← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Lovable Reunion - Cubs NUDE batting practice, EXPERT hitting tips & WS Game 7 | John Mallee, Eric Hinske, Ross & Rizzo
00:52:18
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Want to get more work done with less effort? On TikTok, creators are sharing AI automation tips that save time and deliver better results. Tap to discover. Try TikTok now. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down.
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Portia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a married man. They holding K Michelle back from fighting.
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Drew Pinky has financial issues.
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On the podcast Reality with the King I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the tea everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the king on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast, American Soccer is about to explode.
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The World cup is coming.
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Ramos sending on Ernie Stewart.
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The chip score.
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I'm Tab Ram.
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I'm Tom Bogle.
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On our podcast Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines, the biggest decisions, and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if
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our team ends up in the quarterfinals
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or potentially a great run into the semifinals.
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Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Boger and Tab ramos on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
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I actually drop better when I'm high.
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It heightens my senses, calms me down. If anything, I'm more care. Honestly, it just helps me focus.
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That's probably what the driver who killed a four year old told himself and now he's in prison. You see, no matter what you tell yourself, if you feel different, you drive different. So if you're high, just don't drive. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Anthony Rizzo, David Ross, John Maley, Eric Hinsky. Take one. Welcome back to another episode of the lovable reunion podcast. Me and my partner David Ross, joined by the best duo I've ever had, he's ever had. John Mely and Eric Kinsky, our hidden coaches in 2016. Welcome to the show.
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D
What's up boys?
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A
Thank you, thank you.
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D
So pumped to have you guys. This is, this is the crew. This is the guys that are in the batting cage. The hitting coach life is, is on another level.
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B
They're basically like your, your psychologist every single day.
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D
Every single day. And two good ones. Yeah, two good ones.
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20, 2016, we had a 252 run differential, which means we outscored our opponents by 252 runs.
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C
Is that good?
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That was pretty good.
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You guys were the masterminds behind it. This was before really all the analytics really dove into the game. You guys kept it old school, but new school. You were the best duo at a time where really, it was like the first time there was actually two hitting coaches on the teams.
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C
Yeah, that's true.
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B
Why? How did you guys work so well?
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C
Well, his eyes are really close together.
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A
His are really far. So that matches up good. I look like a skinny thing and he looks like a whale in the head. A shark. Not a whale. Excuse me. Shark. Hammerhead, Hammerhead, Hammerhead. We went. I'll tell you. You want to go ahead.
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C
Well, we met and right away we knew. We love baseball, we love being in the cage and we like to drink a little bit. So that's a match, you know, made in heaven. Melee, now five years sober. Congratulations on. Very well done.
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B
I'll never.
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D
Well, I. Now I've got it. Like, the stories are already popping in. We're in Milwaukee and he's like, meet me at what the bar. Mail is going to go up real quick. Come down, we go, we buy. You know, everybody gets two beers and we're at the table. Males comes down. I'm like halfway through with my other one with my first one. Males comes down and he's down two and back to the bar. Before he got to. We used to. We used to be able to put them back, the boys.
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B
We had a good time.
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D
We had a good time. We talk shop.
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We won. We won the day and the night, let's put it that way. That would be the 2016 Cubbies with Joe Madden letting you do your thing and being your own person. And. And we went hard during the day. We played hard. We worked harder than anybody.
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C
Yeah, we did.
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D
And you were the first one there cleaned up in the cage, like somehow. Well, it's a thing we talk. We just talked to Adi about, like, some of the things you've learned. It's about posting every single day and bringing your A game every single day throughout a season. Like, you were the. Probably the best I've ever been around from a coaching standpoint of guys that show up and are ready to work every single, single day. You guys, you guys did a lot for.
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B
I don't think people understand how much hitting coaches mean to you as a player every day, day in and day out, because especially with you two, this was before the day of everyday hitters meeting. So we would just do a meeting, a series, if that. But I would walk into the cage every single day and I'd say, what do we got? Whether it was with Males or ski. And they knew exactly what I needed, exactly what I want. Okay, this is what you're going to
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do off this guy.
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This is what he's going to try to do. And I'd be, all right, let's do it. And that was my scouting report. And then I would. I would do my own homework. But the routines that you guys helped me learn as a big leaguer was, especially you, ski. You were before melee.
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D
But do you know anybody's routine? Can you. Can you give me Riz's routine?
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Right after he flipped to him, go,
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oh, I flipped to him.
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It was hard.
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I know it's talking. I was in the box with him
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real quick, just on the dynamics of Eric and I. You know, Eric stood in the box, and I'm a big believer. And you had to stand in the box a little bit, too. I respect guys that came before me. I played professional baseball, but I really didn't stand in the box. And having that experience and the anxiety and all those things that I never could experience as a player, even though I played professional baseball, never at the level you guys played at. The things that he brought to there were. So it just offset what my. What his strengths were were my deficiencies. And one of them would be experience. Now I have experience coaching, but I didn't have experience standing in the box. And I would always get with Eric if someone was out of line or something, because he had. He has a lot of. He's very confident, very positive guy, very respectful. But he'll come at you and tell you the truth, and guys respect that. I mean, there was one time David and I got into it one time, you know, you tell David, can I say this story?
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You go in there, I said, I was walking down here.
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There was one time. I remember this, I come in and when David is the nicest human being you'll ever meet and helps everybody, he's so into the game, funny as shit. But when he played, the days he played, you better look out, because he was on one and there was no playing games. He was going out to win, and he's going to find a way to beat you, no matter what it took. And everybody knew it. And you had to really be careful in how you address him. So I would go over to David and tell him, okay, so and so is coming in. And I would tell him, he's got this, he got this. And he goes, well, how the fuck is he going to get me out? I said, whoa, slow down, David. All right, so the next time I Go. He's going to throw you a bunch of sliders. Well, how hard does he throw? Tell me what he's got. And I said, okay, David, he's got this and that because he would get. And remember he's catching, right? So when he comes off the catching, he's got John Lester in his ear about something, right? And him and Johnny are going, and he's yelling at Johnny, do this, do that. Because he really took control of that situation. He had to come in, he's leading off, there's a new pitcher coming in, he's sweating rockets, taking his shit off. He's yelling at you, Lester on the other end of the dugout, throw fucking strikes or something like that, right? And then he's got. And I'm going to try and talk to him before he goes up there to hit in a big game. And you can see where that goes. And then Eric was such a balance of the approach stuff and he knew the mechanics. And I could get into a little more of kinematic sequencing because I had to come up through that, being through Houston. And that was a new wave of the hitting coaches. You had to be able to talk that language. Of course, what Eric was. One of his strengths I thought was he.
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D
And I couldn't hear that language. Like my.
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He couldn't hear that.
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D
I couldn't hear that language.
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David couldn't hear that. And Tony said, just tell me, do I land square to the plate or do you want me to open my hips first? You know, that's what they wanted to hear so I could break it down, so I could talk to the upstairs people, digest it. But Eric's. One of his biggest strengths other than experience was the ability to break it down in its simplest form, to give it to a player. Hey, get your foot down earlier. Hey, start sooner. You're late, you're not getting any hitting position on time. And that's really. At this level. Most of these guys, that's all they need. Our job is when they get out of whack. Our job is to bring them back. We got to bring them back physically and mentally. There was a time, one more scenario because I thought about this. I don't know if it was Amir Garrett or. I'll just tell you a little bit about who Tony was. I don't know if it was Amir Garrett. We were playing at Pittsburgh or Cincinnati and he had a home run. He threw him a left handed pitcher. He threw Tony at fastball, up and in, right at his neck. And he hit it over the Fence down the line. I don't know who it was, but for two years I've been telling him to stop swinging at that pitch. Stop. I can hit that pitch. I can hit that pitch. And then two minutes later, he goes up there and hits it over the fence. He says, see, I told you I could hit that pitch. But he only one for 40. But he's one for Finn. I went back the next day and I said, hey man, you're 1 for 40 off of this pitch. You can't hit that pitch. Stop swinging at it. I mean, those are the conversations. And his. He'd go, what are you, dumbass? Don't swing at that pitch. You can't hit that, you dummy. You know what I mean? And that was the balance. And I think just watching Tony and the way David played and how much they cared in the character and Tony playing hurt and David just concussions, he's all over the place and just went away. His ability to lock in the game and take over the. The game is I think one of the reasons that after we won in seven, they picked you up and walked you off. So we really appreciate it.
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D
Yeah. Yeah, Well, I appreciate that. I, I go back because you talk about your dynamic like just, you're talking about your career. Eric Hensky is the only one that has three rings. I think you got Yankees as a player, one of one, Red Sox as a player, and Chicago Cubs as a coach. So.
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And he's loved in Philly. And he's loved in Philly too. Why?
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Because I struck out the last out of the world series in 20.
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You had to bring that up another ring for that. But talking about a guy that knows approach like exactly what you said he would tell me, Ross, you're just, you're. You're starting late, bro. You got to get started early. Like little things like that help me. And there's never been a more awkward situation than playing with a guy in Atlanta and being teammates. And then you get over to Chicago and he's flipping to you the cage and pre training like, what is this? What is this dynamic?
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B
So you play a lot or maybe you just didn't play at the right time. Because I've had like 15. Yeah. I play with as my coaches.
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C
So now.
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Yeah, maybe in one of them.
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Ski. Eric was here. What was your first year? 13 or 14.
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C
14.
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But 14 is our first base coach. And I was still young and still trying to find my way. And if there's honestly one person in my career that I could put a stamp on Is Eric kinski. Because in 2014, him and I know you are him, and I would talk every single day, every at bat and he would be like, hey, why'd you swing at that? I know why you swung that. And then he would say, okay, well think about this scenario. They're not pitching you there, runner on second. He would run through all these scenarios and then it had me started thinking more of a hitter of when I went up to the plate and what they were going to throw me. And literally by halfway through that season, it was like, hey, I know why you swing at that. Nice, nice. It was more of like encouragement and also teaching. And then in 14, everyone always asked me, oh, why do you stand so close to the plate? It's because he's told me he's a left handed hitter. He's been in the box. He's like, dude, I used to always swing at the pitch from the lefty and off the plate. 100 of the time I'd swing at it. So he's like, just move up. You won't hit it. You won't swing anymore. It'll hit you or you move.
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Yeah.
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And for I made him a career off of hitting lefties or getting hit by lefties.
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C
True.
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And that's because of Eric.
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C
We put him on the plate because first of all, the shift, remember we had a lot of shift talk. He would get in his dome, he'd start grounding up a second a little too much. And it's like because he was chasing either right handed cutters in or lefties that were sinking it down and in on him. Right. So if you put your dick on the plate, make the outside pitch middle and then just stay gap to the gap, you won't swing at anything that starts in. But I learned that from standing in the box. And when I got to Anthony, I was like, oh, he's a big hairy left handed hitter that I relate to very well. Let's see what he does with this. And I didn't know he was going to get hit 40 times a year, whatever it was. 30, 40 times a year.
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This isn't about me, but number one, number one, left handed, hit by pitch of all time, I bet.
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Can I jump in on that? Yeah. So Anthony got hit with 30 sometimes that one year.
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Yeah. Oh, yeah.
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And we're in the playoffs and I said, anthony, please get off the plate
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because you always wanted me off the plate.
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Get off the plate because if you get hurt, we're going to have trouble winning the world series, buddy. And they'll gladly bean you right before they'll let you hit a double or a homer off them. I promise you. That's why you get hit all the time. And he looked at me and he said, males, I'm not afraid to get hit. He said, I survived cancer. I remember you telling me that I survived cancer. I'm not afraid. Dropped a cancer card on your face,
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you won't meet it.
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Boom.
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I'm not afraid of a five ounce ball. I beat cancer. And ever since then, I said, my man.
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Wow.
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And that was really something that stuck with me for a long time. That was really cool.
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Yeah. I mean, with, with ski there in 2014. So on our team plane, it was religiously, it was me, Hinsky, Tim Buss, and Peter Chase. Nate would sit with us, our video guy, Nate Halm, and we'd all be kind of in the front of the plane and we would just be enjoying the plane ride. The longer plane rides were better. So we're flying out to San Diego and we're all hanging. And Brandon Hyde is our bench coach at the time. So Brandon Hyde comes back and says, hey, skipper, who was Rick Renery at the time, wants to give you a day off. And we're facing Eric Stoltz. I hated playing in San Diego at the time because I got traded, I stunk there and I'm like, fuck, really? Like, I don't want off. And Eric's. We've been probably a little overserved. And you're like, fuck, no. You play every day. You face every lefty, you fucking play. That's how you. That's how you earn respect. And you post, you post, you post. And I go to Hyder, I go, no, I'm playing. Go tell Rick I'm playing. I'm not. No days off.
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C
That's because nobody wants to see the backup first baseman in there. Everybody comes to see Anthony Rizzo play.
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And you instilled that in me.
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C
Yes. You gotta play every day to be good in this game. You have to.
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B
I go out that game and hit two home runs.
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C
Hell yeah.
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B
And I was like, that just instilled that confidence in myself. Of like, this is why you play every day.
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C
I always had respect for guys. I played every day because I couldn't hit lefties that well. And I'd be in the lineup a lot against these nasty ass lefties. I'm over three and then here comes the lefty out of the bullpen, another slider in the dirt. Me, I'm out again, over four. And I always had that Respect for you, how you could handle lefties, stay behind the ball, hit it to both gaps. And I was just like, damn, this guy's on another level. And we're going to win the World Series.
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B
You build these relationships with your coaches, and as a position player, the hidden coaches are on their own level. Like, you have all the other coaches in the locker room in the clubhouse, but the hidden coaches are literally two or three guys now, sometimes even teams have four, but they're, like, on their own island every day. They're getting worn out by the front office every day. Why the is this not guy not hitting? What is going on with this guy? Why is Rizzo not hitting? Why is Rossi.
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C
Very true.
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B
Worn out. And then they have to come from all the guys up top that are think the game's easy from the box. With all due respect.
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C
Yeah.
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B
And you guys need to filter that.
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C
Let's step.
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D
With all due respect, say whatever I want.
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A
Right.
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B
And the best hidden coaches I is U2 and James Rowson. And James Ross was my first hitting coach, and I just had him with the Yankees. You guys were so good at taking all the noise that you're getting hit with on a daily basis, because at some point, someone's going to be in a slump. Right. No one's going, well. You're losing sleep over a player every single day.
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C
What do we say? No matter what, there's always got three, Three. Three guys hurting one foot off the bridge.
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A
We get win 10 to nothing, and at the end of the night, we don't sleep because we got to figure, we got to get you back. You're out of whack. We got to get you back. 14 you were. And I came in 15 because I was at Houston. I left Houston to come here to coach the college.
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D
We got here at the same time.
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A
Yeah. And Theo called me, and I was going to bring in a hitting guy, and he says, hey, you have a hitting guy in mind? I said, yeah, to help you. And I said, yeah. And he says, well, I got a guy I want you to think about. And I said, who? And he said, eric Hensky. I knew you as a player, and I like players that coach especially would be my assistants, because again, for that same reason.
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B
Yeah.
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A
I think it's huge because I learned a ton from him, too. Right. And all along, even though I was the voice a lot of times in those things, because he respected the chain of command, in a sense, but he always would tell me things, always would talk to me, and always. And puts things in my Mind. And it made me just keep moving. So when I interviewed him, I said, okay. I said, theo, I'll just talk to him. I'll get back to you. And we went. We met somewhere in Arizona.
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C
Sat down, sports bar somewhere.
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A
Someone had a drink. And I talked for 10 minutes. I didn't ask him one thing about the swing.
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B
Was it love at first sight?
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A
It was.
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D
It was.
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C
We were at the Thirsty Lion, I remember.
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A
Yeah.
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D
Over by the field.
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A
Nice. And then. And I just talked, and I said, are you a good dude, man? Are you good people? I need a good person with me. I need somebody I can trust that's going to have my back when shit goes south, because they're not going to give a fuck upstairs sometimes. And we need to stay a unified group. If we're wrong, we'll admit we're wrong together. If we're right, we're going to stick together. And he said, of course. That's exactly who I am. And he played, and we just talked about everything else but baseball after that. And I told him, called Theo right after. I said, I'm in. I'm in because I need the person. The other stuff we can all learn. He played. He stood in the box. He hit. He knows, you know, if he needs to say, kinematics weakens and your torso's got to go. Your pelvis got to go before your torso, he can say that.
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C
What she's telling me, he's telling me. I taught him a lot, like, everything I know about hitting or biomechanics in general at all. I learned all from this dude. How to run a meeting, how to be a big league hitting coach, the entire thing. I swear. I got the job in Anaheim. I was like, where's nails? I'm the head. I don't want to be the head guy. I need this dude because I'm way better as the assistant when you're around.
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B
Whenever I was out of whack, I'm, what the fuck? And I knew that this is the best part about these two. I knew when I was off. I knew anytime you came to me, it was from love and because you cared, because I knew you were grinding if I was off the littlest bit, the slightest bit. You were grinding on video, trying to figure out what it was, talking to Nate and talking with the. The higher ups about, okay, this is what we need. What's going on. This is what he's feeling. Let's try to put this in. In words. And for me, it was like, all right, I know you have my Back. I know I could talk to you about sequencing and all that stuff. And it's like, at the end of the day, when you go up to the box, like, that's what you want. You want your hitting coaches up there with you. You want your guys, your players up there with you.
- [18:49]
D
You guys were locked in on every at bat. Like, you're taking that at bat. Cause I sat at the bench a lot. Like, he'd be struggling. I'd be like, riz, imagine going up there with my swing.
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B
I remember we were in the cage, and I'm just like. I'm down on myself. And I'm just like, fuck. I just can't. I can't get my. My, My barrel in the zone long enough or whatnot. And Rossi looks at me, he goes, bro. He goes, you're asking me for hitting advice. He goes, I'm a.200 hitter. Imagine I'm a backup catcher. Imagine having my swing.
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C
Imagine trying to go. Rossi would just flex.
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A
That was him. Although he hit the home run in game seven. And he came back and he said, melz, he threw it in daddy's loop.
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C
Threw it in the loop.
- [19:34]
D
But this the fact, because I sat next to you guys a lot and all the cheering in there, but you're locked in. We talked earlier about the one oh take. And I want to go back to that, but, like, you knew. It's like, okay, here comes a slider. They went ball one to Riz. Here comes that back foot slider. He's going to take it. Now he's two. Oh, and locked in. And like, the league, I think caught on later on. But, like, that was one of his routine that started like. Like have the at bat. You guys talking about, like, just that
- [19:58]
B
get into the pitches. Yeah. Which is kind of contradicting now because a lot of the new school data is like, swing early. OPS is higher on the first pitch. But Ski, you taught me, passed down by Carlos Delgado, I believe the 10 auto take. And I'm not kidding, for about 10 years of my career, I would 10 auto take. And the thought behind it was, you see another pitch, I'm hitting third or fourth usually in the lineup. So if they throw me, say they throw me a fastball first, they're probably not going to go back to a fastball. So then you could see a fastball and their spin. If they go spin early, they. You're going to see two pitches. Worst case, you're 1 1. Most of the time, I was 2. Oh. Because they were. They didn't want me to do damage and I would look like a genius. Like, they. They throw me a bastard change up or a bastard pitch, and I'm taking it, like, spitting on it. I'm like, yeah, like, almost doing like a little Soto on them.
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C
Like, well, it came from me because in my career, I played for 12 years.
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D
Rookie of the Year for Toronto, by the way. Shout out.
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C
I can't tell you how many times on a 10 pitch, it was a change up, down and away from a righty. And I thought it was a regular sink or something. I was going to go deep on it. And I rolled it over and I was myself to first base, jogging down the first baseline or sprinting because I was so mad and there was steam coming out of my ears and I'm not going to do this ever again. And the next at bat, I did it again. So I gave it to you. I'm like 100 auto take, bro, I swear, 85% of the time you're going to be 2 0, and if you're not, you're 1 1. Who cares?
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B
And I made it my identity. Like, literally anyone who played against me or knew me knew I was one on. Everyone knew. When I got traded to New York and Hyder was the manager of the Orioles, our first gamer in Yankee stadium,
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A
you swung 1 0.
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B
No, no, no. I take one out and he's from the dugout. Nice auto take.
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A
That's right. He knew.
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B
He's the manager and he. He knows me better than anyone, and I just give him a little smirk. And then eventually it's like you start playing games. Because I knew the Orioles had to know that I took all the time, and I took probably 95% or, like,
- [21:53]
C
when I was with the Diamondbacks, you'd be in a 10 count, I'd be coaching the Diamondback side. You'd stare right at me, stare right at him. Foot up and down, am I taking.
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B
And those are the games within the game that no one knows. But that's from the relationships we built. And honestly, if I didn't do that, if I didn't make that part of my identity, I don't think I'm as good of a player because I bought in fully to the 10 auto take. And I swear, most of the time, it worked out. I mean, I don't know what the numbers say, but the confidence in the psych part, he used to tell me
- [22:25]
C
all the time, stop telling that. What the hell, bro.
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A
I'm tired of watching bases loaded. And he's Taken.
- [22:31]
C
I don't know if this is coincidence, but three years I was his assistant hitting coach. I believe he was a three time all star.
- [22:35]
A
I believe you're right.
- [22:37]
D
Sorry about it. Sorry about it. Hold on.
- [22:42]
A
Well, the thing is you could hit with two strikes. Now, you were one of the top hitters in baseball with two strikes. And that's a whole nother ball game in itself.
- [22:48]
D
No doubt.
- [22:48]
A
Because the ops falls off the map with two strikes. Right. And the ops grows as a count, Crow. So 02 is whatever. 581. 2 2, 2, 3 2. If you can fight to get to another pitch in that at bat and get to a 32 count, you're on offense again. So we don't even consider three two zero.
- [23:05]
C
Did you just have an interview with a hitting coach?
- [23:07]
D
This is why I went ski.
- [23:10]
B
What do you. What do you guys. How do you guys know before a game that guys were locked in, especially in 16? Like, what made that group to you guys so special? Because you guys are watching from a different lens than the players.
- [23:22]
C
The fact that we started 21 and 6. Yeah. You guys were ready to go in April. It was freezing. I was like, these dudes are killing baseballs. We had no problem scoring runs. I mean from jump it was. We knew we were special.
- [23:34]
A
The lineup was so deep that you knew you didn't have to be.
- [23:36]
B
The guy was hitting seventh and had 96 runs. Yeah.
- [23:40]
A
So when you, when you, you know when you're on a team and you got three or four horses and then you sprinkle in the young guys that are learning and all of that, that group got to carry it where we were good one through nine, you know what I mean? And our catchers could hit. He hit.
- [23:54]
C
It's easy.
- [23:54]
A
Miggy hit Wilson. Right. You were an animal. Reverse righty or lefty.
- [24:00]
B
Kb.
- [24:01]
A
Kb.
- [24:03]
D
Dax got it all started.
- [24:05]
B
George.
- [24:06]
A
George Solaire. I mean, just think about it. So you knew we were going to hurt you somewhere and we did two things. We pulled the ball in the air so we hit homers and we walked. So that was. I was hired for.
- [24:18]
B
You're speaking like a 20, 26.
- [24:21]
A
And then they. Then they. I don't want to get into the rest of that, but yes, that's how. That was the recipe. And we had the people to do that in schwarbs. So you had guys that you didn't walk, you walked, you didn't chase and then you couldn't strike out. You had 270 with two strikes.
- [24:35]
B
That's crazy.
- [24:36]
A
The league average was 182 at that time, or 176. You hit 270 with some juice.
- [24:42]
B
It's not about me, though.
- [24:43]
D
That's it. Rayman over here. The point is, it's okay dropping.
- [24:46]
A
No, but I'm saying it's okay to work and get behind in the count because you know you're good.
- [24:52]
D
It's a safety net where other guys
- [24:54]
A
aren't in that position. They get the two strikes, 140, they got to go early. It is what it is, especially the young guys until they learn themselves and learn to attach their strengths in the zone, you know what I mean?
- [25:03]
D
Well, and I want to get off. Like, I hate talking about Riz, so let's get off his topic. It's not about you. We do this every segment, every show. It's like we get on Riz's. Dude, who cares? You already had. You're retired.
- [25:14]
B
Nobody cares. It's not about me.
- [25:18]
D
Joe talked to us before 16 about the B hack and all that. I want to know from a coaching standpoint, what were Joe's strengths?
- [25:26]
C
Like what?
- [25:27]
D
How was he? How did he manage?
- [25:28]
C
No micromanaging. No micromanaging. Let us do.
- [25:32]
B
Everyone was free, man.
- [25:33]
A
Everybody was.
- [25:34]
B
That's what made it work.
- [25:35]
A
You think about. We can get into the whole dynamics of the environment, but the environment, including Tim Buss, who's here today.
- [25:40]
B
Absolutely. He's on.
- [25:41]
A
And people don't realize what that, what that takes. And if we really got into this, this would be a 25 hour show just to go through, forget what happened in the game, the prep that went into that, or the environment that was created there.
- [25:53]
B
To me, the hotel, the bus rides,
- [25:55]
A
the plane rides, there's so much stress in between those lines. If we create stress as a staff on this side of the lines, you got a big fucking problem. So with Joe, with the petting zoos, and if you think you look hot, wear it. All of those things. Instead of we used to have to wear suits. And then how are you gonna get your suit tailored? Cleaned? Because we want to be better than everybody because we wear suits. No, you wear what makes you feel hot and what you're comfortable with. Remember on that note, you had to get on the plane and painted your toenails.
- [26:25]
D
We'll go to Miami. That's right.
- [26:26]
C
My daughter painters.
- [26:27]
A
If you wear flip flops, you have to have your toenails painted. And I remember this story. And then David said, so his daughter was painting his toenails. And your son said, daddy, can I Paint your toenails. Don't you ever ask me to paint my toenails. I'm sorry to bring that up too soon.
- [26:40]
D
No, no, you're right.
- [26:44]
A
But the environment on the other side had to be relaxed. It had. Everybody was their own dudes. But we were a close group, right. And. But when we got in between those lines, it was on.
- [26:53]
B
It was serious.
- [26:54]
C
You know what Joe told me there were some dudes how to listen. As a coach, I never knew how to shut up. I was always talking, right? And he's like, step back, listen to that guy for a while. And then the last thing he says, ask him back that same sentence in a question and let him keep talking. And that taught me so much, dude. Taught me so much about the guys bent like Joe Madden forever. You taught me how to listen and helped me all aspects of life for sure.
- [27:16]
D
Well, you've guys had. I mean, you've guys moved on. Obviously had great hit. I mean you guys both coached Ohtani.
- [27:22]
A
Yeah, I can, can I get into that with him and Ohtani real quick?
- [27:24]
D
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [27:25]
A
So he went with the angels.
- [27:27]
D
Well, K.B. was A. Ohtani, K.B. riz.
- [27:31]
B
Trout, Stanton.
- [27:33]
A
Trout. Stanton. Altoona.
- [27:34]
B
You had Mike and Giancarlo.
- [27:35]
A
I had Giancarlo, Stanton and Mike and Michael. He was Mike and Giancarlo. Yeah. If you go down the tree, it's pretty cool.
- [27:41]
B
Cool.
- [27:41]
A
Well, I'm most proud of, I think seven guys that were hitting coaches for me became head coaches in the big leagues.
- [27:47]
D
Damn, that's cool.
- [27:47]
A
That came through my sister. So I'm very. No, thank you. But I'm very proud of that because they helped me get so much better and I learned so much from them. And I always try to pick a guy that has a different experience or things so I can continue to grow and. But by far, Ohtani. So Ohtani, when he first came over, he couldn't hit a heater right. Big left handed hitter, had a huge leg kick and ski was, you know, we're talking about centripetal force. And, and I didn't have him yet. And then ski's like, just get your foot down, dude. If you get your foot down, you hit the ball hard. Get your foot down. And that's when he got rid of the leg kick and he went to the early stride.
- [28:22]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [28:23]
A
And that came from Eric.
- [28:24]
B
I remember that. But then he remember training wasn't.
- [28:27]
C
Wasn't very terrible. He had like 100, had a huge leg kick. He couldn't get to anything. And I just Told him like, hey, I referenced like Chris Bryant and Freddie, Freddie Freeman. 65 hitters that have leverage and they don't need to generate with a huge leg kick. Right? So I'm like, you have to be in the ground to be able to, you know, make a decision on time to hit the baseball.
- [28:44]
D
Right?
- [28:44]
C
Isn't that what we're doing? We're trying to get on time in the ground to make a good hitting chokes. Right. To make a swing decision. So he's like, okay, let me try it. In batting practice, it was this between series, the Dodgers are playing the Angels and doesn't batting practice. He hits homer after homer and bp, he's like, all right, I'm in. And that was it. And now he's.
- [29:01]
D
Do you get any 700 million getting that?
- [29:03]
C
I should, I should get.
- [29:04]
D
You should. Just, just a show.
- [29:07]
C
We. Come on, bro. Just come on.
- [29:08]
D
Shall we? Shall we?
- [29:10]
B
Come on.
- [29:11]
D
That's. Well, you guys resume like that is just so epic. And I, I, I bring that up because I'm just like, what stands out. You guys have a great hitters, like, what? I wasn't a great hitter and I grinded, you know, what we talked about. But you guys have seen a lot of good hitters. What stands out in the good hitters that you've seen like championship caliber at bats and some of the best that you've been around or any anything that you would. If you're teaching your son.
- [29:34]
C
Right. Right. Mine is timing. They're never off time. And if they are off time, they have the ability to like ride their front knee and keep their bear on the zone forever because they're so mechanically sound like they never get off sequence. And it's crazy to be able to stay behind a baseball when it's coming at you 100 and then it's, you know, 82 off of that and the same arm speed. But they never get off time very much. And if they do, it's rare. And like Mike Trout, Anthony Rizzo, Chris Bryant, like not David Ross.
- [30:01]
D
Not David Ross. It's not about me.
- [30:06]
C
Yeah. It's just mechanically they're sound and they're just on time and they're like I said before in the ground and they can make good decisions.
- [30:14]
A
The guys that have been around have been the best. They don't have any fear to try to make adjustments, but they're very, they're very. You got to tell them as a hitting coach, in my opinion, you have to tell. If you can't tell a player what's happening why it's happening and how to fix and feel it. You shouldn't say shit anyway. And every time the guys are hitting, they pop a ball up in the cage, you're underneath it. Yeah, no shit. What gave that away? It's right there, right? You know what I'm saying? Now if I look back at you males and I say, why am I underneath it? Then tell me if you know. You know what I mean? And I think it all comes back to timing and what the best guys have been around, the confidence. They believe in their swings. They know they can fucking hit. And it just comes down to approach and being on time. And then they get that one hit, and all of a sudden they say, I'm back. And nothing's changed. Mechanically now, we will, as coaches occasionally say, hey, when you were going really good, Your stance was 2 inches further, wider.
- [31:04]
B
You would say it to me.
- [31:04]
A
I know. Or it would be this. Because sometimes. And it was maybe true, but I don't think that was the answer. You tell me your hands are here or here. Come on. You know what I mean? Are they dropping lower?
- [31:15]
C
Are you getting hand pumped? No, right here, by your heart.
- [31:18]
A
The inverted C. Yeah, the inverted C. Something small. But if you tell them that sometimes, like, you're fine, you're doing good. Well, two. Two ways to do that. I need something to hold on to, bro. I even tell me I'm good, I'm one for 28. I ain't good.
- [31:30]
D
I ain't good.
- [31:30]
A
I ain't good.
- [31:31]
D
You can't lie to players.
- [31:32]
A
You can't lie to players. You got to tell them truth. I ain't good. Right? So, hey, when we look back, and then we'll go do all the things now, they got ways to measure. You were standing four more inches off the plate. It's all. It's so much easier to be a hitting coach today in the sense of knowing if you're right or wrong about what's happening. Yeah, like, Anthony, you're late on the fastball. Like, I remember what Bryce back in 18. 18 or 19. It was 19. When he got there the first half, he was struggling. And we look back, and he wasn't able to pull the ball. I thought he was late all the time. And he said he didn't feel like he was late. And we did a bird's eye view where you take the. All the.
- [32:07]
B
Who's this you're talking about?
- [32:08]
A
Bryce Harper.
- [32:09]
B
Okay.
- [32:09]
A
And then we did an over the top view, and it showed here and his contact points. And I said, what were you best? Whatever year he won the MVP or was Almost won the mvp. I think he won it. And then I showed him where he was making contact on fastballs in relation to home plate. They were all out in front and now they're all back here. And he goes, I'm late. And I'm thinking to myself, yeah, no kidding. But it's okay.
- [32:30]
B
But how you portray it is.
- [32:31]
A
But you trade, here's coaching. I ain't making it up. Now why you're late? I don't know, right? You're in the box. Why are you late?
- [32:37]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [32:38]
A
And he said that he had worked really hard on going the opposite way in the off season. So he was backing balls up, he was blocking his front side and he wasn't able to release the head. So everything was played back here, which, you know, was a lot of ground balls and bad things. The game out here, you lift it naturally and get it in the air.
- [32:53]
B
The hardest thing to do is repeat. It's so easy for a little bad habit to creep over time, right? So.
- [32:58]
A
And our job is to pay attention to that. So we have, like, nowadays we have a two week checkup where we look back in and see all your measurements and say, okay, did you realize you were standing further off the plate here? Did you realize 16.
- [33:09]
B
Yeah, we didn't need it.
- [33:10]
C
We didn't need it.
- [33:10]
A
We won.
- [33:12]
D
So on that, like, when did you guys know we were loaded? Like, we were good. 15. We go back to 15. It's like that, that San Francisco series that we swept San Francisco, they were defending world champs. It like was the light bulb, was like, oh, we're really good. But there's some time where you're like this, these guys are a beast. I mean, you said start the season,
- [33:35]
C
start the season 16.
- [33:36]
A
You're talking about 16.
- [33:37]
C
16.
- [33:37]
A
Yeah.
- [33:38]
C
I kind of knew instantly. Well, I knew in 15 and at the end of 15, like, like you said, the Giant series. But going into spring training, even the guys that weren't in the big leagues, I was like, these guys are really, really, really good players. And our team was so stacked. And I really think, I remember we started off 21 and 6, and I don't know about like one. We had one bad stretch. Didn't we lose like seven games in a row before the All Star break?
- [34:02]
B
Right before the all season.
- [34:02]
C
Yeah. And then nobody cares.
- [34:04]
D
It checked out.
- [34:05]
C
We came in after those games and we're like, hey, I finished that.
- [34:08]
B
I finished the 16. All Star break, like, like 12 for 15. Okay. It wasn't my fault.
- [34:17]
D
We told a story about Lester. He came in and he said, we just gotta get the pitching going. But. Yeah. Did you have a time?
- [34:25]
A
Well, 15, you know what? Do you remember in 15 when we all said goodbye the last game at home?
- [34:31]
B
Toasted Danny Herring.
- [34:33]
A
Yeah, the whole number. The. The Stealing fan. Do you remember?
- [34:36]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [34:37]
A
I should get into that story about how we partied with the player of the game, jumped around in the thing, and I look up and there's somebody's underwear going around in the ceiling.
- [34:45]
B
After games, we would celebrate wins and we would turn it into a club. And music again. Another Joe Matt, Joe thing. Bringing it in and embracing it. And we turned, literally, our old locker room at Wrigley into a club. Smoke machines, drinking.
- [35:01]
C
Strobe lights.
- [35:02]
D
Strobe lights, strobe lights.
- [35:04]
B
And we carry that to the new one, too. I don't think it's there anymore.
- [35:07]
A
So in 15, when we did that goodbye and I looked around the room, we all knew something was up. That was a good group. We were all. A lot of us had tears in our eyes. And Dexter, we knew was going to leave. So I'm thinking, we got to get a center fielder now. But this group's got it. We got. And you look down, you look at Lester Arietta, all those. It's a joke, what they got. When we got the pitching and the position players are all young and all. You mix in what the veterans would experience. So it was ultra talented. And then when Dexter came back, remember in spring training, Theo walks him out in the middle of spring training. We're on the field doing pumpkins or some shit, and he walks on. Here comes Dexter. We all thought he was just coming to say goodbye. And Dexter comes, runs out and he says, boys, I'm black. You know what I mean? And then I couldn't believe it. And then after that, it was like, okay, it's time to roll, man.
- [35:59]
C
I know when it's a trade deadline and we're 22 games over.500 and in. Walk the roll this chap. And I was like, we're winning the fucking world.
- [36:09]
B
There's shots, bro.
- [36:10]
C
Right now.
- [36:11]
B
I said this every year when you are the best team and you will get the best player. Game over.
- [36:17]
C
Theo did it, dude. He walked in. I was like, oh, that motherfucker's in here. Good night, everybody.
- [36:22]
B
Bad man walking in, and we knew it, too. And he knew it. And he came in and he shot.
- [36:26]
C
He takes his wallet out of his pocket, over his shoulder.
- [36:30]
A
His ass is up there.
- [36:34]
D
So going back to Anthony stories, we need. We need a good Anthony story.
- [36:38]
B
I want to tell. Well, I want to. First, before we get into that, I want to talk about the two strike approach that you're talking about earlier because, you know, striking out is such a big part of the game now. People don't care. And for me, I hated striking out. And I always try to strike out looking more because that means I take pitches. But with two strikes, I'd expand and it would drive my hitting coaches crazy. But I knew getting to two strikes that I could fight off. And if I could fight off that bastard pitch and get to the next pitch, I could do damage. So I was never scared to hit with two strikes. But when things got real dark and tough, I knew I had something in my back pocket at all times.
- [37:17]
C
Imagine an Olympics where doping is not
- [37:19]
B
only legal, but encouraged.
- [37:21]
A
It's the enhanced games.
- [37:23]
C
Some call it grotesque.
- [37:24]
B
Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all. Embedded in the games and with the
- [37:32]
C
athletes for a full year.
- [37:34]
D
Within probably 10 days, I'd put on £10.
- [37:37]
B
I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.
- [37:40]
C
Listen to Superhuman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's big Money players and iHeart
- [37:49]
A
podcast presents soccer Moms. So, I'm Leigh Ann. Yeah. This is my best friend Janet.
- [37:53]
C
And we have been joined at the hip since high school.
- [37:55]
A
Absolutely. Now, a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger, hips wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey with all the snacks and drinks. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Well, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white collar sub here?
- [38:16]
C
Just hit.
- [38:17]
A
What are y' all doing? Microphones. Are you making a rap album? Oh, I. Wouldn't you believe it? I would buy it.
- [38:24]
C
Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake.
- [38:28]
A
That sounds delicious.
- [38:30]
D
Oh, you're lucky I'm not a drug addict.
- [38:32]
A
You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You're lucky I'm not a killer.
- [38:36]
C
I love this team, and I'm really
- [38:37]
D
trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on.
- [38:41]
B
Oh, listen to soccer moms on the
- [38:46]
A
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [38:51]
B
There are times when the mind becomes a difficult place. To live. This is David Eagleman with the Inner Cosmos podcast. And for Mental Health Awareness Month, we're dedicating a series to understanding the mind when it struggles.
- [39:05]
D
I'm joined by doctors, researchers, and those with lived experience.
- [39:09]
A
We'll talk with singer songwriter Jewel about anxiety. I started living in my car and then my car got stolen.
- [39:16]
C
I was shoplifting. I was having panic attacks. I was agoraphobic.
- [39:20]
D
And making it through hardship to be
- [39:22]
A
present is a learned skill, and it's hard to be present. We'll talk with John Nelson about clinical
- [39:29]
B
depression and the brain implant that saved his life. What I learned is the procedure made me happy because I'm disease free. And we'll talk with leading experts like
- [39:40]
A
Jud Brewer about anxiety and John Hirschfeld about obsessive compulsive disorder and the science
- [39:46]
B
of how the brain can change. This is a month of deeply personal and honest conversations about what happens when the brain goes off course and what
- [39:56]
A
we can do about it. Listen to intercosmos on the iHeartRadio app,
- [40:00]
B
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [40:07]
A
What would you eat if you had to start over?
- [40:09]
C
Real simple.
- [40:11]
B
Poor man's poor woman's food.
- [40:13]
D
Black beans, chicken, rice, plantains.
- [40:17]
C
Yeah, that's always. That's poor people's food, man. But being Nigerian, that's come on a go to.
- [40:21]
A
On the podcast Eating While Broke, I sit down with celebrities, entrepreneurs, and creators as they revisit the meals they once relied on and the moments that shaped their journey. Named best food podcast at the 2026 I Heart PodC. This show is all about real conversations on money, growth, and what it really takes to make it. It was times where me and Lexa,
- [40:43]
B
like, definitely get into it because we
- [40:45]
A
not making any money. Like, I need to start making money. Like, why are we doing this? But I don't know. I think we just always knew that
- [40:51]
B
we had something really good and eventually people were gonna catch on and so
- [40:56]
A
we just thugged it out. The full season is available to binge right now. Listen to Eating While Broke from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever podcast a
- [41:09]
B
couple times a year. Male ski. You guys probably have seen this a little too much over our time, but I would like to go into the cage and hit naked commando.
- [41:22]
C
Yeah.
- [41:23]
B
Fully naked.
- [41:24]
D
Fully naked.
- [41:24]
B
Fully.
- [41:25]
C
But shorts on. First.
- [41:26]
A
They start on.
- [41:27]
C
They start on.
- [41:29]
B
Basically the process go in. I would take my shirt off and then I would do.
- [41:35]
C
I would.
- [41:35]
B
Because males was big on my stride length. So the Shorts we had at the time, they had really tight elastic bands. They were almost like. I don't know what kind of. They had good. Good waist. So I pull my shorts all the way down. I was always commando underneath before I hit, and I would just work on my stride length off the tee, and males is feeding me, and it was so hard.
- [41:58]
D
So anybody walked in. I remember walking in. In Pittsburgh, I got a photo on my phone. I'm like, well, there's Anthony's ass again.
- [42:05]
A
Well, there's another time when Font was throwing bpdo, you were in the tank, and he was a BP thrower. You made him throw naked. And we were. I don't know where we were at.
- [42:12]
B
We were. We were grinding.
- [42:13]
A
But anyway, I didn't see that. So I told Tony, I said, tony, you're over striding again. He says, all right, we'll work on it tomorrow. Because he gives in a look. Next day, he comes in the cage, he's got no shirt on, as usual. It's regular shorts, no drawers on. Comes in the cage, put the ball on the tee. Put the ball on the tee. He goes, Drops his pants, and he's standing there. You know how he always goes like this? Now I'm only using my peripheral vision. Thank God. I can't see well at the size of my eyes.
- [42:42]
D
Thank God they're close together.
- [42:44]
A
Thank God they're so close together. Thank you. And he would do his little wiggle, and he would hit. And then you just use your imagination and what that looked like. And then it worked. It worked.
- [42:57]
B
100% success rate every time I hit. 100% successful.
- [43:02]
D
And you're. This is full hacks. People at home have to understand.
- [43:05]
A
This is not.
- [43:06]
B
No, this is like, I would. I would pretend I was, like, 2014 Javi Baez and just try to swing as hard as I could. Go down to a knee. Yeah, you drop a back knee completely naked, like, falling over, getting back up barefoot, like.
- [43:20]
A
Yeah, but it worked. Then he'd pull his shorts up, and you two would hug and roll around on the ground and says, I love this shit. I love this shit. Do you remember that? And then we sit there and we lay all of our heads. Hinsky's mine and Tony's head. We just lay on our back and we talk. And we. Being a little star in the cage,
- [43:36]
B
these people walk by. These are the relationships that we had.
- [43:39]
C
We had to slay the dragon, dude.
- [43:41]
B
We had to slay the dragon.
- [43:42]
C
You gotta sell your soul.
- [43:43]
D
Was there anybody more quirky than Riz or Like, anybody that stood out from that 16 team that you guys got, like, Javi, I know. KB was pretty Zobras, dude.
- [43:54]
C
Zobra's nuts. Fucking nuts, dude. Shake, wait. Shake, wait. Put it in the tube. Put it in the portal and finish. What the are you talking about, dude? I'd be like, yeah, that looks good. Sick.
- [44:05]
D
We're asking him about that.
- [44:07]
C
Shake, wait. Shake, wait.
- [44:08]
B
We would be in the dugout, all doing the.
- [44:09]
C
Shake Weight.
- [44:11]
B
The whole dugout. Shake Weight.
- [44:12]
A
Shake Weight.
- [44:13]
B
Shake Weight.
- [44:14]
D
Speaking of celebrations, that was. That was one of my favorite parts. We had, like, our dugout from. I've never been on a team where coaches celebrated as much as we did in 16. We guys went deep and Skeet's like. And Mayo was like, jump. Yeah.
- [44:31]
C
Joletta.
- [44:32]
D
It was like, we start clapping and doing the dancing and stuff. Like we were. It was fun to be in.
- [44:37]
C
Our other teams hated us. Hated our dugout. Yeah. Because we're loud.
- [44:41]
B
When we came to play, they knew, like, we rolled in there like the fucking Motley Crew, bro. And we came in, we beat your ass, and we've left a mess behind us. But we never.
- [44:54]
D
But we never.
- [44:54]
B
Like, respectfully, though. Yeah, very respectfully.
- [44:56]
D
There was no animosity on the other team. We were just. Just doing our thing. That's what I think Joe create. We were. So there was no outside noise for us.
- [45:03]
C
Like, if you'd roll into Chicago and you got Arietta, Lester, Hendrix, like, good luck. Yeah. They were nasty as hell.
- [45:11]
D
Yeah.
- [45:12]
C
And we put up five. You're so.
- [45:14]
D
Yeah.
- [45:14]
A
You're not like, we went out and we. It was us versus us. You know, that's the old saying. If we can not beat ourselves and just go out, play our game well, any good team, that's the way it is. Right. But we were able to do it every day. And. And I just remember losing in that seven games or whatever. And Joe, you know, and I just came from a place where everything was like this. If you didn't win, everybody was all, Joe's got this song on in his room. Don't worry. Be happy. Sitting there with his feet up, drinking wine.
- [45:41]
C
Yeah. Win hard.
- [45:42]
A
Seven games in a row. He said, you win hard, you lose hard. You got 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, that's over with. Time to go, move on.
- [45:50]
C
Short memory.
- [45:50]
D
Yeah.
- [45:51]
A
So with 20 minutes, that music would go on with Joe, and he would drink that wine and play that song. Everybody said so. Oh, okay. We're good.
- [45:57]
B
That's leadership, in my opinion.
- [46:00]
D
101.
- [46:01]
B
When. When your Head guy. You see him not caving. Everyone else, okay, I can relax. Especially in today's game where it is. Males, you were kind of a pioneer of your industry of, like, of not having big league experience. Yeah. Now it's almost like a prerequisite if you played. You're, like, almost blackballed from being a coach. They want no experience, which doesn't make sense to me because the information is great, but the experience paired with the information is electric. There's nothing better than it. Yeah.
- [46:32]
D
So that's why you guys were so dynamic, and it felt like you had two hitting coaches that could relate to two different mentalities of hitters. Right. And you guys did such a good job of balancing that and having fun. And our work and the work ethic. You guys really like the hitting coaches and, like, usually the strength guy, they're like the boys. Right. You know, they're usually part of the boys.
- [46:54]
A
And we're down in the cage all day. You hear everything from everybody. Right. And we're. We're all trying to figure out what do you see anything with him? And you guys did a really good job of talking to each other, too. And I think some of the best instruction you remember as playing is coming from your peers. Guys that stand in the box.
- [47:09]
C
Right.
- [47:10]
D
For sure.
- [47:10]
A
And we had a really good group where everybody worked together.
- [47:13]
B
And then I. I would make males. He would flip to me behind the L screen, but he's righty. So if you're a lefty with the righty arm, you get blocked by the big pull on the L screen. So I would never really see his arm action. So for me, my timing was big. You know, I'm pumping, I get the leg kick and all that stuff. So if I couldn't see the arm at all, my timing in the cage was messed up. And if my timing is messed up off soft toss, I was a zoo. So I'd make a move out from the L screen to the side so I could see his arm flip, and then he'd, like, run back in. And now, 10 years later, he's blaming me for his knee issues, which is meniscus.
- [47:50]
A
Torn meniscus torn meniscus. So I would have to stand there and picture you're in front of a screen. So I'm thinking, is your arms hanging out? My whole body had to be out. And he's only 18ft away. So as I flip it, I've got to release it and get back there. As he's hitting it 110 pounds, I
- [48:04]
C
think what I Learned from him, too, was routine. Players are routine based. I was like, crazy, right? But I wanted to be the face you saw when you walked into the cage, no matter what time it was. And you taught me that you can't not be in the cage because they walk in there and they have to look for the hitting coaches. Their routine's fucked up. So I made it a point to always be there. And that might have been, you know, nine hours a day in the cage, but for sure, I was there for it.
- [48:26]
B
You were always the heart of me.
- [48:27]
C
I was always there. Hey. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. But too much absence makes the heart wander. Knowledge.
- [48:37]
D
Straight knowledge.
- [48:37]
B
We want to talk about relationships.
- [48:40]
A
Yeah.
- [48:40]
B
I'm going to test you here. What. What are our two songs? What are our two favorite songs?
- [48:45]
C
Every rose has its thorn.
- [48:46]
B
That's all right. Now three.
- [48:48]
C
Okay, Adele. Which one, though?
- [48:52]
B
Olivia, Rodrigo, Driver's Driver's License, and Lady Gaga. Shallow.
- [49:00]
D
Shallow. Yeah. He wrote on piano.
- [49:03]
C
That's right.
- [49:04]
B
We got. We got it to New York I. And it was at 16. We got in real late.
- [49:07]
C
It wasn't Adele. You loved Adele. You loved a hit to her.
- [49:09]
B
Loved it. Loved. Still do.
- [49:11]
D
I walked up to him in the gym two days ago. I'm like, riz. Riz. He's like, sorry, what?
- [49:15]
B
What? I was listening to Adele bumping, Adele running. We got into New York one night late, real late. And me and you went to the karaoke bar, and we're just crazy singing. Every road, shut the bar down. Five, six o', clock, I go to the Essa bagel. They're closed. I walk in, I'm like, tipsy. They're like, no, we're closed. I just hand them $100 bill. I'm like, give me some. Okay, thank you. They gave me, like, three bagels. They are so. They love me there.
- [49:43]
C
Did you get any hits the next day?
- [49:45]
B
I did.
- [49:46]
C
Because you gotta post no matter what. How long you were out last night doesn't matter.
- [49:50]
B
You can't. For me, I loved. I really enjoyed going out and I knew the balance of playing every day. But when you did go out and you had those iconic nights, you knew the next day, like, you've got to be accountable to your teammates and your kids. And you better turn it on. There's no, like, oh, I'm tired. Like, that's the days you need to post the most. And those are some of my favorite days looking.
- [50:15]
A
Those are usually some of the better days guys do because they don't think so much, right? They get out of all of this and that. I'm just trying to see this ball. I'm trying to hit the one in the middle. Males. I'm gonna hit it off his forehead. Totally. Very simple plan. You're looking for a ball in the middle, and you're going right back there. And that usually lines you back up to where you need to be for two, three weeks.
- [50:31]
B
It lines you up.
- [50:32]
A
You look at guys that come back from injuries, and they're always hot when they come back, and you think they're not going to have any timing because they just. They don't expect anything. Right. I just want to compete here. I'm not supposed to get a hit. I haven't played in two weeks.
- [50:42]
C
Yeah.
- [50:43]
A
And then you're not thinking and you're just hitting. And then when you start. And you start raking and then you go bad a little bit. Now, all of a sudden, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. And that's why I think having that time away from the park where you can get it doesn't have to be drinking all night or whatever. It's just getting away from the game, spending with your family and the guys that have the kids. And now you go home and take care of the family.
- [51:02]
D
That's how you win, you know, care about the guys you're around. You get to know your teammates.
- [51:06]
A
It's respect. Right. If I respect you, I'm gonna. I'm not gonna take a good secondary lead at second base because I'm trying to win the fucking game, and you're dogging it out there.
- [51:14]
D
Yeah.
- [51:14]
B
When I respect. When I remember walking down the tunnel in game seven, right to the cage. And in Cleveland, the cage is like. Feels like a half a mile away. It's a long ways. It's through the whole concourse, underneath the tunnel, and through that concourse, you have all the media. I saw David Ortiz walking by game seven, like, saying, what's up? And I'm, like, zoned in, and I'm going down there, and I know that you two are there. And it's like just this calm presence of, like, looking at. I just remember looking at you guys and just being like, yep. Like, not more than five words were said. It was just like, well, that's.
- [51:51]
D
That's the.
- [51:52]
B
Let's go. Did my routine, did my flips, hit a little bit off the arm.
- [51:56]
C
One of the year.
- [51:57]
B
And looked at you guys, and she's just like, last one, let's go.
- [52:00]
D
That was my, like. Without getting all Emotional, because this is what I do. But, like, I remember going down and males. We. It was super quiet and he got done flipping and he like walks towards me as I'm about to leave. He's like, rossi, Rossi. I'm like, what's up? He just starts. You started in on telling me, like, what. You know, like the nice things that you said a little earlier.
- [52:19]
A
But I was.
- [52:20]
D
I'll never forget that. I was like. I was like, bro, we got. I gotta get rid of a game. I'm getting. I'm like, emotional right now. But it was like. It meant a lot to me. I'll never forget, like, how you talked about, like, the year and. And me and. And, you know, the respect you had for me and what I brought to the team and all that stuff was. Was really cool. So. So thank you for that in that moment. But it was. It was cool to. Right before game seven, I'm trying to get locked in and freaking males got me crying, leaving the cage in pre game.
- [52:47]
B
It's what it took. And hopefully throughout as we interview everyone, like, I'm saying this again, I feel like. But without you two in my life, in my career, there's. I don't accomplish any. I'm not a world champion. I don't play for as long as I do because. Because of your guidance. And I feel.
- [53:05]
C
Thank you.
- [53:05]
B
Very lucky. Blessed. Because seriously, without you telling me 10 auto take, getting on the plate, you, us. I know it sounds weird, but doing the stride work and believing in me, I'm not the player I was in 2016. And maybe we're not the team we were and you're not the player you were, but.
- [53:24]
D
Well, I wish you guys would have helped me on the.220 batting average. I mean, like, career.
- [53:29]
A
Some people you can't race from.
- [53:31]
D
Some people are just stunted.
- [53:34]
A
They're just stunted.
- [53:35]
B
It's just another really testament to the puzzle of 2016, where we said it in a episode before this, but it was like, without every single player and personnel, we don't win. There's no way. Without males, there's no ski. Without Ski, there's no males. You guys fist bumping each other. We're bumping in the dugout, doing all
- [53:58]
A
this stuff, hanging on the dugout, screaming.
- [54:01]
B
If pitchers even hinted at looking at our dugout, Ian Ski would be wearing them the fuck out. And I would play with guys later on in my career. Garrett Cole is one of them. Be like, bro, I heard you all the time. Because we would just wear guys out. And scream at them. And it wasn't a disrespect thing. It was just.
- [54:20]
D
It was our thing.
- [54:21]
B
We cared. We cared so much about winning.
- [54:23]
D
And you're locked in on other people talking about carrying. You're locked in on other people's advance because we're all invested in one another
- [54:30]
C
standing in the box with you, man, for sure.
- [54:31]
A
When Dex let off with that home run, you see Dex running down the first. They show him in the dugout going like this. Oh, yeah. He goes, you cluber. We're gonna be here all night. You. Sorry. That's what it is.
- [54:46]
D
With all due respect.
- [54:48]
A
All due respect, but that's the way it was. We felt that. You know what I mean? Because we knew we stuck together. And then you guys, I'm sure will get into what happened when the rain came. You know what I mean?
- [54:59]
B
Yeah.
- [54:59]
D
What do you guys remember about that? We've asked everybody about, like, I know the coaches weren't in the room, but, like, we were almost dead. And then coming out of that. What did you guys feel when we got back in and out of the rain delay?
- [55:13]
C
Well, I poured a drink.
- [55:16]
B
We all did.
- [55:17]
C
Being honest. Yeah.
- [55:17]
D
Yeah.
- [55:18]
C
I was like, I gotta have a drink.
- [55:20]
A
People don't know about this.
- [55:21]
D
There's a lot of stress. There's a lot of stress.
- [55:22]
A
You're gonna end up telling me, oh,
- [55:24]
C
yeah, who's the dude that hit the homer off Chapman? Still to this day, the loudest I've ever heard of stadium in my life. The momentum was gone. We were like, oh, God. Like, this is.
- [55:34]
A
Stadium was shaking. You could feel the ground moving.
- [55:37]
C
And I was just like, LeBron up there doing this. We're having a good meeting down there in that weight room because we got to win this thing.
- [55:43]
D
We got.
- [55:43]
C
I can't go home and whatever. I still. To this day, we're coaches. I don't even know what happened down there. Yeah, I have no idea. I.
- [55:50]
D
It's. It's all a blur.
- [55:51]
B
We're getting everybody. That's how tight the boys were when
- [55:54]
C
we were in there.
- [55:54]
B
It was like, we're gonna fucking do this. We're gonna have J say it in full. But, yeah. Couldn't have happened, though, without you two. And we thank you for being on.
- [56:04]
D
Do you have a real. Do you have a favorite moment from 2016, season or postseason?
- [56:09]
A
Do you have one?
- [56:10]
D
Do you have anything that comes to mind?
- [56:11]
C
I like the Giant series.
- [56:13]
A
Javier pimped a home run. It almost didn't go out. Oh, the basket pimped it Quaido on
- [56:21]
C
him and doing that was the Giant series. Contreras hit the ball at the middle. Yeah, go ahead. That was a rage fest in our dugout. We were going nuts. And then that flight home, everybody banged up. Yeah, that was a flight, too.
- [56:33]
D
Yeah, that was a good one.
- [56:34]
B
Yeah. Because, well, we won game four in San Francisco, which clinched.
- [56:38]
C
So we had to go back to face Cuaito.
- [56:40]
B
If we. If we didn't win, we had Quaido, and Quaido was nasty. He had a great career, but he was like his best then. And we barely beat him. One nothing in game one. And we were down, what, four or five runs, and we came back in the ninth, and that was kind of the Giants Achilles heels, their bullpen. And it was the even year. All this was like, oh, we gotta play them in game five.
- [56:59]
A
That's right.
- [57:00]
B
So when we won that game, it was, like you said, a rage fest
- [57:04]
D
on the way home and coming back.
- [57:06]
B
Those are the moments, though, that made us closer. I. I say this all the time to team to our teams. When I made the playoffs after, it's like, you think we're close now. Every single playoff game you win, we're about to get closer. Every series, we're about to get closer and winning it all. It's like this. It's been 10 years. We haven't been together in years, hanging out like this. I love you guys.
- [57:28]
D
It's so nice.
- [57:31]
B
It's like yesterday that we were all together in this bubble of just happiness and the grind.
- [57:37]
D
Yeah. Males are sober now. What the hell happened?
- [57:40]
A
Yes.
- [57:41]
D
Five years. Thanks for coming on, man.
- [57:44]
B
We're so thankful.
- [57:45]
D
Obviously, we love you and. And can't wait to party tonight.
- [57:48]
C
Let's do it. You know, we'll do anything for you guys.
- [57:51]
D
That's a wrap. Thanks, boys.
- [58:09]
A
If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down.
- [58:15]
B
Portia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a married man.
- [58:18]
D
They holding K. Michelle back from fighting.
- [58:20]
C
Drew Pinky has financial issues.
- [58:23]
A
On the podcast Reality with the King I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the tea everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the king on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode.
- [58:49]
B
The World cup is coming.
- [58:50]
A
Ramos sending on Ernie Stewart the chip score.
- [58:55]
D
I'm Tab Ramos.
- [58:57]
A
I'm Tom Boke. On our podcast Inside American Soccer. You'll get the real storylines, the biggest decisions, and the truth about the U.S. national team.
- [59:06]
D
It wouldn't be a huge surprise if
- [59:08]
B
our team ends up in the quarterfinals
- [59:10]
D
or potentially a great run into the semifinals.
- [59:13]
A
Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Boger and Tab ramos on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [59:21]
B
I actually drive better when I'm high.
- [59:23]
A
It heightens my senses, calms me down. If anything, I'm more careful. Honestly, it just helps me focus.
- [59:32]
B
That's probably what the driver who killed a four year old told himself. And now he's in prison. You see, no matter what you tell yourself, if you feel different, you drive different. So if you're high, just don't drive. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council now everybody over here. Oh, it's one of my other favorite places. The Twilight Gazebo.
- [59:56]
A
Sunset Gardens. Twilight Gazebo.
- [60:00]
C
What's next?
- [60:02]
A
Dead Man's Grove?
- [60:03]
B
Mom, could you please try to be
- [60:05]
A
a little bit positive about this? From Kenya Barris, the visionary creator of
- [60:11]
B
Black Ish, comes Big Age, an Audible original about finding your way in life's next chapter. This audio comedy series follows a retired couple's reluctant relocation to Sunset Gardens, a
- [60:23]
A
Floridian senior community that is anything but relaxing. Starring comedy legends Jennifer Lewis, Cedric the
- [60:29]
B
Entertainer and Niecy Nash Betts. Through its blend of outrageous comedy, Tea Party anyone?
- [60:34]
A
And touching revelations, Big Age explores what
- [60:37]
B
it means to grow older without growing old at heart. Go to audible.com bigages to start listening today.