WEBVTT

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Early in the season, but what's going on with

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the bats, Bill? What are we seeing here? This

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is kind of crazy. Chet, it's not even March and

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I'm really worried about the Tigers ability to

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hit. I mean, in me, you send me some notes. This

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doesn't look good based on what we've seen so

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far. No, it really doesn't. You're listening

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to The Litterbox, a Detroit Tigers podcast with

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your hosts. Chet West and Bill Patterson. Welcome

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back litter box listeners to litter box Detroit

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Tigers podcast. I am your host Chet West with

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my co -host Billy P from the D and we're six

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games. We're six games into the season. We're

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going to cover a little of what we've seen in

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spring training so far. The good. The bad and

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maybe what to look for on the next couple of

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games next five games who may Who we may see

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a little more the plate who we may see a little

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more on the mound And that'll cover us for our

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Tigers coverage today bill. We're six games in

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We're betting sub 200 so far. What are your thoughts?

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What are you seeing out there from these guys

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young and old? So chat it's not even the fact

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that they just can't generate runs or get base

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hits, it's they can't even hit the ball hard

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most games. And Chet, they're seeing a wide variety

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of pitchers as you're going to see in early spring

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training. And it was interesting today, Chet,

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they did a split squad and the young guys were

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up against the Fills. The old guys were up against

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the Blue Jays or the veterans, let's say. And

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the young guys hit better than than the old guys

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did. I do have some positives, so I don't want

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it to all be negative. Sure, go ahead. Here's

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an interesting one for you. We always have room

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for positives on this show, Bill. Yeah, here's

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one for you. Go. Our guy Riley Green walked three

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times today and it didn't look like he was supposed

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to hit. It looked like literally he is trying

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to become... more discerning with his eye. So

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I would say that's a really good thing. Thus

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far, Matt Veerling looks healthy, which I think

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is another good thing. Well, what I would I would

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like to call out, Bill, is the fact that we're

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seeing Javi playing better baseball in spring

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training, which Javi is a slow starter, typically.

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Yeah, he's soaring while many others are swooning

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I still have lots of concerns though about some

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young guys that needed to perform and we called

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this out in a previous episode Yeah, let's talk

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about the biggest concerns if Parker Meadows

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and Jace Young can't get it together I would

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say in the next week if not ten days I don't

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expect either of them to be on the opening day

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roster and I'm starting to think that there's

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quite a few guys. Those two in particular, Jemai

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Jones might be another that either could be trade

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date or just roster casualties. You know, I'm

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looking at Parker Meadows. I don't know if there's

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a spot for him on the major league team right

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now playing the way he is. I just don't know

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if there is. I think you could put Veerling in

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center. I think you could put this Trey Cruz

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kid out there. I think you could put Wensil out

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there. I don't care who you put out there. You

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gotta be somebody that isn't striking out that

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is hitting better than Parker Meadows. So question

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for you. One of the goods is McGonagall thus

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far. So far. As in Kevin. Yeah. Who is a natural

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shortstop. So might it be premature? But hey,

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that's what we're doing. A spring training Tigers

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litter box podcast. Yep. To see our guy, Javier

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Baez. out there in center field in the months

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of April and May. I'm going to tell you, okay,

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hot start. He's starting off hot. Last year,

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last year we saw a spark from Javi out in center

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field. I am not going to take that away from

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him this year. If he can play center the way

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he did last year and hit along with it, I'm in.

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I want to see more Javi in center field. I mean,

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is it such a bad thing to think he and Veerling

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platooning out there? To some degree. Is that

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terrible? Do you think Javi's the kind of guy

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that has to play every day? Not at this point

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in his career, I would say, you know, earlier

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on, yes. Are we getting to the point where we're

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going to start calling Javi old? I think we're

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probably at that point. We're on the precipice,

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right? Yeah, I think we are. I mean, he's in

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the back half of this deal right now, too, so.

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Yeah. One other bad, but, you know, he's young,

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but he's just proving that he's not ready yet.

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Yeah. Max Clark had an abysmal day yesterday

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in the field. I didn't get to watch this game,

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but I did follow social media around it and I

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was kind of flipping through. Man, people, they

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really let him have it. He struggled massively.

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I don't think that was the funny part. I think

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the funnier part was that I was giving you a

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text play by play while you were in a meeting

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at work. I was in a meeting and I'm getting a

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text play by play about how bad Max Clark is

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at the moment. I was like, man, you're really

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hitting on them all right now. I And when I went

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back and saw what he did, I mean, it was, you

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know, the comment, I think the article in MLB

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.com was like, Max Clark learns he can't move

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the sun. I was like, yeah, Max Clark needs to

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learn how to play in the elements, maybe. I heard

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it was a bit windy. My understanding is that

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the wind was blowing a bit. We were having one

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of those, you know, March Florida days. No? No,

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he the day before he made a comment that the

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wind you can prepare for, but the sun never moves.

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There was no wind yesterday and the sun got him

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twice. I see. Okay. And hence the humor in that

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title. Yes. And to make matters worse, Chet,

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he clearly has been busy spending his seven points,

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whatever $8 million signing bonus on diamond

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chains that he decided to wear. Many of the commentary

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on social media may have come from some folks

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that did not take well to his jewelry and the

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amount of it around his neck while he was making

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these errors. It wasn't that, but you know, diamonds

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are reflective surfaces and it was brilliantly

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sunny without a cloud in the sky yesterday. They

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are. He looked like Justin Jefferson in terms

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of the amount of roped accessories he had on.

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The difference being that JJ was an All -American

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at LSU and is one of the top three receivers

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in football. Max Clark is a top prospect, but

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he's still very unproven. The other thing is

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he's been spending most of his time when he's

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not playing baseball and buying jewelry at the

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tattoo parlor. Appears to be a very different

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individual than the one that cut or excuse me

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Tigers drafted Well, all right, so we've given

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Max's do here and teed him up I don't think we're

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gonna see him on the big big league roster until

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September call which I guess we don't really

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have September call -ups anymore But end of season

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this year at best, you know I think you'll have

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a real shot at making the club out of the gates

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next season But I do not see him coming up in

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the first half at all McGonagall. Let's talk

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about some good things McGonagall As advertised,

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there's the debate going around right now that,

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you know, will he be with the team from day one

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or is he going to have to wait? What are your

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thoughts on all this? I know you want to see

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him up with the team. Yeah, I want to see him

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up just because given the potential for labor

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strife, who knows about call up time and what

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that's all going to mean on down the line. And

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if he continues playing the way he's playing,

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he deserves a spot because I just don't see the

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other people in front of him blocking him. So

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that's what I'd like to see. Do I think it's

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going to happen? I tend to side with you and

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think that the Tigers will wait, but let's see

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how he plays. You know, he's, I would say what

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we're looking for in the next. Let's say seven

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to ten games. He would be exhibit 1a on the positive.

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We'll see if Verling and Javier Baez can continue

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these hot starts and then we'll see if a couple

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guys can figure it out and that would be Parker

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Meadows, Jace Young and then a couple guys I

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want to give shoutouts to. Scoobs was back to

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his, you know, last season form for his two innings

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and then you know who had a really good two innings

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thereafter was Anderson. Anderson. Really? He,

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pitcher's clock was the only thing he did that

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was bad. But aside from that, he had good command.

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And, you know, at this point in the season chat,

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they're only throwing like two, maybe three pitches.

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They're just working on particular things. The

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other thing would be, is Riley Green going to

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continue this patience at the plate? Three walks

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today was really impressive. I'm telling you,

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I'm telling you. And this is the Riley Green

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you wanted to see with the walks. I don't, you

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know, his contact throughout spring training

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fine, but the walks are a big piece. the strikeouts,

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cut those down. Yeah. So I do have a food report.

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You do? From Joker Marchant. Yes. No kidding.

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Okay. Yeah. My folks went and - You're already

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on it. Yeah. So let's walk through this. They

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have a variety of different canned beverages,

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both alcoholic and non -alcoholic. Okay. Per

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Little Caesars, they serve Pepsi products. Not

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that I think either Tom or Joanna imbibed in

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that. I think they - Pursued maybe occurs light

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or something to that flavor. They do have hot

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dogs of many varieties including a two -footer

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My dad said he was not so bold as to try it a

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two -foot dog. Yes, you saw me right? Yeah, they

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pursued the regulars Does your mate hold the

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other end of the dog while you eat it? I don't

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understand two feet of dog is a lot to just corral.

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They've been married since 1967 that's a question

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we might have to ask them on the pod, although

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they didn't order it so We'll have to maybe save

00:10:12.059 --> 00:10:14.740
that for someone else. Okay. Hey, I, you know,

00:10:14.779 --> 00:10:16.320
it's probably a question for our better halves

00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.820
as well. I mean, I do think it's a couple's dog,

00:10:20.139 --> 00:10:22.779
but I don't know that that's - Do you lady and

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the tramp that thing? Does one person eat one

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and the other eats the other until you meet in

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the middle? Yeah. The bunch of dog in your mouth.

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That's crazy. Not during the brilliant sun that

00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:37.419
is blinding our guy. Max Clark, uh, it's more

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of a moonlight dog. Don't let him up for air.

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Don't let the guy up for air. Per, you know,

00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.740
the ownership, uh, there are Little Caesars stations

00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:49.220
everywhere serving either a whole pie or slices,

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cheese, sausage, and pepperoni. And you can also

00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:56.659
get Flint -style, but not Detroit -style, Coney

00:10:56.659 --> 00:11:00.080
dogs. Flint -style? Flint -style? I didn't know

00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:02.549
there was a Flint -style Coney dog. Apparently

00:11:02.549 --> 00:11:04.809
there's a big rivalry, although the Coney started

00:11:04.809 --> 00:11:07.409
in Jackson, Michigan, between Detroit and Flint.

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Flint uses a bad water. Do they use bad water?

00:11:14.110 --> 00:11:16.929
Is that a bad? That's a good one. Hey, I believe

00:11:16.929 --> 00:11:20.580
you got something. I believe it is a well, no,

00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:22.360
they probably grill theirs, right? They don't

00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:24.159
want it to touch water. That's true. They don't

00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:28.559
want the chili is a more meaty, beefy, lumpy

00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:30.700
concoction, more like the chili that you and

00:11:30.700 --> 00:11:34.279
I might make at home, opposed to that's runnier.

00:11:34.539 --> 00:11:37.759
Yeah. Yep. That makes sense. That makes a lot

00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.500
of sense. Spring training. You don't want to

00:11:39.500 --> 00:11:42.259
start off with anything fancy. The first six

00:11:42.259 --> 00:11:45.539
games, just just hot dogs. We go hot dogs, maybe

00:11:45.539 --> 00:11:48.309
a slice of pizza, a bread stick, whatever. That's

00:11:48.309 --> 00:11:50.049
good stuff. I'm glad to hear about that. We're

00:11:50.049 --> 00:11:51.929
going to bring you guys food all season long.

00:11:52.070 --> 00:11:54.889
You know that Bill's takes on various cuisines

00:11:54.889 --> 00:11:57.549
across all the ballparks. I will try to pitch

00:11:57.549 --> 00:12:00.269
in with my own. I don't know how many twins games

00:12:00.269 --> 00:12:01.990
I'm going to go to this year. Probably when the

00:12:01.990 --> 00:12:04.110
Tigers come to down, come to town, I'll go see

00:12:04.110 --> 00:12:08.870
one. But the local folk are a little down on

00:12:08.870 --> 00:12:11.629
their Twinkies right now. This is we're only

00:12:11.629 --> 00:12:14.409
five games in people. So this is kind of just

00:12:14.409 --> 00:12:16.490
an update to let you know we're all still here

00:12:16.490 --> 00:12:20.320
and breathing. the pot is going on you got your

00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.460
you got your inside look at the first five or

00:12:22.460 --> 00:12:24.539
six games we'll keep an eye on some of these

00:12:24.539 --> 00:12:26.220
young guys i'll be curious to see how many of

00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:28.940
them stay up with the big league club we'll see

00:12:28.940 --> 00:12:30.980
if max clark can make it all the way through

00:12:30.980 --> 00:12:33.620
spring training to the end at least i highly

00:12:33.620 --> 00:12:35.659
doubt he's getting called up to the main the

00:12:35.659 --> 00:12:37.899
main ball club there but i will see how long

00:12:37.899 --> 00:12:41.320
before they send him down um and see if mcgonigal

00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:44.139
can earn that position i think we need him in

00:12:44.139 --> 00:12:46.080
this lineup this year. I think we need a bat

00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:47.899
in this lineup because it does not look like

00:12:47.899 --> 00:12:49.820
we're going out and getting anybody else at the

00:12:49.820 --> 00:12:53.779
moment. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for listening.

00:12:54.320 --> 00:13:02.080
So long and go Tigers. All right, that's going

00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:04.080
to do it for this episode of the Litterbox, a

00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.860
Detroit Tigers podcast. Thanks for hanging out

00:13:06.860 --> 00:13:09.360
with us. We're Bill and Chet. We'll be back soon

00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:12.139
with more Tigers Talk. If you're enjoying the

00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:14.960
show, be sure to follow or subscribe on Spotify,

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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And hey, if you got a minute, leave us a quick

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review. Till next time, Go Tigers!