After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

How's your mental health?

I'm listening with Billie Eilish. I feel like I spent a lot of time thinking about happiness and how it's just like it fluctuates and everyone thinks if you're one thing you're going to be that forever and you're never going to be anything else and it's really not true. Like happiness is temporary but also so is like misery and things just like morph and change. It just doesn't stay.

It goes up and goes down and things change and like that's how life works. Explore more at I'mListening.org. Explore more at I'mListening.org.

Explore more at I'mListening.org. The dog, my dog, she is a media darling, a social media darling even when she doesn't know it. I couldn't help it. I had to snap a photo of Penny conked out on the hardwood floor in my hallway this evening. You guys do not know. Now she can't hear very well anymore but you guys don't know how I was tiptoeing around the hallway, even put my phone on silent so she wouldn't hear the click because she looks so comfortable and so content and you do not want to wake up my sleeping dog.

No. So if you haven't seen it, here I'll retweet it. ALawRadio and many of you sent photos of your dogs in return which we are always appreciative of.

We try to retweet those from our show account. Pen is one month away from 13 and she is, well she's perfect for autumn. You can lose her in a pile of leaves and she's starting to grow her winter coat now. It's starting to get colder and she is just fluffy as all get out and sleeps more than any creature on the planet. I'm jealous of my dog. Is that a thing? Have you guys ever been jealous of how well your dog sleeps? Everywhere?

Anywhere? All the time? Especially when I need to get her out to go to the bathroom before I leave for work? Jay actually saw the photo and said are you going to be able to get her up and get her outside before you have to leave? It doesn't look like she wanted to go anywhere. Well thankfully I had hours before I had to leave at that point but you're right.

It is definitely a challenge. Ten minutes is the bar I leave. If I can get the dog downstairs, and this actually was downstairs, I was still eating dinner at this point, but if I can get the dog downstairs and outside and then back in the house and get her treats within ten minutes, that's a triumph. That's cause for dancing and shit. Yeah, the dog sometimes doesn't want to go out. Or she can't hear me saying it's time to go out.

Like I said, I can't really tell. She's been sassy this week though. When I try to corral her, she runs, well runs, she moves the other direction. She's all kinds of saucy and sassy even as she gets close to her thirteenth birthday.

So if you haven't seen a conked out Penny, well it's right there for you on Twitter. And then also I promise, I need Jay's help for this, but I promise I will post on our Facebook page so you too can see what my sleeping dog looks like. She's just cuter than most sleeping dogs.

I'm teasing. All sleeping dogs are super cute. It's like all babies.

All babies are super cute. Thanks for hanging out with us. We have made it to the second half of the work week. And yes, we will provide a pumpkin carving update.

I absolutely promise because I've gotten all kinds of recommendations. Buy the pumpkin carving kit. Don't buy the pumpkin carving kit. Here's where you start when you carve a pumpkin. And then, producer Jay, I know you'll find the humor in this, some guy like six hours after we talked about it said, did you carve your pumpkin yet? I mean, really?

We're not supposed to sleep ever. And I just, I snapped my fingers and the pumpkin appeared like it's Cinderella or something. Didn't her carriage turn back into a pumpkin at midnight? Apparently that guy thought that we had a carriage turning into a pumpkin at midnight.

So no, the answer is no because producer Jay won't let us carve the pumpkin until he has picked up his gear. What else did you call it? Your gear and your tools. My tools. Yeah. All the essentials. These are all going home with producer Jay. I am not taking pumpkin carving tools unless there's some like cute black cat sort of memorabilia.

Yeah. I don't think you know what I got up my sleeve, but I'm looking at it. I'm going to be... I don't want to know what you have up your sleeve.

What's the word? Not dressed to impress, but... Oh no, you're dressing up for this? No, I'm not dressing, but I meant like I'm going to show up with like the right materials and looking good out there. He actually suggested gloves. Well, well. With some kind of plastic scoopy things on the end. They were, they were official pumpkin carving or scooping gloves. Professional pumpkin scooper gloves. Right.

You know what? I've got a pooper scooper that you can use on the pumpkin if you like. They would, but the easy to put them on, they go up, they cover your arm, they cover your whole, kind of like... Are you planning on putting your entire arm into our pumpkin? If you really want to get in there and get all the seeds out. No, I don't, but you can. If I have the glove, I'll do it. Oh, great. Okay. Well, get two gloves. I'll wear one and you'll wear one. But I wasn't planning on going elbow deep into a pumpkin.

I wasn't until I saw the glove. How big is this pumpkin? Does this mean I need to get a supersized pumpkin? No, I guess any pumpkin really would do it.

Why do I let Jay talk me into these things? I was just thinking we were going to do a YouTube video on Halloween candy and all of a sudden it turned into sticking our elbows into pumpkins. Yep. This is what it's become.

You're just lucky I like orange. That's the only reason that I've agreed to do this. Also, because while you stick your elbows into the pumpkin, I can make snarky comments and that's when I'm at my finest.

Yeah. When I can make fun of producers, that's when I'm at my finest. Let's just be honest.

They are such easy fodder for my snarky comments. I'll accept it. You'll accept it. You'll allow it. I'll allow it.

I'm sorry. Whose YouTube channel is it? I guess ours. Oh, is it?

It's our YouTube channel now it is. So anyway, we've got pumpkins. We've got dogs. We got dogs.

We've got all kinds of fun stuff planned for this edition of the show. The sad sap of the week. Just wait. Just wait until you hear who I have designated as our sad sap.

I do hear you. We got dogs. We're actually on the eve of week seven in the NFL. And if my mom's husband sends me any more jokes about the Broncos on national TV, I think I'm going to excommunicate him from the family. He thinks he is so funny. He, he would rather, he'd rather the Broncos play on national TV so he can make jokes about it. Want to hear the latest one? This is not actually funny, Mike, but this is, this is what he said.

So, oh, wait, shoot. It was in our, so my mom and Mike and I all have like a group text and then he and I have our own text going on. So my mom's birthday is next week, so we're planning. We're planning. Anyway, I, he said, let's get some more sucky games in major prime time slots.

Maybe Houston, Washington in a home and home. Great. That's funny.

Back to back Monday nights from Germany and England. Better yet in North Korea and Iran. I was like, that's not funny. We're not sending our peeps to North Korea.

So then, terrible idea. I sent him the photo of Penny, right? Well, he and my mom and he writes back, Penny looks like I feel when I see the Broncos on our TV schedule, he won't let it go.

That's kind of funny. He refuses to let it go. So it's his favorite thing now, making fun of the Broncos on national TV. The problem, and I would agree that it's not great to put them on national TV anymore until we get to the flex portion of the schedule, we're stuck. Remember the Lions head coach Dan Campbell said we could get flexed. Who says we can't get flexed?

Exactly. I'd rather watch the Lions right now on national TV. They put up a lot of points, even if they do also allow a lot of points. Why not? But the problem this early in the season is the NFL and its broadcast partners do not flex.

I mean, I can flex, but they do not flex. So we're stuck because the AFC West in prime time was all the rage when the schedule makers were putting together the calendar. Now, remember those same schedule makers gave us Cleveland and Carolina in week number one. So, you know, they also gave us Broncos and Seahawks in week number one.

So at least they got something right. I'm not going to fall for that trap. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. On Twitter, find my picture of Penny just because it'll make you happy.

Seriously, it will. ALawRadio, our Facebook page too. I did go back and answer a bunch of your Ask Amy questions on both of our social media sites. Our phone number 855-212-4227. And we are live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Do you need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family? Rocket can. Really cool treat for you. We've been working on this for a couple of weeks only because our schedules don't often jive. But Brian McFadden, two-time Super Bowl winner, former Steelers defensive back, CBS Sports HQ analyst, will join us on the show Top of the Hour. And he will provide us the defensive perspective. Because we had a Hall of Fame quarterback earlier in the week. You know I'm going to keep dropping the Kurt Warner references, right?

Because it was so cool for us. We got his perspective and so now we need to talk to a defensive guy about the brutal offense in the first six weeks. About some of the QB changes in Pittsburgh specifically.

About roughing the passer, absolutely. About Tua as Tua gets set to return for week seven. And this is a few weeks after we all saw him on national TV on Thursday night against the Bengals go down hard.

His hands seized up. He had to be carted off the field, taken to a hospital. And he's been in concussion protocol until recently. As it turns out, Tua has no memory of that playing out in front of football fans across the country. I remember the entire night up to the point where I got tackled. But yeah, after I got tackled, I don't remember much from there. Getting carted off, I don't remember that.

But I do remember, you know, things that were going on when I was in the ambulance and then when I arrived at the hospital. By the time he was in the ambulance and by the time he was at the hospital, remember our Bengals insider told us that his parents were there. And you may also remember our, was it Josh Moser? Our Bengals insider also told us that he was still at the, in fact he was at the stadium when we spoke to him. But he was at the stadium when Tua and his parents showed up to get on that team plane back to Miami. He said at that time he spoke to Tua.

And Tua was jovial. He was brief because the Dolphins PR people did not want him speaking a lot. But he was able to give his parents a hug and a kiss before he got on the plane back to South Florida. So he remembers what happened from the ambulance forward. But in terms of the hit, he has no recollection of that playing out, which is, it blows my mind. I know this happens to human beings with head injuries, but man it's scary. I wouldn't say it was scary for me at the time. Because there were, there was a point where I was, I was unconscious so I couldn't, you know, really tell what was going on. So, you know, when I did come to and kind of realize what was going on, what was happening.

You know, I never, I didn't think of anything, you know, long term or short term. I was just wondering what happened. Seriously, that is scary. I'm not sure I've ever been in that situation. I've had a couple concussions.

One that I gave myself. The other was falling down the stairs. I don't believe I ever lost consciousness, but I do remember after the second one, I had to drive home. I was in Connecticut. I had to drive back to New Jersey. I drove back because I had a massive knot on my head. I drove back with an ice pack, like propped up on the headrest in my driver's seat.

And drove that way to kind of keep the swelling down. And I remember that evening, well that afternoon I got home, I was so tired. They tell you not to take a nap when you, or not to sleep when you're concussed, but I could not stay awake. I don't know if I've ever been that tired in my life. My eyes, I couldn't keep them open. And I laid down and I slept for five hours.

Five hours. Just like that. And then I remember I was supposed to go to a hockey game. I had press passes to go to an NHL game that night. And I went to take my trash out to the end of the street. And I was dizzy. Just standing up to get my trash out and to take it down to the bottom of my driveway. And so I ended up not going to the hockey game, not going on the train to go to the game.

Because I just didn't feel comfortable moving around. Thankfully it was better after I slept that night. And the next day the swelling had gone way down. But that was just a minor concussion. I can imagine for Tua's family, for him, himself, these last couple of weeks have been scary. And yet what he said on Wednesday is, man, not being able to help my team as they were losing three games in a row. As they've been struggling.

And Skylar Thompson, then Teddy Bridgewater was with him in concussion protocol. He really does want to get back out there on the field. I enjoy being here. I enjoy all the guys in the building.

So when I'm not able to do something about it and help our team and our organization, then that just really sucks. Coming up in week seven, it's the Steelers at the Dolphins. And so that one will take place in Miami on a Sunday night. Tua, back on national TV. I'm going to believe it will be nothing like his last appearance on national TV. But I'm glad to hear from him, hear his voice, and know that he's passed through all the protocols probably a dozen or more times.

They're going to be very careful with him, obviously, with all the scrutiny, but also because of what he's been through in the last month. You can find us on Twitter after our CBS. That's our show account. You can find me, or more appropriately, you can find Penny on my Twitter, ALawRadio. I promise right now we're going to post it on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. Thanks so much for hanging out with us. We're going to pivot now to game two of the NLCS, the opener of the ALCS in San Diego and Houston.

We've got so much to get to on this edition of the show. A full night in the NBA. Paolo Bancaro making his debut. Lots of people raving already about the rookie out of Duke. And then a bunch of superstars who changed teams in the offseason. Not KD, though, or Kyrie. They're still with the Nets.

And they were, I'm sure, thrilled to see Zion Williamson on the court for the Grizzlies. So, just fun to think about the changes in the NBA. We won't have a ton of time to spend on all the various games, and I know you're not looking for me to be sports phone or anything. I actually never did sports phone, but the stories I've heard about it. Jay, do you have any idea what sports phone is?

I do actually, but that's because it came off once, I didn't know until it came off a couple years ago when I was working here. And I was like, what the heck is that? I think Peter Schwartz explained it to me.

So he said he used to do that, which sounds about right. He's a big fan of sports phone, yes. We're just diving in. It was a good day of sleeping, so your host is in a good mood, which means she's going to make lots of fun of producer Jay because that's my favorite thing. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today.

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The After Hours Podcast. Here is Verlander's pitch. Swung on it. High in the air to deep left. That ball is high. It is far.

It is gone. Harrison Bader strikes again. You know who he is. Darth Bader.

And by the way, in case you wondered, I'm just wild about Harry. He homers to left center. The Yankees take a 1-0 lead.

1-2. Breaking ball and that's driven to right and deep. Judge racing back.

Still going back and it's off the base of the wall. McCormick on his way to third. He's around third and coming home. McCormick will score in the second Maldonado. 1-1 game.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Back and forth to start the American League Championship Series. Harrison Bader taking Justin Verlander deep early. That's John Sterling.

I do like Darth Bader. I wish that that was the call and it was a standalone, but I'm not in charge of these types of things. John Sterling and Susan Wohlman on Yankees radio. And then Martine Maldonado answers almost immediately.

For the home team, the Astros admit it made park and he does it off Jamison, Tion. Although, remember, who was it? The Cleveland reporter?

I don't actually know who he was and it doesn't matter. But the Cleveland reporter or writer who was trying to ask Terry Francona about Jamison Talion. Talion like he was a scallion or an Italian. The Italian man. Now I will never be able to see Jamison Tion's name or his face without thinking about the way that Terry Francona answered. You mean the Italian?

What Italian? So good. Oh my gosh. Do you know one thing I love about this business is that we can have fun with this kind of stuff.

We don't have to be super serious all the time. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. It's Robert Ford and Steve Sparks for Astros radio.

Steve was a guest here on the show last week. Now they got Justin Verlander into some sticky water. No, there's no sticky water. Into a sticky situation in hot water.

I stink at clichés. The Yankees were able to get to him and actually force him to throw 45 pitches in the first two innings. And then the Yankees left two runners in scoring position in the third when Verlander came back to strike out first Josh Donaldson. And then Matt Carpenter who was talking to himself a lot as he was facing Justin Verlander in this game. And really once Verlander settled into that groove there was almost no way to break through against him.

Here it comes. Swing and a miss. Got him on a curve ball down and in. Rizzo strikes out. Verlander has struck out nine. And he has struck out two in this inning as Verlander continues to bow down the Yankees. Here's the 0-2 to Donaldson. Strike three call on the outside corner with a slider and Donaldson goes down looking. Striking out for the third time today. Carpenter no batting gloves. Waiting for a 3-2. Verlander delivers.

Swing and a miss. Got him on a slider down and in. Carpenter strikes out. Eleven punch outs for Verlander.

0-2. And Gurriel pranks it to left. Stanton is going back. At the wall.

Looking up. See you later. And the Landry's Crawford boxes for Uli Gurriel. And the Astros lead it 2-1. Payoff pitch to McCormick.

And Chaz drives it pretty deep to right center. Judges going back. At the wall. Looking up.

Kiss a goodbye. Chaz McCormick goes deep. And the Astros go up 3-1. And that is all the Astros would need. Robert Ford and then Steve Sparks. He was the one who called the Jeremy Pena home run.

I'm sure we'll hear that at some point. But in the sixth and the seventh the Astros were able to get to the Yankees pitching. And the rest of the Houston bullpen.

So the rest of the guys who were called on after Verlander left. So Verlander went through six innings and did throw 103 pitches because of them pushing him early. But after that the bullpen for the Astros, which literally has the best ERA in baseball, was locked down. So this was a game in which there were fewer opportunities for the Yankees late. But they were 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position. And because they weren't able to break through against Verlander, things could have looked a whole lot different, right? If they had broken through in the third inning, if they'd been able to push another run across or a couple runs across, maybe they'd chase Verlander earlier. Because clearly he wasn't going to go much farther than 103 pitches.

And so he was able to settle in like Hall of Famers do. And after that the chances were extremely limited. As the game's going along, you just gain more confidence as you start making better pitches. And once I started being able to execute my pitches the way I wanted, I feel like my confidence just kind of built upon that. And I felt like they had the momentum early as an offense against me.

But I felt like I was able to kind of bring it back on my side and just kind of keep the pressure on them once that happened. And thankfully our boys came through with some big hits. And the bullpen did their job like they usually do.

And that's how we win a lot of ballgames. We didn't start off that way, but it was big of him to pitch out of trouble. You know, when he got the strikeout to Donaldson, boy, that was huge.

Because like, I mean, this guy, he can get out of trouble. And then the strikeout to Carpenter, you know, he dolled it up. He got it together. He was actually better between 80 and 100 than he was prior to that.

And he was dealing. I feel like we were on the verge of kind of breaking through there early against him and just couldn't quite do it. And then he kind of settled in in those middle innings and pitched really well. You know, I don't think he was real sharp early, but then he kind of dialed it in.

You know, it started really executing, you know, staying away from trouble. I thought he spun the ball really well. So you hear Aaron Boone reflect on Verlander, ultimately gives up just the one run on the Harrison Bader shot. Three hits, a walk, 11 strikeouts, though. And after seeing what happened in the earlier round, right, so against the Mariners, he had indicated that he had a tweaked calf. And that threw off his mechanics.

Don't know what was happening in the early stages of this one, only that he did settle in. And once he did, he looked like the Justin Verlander. And this is exactly what the Astros need from him. And I know it's different, right, for them versus the Yankees when it comes to bullpen, because they've had a bunch of time off after sweeping through those three games with the Mariners, albeit one of them an 18 inning game, which was more like two.

So I guess we could say they played four games, just happened to be in three days on the schedule. But the Astros rely on him to be able to carry them deep enough so that that bullpen, the heart of their bullpen, can get out there. And Verlander's right. This is what the Astros do.

They hit the snot out of the ball. It's different guys up and down the lineup. It wasn't Jordin Alvarez tonight. It was Chas McCormick and Jeremy Pena and Yuli Guriel.

But they have been flying under the radar for months. And now you're seeing why this team was 50 games above 500 during the regular season. By the way, Verlander has a new major league record. Pretty much happens every time he steps on the mound in the postseason. Eight double digit strikeout games in the playoffs. And he and Clayton Kershaw were going back and forth as the career leader. It's a little bit like, oh, Drew Brees before he retired. Drew Brees and Tom Brady with the most number of career touchdowns.

Well, that's what these two guys are doing. Clayton Kershaw was up to 213 career postseason strikeouts. But now the lead is Verlander's. And actually Clayton had passed Verlander in his start. But now Verlander has leapfrogged him again and is in front with 219. And according to Verlander, he wants to pitch until he's 45. He's actually said they're going to have to tear the jersey off of his body.

Let's hope there's no buzzers under there. So he lives for this. This has been a resurgent year for him. And in the postseason, you can see that look on his face. There's just zero complacency ever.

Ever. You know, just because we won game one, we understand that there's a hard road ahead of us still. And, you know, we expect everybody to come out tomorrow just like it was, you know, like we lost this game. That's the sense of urgency that we always have. The Astros give you so little margin for error, though, because their pitching staff is so good.

Yes, they've got guys who can smack the ball. But Clark Schmidt gives up the Griel home run. And then a couple batters later gives up the Chaz McCormick home run. And it's three to one. But other than one more solo shot, I think it was Rizzo, right, that went deep late.

Anthony Rizzo for the Yankees. You just don't get a whole lot. And so you've got to take advantage of the opportunities when you have them more than ever. So this is not the Guardians who likely aren't going to hit a ton against you. And so maybe you can get away with not taking advantage of all of your opportunities. Against the Astros, there's so little margin for error.

And so you have to capitalize. So Astros take the opener, four to two coming up. It's all even in the NLCS where the Padres had a little something something for their fans at Petco Park, man.

Place on fire. And I am fascinated. I love it now watching.

In fact, I rewound it to watch it more than once. The at bats between the Nola brothers. Aaron Nola pitching.

He's the younger brother of Austin Nola, who is the catcher for for the Padres. And so to see those two against each other and to just watch their facial expressions and think about what's going through their heads. I just that's fascinating to me as someone who would rather if it's me, let's just say it's my brother.

I would rather have him strike me out or him get a big hit off me then. I'm super competitive, but I love my brother more. Probably more than I love winning, which is crazy. So we know the Williams sisters talked about this a bunch, right? It's different in a team sport like the Watt brothers because you're not out there all by yourself facing each other. Even though, you know, there could be a tackle of, say, a T.J. Watt on a Derek Watt if he happens to have the football, whatever, whatever.

But you're not generally out there facing each other one on one. But in tennis or in a big pitching matchup like that, it's pretty cool to just think about the psychology and all the emotions. And I loved hearing the story tonight. And we'll hear from Austin Nola a little bit later. But I loved hearing the story on the broadcast of how Aaron, who was always going to make the major leagues.

I mean, he's been on this meteoric rise as a pitcher. He cried more over his brother finally making it into the majors when he switched positions and became a catcher, Marco, than him breaking into the major leagues because he cared so much more about his brother getting it because he knew how hard Austin had worked to make that opportunity happen. I think anybody, they have a sibling. I think that makes sense. Yeah.

Anybody that's seen them, whenever you see one of your siblings strive for something, push for something, for them to be able to get to whatever goal that they want, that you know that they've been struggling, you know, working hard for, yeah, I mean, that makes all the sense in the world. Facing each other, though, that... Can you imagine just the emotions? But you know each other so well.

Yeah, no, I can't. You know, I have an older brother. I can't fathom having to, you know, and I was the little brother like in his shadows and chasing him around like a puppy dog.

I can't imagine if I was actually facing him in the big leagues. Obviously, neither one of us had the talent for that, but I can't... All the stuff that goes through your head, I mean, everything, probably the wiffle ball games, you know, the wrestling in the yard or in the living room and like, you know, the beatings that you took, like all that stuff that goes through your mind, like I can't even imagine what you were feeling in that moment. Oh, I absolutely love that. And you're right, the fact that not only do they know each other so well, but they want the other to succeed so badly. And you could see it with the parents. Their mom was clapping just because, you know, she's out there and everybody in Petco Park is clapping when he gets the hit off Aaron.

But the dad didn't know what to do because he doesn't want his younger son to get blown up. And it turned out to be not a huge inning. Well, that was the fifth inning, wasn't it? That was the fifth inning.

So it turned out to be this beginning. His dad can't even clap. He's just standing there like, I don't even know what to do in this moment. That would be impossible.

Yes. As a parent, I just really you're in no man's land at that point. You really because you do you're happy for a half a beat and then it's like, oh, we like I wouldn't know what. Yeah, that's that's rough, though. And you really don't want to show too much because I mean, Christmas has still got to happen. Thanksgiving is still going to happen. You know, birthday is still going to happen like all that kind of stuff is still going to go on. You're still going to be in the same house at some point to celebrate something and you're going to hear it. So that's just funky if you're the parents at that point. Super cool, though, just for the both of them as a family members and siblings to support each other when all this is done. All right.

So we'll get to the NLCS and that five run fifth for the home team coming up. You can find us on Twitter after our CBS on our Facebook page to a sleeping penny. She's there just so you can laugh and help. How's your mental health?

I'm listening with Luke Combs. I am somebody who has struggled with anxiety a lot. A couple of ways or tools, I guess you would say, to maintain my mental health is making myself aware to the things that I know I'm prone to.

Information is key for things like that and knowing what you're dealing with and how they operate. Being aware of the way your mind works in certain situations has been the most important thing for me. More at I'm listening dot org.

Talk saves lives. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams.

Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later.

There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. They raced out to a big lead building on the opener. It was, to me, about, it had the feeling that it was about to be a runaway train. And I was a little bit nervous for the Padres, wondering if they were going to be able to rally and if we were going to see those bats finally show up to play in the NLCS.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So here's the interesting part about the Phillies. It wasn't bludgeoning Blake Snell.

It was death by a thousand paper cuts, if that makes sense. So in that second inning, I forgot how many hits they had, but it was all dink and dunk, right? It was, I think there was one double in there, but it was a bunch of singles that the Phillies were able to generate. Four runs on five hits to be able to build that early lead. But the Padres finally generated some energy, some electricity.

They got the noise working inside Petco Park, and things changed in a flash. Here's the 0-2. Kim runs and a base hit into right field. Hit and run to perfection. Kim's on his way to third. He will turn on his way.

Segura cuts it. No throw home. And Austin gets Aaron again. It's a one-run game in the bottom of the fifth.

Here it is. And Soto swings, hammers it towards the right field corner. That will get down, and a fair ball bouncing up against the wall. Nola has scored. The game is tied. Profar held it third, and Soto an RBI double. 4-4 in the fifth.

That's Jesse Agler on Padres radio before that Phillies radio. And so for them to be able to get the crowd into it, for them to be able to start to push, push back against what they were seeing from Aaron Nola, it was the perfect time for them to grab that momentum. As I say, I was a little bit nervous that they were going to go meekly into the night in the second game there at Petco Park, and we were headed for a shorter series in the NLCS. They were trailing 4-2 to start the inning, but it didn't take long before the game had been flipped upside down.

Runners go. Here's the pitch. Andruri swings. Locks one into center field. That will get down and a base hit.

Profar has scored. Here comes Soto. A two-run single for Brandon Drury, and the Padres have come all the way back. Six unanswered runs, and they lead for the first time today.

Runners on the corners, two down. 2-0 to Josh Pell batting right-handed for the first time today. Hand comes home, and the sliders hit hard into right field. And a base hit. He got it past Hoskins.

Cronenworth will score. Drury's on his way to third. Another one, and it's 7-4 San Diego in the fifth. They generated five runs on six hits in that fifth inning and end up cruising from that point 8 to 5.

And so, yes, we have ourselves a tie series, but mostly I'm glad the life returned to the Padres and Petco Park. It's something that they needed that breakout inning. We saw it for them against the Dodgers. Remember, in the closeout game four Saturday night, going back a few days now, this is what they're capable of.

But, man, it looked like they were on life support in game two. I think we do a really good job of putting balls in play and, you know, not chasing a ton. So when balls are falling for us, we're getting hits back to back to back.

You know, there's a stretch there. We're lining out a ton. So, you know, when the balls fall for us, you know, we're going to score a lot of runs. We still have the mentality where if we can score four or five runs, we're right where we need to be. With our pitching staff, with our bullpen, you know, that's exactly what we need. So, you know, offensively, if we can do that, we'll be in a good place.

That was big. I mean, you answer right back, which is huge, after giving up four runs and losing the first game. But something we've shown here in the postseason, we have the ability to put up a crooked number. I just love that term in baseball, a crooked number. Yes, they did, in fact, put up a crooked number five runs in that fifth inning. After hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, shifting our attention and our focus to football at the top.

We're on the eve of week seven in the NFL, but mixing it up, of course, football has to slide over in the center ring of the circus to make room for playoff baseball now that we're down to a Final Four. Austin Nola was part of that rally in the fifth inning for the Padres against his big brother, or his little brother, excuse me, he's the big brother. His little brother, Aaron, who had pitched so well coming into this NLCS. We've seen him not just on the playoff stage, but even at the end of the regular season when the Phillies were the last team to clinch a wildcard spot in the National League. And so the way that fifth inning went, you had a single and a fly out before Austin Nola came up to face his brother.

And that's when we got all the stories and the focus on the two of them, their faces. And as much as pro athletes are trained to be able to block out all the noise in that moment, obviously, mental focus is so important. In fact, it may be even more important than the muscle memory part or the recognition of pitches coming at you and the way that you have to wield the bat and where the defense is playing you. All of those things that are so ingrained in you as a big league hitter or as a pitcher, knowing what you want to do with the baseball and how to do it.

I just do not believe that as human beings, anyone really, is able to block out a sibling or the significance of a moment like this if it's someone that you care about. And that's what I love about sports more than the triumphs, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. I love the stories. I love the story behind the matchups. And this is an individual battle in baseball as much as it is a team sport. And so Austin is able to extend that at bat against Aaron and we get multiple shots of them as kids, but also their parents. The people all around them are screaming and cheering up a storm when the Padres keep that rally going and Austin ends up driving home Kim with his RBI single to right field. But the parents are just standing there almost.

I mean, the mom is clapping a little bit, but dad is just standing there really stone faced. Just, yes, excited for his older son, but of course broken up for his younger son who ends up getting replaced in the middle of that inning. So yeah, it was an onslaught at that point. The Phillies fans who, and I did see some of this on social, including our friend John Kincaid, who was kind of talking about the finish them. You know the the Karate Kid reference the Cobra Kai reference and you could be hard on the Phillies if you're a fan. Because certainly they did give up this four run lead, but it was so early and at some point the Padres bats were going to show up to play so big for them. But this is the same thing that happened in the NLDS right where they split on the road at Atlanta and things definitely took a turn for the Phillies when they were back in their own park. Atlanta won the first one, lost the second one, disappointing game and we had a day off and came back home in front of 46,000 raucous people and played really well.

So I expect to do the same thing. For us, it's just continuing to play the game we were playing lately. I think today we did some great things in the baseball field, the best part of the game, winning the losses and go back on Friday and continue to work. I like this series.

I like it because it's not what people expected. Phillies and Padres, last two teams that get into the National League. I like what we're getting in the American League too because it's the big bads and there's history there. Did you all happen to see that there was some baby rocking going on? The Astros fans were baby rocking some of the Yankees when the Astros made their rally there.

I guess it ultimately was three solo home runs, but the two in the sixth, there was baby rocking going on. So much taunting. I'm telling you what, there is bad blood here all around. The Astros believe they own the Yankees, but going back to 17, the Yankees, and probably not the Yankees themselves anymore, but the Yankees fans are going to keep pointing to the trash cans and the yelling. Even though this team is very different. Alex Bregman is still there. Jose Altuve is still there. Yes, Justin Verlander is there. A couple of other pitchers, Lance McCullers. But for the most part, the roster is very different. This is Dusty Baker. I'm sure we're going to hear it in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium, but the Yankees do not want to go down 0-2.

Again, they don't want to keep wasting opportunities. First Steelers defensive back two-time Super Bowl champion Bryant McFadden is next after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Wherever you are, whenever you want. And did we mention it's all free? Download the Odyssey app today. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later.

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