Talkin' Tigers With Andy Dirks
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00:00On radio, on TV, I heard he said, just find a way to get me to the ballpark.
00:04He's Andy Dirks.
00:05You've been listening to him during this run.
00:07Andy, good morning.
00:08What's going on, everybody?
00:11We're doing great.
00:12I can tell you're having a lot of fun during this run for the Tigers.
00:15What has you most excited when you show up to the ballpark?
00:17Oh man, there's so many things I can think of.
00:23Probably the biggest thing is just, you just know that it doesn't always happen, you know?
00:27So it's like, why not just enjoy it?
00:30Just enjoy the snot out of it while we got it in front of us, because nothing's promised
00:35in the future.
00:36And I think, I kind of lived through my playing career, the playoffs, but when you're playing,
00:42you just, it's a little different, you know?
00:45It's work.
00:46You're working, and this is like, I guess I am working, but I'm just trying to have
00:50as much fun watching these guys do their thing as possible.
00:53From someone that has the knowledge that you have, the experience that you had, we're
00:57always trying to explain it.
00:59And there's nothing that we can find to explain how they've been able to come back and be
01:06in position to lock up postseason play.
01:09From your perspective, how do you explain it?
01:12Yeah, I think they just, everybody has a choice in anything they do, you know?
01:17How you're going to go about your business, what your day's going to look like, and these
01:21guys have all just made a choice that we're just going to get better and play the unit
01:27and really compete.
01:28I mean, every at-bat, every pitch, these guys are just competing their tails off.
01:35They're not afraid of anybody, which is hard.
01:37That's hard.
01:38They're a bunch of rookies and younger guys.
01:40They don't have a lot of fear.
01:41It's there, but they don't let it affect them.
01:44And then they just really believe that if they have a lead, that they'll keep it, and
01:49if they don't have a lead, they'll get it.
01:52The odds on some of this stuff are just astronomically terrible, not in their favor.
01:56And here they come, the fire in the building, and they're on the 27th floor, and it's like,
02:03well, they find a way out every time.
02:04It's like watching an old action movie, where the good guy wins.
02:07And I'm like, as long as the good guy wins, I'm on it.
02:11Andy, you played in playoff games on playoff teams here in Detroit.
02:15Those were very different rosters.
02:16You mentioned it, rookies, 12 rookies on this team.
02:20In a weird way, has that helped them play so loose?
02:23I think it makes it even more exciting for me personally, just because everybody loves
02:28the underdog.
02:29But yeah, I mean, this is a bunch of guys with not a ton of big league experience, really
02:35at all.
02:36I think one game, when all these guys first came up, I can't remember who we were facing,
02:41but he had like 10 and a half years service time, and the entire Tigers starting lineup
02:46had like eight years, or it was like 10 years, 20 days, and the starting pitcher had like
02:5210 years, 231 days.
02:57So one player had more service time than the entire Tiger squad, which is what it is.
03:04People say, well, they're just young and dumb and don't know any better.
03:07I think they do know better.
03:08They've been around sports their whole life.
03:09They've watched it.
03:11They just have a good comfortability factor with one another.
03:14They root for one another.
03:16There's no drama.
03:17Everything in that clubhouse is clicking right now.
03:19It's Eric Schubel.
03:21We've all been watching, and it's been so much fun to watch, and how consistent he has
03:24been the entire season.
03:26As a hitter, how much fear does he strike into opposing lineups?
03:33I just think it's a guy you don't want to face.
03:35I mean, there's other guys you would rather face, you know.
03:39When you know that Schubel's going, he's going to be the best in the world right now at throwing
03:44a baseball.
03:45And he happens to throw it 98 miles an hour, and he's got a devastating changeup, a good
03:50slider, and he'll attack.
03:52And then he'll scream at you once he gets everybody out that he's done getting out.
03:57It's quite an experience, I'm sure, for these hitters, but no, he's an animal, man.
04:01That dude is on another level right now.
04:03He's intimidating.
04:04Andy Dirks is joining us this morning.
04:06Played for the Tigers, now part of the coverage, both on radio and TV, chronicling this story.
04:11And this story has been awesome.
04:12They haven't clinched a playoff spot yet, could do it tonight.
04:15I know the players have to live in the moment, but we start to dream about the postseason.
04:19How does this team match up if and when they get there?
04:23I don't think anybody wants to play them, I can tell you that.
04:26Not in a three-game series, because you think about, okay, you run out Reese and Schubel,
04:32and then do an opener, and a bolt guy.
04:35This team's just proven way too many times that they will win ballgames late.
04:40They've played in a ton of one-run games.
04:44They've come from behind, I think, in the eighth inning or later, like, 13 times.
04:49And these are against back-end leverage arms.
04:52The guy, the comeback last night, off that lefty, that lefty's throwing 98.
04:57Like, he's a dominant left-handed pitcher in the big leagues.
05:01They don't even care.
05:02They're like, I don't care, you might as well be Randy Johnson.
05:05Doesn't matter to me.
05:06We're going to get our hits.
05:07So who wants to play that team?
05:08No league's secure, and we have the best bullpen in the big leagues right now.
05:11It's like, I don't want to play that team.
05:14One of the things I think they've done extremely well, and I'd love to hear your take on it,
05:19is base running.
05:21Taking the extra base when it's there, being able to get home when it's available.
05:26But just the awareness of these players, especially since a lot, we talked about 12 rookies.
05:31How important has the base running been in this run that they're having?
05:39Their athleticism as a whole has been important.
05:42And I think these guys didn't understand when A.J. Hinch and Joey Cora said, oh, we're going
05:48to run the bases like madmen.
05:51They meant it.
05:52So they're in Seattle, and the story goes something like this.
05:55Guy doesn't go first to third.
05:57Next day they have a team meeting, hey, we're not, we don't have as much power as these
06:02other teams.
06:03We don't have this.
06:04We don't have this.
06:05And what they said is, young legs, let's use them.
06:09I don't think they said it exactly that way.
06:11That's probably how I would have said it.
06:13And from that point forward, it was like, if you get thrown out, we don't care.
06:17Like management's not going to get mad at you if you get thrown out.
06:20Go.
06:21Press the envelope.
06:22Be aggressive.
06:23And now what you see is a team that's just become so default aggressive on the bases
06:27that it's just the norm.
06:28Like the ball and dirt read you saw Riley Green take yesterday.
06:33I mean, that's a huge play in the game.
06:35And can a guy get thrown out if he's doing that?
06:37Yeah.
06:38But does the defense have to do everything perfect?
06:40Yeah.
06:41So let's put a bunch of pressure on the defense and let them start peeing down their leg.
06:46That way we can score some runs.
06:47And that's kind of the offensive philosophy that's continued to trickle through this entire
06:52team.
06:54So now when you watch a game, they'll put tremendous pressure on a defense.
06:58They'll make the starting pitcher work.
07:00And the starting pitcher will be out there sweating just like buckets at times because
07:04they're fouling off so many pitches with two strikes.
07:07It's just that the nature of this team is just that like we don't give up.
07:12We compete every single at bat.
07:13We compete every pitch.
07:14That's a hard team to play against tonight.
07:18The White Sox have saved Garrett Crochet.
07:20They clearly want to spoil this for the Tigers.
07:23The Tigers, of course, could give them their 121st loss in MLB record.
07:28The competitor in you, how do you feel about what the White Sox are doing and the what's
07:32at stake here tonight on both sides?
07:34Oh, I don't know as far as, you know, pitch and crochet, but it's like, I don't think
07:40the Tigers care.
07:41And I'll tell you this, the White Sox are going to lose a hundred, at least 121 games.
07:46It's not 123 games because the team that they're, they're coming into right now, this ain't
07:52somebody that's just going to roll over and die for you, you know, so that way you don't
07:55have to make history on the wrong side of it.
07:58It'll be a good, I think tonight will be a good matchup.
08:02It'll be good for the Tigers to face a guy like that again, because they've faced a ton
08:06of great pitchers down the stretch here and beat a lot of them.
08:10But you know, those are, those are big times arms, when you use the postseason, guess what
08:14you see?
08:15Big time arms.
08:16Big time arms.
08:17Yep.
08:18That's it, man.
08:19Like you don't go in the postseason and all of a sudden you're like, oh look, Joey, Joey
08:24Datto over here from AAA just got called up and he's got a, an ADRA and AAA.
08:30Let's have some fun today, boys.
08:31No, it's like, here's a, here's a horse, here's a horse, here's a stud, here's a stud.
08:35You got to go out and beat those guys.
08:37The best thing about sports is that whether you go into a game, you get to spend, suspend
08:41reality for two and a half hours.
08:44You don't have to think about a lot of things that are going on in your life.
08:47A lot of us have suspended reality because they're doing the improbable.
08:52If you look into your crystal ball, how far does this go?
08:57Oh, man, well, I would say the World Series is the, that's the answer, you know, that's,
09:06that's where they're wanting to go.
09:08But I think for all of us, the team, what the team is doing right now is they're preparing
09:13for one game and they're doing their best to prepare for that game and go out and play
09:18that game.
09:20What we should do is mark on our calendar what the next game is.
09:25Take off work, like work, work, whatever, you know, tell our bosses, tell our, tell
09:30our spouses, tell our kids, like, sorry, I can't change your diaper today.
09:34The Tigers are on.
09:36And go out and just enjoy the moment because we know as a city, like, you don't get this
09:44every single year.
09:45So let's just go out, enjoy it, root for our boys and have some fun in each game.
09:50And hopefully it ends up that they get huge rings on their finger and we get to go do
09:55a parade.
09:56That'd be awesome.
09:57Love the idea of it.
10:00Andy Dirks.
10:01You've been listening to him on the radio.
10:02You've been watching him on TV.
10:04He's been giving away Tiger tickets on Twitter.
10:05I mean, Andy, we love some more coming up too.
10:08I got some more.
10:10How can people get them to give away?
10:12Well, it just depends because now I'm having people donating tickets for the giveaways,
10:17which is kind of cool.
10:18You know, people that can't make games or whatever.
10:20So it's hopefully something that just continues.
10:24So if someone's listening right now going, well, hold on, these are expensive tickets
10:27for Friday night.
10:28Andy just said he's got some.
10:29Follow you on Twitter.
10:30I mean, how can they have a chance to win them?
10:32Yeah, if you go on Twitter, what I'll do is I'll do like a contest, like I did best Jake
10:36Rogers quote yesterday.
10:39And then, you know, you drop in your quote and then we go through and we just randomly
10:44pick somebody.
10:45You know, obviously your quote has to be good.
10:48You have to put a little thought into it or use whatever.
10:51And then I sent a guy yesterday tickets behind home plate in the parking pass.
10:55Another person had three tickets up in 115.
10:58A guy pulled his son out of school, which was sweet.
11:00I was like, yes, pull your son out of school, get him to the yard.
11:04That kid's going to have the best day of his life.
11:06Another guy had his mother.
11:07It was like his mother's birthday.
11:09Who's been a Tigers fan since like, you know, the Tigers fan from since 1937, I've been
11:14a Tigers fan.
11:15I listen to every game on the radio, that lady, you know, that you don't want to mess
11:18with.
11:19Yeah.
11:20Yeah.
11:21He took her.
11:22So that was cool.
11:23Andy.
11:24It's been great.
11:25We appreciate some of your time this morning.
11:26Continue to enjoy the run.
11:27We all are.
11:28Thanks, man.
11:29All right.
11:30Thanks guys.
11:31It's 97 one.
11:32Hey, the NFL.