You're listening to The Litterbox, a Detroit
Tigers podcast with your hosts, Chet West and
Bill Patterson. Detroit Tiger fans and Litterbox
listeners, it's your hosts, Billy P and Chet,
and we have more exciting news about your Detroit
Tigers. We sit in the catbird seat. The Tigers
are now in a commanding position with this division.
All of a sudden, other teams are starting to
get cold. They are now 11 and a half games up
on the Royals, 12 and a half games up on the
Guardians. But really, folks, that's not what's
important. What's important is what Chet ate
yesterday. And so Chet, I need you to tell us
about this hot dog that you sent to me. It was
a glorious photo and it looked to be a hot mess.
And I really would like some dissection. is detailed
and as graphic as you can be because this dog.
You know I'm going to give you nothing less.
Of course not. Than detailed and graphic. I appreciate
that. That's why we're here. Well, I'll set the
scene for you. How many over 50 baseball games
have you been to? And what I mean by this is
these are baseball leagues. That the requirement
of the players in the league is they're over
50 So can I tell you the last time that I played
hardball? Sure was when I was one of the assistant
coaches for Grady when he was that's my son He's
17 now. He was eight at the time and the dads
all decided to have like a charity type of venue
from competing teams in the league I Considered
myself beyond fortunate because I was one of
I think six dads that played in that of, let's
say 20, that didn't leave the game with some
type of gimp hobble or tennis elbow or whatever.
It was a comedy of errors. And so now I have
not experienced this. Please enlighten us and
the listeners on what an over 50 hard ball game
looks like. So throughout the landscape of this
great state of Minnesota, we have a lot of what
are like town ball ball parks. And these are
really nice ballparks. I mean, some of them,
some of them look like kind of very small scaled
down minor league ballparks. Adds on the outfield
fences, maybe Ivy on the outfield fences. And
they have a press box above with some small seating
around. We went out to one. yesterday in Prior
Lake that was a very nice ballpark. So that was
my first, you know, I walk in and I'm like, wow,
they get to play at a really cool ballpark. There's
a great little setting here. We sat in what were
basically box seats down the first baseline.
And why were you here? Did you know somebody
or just my brother -in -law? My brother -in -law
is what I was getting to my brother -in -law
who is 48 years old. He is the one exception.
On his team of over 50 players you get one player
below 50. So he's a ringer. Let's let's I'm gonna
Look David played college ball. Most of these
guys he's out there playing with on these teams
played some form of college ball You know, I
wouldn't be shocked if some of them got got up
to possibly playing But some sort of pro level,
you know independent league minor league type
thing a lot of them coach youth baseball somewhere
along the lines, but they're over 50. And so
I thought I was going to be going out and seeing
this gaggle of like over 50 year old men who
are going to make me feel awful about myself
physically and like, you know, and a couple of
them are in great shape. Don't get me wrong.
The bulk of them, they've, they're over 50. We'll
just say that. Okay. It was a little, I, you
forget they're baseball players. They're not
track stars. They're not, you know, as John Kruk
once said, I'm not an athlete. I'm a ball player.
I'm a baseball player. So there, a lot of them
have been, you know, living life and eating and
drinking what they please. And so you get a mixed
bag and you could tell everybody in their heyday
probably had some great skills. I have no doubt.
And I will tell you right now, I would have been
a mess in this. They would have been, people
would have probably booed me off the field, which
I think kind of against the spirit of the deal.
Would you have pulled a hammy? Easily. Easily.
I mean, they have a, for instance, they have
a rule. Any ball that leaves the infield and
gets in the outfield, in fair play, you get first
base automatically. So you don't have to dig
anything out. Okay, so that is that's the first
rule. That's kind of like curtailed. They don't
want anybody tearing anything bill Okay, but
smart man. There were a few plays I mean a couple
plays at second where guys are sliding into second
and they're throwing down to second you get collisions
at second base the fun plays are like when you
get somebody hits some squibber or tapper and
that the pitcher has to Use some cat -like instincts
to get over and field the ball, but as they're
bending down, they topple over and fall on their
face instead of fielding the ball. But the great
part is, is that the guy running from home to
first is only halfway at that point, so you can
still throw them out. It's crazy. Do they have
uniforms and sponsors? Full uniforms. Sponsorships.
belts or is it more elastic? There's stirrups,
there's full baseball pants, belts, jerseys.
Okay, but it's not the elastic waistband that
we had in the late 70s or early 80s. No, I don't
believe so, no. These were some legitimate, they're
all gussied up and ready to play ball. And some
of these guys have some great talent. They got
a guy on, I think, my brother -in -law's team
that throws 70. So most of them were not throwing
that hard. I, you know, I started saying, eh,
they don't throw that hard. My brother -in -law
still has a great stroke, always been a good
hitter, can put a charge on the ball if he wants
to. But as we're sitting there cheering along
and everybody's kind of having a good giggle
over this whole thing and there aren't a ton
of fans. I mean, we had a group of family that
went out to support him and watch his team play
yesterday. And it was great entertainment. They
have a concession stand. And you and I have this
passion for ballpark food and making sure that
we... dip into the local flavor, give a little
review. I went up at the concession stand and
lo and behold, there was a menu at the bottom.
There were hot dog. There was pulled pork sandwich.
They had an item at the bottom called a pulled
wiener. I'm not making up the name of that and
it is on the menu. It was a hot dog covered in
pulled pork. So the pulled pork was a topping.
And I felt inclined to buy one of these things.
For $4? I may go back next Sunday, even if my
brother -in -law is not playing, and get one
of these things. I mean, they were the cheaps.
This is a cheap lunch. I believe that's like
$36 less than the boomstick. I'm pretty sure
it is. I mean, was it heavy? I mean, just...
It was... It wasn't... Are we talking like a
quarter pound dog or like a regular hot dog?
No, just your garden variety regular hot dog.
They're not going crazy, okay? Okay. Garden variety
regular hot dog, but with the pulled pork on
top made a nice addition. I scarfed it down,
Bill, and I will go back for that pulled pork.
If I'm in Prior Lake on a weekend and I know
this league is still in session, I am going back
for a pulled... pulled wiener. I think it's probably,
if you're in town and you're near the ballpark,
go grab one. I was talking to the guy behind
the desk and I think he runs the concessions
and his wife probably makes these things. He's
like, ah, you know, Crystal's got one of the
best pulled wieners in the area. I was kind of
just at a giggle. I mean, that was one of the
best interactions. I couldn't not buy one at
that point. And it was a great experience. It
was a cool little day out, kind of a different
way to... different way to see baseball. But
I sat there eating this thing. I was like, I
got to review this on the pod. I mean, this isn't,
it's not, it's not the cell. It's not guaranteed
rate. It's not Wrigley. It's not the target field,
but it was an experience nonetheless. So it's
a regular hot dog. Let's call it like one eighth
of a pound. That's what most store -bought hot
dogs are. It's about an eighth of a pound. Yeah.
Okay. And the bun, was it like a steamed bun?
No, no, not a steamed bun. Just a wonder bread
hot dog bun. Okay. With your one -eighth pound
dog in the middle. Grilled, steamed, or boiled?
I believe they were steamed. Okay. I believe
they were steamed. I'll be honest, the production
aspect of this food was not out in the open.
The concession stand didn't really have the space
for that. So I think some things were happening
in the back room. There's a lot of trust. There's
a lot of trust put into it Well, I mean not I
mean when you're paying $40 for a boomstick you
expect to see it assembled behind glass Yeah,
which I don't know if I mentioned they do do
that it both Texas Rangers parks, you know the
past and the present but let's get to really
important. So then they top this dog with pulled
pork. Is there barbecue sauce added? There's
nothing added and it's kind of the beauty of
it because you know me and my plain Jane. So
two simple meats mowing together. Two simple
meats laying in a bun coexisting and what I did
was I put some mustard on it. Because I felt
like I needed to have a little something in there
I was a little afraid it was gonna be kind of
dry to be honest with you been saying I didn't
know where I came it came from the back room
of the commit session stand Okay, I did not want
to I didn't want to take the gamble of it being
a little too dry and then having to go back and
dress it up in front of the guy and then you
know insult his pulled wiener so I ended up getting
some mustard and kind of putting some on there
and it was lovely it made for a wonderful addition,
I think maybe some Barbecue sauce would have
been better and I almost went back got a second
one and got the barbecue sauce for it But I did
not do that. So do they have like a topping stand
at this park or is it they do? Okay, so you didn't
have to get like the individual packets of mustards.
No, okay, cuz can I beef Yep, very very Frank.
Yes while we're talking about banks. Yeah, I
went to Wrigley the other day and I'm not trying
to I'm adding to your story No, no, please and
I ordered one of your steamed dogs. Yeah And
it was delicious. Yep. But what my annoyance
was, was that the vendor asked, I know, I know.
Do you want ketchup? Do you want mustard? Do
you want relish? And by the time he grabbed three
napkins for me and mustard and relish, and he
gave me ketchup, even though I would never put
it on a hot dog. And that's not the Chicago in
me. I just don't care for ketchup on a hot dog.
I get it. process just seemed a little too jumbled
for my preferences. It wasn't seamless. And what
it makes me do is appreciate the old tiger stadium
and the fact that there was only one choice.
You could either get a steamed ballpark wiener
out of it in its nicely steamed bun, melding
all together, or that large tongue dispenser.
I don't know what else to call it. Like you see
at the doctor's office back in the day, they
would dip that in a - Yeah. huge vat of yellow
mustard and slather your dog. And that was it.
You had two choices. And I think that we as a
society may have gotten too many offerings going.
We have too many choices. However, I do not think
the dog you had fits the bill of too many choices.
I also want to try this dog next time I come
see you all. It was an adventure. And at the
end of the day, in general, it was an adventure.
I'd never been to one of these events before.
And I saw that on the menu, and I said, you know,
we got to try something different here. And he
was kind of pushing it. He wasn't pushing it,
but he kind of had that look in his eyes, like,
you're going to like this. Trust me, it's good.
I would like to try it with barbecue sauce and
pickles, perhaps. Don't ask me why. If you're
not gonna they had some relish in a squeeze bottle
out there and I almost went for that but I was
I don't know because relish is usually sweet
where I feel like what this might need Barbecue
sauce usually sweetens things because of the
brown sugar the molasses or you know, it's somewhat
tomato ketchup paste a little bit of mustard
in it, but not usually a whole lot a little bit
of vinegar, but what you want is the saltiness
to balance, you know, that sweetness out. And
that's where I'm thinking, like, just a simple
dill pickle chip, either crinkled or even, like,
McDonald's does the clean cut ones. Something
like the sandwich dills or something that are
kind of sliced. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would
have been lovely. I think in the end, I would
go barbecue sauce and maybe throw a pickle on
there if it was offered. Maybe if you're listening
out there, guy in the... the concession stand
at Prior Lake Stadium. You'll do that next time.
Just a tip from the Litterbox podcast to you.
At any rate, that's all I've got on that. I wanted
to open that up to the group and give that food
experience. Fantastic. By the way, there was
no after effect either. I was a little afraid
because I couldn't see the prep. I don't know
if you're like this, but I was wondering where
my food's coming from. Didn't bother me. It was
fine. Everything worked out well. You do not
seem like a man that would be as concerned as
he should be with where your food's coming from.
I'm extremely concerned, actually. It's a weird
thing. I don't do potlucks. If we should do an
episode on potlucks, I don't do potlucks. I don't
know who's made... I don't know how... I don't
know the level of cleanliness that that person
has taken to make their, I don't know, onion
bake or whatever the heck they're bringing to
the potluck. I don't know what they're doing
in their kitchen before that gets to the show.
to the potluck. Okay, so here's the two things
that are just jumping out at me. One, potluck
seems to be somewhat of an archaic term, except
for in the Twin Cities where you are. We do them
all the time here. And isn't there something
like Sunday Dish or something like that? It's
the... Yeah, Sunday Dish. Or there's a name for
it. Hot Dish. That's what it is, sorry. You know,
it's a potato creation of sorts. We should do
this. Let's do this on another show. We could
go on for another 20 minutes on Hot Dish. Honestly,
it is a tradition around here. And I think there's
probably space for this on another show. If you
guys want to hear more about Hot Dish, let us
know in the comments. We'll break out a whole
Hot Dish deal. Maybe the next time we play The
Twins. Do we have another series this season,
Bill? I don't think we do. Why don't we save
it for the sister podcast? When we play the Vikings.
Because Hot Dish is also more of a football food.
So if you're over there listening to the Litterbox,
the Detroit Lions podcast, you may get Hot Dish
reviews for your Vikings weekend. Well, Hot Dish
also doesn't wreak summer to me or spell summer.
You're thinking cold macaroni salad, food off
the grill. Potatosh is a warm blanket. It's to
warm you up on a November, December, January
day. It is not something you're eating in July.
You will get the sweats in a bad way from that.
Let's do it for the Viking show. Let's book that.
That's going to happen for the Viking show for
the football pod. So back to Tiger's news. We
had a call up and he was a very, very intriguing
young man and still is an intriguing young man
by the name of Drew Summers. He's a relief pitcher
that came up and pitched and he is listed at
65, 250 pounds. I am going to guess that one
of those might not be correct, but maybe they
are, but he has a large man that throws a small
ball, really, really hard. And what were your
initial thoughts on our newest call -up to our
Detroit Tigers? Well, a sizable offering on the
mound, first and foremost. Drew Summers is going
to stay up with the team, the big club? Yeah,
I do, only because the rosters are expanding,
so I think it's a pretty safe call. His initial
outing, he throws hard, he throws fast, the control
wasn't all there. However, he offers two things
that I think are extremely valuable to this pen.
One is that he's a lefty and to win his locations
good, he's a swing and miss guy. Being a lefty
that's a swing and miss guy are two things that
are sorely needed in this bullpen. So I definitely
see a slot for him coming forward and I. I'm
willing to give him more opportunities. I'm not
saying we wouldn't. I mean, at this point with
our bullpen, why not? He got a third of an inning,
two walks. over 16 pitches, not the best showing
for him, like you said, but what do you do? I
mean, maybe he brings a little fighter down the,
down the stretch, seems to be a sink or slider
guy, pairs those two pitches. At this point,
anything that offers any type of diversity to
our bullpen, meaning it's so right -handed dependent
and there are so few swing and miss guys outside
of Will Vest that I will take whatever we can
get at this point. And I think you would probably
back me up on that. He came on from Mize in that
first game. They won a 7 -5. Do you think Casey
Mize is required to just give up three runs every
game? Yes. It's just such an odd stat line. I
would like to go back and look at every game
he's pitched and see how many of them he's given
up three runs over 5 .2 or five and a third.
He seems to get into the sixth. He gives three
runs up. They yank him. I'm not saying it's good
or bad. He doesn't strike out a bunch of guys.
I'm more or less just, it just seems odd to me.
He's a three run game guy. Like that's what you're
going to get out of him. I'll take it actually,
considering the rest of our starting staff. Yeah,
going back to the lefty versus righty, outside
of Scubal, who's a starter, Summers and Holton
are the only two lefties we have on the rest
of the roster, which is a little unnerving as
we approach playoff time. Let's talk about the
good news. The Tigers have taken yet another
series against Royals. They've already won two
out of three. Right now, the game is currently
nine -seven, or excuse me, ten -seven Royals.
They just scored again. Saw that who knows what's
gonna happen with this one my hope and I believe
yours as well would be that the bullpen doesn't
get too dinged up or overutilized today mm -hmm
for the fact that they have to travel west to
Sacramento to play the athletics the next three
games and Let's just get out of there clean two
wins a series win would be amazing I would even
settle for one win just no sweeps. Yeah at this
point We don't want to take a three game ding
to the standings here Most importantly with that
Thursday's an off day, so it's a recovery day
and then the Tigers face the Royals at Kauffman.
And the unfortunate news is Jack Flaherty was
good Jack Flaherty for two and two thirds innings
today and with two outs. Bad Jack Flaherty appeared
and allowed six runs. I'm snapping, so for those
that can or cannot hear it, in the minute or
second it takes to snap, in a blink of an eye,
Jack Flaherty was in deep trouble, and he is
one of the scheduled starters to face the Royals.
Next weekend, we'll see which Flaherty we get.
It seems the theme that we're working with here,
and I've said this multiple times, I think you've
alluded to it multiple times yourself on this
show, is consistency. We just don't seem to get
consistent production, or outcomes at least,
from a good 80 % of this team. I mean, Dylan
Dangler has been about the most consistent thing
on this team all season long. And Tarek Scoogle.
And Tarek Scoogle, correct. Exactly. And I know
he's not always been consistently good, but at
least Tyler Holton has been healthy enough. to
pitch the innings that have been asked of him.
And he's also been put in so many high leverage,
terrible situations where he inherits runners
and messes from guys like Jack Flaherty. Today.
Or Casey Mize. Or others that are not even up
with the big league ball part, or ball team at
this point. A question for you, Montero, is he
someone that we see back up? Sort of shocked
we haven't seen him. Yeah. I mean, they did get
the, so they got Charlie Morton and they got
Paddock at the trade deadline. So that might
have signaled that Kyder Montero was going to
be staying down in the miners due to this. I
don't know that I agree with that. I think Kyder
Montero is a more effective starter than Paddock.
And I almost wonder if he's as effective, or
maybe a bit better than Flaherty at this point.
I mean, Flaherty can have a lights -out game.
We said in the last show that he, you know, wrote
his magnum opus in this last series, and then
he gets here, and he looks completely broken
again today. It's like he has a great game, then
he has a terrible game, and a great game, and
a terrible game. And every time I see this stuff,
I'm like, the consistency just isn't there. What
will we get in the playoffs? Kyner Montero, not
a solution to the consistency, but wondering
if developing him in the short term is a better
idea. Consistency though, I would say, you know,
you're not going to get a ton of innings from
them, but you know, you're not also going to
get a ton of runs given up. True. I should be
referencing this as consistent success. Consistent
success would be. what we're looking for, you
do get, you get kind of a consistent, middling
effort from Kyder Montero, right? Like he doesn't
throw a game away, but he doesn't exactly win
it for you or anything. I, I don't know. What
I am frustrated with is Flaherty at this point,
because I can't figure out how a guy who went
and had the game he had last week has this game
today. That's, that's flustered. That's just
frustrating. If I was a betting man, I would
stay away from this guy with a football. Or did
you just play the odds and say that next game
he's back on? Or, probably, right? That's when
you get stuck, but yeah. That's a head scratcher
at this point. I'm probably not putting my money,
I'm with you, I'm not putting my money there.
I would take Montero in the chaos that would
ensue with it more so than I would trust five
innings of Flaherty at this point. Okay. So you
you hope for some AJ hinge chaos in the postseason,
right? I'm not saying I hope for a start, but
we're talking Flaherty versus Montero. Gotcha.
I would take two and two -thirds or three innings
of Montero and then just let Holt and Hannah
Fee, Vast Finnegan do their magic. I would prefer
that to then sending out Flaherty getting not
even two innings of Bad Jack or three innings
of Bad Jack and then still having to use the
bullpen but to no positive effect, meaning you've
already dug yourself a hole. You're behind the
eight ball because let's face it. If you go down
six, one, you know, six runs to one in the playoffs.
Sure. Odds aren't in your favor. We have an upcoming
series against the athletics in the lovely town
of Sacramento. It is going to be boiling hot
doing the research. It does not appear that the
athletics have all three pitchers set. the Tigers
do appear to have their three pitchers set. And
I just wanted to pick your brain on how you feel
about these matchups. Tarek Schubel against...
Oh, we do have somebody named Gin. And not Ted
Gin Jr. It's JT Gin. Yeah. Gotta like scoops
in that, right? Yes. I gotta like scoops in that.
JT Gin's got a pretty, pretty high hard hit rate.
I think he's probably somebody we can beat up
a little bit. I don't think, I mean, all of his,
all of his, uh, metrics are pretty bad outside
of, he does have a pretty high K rate. So he
does get some swing and miss, ground ball pitcher.
Other than that, everything else is, I mean,
people just barrel this guy up. It looks like
a lot of power, a lot of, um, hard hit balls
off of him. Do you feel, I get a little, I know
that Scubal's got a pitch when his time's up
in the, in the rotation. heading out west, we're
going to get a little rest because it's like
a nine o 'clock game tomorrow night, little off
schedule. Do you worry about that at all for
a pitcher? Do you think, hey, they're professionals,
they deal with it? Yeah. I mean, I think everything's
a concern. And what I think is super important
is regardless of what happens tomorrow night,
this is the final West coast road trip the Tigers
have. And given that, yes, it's in Sacramento.
I think it's going to be an awful ballpark to
play in. It's a band box. It plays very small.
The last time the Tigers had to do this, it didn't
go real well against the Rays. I think the weather
is going to be awful. I'm going to go to that
in just a minute, but it was almost 110 in Portland
today. Sacramento is basically on that same track
in terms of how far inland it is. So I'm expecting
it to be well over a hundred degrees. I think
of. All the Tigers pitcher scoobles the best
equipped for it. We have uncle Charlie in game
two. And then in game three, we've got a three
run Casey Mize against Luis Morales. And I, again,
two wins would be exceptional. Just win one.
I'm good. Sure. And the fact that Kaufman Stadium,
which is in the Central Time Zone, it'll also
be on Godley Hot probably in Kansas City because
it usually gets hot there this time of year,
is good for the Tigers as well because after
that, they play the rest of the season in the
Eastern Time Zone. They're 14 -7 for the month
of August, 14 -8 if they lose today. Things are
pointing in the right direction. They've righted
the ship from the... pre and post All -Star break,
malaise or malaise that they went through. Yeah.
All signs are pointing up. I feel really, really
good about this team. I don't like it when key
pieces don't play. Hence today, we don't have
Torres starting at second base. Keith isn't leading
off. Both are getting a day of rest. And the
lack of depth that the Tigers have still showcases
at times. Do you think So I'm a little afraid
of the A's series. I think we could get beat
up a little bit by this team. You have some young
ballplayers like Jacob Wilson, Nick Kurtz, Shay
Lane Lear has been on fire lately. You want to
talk about a catcher who hits. There could be
some difficulty here. I think we can get to their
pitching, but their hitters aren't going to be
a pushover. I worry about the game two and three.
Scubal will do what Scubal does, I think, regardless
of start time. I know I mentioned it, but...
You know, I'm expecting him to have a scubal
game because that's what we expect these days.
But those second two games, I get a little worried.
Just having to travel the West Coast, I always
feel like having to travel out there for these
Midwest teams and East Coast teams is like going
out to the Bermuda Triangle a little bit. Don't
know where they're staying, but there's one real
nice Hilton property. I believe in downtown Sacramento
It's right across from the state capital and
it's where we used to always stay for business
meetings My story has a point the only time I've
met the Detroit Pistons as a team was in the
lobby of this Hilton property and it was always
hold a special place in your heart the go -to
-work Pistons and I will say tall people have
never really intimidated me or I've never been
in of anybody that's tall. Rashid Wallace might
have the longest legs I've ever seen in a human
being. And I was speechless upon meeting him.
Just speechless. Just dumbstruck. Couldn't say
a word. Thank God Chauncey Billups bailed me
out and said, I take it you're a big fan. Thanks,
Chauncey. You had a moment in the Sacramento
Hilton, it sounds like. I did. A moment of fandom.
Just speechless. On that, we will let you Tiger
fans go. Expect on our sister podcast once the
53 -man roster is announced for the Lions, an
update there. We will update you on how the preseason
finished out. And let's go Tigers. Let's get
this West Coast swing done and get back home.
Stay in the Eastern time zone and get to the
playoffs healthy. All right, that's gonna do
it for this episode of the Litterbox, a Detroit
Tigers podcast. Thanks for hanging out with us.
We're Bill and Chet. We'll be back soon with
more Tigers Talk. If you're enjoying the show,
be sure to follow or subscribe on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
And hey, if you got a minute, leave us a quick
review. Until next time, go Tigers.