Switching Things Up With The Ambidextrous Ace Pat Venditte

Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and Blue Jays fans of all ages. Welcome to the Jay Bird Watching Podcast, home of the Jays fans' unofficial barroom chat. Our hosts, Craig Borden, Liz McGuire, and Jason Lyons are here to bring you all the words on these birds. We are here to have fun and talk baseball with all of you, so have those questions ready in the chat. Special thanks to our sponsor, Jay Birdy Baseball Company, Canada's baseball brand. Get ready in the comments section to have your voice heard. Grab a bar stool or your favorite beverage, and let's Talk some baseball. Let me hear you, Jays Nation. We are live. Good evening on a special Tuesday late night edition of the Jay Bird Watching Podcast. And apparently Jason's already having a horror movie and hiding in a closet. That's a little Blair Witch. I forgot I wasn't wearing my Jay Birdie hat, so I had to get this thing off. there you go and you got the great lid now so it's all set we're good to go golden ready to live we get to celebrate a victory after all the horror show that it was along with we have a very special guest but let's go around the table and say hi to everybody first liz how things feeling in toronto okay well they were feeling good i mean actually got yesterday hold on they were feeling awesome But you got something special. Now with our Baby Vladdy Expos bobblehead. Perfect. The Born Ready bobblehead was last night, and it was great. The vibes were awesome until they actually started to play the game and then really lose the game. But it was the first game with a dome open all year, which is pretty late this year. Usually it's a little bit earlier. But yeah, man, it was like... You know when you're watching something in slow motion and you're like, how did we even get here? That was the game last night. It felt like we should have been winning, but you know what? We were certainly losing. Yeah, definitely was a little bit of a train wreck. Jason, what's up? Oh, man. You know, another beautiful day on the West Coast here. We're cruising in. I've been wearing shorts for like three weeks. I can't get over it. It's just been fantastic. You're a bad person. He's rubbing that one in a little bit. We've been dealing with the rain, the dome shut, everything. We just got back from a weekend in Seattle. My boys, the North Shore Twins, were playing in one of the largest tournaments in the Pacific Northwest. There was almost fifty teams in it. We ended up beating a couple of state ranked teams. So for a small team from Vancouver, it's pretty amazing like where they're Stat line is probably averaging six, two, six, three, two, forty. Our kids are five, eight, five, nine, one, forty. I don't know what they feed people down in the US, but it's certainly... Certainly not bleeding over into Canada based on what we're seeing at U-Fifteen. But won a few games, played well. One of our kids hit his first home run out of the park of the year, which is awesome. At U-Fifteen, it's a pretty big field to go three hundred and thirty plus into the Seattle evening. So lots of fun had and excited about that. excited about a win tonight and of course because we have a kid on the twins who is an amidextrous pitcher i was very excited about tonight's episode and so is he so he'll be watching zach basilev good deal and without further ado we have our wonderful guest here in the fourth spot pet ben dede how we doing my friend welcome to the show doing great how you guys doing having a wonderful time as we actually got a win tonight and my first question obviously um we're not going to dive right into the fun that was your career right off the bat we got to talk some current events here with what's going on with the blue jays have you ever played in a game that somebody has plunked somebody four separate batters in a ball game because that's exactly what happened tonight in the Rogers Center. And I just can't imagine that somebody like Sandy Alcantara of all people, this is a former Scion Award winner that has been very good this season and just finds a way to lose command of this baseball four times this evening. And Pat, I just can't, I've never seen it. So I didn't know if that was something you saw in any of the crazy universe of all these baseball leagues that you've played in. I'm just wondering. I, unfortunately I've lived it at the major league level. part of a record uh one day in cincinnati i got three guys in the same inning that's how bad it was going that day and then from the right side or the left side or i was i was i had no idea where the baseball was going like you're literally a thirty four year old man like letting go of the baseball just saying oh my goodness i hope it gets somewhere near the plate and then i can't remember who came in after me but I'm pretty sure he hit a guy that inning too. So not only have I seen what you're talking about, I've lived it, and I think we accomplished it all in one inning. So it is possible. Heroes. I will say this. I thought that something was going to happen when he hit – Okamoto. I mean, right after a grand slam, you know, he doesn't have a lot of control. And then he, he hits the next guy, like the most unassuming dude ever, like knowing he's not going to do anything to him. So that was a little disappointing, but go on. I played with Sandy, too. He does not strike me as the type of guy that's going to go headhunting people. That's just not in his DNA. Granted, I mean, obviously, you never know, but I would be shocked if any of that was intentional tonight. I don't think any of it actually legit was. The first one was a change-up. It got away from him, and it just looked like every pitch was kind of in that same ballpark, but at that point... as somebody on the field in baseball blue jays twitter universe is going freaking wild on why did yariel rodriguez just come out and plunk the first batter after the fourth one especially with it was one of our best players and regardless of that level i I get the either way of it because it was four times. Okay, one's an accident, two's a... And Vladdy got hit last... Let's keep in mind, Vladdy got hit last night and he's out. Yeah, last night and he's out. Two nights ago. I mean, if they're throwing in and up on the Jays, if that's the book, you may want to get a few guys to trim a couple mustaches coming across. Speaking of which... Dylan Cease did that. So... but obviously in your career have you ever had that moment where any and I'm not saying it's you specifically throwing at somebody or anything but in that heated moment where it was clearly a little bit more in the intentional ballpark that you've had to see somebody stick up for your team like You know, you do see that from time to time, but I was always a guy. I don't think they're going to tap me with that being the low velo guy. It's like the equivalent of getting like a knuckleballer to go out there and drill somebody. So I've never been tasked with it, but what's that? You played with a knuckleballer too, if I'm correct. One of the best ones around. R.A. Dickey was incredible that year. I mean, it is part of the game, but it is not as prevalent as people might think. It's just when it does happen, it gets blown up and you see it more. But it's not a big thing because these guys are all out there understanding that these are our livelihoods that are on the line. And unless it's egregious. you know, you're just trying to play the game the right way. Now, not to say you're not pitching up and in because that is a part of baseball as well. But yeah, as far as going after guys, you don't really see that a whole lot. Yeah. I don't know if you guys saw on the broadcast, but it was Chris LaRue talking about how, you know, he would think he thought that the, that there should have been punished. The guy should have been hit by his team to protect his team. I will. Let's reminder here. Does anybody know what TV show Chris LaRue was on? Oh, I know. I know it all. Canadian Bachelor, Chris LaRue is my guy. Heck yeah. Canadian Bachelor, Chris LaRue, who, guys, he didn't even, like, when they did the final rose, the recap, they had, he had already broken up with Michaela, okay? So I don't know. I don't, anyway, that, that was like my tangent, not so much about the analysis, but you know, the fact that he, I mean, I don't trust advice from somebody who can't even keep it together. You know? So do you discount, like, do you discount everything Jesse Palmer says as well? Like, can we just take it? Everybody that was on the bachelor and like, no, no, no, no, no. Like he was just, he just like, like literally they're like, where it's like they've engaged. Where are they now? And they're like, yeah, we broke up. It's come on oh they were engaged too huh yeah like that's the premise you like get engaged but anyway uh and then anyway so that wait i need to go back and watch some of those episodes i saw some of the clips this is probably i don't know what would that have been about when that happened oh that would be Like, two thousand. Yeah, maybe sixteen. I'd say sixteen, seventeen. Because, like, I remember Dalton Pompey was on the team because they were roasting him. But he seems like a nice guy. He's a great guy. The best. I love Dalton. Any info on The Bachelor? What's that? The one season of the Canadian Bachelor he did. Also, I was on field one time for batting practice, and I was like, you're still my bachelor. And someone's like, he doesn't like to be called the Canadian Bachelor. And I was like, it doesn't matter. He was the hell of a player, too, at this point. Tough, tough noogie, buddy. Pompeii did the bachelor two or just just LaRue Okay, see I played with Chris before his time on The Bachelor I ran into him one time Briefly after but it was in the middle of a game. I think in Charlotte or somewhere so I didn't get to talk to him a whole lot about it, but Chris Chris was a great guy. I drove like in two thousand sixteen I drove kind of like a beat-up car that I had in Buffalo and And he had this bit every time I would get called up, he would come shake my hand and he'd say, congratulations, you now have the worst car in the major leagues. There it is. But he's just a great guy. He was one of those guys I couldn't believe. He had all the right stuff and just couldn't get that last bit. Because he was too handsome. It's because he was too handsome. He couldn't get the hot to fit on his hair. I guess I know I'm screwed all around. You can't be that handsome and good at baseball. Get out of here. Kevin Pilar does it. Kevin Kiermaier, maybe. I was just going to say, Pat, like, I mean, you know, again, I, I, I have a vested interest in this because we do have an Ami Dexter's pitcher on the team. Um, and I, I think his dad has sort of taken that Ichiro, um, Suzuki route where, you know, he makes him throw both ways. He makes him hit both ways. A couple of years ago, we were on a team with this kid and in a game, he went five for five and hit three home runs from the left and one from the right. Um, He's a special talent. He's not the biggest kid you're ever going to run into in your whole life, but he doesn't leave a lot on the table for swings or pitches. So just we'll get into your career. But I just wanted to sort of touch on the fact it's such a unique thing. How did you discover that you had the ability to throw? Like, you don't want to see me throw lefty and I have a kid who's a lefty. I tried him for a while because I couldn't throw with his arm. Like, how did you just start messing around with it? Or did your dad or should somebody be like, we want to let's just, you know, try both sides. And then you were like, well, I'm pretty good at both. no it was my dad he he uh i'm a natural right-hander and i really cannot do anything left-handed naturally in life it was one of those things that he started at a young age with me and it took a really long time to develop until i was probably a sophomore in college before so twenty years old before i really started to taste some true success And it was really dropping down sidearm left handed that really kind of took things off. And then I was able to spin a slider. But it was it was definitely not not a given ability. It had to be worked for. And then after that, finding the right on right and left on left advantage was big for me, because without that, obviously, I don't even have a minor league career, let alone, you know, any opportunities in the big leagues with the stuff that I that I possessed. I think I might have been talking to somebody that was at that game where the rule had to be established because of your obvious ambidextrousness. We have him scheduled a couple times in Life Happens and in Zach Lutz. Okay. And he had nothing but great, amazing things to say when he heard that we were having you on the show and everything. He's going to be on in a couple weeks. We're looking forward to talking youth baseball and just all that kind of good stuff with him. But apparently he was pitching or hitting against you or somebody on his team because he's not a switch hitter. And that's where I would love to hear how that whole story of how they had to establish this rule with your name literally on it at this point. Yeah, I see what he's doing with the youth side of things and trying to bring some common sense to the chaos, which is great to see. I am following along what he's doing there. But what happened was, so it was my first professional outing. There was no rule in place. And Pat Rossler, a longtime major league coach, last year he was with the Yankees. I think he's still there this year. He was on the bench with the Mets. But anyway, he just said, hey, there's no rule. He's like, just when you get a switch hitter up there, keep switching back and forth until they make a decision. And that's how that whole thing started. And obviously, there's not very – and this is But the Mets game had gotten rained out that night. So the SNY feed was ready to pick up the game on Coney Island there at the Brooklyn Cyclones field. Otherwise, nobody would have ever saw that. This is long before like the streaming days and things like that. So it was just kind of a stroke of luck that it was captured on film. And in the moment, I was just – I was so wrapped up into it. I didn't find it funny. I didn't see any of it. Now looking back, I look like a crazy person out there like – But it was just one of those things where that night I got the advantage. I got to face a switch hitter. They made him stay right-handed. But then, unfortunately, the next day the rule came down that I had to declare first. Yeah, and that still seems odd to me because you're the one, you know, a regular everyday switch hitter is going to declare before they would walk up to the plate. Nobody's ever even had the situation you're in other than, I think, a handful of people. You're the one that obviously was able to do it every day. I know Mike Buccina goofed around with it a few times, but it wasn't like he made a whole career out of it or anything like you did. But... You know, the batter walks up, steps into the box. That's where they're at. And then you would just be able to go and go from there. It just seems like that whole rule went backwards because of you're the only one. There's there's a switch pitcher right now in double A with the Cardinals. He just got traded over from the Mariners. First round pick. Incredible talent. Incredible. And I would be shocked. if his people, his agents, and whoever else is in his corner don't approach Major League Baseball about changing that, it is not right. That whole rule caters to the masses rather than the one unique individual that has a skill set that you just – it's very tough to do what he does. Pat, do you mean like if there was someone who was a really good pitcher and a really good hitter, they would just change the rule for him? We don't know anything about that guy at all. That can happen. Shenanigans. Oh, Pat, I wanted to ask you, did you have two gloves or did you have a six finger? One. And actually, you know what? While we're here, this is not the one I would pitch with, but I have something that I can promise you you've never seen before. So I had a six finger glove. This is a two handed first baseman's mitt. In high school, my dad asked Mizuno if they would be able to make a dual-handed first baseman's mitt so I could play first base one way during the game and then pitch the other to rest my arm. So this is a one-of-one in the world here. It's awesome. That's so cool. I was just down in Seattle, obviously, like I said, and we were told about this place. It's like Seattle folklore, and it's called Moshi Sports. and we went to see this dude and he's like an eighty six year old japanese guy that i mean he legitimately has one of babe ruth's catching masks he has the first six finger glove that was made by any company ever he has one of them really yeah he's got um what else was oh he had all these gloves that were designed specifically in japan that you can't get anywhere else in the world they were all these mizuno gloves that had all these different logos that i'd ever seen before it was so cool if you ever go to seattle it's moshi sports go he will talk your ear off it is so much fun to listen he had like um do you guys remember the easton mako with the twisty handle If you can find one of those bad boys, they're worth like a thousand bucks. He's got three of them in mint condition just sitting there and you can't buy them. He's not selling these gloves or anything? It's just like a little museum? He wouldn't let you buy the six finger but the one-offs from Japan were seven thousand yen. What does that make them? About eight hundred bucks? That makes sense. Mizuno's are every bit of five, six hundred bucks even for the USA versions. So it was a really cool situation, but I actually took a picture of his six finger and he let me try it on. That's cool. It was neat. I will for sure check that out. I love gloves and I especially appreciate the Japanese craftsmanship. It is special to see some of these gloves. I was always jealous of my buddies that would get to go over and play in Korea and Japan because they would come home with all these Asian gloves where they have so much more character. We're starting to get there with our gloves here in the US. But like you said, those designs on the leather, it's just, it's a pretty cool thing that they do. Yeah, really neat. Like just a totally different mindset for the way, you know, when again, I figure I'm probably similar to you. I love equipment. I'm a total equipment nerd. I know this when guys change shoes and my wife just laughs. I do it for hockey too. Like I'll be like, oh, that guy's using a different stick. And then the announcers will be like, I switched over to a CCI. And you're like, I mean, it's, you know, if you're looking, you're looking. But yeah, it was, it was really neat. And, you know, I've, I've done a lot with Birdman gloves and a few other companies. Like my son is a lefty and, you know, it's hard enough to get regular equipment in Canada. You guys have no idea. It's, Like, literally, like, two different kinds of cleats. Like, hard to get anything about, like, any A-Ks or any A-Ks, like, up to, like, a year ago. We couldn't get even any of the hard, like, you'd get two or three hard of the hides in the store. We sold a lot of them. It's crazy. And where I live in North Van, like, we're a very small community. We have nine hundred kids playing Little League. And I don't think they understand how that, you know, Like we're a part of a, a forty thousand person community and there's six parts of them that all have that many kids playing baseball. Like it's, it's nuts. So it's, it's cool when I meet another gear head too. So. A couple of my favorites are my Canada Day jersey, the red. I wasn't even there for that. Luckily, I was in Buffalo at the time and then traded about a month later. But they sent me that jersey, and then probably one of my favorite jerseys is the digital camo that the Canadian military has. It's a slightly different color, obviously, than the U.S. military, but such a cool jersey. Those are a couple of my favorites. Yeah, that's awesome. so your time with the blue jays was pretty quick but you had a great major league career and were able to jump around from team to team a little bit you had some winning seasons with the giants and all these wonderful things as you worked your way up to the majors we have a lot of youngsters that like this show especially in the Vancouver area around Jason, as you are working your way up to your major league career, is there anything that you would love to just, Hey, this is something really fun about this or a cool pointer, any of these kinds of things as these guys, kids are, you know, thinking this might be a potential option for them. The biggest thing is just sticking with it. There was so I was drafted in two thousand eight. I didn't see a big league mound until two thousand fifteen. So that's a seven year minor league journey. I was a walk on in college, was not the best coming out of high school. You played for a team, though, and that's you guys. I was going to tell you. So your logo is extremely close. We used to have this bar on campus called the Blue Jay Bar. And you guys have the same logo. It looks pretty sweet. It's throwing me back. We might have to get you one of our wonderful sponsored Jay Burry Baseball Company hats. We'll wear it proudly, that's for sure. But just more than anything, if you enjoy the game, stick with it and play as long as you can. I did it until I was thirty five. I'd still be doing it today if if it was a viable option. But just there's so many ups and downs. And, you know, with. Like you guys are talking about the game last night, then you go to today, just the emotional ups and downs, being able to deal with that. And I try to teach these kids at a young age not to be too hard on themselves, you know, to try, you know, when you're dealing with nine-year-olds, there's going to be some tears. But it's just, it's one of those games, in my journey especially, was one that was very windy. I had to play winter ball in Mexico twice, the Dominican Republic once, Venezuela. this game took me all over before I even stepped foot on a big league mound. And then once I did, it was a five-year battle to stay off of that bus to back to AAA. Like it was, it was an endless battle and it was, it was something I really enjoyed though. Good deal. That's the beautiful thing we always say about baseball, and this is a short-term memory thing. Relief pitchers especially probably know this saying. Hey, you know what? We screwed up today. Good thing there's another game tomorrow. You hope you're not getting called into that manager's office after the game. That would be the only ding. One of my favorite things that I've seen. And, you know, Pat, just so you know, you know, like I'm on the same line as let's see, like I do a lot of stuff with my sons won the provincials for eleven to nine tens. And then we lost in the finals for eleven twelves, which is we would go and then play for nationals at that point and then go to Williamsport where the differences you play in your chunks down there. We have to beat a whole we have to beat a whole country to go there. So we almost did it twice. And, you know, one of the things I really like about what I'm seeing in college baseball right now, and I don't know if you guys have seen it, is they have little toilets in the dugout. And the guys, when they have a bad AB or a bad inning, you're just supposed to walk by and it doesn't actually flush. It's about this big. But the whole idea is flush it, flush it, flush it, flush it. And so is there anything that you learned in your career that allowed you to be able to take a bad inning, a bad outing, just a bad pitch and just absolutely flush it and come out and maybe strike out the side the next time? You know, in that moment, yeah, you know, they called an angry ball after you give up a homer. That next pitch seems to be a little bit harder. But, you know, unfortunately, and I think a lot of these guys are the same way. you can talk about it all you want. Like, hey, oh, just forget about it. Just forget about it. But the reality of the situation is when you're at the major league level, if you come into a game and you're the reason the Blue Jays lose that night, I wasn't sleeping. There was no chance I was getting any sleep that night. And It was, there was just no way around it. It was never something I was able to get over my whole career. And I say not sleeping. I'm talking maybe two hours of just in and out where you just keep replaying the situation. But it's one of those things when you care so much, you know, a lot of these kids as they get older, and I'm sure they already do, a lot of their identity and what they care about most is in the game of baseball. So you can tell them to flush it and that's the best thing to have. But at the same time, It's okay to care and it's okay to want to do better and just to just chomp at the bit for that next outing because that's all you're waiting for at that point. And there's always that wonderful piece of that might be the reason that you work a little harder to this piece, that piece, maybe you've learned something to improve on to your point that you mentioned that you changed your arm slot in college to be able to figure out how to get that electric spin on it, which was one of my legit questions. But Liz, I can see that. Okay. Okay. Okay. You mentioned, okay, Pat, after the game, if you like, you know, had a role in say not winning the game, Were teammates generally mad at you? Like, what's the vibe in the locker room after? No. Okay. Not at all. No. Because what happens is you're around these guys every day, and those twenty-five guys, I mean, they're all working their tails off. They're at one o'clock, two o'clock, doing so much before that seven o'clock game, then they're there after lifting. they see how much people put into this. And now if there is a guy, I didn't run across a whole lot of them, who is not maybe invested, that person's probably not going to be on the team long. But no, there is just so much that goes into this, and all these guys are on the same page. And I know from a fan's perspective, they may not see it, and they may just see guys there collecting a check. But it is a sad, depressing place, and they're as comforting as they can be in a situation like that. Okay. This gentleman worked in a locker room that consisted of the, what is the new podcast that Donaldson and Russell Martin are running now? Yeah. What was the vibe in that locker room? Wait, Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin are doing a podcast together? Just started. Oh my gosh. Those are two polar opposite individuals right there, right? Yeah. That's a lot of like, it's a big dog energy and like nicer big dog energy. I don't really know. I'll tell you what I had heard. I heard a lot of, uh, you know, you play against Josh Donaldson, you hear your teammates say, oh man, that guy's, you know, they just didn't like him. But when he is on your team, that guy was ride or die and just all he cared about was winning and performing every night. And, you know, that was that was one of those things. And then obviously, you know, Russell being the steady hand behind the dish. We had Josh Tully, too. We had Chris Colabello, Ari Dickey. Strowman was on that team. Osuna was our closer. Estrada. We just had a great group of guys that, you know, that was an incredible team that year. Yep. And I think, what was it like, you know, we always hear about Josh Tolley and Russell Martin as far as what they were to somebody like pitching in your, you know, avenue here. What was it like you having those two guys as your receiver anytime you did get the pull from the pass? Just complete control and complete command. I didn't have to worry about shaking. I knew that they were ready for anything and everything we were gonna see. Just completely trusted their game plan. I don't think I ever shook either one of them in the however many outings I had there. But it was just when you have veteran presence like that with those guys, it's a very fortunate thing to have. Cuz some of the teams I was with, we maybe had younger catchers with the A's and things like that. It's just, it's a little bit of a different game, not being able to have that complete control of the team. Yeah. Go ahead, Liz. When would you shake off a pitch? If I was absolutely convicted that I either had something that day that was maybe a little bit better that they didn't realize, or if I had history with a guy, that would be the only other time. And I would say it was that more than anything else is history with that guy. It's also just having information. Yes. Just knowing that like, even though, Hey, they, they think that pitch is working today. There's might've been days where it doesn't matter how good it is. He's still hitting it. so that's that's just info they're not gonna they're not gonna know and it's crazy like i'll read something in a book and forget it but i'll remember like a tutu pitch from seventeen years ago like it's crazy how that works it's just ingrained in the trap right it is so So I have on our Instagram feed and our TikTok feed, you can see what's going on on our chat on the other stuff. There's not as much going on on Twitter. So everybody, please hit us up with those questions. I have some stuff that I just want to make sure. The general consensus is basically what our friend Julie Jays is saying on Instagram right now. Pat, we got teased with only seeing you for a little bit as Blue Jays fans, but the fans that you did make with Julie, she is having an incredible blast having you on the show with us this evening. and just hearing a little bit about your story. What was it like in that brief appearance with a team like we had in twenty sixteen with the trial Blue Jays? And then you obviously played with a wonderful group of people in Buffalo as well. Yeah, the Rogers Center, I'll tell you what, then it was packed. It could be like a Tuesday night. And when we had that team, you know, the place was rocking. And there wasn't really many games where that place wasn't full and loud. And then, Liz, you had mentioned the roof being open yesterday. It seemed like it was, you know, it was still extremely loud. I didn't like how much the ball flew during the day games. I despise that, especially the left side. It was an incredible place to come every day. And just you knew that you were going to have an incredible atmosphere with a bunch of fans. And it's a different feeling. You had mentioned that when your son Jason had tried to qualify for the World Series, he's doing it for a whole country. it's almost like you have the world cup every day because you have an entire country west to east you know just pulling for one team and that makes it fun too that until you play there you don't understand it or until you go to a game in seattle against toronto which by the way i've been on both sides of that it is not fun from the seattle side when those toronto teams are humming that's too fun because the other fun part about that is you nailed exactly what blue jays fans have obviously come to realize and i think the world started realizing that in the baseball ecoverse a little bit last year during the world series which is another team you played for with the dodgers and they had the best ratings in baseball history that they had for the world series when you collectively look at the canadian broadcast and the american broadcast and it is very telling that baseball fans are hungry in toronto and the nation of canada to be able to support this team And then doing what they did when you played in twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen there with the Blue Jays. And then obviously the run that we are hoping to get back on track of this season. The fans have been there all these games. And my last question on that avenue is, have you had a chance to check out the new ballpark? Because it honestly feels like a new ballpark at this point. I've virtually done the tour as soon as you guys completed those last year. Because I still have a bunch of videos on my phone that I show my kid because I stayed in the hotel there when I was there. He's nine. I try to explain to him that I slept closer to the bullpen than the clubhouse is. You know, just by the time you... You get down there and walk around. I have not seen it in person, though, but those upgrades, they look incredible. I can't wait to see a game there. And I will one of these days. I'm going to for sure bring the crew up and show them what the great city of Toronto is all about. It was probably my favorite city as far as like it feels like a mix to me between like Chicago and San Francisco and New York, all kind of. merged together, but just perfectly clean and no issues. It was amazing. Yeah. It is. I, it's so nice to hear all these kinds of things. Liz, I know you live in Toronto, Jason, you used to live in the area like that. I just, it's refreshing to hear that because we never hear that from, you know, outside the ballpark players. No, we hear, okay. Also like, if you notice the trend, everyone's like, Oh, Toronto, who wants to play in Toronto free agents? And then people come and play and they're like, they don't want to leave. Yeah. And I didn't know much about Toronto at all until I got there. Um, It's a beautiful, beautiful big city, that's for sure. Now, on that same vein, Pat, and I don't think anyone will get mad at you. Certainly no one on this panel will. We know you were drafted by the Yankees. I do like the fact that I think only you and Bo Jackson told the Yankees to pound sand when they wanted to, but eventually you signed. But that being said, so that puts you in the same class as Bo. That's pretty good. I'll take it. You can take it. What is your favorite jersey you ever wore? And you don't have to say a Jays one just because you were on the Jays because I feel like you played some pretty neat jerseys. yeah you know wearing the italian jersey and multiple world baseball classic and uh the european championships those are really fun tournaments because there's really no professional baseball players playing in those tournaments because like august september so like our right fielder was a gardener during the week he would wear his gardening gloves and then he's trying to win a european championship for italy so i mean those have some special meaning And then really that that two thousand eighteen Dodgers team I was a part of those veterans between like Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, you know, on par with with those guys I was with in sixteen in Toronto. Just great leaders because of how inclusive the environment was in the clubhouse. I was the twenty fifth guy on the roster when I'm up there. You know what I mean? I I'm not going to be, you know, the determining factor on most most days, whether or not we're winning or losing games. But just the way they made me feel a part of things, it's something that I've taken with me forever because, you know, usually when you have guys that well off and that established in the game, they're kind of in their own world. But they were very good about the culture and making everybody feel like they were pulling the ship. That's really cool. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I tried to be a good host and do my homework. Obviously, I loved watching you play when you were in Toronto and Buffalo because I got to see you all the time here in Rochester and New York. But correct me if our friend Brooke Knows Ball, Brooke had a chance to meet you and have a little fun with your story and did a great clip on it. Obviously, she is at a lot of Dodgers games, but I think her being just outside of Dodgers culture. And then you also got to meet the point in Dodgers culture, correct? That is Tommy Lasorda. I did. Yeah. I got to meet him. Sorry. You know, he would come around the clubhouse all the time. He would come over. He had his motorized chair that he would just scoot around. But I had a moment with him and I think you're probably referring to one of my pictures. I had picked up my son after a spring training outing and he was just outside the clubhouse and, you know, he, He picked up my son, like was playing with his arm. and just the nicest guy in the world. And being of an Italian guy from Omaha, my dad loved Tommy Lasorda and the Italian culture in my family runs deep. The neighborhood my grandparents immigrated to in Omaha, my whole family's still there. And my great grandfather's shoe store, my dad just kind of renovated and they use it as a little card room now and just have some fun with it. It was nice to have that time with Tommy, too, with my son. Okay, now we got to ask. We got to know. The Italian baseball team at the World Baseball Classic this year is possibly the most enticing story ever. i can't even i i mean the jays last year in the world series was pretty cool but that was so neat to watch that and just to give up like i wanted canada to win at didn't matter but then i was just like i want italy to beat everybody else and like it was cool was that it was so fun to watch and a lot of those guys that are now well francisco cervelli their manager he was a teammate of mine on multiple he's a beauty that guy The best. I keep saying that about these guys. But you keep bringing up people that are legitimately just like kind, you know, super nice people that it doesn't matter if they're talking to, you know, somebody running the clubhouse or the president. They're treating them the same way with the same respect. And he was one of those guys. And then Marco Mazzieri was my manager with Italy. He's now president of the federation. So it was just so nice to see all the hard work that these guys have done pay off. And I mean, if you go back to two, do you remember the brawl between Mexico and Canada? A hundred million percent. Absolutely. Absolutely. We were in that bracket and we were, we were waiting for that game to be done and we needed, I think we needed whoever we need. I can't remember who we needed to win. They won. So then our game against USA was meaningless and we were already advancing. So we were in the hotel just hanging on every pitch, and then that fight happened, and I could not believe it. What was it, Tyson? Who was the one that started that? I can't remember. It wasn't Tyson Gillies, was it? It was. I think he was a part of it, and then Aceves, I think, from Mexico. So Ty is in North Van. I know Ty real well. Now, hold on. I don't want to be quoted saying the wrong thing. If it was not him that started it, I apologize. No, no, it's fine. Leave it at that. He'll love that. Don't worry, there's only a couple hundred listeners right now. And a couple of thousand downloads. So, obviously, I can't even imagine being able to suit up and doing that for the World Baseball Classic and enjoying it. You've got to do it twice. Walk us through what it was like getting picked, selected, all that kind of good stuff, and obviously getting a chance to literally wear your country on the uniform. So the World Baseball Classic has a little bit more lenient policy to where if your grandparents are born there, you're automatically eligible. So a lot of guys will have that. I had to fully become a citizen. So they approached me in like, about starting the process. I found all of my documentation, my uncle back in Omaha helped me gather all of the things, you know, marriage licenses and all the things from my great grandparents over in Campo Basso is where they're from in Italy. And I was able to take that. And the way it worked out was my great grandfather never fully renounced his Italian citizenship. So that unknowingly gave me a little bit of an easier path to become a citizen. And then I went to the consulate in L.A., got a passport, and I was ready to go. There you go. So obviously you got the pitch. How did you do? I couldn't find that stat. Yeah. There were some good ones and some rough ones in there. I mean, I pitched in quite a few games. Venezuela multiple times, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico in XIII, I think I was on the mound when they took the lead in the seventh. And then XVII, I fared a little bit better, had a rough one against Mexico. But we actually were down four in the bottom of the ninth. And Roberto Osuna came in in Mexico. And if you can believe this, he gave up five straight runs without recording it out. And we ended up walking off Mexico in Mexico. And then pitched pretty well against Venezuela there in the last game. But they ended up coming back against us in the ninth inning. So overall, just really fond memories of pitching for Italy. Good deal. Liz, you got a question? You look like you got one. Yeah, just I guess that like – In terms of like at the World Baseball Classic, what was the vibe? How was it different than your normal MLB game? I remember watching it even in twenty thirteen and thinking how fun it looked because MLB for me felt very buttoned up. And, you know, the WBC was like a more raucous party. Fantastic question. I think what it comes down to is when you're suiting up in spring training and you're trying to make a team or you're up in the big leagues, each at bat that you have or each pitch that you throw. is tied to what's going to happen to you the next day, the next week, the next month. Whereas when you get in the World Baseball Classic, look, you weren't even able to find out what happened in the game, Craig. You know what I mean? The stats don't matter. Literally, the only thing that matters is if you guys win that day. And you're not playing for a month from now. You're playing literally for two weeks with a group of guys that's not going to change. They're not going to send anybody out tomorrow. Your team is who it is. So it really just allows people to kind of relax to a certain degree, but then all just pull for that common goal of wanting your country to reign supreme. It's just It's almost like playoff baseball in March is the best way to describe it. It's just high. You're hanging on to every pitch from the first to the ninth. And that's just unfortunately, that's not the reality of a hundred and sixty two game season. Yeah. So now I'm going to completely throw a curveball with you. I might not throw a sidearm, but I'm going to try to throw a curveball. Obviously, that was probably the most fun, most competitive brand of baseball that you could have played. I know you made a banana ball appearance. I know you played some cosmic ball. So throwing the idea of like, I can't believe the world traveler that you kind of were with your baseball career here, playing with all the great universities, this thing, that thing, throwing those couple of things in there just for the hell of it. A lot of our fans don't exactly maybe know all this stuff exists. So that's because the tours for the Banana Ball League and stuff have not made their way up to Canada yet. It's going to happen. They keep saying it. But those kind of things. What were those fun experiences as a cherry on top for the end of your career and everything? So the Cosmic Baseball and the Savannah Bananas Baseball are must attend events. It is just pure fun from the second you get there to the second you leave. And you talk about the most engaging players that you're going to find. There's nobody saying no to an autograph. They just want the fans to have the best experience. And I didn't I had never been to a banana game. Jesse had reached out to me in twenty one to pitch. I had just, you know, transitioned out of baseball and I didn't feel like it was the right time. And then they reached back out in twenty twenty five. And at this time I hadn't pitched in like five years. And I'm like, well, let me see. So I spent like a month throwing and I was like, okay, I can do this enough to where I can compete because you get out there and you're pitching in front of thirty five thousand thousand in Marlins Park. Thirty five thousand people there. I don't want to. Go embarrass myself. So I spent like four months training for literally two outs. That's awesome. It was a lot, but it was just so much fun. My kids had the best time. And then on the flip side, cosmic baseball, uh, Ray Ortega, one of their coaches was with me with the giants in nine. And I, I live in Peoria, Illinois now, but I was going to be out in my hometown of Omaha and I, on the same May ninth day that they were there. So I just sent him a text. I was like, Hey man, I'll be out here with my kids. Can I get a few tickets for the game? Cause they're all sold out better. He's like, yeah, do you want to pitch? I'm like, well, I'll give it a try. So I spent twelve days getting ready with a concrete wall not far from my house and went out and pitched a couple of weeks ago. It was a blast. But the cosmic, the cosmic is just a different level because what it is is for the fans that don't know, it's four innings of somewhat real baseball. And I say somewhat because there's some wacky rules in there. But guys are like throwing, you know, ninety throwing curveballs, trying to get guys out. But during that daylight, they have like an inning of chaos. to where it's three minutes where everything's in play. So we had the bases loaded. The guy hit a foul ball over the net. That's right. They don't get it. Well, it's the fan's job. So if you think about it, if it's their team hitting, they're going to hold on to the ball so the guy gets a home run. So there was a grand slam foul ball. That's awesome. Then they hit the lights after four innings, and then it's four innings of blacklight baseball. But then the hitters can't see spin when the ball is lit up like that. So it's all fastballs. And then they have aluminum bat home run derbies after every inning. So how do you not get fun with that? Like I said, it's not full baseball. It has its own little niche. But you just get to your point. You get to have fun. It's for the kids. That's so good. I bet your kids had a blast both of those times just hanging out and doing the do, right? Yeah. They did. And the adults are having a blast, too, because they see how much fun the kids are having. And, you know, there's a DJ playing music the whole time. It's a completely different vibe than a Toronto Blue Jays game. And, you know, it obviously doesn't compare, you know, when you talk about the skill of the players or the level of play or maybe the intensity of the moments in the game. But it's still something to experience that people are going to want to keep doing. Right. deal so we have fifteen minutes left i want to make sure we get the last couple minutes uh uh questions and whatnot in here and then i want to make sure we give play our end of the game here and whatnot and do our normal wrap up of the show jason liz are there any questions you would like to ask pat to wrap things up i've asked my couple here i got one i got one go for tiger um what would you consider to be like your uh that was it moment in the majors Like, did you strike a guy out or did you, like, I watched what Macko strike out Aaron Judge the other night, and he had a look on his face like, just throw a car at me. Like, whatever, man. Like, I'll take anything down at this point. One of my early ones was just one of my first at-bats against Prince Fielder. It was, you know, back when he was going. And I had some good success against him. He didn't see my sliders very well. So I was able to get him, unfortunately, in the same left-handed batter's box with a different team, Rugnet Odor. I didn't have a single pitch that could get him out. So it was just really, you know, seeing those guys that you watch on TV so much and then, you know, you're up against them. But as far as like best moments, major league debut, a couple innings in Fenway Park there was was incredible after seven years in the minor leagues. And then my first win in the big leagues against Arizona was pretty special to it. It had come on a Sunday when on Friday night, Goldschmidt had hit a three run homer off me. And then on Sunday, he hit a laser to the wall. But luckily it was caught. And that was the third out of the game. There you go. Man, that boy can hit. He was good. This is two thousand sixteen or two thousand fifteen, too. So there was these guys are still playing now. But these are this is like when him and Trout were just in their absolute heyday. Whole nother level. Yeah. So, Liz, you got that last one. I do. OK. Who had your number? Was it was it a door? Did he? Yeah, he was one of them. I didn't have much for Pujols either. I didn't have much for Trout. They were in division guys. I would see a lot. But no, but Odor just he just seemed that like every time I would face him, it was it was if I was going to get him out, it was going to be allowed out somewhere. And I tried everything too. I tried Ephus. I tried over the top. I think I even tried to face him right-handed one time. That didn't work either. Okay. I have one more, one more for Pat. Pat, have you ever asked anybody what for their autograph? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I would. I would get guys. It was especially guys that I liked playing with and respected a lot. So like if you go down to my jerseys, let's see, Blue Jays. I got I got a Jose Bautista with with the bat flipped photo, too. He signed that for me. I had Donaldson sign one for me. Ben Zobrist, he was an incredible teammate, World Series MVP with the Cubs. Let's see, who else? Poole Hulse, Nelson Cruz. I really enjoyed playing with Nelson Cruz. Robbie Cano was a great guy. Then Kershaw. It was more or less the guys that I either admired from afar or had a chance to play with them and just really enjoyed who they were. in that same vein and this is something we always like one of us always ends up asking this question of every major league baseball player we have on this show somebody you grew up loving and then somebody that you were just completely in awe while you played with them it could be major league minor league any of those kind of things and who did you grow up loving Well, you know what? I grew up, we didn't have cable growing up, so all we had was WGN and TBS. So I grew up watching the Braves and the Cubs. So, you know, Harry Carey, Steve Stone, I hear those voices still to this day. And I think Steve is still with the White Sox, if I'm not mistaken. not mistaken. But as far as like my time with the Yankees, this is in the middle of like Jeter and A-Rod, you know, their heyday where they were kind of on top of both the baseball world and the social world. So when you're sharing a clubhouse with those guys, it's kind of on a different level. And then there was one day where A-Rod, I think, was dating one of the WWE superstars. He brought her in and I'm like, What world am I living in right now? That and Derek Jeter's lineup for what he's dated as the starting nine on an all-star team. Yeah, those Yankees. Those Yankee teams with Pettit, Posada. It was a bunch of living legends kind of at the tail end of their career that I was in the same room with, and that was kind of wild. That's pretty awesome. Perfect. Anything else before we play our last final games and give Mr. We got to do the pick to click. And then I've got chicken out of the oven. I'm ready to slam some dinner here, baby. He's got a chicken. The boys just got home from practice. There you go. I see that daylight behind you, too. I'm jealous. Yeah, I know, right? It's only six o'clock here. Seven o'clock. Sorry, eight o'clock here. Me and Liz are out pushing eleven o'clock here on East Coast time. But thank you very much to everybody that's still in the chat. Last opportunity here to get your questions and your answers. hopefully hear from Pat. Um, Pat, we play a game here every week. That is very much in the honor of, uh, some of those things that you heard watching WGN back in the day, we do picks the click and the idea is who performed the best over the past week since when we recorded last week. So we record every Wednesday typically, and then we're going to pick for today with the collective here and going till next week. So last week's picks, and we got to put this up to a vote here and see who won the no particular order. We had George Springer. Hendrick Pignago, Trey Gusevich, and Kaz Akamoto as the players that were collectively picked between the three of us in our guest spot last week. I'm wondering if I might have actually won for the first time ever with a pitcher with Trey Gusevich. I feel like you have. I mean, I would give it to Penango. Springer had a hell of a week, too, instead of Kendrick. I mean, Gusevich was unbelievable. I don't know. I put some guys on last night and then they scored and I was mad. But that's just me. But was that his fault? It wasn't his fault. You know what? We have a pitcher on. Let's give the pitcher the win. Give the pitcher the win. Mark it down. It's the only time ever. Okay, because I'm always the last pick because I'm the host and I'm nice to all of you. So from today, Pat, the question would be who is going to be the best Blue Jay until our next recording next week? I'm going to let you pick first here for the guest spot, which right now is currently sitting in second place with two wins on the season here on the clipboard. I'm going to say to back up another strong week, Springer. I feel like his start to the season is not indicative to how he's going to finish, and he's going to dominate again here in the summer months. What's that? He's been ripping the ball the last two games. Yeah, I think I saw his average was down this year, right? Yep, but it's coming. He just needs to – he's leaning back a little too bit and trying to hit – I feel like he's trying to hit home runs rather than trying to hit balls into the gap. Why is he going to avoid getting plunked or following a baseball off his foot? He's trying to hit the catcher maybe, given how much catcher interference he can get. I can't believe he lines up that close to the catcher and he gets away with that all the time. Exactly. And that's really where it is. So we got George Springer on the board for the guest spot. Liz, you were not here next list last week. I'm going to let you go next. Um, because I don't know if you can go with your normal pick, because Vlad has not played two days in a row now. No, I was here last week, I think. I'm going to go with Okamoto. He's having a hard time, and I want to get him going, so I pick him. Going for Kaz. And Jason. To quote the somewhat mediocre Kanye West, Jesus walks. So we're going for Jesus Sanchez this week. I mean, the guy's already on fire. It's a grand slammy today, so I'm kind of coming out of it. I could have just picked first. Y'all would have ignored me anyway. But at the end of the day, I'm picking Ernie Clement because the guy is on a nine-game winning streak or hitting streak, and he's now had home runs in back-to-back days. He pumped that one out of there today. Even the one he hit yesterday that just, quote-unquote, barely made it over the wall was still three hundred and seventy-two some odd feet. It wasn't the second highest home run in the changed-over dome or something like that? Maybe. might have been, which is impressive amongst itself. So on that note, we got our picks to click locked in. Pat, our customary at the end of our show is the shameless self-promoting bit. So talk about the microphone, what is yours, whatever you want to talk about with whatever you got going on in your life at the moment. You know what? The one thing I do continue to do, I have a teammate who was killed out in Omaha, Chris Grataville. And this will be the fifth year that we honor him at a baseball camp on June ninth in Omaha. I don't know if there's any Omaha people that are going to hear this that are not already signed up. but we get a couple of hundred kids out on campus at Creighton University to honor Chris. And then all of the money from that day goes to his scholarship that they've sent out, sent up there at Creighton. And he was a tremendous catcher, a tremendous friend, and then a minor leaguer with the Rangers as well. So this will be the fifth year that we do the gratitude baseball camp. And yeah, just, just some awareness to that. It's, it's a cool thing where I don't know if you guys remember names like Brian Dunsing, Darren Ruff. Those guys come out and help that day too. Tyler Cloyd. So it's a fun day of baseball out in Omaha. It's awesome. It's really cool. Hopefully maybe we can help out with one Blue Jays family to another Blue Jays family here and see what we can get going on. Make sure you give me those links before we are completely done for today or tomorrow. I appreciate that. Sounds good. What a treat, Pat. Honestly, you've got to come back now. I'm telling you, I want to get out there. My wife, we need to get out to where you are too, Jason. Vancouver is a place that she wants to go. But I think first up, we'll get up to the Rogers Center with my little ones and have some fun. Good deal. So thank you very much for joining us, Pat. You are welcome back anytime. No questions asked. Just tell me when you want to talk some baseball. You can come in anytime. That was a lot of fun, everybody. Appreciate you. So Blue Jays fans, thank you very much for joining us. Sorry if we didn't get to any of the questions that we might have asked. We tried to get as many as we could get in tonight, but we only have an hour. Thank you very much for listening. Great times. Hopefully Blue Jays get keep going and we'll have some more great baseball stories for you next week. Hope you have a great week and go Blue Jays. Cheers. Go to bed, Liz. Go to bed, Liz. I know, right? Go to bed, Liz. See y'all.