As the title suggests, this week’s show is all about the Phillies.

(:40-2:33) The open, wherein we lay out our thesis statement

(3:06-7:20) The Musical Guest: COLISUEM. Buy “Anxiety’s Kiss” from Deathwish (physical and digital) or from Bandcamp (digital only).

(7:20-19:18) Your emails get read

(19:48-47:00) Our Human Guest: James Yasko of Astros County

(47:32-1:01:40) The Baseball Topics:

• #FirstPlaceAstros
• Roen Ronicke got douched
• R.I.P. Jeff Karstens, True Face of MLB

(1:02:22-1:08:20) The Old School Player of the Week: Felix Fermin

A Felix fer you and a Felix Fermin!

80 DADHAT, 70 CREEPSTACHE, 70 EYESTACHE, 70 DADLAP

Fermin spent 10 years in the bigs as a mostly awful MIF with the Pirates, Indians, Mariners and Cubes. Career WAR of 1.8, OPS of .608. He led the league in sacrifice hits … er … PRODUCTIVE OUTS in 1989. He’s now the manager of the Delfines de Ciudad del Carmen in the Mexican League.

That time the Yankees almost traded Mariano for Felix Fermin.

Goodbye!

Unlike our usual shows, this one is actually good! We encourage you to listen.

(0:00-3:48) The open

(4:20-8:15) The musical guest: SQUAREPUSHER. Buy “Damogen Furies” here.

(8:15-22:57) Email from around North America

(23:24-49:44) A discussion with Jess Spector of The Sporting News

(50:20-1:20:10) The baseball topics

• #FirstPlaceAstros
• The Royals want to fight everyone
• Josh Hamilton goes back to TEX, the AngLOLs are a joke
• Wainwright’s achilles, Scherzer’s thumb - THE DH ARGUMENT IS BACK! Pick a side. Or don’t.
• The Brewers are hot garbage
• Orioles and MLB making the right descisions in the face of some heavy real-life shit

(1:20:37- 1:30:05) The Old School Player of the Week: CRAIG KUSICK

70 DADGLASSES, 70 DADHAT, 70 DADLAP, 60 STACHE

Kusick, who looks like he won an invite to baseball fantasy camp, was an honest to goodness MLB player from 1973-79 with the Blue Jays and Twins. A 1B/DH, he posted a career average of .235, 105 OPS+, and 3.8 WAR. He also pitched in a game for the Blue Jays in 1980, a 24-2 loss to the California Angels, and went 3 ⅔ innings and giving up 2 ER on three hits (one of which was a bomb). If you were to see a photo of him at any point in his career, “professional athlete” would be about the 278th occupation you’d peg him as having.

Kusick is now deceased, but will remain awesome forever.

Bye!

YOU GUYS. IT’S ALMOST BASEBALL. So we made a show for you. Here’s how it went. 

-Open (0:00- 3:45)

-Emails from Canadians (4:15-23:25)

-Musical Guest: VULGAR TRADE (24:15-25:50)

-Human Guest: Will Sharp, pro scout with the Houston Astros (25:50-1:09:00)

-Baseball Things! (1:09:55)

• Baseball Is Back! (sort of)
• A Mike Trout Extension?
• Braves Be Spendin’ (Freeman, Kimbrel, Heyward, Teheran, Simmons … )
• The Face of MLB
• Mark Mulder’s Improbable Comeback Is Over (Achilles Heels)
• Gratuitous Jeff Karstens Discussion

-Musical Advice:  How does someone who’s never played an instrument start in adulthood? (1:25:30-1:30:20)

-What’s Next? BP annual, Puig Destroyer write about baseball for Decibel, spring training trips… (1:30:20-1:37:20)

-We out 

We’ve got a show for you. I’ll leave it to you to determine its (relative) goodness. 

We:

1. Said hello
2. Read your wonderful emails
3. Played some jams by the amazing ROOMRUNNER
4. Had a great chat with James Yasko of Astros County

Discussed some baseball topics, such as:

1. The art of hitting, feat. Marco Scutaro and Pabo Sandoval
2. Looking creepy in the clubhouse
3. The Angels were on a tear there for a week
4. Sometimes baseball people say shit that sounds stupid. That doesn’t make you smart.

Previewed upcoming stuffs from each of us

And finished with a brief, but heartfelt bye bye from NotJose Mota

THANKS FOR LISTENING!