The Reds are in the midst of a tough 31-game stretch against teams projected to contend for the postseason. The bats haven't quite come around in total but the pitching is showing very impressive signs. What will it take for the Reds to continue their push toward contending status? Trags chats with Bally Sports Ohio host of "Reds Live" Brian Giesenschlag on a number of topic in and out of the baseball realm on the latest episode of Code Reds.
Welcome to CLNS Media's Cincinnati Sports Studio, your ultimate hub for everything sports in the Queen City! We bring you in-depth analysis, exclusive interviews, and breaking news covering your beloved Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds. As passionate fans ourselves, we understand the heartbeat of the Cincy sports community and aim to keep you ahead of the game with accurate and timely information!
Welcome to CLNS Media's Cincinnati Sports Studio, your ultimate hub for everything sports in the Queen City! We bring you in-depth analysis, exclusive interviews, and breaking news covering your beloved Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds. As passionate fans ourselves, we understand the heartbeat of the Cincy sports community and aim to keep you ahead of the game with accurate and timely information!
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hey everybody, it is tracks Mike Petralia back with the latest
00:04 episode of code Reds on the CLNS Media Network talking all
00:09 things Cincinnati baseball. My privilege and pleasure. Genuine
00:12 pleasure. I might add to talk with the host of Reds Live.
00:17 Brian Geeson's Law. He does a great job before and after
00:22 every Reds game on Valley Sports, Ohio Valley Sports,
00:25 Cincinnati Brian welcome tracks. Thanks man excited. This is fun.
00:30 Yeah, this is going to be a really fun podcast episode. I
00:34 believe because we'll talk baseball. We might squeeze in
00:37 some hockey at the end. I am. I'm a hockey Krishna's we call
00:40 I know you are back in Boston so anyway, we'll get to the Reds
00:45 actually. Thank Brian. It's been a pretty good start given what
00:50 David Bell and company have had to deal with starting in spring
00:53 training. I've talked with a number of people about that
00:57 Gordon Whitmire last week of the Cincinnati Inquirer. I
01:00 talked to Rob Dibble, talked to Cowboy all about the subject of
01:04 what the Reds have had to deal with really since the onset of
01:08 spring training to see them 15 and 13 through 28 games. I think
01:13 it's a good sign for being competitive going forward. Your
01:16 take. I think it's a great sign. I think if the Reds hadn't been
01:22 dealing with all those things you talked about the injuries,
01:25 the loss of the season to Noel V Marte. I think this starts
01:29 still even if those guys have been part of the picture, I
01:32 think given where this team has been recently in early in the
01:36 season in the past, I think you take it. It's a it's a long
01:40 season um and when they get off to the terrible start, which
01:45 they've done for most of the last decade, what was it? Seven
01:47 and fifteen last year, you can feed to the year three and 22
01:51 the year before. Yeah, you can feed yourself. Hey, it's a long
01:54 season. There's different types of starts. It rings a little
01:58 bit hollow with a start that's even slightly better than
02:01 average, which I think is where they are right now, right? You
02:05 can sell yourself that idea and and it's slightly better than
02:08 average in a results based and it's a results business. We
02:12 can't get around that right results based. It's slightly
02:14 better than average, but I think the stories within those games
02:18 and the stories within those players that have performed so
02:21 well, I think there are more encouraging things there that
02:24 would maybe put a little bit more shine on the three games
02:27 over 500 after twenty-eight games. The starters took a bit
02:31 of a hit on Sunday with the four run first inning from
02:34 Andrew Rabbit, but overall the starters ERA much improved over
02:39 the last couple of years, I would say and certainly the
02:42 bullpen um has been a big boost in terms of two players. I want
02:46 to point out Alexis, not Alexis Diaz. I would say first of all,
02:51 the star of the stopper of that bullpen and Brent Suter. He has
02:55 been called on a lot here in the early part of the year. I
02:59 just want to get your impression your take on the big
03:02 difference between the pitching staff of the last 2 years and
03:07 this year through twenty-eight games. Yeah. looking at the
03:10 starters uh Sam and I've talked a lot about this on the pregame
03:14 show and it's you know at the end of every post game show
03:17 when we preview the upcoming starters for the series like we
03:19 just look at you know three at a time and it's it's so
03:23 different than it's been at sometimes in the past when you
03:26 can look at probables for a three or four game series and
03:30 feel pretty good about your chances to be in each of those
03:34 games regardless of who the opposition is regardless of
03:37 what the lineup looks like on the other side or regardless of
03:39 who the other starters are that's been good this year and
03:43 they've dealt with you know missing a couple of games from
03:46 Frankie Montas. Certainly, you know, Brandon Williamson, I
03:50 think was thought to maybe be a part of this a couple of months
03:52 ago and and he's not in there right now um but getting Nick
03:56 Lodolo back having the versatility of a Nick Martinez.
04:00 This puts this Reds team and this starting rotation in a
04:03 position that they haven't been in in years past and speaking
04:07 to that when you go to the bullpen, how many times when
04:10 we've asked David Bell or someone else about Nick
04:13 Martinez, Brent Suter, did he reference those guys and say
04:18 it's something we just didn't have last year and I think
04:21 that's the easiest way to put it is to recognize that you had
04:24 quality pitchers that could be called upon in certain
04:28 situations. Sometimes it's just for length. Sometimes it's when
04:32 you need length and really something a little bit more to
04:36 stay in a game. Sometimes it's when you just need someone
04:39 that's available all the time. Brent Suter that can go out
04:43 and do it for an inning or can do it for three innings. So,
04:46 the Reds really, I feel like address that in the offseason
04:49 and it always looks good on paper but seeing it now come to
04:53 fruition in those situations, in games, in tight games, in
04:58 some games that the Reds have been able to win, that's been a
05:01 big difference for this team and Fernando Cruz which you're
05:05 you're right has been the star of the bullpen so far but he's
05:08 also become one of the best stories in baseball. It's it's
05:13 it's still you know not that big of a sample size for
05:16 Fernando Cruz but just given his path, given the fact that
05:20 he was a 32-year-old rookie last year who had pitched
05:23 everywhere and not been able to stick and now he's here and
05:27 now he's being talked about in those high leverage situations
05:31 as that's the guy I want out there. That's that's the guy
05:34 and so far in a couple of big jams early in the season, he's
05:38 been the guy. So, until uh you know, cracks show anywhere,
05:42 you're gonna go with that and and Fernando Cruz has been
05:45 spectacular. I think he had uh back-to-back efforts against
05:49 the Phillies, I believe it was where he had bases loaded uh
05:53 and one out and he comes in uh in relief and gets out of that
05:57 jam and then the next night, runners on second and third uh
06:01 and uh nobody out and gets out of that. To me, those are
06:06 really defining moments of a season for an individual
06:09 pitcher. Something that like when he puts that, when you put
06:12 that down on the resume early in the year, it's something you
06:15 can put in the bank. I talked with this. I talked about that
06:18 with Sam LaCour uh Sam LaCour and I know you have too. The
06:23 twenty strikeouts in ten and a third innings for uh Fernando
06:27 Cruz is really truly a remarkable stat. Yeah, well,
06:31 it's it's not just the splitter. It's not just that
06:33 pitch which rightfully so is being talked about right now is
06:36 one of the best pitches that guys see around the league but
06:40 I talked to Cruz a couple of times just about you know what
06:44 is it? You're you've got the splitter. You've you've had the
06:46 splitter and he said, look, everything about my fastball is
06:50 better this year. Uh it's ticked up a little bit in
06:54 velocity. He says that it's moving a touch more and so it's
06:58 the combination of those things when you can throw the
07:00 splitter at eighty miles an hour and it drops off the table
07:03 and no one knows where it's going and then you can back that
07:06 up with ninety-four well located. He's he's learning to
07:11 do those things and David Bell talked about the fact that he's
07:14 also now learning to read hitters uh to read swings and
07:19 that's kind of I think the next level in pitching. You know,
07:23 everybody can talk about it but you have to feel you have to
07:26 have that feel for what you're capable of and your stuff before
07:29 I think mentally you can allow yourself to go a little bit
07:32 deeper into reading swings. He said, yes, he's been able to do
07:36 that better this season but the biggest thing for him is just
07:39 after last year proving that he could be here proving that it
07:43 belongs given his resume of where he's been. He said, now,
07:46 I can come to the ballpark and I'm coming to work and he said,
07:49 I want the ball. I want those situations but there is a big
07:53 difference in how he feels about his role and his place
07:56 based on going from last year and coming out of nowhere to
08:00 being one of the main guys this year. The starters ERA 4.15, I
08:05 believe it is and the overall team ERA 3.90. Um that's 18
08:11 tenths of a run better than the opposition. That to me is a
08:16 good indicator. Yeah. Uh certainly the overall team ERA
08:19 has just improved a great deal. You have to give Nick Kral uh
08:23 and uh the personnel department uh ton of credit for reshaping
08:27 what the pitching staff is. Yeah and they knew they knew
08:30 that they had to but the thing that I give Nick and those guys
08:34 and Brad Metter and and the whole front office and all the
08:37 scouts and the baseball people is um like I said, you can once
08:43 you settle on a philosophy which this team did when they
08:46 were when they were dealing players and kind of tearing it
08:50 down a couple of years ago, everyone, not everyone but a
08:54 lot of people that I talked to that were disgruntled about the
08:57 state of baseball in Cincinnati for the past several years,
09:00 right? Said, oh, here we go again. They're um you know,
09:03 they're they're trading all of our decent players and they're
09:06 doing this and whatnot and they said, it's just like it's
09:08 always been and I said, listen, we don't know until we get on
09:12 the other side of this but what I saw when they were doing that
09:16 was was finally an organizational thought that
09:20 made sense. Um they the the plan that was in place to trade
09:25 Luis Castillo to trade Tyler Malley when they had great
09:29 value was something that hadn't always been the case here in
09:32 the past and I think when they got to that point a couple of
09:35 off seasons ago where they said, this is what we're gonna
09:38 do and it's gonna be painful in the short term but we believe
09:42 in the decisions that we make going forward, everything
09:45 changed and in the off season, some of these moves were still
09:48 you know, uh it looks looks okay on paper. Maybe we'll see
09:51 and some are still the jury's still out on some of these
09:53 things but you have seen specifically with the pitching
09:57 staff, some of the things and decisions that they've made
10:00 have changed this team. They took that step last year with
10:03 some of the young players that they got in some of those deals
10:06 and some of the high draft picks specifically to the
10:08 pitching which they had brought along and it all lined up a
10:12 little bit. It all kinda meshed and I think in the off season,
10:15 they addressed very carefully some of those things and that's
10:19 some of the positive that you're seeing right now.
10:22 Chatting up Brian Giesenslaw of Valley Sports, Ohio, the host
10:26 of Reds Live and Blue Jackets Live for you hockey fans out
10:29 there. Does a phenomenal job on both. Alright, after the Reds
10:33 swept the LA Angels, Brian, they were in very good shape
10:38 but they knew that there was a storm cloud ahead of them and
10:43 sometimes vehicles, planes, boats, whatever are built to
10:48 weather rough seas or rough air and thirty, the next thirty-one
10:54 games, really a gauntlet for these Reds and they have
10:58 started it off. I think reasonably well splitting with
11:01 the Philadelphia Phillies team that was in the World Series
11:04 2 years ago going one and two on the road. All the two losses,
11:08 one run losses against the defending champ, Texas Rangers
11:13 on the road but these thirty-one games coming up, how
11:16 do you think it will define the Reds season? Again, defining
11:21 the season as a whole is still I think something that's too
11:24 early to say but defining different quadrants of the
11:28 season and defining what a new Reds team could possibly be. I
11:33 think we'll look to see not just the wins and losses here
11:36 but how how they react. They're going to be some ups and downs.
11:39 Winning the season series against the Phillies. That's a
11:42 that's a big start and not to give the Phillies too much
11:46 credit but that's that's the kind of thing that this Reds
11:48 team early in a season before that would have been a big ask.
11:53 Moving forward, you know, the Texas, the Texas series, I
11:56 thought was good. I thought they were going to win the
11:58 series in game three and you come down to the final pitch
12:01 and you have a line drive that would have tied the game that
12:04 just finds a glove. So, I think some of the steps last year and
12:09 some of the leadership on this team from Luke Maley, some of
12:14 the veterans guys, you know, Frankie Montas has stepped into
12:17 some of those roles. I think Brent Suter, I think this team
12:22 even with its young players still being relatively
12:25 inexperienced mostly, I think they embrace the challenge. I
12:31 think they embrace playing some of these teams. I'm excited to
12:35 watch Ellie De La Cruz in San Diego playing across from
12:39 Tatis and Machado and Bogarts. I'm excited to see that. You
12:43 know, I like seeing them on the road in full ballparks to see
12:46 how they react and so far, they've reacted really well.
12:49 They won some of those games last year when they were ahead
12:53 of schedule and weren't supposed to win those games. I
12:57 don't want to sound like a homer but I believe I believe
13:01 the makeup of this team has shown itself the last season
13:05 plus a month or two to be different to be something that
13:10 really isn't just something we're describing. I believe
13:13 that it works and I think they're going to maybe not set
13:17 the world on fire but I think they're going to address these
13:19 challenges of the schedule the next month pretty well and then
13:22 you see when you get a TJ Friedel back and then you see
13:25 hopefully you get you know some other help down the road.
13:28 Whatever that might be whoever gets healthy or back from
13:30 suspension Friedel being the first. Hopefully I like the way
13:35 the team is put together and I like the way that it feels you
13:38 know when you're around professional teams on a regular
13:41 basis, no matter the sport, some of those rooms, some of
13:45 those locker rooms and clubhouses feel different and
13:47 some of them feel like professional athletes coming to
13:52 work and some of them feel like ball players coming to play. I
13:57 feel like that's what this team feels like point. I agree and
14:01 I've had that conversation with a number of Reds Brent Suter
14:05 being certainly one of them when you talk to him, you get
14:09 just get the sense that he's you know the expression part of
14:14 the family, but he is like the older uncle of of of a
14:18 brotherhood into right athletes. We've all heard this
14:21 before right Brian. Yeah, you know athletes or a
14:24 brotherhood. Well, he's the old uncle that shows up that kind
14:28 of you know gets everybody on the same page. Make sure
14:32 everybody's going in the same direction. I don't want to use
14:34 father figure. I think that's a little trite cliche, but the
14:38 old uncle who comes into the party and everybody knows him
14:41 and everybody knows what he's about. That's what Brent Suter
14:44 is, but it's just such an actual feeling inside that
14:48 clubhouse and I think the guys get along and sometimes that
14:52 matters and you know on teams with a lot of talent. Maybe it
14:55 doesn't matter as much. I think like you've said on a team
14:59 that's trying to find itself a younger team that matters a
15:02 whole lot. It does and it's funny. you know we'd all heard
15:08 of Brent Suter and had limited interaction with Brent Suter
15:10 Milwaukee all those years coming back or if you went to
15:13 some you know molar event here in town, but I was so excited
15:18 when when that happened and then I found out last minute.
15:23 He was a last minute replacement on the Reds
15:26 caravan in the off season. Someone else couldn't make it
15:29 and of course he was in town and of course said yes at the
15:32 last minute and I was on the caravan with him for a couple
15:35 of days and I couldn't wait to talk to him and we just sat in
15:38 the back of the bus with a with a couple of couple of Reds
15:42 prospects Edwin Arroyo was on that and just sitting back
15:46 there and getting to know him a little bit and talking to him.
15:48 It was you know it's everything you'd heard about and
15:51 it you just got the sense that as long as he. You know
15:57 continues to do what he's always done. It was it was a
16:00 really good fit felt like it from the start just watching
16:03 him not only with those young players on the bus, but
16:06 certainly when he got in the clubhouse and certainly in
16:09 front of the public and certainly when he's dealing
16:12 with us, not everyone can or wants to be that guy or be that
16:17 way and be that open. He does and it you're you're right. It
16:23 works in so many ways for for the squad. He's been a big
16:26 boost well and it's important to note and I think you would
16:29 agree with this Brian. It's one thing to have that personality
16:32 in the clubhouse be well respected. you know be the Ted
16:35 Karas of the Cincinnati Reds. If you will, if I can cross
16:39 sports here and and use that metaphor, Ted Karas is a
16:43 captain, but he knows he has to produce to be respected.
16:47 Brent Suter is the same way he's come in in some huge
16:50 moments. First of all, there was a I believe against the
16:54 Nationals where he came in and kind of save the day late in
16:59 the game. I think on the Sunday game that the Reds came from
17:02 behind and won on back to back homers, but the game that
17:07 really stands out is when Frankie Montas got hurt. 16
17:11 pitches in and he comes in and throws three and a third
17:14 innings and I remember asking him after the game. You remember
17:17 the last time you threw that many innings and he said, Yeah,
17:20 I think it was a starter in 2020, but it's just been
17:23 forever since he had you know done that, but that's how you
17:27 maintain your credibility and your cred inside the clubhouse.
17:31 Yeah. I love that game because I was thinking and and he was
17:34 he was talking afterwards. Listen, he's barely seated in
17:39 the bullpen, let alone let alone having done anything that
17:44 makes him game ready at all. He said I didn't get to do my
17:47 activation. You know he probably didn't have everything
17:51 buttoned up and and all of his stuff with him that he needed
17:54 and then all of a sudden that happens and to see him as
17:58 quickly as he did get loose getting the game. Clearly he
18:02 had whatever he wanted, but it wasn't that long. He walked the
18:05 first guy that he faced and then put the Reds in position
18:10 to be able to come back and and get that game just to put him
18:14 in position and they just needed someone to call him the
18:16 waters and he's the perfect guy for that physically mentally
18:20 every every way possible. He was the perfect fit for that
18:23 situation and those are hard to find and that was a shut out
18:26 and you know what that brings up my golfing outing on Sunday
18:30 at Sharon Woods because I was rushing to get to the team. My
18:35 team, my both of my golf cleats were not tied. I was a wreck.
18:40 The starter wanted me and my significant other, the lovely
18:44 Debra Ann to get up to the tee right away and I shanked my
18:50 drive into the woods. Everybody that knows Sharon Woods. The
18:54 first one is a dog leg right and I put it right in the
18:56 trees and I'm screaming yelling at myself really upset, but I
19:00 settled down just like Brent Suter did after one bad shot
19:03 and had a decent nine or eight holes after that. So I can
19:08 relate Brian. That's the whole point of that lengthy anecdote
19:11 is that I can relate. Yeah, but to wrap that up, that's not
19:16 something that you train for. You know those guys have to be
19:20 ready. They don't know if they're going to pitch on a
19:22 certain day, but they generally know the window of the innings
19:26 or the matchups when they might be up and might be in the game.
19:29 Yeah. No one can predict that and for him to not even flinch
19:34 and then to kind of embrace it the way that he did. I think
19:36 everyone saw that and went took a deep breath and went. Yeah.
19:40 Oh, okay. That guy's got it for a little while until we get the
19:43 wheels back on and then we can go. That was a shut out win. It
19:47 really that really was a remarkable performance. I think
19:50 not only by Brent Suter, but the entire team to kind of
19:55 collectively grab, you know, collect their breath. Yeah,
19:59 deep breath and and win that game. Alright, I want to move
20:03 on to one of the silver linings of this team and that is the
20:06 fact that they are fifteen and thirteen. You know what their
20:09 team average is Brian batting average batting average. I'm
20:12 going to I don't but I'll guess. 228228 a lot lower than that.
20:19 It's 219. Okay. It's it's and I guess the reason I'm bringing
20:24 this up is you have so many guys who have really yet to hit
20:28 their rhythm. Mm hmm. Elliot's side and even Spencer Steer
20:32 aside who haven't hit their rhythm and there are two games
20:35 above 500 and it just goes to show that not everybody has to
20:40 be producing at a high level for this team to be a winning
20:44 team. No and and that's what I meant earlier when I said even
20:49 looking a little bit more deeply behind the results, you
20:52 have to feel good for for exactly that reason, you know,
20:55 like you know to use another trite and cliche thing that you
20:59 know go back to the back of the baseball card. Some of those
21:01 guys are not going to stay where they are for the whole
21:07 season or for an extended stretch, but they're dealing
21:08 with that right now and so I think you have to feel good
21:11 about that and you have to have pieces that step up and work
21:15 Santiago Espinel after a slow start all of a sudden became a
21:18 contributor when some other guys were not feeling it as
21:21 much on Sunday in the series finale in Texas. Despite the
21:26 fact that the bench was depleted because Stevenson and
21:29 Encarnacion Strand were both, you know, apparently not
21:32 available. You still had the perfect guy for that situation
21:36 to bring Bubba Thompson in to run in the ninth inning and you
21:41 know it's a roster that's been constructed. I think with that
21:45 in mind and and that set up them set the Reds up in that
21:48 situation for the chance to win the game, but no no one has
21:51 performed very few have performed where you would have
21:54 hoped or expected them to be at this point and that's not ever
21:58 going to happen or rarely will it happen all at once. But if
22:01 you can have you know this guy kick in here and this guy kick
22:04 in here and then the next guy comes around, then you've got
22:08 something and when you see you know Jonathan India is kind of
22:12 back in the saddle at least after three or four games when
22:15 you can get Jake Fraley back from being sick and maybe get
22:18 Jake Fraley back to where he was early in the season when he
22:20 was one of the few guys that did start pretty well. All
22:24 those things are positives man for a team that that I think
22:27 has like I said just has a good feel about it. Alright. Let's
22:31 wrap up in the next. I don't know 10 minutes. However, I got
22:34 time. I got time. It's sunny outside man. Come on. You look
22:38 you look chill. Might I well are you a golfer by the way? Oh
22:41 man. That's a longer story than we have time for. It's a funny
22:44 story. Okay. Used to be a golfer. Haven't ruled out being
22:48 a golfer again. Alright. But I'm on an extended hiatus. We
22:52 can we can do that one next time. This sounds like a back
22:55 problem. Am I guessing right or wrong? Wrong. Okay. Not that I
22:59 don't have a bad back because I do but that's not the whole
23:01 reason. Got it. Okay. The reason I want to get into some
23:06 fun stories here is I think you have a fascinating job. I think
23:10 you get to work with some unique characters who have
23:14 different perspectives on the Reds and other things as well
23:19 but what is it like working with so many different
23:21 personalities in the studio? Sam Lecure obviously Chris
23:25 Welsh among the others. What is that like? You're right. I I
23:30 love my job. I'm you know, I was never I never envisioned
23:37 myself in this job. But once I kinda hit it, I I kinda felt at
23:43 home with it. Um I love and and I do love working with
23:47 different people and I love working different sports. Um
23:51 you know, John Sadak and I have this conversation a lot about
23:54 going from one sport to the next or one broadcast partner
23:58 to the next and I've kinda picked his brain a little bit
24:00 about how he does it. He's obviously really really good at
24:04 what he does. Um but I love it because you know because
24:12 because we exist a little bit outside of the framework of the
24:15 nine inning game. It took me a while doing this to kind of
24:20 take my um serious broadcaster hat off for a little while or
24:26 allow myself to take it off. When I started doing this, you
24:28 know, everybody wants to, you wanna be professional, you wanna
24:30 be well thought of, you wanna keep your job. I understand. I
24:34 have a very um I have a very strong feelings about schtick
24:40 in sports, radio, sports, broadcasting, whatever in that
24:46 it's it's rare that it works. It's rare that you're good at
24:50 it. It is much more. So true. Yeah, much more prevalent that
24:54 someone is attempting schtick and failing and doesn't realize
24:58 it. So, I never wanted to be the schtick guy. So, it took me
25:01 a while. I could always be the TV guy but it took me a while
25:05 and it took me a couple of partners like Sam to be able to
25:09 relax a little bit more to the point where I think we have a
25:13 product that I think benefits the game because we're unlike
25:17 the game because we you know, we we could talk a little bit
25:21 more. We can laugh a little bit more. We have the we have a
25:24 little more breathing room to do that than they do within the
25:26 nine inning framework and so I hope that comes across because
25:29 Sam and I have a blast and Chris and I have a blast. Very
25:33 much so and you know what strikes me about you, Brian?
25:36 You're never at a loss for words and here's a question I
25:39 have and I've wondered this oftentimes when watching either
25:43 with you, you and Sam or you and Chris or whoever it might
25:46 be and that is, are you ever taken aback like I didn't see
25:51 that analysis coming or have you met Sam? Well, I have and I
25:57 had him on this very podcast 2 weeks ago. So, the answer is
26:01 yes, but I'm just curious. You are so smooth Brian and and
26:07 like he could say, well, the world's coming to an end and I
26:11 don't think the Reds you know, I don't think they're really
26:15 good enough to be around through the month of July and
26:19 you like you look at the camera and go, we'll be back right
26:22 after this or you'll have not even that that's wrong
26:26 incorrect. You'll make some cogent point about some
26:30 takeaway from the game you've just watched right and and
26:33 you'll say something along the lines of you know, the Reds get
26:38 ready to battle the Rangers in game number three tomorrow.
26:41 We'll have a look ahead. How do you do that? Wow. You know, I
26:47 know I asked a lot. I used to shoehorn to jam in a lot. He's
26:52 used to shoehorn. No, I know where you're going but no, the
26:56 first question I think was, do you ever get caught off guard
26:59 every day? Every day, Sam says something or at times, Chris
27:05 Welsh says something that is is clearly something I didn't
27:09 expect. You know, I work with Sam more often and Sam is a
27:12 little bit more free with his thoughts and his words and so
27:17 so that happens on a regular basis but that was part of the
27:20 evolution of having to I think it may be better to grow into
27:24 this role but you know the way I look at it and I would you
27:27 know, Sam would if you happen to be on this podcast right now
27:30 or listening to us, he would agree. From the start, it
27:35 worked with us because I really appreciate everything that he
27:41 brings and I really, you know, II know that he brings an
27:45 element that one, I'm not funny and spontaneous as much as he
27:50 is too. I didn't play the game at the highest level. He brings
27:53 all of that into one guy. Um and so II look at the show kind
27:58 of like a a train ride or a roller coaster ride and Sam is
28:03 gonna be flying down the tracks and people are gonna be loving
28:06 it. They got their hands in the air. They're and that's Sam but
28:11 then every now and then, I'm along for the ride. I'm having
28:13 a good time too but every now and then, I have to keep it on
28:15 the tracks and I have to keep it from jumping off the cliff
28:19 um and II hope that it comes across as both of us enjoying
28:24 the ride. We both have these different roles and he would
28:28 say the same thing. He'd go, man, Geese, you know, Geese is
28:31 there as my guardrails but Geese also lets me fly all over
28:36 the place between those guardrails and be himself and
28:40 Chris is the same way. Chris has so many great stories from
28:45 the game and from guys that he played with and against or you
28:49 know, passed along the way and to me, II love those and I try
28:53 to get as many of those as I can from those guys because
28:56 that's that's great TV but I love not knowing what's coming
29:00 next and then I just, you know, pray that in some way, my my
29:05 preparation and my, you know, whatever can can help me
29:08 respond accordingly to not ever dissuade someone from doing
29:15 that or being themselves or being spontaneous but to just
29:21 enjoy it and and keep going and making it something bring more
29:24 people into it. That's that's kinda how I see it but I love
29:27 that role and I love doing it. I would be remiss if I didn't
29:31 bring up a former colleague, please and I think you know
29:34 who I'm where I'm going. I think you will know once I say
29:36 the name Dan Horde. Yes and I've had him on the Jungle World
29:41 podcast talking Bengals football and I think you know
29:44 as you were just saying what you just said about Sam, I was
29:48 thinking of his relationship with lap with lap and I think
29:53 it's very similar only obviously the difference is
29:56 there. You know in the midst of of the tempo of the actual
29:59 game. That's a lot different. You know when you're going back
30:03 and forth a lot more quickly but I'm just curious when you
30:08 guys work together at channel 19. What was that like for
30:13 those who may not remember and what did you gain from Dan and
30:18 you know how much fun that was that first off? Let's set the
30:22 timeline that was 0506.
30:27 And I moved here for that job from Dallas having never been
30:34 to Cincinnati before my interview and I was in a
30:38 really you know I wasn't I wasn't young young, but you
30:42 know clearly it was 20 years ago. And I came up here and
30:49 sports department at channel 19 was exactly what I was looking
30:53 for. I was I had I was working in Dallas at a cable news
30:57 channel that that did sports, but you know they mostly we
31:01 mostly did studio shows. We didn't get out a lot. We didn't
31:04 cover a lot of things firsthand. We did a lot of
31:07 talk and a lot of whatnot. I really wanted to get back out
31:10 and and you know be around the teams and be around the games
31:12 and tell those stories myself firsthand and so when I got
31:17 here, you know it was Dan Horde and Rufus was producing and Joe
31:21 Dannemann. If you can believe that was you know just out of
31:25 college and returning after his internship, but he was already
31:29 there. Dan Wood, the photographer Eric Stubb Big Red.
31:35 They had this whole crew that back in the day when you could
31:39 still have that many people in the sports department and they
31:42 had some of the resources to travel and some of the
31:45 resources to do some things. So it's this great situation that
31:47 I walked into, but Dan was then and is now the ultimate
31:52 professional. You know he he had a great time because you
31:58 know we laughed about the bald guys and all that that was our
32:01 that was our that was our stick stick, but it wasn't a
32:04 reach. It wasn't a reach no and so it worked, but I didn't you
32:09 know, but but that's I don't live and die by the shtick. No,
32:12 I know you don't. You've made that very clear, but anyway, it
32:16 was great for me to come to a new city in a new market and
32:21 get to be involved on a level with local sports professional
32:25 and otherwise that I hadn't as much before and get to see Dan
32:29 do it and get to see how well respected he was and just get
32:34 to kind of observe you know in that short amount of time that.
32:41 We we were never best friends away from the studio, but
32:46 professionally and it was and and only because you know I had
32:52 young kids in a new city and all that. I just didn't hang
32:55 out. We didn't go out, but professionally it worked and
32:58 and yeah, it was a great influence and a great entry
33:00 point to Cincinnati and giving me some of that about you know
33:04 here's what to expect in Cincinnati what people think
33:07 and how they receive you the best one of the one of the Dan
33:11 Horde stories that I'll remember was one of my first
33:15 days on the job. The Reds were about to start the season.
33:19 Jerry Nairn was the manager and it was back when right before
33:23 they came back from at that time, Sarasota, they would stop
33:26 in Louisville and play the bats. You know on a Sunday afternoon
33:30 and then opening day was you know Tuesday or whatever and I
33:33 went down there. With Dan and a photographer and post game, we
33:39 were going down to to talk to Nairn in the little in the
33:44 bats manager's office and if if Dan hadn't been a cool guy, he
33:49 could have done two things he could have. Just kind of thrown
33:54 me under the bus or he could have done it for a good laugh
33:59 and both of them would have been completely acceptable. I
34:01 wouldn't have had a problem with either one. but you know I
34:05 didn't know anybody. I hadn't met Nairn. I hadn't. Yeah.
34:08 hadn't met the beat writers yet and they were all in there and
34:11 that was back when there were three or four beat writers
34:13 right and we got in there in the room and right before we
34:17 went in, he leaned over my shoulder and he goes, hey man
34:21 just so you know none of these other guys are gonna ask a
34:25 question until you ask all of yours, you know and I went
34:30 because I didn't I didn't know that the television relationship
34:33 at that time was was what it was and so you know I quickly
34:38 tried to pull myself together and formulate a few sentences
34:41 to get out in that situation when I was a little nervous,
34:44 but if I had been made aware of that fact in the moment or
34:50 right at the moment when no one was saying anything, you know
34:54 my I might have gotten off to a less stellar start with the
34:58 Reds and Jerry and Aaron and the beat writers, but you know
35:00 Dan, he gave me that. Exactly. He gave it to me. So that was a
35:05 good Dan Hort story. Yeah, it was and I will say and I'm not
35:11 just blowing smoke here. You and Dan have been great to me
35:15 since I came back into this market in 2021 started covering
35:21 the Bengals for 3 years. My first full year now doing the
35:24 Reds, but you know having covered Boston sports. It was
35:27 a phenomenal experience. There's no question about it.
35:30 Yeah, great in the world, but coming back home where my
35:33 roots are and a lot of my friends and family still are
35:38 it's it's a different vibe and it's a great vibe, but you want
35:42 to get you know situated here right now. Listen. I was an
35:46 outsider and and we you know people from Cincinnati. We all
35:49 can agree on this. The wonderful people of the Queen City. You
35:53 know they they give you some side eye until they feel like
35:56 that you have earned your trust and earned your way into the
36:00 conversation here locally. They you know you're invested. I've
36:04 been in. I've been in for a while. Yeah. Once you you're
36:07 vested in the product here and and and trying to deliver it to
36:13 the fans in an entertaining way. Yeah, then then they got
36:16 you Marty Brenneman said last year and it was at a time when
36:22 he was I wasn't doing the interview dream. Our producer
36:26 was doing the interview about the death of Tom Browning and
36:29 he was talking to Marty and in the in the context of the
36:33 Browning being the every man, you know player and former red
36:38 that everybody loved. Marty Brenneman said listen and I and
36:41 I lived this and I agree with him 100%. He said Cincinnati is
36:45 probably the most provincial city in the country in that you
36:51 know the walls go up at the city limits and you know
36:55 everybody's welcome to come in, but until you find your place
37:01 and and display what you're bringing to the community, you
37:07 might be shown the door. You know it's it's a little bit.
37:10 It's a little bit clickish and he was referring to how you
37:13 know Browning wasn't from here, but once he pitched here,
37:16 played here, lived here and put himself in the community. He
37:20 was one of us and he never left and he never left and when I
37:24 came here 20 years ago, my wife, we're both lifelong Texans,
37:29 although she's lived a little bit around when we came here 20
37:32 years ago, she looked at me before I came and she went 5
37:35 years and I went. Yeah, I don't know anything about Cincinnati,
37:38 but that sounds good. You know we can get in and I don't know
37:41 where we'll go next. Maybe it's back to Texas, but I had a
37:44 couple of people early on tell me they said you know what I
37:47 know you're not from here, but if you get in it, you know it's
37:50 a good place and you're probably really gonna like it.
37:53 So make sure you give it a shot and let's just say that was
37:56 almost 20 years ago that those conversations were happening
37:59 and my wife and my family were here and really happy to be
38:02 here. Give you one more question, then I'll let you go
38:06 and that's Jean-Luc Grandpierre and the Stanley Cup playoffs. I
38:10 want you to you know talk about what's what it is like you know
38:15 working with Jean-Luc on a Blue Jackets live and your thoughts
38:19 about the Stanley Cup playoffs man Jean-Luc Grandpierre is one
38:24 of my favorite people in the world and what I love about
38:27 that and I told him from the start is when we got paired up
38:31 on the desk after one of my other favorite people in the
38:34 world, Billy Davids retired. To me right from the start as soon
38:40 as we we hit it off right from the start Jean-Luc and I did
38:43 and I loved it because I'm still I'm still a kid from a
38:49 tiny town in Texas where I mean when I say tiny town, I mean
38:54 5000 people. I graduated high school with fewer than 100
38:57 people in my class. We had high school football, which we were
39:01 really good at and nothing else. We didn't have soccer. I
39:04 didn't have soccer to play. You know you had football year
39:07 round and maybe you know maybe you ran track to stay in shape
39:10 for football. The the the the book and the movie Friday
39:14 Night Lights. That's my hometown. That's not not
39:18 legitimately, but that's my hometown. That's how it
39:21 profiles and so I thought man here I am. A kid that never knew
39:28 anything about hockey didn't grow up with hockey and right
39:31 now I'm working NHL games with a former player who's French
39:36 Canadian with Haitian roots and we're great friends and I love
39:42 that who would have put together the kid from the tiny
39:45 town in Texas who had this terrible accent didn't know
39:48 anything about hockey and now I'm working with and and
39:52 friends with a guy like that. So II love Jean-Luc and we have
39:55 a blast and watching him do the playoffs on TNT watching Jody
39:58 Shelley do the same thing. Who's also a good friend from
40:00 the Blue Jackets broadcast. I'm so proud. Yeah. I'm so proud of
40:04 those guys and so proud to watch them. Jody and I started
40:09 with the Blue Jackets at the same time right after he
40:11 retired as a player and he has grown exponentially as a
40:16 broadcaster and Jean-Luc came to it a little bit later, but
40:19 it's been kind of on the same trajectory growing how well
40:22 they do TV and so I'm so proud of those guys and then to
40:25 answer the second question, you know, you know there's nothing
40:30 like the Stanley Cup playoffs. Correct and you know with the
40:33 Blue Jackets, you know they were in four or 5 years and so
40:38 I got to experience you know first round and then I got to
40:41 experience the greatest upset when they when they swept
40:43 Tampa in the first round right, but that's it. You know I
40:46 haven't gotten that deeper run, which you know from all your
40:50 time in Boston and watching that franchise, but there's
40:53 nothing like it and and even now when we have baseball and
40:57 and there you can always. I always find myself flipping
41:00 over. I'm not consuming entire games right now in the
41:03 postseason, but nightly before I turn it off and go to bed.
41:07 I'm flipping over to something and catching 15 minutes of
41:11 Kings Oilers or 15 minutes of Rangers caps. There's nothing
41:17 like it and I absolutely love it Dallas beating Vegas in
41:22 overtime to really essentially for all intents and purposes
41:25 keep their season on Saturday. Yeah and Dallas was one of my
41:28 early picks because II mean I and not because I lived there.
41:32 I mean the you know I was there when the Stars won it all in
41:35 ninety-nine. That was kind of my first exposure to hockey at
41:37 all, but I like them going into the going into the playoffs
41:42 because you gotta have a great goaltending and Jake Ottinger
41:44 has been that, but I just kind of like the the presence of
41:49 their team and the way that they played this year out West
41:51 and and I was I was a little surprised to see them go down
41:54 two games. You do see who the Bruins if they eliminate
41:58 Toronto and I I'm pretty sure they will who they will
42:02 probably face in the second round the Florida Panthers.
42:05 Yes and Billy Zito, the GM and now president of Hockey Ops
42:10 there was an assistant GM in Columbus and so we all got to
42:13 know him a little bit fantastic guy brilliant out of the box.
42:20 Why he has this? Why not attitude? Why can't we attitude
42:25 wherever he is? He was an agent before and then he was in the
42:28 front office and he always has that and II admire people like
42:31 that so much and I wish I was more like that people that just
42:34 go well. Why wouldn't it work? Why can't we do it? I love that
42:37 attitude and that's what he's taken to Florida made the bold
42:40 move to make the trade for Matthew Kachuk right when he
42:44 got there and here they are finals last year and playing
42:48 pretty well right now along with former Jacket Sergei
42:51 Bobrovsky. There you go. When are we going to do a hockey
42:54 show? Tracks that is a great question. When are we going to
42:57 do a hockey podcast? So I'm just going to vent here. My one
43:02 of my only bitter moments as a Cincinnati youth. Okay. When
43:05 it's when the Cincinnati Stingers essentially folded
43:10 they didn't go with Wayne Gretzky and the Hartford
43:14 Whalers and the Winnipeg Jets trying to remember Edmonton.
43:19 Obviously those four teams when they didn't make that move to
43:22 the NHL. I was really bitter because I have always felt that
43:26 Cincinnati would support an NHL team, but to answer your
43:30 question when they pay me. That'll be never right. I
43:37 digress. We can still we can still talk about it in the
43:41 press box. Yeah, we can do it there and we'll have to get
43:44 creative to find other platforms. How's that right? I
43:48 like that. I can I can deal with that. That's a good
43:50 answer and then maybe someday I'll get the answer to your
43:54 question. Tell you the golf story playing golf. So tell you
43:57 the golf story anyway. You are a pros pro Brian Giesenthal.
44:01 Thanks for joining me. No feel the same about you. I
44:04 appreciate the opportunity. It was it was fun. Good talk. It
44:07 was he is Brian Giesenthal. You can watch him host Reds live
44:12 before and after every Reds game on Valley Sports Ohio. My
44:17 name is Mike Petralia. I want to thank everybody for
44:20 downloading this episode of Code Reds.