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Adam, fellas, great game. Great job on the game and another absolute thriller in this series. How good is this series? I mean, you think about you had a home run that maybe was if it didn't hit a roof. You had a walk-off by Jackson Shuro and then Bogarts with saves the day with a double play and the Padres's have life. Derek Jeter is here, David Ortiz, Justin Verlander, Alex Rodriguez, and I'm Kevin Burkhard. The Padres's stay alive, a great game. Let's start with Michael King. You know, look, he was an elite reliever with the Yankees where he went to the Padres's and turned into a starter, but that was pretty gritty stuff. He just started the last game here, Justin.
Wow. I mean, that was really a gutty performance from him. Throwing 72 pitches two days ago, and to be able to come back out in that situation, and I really felt like the ninth inning there, he started running on fumes, but somehow found a way to dig out of it and get a big double play out of Yellow. It's just really incredible right there. That's pretty good. Yeah. I mean, what can you say? By the way, another thing about it is Boggars with two incredible plays to save a couple runs and I'm still fired up from this game.
It's unbelievable. Um I don't know. I think there was so many great elements in this series so far. Small ball, great defense. You've seen it all. I can go so many ways, but one thing uh we were talking with JV before we went on. Michael King, the reason why I like him for eighth and ninth inning is because he can also keep runners on. Usually relievers have a big leg kick and it's basically an automatic steal. He kept that man at first base which kept the double play in order. Those are the little things. Great job managing and great performance by the King.
San Diego is very well known for the long ball, but they realized walking into this game today that they need to play a small ball to be able to be Milwaukee. They execute pretty much on every play they had the opportunity to today. And I didn't saw many guys trying to go for the long ball coming from San Diego tonight. They keep they put the bottom play. They played that hell of a defense. Michael King was outstanding out there, especially having 72 pitches a couple of days ago. That's what they need right now to put this big cat to sleep. It's going to be interesting now. Yeah.
You know, because it was coming into this game, is San Diego going to save their season? Now all of a sudden that clubhouse in Milwaukee is thinking we can't lose game four. We do not want to risk a game five. So, it's it's it's amazing how momentum shifts in a short series. We were talking about this earlier. You know, fivegame series is much different than a sevename series. And uh you know, this was a swing game. We'll see if now San Diego can back it up with a game four victory. And look, G, the Padres's got ahead 11 to six, right? And you can build on that. They still haven't broken out. So, they expect tomorrow, they haven't played their best baseball. if they can
have a breakout game tomorrow, game five and the Brewers are 0 and 12 now on the road and trust me they know that and the Padres know that. Yeah. I think about so many things about this game. I want to go back to King though. Just take us into the mindset for him. Right. And look this what's for those that don't know Mason Miller the star closer paternity leave. He was not available. So we didn't really know how Craig Salmon was going to manage this game. I'm guessing he told King beforehand, but it's a little different mindset even though he used to be a reliever, right?
Yeah. I mean I think that's I think you nailed it. I think being able to draw of his experience being a reliever in the past really helped him in the situation. We saw him get loose and he was ready to go and he knows the situation and I think that was what he drew on. Let's go to Petco. Manny Machado joining us now. Manny, it's Kevin Burkart and the Fox guys. And listen uh you know the last time that uh Big Poppy had a thing or two to say, it seemed to motivate you and the boys and so I'm going to turn it over to David right now. Go ahead, Dave.
Mr. 305, what's going on baby? Congratulations on the win tonight. Sometime people don't understand that there's nothing personal behind this. I poked this bear before and the bear bounced back and tonight that field was electrifying. This guy, nobody know this guy more than me. He play with a little chip on his shoulder every time he take that field. Now I want to I want you to take me what was the mentality today cuz I tell you what, man. I want to stay in LA. I don't want to go to Milwaukee to deal with ghosts and things like that, you know? I want to stay here. Tell me what was the mentality walking into this game. Zero and two tonight.
Listen, I mean at the end of the day it was win or go home, right? Um you know, back up against the wall. You know, we had nothing to lose but go out there and play our baseball like we've been doing all year. This group of guys, man, they step up all year. We got Mason having a baby today was down. We had King coming in um closing the game. um big at bats by the rookie behind the play haven't have you know calling the game. I mean, just go down the line, man. There's a group of guys. We've been in this situation before. People counted us out and here we are, man. We keep fighting. We're gonna keep fighting to the end. And um, you know, I mean, that's a really good box club over there. I mean,
it's been some close games. I mean, you can't take it lightly. Once you think they're down, they're not. They can just keep fighting back, fighting back. But these guys in here got a lot of fight left in them. Manny, what's up? This is Derek. Uh, you talk about the confidence in this group. Like, this group's been through a lot this year. Like you said early on, people counted you out, you bounced back. Take me on the flight from Milwaukee to San Diego knowing that you guys have so much confidence. Was it was a team meeting required? Did you have to say anything or it's just business as usual?
Business as usual like we've been doing. You know, we know the group of guys. I mean, it could have been a different story. It could have been two. We've lost those games. We had our best guy. Our guys carried us all year on the mound and we lost. I mean, you know, mono got beat on a fast ball, great hit, great at bat. Um, and we just lost, plain and simple. But, you know, the guys, you know, they, you know, obviously we're pissed off coming back. Um, it's a long flight back home, but, you know, I mean, it was business as usual, playing cards, winning some money, um, and having a good time on the flight back home, getting ready to play in front of our crowd.
Hey, Manny. Alex Rodriguez. First of all, who won the money? That's the first one. I'm not going to say me because it wasn't me. Uh, Bogey, Bogey, Bogey, your boy Bogey. Uh, Bogey had a good flight and he had a good game today with two saving uh, great plays. But Manny, my question to you is, first of all, congrats on the great game. I knew you guys had a lot of fight in you. One hit here, one bounce there. You can easily one be up 3 0 and be advancing, but here you are one two. What did this crowd mean? You 25 and 31. You've won 25 out of 31. What effect did that have on your team today?
I mean, it was huge. I mean, just coming here, you know, how we play well at home, sleeping in your own bed, coming to this ballpark. The energy that these fans bring, you know, there was a moment there that we were kind of down, it was kind of like a little battle. Um, you know, and once we kind of got that, we scratched away some good at bats. God got into it. And, you know, we feed off of that, man. We feed off of that energy. This fans, I mean, I'll say it all here. We have 26 guys in there that are battling, but, you know, we have 27 with us always behind us cuz this fans here have been bringing it all year.
They brought it tonight and you know hopefully one more tomorrow to uh you know get us back even and then go to Milwaukee. Hey Manny, Justin Verlander here. Um you know from afar I've seen Did you just retire man? I did. You got to enjoy a little bit. This was quick. I know they said the retirement is supposed to slow down. It's not. Um you know from afar man I really appreciate seeing you grow and embrace this leadership role. uh going down to uh do you say anything coming back to
the team or you just kind of lead by example? How do you do that? A little bit of both. Um you know, obviously my demeanor always has always been um lead by example. You lead by example, people will follow you and I think we do that pretty well in this clubhouse. But you know, after that tough loss, I mean, I kind of stood up and said something, you know, keep your heads up. I mean it was a hot fight. You know, we fought well. We came up short twice. Um but keep your head up, man. We got a good team. That's a good team on the opposite side over there. And it was mono head-to-head. Um I'm exhausted right now, you know, cuz it's it's just um you know, it's just mentally
draining. You know, these games uh you know, get emotional ups and downs and you got a good ball club over there that you got to kind of be always on your top notch. So um just told the boys, man, keep your head up. We're going to go back home, play in front of a good crowd. They play well at home. We play great at home as well. So let's go back home, take care of business, and then come back here. Matt, I just want to go over the start of this game, third inning for you guys. Can you just speak to the ability to manufacture runs, right? I mean, you had Jake with a great sack bunt, then Fernando brings in a run, just making
contact there, and then Jackson gets on, steals, and then you drive him in with a base hit. It just felt like it set the tone for the game about you guys grinding out runs. Absolutely. I mean, the last two games, we haven't really been doing that, right? We haven't gotten the bun down. We haven't gotten the runners in scoring position. We really haven't come up with that big hit. So, um, to put us ourselves in that situation in the third inning, get the bunt down. Toddy bringing them in, Jackson then with two outs, getting a base hit, myself coming in after, getting in another run to add on. Um, you know, that's that's if we want to
win, that's what we're going to have to do. And, um, you know, we showed it today. So, hopefully we continue doing it. Hey, Mr. 305, listen up, man. I'm guaranteeing the Padets are winning this whole thing. I want to stay in the West Co. Are you with me? You know it, baby. Say it, man. I got a deal with a win. Come on, man. Hey, man. We're just trying to survive. We're keep playing. Play good baseball. I mean, this a great team over there, man. We got to keep biting. It's not going to be easy to get to where we want to get to, but hey, life is not easy, so we got to keep fighting. You're a great sport.
I love you, dog. Do your thing. Take it easy. We'll see you. Good luck in game four. Manny Machado and the Padres's. What a I mean, what an unbelievable series. And you know, it's interesting. You talked about uh seeing him and his leadership from afar, right? This is a little different side of Manny than what we've seen just kind of taking the team on his shoulders. Pretty cool. Yeah. Really cool to see. I you know, I think just uh just like I said, watching from afar now. You're seeing him in the pitchers meetings when these guys come out. You're seeing him with his hand around guys back and I think you just
kind of feel it. You know, he's he's really embraced it. And um you know, he's a leader of that team. So, like you guys know, you lead by example. I think it's the best way to do it. But uh he seems very comfortable in that role and it seems to help these guys. How quickly you change man? This is not personal man. See it works. Who Let me ask you a question. Who picked San Diego first game, second game, and today? Me. Why don't you guys talk about that? I want to stay here. I don't want to be going to deal with goals and stuff like that, man. You know that it's more fun to talk about when you get the picks wrong. It's way who wants to talk about when you get it right.
That's no fun, man. Hey Kevin, I want to go back to Manny Machado if you don't mind. Please. Manny, I met him when I he was 14 or 15 in Miami and he's been playing competitive baseball since he was a young teenager and he is one of the toughest mentally guy. I mean, he's a little bit of a tough guy. Could be a little hotthead, but when it comes to big- time players and big time moments, he's not going to be shy. Either Tatis. This team is not scared. That fan base is hungry. Be careful with the Padres's. do not sleep on this team with Manning Tatiz at the home.
Yeah, I mean a bunch of one-run games in this series. Uh and Michael Kane, we talked about his effort just starting in game two and then coming out and closing this game out with Mason Miller unavailable on the fraternity list. Why don't we hear from him now with Tom Perduchi? Thanks KB. Well, Michael, I guess back to your roots coming out of the bullpen this time with a season on the line. When did you know that you were in play not just to pitch in this game but to close it? I mean, I told Stamon on Sunday that I was going to be available game three and four. Um, I didn't know it was going to be a closer roll because of Mason having a baby, but um I wanted to give any inning I possibly could and uh happy to get this one.
You had some epic at bats there in that last inning, especially against Contraras. What did you have to find in that inning throwing 40 pitches on two days of rest? Uh, I mean, the adrenaline the postseason's a crazy drug. Uh the fans here, the cheers that you hear, I don't even feel my arm, but um yeah, some good competitors up there. Definitely off the pitch count that I want to do. They're a good ball club. They definitely grind you down. So, uh happy to get a fourth game out of them and we'll see after that. And tomorrow you get game four right back here where you're 25 and five in
the last 30 games here. How's that sound to you? That's pretty good. Um looking forward to that uh that adrenaline rush again tomorrow. You going to have your spikes on tomorrow night? Oh, absolutely. Congratulations. Great game. Appreciate it. Back to you, KP. All right, Tom. Appreciate it, Michael. I love that. Couldn't couldn't feel my arm. I mean, it's it's just it's the post. I tell you, you know what's interesting about them? And I know they had the tough game and Cheerio walked
them off the other night. But, you know, Craig Stamon, who was a reliever in this league for a long time, did a pretty good job tonight managing that bullpen, the way they close out without maybe the best closer in the game. Yeah. I mean, that what a wrinkle you get right before the most important game of your season. It's arguably the best closer in the game is unavailable. But you tip your cat to Michael King. I mean, he just pitched a couple days ago. And I liked how he said he's going to have his spikes on tomorrow. I mean, he might be half joking, but it's that mentality that gets you through the postseason. At this point of the year, no one wants to hear about what hurts. No one wants to hear
about fatigue. You either can play or you don't. And uh, you know, I like that from him. Yeah, he's been awesome. What a performance from King today. Why don't we uh let's talk more about Michael King. Feels like the right time to go to Choo train station. A new whistle for this postgame edition. D train stayed up late with us. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I don't like that choo. It must be late at night. I need a little more enthusiasm when you come in the train station. But you want to talk about leadership and I love what the panel was talking about Matty Machado. Well, Michael King is also a leader, especially to that staff with all the injuries. He knew he had to factor into this ball game
tonight. He was down there from pitch one. He didn't care what the scenario was. He just said, "Hey, this offense, get a lead." Commandment and really movement and life. This is a situation where you need a ground ball double play. They have their captain up there. They're surging. He goes a back door slider, gets the ground ball, and Xander Boggars handles the rest, and all of a sudden, you feel the momentum shift back to San Diego. The crowd was on their feet from the time he got into that ball, came to that situation. And I love what he says. This is the postseason. I do not feel my arm. And you best believe his spikes will be on tomorrow because it's all hands on deck. Win or go home
once again. Should be another good ball game tomorrow. Oh, I like that. The chew the choo's got better train. It's a little late at night. You know, these whistles are kind of deal, you know. So, you get all these great things with King and then you mentioned it too, the defense from Xander Bogarts in this game. He made two absolute killer plays and think about the momentum he had in that play in the fifth inning. The ball's behind him, stops it, they don't score, and then Croninorth hits a home run in the next inning. Well, it's also being aware of what your job is right there. Notice he didn't jump up, catch a ball, and like throw it, right? His job was to just keep it in the infield and hold it. Hold that runner at third base. And you could
forget all the stats. Like some may say, "Ah, he had a pedestrian year." But this time of year, Bogurt is a winner. He is a champion, and he knows how to win. One more thing on King, he's a starter. The reason why he's perfect for the eighth and the ninth, you as starters are better than relievers. You do many things better than relievers. You usually have three pitches. You hold runners on well. You feel your position. You're used to going back out there backto-back innings. He is custommade. And I said it to you. I said I would keep King out there. Just you look at his body language, he can be tired, but he knows how to complete six outs.
Uh did anybody hear anything about Morah Hon? We're kind of wondering why uh why he wasn't in the game. um that when we were talking about uh him staying out there, King staying out there versus but then we watched it doesn't matter once we watched the eighth inning, G you and I were like, ah, you know, lead men. Um but uh I mean coming out of the bullpen is a different animal. I did it one time in the playoffs in Boston. Um promptly gave up a homer to Ben Tendy. So, you know, it's something you're not used to. So really like I said earlier, him being able to draw off his experience there is incredible and it's just an added benefit that he has all those things that you talked the ability to field hold runners which came in huge with the
runner on first base that's you know trying to take a bag. So yeah, I think it's pretty amazing. Three games in the series and every one of them could have gone the other way, right? It's been so good. One-run games, they've all been played down to the wire. Pods get the win and stay alive. There you go. So Croninorth had a big night tonight. Couple hits, a sack bunt which led to a run in the third inning, the solo home run. Right now he's with our Tom Bradi. Well, thanks KB. Jake Croninworth, your team in the last 30 games in this yard is 25 and five. This time a win with a season on the line. What is this atmosphere like?
Yeah, these fans, I mean, they've showed up night in and night out for the entire season, you know, when we were 50 and 53 and out of the race by shoot four or five games and they were showing up and supporting us and, you know, gave us the energy to fight and get back in it. And uh we're here now and um you know they're the reason why we play so well here. Jake, there was no Adrien Moto Hone tonight. There was no Mason Miller. And you have Michael King who threw 72 pitches two nights ago throwing 40 pitches for a two inning save. You've known him for a while. What did he show you tonight?
Yeah, it was a pretty good bullpen day for him. Um no, I mean man, he was awesome. Just pounding the zone is what Mike always does. Um that's who he is. He's a bulldog out there and I mean incredible job out of the whole bullpen especially with Mason gone and obviously hope everything's going well with him and the baby and his wife. Um but man they picked us up big time. Jake fifth inning. You know that team over there hasn't gone away throughout this series. They came back tied the game. You come up against the lefty Jojo Romero. You had not had a home run on a first pitch this season. What were you
looking for? What was your approach? Yeah good first pitch to hit. Um, no. I mean that man that team they battled back and um, no, but just looking for a good pitch to hit there and uh, yeah, just put a good swing on it. And for game four, apparently Walker Buer, but in any case, you've got the game back here in your ballpark. What are you looking forward to tomorrow night? Yeah, I mean, man, Walker's turn it around this season. I feel like the second half he was our guy and he was kind of he was going out there every night. uh quality start after quality start and uh I mean I'm excited to watch him work and u we're back in front of our home crowd and it's going to be fun.
Thanks so much. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks. Back to you KB. All right. And Jake, thanks so much. Got to feel good for him Derek. Right. He was in a pretty big slump and you know I love what the guys were saying during the broadcast. You know Craig Simmons saying we got to do different things to get him going. So he bunts in the third inning and then he led to his best swing of the postseason. You know what? A lot of times when you're struggling, you want to feel like you've contributed it in any way, in any manner, whether that's getting a hit, making a play, getting a bunt down, moving a guy over. I'm pretty sure he had a chance to exhale a little bit when he got the bunt down and now he relaxes and hits a home
run. But the great thing about the postseason, who cares what you did in the regular season? Nothing matters. You think any Padre fan went home tonight talking about Jake Cronin or Worth struggling in the regular season? Don't even bring it up. Or Bogarts. I mean, we talk about it all the time. Sometime a good defensive play would carry on to a good offensive play and vice versa. So it's a mental game, the grind of the season, bit of a struggle, but right now going into game four, those two guys are feeling better than anyone on that field. Well, San Diego, like I say before, they are fixing things up when it comes down to compete against Milwaukee. They playing the small ball game. He bunt before and then
he went for the long ball. You know that's that's what is that's what it takes to beat this guy because this guy they had great pitching. They had great pitching and when you facing good pitching it's like we always say good pitching always going to stop good offense and when you cannot go for those long ball because you're facing good pitching you have to play small ball. Yeah. Interesting to see what Milwaukee does. They may have some kind of opener situation tomorrow but for San Diego they go with Walker Buer. You heard Colonel saying he's had a you know really good second half. One thing I know Justin he's pitched a lot of playoff baseball. So, what kind of confidence does that give them going forward?
I mean, I think the experience, you can really draw on that if you're Walker. Um, you know, he obviously closed out a game for the Dodgers. And, um, you know, I think if you're the, uh, Padres's, I think the momentum shifts pretty quickly here. Um, all of a sudden, you're you're thinking, hey, if we can win this next one, we got some Miserowski. Uh, you know, anything's possible. Go so quick. You said it. It shifts so quick in these early playoff series, right? One game and you feel a lot different. None bigger than this. This Yamamoto career erra on the road. This is career.
191. It's the best in the history of the sport. Look at that. I mean, it's hard to even imagine how good he's been. The World Series MVP from last year. Dave Roberts has seen this act before. What a performance. I think it was that fifth inning where they started to be a little bit of stress, but you know, managed the situation. Uh, limited damage and, you know, to go out there and give us two more. Um, pretty impressive. and he just has a way to just make pitches, calm his heartbeat. What you saw last year in the postseason is it kind of just leaves you speechless really. Um we have when he's on the mound, you know he can just pinpoint five, six different pitches. He's got stuff for
left-handers, right-handers, front door sinkers, curve balls started. It's just really incredible to see how he pitches and how he sets up hitters and things of that nature. So, I mean, we got a special one on our group right here right here. And it's fun that everybody gets to see it in the biggest moments. Oh, we've been seeing it in the biggest moments. All right. And I like what Freddy said, JV, like fun to watch how he sets up hitters. What did you notice about his approach in this game? I mean, well, it all starts with location, location, location for him. And uh I mean, you heard Dave Roberts talk about a calm heartbeat. I think earlier I mentioned you're watching a pitcher who's in complete control. And I
think that's so important for an ace because it puts everyone around him at ease and you just feel like outs are coming easy. even the inning that where he was had some stress and gave up the one run. There weren't a lot of hard hit balls like we all said is he even breaking a sweat. You know, I think um you know that's that's that's the true signal of an ace when he puts the rest of his teammates in a position where they think they're going to win that game no matter what happens. Yeah. And he puts his teammates in. But what does he do to the opponent when you know you're going to face this guy, David? Like what is the feeling just before the game even starts? You know what?
Yamamoto is the type of pitcher that as a batter you want to wait for him to elevate the pitch so you can dry that ball because he's so good at locating his pitches. And let me tell you what make him so special. Look at how that ball dropped that split finger. He locate his fast ball at his best. But he got tendency to hit the corner with split finger. Something that is almost impossible to do. JB, you help me out with that. locating your split finger. That is I don't remember seeing many guys doing that. He can go north, south, up and down with his fast ball and his splitter located. I mean that drive you crazy about it because it seems like you see four baseball at
once and that's what make him so good. Yeah, the manager will tell you how important the pitcher is and always follow his actions. In a fiveame series, game one and three are the most pivotal and he had his two aces. school in game one and on the road where Yamamoto is that much better on the road with a 177 RA going into this game and only six home runs of his 20. It's incredible. He had switch hitters hitting righty and lefty. He had everyone confused. Even we were confused in the green room. I know. Nasty. I tell you. Do you see Dave Roberts face? He looks like he's getting younger year in and year out. You know why? Because he just sits back. He watches. He throws out scubble, you know, he goes Yamamoto.
I mean, he's got a new starter, an all-star Sai Young caliber starter every time out the box. So, what a position to when he have you guys when he have you monster sitting back in the movie theater. Yeah, some of us aged him though a little bit. I know. But I tell you what, it's just um the Dodgers, man. I mean, just keep talking. We just coming back to the Dodgers and how many players and pitchers that they have that have had success, know how to pitch at this time of the year. And right at the top of that list is Yamamoto. I mean, if you're sitting down here and you have one game to win, who would you want on the mound in today's game? Without a doubt, it's Yamamoto.
And the other part is not just Yamamoto and all the big stars. It's all the little things that they do. It's Kiki Hernandez who checks in who looks like Mr. October in October is Will Smith who's very much overlooked and one of their big clutch players, but it's also the Mookie play at the end and the Freeman pickup. They do everything it takes to win and that's what a winning championship organization looks like. Yeah, no doubt. I'm curious for you just, you know, now that you're on this side of it, you I've gotten to watch it with these guys the last couple years.
The Dodgers won two World Series. What impressed you most about how they approach these big games and how nothing ever seems to bother them? Your take on the Dodgers overall? Yeah, I mean I think the professionalism shows up in October. These guys from the first guy on the roster to the last guy on the roster, they expect to win. There's zero panic and they just let their talent play out. I mean, what's the point of having all this talent if you don't let it let it play? And that's what Dave Roberts is great at. You know, he's he's aging in reverse because he's just running these guys out there and saying, "Hey, do your thing." And I think behind the scenes there's there's a sense of
calm about these guys um that allows them to it frees them up a bit. You think one thing that concerned me about the Dodgers, we all know that the Dodgers the way Otani go that's how they go and it seems like you have you were a power hitter but you were able to hit for average also and you know that when you hit those two corner power and batting average you probably walk away from power but you continue working on average or either way. You know what I'm saying? But it seems he Otani he doesn't seems comfortable. And I wonder how bad his injuries are because I saw him taking some swing today. And he was grabbing down here. Look, I mean, watch this swing right here.
We're talking about one of the greatest player of our era right here. And since he got back after his last home run in August, he doesn't look at that right there. See, that to me concern me because the Dodgers goes as he goes, but I don't know if him playing at this level with the injury that we don't know how bad they are can affect him down the road. I'm just wondering. I mean, I this is not the Otani that we are used to see. And I know that he playing out there injured because that's how he is. I mean, he know that he run the ball club, but I not I'm not feeling comfortable watching him going through what he's going through right now, the way he's swinging the bat, because I
don't know what to expect. I don't know if I'm going to expect batting average or I'm going to expect power coming from him. You guys have won what, eight championships between you and the one common denominator is trust. And the head of baseball for the Dodgers, Andrew Freeman, has done a fantastic job, not just in talent, but take Rojos, take Kik, every single member, 26 members, you can look him in the eye and say, "I trust you." And October is about trust. And if I can't trust you in October, you can't play for the Dodgers. And that's a big part of their key.
Yeah. And he earns that trust. You know, Dave Roberts, you know, earns the players earned the trust throughout the regular season. Dave Roberts trust all of them. Look how they won last year. Kik Rojos making a big play, uh, hitting the home run. It's like every day it's somebody different. Even you talk about Otani struggling, which is true. They're going to need Otani ultimately if they're going to win a championship. But he hasn't played like himself up until this point, but they continually find ways to win. And if they're going on all cylinders, then they're they're really tough to beat. But they have so many players that can contribute and
help out. Gee, the one thing JB, you know this as a pitcher, the one thing about trust, Otani is not at his best right now, but you know what everyone notices? He's still going out there and posting every single day. Yeah. And you know, a trust in your pitchers, particularly the starting pitcher, like you know, you're not out there pitching on edge, like you know, always looking over your shoulder, is he going to take me out? You know, he's going to run you out there and trust you to get through a situation. I think that's actually an adjustment that Dave Roberts has made in the last few postseasons that early on in his postseason career, he was a
quick to hook guys and I think he's seen the benefit. Look, it's nice that he has four absolute studs to draw from. Um, but even still, I think you saw last year with Yamamoto, he gave he's given these guys a long leash, especially in a sevename series. We just keep talking about it. The less you see that bullpen as a hitter for that matchup to get you, you and you out, um, the more success you're probably going to have in the big moment. So it's the trust is important. Yeah. And we can say the same thing about Kevin Cash, you know, learning from his mistakes. Snell put in him a few years ago in the World Series and now he's a really great manager today. But it, you know, and part of that trust, right? You know, to play Kik
who's had so much postseason success, you have to sit my who's been great. That's not easy to do. But Dave Roberts pulls a lot of the big strength. Oh, what a day it is. And a perfect time for our new game called Fact or Splat. This is big time here. And you can see that we are up here on the balcony uh at our Fox lot. And what better play to do it to innovate, you know, start a new game with our new member of our team, Justin Verlander. And he's really questioning himself whether coming into Fox today. So fact or splat. Here is what we're going to do. First of all, if you look straight down, you'll see that we have uh big fat heads here of not only Verlander, but our guy, Big Poppy, David
Ortiz. And what you don't see maybe is behind me, we have giant gourds, pumpkin, watermelon, take your pick. And this is going to be a trivia game and it's factor splat. You get it right, you get to throw fruit. You get it wrong, your opponent gets to throw fruit. The idea is keep your faces clean. You're so dirty, you're clean. That's right. That is the idea. All right, so we're going to ask some trivia. We're going to start this process off. Uh Derek, why don't you lead us off in factors? Go ahead. Yeah, I don't have a lot of confidence in this answer coming from you, David, but uh who did you hit your first home run off of in Fenway Park?
Wait a minute. Oh, Fenway Park. That's Boston. The Red Sox or Twins? Who did you hit your first home run? Come on, man. In Fenway Park. Jesus, that's a tough one. First home run in Fenway Park. You don't want to tell me who I was blamed for when I did that? It's It's someone that's in the family. Do we have a time limit? Well, I think we GOT A PRETTY TIME. RAONE MARTINEZ, YOU GOT IT.
You can take your gourd. He's going for watermelon right here. You can also take a cake. You can throw it on Justin Verlander's face. Give it a go. OH MY GOD. I SAW YOU, JAMIE. That was a direct hit. Oh my god. Direct hit. All right, number two. Nice job, Poppy. Uh, Alex, you're up number two. Great shot, Poppy. All right, JB, the pressure is on you, my friend. Who was your first strikeout victim ever in your career, Travis Hefner? That was like lightning quick. All right, Justin, we're going cake.
Poppy, no offense. I hope you don't take this wrong, but I've been waiting my whole career to throw something at your head. So, I'm going to choose the BASEBALL LOOKING CAKE. UP AND IN. OH, NO. I MISSED. OH, IN THE DIRT. Come on, man. What happened with the location? In the dirt. Bad location. Okay, number three. Poppy, this one's for you. Who was your longest tenure teammate? We need a name. No chance. Or if you don't know that, just name a teammate, right? Just pick a name. Hint, it's not Eric Kratz. Your teammate.
I got to go team. No. Uh, you know, it's it's it's a nice guess, but the answer was Dustin Pedroya. Dustin Pedro. That means that JB, you get another chance to throw some gourds. All right, let's go. Get a good hit here. Don't miss it. We're going watermelon. Nailed it. Oh. OH, RIGHT IN the kisser. Right in the kisser. All right, number four. Who goes Derek? This is Alex. All right, JB. Here we go. Which one of us three had the highest batting average against you?
Not me. It wasn't me. Um, I'm going to go with Derek, I think. Yeah. Oh, hot. Furlander's hot. We're going pumpkin now. Where you want? Right on the nose. On Right on the nose. Right here. Oh, location. That was Dude, money. Poppy, you're in some trouble now. All right, Derek, you're up. So, David played on three World Series championship teams. Give me the three World Series MVPs. Manny Ramirez, Mikey Lo, and myself. YEAH, choose your weapon. Oh, we're going cake.
Sorry, JB. That's okay. I think you're going to miss it. So long until he won BACK AT YOU. OH MY GOD. Looking like a pirate now. How you like me now, JP? I'm wondering what Dererick's batting average was off me now that the question's passed. You're worried about that with a cake IN YOUR EYE? WELL, YEAH, I'm retired now. So, that is true. All right, so the last question I have to say this is a this is a little bit more lengthy question the ones that Poppy got. This might be a little We'll find out. So, obviously you're a Sai Young winner three times over. You played with eight Sai Young award winners. Eight of them. Can you
name all eight? You played at some point with eight. Can you name all eight Sai Young award? We got Max. Yep. We got Porcel. Yep. Eight. Yeah. Yep. Oh boy. Oh, Garrett. Yes. Correct. Um, who else is in Detroit? You're doing good. Who? I'm missing some five. Just five. This is what happened when you're getting old, man. He just pitched the other day. Who? Ter. Oh, Scoo. God. We'll give you that one. We'll give you that.
This is my retirement year. I didn't even count. Oh, you're over. Poppy. Wait, can I get the other names? Oh, yeah. You got Let's see. We got uh Kel Grankkey. Yeah. Uh who? I miss Houston. I miss David and Robbie Ray was the other one. It's a tough question. Tough Can we edit that one out? No. Poppy's got another cake. You going cake? I like the cake. Let me get another ice. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Factor splat.
Let me keep you blind now. JB. I deserve that one. I'm not going to lie. I drew a blank. That was bad. Oh. Hey, what a rendition. Factor splat. Ladies and gentlemen, I love it. Oh, you going to let it go? Oh, come on, man. Oh, you guys are going for that. Yeah, YOU GUYS HAVE COME ON, MAN. Why not? COME ON, MAN. OH, WHAT WAS THAT? IT WAS BAD. The watermelons ARE THE BEST. WITH YOU PEOPLE, WHERE' THE HATE COME FROM? What a game show. Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you enjoyed Fact the Splat and also Justin Verlin's probably his last
ever appearance at Fox after that debacle. That was the game. Jamie, be careful. All I know I one simple request. When you go in the Hall of Fame, can you reference Factor Splat? I just know I'm going to be horrible at game shows now. I did not like being under the gun right there. That was I froze under pressure. Well, we asked like Poppy, you know, a tough question but simple. And we were like, "Name every World Series winner since 1925. It was a little bit harder. Uh, hey, you know what? Before we get out of here, what a great day, baseball, and uh, it was awesome having you with us, man.
Thanks for coming by. Really pleased to be here. I appreciate you guys making it easy for me. Thank you. That was awesome. Justin Verlin, the great Justin Verlin, kind enough to spend time with us
