This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jagon Zalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat z
R two sad at iHeartRadio Station. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome
to I on the Ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Riverta,
He's jagan Zaus. We got our guy Sammy in with us today. So
we hope we have no mistakes because you sleeps the planet. Don't blow this
dammy. Yeah. Well I was good last week on the Times. I
ran the board. Yeah yeah, I didn't leave the mic on night even
one time. Let me tell you, that's the only thing you were going
on. I had a bad weekend. Man, another what's new? Hope
for see? You're getting it right, I get it. I get it.
You even broke the forty nine ers, I did. I broke the
forty nine ers. I broke the Eagles. Wow, he sucked. Well
his family doesn't like commit anymore. Yeah. Yeah, there's two people not
talking to me right now. Well do you have a play tonight? I
well, no, I got I played the baseball games. I took the
Diamondbacks. That's not true, No way, I take the Phillies. Good,
good, tonight, let's go snakes. Yeah. Well, you know
what, if I would have thought about it, If I would have thought
about it, I would not have taken the Phillies. I would have taken
the Diamondbacks just to piss you off, just so they could lose. Right,
okay, right, but I'm glad you rolled with the Phillies. I
did roll with the Phillies. Good good. I like where I'm at.
Hey, look, I always bet on who I think is going to win,
not who I want to wreck their life. Sure, sure so yeah,
but but but oh I bet I do wreck their life. All right?
Good. So it's Bryce Harper's birthday. So hopefully, yeah, hopefully
you betting on the Phillies will be a wreck his birthday. Yeah, exactly
or not or not? Okay, So another bad weekend, another good one
for me. So the distance is pretty much dead, yeah, killing us.
We should just start new. We's just starting new, just I don't
know. Yeah, maybe I press and good like that. Well, welcome
everybody. You guys can give us a quick call five two o four one
six seventy four forty I feel like I want to give us a call.
We're gonna talk a lot about this big, big, I won't say big,
big, big victory, but it was a pretty compressive victory. Very
impressed Saturday. Uh let me tell you, mister Mikey here. Uh.
Throughout the game, I'm thinking, these guys look good. They're not going
to give this up. And I'm thinking I hadn't felt this way in a
long time. Throughout the game, I'm thinking, when is Washington State coming
back? Because that's that's how my that's how in Arizona. It's an Arizona
fan thinks about that game. You know, they they went down, you
know the way they went down, scored the first touch on you thought,
oh, oh, here we go, right, you know, Washington State's
got it figured out. And I'm thinking, you know, we're talking about
a forty eight, forty five you know, football game. And then that
was that. That was the last we heard of them. So I was
thinking that for me, this is God. These guys look impressive. I
even, you know, tweeted Fafieda looks so good blah blah blah. And
then I thought Fish is gonna have a problem. Fish is gonna have a
problem, what kind of a problem? What decision he's gonna make in the
next couple of weeks. Yeah, he's trying to. He's trying. He's
trying to. He's being politically correct right now. I'm not saying because he
doesn't have to. He doesn't have to right now, and he's not.
And you know, he was asked the question at his press conference today and
he's not gonna he's not gonna uh answer the Yeah, number three, he's
not gonna answer the question for now. I don't know how you take off.
Okay, here, here's here's what I came up with. And if
jayde Golrd he's going into Jed's office and say you need to start him,
well, you need to start. I thought the same thing. You knew
who I thought of Jason Terry when you said, you know, I know
Miles is back, I know this is who he is. Keep him in
there and I'll come off the bench. Yeah, Jayden. The good move
on Jayden's part would be to do that, is to go in and take
the pressure off his coach. You know, he gave him a big opportunity
and say, you know what, for the good of the team. But
the way we're playing with noa feated quarterback, he should be the quarterback.
I don't disagree. Yeah, and Fish may decide that anyways. Right,
as much as he doesn't want to take the job away from the Laura because
of the injury, how can you how can you take no Fafita off the
field? You can? You can't. I don't think you can, especially
against Wergen State. This is this is you know, this is a game
that can win. It's a big game. But here's what he said.
He was thinking of going into the off week now, being in the bye
week, that as we're evaluating where we are and as a team where we've
been, we're very fortunate. Uh two is better than none, So we
we have an ability to continue to grow in that position, grow in that
quarterback room, and see how good both those guys can get. I think
we all saw when Jaden went out there to take a knee. That was
quite a hobble out there. That wasn't a very pretty jog. So I
think we really have to see how this ankle's coming along as we continue to
work through what we're gonna do. Yeah, I think, yeah, exactly
what you said. If that happens that happens, you got to stick with
Noah at least some of the ex players. You can get a sense that
they they want to know where to stay in. Well, look, they've
looked in spite of the fact that two of those games were losses. He
came back and he won the Stanford games for you know, very well,
played really well in those two losses. I mean, I'll played the Heisman
Trophy winner from last year, although it's turned out that's not that hard a
thing to do anymore. And then you know, and then he wins this
game and they didn't just go win and you know, eke one out.
I mean they beat them wrap out of these guys. Yeah, and I
thought they were pretty good going in, yeah, or halfway do a lot
of people did, and they just suspanke the heck. It's they've been so
impressive. He talked a lot about defense. I don't know if you've got
that on, and that's been that's just the complete that's kind of wrapped the
bowl on the team because they've been good offensively, but that's kind of made
this team better well, I think, and and you know doesn't like the
single guys out, but yeah, yeah, you have to believe that that's
no player. Well that happens a lot too for good names defense. Yeah.
So, uh, the guy came back the defensive backs guy. Oh
no, no, no, you have to believe that this is as much
about Doyne Keen as is. But anybody are you going to be a real
life said? They can remember it. I have to agree with you because
I was thinking the same thing. You know, it's different. We talked
about him. They're just they're just aggressives a lot of things and in the
backfield they're much improved. Right, let's say here, Yeah, here's what
he had to say about because he was asked about you know, the the
the the the impact of Doyne Keen on the on the defense. I think
adding coach at keenan coach Richardson has been enormous for our program. Those two
guys have done an amazing job of coaching the corners and the secondary in total,
along with coach Cecil, Coach Nansen and coach Kafusi. As a group,
they've done a tremendous job. Now you add in coach Humley's role,
and then you add in what all of our young guys and I can't.
You know, they don't get enough credit the graduate assistance and quality control coaches
and how much they commit to this as well. But the collective group of
eleven that work defensive, that'll work on the defense have really done a great
job with our players. They game plan together, they meet together, they
really try to figure out the best way to stop an offense. I saw
today that Michael Pennix, Caleb and cam Ward if throwing fifty seven touchdown passes
combined on only one against Arizona. So when you look at the way that
those guys are that were defending the elite quarterbacks, I would say that's that's
really based upon the work that the defensive staff has done together. Yeah,
that's a hell of a stat. Fifty seven touchdown passes by the three quarterbacks
they faced in the last three weeks and only one against as. When he
said that, I'm like, come on, yeah, Blair Willis had that
this morning, and that's pretty that's pretty dark impressive, you know. And
later on in the press conference, you know, he did talk about,
you know, this was the plan, this was the plan from the beginning.
They were gonna come. They were to get the offense together improved the
offense, and they did, and the offense is still one of the one
of the better offenses in the country this year. And then they focused on
the defense for this year. And they remember all summer long, we said,
if they make the big leap defensively that they made offensively last year,
that this team to get really good. And I think they're really good right
now. He said it. You use those words, but they're really good
right now. He said that all Saturday night, and that was my story
for the next day because he he he kind of softens a lot of things
Saturday night after winning a game he didn't he was not going to. He
had every right not to, right, that was I mean, Steve,
you know, well that was a beatdown. Guys, you kids here,
you kids here in the room. Let me say this someone, not once
did they have a game like this, Not once? Right? This is
they beat Oregon really bad? Here Remember that was like forty four to fifteen
or that was the only one. Okay, once made okay with with with
Justin Herbert, So you gotta, I think, and now this is his
party the best win. You say that last year was okay, but this
year that's three seven years, fours whatever year's Rich Rob took a while at
the end. Come on, we hadn't seen this in a while. This
was a total domination offensively and defensively. You know, even at halftime at
twenty to six, I'm like, God, you know, this game's not
over. They need to do something early in the second half. And then
they did, and they did and and then and then it was just a
beatdown the whole rest of the second half and then got to the point where
they were just they could have scored as many touchdowns as they wanted. Sure,
they let the dogs out. I was kind of looking for sixty nine
because that's what they put on a couple of times. They did it twice,
so but no, I you know, it was it was just a
beatdown that that everything came together. You know, they made three field goals,
they scored all these touchdowns, They threw the ball, they ran the
ball. The ole bit lit poop poop on both of you guys. So
is this a one off? In fact, during the PRENS conference to day,
I'm thinking, I'm thinking, with your momentum right stuff, You're obviously
be asked, okay, would you have rather not had the buy this week
and just played because you're playing so well? Or did you or were you
okay with the I think the buy I think the buys okay because of all
the good things that they're going into the buye with. Right, they broke
the three game losing straight. They they h they two game losing streak.
You know, they played really well. They beat it the hell out of
a team on the road. They feel good about themselves. Uh, you
know, I think I think this actually hits perfect. Normally I would in
baseball. Let's say you want to keep playing. In this particular instance,
I think they can use the break a weekend off, right the thing?
Yeah, I think so. You saw against Washington Fafeta started his first legit
game, played fine, lost by a touchdown. Whatever, you go to
USC, you lose in the double overtime thriller. But we we had the
game for majority of Yeah, and then you see what we did this Saturday.
We compiled everything from Washington in USC and we we figuratively or realistically crushed
Washington State. Now, if we were to go to Oregon State next weekend,
I think you see us play a very similar game that we did this
weekend, not to say the bye isn't a good thing. I'm sure those
players would love the week off is to get their bodies right then, and
they're not really taking a lot of the week off. I mean, they're
practicing the next few days. Normally a coach will give them after the last
game, give them a few days and then they come back at the end
of the weekend. Plan. Instead, they're getting the next weekend off,
hang around Watson football whatever. But you know, Mike lev asked them,
how do you you know you're going into a bye week with basically momentum,
how do you avoid you know, the team getting complacent and kind of not
not keeping that edge. Yeah, well, we're not gonna take too much
time off for that exact reason. I mean, we're well, you know,
we believe that we're sitting in a position or we got to play good
a week from Saturday, so we'll take off. We'll give the players two
days off. But they were in here yesterday getting treatment. They were in
here today lifting at six am, eight am, ten am, depending on
their groups. We're practicing each day. They'll be lifting again on Thursday day
and then you know, they can watch football on Saturday and hopefully get hungry
to go play, and then when we come out Sunday in full pads,
we're gonna roll and we're not gonna be complacent in anything we played. You
know, some good football as of late against some really good teams. Those
are three top twenty teams in a row, and we feel like if you
look at how we played, we sat there within a touchdown against Washington,
within two points against sc on the road, and then played our best football
on the road again. So we have one airplane trip left out of five
games, and you know, this is the time that we can see how
good we can be. Well, he said that one airplane trip, I
think you got. It's pretty coo. Gonna be over pretty quick, going
really fast. There's only five games left right right, so we'll see if
they can continue it. We got about a minute left before the break,
and who do we have? All right, So we're gonna bring We're gonna
against my better judgment. We're gonna talk Diamondbacks to the next Go next with
a Jack McGruder or our buddy. He's a he's a freelance writer, so
he's he's covering the Diamondbacks for Forbes magazine. He had a thing today about
how the Diamondbacks. He believes the Diamondbacks are built for the long term because
they got so many young guys on this team, all under contract and whatnot.
So we'll talk a little bit about that, just get his thoughts on
this series with the Phillies. And then at in the four fifteen hour,
uh Todd holdt House just elected to or just named to the uh Pema County
Sports Hall of Fame at women's basketball coach at Pima to talk to him about
the honor, and there they ever an exhibition game tonight and against some relatives
of his. Is that what it is? That's that's probat of what was
pitched the story about. Okay, cool, so we'll we'll talk to Todd
hold House. So uh, let's get the heck guy here. We're going
to come back and we'll be talking to Jack McGruder about the Diamondbacks. This
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dot com. Steve Rivera and Jacob Salles they have their eye on the ball
on Tucson Sports. Stay shat Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back
to I the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rovera, He's
Jacinsauce. Gotta guys, Sam me in today and Least is with us as
well, observing us try to figure out what the heck we do here.
Yeah, our phone, for some stupid reason, we can dial Jack,
So trying to get him to call us right now so we'll see if he
buzzes in here in a second. Okay, so we can talk diamondbacks.
What's what are the odds? What is that today? What are you today?
Phillies are minus one sixty six money line not too to get through.
No, just his money line for today. That's all I care about.
What's about getting through? Must be docent. Were probably we're probably Yeah,
they're probably two to one. I bet you were plus two six sixty one.
That makes sense, That makes sense. I thought, wasn't Houston the
paper two? Yeah, they're down five to two again. They're losing right
now. You're losing right now? You had you had the Astros huh yeah,
yeah, yeah, I had. You know, you don't want to.
I hate myself for that too, because I hate those guys. I
hate those guys and I'm not now I'm now I'm mad at myself. I
hope they don't ever win another game in like world history. Ever. No,
that won't be the kid knowing them, knowing them. They'll come back.
I had the same thing last because I like Berlinda last night, and
then they were just too good for him. Yeah. Montgomery for the Rangers
pitched very very well. It was one of those very very playoff games.
Starting pitchers go five six innings, like six hits for each team and two
home runs and all of a sudden it's to zero, right, and that's
all. It was kind of not in the script. Good game. Hopefully
it has a Diamondbacks result tonight, but to two fantastic pictures and Zach Gallon
and Zach Wheeler Gallon could have won the He's he's the best guy. He's
our ace. And I mean I think Phillies fans would say Wheelers there ace.
Uh, he's a phenomenal postseason pitcher. So we'll see if we'll see
if he can continue that. But I mean both Zach's they're they're R A
in the playoffs. Yeah, they're e R A and the playoffs are sub
two. So yeah, we'll see. I saw him pitch against Baltimore in
the summer because I was I was enjoying Baltimore. They were playing Baltimore up
there. They beat they beat him. It was like late July, I
think, yes, and I was pretty impressed with him because Baltimore had a
great year. Yeah, because Wheeler Wheeler actually came uh from the Cardinals and
then he went to the Mets I believe, and then now he's the Mets
were a dumpster fire. So yeah, but we'll we'll see. I mean
you're not going to the game, No, Yeah, I might go if
there's games six or game five? Sorry, should that play be Saturday or
Friday? It'd be So let's see they play Thursday, Thursday, Friday,
and then Sunday. All at it's the three two three, which two three
two, which is really interesting, Yeah, because that's how the NBA used
to be, and then it was kind of a favored the opposing team.
So if the Diarmacks can get one in the bank, yeah, I would
like that because it's the hardest place to play in baseball right now. So
if they can steal one against the Phillies, who it's arguably the two hottest
teams in baseball. Of course, Well there's what's your momentum? Maybe I
was gonna bring that up, because what are the momentums so called momentums.
It's just who's playing better? Right to me, It's just who's playing better
for that day? Yeah, for that day, and either or can win
it. Obviously, it's gonna be tough to win a Philly because that place
is a Madhouse Place Place rocks, and so I mean, I think the
Dbacks will be up for it. There are a bunch of young kids that
really don't know any better, a bunch of guys that and you have some
seasoned vets that have been around the block, so they I think they'll be
prepared. Which that's all. That's all I can ask for right now.
If they can just go in and play good baseball then So we're waiting for
Jack right still. He's gonna be calling in. So after Jack, we're
going to get the open line, so you can give us a call.
After that, there he comes. Hey, Jack, thanks for calling.
Appreciate it. Okay, you're on the air, So don't don't say any
swears, even though I want to because I hate the Diamondbacks I'm really mad
at right now Jack. Well you know, you know, hey Jack,
let me just say thank you very much. Two weeks ago, I think
Jay took your advice. I hope we can get a game. And it
was bad. Thank you very much. It was. It was bad.
I apologize. It's all right, Jack, I forgive you. It won't
break up our friendship, although I thought about it for a second. So
yeah, it was it didn't look very good. Yeah, I was three
and one before that. Yeah, all right, well okay, all right,
so you're on the Diamondbacks covering them for Forbes. I saw you wrote
an interesting, interesting piece today about you know that this looks like a team
built for the long haul because all the young guys. But you know,
going in, you know, when say a bunch of young guys, you
know, the immediate assumption is they're not going to be ready for the moment
today. What are your thoughts on that? You know, you're right,
that is the immediate assumption. And I thought you watched the games too.
I thought they looked in the moment completely. They didn't seem phased, they
didn't seem bothered, they weren't swinging the pitches outside the zone. I mean,
they looked like a very experienced group of guys, probably because maybe they
because they don't feel the nerves yet because I've never been there before. But
those guys are really I've been really excited, not excited, but the way
they've played has really been it's their best baseball right now. Now we'll see
what happens when comes to Philadelphia. Yeah, right now, they're really with
They're playing with confidence and composer. Well, you know in the Dodgers series,
and I did go up for that Game three, which was a lot
of fun for a Dodger fan. But you know, you know, with
with Mookie Betts on the field, Freddie Freeman on the field, the guys
that the Dodgers have, Corvin Carroll was the best player on the field by
a lot in that whole series, and he was just they had no answer
for him. He's really he's really going to be a superstar. It's maybe
it's too early to say that, but you look at a guy with twenty
six homers and fifty four stolen bases. He really benefited from the rules change
with the stolen bases, but he's still going to get thirty five or forty
in the old way. He's just a terrific player. And you talk to
the talk to thee his teammates, and you talk to Tory Lavolo and Mike
Hays, and they're really taken by the way he approaches each game, the
seriousness he plays with, the studying he does, the you know, just
the homework to prepare for each game. Yeah, I agree with you.
I think he's I don't know, what happened to Mookie and Freddie exactly.
But Corvin was a terrific player and kept tell Marte had a nice series too,
so Jack. At the end of the day, what do you think
about the Diamondbacks as a whole? Here they played really well, didn't play
so well in the middle of the thing, and then they came on strong.
What when you go look back at these team, what do you see?
Which team here? I see a team because I was in Colorado this
summer scoring when they had lost ten of twelve and I don't know early August
maybe, but I saw a team that really was not playing well but had
not lost their confidence. Christian Walker specifically addressed that. He said, you
know, we know we're in a funk right now, but we don't.
We know we're a better team. It's not like they panicked, it's not
like they said we've got to do something differently. It's just that they needed
to stay on the course, which is what they did and then they started
winning. They they have good players. I mean, Christian Walker is a
terrific player, Corbyn Marte, Martell Thomas might be the best centerfielder in the
National League right now, and Gadby Moreno has really turned over a new leaf
and just been a star behind the plate. So I think they just got
back on track. You know. It's you know how seasons show, there's
ups and downs no matter who's playing, and they just found a way to
write the ship and start playing better. And this is what happened. Can
they win the World Series? Or do you let me can? Do you
think? I know there are a number four pick right? Philly is really
an impressive team. They could really hit. Yeah, but I wouldn't put
it past anybody. You know, Saint Louis won the World Series when they
won eighty three games during the regular season with Tony Russa back in the old
days, beat a Detroit team that was supposedly unbeatable. So I just think,
let's watch the games, let's see what happened. So, Jack,
you've covered a number of the Diamondback teams over the last twenty some twenty three
years. Whatever it is, where's this team rank among those? Well,
it's on the cusp of being among their better teams. Randy Johnson kurchuling that
was the best team in Francise history. Obviously didn't won the World Series with
that veteran group of Matt Williams and Lagan Zalez, the twenty seventeen team,
I'm sorry, twenty seventeen with Chris Young and those guys were on the CUSP
also, but they kind of didn't carry it over the next couple of years.
They were still playing on a small payroll and it random Webb got hurt.
You know, thanks can go to go to heck with injuries. Injuries
can kill any team, and that team was bothered by injuries. But I
think this is this has a chance to be, you know, the third
iteration of contending teams for the foreseeable future, the fifth six five, six
years in the future. You know Tory level, his job has been he's
been on the hot seat, off the hot seat, back on it,
back off. But you know what, how does he keep hanging on or
what's his you know, as Steve says, what's his secret, sauce?
What is making him a pretty good manager? But then it goes to pieces
at times. Well, he's a very good team team. He has great
relationship with his players. He tells his players what he expects of them,
and he, like most managers, he doesn't kick them while they're down.
He doesn't criticize his guys, but he has a plan and if you buy
into that plan, as we've seen right now, it's going to be a
success. I think he's a genuine guy. He's not going to tell you
one thing and then do something else two weeks later. And the players appreciate
that. The players like that. They want to know where they stand.
They want to know what's expected of them, they want to know what role
they'll be put in. I think, you know, when you look at
some of his taking the pitchers out early or he gets a little criticized.
He took Zach Gallon out the other day against the Dodgers fairly early. But
the players know what's going on, and the players understand that. The players
understand it's a team game and that I can hand it off to the next
guy and we'll be fine. It's not all about me, it's about the
team. And he is. He instills that quality in those guys, and
you know, it just grows after a while, right. You just start
you start believing, you start playing, and you start listening to the guy,
and it follows through. He had some horrible teams the last couple of
years. Yeah, I mean not horrible, but but it was hard for
him to win with some of the teams he had the last couple of years.
And you can't blame the manager for that, right, it's not his
fault. Not always. He's not west with top quality talent, but you
see what he's done with the talent he has now, So you said you
got some talent? Did they surprise you at all? I mean they had
to, Yeah, yeah, they had to, right, I mean,
you don't know how you know, Corbyn Carroll has a terrific mind, resume,
great scouting. The scouts love him, but how's that translated. We've
seen a lot of guys who do not quite make that transition the way he
has done this year. He's been terrific. You don't know how Gabriel Moreno
is going to translate. He's had again, scouts love him, he's got
great tools, but how is that going to translate on the field? And
Alec Thomas, I mean a lot of these guys have continued their minor league
performance, which you can't always count on, right, You can't always count
on that. You can't always think that, oh yeah, that's just a
direct line, that's just a straight line up and so, yeah, they
surprised me a lot. It's kind of been fun to watch that fun.
How long before Corbyn Kiroll's a Dodger. Well he signed through twenty thirty,
Jay, so I got him cor Okay, all right, you got to
put up with that. I want to talk a little about the Dodger for
a second. Okay, feel free. They were the real Dodgers. We
didn't see the real Dodgers in the playoffs. Their pitching staff was so cripply.
Yeah, no, that's not the real Kershaw and that Urreas was gone.
They had to rely on a bunch of guys that they weren't counting on.
I thought, actually they did a very good job this year of getting
one hundred wins out of that team because their pitching staff kind of fell apart.
I was not surprised at all. The Tvacs Peter Well and that's fine.
I knew the pitching was gonna you know, it wasn't. I mean,
you know, they rolled out the old guy, Clayton Kershoff for Game
one and that he was their best option in Game one, and I get
that, but okay, but they didn't lose, you know, seven to
six and eight to seven, they didn't hit at all, and that's what
that was the shocking part of it to me. To me too, that
was surprising. Well, the Diamondbacks were fortunate the way everything played out.
You know, if they're the fifth seed, they have to open the they
have to open the playoffs against Philadelsia, not against Milwaukee, and then you
know, that could be a whole different story if something like that happens.
But they were able to rest Gallon and Kelly. They've thrown Gallon Kelly two
games against Milwaukee and two games against the Dodgers. That's their best two pitchers
throwing four to five playoff games, and now they got both of them lined
up here the first two games against the Phillies, so it's really broken well
for them. Real quick. What's your prediction on the series? You know,
I just think Philly is better. I think Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola
Ranger. Send the Ranger Suarez. They're gonna be hard to be because Harper
knows how to win these games. Schwarber is a big hitter. But I
do think it'll be fun to watch. I mean, they'll try to run
on the Phillies and we'll see how that plays out if we'll need to can
counter that running game. I just think the Phillies are a little stronger.
All right, Jack, thanks for joining us. Let me tell you this.
Continue to give Jay Gate picks. I just do what I can.
You know what, Jack, just because you give those picks doesn't even have
to take it exactly. Thank you, Jack, Thanks about you. I
appreciate it. Thanks for having us that. I appreciate it, Jack,
Jack Magruder. Let's get the heck out of here anymore? Does she make
up? Ahead? What does se Spanish? Because baby, when you talk,
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Miguel High dot org. Steve Rivera and Jagon Salez they have their eye on
the ball on Tucson Sports Big Yet, Fox Sports fourteen fifty Streaming Live,
I Mean iHeart Radio, WAPs Hey, Welcome Back, to joining the ball
here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, he's Jay. Got a
guy Sammy with us at least in the building as well. We got about
nine minutes. If you guys want to quit, give us a quick call.
Somebody was calling. We were still on breaks. So if you want
to give us a call five to four forty, we'll take your call.
We're gonna get back to some fishtails except for I'm just gonna say that if
the Astros lose today, they were already dead to me. But if they
lose today, they're like double dead. You know, you know, you
have very few teams left. I know that dead to you. I did
You're going to be better on scnnected because you haven't been. There's nobody left.
A couple of interesting things. One, you know, the whole issue
of you know, the quarterback. I mean that's sort of the Yeah,
that's a top story. So Jed was asked, how, you know,
how is how's Jaden DeLaura you know taking this? You know, what's he
what's he able to do and learn? You know, watching this stuff from
the sidelines while he waits for his his ankle to to you know, to
fix and see what happens with his job. But here's what he had to
say about what De Laura has been up to. Yeah, I think Jayden's
Uh, you know, there's a lot of learning that goes into not playing.
Number one is learning how to rehab learning how to spend your days in
the training room when you've never had to do that, Preparing yourself to help
the person in front of you if you're not necessarily accustomed to doing that you've
always been the person in front. How you work together and communicate what you
see on the sideline, seeing it from a different perspective, how to get
your school work done during times when you're not necessarily the starting quarterback, and
how much work you can work ahead. Uh, there's a lot of different
things that he's been able to do during this time, and it's obviously challenging
when you don't have that chance to when you're not going out there and knowing
you're the starting quarterback on every Saturday the last three weeks, and knowing that
you're not going to go out there and start based on injury, but there's
going to be you know, this has gone on everywhere. I saw seven
quarterbacks got knocked out yesterday in the NFL, seven different quarterbacks got hurt during
the games. There was four backups that already started on Sundays, So you're
talking about eleven backups potentially might be starting next Sunday in the NFL. That's
just the nature of the beast. So what these guys need to do is
they need to learn how to be those backups. I think that it's a
great credit. I mean, you look at the Browns, right, So
they started DTR last week, then DTR didn't yet to start this week,
Deshaun still wasn't playing. Then they started PJ and then go and beat the
forty nine ers. So you just don't know how it's all gonna work itself
out. So what your job is to just learn, grow, mature and
be a great teammate. Great stuff, Yeah, good stuff, you know.
Yeah, he's got a lot to deal with there. We'll get in
this morning that we had a collar. Hi, you're on the R and
I and the Balls. Gabriel calling this week about Arizona's dominating win against Washington
State. So they pray they basically played great. I really, I'm really
happy that Arizona took their frustration now on Washington State because last week they were
super duper close to beating USC. And so I'm really happy about the about
what happened. And so anyway, no, I'm glad that you're a happy
game. Game. All it takes is waiting to make you happy. Hey
game. So all right, So the decision is getting harder and harder every
day for for Jens time, belief for dead fish, you know, and
what to do at quarterback? I you know, I kind of at least
I think that there's no way you can take Fita off the field. What
are your thoughts he could play because he because he played on the last few
games pretty well, and I think I think needs to play. Yep,
yeah, yeah, ga are so. I am very I was very shocked
at Nordon Dame beat USC. So I was expecting that. And so if
only Arizona would have beaten USC last week. And and I have one question
to ask you too, When USC, Oregon and Washington and u c l
A go to the Big Ten, who do you think which of those four
teams will there can be multiple teams, which of those four teams do you
think will struggle the most in the Big Ten. I think is definitely Oregon,
Washington and USC because their quarterbacks are gonna be leaving. So that's why
I think. So anyway, bear down, Arizona, go Caps. All
right, thank you, Gabe. Than I think you see LA because they
haven't been good in the back well for a long time, right right right,
no doubt about that. So can I go? We have four minutes,
So we're at the press covers, right, And I've thought this every
now and again, but today it was like one of those early days.
You see Jet up there, right, he doesn't look like a football coach,
right, he looks like it looks like somebody's dad. So he's up
there talking. He's up there talking a time. Oh, go ahead,
go ahead, we'll talk about this. All right, let's take this call.
You're on the R and I and the ball. Yeah it's James.
Hey, James, he's on guys. Are you James? You must be
happy? So are you Are you going? Are you going back to Arizona
Stadium? If Fafeitus continues as a starting quarterback, I might potentially go to
a game this year if he's the starter from now on and DeLaura is not
starting anymore. But it's good to see fefete stepping up to the plate and
uh kicking butt and there's no controversy at all. It's obviously he should be
the QB one. I don't know what the question is, right, Well,
it's loyalty. Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean I get
I get that part of it. Drew Bledsoe lost his job to Tom Brady.
This is like, you know, what happens every day, pretty the
same thing with him. He was you know, once the guy out plays
the other guy, you lose your job. That's how it is in sports.
Unfortunately, I hate to be playing for you, James. You know,
look at this point, James, with what Fafita did again, we
we we haven't even mentioned that he was a named Freshman of the week again
in the fact, well back to back. You know, how do you
how do you put a guy like that back on news? And I killed
your breaking news? But that's all right, that's where he goes. There's
plenty I got breaking news. The Astros suck. But yeah, I mean,
you know, how do you? Right? I mean, what did
you think on Saturday? What did you think was happening on Saturday? As
in as in I means you were watching you're watching the game. Did you
think Arizona was in the end it was going to be forty four to six.
I mean, until it was forty four to six, I didn't think
Arizona. You know, I thought Washington State could come back on him at
any time. What obviously after the USC game and they were up seventeen zero
and they ended up getting you know, the USC came back. I thought
Washington State could definitely come back. But you know, UA's defense has played
well, the offense place with a spark, and you know, I think
having this new quarterback put new will life into the whole program. And I
think we're ready to rock and get a bowl game this year and keep building
on this program. I think we have a great quarterback now and let's keep
rolling ahead, all right, man, James, all right, James,
thanks a bunch, appreciate it, Thanks all right, thank you today.
So if I could finish, he's up there. Look for what he looks
that. I'm thinking he's rattling off. When he was coaching at the U
c l A and the play calling and then with the Rams, I'm thinking,
man, maybe I missed something. He didn't doing this for a long
Maybe I want something here and he's doing a good job with it. Two
years ago, we were wondering, what the hell are you doing again?
Think about think about how bad Arizona fans wanted Brent Brennan right to be the
head coach. And all he's been is a college is a college coach,
you know. I mean, there's so much we don't realize how much more
experience Jed Fish he started going to It's just the knock is he never played
college football, so he must not be a good college football coach, right,
or you know he can't. He can't be a good football coach because
he didn't play. He was a tennis player, right, but you know,
guys learn how to do stuff. You know, he was CEOs,
didn't you know, weren't born to be CEOs. No. He when he
was saying that, I'm thinking, you know what, Yeah, he's got
something here. Yeah, yeah, no, no doubt, no doubt,
you know. And and then again he's getting players because he because he's convincing
players. I know how to get you there? Right, You saw the
the dig, the dig? Yeah yeah, we'll talk about that in a
seconds. So all right, we got to hit the road top of the
hour and be back Samy's got breaking news. We took one of those left
from him already. But that's okay, Sammy. You're good, Yeah,
I got, I got plenty of all Right, we're good. We'll be
right back, bro, won't you come