Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man, I'm forty. Go ahead, make my day every single week. I put my freaking heart and soul into this. I don't go out there and laugh. It's not funny. Nothing's funny to me. I don't wanna go out there and get embarrassed on Monday night football for everybody, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. So I ain't nothing changed from yesterday. Still the same person I was yesterday, and I got the same thing
for you that I had yesterday. You know why I'm here. You play to win the game. You don't play to just play it. That's a great thing about sports. You play to win. I don't care if you don't have any wins. Do you go play to win? When you start telling me it doesn't matter if you retire, get out for the matters Thursday morning on Exues and Bros. We're with you Monday through Friday from six until nine throughout the great state of Michigan. Ben is our producer. I'm Matt
Sheppard. Glad you're with us. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your Wednesday. The Meyer Hotline is always open for you anything that might be on your mind in the world of sports. We want to talk about at eight six six, eight three eight forty eight forty three. You can always text the program too. The text is sports Radio to twenty one thousand. Tiger split a double dip with Pittsburgh yesterday. You know that by now they shut out
the Pirates eight zip. Matt Verlin continues to rule man. He has been really impressive. Three run homer and four RBIs in the first game. Turk Schooble more impressive, probably the most impressive Tigers so far, No probably about it. He is incredible, improving to seven and one, toss seven scoreless innings, allowed just three hits, struck out eight. He is the odds on favorite from what I saw yesterday to win the American League. Say young,
long, long, long way to go. But shows you what nationally people think of Trek's scouble, and they should. He's got everything you could possibly want in his arsenal. So he strikes out eight, scatters three hits, lasted seven innings through ninety three pitches. Couldn't help. But wonder a little bit how Tiger fans we're feeling when Trek Scougle was pulled. Now Detroit had a comfortable lead, so it probably didn't matter to you when they pulled
him. It was ate nothing when the game ended, it was ate nothing. But watching Baltimore a little bit last night and you flip back and forth. Baltimore's really good. I really like their team. But Corbyn Burns is pitching for the Baltimore Orioles, a guy who I mean, he's got a
solid track record. They're playing Boston Division game and Corbyn Burns is out there, keeps himself in, talks himself into staying in the game, and in the seventh inning and he through one hundred eight pitches on the night he got the win. So he's five and two, Baltimore gets the win. They're thirty five and nineteen. They're really good. Gunner Henderson went yard yet again, so he ties the major league lead in home runs. Who's got more
home runs, Gunner Henderson or Aaron Judge. Right, it's Gunner Henderson, the twenty two year old second round pick out of high school. Now, before people start to go, see that's why you should bring up Max Clark, Gunner Henderson, what he did in the miners a little different. Okay, so you get some you get some seasoning there. But Corman Burns talked himself into it, talked to his manager, talked to his coaches. He's like, you know what, I want to stay in this game. I'm
in this game. People love that stuff backfires, but I love it too. One hundred and eight pitches and we make it sound like that's a huge deal when it never used to be. But it never used to be was a long long time ago. So here's what I was thinking while I was watching this last night. We always refer to the past with certain statistics that fit our narrative, but yet we want to adapt to the new analytics and the various things that allow what we think athletes or why we think athletes are
better today than before. We really want to have it both ways. And I don't think I don't think you're alone in that, because I'll take myself up. I feel the same way I do. But I hear this all the time. You know, guys are bigger, stronger, faster. Yeah, okay, then why aren't they doing Why aren't they doing what these guys used to do. I'm a little confused at that. I'm a little confused at why we think today's athletes are so much better, so much bigger,
so much stronger. And by the way, I do believe they I do believe they are, but they can't do what some of those guys did in the past. I'll give you an example. Mickey Lulich in nineteen seventy one started forty five games, one twenty five of them and completed twenty nine. In other words, he completed more games than most guys will start this year. That's impressive, don't you think. Okay, well, Mickey Lolich's and he was a horse. There's no doubt that he was one of the more
durable pitchers you could find. But when you look at his game log and you see not just the innings pitched, but the number of pitches, you'll be blown away at how often he threw a hundred pitches in a game. It's amazing. And yet I'll rave about Corbyn Burns, not to take anything away from Corbin Burns, because Corbyn Burns was really impressive. He really was. You would want to see that out of your picture, wouldn't you.
Hell yeah, you would. Seth Lugo Kansas City Royals. Here's a guy who I mean, not many people thought he would be in the situation that he is in right now with Kansas City. Not many people thought Kansas City would be for crying out loud. I mean, Kansas City is a team that was dreadful, couldn't score a year ago. They just beat Minnesota six to one. They banged out ten hits. Bobby with Junior continues to do what he does. Salvador Perez finds the fountain of youth Seth Lugo yesterday one
hundred pitches in the victory over Minnesota. Now, it took him six innies to do it, but he got to win. He's nine and one. I bring this up only to make sure when you're having that conversation with your buddies and they're like, oh, school is definitely going to get the cy young as of right now, bring up Seth Lugo and how good he's been. And when you have that conversation with your buddies and they say, well,
you got to get him out of there after ninety five pitches. I don't know many guys who would say that, but you could have run into that conversation. Bring up Seth Lugo one hundred pitches. Bring up Corbin Burns one hundred and eight pitches. It's not that uncommon. Yes, unfortunately it is our phone number on the Myer hotline eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. Hello, hockey game last night. We'll get to that.
A lot more football to discuss, including are the lionsster Is the Lions roster a top five roster? One website says no. We'll get into that as we rolled on on a Thursday morning on Exus and Bros. After this huge Here for the Michigan High School Athletic Association. You can stay up to date on the latest from Lansing twenty four to seven at MHSAA dot com,
at MHSA on Twitter and MHSA on Facebook. The latest news, press releases and stories connected to every high school in the state of Michigan available for you twenty four to seven from the Michigan High School Athletic Association. Log onto MHSAA dot com, at MHSAA on Twitter and MHSA on Facebook. And if you're looking for archive Boys and Girls High School Sports m h s A A dot TV, that's dot tv twenty four to seven. Everything you need to know
about high school sports in Michigan. Log on to MHSAA dot com. We're teeing off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives Get ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed our neighbors. Get your tickets
now at Meyer LPGA Classic dot com. Chris, your team comes out pretty flat. You're down to nothing, you don't have a shaw eight minutes in. What are you thinking on the bench and what changed for your group? I was thinking it was going to be long night and it didn't look very good. We you know, yeah, things weren't going our way. They looked much sharper making plays and I'm not sure which line it was the kind of got things going. Obviously, the big turning point was the McLeod goal,
but you know, you know, it wasn't the start. But you've seen this right through the series where both teams have absolutely dominated and then the other team is dominated like it's been back and forth, and you know, we didn't have our start, and which is you know, hard to overcome because you know you're down to nothing in a game like this, it's hard to overcome. But you know, I think we just got back to where
we were supposed to be playing. You know, I think a lot of it had to do with maybe the turnovers at the blue line where we weren't getting pucks in deeper and they were just quick transition and then we're just, yeah, we're always in a bad position for that next shift. That's Chris not Block, the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. This is his first playoffs because this is his first year. Actually one of the first changes among
the NHL Caroseol earlier this year. No Block, who was a junior's coach of Conor McDavid, goes to Edmonton. McDavid takes off, the Oilers take off and they're playing in the Western Conference finals. Team things up last night for his team by making a few lineup changes and it paid off as they win five to two. They scored five on answer to nothing Dallas early on and you're thinking, oh, stars, better team, and here we go and they're going to go back home up three games to one with a chance
to close it out until Edmonton responded. And that's part of being a really good head coach, having a feel for what your team needs in that type of situation, and it doesn't always work out. But he made the changes. He felt it was really important. He did say this. He says, there's not a decision I make without consulting five to twelve people. He's got the final say, but he does have to talk to his staff.
He feels like that was important. He said, last night, I was talking with Paul Coffee on the phone and we decided what we wanted to do. Still hadn't made the decision that night. We made the decision this morning. That was in regards to some of the changes. He reinserts Corey Perry and Ryan McLeod for Warren Fogel and Sam Carrick. He brings in defenseman Philip Broberg for Vincent de Charnay. Bro Berg had yet to play in the playoffs.
That's a risky, gutsy move, but it paid off. Connor McDavid, by the way, had three assists now his twenty four in the playoffs. This is exactly could the NHL really ask for anything more? Rangers Panthers three straight games, overtime series tied to two, Dallas Edmonton a tug of war back and forth series tied to two. Now, I know what a lot of people probably think. Man, the NHL really wants the Rangers and the Stars, two big markets, two American based teams. A Canadian based
team hasn't won the Cup since ninety three, right with the Canadians. Edmonton might be the outlier there, Yeah, Toronto, that would be one thing I'm not saying the NHL would be or the people who run their ratings would be thrilled with a team like Calgary, for example, making the finals. But you get Edmonton in there, and you use the best player in the world as part of your marketing strategy, then you should be all right.
With Connor McDavid, I didn't get to the second game of the Tigers Pirates. Paul Skeen's was a dominant force for Pittsburgh. They blow out Detroit ten to two. Skiens celebrates his twenty second birthday by striking out nine and six innings. Andrew McCutcheon, who I've always liked, I think he's a hell of a player. He's been a hell of a pro over sixteen hundred career hits. Now, not that that gets you in the Hall of Fame,
because it doesn't, but think about that for a moment. That's it's when you hear about the three one thousand hit group, how long it would take to get three thousand hits. It's it's simply amazing. Andrew McCutchen is now, he's still productive. If he's thirty seven thirty seven, he's played sixteen years. Her his first year he was a twenty two year old. That's you're in the major leagues at age twenty two. That's pretty damn good, don't you think. Yeah, And he hit two eighty six, so he's
he's twenty two when he enters. He's had a very productive career. For the most part, he has been very healthy. Look at these games played, one hundred and fifty four, one fifty eight, one fifty seven, one fifty seven, one forty six, one fifty seven, on and on and on. Right, I say, for the most part, dude's got over sixteen hundred hits. It's a hell of an accomplishment. He's played sixteen years he's barely halfway there to three thousand. He ain't getting three thousand.
But Andrew McCutchen has been again one of the better players I think of his generation. Gold Glover, four time Silver Slugger, five time All Star. It's been an MVP again. Not a Hall of Famer, but I've always liked him. He's got over sixteen hundred career hits. He homered yesterday for his six one thousand, six hundredth hit, and in each of Paul Skeene's starts, Andrew McCutchen has homered. Kind of a unique figure there. So they went at ten to two, and as I mentioned, Skeens was phenomenal.
You want power pitchers, we get all enamored with them, and rightfully so. Triple digits on a regular basis, and a guy who he's going to be a force to be reckoned with. He's a really good story. If you don't know about it, check it out. Really good story. Transferring to LSU becoming the most outstanding player in their national championship run. Seems like a really good kid. I don't know him, haven't interviewed him,
but how can you deny the stuff took him a little longer. You know, he was a little I mean, while the strike zone was there, ninety six pitches to get through six trying to put guys away, seventy pitches were strikes. Gave up a home run to Matt Vierling, who has homered in what four or five games. It's incredible what Vierling's been doing lately, which goes to show, you know, now's the time right here where people are probably saying, look, this guy's everyday player. He's hitting like one
I said earlier. As much as I like Matt Fielding, and I do, I like him a lot. He's a really good dude. He's a really good player at Notre Dame. Tigers did a nice job in getting him from Philadelphia. Soto clements to Philly for Vereling, Nick Mayton, Donnie Sands, and Donnie Sands is in the miners somewhere. I think it's the Giants
organization. Mayton no idea. Cody Clemens has been pretty good for Philadelphia, trade work for both teams right for the most part, as hot as vere League's been, and he has been hot in two eighty nine selection five oh three. Would you take that from Matt Fielding if it stayed this way for the rest of the year. You're damn right. You would absolutely phone number on the Meyer hotline eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three.
I don't know if you saw what happened in New York with the Mets and the Dodgers, you think you got it bad, you think your team's struggling. You get frustrated with him, just like I do. It could be worse. It could be the Mets and they're multi hundred million dollar payroll. We'll explain when we come back on Exus and Bros. Across the great State of Michigan. Right after this, Bill Simonson here from my good friend
Josh Carvey. Now he's a managing shareholder at toorn May who's Grand Rapids office. Their world headquarters are in Troy, Michigan, on the east side of the state, and they have locations all around the world. They have over five hundred and fifty motivated accounting professionals ninety years in business, and I mentioned the ten offices worldwide. So if you want to connect and partner with one of the top CPA accounting and business firms in the world, they're right here
in Michigan. Dorn Mayhew's Troy office on the east side of the state, and Josh Garvey is a managing shareholder for their Dorn Mayhew gr office. Right there by the S Curve, you'll see the new Dorn Mayhew sign. You can find out more just google Dorn Mayhew. That's d E RI E N M A y HGW or doorn dot com. They're one of Americas and the
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thirty five. Welcome back on a Thursday morning. Ben is our producer. I'm Matt Shephard. Glad you're with us and hope you have a great day today. Wherever it is you may be listening great affiliates on x'es and bros.
And we appreciate everything they do for US in Flint WTRX, in Cadillac WKD in Grand Rapids WAX ninety six point one FM, and Krayling Gaylord WGRY one o one point one FM, w LUN one hundred point nine serving Midlands sagonaw On Bay City, Pataski and Charlavoy owned by the Ticket Northern Michigan WNBN one oh four point seven FM, and in Traverse City WKAD ninety three point
seven FM as well. Tigers split with Pittsburgh yesterday. Eilers win five to two over Dallas even their series and the Western Conference Finals in the NBA will be taking place later on Today. Minnesota will host Dallas, with the Mavericks up three to one. Again. It's pretty cool to be a Dallas sports fan right now. They love to talk about their cowboys and you get it, but their basketball and their hockey teams are pretty damn good as well,
Unlike those who follow the New York Mets. The Mets lost to the Dodgers yesterday and afterwards expected two if they didn't already. It has not been confirmed, but the belief is they're going to cut or hit Lopez because he was part of a contingent from the bullpen that surrendered the loss to the Dodgers ten to three. Lopez came in and gave up a two run bomb to Shojey Otane and then on the next batter it was Freddy Freeman. There's never really
an easy out in that Dodgers lineup. Lopez had an argument with Ramon Dejeusu's who is a third base umpire and ruled that Freddy Freeman checked his swing on a possible strike. Lopez thought he went around, they argued. Lopez was ejected. Lopez then threw his glove into the stands. After being ejected. He would later say what I mean, why you say this? Who knows?
I mean, just a complete idiot apparently. But he basically said, this team, it's the worst efing team in the entire Major League Baseball exact quote, worst team probably the whole fing MLB. That's a guy who does not care, right who in their right mind? Now we all get emotional. I got emotional yesterday and we had a caller call in and say, Ship, do you need a hug? Right? I mean, yeah, it takes place every once in a while. This is going to happen.
I don't know if it was Jake or Scott or Maurice. I forget who it was, Freddie whatever, Dave. Anyway, we all get emotional. You want a cooling off period. If you've ever umpired or refereed anything,
if you ever coached anything. I used to be a co I coached my kids in football when they were in seventh and eighth grade, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade, and I used to meet with parents before the season began the very first practice on purpose, and I said, I would say to them, you may have an issue with me at some point during the season, me and other members of the coaching staff. All I ask you to do is give it a beat, give it twenty four hours,
think about it for a moment, and then come and let's talk. Because I've been there, done that. I can't say that I've always followed my own advice, but for the most part I did as a parent, So I get it, you know. So we all get emotional. Jorge Lopez having microphones in his face right away after being ejected, having a glove thrown up in the stands, and coming off reportedly what was a player's only meeting
while their manager is talking to the media. The players behind closed doors, reportedly called by Francisco Lindor media comes in interviews Lopez, he still says something as stupid. That's what it is. It's flat out stupidity as that. Do you really think that will endure you to that clubhouse, that organization, that fan base, or any other team who may be in need of a
reliever. Honestly, idiocy, It's just flat out idiocy. I can't understand why in the world any But again, I get the whole emotion part. I really do. I can appreciate it. We have all been in something similar regarding emotions. But this isn't a Seinfeld episode. It's not where George is all ticked off because he can't use the boss's bathroom, goes in and calls him a joke and gets fired and then tries to come back the next day and say, you know what, you thought I was serious or after
the weekend you thought I was serious. I wasn't serious. No, that's not the way it works, man. And here's the thing, Lopez. For the most part, I mean, he's been an effective player. There are certain attributes that you would probably like to have coming out of your bullpen had some success. He's not as good as Pablo Lopez from Minnesota as a starter, but Hore Lopez has had a spell twenty twenty two, for example, where he's been pretty effective, used pretty regularly, and could give you
some decent innings. Not now, who the hell's going to take a chance on a guy like this? Now he's not so electric. Okay, he's not Josh Hater for crying out loud. He's not so electric. That makes you go, hmmm, yeah, I'm gonna throw him a lifeline there, and it just boils over. I suppose to do what that team is really dealing with. You're talking about a three hundred and seven million dollar payroll and they've got twenty two wins. You want some perspective for that. Oakland has
a sixty four million dollar payroll. They have more wins. Cincinnati has a one hundred two million dollar payroll. They have twenty four They have more wins. Pittsburgh, who just left town with a split against Detroit, has an eighty three million dollar payroll. They have twenty six wins, four more than the Mets. Tampa's got twenty seven wins. Their payroll is ninety eight million
dollars compared to the Mets is three hundred and seven. I'm not saying we shouldn't be disappointed with where our team is right now, because I think that's a I think that's fair. But sometimes it's okay to put it in perspective and what the Mets are going through, and then what what the Mets have. Francisco Lindor. Somebody asked me this. I don't know if it was last week, but they asked me what I thought of Francisco Lindor, and
I said, I really like the guy, really like him. He's having a terrible year that in two eleven on base percentage of two seventy nine, slugging three seventy two h Those are hard numbers to digest. League average for a team for a team, on base percentage is a three to eleven, League average for a team slugging is a three to eighty seven. And yet Lindor's giving you a two seventy nine OBP for a guy who is making the
amount of money that he makes thirty four million dollars. Starling Marte twenty one million bucks, Peter Alonso injured twenty million bucks, Brandon Neimo twenty million bucks. Brandon Neimo's betten a Chris two to fourteen man not a baby. Maybe it's the wrong statistic to focus on. Maybe it's very convenient that I use the low number because he has been that disappointing. I'm just giving you some numbers to try and put it in perspective for when we have our next Tigers
disappointing discussion. And the Tigers are in Boston tonight. It's the first of four against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, and it is the first of a seven game road trip for the Tigers. You'll hear this coming up a little bit later on in the Den. But every time I think of Boston and anytime I used to go there, and I would encourage anybody if you want to go to a really good baseball park, if you are one of those folks. I got a friend of mine at the gym. Every summer
he takes his grandkids to different ballparks. So he and I are talking constantly, and he always says, you know, give me some ballparks. I really should take my kids too. Depends on how far you want to go, but if you can, I mean Fenway Park is worth it. It reeks of baseball. That's what you want, right, for some reason, more than any other sport. You go into a Bay baseball stadium and you want it to feel like baseball. Football. We get that's all purpose.
Hockey and basketball arenas, they're all purpose. Even though concerts and other events oftentimes are played at baseball parks, you still want the feel of a baseball stadium. Am I right? That's how I at least that's what I want. Fenway Park gives you that, Chavez Ravine Dodger Stadium gives you that, Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City gives you that. Pittsburgh P and C Park gives you that. There are certain places when you go you're like, this is
what it's all about. I know they've had an outdoor hockey game there. I know they've had a bull game there. The point is, when you go into that ballpark, you feel like you're in a baseball stadium. Yes, Wrigley Field is like that, absolutely, But I'm just telling you, if you get the chance, go to Fenway Park. But when I think of Fenway, I immediately think of Tiger Stadium. Now there's a lot of you listening to me who never went to Tiger Stadium, and I feel bad
for you. I do. It was all baseball, man, it was for me. It was a bit of a haven. I loved going there as a kid. Well. Tiger Stadium and Fenway Park opened April twentieth, nineteen twelve. They opened on the same day, and they were the oldest ballparks in baseball until nineteen ninety nine, when, of course, the last
game was played between the Tigers and the Royals in Detroit. One in dramatic fashion and wore the throwback uniforms and Robert Fick hit a home run over the roof, and it was it was magical, quite honestly, it was a magical night when the Tigers beat the Royals that day, and when Tiger Stadium
closed, it was emotional for a lot of us. I always found it a prideful thing for Detroit and the state of Michigan to have the oldest ballpark in the country, as a charter member of the American Lake, an original charter member of the American League, to have the oldest ballpark, to have it have the different names, Bennett, Navin, Tiger, all that stuff. It was. I just thought it was fantastic, and it was something I used to brag about going around the country. Nothing against Komerica Park.
I do like co America Park. It just doesn't have the same feel to me. Why that is, huh, you know probably age right. I mean for a lot of you young people, Comerica Park is that you have that feel. I don't know for me, if it's because of the Feriress Wheel or the Merry Go Round or Big cac Cord or I don't know. I can't explain it. I just know when you walked into Tiger Stadium, you smelled the grass. You went in there, and just I can close my eyes and picture it now. You walk up a ramp and when you
see that ballpark, your heart just opens and you get goosebumps. I never had that feel for Comerica anyway. It was something that I thought was very prideful for Detroiter's the Tiger Stadium and Femway Park with the oldest, and then of course Wrigley Field, and then it's Dodger Stadium that's been around a long time. You can't get that back. That doesn't mean that they should have kept it. I mean, I remember I was kind of on the warpath,
saying I would like to see them renovate it. I get why they moved where they moved, and it makes a ton of sense for downtown Detroit, no question, totally get it. Very convenient for visitors, very cool for fans, foot traffic and all that other stuff. So I understand it. But Fenway Park is going to be mecca or is mecca for people in Boston and people who watch baseball. The thing about Fenway Park that ownership group
committed to renovations. Again, different scenario, it's a different situation. I'm not blaming the Tigers here for building a new ballpark or taxpayers building a new ball park and having the team play where it does. It's just that Boston chose to preserve what they felt was special to their baseball fans, and they have renovated it so where it's still even though it has that old school feel, it is still updated with the amenities that you would want in a new
ballpark, except for I mean, you're pretty crunched in there. But they what did they do? They built seats above the Green Monster. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. They have made renovations that will keep Fenway Park usable through at least two thy sixty one. And you can say what you want about certain organizations, certain cities, a certain fan base, but that lineage that linked the past to have it be the oldest ballpark and it's not going to lose
that status anytime soon. You have to tip your cap to them. Meyer Hotline eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could text the show sports Ready to twenty one thousand. Told you we were going to talk a little football. We are going to do that. One website says the Lions are not one of the more complete teams in football. We'll get your thoughts on that throughout the rest of the morning on the our hotline eight
six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. This is Exus and Bros. On the Michigan Sports Network. We're teaming off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply gives. Get ready for the best too, are yet to help neighbors in need while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discovery land for kids, and of course, elite women golfers from around the
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