After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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That's BetterHelpHELP.com slash positive. Being a baseball play-by-play broadcaster demands a blend of learned mechanics, intense preparation, and a calm sense of entertainment. How hard is it to do this job? Let's talk to the ones who do it.

This is Matt Spiegel. My new podcast, The PBP Voices of Baseball, will bring those conversations to you as the best working and former broadcasters tell you why and how they do it. New episodes come every Thursday all summer long. Follow The PBP Voices of Baseball on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your podcasts. Home run derby in the books. Every time people tell me that baseball is dying and no one loves baseball, I think about the electricity and the excitement, the energy that always accompanies the all-star game. If the sport was truly dying, number one, attendance wouldn't be up the way that it is in the first half of 2023.

I told you that on last night's show. The numbers out there from the Sports Business Journal, an 8.3% increase in attendance through this point last year. More people are going to the ballpark.

36.2 million tickets punched at MLB games through July 5th. But then you see the wall-to-wall bodies and the excitement, the buzz at the all-star festivities. And it always reminds me that we're attracted to stars. We love star power. We love to see athletes in a different forum enjoying themselves and be out of their familiar routines, not quite so serious and focused all the time. We enjoy watching them smash a baseball. And so when you look at Seattle and T-Mobile Park and realize there are 47,000 fans jammed into that ballpark to watch an exhibition event like a home run derby, now they got a show, but it'll be sold out tomorrow night as well for the actual all-star game. Baseball's not dead.

We're still drawn to the superstars. And I just wish that baseball did a better job of marketing its superstars. That's been my biggest issue with baseball for a few years. I don't believe it markets its superstars as well as, say, the NFL does. Now, the NFL never goes away, which is a problem in international sports.

Which is a problem in and of itself. Baseball is a much longer season, but we kind of get used to the fact that our favorite teams play every night and we feel like we have forever. It's not quite the same sense of urgency for baseball. It's not quite the same need to watch our teams play like it is in football where they only play once or twice a week when we're talking about the Thursday or the Sunday Monday games. Baseball has a lot to offer, especially with its young stars. And I get that it's more of a regional sport, but man, there is some incredible talent that's in its early 20s. And they're fun and they're dynamic.

And the atmosphere can be electric. So I'm glad attendance is up. And I was once again psyched to see the place rocking for the home run derby. Also makes me laugh when, and I don't mean laugh as in laugh at them, but it makes me laugh a little bit when you see these guys worn out. They're giving it everything they've got.

They are hacking away. And by the end, even a guy as big as Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Randy Rosarena, who had more time off in between his various rounds, even those guys, they're just tired. Good thing it's not super hot there in Seattle. So we will let you hear from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

I did hear him speak a little bit of English on the broadcast and he did speak a little English after the event, after he won, but for the most part, still more comfortable with a translator when there's a microphone in front of his face. Getting his bling, both the trophy and the chain from Marshawn Lynch. I wonder if there were Skittles as part of the package. So that was kind of fun. Not only Marshawn Lynch with the chain, but then Ken Griffey Jr. part of the trophy presentation as well. First Blue Jay to win the home run derby since the 80s. There are a lot of fans there in Seattle who weren't even alive the last time a Blue Jay won the home run derby. And I love, love, love that I remember watching his father win the home run derby in 07. Vlad Sr. was one of my favorite players when he was roaming the big leagues. Man, that guy never met a pitch he wouldn't swing at. My favorite was when he would go down and get the low pitch and just golf it out of the stadium. So how cool is that?

And really neat, you may have seen some of the photos out there. I remember little Vlad being with his dad in 07 and seeing how cute he was. He was eight years old then.

Vlad Jr. was eight years old, doted on his dad, said on Monday he doesn't really remember that. But his dad was tweeting about it, watching, and certainly is an honor. He carries his name and now they share something else in the major league baseball history books.

Because yes, they do keep records of who and what in the home run derby. Julio Rodriguez with the fireworks in Seattle and that's awesome too. The fans were fired up for Julio but he also ran out of gas, you could see it. But oh my goodness, 41 dingers in the opening round. It was pretty impressive to watch these guys work, especially early on and I've determined that's the best way to watch the home run derby.

If you do not want to sit through the whole thing and it can take a while, make sure you watch the first round because that's when they're fresh and that's when you really get the show. Pete Alonso, poor guy got matched up with Julio and that was the end of that. I know he only had about half of of what Julio did but even so there is very little chance that he was going to match Rodriguez. It was actually kind of funny, I don't know why I said funny, it's actually kind of interesting that of the guys who were putting on the most explosive performances, those guys are actually scuffling a bit.

Julio Rodriguez has not had the same year that he had as a rookie. Maybe this will give him a fresh part, a fresh spart. I don't know what that is, a fresh start.

I was going to say a fresh spark and then I went with start and then I went with spart. This is how it happens when your host makes up words. I can't help it.

I mean, I can, I suppose if I didn't talk I would never make up words but it's really not an option when you host a radio show. Maybe this will be a springboard. See, should have gone with springboard all the time. Maybe this will be a springboard for him moving forward. No doubt the Mariners could really use that as they get into the second half. Hope springs eternal even at the All-Star break because they're still just under halfway to go and the Mariners are above 500.

They finished with seven wins in their last 10 tries. So you will hear from a few of the participants in the 2023 home run derby as well as the starters for Tuesday's All-Star game. From Arizona and from the New York Yankees, Zach Gallin, Garrett Cole. I love hearing Dusty Baker's stories and his joy. His joy.

That guy. He finds so much joy in baseball as much as he takes it seriously and it's been his profession for years. Well, not just as a manager but also as a player.

I always appreciate his wisdom and experience but also how much he loves what he does for a living and he loves the game of baseball. Off of the baseball diamond, even though Seattle was the star of the show on Monday night, Joe Cronin not holding back when it comes to the situation with Dame. And even as I was listening to him talk about trading Lillard versus what's best for the Blazers I was thinking about the Green Bay New York Jets situation.

That took months to develop. Even though everyone accepted that it would happen, it took months to develop because everyone in the NFL world knew that's likely where Aaron Rodgers was headed and what Green Bay and New York had to do is craft a deal that worked for both of them. But ultimately, as I said about Joe Cronin and the Blazers last night and last week, this is the only time you're ever going to trade Damian Lillard. If you actually do go forward with it, it's the only time you're going to trade Dame.

Get everything that you need from the Miami Heat before you sign on the dotted line or agree to it because it's not going to happen again. So I understand why Joe Cronin has to take a hard line stance, I do, and I agree that he should. And Dame has not made this any easier on his franchise and maybe he's done making things easier on his franchise, I can understand that.

But he hasn't made it any easier because he's indicated that's the only place he wants to go. Fine. Well, you did your job.

You put all your stuff out there for the world to know. Now you're going to have to wait on the Blazers because they shouldn't be giving you away. They shouldn't.

They should get what they need. If it's a business to you and you want to go somewhere else and continue your career, you have to understand the Blazers are going to do the same thing because Joe Cronin also has a job to keep. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Looking forward to connecting with you tonight on Twitter, ALawRadio, and then on our Facebook page too. Hey Jay, do we have Shohei Ohtani? Because I know that he did a press conference on Monday. He's the star of the show.

Everybody wants to hear from Shohei. So the second he sits down in front of a microphone, right away the questions begin about his future. And he did emphasize on Monday that he wants to win.

So he was asked on Monday about his future and about reaching the playoffs. And through his interpreter, he said the feelings about winning get stronger year by year. Quote, it sucks to lose.

It's funny, I didn't know they had that word in Japanese, but I like it. It sucks to lose. He wants to win so it gets stronger every year.

And again, that's his interpreter. Here's our question for tonight. In fact, we can do it as a poll question. You can certainly respond with a reply, but if you're the Angels, would you trade Ohtani by the deadline? If you're the Los Angeles Angels, right now you're below 500. You're not out of the wild card race in the American League. You're in fact only five games out of the third wild card. Actually Blue Jays and Astros have the exact same record, so they're second and third right now in the wild cards, but same number of games. But the Angels now trail teams like the Mariners, the Yankees, the Red Sox.

They're tied with the Twins. It's just a lot of teams that they would have to leapfrog and outperform in the second half. So if you are the Angels right now, would you trade Shohei Ohtani by the July 31st deadline?

Because it is, I can imagine it's scary. Maybe not for the ownership, but for the front office. They'll take the directive of the ownership. If you do not trade him, he walks. When you could get five, maybe six players in exchange for Shohei Ohtani, if you take your chances and hope that he will re-sign with you, not only do you have to pay him maybe 500 million dollars. Aren't you already paying Mike Trout something similar? Are you going to have two guys earning a million dollars in payroll in the hopes that he will re-sign with you? You keep him on the roster knowing that you will have to commit that kind of money to him long term.

Can you even afford it? Can you even afford to keep him? Ohtani's interpreter goes on to say all the trade stuff he has no control over, so he tries not to think about it, just focuses on the game that day. That's the hardest part about trying to win ball games every day. He tries not to think about it. He has to focus on the task at hand, but that's the hardest part about trying to win ball games every day. Quote, I've never been a free agent before, so I'm not sure how that's going to be. Like I said before, I'm focused on this season right now.

I just want to do my best this year, try and get as many wins as possible, and just do my best. I thought it was kind of cool to see Ohtani and Kodai Senga, the Mets pitcher, greet one another. They were in the same Japanese league for a short time, and the two have also played for Team Japan in international competitions.

It was neat to see them come together though. A lot to come from Seattle, but that's the question. We'll put it up in a poll. If you were the Angels, or if you were advising the Angels, would you trade Ohtani at the deadline?

Would you pull the trigger on the trade? It's tough. All the Angels had to do was win. And they have what, five guys? Four or five guys on the DL from their starting lineup? They just said the DL, the IL, I still can't get used to that.

All right, find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, let me know what you think. Fun to see Vladimir Guerrero Jr. finally win this thing. It doesn't even though he was running out of gas at the end like everybody was. Julio Rodriguez repping Seattle and the Mariners and the hometown and put a charge into the crowd with his 41 homers in the opening round. It's a who's who in Seattle. And we're excited to talk about it.

I love this week. These are the only All-Star festivities that I actually enjoy. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports. Stop by Quality Mart for a refreshingly good deal on Mountain Dew. Get two 20-ounce Mountain Dews or only $3.50.

Do the Dew at Quality Mart. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. The 2-2, swinging a high fly ball out to deep left field. Peterson back at the wall. Goodbye! He was nodding earlier.

He just missed one and then he got one. A go-ahead two-run homer for Mr. 91 who's headed to the home run derby. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Ben Wagner on Blue Jays radio. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had to go to Seattle to put on a show worthy of the fans, the 47,000 fans who were in attendance but he was not the only one. And the way that he was matched up with Mookie Betts I thought was really cool too.

Major star power in the last two quarterfinals I guess you would call them. Opening round matchups where you had Vlad and Mookie Betts and then Julio Rodriguez and Pete Alonso who of course had faced off last year. But honestly I think my favorite part of the first round other than Julio and what he did in crushing the baseball. I love Adly Rutchman and him with his father who was throwing to him and who was really fired up of course. And the story about how Adly had told his dad when he was eight years old that if he ever pitched or if he ever hit in a home run derby that he needed his dad to throw him the BP. And for that reason it was, this is how they were describing it on the ESPN broadcast, it was really just an ongoing conversation. When it became a possibility for Adly he and his dad picked up where they left off that whole planning session and great anticipation of being able to share that event together.

And then he becomes the only hitter in home run derby history who goes up there and swings and hits home runs from both sides of the plate. That was really cool. I was actually bummed out that he did not move to the second round even though obviously everybody who did advance certainly earned it.

But I enjoyed watching Adly and seeing his mom and his sister get so excited too. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. 72 total home runs for Vlad Guerrero Jr. Actually not as many as he hit four years ago when he first burst onto the scene as a home run favorite. Now at the ripe old age of 24, the ripe old age of 24 years old, he's maybe slowed down a little bit but he ends up with the home run derby title.

And he did speak a little English on, what was this, Blue Jays Twitter when he was done. Thank you Blue Jays fans, thank you. I did it. I'm the champ. I did it.

I'm the champ. So yeah, in 2019 he was 20 years old. And he had 91 home runs overall, only needing 72 in this edition of the home run derby. But actually it's a good thing because he was worn out at the end.

You could see it. He was bent over, he was sucking wind, he was tired. In 2019 I was younger so I mean I swam harder. I didn't get tired that often.

But now I'm older now so I couldn't swing as hard as I want and I got tired real quick too. I'm old now he says. At 24 he's old. He's the best. I love his personality.

He got really excited. Other Dominican players, Cuban players there too. I always love how the Hispanic players, they band together and they just have a blast. It's one big party.

In many cases shared experiences, certainly the shared language and culture and what baseball means to them and means to their families as well as their communities and their individual countries. Julio Rodriguez got to perform in front of the Seattle fans which was awesome. 41 homers in the opening round and that was a brand new single record for a round. Hey Julio, when did you find out that you set a record in the first round? Did I? Right now is now when you're finding out? Yeah. How do you feel? That's pretty good.

I'll take it. He's got a megawatt smile. I love Julio Rodriguez. The Mariners can certainly use a powerful second half from him and then he was pooped in the second round when he and Vlad were matched up. He could only manage 20 home runs. Vlad barely got to 21.

He needed the bonus time to hit the 21st and then he walked off when he got his 21st. Though as you can imagine, it was really important for Julio to give it every last ounce of energy because of the Seattle fans. That was the opportunity, basically the first opportunity that I had. I wanted to live in the moment and kind of be able to give a show to the Mariners fans and just kind of give my all. And for that second round, I was just, but it was fun. It was fun. I feel like your mind is there, but your body is not.

That's the best way to explain it. Great environment, but I thought I put on a good show and just unfortunately ran into a buzzsaw. He had a ridiculously historic round and that was incredible to watch and good for him and good for Seattle. It's a blast. I mean, to be able to participate, obviously, like I play to win. I'm in it to win it, but I mean, it's super fun. I mean, it's a really fun event. I think it showcases some really incredible talent in the game of baseball.

Pete Alonso had the misfortune of being matched up against Julio Rodriguez in that opening round, but he only hit 22 homers and really didn't never find a rhythm like what we've seen from him in the past as a two-time winner. Marco Belletti's here in studio. This is our question of the night. Are you ready? Sure. A simple yes or no. Will do. Okay.

But if you would like to expound on it a little bit, I suppose we have time for that. If you are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, do you trade Shohei Ohtani by the deadline? No. They haven't been to the playoffs since 2014. Right.

And now they're below 500. They're still in a position to possibly do that. No. Plus, I'm giving all, I'm putting my exit all in the basket of trying to resign him. They haven't said that they don't want him. No, they do want him.

They do. We just assume that Ohtani doesn't want to be an angel anymore. We assume that. We don't truly know that.

No. Well, I don't. I'm not sure who we is. But he loves Anaheim. He's found a home there. He's comfortable there. He loves his teammates. But he also wants to win, which is the hard part. And they haven't since he's been there.

They have not. Correct. But he also picked them to begin with. I mean, there was a lot of places he could have gone right from the start where he had a better chance to win than the Angels. It wasn't like, oh, well, he picked the best situation.

No, he didn't. He picked the Angels the first time. So for me, if you're the Angels, whatever you're going to get back, if somebody calls you and offers you their entire farm system, yeah, OK, sure. But whatever they're going to give you is not going to be worth what Ohtani is, not only with market value and everything else, but what he brings to you on the field. So I don't see the value of just shipping them away and assuming that he doesn't want to be an angel anymore. I would try to make sure that they do everything they can to keep that type of player.

I don't think it's a foregone conclusion because they have the money to be able to give to them. It's not like they're, you know, I don't want to throw franchises another, but it's not the Royals where you say, look, we can't afford Shohei Ohtani. There is no chance that he's going to come here or that we can keep him. We must trade him to get whatever we can because we know we don't have six hundred million dollars to offer him.

The Angels can offer the Angels can give him the money. It's just you'd have two guys that were costing you a million dollars. OK, a million.

Sorry, a billion. No, I get it. I'm well aware it's hard to construct your team with those two guys at the top. I get it. I also be the first one to tell you I'd probably be looking to eat some of the contract and trade trout if you could to keep Ohtani.

If that's what you need to do to keep Ohtani in an angel uniform, you go down every avenue you can unless he comes to you and says before August 1st, I don't want to be here. Right. Well, I'm not moving him.

Right. That would be your trigger. You'd have to pull it. He says that then you got to trade him. Then you got to get whatever you can get for him and you move on. But until he tells you that one, you try to make the playoffs. But more importantly, you try to make sure that you give him every opportunity to stay. And if you trade him, everybody can say, well, you could just resign him in the off season. If you trade him away, he's not coming back.

I think we can all agree on that one. That's very difficult to do. So I would try to hold on to him unless he comes to you. And maybe you sit him down and say, you know, on July 27th, look, buddy, we got a couple of days.

Is there any chance you want to stay here? If he says yes, then we're good. If he says absolutely not. I have no interest in being with you, involved in you ever again. Then you move on.

I have to know that answer first before I trade him. But what if he doesn't know? You can't force him to make that. You don't have to force him to know. But if he looks at you in the face, some players know. If they say, look, look, let's be honest.

If you if we're in the conversation, if you're going to consider us, I need to know that. And if he says yes, it's not like I'm definitely I want out. Then you move on from there.

If he looks at you and he goes, look, no matter what you do, I don't want to be here. I've been here for a few years. For sure. Well, there are players that are that are honest. It's not like, well, you take one shooter away. Stop.

He's going to get his money. So that has to be an honest conversation where you look at a player and look, look, I'm not saying you have to say yes, but I need to know if it's a no. If you're keeping us where we're on the fringe, where we're really not part of your thought process. Just tell me that, because if that's the case, then I do have to move you because I got to move on as a franchise. If you have any desire to possibly be here, all things are fair, then I have to know that. And I want you here and I'm willing to offer you the money and then we'll figure out a free agency works. But if you know you want out, tell me now.

Yeah, I don't think he's going to offer that because that would tip his hand and he would have no control over where he gets traded. Right. So a couple months. I know. But, well, true.

And I get what you're saying. So he would go a couple months and then potentially have to start over again. Well, if he knows he's starting over regardless, if he knows he's walking into free agency going, the Angels are not my destination. Whether it's the Dodgers, he wants the Giants, he wants the Mets, he wants the whatever it is that he wants.

He knows the Angels are not part of that equation. Then to me, then it's not you're doing a disservice if you know you want out. If the if the franchise is smart enough to sit you down and say, let's talk honestly, because there are times where you have an honest conversation. OK, but I got to be fair, if the bosses come to me with six months left on my contract and I'm pretty sure I'm not resigning, but I don't want them to know that I'm probably not sharing that information with them.

That's fine. And for a normal human, if you know you've got six hundred million dollars in your back pocket, normal human. It's a little different than the rest of us where you're like, well, I don't know what he knows someone, whatever it is, I don't know exactly who it is because he doesn't know who it is.

There's going to be at least three or four teams that are willing to offer from north of five hundred million dollars. If he knows that he doesn't want to be an angel, he knows he's going to get paid and he knows he doesn't want to be there. What's the harm?

What does he hurt in his two months? I got because he's got a one limit on rental. I mean, to me, it seems like it's ridiculous that if that's the case, if you want to do that, you want to lie to them. So be it.

But to me, I would I would think that there's something there if you have an open and honest relationship. Now, if you don't and you hate the franchise and you're like, you know what, I want to stick it to you. I'll stay here. You get nothing.

That's fine. I would think that there's some sort of discussion. And if there is, you've got to know that answer. Marco says no way. I also say no way. If there's any chance you can resign him, you take the risk. He is a generational player. He's a generational talent. He's worth the risk. So there's a line from Pirates of the Caribbean that I absolutely love.

No cause is lost if there is yet one fool willing to fight for it. So in the case of Shohei Ohtani, if Artie Moreno is the fool willing to fight for it and he's got a lot of money that he can back. And we know that Ohtani already has a familiarity there. Well, then I say same thing.

If there's any chance that he might resign, you've got to take that risk and do whatever it is. But there are a lot of people who would say no way. In fact, I saw both Derek Jeter. No, not Jeter. Actually, Jeter said to keep him. Both Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz said that the Angels should trade him. Because they can't win if they don't get a bunch of players in return.

And so that was kind of their whole point. We've got a poll up actually right now. It's fitty fitty. We had to redo our poll, by the way, because of a clerical error. So if you had already voted but now you haven't, now your vote's gone, please vote again. It's on our show Twitter, After Hours, CBS or my Twitter, ALawRadio. Also on our Facebook page. Glad to have you with us on the night of the home run derby.

Tomorrow all star game. It's After Hours, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours. Dues are only $3.50.

Do the Do It quality mark. That's another big time blast. And here on this Sunday, once again, it's Showtime.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Shohei Ohtani is still currently a member of the Angels. That's Terry Smith on their radio network. And I love seeing him and Mike Trout together. I know Trout is injured again, which sucks, and that's becoming more of an annual occurrence. But Ohtani, many of you pointed to him as the American League MVP hands down. Again, many of you told me on our last show, we started the week by asking you right now, who are the AL and NL MVPs? There's some debate in the National League. I think Ronald Acuna, Matt Olson, Corbin Carroll, who's hurt right now. Though it doesn't seem like it's an injury that could keep him out permanently.

We hope he's dealing. He dealt with some shoulder issues even before he got into the majors. But he's a candidate for both Rookie of the Year and MVP if he can remain healthy.

Ohtani has no equal right now. And he's largely responsible for the fact that the Angels have remained mostly relevant. Though they really, really tanked right before the break as they were losing guys. They lost nine of their last ten before they got to the break.

So they really limped to the finish line. And we're asking you with that deadline looming 20 days from now. 20 days. If you're the Angels, you've got a decision to make.

Would you trade Shohei Ohtani by the July 31st deadline? And if you did previously vote, we had to rerack the polls simply because there was a clerical error. So check that out on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or on my Twitter, ALawRadio. 855-212-4227. That's our toll-free line.

855-212-4CBS. We'll sprinkle in a bunch of the All-Star Game Preview. It's one of my favorite nights of the year. I love the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. I really enjoy it. I'm not joking. It's the only All-Star Game that I like.

The electric atmosphere certainly is part of it. But they actually have to play baseball. And all facets of baseball. They have to pitch. They have to hit. They have to play defense.

Otherwise, they'd never leave. I don't know if they're going to institute the pitch clock at the All-Star Game. If you're an umpire and you are behind the plate, or any of the other ump's, do you refuse to call a strike for a pitch clock violation? I would. I would. I'm sorry. What are you going to do? Kick me out of the All-Star Game? Fine. Feel free.

No way. If I'm the umpire and they do actually have the pitch clock, I say... Go screw yourself. I'm not calling a pitch clock violation in the All-Star Game. Fans paid a ton of money to be here so they could watch these guys. You've got them miked up.

You're trying to put on a show not just for the local fans, but also for the fans on TV. So I'm not looking at the pitch clock or calling a strike on a pitch clock violation. I'm laying down the law. You want to take my Geiger counter from me?

Then take it away. So all right, we'll sprinkle in the preview. Also coming up next hour, we've got... Joe Cronin and Chris Dunle... Chris.

I knew I was going to do that. Mike Dunleavy Jr. on Chris Paul. See?

It came out honestly. There's a lot happening. Also Novak Djokovic advances to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but there is a far better story. Don't get mad at me. Just wait until I tell you what the story is.

There's plenty still that we can get to on this edition of the show. For those of you who were snarky about Victor Wembanyama being shut down for the rest of Summer League, you really, really, really need to listen to my conversation with Nate Ryan of San Antonio TV, Channel 5. He's a sports anchor. There's a reason why they're shutting Wembanyama down, and it's not because he's hurt. It's not because he can't handle the NBA.

No, that's not why they're shutting him down. We'll bring part of that conversation back for you, because we understand a bunch of you are not part of our show on Sunday night into Monday morning, simply because your workweek doesn't start till after hours does. And also, while we're dealing with the Otani question, we're going to repurpose, regurgitate.

Ooh, that makes it sound so enticing. We're going to regurgitate part of our conversation with our Angels insider from last week. And the reason we're going to do that is because the worst case scenario has happened for the Angels. At the time that I spoke to Jeff Fletcher, the Angels were still above 500. They were still, at that time, a wildcard team, even though they'd lost Mike Trout. And then Anthony Rendon and Shohei Otani both got hurt on the same night, so that was last week. But I was asking him, hypothetically, if the Angels start to tank, then what? And now, unfortunately, the Angels' situation with Otani has got a little more dicey. Let's talk to Hank, who's in Alabama. Hank, welcome to After Hours, CBS Sports Radio. Hey, how you doing? I'm good, sir. Thank you. Well, look, I just wanted to say what a travesty the home run derby would have been if Rosarena had won.

What do you mean? Rosarena, in his semifinal match with, I believe the guy's name was Roberts, the guy from Texas Rangers. Rosarena batted first, and he got his whatever it was, and he won his semifinal match. And then the Roberts guy batted, and then Guerrero came up in his semifinal match.

And the guy that he was against, you're going to have to make my memories gone black. I forget who he was going against in the semifinal, but it doesn't matter. Julio Rodriguez, the Seattle guy? Rodriguez, that's right. Okay, Rodriguez batted first, and then Guerrero batted last. And Guerrero won. And they turned right around. They went to a commercial or whatever it was. Guerrero had maybe seven or eight minutes.

I know. And he had the bat again. He even said something after somebody asked him that after it was all over with. He said, did you know that rue? And he said, no, I didn't know the rue. And he said, gentlemen, I got big bang. And they said, all right, hurry up, you're up next. And he said, what? Yeah, I know, I know. That was tough. I would have been a travesty. Yeah, he was worn out. I'm sorry, Hank, we're up against the top of the hour. I agree with you. He was worn out, but Rosarena had more home runs to that point.

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