9-11 Around the Park with Kruk and Kuip

0:00New haircut? Looks good. Thanks man. Supercuts. Supercuts? Supercuts! Walked in, had an amazing stylist, affordable, and an out, even got a hot towel from my beard. Huh. Didn't even know they did beards. Oh yeah. Did a nice job cleaning things up. Makes sense that Supercuts has 4.8 stars on Google. 4.8 stars? Wow. Supercuts. Supercuts. Supercuts. Supercuts. Confidence without compromise. Book ahead at supercuts.com. Hey, it's around the park with Cruke and Kipe. The San Diego Padres are in town and they're in a race for the third wildcard spot. With the Arizona Diamondbacks, I'm going to ask my partner his opinion on the Padres in the D-backs right after this. New haircut? Looks good. Thanks man. Supercuts. Supercuts? Supercuts! Walked in, had an amazing stylist, affordable, and an out, even got a hot towel from my beard. Huh. Didn't even know they did beards. Oh yeah.

1:00Did a nice job cleaning things up. Makes sense that Supercuts has 4.8 stars on Google. 4.8 stars? Wow. Supercuts. Supercuts. Supercuts. Supercuts. Confidence without compromise. Book ahead at supercuts.com. You can't predict the future. But you can prepare for it. Arizona State University is building degrees for what's ahead. Programs designed around emerging fields taught by faculty whose research is shaping our future. Not just teaching about it. It's why we've been ranked number one in innovation for more than a decade. Your future is worth preparing for and you don't have to prepare alone. Become future ready. Explore more than 400 programs at ASUOnline.asu.edu. That's a degree better. Hey, we've got Friday night baseball here at Oracle Park. And guess who's coming into town to start a three game series? It is the lovable San Diego Padres. And this is a significant series.

2:01Not for the Giants, although, you know, we take every game very serious. But it is significant for the Padres because they're in the hunt. In the wildcard race. In the National League. And right now, Mike, if you look at the standings, the Phillies are probably in the wildcard. The Cubs are probably in Arizona and San Diego for the last month have gone back and forth by a game or gave in a half for that last spot. And then chasing them would be the pirates and Miami. Those teams are five and a half, six games out. So my question to you. You've seen the Diamondbacks. You've seen the Padres. And right now, both teams are playing pretty good baseball. Do you have a, not a favorite in a sense that you're cheering for one of these two teams? But a favorite is to who might be that third wildcard team?

3:03It's a coin toss. I mean, we've got a lot of similarities. One thing I like about both clubs is I like their defense. They're really good defensive clubs. And they sell to beat themselves with their gloves. And they also have threat up and down the lineup to where you can have offense generated, wherever the inning starts, wherever they are in the lineup. I think that's an asset. I think both teams have better than average speed. I think if there's an edge that the Diamondbacks have, it is they are a bit faster. That shows up on defense and of course on the base pass. I think that the true edge that the Padres have is in their bullpen. I think their bullpen is one of the strongest in all of baseball. And I don't know if the bullpen in Arizona matches it up. And I think that may be what determines who gets that third spot. I mean, it's interesting because you get into the 162 game schedule the last month.

4:04And you really start to see the warts that that team has. What is the one thing that they're a little short in when you start to compare them to other teams? And the similarities of the Padres and the Diamondbacks are intriguing because they are very, very similar. How about this similarity? Nick Bavetta comes back. He was out all year. Corbin Burns. Bavetta comes back with the Padres. Burns returned a couple of days ago. Pitched I think three and he needs pitch well. So there's another couple of guys that can make a difference. Veteran guys that have been there before. Well, I think that's one of the things that you really go to your training staff. And you say, okay, well, this guy's gone down or this guy's coming back from this surgery. When can we get him back? Can we get him back right around the middle of August for the first of September? Can we get him back healthy in time to where he can make a difference in not only September but October?

5:05So I mean, really the pressure on the training staff is enormous. I always thought that was one of the greatest edges the Giants had in all of their postseason play. It was Dave Gresiner and Stan Conti and Mark Leton. I mean, all those trainers that had staff that were really good. So it may come down to that as to who can come in and make a difference. Another, it's just another chapter as to why this race is so good between the Padres of the D-backs. There's one other thing, Mike. The Padres have this guy in the bullpen that pitches the ninth inning that is pretty remarkable. Yeah, he might just be the best guy in the game. So if it comes down to bullpen's, the Padres may have the edge. All right, that's around the park because the crew can kind of enjoy this Friday night ball game. New haircut? Looks good. Thanks, man. Supercuts. Supercuts? Supercuts. Walked in, had an amazing stylist, affordable, and an out, even got a hot towel from my beard. Huh. Didn't even know they did beards. Oh yeah. Did a nice job cleaning things up.

6:05Makes sense that Supercuts has 4.8 stars on Google. 4.8 stars? Wow. Supercuts. Supercuts. Supercuts. Confidence without compromise. Go ahead at supercuts.com.