Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man,
I'm forty. Go ahead, make my day every single week. I
put my freaking heart and soul into this. I don't go out there and
laugh. It's not funny. Nothing's funny to me. I don't wanna go
out there and get embarrassed on Monday night football. For everybody, I think
this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. So I ain't nothing changed from
yesterday. Still the same person I was yesterday, and I got the same
thing for you that I had yesterday. You know why I'm here. You
play to win the day. You don't play to just play it. That's
a great thing about sports. You play to win. I don't care if
you don't have any wins. You go play to win. When you start
telling me it doesn't matter if you retire, get out for the matter.
Role players, they matter too. And we bring that up only because there
was a role player and a different role that a manager took. I think
that maybe many people didn't necessarily recognize and that was the difference in a Tiger's
win last night over Cleveland. Another good ballgame and another nice win for Detroit.
I don't know whether to feel frustrated or satisfied with what the Tigers have
shown us against Cleveland so far. Welcome everybody on a Thursday morning to exes
and bros. I'm Matt Shepherd. Trent Bally is our producer. We look
forward to the discussion all morning long. The Meyer hotline is open for it
as always eight six six, eight three, eight forty eight forty three.
The text line Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. It doesn't matter whether we're
talking about the topic you want to discuss. If you want to do it,
jump on board. We will shift, all right, we can pivot,
we can turn into discussing whatever it is you think is most important.
Yes, we oftentimes in the summer months, we oftentimes start with baseball.
That's because baseball's played every single night. And the Tigers were winners last night
over Cleveland five four, five three until it got really hairy in the ninth.
Walks problem, wild pitches, lack of concentration, Jake Rogers behind the
dish. But they hold on and that's the most important thing. Let's not
focus on a negative here. We've done that enough. Let's worry about what
happened, how they were able to do it. Cold Keith continues to impress
kids, hitting over four hundred over his last eleven games. How do you
not recognize that? I feel good about it when I watch him last night,
Like he hits he tried, gets off to a really good start.
In case you didn't watch it, in case you have Exfinity, couldn't watch
it or anything like that, and you're just kind of following the progress on
your phone. They get off to a good start with two runs in the
first a Keith triple scores when Silperez the Matt Verling with a sacrifice sly to
score Cold Keith. I watch Cold Keith play. I see how he's adjusted.
I see how he's gained confidence. You have two and he's not a
finished product by any stretch of the imagination. We know he's betten in just
two fifty, but as I mentioned, over four hundred over the last eleven
games. When I watch him hit that triple to deep center field, I
think, MM, how are your bias? What's he thinking? Like he's
on the bench because Zach McKinstry started it. Short bias is on the bench.
He plays the day before he takes an offer. He's watching Cole Keith
catch fire. It's not like Bias hasn't done it before. He has.
He would love to find that mojo, find that rhythm, find that feel
again, can't seem to find it. But role players is how I started
the show today. And the role player is one Andy A. Banyaz.
Now do you want Andy Banyaz starting at second base or third base or maybe
right field, positions which he's played. Do you want him starting everything?
Relate? Nope, I don't, But I do love how he accepts his
role and embraces it. It's a part time starter. He'll come in and
pitch in situations. And last night he came through on a one two pitch.
He drilled his third home run of the year to left field. It
made it five to three. And then in the ninth Cleveland played one and
had the tying run and game winning run actually or the go ahead run at
second base, had two runners on second and third, one more key swing
by a Cleveland guardian and look out right, then you and I are talking.
You and I are in a different mood. We might be in a
foul mood, but I see the way they played last night, and granted
it's just their forty fourth win. They're still under five hundred to home.
But I see the way they played last night, I think, damn,
where's that bin? Where have those battles in the batter's box bin? You
can't blame Matt Vierling. Matt Vierling's had a really nice season so far.
Now, granted it's two forty six, it's got a career high twelve.
Therein lies part of the issue for me as I watch the game and I'm
thinking, hmm, why is it? And I like him a lot,
by the way, this is what aj Hitch is forced to do. He
is forced to try so many different lineups. See, when you have,
as you and I have talked about all season long, when you have everyday
players, what you get is you get guys slotted into familiar and comfortable positions,
not just defensively, but you're able to do that offensively too. With
your lineup, you know a certain guy is going to be leading off,
you know a certain guy is going to be a bat in second and third,
and so on and so forth. It's a relief for a manager,
it's a confidence for a team. Matt Vierling has batted first, second,
third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh this year, do you know,
he's batted leadoff more than any other spot. And then last night he
was forced into because of this team situation batting third. Riley Green was your
cleanup hitter and he went to for four. So good for the All Star.
That is not the ideal. That is not the ideal situation. That
is not how this team is supposed to be built. Matt Vierling on a
really good team is a contributor, There's no doubt about that. I bet
you a ton of teams would love to have him, whether you're playing third
base, right field, center field, A lot of teams would love to
have him. But they would love to have him batting sixth seventh more oftentimes
than not not batting leadoff and not batting third. But it did work out
for the Tigers last night in a nice win, and they got a chance
to win the series from the division leaders later on today. So that's great.
And Jack Flaherty's going to throw for Detroit. That's that's really good news.
In the eighth inving Andie Banyez digs in as a pinch hitter. Now
I told you Cole Keith and how well he has played over the last eleven
games, or so I think. And this is part of in the Den
that I recorded and you'll hear it later on this morning. We don't always
recognize those key decisions made by managers or coaches in a game. We're too
busy celebrating the home run woo one two pitch, flyball deep left field,
their ghosts three run homer negative too, chep. A lot of people want
to just negativity cells and they just want to look on the dark side,
if you know what I mean. Oh, sure, absolutely, That's why
you know I didn't necessarily want it straight into the negative. It's a feel
good moment. It's a nice win for them. Last night, the cole
Keith had the triple, his second of the year. He drives in a
run, he scores a run, he's hitting the ball really well. And
yet in the eighth inning, in a leadoff spot, aj Hinch goes to
his bench. He goes to Andy a Banyez against the lefty. Granted,
part of a matchup, but it's more than a matchup. It's a feeld
thing for him because he's got other options. He could go one Bayez,
He's got other options on his bench. He goes with Andy a Bonyez not
a home run hitter by any stretch. It's his third bomb of the year
that proves to be the difference. Guy's willing to accept his role and to
do it with a smile. Manager's got to feel as well as the matchup.
There was a combination there and it ends in a win. Have this?
Where has this been? All season long? Meyer Hotline is open for
you. We welcome the feedback eight sixty six, eight three, eight forty
eight forty three. A little later on, Jim Capperoni from Spartan mag will
join us eight thirty five. We'll talk a little MSU football as we get
geared up and football creeps a little bit closer on exies and Bros. The
Super Sale is back this Friday and Saturday only at Meyer. Shop for summer
get togethers and find super low prices on favorites like fresh from Meyer, boneous
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See all deals in store and in the Meyer app. Bill Simonson here for
my good friend Josh Garvey. Now he's a managing shareholder at Dorn Mayhew's Grand
Rapids office. The world headquarters are in Troy, Michigan, on the east
side of the state, and they have locations all around the world. They
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with one of the top CPA accounting you remember uncomfortable you're in Michigan world a
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world a little bit. Dorn Mayhew sign. You can find out more just
google Dorn Mayhew. That's Doe ri n m A y h w Ordorn dot
com. They're one of Americas and the worlds top CPA accounting and business firms.
They're Dorn Mayhew Coming up later today at three on the Huge Show in
the Michigan Sports Network, I'll deliver huge opinions on everything you're talking about.
Eighteen after the Hour, Welcome Back Exues and Bros. Monday through Friday from
six until nine. The Meyer Hotline is always open for you eighty six y
six eight three eight forty eight forty three, and we'd love when you text
the program Sports Radio to twenty one thousand. Is how you get involved.
You can get involved in a lot of different ways, and we welcome it.
Whether you're in Cadillac or Grand Rapids or Pataski or Charlotvoi or Travers City.
Jump on board and thanks for being part of this Thursday morning. We
do have a poll question for you, and we do have an answer to
yesterday's poll question that we'll give you in the eight o'clock hour. Our poll
question today, and you can vote as often as you like on our Facebook
pre Exes and Bros, or follow us on Twitter or on x at XB
mornings. Here it is now. This may seem a little unique, and
the reason I did I don't want to give you a tigers or red Wings
or pistons or Lions or Michigan Michigan State pull question every single day. I'd
like to try and find out a little bit more about who our listeners are.
There's not as much going on in sports today. I get Wimbledon's going
on. I know the Scottish Open is upon us. I get all that.
The NBA Summer League. Are you into that at all? There were
four games last night Dalton connect had twenty for the Lakers. Bronnie James,
who everybody wants to talk about, was horrible. Period. There's no other
way to describe it. Horrible. Maybe you're into the WNBA, I don't
know. Are you into soccer at all? The Copa America is the European
Championships. Are you following Columbia? I doubt it. They've won twenty eight
straight matches that started back in twenty twenty two. It's an unbelievable run and
they're into the finals against Argentina. Are you into the Copa Americas? I
don't know. That's part of the poll question to try and get to know
you. Which of these events are you most interested in? You may be
shaking your head, you may be laughing so hard you're crying. You may
be angry at are you serious? I'm just wondering the euro Soccer Championships,
Wimbledon, the Scottish Open, the NBA Summer League. Which of these events
are you most interested in? Notice I did not include none of the above,
Trent Valley? Should I have included none of the above? Well?
I think that's an interesting question because you and I were talking the other day
about how if people aren't watching baseball, what are they watching? Right?
I think this is a good way to find out. I don't really subscribe
to the idea that people are taking a sports sabbatical and they're just out on
the lake for three months straight and not watching any sports. Really, see,
I believe just the opposite. I think they are. I think there's
a lot of people who separate themselves right now. They wouldn't be if the
Tigers record was just the opposite of what it is. Well, that's just
it for me. Is I think people might tune out of the Tigers,
but they still got to watch something. Sports people are sports people, you
know. But you're not going to shove things down the throat. So that's
the reason I bring this up. Do you, with all due respect to
the WNBA Do you think they're watching the WNBA? Do you think they're watching
Asia Wilson get a twenty twenty the second player in Ace's history and the first
player in the history of the league to do it. Do you think they're
watching that? If they're not watching Caitlin Clark, then probably not WWBA.
All right, So these are some of the things that were taking place yesterday.
You've reached the final four at the All England Club, but that's during
the day. Do you think they're engrossed in that? No? Okay,
I bring up the Soccer Championships. Are they sticking around watching those games yesterday
or dv R ing them? Do you think they're doing that at all?
Oh my gosh, look at what happened to the Netherlands. England beat them
two to one. So it's now England and Spain. Do you think that's
the case. It's a good matchup. But no, I'm with you,
it is a good matchup. That's not happening. The Scottish Open hasn't happened
yet. Golf perhaps, I mean, I watch it, you watch it.
I love playing it. I'm pissed that I can't right now because of
a herniated disc. But I watch it. Do you think they're it's possible.
Well, I'll be honest. I think golf and tennis, which are
two options in the poll question which you can vote on, I think those
are the two that are kind of carrying the load right now for sports,
if you will. And look, this is a bit of a unique summer
sheep. We'll talk in a couple of weeks here. The Olympics are coming
up. Summer Olympics. Well, there you go, and that leads to
the next and that is the fact that Team USA was a winner last night
over Canada. Did you watch the game at all? First exhibition games?
Saw the highlights? Okay, I watched it. Team USA fell behind early,
they didn't shoot the ball very well, but they did beat Canada,
who's got some really good players. I mean Shae Gilgus Alexander to mention one
of them. It's a good team. Canada is a good team, and
they're in a tough, tough bracket. They've got Yannis and company to try
and deal with so in Greece, and they've got others. But Team USA
has got you know, they've got a really easy bracket. They've put together
for some reason. The Olympic Committee has put together in the bracket with Canada,
three maybe four really really difficult teams to match up against, and teams
that could threaten Not that they will, but if there's any team to threaten
them, it would be one of those teams from that group to threaten the
USA for gold. Speaking of Team USA, how surprised were you that Kawhi
Leonard won't be going to Paris because of a knee injury. The belief is
that the Clippers made the call, not the US team, but the Clippers
his NBA team, and Derek White of the Celtics takes his place on the
team. Derek White average fifteen points five assists per game for the world champion
Celtics. Yeah, the surprise there, SHEP is the latter part of what
you talked about, that Derek White got the call, not that Kawhi got
hurt. I think we're all used to that at this point, or that
the Clippers made the call and maybe it's just precautionary, but SHEP, let
me throw this at you. There are three champion Boston Celtics on this Team
USA roster, not one of them as Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, right,
that's what surprised me. Yeah, I didn't mean to pose the question,
like, are you surprised that Kawhi Leonard is out? No, I'm the
biggest surprise of the whole news is that Derek White takes his place. Did
you see the tweet from Jalen Brown? It's three emojis of the face and
like almost like the magnifying glass over an eye, very you know, cryptos.
Yeah, and that's his team mate. So that's a that's a tough
thing. You can't go too far into it. But don't kid yourself.
He's at home right now going really, are you kidding me? You're going
to take Why do you think that was? Why would the USA Selection committee
take? And I like you know this, We talked about this during the
playoffs. Why would they take Derek White instead of Jylen Brown? I have
I have a theory on this. There's not enough basketballs to go around right
on that team, There's there's so many players who are used to it and
being the guy right well, I think they wanted a guy who is willing
to accept a certain role and accept limited minutes. There's twelve spots on the
team. I think what they're saying is they're building the team right. Very
few NBA champions run a twelve man rotation. I'm just using that as a
benchmark because one of these guys in the Olympics is only going to play five
six minutes a game. Maybe that's Derek White now exactly. I think that's
what it is too, that they were There's a part of you that looks
at it and you're like, Okay, I'm surprised. But the executive director,
Grant Hill, remember what he said. He said, I'm trying to
build a team, okay, and I'm trying to win, so I need
to put together the right pieces that fit and still give us a chance to
win. It was an interesting decision when we come back. Another interesting comment
or article the first half grades by ESPN. Where do you think the Tigers
sit? What grade did they get? Did they get it right? And
if it's not right, what would you give them? That? And more?
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five after the hour, in the third hour of program this morning, Jim
Camperoni from Spartan mag is going to join us. Looking forward to that conversation
that'll be at eight thirty five here on this Thursday morning. Tiger is a
one run winner. Last night's team USA wins in an exhibition game against Canada.
Derek White takes the place of the injured Kawhi Leonard headed to Paris.
The hero in that Tigers game were many. You like it when a lot
of different people are contributing. But andy A Binya is coming off the bench.
I thought, what was interesting with andy A Banyas with a home run,
the leadoff home run in the eighth on a one to two pitch he
actually fell in an O two hole. I think the interesting thing about that
is how I always marvel at how people go about their business. I don't
care what it is you do in life. That doesn't matter to me.
What matters most to me is the kind of person you are, how you
treat people, things of that nature. I don't care what you do for
a living. I gotta be honest with you. I don't know what most
of my friends do for a living. It doesn't matter. I care about
the character of the individual, and I hope they feel the same way with
me. I hope it's like, oh, you know that's my friend because
he's on radio and TV. I hope that's not the case. I love
watching people prepare. If they're good at their job, prepare for their job.
Andy A. Bonyez always shows up at the ballpark with a smile on
his face. Really good dude. I used to see him in the clubhouse
all the time and he say, how are you my friend? And fitz
Pump and how is a family move on? Right? He accepts the role.
That's not an easy thing to do. I always try to keep in
mind athletes who reach the highest level more than ninety percent of them. We're
the best player on the high school team, with the best player on their
travel team, with the best player and their college team. If they did,
if they went there among the best at the minor leagues, otherwise they're
not getting called up, right, that's a You've got to be the best
of the best to reach the highest level. Even bad teams, even the
worst teams in baseball, have some really good players. Would you take Ryan
McMahon if you if you're a baseball team right now, you need an infielder,
you need a solid player at third base. I answer me this,
would you take Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies. Yes? The answer to
that is hell, yes, absolutely, you would. Serviceable, reliable,
he can pick it at third base. He's got good pop. I know
it's in Colorado. He got fourteen bombs this year. You'd take that right
on a crappy team. He's still only twenty nine. He's durable, like
you just said, last year, played one hundred and fifty two games,
two years ago, one hundred and fifty one year before that, one hundred
and fifty one. Would you take him? Damn right, you would.
And Colorado stinks. Somebody's going to trade for Luise Robert. Somebody out there
in need is going to at least kick the tires with the Chicago White Sox
who stink and say, what would you need for Luise Robert Junior? It
is eleventh home run yesterday, mad power, great speed hose for an arm.
You got to engage him a little bit more because he seems to wander
just a little bit, not always there concentration wise, but maybe somebody can
get to him. The talent is definitely there. That team is awful.
He's really really good. So you get my point. So accepting a backup
role, a role where you're not playing every day, you don't have a
home defensively, you're not in the lineup every day. You know, when
you show up at the ballpark, you've got to look at aj Hinch putting
out his daily lineup on one of the doors that leads to the dugout that
heads out to the field and recognize whether or not you're playing. Andy Biyyas
lives that every single day. I got to check the lineup at my end,
not today, So how do you prepare for that? It's challenging.
The mindset has got to be different. So I give him a ton of
credit. Here's what he does. He goes out in the bullpen when those
guys are throwing, and Bania is usually one of the first guys of the
ballpark. He's on that first bus oftentimes, just like pitchers are. Pitchers
go out, they get their work done. They go out to the bullpen.
Andy E. Banya Is stands in, not that he's taking swings against
them, but just so he can get looks at the pitches, identifying the
fastball, identifying the slider. Here comes the curveball, good looking cutter right
there. Watch out, that's a change up. He does that for moments
like last night. Yeah, that's called stay in ready ship. Yeah,
that's called a man who goes about his business and his craft the right way.
Doesn't mean that he's always going to be successful. It doesn't mean that
he deserves more reps and he should be in there on a daily basis.
It's just how he prepares. I respect the hell out of that. He
follows off the one two fastball up and in. He gets another one to
two pitch. It's a slider up and away, flips the curveball. Home
run number three. Now there's a part of you that might say, oh,
wait a minute, if he's that good, but if he prepares that,
well, why isn't he in there every single day? Well, as
I've said this time and time again, talent does matter. There are other
guys who are just better. So you keep striving to reach that. He'll
continue to do that. In the meantime, you like what he offers to
your ball club in that role. I've said this at nauseum. Those are
the kind of guys you want to have. You want to spot start them,
You want to create a pinch hit situation for them, but you don't
want them in the lineup every single day. Good win for Detroit last night,
but it doesn't change the grade that you may have for them as you
reflect back on the first you know they haven't reached quite one hundred games yet,
but you want to. It doesn't reflect necessarily how you feel. A
one moment win doesn't reflect how you feel about the first ninety plus games.
ESPN Plus came out with their rankings of their teams. They gave them grades,
not rankings, but grades. So they say a B. You know,
you know you were in class. You're probably an L A student I
was not terrible at math, but five teams got a's. This is the
best to the best so far. Shouldn't surprise you who it was. You
and I can guess that Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee. They're the
division leaders for the most part. Kansas City primarily because they've surprised everybody.
Who's a bigger surprise. Kansas City, who was a dog a year ago,
or Cleveland, who finished ten games under five hundred, have won the
Wills Pay rules in all of baseball, and yet they're in the lead and
have the second most wins in the Amya League. I would say either one
you'd be fine with, and both deserve as so far. Kansas City,
by the way, just swept a double header yesterday, so kudos to them.
It's a fun team to watch, and it was a nice little story.
I think when you and I first started following this, you and I
thought, oh, Kansas City, good for them. You know, they're
not much, They're not much of a threat. We don't view teams like
that as a threat because we just didn't believe it. They finished last in
the division a year ago. Folks. They were thirty one games back of
the Twins last year. Fifty six up, one hundred and six down.
That was Kansas City last year. After sweeping the double header last night.
Do you know how many wins they have? Remember they had fifty six last
year. Do you know how many wins they have this year? They're at
fifty plus, right, they're fifty one. They could, legitimately, I
believe, reach the number of wins this year that they had all of last
year before the All Star Break. Yeah. I always find it fascinating to
kind of retroactively look at the over underwin totals before the season, just to
kind of see what Vegas thought and what expectations were. And the Royals were
supposed to win seventy four and a half games, said Vegas. So you
know why you think that, because Vegas is usually right. Yeah, p'd
be damn close. Right. There's a reason that they make the money they
do. Yeah, that's why I don't bet, Trent. There's a reason
I don't bet. It's because those places in Vegas they have a lot of
expensive furniture, a lot of expensive frills in their hotels and casinos. They
know what they're doing. I think every single sports gambler in America has a
bone to pick with Vegas, I would guess. So if anybody's putting money
on the Kansas City Royal, I don't know if they were or not.
Well, I'm sure Royals fans, you know, Tigers were seventy four and
a half, I'd be going to Vegas and putting money on the Tigers.
Yeah, yeah, I thought you meant before the season began. Now,
I don't know how many games they have left before the All Star break.
Maybe they can't reach it. It still doesn't take away how surprising and impressive
this has been. But I do believe before the season began, and I
even think at the beginning of the year, when Kansas City showed some consistency,
you and I collectively would have said, that's a nice story. You
know why, it's a nice story because we didn't think it was sustainable,
and we sure as hell didn't think they were a threat to Detroit. Right,
you'd say, that's a good start. Yeah, good for them showing
some progress, right with their core. Right, and now you look at
them and you go, damn, I wouldn't mind having some of those pieces,
Uh huh. Right. Kyle isbel goes yard in the second game Salvador
Perez homeward him both games. Sixteen bombs Now for Salvador Perez. They beat
you in a lot of different ways. I was watching a ton of sports
last night. I watched the Phillies game. I'm sure you did too,
because I know you love baseball. Phillies Dodgers. That's the marquee matchup of
the night. Philly beat you in so many different ways. I praised them
a lot on this show. You know why I like him. Speed.
Bryson Stott gets down the line, beats out an infield single. Trey Turner
gets an infield single that scores a run. They've got good speed man.
Witt Maryfield legs out a triple on a routine fly ball. Well, Andy
Pius lost it in the in the lights, but still the point is Witt
Mayfield put his head down a ramp. He didn't say that's a can of
corn. I'm out of here. No, put his head down, ran
hard out of the box. All the things you learned as a kid when
you were playing Little League, and all the things you're teaching young kids now
as a little league coach, whit Maerfield did. It's pretty awesome anyway,
I've digressed a little bit. Sorry. I get into that role and I
just absolutely love watching certain teams play because I like their style. No,
that's okay. And then also watching Phillies Dodgers. I mean that's one of
the marquee matchups of the season. And the Tigers get the Dodgers next.
So if you want to do a little scouting, what am on? Well?
Yeah, they play again today at six oh five. For those who
want to watch, now, I will tell you this about the Dodgers as
a immediate I start to laugh know this last ten games, no team in
baseball has had a worst a worse pitching performance than the Los Angeles Dodgers.
No team in baseball they're pitching. I saw this on the FS one broadcast
prior to the game last night. The numbers are awful. They're allowing most
home runs, their er is the worst, the whip is the worst.
They have struggled mightily, and yet they still lead the division comfortably. How
should that make Tigers fans feel? Sheep? They've got fifty five wins and
their pitching is brutal. Yeah, and they got a seven and a half
game lead, and Tigers fans are over here waving the flag for Terror School,
as they should. But we just keep banging the drum for all our
pitching's great. Doesn't seem to matter, does it. No? And that's
because we've been told. And I don't think that it's necessarily wrong, but
we've been told all our lives the pitching and defense wins championships. It's a
nice cliche. I'm not going to necessarily disagree with it, Okay, but
I say this all the time. You got to score runs, damn it.
Defense is great in football, right, Chiefs won because, I mean
their defense is really good. Their wide receivers really struggle at the beginning of
the year, leisure. In the end, Patrick Mahomes is winning the game
for you. He doesn't play defense. Yeah, and over time, the
Chiefs defense held the Niners to a field goal that was ultimately the difference,
right, sure it was. But Patrick Mahomes is pulling games out of his
rear end on a regular basis in order for them to get there. Yep,
Boston plays really good defense. Indiana plays really good defense in the NBA.
Guess what. They also score a lot, Dallas. Perhaps their lack
of defense was a reason they didn't win the championship, but their offense is
the reason they got there in the first place. So I don't mind the
cliches. I use them too, and I think they are appropriate. But
you must be able to score well. You also got to be realistic about
it. You can draw as many sports parallels as you want. We're Big
ten people. Ship. We see Iowa every single year rolled through the Big
Ten West with that great defense, and then what get throttled by a better
team in the Big Ten East because they can't move the damn football. They
can't score period. Their punter is the best player on the team. And
I'm not being flippant saying that. No, ye him. Look, we
had the interview earlier this year with Tim Lester, their new offensive coordinator.
I gave him a statistic that blew his mind. He didn't know about it.
The statistic I gave was, your punter punted four more yards than your
quarterback through It's just insane. And he laughed and giggled. But when he
looks it up, he's like, holy crap, you're right. That scares
the hell out of me. Yeah, yep, that's ridiculous. That is
ridiculous. But it's so true. Look, it's not that I disagree with
it. Okay, I like defense, two, I really do. Edmonton
reached the Stanley Cup Finals. Maybe they didn't win it. Maybe they didn't
win it overall because of their lack of defense. They reached the Stanley Cup
Finals because they were the number one scoring team in the NHL. And by
the way, Florida as good as defensively as they were, they were a
top ten offense. That's what I'm saying. Anyway, we continue. So
they were five A grades given out to Major League Baseball teams by ESPN,
plus six teams received a B, nine were average, were a C,
six more with a D, and four with an F. What do you
think the Tigers deserved? And what do you think they got? How about
C for the Tigers? How about incorrect? Would you give them a C?
It so tough because I give the pitching an A and I'd give the
heading a D. You give the hitting a D. Yeah, So I
don't really know where you fall in with the whole team, you know what
I mean? Sure, No, I get it. You know you're trying
to balance it, right, I look at the whole overall product. I
would give the hitting probably lower than a D. I agree with your pitching
for the most part. There are certain guys you can nick pick, right,
it shall be Miller, Kent to my Aeta. I mean you give
it an A when you got Kent to Maeta and Shell be Miller with those
numbers, probably not maybe a B plus. Sure that's fair, you're right,
Yeah, that's perhaps that's a little semantics. I give them an F
or a D rather I give them a D on the season. And this
this goes back to expectations. That means there's a little bit of a compliment
in there. That means I had high expectations for your team. ESPN plus
gave them a D plus. Here's what they wrote. The last time the
Tigers ranked in the top half of the AL and run scored two thousand and
sixty inan What did we just say about scoring once again? Another week Detroit
offense. They break down the numbers and get a little bit deeper into it,
and we'll share that with you when we come back. Remember later on
eight thirty five, Jim Camparoni, he'll join us from Spartan mac right here
on Axis and Bros. On a Thursday morning across the Great State of Michigan.
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