A's Cast - A's Talk - September 7

0:00It's time to hear from you, the fans from road trippers. It's a strike, it's a ball, same vocation, different call. Yeah. To fanatics. It's not a country club. And the rest. I'm so fired up up confused. This is A's talk. You know, it's a narrative. My heart, take. Go ahead, Michael. It's your heart, take. Here's your host. He's like the kid. Boy, can I be a part of it? Can I play in the game? Michael Barra Bolt. He's ready. The O1 pitch and McNeil at ground ball by the Montswerg. Short charging. Here's a menace blow to first. Not at all. McNeil beats it out. And the A's have won it. Walt and scores from third. A slow roller past the mound. The shortstop. McNeil is charging. And the veteran Jeff McNeil beats the throw at first base. And once he got back. Behind the bag.

1:00It could go down the right field line. He flung his hat high in the air in celebration. As the A's have their fourth block off one of the year. In a really good eight ballgame here tonight. It's confirmed the run away. There was a challenge. But to no avail. And call it first base confirmed. And the A's have won it. By the score of six to five on an in field single by Jeff McNeil. That was great. Great stuff. Great song choice. Great call by Ken Korak. And a great hustle play by Jeff McNeil. This is a talk everybody. Michael Barrywell here at the ballpark. Nate Littlefield back in our studio. The number is a three three six two five two two seven eight. We want to hear from you.

2:01We do the A's of one five of six. And I know that if this were the other way around the phone lines would be jammed. They are. I'm just I haven't caught up to you Michael. I'm sorry. They are jammed. They better be jammed because you all want to call up when things are going bad. And then you guys want to complain. We have something positive. A's of one five is six a walkoff win. A's grind out a win. Bottom of the knife walks in field singles. Two of them months. Seat beating one out to start the inning. Williams gets him over. And then Jeff McNeil beats it out. And the A's when it's six to five after giving up the lead. They were up five to one. I understand that. But you found a way to win the game. Before we get into all that. And of course now I see now I see the phone line to jam.

3:03Yeah, keep calling. 8 3 3 6 2 5 2 2 7 8. Nate wants to talk to you. I'm fired up. It's it's Labor Day. A's got to walk off win. First since June 19th. Baltic up ceiling bases too. Oh, it's great. And to see John Schneider. I am not a fan of him. I'm just going to say it. Not a fan of fan of the blue jays. Why? Not a fan of John Schneider. And to see them walk off the field and just heartbreak and. And anger and disappointment. I love it. They're under 500. I love it. I know what you're going to say Nate. I'm not going to let you say it. That's okay. Enjoy yourself tonight, Mike. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling better. I'm feeling much better than I was over the weekend. I'm getting closer but I feel. Ten times better than I felt over the weekend. And I got a nice win to celebrate. And we're going to celebrate it with you.

4:04But one thing I want to get into before we get to the calls. Because I was thinking about this. When Jacob Blopes was taken out in the seventh inning. And there's, we talk a lot about perception. And how fans perceive things or how front offices perceive things, how the manager perceives how fans perceive things. And so it's thinking about Jacob Blopes is outing. And for the most part was really good. Until that seventh inning, home run single single double was taken out of the game. being responsible for the other two runs that came across. And so the final line, six innings, four runs, seven hits. And what was interesting were a couple of things. Didn't strike, only strike out one batter and that was a strike out one batter and those flagged Guerrero Jr. in the first. And I'm thinking about how we would have looked at this line, like look at this line from Jacob Luba. Six innings, seven hits, four runs, one walk one strike out.

5:08And so if we were thinking about may Jacob Lopez and we saw that line, what are we thinking? It's better than what we've seen as of late. Just Jacob Lopez was really down to the dumps as we all know early in the season. And then of course went to AAA and has since worked it out. But now we looked at this start and it's perceived differently. It's like, you know, it was a decent start. Obviously wasn't to what he's done. I mean, you don't expect him to pitch at a near sub-2 VR ray for the long haul. So you're gonna have starts like this on your radar, but you're not really worried about Jacob Lopez after the sounding. I gave him a couple of home runs, but they were both solo home runs, limited damage. And yeah, he showed a little fatigue in the seventh and ended up giving up the two singles, the double, end up being taken out of the game. And Luis Medina put in that fire out, unbelievable.

6:09And the runner at second running into that out. I mean, that was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Medina's looking straight out the runner. And he takes off. Like, what are you doing? The Blue Jays play sloppy tonight. Sloppy. That is not a team. They were ruled for three years at Gell-Off Play. Andy Dickerson wrote this up. And it was that play in the first sitting where they hadn't picked off and ended up scoring because he's made the Blue Jays make a play and they didn't. It was officially credited as a Gell-Off caught stealing at home. And but there were two errors on the play and both were committed on, both were given to Okamoto. He dropped the first ball and then he threw it off of Gell-Off, which allowed him to score. And so it was officially called Gell-Off caught stealing and then two E-Fives and Cortez and eventually advanced to third on that. But the Blue Jays played Sloppy.

7:11And this is a team fighting for playoff positioning and to be that last ball, Card Spawn, it's just so amazing that you have the two teams that were in the AOCS last year who played an unbelievable seven game series, both have been really disappointing. The Mariners and the Blue Jays. And we saw what Mariners fans think up in Seattle. They're not happy. They are not happy whatsoever. And the Blue Jays same thing. They're under 500 now. They're expected to win the E-S. Go back to the World Series, repeat, they added guys. And well, not so fast. Just proves in baseball every single year, you never know what's gonna happen. And boy, where they Sloppy, the A's ran all over Dylan Seas. They ran all over Alejandro Kirk. And the A's, again, they grind out a win, Nate.

8:12And it's one of those wins where given how the season's gone, after Hogan Harris gives up the home end of the ninth inning, you're like, oh great, here we go. How is this gonna end? It's just like, here we go again. And then what do you know? Muncie beats out of hit. Walton walks. Leica Bunts. Unfortunately, her nades get thrown out at third. Heim flies up at the Henry Bolte at back, gets down 0 and 2. Comes back to work a walk. And then of course, you got McNeill being out in the infield single. That was just a grind it. Bottom of the ninth inning, somehow, some way, we're gonna get this done. What do you got? You got it all. You're right. It was exciting. And the A's made it exciting at the end. I thought Jacob Lopez did pretty well. I was impressed with his outing tonight in Sacramento.

9:13I mean, everyone's been stepping up. It's been fun to watch. I'd like to see, you know what I did like? I, something that maybe goes under the radar and maybe you can help walk me through this is when there was a substitution made for C's after five, right? After five Cortez comes out of playing left field and then he comes in or Clark comes in for Cortez because of the right left. I can't change the bottom of the six. Yeah. And I thought that was, it seemed like today, that was part of the big, there was a really big plan in place because basses kept getting stolen off of C's like the whole, like, I mean, what, four? Was it three or four basses stolen from C's? So it seemed like there was a very specific game plan and it was executed extremely well tonight. So I think you just got to give credit to the coaching staff for that. And the players having the players execute it, it's phenomenal.

10:14It was, it was really good. I was very impressed by everybody today and then just staying in it and, you know, putting your boot on their throat, just finishing the game. It was great. It was great. But we gotta get to these calls, Mike. The lines are full. So if you're not getting in, that's why. We're not ducking calls. Whoever, we don't duck calls on the show. No, we're not trying to pop you the track. We don't quack. We don't quack. We'll take your phone calls and you know what? We might not tonight. Well, we're gonna take some now. There's too many. Salty Tom was at the game. Start us off. What do you got? Hello boys. Nate, you beautiful man. You told me to go to, you told me to go to tank house barbecue before the game. I went my buddy, Brian. Uh-huh. And then by the way, it is beautiful over there. The trees overhang over the street. Tank house barbecue. Home in home. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's called tank house barbecue. And they're not paying. In my order. No,

11:17then I'll take you there. I'm just a happy customer. I order a half rack of ribs. The half rack is bigger than my head. That's amazing. So the ribs are great. I'm in a good mood. I get to center health parts. And my man, Bulltake, steel second, steel third, next I bat steel second again, get off steel third and they put a hurt on cheese and they do it. You think about it. The A789 normal hitters, right? Get off. Bulltake, Butler and a bunch of role players. They just stuck it to see us tonight. I just love to see the heart. And yeah, and then Lopez, you know, he gave up one bomb through six. So if he don't count the end, he was stiller tonight. So just great to see him fight back at the end. There's a little of a bummer seeing the comments of all people tied up on the night. But yeah, they, uh, but the flakery tried to challenge

12:17when he didn't have any challenges. That's perclostum early in the game. So. Yeah, and so it's just nice to see the team fight. It's nice to see the boys show life. And that's that's five wins last six games. I love it. Five out of six, Althe Tom. It was great. Thanks for the phone call. Hope you enjoyed the game. We'll talk soon. We're going to get to all your phone calls. Don't worry. Dennis, have we done the lap yet? Yes, I did. Uh, uh, good evening, Michael and. Good evening, Dennis. And assistant GM eight. Hello, Dennis. You met you met a Nate. You're the 88. World Series one game one. Uh, the walkoff by Kurt Gibson. I wasn't born in around the basis. I wasn't born, but I've seen the video. I'm sure you guys have seen the video, but you remember Kurt Gibson running around the

13:19basis kind of gippy. Yeah, that was that was me tonight. With the contusion to do the. With a contusion and yeah, you're still day to day. We don't need a night out. Stint obviously. No, no, I'm I'm day to day. I'm still waiting for Dr. Slow to examine me, but he's he's kind of backed up on some some other calls he has. So he's supposed to come and examine me. So made that made that lap, gridded it out. Um, this game tonight. Uh, it's it's a kind of Michael you touched on it earlier. Um, Toronto and Seattle, okay? Our Seattle. And then and then we're playing Toronto those two teams. Fought to the end. To get to the world series. Toronto was. Was. Uh, very close to win in the world series last year.

14:19And man, what a difference a year makes for both of those teams. Like you said, Toronto, I would they have like three errors. They were so sloppy. You look at that team and and then and then to see Kurt. I mean, they were just they were running wild on him and he just he just had no answer. He threw the ball down and he was he, he'd like defeated before he even threw the ball down to try to to try to get. I mean, I mean, when when both they broke for third, I mean, he was it was almost like a given. But it was cool to see this team fight. You know, when you look at it on paper and and you look at you see Dylan, cease, you know, he's he's going to be their starter. You're thinking, man, we're going to have a tough game. But wow, the a they they hung in there. They played tough. Gel often bolted again and in the veteran, you know, a McNeil man. What what what what what what the young kids to learn from him watching him hustle all the time.

15:24He never he never walk, you know, he never jogs, you know, even even on a ground out or a pop fly. He hustles all the time. So just a cool game to watch. I like to see him, you know, finish off the year on a high note, knock all these teams out of contention, but just just a fun game to watch. And I'm kind of one other thing, Michael kind of disappointed with the with the pole that they do the 125 year. They had the short stops and I they they had Miguel to hot as the long shot winner. But and I love Miguel to hot. But you got to look back in my time. The great Bert campy camp in Harris was one of the greatest lead off hitters of all time. You know, he was he was the starting shortstop for, you know, the the 72 73 world champion Oakland a's the guys, the guy stats.

16:28If you look at his stats, he's very compatible to Luis, Luis, apparicio, which he's in the Hall of Fame. So he's an ace, all the family should be a major league Hall of Famer. And I was kind of disappointed to see him not get voted in for that. Dennis, I got a question for you before we let you go. I have had a request come in from a member of our of our team here. And we're we're waiting for some video of the the lap around the the cold assack with the flag is that something we can obtain something before the season ends. That's a that's a high possibility. Yes. I could I could send you pictures, but I don't have any any video. We want to get you healthy first, right? And then when you're fully healthy, we want we we have a request to get some video of that lap.

17:30Okay, it's time to get a runner with me. Yes. I said it not me. Yeah. Then. Yeah, he is. It's Chris Townsend, right? Renzel. It sounds like Nate wants to run it with you. I could sprint it. I'm just going to get a little bit of extra on the barbecue. All right. So are you Michael? You guys are all welcome. We're all welcome in Hill, Marr. Would we double the population if we all went there? Oh, yeah, no, just let us know ahead of time so we could put a little bit of extra on the barbecue. All right. When you guys come sounds awesome, Dennis. That barbecue is I'm sure very, very good. What's your specialty? Try to try to. Yes, or or or Portuguese. Lenguisa. Oh, that's civil. Lenguisa. It's like a certain sausage, right? Yes, yes, it is. Yeah, okay. All right. We eat a lot of it over here. So we might have to bar with you some of that too.

18:33All right, Dennis. We can we can do like, you know, we can hand off what do they call that? Relay with the flag if we have enough people. Okay. All right. I'm sure Tony would love that. Like a track meet. You ever relave the flag? Yes, yes, yes. Pass the baton. Pass the flag. We got to make sure Tony puts a lot of gel in his hair. So he doesn't mess with that one. He's running. I'm sure. Yeah, that's important. Yeah. That's very important. Yeah. Yeah. That's very important. We can't have him sweat either. We got to have him ready to go. Well, we might have to have a little fan hooked up to him too. A little fan. It gets warm down there in Hillmark. It does. It does. It does. It's supposed to be like 105 on Thursday. Yeah. Same here. We can't we can't do it this week. Luckily, we have a day off Thursday. Yes. Well, and also Michael. Yeah, and I'm surprised the great Nate was an off today for Labor Day.

19:34Yeah, maybe he should have been. Yeah, so he just took like, I'd brought good luck. Just took like five days off and I'd rock it luck. Longest games of the year. It's like, ugh. All right, Dennis. Thanks, Dennis. Have a great night. We'll talk to you. You keep. We're fired up tonight. This is this is going to be a great show. Maybe you think Georgia listened to this show like five times like he would listen to Saturday show. That show. I mean, I think I was. I was a good show. It was. Yeah, it was good. You know, sometimes I get a little too crazy and I go, oh, maybe I shouldn't have. In that crazy, but I guess if people say it's good. It's good stuff, Nate. Anyways, Mike, we got full lines. We got it. The lines are full. I appreciate it. We're going to get to all your phone calls coming up next here on A's talk. And Muncie waits. Runner going, taking outside. Photo second. And coming to the plate. Here's the throw. And now they've got Gellop in a run now.

20:34And Kirk is chasing him toward third. And it's Bobo, Mike. The third baseman. The throw to the plate. And that hits Gellop. It rolls back behind home plate. The A's get a run. And Kurtz has winds up all the way at third. Wow, do you believe that? What a huge break for the green and gold there. They had Gellop dead to right. First a bubble and then a throw that hits the runner. And the is steal a run. A's with the win in walkoff fashion over the Toronto Blue J six to five. The final from the ballpark in West Sacramento. Let's get back out to the phone lines. Steven Pylid Hill line three. What do you got tonight on A's talk? Hey, I was there tonight. I just want to say that I'm going to be there tonight. I just want to say that I'm going to be there tonight. I got to pull back a little ways, like a lot of people. They just disappointed with how the season was going. I used to go to a lot of games.

21:35I've been to about 60 of them. The last two years and other season. Take a hold of it tonight. It's like I want to see some of the energies. I got a ticket right now. The A's dug out and just just to watch the energy of these guys. And we have five of our key players out right now. And to see these young guys be excited to be in their play. And it would boltate tonight. I mean, you got to understand what this guy did. He's like a modern day Ricky Henderson tonight. And then I hear a county on the after game show saying that no one has hit. I had hit a home run and had three soul bases since 1991 when Ricky Henderson did it. So there is something to say about. He's a modern day Ricky. But he's very excited about what he did at his first at that. He got he rattled right away because he had a good at that. He gets walked in immediately still second. And then he gets a good at that. And then he gets a good at that. Which sets up for him to score. I think he scored like three times tonight, including this home run. Right. Just just the base running tonight was just exceptional. We look like a young hungry team. And I know it doesn't mean anything for the end of our season.

22:36But this will carry over into next year. Believe me, it'll carry over to next year because you guys going to be fighting for physicians and. We got a lot of a lot of young count. We've never been hurting for offense. I think it's not a good thing. I think it's not a good thing. I think it's not a good thing. I think it's not a good thing. All of us little discouraged tonight. You might disagree with me. I thought that caught they should have had someone ready to go. As soon as we got in the trouble in the seventh. As soon as that home run was hit. I would say at that point. Pull him. He had a great game. I think you only let me start it stretching at that point. Yeah, I would have had him ready in between. It means just in case. He got you. Seven. This is late in the year. And yeah, bullpen's a little tax. But they're also very hungry right now. And they're going to get a good score. I think it's a little bit more than it is. It's great on on the road. For us, but other than that exciting game to be. And yeah, it's fun to play spoilers. And to knock some of these teams out of what they're containing for. But I thought low pass pitch. I really, really good game up till the seven. I just wish they were to spend a little more conscious about.

23:36Let's let's be ready to pull him. It gets into trouble. So as far as McNeill. I'm probably 30 feet from him. And I looked at his face. When he when he knew he was going to have a chance to win the game. I was like, I'm going to win this thing. I mean, he's one of the older guys on the team. He beat it out with sheer speed going down there. That was exciting. I think this was a shot. A real big shot. And even more than the road series to beat Toronto here and beat that picture. And not an easy one. He's a 2.25 VRA coming into it tonight. One of the better pitchers. I think he isn't even one of the guys. Looking at maybe say young this year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it started with Volta. You get your guy first guy on. And then you still second. You get him rattled in it. That's what a guy like Ricky Henderson used to do. You start off the offense like that. And it just feeds on that. And Volta, I love him being in the starting position. I think he might be our best lead off batter of the year. And what he can do. Since he's a guy with a lot of confidence. And he's a guy with a lot of confidence. And he's a guy with a lot of confidence. And he's a guy with a lot of confidence. And he turns on that.

24:37I don't know if the middle one has more baskers. You can lose that. You're right. The worst thing ever. I feel happy to be here for one of the season. Yeah. He does. That just resulted in a big engagement. That pitched to be. Or not. Really. And what he can do so eating That's pretty fast because he's like throwing a ball. So I think it. A definitely. One point I want you to say, he kind of did. Right. So he's 좌. Let's do this. and he gives up the three hits after that and he ended up pulling it. But you know, credit to Medina for getting out of it and speaking of what Medina's done. I mean, how how impressive he's been since August 1st. I mean, him along with Elvarado. I don't know. Elvarado struggled a little bit up in Seattle, but more or less. And he was battling an illness up there. But more or less has been really good. Obviously, what Hogan Harris has done again, when you when you pitch as much as Hogan Harris does, you're going to give up. There's going to be blips on the radar. He gives up the home run. But you just look at what they've done, Scott Bluant. And I think there's a lot of potential with Seth Johnson.

25:40You look at just what those guys have done. And it's been impressive. And you when you look at Medina, ending in two thirds tonight, couple of strikeouts, just the one hit. Since August 1st, a 1.72 ERA in 14 appearances, 23 strikeouts in 15 and two third jittings. I know someone asked me, would you put Medina in the rotation? I wouldn't personally. Because my saying is if it's not broke, don't fix it. And I think you found something with Medina latent games that can go multiple innings. I can get more than three outs and look at what he did tonight ending in two thirds. I mean, that if I think is a unique weapon that the Ace have and should use to their advantage, Mike and Fremont, what's up? Yeah. Hey, guys. Hey, Nate. I'm like, hey, good show. Hey, yeah, a couple of things you just sit on. Just want to say, hey, I know it's been talked about already. My MVP, I guess, whatever. And so obviously lost season, but that, that Jeff McNeil guy.

26:42And I know, I think I, I called while he's going at ass. And I know I don't know how much money is going to be owed. But for some reason, some tell me, you know, that the Ace could really, I mean, I'm glad I'm not making the decision, but they need to retain that guy. And that guy is awesome. And just kind of piggyback on the guy really with the bolt. Yeah, bolt is just, you know, yeah, he's struggling. He's a real young player. He figured it out again, but tonight, oh my God. And he's just, he's off the rails. He's just, he's really good. And it's the great lead off hitter. And, but yeah, so with these last couple, you know, these last, these last, what 17, 18, 19 games would be nice to win at least like 10 or 12 of them. But what a game that I, man, I couldn't believe what I mean. I'm sitting there looking at the TV yelling to McNeil, Beats and I was, oh my God, but he's got to be my MVP for this year. He's a heck of a player and I hope they can retain him money wise.

27:45I don't know, but man, what a, what a professional player. I just want to get your take on that. Yeah. As far as McNeil, Mike, thank you for the phone call. Have a great night. It's a 15.7 million dollar club option for next year. And then, you know, I think a lot of that it's going to have to do with obviously if the needs where they see him fitting in number two, what the new collective bargaining agreement terms are. And we've talked about it, whether there is going to be a, a some sort of salary floor and or cap that could obviously force the a's and many other teams to spend a lot more money. It's going to be interesting to see. And you know, McNeil has brought something to this team that I think is very valuable. And I think they could use this veteran experience, but the question is going to be as it were 15.7 million dollars. The one thing I was thinking of and eight nine were kind of mapping out all these, all the infielders the a's have, but for only a few spots and other than Nick Kurtz.

28:46So we're looking at other than first space, we're looking at third, short and second. And when you look at at least opening day next year, you have all these infielders, all of them are right handed that we expect Wilson, Muncie, Gelloff, Krutik Rower, Alika Williams. And you know, other guys Tommy White. I mean, there's a lot of guys, but they're all right handed hitters. And so the question is does McNeil get some pull obviously because he's left handed, hitter, and he's a veteran bat. Those are kind of those go in his way. But again, is it going to be worth 15.7 million dollars to the athletics? Will it be within the rules and will be within the parameters of what the a's are going to have to do going forward? So I did a little digging into the McNeil contract, something we've talked about. I mean, we've talked about this contract quite a bit because I think McNeil's been kind of a hot topic. Contract wise and just kind of what he's meant to this team as a as a real veteran presence. So right now for this year, the Mets are paying a big chunk of about almost $6 million, $5.75 million of his contract right now.

29:55So the a's are paying 10 million for this year. There is a club option next year for McNeil. That's 15.75 million dollars. But there's also a $2 million buyout, which if the buyout happens, the Mets have to pay for that buyout. So I don't know if that means that buyout can happen where the Mets pay, where you get kind of a like two birds one stone deal, where I don't know if this is going to work with the with the new agreement in place, whatever happens. Maybe you get it done before, but have the Mets buy it out and then bring McNeil back at a lower rate. That might be a possibility. It might, but you know, I think I don't know. I don't know if it goes that way. Yeah. I don't know what you're saying. I don't know what you're saying. I'm just saying it. And it's and it's forward thinking. And I just don't know if McNeil would go for anything else because or anything lower because I think other teams are on the league. We're going to see what he's done with the ace so far.

30:56And there's going to be teams out there that think he's worth $15 million. But you know, he's 34 years old. He's going to be 35 early in the season next year. Well, it depends on the cap too, right? Like I don't team would to our teams more willing to pay $15 million for this guy. If if they have a limit or floor, either one. Yeah, it's it's an interesting topic at the bait. Yeah, it's an interesting topic. We're right. And we're going to I'm sure continue talking about it as we go forward. Jeff in the said, what's up? Hey, guys, how's it going? Happy Labor Day. Hey, Jeff. Thanks for being there. Right on you guys being there and doing some labor on Labor Day for us. Good deal. And the ace did a hell of a job laboring today. Appreciate it. You know, they put a cease and desist on cease tonight. They kicked his ass. I don't think the Dodgers did to him in the world series. What the A's did with the five steals and the home runs tonight.

31:58I think they played better than the Dodgers. Getting that world series last year tonight. I really do. And lightning bolt. Oh my God. Learn to ask him again. Ricky Henderson's return in the ghost of Ricky lives in lightning bolt on the A's. It's interesting how sometimes people think that we'll never see anyone like that again, but we did tonight, didn't we? That was cool. I really thought that McNeil did a great job too. It's a wonderful game. And I heard during the break, you guys had a sponsor, Lincess. Did you have that or is that? No, that's that's I'm pretty sure that's me. Yeah, okay. So I think it'd be really cool if you could have your sponsor send the blue J's each individually a pack of Lincess tonight. I hope you feel better. See you tomorrow.

32:58Are you ready? Pretty good one. Jeff. It's all together. Then fast. Yeah. I like it. Because I think that you're not the bleep out of them and that would be appropriate for them. I don't think they know what hit them tonight. That bad ass A's not the spit out of them. I can say that, right? It's just the other end of the same thing, but not the spit out of them. And I don't think they know what hit him. I really don't. I think they thought they'd come in here and just kick the A's ass and I went the opposite way. Happy Labor Day, dude. And just really a wonderful scene. Who knew who expected it. And I think if the A's continue to do this, you know, people say they're not in the playoffs. Oh, yes, they are. They're not in the playoffs to win. They're in the playoffs to change expectations and assumptions and have an

34:00influence on how those playoffs end up and who's there and who's not. Remember what I said the other day? It's the anti playoffs. We're not in it. And neither are you. So I hope that I think they'll keep it up. It seems like they're really enjoying your role this year. And I complimented Conceit for putting them in that mindset and having a blast with it because they have nothing to lose and they have everything possibly available to improve themselves. They're in a relaxed mode. They don't have to worry about anything. Just going on kick ass, have fun play ball and see just how much they can pull off on changing things for those who have a lot of assumptions and expectations. Not. All right, you guys. Thanks Jeff. Good stuff. Thanks for the call. Have fun in the sit on one tonight. I mean, he's usually on one, but that was a, he had a couple of good ones in there. Wincessed. Yeah, I've never heard that ad.

35:01But oh, see, I, it's like, I mean, my job is to lose every day. I hear the one to the seventh inning and then of course they hear the ones during the show. But yeah, it's really, it's not even annoying at this point. It's just like part of my life. It's like breathing. Yeah, swiffer power mom. Yeah, I mean, that's iconic. The swiffer power mom. Good R X. The lows. We got the ludicrous lows one. That one's funny. Ludicrous, huh? Yeah, roll out. It's probably it's in this next break. So if you're listening, oh, yeah, that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Well, should we go to break now or should we take it or call it? Let's take our closer. Let's take our closer right now. No, he's not the closer. I'm the so I go closer by committee here. Okay, that's true. That's true. We are closer by committee on this show. Just for you, Greg, I'm closer by committee tonight. Yeah. What's up, Greg? I'm open by committee. I got your Michael. What's up, Nate? Open by committee. We love it.

36:01It's a winner. It's working tonight. Hey, they won tonight. Louis Varlins, the closer the blue Jays and he blew it. So what's going on? Yeah, you know, just a gutsy effort. I think everyone I think the calls were great. Great show tonight. Great show on Saturday. George's ride. It was awesome. But great show. I mean, listen to it five times. Yeah. That night. I think I've listened to it five times. But George S. text on the psycho group that had made it very clear that he was a he was a big fan of Saturday show. So kudos to you guys. You guys are doing a, you know, obviously a great job. The lines are jammed on Labor Day, you know, with with the A's out of the month. That tells you how good of a job you guys are doing. A's talk is real. A's talk is live. A's talk is here to stay. And you guys are getting it done just like the A's tonight. I mean, I really fun games lately, like three out of four Seattle, you know, fun game tonight. Don't, you know, don't forget game one Dylan C's shut us down. I remember that game. Vividly because it was the first game of the year. And Dylan C's was, I mean, I want to say 13 14.

37:05Yeah, you guys are panicking. You probably have one. You guys are all panicking. I'm doing it with town and NBC and there was panic at the disco. But you know what? That was a long time ago because Dylan C's did not look like that Dylan C's tonight. I think the call for pilot Hill was just spot on tonight. Kind of stole my thunder because there was a little bit of flashback or Ricky Henderson. And for more reasons than one, obviously, you know, Ricky's ability to get on base and in turn, a walk into a triple and then a ground ball boom, one nothing A's. I live that. I know that was probably before your guys this time. But Ricky Henderson is my hero. He always was my hero. He's one of my favorite, you know, just athletes of all time. He's by far my favorite baseball player of all time. He was the best I ever saw. It's actually really hard to talk about Ricky because it's emotional because of what happened. I cannot believe that he's not here. I cannot believe that he's not going to be in Vegas. I'm really, really hoping and praying that the A's put a statue of Ricky Henderson right outside on the strip in front of that new stadium because there's rumors that that's going to happen.

38:06And if it does, it'll obviously be very, very special. But there also be kind of sad because Ricky's a part of this franchise forever. Ricky is the blood in the veins of the A's. I don't care if they're in Oakland. I don't care if they're Sacramento. I don't care where they're at. Ricky Henderson is the A's and the A's are Ricky Henderson. And it's, you know, if and when that statue happens, I will be there. Ball in my eyes out because Ricky means that much to me. You know, as a young kid going to games with my dad, sitting in left field. And you guys know how obnoxious I am when I was a little kid, I would yell at Ricky Henderson every inning when he would come out to left field between innings. And he would always acknowledge me. He would always tip his cap. He would always wave. He would always sign autographs for the fans. The last game in Oakland history. The last game when Ricky Henderson finally came out of there and the place was hopping. I mean, there was who knows estimates of 50 to 60,000. People at the last game. All the media was there when Ricky came out Ricky stole the show to place went bananas.

39:08And I watched personally, he can ask road trip Mike and you can ask Mustang Matt. They were both there. Ricky Henderson signed autographs for 90 minutes. And that was a month before he died and he looked like a million bucks at that game. So the shock that all this felt when Ricky passed away when we had just seen him. I'm not, you know, maybe four or five weeks before. And he looked like a million bucks. I mean, Ricky's Ricky stayed great shape. And it's just. I don't need to go up on a tangent on Ricky, but that's what he means to me and to kind of see Henry Bolte. And as as the colors of touch on kind of kind of do a flashback. One thing that's been left out is. Ricky Henderson had the best playoff series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The year that they beat the the the giants. I think that was a 1989 World Series. We beat the we beat Toronto in that series. And Cedo Gaston was the manager. John Allroom was the first base. Ricky Henderson was MVP of the ALCS. And there was a catcher by the name of Ernie Whit. That was the catcher for the for the Toronto Blue Jays. And you can ask all the old school fans.

40:09Ricky still haunts Ernie Whit to this day. Because he stole a record. I think it's a record that still stands today. Still like nine bases in the series. He hit like four 30. I mean, you look at the stats. Yeah, he's the lead. It's a really good idea, that's serious. And he single handily dismantled and destroyed the Blue Jays in that series. And he is, went on to obviously face the Giants and the World Series. And and win it all that year. But Ricky dominated the Blue Jays in that series. And it was a lot of a flashback tonight to see both. He dominated the Blue Jays the way he did. Because that's what Ricky did. A walk was a triple ground ball. One nothing A's. And Ricky did that against everybody. That's what he did. That's what made him special. I know he's argued a lot this year about the lead off position and hit and Kurds and then it's a you know what if both he can do that. I'll tell you right now that's old school baseball. That's a real lead off hitter and that's winning championship baseball. And I'll take that over a power hitter. Schwarber O'Connor. I'll take that any day because those guys are special players.

41:09If you get both you to do that, maybe not every game, but if he could consistently be that kind of a lead off hitter, that is a game changer for this team for this franchise going forward because that that rattle Dylan Cees. I mean, you don't see that a lot where a guy just a stealing basis that will. You know, you can get a lot of easy runs that way to kind of get your offense started. It takes pressure off your pitcher to know you're up one nothing to nothing off a real quick little walk, base it boom, boom, boom, all said it's one nothing. Feel a couple bases. That is lead off hitting baseball. That is old school baseball and that is winning baseball. So I got to tell you it was a really fun game tonight. It was really, really cool to watch. And you know, all the credits are both the obviously Jeff McNeil, the contract. That's going to be a hot topic. I'll tell you one thing, if that $15 million was an out there, Jeff McNeil's coming back with the A's. No and before but about it. I mean, you give him the league minimum. You make him an offer. And I think you're right, Michael. You hit it perfectly nail on the head.

42:09Contenders next year are going to kill for a player like Jeff McNeil. Plays multiple positions on professional at bat. He's only struck it out 16 times since the off-draight. That's top five and major league baseball. Any contender is going to kill for a guy like Jeff McNeil because of what he brings the table. So what a game. I appreciate the time. I know it's late. Thank you guys for everything. Labor Day working. A's talk on a Monday night. Is snappin' and that's a credit you guys later. All right, thanks Greg. Take care. Have a great night. We had some good calls. Yeah. I'm a good call. People, I mean, once you get going about Ricky Henderson, I've really noticed the two years being here. People just light up. And I don't think it's, I hope Henry Bolte, you know, kind of takes that to heart. I'm sure he does. But the comparison, even if they're light, you know, even if it's, you know, one game. Him doing stuff Ricky does.

43:09I think, I think that's pretty big. It's really special. And he's a fun guy to watch. He would be a great lead off guy. I've always been a Jacob Wilson lead off believer, truth or, but I wouldn't mind Bolte there either. He's such a utility for the team. You know, I'm going to, I'm just making out a possible line up next year. Now this is just if, oh, remember when you trash me for doing that like a month ago. Yeah, but I'm going to do it now. Okay. Yeah, when I do it, just understanding where we're at. Yeah, that this is where we're at. Okay. So I'm going to work on this lineup. And we're going to go over it because there's so many ways you can go about this. And we're going to reveal this lineup. I'm going to reveal my lineup when everyone's fully healthy next year next on a talk. As the one old pitch, he's delivered his ground ball to third on two. I was like, I'm on his coming home. The throw is low. And he's safe. Contact zone goes on and ball table to beat at the great speed of Bolte after the walk.

44:13Produced that run stolen base stolen base scores on the ground ball. Builders choice RBI for Gellauv. So Gellau picks up his 44th RBI and he has now lead it three to one. And he's with the win walkoff fashion six five over the Toronto Blue Jays. Let's quickly go around the league on this Labor Day. The Dodgers beat the red six to three. The Giants also win in walkoff fashion in 11 5 4 over the Cardinals. The Padres three Nationals two Tigers winners 5 4 over the twins. Brewers 4 to 3 over the Cubs. The Diamondbacks in extra innings. Five to four over the Royals in ten innings. Memorand my hot take the Diamondbacks to the NLCS. I'm standing by it. Orioles six Guardians for the Red Sox beat the Angels five to two. Metz beat the Marlins nine to four and the Phillies in one hour and 51 minutes. Beat the Atlanta Braves one nothing. How about can we get a one hour and 51 minute game? Anything under I think we had one under two last year.

45:15We had one that was one 58 I think last year. Yeah. I just are somewhere around there. Yeah, that is nice. Hey, Susie. Luzardo Shubb for Philadelphia. He got his 14th win. Shubb. That's my Steve Sacks impression. Ooh, I didn't know he said that. He does on the radio. Okay. What he called. He did shove. All right. We have our line ups because now it's cool to do it. Even though yes, I did get mad at Nate for trying to do it last time. All right. So we talked about because and I'm only thinking of this because we're talking about the lead off. Let's do this Mike. So I have mine too. So let's each spot. Let's say what we have. So we'll both say one and then we'll both say two together and we'll go down and we'll see what we have. No, it's your show. Yeah, sure. Go ahead. I'm producing. I'm producing. Yeah. No, no, it's your show. Here's your host Nate little. Go ahead. Your name is your lead off. My lead off is Jacob Wilson. I know he just talked about Henry Bolte.

46:16He's in the lineup, but he is not my lead off guy. Jacob Wilson at shortstop. And this is starting. This is game one of 27, right? Yeah. With no moves. So basically this is how we're constructing it as if everyone's fully healthy based on the current roster. Okay. Who we think might be back in 2027. So there's not taking into account what outside moves may be made from outside the organization. This is just what is in house right now that we think we'll be on the roster. So I bolt a in center field. Okay. We'll go snake draft style. I got Kurt's hitting in the two hole at first. Me too. That's a no brainer. I think Kurt said to you have to have him. Yeah. We both are at least I don't love him at lead off to you. I know we've talked about. I don't either. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So Kurt's a two. I don't like him in the three hole either. He has to get those bats. So yeah, put him into. Three. Who do you got? We're going to snake. I got Shay Langaleers playing catcher.

47:16Yes. Obviously four. We probably have the same. Rucker. Oh, no. Never mind. I have Tyler. So does she. I have Tyler. So does she. Okay. I have a sort of sure I'm batting fifth and left. Who do you got fifth? Fifth. I have Henry Bolton center field. Oh. Yeah. Interesting. You get get in where you fit in. It's it's kind of nasty. Where everyone's going to play. So Wilson's my six hitter at short. Who do you have six? Uh, D H. Brent Rucker. Okay. Seventh. Zach Galoff at third base. Okay. I have Galoff at second. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Eighth. I have Max Muncie at third. Okay. I have Jeff McNeil at second. As if we were to recent. And these rules. I'm hoping. I don't. I don't know. I. I. I'm going to lean towards no. But I'm hoping. I'm hoping. I'm hoping. I'm hoping. I'm hoping. I'm hoping. I'm hoping.

48:16I'm hoping. I'm hoping. Well, that's kind of where I. I. What do I think we'll be back? And obviously we don't know what outside moves are going to be made. So there could be. Right now. To new. New new guys everywhere. With the moment we're in right now. Jeff McNeil's stock is as high as it's going to be. For the a's. Unless he hits a walk off the next couple weeks. His stock is as high as it's going to be. With the a's. So we're all really high on him right now. And it's great. So he's a team he had a slump. He didn't get played as much. But right now a stock. Is that an all time high? All right. And then for the a's. The same nine hit or Lawrence. Yes, we do. Okay, pretty similar. So low, let go through your lineup first, top to bottom. Okay. Wilson it shortstop. Curts at first base. Lengaleers as catcher. So to strum at four left field. Bolte at five in center field. Six Brent Rucker D. Hings seven. Geloff at third base. Eight McNeil at second. And then nine Lawrence Butler and right field. All right. I'm going Bolte. Curts. Lengaleers. Rucker. Sodistrum Wilson.

49:16Geloff at second. Months yet third. Butler and right. See Wilson that low. That's a I think that's a problem for me. I think his is his is back to ball. Is just too much. And he's two. He's too good of a batter tonight. Get more bats. Okay. I'm just so high on jaguil Wilson to I understand the injury thing. I understand. Yeah. And you know, I am trying to spread out and we're assuming. And he has a ton of right handers on the mound, but I'm in the on their office side. But I am assuming the fact that there's a right handed pitcher on the mound, which is why I'm kind of spreading out. I'm spreading out the left hand. I'm going to be able to see what I'm going to do. I'm going to be able to see what I'm going to do. I'm going to spread out the lefties a little bit, too. So it's curtsy I've got to lefty and the two holes, so to show him in the five hole. Butler and the nine holds only three lefties. I mean the A's. Really, and we talked about the infielders too, right? All those guys are right handed except for McNeill and Donovan Waltenon, who knows what's going to happen there. So it's going to be interesting to me.

50:16So third segment here, Mike, last thing you guys had a big conversation on A's cast today in the pregame, uh, you guys had a big conversation on A's cast today in the pregame, not on NBC on A's cast. There's some discussion about the greats from Canada. And this is just what I want to end on tonight with you, Mike, since I get side run the show is what you said. I think it's criminal. You guys are talking about comedians and stuff, not just Canadian athletes. I don't have many Canadian athletes, but greatest Canadian of all time, Norm MacDonald on my list was not brought up today like Jim Kerry was and stuff. And that's cool, you know, whatever. But I love Norm MacDonald so much. Greatest weekend update host for SNL. Maybe the funniest person to ever live. I guess the only thing bad about him is he hasn't really had a funny joke in the past, you know, five, seven years or whatever, but you know, maybe he'll get one soon.

51:16What does that do for me? I'm just saying. I think they're revealing that tomorrow, I think, is what I heard on the NBC portion of the Canadian thing. The Mount Rushmore, yeah. Yeah. By the way, Ben Schoelman was great. Oh my god. He was awesome. I met him freebly before we went on and we got to talking a little bit and great guy and came on and was great. He was very interesting to talk to. He could just go forever. He was so awesome. I was, yeah, I was, I didn't know who he was before. I was paying attention. I don't always do that. Yeah, you go back youtube.com slash athletics or wherever you get your podcast, you can listen to the full show, which has the interview with Ben Schoelman. He was of course great. And of course, everything was due. We do is great around here. I mean Greg set Greg said so. Greg said a talk was great. So I mean, that's good enough for me, right? Yeah, great. I think it has been pretty good lately. When they win, it's been, it's been nice. When you win, it's fun. I also crushed coffee before tonight too, before the show. Lane, I coffee. Well, was it Montana's coffee? No, I

52:20wish it was though. It was some curious thing. I want some Montana. So that was cool that town he gave them a little shout out. They're probably going to cut that up on post that. They might. They should. We gave him a shout out a few weeks ago. Yeah, we gave tank house. We've been tank house a few shout outs. I should at least get a free meal. Tank house was good. We went one April, I think. Yeah, that was one of my faves for sure. That was good stuff. Yeah. Yeah, that was that was a good place. And then me and you, I think next home stand, the last one, we're playing golf. We are. Yeah. Okay. One of those days, we'll play early. You want me to get up early? What's early for you? We'll go play at like 930. 10. So what time do you have to be at the ballpark? Two. Oh, that sucks. Tell townie. Tell townie you can wait. You can play nine. They can wait, dude. You could do whatever. It's fine. Talk to our boss. Who's our boss?

53:23Well, actually, my boss, I guess we do have different bosses. Yeah. We do. I don't know where we're going with this. No, we're just chatting. We're just, this is real. Mike, this is what people want to hear. This is real conversation. It's after a couple days talk after after the arc, by the way, 705 first pitch. What are we doing? Yeah, why? Unlaborate. What are we doing? The latest game. What are we doing? It may not set. Yeah, what? Everyone has a day off. Everyone except for us must be nice. Must be nice. Oh, you should know about days off since you take them all the time. Must be nice. I haven't taken a day off in months. Months. You have one coming up. I only have one more of the rest of year unless we do this A's cat, unless we do the, um, the psycho meat at the, at the game, then I'm going to try to get that day off. What? What you call the meat, the meat up? Yeah, well, we called it the psycho sweets, but that's not, it doesn't, it sounds like that's not happening. Greg's got a sweet talk. Someone that's what's

54:24going to happen. He can. He's, you know, there's some dogging on Greg on the show, but he is a good talker. Uh, he's good. He's, uh, yeah, he could go. And he, I'm sure he could convince him. Yeah, I know he can go. Hey, Jerry, Dr. Slo. Um, I do hope that that happens. The, uh, the psycho sweet, whether they're in a suite or not, it'd be really fun. I mean, I guess who's in there with you? I just have some working. Who just walked in that room with you? I have no idea. Is it a ghost? I have, I have no idea. I'm locked in. Okay. I'm locked in on what we got. All right, let's get, right, let's get ready for tomorrow. We're back to our normal time tomorrow. 430 our coverage will begin. Ace cast live, touting the commander will get you guys started with then of you from the press box 530 and then touting sacksie, ace cast at six o'clock and then first pitch 640. A's are going to send Jack Perkins to the mound and he will be opposed by Jose

55:28Soriano who the A's will face for the third time this season. Uh, of course, Soriano was with the angels earlier the season face the A's in an a high back in May then here in West Sacramento on June 19th and the A's got to him for four runs in that outing. So let's see if history will repeat itself tomorrow night when Soriano takes the mound again for the Toronto Blue Jays. 430 our coverage begins 641 pitch and then of course we will take your phone calls and talk A's baseball following the game for Nate Littlefield back in our studio. Michael Barrabaln here at the ballpark. Thank you for listening to A's talk. Everybody A's with the walkoff win 6 to 5 here on this Labor Day and we will talk to you all tomorrow. This has been a presentation of the athletics.