00:00it is texas rangers manager skip schumacher good afternoon sir how we doing man we're doing good
00:08and i gotta know does kamar rocker now owe evan carter like a nice steak dinner or what is the
00:15protocol after that insane home run robbery yeah i i don't think a hug is enough right i think you've
00:23got to do something like a dinner or i'm not sure if there's gonna be something on his chair when
00:27he
00:27shows up in the locker room today but what an unbelievable play that was so what we saw the
00:33reactions i saw the reaction for rocker what i think really people should go back and see
00:39is the pirates pitcher in their bullpen and just how sad he looked when evan carter made that catch
00:48what was your reaction keeping in mind this is a family-friendly program language wise
00:55yeah um i'm gonna try to keep that uh to myself of uh you know but we were all um
01:01you know it's just a
01:03it could have been a completely different emotion if that ball goes over the fence right and i think
01:08that's what uh probably their their bullpen uh was thinking as well as our dugout was thinking but
01:13um again the way he timed it up um the the jump was perfectly timed the jog or the light
01:20you know
01:20kind of sprint to the fence uh you know was perfectly timed up everything has to be lined up
01:26and i said this you know before a couple of interviews ago that i think every fence should
01:31be five to six feet because i just love that play i like it when we're catching it but i
01:36think it's
01:37that everyone loves the home run but i also love the rob of the home run and um it's just
01:41a fun
01:42exciting play uh in in the major leagues and we have so many gifted athletes uh especially in center
01:48field in the game today but i think more of those plays would be pretty cool to watch matter of
01:52fact
01:52uh skip kevin and i both at spring training asked evan carter what what he liked more the diving catch
01:59to grab one or to to go up on the wall and get one he was like there's nothing better
02:04there's nothing
02:05better than going and stealing a home run from somebody and then getting to see the look on their
02:09face afterwards no doubt and uh because not only is it a you know great moment for you but it's
02:16a
02:16great moment for the team um and it's momentum changing and however you want to all the you know
02:22cliche terms but it really is true and by the way you don't get hurt as often when you you
02:27know jump
02:28and rob a home run like you do diving on uh you know on turf or whatever it is too
02:32so i'm totally okay
02:33with the robbery of the home run that is a good point i had never considered that before and i
02:38know
02:38we can talk about the effect in the bottom of the fifth and we should talk about that but i
02:42wanted
02:42to talk about the effect on rocker in particular who at that point in the game hadn't thrown a lot
02:48of pitches and it's one of those things where like numbers don't always tell the story and it feels like
02:54if that goes over the fence and you're just looking at the stat lines you might be like oh man
02:59that
02:59wasn't my favorite uh start for rocker but when he makes that and then rocker gets to go back out
03:05there it looks like it was a heck of a start funny how this game works isn't it yeah i
03:11know i um yeah
03:13but rocker i will say that the um he was on the attack all night he walked what one guy
03:18um he was
03:19on the ground all day long all game long and so like yes the home run might have changed the
03:26stat
03:26line a little bit but i will say the way that he handled himself after that first inning with back
03:31-to-back
03:31hits a stolen base kind of an overthrow to center field and then you know wild pitch and you know
03:37there's things could have gotten out of hand quick the most impressive part was him you know dialing
03:43it in calming down um and really letting us get back into the game that was super impressive so i
03:49know
03:49there was a rob of a home run but there's so many other things that happened yesterday um that i
03:54was
03:55really impressed with just maturity wise that i was watching on the mound i am we were kind of curious
04:00as kevin and i were talking before the show this morning just kind of when it comes to leashes on
04:05these pitchers sometimes evaldi you know we you know what you have in him to grom you're still kind
04:10of learning with the younger pitchers if a home run like that happens does that make you go well you
04:15know that was a good day for him but it's time to go to the bullpen now i'm just kind
04:19of curious on
04:19on how that affects something like that for you yeah so there's um a number of things to think
04:26about the first game of a series coming off a long road trip a much needed off day i think
04:32for
04:32everybody mentally and physically back at home um which was you know huge in a number for a number
04:38of different reasons but you don't want to go to your bullpen you know in the fifth inning on the
04:43first day of a of a home stand um with you know a number of really good teams that are
04:48you know coming
04:48in by the way the pittsburgh pirates are pretty good as well yes yeah and the last thing i want
04:53to
04:53yeah is cover five innings or so uh you know from our bullpen because they've been doing an
04:59excellent job but you just don't want to continue doing that so even if he hit the home run i
05:04think
05:04i probably would have let him go out there to to um finish the fifth inning and then you know
05:09we'd
05:10have to have probably a discussion to see what happens you know after that but because his pitch
05:14count was so low uh we might send him back out because of the righty lanes that were in the
05:20righty
05:20hitters that were behind him that he had success with you might try to steal another inning and allow
05:25your your team to get back in there as well so uh luckily i didn't have to think about that
05:30um too
05:31much but uh it definitely was uh you know in discussion of like okay you know this happens
05:37you always think about three to four hitters ahead on kind of the what if so you don't get caught
05:41and so you have to you have to game plan accordingly but luckily uh the catch was made and an
05:47easy
05:47easy decision to send him back out see this is what i'm talking about yeah mike bassick used to
05:51be on our show with us for about six years and i was telling him yesterday i love it when
05:55skip gets
05:56all baseball-y uh because this is where i really do enjoy you you know breaking down those things
06:01the the other thing too i wanted that one more thing about that rob of the home run how important
06:06is it for your dugout to recognize those moments those kind of momentum shifts and and and say okay now
06:13we have to take advantage of that and can you recognize that in the dugout that they see it
06:20a hundred percent i think um you know the momentum from a really good uh play like that it's not
06:27surprising when the offensive uh part of that inning you know kind of clicks and gets going and there's
06:33multiple hits and there or is a big walk or big stolen base or you know whatever i i do
06:38really feel
06:39like um there's times in the game where momentum can shift one way or the other on their side or
06:45our
06:45side in almost every single game based on one pitch or one play and that definitely happened last night
06:51um i actually evan was coming up in that inning i thought he was gonna you know hit a double
06:56or home
06:56run as well right so um you know i felt it i know the players felt it and uh so
07:01it was again just a
07:03giant play for the uh and a really good time for it right after you know losing the last two
07:08games
07:09in seattle coming home off day and then start a you know big homestand winning the first game was
07:14important man when you talk about coming home and getting that day off after logging 4,700 flight
07:21miles in the last week and a half 10 games in 10 days a franchise record 16 road games in
07:27the first
07:2822 games how nice especially when you won is it to be back at home it's definitely nice i mean
07:36you
07:36know for the players uh you know get back into their their homes their families their own bed see
07:41their families you know they're uh sleep in their own bed uh go out to a dinner whatever reconnect
07:47however you wanted to do it and spend your off day you know play golf whatever i went i actually
07:52went
07:52surfing at the waco surf ranch an hour and a half away so i mean there's yeah yeah so there's
07:58there's
07:58things that you know everybody wants to do to just kind of get away a little bit and then you
08:03know come
08:03back and be ready to rock today but i thought everybody came in refreshed re-energized and um
08:09and it was a really good start to to uh hopefully a good homestand i'm kind of hoping they've changed
08:14it over the years but did you ever see that road in waco that's just called new road and think
08:20what
08:20are we doing guys i have not no i was in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden
08:26you know this
08:26beautiful surf ranch was there so no i haven't seen it but uh but it was a good day it's
08:32legitimately
08:33called new road and that's bothered me my entire life so uh back to baseball questions though skip
08:38there was a i was our friend dave raymond brought something up on the last game against seattle i was
08:44i was watching and he was talking about tommy lasorda and how lasorda always wanted to win the last game
08:50of a road trip and and send you home with you know your the wind in your sails that was
08:54the
08:54conversation they were having and i was kind of curious because you put out what would be look
08:59like one of your best lineups for that game is that something uh that goes into your mental
09:04building when you're looking at a road trip is that something that matters to you too
09:09yeah always you know when i was in st louis um i was you know conditioned to say happy flight
09:15which was meant you know the last uh um game of the series or last uh game of the road
09:21trip you
09:22wanted to have a happy flight going home which means you just won the game um and that was like
09:27you know before there was hashtags that was literally like on our shirts when we were playing
09:32in 2006 seven and eight you know early on that the happy flight was like the talk of the dugout
09:38in the
09:38clubhouse on those day games before you left so absolutely you know we're i'm not uh trying to
09:44get guys you know days off right before you know we leave on a from a road trip that i'm
09:48gearing up
09:49to try to win that last game for sure um you know we had it all we had we felt
09:54like you know
09:54really good chance it just didn't happen but it's definitely in the back of my mind i we also
09:59discussed this morning josh young looks like he is in a great headspace right now and as a manager
10:05you're kind of you're going through the journey with these guys and when they're not doing well
10:09you're kind of you're trying to figure out how to help them into it what was what was that like
10:13early with him and where where do you see him right now yeah i think people have to remember
10:20that you know all the players that are in the clubhouse with me and you know some of the new
10:25guys and the coaching staff it's a clean slate and you know i you know i know what the numbers
10:30are
10:30you know the previous year with everybody but this is a new year and it's you know time to you
10:36know show
10:37us what you have and produce and perform and you know all that is is real but the flip side
10:42of this
10:43is i'm trying to you know get to know them empower them motivate them whatever that means
10:48and so does our staff and that's our staff's responsibility to get guys better you know uh
10:53you know either on the physical side or if they need a day off or whatever you're just trying to
10:57get to know these guys and ever since uh you know jj kind of had a um a day off
11:03in baltimore and you
11:04know just kind of relaxed a little bit and you know it felt like just not trying to get a
11:08hit every
11:08single um at bat or every single pitch and trying to get you know four hits you know per at
11:14bat i
11:14think he's lowered his chase rate remembered like who he was as a player got pitches inside the zone
11:21and he started winning um pitches inside the strike zone i think it's there's no not rocket science
11:27right when you swing at strikes you're most likely going to be better off when you swing at balls it's
11:32going to be tough to get a hit in in this league and uh to his credit he has done
11:36a really good job
11:37especially you know the last you know three weeks or so using the middle part of the field you see
11:42the you know and then he'll when he needs it he'll click one full side and hit i mean he
11:48had a home
11:48run center field in seattle so he's got the power but he's also becoming a really good hitter uh back
11:53to where he was a few years ago and it's just it's great to see you know these guys get
11:58through some
11:59adversity get through some funks and come out on the other side of it you know with all the work
12:03they're
12:04putting into because this group puts in the work there's no doubt about it and uh for them to have
12:08success they earn that and deserve it you know talking about that chase rate we were discussing
12:12that earlier in the show the last two weeks his chase rate on the first three pitches has dropped
12:18in half which feels like a pretty astonishing drop not only can that be helpful for him but
12:24how much more does that make the pitcher work just every single time he's up to bat
12:32for sure it's a fine line you want them to come inside the strike zone but you also want the
12:37pitch
12:37count to to grow right so if the guys are inside the strike zone like a couple of the seattle
12:43pitchers
12:44were then you got to you want to be able to move the ball forward um unfortunately some sometimes in
12:49seattle we won't be able to move the ball forward uh you know on a consistent basis like hard to
12:55you
12:55know get hits and collect hits and all that stuff because they were really good pitchers
12:58uh but we didn't chase and i think that was a really good um theme throughout the the road trip
13:04and jj was you know at the top of that and i think there's some guys that when they struggle
13:09they just
13:09go outside of the zone when they're hot there and they're moving the ball forward inside the strike
13:16zone so that's um again it's not rocket science you know our hitting group is uh that's like the main
13:22message the main theme since uh spring training started was win the strike zone and um and so far guys
13:28are
13:28doing a good job of that we have faced some really good pitching by the way especially on that road
13:33trip so um you know hopefully this translates into something on this homestand i was hoping you could
13:39expand a little bit more you've talked about how you love the battle in this team going back to that
13:44friday game against the dodgers three runs in the ninth that sunday game against the dodgers two in
13:49the eighth last monday four in the eighth last wednesday three in the ninth on thursday four in the
13:54ninth the ability to score runs late in the game against those leveraged pitchers and how that's
14:02come about and how that feels like it's going to be vital for the team this year yeah i don't
14:08i don't
14:08think we allow ourselves to you know ever give up and i think that you look you try to figure
14:13out what
14:14the identity is you know in spring training but you don't really know because so many guys are getting
14:19at bats or you know getting you know playing time and then when you start the season you try to
14:24figure out what is this identity of this team going to really look like and what are they going to
14:28be
14:28about and what i am the most impressed about is there's just no quit there's no fight i know teams
14:35and managers will say that all the time but this is it they have proved that over and over again
14:40and they have fought back into games they made other teams bring in their high leverage relievers
14:45um and then not only maybe we lost that game but we might have won the war for later on
14:51you know
14:52maybe the next series then that team can't use their leverage against the team coming in and so
14:58they maybe they lose that game so all that stuff is uh it correlates and um and so you know
15:04when
15:04we're watching it we do feel really good about the fight till four nine innings um and these guys have
15:09done an excellent job of of having that energy and having that confidence that it's nine innings
15:13we're playing nine innings as hard as we can well as always we appreciate the time congratulations on
15:18the win let's pile up a whole bunch more of those on this homestand sounds great thanks guys there
15:25you go skip schumacher manager for the texas rangers
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