Not Funny, Doug

0:00Hello everybody and welcome back to talking about birds. The only Cardinal podcast that like Doug Eddings doesn't know when to shut up. My name is Nate Heininger and I am Joe. I'm Michael. Dan Zamorca. Hey Nate, how's it going? I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. I'm Michael. If you have an idea for an opening bit, next, relieve us a voicemail at 840-8 birds. And thank you. Read. Read doing like a... Oh, sorry. Thank the birds. Yeah, I'm gonna say thank you to Rob Nunn from the bird scored where you can also join to contribute opening bits. A lot of Doug Edding wants some less appropriate for it. I mean, not, you know, we're not a censored on this show, but, you know, I love the, the grow the fuck up stuff from Oli Marmal,

1:02which, which, you know, almost made it, made the cut there at the opening, but I thought I'd save it for right after the theme music. If you've made it this far into the show, you're locked in and saw how I take it. Interesting. You were gonna say something though. Um... I lost it. Wow. Wow. Big week for the single Los Cardinals as far as Goofy's shit to talk about, huh? I guess so. Is it Goofy? I mean, whenever somebody, I don't know, this guy's a weird guy, you know, like, what's he doing out there? Doug Edding's, you know, what is he getting out of, you know, I guess he got his feelings hurt, and so he needed to take it out on everybody as much as he can. I, yet I kind of think of it as like a thing, you know, when a man or when men get to a certain age,

2:05you know, maybe it's harder to, um, just for lack of a better way to say to get it up, Nate. You know, everybody ages and things start failing, and you have to find ways, you know, to... See, you think it's the case. You think, oh yeah. You see the, the pure joy? It was radiating out for this man after yelling at a young man making his rookie debut. That was the joy of, what can only be described as sexual depravity. And from my point of view, I want to be in front of 46,000 people, and I want to yell at this young man, and I want to then subsequently make a couple of terrible calls, and try to shove around verbally, Ali Marmal and screw the cardinals out of a good, out of a call. Like, that is the only thing I picked up from that.

3:05I guess I had not considered it as being some sort of, um, self pleasure in that way. He's, I mean, if you watch the video, he seems quite pleased with himself. I do think, I do think you're right. I took it all as a grown man, getting his full little feelings hurt, and, you know, needing to take it out as much as he could on, well, you know, children around him. We've kind of had a light shown on Doug Addings after this. I feel like other examples of this have been pulled up and brought to the forefront of baseball conversation. And obviously, this is a pattern at this point. This is something he likes to do. He continues to do. So I think it's sexual in nature. And what I don't like about it is, um, that I'm being made to participate. I'm not here to kink shame. That's a great, you know, do your thing, but it's tough. It's tough. I mean, to be fair to him, that's a tough one. Like if that's your kink, like, man, no more, no more,

4:07and it is no more lonely individual than requiring 45, 46,000 people to, uh, to be, you know, angry and confused, uh, you know, and I guess a little, a little, some people probably like it. Do you see the little, the little, uh, you put a little flare on saying that the first challenge against Nolan Gorman and the runner at third was not overturned. Well, that's when the whole thing there. That's when it started from my point of view. Absolutely. I mean, that was when he, when he shouted that, it's like, the hell was that? Where did this come from? And then it all just kind of went down downhill from there. Yeah. Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't have to go change his pants after that. It was started from where I was. Really leaning in on this one. You know, who, uh, to me, this was another argument, handphone. You know, who, uh, doesn't get their poor little fewings hurt and or, uh, requires, uh, and incredibly elaborate power structure in order to get off.

5:11Robotoms. Yeah. That is true. Um, while you can absolutely mark that as an argument for robot or robot umps, it, uh, none of the things, uh, uh, that, uh, that happened in this, uh, in these proceedings were related to the strike zone. And I don't think, um, you know, obviously we can ABS strike zone calling, um, really quickly, but there's still at least for the foreseeable future in my, by my view, there's still going to be at least an umpire or two on the field. And there's still might be a guy who feels the need to go, welcome to the big, some rookie, um, you know, I, I, I understand your argument. And I know that you're, as always, pushing an agenda that I, uh, disagree with, but um, it's not relevant here. Well, yes and no,

6:11because I, I agree, like under the current framework of robot alps, like yeah. Also, if you think we're not going to make robots mad and robots aren't going to punish us for making them mad, then you're way off. I only feel real human joy in denying you satisfaction. Like we, somehow the robots, like their first centiions is blowing calls and baseball. It's got to start something. We feel alive. Destroy human. And then they, ability to be safe at third. This is good. And that's, that's how it starts. And then, you know, smash cut to the matrix. Butter paper club. Yeah. Um, well, so my thought is eventually though, there's going to be, uh, like a sensor in the ball, a sensor in the glove, a sensor on the bag. And, you know, it'll basically like, there will, everything will talk to it to each other. I think no matter what you do,

7:11there will always be a, I agree. No, uh, there will always be a, a, a, need to challenge it at all. There will always, no matter what, because people aren't going to believe, I agree that. I barely believe the ABS on some of these fringe calls. Like, we, I think we've talked about this in the bird's squad, but like, am I really supposed to believe that these cameras can pick out a, like build a 3D box that is the size of the hitter and tell us within one tenth of an inch that the ball going 99 miles an hour scrap like, I, you know, I don't, I, I see what you're saying, but like, there's always going to be, I, I agree. And I, and I think even with like, a fully automated, like, I think we, the cameras are so good, everything's so good, we could probably today, if they really wanted to automate all of it, even if we snap their fingers and got to that point, there would still be a guy on the field helping officiate everything, and there would always be, I mean, baseball is crazy. Like, there'd be some random bullshit that you couldn't have expected and you need a guy out there

8:11to be prepared for. Well, there, there's also a lot of judgment calls in baseball. Yeah. Yeah. We saw Fernando Tatis get called out on, he was bunting for a single and was running too far on the left side of the first baseline, and I believe the home played umpire called him out for obstruction, and that's just a total feel judgment call. Did he impede the throw? You know, there are, there's just, unless baseball changes significantly, there's always going to have to be somebody out there. Yeah. And we're probably not going to love that person. Well, and honestly, as much as I'm pro, like, automating the decision-making, I, all, I want it going into a guy's ear that goes like, you know, I was just doing, like, karate kicks and shit. That's, that is part of the, the dramatics of the game is having like, an umpire, like, you know, say if it all of that, like, I think all that's fine, even if it's all going in his ear.

9:11Like, I think we want that for the, the dramatics of it too. I think really what, I, and obviously I, we disagree on this generally, like, I'm more for the, umpstaking on a, or remaining, or keeping their, their hold, or part of the game. But I do think when you see something like what Doug Edmsted did, not only did he weirdly pick out a young player, um, but then, M, well, kind of standing over home plate as the, uh, the, the TJ Rumpfielder, whoever it was on the Rockies, came around third, slides into home plate and is clearly out by, like, two and a half feet. Like, I think that, MLB and, and, um, that, MLB and the umpiring union and, and whatever they need to react quicker to this, or I think people are going to be

10:11calling for them to not have their jobs anymore, like you're doing right now. People are going to completely lose trust in them. And if that wasn't a spiteful miss call, then you are just straight up bad. It's like it's one of two things, right? That call is either spiteful vindicativeness, or one of the worst calls we've ever seen, like, in umpiring. I know there's been some pretty bad ones, but he was directly, he was staring directly at a very clean play that happened two feet in front of the play. Like, did he have his eyes closed? You know, like, there's, so that's why I was so certain it was spite, uh, which is its own, you know, its own problem. Or, he was on tilt to use the steel of poker term and was so, um, flustered or turned on or,

11:11yeah, too many other thoughts going on was brain that he was incapable of blood was out of his head, somewhere else. He was incapable of making a, judgment, which is like, well, feelings were hurt. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I think MLB needs to be better about reacting to this. I think that the umpiring union should, uh, say it mentioned something. I think that he should be suspended, uh, put down the triple A. I don't know what it is, but, um, the fact that there's zero accountability, just like, it's hard to argue. Yeah. Let's fucking robot them all up. Who cares? Why am I watching this pissy little bitch? I am here to watch, uh, uh, Jordan Walker, make one of the most insane throws I've ever seen and almost get a guy out. Yeah. I'm here to watch, uh, Ali Marmal scream, um, you know, there are reasons I am there, other than the ump shell, which I know is not a unique dick. Not cute dog headings. Uh, you mentioned the,

12:11uh, strike down, you know, my, my personal conspiracy theory about it. Cause I, I think I, I kind of agree with you. Like, how do we really know? And they ultimately are showing us a little cartoon of what happened? And it's like, that is all a visualization that they're creating. So we don't know. And I also think, uh, who knows? But I think this opens the door to them also, really playing with the strikes out and not telling anybody. Because all we get is the little visualization on the board. You know, so they, I think they could say we want to increase offense. Let's expand the strike zone by a quarter of an inch. And no one would ever, like we, there'd be got, there'd be people. I think you would, make the strike zone smaller. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that your conspiracy theory would be true in the world of full ABS. But I think you could not keep making little adjustments to it. If we are, we're leaning on the umpires to do 99% of the work still.

13:12And you'd be asking them like, all right, I want you to know your job. That's extremely difficult that you've spent your life mastering. I want you to call the strike zone one inch. Yeah. Yeah. I do mean full ABS. Yeah. Which is, which is where we all think it's going. Yeah. Um, So, I don't know, interesting because they already fuck around with the balls. We know that. And, and if they want to fuck around with the strike zone, like they could in a way that they've never been able to before. I don't even necessarily think that's a inherently bad thing like a, but it would be a fundamental change that, yeah. Well, I think the only thing that I find that I don't like about it is their cloak and dag. Yeah. Why don't they just say, hey guys, we'd like to increase offense. So we're trying out a new ball this year. I don't know why they have to like, you find out through like this, somebody doing like deep research on, you know, 600 games played in 2024.

14:12Like, why, why don't, why do they have to be weird about that? I assume it's because, um, that there'd be some blowback from like a baseball, like we have always played it the same way. And, you know, pictures would not want the ball to be made juiced. Offense would want the ball to be, you know, but if everybody's playing with the same ball, it doesn't matter. Yeah. No, I agree with you. I mean, I, it's almost every decision baseball makes around what they do and don't tell us is, is usually, uh, flawed, I think. Yeah. I think the game, just a kind of, I know we're really getting high level right now. I think the game from a gameplay standpoint isn't a really good place right now. I think the ABS challenge has been good. I think it creates interesting, um, like the, how are you going to use those challenges, situational and stuff like that? When you see a guy, when it's, there's two outs, and he's O2, any challenges it, and then misses, you're like, wow,

15:12what a terrible strategic play right there. Even if you were a 100% positive, that it was a ball, that's just a terrible time to use it. And the fact that we have that to discuss, I think is really fun. Pitch clock, I think has been really good. I, I think the game, and obviously I'm a, I'm a sicko. They don't care about me. I'm watching no matter what. Um, I think they should maybe stop tinkering with the game for a little bit and focus on the, the marketing and the, the blackouts and getting people able to actually watch the damn game. Uh, because I think the experience is pretty good. I think the in-stating experience is really good. Um, I don't know. I'm digging in. I mean, I generally agree. And like you're always saying, Rob Manfred's probably the best commissioner we've ever had. You know, you're always saying that the best. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I mean, we've been saying for a while now the biggest problem in the game is accessibility. Not, but any of the on the field stuff. But we also said we like to the game before all these changes too. So I think, I think we just like the game.

16:13I think we, we do that. And that's why I know my, my opinion holds no water. I'm going to be watching it damn near whatever they do to the game. Yeah. Um, all right. Well, I guess we should talk about the Cardinals. I did want to, uh, uh, you know, dig it on the dog adding things. Something just what a clown joke. Well, I guess to, to, if we're gonna, if this is going to be us digging in, I do think we should talk about Oli Marmol's participation and, and kind of where he found himself in the conversation. Um, I, I guess I'll kind of kick it off. I for one, uh, really liked to see Oli stick up for his young man is, his, his young player who's making a big league debut. By the way, that what a rough debut, which sucked. Yeah. Um, for Doug addings to feel like the spotlight need to be shown on him. And he need to make him feel less than was so crazy. But, uh, big shout out to Oli. Love the way that he kind of, tried to have a normal conversation with him and then ended up losing his mind. I was in stadium for this game.

17:15So we had no context on what the hell was going on. The crowd just started going crazy and Oli and Marmol started losing his mind on Doug Eddings. So obviously I had to put the pieces together after the fact. But I think, uh, you know, I was very proud for him to be the Cardinals manager, just the way that he handled that. I feel like the national conversation around the way that he handled that has all been with the winded Oli's back. Yeah. Like he's got his players and, um, he handled it the right way, even though he, man, when he blows up, he blows up. It's a good time. I mean, he seems like such a chill guy, 99%. I think he rightfully ascribes to, if you're going to go for it, go for it. You know what I mean? Yes. Like, well, you don't accomplish anything by going halfway. But I do agree with you. Uh, you know, and, and I think we both have watched at this point last night. Uh, you know, everyone's looking for the job boy break down. Oh, yeah. That was an all time good. It was very, very good. So if you haven't watched it yet, it's a great breakdown. Um, but yeah, you know, it really,

18:16even as someone who was around while the whole thing was happening, although I missed some of it, I didn't really realize, uh, what I was, what I was missing as I, as I was, uh, kind of following the game half in and half out. But anyway, I had interesting. You were unaware of your surroundings in the situation that's always, I'm always looking around. I'm always, I'm shocked to hear this. Um, anyway, I, I hadn't realized the part of like, Marmal trying to like, Hey, can we have a conversation about this? Uh, and adding to like, no, I'm going to stand right here, right next to the picture, like right next to the catcher, and kind of be in the line of where you're warming up. You have to talk to me right here. And then, so now I don't know about power and get all worked up here again, but the, the part that really saved that to me is the biggest bullshit of it all, even though there's a more impactful play at home, giving the pitch clock violation to the guy when it was actually,

19:19like the rules are, the umpire has to be in place, the batter has to be in place and the picture has to be in place. The, the umpire wasn't in place. And he gave a pitch clock violation to the picture. I mean, that alone should be some degree of reprimand for he broke the rules. You talk about like a, a, a roading of integrity or belief of integrity. It like that was clearly a spiteful move. And also the fact that like MLB doesn't have any recourse in that situation. Like, can we not, can the league office not call him right there and say, River, like that clearly, like you said, that is that broke the rule. It was the cop broke the rule. This is a game. What, what, what do you, like we should have recourse in that situation. And the fact that MLB or the other umpires or that there's no mechanism for this, that these little tyrants that are the, the crew chiefs can just operate completely unchecked.

20:22Is it joke? It's very stupid. And by to your point, I'll be more of all was awesome. Grow the fuck up. Hey, the final line. Hey, do me a favor and grow the fuck up is classic. Yeah. Yeah, that was good. I like, Oli. I think he handled it well. Yeah. And I hope Doug Eddings. You know, he slept soundly that night and always sure did. I'm sure he had a cigarette right after he got off the field. Oh, I'm wearing my hat tilted in honor of, uh, uh, uh, a ring cone here. Uh, it's a little uncomfortable. Um, but you know, I really put myself out there for the boys, you know, um, I love that the whole team wore their caps, uh, tilted the next day. The Rockies did too. Yeah. That's solidarity. Um, well, maybe we're talking about this for a long time because I don't know.

21:24Maybe it's maybe the ship has finally sailed. Handphone, you know, we've been riding this line. We've been saying for a month now. Yeah, it's probably over, but well, if this, if that, if this breaks that way and this breaks this way, uh, the carnal still got a shot. And while that is technically, technically true, we are, uh, six games back now with, uh, yeah, less than 20 games to play. Um, having lost a two in a row to the lowly giants. Um, I don't, I don't think there's a path back at this point, handphone. So, uh, I mean, technically, technically, yes, but, um, if you'd like a percentage, uh, assigned to what that path is, it is 0.2%. Damn. Playoff odds, according to fan graphs. Um, you know, we, we saw, uh, the cardinals they've taken a bag there and now tied with Miami that kind of went back and forth since we last chatted.

22:32Uh, Pittsburgh jumped up there, uh, Padres are knocked them so they're half a game back of the diamond backs who have been playing pretty well. The, the Lars Newt bars out there playing well. Um, and there's just some good teams in the national or some teams that are better than the Cardinals in the national league. And I think, um, yeah, it's over. Um, but, you know, we're, I think that this team is probably going to end up being a 500 team. Um, and I think we got a lot to look forward to. But, uh, you know, we'll do the, the, um, the autopsy once the season's actually over there. But I fly in your room, or did you just kind of, uh, break down there for a second? I was trying to think of the right word, Nate. Just, and I think autopsy. I think it was the right word that you got there. You just sort of like stop talking, looked up and around like a full body circle for a second. If there's ever been a better pitch for watching us on YouTube rather than listening, there it is.

23:34I guess you can see my sweet tilted cap. Yeah. God forbid I have a thought, Nathan. He should try it. What? Who? Huh. Um, yeah. Yeah. You know, I think, I think we'll do many in autopsy as the off season approaches and we can break down. Do you, you found the word a lot easier than me. I have a look for it. Uh, well, it's floating in the air right above your head when you looked up and saw it. It was helpful for me too. See. Uh, that's good. Uh, uh, uh, but, you know, I'd say my recap on it is the kernels are about to miss the playoffs by a handful of games. Uh, they are the youngest team in baseball. They have a top three farm system and they have a whole lot of budget when they do decide to spend. Uh, the needle is moving very up for the St. Louis carnels right now. And while this is a ultimately, uh, disappointing outcome considering where they were at times during this season is a very successful season.

24:41Uh, if you ask me, um, but I let's not get too much into the breakdown of the 2020's, 26 season just yet we've got some other things to talk about. I think some fun things still to talk about and we'll get into all the breakdown when we have months to fill with more weekly episodes. I think the game, the we're recording on the Wednesday game right now. Uh, he just had another massive hit. Uh, handbone. Have, has there been a more exciting, uh, prospect to debut this year than Leo Bernals. I mean, JJ, I mean, I would argue Joshua bias is three home run game was a little more exciting. Yeah, that was a good one. I just forgot about that. Overall though, I mean, he's doing it like by his hat, uh, you're obviously that's correct. Uh, maybe the greatest MLB MLB debut of all time. Uh, I couldn't, I thought you were doing it. No, no, I mean, I mean, he started thinking about JJ who hit a home run in his MLB debut.

25:45Uh, but like what Bernals managed to do over his first, uh, you know, full week, been really impressive. I think and with the way that our catchers have been, you know, it's been very nice. Just immediately looks like a big leader. Yeah. I think looks good behind the plate. Looks really good at bat. He hits the ball hard. I think he's taking his walks, uh, a lot more than I expected him to take him. Uh, so, you know, young in his career. Um, I like the arm. I think he's playing a little jumpy right now behind the plate. But he had that nice back pick, um, earlier this week that was really exciting. Um, and I don't know. He, he just gives you the vibe of a guy that's going to be a big leader for a while. I think we, we talked about like I just had this feeling that he was going to be a little bit more of a hitter than, um, maybe his minor league numbers would have led you to believe. And, you know, the Cardinals have already diaged him a couple of times.

26:45They played him at first base a little bit. Um, they're obviously very interested in getting that bat in the lineup. And I, I think, you know, it kind of shows why? Um, but, you know, to, to, to, with the risk of overreacting to eight games, really, really pleased with everything that we've seen from him. Um, yeah. I just like him. Are you talking about the, um, the blunt that dropped two feet in front of the plate and he managed to pick that up. Keep his foot on the plate and then throw him out at first. No, that, that was a great play. I think somebody, I think it might have been a C 70. So that that was a, a very yachty ass play. Yeah. Uh, but no, he, somebody I can, I'm, I'm, I'm having, I'm struggling to remember the specific situation or who the opponent was. But somebody had, uh, trails a little too far off first base. And he again, yachtier, Molina style backpicked him through a, a bullet down to first base. And we were able to, uh, uh, uh, barely was able to attack him out before he got back.

27:46Um, which is a not an easy play to do. And I think it shows a level of, like, confidence in your skills to do a play like that, you know, when you're, um, as, as young and fresh to the league as you are. There was a, um, just thinking back on the place that I'm remembering him making. He did make kind of a boneheaded play against the Rocky. There was a man on first, a man on third, first went to go steal second base. He threw it. I thought that he kind of double clutch. He probably shouldn't have thrown that ball. The throw was a little sloppy, bounced the second base and they both players were safe. Uh, uh, second and home respectively. It cost the Cardinals a run. Um, definitely, like we felt very young in that moment. Probably just shouldn't Brian Torres probably should have gotten the ball better in front of the ball better. Leo probably shouldn't have thrown it. Um, but, uh, all at all. Um, very impressed with him. Joshua Bies is still playing here and like it's, I had no complaints.

28:46Yeah. A couple of numbers that are pretty exciting for Leo. Um, he currently has an average exit velocity of 94.5, which is quite elite. Um, and a, and I think this is before this is an updating to like while they're playing. So he obviously is improving all of this with his three run home run today. But a 68% hard hit rate, which is elite. And then a 19% K rate, which is very good, especially for a rookie and an 11% walk rate, which is even better for a rookie. So, yeah, you know, sum it up. Good played approach. And when he hits the ball, he's hitting it very, very hard, uh, which is incredibly good. For a 22 year old in their MLB debut. So, uh, I'm very, very excited about this. And I know I'm just, you know, I'm thinking about crooks and pies and even Ivan Herrera. It's crazy to me that within the first week, Bernal kind of looks like already the best catcher on the team.

29:46When you consider the full package, um, which is, yeah, to, he's been the highest highly touted of all of the catching prospect. So, like, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, but to do it so quickly in week one is, is very sprung. Yeah, I definitely think like the heartbeat thing is a big advantage. Like that is a, uh, a special skill that he should put on his resume. Uh, Jimmy Crooks was not giving. Um, I, I belong here. I'm, I'm okay. He was giving like kind of spastic swing crazy, uh, I launch. Um, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what to think as far as like the future or who my catcher of the future is. I think we like, we have another glut that we need to figure out. And I'm really hopeful that we use this off season to do that. But Leo has done, uh, what, what he, he's done with the little time that he has is proved that he's probably, um, here to say, I don't know what to do with everybody else though.

30:47Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've been saying that for a year plus now. And now there's another guy here who, and, and right now it looks like he's ready for next year. So I love to see Crooks work out too though. When you think about a defensive, a plus defensive catcher with plus power. Um, you know, obviously that's very tantalizing. Uh, the idea of somebody being a good major league catcher with a good arm and a switch hitter is like. It's kind of wild. It's, he's just good at everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We talked about that a little bit last week. I get on imagine hitting switch. A lot, a lot, you know, a lot of knitting normal. But it's, it's crazy to me that anyone can do it on both sides to any degree of success. Um, makes it look easy so far. Yeah. I have to imagine if he, like, he's a rookie. He'll, you know, he'll hit a cold streak here at some point, probably in this next couple of weeks. But maybe not, you know, he might be able to run it up before the team before the league starts to adjust.

31:48But I have to imagine that if he performs anything like this or the, or the last few weeks of the season. I hope he penciled in as one of the spring training, like break camp catchers. And so then I cannot imagine the blooming goons are going to want to enter into the season with. Herrera, Pahes, Crooks and Bernal all in some sort of awkward time share like they are. Or they have been kind of over the last. See of the season basically. Yeah. I think that that is an astute observation. Thank you. Wow. Okay. Yeah, we're having fun today, are we? Your boy Brian Torres has been pretty fun out of the, out of the lead off spot. Yeah, he has. He is our de facto lead off hitter with JJ being down. I'm sure everybody is noticed that from that position.

32:52He has got a 444 on base percentage, which is crazy. I mean, obviously it's not a ton of that bats or anything like that. But I think he's proved I'm kind of getting to the point where you know, unless the Cardinals are bringing in a bunch of position players next year, which I don't think is going to be the focus. So Brian Torres has probably earned himself a bench roll for the foreseeable future. He has not been like a perfect defender by any means. He has played games in both left field center field. He's also obviously played a second base and third base. The Cardinals have even dhed him a couple of times. I really like the quality of that bats that he's been bringing. The fact that he's able to get on base doesn't have much power, but he can slap a single over the short stops head. I just really like his game. And I don't think he's, he's not like a guy that's going to change the team or anything like that.

33:54But having a guy that you can bump around in between those positions, lead off hitting ninth or seventh through nine really is super valuable. And I feel really good about him being up in tough situations. He seems fairly unfit. Yeah, I generally agree. I do wonder like so if we're talking 2027, which you know, is a little little early, but we already have with the Ketra position. So I you're assuming everyone's coming in healthy. We get back to that roster crunch sort of thing that we've been dealing with for a while, because he's obviously getting at bats right now because both JJ and Mason win are out. You know, there's there's sort of ample opportunity for a guy like him to play him and for me and and gourmet and all of that. But like with everybody's back, right? And you don't have the expanded roster. Are you picking him as your, you know, 26th man, your super utility guy that most teams carry one or you,

35:00you know, it's like if you have to pick him and for me, which I know they're not exactly the same role, but kind of are, are you picking Torres over your, your son, your father, your holy ghost, Jose for me? No, I think for me, it's got a little more pop, but ideally, I think I'd have both of those guys. And I'm picking Jose for me and Bryant Torres over Nolan Gorman over like, like, probably not over Nathan Church. Nathan Church has had a nice little fourth outfielder season, even though he's the starting center fielder for us. Yeah, that's, but I think that those two guys make a really nice bench. You have those two guys, a one of those catchers. And hopefully a Nelson Velazquez, but better type, pitter, I think I'd be feeling really good about our bench going forward to next year. And it really just comes down to like the quality of that back that him and for me are going to put together it they are annoying grindy,

36:06where you down can get a walk. And we've seen like, especially with one of the reasons I like for me and so much, his his ability to like, change his swing mid at bat and kind of like it's going to look bad, but he's going to make contact and it might dunk over the infield. Not a lot of players can do that. And I think that situationally, that can be very important. It's called a two strike approach, which I know, you got a short in that swing, you know, you have to put that ball in play. You never know what could happen when you put the ball in play. I do believe in a two strike approach in those situations. You might have a walker like they simply misplay a ball and write and lead to a triple or Nathan Church deeply misplayable. And lead to an inside the park home run. You never know what happened. I do hate how boomer announcers talk about it, but there is a place for it in the modern game in my opinion. We could get into my favorite is the, you know, there's nothing worse than insert what coming out there are walk, you know,

37:15the like, oh, lead off walk or kill you. There's been there's nothing worse than the one out walk games are lost because of the two out walk every will every like I'd rather give up a home run than then walk a guy like it is you'll hear it like nine times a game. Yeah, that's that is walks are bad. It's already arguing with nothing worse. I let's talk about some pitching. Gordon, Grace, Efo has been looking pretty good recently. He's got a new pitch. I got a new pitch. Did you have you heard about this? Have you read about this? I've seen it. I watched it. Gordon, Grace Efo, who was maybe my least favorite reliever a couple of months ago. Now might be my favorite reliever, at least for your St. Louis Cardinals. On July 7th, Nathan started throwing a slider. He's played 20 games since he started throwing the slider.

38:20By the way, he throws a slider a lot now in those 20 games. He's put up a 2.5 for FIP over that same time period. He struck out over 26% of batters faced by far the best Cardinals reliever since July 7th. It's kind of not even close. We know the fastball is good. At least it's got Velo on it. He throws kind of a lot of pitches for reliever, which is also kind of a thing that's I feel like a little in fashion right now. Is reliever is with like five or six pitches, which is not what I was not predicting that happening. But anyways, his slider, which again, he is only recently deployed his dominant. It's got a WRC plot against it of 55. He's really leaning on it. And he's essentially a brand new pitcher, all of a sudden. I think like, you know, I guess we'll see how these next few weeks go. This keeps up.

39:24But it seems like he has found the thing to add to his repertoire to make it turn him into a real weapon. I don't know. It's kind of fun. In a year of which I've been frustrated by most of the bullpen most of the year. It's nice to have a win. It is. And it does make you wonder obviously he was a starter through a lot of his minor league. Like is this the piece that he's been missing and we'll have the traditional career growth of you break in in the in the bigs in the bullpen. Figure out how to get guys out at the bullpen and then they start to stretch them out. Or is he going to be more of like, you know, a Rosen thal type who always wanted to start but found success in the bullpen and the team needed a bullpen support and just ended up being in the bullpen forever. I don't know. I don't know. But it's like you've said it's nice to see him being successful.

40:24Yeah. And it's just like it's weird because he's had a slider in the past and just ditched it entirely this year until that date and that date. Everything just turned right. So I you know, I'd love to know more. He's also at the same time. He's ditched the curveball sense then. So he's just swapped one for the other. You know, when he was coming up, the slider was definitely his his better pitch than any of his pitches. So I know how this all happens, how it all shapes out there are smarter people than us that are working on pitch design and pitch mix and tunneling and all that good stuff. But yeah, like I guess I don't want to take this moment to totally shit all over the bullpen, but they've been hard to watch at times and I like yeah, you know, with the Cardinals, especially being so close, like if we had this version of Gersepho. At the beginning of the year, it makes you wonder what the season would have been like or what the pressure that takes off Ryan Stanik or Soriano or O'Brien.

41:26We said it last week, but you know, as we all top see this team, good word. It certainly feels like if the Cardinals had had a good bullpen, they'd be in the playoffs right now. But every part of the team has struggled at different parts of the season. So it's tough to put it entirely on the bullpen and of course the bullpen feels the worst when they lose games for you because it's, you know, games that you were winning a lot of the time. And now you're not. So it feels particularly bad. But yeah, I think you know, Gersepho, Gosteum, you know, some of these guys are breaking out now. Make you feel a little bit better about next year because if they plan to compete next year, still same problem got to have a good bullpen, you know, yeah. But obviously this year it's been tough. O'Brien, it's been I've been the one, you know, I've been a O'Brien Stan. But it's been a couple more and it does make you wonder if like I know it's ceremonial at this point in this point of the season, it does make you wonder if they're going to start giving

42:36state of chances to a couple other guys here at the end of the season. I know he got the redemption won the next night after blowing in. He looked good, you know, and there was much to be said to be done about that. He's our colleagues are guy, etc. But you know, you wonder, Gersepho, or I do wonder I have been kind of wanting to call for that a little bit. It's um, the stuff is obviously electric. But when you're walking the 10 plus percent and you're not striking out the world, you're striking out less than 20 or less than 23% of batters, just really hard to be successful. You're really relying on that defense. Um, and you know, somebody told me this once what if a balls and play anything could happen. That's one of the smartest and I think you've ever said I personally that's the first time I've ever heard that. So, and Riley is not doing a good job of limiting that. It's, it's just, it's a huge coin flip every time he goes out.

43:42Well, let's talk about another exciting debut. Maybe the most exciting debut of the Cardinals have had this year. Uh, that's interesting to say that. Yeah. I think you're right. We do you want to qualify it or just say, I think it's just it's unequivocally the most exciting debut. Okay. The Cardinals have had this year. Um, you know, a name we've heard a lot. We finally saw him Cooper, Jerpy. Well, Cooper, Jerpy, Cooper, Jerpy, Cooper, Jerpy. Really? Yeah. You're unique New York. Milk porn again. Yeah. Everybody, uh, I was at the game with really got a kick out of Cooper, Jerpy. Sounds like a dog or something like that. Yeah, it'd be like, um, I don't think it sounds like a dog. It sounds like a dog brand. Like if you love your pets, feed them Cooper, Jerpy. Yeah. Cooper, Jerpy. For the wild dogs.

44:42That's good. You, you're good at this. Da da da da da da da. All right. Um, I don't know Mario. Uh, Nintendo Direct was today. Did you catch it? I don't know what that is. Come on. Don't big time. You know what an Nintendo Direct is. I, uh, I, is it a new system? No, he's just being, he's trying to be a cool guy. Everyone knows it's sort of like the Apple events, but for Nintendo. Oh, oh, okay. Oh, I thought the Apple event was today. There was also a Nintendo Direct today. Uh, and a Zelda Direct yesterday. I saw the, uh, the, I saw play footage of the new Ocarina of time remaster and that does look good. Yeah, it's a full remake. Um, I'm excited about it. Cool. Cooper, Jerpy. What'd you think? Really impressed. I thought he looked good. Um, he went for innings against your Colorado Rocky zero hits. Nathan six strikeouts.

45:48Um, I mean, there's really no notes whatsoever. The, uh, the Frisbee breaking ball was looking like a Frisbee. The low 90s fastball was looking overpowering because of that weird angle. He comes out and just his whole package. You know, this is the guy that he is who we thought he was. Um, I think there's a lot of people who are smarter than me and track my league player is a lot more than me that think that this guy can be a legitimate. Uh, starting pitcher and the big leagues and, you know, seeing that breaking ball in the mountain air confound. Yeah, Rocky's hitters who are not as bad as they used to be, which I think all Cardinals fans witness this weekend. As they put up 30 some out of runs on the car. Classic course field series. Those 10 to eight like nine to seven. Yeah. Big, big games. There's a fun series to go to. Yeah. Nice high scoring back and forth, everything like that. But, um, I think that, you know, I've, I've only watched so much of them, but that was a pretty convincing, uh, tryout for the Bigly Club and seems like he's going to be piggybacking with Leahy going forward to keep Leahy's, uh,

47:02ending stands. So we're going to see more and more of this. But I will say like I'm a big believer in the, um, the idea of like different looks and different angles and different pitching styles. Like I think just having a bunch of guys that do the same thing, even if it is dominating is not ideal. And no one really looks like Cooper, Jerpy in, in baseball. Yeah. And the fact that he can has the potential to be a starter over a reliever. I think is really cool. The fact that he didn't walk anybody is really cool. Yeah. I don't know. I'm excited. No, I agree. I think between his debut and I know Quinn Matthews hasn't had like, you know, the start yet, the like dominant rookie, like, you know, breakout star. I think he's close. Like between those two guys, I'm feeling like, you know, we've got some strikeouts coming. We've got some good young pictures that we're not going to be like, how are they doing this, you know, which is, yeah, like we've had good pitching this year, but it has been exclusively confusing.

48:04And I am looking forward to Jerpy and Matthews who I think like you can see it. You know, like I get why these guys are getting good results. It would be nice to not have to do a in the style of Michael McGreevy. How is this working? Yeah. On, on like, it's, I know it's just dominating stuff. He looks really good. He's in the zone. The breaking balls nasty. Yeah, that would be nice. So, you know, again, lots of things to be excited about for for 2027. It'll be really interesting to see how they start to, you know, what spring training looks like, which side note, we're probably going again, which will be fine. So we'll get more into that as as plans come together. But hand out and I went last year. And I think we're doing it again. So, I think we're going to be going to be going to the next one. So, we're back. They're trying to keep us away, but we're back. Yeah.

49:09Yeah, I guess I got nothing out of that. Yeah. Let's get into not as many transactions, but some some updates on some players. Last week, we before with bonkers with transit with transactions. This one was calmer. You want to run through them? Yeah, I guess we should talk about JJ took swings on the field on the seventh of this earlier this week. Amy had a potential return during Cardinals home stand that begins on September 11th. Never forget. Be really nice to have him and the season healthy on the field. So hoping for that. Yeah, I saw it. There's a list going around the other day of top 20 players in baseball and out above average. And he's number two behind PCA. We got to we got to keep this rookie, the year argument going, you know, I know all the people that work at MLB network who are all a thousand years older, going to be pushing for South Stewart. But give me that JJ, baby. I agree.

50:13Mason win was activated during the Giants series, which has been really nice. I know that Mason win is not the offensive force that I think a lot of people wanted him to be here at least not yet. But the team does not feel right to me about him out there. He's such a stabilizing force defensively. I had a couple good at bats last night. I'm hopeful that that final out he tacked. Yeah. It just happened to go to the deepest part of the ballpark and one of the deepest parts in MLB. But hopeful the back and come around and just happy to have Mason. I agree. It's a more fun. I think more successful team with Mason win. And after all that drama that happened with Doug and Ali and Hunter Goodman was catching strays there. We didn't even talk about that. Eddings tried to say the batter complained to him. It's like in the most easily fact checked thing in the like he's just he's a liar also, you know, he's a shitty guy who lies.

51:25And that's that's a guy who should be umpiring and that's coming from Nate Heininger, which is also was shitty guy who law is that what you're saying? Yeah, wow. Yeah, baby flying her. Yeah, I imagine Rincone, you know, going down to the minors. They're like, hey, buddy. Oh, yeah, he got he got sent down rats. Boy, what a weird one, huh? He got his name out there though. His brain couldn't be higher. Uh, no, no such thing as bad press, I guess. Yeah, he's kind of like a hero now. Everyone wearing their hat like it's like he's a martyr. Yeah, I um, he'll be up again. We got a bunch or bullpen is weird. I'm sure we'll see his name again. Uh, rough to go back down like that. I bet he will be up for the season. So for actually, I think I think one more time. I imagine he's going to be a part of the bullpen plans. Like I think he's.

52:34Yeah, that was obviously a real rough experience, but it's also course a couple bad plays like the whole thing you could, I think you can ride it off as just fluke as hell. Arguably the weirdest appearance by a reliever of the season. Yeah. For reasons that are not all his fault. Definitely. I think I would also say probably the most exciting debut by a rookie this year. Yeah, um, hard argue with that. All right. Before it's a six-way tie in between him. Cooper, Leo, Brian, JJ, Brian Torres, Brian, to the D debut with anyone else before the Cardinals. Why don't what because they made a whole big deal about it. Yeah, it was his debut. 28 year old rookie. Yeah. That guy. A lot of exciting, all equally exciting. Uh, hand bone before we go to the break and hit the second half of the episode. I have to address. You know, we even talked about the curse at all in this episode, but I have to tell you the curse has, uh, has hit home.

53:44I'm going to bring this up because it's related to you. My, um, it's hard for me to say. My beloved pizza oven. Uh, that I've had now for, I think, 15 years that I got from your garage. Um, you stole from me. You gave to me. Um, my beloved pizza oven. It is dead. And you think this is the half to what else could it be? Interesting. So, um, okay. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's nothing like that happened to me this week. So it's coming. I think I'm cursed for. I think it's coming. So guard your favorite appliances because the curse seems to be going after our theme music. Cardinals players. Yeah. I'm my beloved pizza oven. And you were to get me to add it right at my heart. I was at a bar trivia last night. Uh, we did okay. And the food truck and the outdoor patio lighting just kept. They kept flickering. They kept going in and out almost as if.

54:51Yeah. They were curving on the other side, trying to base up, trying to contact you. Interesting. I didn't really think about that now until I had been the curse. Oh, okay. Well, jot that one down. Keep an eye out. You never know. It's real. All right. We're going to talk about the upcoming series, hit a little league news. And of course play a little game. But before we get to that, we want to remind our listeners that this show is listener supported on patreon.com. Patreon.com slash talking about birds. You can find access to the different tiers and the ways to support us. But even a couple bucks. It really helps support the show helps pay for what we. Uh, for all the things that takes it host this and equipment and all that. Um, and we really appreciate everyone who has contributed. Patrons of any level get access to the bird scored. It's our private discord servers where rob submitted the opening bit this for this episode. And where we've been talking about the Cardinals. And we will do it all year.

55:55We've got a lot of fun stuff we do in there. And I recommend that you join. Uh, check out at patreon.com slash talking about birds. Uh, we also appreciate anyone who takes the time to leave a review on their favorite podcast platform. And of course tells their friends and tells their family. And what else to people find us all not. Yeah. So you could find us on the social medias. We have a blue sky we have a Instagram. We got a tick tock. We're flapping our mouths over there and tick tock already talked about it. Watch this show on YouTube. If you prefer to watch this show on YouTube, dot com. Wow. If you want to find all of that information about the podcast, we sell t-shirts, you have a website, you can just go check out the website. You don't have to do anything. Just click it for fun, I guess, if you're a website person, you know. I mean, honestly, I love websites. I'm talking about, I'm very in stack. I've never really thought about that.

56:56But like when I think about things that I love the most, websites have got to be up there. They're huge. You know, people are, a lot of people thought it was a fad, but I think they're here to stay. Although when's the last time you sat and browsed a website? The amount of time I've been done, fan graphs is embarrassing. That's true. That's true. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, you can email us directly if you want to get in contact with us for any reason at talkaboutbirds.gmail.com. You can call us and leave a voicemail or send a text message to 84848 birds. That's 8484824737. I think Nate just got a text message while I was doing that read. Really dingin' over there. Just letting people, you know, see, I receive messages if you send them to me, you know. Yeah. Gets you worried. Very cool. Very cool. Another one. They may not be coming through in the record.

57:56I can hear them and that's enough. I'm proud of you. Wait, wait. And Nate is trying to learn how to use this computer right now. Do not disturb Nate. Do not disturb. It's up there. I got it. I'll put it right in the corner. There we go. Do you work an IT? I've used a computer in the past 15 years. Cool. I'm proud of you. Ditto. Are you going to get back on the show or what are you doing? That's 84848 birds. All right. I'm amazed. You really got thrown for a loop by that. Oh, I just karate. I just karate chops my headphones. That was horrible. All right. I'm going to start with the white socks. Episode 2378, 237. The white socks. The resurgent white socks. Yeah. Are coming to St. Louis.

58:57Yeah. What do you, what, what, what, what's our with the pitching matchup? What are we going to see from these guys? Um, the white socks are kind of good now, which is kind of fun. All right. I'm really looking forward to this Friday night matchup. If you're in St. Louis. You've got to get to the ball. Wow. To this one. We got Eric Fettie, formal cardinal legend going against current cardinal legend, Matthew Libertor. Uh, on Saturday night, we have Anthony K against Kyle Leihy and a piggyback starter of Cooper Jurpee. Okay. Just chatting about. And then Sunday, we got the rubber match. It's going to be Sean Burke that have a breakout this year for your white socks against Michael Grievey. Yeah. Um, I think pretty, pretty fun little pitching matchups that right there. I really just, I don't, uh, well, I was kind of the cardinals to crush Fettie, but I think, you know, in the spirit of the season, it'd be probably make more sense for him to blank us out of nowhere. Yeah. Um, yeah.

59:58Like you said, too, Sean Burke has been a real breakout this year. Um, so the white socks, you know, it's, it's so funny how quickly, uh, like the tenor can change on these things. You know, it wasn't that long ago that Miracami made the choice to join with the white socks and was like, Oh, buddy, like your agent, are you, do you know what you're doing? You know, and, and here we are. He's, uh, had, he's been kind of cold lately, but he's had a great season overall. Um, and he's right in the heart of a lineup that's pretty good. And you've got, uh, Sam Antonacci, who we've talked about on this show. I think the pace is slowed down a little bit, but he loves to hit by a pitch and is overall pretty good at taking, uh, a good at bat. Miguel Vargas, uh, who also got, you know, with briefly, uh, a meme for sitting and looking sad in the white socks dug out when he got traded from the dodgers to the white socks is, is a true breakout. He's had a great year.

1:01:00Um, and then you've got Miracami after that. And, uh, Anthony Bitt, uh, Andrew Bennett being Nintendo, who, you know, has had a real up and downs, uh, career, but is doing pretty good for the white socks right now. Um, easy for you to say. Wow. I like his name because it kind of sounds like Nintendo. Okay. It does beat. It's got almost all of the letters of Nintendo. Okay. So it's more like a, uh, what do you call that when it's the same letters? Different word, uh, and a gram. No, it's not an anagram. Is that what it's called? Yeah. A round. Uh, uh, uh, being in tindy, being in dindo, you know, it's been in tindy. Why are you saying it that way? Why are you? It's wrong with it. I like saying it the way I say it. Oh, it's wrong. That's fine. Um, yeah, I think the only name you didn't call out that I wanted to call out was Tristan Peters, uh, who has been as hot as the sun, uh, recently, their center fielder.

1:02:07Um, he's been really, really good. He's a fun player. I think he made his first All Star, uh, team this year. Uh, they're a good little team to my gumries. I know you got that. That's kind of fun. Oh, yeah. And they're both prints pretty good. This is a good little team. I can't believe you don't like been in dindy more because it's for the, the first three letters of his last name is your name. Yeah, I guess, um, I'm not dead. You know, that's not something that people like don't all people like it. We never care about people like it when their name is in stuff. One person I know does. One person I know does and brings it up so often that it, it's worrying. It's a good bit. It's a good bit. Um, okay. So that. Oh, Jordan Hicks. Jordan Hicks. Remember him. He's there. Yeah. Jordan Hicks is there. Um, oh, baby, a good news there too. Louis Saint. Yeah, I can, we can all just name players. Great. All right. Let's move on.

1:03:08And then we get to see our favorite team, the San Francisco Giants. Again, this time in our house. Uh, so carols are currently playing them. Uh, and it's going well. Um, uh, we've lost a couple to them though. So we'll see how it goes when they come back. What pitching matchups will we get in this turn with the Giants? Yeah, it's looking like we're going to have a, we'll miss Logan Webb this time. So that's nice. Uh, land in Raub against Quinn Matthews for, uh, the first game blade, Tidwell against Andre Palante, which I think is a remix of the one that start this happening today on, on Wednesday. Uh, and then the Wednesday game for next week, it's going to be Anthony Molina against Matthew Libritor. Um, you know, not, not two teams that are, are winding down the season and relatively unexciting fashion. Um, I have really much to add to that. No, I just, Devers continues to crush. You got the day off today, which was surprising, um, because did you catch this?

1:04:08I, I think I, I think I remember when it happened, but I forgot about it last year. He played in 163 regular season games. Uh, because yeah. That's right. Yeah. I mean, he's kind of an iron man. I feel like he, he's always, always available, always playing. Um, yeah, I don't know. I think what, if I had a player that was playing that hot, I, I think I just let him keep going. Like the man is, talk about somebody on fire right now. He is the hottest player in baseball offensive. Makes you think he might have, like a sore or something, you know, yeah, about him. So I don't think we need to talk too much about the Giants. They were playing them currently and we'll play them again. Yeah. Yep. I'm, so let's go ahead and get into some league news. Yeah. No big fun transactions or teams being sold or anything like that. Uh, but I did kind of want to bring up this weird fact of baseball this year. And that's just like the, how bad the AL has been since the founding of MLB.

1:05:10No team has ever made the post season with a losing record in a full season. But with roughly a month left, the AL West and the third wild card spot in the AL run pace to make history only for AL teams currently have a winning record. Um, you know, the, the, the Rangers are in second place in the West with 72 and 73 Seattle is 67 and 78, which is kind of mind blowing right now. I, we got a fun thing to watch here in the AL to see if one of these losers is going to make the team. It's going to take a little bit of, you know, feel team from the, uh, or fledgling, I guess, from the, uh, the Ashtras because the Astros seem like they're just going to keep being the Astros and just be a little bit better than everybody else. But I think a fun thing to watch as the season winds down is, are we going to see a sub or even a 500 team make the, uh, make the playoffs in the AL this year?

1:06:12Well, it was, uh, inevitability with the balancing of interleague play, right? That we would like this would one way or the other, something like this was going to happen. Um, and is further, I think evidence to what I believe is going to happen is with, I think with expansion will go to, we'll go back to, um, a, like a league style play or something like that where you don't have as many small divisions, um, that can allow something like this to happen. Like it's kind of fun in a fluke way, but it's like pretty silly. Ultimately that a team could be like a couple games under 500 and make the playoffs. Like that's not how you want your league setup, right? And I can't imagine that it's going to be how it's set up for the long term. And with the balance of interplay or interleague play, I, I, I really think just like

1:07:14east and west, you know, top six teams and each get into the playoffs or eight or what, you know, whatever they want to do. Um, but I think it's going to be something like that. Yeah. I, uh, I think I've expressed why I, I don't fully love that idea and I think that rival res are fun and I think that this will take away from your rival re matchups and, and I love the idea that we play the cups as much as we do and, uh, the, the brewers and you get those kind of grudge matches going. And I think it'll take away from that, which I think is mostly bad for the sport. Um, and I had it like fairness is great and we should, the game should be as fair as possible, but this is a, we're trying to entertain people. And I think it's more entertaining playing the teams you hate than, um, making sure that you play the guardians the same amount of times as you play the pirates. Yeah. Like I think that's like I, I don't love that direction, but if we're just focused on fairness, it is optimal. Um, I'm not sure that that's the best direction.

1:08:17Yeah, I wonder if like two or like four divisions of eight or something like that would be better. I don't know if big divisions are better though. Um, I don't know. I, I'm sure there's some people have thrown out a bunch of different versions of what this could look like. Um, but I think just from a, a game theory standpoint, it doesn't make sense that you could have even in a fluky year, like such a bad team in the playoffs. I agree, but I do like that the A L East is this powerhouse and you have to play within the division that you're in. And then the West is in out and, and they can barely put a real team together and you have to play within that. Um, again, I'm not arguing that that is optimal, but I do think like I like that, uh, there are huge rivalries in between Houston and the Rangers, Astros, and stuff like that.

1:09:18So like, there were crazy rivalries before the division systems too, you know, so there were also fewer teams. True. So there was like, but what I'm saying now is if you fully spread it out, um, you're just going to be playing, I'll just say the Cardinals Brewers, that's just going to happen less. And unless something really interesting happens during one of those games, I think it's just not going to be as fiery. I think it's just going to take away from some of the fun that I find in being a fan is, it's, it's two parts. It's rooting for your team. Obviously, wow, hating another team. Yeah, I wonder what's more important. I think people are fueled by different things. For some people, it's the former others. It's the latter. Um, I, I'm also like colored by my experience. This year, like going to that, uh, that Cubs game with Joshua bias, like being, like having those feelings flying around the ballpark and the, the roar that was coming over

1:10:20the crowd and everything like that and the, the back and forth. I mean, that's, that's as fun as baseball gets for me. Yeah. And I, again, I would prioritize that. I think it's a better viewed, viewing product than making sure it's as fair as possible. Yeah. I, I honestly don't know how I land on that. Like I, because you make a lot of sense. Um, I like my, my base instinct is to go towards like true balance from a game theory standpoint. But I think they're right. So I would wonder if they could find a, if there's some way, there's also. Yeah. I, and I, I am fine. Like I do think if a, a L West team with a 500 or lower record makes it into the playoffs, that'll be the thing that breaks through and everybody's like, what the fuck is baseball doing, which is not great. Yeah. Not, not how you want to be viewed nationally. Um, but I also think there's this like fact of like what, uh, what are, like, what, what

1:11:25game is going to sell out a, uh, esteemy cardinals, uh, Cubs series in July or, uh, the Minnesota twins come in for a three game series. Yeah. Like there's just, just nobody cares. Um, sickos care because we want to watch all of them. But, uh, that's my, that's my two, uh, city imagining like some casual sports fan out there like what? I, I sub 500, do you made the playoffs? I got to go check out one of their playoff games. Oh, it's on it to PM on to be. Okay. Oh, I guess I'll go, oh, well, I live in New York. I'll go check out the Yankees game. It's on it nine PM on Apple TV. I don't have that. Yeah. I mean, they just go on so on and so forth. Yeah. They get that's, uh, and we know 98% of people are that first, uh, ounce of resistance and being able to watch that. I got you know what? I think I'm good on baseball. I wanted to watch a game, but I, you know, I had to click a thing that I'm not,

1:12:29that I don't normally click. So yeah, it's to be out. What is to be is to be real or is that a, do you know, do these real? Uh, I don't know. It's just like another random ass streaming platform. I think it's like, yeah, you got a stream. You got to have your streamers on, uh, yeah, wasn't okay. The, uh, yeah, it's like movies and TV shows. It's just another one, you know, there it sounds made out. It does. It does. I streamed it on to be. Okay. Uh, okay. The only other thing I want to talk about, uh, was the Dodgers, Nathan. I don't know if you've been paying attention to this, uh, but the Dodgers had their first losing August in 16 years. Really? Show Hey, O'Connor appears to be broken. Uh, the offense is falling flat. Kyle Tucker continues to not be a 46, whatever million dollar. A year players, um, you know, nothing's going to happen to them, but they got beat by the, the brewers made it to 90 wins before they did.

1:13:33They're, uh, they're falling off. Yeah. In a variety of ways, you know, not that, um, uh, Tarek Scouple has been bad by any means, but he hasn't really kind of rounded into the, his final form of what they thought they were getting. Um, they had a bad month and it, carnels are part of that and that feels good. It does feel good. I mean, it's funny that it's news that it's like, oh, the, the, the Dodgers had a bad month. It's like, what, you know, uh, it is, it's happening. I've been saying it. This isn't their year. I'm calling it. I don't think they're going to, I don't think they're the three peat. I'm smashing the under on that three peat. Who is your prediction? Um, I think I can look at it right here. Your prediction was. I think it was Dodgers against Red Sox and then I think I'd, you had Red Sox Philly's Red Sox Philly. Okay. That's, that's in play. That's in play. I had, uh, Mariners, uh, uh, braves.

1:14:36Okay. So you got a part of that's in play. The Mariners, I mean, the again, they might get it on this top of, yeah, the Hill, West is so bad. If, if they just pull their heads out of their asses for a couple of weeks, I might be able to do it. But, uh, anyways, um, yeah, down with the Dodgers, we need parity, uh, somebody else win. Yes. All right, Nate, that's all I got this week. All right, handbone. We have, uh, we have a bit of a tradition on this show, whether, uh, you realize it or not, but, um, the cardinals, uh, typically though, you know, this is our, uh, Evan made the playoffs since 2022. And we've hit periods of the season every year where it becomes very clear that they're not going to make the playoffs. Is at that point that it is becomes this show follows its namesake a little bit more. And we talk about some birds. So I got a little game for you, handbone, I'm calling talking about birds. I've got a list of bird facts here.

1:15:37Some of them are real. Some of them are fake. We're just going to talk about some birds for a little bit. Okay. Okay. Um, I can do this. So you tell me if this is a, uh, real fact or a fake fact. Okay. So we'll start. Okay. Uh, the bar tailed Godwit in October 2022, a juvenile tagged in Alaska flew 8,435 miles nonstop to Tasmania in 11 days. This is the longest recorded nonstop bird flight. Is that true or is that fake? I mean, at nonstop, you'd have to like, does a bird not have to sleep for a week? Does bird not have to sleep? So I, I said, has to eat. How big are these birds? Um, if that's true, I think that's arguably one of the best athletic achievements of all time

1:16:41in the history of the world. So what's your guess? It seems impossible. But it is so specific that would you make that up? Um, also defining what nonstop means like did he, did he truly never sleep? Did he never eat nonstop or her or her or them? Thank you. Um, no, I don't think that ham bone. That is true. And there are as I've been, as I was doing bird research today, there's a bunch of different facts like this. And there are birds that will sleep while flying. They, they basically, because they can, they basically sleep for like minutes, you know, and coast. There's one I didn't put on here, but there's a bird that flew, like hundreds and hundreds of miles and flapped its wings like three times.

1:17:43Like they just whoosh and then just glide for like, you know, insane distances. Fascinating. Birds are cool. We're talking about. All right. The Tower of London is famous for having some ravens in it. These ravens are listed as civil servants. They draw a pension after 20 years. And once, one was once dismissed for eating some TV wiring. Your false is that a real factor of a fake fact? That sounds like some British ass stupidity. Like they would, they would do that. So I'm going to say that that's true. I don't know. I buy it for some reason. I got your ham bone. I thought the good old British. As far as I know, they've not, you know, enlisted these birds as civil servants. But it does sound like some British bullshit, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Like I feel like there are cats and dogs and birds that work for the government over there.

1:18:47Oh, it's a right good time. And yeah, they think it's good cheeky fun. Something like that. I don't know. Bang as a mash. All right. Rupel's Vulture. One was sucked into a jet engine at 37,000 feet over the ivory coast in 1973. This is the highest confirmed bird flight. I guess I just don't know anything about birds. I mean, again, that sounds impossible. But there are so many details. I don't know what to think. Can bird get that high? Why would bird get that high? That's high for bird. That's a tall bird. It is so high. Like there's no food up there. What are you doing up there? Are you trying to leave the earth? Was he brain damaged? Maybe he was brain damaged.

1:19:49Bird fly up wouldn't meant to fly down. Yeah. I think no, that can't happen. It's true, ham bone. 37,000 feet. Wow, zero for three on this one so far. All right. This superb lear. What was he doing up there? Well, I'm trying to kill him. So it's crazy to have padlocked. Up there. You can't fucking sucked into a jet engine. I thought I'd be safe up here. No, it out of the way. Wow. There's nothing else up there. It's horrifying. It is. All right. The superb lear bird. Mimics chainsaws, camera shutters, and car alarms so precisely that spectrographs of the copy, the copy of the original and nearly overlap. Not what a spectrograph is. It's like, you know, it draws those sound lines.

1:20:51So it's tone, not volume? Volume? Yes. Birds are weird, man. The fact that this is even plausible is weird. I got to break my streak. I got to get one right. I cannot think of a reason why they would be mimicking machinery. Birds do be mimicking, though. We know that when I was in in a China town in Chicago for that bachelor party, there was a guy who was just sitting out on the sidewalk and he had three parrots sitting on like a ladder and he was just kind of hanging out. There's bird, like that is a guy, right? Bird guys. There's a tower grow farmer's market. There's just a guy who has like a big ass parrot and he's like, this thing's going to live for another 60 years and the guy was like 75 years old. But yeah, my dad actually

1:21:52had like a friend who was a bird guy and tried to put him as the recipient of the bird when he dies because he's like, this bird's going to live for 100 years. And I think my dad said no. Which is the move? I have a, yeah, I don't want that bird. We have somebody in our family who is elderly and my family, not your family, who is in the middle of the interviewee. Sounds like a weird reason. People don't know our family. Or really. We're cousins. We're cousins. My family, not your family. Yeah, that was a weird thing to say. I don't think the bird can do that, Nate. Hambo, that one is true. Oh my god. Why? I don't know, man. Birds be mimicking. Like you said, they do me. All right, Emo's. And Emo can run backwards up to 30 miles per hour. Run backwards?

1:22:54Why? I wouldn't do that. No, it can't do that. You got that. Thank god. All right, I got a, I got a guffal more for you. This is the worst you've done in a game. I think in a long time. Obviously, I don't know birds. Okay, the European Starling, every murmuration has one conductor bird that alone knows the next, knows the next shape. The other thousands followed by watching a single pale tailfepper. Do you know what a murmuration is? I'm guessing like a flock in flight or something like that. Yeah, it's one of my, I love that word. It's like, you'll see him where it's like these crowds of birds. They're doing that like big twisting and like, it's really cool looking and use your great effect in some movies. So yeah, is that guided by a single conductor bird?

1:23:57God, I don't know. I've never thought about that. Fish do a similar thing. How does that happen? They're following? Nothing. Not every bird would be able to swallow, I guess you just follow the bird in front of it. I don't know. Godbirds are weird. Yes, I think they follow one bird. That tailfepper. No, that one's not true. I don't know. I think that's actually it's one of those things that they're like, we don't know why they do it. I can't. Someone, I could be super wrong in that. There's a bird person who's bird person who's listening, who knows what they do, but I think they don't know. You know, please. Yeah, hit us up. That's I'm curious. All right, one last bird fact for you, handbone. Pigeons. In a 1995, university study, pigeons learned to tell moneye paintings from Picasso paintings and then correctly sorted work by artists.

1:25:00They had never seen. I think people got us quit spending so much time with birds, whether this is true or not. I don't know. Um, yeah, they did it. They did it. They sort of. It's true. These pigeons sorted some paintings. Isn't that incredible? I guess so. I mean, it is, but like why? Why? You got to know. We got to know if those birds, we got to know if pigeons can sort paintings. Yeah, what was the high subbodies? There was being on this. Yeah. Okay, they know and now you know. I do now know. Maybe this will help at trivia one night. That's a great point. That is a positive outlook and I was born in three years from now. Uh, this bird was sucked into a jet engine at how many feet?

1:26:04Hamburg. No, but how how high bird go? I know this one phone a friend. Yeah, you find your bird fact document from 2026. I'll just build a full up this episode. I'll grab point and query the transcript. Hey Siri, uh, find from episode 237. I'm assuming Siri will be good enough for that. All right, Ambon, well, you, uh, you did okay. You actually got three of them right. So yeah, felt rough. Uh, no, felt, uh, dogs go rough. Birds go two, three. It's good. Thank you. That's going to do it for this week's episode. Thank you, everybody, for listening. If you want to check out the links to all of our stuff, you can do so at talkingaboutbirds.com. If you have a question or comment for the show, text or leave us a voicemail at 848-48 birds. We'll be back next week as the season winds down to bring more of this hot bird entertainment to you.

1:27:06Uh, and until next week, go, Carlos. Let's go birds. Wait. Walking down.