Home runs by Tony Counting has been a perfect gay. Natia won the World
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This is seven hundred w l JABA. You the home of the Cincinnati Red
All right, Summer begins at four to ten today with Frankie Mantas and Ziah
Gray. Here we go, boys and girls, Here we go. Who's
ready for a Reds playoff run starting in just a few Yeah. Yeah,
Scott's loan here, Mo Eggar from ESPN fifteen thirty. The show begins live
here at the Holy Grail Bank, So hope you can make it down.
We have I think maybe one or two seats available, but lots of standing
room and a bigger crowd. I think that we give ourselves a round of
applause, like the biggest crowd I think we had in two three years we
have. We had like twenty people outside. I got here at like eight
twenty. It was unbelievable, just wrapped around to get here to the grail.
But there is plenty of room for anybody who wants to come down.
Right. Still little standing room there. Cincinnati, home of the Reds,
and a bunch of degenerates is still drinking at eight thirty in the morning.
My kind of people, Yeah, my people right there. So Mo,
we've got all sorts of guest today. Later on the show, Sean Casey'll
jump in the mayor will court today it's Mayor's Court for about a half hour,
and then the Dmitri Young and Pokey Reese the parade. Grand can't wait.
And of course, right now, thinking of our good friend, our
dear friend and colleague, Jim Scott, We've got to get into the Opening
Day parade as we start right now. And so great day for Jim to
do what he loves to do. No greater day on his calendar. So
mister Opening Day he is. You know, I think back when the game
used to be at one to ten, we would post up and broadcast at
five am. His excitement. Jim was always excited about being on the radio,
but there was something about Opening Day that brought out the most in him.
We all know what he's going through. He has been looking forward to
this day so much, and we hope he has a great experience. A
lot of folks are gonna wave and showed love to him, and it's deserved.
And I just I hope he and his his family have a great day
because I know how much Opening Day means to Jim, and I know how
much Jim means to Cincinnati. And we're there with you in spirit, brother,
love you. So mo, let's get into it. Last season,
the Reds were, yeah, looking like the Reds, and then this guy
named Ellie day La Cruz shows up there and literally lights a bonfire in the
middle of a great American ballpark. In every park, it's just so fun
to watch. The team was inspired by him. They started playing like Ellie.
They go on a tear, they're in first place for like a month.
What yeah, and miss the playoffs by just a couple of games.
Now, you've got some real pressure this year for this ball club to build
on what they did last year. What's the likelihod of that happening? Major
expectations? You know, every year I sit here with you, and I
feel pretty confident in kind of, you know, picking a range of wins
the Reds will finish with. They can win ninety games this year, they
can't. They could lose ninety games this year. Neither would be surprising.
A couple of things I would first of all, say, if you're looking
at statistical projections, you know one of them said, well, the Right's
gonna win seventy nine games, throw that out the door. These guys don't
have a long enough track record to project what they're going to be. You
know, we can look at the LA Dodgers, or the Atlanta Braves and
or the Philadelphia Phillies and say, well, based on these players and what
they've done, here's how good we think those teams are going to be.
With the Reds. You can't do that because nobody has a track record.
But the upside that so many of these players have is immense. And you
mentioned Ellie deler Cruz. But what was so fun is last year, every
time somebody came up, somebody contributed. Unfortunately, some of those guys aren't
going to be available and it's kind of cut into the optimism at the start
of the season. But Jonathan India is gonna spell Matt McClain. Now think
about that. A lot of teams lose their opening day second baseman. Can
they replace them with a guy who was the Rookie of the Year three years
ago. Jonathan India has a lot to prove. The starting pitching has to
be better, but if it is, what I think the sneaky cool part
about this team is, I think David Bell is going to have a really
good bullpen at his disposal. If the starters can go longer than they did
last year, this bullpen, I think is gonna be really good. They
got to get through not having TJ. Friedel the first six weeks, but
the expectation, the excitement is through the roof and it's based on guys like
Ellie dela Cruz and Andrew Abbott and Christian Strand. Spencer Steeer was the Rookie
of the Month for the month of May last year, and nobody talked about
it. They have so many guys that have a lot of upside. At
the same time, they have a lot of guys who don't have much of
a track record. So what are you gonna get this year? I have
no idea, but I can't wait to find out. Yeah, exactly.
It's just exciting to be here and think, hey, you got a chance
this year. Frankie Montes goes today as the opening day starter and certainly looked
like the team's best pitcher this spring. But last year third worst rotation in
Major League Baseball. I believe too many runs, too many walks, too
much batting practice thrown. But the problem is you got no McClain, you
got no freedom. Marte is out for eighty games. Yeah, and so
there's more pressure then. That's starting rotation, the standing games longer because you're
not going to the run support. Yeah, no question. I mean we
talked all off season. Okay, the starting pitching has to be better.
Everybody will acknowledge that. David Bell will tell you that the starting pitching has
to be better. Now it probably has to be even better because it's gonna
have to do more based on who they're not gonna have offensively, the colective
era was terrible last year of these starting pitchers. But I would also say
this, there's a lot of teams that are gonna say, well, our
starting pitching has to be better. That don't have a guy with the upside
of Hunter Green, that don't have a guy with the upside of Andrew Rabbit,
that don't have a guy with the upside of of Nick Lodolo. Everybody
acknowledges the talent. The raw talent is immense. Can these guys put it
together and can they stay healthy? I think if the starting pitching is league
average league average, this team's gonna be pretty good because I do think they
have the ability to hang a lot of runs on people. I think that
what they did last year and taking advantage of the rule changes stealing a lot
of bases, forcing the issue with their team speed is going to carry over.
And I think they're gonna score a lot of runs. But is the
starting pitching gonna you start with health? Right? Yeah, Lodolo got hurt
last year. Ashcraft got hurt last year, Hunter Green got hurt last season.
For what it's worth, Frankie Montas basically missed the entire year. Can
these guys stay healthy? And if the answer is yes, you would expect
improvement. The question is how much better? How much more improvement do we
see from that group? Yeah, that's a good question. Slowly and moe
here this morning live Opening Day twenty twenty four. We got all the people
rolling. I got Austin Elmore with his name tags here. You got Rip
from Yellowstone shows up, we got damn we got everybody in this place right
now here. This is increased to Tony benderwing hard to make sure nobody has
a good time. We are, We're alive, the Holy Grail Banks and
of course continue all the way till first pitch this morning here on seven hundred
WLW, the home of your Cincinnati Reds. I'm that too with Hunter Green.
You know great last year? Okay, this guy flashes, looks great,
and then something happens in spring training where David belldon likeing it. He
makes Frankie Mantos the opening day starter, and he's certainly earned it. It's
a meritocracy in spring and so what is that? How much pressure is at
one hundred Green to figure that out? And now I guess he's added a
couple of pitches, right, He's worked on stuffs out too, and is
he ready to grab that crown back this season? Well, the first of
all, I like what they did in not making him the opening day starter.
You mentioned it. It's a meritocracy. You got to earn things like
that. Hunter hasn't earned it, right. There are times if you took
Hunter Green's best seven or eight outings over the last two years and put him
together, you would think, God, this is the best pitcher in baseball.
And yet if you took his worst six seven outings, he would say
this is a batting practice pitcher. Here's what I'm curious. Number one?
Can he stay healthy? I keep coming back to that, but it was
a huge thing last year right now? Yeah? Number two? Last spring
we heard about, well he's learned to change up that. He never threw
it. This spring. It's different, curveball, split fingered fastball. Great,
do we see it? Does he turn into a guy that has multiple
pitches? We know he can throw a fastball with the best off, but
guess what if this level one hundred and four mile hour fastball more than that.
So he learned to change up last year, but he didn't trust it.
The pitches he has worked on this offseason in this spring, are they
good enough for him to trust them? And can he throw them with efficiency
and throw them for strikes. If the answer is yes, and he stays
healthy, then you would expect big things. Look, he still is,
for my money, the face of the franchise. He's the one guy that
they've signed pseudo long term. I think if Hunter Green doesn't take a major
step forward, you have a hard time convincing me the staff as a whole
takes a major step forward. How much pressure isn't our David Bell this season?
Because you know the injuries eight I mean facy Now He's got a lot
of tools in the toolbox, and I think you know, you talk about
pressure on guys like maybe Jonathan India to come back to form or Hunter Green,
but David Bell's a guy's like you two games short last year, you
got more talent this year. I think this is a big, big deal.
I think David Bell did a great job last season what he had,
but you're right now he's managing where there's not as many deficiencies and his individual
moves. Look, this team's margin for error is small. The division race
is likely going to be very tight. If the Reds make the playoffs,
chances are it's only going to be by a couple of games. So there's
so much more of a premium on the manager pressing the right button. I
come back to the bullpen, where a manager really makes a name for himself.
I think is how do they manage the seventh, eighth, and ninth
inning. What David Bell had to do last year was often good to the
bullpen in the fifth inning. It's really hard to ask the manager to do
that. So if the starting pitching can give this team on average eighteen outs,
David Bell I think has enough relievers to get through the last nine.
I think the other thing is I talked about this with Sam Lequier. The
chemistry last year was awesome. Does it carry over? I think the manager
has a major role in that too. My hold that thought. We'll get
a time out in We're live with the Holy gral Banks and smarting. It's
opening day twenty twenty four. The weather's absolutely freaking delicious. The field looks
great or ready for some baseball, beers Burgers, Wings, brons Hot.
Do you cannot beat in it? Who needs meats? We all need meats.
Seven hundred WLW Hi, this is Bronson or Royal. Opening Day happens
on the Home of the Reds. Seven hundred WLW. When you're ready for
a haircut, check in online at supercuts dot com. Get a great deal
on first road pros at high lift road dot com. Take me out to
the Bowl game. Welcome to Opening Day twenty twenty four. Scott Sloan Moegar
live at the Holy Grail Banks taking up to a four ten start today and
summer starts in just a few hours. Is brought to you by RNL Carrier
seven hundred ww Opening Day Broadcast Live the Holy Grail, presented by your Greater
Cincinnati Toyota Dealers, Ortho Cincy Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, and by Cruise Development,
Live from the Cincinnati Tax Resolution Area, powered by Tave Sheldon. We
are here with Charlie Frank, the executive director of the Reds Community Fund.
It's like an annual thing with you, isn't it. It is the state
of the Union, It's the state of the What's the state of the Community
Fund, Senator, the state of the Community Fund is strong. Good,
All right, sounds fair enough. He congratulations. I know you won a
weight major award suitable for framing last year from the Commissioner of Major League Baseball,
The Bud Sealig Award for Philanthropic Excellence went to you and the rcfteam.
Yeah, that was the Thanks for bringing that up, Sloany, that was
a nice moment for us. Yeah, you know, I mean it's work
that we have done for a long time, and you know, so we
aren't exactly sure those metrics how it works, but you know what, you'll
take the hardware. Yeah, right, absolutely, Yeah, it's and you
know what, there are a lot of teams that are raising a tremendous amount
of money and doing incredible work. So, you know, to be recognized
as the a is one of the best is is a great honor and it's
a tribute to obviously a lot of people our staff board, the Reds leadership
who are so committed to what this mission is and it it was a nice
moment. Good. Why we'd have to play that music like the oscars when
you're a checking something the hell up? You know, it's awesome. You
and I talked about the initiatives you guys have all year long. But it's
it's cool to me when when folks here Red's Community Fund, whether they be
volunteers, players, former players, folks in the community, people show up.
It's a real, real testament to you. And you you're you're yeah,
it's nice. I mean, it's I appreciate that. Mo. You
know, this block party that our staff has out there, been out there
virtually all night setting up for I mean, it's become a staple. It's
become a layer, irreplaceable layer of Opening Day. It's one of the images.
I mean, if they're showing a picture of Opening Day in Cincinnati a
lot of times, it's the aerial of the Community Fund's charity block party.
We launched that in twenty twelve to help raise money for our still best in
class, the Reds Youth Academy. And you know, the revenue from this
event continues to help our operations, and we're dedicating a renovated field there and
later in April. So you know, it's the work is complicated, you
know, and you know, growing the game and helping neighborhoods and building fields
and doing the right things. It's complicated, requires a lot of fundraising coordination,
but you know, I think the point of the block party being a
you know, a community fund contribution to opening day. I think people do
kind of recognize the brand now and they see our logo on ball fields,
and hopefully the mission is simple enough that people that congrasp it that we need
to invest in the game. Charlie Frank what's the count now? How many
fields? How many renovations? Oh my goodness. You know, we've been
to over five hundred diamonds since the casteline has arrived in two thousand and six
and really highlighted this as a big part of the mission. We've really tried
to scale it back because instead of maybe making a two thousand and five thousand
dollars contribution to a field that might need one hundred thousand dollars, we're really
trying to build more partnerships and install more synthetic fields. We're going to be
celebrating one in Augusta, Kentucky on April sixteenth. We've got another field dedication
at the Academy with our stadium field. On April twentieth, we're going to
be doing one in bond Hill this year. That'll be dedicated in August,
and then Marty Brenneman Field at Jules Park and Anderson Township is getting a new
synthetic surface at Anderson Parks is leading, but we're a part of that and
that'll be dedicated probably late April's. This is going to be the first opening
day without Joey Vado in a Red's uniform, and there have been a number
of tributes, you know, ever since it was announced that he's not going
to come back, and obviously we're all wishing for him to have a great
season with the Toronto Blue Jays, but kind of take us through the way
that Joey ingrained himself with the work that you guys do while he was here.
You know, I don't as much work as Joey has done to tell
his story on social media the last handful of years to his credit. I
still think a lot of Reds fans don't necessarily realize what a fixture he was
at our academy. And he wouldn't come out there for media, and most
of the time he made it known that he didn't run any media. He
was there to work. And he also and you guys will probably you know,
understand his thinking here. I mean he he would tell us too,
I don't want you to stop practice. I don't want it to be a
fifteen minute fly by where people take photos. And he was happy to take
photos. Afterwards, he said, I want to come and work. I
want to be there and help. And he got to know some of the
coaches and he, you know, he to say that he was an integral
part of our twenty one senior boys team winning their first championship still our only
RBI title is an understatement. He sent me a video at about two in
the morning to show that team before they played at nine in the morning in
Vero Beach, Florida, and to hear from those kids and those coaches what
that video meant on the bus. And then that was twenty one, so
you know, we didn't have any activities on the field that year due to
COVID restrictions. Still, Joey went up into the stands with them to celebrate.
The very next day when they came back to show off the World Series
and be a part of the Reds pregame, he went into the stands to
be with them and because a lot of those kids were leaving for college right
away. I mean, these are moments that you know, those young men
and women will never forget. I think too with Joey is he's just that
guy and after his career has done whatever that is Toronto and beyond that.
I hope that the organization, if not the community, if I'm able to
somehow get him back into the picture because what he means in the city to
Cincinnati baseball, but because of stuff like this. I mean, it'd be
such a great ambassador for baseball, but in particularly the Cincinnati regilarter say,
yeah, you know what, And I'm so curious to see where he goes.
Yeah, and I don't know broadcast, but he could do a lot
of stuff he could. It's sort of like when Bronson retired, if Bronson
wanted to coach, If Bronson wanted to broadcast, you would have had job
offers there. I'm sure Joey will as well. I could see Joey,
you know, going off the grid for a while, you know, I
could see that, sure, I hope not Where is the guy you just
yeah whatever you had never happened to Yeah, I mean, he's been in
this grind for twenty years, for guys that don't have to stay in this
grind and have earned their way out of it for a while. All the
all the credit in the world. You know, this team is so young
and so many guys came up last year made a big impact on the field.
So when when you have a young team like this, is there do
you have to work a little bit harder to explain to these guys, Look,
this is a part of the club, is a part of what we
do, and here's how you can help. You know, that's a great
question, mo, and I got to give credit to manager David Bell.
He gave us the opportunity down in a good year in February to present to
the team, and you know, and we had an opportunity over a few
days there and then again in March to visit with each individual player. So
you know, we've already got great traction. I mean, guy like Will
Benson is so committed to our mission. He was out at the Academy for
a couple of events last year. We've had a number of guys, whether
it's you know, Steer and McClain and Freeley was out at the Academy for
an event last year. So I think they're getting, you know, getting
the point awfully quickly, and as you could ascertain, it's it's an incredibly
grounded, humble, easy group of guys to work with. So we think
we're going to have tremendous traction there all right. Opening Day twenty twenty four
on the Home of the Red seven hundred WW Scott's Loan, along with mo
Egger and Charlie Fak from the Reds community, find here for a little while
longer talking about everything Reds Baseball and the mission behind the scenes, because it's
such an important thing you guys have been doing to the point where other teams
are copering what you're doing. What is the split the pot up to today?
Do we have a number on? It was up to seventy six It
was seventy thousand when I arrived this morning early, and last check it was
already over seventy six thousand, so it's growing. I mean, our STEP's
done a great job. We've added this year are some early bird prizes we've
been given away, like an Ellie signed ball. This week we are giving
away a Jonathan India signed City Connect Jersey around the first pitch today and if
you win that prize, you're still entered in the drawing for the jackpot,
which we hope we'll get up to about two hundred thousand dollars today. So
it's it's you know, we're not the only team that really utilizes, you
know, a fifty to fifty raffle for the greater good. I don't know
where we'd be without this from a fundraising standpoint. We're so grateful to Reds
fans for being a part of it. And you know, back in twenty
nineteen, fortunately we finally cracked the code and went online and allowed for credit
card sales, because if that hadn't been the case in twenty twenty, right,
right, we would have been stuck splitting any polit And make sure today
because it's a block party, you look around, there's gonna be all sorts
of volunteers from the community fund get to split the pow ticket. Absolutely,
watch that thing get up. It's gonna be huge today. Or if you're
listening and you're over the age of eighteen and in the state of Ohio,
when you play, you can go to Red's fifty to fifty dot com.
Uh and we have a jackpot going all the time. Well after today's drawing.
We start drawing at the end of every home series, you know,
and this is a chance for us to maybe shame him because you know I
worked Split the Pond DoD last year. Celebrity. At least we can maybe
get Sloany. I'll do it with them. Well, I'll have to let's
go, Okay, get it down. Absolutely. She had me yesterday in
the show or Monday, rather talking about on hot dogs, you should have
like like celebrity hot dog vendors yelling and what would your what would the hook
be? You know about wanting meat and stuff like that. God, I'm
down. I think we'll stick this flick. Who needs me? But they
do? You give you a megaphone. That's the best part. Yeah.
I like having the megaphone. It is fun. Yeah, it's a good
time. Charlie Frank from the Redgs Community Fund, I've been doing this for
a long time and honored last year from Major League Baseball. Is the premier
philanthropic organization in Major League Baseball for twenty twenty three. Is fantastic And you
know we got the Red Legs run you the poker tournament at Red's Fast and
you're just so much more anything new you're adding this year, you know,
not something new necessarily, but I did want to mention too. Mike's Car
Wash has been doing a promotion with us, and they've been doing it now
for over ten years. It has raised It's raised phenomenal money for us.
And if you go to Mike's Car Washing any Tuesday or Wednesday, they will
get five dollars out their top two watches and then on Wednesday for those watches,
a dollar goes to the REDS Community Fund. So that's something for anybody
could do. At forty locations of Mike's Car Washer out the region, so
we're grateful for them. Charlie Frank, executive director, Redg's Community Fund,
no better organization and Cincinnati. It's been tied to baseball obviously, but the
stuff that you guys do behind the scenes is incredible. I'm glad the MLB
has recognized it and you had so much more to our city than could be
expected. Thanks Buddy for salting Monny, Thanks so much. Mo really appreciate
it absolutely. All right, we'll get a break in and check news and
then when we return coming up later this morning, like next hour, Sean
Casey, the mayor will hold Mayor's Court right here, at this very table,
on the home of the Red seven hundred WW Cincinnati Beacon Orthopedics and Sports
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Kenneton Way Back. RNL Carriers partner with a family owned LTL provider at RLC
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Kentucky Toyota Dealer. Find current offers at Toyota dot com. Ortho Cincinnati Orthopedics
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dot com. We're at the Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tope Sheldon Broadcast Area,
Live from the Holy Grail Banks. This is seven hundred WLW, the
home of the Cincinnati Reds. Welcome to it Scott's loan along with Moe Egger
from ESPN fifteen thirty. Here on the Big One, the home of the
red seven hundred WLW summer beginning at four to ten today, Frankie Montas gets
the ball and hopefully the Reds walk away with a win. All rise because
the Mayor's Crop is now in session. Yes, the Honorable Yes Sean casey
oh Man, oh yay, oh yay, oh yay. It is so
good to be I mean, look at the fans out here. Already ready
to roll. I mean, oh, so great, it's awesome, so
grateful to be back here in Cincinnati, and like I think, the buzz
being at Redsfest this year and seeing the buzz with this team, it's real.
And to see the crowd out here already. I know, I was
in my hotel room right here at jac I swear to god, six am.
Somebody was like, here we going six am. They're starting already,
so let's go. Well, here's what I'm excited about. Frankie Montass's pitching.
We got him out of those ugly Yankee pins frights, and we got
you out of those ugly yeah right, well listen. I was like,
it was like Red Central was with Aaron Boone. We were kind of like,
you know, so it was my dad work out for him. It's
hard to believe twenty six years Opening Day ninety eight, we trade our opening
day starter, Dave Burba, and we're gonna get Sean Casey from the Indians.
At my dad and I are going to the game, and I can't
quote what he says specifically, but he goes, who the blank is Sean
Casey? And twenty six years later, you're a Reds Hall of Famer,
You're a legend. You're back. It's unbelivas for twenty six years. Wow,
incredible, How time flies? You have a twenty three year old young
bluck back then, and yeah, it's a crazy you know, just thinking
back to that time, you know, getting traded from the Indians to the
Reds on opening Day. Yeah, just really turned out to be the greatest
thing that could ever happened in my career. And you know, playing here
for eight years, and you know, I always I was just over at
the Red's Hall of Fame walking through with Rick Walls coming over this way,
and uh, I honestly have so much gratitude for this city, in this
in this organization. That the fact that I got a chance to play,
which I think is the greatest storied organization in in uh in major League Baseball,
you know, the first ever organized uh you know, baseball team.
And I'm just so grateful that I'm I'm part of this legacy. That's awesome.
And Red's Hall of Famer too, three time All Star for the Red
Legs, and I know that you know, no one you not want to
talk about this, but I know you're also here to do a little work
with the team because I guess you're working with la ed La Cruzy. You
need to get him out of the box faster when he's running. Maybe if
you can get like, I don't know, yeah, three miles an hour
faster because I know people don't think about it, but you're sneaky quick.
Yeah, yeah, you're sneaky. That's a big thing, is that day
La Cruzman. I we at the same speed. So when I look at
him, I'm like, I relate to him. Yeah, he hits the
ball in the gap and gets the third. Yeah, yeah, how to
stretch it out? So Dimitri Young's in town. Yeah, I just saw
that. Helchy Reese here. So now you talk about going back twenty five
years ago, cherished team then reds Yes, so what memory comes up first?
Like the season itself, not Game one sixty three. I work with
Alt Lighter. I still tell them I still hate you. I still hate
you so nasty that day, you know that team. I have a podcast
called The Mayor's Office, and I have a lot of the guys on it
from that time, and I always ask guys from that team like they've played
elsewhere, And every guy of that team probably has played elsewhere, and I
said, hey, what was your favorite team? You know, and to
a man, everyone says that ninety nine Reds team. There was just something
about Greg Vaughan and Barry Larkin and Pete Harnish and Denny Nagel and the veteran
guys and then you know, and then me and Pokey and Dimitri and Boonie
and and there were just so many and we just messed so incredible that summer.
And I really feel, as a matter of fact, I feel like
this team has kind of some of that vibe, some veteran guys, a
lot of great young players that the Reds have developed. And you know,
there's something about last year with that energy they had, that youth, full
enthusiasm kind of brought this city alive and the crowd started coming out and selling
them that place out. So you know, when I see this team now
and I think about that ninety nine Reds team, I just see a lot
of similarities. Yeah, it's to go again. The Mayor Sean Casey on
the show this morning on seven hundred WW live from Holy Grail Holding Court in
the Mayor's office for a little while anyway, Yeah, I mean, you
think of that ninety nineteen and it was so long ago, and you know
the playoff running all that stuff. And I know you just had recently Matt
McClain on the podcast, right, Yeah, and you guys get you get
in depth about hitting and stuff like that. You see a guy like that,
obviously you see'son not starting the way we wanted to with the injuries and
stuff like that. Talk about that relationship and talking to him and what you
learn from Matt McLain. What kind of guy is he? Yeah, Matt
McLean's a great guy. I have such a great That podcast was so great,
you know, our talking and I love talking hitting with him because I
mean, you talk about a student of the game. I always feel like
the guys that are the best players up here, they got a philosophy.
There. There's a podcast will listen to if you want to learn him by
hitting and thank you. It's like it's like you it's like a graduate course.
I love talking the guys. I love talking about the mental side of
the game. But Matt, Matt talking about Hey, when I'm at my
best, I try to hit the low line, drives to the opposite way
and then opens up the pool side for me. But you know, just
to hear how much he loves the game, and and and and his his
enthusiasm for this team in this city. You know, it's a bummer that
he's hurt. But at the end of the day, I mean, you
know, this is a game and you gotta grind sometimes. I mean,
at times you're gonna be injured at times, you know, but you just
got to keep bouncing back. And you know, obviously hopefully, you know,
Maddy McClain comes back sooner than later. But that I mean, the
Reds are very very fortunate. A great job drafting that guy, yea,
and they gotta, they gotta, they got a star player. For a
long time. We talked Elie de la Cruz. He comes up and he
hit everything. September he couldn't hit anything. So the league caught up to
him, right, walk us through the adjustment that now he has to make
to the league adjusting to him. Yeah, I think the biggest thing the
big leagues that you can't teach experience. This isn't triple A, this isn't
double A. This is the big leagues. These guys are the sharks,
They're the one percenters. There's a reason these guys are here, there's a
there's not a break. There's not a break when you're facing guys in the
mound, there's not a break. I mean you're facing top notch guys and
the best in the business. So I think, what tough phil you do?
It make? So yeah, So I think the biggest thing with with
with Ellie is that, Yeah, it's that adjustment back right, So you
start to realize how they're pitching you. You know, what are they throwing
your early? Are they trying to wipe you out? Are they trying to
get ahead with the heater? Are they trying to wipe you out with their
secondary pitches? And where are they pitching you? Do you have a hole
in it? Can? Can they execute there? So I think the greatest
thing about a guy like Elie de la Cruz, he's had so much success
in the minors that shows a lot for me, like, well, how
he's going to be in the big leagues And this guy's tool set is unmatched.
I think if you look at Ronald Acuna who went forty seventy last year,
the only other guy I think you have a chance to do that might
be Ellie Dela I mean, just with how fast he is and the kind
of power he has, so I think he's gonna gonna adjust. I really
think Mo, he's gonna be a superstar in this game. Well you're I
mean last year looking at on the Reds change. But we were talking at
the opening segment MO and I about how he changed the entire dynamic of the
team. He comes on and was just a force multiplier for this club,
but especially Disruptor, and everyone started playing like, yeah, I've never seen
that. Yeah, Oh, I think there's a the energy's real. Yeah.
And when you get a guy like day La Cruz that was so hot
and Miners and the Reds brought him up at the perfect time to kind of
spark that run. Uh you know the guy's feed off it. Yeah,
especially especially at that time of year where you know you're kind of you're you're
like, oh my gosh, we got a three months left, and then
you bring up a young stud like that that you know, and there's something
about guys that can run too. I remember, like playing with Dion or
playing with uh, Jacoby Ellsbury when I played with him in Boston. Some
of the like Pokey Bees, some of the guys that can really run.
Man, they hit a ball, it sparks something. So when you have
those kind of guys in your team and you watch Elliott, didn't you don't
you agree? Whenever you'd see him hit one in the gap, You're like,
oh, here we go, you know, so triple triple yeah,
and so yeah, it was great to see the spark that he brought for
this club last year. Well, and the brand of ball they played,
you know, taking advantage of the rule changes where you can you can even
steal some bags now right, Yeah, maybe not. Maybe he led the
league in bags stolen, forcing the issue, going for first to third,
the aggressiveness that they played with, I think really it made it fun to
watch. But you can tell the guys really enjoy being you know, hey,
look we want you to run, want you to force the issue,
want you to force the defense to make a play, right, I think.
I think David Bell does a great job with a One thing I love
about Belly. I had a chance to be with his dad when I first
came up in the big legues with the Indians, and just that old school
mentality, and that's what I love about David Bell is that like, hey,
we're gonna run, We're gonna run in guys' faces. We're gonna go
first to third, We're gonna take the extra base, We're gonna do small
ball, We're gonna have we have to find ways to win every night.
So I love that David Bell is that mentality to this team, and I
think they all bought in case rubber or front of mount I've gotta go to
the rubber, baby, Yeah, to the hill, to go to the
hill, to the top. God, please do better than Mark Mallory.
Oh my god, it would get me out of the Hall of Fame if
I can't throw a better mayor pitch than Mark Mallery. The pressure's real,
folks, the pressure is real. Case great to see you, see you
guys, man, appreciate brother, follow him at the Mayor's office. You
got the podcast, and of course today he is your Sarah Muller first pitch
guy. Home of the Reds seven hundred W. Well, glad to see
you, guys, Thank you. Opening Day happens on the Home of the
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the parade of celebrities continue, Moegger, this is awesome. Ninety nine to
two thousand and one era Reds. This is awesome. This is cool,
Pokey Reason, Dmitri Young here, how you doing? Hell? What's of
that law? Right? Happy Opening Day? Damn, I'll welcome back to
back, come back, Holos. Last time you guys are here. Oh
probably later last year I was home in summertime. We did a fantasy camp
thing up here, so I came back to that for me. Over a
couple of years, I was doing the home based program at the Urban Youth
Academy with Charlie Frank. Charlie was here earlier talking about that and the great
stuff that they've done. And I mean, it's fantastic to see younger people
get into baseball, especially in the urban areas. We need that, You
need that, and guys look up to you. So that's that's awesome,
all right, Dmitri Young is part of Opening Day history. There are three
players in the history of the Big Leagues, okay, who have three Opening
Day home runs in the same game. Now it's four and now hour,
so we got last ties. Toughie Roads, Matt Davidson. Yep, to
meet you, Young, Yes, give me the fourth, the fourth and
the very first person was George Bell. George Bell did Toronto Blue Days.
It was with the Tigers two thousand and five. But what a memory.
Oh yes it was, and my memory is fading fast. All right,
all right, smart guy, you got any Opening Day trivia for for Punk,
for Pokey on Opening Day? Do we have to you got a sense
of humor Pulk? Of course? Four errors Opening Day nineteen ninety seven.
Yes, yes, I definitely remember that day. I remember it too because
I was booing you and saying, get get this guy. Do we the
Tracy Jones Worst Opening Day awardslier for the Reds but it only got better from
there, Yes, exactly, yeah, right exactly. I had to go
ahead work better and that's what I did. So, you know, last
our case was just did you guys get you meet up? Yeah? All
right, that's that's that'd be cool to be getting back together going. Man,
you know, we're old heads now, and it's like it seems like
just yesterday every down playing here right right, and we've all made it this
far exactly. Yeah, it's awesome. Let's talk a little bit about this
team and and I mean starting out of the gate here with the injuries that
that's always gonna be hard coming out of camp. Question for you guys,
because you know you played the game a while. You know, I heard
the rumblings this year with the Reds injuries that spring training is too long,
that that you need to shorten spring training because guys are coming in in much
better shape today they did when you guys were coming up so much more.
They're working with trainers and coaches and everything year round. Does Pokey, does
opening day need be I'm sorry, does spring training need to be shortened a
little bit? Maybe then if the season longer, or give a couple of
days and I'm sure the playoffs is like that. Yeah, they would contract,
they want to get paid. But yeah, like I said, these
kids are coming in and say they got they have own personal trainers, So
I mean, why not. They're making all these rule changes, why not
change it for them? You know? Yeah? Yeah, And it just
seems like I know it's just a redsting. But you look around Major League
Baseball. There's been some injuries in spring and g mean, do you think
that's that's part of this too? Well, I mean it's been talked about
forever. Yeah, that spring training is too long. They're talking about shorten
it, but yeah, it hadn't been shortened yet. And they're also starting
games a lot quicker too. You guys report and two days later they're already
starting game. We would at least have a week or a week and a
half of just training and getting ground balls and hidden before we actually started game.
So they're starting to games a lot quicker. And yeah, I mean,
I mean you're talking almost two hundred games in six months. That's a
lot. That's a lot of baseball. It is, so this tea Seawan
was talking about it before a lot of comparisons to the ninety nine squad,
which we all loved, ninety six wins. Do you do you guys see
those similarities between this bunch and that team you guys had twenty five years ago.
If they show that they have an identity as a team that it didn't
matter who was gonna be the hero that day. That was the mentality that
we had because we were supposed to be a fourth place team that year,
and we stumped everybody's ass, and it didn't matter who it was gonna be.
It was gonna be Greg Vaughan one day, ok, Doll, Sean
Casey, myself, Jeffrey Hammond. Somebody was gonna be the hero that day,
and everybody took took that upon themselves to I'm gonna be a hero.
I remember that September Sunday afternoon, the poke, the homer of the walk
off, I think in the eleventh inning, right in the middle of that
Pennant race, which was awesome. What do you remember about that? I
remember Ricky Btalico, Yeah, Oh, he's just tried to get get me
over slider and I was just looking to get a pisty hit on the first
pitch. I didn't think it was gone, but you know, it went
out for me and it was a big, big win for the team.
Yes. Yeah, And it's been a while for Reds fans regination in ninety
nineteen. You know, we saw it happen on San Francisco flirting went the
playoffs elimination game, just hasn't gone their way. How well equipped do you
think this team is to go to the postseason? Well, I mean they
have pitching. You know, it's about pitch. For me, it's about
pitching and defense. I mean, when you play pitching a good defense,
you're gonna win games. So, I mean, they're gonna score runs.
They got a you know, guys can hit the ball out of the park,
they have speed, So I mean I wish him. I wish him
well, and you know, go get him starting today. Yeah, and
how fun is it to watching la Dayler cruise. The guy is just such
a game changer. I mean, the guy jumps in there and you're like,
holy crap. He literally changed his team just by showing up. I
never saw that before, No, nobody's seen that BeForever And it's quite impressive
to see what he can do in the entire year. Forget about the struggle
he had the second half. That's you know, that's just being a big
league. They gonna, you know, they're gonna make adjustments on you,
and it's up to him to make those adjustments. And he had a nice
off season, decent spring training, and spring train doesn't mean anything anyway.
It's gonna start as soon as this game begins today to the end of the
season. And I mean they were a couple of games from the playoffs last
year. I'm pretty sure in that locker room is playoffs or bust. Yeah,
yeah, Poky, you wish you would have played in this era where
you could only throw the first base three times? Yeah, I could take
off. I'm not saying I'm ronal A Coula, but I would have bigger
basis and you can only throw over twice. I mean, hey man,
yeah, you know why not with this team did a good job of taking
advantage of that last year with all the steals, right, So I mean,
if you know someone's just got two times to throw it and try to
get of course, I'm gonna widen my league and I'm gonna go. So
de la Cruz may break the record this night if he stays healthy, you
know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, Well, you guys came up
when a couple of years of each other. Opening Day. Take it through
your first time and he in Cincinnati, because all you hear is how special
it is here. No one does opening day like Cincinnati. You're looking at
a crowd that showed up. I think they were here at the end of
the season last year and they've been here ever since. You go to Cincinnati,
you go, wait, they got a parade, you know, I
mean, it's a whole different vibe. You guys played in other cities.
What's Cincinnati like an opening Day? Well, for me being a cardinal by
nature and then coming over here, we didn't see all of this. We
were on the field. We saw a lot of elephant dunk, worse crap,
shot sea poop, and so we didn't we didn't get the experience any
of this and get to appreciate. We got the you know, we got
the cool stuff, but y'all got this is awesome right here. But that's
what we got to see was elephant pooping and shopping poop. Yep. Pretty
much. Yeah, that was it. Nick, It's better from there.
Raised coming up in the organization, you know, I used to hear all
about opening Day and uh. I told my wife. I was like,
this is one of the biggest opening days in baseball, you know, to
me. So she's happy, you know, to be here with me.
So I can't I can't wait. I'm looking forward to guys, Pokey Reese
and Dimitri Young back together. Casey was here earlier, and it's just it's
a great reunion. Glad to see you guys. Welcome back fall, Thanks
for having me. Thank you so much, Thank you, appreciate you.
We got to get a time out in and we're continue to broadcast at twelve
oh six today. We've got Lance McAllister and Eddie Fingers for a wild and
Willie and Sagar bouncing in here too, and summer begins officially. I don't
care what the calendar says, but we've got winter, and we've got we
got baseball season two seasons in Cincinnati, and summer begins. At four to
ten today, Frankie Montaze goes to open the campaign here on the home of
the red seven hundred ww De sents, now, this is your boy,
Brandon Phillips. Opening Day happens on the Home of the Reds seven hundred WLW.
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