Kickstart your morning with Randy Karraker, Brooke Grimsley, and Dan McLaughlin weekdays from 7a-10a! ‘The Opening Drive’ will be your home for all sports talk in the morning on 101 ESPN!
good morning everyone and welcome to the opening drive on 101 ESPN in St Louis where at 7:00 your time check brought to you by Clarkson Jewelers an officially licensed Rolex Jeweler with Brook Grimsley Danny Mack Matthew Rocko I’m Randy carer great to have you with us for this Thursday edition of the opening drive happy Friday Eve kids how we doing I’m doing great it looks a little cloudy outside possibly some rain in the forecast little second alert weather for you Brooke okay uh rain supposed to arrive according to the iPhone by8 a.m. this morning that’s that’s why it’s second alert cuz we really don’t do we don’t have all the fancy setup that they have we don’t have our radar in place uh but yeah Rain by 8:00 a.m. and then uh rain until the noon hour and then it’ll clear up a little bit more cloudy but a high of 74 this afternoon in St Louis that is your second alert weather here on 101 ESPN could have an impact with the PGA Championship too oh yeah that uh tees off I was supposed to tee off about 15 minutes ago they’ve had a weather delay I think they had fog in the area so it has been delayed a little bit but that could certainly have an impact on the PGA Championship why not just use yellow golf balls do you use those I do a yellow and orange love them and you still lose them I still do I still do it’s a little brighter to I don’t know why I get upset about losing golf balls because I’ll never have to buy another golf ball for the rest of my life I have no idea I have so many golf balls in my basement Oh I thought that you were just doing a little poola for somebody give you golf balls no just I’ve just got a lot of golf balls in my basement you know we were talking about things that you lose yesterday and uh this morning I was a little groggy so I wake up I usually put on my glasses I read a little bit and uh I really went 5 to 10 minutes looking for glasses this morning and where do you think they were on your head on your they were on my head oh that happens especially after talking about that too I go in the shower I’m like did I wear them in the shower where did I where did I wear these things they were on top of my head it’s amazing what we do it really is stupidity yeah if you didn’t stay up late last night good for you the Cardinals follow to the Angels by a score of 7 to2 failed to sweep the three- game series Lance Lynn gets hit for four earned runs in the first before settling in he gave the Cardinals five but the offense only had six hits against Griffin canning he went six Innings with just one earned run allowed and one positive from the game would be that that one earned run was a solo shot from Paul gold Schmid who’s back baby just his fourth home run of the year but I think his third this week well that’s the bunnies in of it right I mean either way you’re not able to get another series sweep in the situation they should have been able to sweep the series against the Angels you had a lot of momentum going and they weren’t able to capitalize speaking of which Runners and scoring position that just continues to be an issue with the Cardinals one for 10 with Runners and scoring position last night 11 left on base and right now they’re hitting 191 with risk back in the day the football Cardinals and Dan you know this gentleman his name was Jean Stallings was the last head football coach of the St Louis football Cardinals before they moved to Phoenix he was a ball coach ball coach how you doing coach mighty fine Randy uh but uh he’d come in every Monday after the game because inevitably the Cardinals would no not really uh they actually were decent under him in 86 and 87 but when they did scuffle he would say we’re kind of scuffling and that’s what the Cardinals are doing with the runners in scoring position they’re they’re kind of scuffling you know they gave up three more home runs last night that’s 51 now on the year that’s third most and you think about how the game is predicated on power they’ve only hit 32 you know so that’s one of the issues that they have and Brook to your point that that’s where you want to get the sweep because the angels are on Pace for 110 losses you know you go into that game and you just say let’s get some momentum into the off day into what is a really big home stand they’ve got the Boston Red Sox who are pitching at the number one clip in baseball then you have the Orioles who by the way have not been swept in over a 100 series I mean it’s an incredible run that they’re on and then you have the Chicago Cubs in head-to-head matchups which are so important as we talked about with the reduction in games head-to-head within the division so this is a crucial home stand stand coming up for the Cardinals I for whatever reason even though the Cardinals did have that nice run they won three out of four to end that road trip because of the competition that’s coming to town I have real concerns about what the Cardinals will be able to accomplish on this home in terms of winning games and rightfully so it was just a weird game from the start one not a great start for lanin of course as you mentioned there what happened things really blew up for him early on but also just weird from the start see him Matt Carpenter wearing batting gloves and that just just the whole tone from the start of the game on just felt really off for this team did you guys hear why he did that no I did not either I was just curious as to why he did it yeah when he popped in there with batting gloves I’m like what is going on here lunar eclipse you what we have yeah you have lanin starting Matt Carpenter leading off you’re like what year is this yeah uh by the way on Friday when the Cardinals open that Series against Boston they are going to pitch big game Gibby Jim Kyle Gibson and that’s probably the best way to start a home stand and he’s going to go against Brian Bellow of the BX so that one tickets available for first beer Friday over at the Ballpark on Friday night and then the weekend against the Red Sox and good prices for tickets throughout the course of the weekend I was breaking this down there’s been 19 starts Nicholas matz Liberator Zack Thompson the Cardinals are 6 and 13 in those games with an erra of six and a half with those guys combined so you had to take advantage of the game last night with Lynn you have Gibson going on Friday sunny gray will get a start this weekend but those are the games that when those three are on the mound you you just somehow someway have to take advantage of it and they didn’t last night so really going to stretch your Bullpen then is what you’re seeing as well because now you’re in the spot where you have Matthew Liberator which I know they have kept him on a pitch count what that situation will be I think that he is slated to be the starter for Sunday but they kind of have been managing in a way of saying he might start he might come out of the bullpen I think you should give him a set role moving forward okay you’re the starter from here on out or you’re in the bullpen from here on out 100% agree well I think it’s a little bit of an indictment of what you have potentially is it Gro uh McGreevy McGreevy robers am I saying that right he has said it many different ways so I mean you could really yeah you could pick a year honestly you’re just not feeling I would assume I mean if they felt comfortable with one of those guys coming up they’d be here and they the where they were drafted the year they were drafted they should be here by now everybody else is bringing up pitches more quickly than these guys are coming up I think in 2021 they have not had a member of that draft class come up now 2020 was outstanding 2019 you had Thompson and palant so you got to hit on the drafts which for the most part Randy Flores has done I think he’s done a really nice job going back to Liberator in his career as a starter only 85 and 2/3 Innings but the average against him is 301 and when he’s been in the bullpen he just looks like a better pitcher to me yeah he does by the way one thing one other item about Randy Flores in the draft I honestly think that they could be drafting great talent but by the time it gets here or when it gets here it’s not what it should be I think they well they really push guys yeah you know and have they pushed him I think it’s a question that could be asked you know like a noan Gorman now he had 27 home runs last year but he’s not a polished player yet we’re seeing that and some of these younger guys aren’t polished yet have they been pushed and some of it is out of necessity like a Victor Scott to start this season but you know are you pushing a little too hard probably not but the gap between Triple A and Major League Baseball is really wide in terms of just how good it is socker last night over at city park it looked like St Louis city SE had taken the lead right before half but the goal was disallowed because of a hand ball lafc knocks off St Louis city see 2-nil City loses just their second game of the year and their first at city park city had 58 possessions in the game and they are uh now no wins three draws one loss when they win The Possession battle this season so you don’t want to have the ball if you’re CSC what was the deal with the referee in last night Matthew you were there correct you saw it what happened yeah it was terrible I’m not sure um exactly what the heck was going on but uh Martin kilcoin made an Angel Hernandez reference uh so that’s about all you really need to know about the the level of officiating it was there were some pretty normal calls that you know were 50/50 and then there was just a tide of like seven bad calls in a row against City that I mean they they were egregiously going against city city got two different yellow cards where uh a city player with possession of the ball was tackled and then that player was given a yellow card which doesn’t happen very often in soccer including Anthony Maran getting his second yellow card of the game as he’s being pushed down to the ground they give him a second yellow card because as he gets pushed his arms go up and he catches the guy in the face somehow that’s enough for a second yellow card he gets red and the game’s on its head at that point do you guys think that that’s why C ual fans are not into soccer as much because the referee can be egregious and I I I don’t like saying that umpiring lost you a game or referee in football lost your game even though it might be a factor I don’t like saying that that’s the reason you lost but it sometimes it seems like in soccer it truly is the reason that you lose a game it might be a reason but I would think before that is guys laying on the ground I don’t think Americans want to see guys laying the ground and that’s just part of the game though yeah it is I’m with you it’s still very entertaining to watch but in that situation last night there was just too many things there’s been a lot surrounding MLS refs this entire year going into this we know about the pay different things like that but in that game specifically last night I feel like handball that whole situation it feels like Goldie interference in the NHL where it’s just there’s so much controversy surrounding it of what exactly it is yeah maybe they need to get rid of Replay I’m just saying that would helped us last night you guys fans are replayed generally speaking yes yes I am get it right get it right yeah ultimately get the play right right I’m I felt bad for for the reliable mechanic though the pro the problem is is the is the the handball ruling is is it’s kind of like the catch rolling in in football exactly it’s not as egregious as the catch rolling in football but it’s just there’s too much wiggle room in you know did the player make themselves bigger did they change the path of the ball like all the all the little intricacies I think honestly even though the first um handball helped City I honestly I thought both handball calls were bad R hold on before you go to the NBA we’re watching a little golf they’ve got like a rain delay going on again another question for you guys if you could watch and Randy said do you want to watch the featured group that’s got tiger or do you just want to watch the coverage of the PGA Championship I’m always taking tiger I think I am too I still am yeah I think he just moves the he is the needle still you just want to watch him I mean even just seeing here him in person for the PGA Championship it was definitely you knew where he was you you could figure out quickly because the crowds always follow him his shot on nine is still one of the greatest shots I’ve ever seen in golf where he had to hook it and he puts it I don’t know two or three feet from the hole he’s probably 175 out or something like that the big crowd is following him literally the place was shaking I mean when he hit that shot because now he’s making it you know it’s a typical tiger push on the back nine and it was awesome it was so much fun to see but I I think I’m with you guys that I’d generally like to watch him play even if he’s like 20 shots back I still watch him play same way all right NBA the Celtics Vanquish the Cavaliers in five Celtics win last night 113 to 98 close to a triple double for St Louis and Jason Tatum 25 points 10 rebounds nine assists uh Al Horford had 22 15 and five and then Jaylen brown with 11 points four rebounds seven assists and Boston moves on third year in a row that they have been in the Eastern Conference Final Thunder fall to the Mavericks 104 to 92 and the Mavs lead that series over the top seated Oklahoma City Thunder one or they lead that series three games to two NHL playoffs last night the Avalanche stay alive they knock off the Stars 53 Stars still lead that series three games to two all right we’re off and running here on the opening drive next up get your text into the Air Comfort Service text line 314 399 9646 314 399 Yoo do you guys want like a hard f do you want it to be kind of monotone some enthusiasm Yoo there we go that was a little singing with it you know was stunning came from the gut I felt it awes we’ve got sick of it if that doesn’t get you fired up nothing will sick of it coming your way on 101 ESPN e e e e e e e e [Music] time for siit here on 101 ES ESPN and guys we know how much they love baseball in the Dominican Republic right it’s just it’s it’s a way of life it is a right of passage it is close to a religion San Pedro de dear corice is the home of many major league baseball players and yesterday in San Pedro demarice there was a duel at a gas station according to TMZ in the Dominican Republic and one guy these are baseball fans one guy is on the ground and battling back he’s got a SW in his hand like every fight and he chops off the other guy’s hand one does yeah now the guy who had his chance chopped off with his other hand picked it up and walked away I am so sick of people trying to do Jim Abbott let’s just just just let’s let’s he can be one guy he can be an individual I’m so tired I’m so sick of people everywhere and I know they love baseball but yeah we don’t need stop it I thought it was I thought it was a little insensitive to start clapping and [Music] I thought I thought it would be better what time is Tiger W teeing off today Dan yeah he just teed off we had K Gibson coming on oh okay great singery it’s called defending your honor try it sometime Randy I had no idea where that was sword was going I’m sick of it why also bringing a sword to a fight that seems unfair I think both people have to have a sword right ring audio Reit rock and roll like a proper duel like andw Jackson Style you know what they say better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it like are we talking like a legit sword yeah Video available uh no I don’t want to see that video video I Witness News in San Pedro Demar we need for you at TMZ no we need a fire but hold back your text for now okay warning graphic video oh I would say but I have transplant now does he did the guy realize that the Deadpool movie already got made Oh by good try out coming up I had no idea where that was going leave it yeah Randy are you watching the video right now that’s a little bit too much it is 7:20 a.m. you shouldn’t be watching graphic video like that I feel like anytime past well you shouldn’t be watching graphic video in general I should start with that but I feel like it might be a little bit too early of a time frame for that that’s a later in the day activity I a protein shake for breakfast I’m good oh you’re fired up okay stay hot PJ ship preview Dan I have a different one for you I promise this does not have any graphic violence this one as of now at least just kidding because littering is something that I’m always sick of but there is something specifically very weird going on in the parking lot where we park here and there’s a lot of people in our building so I don’t know if it’s somebody specifically with this radio station but every time that I leave work there are orange peels all around my car and you you can see them all throughout the parking lot there’s also banana peels and you know what just literally feed away m a giant dumpster a giant dumpster right there so I’m sick of people who are littering and okay it could be worse I understand it could be plastic so I’m grateful it’s not plastic but why why can’t why do you just peel your orange and just throw it out of your car just take it over to the dumpster that’s just a few feet away if it wasn’t fruit it would have Eggies fingerprints all over it right but it’s fruit so radio uh radio Warriors Randy we don’t need those we stay in our own lane no I think he would admit that he he does uh like fish in the microwave in the morning did he really oh yeah yeah he did fish they they did that their very first week they came over here and and honestly seeing that from from far away still was the funniest thing in the world the r show freaked out the show the re show blasted them on the air so you know essentially a third of St Louis knew what was going on yeah except me although it it had to stink oh oh yeah they were Furious broke to your point yes I why do people do that that’s just so and it’s so insensitive right and it yeah you might think oh well this is biodegradable it’s going to go away you have a trash can five steps away just put it in the trash can well and also it attracts a lot of ants so that’s another thing that I’m looking out for lot of ants oh not they’re all over the place yeah right loud face your trees can we make the uh no no you can’t I I just did the cat purr but I mean still it could be worse items that you are throwing out but it looks weird when you go to your car all of a sudden there’s just orange peels all around it and somebody even the banana peel right you don’t want to slip yes but even somebody asked me because one of the salespeople saw me get into my car one day and they were like are you the one who’s doing this with orange peels I said no I promise it’s not me but then it looks like me so I feel like I’m being framed here okay he’s a great guy just became a father I do love watching him play he’s had 52 top 10 finishes I’m sick though of seeing Scotty sheffler win everything he he does everything right but I’m just sick of him winning I want to see somebody else win it did not take long for his dominance to become unpopular are you sick of watching him win I’m not no I love the performance how about uh give me give me tiger give me uh Xander shley somebody yeah but when when tiger was doing it we never said that though you and I didn’t I know a lot of people did there’s a lot of people that were like get him away you know he wins everything dominates too much yeah tiger playing right now did you notice it in honor of the PGA Championship I did notice that I’m wearing my PGA Championship shirt which you can see by the way on our air Alliance team Studio cam just to go to YouTube and type in 101 ESPN STL Matthew what do you got on the old text line I’m sick of getting ugly stairs after I end a shriek of pay it forwards at the coffee shop cfee people I know so basically this person say do you know what they’re talking about where you do the nice thing where you say okay I’m going to get the person behind me I’m going to get their order and then you hope that the nice streak continues this person is saying that they put it to a halt it depends because you never know if there’s going to be a big family behind you or something really expensive that is going on I get it I love paying it forward I try to do it all the time but I get right no I get right out of there and I make sure they don’t see who did it because you try to do it like Robin Hood y I respected the people that ended the pay forwards when I worked in cuz I was like you know what you’re not getting bullet into it I understand good for you I have never been a part of one I have never had that situation come up for me actually it does feel good can i Circle back it make you feel good about yourself do it okay I’ll do can I Circle back to my uh sick of it John Fitzgerald John Fitzgerald on on the YouTube line Jeremy Rutherford coming up Randy in the NFL that would be known as a handoff oh thank you John by the way well done you get the show thing if you do get caught in in a pay forward line you can ask like okay what is the person behinds me total right you can you can you can be reasonable about that right because it should all be I would think kind of similar you know but if it’s a big group of people and or they’re ordering for the office then that’s a bad situation for you to be in yeah I think a pro athlet you do it all the time I agree if they make a lot of money Mahomes does Warner does yeah so yeah they do I I I agree that made me think of one sick of it when uh people run into pro athletes out in public and then buy them a drink so I did that for Keith kachuck and we were on the road I was doing the blues many years ago and Keith was at a restaurant with Doug weight and I’m having dinner with u somebody from the traveling party I don’t know who it was and I sent over a couple beers to him or whatever I said you know whatever it was he came over after they were done put his big meat hook on my shoulder and said if you ever do that again we’re going to have real problems he said do you know how much they pay me that was I love that I love that man I’m sick of Alec burlson not being the new cleanup guy he might be yeah if you look at the ops’s up and down this lineup he has a 761 Ops he’s hitting close to 300 I think you Ali at this point he kind of did this in the on the road trip he he’s shuffling the lineup just to try to find anything that clicks so he’d definitely be in my top five right now absolutely no doubt about it one more going to activate Brooke on this one I’m sick of all the construction in the Central West End 10 years I’ve been working there and it’s always under construction it also happens to be one of the best areas of the city wonder wonder if those things are connected I love Central West End now I do get it because there always is construction and it could be a lot to deal with but at the same time it it is a really pretty area I love the Central West Z is uh the ballast extension here one of the best areas of the city because there there seems to be a significant amount of construction there too that’s a more reasonable complaint thank you very much yeah what is going on there unbelievable congratulations yeah to the people who build roads I mean we need the infrastructure but holy smokes what do you guys feel about the pineapple building in the Central West I like it yeah I think it looks really nice yeah I I think it’s great that’s where uh I think when Albert’s Year back he lived I think Bader didn’t didn’t Bader lived there there was a little baseball uh kind of a baseball Centric building the pineapple building is beautiful they all lived in a pineapple under the sea I just want to do maybe I was maybe was trying to activate Rocky on that one oh but no I got Randy SpongeBob really I was never SP I wasn’t really a SpongeBob kid oh God I didn’t get cable till I was like 13 I was a man in a SpongeBob so I didn’t watch a lot of like ni I didn’t watch a lot of Nickelodeon like until I was like like 13 it kind of passed me by a little drew me in and it more R rats guy how how can you hear [Music] how can you not hear all the NFL films music that they use and not love SpongeBob I met the voice of Patrick oh did you he is a Cardinal fan are you serious and I want to say he’s from St Louis but moved to LA he’s a voice guy maybe a little acting but uh one day came in the booth and said I’d like to meet you and I said no problem and he he said what he did I said I wish I would have met you and said that first you mean more to me than I mean to you did you have him do the voice please tell me you did oh yeah he did it it was awesome and he signed uh little things to my kids and he had he actually brought in like 8 by10 of Patrick and signed him that’s fantastic it was pretty cool thank you Matthew and thank you texters we do appreciate it so we’ll be back to texting a little bit later in the hour with tioli but coming up next our buddy Greg amsinger of MLB Network we’re going to ask if he’s a SpongeBob fan coming your way here on 101 ESPN e e e e e e this is Rocky with your sports enter update driven by Johnny LOL Chevrolet and Johnny LOL Autoplex the Cardinals failed to complete the sweep and they follow the angel 7 to2 doomed early Lance l gives up four earned runs in the first before he settles into five innings pitched Cardinals are off today they’ll be back in Action starting a three- game series hosting the Boston Red Sox 7:15 first pitch on Friday we’ll be talking to Cardinal starting pitcher Kyle Gibson coming up at 9:15 later on on the show coming up right now Greg am here from MLB Network joins the show and at 8:15 Jimmy Rutherford joins the show to talk about the Stanley Cup that is your sports center update driven by Johnny La Chevrolet and Johnny LOL Autoplex see them at la.com Chevy together we drive are you kidding [Music] me Brook Dan and Randy it’s the opening drive 101 ESPN the great Greg aminger joins us on the celebrity line of course Greg is a native of St Louis is a product of the Lindenwood University he is the lead anchor for MLB network but the most important thing we need to know from Greg this morning is is he a fan of SpongeBob SquarePants the adult cartoon which some kids can watch too Greg good morning how you doing I’m great the answer is no no here’s the issue okay the audio is there’s too much screeching and screaming it’s why I hate Tik Tock you sit next to somebody on Tik Tok and they’re flipping through and the audio changes like it just it it gets me going I know if it’s like causing like awful childhood memories of getting yelled at I don’t know but I I never liked SpongeBob I just thought it was too the audio of it was just too abrasive interesting interesting I one of the things I really like about SpongeBob SquarePants Greg is that they regularly use NFL films music and the people who write it clearly are sports fans and even though the kids don’t get it the adults get the humor wow you could tell they were using NFL films music yeah wow it’s well hell i’ I’ve had the NFL films album for years so you know it’s I listen to it in my car Greg my dad do we have to listen to this again are we there yet I can imagine exactly hey let’s start with this the Red Sox coming to town tomorrow to open a three-game series against the Cardinals and the Red Sox have a surprisingly solid starting pitching rotation don’t they you know they’re doing something that we never thought would be the case they they’ve bailed on a fouring fastball something that would ride up in the zone they don’t do it they don’t throw it they’re they’re throwing the least amount of any team in major league baseball right now and I ask all of our pitching gurus is this sustainable can you believe in the Red Sox starting pitching a team that going into the regular season we’re like what are they doing they let chrisel go this makes no sense um a trade for a position player when it seemed like they had enough position players and V Grist they’re not going to win their starting rotation is not deep the fact that they have Andrew Bailey who’s this Zar of pitching their new pitching coach uh has really given a brand new approach to beating other teams with a rotation that does not have velocity and all of these guys are spinning it if it’s a fast ball it’s a sinker or it’s cutter everything has movement they’re not doing anything straight I don’t know if it can last the test of time um it seems like pitchers aren’t exactly built with armor so they they can like come and go in terms of health and to do that and expect that to work for 162 is a tall order but at the moment it’s a new approach to pitching and seems to be working right now Greg it will be a very tough home stand for the Cardinals and obviously finishing up on the road they were able to string together some wins but of course last night they were not able to complete the sweep against the Angels a team that’s not very good whatsoever where your what is your feeling right now about the state of the Cardinals has it changed in any way during the course of this road trip for them well it changed from the beginning of the year I mean I’m massively disappointed with what I’m seeing there massively disappointed uh I do like the way things have come together in the last uh I don’t know since Ali marmal got thrown out of that game that’s probably when things started to turn around the Cardinal need to to get a lot of fight in them they need to do what we’ve been saying forever which is try to manufacturer runs it still looks like a team that’s standing around waiting for a homer I will say this I was in our MLB Network Studios and we have access to Ballpark cameras all over uh every ballpark in the game and we we watch batting practice which isn’t televized which I think you could if you had an app where you could like provide batting practice with your favorite players and people would pay for it I think how many Yankee fans would watch Aaron judge take PP every day I think they would anyway uh it was me and yand Alonzo sitting there watching noan ronado take batting practice in in California in Anheim and we both got excited watching him launch baseball launch launch his swing looked like Colorado Rockies no arado and Yan Alonzo texted him was like Hey man great PP and no one must have gone back in the club house grab his phone was like oh my gosh i’ figured something out and then that night he h a home run his batting practice has looked amazing ever since so if you’re looking at players who are like coming out of it Alex bre’s a great example of that with the Houston Astros expect Nolan ronado to get on a tear because guys just it’s a feel thing it is and when you lose it some guys are lost it looks like Nolan arado is releasing the Barrel in a way that he hasn’t done in years and that’s exciting for the Cardinals Greg what are the guys on the set just saying about the start of the Cardinals just generally what do they think about what’s happening they think they’re the most disappointing team in baseball I have this conversation on a nightly basis stand they are bummed out Harold Reynolds is really down on him he can’t stand the way the young players have been discarded back to the minor leagues doesn’t like their style of baseball many of our guys don’t like the approach to signing the veteran players to go into the rotation as a quick fix when they don’t think that there’s ammunition coming down the farm system to help out either uh they just don’t like the direction of the team team I’m not as Doom and Gloom as they are uh but they blame my bias because I’m from St Louis on that I don’t blame that um I I look at the rosters I look at the Young Players I look at I look at track record and I like what I see more than what I see in Pittsburg I like what I see more than what I see even in Cincinnati to me is more disappointing but I still think the Cardinals are a winning team I think that they’re going to be over 500 people roll their eyes of me when I say that but uh it hasn’t happened yet so I am in the camp of being massively disappointed but not and nowhere near as disappointed and as as grumpy about the Cardinals as my cohorts I mean Chris Young the former Diamondback outfielder he thinks they’re one of the worst teams in baseball like he he he says all the time I’d rather watch the oan play than the same Lis Cardinals I’m not at that level but obviously very disappointed Greg the Cardinal is about to start a 10day niname home stand with the Red Sox Orioles and Cubs and the last game of this home stand maybe I should save this for you for next Thursday but I’m going to ask you now because it’s timely last game of the home stand last game of the series Sunny gray against the Cubs Javier Assad tell me what I need to know about Javier Assad you’re not knowing enough because no one’s talking about it it’s amazing uh this kid doesn’t throw heart uh isn’t a chiseled specimen on the mound has been yanked back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen they never really knew how to use him and now you can’t take him out of the rotation he’s a godsend I mean no one thought the Cub’s rotation would be developing the way it’s developed with imaga as the front runner for the sa young right now uh the Cubs pitching starting pitching has been a strength now what I’ll say is this with him in the rotation it has affected their Bullpen and remember that is what cig Council was a mastermind of so why he got rid of David Ross he couldn’t manage a bullpen right well right now the Cub’s Bullpen I think is 26th or 27th in Major League Baseball losing a kid like him that can put out a fire for multiple Innings which is what he was doing last year and in bits and pieces was a spot starter as well but he was an asset to their Bullpen having him the rotation is great but the Cub’s Bullpen is not what Craig Council was enjoying during his days in Milwaukee so they got to figure that out if they think they’re going to win a division and and make any kind of mess in in October because the big three just continue to separate themselves the Dodgers the Braves and the Phillies and I went to a baseball game last night can you believe that I actually went to a baseball game was in Philly watch the Mets get blown out by the Phillies in the rain yeah I messed my hair up and I gotta tell you I gotta tell you the Philadelphia Phillies are just better than everyone else this all this idea that the Dodgers was a super team nah it’s the Philadelphia Phillies they are ready to win a world championship this year they’re my pick to win last year 31 and 13 and it looks like every team they plays JV and they’re Varsity so get ready the Phillies are going to be a team we’re talking about a lot I got to counter that though Greg just for a moment the the last team that they played that was above 500 was their first series and every other team is or every other Series has been against a team under 500 so I know I know but the problem is the entire National League’s under 500 exactly exactly that’s the problem only a handful of teams that are over 500 it’s crazy they’re just really good I mean it’s top it’s top to bottom the entire lineup um Brandon March Alec bow has become a superstar over at third base I watched Ranger Suarez pitch in the rain and he was just under control not overthrowing he’s been one of the best pitchers Aaron no’s last start was he was Untouchable I mean these guys are are I mean so many familiar names I love teams that believe in continuity and the Philadelphia Affiliates have won with this entire group before not a world championship but all they’ve been doing is is winning and now here we are it looks like this is their time they didn’t make any drastic changes it’s the same group go get them and Trey Turner’s that been playing right now Bryson STS on PA for 98 RBI like everything is coming together for the Philadelphia affili if that Bullpen stays the way it is I don’t see a team beating them in the National League I Tred to get one by you Greg you know every team in the National League is struggling right now it seems like yep it’s a down year in the NL it’s weird all right Greg now to the important stuff our Arizona Cardinals schedule came out last last night did you look at it right away yes I did and I immediately circled what dates I could go and like make a 4-day golf trip my son and I were looking at it like I was Hot Cakes fresh off the presses and they see here’s the deal we have to we have to find what dates we can start selling my wife on that we need to go watch our favorite NFL team which we just we just adopted again we need to go watch Kyler Murray throw a couple picks and please let us go so we can play go in Arizona so yes we looked at the schedule which which dates are you circling Randy I’ve got a couple I’ve got the September 29th game against the commanders and then the team that you have uh decided to love to hate your former team the Jets on November 10th I know yes that’s a good one that’s a good one November 10th is going to be a tough one for me I already have a commitment it’s right after essentially the World Series would end I I already knew that was G to be a noo at White so I kind of ex that one out and I don’t want to watch Aaron Rogers play even if from run against it okay so I’m kind of out on that one how about Seahawks December 8th o now that’s the sweet spot right like that’s that’s when’s the winter meetings see I’ve always I got so many conflicts right I think winter meetings runs in that time okay well we’ll figure it out we we’ll figured out it’s it’s hard to be my friend Randy I’m sorry no it’s not you’re one of the most likable people in the world you’re the best thank you guys hey always good to hear your voice so we’ll be tuned into MLB tonight and we’ll be watching MLB Network a lot of cool stuff going on it’s a great time of the baseball season even with the Cardinals struggling thank you Greg yeah all right take care guys see you brother that’s Greg aminger MLB Network and fellow Arizona Cardinals fan with us on 101 ESPN fellow Arizona Cardinals we decided to reopt that’s so because Dan you’re the same way right those childhood memories of the St Louis Cardinals miss it I missed I missed actually that more than I did the Rams I think most people do it’s amazing in this town even though the Rams won a Super Bowl here I think the fond memories are definitely for the the Cardinals than the Rams for me they are and it’s just because of and my my father has been deceased for a long long time but it made me think of him because we go down to those games and it seemed like the old Bush Stadium it’d be freezing and windy and we’d stay in there until that final whistle was blown and they had lost more times than not y but still it was just it was a time with my dad and I L that it was awesome yeah you did the other thing that become interesting for me as I put together my my fall football schedule is uh mou is going to take precedence mou games are going to take presidence over Arizona Cardinal games which is nice it’s nice to have that change have that accessible for us coming up we’ve got to take it or leave it get your text into the Air Comfort Service text line 314 399 9646 314 399 Yoo toi next on 101 ESP e e it’s Danny Mack on this Thursday morning want to tell you about Stewart’s American Mortgage if you’re someone who is looking to purchase a home or refinance or if you’re looking to consolidate some of that ugly credit card debt maybe you don’t know exactly what direction to go to in any of these things let me make it easy for you call Stewie from Stewart’s American Mortgage he will help you every step of the way if it’s a new home you’re looking to purchase he’ll get you to the closing table fast try 10 days and he’ll get you the best interest rate possible and he also has the bagal loone that can help you out too so you’re asking what is the Bal loone you hear it all the time here on 101 ESPN here it is if you borrow 200,000 or more there’s no underwriting fees no appraisal fees no title fees no lender fees and no closing cost Stuart is your guy he makes it so easy for you any questions on rates the industry the trends give steart a call and you can call him directly on his personal cell phone at 314 324-4440 again that’s 314 324-4440 or you can Google the beg Alone nmls number 226 715 e e e e it’s time for take it or leave it want to say something to put it out there if you like it you can take it if you don’t set it right back get your attack 314 399 9646 and give us your take it or leave it brought to you by Gloria Lou realt visit Gloria hasthe buyers.com and start packing that’s my final author take it or leave [Music] [Applause] it all right kids dayline alante Spain a 50-year-old Lithuanian man living in Spain has been arrested for faking heart attacks in over 20 fine dining restaurants to avoid paying the bills he would order a nice meal he would at the end of the meal maybe have a drink clench his chest the ambulance would be called and he would be wheeled out on a stretcher without paying the bill take it or leave it on some level you kind of admire it I’m going to leave that that feels criminal Randy also I’m gonna I’m gonna have another one here take it or leave it Randy is reading too much of the dailymail.com 100% that’s where you’re getting these stories from aren’t you one yeah I knew it TM guy too I bet TMZ yeah yeah TMZ where people lose their hands terrible go ahead Brooke yeah I’m gonna have to leave that one Randy um where where are you finding all these stories pretty amazing I love it I think that’s illegal that’s a that’s a little bit different from TMZ which is usually where people lose their jobs yeah he that’s true uh he has been arrested um and they don’t know people are I guess the uh authorities are embarrassed because he’s happen he’s done it so many times and they didn’t really catch on to it but he had 20 different heart attacks to try to get free meals it is kind of smart I guess in a weird kind of way eventually catches up with you aren’t you a little upset though Randy with a guy that’s had you’ve talked about it publicly he had a hard issue at one point you know does that frust I mean you could go in cuz you’re well known and do this right here and say Lou say oh could do it once right do it it like tonies or something oh yeah if I’m going to do it I’m going to do it big yeah that’s what I’m saying he going to do it big what restaurant would you do it big at oh I I wouldn’t do it to palmano he’s buddy I’d probably do it to a national chain like Flemings or something get ready folks get ready they’re going to put your picture on the wall say don’t let this man in take it early did you guys happen to see so before I say this did you see the schedule release videos that each team did on social media I always enjoy seeing those every year now the Titans won basically in my mind last year this year though take it or leave it the Chargers had the best release video I must defer because I didn’t get to see the Chargers one it was the so Dan did you see it it the Sims one and they had a lot of great references they did the Kelsey Brothers they also did some other things they also at the end Harrison buer was in the kitchen cooking which if you we don’t have time to dive into that story but there’s a lot of controversy surrounding Harrison buer currently with some of his recent comments and they in this in the video they have at the end him in the kitchen was pretty good I thought it was good I thought they had the best video and also any reference towards the Sims is 10 out of 10 for me they threw a little shade at the Kansas City Chiefs or a lot if you want to say yeah I thought it was there Taylor Swift in there so all right I like it so take it or leave it the Dodgers have given up four runs or fewer looking at this in their past 22 games straight last time that happened and it’s rare that it happened was when 2017 if this keeps up the Dodgers and they’re going to get healthier we win 116 games and match the Seattle Mariners of 2001 ooh that’s a good one Dan uh you know what I think I have to do that I have to take that because as we’ve mentioned they don’t even have their pitching stats exactly so yeah it’s only going to get better 29 and 16 they’re going to get better they just need to keep hitters healthy and even like they they can afford to lose Otani too a bad back for a while how long has he had that God Dan week back they could afford to lose him for about a week and you still have for about a week yeah you still have Betts Freeman Will Smith teoscar Hernandez is having an unbelievable season they just have so many Max mun is still a threat every time he steps to the plate you know how how many teams think about this could afford to lose a guy like Cory Seager and not really miss a beat none yeah except them right none I I don’t think you can miss a guy like that who’s an MVP candidate who wins an MVP um in the postseason I I don’t know any other teams that could take that kind of hit maybe the Phillies maybe the Yankees but they’re just in a different League of Their Own and that’s why it feels like World Series or bus with this Dodgers team it sure does all right Matthew what I got on the text line take it to leave it Goldie has an Ops over 800 by the allstar break no I’m going to leave that well what is he at currently right now God he’s got uh he’s got two months that’s a long time but is he is he at 600 yet he is currently at 5 91 okay yeah I’m going to leave really go on a run here’s one thing to look at when it comes to Goldie stats that that is legitimately nice his uh on base percentage is 90 points higher than his his batting average right now he’s got a 206 batting average but he’s got a 291 Ops on base percentage just to like flip it around uh Alec burlson is 25 points higher in OBP than he is batting average just I mean it’s Stark when you look at a guy like Goldie 90 points higher is pretty impressive there I think burles has a seven I was looking at this yesterday 760 right around but he’s got like a two he’s got a 290 batting average and a 315 OBP yeah if if somebody tells you on opening day that Goldie has a 591 and arnado has a 683 do you think the Cardinals are within 10 games of 500 no no no and that tells you in a nutshell what the offense is supposed to do which they had some signs of that here in the last three games really last four it was predicated and it is predicated on the big guys hitting and if they don’t hit you’re going to be in trouble um that that’s the interesting part of this is if these guys just don’t hit they just don’t Advance they they don’t win games and guys with contrerus out burles Herrera and win are your top three Ops guys Burleson Herrera and win all players in their first or second year if you would have said that at the beginning of the year what would have been your reaction I said they’d be big big big trouble yeah so top three Ops guys Tor Levy you’re over under for Tyler O’Neal home runs this uh this series is two and a half I’ll I’m going to go over I’m going to say he hits three I think I think over I feel it coming what kind of Ovation is he going to get a big one I think he’s going to get a big one I think that I think fans especially him leaving and the way that everything went down I think a lot of fans will give him an ovation the one thing about Goldie to going back to him is that his home run and some of his swings at at least some of the the power that he’s getting are hitting to the opposite way and when he hits like last night was to Right Center when he starts to do that that tells me he is trusting it letting the ball get deeper and trusting his hands and you may see him go on a tear you know this is normally when he does and it hasn’t been slow starts like this it’s been historically slow starts but that tells me that probably he has turned the corner a little bit here I would say so by the way Tyler O’Neal’s last home run as we look at it uh was scrolling oh no he uh uh he hit one on May 13th on Monday so he’s fine so how many is he up to now 10 uh he’s only got one this month though he’s got 10 but only one this month and before he hit the one on Monday night the last time he he had hit one was April 27th well he’s probably going to add to that this weekend yeah probably take it to Le if you had the chance you would go to Pamplona and run pamp Pampa pona Pamplona EXC me I can can get out Pamplona and run with the bulls i g to leave that I’m going to leave that that is that is very interesting I would be very afraid of it now to Chuck to check it off your bucket list cool but then are you going to be able to accomplish the rest of the bucket list I don’t think I think I would be in last place among the runners I think I’m the one who gets scored going say that means you’re first place in other things yeah so do you want to do you want to ride bulls or you want to get trampled by one I don’t want to be around them fine me neither I’m Gonna Leave it so back in the day the blues used to ask their players what they did during the offseason and there would be a little anecdote and Brendan Shaham when said I went to pona and Ram with the bulls he never did but we thought that he did all this exotic stuff and he was just making it up for the media guide some of those are hilarious what guys put in there really funny stuff thank you Matthew thank you Randy and thank you for your text we do appreciate them coming up at the moment should Mason win and Alec Burleson be in the top five in the Cardinal lineup that’s coming your way on 101 ESPN e e e e hey everyone it’s bro here and I want to tell you why I love the Missouri Athletic Club one because it really helps me get back to my goals that I had for this year which is to get into better shape I work out with Christine twice a week and she’s really pushed me right before this wedding day and I love the results I’m seeing and also two because I’m getting back in the sport that I love and that is playing tennis I actually went and hit with Scott yesterday and that was such a great workout it was so much fun and that’s why I love my Mac a fresh perspective on today’s top stories this is fresh tap presented by lyndenwood University real experience real success [Music] heo for in St Louis time trick brought you by Clarkson Jewelers an officially licensed Rolex Jeweler Brook Dan Matthew and Randy hold on Randy are you hungry or what here’s the thing if I have a protein shake like I did for breakfast I feel like I need something substantial in my stomach to settle my stomach otherwise my stomach has a tendency to growl that was so I don’t know if I’ve heard a stomach be that loud I actually thought you burped I thought it was the burp now I’m crying laughing cuz it was so funny it was during my if I wonder if if anybody could hear that during my li I could feel it rumbling and so I’m trying to like hold my breath in and stuff and then all of a just no sadly you can’t hear it Brooks yeah Brook’s mic didn’t pick it up if ry’s mic had been on it would have oh I heard it my bad I did too Rumble Rumble Rumble I know I know what you’re talking about though that’s why I have to have my Belita breakfast bars oh yeah and this is something that actually holds me over I’ll need another snack after the show but this keeps my stomach from growling cuz if I don’t have something like this that my stomach will start growling okay so I feel like I have a good excuse now okay good you got grapes uh 25 minutes away grapes are are 25 minutes away yeah hey last night the Cardinal lineup had Alec burles hitting fifth it was Carpenter new bar gold Schmid RN AO Burleson Herrera and then Donovan win and canani we saw Mason win lead off the other night and he does have a 346 on base which among the players that played last night was the highest on the team does it make sense at this stage we’re more than a quarter of the way into the season and yes Mason win has declined a little bit offensively but he’s still pretty strong does it make sense to you guys to have both win and burles in the top five every single game maybe that’s where you start your lineup is you have wi at the top and Burleson hitting either third or fifth does that make sense to you guys I think it makes a lot of sense because at this point you just need something to work for this team offensively and also you’re struggling with runners in scoring position which is something that we talked about earlier they’re 199 they’re hitting 191 excuse me right now with RIS and we saw last night one for 10 with runners in scoring position you have to be able to do something and I think Mason wi that’s why he works as your leadoff guy so I like both of those guys I’d shake it up I’d uh I’d mix and matches I’m going along here the first spot in the lineup the average is 200 the on base percentage which really concerns me is 278 so I don’t mind Carpenter at times at the Top If win and it’s not a maybe they don’t think it’s a good matchup and you put the veteran in there I never thought when they signed Matt Carpenter and we’re here on May 16th I never thought we’d be talking about him being a factor at the top of the lineup I thought he might be a good pin um and help these young guys but he may be a factor before it’s all said and done so I I don’t mind Carpenter at the top with because of the way things have gone one one through five in the lineup the highest OPS is 733 so going back to Burleson who has a 761 Ops why not give him a run a little bit closer towards the middle of the lineup and let him try to do some damage so it does make some sense by the way with Burleson seven extra base hits and an 829 Ops so far in May 16 days starting to get hot and that’s what I mean I I think you got to mix and match a little bit and when you’re at this point in the season you you got to you got to ride some hot hands if that means it’s win which I don’t you know going into the season I didn’t think it was ideal I kept saying I liked him at the bottom of the lineup put less pressure on him but at some point you take off the training wheels and you graduate the MLB and let it rip and one thing about win the overall numbers are good but he as opposed to Burleson has descended a little bit in May hitting only 238 in 44 plate appearances with a 286 uh or 273 on base and the key for him is going to be getting on base he hasn’t been as effective in the first half of this month at doing that and the amazing thing is is that he still leads the team in averaging on base percentage with the the downfall that he’s had a little bit here that stretch of games hasn’t been great but still leads an average and on base percentage and I think Randy that’s in Brook that’s why you maybe look at him as being your lead off man and with Alec burlson you needed somebody to step up we knew how big of a loss it was to lose wils trayers for many different reasons but he’s really the only one who is consistently doing anything at the place so you needed somebody to step up at this moment now I’d rather it be Paul now Paul gmid he is starting to Trend in a little bit of a better Direction but it has been such a slow start for him that that’s still quite the climb for him but Alec burlson being able to step in this moment where you need somebody to provide some sort of offense that’s what you needed after losing wils contras I uh I think broson can flat out hit yeah I just you know the bats that he takes the potential power that he provides you know this guy hit 331 in the minor for Triple A for a significant portion of the season and I don’t care if the the disparity and the gap between MLB and AAA is a lot which by all accounts it is but still you hit 3 331 playing professional baseball you’re doing something right I at one point was convinced that it didn’t matter that Brendon Noman was going to be great at the top of the lineup had that 394 on base a couple of years ago and that was one thing that he always did was get on base and now not only are his overall averages not great and he did have a couple of hit last night so let’s point that out but he has been consistent in that in April he hit 228 with a 311 on base in May he’s hit 225 with a 309 he’s been the same player all year long offensively and I hope that this is not what he is I hope we go back to what he was in his first two years in the majors bur or Donovan I’m talking about Brendon Donovan and you got Walker in the minor leagues you know you’ve had a a little bit regression with some of the younger players so that is of concern right now for the Cardinals and you know we talked about the offense really as Goldie and ronado go you also needed the young players to take another step forward in in some ways they have not what about Nolan Gorman do you have any concerns about him right now I’ve always thought that Gorman was going to be like a number six type hitter I thought he’d hit a bunch of home runs with a low on base and a low batting average and I still think he’s going to be that guy I still think he’s going to hit for power but I don’t consider him a middle of lineup guy I think I consider him a six or seven hitter right now to me strikeouts which you knew you’re going to get your handful of strikeouts but he striking out at about a 36% clip which man that’s that’s a lot um I look at burlson hitting second too by the way in the lineup I take again I’m I’m shaking it up I’m looking at all possibilities and if he gets hot put him closer to the top let him do some damage in the two- hole especially if Goldie starts to hit he may get more pitches hit you know those are those are some things to look at I wish that uh going back to Nolan Gorman I wish the P pitch recognition was better I I considered him a poor man’s Kyle schwarber and I don’t know if he’s going to get there now I and did I think he was going to have a 400 on base and 48 home runs no but I said a poor man so 35 home runs with a 350 on base that’s what I would like to see out of Nolan Gorman what do you think though if he played every day and you know would you get to those marks um that’s the one thing I would look at that means playing every day against lefties righties sometimes you’re going to have to write out the strikeouts and there may be a bunch in a series you know he can strike out six to eight times yeah but you just live with it and say you know what we’re going to go for it cuz he’s going to walk into some home runs before it’s all said and done last year schwarber 197 batting average led the league with 215 strikeouts but 47 home runs in a 343 on base if I could get something smaller than that but similar percentage wise to Gorman I’d take it yeah just ride it out yeah and you get 343 on base I all of a sudden you could legitimately have them lead off Greg had a interesting point about the four seam fast ball and if they’re throwing a lot of two seamers this weekend talking about the the Boston Red Sox then I think you see a lot of Gorman because he’s susceptible to a for seamer that’s up in the zone so something to look you know think about that maybe happens this weekend if you see him playing a lot just something think about that’s Dan that’s Brook I’m Randy and that’s today’s fresh take here on 101 ESPN coming up we’re going to talk some blues hockey with our buddy our Blues Insider from the athletic the one the only Jeremy Rutherford is next on 101 ESPN it’s time for a Draft Kings at Cino Queen Redbird report on 101 ESPN B Grimsley here for your redb bird report the Cardinals were unable to finish the sweep falling to the angels 7 to2 last night the Angels building up an early lead off a rough first inning for Lance Lynn Lynn allowing a lead off Homer and what became a four-run first inning he did settle in a little bit after that working out of trouble in the third and fifth Innings Lynn finish allowing four runs off eight hits while walking two and striking out five in five innings Paul goid with a solo home run and Brenan Donovan drove in a run for the Cardinals the Cardinals with the day off today before starting a nine-game home stand starting with the Red Sox on Friday the Redbird report is presented by Draft Kings at Casino Queen play Stay D at DraftKings at Casino Queen e e if your home is in your future then you need to call Gloria Lou from your home sold guaranteed realy Gloria’s number is 314 32568 88 or you can find her on the web at Gloria hasthe buyers.com why should you call Gloria Lou well it’s easy because her name and her promise says it all your home sold guaranteed realy she’s mastered the home selling promise and she has solutions for you if you want a fast sale with no hassles while Gloria’s got a 24-hour cash offer Solution that’s a great option to consider you don’t have to show the house there are no costly repairs to pay for and you pick the closing date and you always get the highest cash offer bid from from Gloria’s database of buyers and what she calls her cash offer bid box it really is amazing she’s got people that want to buy a home like yours in your neighborhood and in your price range and she’s been collecting these names of people interested in homes for over 20 years so she’s going to get it done and if you need to sell your home Gloria is going to sell it at the price you want to sell it for give her a call Gloria l 314 32568 88 or visit her website Gloria has the buyers .c e by Scott Lee heating company a proud Mitsubishi Electric Elite [Music] contractor our Blues Insider from the athletic Jeremy ruford is with us in studio here on the opening drive on 101 ES PN he wants to Beat the Traffic he’s got more important things to do and so he wants to beat the traffic so he’s here with us now thank you sir thanks for stopping by yeah no problem and also uh I got to correct something I said uh a couple days ago with BK and for just a word slippage right you guys ever had that happen to you on the air just make sure it’s the right words and not the bad words you’re right about that well you know you do this five days a week you do these hits and I was given a shout out to uh George a guy who came out to the house and did an appraisal at the house and I said said that he was a vivid listener and you you hang up after the hit and you just what in the heck was I trying to say well it was about 8 hours later I told the story to a friend of mine he said you were trying to say he’s an avid listener and like oh Bingo that’s it thank you so again don’t know if that’s ever happen to you guys but uh did he wear colorful stuff yeah I was going to say I was trying to justify I’m sure you do that too trying to justify my head no he was a vivid listener right did George give you a good deal on whatever you’re doing here I mean you’re throwing out a lot of shout outs to him listens to the station all the time and he did text later and say his friends family everybody heard it and uh and they were excited so it reminds me of the time when I pulled into a quick trip and I told you Randy that I was doing the hit hit from a quick trip parking lot and you said anybody out there let’s hear the horn honk a horn and it was two minutes later a guy drove by in a diesel and hon the horn like I love it okay uh so you did your uh Blues fan survey and I don’t believe the blues fans here all the time would you going would you continue to buy tickets if the blues went into a full rebuild and were guaranteed to miss the playoffs for five or more seasons 58.1% of the people said yes they would continue to buy tickets only 41.9 said no were these people around in 2006 you know I don’t know and I’m kind of there’s a comment section at the bottom of the article and somebody already said I’m calling BS on this somebody said they said I was around 2006 and these people say they’re going to pay for the tickets uh but then when push comes to shove they they probably won’t you know I do remember though that’s when took over covering the blues for the St Louis postest batch was 056 and and uh you know Eric Johnson yeah that got some excitement going pan berglin oi those guys but I do remember a lot of people dressed up like empty seats yeah they were yeah so a lot of folks disguised as empty seats Come Grow With US yeah it didn’t work out well Craig bruy is now seemingly the hot candidate for all the opening head coaching jobs so where do you think he’s going to land what are you hearing about all the different interviews he is and yeah he was in uh Toronto this past weekend and talked to the Maple Leafs I believe for a couple days I know he’s talked to New Jersey and then most recently I think it’s been reported that he was talking to Winnipeg what do you guys feel about Craig bruy behind that Winnipeg bench it’s one thing when it’s in the East right and it’s Toronto New Jersey but what about Winnipeg I’m intrigued I don’t want to play against them but I’m intrigued I think he could do a good job there yeah and we’ve been saying for a few weeks that uh you know when I think of Craig bruy and I see him I think of this blue collar hardworking mentality and that’s what I think about when I look at the Winnipeg Jets and they’ve got that type of roster too I think he’d do really well there but I will say that how the sausage is made here I’ve already started on an article about him taking over the Toronto mapela so it’s kind of sitting in the computer there so if it happens it would help me out because I’ve already done some work on it and I don’t know what he’s looking for he’s got a Stanley Cup ring right he he might want to be the guy that gets Toronto their first cup since 1967 I don’t know but if you’re looking at the three jobs and you want to win the way he’s won Winnipeg has a big defense and they have a great goalie and that’s the way he won here yeah and I think he could be really successful in Winnipeg you know if if you look at the Toronto situation you know obviously tons of money they’re going to do whatever they can do to uh put the winning team on the ice which is a great situation for him and I think also the maple Lees now after getting knocked out of the playoffs for several years in Arona they’re in a position where you know they need to change and go in a direction of what I think bruy can help them do and that’s play with some grit that’s you know bring in some bigger bodies let play that style so uh yeah they have a lot of skilled guys and that’s how the Toronto May police are going to win they have to they’re paying those guys big bucks but I think it’s a situation where Craig could say hey look this is what you guys need and the GM Brad traveling have to go out and get that J.R when you’re watching the playoffs and it’s so intense and it’s so fast do you sit there and go man the blues are really far away or man they’re not too far away from what we’re seeing here on the ice in the playoffs yeah I hate to use the term real really far away cuz it just that makes it sound like it’s six or eight years but I I think that they’re far away because they have some skill they have some Talent they have some people who could be uh good in the playoffs but when you watch a game like you saw last night between Dallas and Colorado every shift is what we saw years ago with the blues I mean it’s big boy hockey and and and I realize uh there’s a lot of other elements involved you know you got McKinnon doing his thing last night again um but I think the blues don’t have the bottom six right now I don’t think nor the second and third defensive pair who is going to go out there and wear you down like we saw last night with Dallas and Colorado so therefore I I think they’re years away until they can bring that type of player in I want to also ask you because I don’t know if there has been any new developments with this Pavo bunich have you heard anything about Doug Armstrong approaching him with a contract extension yet no only because it would have to be July 1st for it to be offici now you know do those things happen behind the scenes I suppose uh but because he has one more year left on his contract they can’t officially begin negotiating until July 1st and announce a deal until July 1st so it’s got to be when you sign a multi-year deal in the NHL with the collective bargaining agreement um you know you got to wait till that final year starts which is July 1st so at that point I would think that we’d probably maybe not hear something but we’d have some belief that they’re trying to talk behind the scenes cuz Doug Armstrong has said it pava bich has said that uh yeah we’re waiting to hear from Doug so I think at that point we’ll know something and you’ve talked to bich in his Camp before about how they feel about Drew banister how he feels about Drew banister do you think that his decision also is predicated on what move they made with the head coaching position yeah it’s interesting I think more so than who the coach is it would come down to what doug Armstrong said at the end of the season he said I’m sure that when I go to pavl bunevich and talk to him about a contract extension he’s going to have some hard questions for me about where we are in terms of winning and if Doug Armstrong’s response is hey great question uh I think we’re in a situation where it’s going to be two three years then you know Pavo bunevich is going to have to digest that and and see where that decision uh leads him so um until they have those conversations we won’t know anything but I think now that we see that Drew banister is the coach we see that this is going to continue to be a retool for a couple more years that’s something that’s going to have to weigh on uh on pav bich how many guys hang around in the offseason well uh there’s there’s a few I know we talk about that all the time with uh alumni yeah keeping their home here in St Louis I know Robert Thomas uh is is here um he’s a guy who who spends a lot of time in St Louis um off the top of my head I don’t know how many stay Beyond a few weeks or a month and I was asking that just because it it seems like players are creatures a habit and they take like maybe a week off and then it’s off ice training and on ice I mean they just don’t stop yeah it’s crazy and and yeah I realize that’s their job and you got to stay in that kind of shape uh but it is yeah I remember you know talking to guys like Alex petrangelo and and and even Matthew kachuck like they’ll come back from a vacation and they will be back at the gym sometimes the night they come back from the vacation and if it’s not that night it’s the next morning I mean that’s my excuse to say like okay I could use another week I was just you know down in Florida for whatever but yeah I need another week but yeah no I’ve heard stories from trainers that they will be back in the gym they’ll even call say hey I got back on a Friday I know we should probably wait till Monday but can you open up on Saturday I’ll be wow wow hey J.R I have a question about a couple of your answers the buich answer and then how long it’s going to take how much of what those answers are are a product of the fact that the blues are Boxed In by previous contracts in the salary cap yeah I think that that’s uh definitely been weighing on this team for a couple years now uh you know Doug has tried to get out of one of them at least we know with Tory Krug you know how much of an effort is he trying to get out of one or or two of them uh this offseason we’ll see that’s why like when people say now you’re getting to the point where Tory Krug and and and Justin Faulk have three years left on their deal you might as well just write it out because uh the blues aren’t going to be a competitive team for the next couple years so don’t buy them out some fans are saying just get through this period and these no trade Clauses turn to modified no trade trade Clauses uh in in a year or so and so people are saying you know don’t do anything drastic just let these guys play but my answer Randy is I don’t think the blues can move forward and get into that next phase fully until they’re able to move some of these contracts and it’s a uh this is a conundrum because if I’m another general manager I’m not going to trade for the Krug and Fulk contracts right at least at full price if the Cardinal or the blues were able to get Kevin Hayes at Half Price last year that’s about what worth the market value for those two has in my opinion dropped precipitously especially with with Tory Krug so I can’t imagine that the blues would be able to get rid of $18 million on each of those contracts yeah so it is a conundrum for a couple reasons because one if you if you do want to move them and I call you and you’re the GM of the other team and just like you said you don’t want to do that deal what do I got to do then I got to add a sweetener I got to say hey will you take a second round pick too if you take Tory krug’s contract or Justin fa’s contract you know so I think that’s a a big issue there um and then you know if you retain salary people should know that you’re not just doing it for next season if you retain retain salary you’re doing it for the length of the contract just just like Philly’s retaining Kevin Hayes money for a couple years three years left on that deal same thing so Krug and ful three years left let’s say you retain 40% what have you you’re doing it the next three seasons the people on the text line want you to know that Oscar sunquist also stays in St Louis yeah that’s a given that’s a good one yeah he’s got the girlfriend SL fiance SL uh future wifey yeah Blake so she’s uh she’s in town they’re in town they love in St Louis that should be a Gimme That Sunny stays here who do you like right now in the playoffs well I I continue to stick by uh Florida I just think that uh you know I realize that they’ve slipped up here a little bit against Boston Boston’s back in the series it’s 3-2 now it’s going back to Boston uh but I just like the way Florida plays you guys have talked about it all week Matthew K Chuck what he brings to the table and the go ending has been really good and the and the last thing is when you go as far as you did last year like they did it hardens you and I think that’s who uh who they are right now if Boston is knocked out in the second round Jim Montgomery on the hot seat you think or is is he because he got through the first round everything’s okay and they’ve been great in the regular season yeah so if if if they got swept or lost four to one I think there’s a really good chance you know they’re battling back in the series but Dan I I do think that there’s some element of that I I think that it will be talked about I think that uh you know fans in Boston are uh they they like Jim Montgomery they know what he brings to the table but they they wonder and and so I think that will be a conversation at least within the fan base but I think at that point I don’t know if the Boston Bruins are interested in letting him go and and people should know he’s got one year left on his contract Jr great stuff as always thanks for stopping by and you got the podcast coming up thanks for having me yeah we’re going to do the podcast here in a little bit that should be up later today and let me tell you it is going to be a vivid podcast all right who’s going to join you on that podcast that would be one Donnie Fandango and a Alex ferrario and we’re going to talk about that blue survey among other things and I think we’re in the YouTube room today so there might be a video of these gorgeous faces oh love it they are gorgeous have a great weekend sir thank you you guys too thanks that’s the one and only Jeremy ruford our Blues Insider from the athletic on 101 ESPN coming up we’ve got the fight Matthew you need a fighter today yo okay if you want to fight just uh why are you laughing because the way that rock says it Randy and you know as well we always need a new fight no you do I need to be reminded that I won yesterday didn’t you win three to nothing I may have I may not I don’t know uh you can text in with your name in the word fight to 314 399 9646 314 399 and maybe Matthew will pick you to fight me next on 101 ESPN e e e e e e you want to change up your daily Fantasy game here’s the best way to do it you got to get in on the pick them game over at Underdog fantasy pick them Champions you just pick two to five players from at least two different teams select higher or lower on the player sta projections you can pick your entry fee you’re going to be entering the games alongside other underdogs as long as you hit your entries you’re walking away with your winnings here’s the thing right now on Underdog fantasy they at they’re giving you a promo right now for Caitlyn Clark’s game tonight higher than 0. five points I think she will hit a three to clear that pretty easily on the other side I’m going to go with some NBA games tonight no Cardinals game you could go with golf it is a Thursday so that starts we’re watching it right now in studio so that can be where you add your entries me I’m going with NBA basketball like I always do I’m going to go lower than 41 and a half points rebounds and assists for Anthony Edwards and lower than 50 and a half points for Nicola yic he needs to get about 35 points to get hit that 50 I don’t know if he’s going to get that tonight I think later on in the playoff rounds you get more defense so I think it’s going to be a lower scoring game in Minnesota that’s where we’re going lower on both Anthony Edwards and nickol Yin again there’s a promo sitting in your lobby right now for Caitlyn clark5 points bonus grab that right now it’s super easy to play and even easier get started on Underdog fantasy you can go to the easy use mobile app or at Underdog fantasy.com sign up with promo code R and Underdog will give you a mystery special pick to useing your first pick of entry and a deposit offer right now we’re looking at 10x on our entry you’re going to add that mystery special pick you’re going to take it up even higher that’s Underdog fantasy promo code r cc to claim your new customer special of M of a mystery special pick and that deposit offer must be 18 plus in president state where under fantasy operates terms apply concerned with your play call Gambler visit www.ncpgambling.org this is your sports center update brought to you by CGA Heating and Cooling the Cardinals fall last night to the angels 7 to2 failed to complete the sweep they’ll head back to St Louis for a three-game series facing off against the Boston Red stocks starting tomorrow night also last night St Louis city in action and it was another L for your St Louis Squad as they fall to lafc two to nothing that game starts off with a missed penalty from joal clouse and then LFC eventually takes over and last night in the NHL playoffs the Avalanche over the Stars 5 to3 as they Stave off elimination Stars still lead that Series 3 to2 that is your sports center update brought to you by s Heating Cooling an independent American s Heating Air Conditioning dealer welcome to the fight in the Red Corner Average Joe listner and in the blue Corner the Undisputed king of morning drive please welcome Randy [Applause] [Music] carer welcome back to the opening drive Brook Dan and Rocko here and it is time for the fight and our fighter today is Anthony Anthony how are you doing good how are you guys doing doing great is this your first time facing Randy in the fight uh it’s been a long time well just how long has it been oh probably two or three years ago a that’s not that long R he’s been doing this a long time so you’re fresh off that fight and ready to go for another are you ready to go today let’s do it sounds good all right here’s question one from Brooke question one Anthony who was the St Louis Rams first ever draft pick was it Orlando Pace Wayne Gandy or Kevin Carter Kevin Carter question two following the blues cup runs to start their time as a franchise they would go almost 20 years with only one appearance in the Conference Finals that came in 1986 when they lost to which team in seven games was it the Flames the North Stars or the Flyers North Stars all right question three who is the only Cardinal to hit 10 plus multi-home Run games in one season season is it Mark Maguire Sam muel or Albert phols Albert Pool the all-time record for consecutive 100 yard rushing games is 14 which Hall of Fame running back set that Mark was it Barry Sanders Thurman Thomas or leanian Tomlinson L all right let me go get uh Randall how are you feel Anthony we got to ask that how are you feeling uh not great not great what which ones stripped you up a little bit you feel like I’m not a big onl guys so oh okay oh here comes Randy I’m walking in right now over to his mic no grapes I always seem to just I always seem to get like two questions for the sport they don’t like and like one or zero on the sport they actually want it’s like you know it’s like I know I don’t know sorry I my apologize completely random I promise you make it tough Rock make it tough randoms on the The Gauntlet are always tough how would you do on those Randy cuz that’s not really sports related so bad yeah we should do that for tiebreakers as long as I get options I could do it there you go I that’s fair I’m start to mix it up a little bit true you’re right I think that’s fair say hi to Anthony Brandy Anthony good morning how you doing good how are you good looking forward to hearing you this afternoon at two here on the opening drive it’s our is it R Anthony no no it’s not r Anthony okay no he’s not a big NFL guy okay R Anthony’s a big NFL yeah I was going to say quite the opposite you ready for question number one ready who was the last St Louis Rams first who was the St Lou Rams first ever draft pick the St Louis Rams MH last first overall pick who was the St Louis Rams first ever draft pick St Louis Rams first ever draft pick oh my guy KC Kevin Carter University of Florida zoology major at the University of Florida great guyy major has a a son who plays football in h the ivy league uh and uh he’s he’s brilliant the entire family is brilliant does Kevin come back much to St Louis no he doesn’t I saw him at the hall of fame last year and I I just adore him he’s he’s one of my favorite people in that I’ve ever met in sports he’s just a great guy how not go in the Super Bowl’s on the line get in there 26 seconds left you’re coming out of the Super Bowl he’s he was a great player too and he’s a great Immaculate grid guy if you ever want to if you play the football Immaculate grid because he was with the Rams Titans bucks and dolphins he’s always a good fit on the imaculate grid too are you qu ready for question two yeah was it Kevin Carter that’s final answer all right first ever 1995 we were the draft for the media was held at Mike Shannon because the Rams were drafting in La still H following the blues J Carter might have been the first pick in that draft by the way he was okay Penn State yeah that’s right Carter yeah Bengal all right you ready for question two okay following the blues cup run cup runs let me start that over following the blues cup runs to start their time as a franchise they would go almost 20 years with only one appearance in the Conference Finals that came in 1986 when they lost to Wi team in seven games Wicked Heiser scores uh are you going Monday night Miracle on us going Monday night Miracle I’m going Calgary Flames that we lost in 72 in 1986 I was at the Monday night Miracle at the very very top seat at the old arena very top Al mckines was on the ice for the flame Chopper yeah how about that yeah how about that that was that was some game that that seat I believe was was curving like towards the ice at that point when you were that up that high at the old arena right that seat was curving towards the ice right that’s well they were auxiliary press yeah so yeah we were we were curving towards the ice you’re exactly right you ready for question three Randy ready who is the only Cardinal to hit 10 plus multi-home Run games in one season 10 plus multi Home Run games I’m going to go with the guy that had 70 I’m going to go with Big Mac Mark McGuire just going to play the odds here the alltime record for consecutive 100 yard rushing games is 14 which Hall of Fame running back set that Mark 14 consecutive 100yd rushing games Dan I’ll do the lifeline here Barry Sanders he’s in the Hall of Fame Thurman Thomas leanian Tomlinson okay my first thought was LT but it seems like I may have won a fantasy football league title with Barry Sanders running for 100 yards in a bunch of games so I’m going to go with Barry Sanders just CU he won me that title you just love H Barry Sanders when he wins you that fantasy league title yep all right Matthew do your thing we have a winner today by the Skin of Their Teeth it’s been a long time for Anthony does he come in here with a victory to start his day off before hosting a show or does Randy carer roll on with another close Victory this week that’d be four straight all of them very close ring that Bell the winner and still champion of the fight Randy carer the fight is presented by Golf Discount of St Louis with the most experienced Club fitters in town why up anywhere else I’m so sorry Anthony Randy carrier beat you three to two today he just barely edged you out there at the end no worries man have a good day guys thought it was a little mean of you to do thank you sorry thank you Anthony it was a good it was a really good fight a really close fight today let’s go through the questions and the answers who was the St Louis Rams first ever draft pick it was in fact Kevin Carter and you guys even got it right K Carter was the first overall pick in that draft nicely done nicely done everybody in the room didn’t have much of a career and want to know another anecdote about that morning of that draft is that we found out that Warren Sapp had tested positive for marij Joana the devil’s lettuce the wacky weed at the combine and he fell he probably would have been the Rams pick at number six if he had not suffered that uh well not suffered if he had not failed that that test I uh MCD Isaac Bruce’s Foundation dinner this last year it was Warren Sap y of all people you just didn’t think Isaac Bruce and Warren Snap sap but he was awesome Warren Sap was absolutely fantastic yeah he was a lot of fun yeah you just don’t want to get in a hotel room with him I got a ner out really quick based on positional things does that mean that him getting caught with him getting caught is like is what made DeMarco far happen in St Louis like DeMarco far he’s not there’s no three technique position available for him right that’s insane I’d never thought about that wow so DeMarco far has all of St Lou his whole entire run in St Louis to be thankful for Warren staff getting popped right before the draft all righty then it’s crazy how things happen uh following the blues cup runs to start their time as a franchise they would go almost 20 years 1973 to 2000 with only one appearance in the Conference Finals that came in 1986 when they lost in seven games to the Calgary Flames uh who is the only Cardinal to hit 10 plus multi-home Run games in one season Mark McGuire hit eight in his record setting season but in his 2009 MVP season Albert puhul set the Cardinals record with 10 um and the all-time record for consecutive 100 yard rushing games is 14 held by Barry Sanders he did all in one season his uh 19977 yeah his first two year when he went over 2,000 yards his first two games in that season he had 25 carries for 53 total yards the next 14 straight games 100 plus every single one of them including two over 200 and three over 150 absolutely unbelievable I think after those first two games somebody may have traded him to me uh oh my God that’s one of the worst trades in fantasy football history that got that got Randy a win then and that got Randy a win today a 3-2 win today over Anthony in the fight all right thank you Matthew and thank you to Anthony and thanks for being with us for the fight we’ll be back at it tomorrow coming up next here on 101 ESPN the PG Championship is underway what are some of the storylines from the PGA at Valhalla that’s next on the opening drive on 101 ESPN e e e e there are some people and some companies that do amazing things for those that need more in our community and it’s happening again with the YMCA and the bonfice foundation and Cardinals care with the Adaptive Sports Complex in South County brought to you by the Gateway region YMCA you can learn more at Gateway region ymca.org gwr ymca.org one of the really cool things about this is that you can join Cardinals care and the bonfice foundation and the Y and Paul goldshmid to help out with Paul gold Schmid field yes you can help it’s not too late to become a founding donor and leave a lasting Legacy for Paul goldmit field and here’s what it is it really is truly amazing it’s a miracle League Baseball Field inclusive playground and multi-purpose field so kids and adults with disabilities can play sports and working with the Cardinals the Y is excited to share the field will be named the Paul gold Schmid field consider making sports available so that all children with disabilities can play ball and experience the joys of being on a team visit GW ymca.org if you’d like to be a part of it that’s GW ymca.org the DJ Championship is underway at Hal in lville and after six holes today Xander shofy is 3 under Park he’s tied with Victor havin for the lead Doug gim Robert McIntyre and Rory mroy are all at two under along with Hideki Manama Jordan spe and Terrell Hatton and then a large group after that obviously is already on the course and Tiger Woods is not off to a great start he’s even through five with to with Rory’s win last week week I I I think that sheffler comes in as the favorite but I don’t think Rory in my mind if I’m setting the odds would be far behind I agree I mean this Valhalla went from 7,100 to 7600 so you’re talking about a guy that can bombit which would be part of the storyline uh I think for this weekend I also think the other part is the weather as we look at the weather here in St Louis there’s in Louisville there’s a 70 70% chance of rain uh tomorrow and and Saturday so the fairways could be very soft the balls won’t roll um going back to Rory he’s already won there but uh you may have lift clean in place which would help the scores go low so maybe not travel as much but then when you look at when these guys get to position the ball with lift clean in place man that can make a huge difference with some of the scoring that you may see this weekend you really do have a three-headed monster at the top of the field with Scotty Sheffer Brooks kka and of course Rory mroy with that recent win under his belt doesn’t it kind of feel like everything is set up for maybe Rory to finally get his first major since 2014 to be able to win the PGA Championship absolutely this is uh one that he’s won before um and I think the interesting thing with Sheffer even though he’s played in the last three weeks it’s not tournament golf but he’s tried to stay sharp is that uh he just had a baby congratulations to him with his wife Meredith and he hasn’t played in 3 weeks on tour um obviously we all know tournament golf is different than you know going out with playing with your buddy or something but um I don’t know if you if that will affect him he’s just so good but it’s something to keep in mind as they head towards the weekend here at the PGA Championship it’s going to be fun I have a follow-up question for you guys because you said that you didn’t want to see him continue to win is it just because that he’s not as exciting of a person or what do you think that it is that you’re just kind of tired of seeing this recent dominance from him and he’s such a nice guy he is he do anything he’s just not you know he’s whole hum wins everything he’s not vivid as Jeremy Rutherford would say I just kind of want to see somebody else win I um as you mentioned Rory hasn’t won a major in a long time I’d love to see tiger make a charge of some sort I’m a fan of Brooks kka so uh I know I’m the minority with that I think he’s a great villain and it seems like the lib players are villains which obviously there’s a handful of those guys in this tournament but um I don’t know I I can’t put my finger on it is to why it’s just probably because he wins all the time and I just want to see somebody else win I want to see somebody get a grand slam that’d be cool yeah and it hasn’t obviously tiger had the tiger slam but Sheffer is set up with the way he’s playing to be able to be that dominant force and I think that’s one of the things that golf has missed since the demise of Tiger Woods we’ve had guys that were supposed to be the next Tiger right call col marawa was that guy Jordan spe was that guy Justin Thomas was that guy but we haven’t had that guy and sheffer’s the LA the I I think the best chance to be that guy that you say okay he could he could threaten for and Rory was that guy too by the way but he could threaten for a grand slam Rory just bombs the ball when I watch him hit the golf ball I am just in amazement not only how far he hits it but how high he hits it and he’s knocking it out there 350 no problem whatsoever and I mentioned how in this a Nicholas design course so off the tea it is wide open these guys can absolutely bomb it and go for it and that’s it’s just amazing to watch these guys hit and it’s so funny they talk about what we’re going to have this roll roll back of the golf ball it’s not going to matter for the pros it’s going to be like 8 to 10 yards what’s the big deal that’s the thing you’re so Rory will go from hitting an average of 350 to an average of hitting 348 342 like what’s the difference yeah he he won’t be able to drive the green on four holes per power four on these courses okay here’s a question does tiger make the cut no I don’t think he will you don’t think he if he did it at the Masters with all the undulation going up and down with the bad leg I think he does I think he finds a way to make the cut I I hope he does I just I I wonder if he can walk for four well he’s got to be able to walk for two and he does we’re watching him right now and he looks like he’s moving around okay looks like he’s but man he has to put so much into playing on Friday after playing on Thursday that’s the key too and getting into the weekend and he blew up the Masters going into the weekend that’s really really hard for him to do and if he has to deal with rain today too that’ll hurt him yeah 70% chance tomorrow and Saturday oh no so he’s um right now the weather looks fine doesn’t it it does looks pretty these guys are you can see Tiger’s got his golf shirt is all wet I mean it looks like it’s warm and muggy there y so and by the way you mentioned the Sheffer storyline with the baby the Rory storyline with the divorce is there too it is you know there there’s dra in L Louisville this weekend well I’m sure it wasn’t something that came by surprise I’m sure it was something that was happening behind the scenes and maybe this could actually be a positive thing for him you might consider a distraction but if this was a long time coming and then you have this conveniently happen right before the PGA Championship I think the timing of it says a lot mentioned it uh Mother’s Day last weekend and he didn’t even mention his wife they interviewed him in the you know the post tournament uh on the course and Amanda asked him about Mother’s Day and the influence that his mom has had on which a huge influence in his life and didn’t mention his wife so yeah what about the woman who has your kids now in retrospect you go oh okay it makes a little sense now speaking of villains did you see what Brooks kka did on the same day of the announcement that he was getting divorced from his wife and I’m talking about Rory so Brooks posted an an appreciation post about his wife the same day that Rory announced the divorce the timing was interesting wasn’t it um yeah that’s where the villain aspect comes in right you can’t count out capk the PGA as well as he’s played we saw that firsthand here in St Louis he’s won that a bunch it seems like and he’s always in contention with a major he’s always got a shot he’s a big game player the clutch Gene exists absolutely Brooks absolutely by the way at the moment Scotty and Rory are even on FanDuel at plus 500 shley is at plus 550 and these are changing as they’re playing here I’m watching these odds change then kka is fourth you go from Xander at plus 550 to kka at plus, 1400 Rah at plus 18 and havland at plus 2,000 thought I thought it was interesting what Rah had to say about the PGA he said well I don’t really feel like you know I’m not a part of it anymore and people affiliated with the PG like are you kidding me you left for live for half a billion dollars and you’re suspended right now you can play in the majors but that’s it and he does not have a chance to defend some of the places that he loves to play at and that is what as a golf fan is disappointing is just not seeing these guys every single time and you know you get spoiled in watching these players play at the majors and can’t watch him every weekend it’s the classic case of buyers remorse and I think that with John ROM in particular he thought that his game and his name was going to for Force the merger I don’t think that there’s any doubt that he thought that he his move was going to be the difference in bringing everything together now Rory is saying I’m not really confident that we’re going to be able to get things together and I think he thought he’d bring more players which then would force the issue like you’re saying so didn’t happen it does sound like though there’s movement potentially to bring this together I mean I was talking to some people that are in the know a little bit this past week and they think that within the year you could have some type of merger now there’s a lot that has to go in that to have that happen but at least it seems like there are some steps going in the right direction I guess time will tell don’t you feel for the guys though who have been defending the PGA Tour and have stood by it instead of doing the other thing I know that having that amount of money dangled in front of you a lot of people it would be hard for them to pass up but you had a lot of people who stood by the PJ tour through all of this right and not only did you have those people and they’re they’re going to be made they’re going to get more money but they are going to be made whole relative Dory could have gotten 400 million what’s he going to get 100 million something like that right around there and if if you can spend $100 million and not have money left over then proud of you pretty good deal yeah but still 400 I mean $300 million here $300 million there it starts to add up yeah it’s it’s amazing it’s amazing coming up we have some great news for you about the Battle Hawks that you need to stick around for on our Rush Hour reset on 101 ESPN e e e e e e we’re recapping the biggest Sports stories of the day on the opening drive with a rush hour [Music] reset 9:04 in St Louis 905 in 3 2 1 woof 905 time check brought to you by Clarkson Jewelers and officially licensed Rolex Jeweler Brook Dan Matthew Randy and big news as we start our Rush Hour reset the United Football League announced today the tickets for the 2024 UFL championship game will go on sale to the public one week from today Thursday May 23rd at 9:00 a.m. Central Time St Louis battlehawk season ticket members will be able to enjoy a special pre-sale to purchase tickets for the championship game on Tuesday May 21st all season ticket members will receive a pre-sale link and a private code to the sale and due to the anticipated volume all pre-sale orders must be completed online the battle Hawks have also introduced three limited Championship packages which include 50 plus party site tickets a food and beverage package replica jerseys and more and the battle Hawks tied for first place in the XFL conference they have a chance to clinch a playoff birth with a victory Sunday when they host Jordan teamu and the DC Defenders so your opportunity to see a championship football game here in St Louis and tickets are available on Thursday Thursday May 23rd one week from today has there been any update on AJ McCarron because he was dealing with that ankle injury I have not heard I know I haven’t seen anything as well let me see if I can check that out maybe if STL is listening he could give us a quick text he’s usually pretty good about that we’ll check that out uh by the way tomorrow we’re going to talk to Jacob Sailors the uh running back for the the battle Hawks as they get ready to take on DC on Sunday at the Dome Cardinals lost last night 72 to the angels wrapping up the road trip had three straight wins before losing last night they have a day off today what time if you play a West Coast game Dan that ends at 11:00 in Anheim so you’re in SoCal you probably get on the plane at 1:00 St Louis time yep and then what four hours to for to and three and a half so you probably uh like we recorded yesterday with Kyle Gibson who’s coming up next here on the show but uh Kyle probably his head hit the pill hit the pillow maybe 500 a.m. yeah that’s about right 5 5:15 six something like that yeah it’s and you know if you have kids a lot of times guys stay up so if they’re headed to school they’ll maybe take him to school or just get up with them have breakfast or something like that so hey that’s part of the that’s part of what’s going on in professional sports late nights early mornings and coming from the West Coast you just have to deal with it and if you go to cardinals.com if you’re interested in the cards and the Red Sox this weekend the Red Sox are an interesting team to watch and Tyler O’Neal comes back to town they’ve got good deals on tickets for this weekend Series against the Boston Red Sox I’m a little nervous about this home stand guys of course you love when the Cardinals are back at home but when you look at who they’re facing during this nine game home stand you start to get a little bit worried there because they weren’t able to uh excuse me complete the sweep against the Angels they should have been able to do that Runners and scoring position we discussed that a lot during the course of the show that still continues to be an issue 1 for 10 last night and they’re hitting I believe it was what was it 191 with risp currently that’s not great now something positive you want run run bunnies and Roses did you sneeze bunnies and Roses I was about to I held you have to just look at the light sorry to expose you like that but um Alli burlson I think that he’s been a positive for this team offensively three more home runs allowed though I know that we look at the offense as being hit and miss and it’s taken a lot of the blame early on there’s been some cracks here recently with the rotation and something to keep your eye on as they move forward Cardinals have only hit 32 home runs so that is uh something that you have to look at in a game of power they’re just not hitting the ball in terms of a lot of power from primarily the guys that you want to see that from although Goldie last night opposite field home run to Right Center that’s a good sign and as Brooke mentioned it’s going to be a tough home stand coming up Boston can flat out pitch they’re number one in baseball in pitching then you see the Orioles they have not been SW swept in over 100 Series going back a couple years and then you got the Rival Cubs coming into town so should be fun to watch should be very interesting at the PGA Championship Doug gin has well he had tied for the lead until Xander shafley birdie number seven shafley now leads at four under through seven Doug gim and Victor hland along with Jordan spe all at three under par as they play the first round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Club in Louisville Xander Sha is in the top five or top 10 of every tournament M he just can’t get over the top way way so much the best player that hasn’t wanton a major right Michael I think so Michael block remember he was the story of the PGA Championship Club Pro going out and his final day he was paired with Rory maoy on a Sunday at the PGA Championship well not the same story this year he’s already plus five after I think two I think he took a snowman yeah he need oh that’s car hole there yeah me too and Jason Tatum are on their and the Celtics on their way to the Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA they beat Cleveland last night and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third year in a row and I I can’t say that I think that the Celtics will beat the Denver Nuggets but I do think this is Boston’s best chance even though they got to the finals against Phoenix I think this is their best chance to win a title they get to the Eastern Conference Finals seems like every year right now with Jason Tatum who by the way had basically a historic series which was just wrapped up led the series in scoring rebounding assist Steals and I think blocks as well and there’s only been a handful of players that have ever done that in NBA history he is he’s must C TV and he’s St Louis’s own Jason Tatum pretty cool he he’s great I think one of the things that is going to have to happen and uh I want Matthew to weigh in here I think Robert porzingis is going to have to be healthy if they get to the finals against Denver I think they’re going to have to have porzingis yeah I mean that’s that that’s no doubt I mean they they have a a colossally large uh points margin this entire season it’s it’s huge compared to the Nuggets I think are the next closest one and I think the Celtics almost have double their entire plus margin in points and it’s not just because they’re a good offensive team it’s because they are a great defensive team and and Chris depps porzingis certainly helps with that yeah I said Robert I don’t know why I said Robert porzingis Chris stpps is his name yeah just call him Special K I did not pick up on that at all but I think it’s cuz you were thinking Robert Williams and then you said and then you said and then you and then you switched to porzingis in your head I may have thanks I appreciate that problem that’s your Rush our recet here on 101 ESPN coming up Cardinal right-hander Kyle Gibson getting ready for Sunday night and Swinging for impact with big league impact big game Gibby Jim joins us next on 101 ESPN e e e e e hey everyone it’s broke for Decor Interiors in jewelry I know that Mother’s Day has passed but that doesn’t mean that the gift giving has to stop so you should go visit my friends at Decor interiors and jewelry it’s in Chesterfield at 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tell them I sent you Decor always unique always affordable oh welcome back to the opening drive Brook Grimsley Randy carer and we head to the celebrity line now and our friend from Big League impact Cardinal R Hender Kyle Gibson kind enough to join us on a Thursday morning good morning sir how you doing good morning how are you guys doing everything’s good back here in St Louis glad you guys are back after that road trip and you guys kind of got things going with that last game in Milwaukee and then the the way things went against the Angels Kyle you’ve been around a long time how big of a factor in baseball is momentum is it a thing uh it is absolutely a thing it is definitely a thing in game uh there’s different ways that you can kind of snag and keep momentum whether it’s a pitching change at the right time or a hit at the right time uh and then team momentum and team confidence uh I would say those two kind of go hand inand when it comes to game to game um but yeah I mean I think that was uh the last day Milwaukee was big for us you know winning a close game uh I even think uh the day before you know getting a few runs off Peralta even though that game didn’t go our way you know peral is a a really tough test for for every hitter uh so getting three off him I think also uh gave us a little confidence going into that last game into Milwaukee um and then you know we just played really really good baseball like we had played most of the year right but then I think um you know we were just we were getting knocked and and pushing runs across uh when we really needed to and I know that of course bringing together a couple of wins as you talked about everything is feeling good right now amongst everybody has the atmosphere changed at all in the clubhouse because you’ve mentioned at other players as well and as well as allar Maul that things really haven’t been bad in the clubhouse despite some of the recent struggles has the atmosphere changed since you have been able to string together a couple of winds here I don’t think the atmosphere in the clubhouse has changed because you know that’s that’s the goal of every good team and and Leadership on teams is trying to keep that atmosphere in the locker room consistent uh whether bad game good game win loss um but I do think you know if you’re watching on TV or if you’re if you’re at the stadium um just the the feeling and The Dugout can change uh in the middle of it right you know as much as you try to play nine innings and not look at the scoreboard and and figure out the end of the game at the end of the game um it’s human nature to to let the shoulders go down to to feel the weight of you know a looming loss or or to feel the excitement of a upcoming win right so I think it that’s kind of where I see it is is when you get the momentum and you get the the confidence going in game you just see a little bit more pep you see a little bit more um you know spring uh right there in The Dugout and and on the field as you get closer to securing that wind speaking speaking of leadership on Sunday OE maral of course as we all know was ejected from the game so was Daniel dascalo as a veteran player as you watched that play out what are you thinking uh I was thinking about my conversation that I had with olly in the first inning about how he hadn’t been thrown out and how uh you know all of that was going on so far this year because it was literally in the first inning that I was standing there next to him and uh the very first pitch uh of the game Gary Sanchez had dropped it and I’ve known alen Porter a long time and I just started yelling at Allen because he called it a strike I was like how do you call that a strike the ball’s on the ground and he uh had a little bit of fun and yelled back and said why does it matter it’s down the middle and uh he kind of laughed at us and and we were both joking and you know uh all they kind of sort of talking about you know the the ejections and and that kind of interactions with umpires and sure enough two innings later he and the scouto didn’t ran out of the game but uh that’s honestly what I thought about right away um but I do think there are times where coaches can um show fire at the right time and have their players back and make sure that um The Players see the excitement and the fire and the desire out of the coaches uh just like we all want to have um so I think it was the right moment uh right time of the game uh it wasn’t I don’t know that it came across necessarily as um you know complaining as much either because he did it after we got the calls to go our way this was just hey you guys you guys can clean it up too and you guys can get these right and not have to make us go through this um so I think it was it was good all around do you have a managerial ejection from somebody that managed you that sticks out in your mind has did somebody have just an outrageous argument or ejection Ron Garden was always uh very fiery as I’m sure you guys remember um man I think um I think the one that normally surprised me was Paul Moler he didn’t get ejected very often um but I’m pretty sure he got a couple of them in my time there in Minnesota and those are the surprising ones because he was so quiet and he was so stoic in The Dugout and you never knew what he was thinking you never knew if he was happy or sad like he just that’s that’s his personality so when he went off um you know it was always with good reason and it was always like oh man Molly’s got a little fire in her man how about that it’s always the silent one Speaking of being fiery and passionate and I don’t know if you know this but the camera’s caught you this past weekend on Saturday after you’re outing when you were in The Dugout and you watching JoJo Romero you were pretty fired up and amped up but I mean who isn’t after what Romero did getting out of the jam yeah you know um in that situation going going into the sixth I have no idea what my pitch count was but um you all came up and asked me how I felt and I told him I felt great because I did um so he gave me that sixth inning and um you know obviously the the couple walks and and the the blue pit um to start it uh you know I I just put us kind of in a really bad spot there obviously base is loaded and no outs and a and two-run lead but um you know JoJo just came in there and did an amazing job and you know those kind of things are are huge for a team obviously it didn’t end up working out after the ninth inning for us but um those are the kind of things that really lift the team up and and really you we talk about momentum right you know we had just scored uh to extend the lead and that was a really really big job for Jojo in the middle of that game uh to get out of that so um you know I think you know you can also momentum on your side and and you know kind of keep that going with the energy you have and you know JoJo just had me fired up that was an awesome job Kyle as you have gone through your career you mentioned that Ali asked you how you felt you said great because I did but I’m sure that there have been times in your career where you’ve told a manager you felt great when you didn’t uh how do you come to grips with that because you’re a competitor you want to be out there but also you reach a point in your career where you got to be honest too right uh yeah I would say probably earlier in my career um you know always told him I felt good you know very rarely did I I mean I was younger too so very rarely did I not feel good but um you know I found that I want to say it might have been in Texas uh Chris Woodward you know we had a pretty veteran staff there in20 and then some a little bit in 21 and he really wanted to to ride the starters and he just said listen like you know I need to know when you guys feel good and when you don’t and if you’re always telling me you feel good then you know I’m going to have to start making that judgment and I’d rather not have to do that so you know you got to learn to uh to be realistic and there’s times where I’ve said hey um you know yeah I’m getting tired give me uh give me one Runner you know if a guy gets on come grab me um just certain things like that where yeah you got to be you got to be realistic when the manager is going to put trust in your word about how you feel because if you’re always saying you feel good even at 100 pitches he knows that’s not true and then and then he’s gonna have to start making that decision and um yeah I’d rather it always I’d rather him be able to trust the fact that when I say I’m good I’m good and when I say I’m tired then you know it’s time to go and I mentioned on the show the other morning Kyle I really liked the way Ali treated Sunny gray when he had the five nothing lead and he gives up the 5 nothing lead the Cardinals brought you guys into give Innings and Ali is letting you do that and work through some things the your situation he easily could have left you in but he’s giving you the opportunity to give the club Innings yeah I I think in in uh a lot of those situations uh so far this year um it’s it’s just going to show that it’s going to be really important for the bullpen to try and make sure that we can get through five you know 90% of the time and then if we can get through you know for sure six another 70% of the time man it just does wonders to save the bullpen so um you know when when you have a lead and and in Sunny’s case specifically uh when you have a lead in in that type of a game and you have the stuff that Sunny has um you’re not I I don’t I can’t speak for OE but I feel like I would say to myself man I’m never worried about him you know giving up too big of an inning except for you know the one swing there to a happppy but you know you’re never worried about just because of the The Swinging my stuff that he has and the ability to to get out of a jam so quickly so um but man it’s it’s tough to he was at like 65 pitches in the fifth inning you it’s tough to it’s tough to waste the extra 30 pitches that he has in the tank um knowing that if he just gets it clicking he can get three more innings in those next 30 pitches and punch out five guys and you’re looking at a guy who got through you know seven or eight Innings and only giv up four runs so um yeah when when you got your when you got your guy on the mount like that um some of those games you just got to let him go and let him get to his 100 pitches Kyle I have a very important follow-up question for you that we discussed last week how did Mother’s Day go this past weekend with the kids in charge uh you know what I think it went good um I didn’t end up I thought I was going to see my mom and Milwaukee but I didn’t they didn’t make it up um but I didn’t forget to call people which I think uh if if they’re listening and I did then I guess I did mess up but I don’t think I forgot to call anybody um and the only thing that didn’t work out was uh shipping got one of the things for my wife there a little bit late so um but that’s just something you can’t uh can’t predict so but overall the kids and their aunt did a great job getting everything ready for for Mom and and then uh my mother-in-law good good job hey before we get to Big League impact and and swing for impact coming up on Sunday night before we talk to you next time the Orioles are going to come to town and uh I’m sure that that was fun for you to see such a young group last year Blossom you were probably like the uncle of the group but what was that experience like seeing that young Orioles team come of age I appreciate you referencing me as an uncle because they referenced me as a grandpa most the time uh so I appreciate that um it was uh it was really fun you know it was just one of those um pretty special years of baseball year I’ve had a lot of fun ones and and a lot of memorable ones and and that was another one you know watching watching a group that everybody uh saw how good they were at the end of into 2022 you know um saw the team they could be but didn’t expect them to reach it you know they just they didn’t have high expectations for us and um you know we knew in that locker room that we had a chance to be really good so watching those young guys um become really really good baseball players faster than people thought uh and handle it uh in such an amazing way and not let it get to their head and and you know allow them to to keep their confidence even in dry spells man what uh what a it was to kind of be there and and be able to see that so and then this this year they’re playing well and and um you know playing good baseball again so Baltimore fans are going to have a really fun team to cheer for for uh quite a few years but the people in that locker room and the people in that front office are just good people and um it made it even you know that much more fun and we’re looking forward to Sunday night that’ll be fun too at Chesterfield Top Golf the big league impact swing for impact and you and a lot of your teammates are going to be out there there’s a lot going on with big league impact Beyond swing for impact on on Sunday you’ve got The all-win Campaign and I know a lot of your teammates are involved heavily with what’s going on with the with the foundation yeah we’ve the all-win campaigns are something that you know Adam uh had started a long time ago and and they’ve been really successful and you know we’re trying to just create so many opportunities for fans to be engaged with you know things that players are passionate about and we all want to be a part of something bigger right you we all want to feel like we’re having uh you know a positive impact on the communities around us that need help and uh you know the all-win campaign is is another way to do it and for for fans to join in uh and just even if they just want to look up causes that players are are passionate about you know we’ve got those you know listed in our profiles there at Big League impact.org but uh we got another um another few events coming up this year so if you weren’t able to make the swing for impact um then just just be on the lookout here you know on our interviews each week or or on my social media at kg 44 um because we’re going to have you know a few of things coming up that are going to be a lot of fun but you know this event’s going to help fund Mission 318 some of our work that we’ve been doing you know around the league as players visit charities on their road trips and uh you know it’s going to be it’s going to have a lot of impact just all around the country with with people that need it it’ll be fun Kyle we’re looking forward to seeing you on Sunday night uh good luck in your next start and we’ll talk to you next week all right thank you guys appreciate it it’s Kyle Gibson who starts for the Cardinals tomorrow night against Boston and Greg aminger told us earlier that he thinks the Cardinals might have a chance against the Red Sox for one specific reason that’s next on 101 ESPN e e hey it’s Brooke here and I want to share with you something that I wish that I knew about a while ago and that is Golden Oak lending listen we’ve all possibly been there before I know a lot of people have racking up credit card debt and maybe even student loans I know that I’ve been there but the people over at Golden Oak lending they are there to help while credit card payments have been at all-time high and mortgage rates have gone through the roof there’s good news mortgage rates have started to come down Golden Oak lending has mortgage rates at 5.375% fixed with customer saving on average $1,114 a month Golden Oak just makes it so easy I called in and spoke with to Jason who made the call just quick and professional he educated us on our current loan and our house and what to look for in the Future Finance has never really been my thing it always kind of felt taboo to talk about but Jason really made sure to educate and guide me to the best solution for my needs and that’s what they do there at Golden Oak lending personalized service that makes you feel heard and really addressing your needs and stress surrounding finances so call today at 314-567-3777 number 11 14937 e this is Rock here with your sports center update driven by Johnny LOL Chevrolet and Johnny LOL Autoplex the Cardinals last night follow to the angels 7 to2 they will start a three-game series tomorrow hosting the Boston Red Sox also last night St Louis city SC a loss to lafc two to nothing that is just their second loss of the year in the NBA Playoffs the Celtics down the Cavaliers 11398 to win their series 4 to1 the Mavericks Outlast the Thunder 10492 they take a 3-2 series leading that series and the NHL playoffs the Avalanche continue to stabilize staving off elimination against the stars with a 5 to3 win Stars still lead that series 3-2 that is your sports center update driven by Johnny LOL Chevrolet and Johnny LOL Autoplex see them at la.com Chevy together we drive are you kidding me given a brand new approach to beating other teams with a rotation that does not have velocity and all of these guys are spinning it if it’s a fastball it’s a sinker or it’s a cutter everything has movement they’re not thring anything straight I don’t know if it can last the test of time um it seems like pitchers aren’t exactly built with armor so they they can like come and go in terms of health and to do that and expect that the work for 162 is a tall orderer but at the moment it’s a new approach to pitching and seems to be working right now that is Greg aminger of MLB Network with us earlier here on the opening drive talking about the fact that while very successful the Boston Red Sox aren’t doing it in a typical way in 2024 they don’t have the exceptional velocity that a lot of teams have they aren’t throwing the four seamer as much and that might play into the Cardinal hands now these numbers have changed a little bit but uh John hamis of the greeny show had this statistic a couple of weeks ago they can’t hit the fast ball this is a team that cannot handle velocity it’s a 347 slug against fastball and a 105 isolated power both of those rank 29th this is a crazy statistic by the way and one that’s very predictive when it comes to modern day offenses that the Cardinals just don’t hit the fast ball and 95 plus fast balls they had something like two extra base hits in over 500 at bats against 95 plus fastball so if you aren’t seeing as many logically that would lead you to believe that you have a better chance against a team that doesn’t throw as hard I would say things even out too you know that’s something that it was historically bad to start the season but in baseball things have a way of evening out it wouldn’t surprise me with Goldie starting to look better at the plate that that you know those numbers change a little bit against a fastball he was seeing a bunch and as long as he starts to hit a little bit those numbers will change and I would say that the same thing goes for arado there’s a lot of layers to this with the Red Sox obviously you have Heim Bloom who is now with the Cardinals organization but all the stuff that happened with the Red Sox I think that it’s safe to say he might not be well-liked because of everything that happened but that was a tough situation to come in with the whole mooki bet situation and having to move on from that either way but there’s just a lot of layers with that and you have Tyler O’Neal coming in and he is definitely going to be motivated against his former Club I would say that looking at this home stand not that it’s make or break but this is going to give you a pretty good idea of where you’re at um I I have said I’ll make a full evaluation with the team Memorial Day that’s kind of when I I think that you are who you are um and things can change you get close to the trade deadline you go out and make some moves good or bad for the club and that seems to change things as you head down the stretch of the season but Memorial Day is usually kind of a benchmark of this is who you are and so these next three series against very good teams might give give you a better idea of just where the Cardinals are as they start playing better here winning three of four but against a team that was you know talking about the Angels you win two or three they’re on Pace for 102 losses so you’re going to face better competition starting tomorrow night and to the point of the offense five games in a row for the Cardinals well four out of five with 10 plus hits and then last night they had nine but you’re going against teams the Cubs have really good pitching the the Red Sox have the best pitching in the majors ra 2.78 starting pitching ra 2.54 and then Baltimore is just an elite team so by and Memorial Day is 12 days away by the end of this homestad which is by the way that’s where I’m going Memorial Day weekend will have a pretty good idea of what the Cardinals are capable of I do think teams have a tendency to kick in but as we’ve mentioned the Cardinals were capable against a really bad team now there an opportunity to show it against good teams don’t you think that we kind of know who they are currently right now they’re around a 500 team and they’ve been below that and you have a lot of just different issues popping up now C Matts the injury that of course throws a lot of things off but starting pitching wise you’re seeing a dip with some of the players now Sunny Gray he’s not going to be perfect all the time I completely get that but I believe that his average it was around one and then it’s up to three I believe around that range right now I don’t have the numbers right in front of me but then you have Lance Lynn what happened last night his inability sometimes to get past five innings has he only done that just one time this so far this season right so you have the issues that we’ve seen with offense starting pitching has been able to buy you some time but now you’re also starting to add in the starting pitching maybe not being able to fully do their part putting a lot of stress on the bullpen it feels very much like last year in some of the situations that we saw and now you add the offense to it as well you know overall there’s seven from the bottom in ER to prove your point here Brooke in in 19 starts Michael is matz libertore Zack Thompson six 13 in those games and that means there’s extra importance on Lynn Gibson and gray when they make those starts I’m not ready to say that this offense is just going to be horrible all season and I I say that because you’re starting to see Goldie come out of it and arnado come out of it a little bit not out of it but he’s he’s hitting for a little bit more power so you know he’s been okay this year not great not what you wanted power numbers but if those two guys hit it’s it’s just a different offense and it seems like it takes pressure off others in the lineup and you know I I it just seemed like this team was feeling so much pressure against Milwaukee I mean it looks a little different right now from what you’re seeing because they’re hitting can I go a little sunshine lollipops after last year for for the Cardinals Cardinals lead Major League Baseball in save percentage at 78% only three teams have blown fewer saves than the Cardinals four blown saves and those are the Reds Rockies interestingly well the Rockies don’t have any save opportuni unities right uh and the Mariners those are the three teams that have three blown saves the Cardinals and the Blue Jays each have four so those things that ailed the bullpen last year have been eradicated this year so the bullpen has been fixed at least a quarter of the way through the season I I think and the way that they’re using guys has been really you know oi takes a lot of heed but how he’s used the bullpen has been outstanding and you’ve got Romero who’s emerged in the seventh you got krich in the eighth you got Helly in the nth when he goes and then you’re going to add Middleton at some point so even though these starters don’t go deep and there are some you know there’s some cracks here in the armor a little bit that that is a a positive for this club and I want to give some credit to Ryan Hesley because I gave him grief during the off season about not pitching back to back and obviously yeah so he’s he’s there when the Cardinal he he has been there every time the Cardinal have needed him for a save situation he’s been there this year just hasn’t had a ton of them right you know I mean it’s just you’ve had some losing streaks in there you don’t want to waste it you’re thinking okay if we get a chance to win a game he’s in and he’s been in back-to-back games and it’s sometimes I don’t know if you guys feel this way sometimes it feels to me like this is a must-win game when you have a chance like Sunday’s game was must-win against Milwaukee and there’s other times that I felt this way this season just because the record hasn’t been very good from the onset of the start of the the 20124 campaign Ryan Hy really has been only one of the bright spots and it also feels like when you know he’s coming out okay this is going to get done it’s a guaranteed win for the Cardinals and that’s a nice feeling to have when he’s able to come out of the pin and be able to do that I just wish that you could feel it in other situations like say Bas is loaded and maybe Paul gold Schmid comes up to the pl that you have a good feeling about that but it’s not just Goldie there’s other players as well where you have Runners on and they come up to the plate and you’re like okay what is going to happen here but at this point you feel like you know what’s going to happen even against the angels that was really the most that I’ve watched them in a while and that’s not a good baseball team over there no they’re they’re kind kind of scuffling I want to see them more I want to see a little bit more I want to see the card Angels more I still get a kick out of Ron Washington me too and what he said the other night with or I mean you know the one thing too is that it was a foot and a half outside they actually measured it it was a foot and a half outside and he didn’t get the bun down and the player took you know the the brunt of the criticism on himself and said you know I I missed the ball I got to get it down and then Ron Washington says not my I mean you can’t do that here’s the thing though Dan Carrie Davis sat in that chair that very chair that you’re sitting in for years talking about how no it’s on the players it’s not on the manager it’s on the the players have to execute so there’s a manager that was just saying it saying what the players think is that the players have to execute so the player takes the brunt of it but I I just don’t think as a manager you come out and publicly they all know right it’s a it’s on the like I look at what has happened with the Cardinals it’s on the players yeah but I think he was frustrated I I think think at that point Ron Washington but that’s how you lose a clubhouse yeah you can right no doubt that’s where I get concerned that’s what happened remember when Mike yo would walk up to the podium with the red face I think he lost the team at the podium and it’s you’re capable of doing that as a manager no doubt about it and you got to say as a player this guy’s got our back yeah you know no matter what good bad and different when he goes to that Podium he we can trust that he’s got our back quarterbacks and managers and coaches when the team wins it’s because of them when the team loses it’s because of me good Credo to take coming up we’re going to give away some Cardinal tickets for tomorrow and we’ve got rock and roll here on 101 ESPN e e hey everyone it’s Brook here and this year we decided it was time to make a major upgrade to our home by updating our bathroom we have this house in youth City it’s over 100 years old and we love it but we never exactly loved our main bathroom so we decided it was time to make a big change and we reached out to one of our great sponsors here of 101 ESPN and that is em Granite em granite’s team visited our house for a free consultation and they came up with a vision of how to really transform our bathroom my favorite part of working with em Granite was stopping by their amazing showroom to explore their large selection of in stock Custom Countertops all their different cabinet options and of course my favorite part was picking out the new colors for our bathroom JY was the one who was working with us and she has just been fantastic she came up with so many great ideas that fit within our budget and that’s what they do there at em Granite they’ve been doing it for over 20 years turning Visions into realities so schedule your free consultation by calling 314- 64593 or go online to EMG granite.com or stop by their showroom today and make sure you mention that I sent you e e e hey everyone it’s Brook here for the face and Body Spa and Salon guys listen up it’s time to focus on your own self-care as we get ready for summer I want you to check out face and body for men you can rely on face and body for hair removal weight loss body sculpting skin care as well as PRP treatments and what about back hair ry’s over there signaling to that back hair problems look I know it’s something that every guy I think pretty much goes through in this room every time I talk about this Dan’s shaking his head no but if you want to be like Dan you want to have a hairless back then you should go to the face and body spa for men recently I took in David because he’s trying to get ready for the summer we’re going to go on our honeymoon in Croatia and so he wants to be hairless on his back and it was super quick and easy it took just 15 minutes and I timed it for the time we went in there and the time we left and it was not painless whatsoever according to him of course and that’s what they do there at the face and body spa they just get you in and out it’s super easy and he said that he will see those results in a few sessions and with six air locations I’m confident that you’ll be by the experience at the face and body spawn Salon 2 call them today at 314 72589 75 or learn more at face and body spa.com that’s face andbody spa.com e let’s rock let’s rock today ball played in over the top it bounces nicely the clinical absolutely clinical it’s just not good enough you know how we stand um it should never be that their best player it’s all along two times in in the same game uh one we one against against the goalkeepers uh never good look for the defense absolutely clinical it was too it was it was absolutely clal Beau thing for them lafc with a 2-0 clean sheet against St Louis city SC last night on the pitch over at city park it shouldn’t have been a clean sheet they took they took one goal off the board because of a in my opinion questionable handball call and you had CL questionable it was brutal yeah and you’re Claus missing the the penalty kick which obviously that’s that’s that’ll happen but it’s rough can’t can’t now Claus somebody can miss that but not Claus yeah fine fr’s fired up over there you got to have your best players make him plays do you have a moranic joke uh he he’s reliable he’s a reliable mechanic problem was uh the handball kind of frustrated me yeah and then he got a red card later I’m all about red cards a rough day for arcanic yeah he wasn’t reliable not as reliable L was pretty fired up as well what do you think he was saying in that moment if we did some lip reading loots yeah did you see him I did not see loots in that moment no I I well they show TV that was talking to the refs for a little bit there so it doesn’t surprise me yeah they were pretty they were pretty perturbed with the refs I can’t believe them it was a weird called it was a weirdly called game first home loss of the campaign on the uh on the table for nice St Louis city nice I like that thank you but you have a quick turnaround onto Cincinnati you have that I took my away no only time we need on to Cincinnati took my machine away I just well at first I thought you had it then all I saw over there was a lunch box instead of your your favorite little box that you typically have my Mi your toy is Danny Max says yeah hey kid two-year-old over here with his Sound Machine 101 ESPN is your chance to win a pair of tickets for first beer Friday tomorrow night at the Ballpark against the Red Sox first beer Friday ticket started just $15 anding include your first cold beer on the house get all the ticket info for tomorrow night’s first beer Friday game now at cardinals.com Friday and you can win a pair of tickets right now just by texting in 314 3999 646 314 399 yo to score a pair of tickets to the game tomorrow night against the Red Sox but you need to answer this question and be texter number 47 texture number 47 Lee Smith Jesus on May 4th was that not9 the Cardinals acquired Hall of Famer Lee Smith from the Boston Red so supp to reveal the answer who did they trade for Lee Smith well you said 47 so it just popped in my head Leith okay who did the Cardinals trade to Boston for future Hall of Famer Lee Smith I’m sorry no I was going to say it I was going to say you nailed it no you’re fine yeah you did it you win Dan all right who did you win who did the Cardinals trade for LE Smith that’s the question did you just change that on the Fly no I didn’t okay oh okay you didn’t finish the rest of it okay at first I thought that that’s what happened though all right no sorry Rand we’re we’re a little locked into golf over here in this corner of things that’s what happened we’re good mat Matthew’s thoroughly enjoying this oh that was am oh I’m sorry that was hilarious to me Danny that was that was that was the best sorry that was the best part of the show and it’s not even close God that was the highlight fing in on the f like last year and uh I don’t know I was not paying attention I said Joe Morgan and it was the answer to a question and Anthony just looked at me befuddled and uh I don’t know why we were talking about Joel Morgan and I just said Joe Morgan and that was the answer to a question why the face I’m sorry you’re just helping people out I was but he I think Randy switched the question on the Fly no I didn’t I swear I didn’t okay all right it’s a great moment either way so on a rainy day in St Louis uh it’s a good day to watch the PJ Championship right we can see around Cardinals have the day off and we’ll be able to watch some playoff hockey tonight and uh some playoff basketball tonight we’ll have that tomorrow Xavier Scruggs our buddy is going to join us he’s one of my favorite people the former Cardinal first baseman man what a great media career he has going right now so he is going to join us along with battle Hawks running back Jacob Sailors tomorrow as the battle Hawks get ready to take on the DC Defenders featuring Jordan teamu kak over at the chance to uh nail down a playoff spot for the battle Hawks on Sunday at the Dome are you going to go I will I’m planning on going yes sir I not seen a battle Hawks game yet I need to get down there and go check one out yeah yeah all right check it out maybe we’re going to have a good crowd on Sunday although the Cardinals and Red Sox are playing at the same time but I would guess they’ll be north of 30,000 again didn’t really affect him what was it the home opener they had 40 plus yeah 41 or something like that and the Cardinals were in town so I bet they get a pretty nice crowd I would think so too tickets available by the way at UFL battle hawks.com or you can just Google battlehawks tickets and you can get them so pretty cool uh great job today by our producer uh by the way do do we have a winner yet are you checking the text machine there uh we got a lot of the same anwers so yeah we got to win okay so you want to just tell them who it is we got 47 don’t we Mike Ryder He he’ll come up with 47 it’s one of my favorite C names Tom Brans Tom branski number 23 yeah acquired for Tommy her from Minnesota Twins in 1988 mhm and that was kind of the uh it was kind of the beginning of the end of Whitey ball sure was yep when they when they traded Tommy her uh great job today by producer audio video engineer the one the only Matthew Rocko thank you sir pleasure uh Brooke did you have fun today yes I drew a little smiley face it’s me with freckles fre and then somebody’s ra but I forgot who is that Sunny gray no be the Red Sox collectively 2.78 maybe that’s what it is I think it is well done good do I get a golden star for the day little gold star right on the freckle yeah uh Danny ma great job Rand great job great job Rock hey we thank you uh for tuning texting in and being a part of the show stick around we’ve got a balloon party with T-Mac and Ajax coming up followed by BK and ferrario from 11: to 2 and then from 2: to 6 it’s the fast lane and tonight tea wolves and Nuggets game 6 pregame at 7 here on 101 ESPN for all of us until tomorrow morning at 7 have a great Friday Eve St Louis that’s right e hey everyone it’s broke for Decor interiors and jewelry I know that Mother’s Day has passed but that doesn’t mean that the gift giving has to stop so you should go visit my friends over at Decor interiors and jewelry it’s in Chesterfield at Olive and woodsmill road right
