sense, his court awareness, leadership, his selfishness, his leadership, and all those things.

Added up to I brought this, you know, being able to overcome.

His kind of average athletic ability.

So I brought this up to Sean ten years ago, whatever TG was going on, So what do you think and what about him playing? And he talked about this is he's going to be in the NBA, and we all kind of looked, yeah, really.

What are you are you looking at the same TJ where you're looking at it right exactly And he's defending his guy, but he.

Was he was playing out flat out right. When we were leaving the thing yesterday. Yesterday I told Sheer, I says, you know, I asked Sean the same thing, and we were kind of skeptical, right, so do you think he says.

Well, well, here, here's the thing is that the NBA, what they do is they draw out. So it's right, they they draw If the talent is there, they draw it out.

And they were able to draw it out of TJ. And and they do that with guys all the time.

If Caleb has a certain talent or a certain level of talent that they're looking for, they'll dig it out and then he's in. But if he doesn't have anything special like that, then he won't.

Yeah, we'll see. I think the chances are very like, hey, uh, it's like, we asked questions.

That's what we're paid to do, right year, paid to answer questions. It was not a question I'm skeptical that he's gonna it was just what do you think?

What do you think? What do you think, what the hell the wife, Well, he made an assumption that you were saying, you don't think so.

No, no, yeah, no no, And that's how he listened to it. And I'm thinking I was thinking nobody else out there in the box stuff and all that are projecting him. Hey, I don't care if he does or he doesn't. He's just a question. Yeah, I hope he does. Okay, we gotta go. We're gonna try to find who uh aavier On the other side, Steve Rivera here to talk about Dorato Rock and Materials. I needed a lot of gravel for my driveway, so I called Eric at Dorato Rock.

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This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio. Just search Ie on the ball.

Hey, welcome back to Whining the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In with me today is Jay Gonzalez. You got ready at the controls. Now we have your morales from All Sports two Sun dot com in Omaha.

What's the vibe like, Well, you know, tough game, I mean, Arizona battle. It's just that they had two outs in the eighth inning and then that blue double that just falls right inside the line. Is the baseball is a crazy game. And then right after that, you know, an intentional walk and then and then a hit, and then you bring clue in and uh put.

In and and he you know you Chip Hal put.

Him in there to stop, to stop to just a one run deficit, and then the guy had the two run uh.

Double off them. So it's it's just one of those games.

And Arizona's proven before they have the result to bounce back after a disappointing the first game of a series or of a playoff situation. You know, no better example than last week when they lost eighteen to two to North Carolina. So they know what buttons to push and what what to do to respond to this kind of thing.

It's only it's different though now because.

They're they're in a.

Four team like double elemation part of brackets, so they.

It's not just winning another couple of games. They have to win, you know, win like three more games to head onto the championship round, you know what I mean. So it's a little different, but they know how to respond to adversity. We'll see what they do on Sunday against Oregon State or Louisville.

So is there any anything the second guess on that? I mean, look, you brought in your closer to to to end the ending. I mean, I don't see any wrong with that move that you know are people's second guess. Maybe you should come in a little sooner you said, like you said, it's baseball. The guy neardy hits one off the dirt and lands it on the line in right field, you know, with two outs, and then and then it blows up. I mean, is there anything the

That's what happens.

Yeah, I think there is the second guessing that if Pluto wasn't as as dominant he's been, I think in this situation like that, you do want do you put the fire out? And he's used to that, so uh, you know, I don't think I don't think you can really fault Kevin Vance for putting him in, uh and make them mistake. Advanced makes it call the shots on fishing decisions and Chip Hale goes out there and does

But I think that was the propriate there.

I know you're a hicks Is pitching Well man, he was.

Rolling until that double hit that you know that.

That little blue double down the line.

Yeah.

No, he came in, got out of that situation. What out basics on one, based on third, and he gets those guys to strike out twice. What a fantastic finish there, and then God, now what's the vibe in terms of now they got you, they can't lose.

Yeah, you know, like I said earlier, they you can look at it both ways. You know, they they lose or they struggle in the opening game or opening weekend, either in the regular season or in the playoffs, and they bounce back and finished wrong. So uh, you know, one one then the pessimistic.

Person and say why why.

Aren't they ready when they start these series or the post game weekend.

But on the other hand, they come.

Back and rally and and you.

Know, complete the jobs. So now it's like I said, it's a little bit.

Different challenge, but they've proven they can do it. So I think the vibe when they when Madonnas Guzman and Owen Kramkowski and Mason White walked in the press room, it wasn't doom and gloom. They weren't like they weren't like down at all. You can tell that they had kind of like an anger or or like a you know, a look of determination instead of a look of defeats.

Message was the main message, Chips.

Yeah, his main message was all business.

Now.

It's you know, they when you get when you get here, it's a lot of you know, a lot of hype and a lot of you know, family involvement and doing a lot of different things with family, and he kind

Well, you know, I mean their backs against the wall.

I mean this, it's it's hard, and it's it's especially hard difficult to you know, come back when it's not just that you got to get through the double elimination bracket, but then after that you got to win two out of three. You know, I'll point out to I'm an old guy and I remember this, you know, when Arizona won its first National Championship they lost. It was an eight team double elimination brand, so you didn't have the best two out of three.

But Arizona lost the opener to a SU.

Of all teams, that was the seventh time that ASU had beaten them in that years seventy six, a SU had beat them seven times. That made the seventh time ASU beat them. Arizona was oz and seven against a SU. Came back through the loser's bracket, played ASU again to get into the championship and beat them, and they're still but hurt about that one because they feel like, well, we beat you seven times and then all you had to do is beat us once and now you're in the championship.

We said, well, should have beat us the eighth time, and you didn't.

So you know it can happen, but it's it's less likely when you got to come back through the four team double imination bracket and then you got to win two out of three.

It's tough on the pitching, so it's.

Gonna be hard, but you know, hey, you give it your shot, right, I mean, like you said, these guys are gonna fight.

Yeah, pitching, you mentioned the pitching. If you're going to be playing these amount of games in less than a week. It comes down to pitching that there is on a have the pitching right to withstand all that. I think their bullpen has been has been solid and can rise up to it, but the starting pitching is still a

Yeah, And then uh, you know you got uh.

Smith Bailey who's a freshman. You know, Chip hal says many times he's know a sophomore because of all the you know, long season, but you know he hasn't he hasn't pitched yet in Omaha. And then you then you got Rol Gottaza, who's gonna most likely pitch tomorrow or Sunday.

So let me say, I haven't covered this team or followed this team very much this year. You have, I'm not sure about Jay, but let me just say this, if you're an Arizona baseball fan, how the hell do you survive? Every game that I've seen is like, they take the lead, they lose the lead. You take the lead, they lose the lead, and then they either win or they lose. It in the bottom. You know what I'm saying.

It's hard, Yeah, stressful.

Yeah, even that three to two when.

They had on cal Paulie opened up the Eugene Regional, they only had two hits name and then the next two games they had with thirty two hits and fourteen home runs in the in the blowouts against utile Valan cal Pauli.

So it's kind of.

Yeah, it is, it is. You're you're you don't know.

What to expect, really, you do you you kind of expect them to rally back. So that's a lot of people are expecting on Sunday, and they did.

But they did today, well, they did today. They got too on to two hits. No, uh, the why the why the pinch.

Hitter percentages with the lefty and righty you know, I you know you got it like brifle although right, I mean that's one thing he could you could question and.

Her Yeah, as a lefty right thing, I'm sure.

Yeah, he just felt like it was the best possible thing and he he thought it was a that bat for him and then Summer Hill grounded grounds out.

That's that's you know, you get the seven eight nine guys to give you a chance and then your leadoff hereter comes and hits into a double play and you just go.

That was tough.

Yeah, I'm sure it was frusting to.

Watch on TV.

Yeah, being here a little different.

Because you're here the crowd, noise, and it's just a little different field. But if I was watching this game on TV, I would have been very frustrated as an Arizona If I was an Arizona fan watching the game and must have been frustrating.

Let me ask you because you mentioned this on social media, and you know, you're an old guy like us now even though I knew you, you know when you're a nice But I looked at the graphic of announcing that people on the show today and there's just nothing but old guys on that. Yeah, because you you you hands And anyways, I digress. You mentioned that you hadn't had a chance to cover a college world series. What what's just what's Steve mentioned?

What's the vibe? What's it like over there?

It seems just a great event and just a cool celebratory kind of thing.

Yeah, it's it's a it's like a festival. Even in the beyond the centerfold wall, there's a you know, there's like a carnival going on, and it's it's, uh, you got more than twenty about twenty five thousand fans from eight different schools here, plus Omaha people. It's it's their things, so they treat it with the utmost you know, the hospital way, hospitality way, and.

It's it's just so far, it's been.

It's been everything I thought it would be, just because of the fan involvement in the atmosphere. You imagine a you know, it's kind of like a Final four. And I've been a few Final fours because you have all these different fans from different schools and it's at one event and there's a fan fast here. It's just like the Final four. So it's it's definitely worth the experience if you can make it here. You know, Arizona's here.

How they travel. Did they travel.

Well Arizona had I would say they Arizona close to Carolina had about the same amount of people, you know, I think at least what five thousand each at least in that ballpark. Figure, there was a lot of people here with Arizona. When I was traveling yesterday on American airlines, there are a lot of Arizona shirts. There was some UCLA fans too, which kind of surprised me. But yeah, there, there, there, there, there's a lot of people from Tucson here. You see them, see a lot of them.

Remind me of not.

As much as Las Vegas with a Pac twelve tournament, but you see all those U of A fans, and it's they get the sense that they do travel.

Well, yeah, okay, Well we'll see what happens on Sunday. It's at eleven o'clock, I think, great, same time. Yeah, and who they play? So now it's momentum time because they gotta get it. They don't have uncle oo right now, so we'll see if they.

Can get it.

Yeah.

Yeah, I took a left and I'm on.

Okay, So hey, I thank you have We'll talk to you next week and see what's going on. All right, great, take care? Yeah, thank you, thank you Ray for letting us know. We got to go, and then we'll talk. Maybe take some calls on a lot of different If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look back at the Ludolsen era. In my new book, Lessons from Loot, it was a labor of love. Through the eyes of

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Peyramid Federal Credit Union, where less is more federally insured and by NCUA, an equal opportunity lender, breaking down all the access and ohs. This is I on the ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.

Hey, welcome back to the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. You're Jaginsaus. We got Ray in with us today. If you like to call, please do five two zero four one six seventy four forty real.

Thanks for the phone for us. Yes, okay, hopefully we just messed up on Monday. That's that's a computer thing.

Oh yeah, yeah, we're good, right, good, We're good good, Okay.

So, uh well, I think you know, look, look, Chip Hale is.

From the time that he you know, he was here as a player, you know, all through his career as a player and manager and coach. The guy's a fighter, and you expect that his team is going to take on that, uh the personal personality, that mentality that they're saying. Okay, you know, it's it's a little harder, but we're still gonna come out here and and good luck playing us.

Yeah.

Well, let me say this. I know you're you're pro Arizona. Last week when they got their butts handed to them eighteen and two, you were still Hey, it's.

One game we had that conversation the.

Same time, same place, and you were confident they'd be okay, at least they would give it good. Could be yeah, that they were gonna give a good and they did and then and they want and then they won again. There's no doubt that they're going to do that right right Sunday, no matter who they play right now. They just got to do it in that cliche form. Yeah, one day, one pitch at a time, exactly.

And you know what if that's that's got to be the approach. And that was the approach last week, you know, after that beating that they took. But we sat here and said, yeah, because it's baseball, you know, anything can happen. You go out and win the next day. And now you got a chance, and you can win the next one. And they did and then they and look they were losing late in the in that game three against North Carolina and and then went and put it away.

And not to say that North Carolina's not good, because they're very good. In fact, their favorite to beat the Arizona as South as Carolina Coastal was today right. Uh, who Arizona faces, they're all good, no matter who, doesn't matter it's they're all good, and that's they're not playing whatever po dunk baseball time. Well, yeah, they're playing teams that are very, very good and under the same situation saying we gotta win the what's.

Clos one, twenty three, twenty four in a row or somebody, it's crazy, you gotta call hello, you're on the air nine the ball?

Who's this?

Hey Steve?

Hey Jay? This is Donnie, Hey don what's the word?

But well, yeah, it's sad the way that it ended. But Arizona had its chance. Sure, you know, it's like, uh, it was like right at the in the in the seventh inning of the of the North Carolina game on Sunday, I forgot who I responded to on act I go, Arizona's in a great spot right here. We just got to get a couple of guys, you know, put a couple of hits together and we could win this thing. And they did that today. You know, the one good

But.

Started when he started last Friday. That boy was soaking wet and he was sweating and he was you know, and I thow, man, it must be humid. And he was the only one. He was the only sweaty one out there. So at the end of by the time he came out, he was like, man, his nerves got him, you know.

But he came back, he battled back, and.

He did what he had to do. Our boat pens still intact for the next three four games. For the next three games at least we got a day's rest in between, so that that means well.

It seems to me, Matt, Donny you watch it all the time and it's something that I referred to with the Haavier. This team, it would seem get ten runs and you're good. He's just it's tough, I guess because they're you know what I'm saying, you got to get some some cushion and just haven't been able to do that in the games I've seen this.

This team is not They're not a steamroller team. They'll have a good inning, yeah, they'll have a good inning. They won't have they don't use it. They don't put up a lot of knock you out of here innings, you know, not a lot of six run innings. You know, like like last year we had a little bit more of that this year. You know, they got to keep it close and they got to stay within striking distance. And today, you know, with three runs and wanted bat to do it, it's just not enough time. And then

Yeah. Well, you know, you made a good point.

And somebody, you know, I texted somebody because they were talking about, you know, how tough this was, What a tough game this was, you know, against against close soth Carolina.

I made the point, they're really good. No they are. They lost. They're really damn good.

The pitcher was good, you know, and you know and clearly the you know, the coach made a good move to take the starting pitcher out when he did.

But this is a good team.

And you know, we want to say they're not, well they are, you know, just because they're not in the SEC or whatever.

They're a good team.

Well, and that's you know, today, it was a great game. It was a good ball game all all, all the way through. You know, it's this is the type of game that people that don't watch baseball, they go, gosh, that was a terrible game. You know, it's boring. Was boring, it was. It was a super game, you know. And and like you said, and like you said, Jay, you know they're in Omaha, right. We got eight really good teams.

Yeah, no question.

The one thing that struck me was their pitcher. Their starter was like their third best dude, they didn't go and when they bought in the reliever, they didn't bring in the best reliever.

They brought in the two. And that's what it is. It's just how you feel and what you go with that day of the of the game.

Yeah, and that and that might not have been what you know, they may you know, they may have may have thought they needed to bring the number one starter, but maybe the adjustments at Arizona made said, you know what, maybe this guy's better against these guys. Yeah, maybe maybe our number two guy is better than our number one guy if these guys are going to sit on fastballs, because that's that's what our other guy does. And that's

Through, without question. Yeah, without question. Okay, Don, thanks, thanks a bunch, Thanks for the call.

Good good times.

Yeah, it's still fun. Yep, thanks always fun.

Yeah, have a good one, guy.

You think we have time for a couple more calls if you'd like to call on five to two oho four one six seventy four forty. I know it's a good day when Vic doesn't text me to say fire Chip.

He didn't do that today. Same. I like you know what you know. What I like about Chip is that he's just a ball player. Yeah, he's just a ballplayer to me.

We had this conversation and you would know this too because you were in that era. Uh and I wasn't. I was not here yet. Chip's just like a dude.

He's a dude. It's just a dude. Did you hear us yesterday?

No?

Here, here, Here's a dude thing. Okay. This comes from just having, you know, having local knowledge. Right. His mother in law owned.

She's like mother in law, but a nice lady owned the elementary school where my kids went to school called Castle Hill over here right next to it. Yeah, yeah, she owned it and ran it in the off season. Chip was the lawn boy. He'd go over there and hid. He was the guy who was cutting the grass and you see him the mower and stuff like that.

Chip Halee, he's the manager of a.

Major league Because we'll talk about it in a second, we'll get another call. Well, you're on the air and I on the ball.

Yeah, always the other side of the coin, Howard, don't depress us, Yeah, Howard.

Well, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna speak truth is what you're talking about. First of all, major League baseball is going on. And o Wan who left us, didn't he he's any of the guy that says I don't like college baseball.

I'm going to second that.

But they used wood bats too, because I heard some of the bats. They sound like they use wood bats also in college. No, none of those guys use wood beats. And if you're but I heard the sound.

Well, even though bats can be made wood bat I mean, uh, metal bats can be made to sound like wood bats.

They make them that way on purpose.

If you're if you're a coach, if you're a college baseball coach and your guy wants to go hit a wood bat.

You sit him on the bench, you say we're gonna have somebody bat for you.

Because there's no wood there's no wood bat that's better.

Than a than a metal bat.

Okay, that said, I went over to Buffalo wild Wings to watch the Cubs. That's the first and foremost and ever, of course everyone was.

Watching them Wildcats. The Wildcats were on the majority of the people.

But to me, that's not even that wasn't even the second best thing on because of course I was watching the US.

Open too, oh man, And that was gonna be some of my.

Questions to Jay about who that South African Lawrence guy is And I guess that's spawned guy.

Guess is he's an American.

And right now Sam sam Burgs is in first place. So you got a dark horse for moving day tomorrow.

Joe, Well, I've I've got Ben Griffin.

Uh he's he's yeah, he's tied for fourth right now. He's had top tens in his last three tournaments, including the PGA.

Uh he's got a win in there.

Uh.

He's my guy.

I've been watching him all day and he's he's he's even going to eighteen.

Uh, he's tied for fourth.

I like him. I like him a lot. The Shamble's going to miss the cut. Rory's on the cut line, So it's my guy. Phil's gonna make a cut.

He's your guy. Oh man, better be a better guy than that.

No, No, Phil's great and and he because it's the only one hasn't won. But but I agree with you, it's whoever wins, it's going to be somebody that's ever won it before.

Well that none of the none of the big guys the top.

Yeah, you look, you look at the you look at the leader board, and it's it's none of the guys that you would expect right now.

It's gonna be someone that doesn't win.

So that keeps filling there, someone that's never won the US Open.

All right, Howard, thanks for the call. You well, have a good weekend. Have you follows day?

Yep?

Yeah? Yeah, father, So you talked about Chip, So we talked about this with Who's with me yesterday? Oh Dave? So so the eighty six years.

After there was there was Chip On. Just another dude, right, another dude, kind of a smart dude.

Right.

Uh. You have Steve Kerr.

One of those dudes, and you had Chuck I mean, you've must have been kind of like one of those back in.

Those days, just you had three those same kind of the proverbial blue collar programs.

Yeah, the work as off the guys who they were just not they were not great talent, but they were great talent.

They were you know guys who were who were not under recruited, uh were, but had you know, had had a level of talent that you could do something with, right. And then the grit they had, the grit that all those guys had, you know. I mean, I like Jerry Kendall, but he wasn't the Dick Tomy lude Olsen.

Grit kind of guy.

I feel like Jerry Kendall was a blue collar guy, blue collar coach.

I did not.

I felt he was more of a kind of any you know, elite kind of a lot of the players. He'd go to LA and get all his players right.

Right, But you can't.

Argue with the success that he had and it was a farming let the work for him, and so it worked for him, and so you couldn't debate it, couldn't you know, give him a hard time about it. But to me, he was he was less of that. But in there there were guys like Chip Hale and those guys who weren't those kind of blue collar guys who came through the program. But and he was and a yeah, and he was and again kind of just a regular guy. I mentioned, you know, he was the lawn boy at

Well, the reason I say this because I watched over the last three games him on the innings, you know, when they he's just a self effacing, kind of funny, kind of you know, Steve is that guy Chuck. If you get to know Chuck, he's kind of like that guy.

You know. Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'm sure that's how it was back then.

Yeah, yeah, no, that and that that's the kind of athletes that were they were coming through at Arizona and they were having success with that because Arizona was a place that guys like that could go still is right if they didn't feel like they were getting the attention of it.

Is still is. I mean, those are.

The guys that Arizona's got to make it make its old song exactly.

It's not in the upper half, upper part, but it's right in the middle.

And if you can get a bunch of them at once like they did in eighty six, nineteen eighty. Yeah, you know, even twenty twelve, you know, the the no the n CUAA Championship Ball you know Andy Lopez is twenty twelve team, I mean, yeah, yes, uh.

What's it?

Reds Snyder has has you know, had a long career in the in the in the major league.

But who on that twenty twelve team was a superstar?

Yeah?

All right, who's the third basement? I know that he's I don't he is breeing. Yeah, you know, he's still kicking around in baseball. But there wasn't a you know, what's the name Leva Alex Lave I think was his name is.

That, you know. But there wasn't a superstar. No, there was just dudes, right, none of none.

Of those None of those teams had super superstars. Unlike one of the best teams that didn't get to the to the tournament, the eighty nine team was Scott Erickson, J. T. Snow, Trevor Hoffman, Lance Dickson. All these guys who made it to the major leagues and they were all on this one team and didn't get out of the region.

It's weird how that helped baseball. Well, you have your own answer for that. It's based. It's based. It's baseball. Okay, you got to go right, yep, Okay,