No Crying In Baseball

Patti 0:18
Hi and welcome to episode 467 of No Crying in Baseball, the It's About Swings episode. My name is Patti. I'm here with my friend Pottymouth. Hey, Pottymouth.

Pottymouth 0:26
Hey, I kind of like the swings. I like playground swings. Um, you know, there's so few of those anymore because I guess there's a danger to

Patti 0:34
you know the the children and the people around them, and that makes me very sad because boy, do I love the swings.

Pottymouth 0:39
I do too.

Patti 0:40
These swings are referring to the new format of the Home Run Derby, which we're not going to talk about a lot because if you're listening to the show, you already know what happened at the Home Run Derby and you know what the rules were. So we're not going to go over the changes. Just that it's you know not timed. It's a number of swings, but we'll talk more about that later when we make our terrible predictions.

Pottymouth 0:56
Yeah.

Patti 0:56
What do you got going on?

Pottymouth 0:58
So I have a new side gig, and I think it's official enough to say on the podcast, although not 100% sure. But here I am saying it anyway. So I I recently joined Saber because I'm retired now, so I can do research, right? So that's the Society for Advanced Baseball Research. I think that's what it stands for, and fell into a project called Combrió, which means with verve or with with gusto or whatever, with with emotion, and it's a guy who's putting together a podcast to interview minor league Latino baseball players about beyond the field kind of stuff. So like their lives and their how they got up here and the kind of things that we already do with our baseball boyfriends. And I was like, this is such a cool fit. So I'm part of the research team. This sounds really weird to say out loud. That is looking into the guys' backgrounds in attempt to prep the interviewer who is actually a very professional person who's going to actually be talking to these guys. So it's a it's fun because I've been retired all of what a couple weeks and now I'm going down rabbit holes looking at minor league players. But I'm I'm super excited and I'm hoping that it leads to more connections for No Crying in Baseball. Also,

Patti 2:21
oh, that sounds like fun, and it's such a good fit for you. Yeah, yay! So I had a great time at Camden Yards last night. I went with the intern to see the Orioles host Kansas City, but the important thing to us was that it was the condiment hat giveaway. So I am now wearing a team relish cap,

Pottymouth 2:42
I really like it. It's a high quality cap. Yeah. Yep.

Patti 2:44
And so the other choices, of course, not choices. You you just you get what you get. You don't get upset when you walk in. You either get mustard or relish or ketchup. But the secondary market, which is like four feet away from where you're handed a hat, is pretty boisterous. That's what we remember from when we got the condiment T-shirts. We were a little concerned because after we got the tickets, because we wanted to see Kansas City, but also this particular giveaway, I like all the guys on the Kansas City team. So that would be fun to watch. So great. Then the Orioles decided that that this day, that yesterday, was the day they were going to like honor America 250 because they were away around the Fourth of July, and I was like, and it wasn't so bad.

Pottymouth 3:27
Oh, really? Yeah, that's a relief. You

Patti 3:30
know, we start with, of course, you know, there's going to be like some salute to the military and this and that, and it's just going to happen. The national anthem, which I do not stand for, but I occasionally remove my hat for. I remove my hat immediately when they introduced the singer, who was 103 year old corporate Wilbur J. Jack Myers, singing the anthem, and he was so tickled to be there. And he he sang it not as a professional, but as like that that your grandfather has a surprisingly good voice.

Pottymouth 4:02
Wow!

Patti 4:03
And when everybody yelled, "Oh, he cracked up. Like you could tell he knew it was coming. It's not. No, you hate it. But um, but but he just laughed. Like I made this happen, and it was it was so lovely. It made me really really happy. Um, they added on. They said, "Oh, to celebrate America 250 Drone Show. Like after that, I'm like, Oh,

Pottymouth 4:23
really?

Patti 4:23
Well, I I have to stay. I have got to see this, but be prepared to be like dismayed because it's all going to be like flags and whatnot. The first thing that the drones did was make the Oriole Bird.

Pottymouth 4:33
Oh, that's good.

Patti 4:34
So it was like the Oriole Bird like catching a ball, and then it morphed into a baseball player hitting a ball, and then it was like a baseball player do like the the celebration for getting a hit on the Orioles is to make that like sort of bird like the waving flying motion with their hands, and the drones were doing that. Oh wow! They did have a flag, and they did have they they like simulated fireworks, but mostly. The best one they made Camden Yards.

Pottymouth 5:02
Wow!

Patti 5:03
And it was beautiful. We have a photo of it, but it was it was so smoky because the Orioles won, and so there were had there had been like you know the fire, so it was kind of smoky. So it's kind of hard to see, but they made Camden Yards, you know, illuminated in in drones. We're like that's that's here, and it was just lovely. And I thought it was going to be all, all red, white, and blue. Yeah, and it wasn't. It was it was baseball with a little bit of America to 50 thrown in. It's like thank you, thank you, Orioles, for finding a way to do this and make it like more inclusive and not like you know pounding everybody over the head with you know you must be patriotic or else. Yep, it was very well done, and I also have this cool new hat.

Pottymouth 5:41
That's so good. What I was thinking is I'd love to see sort of like the side by side cost and environmental effects of fireworks versus drones. Like this could be a fireworks replacement, or if it's getting into something worse because it does look cool and it's not loud and it's not smoky. So yeah, could it be an improvement?

Patti 6:02
I I think there are places that are are in fact switching to drone shows from firework shows, and I like it because they got very specific about the images that they could create, you know, without it being like, oh, that's a star, oh, that's a different kind of star. I do miss, I like some of the the fireworks noise, but now that I, I don't want the barrage. Right. But it was lovely, and I do. You're definitely not going to have all those particles in the air, and you're not going to be inhaling all of the smoke and all this. I do think it's probably I don't know for a fact, but probably a better choice in a lot of ways. All

Pottymouth 6:35
right. To be continued.

Patti 6:37
To be continued. On today's show, boyfriends featuring All Star Game comings and goings and a monster contract extension are likely very terrible home run derby picks. We don't know. Long awaited debut from a Venezuelan player. The WBPL teams have names, and we're going to share those with you. Ice grabs a college player, and we're cross training with the men's World Cup, cheers!

Pottymouth 7:02
So well said. And for those of you who see our Instagram, there's the hot dogs. Not only does Patty have a great hat on, but there's the hot dogs with their condiments on right behind Patty. So

Patti 7:14
it's weird looking over my shoulder like that.

Pottymouth 7:16
Yep, they're just eyeing. All right, folks, we're gonna kick off with our baseball boyfriends, the guys that we picked in the off season, because they're oh so cool. We each picked one guy per team, and then we made fantasy leagues. And even though my team sucks, my guys have been doing pretty well. So that means how does that work? I my management is poor, and Red Sox pitching, I have not been keeping up with the the motion around it. So it's not that they've been doing poorly. Actually, yeah. Here's here's a fun fact. What has and and when you talk about the negative, it it generally leads to an impossibility. But there are many things that haven't happened. But what is the one thing that hasn't happened since we last recorded that I might be interested in? One thing that has not happened.

Patti 8:00
Tell me,

Pottymouth 8:01
the Red Sox have not lost a game.

Patti 8:02
That's so since we last

Pottymouth 8:04
recorded, which is fucking amazing because they had been in the basement for the whole season, but now they're on this crazy ass nine game winning streak. How have you not

Patti 8:14
knocked on wood? Thank you. I

Pottymouth 8:15
am knocking. I am knocking. So I am happy about that, but that goes to show that I am not managing my team very well because the Red Sox are winning. I have their pitching, but I'm not keeping up with the guys that are getting dropped off and coming back up because there's a lot of motion. I have other guys who are doing well, and I just wanted to say that you know everyone talks about how clearly amazing Shohei Ohtani is not replaceable. However, in the light of the All Star Game, he does have to be replaced because he is injured. So I don't totally understand how this all works. So Ohtani's injury hopefully is is not a big deal. He missed his last start two days ago with left knee inflammation, and I think they're taking advantage of this situation. We have the All Star break. Give him an actual break. I mean, the man works two jobs really on a daily basis, so give him a little bit of a break. So in order to replace him for the game, instead of bringing in a pitcher, they brought in my St. Louis catcher Ivan Herrera. So it's kind of weird how the position doesn't connotate the replacement. They just find another guy.

Patti 9:26
Yep, and I think I don't know if they plan for that ahead of time with who they have on the reserves. It's like okay, any of these reserves can step in. We just need to have the right numbers. So who else is deserving that we should give the recognition to?

Pottymouth 9:41
Well, I'm I'm glad that they picked Ivan Herrera because this is his first time as an All Star in his fifth year with the Cardinals. And the super cool thing about the Cardinals is the other two cards who are All Stars at the time of recording, Riley O'Brien and my last year's pick, who is Jordan Walker. They're also first time All Stars. So all three cards. Our first-time All Stars, which seems weird to me, being used to Cardinals as being like this sort of old-timey kind of historical team, but they've had this major, you know, refresh, I guess, and and here they go. Herrera had slowed way down this past month. He had a spectacular May where he was on my lineup all the time, batting 290-four with 816 OPS. June he is down to 218 with 726 OPS. Even though each month he had three home runs, but the the batting for average took a major dip. But after this was announced on Friday, he went three for four with a walk, scored three runs, and hit two RBI in a 17 to one win over the Cubs, so I'm thinking, and this is connected to the information that I've been reading, that his struggles might be due to playtime because actually he's been playing every day. He has perfect attendance, and he's a catcher. Previous years, he hadn't played more than 66% of the games, and so his high year was just last year, the 25 season. Last year, for the whole season, he played 107 games. This year, he's played all 94 so far. So maybe he needs a little bit of break. He's not going to get one this week, but you know, I don't know. He gets a couple days off still. That might do him well. Hoping the best for him, staying on my team. I have not been talking about Jonathan Aranda of Tampa, and I don't know why because he has been so hot. He's not an all star, which I'm a little surprised about. His July average in this very short July, where we're recording on July 12 so far, 341 average, 807 OPS. And what I love about my players is when they can beat the Yankees. And he beat the Yankees on Wednesday because he drove in all three ones that Tampa scored, and they won three to nothing. And the cool thing about it, though, it wasn't like a three-run home run. He did them one at a time with singles. So in the third inning he hit a single, drove in Yendi Diaz. Fifth inning, hit a double. Well, this okay double to drive in Nick Fortes. I totally lied. It's a single, a double, and a sac fly. Single in the third, double in the fifth, sac fly in the eighth. He still got all three runs. And then yesterday against Seattle, he had his fourth multi-hit game in a row, and my very favorite thing about Jonathan Aranda, besides his bat, is his quality hair above replacement. Qhar, the poof continues. So, so, and and the lovely thing about these, you know, the thing on the double is the running, the helmet flies off, and his hair just goes boing or poof, and it's all there, and it's glorious. So yay for Jonathan Ronda, something to look at. Caleb Durbin, my Red Sox guy, is continuing to do well. I'm so excited about this, and I know he's doing well because even my dad is saying nice things about it.

Patti 12:55
Oh wow, he's got very high expectations,

Pottymouth 12:58
and and very critical of Caleb Durbin at the beginning of the season, he actually is mainly responsible for beating the White Sox, the first place White Sox. The Red Sox swept at Chicago, crazy shit, with a two-run home run in the fourth inning for a two-to-zero win. So he had two hits, stole a base, and then also scored a run on Tuesday. Jacob Marcy, who I actually mentioned briefly with another home run that he got, he's just a fun with numbers guy because I appreciate how you like to look at the last week when we record. So I did that for Jacob Marcy. So on this season, when I checked yesterday, he was exactly at 200 So he's been in his struggles, but last week, 389 average with an 889 OPS, and some of that was due to his first walk off of his career. He had a 10th inning walk off single against Seattle on Tuesday. Two days later, he played a role in an 8 to 4 win over Seattle, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored. So those are my guys doing good things despite my shitty management.

Patti 14:02
That is very exciting. I'm very happy to hear that. Not not that you have shitty management, but the other parts. So you know how potty mouth tends to make everything about the Red Sox, even if it doesn't start talk about the Red Sox. Well, hold my beer because I'm going to talk about Jack Haglion, and then you're going to talk about the Red Sox. Things are going to happen. No.

Pottymouth 14:18
Oh shit. No. Okay. Okay.

Patti 14:19
So my guy Jack from Kansas City from the Royals has been selected to be in the Home Run Derby, and I'm very excited about that. And I'm less excited that his dad's going to pitch to him because that's one of those. Oh, that's so heartwarming. That's not going to go well. But he said that's something you dream about. Me and my dad. The many times we hit together, we've always joked about it. And then he said, and now as we mentioned before, you know the format is changing because it's about the swing now. He said, "Luckily, you'll appreciate this. I will have somebody to coach me through it between Whit and Sal. So Bobby Wood Jr. and Salvi Perez will be there with him because if you want to talk swing, these guys are absolutely going to be able to coach him. So I'm going to lean on them and ask some questions. It's not about time anymore." It's about swings. So as I mentioned, the Orioles are have been hosting the Royals over the course of the weekend, and last night Jack had a single right over Gunner Henderson, the shortstop's head, which broke up Kyle Bradish's no-no that he had taken into the seventh inning. So it was like yeah, and then of course everybody immediately stood up and clapped for Kyle. But but the funny thing was Kyle didn't realize he was bringing that no hitter in. There had been an error, so there had been somebody on base, and there might have been a walk. I don't think so. I think I think just somebody getting getting a base on an error was the only thing that had happened for the Royals prior to that, and I think just wasn't. But he said he came out for the seventh, and people there was so much noise. People were standing up and clapping for him. So he kind of like looked at Adley, who is his catcher. Yeah, like what's going on? Adley just brushed it off. Like he didn't. He wasn't going to bring it up. He was not going to bring it up. And of course, you know, the Jack, you know, took care of that pretty much right away. But what interested me was, I know you know Orioles pitchers have had no hitters. None of them had been have been at Camden Yards.

Pottymouth 16:06
Really,

Patti 16:07
none of them had been at Camden Yards. That is

Pottymouth 16:10
shocking. That

Patti 16:10
is a fun fact for you. All right, so Nick Kurtz, easy come, easy go. So excited that he was going to be you know the starting first baseman for the All Star Game, but on Saturday he went on the 10-day IL for quote right thumb capsule strain, which actually means a a sprained thumb.

Pottymouth 16:30
So that was yesterday. So I'm behind. All right, thank you for letting us know. Holy shit! So

Patti 16:34
his manager said it's an ongoing issue that he's played through it for I don't want to quote the timeline, but more than a few days.

Pottymouth 16:41
That's not so. I don't know if

Patti 16:43
like they are like, oh, let's take advantage of the all star break to like pull them out or or what it is, but they haven't given a timeline. They know it's this 10 day IL. Some things I've read said, yeah, a sprained thumb could take a few weeks. I don't know. It depends how bad or whatever. But what that did, that made room for Tristan Peters on the American League roster for the All Star Game again. Not a first baseman, so exactly what you were saying. You know we're bringing in. I think he's an outfielder, but it happened like 12 hours after Tristan Peters hit for a cycle on Friday against, ironically, the Athletics, and Nick was not playing that game because you know he bade them. So this is all very very tied in together. But it's very exciting that he had for the cycle. He is the seventh White Sox to to hit for the for a cycle, and then to get the the All Star News like almost immediately afterwards. I don't know if that's why, but pretty cool. He said that he had a like a lake house trip planned with his wife and their baby and some friends, but they're just gonna move that trip to Philadelphia. So that was pretty exciting.

Pottymouth 17:52
Yeah, it's a pretty good swap.

Patti 17:53
You had mentioned like the young guys coming up in St. Louis, JJ Weatherholt.

Pottymouth 17:58
Yeah,

Patti 17:59
JJ Weatherholt is my guy, and they are the the the Cardinals are trying to make an effort to like lock in these young guys, and this contract extension is saying, "Hey, JJ, we want you to be the face of the franchise because we are giving you an eight year, $112.5 million contract extension with no opt outs. You are a cardinal for the next eight years. Wow!

Patti 18:24
Yeah,

Pottymouth 18:25
but he's going to be so he's okay with that.

Patti 18:26
He's okay with that. We agreed. So this is the largest that the contract the Cardinals have given to a pre-arbitration player, right? He's a rookie. Like he's kind of like you know he's in the conversation for you know National League Rookie of the Year right now. So he's pre he's brand new, right? So this is largest one for a pre arbitration player since Albert Pujols his seven year 100 million deal 100 million dollar deal in 2004 So they don't throw this kind of money around on guys this young. They don't. So this is a new look for the Cardinals starting to like pick out their young players and saying, "Yeah, we're gonna lock you down. We're gonna lock you down, and we're gonna lock you down.

Pottymouth 19:06
That's amazing. Being in the same sentence as Pujols and Cardinals is that's a huge deal.

Patti 19:12
So Oliver Marmel, the manager, said, "When you talk about an extension and locking someone in for eight years, you're betting on the person. You're betting on the consistency of personality. You're betting on the work ethic. That years from today, you know exactly what's going to continue to walk through that door, and that speaks to the way he's carried himself, the way he treats people, and the way he goes about his work. I love that because they are looking at the whole person and like what they want, like the cardinal's way to be right. Say, okay, we we are rewarding you because you exhibit these these traits, and maybe others around you will do that. Maybe you can be a leader in these things and help us build around you and and some of the other new guys. JJ said it's it's been just great to be embraced by the fans, the culture that we're really trying to build. Here to just continue to get back to playing the baseball that this town deserves.

Pottymouth 20:04
Oh,

Patti 20:04
well done, right? Yeah, you know, like endear yourself to that fan base for sure.

Pottymouth 20:09
I'm so excited. We're going to that ballpark, and we're going to see them in progress. And we have great seats, actually. Yeah, we do. Oh my God, so exciting.

Patti 20:16
Yes, and of course, you know, they're hosting the Orioles, so I have to root against them. But I'm still going to have a good time there. Lastly, I want to talk about my Toronto guy Kazuma Okamoto, who I can't figure out why he's not in the home run derby. Right, he had his 20-second home run on Friday, which tied Shohei Ohtani for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player in their rookie season in the major in Major League history, and he did it by the All-Star break. Right, so like he tied what Shohei did in a rookie season for the whole season by the All Star break, so that's a whole thing. He had his first Grand Slam this week this past Wednesday in San Francisco. It was the first Grand Slam by a Toronto rookie since Vladdy did it in 2019. Why is he not in the Derby? I don't know. I don't know.

Pottymouth 20:58
There's not a lot of guys. I think it's just tough to get in there, or I don't know. I think there's a lot of things around it too.

Patti 21:04
Like like James Wood is the other guy that I I can't believe he's not in there because every day I get the notification that James Wood hit another home run every single day.

Pottymouth 21:11
Yeah.

Patti 21:12
All right,

Pottymouth 21:13
all right. Before we get to more derby talk, we try to keep an eye on our former baseball boyfriends, and I'm excited to now announce that you've you've educated me. Wilson Contreras is an all-star, and apparently he's got to be the first base starter, right? Because he's replacing Vladdy. But I thought that Nick Kurtz would be ahead of him because Nick was already the reserve, so he would have moved up. So I'm guessing that Wilson's moving up. Unlikely, yeah. This is his fourth time as an All Star. Previously, all three were starting catcher when he was with the Cubs, 2018 2019 2022 The cool thing about 22 is his brother was also with him on the All Star team, and they were together in the NL at that point, and they were the first brothers since Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr. in 1992. There's been a little bit of swoon there on the part of Patty. Five pairs of brothers total have played on the same team in an All Star game, but now they're going to be on opposite teams because William is with the Brewers and he's a reserve for the All Star team for the NL, and now Wilson Contreras, as a Red Sox, is with the AL. There's only been one other pair of brothers on opposite teams, and they were the Boone boys, Aaron and Brett Boone, in that fateful year of 2003, which is the year where Aaron earned his middle name, being Aaron fucking Boone. But you know when it's interesting because for the All Star Game, he was still with the Reds, and him going over to the Yankees was a deadline thing that happened and changed history. But you know that, so that that the reason there is the Yankees beating the Red Sox in Game Seven of the whatever. I don't know if it was ALCS or ALDS, but it stopped the Red Sox from going on, and it was a game 7/10, inning loss, painful. So Aaron fucking Boone will forever have that name. However, the Red Sox did manage to get revenge the next year. Wait,

Patti 23:14
hold on. Did you just just make Wilson Contreras' appointment to the All Star Game about the Red Sox in 2003 Three,

Pottymouth 23:21
yeah, yeah. Okay, I hold grudges. I do hold grudges. I get that. The the other interesting thing, and you know, this it's as we were talking about this last week. I wonder about the popular vote thing for All Star, because it is a popularity contest. It's sort of like student council. I felt like this for years through school. It's like it's not really the kid who's gonna best represent your class. It's Selena

Patti 23:43
Promise. He's candy in the yeah, or is the

Pottymouth 23:46
you know has the best hair, is like the cutest smile, or whatever. It's a popularity contest, and there are fan bases who know how to vote, and their guys get elected, or you know, or just popular nice guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Great guy has been a great player. Terrible

Patti 24:00
season,

Pottymouth 24:01
but terrible season. Yeah, and his his comparison with with Wilson Contreras is super stark. So Wilson currently has a 921 OPS. Vlad has 695 Wilson has 20 home runs. Vlad has five. I mean, he's having a shitty season. Yeah, 61 RBI to 38 So it's it just makes me wonder. I'm wondering if it would be better to have the reserves as the you know the popular pick and the starters be like actually appointed by MLB for qualified players and then we'd have a crazy fun game. So I don't know. My two cents. The other thing about Wilson Contreras, I talked about him last week. He has been fined or not fined, whatever. Given a suspension, punished because of the kerfuffle. No, it was a fracas. It was almost a brawl. Please listen to last week's episode because I went into way too much detail about how that happened in the game with the Red Sox and the Nationals and. Clearing and stuff like that. His suspension has been reduced, so it was supposed to be seven games, which is a shit ton for a position player that plays every day. It's been reduced to five, and he started this past Thursday, which means that he will actually have one game left at the All Star break, so he missed Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I think it was almost it was convenient. He fouled off his foot on Wednesday, and it looked really bad. So this gives him a chance to rest that foot, and then hopefully still playing the All Star game, and then after the break have one more game, and then he's done with it. And you know the irony is the Red Sox have done have they've won every game without him. So knock on wood again, Halle fucking Luya, it worked out. Even though I feel like he was unjustly punished worse than Kate Cavali, who's the one who started it by telling him sit down, boy. Kate Gavalli also got his sentence reduced from seven to five, and for a pitcher, it you know I don't even know if seven to five is that much of a big fucking deal for a pitcher because it's pretty much losing one start, and I really think that punishments for pitchers need to be looked at in a different light. It needs to be starts, like saying games doesn't make any sense. It basically means that you know it's a if you're on a five guy rotation, and then he's at his fifth day, he just gets pushed back for a day. That's it. So he gave up four runs on Sunday in a five to 11 loss to the Pirates. So his last game wasn't a great one, and then he started his suspension on Monday. He's eligible to pitch today. I'm not sure if he's pitching today or not. Nate Eaton was another Red Sox who had been suspended for his part in the brawl, which was basically pulling Miles Mikulous off of Wilson Contreras. His sentence was reduced from three games to two. He's a bench player. He served it Tuesday, Wednesday. Nobody even noticed. Miles Mikulous didn't get his five gain suspension reduced. He did appeal; it was upheld. I think that that quote by him that you sort of go in and grab whoever you can grab probably didn't do anything for his case, and he is going to be serving that after the break. So he has a couple of wins under his belt, but not real. Actually, the second one wasn't a win, but he did well. So the first one, he gave up seven runs, but the Nats got a 12 to 11 win over Houston on Monday, and then yesterday he pitched against the Yankees. He was scoreless, but the Nats still lost. So I don't know. I have no happy feelings for Miles Miklus at this point.

Patti 27:45
All right, so you all know what happened with the Home Run Derby, but we don't because it's Sunday and the Home Run Derby is tomorrow for us and yesterday for you.

Pottymouth 27:52
Timmy, why me?

Patti 27:53
So Timmy, why me? So we're gonna make our picks for what we think is gonna happen. Oh boy, I'm gonna give you a little bit of context. I really want Jack Caglian to do well because I mean he's like my my new guy and he's great. He's terrific at a good bat, but you know his dad is pitching, so there's that. But so they were at Orioles Park because their final game of the series was a 1o'clock game today. So that morning at at Orioles Park, he and his dad were using the field for basically for batting practice, and the commentators were like, "His dad's pitching him really hard, like really fast. Like they don't usually do that, but apparently a bunch of the guys from from the Royals and a bunch of the O's all came out to watch.

Pottymouth 28:36
That's cool, which is

Patti 28:37
kind of kind of fun. It's like you know you're the only guy among us who's going this, and we're gonna like we're gonna support you, but also he and Pete Alonso went to the same high school. They're both Florida guys. Oh wow! And so Pete, who has had great success in the home run derby, was in fact coaching him quite a bit on strategy, even though the format's a little bit different. You know, the goal is the same. It's you know hit a lot of home runs thrown to you by someone who may not be the guy you need to be. So I thought I loved that. I like that that like across teams, these guys were working together and supporting each other on the field. I you know this is going to be hosted in Philadelphia, and I will say 100% of the time that Bryce Harper is in a home run derby in his home stadium, he wins historically. Right, we were there. We saw him win. It was super fun when he was representing the Nationals, and he he just lit up. He was so in it, and he was gonna like win it for you know for for for the nationals. I think he's gonna do it again. I mean, he's not the bad he was, but I think there's something about context. And interestingly, like last time, the the the he beat Kyle Schwarber. You know, like they came in one two and that home run derby here at Nats Park, and Kyle Schwarber is also going to be in the home run derby, which I think is you know two guys from the Phillies. All right, well you know you make your own call, but I I kind of think so. I think they're going to have some fun with that,

Pottymouth 29:55
right?

Patti 29:55
For sure. But I kind of think that Harper might pull it out just. Because he's like he's got that whole hero thing.

Pottymouth 30:02
Yeah, interesting. I mean, I think now that you mention it, though, Schwarber's been he's having a season and he's hitting home runs. The thing is, the Derby is so not. It's not real life. Yeah, it's not real life. So Jack is the only current baseball NCIB baseball boyfriend who's in the Derby. Right. I have five of my former baseball boyfriends are in the Derby. That's Kyle Schwarber, Junior Caminero, Ben Rice, Jordan Walker, Wilson Contreras. I felt like you know I got to go for one of my five former baseball boyfriends because they're in it. And even though I I think statistically it's definitely not the favorite. I'm going for Wilson Contreras. I feel like has been on a tear, both emotionally and with his bat, and with everything that's happening with Venezuela. I feel like he's got he's got that kind of extra thing. Like there's always that thing, and I get it that it could be Harper and his home thing, or it could be Jack and his dad. Like there's going to be some things I think that makes the difference. Yes. Yeah. All right. We'll see. We'll see. Who is it? There was somebody who did that. Was it Robinson Cano? I think who won it with his dad. Somebody won with their dad. But yeah, more have lost with their dad. I think then won. So speaking of Venezuela, I just wanted to bring our attention to a call up this week. Eduardo Valencia, who is coincidentally from Valencia, Venezuela, he was called up to the Tigers on Thursday because their catcher Dylan Dinger has a right hand contusion, so he's a backup catcher, and his first at bat, pinch hitting in the seventh inning against the A's, he hits a 420-five foot home run straight center field. Dang! And that you just love to see it. You love to see it. And there's so much about this guy that makes you love it even more. He was originally signed by Detroit in 2018 at age 18 from Valencia, Venezuela. He has played 430-nine games over over eight seasons in the minors before Thursday. He said five years ago, I thought it was the end of my career. He had Tommy John surgery, hamstring issues, surgery on his hand. Wow. Comes back from all of that back into the minors for five fucking more years and makes it up. So his post-game interview will link. It is incredibly emotional. He totally chokes up, breaks into tears, says, "I was waiting so long for this for my family and for Venezuela, and that's where he really chokes up. And his parents couldn't be at the game. They're in Venezuela dealing with everything that's going on in Venezuela, and it just puts it puts in perspective how much the the international players have to go through, you know, and the the guys, especially from Venezuela, dealing with the aftermath of this horrific, horrific earthquake, and the aftermath is still there. Stuff like this does not go away, and it seems to be giving a lot of people a lot of inspiration to just take it out on the baseball. Both Friday and Saturday after this first game home run Thursday, Friday and Saturday both games he goes two for four, and those games he started on Friday he had an RBI and scored a run and a big win on Friday. And then Saturday, he had a second home run. They lost against the Phillies, but this means that he had five hits in his first nine at-bats of his career, which and with a 1822 OPS. Meanwhile, just keep your attention on Venezuela. There are a lot, too many to to mention. A lot of players speaking out. There's a really sweet thing I saw by Vladdy recently, and many other players just encouraging support, pledging their own support. Teams taking action. We'll link also to an Instagram post of the president of the Federation of Federacion de Venezolano de baseball, the Venezuelan baseball federation, which oversees all baseball in Venezuela, it's sort of like the Manfred of Venezuela.

Pottymouth 34:10
Aracelis León, a woman president of Venezuelan baseball, she takes this whole team with her to the stadium in La Guayra, which is the area that was hit really badly by the earthquake, and still has basically a tent city in the stadium, housing families, having food tents to just support the people from that area. So her, along with the head of baseball in the area of La Guayra and the head of the Criolitos, which is the the little league of La Guayra, did a tour of the seven minor league stadiums in the area, committing to rebuilding. So basically, seeing what's wrong with these stadiums, looking for support. They have a form online for anybody who's connected to baseball to fill out. There are six 1600 kids who play. In the youth leagues of La Guayra, and are in need of equipment and all sorts of other things. The Venezuelan League, the LVBP, is postponing their annual summer meeting, and their official statement says, "In this moment, we're playing as one team for Venezuela. So please keep your eye out on any way that you can support.

Patti 35:25
All right, bringing things back home. The Women's Professional Baseball League has finally given their four inaugural teams names and logos, which means you can buy more swag.

Pottymouth 35:36
You can try. You can try everything. Sold out. Everything

Patti 35:39
is sold out.

Pottymouth 35:39
Everything. It's true. I am. I am waiting. I can't believe one fucking day after they announced it, everything was sold out. Every T-shirt, every jersey, every cap. That's amazing.

Patti 35:51
Okay, let me tell you about that.

Pottymouth 35:52
But I want a jersey.

Patti 35:53
Okay. Okay. So, the New York Heights. Okay. Every. All of these teams are named after women trailblazers. It's amazing. That that called that particular you know city their home. So for the New York Heights, named for Dorothy Irene Hight, who was a civil and women's rights pioneer from New York. I'm a little ticked that they're using pinstripes. Well, I'm because yeah, but I don't think I. But you don't need to. I I think you know set yourself apart.

Pottymouth 36:18
Yeah.

Patti 36:19
Don't don't copy. Set yourself apart.

Pottymouth 36:22
I'm guessing that it's they're leaning into like the success and the you know, I don't know. I'm I'm not happy with success either.

Patti 36:30
The San Francisco Fire Bells are named for Lily Hitchcock Coit, who was called Fire Bell, you know, with an E at the end. She championed volunteer firefighters in San Francisco, and also side note: she was known for dressing like a man in order to get into like gambling, you know, facilities. And why am I so adamantly against sports betting? But I think this is cool.

Pottymouth 36:53
I was just thinking that. I was just thinking that. Like in that situation, but I can't handle DraftKings. A side note. So I think that the Fire Bells have the best jersey, and I am super, super envious of anybody who's in San Francisco fan. They've got the colors. They've got this like purple and orange, and their logo is fucking brilliant. It's a bell with a phoenix inside of it.

Patti 37:17
Yep, beautiful. So it's like the alarm bell, and then the Phoenix rising from the ashes-that's pretty cool. So Los Angeles are the queens named for Lizzie Murphy, who was known as the Queen of the Diamond because she was the first woman to play against Major League players in 1922.

Pottymouth 37:33
I saw a couple of complaints about this name. I I think it's cool, and I and I totally get. Like I love the the connections that they're meaningful and real. There was a hockey fan that I saw comment saying, "We have the L.A. Kings. What about when we get a women's hockey team? We want them to be the queens, not the baseball team. But I don't know. Now they can still have the queens and kings. And the other one is like, you know, well, there's queens in New York City, the actual queens. So this is confusing, but it is

Patti 38:00
weird because the jersey says Queens, you know, in big letters as opposed to Los Angeles, and so that is confusing to me. Also, the the logo is boring.

Pottymouth 38:08
Yeah, well, I think they both have all teams have a home and away jersey, so they have the I guess it's a way with their city name and the home with the actual name.

Patti 38:16
So they have four diamonds, like baseball diamonds, in a row that kind of looked like a crown over either the queue in Queens or Queens, and I think they didn't try hard enough.

Pottymouth 38:26
Yeah, yeah, that's that definitely the one that I am least jealous of. I am all about being jealous about San Francisco.

Patti 38:32
So the Boston Hunters are named for Harriet K. Hunt, who was the first woman to apply to Harvard Medical School in 1847, and then she established a medical practice. Just a fun fact: Harvard did not accept women to this program for another 100 years. So she was the first one to apply, and that that that's it. So the the logo has an osprey holding a baseball bat, so it's kind of like you know this this bird of prey. That's fine. They're using the Baltimore City Connect colors, so I like I know that jersey. I I have a I have a similar jersey, but I'm I think that's a very good looking one. I like the the New York logo because it's like you know it's a fastball with like the speed lines, but the speed lines kind of create the cityscape yeah and I think that's a cool use of that you know it's combining the place and the sport I think that's pretty cool so I think largely they did

Pottymouth 39:30
pretty well yeah I so I I'm as I said I'm super jealous of San Francisco I think New York is clean but it's too Yankees looking I think their colors are better than the Yankees even though it's still a blue. It's just a nicer shade, so I do like the look of New York. I totally agree with you about L.A. It's not bad, but there could have. There's so much more opportunity with Queens, and for Boston, this is my team, right? I'm getting behind them. I love, I loved your. I love your Baltimore City Connect jersey. I like the colors. The osprey makes me think of summer camp as a kid. I, as a vegetarian, a pacifist, the name Hunter, and I get it. It's from her name, Hunt, and I'm I'm totally trying to embrace that. And I know that like a bird hunting is different than somebody going out with a gun and hunting, but I'm just picturing myself saying "Go Hunters. It doesn't roll off the tongue. It just you know it. I kind of choke a little bit on it. It doesn't feel great.

Patti 40:31
So you're just going to go for San Francisco then?

Pottymouth 40:32
Well, I know I can't do that. I'm still I'm going to buy a hunter's jersey. I'll get the one that says Boston because it's sharp and I like the Osprey. I just, oh boy, Harriet. You know, I, yeah. Cheers to Harriet.

Patti 40:46
I also kind of think that you know, there. I, I wonder how many women they chose. Like, how? I want to know what the process was. Right. I want to know like who did you choose between break for these cities, and were you trying to reflect a variety of of skills and you know talents and what they were known for, or yeah, or just who would make a cool team name?

Pottymouth 41:06
Had it right. I would love to have been in that room. Like the

Patti 41:09
potty mouth, I think would be a great team.

Pottymouth 41:11
I I should have sent that in. Yeah, fitting that on the jersey. What what I'm thinking though is like other women's leagues or leagues haven't. I mean, is there any league that's done this with their names that it's really connected to that kind of like a theme for all the yeah, and the the cool thing about it I think especially for baseball is a really overt acknowledgement that this isn't new that women have played baseball that we're connecting to a history because we're acknowledging that this is not a new sport for women,

Patti 41:44
and women have been trailblazers,

Pottymouth 41:46
yeah,

Patti 41:46
forever, and so it's highlighting trailblazers not just in sports but in many other things. Yeah,

Pottymouth 41:53
that's cool.

Patti 41:53
I do like it.

Pottymouth 41:54
I'm excited, and we're going to see them. Yeah, we are. Yeah, and we're going to see San Francisco. We're not going to see LA. So, oh well. Oh well. All right, I'm gonna bring it down a notch. Damn it! But you know, there's that political bent that we follow, and I feel like I'm really hoping that this isn't a harbinger of things to come. But ice has been all over the place. In the if if you've been too distracted by the other catastrophes happening in the world. Please be rest assured that there are people-not rest assured, but just know that there are people being abducted in your backyard every day. It's horrific. It's absolutely horrific, and we have so many things calling our attention. It's really hard to pay enough attention to this. But this past week, it baseball was hit because a college baseball player from the Dominican Republic, Johann Sandoval, was abducted by ICE, and he shouldn't have been. He's here on a visa. He's a college baseball player, so by definition, he's enrolled in a college and he has a student visa. You can't be an international person enrolled in a college without that. Colleges check stuff like this. He came in 2020-two on an f1 visa, and he earned his associate's degree with honors from Bryant and Staton in upstate New York in 2020-four So that's an associate's degree. He wanted to continue his education, so he transferred to a d2 school, Savannah State University, to complete his bachelor's, where he currently is enrolled. He's a full time student. He's a rising senior. He's studying business. He has a full athletic scholarship. No criminal history. I shouldn't even have to say that out loud. And is actually engaged to a U.S. citizen. His sister says that since he was a little boy, he always had a passion for baseball, and that was always his dream. And he's good. This past year in his college season, he this so the season that's over 2026 His average was 369 with five home runs, 51 RBI, a 1.067 OPS, and he was the MVP of the HBCU All Star Game in June. Don't get confused with the HBCU All Star Game that just happened. Apparently, there's a couple of outings for the historically black colleges. He's been playing summer ball in Albany. This is the second season that he's been playing summer ball there, and both seasons, as well as in the winter when he is off from from Savannah, he stays with his girlfriend and her family in Clifton Park. Do you know where that is? It's like 20 minutes outside of Albany. Okay, so this is like where your people are. On July 3, he was leaving the apartment to go to the gym, and he saw ice blocking his car, so he clearly went back into the apartment to tell his girlfriend and her mother that ice is out there. The agents followed him in. According to the girlfriend, she said, "Agents came to our home early in the morning, yelling and forcing their way into a situation that felt completely unnecessary and unjust in the." Scuffle. His phone was broken. He was handcuffed in front of his girlfriend's mother. ICE is saying he tried to run. His lawyers saying he cooperated completely, as are you know clearly his girlfriend and girlfriend's mother. The mother said, "Quote the poor kid asked for one thing. He said, 'Can I take my Bible with me? So federal law requires the school, the colleges, who are to to vouch basically for the visas and to do all the paperwork. So when he transferred from one school to another, he's not responsible for that paperwork. The colleges are responsible for getting that visa transferred. So somebody dropped the ball. His lawyer says that there was a paperwork error, error, not error, paperwork error. Ice says that his visa was terminated in April 2020-five due to quote failure to adhere to requirements. That wasn't him. Somebody didn't adhere to those requirements, and this is like in the middle of he's studying. He had no idea what was going on. Savannah State is scurrying around to make things right. They filed immediately to reinstate the f1 The mayor of Savannah has come out in support of him, as have a bunch of politicians in New York, including both of their senators. Meanwhile, he's in jail.

Pottymouth 46:18
He's detained, and detention centers are jail. It looks like a jail. It feels like a jail. He's been there since july 3. We're recording on july 12. He's four hours away from where his girlfriend lives, where any friends are, and we will link to his GoFundMe because no matter what happens, if he gets released tomorrow, there are lawyer bills that are going to need to be paid, and he's going to need a lot of support to get out of this. Luckily, the school is behind him. It's they're saying like this is 100% They're going to make this right, but they're keeping him in jail. It's fucked up.

Patti 46:54
So he got yanked outside of Albany, New York. Yes. So he's going to school in Savannah, but this was the summer was so he's playing summer ball. Yes. So he got Yankton, Albany.

Pottymouth 47:01
Yep, this is Albany. Yep.

Patti 47:04
All right.

Pottymouth 47:05
Right.

Patti 47:06
On a different note, we have our fantasy league, which is

Pottymouth 47:11
oh, do we? We we do. It

Patti 47:12
doesn't matter much to you and I because our teams are pretty much sitting. Actually, nobody moved. Sort of. Really. Sort of. Nobody moved. So like Tridents and Taprooms is still you know in the lead, followed by Karen's crew and All Star Cobalt 112 and Bono's boyfriends and like an awesome team. The thing that happened is that both my team and the Sunny Slamers gained points, but we gained points in a way that we're now tied for sixth. Whereas last week the Sunny Slammers was immediately behind me by just a few points. Now we are tied, and then followed by McLean, mean pitching machine, and you. So the only thing that that that changed is Sunny Slamers closed the distance and tied my team. So we are tied 4/6 Everything else is kind of solid for right now.

Pottymouth 47:54
But you know we are almost just at the All Star break, so we've got a whole half a season ahead, and anything could happen.

Patti 48:00
Anything can happen. I could probably will.

Pottymouth 48:02
Better manager.

Patti 48:05
If only you had time during the day. But it's that that job. Oh wait, you're retired.

Pottymouth 48:08
But things. But things have been weirdly busy. And then and

Patti 48:12
not weirdly busy. You knew that was going to happen immediately.

Pottymouth 48:14
Shit happens. Absolutely, shit happens. And for those of you who haven't been listening, we have a really really epic road trip coming in August, and there's a lot of planning that's going involved, getting involved with that. But it's going to be super fun, and we're going to take you with us. If you want to actually meet us on there, you can get in touch with us, and we'll tell you about that in a moment. But the other final stretch that's happening this week is I will stop talking about football. That would be soccer to the American audience, but you know the rest of the world calls it football. It's just this country. It means something different. So yesterday I became a die-hard fan of Norway for a matter of hours because I found out. So yesterday was Norway against England. Norway lost, and I was very sad. Harry Kane, the star of England, apparently is a Trump lover, so I found out about this right before the game and thought I really hope England loses because Trump had just published that he was supporting England and you know this anything the fascist says I'm going to go the other way. They golfed together 18 months ago, so apparently the fascist is that much of a fan of Harry Kane and and Harry was kind of gushing in his little presser about his golfing experience with the fascist and saying that he wishes he could be as good of a golfer as that guy is when he's that age. It was really gross. So I thought no more England for me. Norway has the funnest fan base. These are the folks who are rowing everywhere, right? There's a great social media post about them taking over one of those luggage carousels in an airport, which is something I've always wanted to do to ride around one of those. I don't know, ever since I was a kid. But they, the whole like crowd is on there rowing, including like one of the security guards who is clearly okay with. So, you know, if you're nice and fun about it, just just join in with the security. Then, beyond the cool fan base, Erling Haaland, who was the star of the Norwegian team, great Qhar, great quality hair above replacement, and a super fun and funny guy. So, sort of like the opposite of this English dude, he's got a great vlog on YouTube that I recommend you all go to. He totally soaked it in. He was in Texas and said, "Yeehaw! Got a cowboy hat. And if you put his name, even today, I tried this right before recording, so I hope it's still working at the time that you guys hear this. If you put his name in Google, they'll get the little animation of rowing guys at the bottom of the screen. It automatically pops up. So cool, and that happened after Norway surprisingly beat Brazil. The other thing that happened after they beat Brazil is reports started coming in from all over South America: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, of babies being named Erling Holland. Now the whole his whole name Erling Holland. So that's how much there's you know the rivalry in South America is real, and I think the resentment against the the historical success of Brazil is real. And so when Norway beat Brazil, people started naming their babies. And so here's an example. The first baby on record of this is Erling Holland Estrada Arieta in Colombia. That is this poor kid's. I think that's that'll be fun. I'm wondering like how many Erling Hollands are going to be in his kindergarten class.

Patti 51:33
And they'll have to have nicknames like, oh yeah, you know, blonde Erling. Right.

Pottymouth 51:37
So now that I can't root for Norway. I'm rooting for Spain because of Lamin Yamal, who turns 19 tomorrow. Tomorrow is his birthday. He's been 18 years old and playing in the fucking World Cup. And the reason why I love this guy so much is because of his little brother Kane, who will turn four in September and has been his number one biggest fan, and so if you see him at the games, the little brother's there cheering, and and the big brother just pulls the little brother, you know, right afterwards onto the field. There's all sorts of really fun TikToks or whatever and reels about them dancing together. It's super super cute, and Lemine also has been positively outspoken for good causes. He was recently named a UNICEF ambassador, and he had a controversial Palestinian flag. But you know, I support that. I totally support it. So yay for Lamine Yamal. They're playing Tuesday against France, so depending on when you listen to this, you'll know whether or not Spain made it. England plays Argentina Wednesday. You know who I am rooting for there, and there's some historical war there. The whole Falklands Malvinas thing is going to be played out on the field, so I'm hoping that the final is Spain Argentina. It's next Sunday before we record next time. So next recording will be my very very last time talking about soccer until the Women's World Cup next summer.

Patti 53:09
Next summer, all right. So my Monday and Tuesday are going to be you know the Home Run Derby and the All Star Game, and then I got I don't know what else is happening the rest of the week. That's something that's I'm front loading this week. What about you,

Pottymouth 53:20
Ben. So also Derby and All Star Game, and then next weekend I'm going to New York City, which I'm I'm learning to love. Yeah, I'm squinting while I'm saying this. I'm on the Mets side of things. I'm on like the Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclone side of things. But we're going to see the kid and their friends, and we're going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. No, not picture. Rocky Horror Show on Broadway because there's no movie involved, and then on the way back we'll definitely catch the FIFA Finals. So I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, fun stuff. It's summer fun. Yeah, it

Patti 53:51
is. Yeah, it is. Please tell us what your summer plans are. What are you up to? Are you like going around seeing some baseball? Are you seeing some live Rocky Horror, what are you doing? Tell us on social media.

Pottymouth 54:03
Yeah, and especially if you can be anywhere in the Midwest in August, then maybe we can connect, find out, check in with us on Blue Sky, or we'll check Twitter too and see IB Podcast, Facebook and Instagram, or No Crying and Be Ball, or join the fun on Patreon, p a t r e o n.com/no crying and b-ball, and now that I'm retired, I'm really, really going to try. And I started to put more stuff on Patreon. Definitely, when we're on the road, we'll be filling in Patreon more often. So if you want to one find out more about what we're up to, and two, just make sure that we can keep this podcast happening, then join our very very reasonable rates on Patreon, and we we appreciate you guys. Thank you. We

Patti 54:45
sure do. Thanks for keeping us going. All right, my friends, go see some live baseball fight. The man, it's the right thing to do. Send your game boss to Meredith, and until next week, say good night, Potty Mouth.

Pottymouth 54:54
Good night, Potty mouth. The hot dog on the side is. Does it have headphones on?

Patti 55:15
That yeah. The the the relish guy has headphones because he's he's just that kind of guy.

Pottymouth 55:19
That's plus for relish. What do the other guys have?

Patti 55:22
One of them has very long eyelashes, so I was probably you know probably not guy. Okay, I don't know how right. I don't know how

Pottymouth 55:32
drag mustard.

Patti 55:33
Yeah, I don't know how mustard identifies. I think it's mustard or ketch. I don't know.

Pottymouth 55:38
All right,

Patti 55:39
I just I just think that we shouldn't be gendering our hot dogs.

Pottymouth 55:41
That's true, good point.

Patti 55:43
And also, I think we should be calling it a condiment race,

Pottymouth 55:45
right?