 The nationals take a three-to-none lead over the Cardinals and the Yankees are squaring off against Garrett Cole for game three What's going on everybody welcome back to talking baseball? We thank you for joining us for another daily episode to recap What happened yesterday and preview what's going to happen today? My name is John boy. I'm coming to you from New Jersey I got my co-host Jake with his computer glasses on Mike in hand company from Denver and this episode is brought to you by our two most recent patreon supporters hood politics and powerhouse powerhouse So thank you to those two people who use their real names for sure when they signed up But support none the less it's two dollars a month that really helps us out if you go to Patreon.com slash John boy media. There's some other perks as well Jake. How you doing on this fine Tuesday morning? Good, I'd want to thank our European listeners for signing up for patreon. Thank you powerhouse Hood politics I'm good, man. I'm good. The NL has NL'd That that feels done and then Well, you and I both know today is today is gonna be a doozy we've got 4 p.m. Shadows in the stadium and we've got Garrett Cole on the mound and What will be you know game three has always been labeled the most important game of the series It's not if you win all the other games But this will either give if the Yankees win today They are going to be clamoring to not let this series even go back to Houston If Houston wins today, they're they're gonna be confident they win the series. So Big one little nervous was deep diving and Garrett Cole stats That's a scary place if you're a Yankee fan also pretty awesome if you're a baseball fan He's good. Yeah He's good. Do you have a do you have a burn of? This Cardinals Nats game. Oh, yeah, how could you burn it so boring man? Oh Come on. Was this the most boring game of the postseason so far? Yeah, yes, this was the Well, I mean the 10-1 Braves game But that was kind of like a car accident like you kind of had to watch that I mean for like an hour. That was the most exciting game You had you had to text your friends and be like tune into this first inning dude It's crazy this game was fucking a dud Yeah, it's like a tragedy. I mean this one was I mean scoreless for the first couple with Flaherty and Strasburg But yeah, I had a it became a It became a flip to Sunday night football for a little bit game Monday night football. I Was watching the rerun of Sunday nights game, you know, I get in the tape I forgot your your big gotta get in the tape gotta get in the tape. That's how you know All right, we can burn this one I'm still feeling a little sick so out of it as you burn this I might chug some coffee and hope it does something to me Yeah, I watched this game and I could really like I Can't seem to find like a lot of talking points. I'm hoping your burn reminds me of a lot of stuff I feel bad for the cardinals Let's burn it and we'll get into the game a little bit on your mark Get set burn Jakey burn Game three in the district of champions as the best Asterisk pitcher of all time Stephen Strasburg takes on Jack flash into me Flaherty as him and his band of Cardinals try to reduce the space between Them in the Nats bottom three Cardinals fans are gonna have nightmares about the eight-hole hitter forever Robles gets on Adam eats him home on an RBI single Anthony Davis Rendon He blocks one out for an RBI double and then howie Kendrick Lamar sit down Be humble another huge hit for Kendrick a two RBI double for nothing That's after three flash and the cards get taken out after four basically Give me something real like an ass with some stretch marks Kendrick another RBI double Zimmerman retweet RBI double Dime piece straight eight ball robles from the a-spot goes yard first MLB game in front of his mom's That's awesome. They young singles and Soto stumbles But the asterisk man is about to shake it away Seven innings pitch zero earn runs 12 K's from Stephen a Strasburg on his first take with the cards Jim. It's eight one final three. Oh, seriously just filled with Natitude Natitude all right couple quick comments From your burn take the asterisk away from Strasburg. I think this was a seventh game now in the postseason He's officially earned the sample size isn't a joke anymore and I'm happy for him. Someone's at my door. This isn't good Someone go check it out. I can I can be asked about. Oh, you know it is a little bit play Bill Oh Okay Yeah, it is Strasburg's. Is it the seventh start? Yeah our seventh game 41 innings pitched 57 strikeouts. Oh my god a one-one ERA. Yeah, it uh, he came into this postseason with with four We were laughing about him a little bit now now. It's bonafide. He he has proven himself and Yeah, the Strasburg story. It really is interesting you and I circled around this a little bit During the year, but you know, he had such high expectations as a young pitcher That he's been really good, but I don't know in 2015 and 2016 when we were kind of expecting him to take off He just kind of had these a years, you know, three four six ERA three six ERA But his body of works pretty incredible. He's in ten years He's won 12 and 58 a three one seven ERA more strikeouts than innings pitch And yeah, it's it's it's cool seeing It's the opposite of Kershaw like if you're a true baseball fan You hate seeing Kershaw struggles in the postseason like he has if you're a baseball fan You love someone like Strasburg unless you're a Cardinals fan Taking off and proving that he's a bonafide stud. Yeah, the cesspools family barbecue guys have been all over it Saying like how is how is one of the most hyped? prospects ever an underrated MLB player Yeah, you know, he was the most hyped prospect and now he's overlooked and he's still like just performing. It's an interesting thing, I think maybe we just I think Bryce Harper stole his hype and then The Nats kind of used him Once the Nats sat him for their last postseason run when he was a young pitcher That was kind of like I think baseball was like, what are they doing this? I'm over this Yeah, they kind of I mean and the Nats kind of went down for a little bit Like everyone thought they were gonna be a dynasty instantly. They weren't And then and I think the other factor is Scherzer. I mean Scherzer's, you know, the Cy Young winner Scherzer's He's got two different colored eyes. He he was the dude leading the way and Hey, that's um, you know, but it's not huge when he's pitching maybe it is maybe that's how he freaks hitters out Yeah, well sure Strasburg's got a beard that makes him look like He's in the second half of a Civil War movie where he's aged 10 years now and they had to put a fake Yeah on his face Strasburg's beard ears combo isn't doing much for him. No, he looks like an extra in the movie Lincoln And I can say that as someone that my beard and ears combo ain't doing much for me either At least you plug them up with those headphones your Shrek on but That's my house of yours yours How about Howie dude three doubles? Yeah, he three RBI's I mean What a what an incredible postseason and he's covering for his dude Soto Soto's numbers aren't looking so hot anymore But yeah, man Howie Kendrick he went from and dude think about if Clayton Kershaw Doesn't hang that one pitch to Soto The Dodgers win Howie Kendrick goes down as a fool He had three errors and a base-running gaffin fought in five games in the division series And now all of a sudden little walk up Well, not a walk off but a little extra in in Grand Salami later And now he just continues to rake and his stats have been stupid I think since the start of September. He's hitting like over 400 with a crazy OPS So I mean good on Howie Kendrick, but it's also a fantastic case study on how How how a couple things can change how you're looked at because he if they lost game five to the Dodgers We would have been saying like up Howie Kendrick is a dunce. They should have played a cerebral cabrera Yeah, that's that's like and and if they move on Soto gets a chance to redeem himself in the next series For this bad series like if there are many seasons, which is just so much more fun and Be the zero to hero I saw a lot of Cardinals fans that are kind of upset with Ozuna for missing that that sliding grab with Rendon's hit to left field Yeah, but I mean he missed it. It went right in his glove. Yeah, it was in his glove And I you have to slide, but I don't think it's a I don't think it's a crazy hard play I do think like Ozuna should have caught that but also You can't pinpoint that and like try and be mad at Ozuna as if that's the reason this game was lost You were losing this game no matter what? Yeah, I mean you've had two runs in three games Jim I think I think and unless Unless I miss something I'm pretty sure That a lefty hitter Does not have a hit for the Cardinals in this series. I think they're like 0 for 30 or something Damn Yeah So that's Fowler Wong Edmund and Carpenter And maybe Weeders gets thrown in there, but uh Yeah, I might have missed something and I could have slaughtered that stat, but I'm pretty sure it's it's at during like the fourth inning I think it was 0 for 26 and I didn't see it lefty hitter get a hit That's so bad As a group they should have a little meeting as a group And John I don't know if you want to get credit for this, but I think you said you know coming into this game We were looking for anything for the Cardinals. We were actually excited for Ozuna. He had good numbers for Strasburg We told Goldie or I think you specifically mentioned Goldie. He goes golden sombrero Yeah, no, he's having a bad series, right? I didn't that's I think his numbers on the series are terrible now Yeah, I mean that that's the numbers that are gonna leak out it the nor we've kept going back to the word historic and Yeah, there's this Cardinals team unless they pull something out of their butt real quick are going to be historically bad Dexter Fowler is hit list Colton Wong is hit list Goldschmidt's hitting 083 Tommy Edmund is hit list I Mean just outmatched and outclassed Yeah, Goldie is Goldie has a 0.83 he's got one hit in 12 plate appearances no walks and six strikeouts Bad Yeah, man, I mean if if It's historical either way now. I mean they better get no hit tonight Or they have to win four in a row and then that's historical. Yeah a lot of pressure on Patrick Corbin, dude Like are you kids to these guys? You're you're bum? Are you personally mad at the Cardinals? No, no, I am I am I Mean I was rooting for Flaherty And they got to him like pretty much straight up you could I was rooting for Flaherty as well I like Flaherty is a really cool story Zuna You know the Ozuna miscatch whatever But yeah, I mean they they got to Flaherty the eight hole hitters are going to haunt them Robles gets them today It was Jan Gomes and then it was Michael A. Taylor the game before that You have to be kicking yourself over those In front of the pitcher. Maybe they don't have the eighth hitter on the scouting report That's something they do And then the eighth hitters coming up don't worry about him and then you got the pitcher so just one through seven worry about it and Jim the biggest thing you have to be mad about Mike Maddox the pitching coach Hits two holes in ones before the game Really like you lost the game for your team. Yeah, there is a celebrity There's some celebrity golf outing the day before hit two aces. He stole the luck. Yeah, you lost the series Man, Schmoldt see Maddox. What are they doing? I know um Yeah, and Jim, I don't know and it was kind of I I gave the hesitant speech about after game two where I said Nat or Cardinals fans were gonna hate me. I said it before game one I mean if you go through like those corny checkboxes the match-ups before you see each series that they'll do on like The pregame show and it'll be like hitting check mark pitching check mark I mean if you really run through those the Nats had every check mark Um You know, you say Cardinals fans are gonna hate you. I'm mad at the Cardinals. This is boring I made a commitment to watch every game this postseason and last night I stayed home and I was watching the game and it was just like I said either don't get a hit and be historically bad or Win the game and make it exciting and they did neither and it's just wasting everyone's time and game four Are we even gonna preview this? I mean to a degree It's I think my biggest preview is like yo that there there is an odd amount of pressure on Patrick Corbin. I Don't think so man Like dude if Corbin gets knocked around a like the other pitchers are just gonna make fun of them on the Nationals team and Then be like there's the whole like what if he sparked them? Not that I think he's gonna but like Corbin, dude If you if you look bad against these guys, you're gonna be the joke of the pitching staff Yeah, it's true all all three did I thought the pressure was gonna be a ball one hit them What's that? Annabelle one hit them Well, how many hits to Scherzer give up in the end? Strasburg 12ks. I think Scherzer was only one hit I think the other hits hits technically because there was that misplay ball came off relievers Strasburg actually gave up a few hits Okay, so what is Corbin, but he didn't give up an earned run What does Corbin have to do to like be part of the club? If he gives up one he can't give up an earned run He can't give up an earned run no starting pitcher has given up an earned run yet for that's cool So Corbin you can't give up an earned run or you're a loser. Yeah, that's tough Tough bad break. What do you think the Cardinals plan is? I mean, I would I would genuinely do this if I was Ozuna or Goldschmidt Goldschmidt doesn't really have the personality for it not a shot at him But what I'm about to say is a little over-the-top. I mean you go you go full major league and you kill a chicken I'm I bring in a live chicken and I kill it in front of everyone in the clubhouse I Did not give me a better plan. I did not see that coming Give me a better plan. You're gonna take more swings. You're gonna watch more tape. No, you have to do Something when the Red Sox were down three games to none against the Yankees They all took a shot before game four and we're like hey, whatever fuck it Let's take a shot So maybe yeah, maybe you put all the bats in the middle of the clubhouse and the whole team circles around and peas on all of them And then like you're like, all right peabat rally So I'm like that rally. Yeah God do something You can't just go out for game four like your normal selves Yachty or Molina has to kill a chicken in the middle of that clubhouse. Well, that's scary because I mean he's not doing it peacefully No, and that's the point You should feel shook Like it's not it's not watch Yachty kill a chicken and then you're like, okay Oh Yachty yours back at it like no, you should be like visibly shaking Okay, well that let's take a quick break before we go into the previews imagine if there is like a Tyson chicken ad All right, we have two games going on tonight like we kind of mentioned there's game four in the Nats Cardinals series Wait, I don't even know what to talk about where we do need a chicken sacrifice or a peabat rally And there's the Yankees Astros game which is Garrett Cole versus Luis Severino in the Bronx zoo and This game matters a whole ton. So we'll probably spend a little more talking about this. Let's let's finish up game four for the Nats Cards Jake Obviously, we're break. We're breaking chronological order first time in pot history Yeah, we're we're not this is we're stepping away to us cardinals. We're stepping away from our cron pod ways Because I'm just I just don't even really have anything to say about this game for Do you like honestly who were the Cardinals pitching? Dakota Hudson Okay, I Mean it's Dakota Hudson verse Our guy Corbin like we mentioned And yeah, no like I you know, we're Quote-unquote jokes with the chicken stuff and Corbin not being able to give up an earned run I Don't know man. I I mean if you're the Cardinals, this is what you're actually saying you're saying we haven't seen Corbin yet He's a lefty. Let's let's get some hits going You know, maybe they can win in kind of crushing fashion You know, maybe they can have a two-hit performance and score one run and win one nothing Game or something like that because you are telling yourself technically Anibal Sanchez would be on deck after Corbin and then you get you could go home Like I it's it's digging deep when you don't have an earned run off a starting pitcher yet But if you somehow win this technically You've got an a ball next game Yeah, who almost no hit him Yeah Should they start for Nando Rodney? I would Right change the vibe of the game right away Rodney's awesome No earned runs in the series Fernando Rodney is gonna be pitching in the 2019 World Series. He has no earned runs this postseason It's a stud. He's locked in his change-up looks dirty and he's got he's got a couple inherited rights Noted is though It's the classic you come out you're playing JV baseball You're you're playing, you know a team from three towns away Pitcher gets on the mound to warm up. You've never seen him before And he comes out and you're like, alright, is this kid gonna be throwing cheese today? What's this kid got and he comes out and he's throwing 55 and you're like boys. We're eating today and Then you hit a liner to short someone pops out and Then you're like damn we can't hit this dude. That's what Rodney's got going right now. Okay. I like that also is very intimidating on the mount Yeah, doesn't care doesn't care. Uh, I don't know what to say I mean, if you're the Cardinals try to get some hits and play perfect defense If you're in nationals kind of just relax because you're gonna win Corbin's got pressure on them the batters can be so loose up there Which is a good thing if well, I'd say that for the Cardinals too at this point like it can't get worse Like you're already historically bad If you have another bad game you stay historically bad if you have a good game you could change the story a little bit Yeah Start a fight. They need Yachty getting mad at someone. I told them lean into two pitches didn't happen All right game three Yankees Astros is Going to be a big one. It's gonna it's a tall task For the Yankees Garrett Cole's been the best pitcher this postseason He's one of the best pitchers all season. I mean maybe Strasburg has him maybe doesn't I don't know the stats This is Garrett Cole's first away game in the postseason This year, I think he's had three away postseason starts before he's one and two Talking about a different pitcher though from back in the day Severino had one start This against the twins he got himself into a lot of trouble, but never broke It's gonna be close game what do you got we I don't know how much we want to dive into or not dive into here, but Yeah, I mean first I'm gonna say you and I bit our tongues a little bit When they announced that this game was gonna be a four eastern game in hindsight MLB you screwed up You screwed up now You've got a 3-0 game against a team that hasn't scored an earned run against a starting pitcher being the night cap When you have two of the best pitchers on the two best teams in baseball Going at it in game three. This should be the night game. Anyways, thanks for listening MLB Severino I think is interesting Jimmy. You mentioned his playoff start You know, he got out of a bases loaded no out jams Four hits two walks four strikeouts and four innings. That's all they really asked of him And he's still got a pitch limit. I mean like it's you know The Yankees plan to let him rip and get to the pin when they need to is still gonna be there I'm a little worried because I think his last two starts. He struggled with control a little bit The last series against Texas, which those games didn't matter at all, but he had four walks and then The twins start his control didn't look locked in so if he doesn't tighten that up a little bit Yeah, I mean you could see the Yankees go to the pen early because diet Houston has a lot of good a lot of good hitters that'll that'll be ready They'll take pitches they pass the baton. Yeah, you saw them go to the pen super early With Paxton who hadn't given up a lot of runs The third inning and Boone said it'll be just as aggressive again. So because it worked out I mean if the Yankees had three runs, they would have penned it the rest of the way The the stadium should be jumping despite the four o'clock start, but the bats will not be I mean buck show Walter has a great quote like four o'clock start No one can see I mean if you buck show Walter score was if you if you're up your picture and you And you can't get through the first three innings of a four o'clock start unscathed and you're a bad pitcher Yeah, you have to be pretty bad to not get through. Yeah, that's what he said Because the shadows if anyone doesn't know because the shadows are in between the pitcher and the batter and It makes it harder to pick up the seams and it should be a lot of early curve balls Yeah, and I know you you tweeted that out And it really is there's like three different good quotes in that quote He bucks talking about his how pitchers used to fight for the 4 p.m. Starts because basically you could put it in cruise control The first few innings Yeah, and I mean that's what you'd expect even if this game wasn't you'd expect Severino and Cole to be Zero's early. I mean it's gonna be definition of playoff baseball if there's a leadoff double somehow And the teams will do anything and everything possible to try to get that run home because it would be huge the I and maybe this sounds corny. Maybe we're sounding like Yankees homers I think the storyline is gonna be how crazy is the stadium and can they get to Cole? You know if the Yankees because the Yankees will they'll do something against Cole Whether it's a solo shot or a walk and then a single whatever it is You know the Yankees are a really good lineup And it's um, you know when Garrett Cole finds himself in the second inning and there's runners on first and second one out You know it is he get a little nervous does he start shaking a little bit? Does he leave a fastball over the plate or does he lock down and throw even filthier stuff than he normally has? I mean that's I think that I would bet on call. I mean I'm hoping not to because I'm a Yankee fan, but like I bet on call Yeah, and I dove into the numbers a little bit. I'm looking for anything on Cole The only thing that I did find And you will find this with a lot of pitchers, so I'm not breaking news But batters this year on the first pitch first Garrett Cole have a 356 batting average in a 1.05 1 OPS And you know we've seen the first pitch a lot of hitters attacking the first pitch already in the playoffs And when batters get ahead of Cole, they have an 870 8 OPS this year, so and Contrary to that when Cole is ahead in the count batters hit 149 with a 259 slugging in a 412 OPS I have a question pitch sure based on those numbers if Cole is ahead in the count you're shocked If Cole is behind in the count you have a good chance of putting up some good numbers What the hell is the strategy because if you're Cole that means you got to throw first pitch strike If you're the Yankees does that mean you try to attack a first pitch fastball like or or is it better to try and Take the first pitch and hope it's a ball like that makes that first pitch very fucking tricky Yeah, the the first pitch is kind of what to watch for and it's like what what zone does the umpire have going and it's I mean it comes back to the whole Yankees mantra control the zone and all that and again the numbers the numbers off of the first Pitch are really good, too So I think I think the Yankees are just saying like hey, you know Cole's gonna be out there for a while either way You know don't there's no automatic first pitch takes like you see it in the regular season a lot You'll see guys just put the bat on their shoulder after the pitcher throws the ball or do things like that That's not acceptable today. If you see something in the zone You got a swing if not, I mean that's that's the mind fuck You know it that first pitch if everyone's gonna be geared up and Cole's just gonna drop a nasty off-speed pitch The Yankees could look really bad and really ugly for the first couple innings If not and they can constantly get ahead You know, I think that uh, that would be huge in the Yankees best chance. Yeah, I Don't know. I don't know what their strategy is gonna be They've been trying to attack early. They tried to attack cranky early They were very aggressive in the count and tried to attack verland early very aggressive in the count swinging at the first or second Pitch first time through trying to get those early fast balls I think they're gonna try and do the same thing with Cole. We'll see if they can He likes to work high in the count just like or high in the zone just like verlander, which is tough My wish is some of the righties can just you know kind of make contact and fly that out to the short portion right there We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. I will say for lineup wise I think the Yankees will be starting Aaron Hicks in Santner moving Gardner to the left and then the DH question is is it Stanton or is Edwin? Who knows? And for them, I believe I think Kyle Tucker is gonna get the start That's kind of the only position that's been roving around Mariznick got the start versus the lefty Paxton, but as soon as Paxton was out of the game Mariznick came out of the game and Kyle Tucker got at bats the rest of the way So I think I think reddit kind of lost his job Yeah, they pulled back pretty quickly on Mariznick, too. I think he only had one at bat as soon as the pitcher changed Yeah. Yeah, at the end they were just like and no, I think I think if they do that again, they'd rather just have Tucker out there for the one at bat and then have Mariznick available as a defensive replacement later if you need them like that That that that early defense is kind of a weird play Yeah, and I don't know it'll be interesting It I feel like first I don't think I think Mariznick was in there for splits not defense lefty pitcher He's a righty No, his numbers his numbers are bad first lefties like the dude doesn't hit anyone But still it just seems as soon as a righty pitcher came in they switched Right, but I'm saying like even if you're gonna do that and you know Paxton might only get through the lineup once Like you just burned a guy for two innings of defense. I Don't know that it's just just my humblest of opinions And yeah, I think for Yankees fans, they're gonna know in the first inning like Alright is savvy gonna basically give us five or are we gonna be fighting through three? Yes Yeah, because if savvy like like we said versus the twins he came out unscathed but It was a fucking battle to get through four innings and He's never really had a breezy playoff start like we saw Tanaka have like we see Verlander Cole Strasburg have Seve's had some good results in a couple games in the postseason, but he's never been Look, Seve's said he's throwing nice and easy today, you know Yeah, so Hopefully the zoo can play a part Yankee fans are nuts Also, and I'll take it a step further Jim now that I am looking at his playoffs stats because I don't know the strikeouts are there You know the hits are a little higher than normal Including, you know that one albatross the walks are are what's pretty wild and I just mentioned his past couple in 27 27 playoff innings he has 16 walks Which just isn't Louis Severino, so that's again goes back to control and early on Oh, we'll see what if he's doting them or if if he's walking guys You could see the bullpen as early as you saw it with Paxton The other thing I'm gonna say as we said this from the start of this series from a Yankees fan perspective Adam Adovino is the key He's pitched in both games Springer got to him. They're gonna see Britain for the third time tonight if Britain comes in When does the familiarity? Effect come in for these relievers and Smoltz has kind of been on that like hey If you bring relievers into every game hitters get to see the relievers every game so We'll see how that goes. I mean Chad Green threw a lot of innings, so There they's got a good look at him. They've gotten a good look at Tommy Kainley all that stuff We'll see how it goes and then on for the bullpen for the other side the Yankees They had somewhat of a good strategy versus Verlander. They made Verlander work really hard and Then the Astros bullpen came in and it kind of seemed like the Yankees forgot a strategy They forgot to bring a strategy to the plate against the bullpen. They like maybe it was just like oh, thank God Verlander Let's go hit these guys and they forgot like oh you have to have a plan against them, too So if we get in if they get into the Yankees the Astros bullpen again, we'll see who wins that battle The Yankees won at game one Astros bullpen won at game two if I'm fucking hinge. I'm throwing Joe Smith again Yeah, and that that's the other thing. I mean Joe Smith also executed and looked dirty. Yeah He looked really good as a little bit shot at the Yankees, but also the Astros bullpen who hey Jim I did my whole football speech how the Yankees starting pitching was looking at Houston starting pitching saying like hey We're pretty good, too Houston's bullpen compared to a lot of a lot of baseball teams is pretty good Compared to the Yankees they're on a different level So I bet that Houston bullpen's kind of been itching down there all week saying hey let you know weak We did pretty good too guys Itching down there all week. Oh my god Sounds like a burn line Yeah, it sounds like it burns for sure. Yeah talking STDs Usually are Wow, wow, wow, wow. Wow. Wow. All right. This is an early game. So we got to get going We had to do the Yankees pregame show. It's a four o'clock start which sucks So I think that ends this episode. We hope you guys enjoyed Some baseball talk we thank you for tuning in each and every day listening if you're enjoying it leave a rating review Subscribe believe a comment on YouTube. I read those because it's like one of the only places you can get feedback There's no comment section for podcast, you know, they're kind of interesting Yeah, but that's not like instant like this episode this episode, you know, so We'll see you tomorrow two games to recap Cardinals don't let me down lose easily