Takeaways from Another Loss to the Brewers Despite Three Home Runs

Yeah, welcome to the NS9 postgame show.

Don't know how that one snuck in here.

Anyways, welcome to the North Shore Nine podcast presented by FanDuel.

This is the NS9 postgame show powered by Primanti Brothers.

I'm your host, Anthony DiNardo.

With me, we have Dougie Fresh in the house tonight.

Doug, Pittsburgh Pirates lose tonight, 5-4 against the Milwaukee Brewers, dropped their second in a row in this series.

But other than that, how are you doing?

Well, I'm okay.

I'm a little disappointed.

I had made a New Year's resolution this year that I had kept until today.

I had committed to not eating vegetables, and I thought I could go the whole year, and I broke down today and had some carrots.

So I'm very disappointed.

And my body, might be reacting a little weirdly, so I might be off my game today.

I had a couple of Costco beignets.

See, that's what I need, right?

That's what gives me my edge.

You had vegetables, Doug?

I know.

I had a vegetable.

Very peculiar.

Man.

Yeah.

So, again, the Pirates lose tonight, 5-4.

They went down early.

They came back and fought, tied it up.

They got the lead.

And then they lost the lead and were never able to go ahead and recoup and prevail for a victory today.

So, again, they lose 5-4 today.

I think there's a little bit of stories everywhere.

But, obviously, the game started with Jared Jones taking the mound.

And, Doug, he had a fantastic first inning.

One, two, three.

Three strikeouts against the Milwaukee Brewers.

It looked like he was going to have one of those fantastic starts.

It sure did.

And then came two outs with the second inning, right?

he looked great.

The first inning, you thought, can't give up a run in September.

This was his third start.

But Milwaukee, he got Brewered, right?

This is a team.

They've got a two-out approach and four straight singles.

And you want to see one of the millions of reasons that the Brewers are better than the Pirates.

It's that inning right there.

That sums it up in a microcosm.

Yeah, that's certainly one of them.

I think there's a few in this series that highlights it.

But I do want to say this before we say that.

Michael B., shout-out, $5 Super.

Another embarrassing loss.

They can't hold leads.

Mlodzinski gave us another bad inning.

Rumors are BC is coming back.

Doug was right.

75-77 losers.

Michael, speaking the truth all the time.

But I do want to talk about Jared Jones' start.

Because the last time you and I were on, Doug, we had a Bubba Chandler start.

And the thing I said then was this was not an impressive start.

There were things about Bubba that impressed me.

And in that start, it was the emotional, the composure, right?

Staying in the game in a different way.

That's how I felt about Jared Jones today.

He goes five innings.

Now, again, he had, his stuff was going.

He had nine strikeouts today.

Five innings, he had the nine strikeouts, what was it, 14 whiffs.

He had a lot of swing and miss, but he still had seven hits, three earned runs, right?

We talked about Bubba at last start.

And it was like, if this was in early, if this was April or May, that probably was a four-inning, six-earned run start.

To me, with Jared Jones today, I felt like if you saw the earlier version of Jared Jones, what he could be, right?

Same thing.

Like, this could have easily been like a four-inning, six-earned run start.

The reason it wasn't, Doug, was even though he was missing bats, however, he was also having bats connected against him, right?

The seven hits.

He was throwing strikes, 67% strikes.

He wasn't walking, guys, until the very end when you could tell the fatigue was sitting in.

One walk, and again, that was in the fifth inning.

He was throwing strikes.

Yes, they were getting hits on him, but that's limiting damage.

He wasn't giving up walks, and then you have the hit that allows two runs, three runs, four ones, right?

He was limiting that by throwing strikes and just having those hits.

That's what impressed me today about Jared Jones.

He didn't – he's really a two-pitch guy.

The two pitches are filthy, but he's a two-pitch guy.

He's a two-pitch guy.

So, if you know it's coming, you can connect, and you can cause damage, but he limited that by throwing strikes.

There's, this season, again, another lost and wasted season that, could very likely finish under .500, two games under now.

But it seems that we've seen some growth and maturity from both Bubba and Jared Jones.

And, you've heard me talk about this.

The chat has heard me talk about this.

That has been an issue for me about them, that they're – and it seems like they're addressing it.

It seems like they realize, that they just can't come in there and throw gas and just, these are Major League hitters.

They're going to figure it out.

They're going to catch them.

They've got to, they've got to do better.

And also, they've got to keep themselves under control.

They've got to stay within themselves.

And it seems like – that's what we're seeing.

It's so hard being a Pirate fan because nothing ever seems to carry over, right?

Like, do you feel comfortable that Oneil Cruz is going to play as well next season as he did this season?

I don't.

Do we feel Esmerlyn Valdez will – It's going to be even better, Doug.

Yeah, maybe.

Maybe.

But I'm a Pirates fan.

I've seen good seasons, you know.

Is Paul Skenes going to bounce back?

I don't know.

Will Braxton and Ashcraft – if you were a fan of any other team, you'd say, oh, man, we've got Ashcraft.

We've got Chandler.

We've got Joe's.

Skees has got to bounce back.

And Valdez has got to hit 40-hole runs.

And Cruz has got to be healthy.

And, none of those things happen next year.

It'll all be different.

So, hopefully, this is growth.

Hopefully, it's real.

Hopefully, it continues on.

Hopefully, they go into the offseason and work their butts off.

And I have no doubt that they will, right?

These guys, they've got that dog in them.

So, I'm excited.

Hopefully, the results will come.

Hopefully, next year, all the guardrails will be lifted.

And they'll just be able to go out there and throw.

And we don't have to worry about taking them out in the fifth inning.

They're always going to protect their pitchers.

there's, no doubt.

We're going to see a lot of five-inning starts.

But, it'd be not – I would prefer to see five-inning starts because they're ineffective.

Not because, wow, they're great, but we've got to get them out of there.

Right.

Yeah, absolutely, man.

And, a couple more supers from Doug – or Doug – from Michael B.

So, first, $5 super says, this won't be talked about, but did you see Cruz to the ball to third, which allowed the Brewers hitter to advance to second?

Team is fundamentally flawed.

Next super, he says, guys, I am sick and tired of trying to find the silver linings in bad seasons all the time.

Bottom line is they need to fire a lot of people.

So, again, going back – You're tired of finding silver linings.

Think about Greg Brown and John Wainer and Bob Wong.

they – whoo, rough job.

Rough job.

Those guys have.

Between those guys, right.

But, yeah.

So, again, going back to the difference between the Pirates and the Brewers that you see, the Brewers are very fundamentally sound, right, where the Pirates lack that typically.

And so, again, going back to Jared, though, like, you are correct.

we're talking about silver linings.

how you finish the season, things that they're not going into playoffs, right?

What are you going to do with those past – like, what questions are going to be answered or at least a better idea of going into next year and such?

And, you saw the growth of Bubba Chandler.

that's one of the storylines you can talk about this year.

And I think you can say the same about Jared Jones.

His first season as a major leaguer was impressive.

But it was unfinished and there were still some questions about him, right?

And then he had the injury, so you don't really get those questions answered.

He's coming back from injury.

So, also, you've got to understand he's coming back from injury.

Like, you've got to give him some type of leeway, some understanding of that.

And he had a very impressive month and super impressive.

And then he followed that up with a really bad few starts.

And, of course, you're a guest wondering, like, okay, so who is the real Jared Jones?

And so far, how he's still finishing this is very strong.

And that's why I point out with today's start.

Like, today's start wasn't impressive.

But it showed the growth of Jared Jones to some level.

That this could have been way worse.

Five innings, three run runs is nothing to be impressed about.

But five innings and three runs is still, when you're not at the top of your game, enough to allow this team to be in it and still win the ball game.

And that's exactly what he did.

He leaves us with a no decision because the Pirates did come back and make it 3-3.

Because even though it wasn't his best start, he still was capable enough to allow this team to win.

Yeah, I think if this had been how he was pitching in June, he'd have given up six runs, right?

He'd have left him for four innings.

He would have melted down.

And so, yeah, it does seem like we're seeing some growth, some maturity.

And, yeah, it's like, look, shoot, he's been in the organization since 2020.

It's time, right?

Bubba Chandler, a little bit younger.

But, right, you're not high school seniors anymore.

you're, you've been around, you've been pitching, it's time to complete the package, get the whole package together.

So, mm-hmm.

Certainly.

So, he goes and he throws 91 pitches today.

Like I mentioned, it was 67% strikes.

We talked about the slider, especially how good it was like that last time out.

It was still very good today.

40% whiff rate.

He had eight whiffs on it today.

The stuff is, again, like the stuff is very good.

It showed to be very good today.

He shook out nine guys in those five innings.

he was getting hit, though.

He was getting hit.

And I think that's, again, where you lack the arsenal a bit.

Like, they'll have it.

But, again, the most important part was he wasn't, he wasn't allowing guys to get on base with free passes.

So, that way the damage was being limited when it was caused.

Outside of that, though, the Pirates, they mustered a bit of a comeback.

they started with Oneil Cruz hitting that home run.

Doug, like, that was a home run?

That?

And I think the exit velocity was 113 miles.

It was.

It just, which also makes you more, like, he just, he's just so impressive, Doug.

Like, I said, I tweeted, I'm like, every other major leaguer, that's just, like, an easy line out.

That's what you would anticipate that to be when he hit that ball.

Yeah, he's had a great season, right?

He, I think his first two weeks, he's a little slow, and Chad wanted to run him out of town.

And then he's got hot, and he stayed hot.

injury in between.

Absolutely did that for Jim.

So yeah, I just, yeah, he still does, he's infuriating, right?

Yeah, the throw to third, there's something almost every game, you know?

he'll drive you crazy, but golly, the talent, the ability, and the production now, it's just phenomenal.

He's got 19 home runs.

What's his high?

Like, 22, 21, you know what I'm saying?

And he's missed six weeks?

Yeah.

Good call.

I want to look up, because it's not, again, you would probably think he would have a higher.

Yeah, but he's never hit 25.

21 is his most in 2024.

He had 20 last year, but, and then, yeah, he's at 19 this year.

So, two more home runs, and he.

Yeah, he's, he has a very good chance at, setting a career high while missing six weeks.

Was it six weeks?

Maybe two months?

Yeah.

Yeah, 19 home runs, 27 stolen bases at this point with those, that time missed.

But, and again, I think the most impressive thing about Oneil Cruz this year is the fact, he's leading lefties.

It's a 274 batting average.

Like, I understand he is still striking out a very good bit, more than you would want to see.

But as I've been saying this entire time through this season, he has not let me down in saying this.

If this version of Oneil Cruz is what it takes, then give that to me.

If he's going to strike out 35% of the time, but in doing so, he's going to bat, Doug, 274.

His on-base percentage now is a 363, slugging 482.

Like, if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes.

I'll take it.

give me that over a whole season.

Right.

And there'll be times we're scratching our head.

There'll be times we're throwing stuff at the TV.

There'll be times that we'll be just like, God, how come he can't get this right?

some simple thing.

I'll take it.

I'll take the whole package.

this guy is dynamic.

He can carry a team.

He can do, it's incredible what he's capable of and what we're seeing from him this year.

how often do guys come back, from injury like that and struggle a little bit?

he just came back just, like he didn't miss.

Yeah.

Like he didn't miss any time.

You know.

Right.

So, yeah.

Oh, no, Cruz, again, this is the easiest, simplest, just swing that just looked like a line out and it just clears the Clemente wall and home run.

Now it's a three, one ball game.

And then Brandon Lowe comes up to bat and he has a two run shot as well and ties it up.

Brandon Lowe his 31st on the season.

And then there's going to be a lot of talk this off season about Brandon Lowe, rightfully so.

It should be their priority to bring him back.

It won't be.

It won't be anywhere on the list, but it should be.

This guy is a professional baseball player.

He's a grownup.

You know what I'm saying?

He is exactly, what this team needs.

And they're just going to let him go.

You're going to get nothing.

They're going to put Nick Gonzales at second base, and then try to figure out third.

Pray for Murf Gray or whatever.

But you're going to give, what, 31 home runs and he's up over 90.

Is it 90 RBI yet?

He's close.

Good question.

88.

I'm sorry.

88.

So, 31 and 88 probably won't get to 100, but, probably.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But don't count them out, though.

Yeah.

I don't.

He could get on it.

there's 11, 10 games left.

Too many.

Too many games left.

10.

There'd be 10.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

So, yeah, he hits the two run shot, makes it a tied ball game.

And then Rafael Flores comes up and he also hits a run today and makes it a 4-3 ball game.

So, again, like this team was down.

Jared Jones did enough to keep them in the ball game.

And that's exactly what they did.

They tied it up as he went out to give them a new decision.

And then Rafael Flores gives this team a lead.

So, now it's 4-3.

And that's just one thing this team has done very well in after the trade deadline.

It's producing at the late innings, Doug.

This bullpen.

Yeah.

You know?

Yohan Ramirez comes in and I can't say it enough.

The nickname, the experience cannot be any better of a nickname for anyone.

Because he comes in and right away, Doug, he has a strikeout.

But there's also a guy on first base with his strikeout.

Because that's the experience.

nothing like it.

The experience is great.

There's just unbelievable.

He struck out the guy, but also hit him.

And so, yeah.

Well, he didn't hit him.

They challenged it.

They lost it.

So, it didn't hit him.

But it goes past him.

It bounces off the wall, I think, at 130 miles an hour.

Goes towards first base.

Like they joked on the broadcast, the ball beat him to first.

So, it just smacks off, the backs off there.

And, yeah.

Like he strikes out the batter, but the ball was just so well thrown.

Poorly thrown.

it was well enough that the guy swung at it.

But it was such a terrible pitch to swing at that it was nowhere near the catcher.

And, yeah.

So, it goes back.

And, yeah.

The guy gets on first base.

So, like I said, the experience.

even when he strikes guys out, he gets guys on base.

Yeah.

It's something.

But I tell you what.

Last year at this time, I didn't want him anywhere near the roster.

And I want him in the bullpen next year.

Now, again, I don't know if it will carry over.

But he deserves a chance to find out.

So, yes.

And he gets out of it.

no hits.

Two strikeouts.

He has early on, I think we dubbed him maybe like the unsung hero of this team.

The quiet MVP.

Because of, like, he was in big moments, late innings, especially extra innings, where, again, there was chaos everywhere.

But he held it together.

And he got them through those innings and handed it over to the next guy.

And they tended to ruin it.

But regardless, he did his job.

And then he, the wheels came off a little bit there, Doug.

But after that, he's been nails.

Yeah.

Again, it's an experience to watch.

But it's fun to watch.

It's crazy.

You don't know what's going to happen.

like you said, you don't know if he's going to strike the guy out.

But he's going to advance to second in some strange way.

Because, but, well, I guess we should get Michaels in here and then get Jim's in there.

Yeah.

Well, Michael B., another super shout out to you.

How about trading awful Reynolds in the offseason?

Use the savings to re-sign Brandon Lowe.

Thoughts?

Reynolds sucks for four months every season.

I want Brandon Lowe.

That's an offseason show.

Yeah.

That's a big, that's a big question.

That is a big question.

I want Brandon Lowe.

I now call the home improvement store Brandon Lowe's instead of Lowe's.

Because, so I'm bored with Brandon Lowe.

I want Brandon Lowe on this team.

And if, right, if they've got to trade somebody, I can live with it more than likely.

Damn it.

I'm going to Brandon Lowe's tomorrow.

Yeah, going to Brandon Lowe's.

Exactly.

Well, I'll tell you what.

We'll talk more about this team.

And, again, Yohan here, again, he has a 3.05 ERA for the season.

That's what we're talking about.

He is interesting.

Every time he goes out there, it feels like there's guys on base every time he goes out there, but he gets the job done.

That 3.05 ERA, I don't think any of us anticipated we would see that number, even him on the roster at this point in time of the year, let alone the 3.05 ERA.

Well, when we were complaining about how bad the bullpen was and all the stuff that was going on, if you would have told us we were going to have that conversation beginning of the season, we would have been sure that Romarez was part of it, right?

And he was, he was the guy that was holding it down.

it was, it's really remarkable, the turnaround.

this guy, we've DFA'd him twice.

if you've been cut by the pirates twice, things are not going well in your career.

And we just keep bringing them back.

Lo and behold, it's finally worked out.

Yeah, man.

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And I do want to say something.

I've been using the pouches, I think, every day.

It's an intense...

I don't know if you've used yours or I'll say it's an intense feeling right away.

But, man, I'll tell you, I am alert.

I am alert with those.

I actually...

I do really enjoy the pouches.

I've only tried the gum so far.

I'll try the pouch tomorrow.

I'm telling you, Doug, try the pouch.

I've got a post-game tomorrow afternoon.

I'm going to need something.

I've never been a dipper, any of that.

I look like a fool the first time I put that.

I'm like, what do I do?

Like, what do I do with my hands?

I'm like, what do I do with this?

And my gum just went, like, completely numb.

It's an intense feeling.

I was like, maybe I should move it around a little bit.

So, I started to, but, yeah, it's, like I said, I put that in and I'm like, oh, I feel this.

I understand what they're talking about.

That's awesome.

You know who wasn't feeling it?

Karm and Mlodzinski.

Our guy, Karm.

Not tonight, Doug.

Not tonight.

He's been using a more traditional bullpen role.

He's been doing fine in that role.

What you anticipated of him being in that role doing, right?

Not tonight.

Not tonight.

this is really where we wanted him, right?

Seventh inning.

One run lead.

this is where we thought.

look, no reliever is perfect all year long.

it's fine.

But, yeah, he didn't have it tonight.

It was walk, single, walk.

it wasn't good.

It wasn't.

But you're right.

It was walk, single, walk.

Lower the bases.

No outs.

Gives up another hit.

Which, it's fine.

But Jared Sholo makes a great play.

Throws it home.

Rafael Flores makes a great play, at-home play, to catch it and get the out there.

So, he escapes.

Things are looking good now.

Okay, bases are still loaded.

But you got the out.

You just need the double play here.

And maybe we get out of this jam.

And that's not what happened.

Carmen gives up a single.

We'll write down the third baseline.

Two runs score.

Remember that 4-0-3 lead we had, Doug?

I do.

I do.

Vaguely.

I do.

Fondly.

Fondly remember it.

I was really happy for Rafael Flores there.

who tied Henry Davis in home runs with that home run.

Major achievement.

But, yeah.

But, yeah, Doug.

That makes it a 5-4 ball game.

And, again, this offense, that's fine in the big grand scheme of things.

Like, this offense could come back.

It's not like it's game over now at this point in time.

However, it was game over.

This offense didn't come back from it.

That was enough, though.

Potentially close this one.

Pirates lose 5-4.

And, yes, Camillo Doval did come in afterwards.

Carmen does go two innings.

Gives up, of course, a two.

Walks those two hits.

One strikeout.

Two earned runs.

He gets the loss.

Doval does come in for an inning.

Gives up a hit.

That's it.

No strikeouts.

No walks.

But, again, the offense couldn't do enough afterwards to do anything.

In the ninth inning, Oneil Cruz does get on base.

His second.

he had two hits today.

won the home run.

But no one was able to do anything after that.

And that was it.

That was the ball game.

Yeah.

Yeah, that apparently took the wind right out of their sails.

And, nothing much happened after that.

Yeah.

This could have been a nice win.

It was looking like it was going to be a nice win.

It was.

Yeah.

we just got to go seven.

I thought we were going to go Carm, Weaver, Mason.

And it was going to be fine.

But not today.

Not so fast, my friends.

Not today.

So, yeah.

The Pirates do drop another game.

They're officially two games under, 75 and 77.

I do want to say this, though.

again, this is just showing the differences.

Like, the Pirates, they did have 12 hits today.

They had 12 hits, 13 strikeouts.

But when you look at the Brewers as well, the Brewers only had 10 hits.

And they had 12 strikeouts as well.

So, again, it was a 5-4 ball game.

both offenses were closely matched.

I said, pitching on both sides here.

Just the Brewers were able to just do enough, right?

It's just, like, how you open the show, the difference to these teams.

The Brewers are just better.

They're just a better team.

They're just better, top to bottom.

it's, again, I don't think they have that much more talent than the Pirates.

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't, it's just clearly that, right, they do all the little, teams like Tampa Bay.

There are teams with, small payrolls and are in small markets that do the little things right.

That they realize that's what they have to do to compete.

And Tampa Bay is going to win 100 games.

Milwaukee might win 100 games.

You know what I'm saying?

Where did Cleveland come back now, too?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's.

It was out with Jose Ramirez, and he's been struggling since he's returned, too.

And there they are.

it just seems, like, so obvious that should be your focus, organizationally, fundamentally, that thing.

And they just, they don't.

They don't put an emphasis on it.

And anyone that tells me they does would show me the result.

There would be results if there was an emphasis on it.

Yes, I know they run some drills in spring training.

And they take, but they're, I get it.

It still doesn't seem like any of our outfielders know where they're supposed to throw the ball.

You know?

You just don't know.

You know?

Like, nobody's thinking, what should they do before the pit, they get the ball in.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

It's.

Hey.

Ronny Simon had a double today.

He's not supposed to be a big part of the team anyways.

But just going to, like, he even made a ball interesting.

Like, it was just a grounder.

He didn't even pick up cleanly.

I'm just like, oh, God.

Anyways.

But, yeah.

That's just.

Good for him.

Right.

Right.

Right.

But, it's.

O'Hearn had two hits.

Yeah.

Yeah.

they.

again, the offense was there.

they were putting the ball over the fence, too.

they had three home runs.

At that point, I'm like, man, remember how Tyler says you got to hit the ball over the fence?

they hit three home runs.

They had two doubles at that point.

I'm like, this is, I thought this was going to be the speech I'd give after we sealed the win.

Yeah.

Norman sends us a $2 super.

We got to say it.

Hey, Dennis Santana, .9 ERA with Arizona.

Fire Bill Murphy.

I know we were just talking about that the other night.

I really wasn't on his case, but now I'm convinced that he ruined, like, my personal, hetero crush.

Santana.

Right.

You know?

And that hurts.

He's like, I got a clench on this bump in here.

I'm still hurt.

That's my boy.

Bill Murphy may have to go.

Since they're not going to fire Ben Chayette.

Yeah, I don't know how legit it is, but, the walks are way down.

The strikeouts are up for Santana.

Yeah.

Still a small sample, but whatever at this point in time.

Yeah.

This season went nowhere and he'd be a free agent.

But, yeah, that pretty much wraps up the game for me.

Like you said, Simon had two hits.

O'Hearn had two hits.

Cruz did have the two hits.

Again, like the Cruz.

Like, yeah, he had, what, four strikeouts in a row?

He had, well, five, right?

He had four strikeouts last game.

He had five.

One today.

So, I guess he had five strikeouts in a row.

Then he hits the home run.

Gets the other hit today.

So, again, you take the full experience.

He's got 845 OPS on the air.

Dude's balling out.

But, yeah, Griffin also two hits.

And Brandon Lowe, two hits in a walk.

So, yeah, the Pirates offense was certainly there.

Just not enough to capitalize and get the W.

The pitching was mostly there.

Yeah.

Carmen blows it.

And they'll be back tomorrow.

Just announced Wilber Dotel will get the start tomorrow.

So.

I imagine we'll see Curtis probably too.

And I assume to look at that more like a bullpen type game.

Some bulk reliever innings.

Yeah.

Whether it's Dotel and Curtis and, who knows what will come afterwards.

But, yeah, sounds like that's going to be a case to wrap up the series with Milwaukee.

Yeah.

I'll be glad when they're gone.

I have a question for you.

Yes.

Do you care if they 500, if they get to 500 or over 500?

honestly, Doug, like this is what I said on the Bucco Brew.

We talked about this to some degree.

I don't really care.

Yeah, me neither.

I guess to some level you should, because it's like at least this year they finished above.

Like, at least there's something signifying progress there.

Well, yeah.

As somebody who experienced 20 straight losing seasons, it's like, let's kill that narrative at least.

again, it's, now it'll be, oh, they've had seven straight losing seasons.

It was 15 out of 16, except for that one year they went 81 and 81.

But, yeah, I don't really care.

But it would probably be better that they did than if they didn't.

Yeah, of course it would be better, right?

Like, it would be better to be at 82 wins than 78.

Like, the truer statement that 82 is better than 78, right?

Like, that is better.

But I think the grand scheme of things of the season, right now I'm not too worried about record.

It's just the play and everything.

And, again, like, I know the silver linings and everything that Michael B was talking about, that's where we're at this point in time.

And at least seeing that, the progression of Bubba has been good.

The progression of, Jared has been pretty good.

It's making you feel a little comfortable about the young arms that aren't going to be so young anymore next year.

And them getting these innings are also meaningful for next year and such.

So, yeah, like, the number is just a number.

It's an arbitrary thing, you know.

But it would be nice to say we finally went on the other side.

It gets mitigated by our management, right?

If this team were like, okay, we got to 82 and 80, and then you had a competitive general manager who was like, okay, we need to build on this.

But I'm not convinced.

Like I said, I don't think he's going to bring Brandon Lowe back.

I don't know what he's going to do.

I can see him trading some salary.

I can see him doing all the same crap he's done for seven years.

And that's where the Reynolds question comes in.

Yeah, exactly.

And right.

I don't feel confident that he's going to say, okay, we had some bad breaks.

And, I didn't get to the bullpen fast enough and, the injuries.

But let's build.

instead, I'm not sure that's what he's going to do.

Well, we'll probably have about 10 months of offseason to talk about that.

That's what it's looking like, huh?

Tomorrow, Pirates, as mentioned, Dotel takes the mound.

Pirates do take on the Brewers.

Harrison starts for them.

Pirates are currently plus 112 on FanDuel.

So, take that for what it's worth.

Brewers are minus 132.

We'll see you tomorrow.

I'm not sure who's on the postgame.

Me and Cody.

You and Cody?

Okay.

So, Doug will be back once again.

Yes, I will.

Good luck, Doug.

I'm sure you'll be – you'll have your shirt washed and ready, right?

That other shirt.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, it's ready.

It is ready.

All right.

We'll see you guys tomorrow.

We love you all.

Thank you for watching.

Like, subscribe.

Do all that good stuff.

And, yep, we'll be back tomorrow.

Bye-bye.

All right.

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