Hour 2: Rich Eisen Top 5 Sweet Sixteen Matchups, New York Yankees Opening Day Victory

21:38Run support. My Met-hating child is fired up because I've raised him right. You know, Juan Soto. Coop, how psyched are you? Yeah. You know, Juan Soto still has. Peralta's ERA is infinity. And Paul Skeens has run support. two runs before he throws a pitch. It's a new baseball. We have schemes in fantasy, right, Coop? No, we couldn't get him. We got Judge instead. Skeens is looking. Who hit the jack? Who hit it? Wow. By the way, and he put on a smelting mask for the celebration. Well done. The Steelers have got a smelting mask to celebrate. They're locked in. He's got a Steelers look.

22:24Rich Eisen:The Pirates. Oh, baby. Love it. Oh, my God. You're checking in on the New York Met chocolate whoopie pie. They need one where he's giving you the bird. You've clearly never had a whoopie pie. Oh, my God. They're quite delicious. Oh, boy, baby. Probably. What a way for the Met season to start. They're all fired up in Queens. We got it going. We got Bo Pochette over here. We got Peralta over here. We got soda over here. We haven't had a net bat yet, brother. We haven't had a net bat yet over here. You're facing Skeens. That's fine. Can you look this up? Is it possible to look up how many times Skeens has gotten?

23:07You probably can't. Let's see if the AI machine comes. How many times has Skeens gotten multiple runs in support in the first inning? Let's see. How many times has that happened? Two-run lead for Skeens to protect on Mets opening day. TJ Jefferson, your thoughts? I mean, Juan Soto exists on this planet Earth, so I feel fine. Okay. Yeah. This is great, man.

23:33Rich Eisen:Okay. You said Juan Soto couldn't hit skeins in the WBC. Well, this is the MLB. Okay, very good. Come over here and take my mic. Yeah, Coop, you want to sit down over here? Come on over here. No? He's coming to you? All right. Let's see. Woo! That's just a great way to start our baseball conversation today, man. Oh, while we're on the subject, Yankees won 7-0. Yanks put up a five spot in the second inning last night in San Francisco. Chris, were they playing against real competition yesterday? The Giants. The San Francisco Giants are not real competition? Here's the thing about last night's game.

24:06What about it? Nobody cares that you won. Why? Because Judge went 0 for 5 with a golden sombrero. Who cares? It led first take today. Oh, well, that's absurd. Well, that's a great way to start the season right there. Are you saying the – hold on a second.

24:18Rich Eisen:That's a great way. Wait a minute. Are you saying the Yankees win 7-0 in San Francisco on opening night and first take was Judge? Like, what's wrong with Judge? Stephen A. had a nice long monologue about Judge, and their topic bar was bigger story, Freed or Judge? Yep, I saw it. Let me tell you what the bigger story is here. Let me tell you what the bigger story is here at the risk of having a second take on this. It's wild that you get mad about this, but it's funny when my team goes down to 0. I'm not. Oh, and that. Oh, no. Of the first. Well, no, no, no. But sure, go ahead. Let's talk about Judge Owen.

24:53Rich Eisen:It's okay. It's okay. Paul Skeens has a two-run lead in opening day for the New York Mets. You should worry about Skeens. You should worry about Aaron Judge going over on opening day. All the Queens Ziggies show up on opening day. They're all fired up. Now they're quiet, but it's a nine-inning game. You could absolutely come back. I bet you Juan Soto won't go over. But bigger story. So Judge struck out four times. Who the hell cares? The whole point is that when Judge would strike out four times, the Yankees in previous years would flop. Nobody else would get a hit. If he doesn't perform, they don't perform.

25:24That didn't happen last night. Max Fried pitching into the seventh last night is 1 million percent a bigger story

25:32Rich Eisen:because Cole's not even healthy and Radon's not even healthy, and let's go. 25-man roster, let's use it. It's a beautiful thing. Do I want to see him strike out four times? Of course not. Of course not. Does it feed the narrative that he's arson judge, right? Or whatever. You're hearing all that stuff. Captain America blowing it again. Oh, he's Mr. April, Mr. May. He ain't Mr. October. Fine. Say all you want. It's 7-0. A win where a whole bunch of people contributed. Jose Caballero coming up with a big hit to start. Let's go, man. Let's go. I don't care. It's one game for judge. and it's obviously one game for the Yankees as well.

26:15Rich Eisen:Their pitching staff, their relievers look terrific. They didn't get out of here with that. So if I was on first take, that would have been my take. So it's not, I wasn't on first take today. That's my second take. Let me get the Stephen A quote. Here's the Stephen A quote. Fine. It's his opinion. Too many moments he has had in his career where this Goliath of a man comes up considerably and conspicuously small. Okay, great. Everyone around him came up big but him. Great. So what? Did they win? Are they up 1-0? I mean, stop the count. Take a snapshot of the division standings. Please. No one else is.

26:54Rich Eisen:I don't care. I don't care. Because at some point, he will not strike out four times in a game. And that could be Friday, when they put Cam Schlittler on the mound. Here we go. And this is before Cole or Rodon come back healthy. So chew on that. And you, sir, I'll bring to the air what we were texting about last night, if you're up for it. Sure. I will do this. Judge, I have Judge, you have the entire Red Sox roster. The entire. Roman Anthony, Abreu, whoever you want. Okay. Judge will lead every single Red Sox collectively in average home runs and runs batted in by the end of the season. All three.

27:41Rich Eisen:All three. All Anthony's got to get him in is RBIs and you win, whatever, bragging rights, whatever you want to do. You take all three, yes or no, he will have a better average than any Red Sox, more home runs than any Red Sox, and more runs batted in than any Boston Red Sox. You get your entire roster, I get judged, yes or no, at the end of the day. You know, I kind of lean no. Okay. I mean, look. All right, then. I'm not saying Judge isn't a great player. Of course not. He happens to play for the Yankees, which is disappointing. Okay. I think the only way anyone on the Red Sox could get him is if maybe Judge hits like 305 this year and somebody hits 310.

28:21Okay. They're not going to get him in any of the power stats. I don't see, because if Roman Anthony bats a leadoff, he's not going to get 100 plus RBIs. Why would he bat leadoff? Your best player, why does Otani bat leadoff? Because there's Betts and Freeman and Tucker. and you could, I mean, you got a nice lineup, but not like the Dodgers. But the Dodgers' best player, that's leadoff. I understand that. I don't know. I mean, I guess that's the more at-bats, you know, more likely to get five at-bats. I got it. I got it. So you do not take that. I will take it for the show because it's fun, but the only way we get it is average.

28:57I can't see. And here's what I think. The Dodgers are going to hit 50 home runs. No one on the Sox is going to hit 50. He only had 115 runs batted in last year. I mean, only. I know, but still. Good enough for fifth. Right. I don't know. I think Anthony might have more than that. Because I think they're going to drop him down lower in the lineup. Maybe Abreu if he bats, you know, like he did in WB. He's got too big a bat. All right. So you'll take it just because. But you think I will take it. I will take it. I will win it at the end of the day. Yeah, I kind of do. Now, how about this? Will Judge strike out more than any two Red Sox players combined?

29:29No. No. I will take two. He will not. He will strike out a lot. Clearly, he's already got four. in one game. He will strike out a lot. And by the way, the number of times that the count would have been 1-0 instead of 0-1, I don't know why he doesn't tap his helmet once in that bat. It's unreal how umpires, even in this day and age, still can't call balls and strikes on him in the same way that referees couldn't protect Cam Newton. That they would just get him lit up because of his size. He's got a giant strike zone. I get it. But the number of times there was a ball high or low or a little outside and he doesn't tap his helmet, he should do it way more often than he did last night.

30:09He should have been the first guy in the first at-bat last night. No trolling aside. Judge is 33. He's an older player. No concerns about maybe we're on the slide now?

30:19Rich Eisen:No. No. Okay. I have no concerns that we're on the slide. One night in, like this is like an overreaction Thursday. First MVP in the history of the sport to strike out four games in the opener the next time. Sounds good. Yeah. Okay, great. So we have one of those finally. Okay, great. You know what? You and I need to join forces. Against the Mets? No, not against the Mets. Not against the Mets. If I'm not mistaken, there is a runner on for Soto to try and tie the score. As you called your shot saying there is Soto, he has a shot right now against Skeens in the first inning. Lindor should, I'm sorry, I've been watching this while you guys were arguing.

31:01Lindor should have tapped his helmet twice. He went up 3-0, and there were two very questionable strike balls. Yeah, but he's on base now anyway. Yeah, but I don't care, man. He walked anyway. Okay.

31:09Rich Eisen:So here comes Soto to just two batters in tie the score against Paul Skeens. Is this against the written consent? We don't have the express written consent of Major League Baseball and Commissioner. Well, as long as we're a little bit delayed. We're very much delayed. We're very much delayed. This is so much fun right here. We can't do very much play. Oh, this would – like, you know what I would do right now for a 6-4-3 or a 5-4-3? this would just be, I don't know. I don't know what I would give for that right now. It's just amazing how your tone changes. Like, you want to talk trash, and then you get called out on judge, and it's like, oh, I get serious.

31:44There's no tone. I have no tone. You have no tone? There's no tone, Loke. There's no tone anything. I got no tone. Tony, Tony, Tony. I got no tone. It feels good, let me tell you. There's no tone. What's going to feel good. Whatsoever.

31:56Rich Eisen:But Paul Skeens has actual run support before he took the mound, and Juan Soto, as you even said, he's still on the team and he has a shot right now to tie the game. Just two batters in and tell everybody there in Queens, I am here, I am Juan Soto. And actually what he does is actually single to center. And there is runners on the corners. And oh, I want to see it again. I think Wendor's out at third. I want to see it again. He's not out. I want to see that again. Wendor's out at third. Oh, this is amazing. Is he out? I think he looked out to me. The ball definitely beat him. The ball beats the runner a lot.

32:33Well, in the old days, the ball beats you. You're out. But you know who actually hasn't hit this year and who doesn't, Chris?

32:40Rich Eisen:Let's see. Here comes the replay. He is. Oh, he looks safe. Oh, my. Who, please. It looks like he. For the love of all this. Lord, I don't ask for much, but all I ask is for. He is, in fact, safe. Because it looks like. Beauregard, Ben Bichette. This is Beauchette's first at-bat as a Met. If he goes yard, I'm going to – Miller, please mute my mic because I'm going to say some stuff. This is kind of like The Price is Right. When TJ was on The Price is Right. We're live right now. Mets versus Skeens. Open day. Baseball is back. Bo Bichette's first at-bat as a Met. Here we go. Runners on the corners.

33:18Please, Lord. Skeens actually got two runs of support against the newest Met to Peralta. Here we go. This is what baseball is all about. I love it. Game one of 162. Oh, did Soto get picked off? No. No, he did not. He told him about it. But what I'm saying is while we're having this conversation, we need to combine forces for that guy with his Dodger. I think so. Hey, are you excited about Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium? Excited about that one? Ain't no one ever going to call it that. Oh, I think Dodger Stadium is dead. RIP. Let's pour one out. Well, it's called Dodger Stadium. No, no. But the field has been sponsored.

33:56Oh, no, no. Let's go down to Uniqlo tonight. Is it Uniqlo? Is it Uniqlo? It's like a Japanese clothing brand. Yeah, I know what it is. Guess what no one's ever going to call it. Yeah. Here's what I mean. What, Uniqlo? I can't even pronounce it. What do you got? It's time for Dodger Baseball. Okay. Hey, listen, you can't. I roll. When you play, listen. Let's go down to the Neek tonight. No, by the way. Let's go down to the Neek. Let's go down to the Neek tonight. You know what I mean? You know, sports fans, I remember when Uniqlo was a guy who came out of Rancho Cucamonga. Now it's the name of the field.

34:37Rich Eisen:The fact that the Dodgers sold their field. It's like, what are they making up for the 401k payments? Is that what it is? All right, Bo Bichette is now flown out to right and he has gotten a run in. It is 2-1. Bo Bichette with a productive out in his first at-bat as a Met, a sacrifice fly, goes down in the books, SF, if you will, which is also the initials of the team the Yankees shut out last night. And Mr. Met chocolate whoopie pie is celebrating. Like, are you putting this up like there's something wrong with a whoopie pie? Here's what we need to do. Guys, we need to. I love whoopie pie. Honestly, you're going to the game.

35:15It's everywhere. You're going to the game tonight? No. When you go to the game, you see you're on the field. It's all good. No problem. We got a... No problem. We're making some money so we can get skeins next. Oh, God. Making some money because the Dodgers need to make money. You know what the Dodgers should do for the fans? I'll just say this. I texted it last night. Free tickets. No, no, no. I was thinking the same. You said it right before it came out of my mouth. Free. The Dodgers... What the Dodgers have done for the fans is remarkable. They have put together one of the greatest teams we've seen in recent memory.

35:47Okay? You want to come... 25 years. When you spend your money, and you will spend your money to go to Dodger Stadium, parking and everything, you're going to get a great product on the field.

35:57Rich Eisen:Whether they win or lose, who knows? It's baseball, right? But, man, you get to go see Otani and Betts and Freeman and Tucker and yada, yada, yada. Or Yamamoto and Edwin Diaz. Edwin Diaz, yeah. May the trumpets start playing in Chavez Ravine this evening. So you've got an incredible team. Incredible. And it is a, in terms of older stadiums, it's great. Although getting in and out. Getting in and out, not great. That's my point, is to, because you park, and in order to get to the stadium, you've got to cross the roadway that every other car basically uses to get around and get to the lot. Why are we not building just a walkway over that roadway?

36:43One or the other. Over or under. Over or under.

36:46Rich Eisen:What are we doing? Like, it would help traffic flow. People don't feel like they're running across. I know that there's people who work for Dodger Stadium in their nice, you know, old-school, you know, Atlantic City hats. Their straw hats, very nice, letting you walk across the street. Give me something. But, hey, maybe the Uniqlo people could pay for that. Doesn't the previous owner still own the parking lot? Oh, my God. Don't even get me started on that. That's why it's not going to improve. Oh, is that what it is? Yeah. Oh. And every year, prices go up. Yeah, blame them of courts. Five to ten blocks every year.

37:19It's fun to do. It's easy to do. So there's two runners on him. Skeens is having a tough first inning. By the way. An infield single. Luis Robert, his first at-bat. Lubob. Okay. Lubob. Here we go. The New York Mets trying to cuff Skeens around. All right, poll question. Who are you more concerned about this year, Skeens or Judge? Give me a break. No.

37:43Rich Eisen:Who's going to have a better? No. No. No. Don't do that. It's absurd. Why not? It's absurd. Do it to our teams, but don't. No, that's absurd. Come on, man. Skeens are judged. That could be the MVP and Cy Young Award winner of the year. And we're throwing that up there. That would age like really bad milk, man. Okay? Really bad. This is not football where one game is a portal to the way the rest of the season goes. We should cover baseball like football. No, we did that last year, and it was very exhausting. It was exhausting. Well, First Take did it today. They did. We were all in it for like the first month and a half.

38:26Yeah, because it's fun. Then we realized they played too many. You want to talk about cutting the NBA season? 162 is the last thing longer. Red Sox, Yankees, Mets. Who will last longer in the Major League Baseball season? We're leaving the Dodgers off because they would blow the pole away. Let me get through a half an inning before I give my take on it. Okay, sounds good. Let's take a break. We'll come back, and Skeens will either have the lead or not. 844-204-RICH. Stop the count. Life matters. Get out of here. Yankees, the only team undefeated in the division. That's awesome.

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40:07The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

40:12Rich Eisen:...show back on our radio. As I mentioned, either Skeens is going to have the lead or not when we come back, and the Mets have scored five times during the commercial break on a Brett Beatty basis-clearing triple, and then O 'Neal Cruz loses the next one in the sun. It's 5-2 Mets, and Skeens has only retired one batter after getting two runs of support before he throws a pitch this season. By the way, great job by the NBC crew. This is an NBC game right now. They just showed a graphic under O 'Neal Cruz. Defensive runs saved last year, minus 14. I didn't know you could have minus 14 runs saved.

40:55After blowing the pop-up.

40:58Rich Eisen:Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event and get away with a deal so right it almost feels wrong because right now you can get great deals on our most popular models, including our adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid and the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid. Plus, there's our bold and stylish Elantra loaded with the latest tech, or go all-electric with the Ioniq 5 or Ioniq 9. So get down to your local Hyundai dealer and get away with a deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales event. Please visit HyundaiUSA.com for details. Gabriel in Washington State. Gabriel, let's see if you're going to outlast schemes in this conversation.

41:36Rich Eisen:He just walked a batter. What's going on, Gabriel? Hit a batter. I'll do my best to not give it up. Anyways, opening day. Opening day is always really look forward to here in the Pacific Northwest because that tells us that sunshine is around the corner in the other couple months, I should say. Well, how about sunshine in the form of the Seattle Sonics, Gabriel? Looks like they're going to be coming back. Absolutely. No, it's a great time to be a Seattle fan. We had the Sonics ripped away from us, and that was just – I've kind of checked out of basketball since then. There's been many, many dog days of being a Mariners fan.

42:19This is the first time that I can remember. I was a little kid when Junior was in town for the 95 Mariners and all the hype, and then eventually there goes A-Rod. There goes Junior to Cincinnati, and that team just fell apart, just gutted and gutted and gutted. There's been a couple good seasons since then, but true expectations this year for the Mariners to actually make the World Series. We've got a true number one leadoff with Brendan Donovan in a full year of the Big Grumper with Josh Naylor. Grumper.

42:50Rich Eisen:Is that his nickname now after the World Baseball Classic? Is that what it is now? What's up? Is that his nickname now after the World Baseball Classic, leaving Rosarena hanging. He's called the Big Grumper now? Is that what it is? No, no, no, no, no. Josh Naylor. Josh Naylor's the Big Grumper. Oh, I see. No, Big Grumper. Calavari's still the Big Grumper. Okay. Josh Naylor's nickname is the Big Grumper because that dude's always got a scowl on his face every time he's on the field. Good to know. We got him from the Diamondbacks last year. The first home run he hit, you know, they give him the Trident.

43:17And he kind of looked at the Trident with, like, disgust. Like, what is it, S? Or whatever. Oh, I like it.

43:21Rich Eisen:Well, Gabriel, listen, I appreciate the call. Thank you very much. Congrats on the sunlight and opening day and the Sonics coming back. And Jackson Smith and Jigba is now the highest paid receiver in the National Football League. He spoke to the media on Wednesday. Again, everything's, you know, the Mariners have a World Series hopes. The Sonics are coming back. The Seahawks are defending Super Bowl champs and Jackson Smith and Jigba and talking about getting pizzayed. is also talking about repeating. Hit it. I'm the player of the year, won a Super Bowl, highest paid receiver. Yes. What's next for you?

44:02The only thing better than one Super Bowl is two. So, you know, just working to get there and, you know, whatever my team needs from me, you know, I make sure, you know, I get it done.

44:17Rich Eisen:That's the most humble repeat statement ever, right? Well, we know when the title defense will begin. It will begin the Wednesday after Labor Day. Not the Thursday. The season will not kick off Thursday this year. It will kick off on Wednesday as the Seahawks on September 9th on NBC and its family of networks will open up against fill-in-the-blank. We know who it won't be because we know why the Seahawks are now starting on Wednesday night. It's because Thursday night is the Rams Niners opener in Melbourne, Australia. And the reason why that game is being played on a Thursday is because in Melbourne, when it kicks off, will be 1030 in the morning on a Friday.

45:18Rich Eisen:which is why they're playing it on Friday in the morning so it can be a night game in America. And when it being Thursday, now the Seahawks have to play on Wednesday, which means you take the Niners and the Rams out of the mix as a possible opponent for the Seahawks home opener. And we appreciate, look at Hoskins putting the Australian flag over those two team logos, take them out of the mix. I still think again it's going to be the Bears yeah no brainer Bears right because you can't schedule the Chiefs if it's going to potentially be Justin Fields right we don't know because again this is going to have to be made this decision is made in May won't be the Chiefs that'll be a late season game and I just don't know if you know the Giants or or the Cowboys the Chargers or the Patriots are going to be the choices It won't be the Cardinals either.

46:16I just think the Bears, which would have been the NFC Championship game had the Bears won that home game against the Rams.

46:26Rich Eisen:I think Caleb Williams and the Bears in their season after their launch season with Ben Johnson would be the choice. Chicago and Seattle on a Wednesday night to kick off the season and end hour number two here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. The Rich Eisen Show podcast from 30 for 30 podcasts.

47:00Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. an hour before he died he was on the phone arguing with somebody this might be a hit you want the truth they just want a conviction being placed under arrest we had a killer amongst us murder at the you listen now