Hey, welcome everybody to Fred and the Fantastics with attorney Laura Snoke and Art Sorce from Galaxy Sports and a former kicker for the Rams and the Trojans.
Heard on PodClips and BLEAV around the world.
So much to talk about, but I would like to talk about, folks, we’re taping this on Thursday this week on Wednesday night.
Saw something very interesting.
Decoy is the name of Otani’s little doggy.
What a cute doggy.
And at Dodger Stadium, they had a second bobblehead night for
Ohtani because they didn’t have enough.
The first time people were lined up since nine o’clock in the morning on Wednesday.
So before the game started, they put Decoy on the pitching mound,
60 feet, six inches away.
And Ohtani says, run to me.
And, uh, he ran with the ball to Ohtani and handed it to him,
That was, that was a moment that I will cherish forever, Fred.
That was so awesome.
So is that the, uh, second called shot?
Because when Ohtani went to the first at-bat, what do you think Ohtani did?
He homered.
I mean, he just, he just leaned out with that right hand.
It was amazing that he could generate that kind of bat speed with like a
one-handed, you know, left-handed, right, the right-hand swing.
Ah, man, that was, that was amazing.
Laura, what’d you think of Decoy?
I loved it. Now I love Shohei Ohtani. I love the joy that he feels in playing baseball.
I mean, he has brought so much joy to the game, and his obvious, when he hits a home run,
that smile, it’s just wonderful to see. And I love the dog. I mean, it was just
great, great, great television, great for the game. And the guy pitches also,
have we forgotten?
Yeah we forgot that yeah and what an incredible athlete. I mean for him to be on the
cusp of doing something that nobody in the history of Major League Baseball has ever done.
I don’t think anybody’s actually done 40-40, have they Fred?
No he was the first.
That’s what I’m saying so now if he gets to 50-50, wow that’s got to be worth the MVP right there. And then you look
around then you go, poor Marcell Ozuna. He’s having one of the career years of his life
just like the you know the shortstop in Kansas City Bobby Witt, but I mean I looked at the odds
the other day and I think Aaron Judge is minus 3,300 to one to win the MVP.
Well again, either way, I mean, it’s been an interesting season in Major League Baseball there were so many teams that
are possible, certainly for the playoffs, and certainly for to see how many of these teams
have three starting pitchers that can actually go.
At this point, there are,
So Fred, has anybody done a survey as to how many pitchers have gone down in Major League Baseball?
You know, all 30 teams.
I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this year in terms of
pitchers coming down with problems.
No, I agree.
I mean, different problems every week.
It’s a toenail problem.
It’s a, uh, it’s an arm problem.
It’s a shoulder problem.
It’s an elbow.
Hangnails.
And again, we’ve talked about this. I mean, Laura, when you and I were growing up, a pitcher would
go seven, eight or nine, most of the time eight or nine. Now, if you go five, if Dave Roberts
allows you to go five, you’re fortunate. And maybe you’re trying to throw so hard, so quickly,
and maybe the time rule where you’ve only got towards the 12 or 15 seconds to between pitches,
maybe that is something to do it. Laura, I mean, you’re not a doctor, you’re a lawyer,
But what do you think the reason might be for all the pitching injuries?
I think it’s, I think, I don’t think the pitch clock helps,
especially for some pitchers. I think just the way they’re
having to throw, that they’re throwing so hard every pitch.
They used to, I think, pitchers used to space out the,
their pitches more and not just throw 100% each time they threw.
Laura, do you agree that you don’t see guys like Tommy John who were like, take a little
off, put a little on up and down, moving the ball around, trying to get guys to hit
a ground ball on the first pitch, or a guy like Whitey Ford or Mel Stottlemeyer or a
Claude Osteen from when I was a Dodger fan as a young man? I mean, I just think
the game is completely different now and it’s become such a power-oriented pitching
game that I’m, I’m seeing these guys throwing so hard and how much, how much torque can
you put on that little tiny elbow muscle? It’s like racehorses, Fred. Right. When you
look at their little ankles, you go, Oh my God, there’s 2,700 pounds running full
speed in these little tiny ligaments. It’s scary.
Well, the other thing too, is that in the old days, you know, um, they, they used to,
like with Sandy Koufax, for example, they would just, you know, inject drugs so he could pitch.
They don’t do that anymore. So I think there’s that’s another issue that the pitchers today are just they’re not,
they’re not doing those other, they just go on the IL, rather than get, you know, shots every time before they pitch.
So I don’t know what the answer is. I mean, you know, as long as
pitchers are going to be competitive, they’re going to
want to throw as hard as they can, or as many odd, you know,
curve balls as they can throw. And it’s, but it’s not good for the game to have somebody
Could also be the fact that these kids are so hyper-competitive
in little league now? Little League was fun when I played
baseball. We were I mean, we wanted to win, but it was
about having popcorn and bubble gum and having a great time and being with your friends and
and I’m wondering if, if this, this societal pressure to be the best, to, you know, to be
you know, great at something and the parents and I’m wondering if that might have a little
something to do with it that even though, you know, a guy might be 24 years old he may have
been pitching in baseball, competitive baseball, since he was 10 years old just the mileage on
Yeah, yeah, but I will tell you this I was that competitive.
Oh, of course you were Fred.
I didn’t care about the hot dogs.
But we’re gonna take a quick break right here on Fred and the Fantastics.
Okay everybody, we’re back on Fred and the Fantastics. You can email us at sportsfred@aol.com
sportsfred@aol.com. Heard of course on BLEAV and PodClips. Attorney Laura Snoke with us,
former Ram kicker and USC Trojan kicker Art Sorce with us.
And let me just read something from USA Today.
I want you guys to comment on this.
This is from Matt Hayes, no relation to Woody Hayes.
This is in USA Today.
Michigan is no different than any other NCAA cheat.
I’m going to repeat that.
Michigan is no different than any other NCAA cheat.
Laura, your comments.
That’s a sad state of affairs, isn’t it?
If that’s true.
I mean, I don’t know.
I don’t think that’s true.
Should the NCAA have taken away the crown?
Did that guy cheat?
Did he not know the plays that were coming?
I mean, this is my question.
You know, they have to set a rule somehow, some way.
You know, I just feel bad for the new head coach, Jerome Brown.
I mean, he’s walking into a situation where the bunch of great kids, 13 of
their best players left for the NFL, which is why Harbaugh won the national
championship, he had the best team in the country, but do you need that edge?
Is, is, is it that important for them to have somebody at games, you know,
watching the calls of other, other, other coaches?
It’s a tough one, Fred.
I mean, part of me says, you know, win fair and square.
Look the guy in the eye, shake his hands.
And if he, if he beats you, you shake his hands, you look in the eye and you
know, that’s what you do, but you know, this win-at-all-costs attitude to me is,
is starting to pervade all aspects of society and it’s bothering me a little bit.
The new coach, of course, was suspended a couple of games, uh, uh, two years
ago, uh, for being part of this.
And, you know, to me this is astounding because, the bottom line is, if it’s a player taking
drugs or gambling, you know, gambling on your team or something like that, the NCAA I’m
sure wouldn’t think twice about suspending or expelling the kid.
They didn’t do it for Michigan.
UCLA in 1980 lost to Louisville in the finals in 1980 by five points and they took
away the crown, they took away the second-place award from UCLA,
because they found out that Sam Gilbert was paying some kids
for some homes that, or parents of the kids, had homes. And we
know that story. We know the Reggie Bush story where he
lost the Heisman and Pico ran away. Yeah, I said I got I
think I’ve said this a million times. I have tons of
relatives in Michigan. Most of them went to University of
Michigan, I’m sorry, they should not have this crown.
They just cheated too often.
Folks, again, it’s not just stealing the signals,
the team that you’re gonna play the next week,
you send a coach over there to steal the signals
so you could have an advantage.
It’s meeting kids in times when you can’t be recruiting.
So if you add those two things up, it’s a tough way to go.
Awaken. What’s Awaken think about Michigan losing the crown?
We’re going to have to take a break right here on Fred and the Fantastics as we can
not hear Art Sorce back with more right after this.
Hey, welcome everybody back to Fred and the Fantastics heard on BLEAV and PodClips.
Attorney Laura Snoke Galaxy Sports on Art Source brought to you by Awaken and
and happy to have you aboard our little crew right here.
By the way, Mark Mancini should be back next week
on Fred and the Fantastics.
He’s a grandfather many times over
sometimes in the middle of the night, as we all know.
All right, Art, if you had to pick a major league team right now,
who would you pick to win the World Series?
That’s a great question.
Boy, who’s got the best pitching?
We’ve got to look at it.
Right at the moment, the Braves are playing an awfully good baseball right now.
The Phillies still have pretty good starting pitching.
I think it’s one of those two teams because Baltimore has been decimated.
The Yankees, they just, once you get past, you know,
Garrett Cole, Rodon, they’re not really killing it.
But yeah, that’d be one of my two picks.
I’m gonna go with the Bravos,
even though they’re hurt everywhere, they got pitching.
Laura Snoke, if you had to pick one team right now,
and we’ve got like five weeks, four and a half weeks to go, who would you pick?
Well, I’m gonna go with the Dodgers, just because.
Wait a minute.
You didn’t see that coming, Fred? Come on.
It’s sort of like, I always bet on UCLA basketball in every pool.
Hey, did Musgrove win last night, Fred?
Who?
The Padres and Joe Musgrove? Did he win? Did they win last night?
On Wednesday night? I’m not sure. I don’t think so.
Because I know they’ve been, he’s been pitching real well.
And, uh, yeah, I just, I don’t know.
That, you know, I left out a team that I really like who has some great
pitchers, Arizona.
Okay.
Say it isn’t so.
So the story in this week’s year, Saturday Sports Weekly is Arizona.
The Diamondbacks, that’s a team that has certainly, uh, they picked up
broad, you know, Rodriguez, a top-notch pitcher, didn’t pitch that
well on Wednesday night, but, uh, I can’t give you three pitchers for
the Dodgers, Laura, if you were, if you were a betting person, uh, give me
three pitchers that you think will be the three pitchers will be healthy for
the playoffs in a Dodger uniform.
I don’t know, but maybe they’ll have to platoon pitchers.
I mean, maybe they’ll have a different way because they have, they, they do
have such a potent offense and they can score a lot of runs so they can,
they can have a little bit of, I mean, it’s not the days where they’re
going to win games.
How about Ohtani, Kershaw and, uh, pray for rain.
I think that may be last next year without the prayer.
Let me add something else.
Freddie Freeman and his finger, he missed two games in a row.
Of course he missed eight games with his young three-year-old son being sick.
Maybe that finger is a lot worse off than we think.
He didn’t even pinch hit on Tuesday night and they let Chris Taylor hit with the chance
to win or tie the game.
So Laura, do you think, I mean, they’re healthy? Are they healthy anywhere?
I mean, it’s like if Freeman’s out, there’s a problem. And Glasnow’s now out further, longer than they think he’s going to be out.
Yamato has been gone for three months now. It’s an unbelievable situation. River’s gone for the season.
You know, hey, Fred, along those lines, Fred, when do we find out what the real situation is with these guys in terms of their coming back?
Is it that clandestine that, you know, non-transparent that they don’t even want to talk about it?
Okay. Final question on Fred and the Fantastics.
Teoscar Hernandez playing very well for the Dodgers.
Would everybody agree on that?
Oh, heck yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
He’s a free agent.
They’re going to re-sign him?
I would.
I would. Yeah, I think they will.
How much money would you give them?
Uh, in modern day baseball, probably between 28 and 35 million, maybe a
year deal, nothing longer than that.
So another hundred million, the Dodgers will spend?
What’s another hundred million?
Laura, you think they’ll spend another hundred million?
No, no, but they might,
Somebody will want him.
I don’t think they’ll spend that much, but they might
spend, uh, they might spend 30, 40, 50 million.
I don’t know.
I think the bigger issue is what are they going to do with these guys that
have these bloated contracts and aren’t performing?
Like, well, raise ticket prices. You got to get a loan at B of A to go there the first
they go to a game.
Raise parking prices, $100 a car. I mean, there’s no, there’s no problem
there. All right. Art Sorce, final 30 seconds on that.
Hey, real excited, real excited about getting back,
going to Las Vegas, seeing my old alma mater USC and LSU go to battle, get to have dinner with two rather interesting people,
Edward Jaron and John Robinson.
Wow.
Looking forward to those two together.
They both were, you know, at USC and both were part of the LSU program.
So it ought to be real exciting and then I get to go see my mom down in Prescott.
Good luck. Good luck to everything and may your mom be well.
And Laura Snoke, 30 seconds, your final comments.
I hope, I certainly, as a DirecTV subscriber, I certainly hope the game is televised. It’s
going to be a great game. I hope SC wins, but we’ll see. And I’m looking forward to
a great season.
You know, Fred, that spread has come down from seven to four and a half today. And
the over and under has gone from 62 and a half up to 64 and a half. So they’re
expecting a shootout, but we talked off air about how the new rules of college football,
the clock gets started a little earlier. So I’m interested to see how that all works out.
Miller Moss discovers a chess player. So I’m going to take, I’m going to take the Trojans
against Brian Kelly and Miller Moss, who threw six touchdowns in the bowl game.
In the Holiday Bowl, yeah.
Might only throw four or five in this one.
Yeah, I’ll say hi to Pete Arbogast for you.
Laura, thank you very much.
Thanks for having me.
Artie, thank you very much, Mario, thank you very much, and stay tuned all the time for more of Fred and the Fantastics.
Bye everybody.