Bud Norris was at spring training with the Phillies in Clearwater, Florida when the news came down that the sports world was on fairly immediate lockdown. The Cal Poly alum joined Chris Sylvester and Owen Main to talk about what it was like in the days leading up to the shutdown and what life has been like as things have progressed. 

Mike Miller, a former Cal Poly shortstop and current professional in the Boston Red Sox system, joined the podcast this week. 

Miller told lots of stories and gave lots of background I didn’t know. Did you know he went unrecruited out of high school and attended Cal Poly on his own for a year without playing baseball?

Miller discussed life in the minors, PB&J, and an organization called More than a Game. 

As always, feedback is welcomed. 

If there was any doubt about the mindset of the people in charge, let there be no more. The Dodgers aren’t going for broke. But they are doing everything they can to help keep this great thing going. 

With only 44 games to play in the regular season, the Dodgers, who are on-pace for a historic number of wins, improved their outfield depth, acquiring Curtis Granderson. 

Dodger fans, @cgrand3 has a message for you. #LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/Td87uPqoqN

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 19, 2017

Fangraphs still has the Dodgers’ World Series odds at 19 percent. That’s better than any other team, but still only a little better than a literal roll of a dice. Which is why a move like this, for an already-dominant team, is seen as necessary. Even for a team 52 games over .500 in August, Andrew Friedman and co. still thought they needed to make some marginal improvements. 

Granderson is known as a great clubhouse presence and a great guy in baseball circles. He’s been a Roberto Clemente Award winner and is in the lineup for the Dodgers today (Saturday). 

For Dodgers fans — if you didn’t know I am one — this is more confirmation that the Friedman/Zaidi front office is smarter than everyone. Nobody had Granderson on their radar. Nobody I saw was even talking about the need for another outfielder. People were “worried” about Joc Pederson, but nobody had any ideas on what to do about it. 

But the Dodgers did. And they acted. It was swift, decisive, and measured. As has been the case basically since Friedman and Zaidi have been in place, the Dodgers’ front office is the best in baseball. They proved why again on Friday. 

Cal Poly starting pitcher Spencer Howard was drafted 45th overall (2nd round) by the Phillies in the first day of the Major League Baseball draft on Monday night. Howard, who was the Mustangs’ Saturday starter this past season, was 8-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 2017. He struck out 97 batters and walked just 23 in 87 innings.

Spencer Howard became the highest Cal Poly draft pick since Mitch Haniger went 38th overall in 2012. By Owen Main

Howard is the third Mustang drafted by the Phillies in recent memory. Brett Barbier was drafted in the 16th round by the Phillies last year and Matt Imhof went 47th, also in the second round, to Philadelphia in 2014. 

Imhof was a member of the Cal Poly coaching staff this past season while he finished his degree. 

A redshirt sophomore and local (Templeton, CA) product, Howard is the highest draft pick from Cal Poly since Mitch Haniger went 38th overall in 2012. 

In case you were wondering, the National League West is the best division in baseball. I know it’s only the beginning of June, but the division the Dodgers have won for so many years in a row has a few surprise teams. 

The NL West is historically good right now. It's the 3rd time in divisional era ('69) 3 teams from 1 division enter June 10 gms above .500.

— Joe Davis (@Joe_Davis) May 31, 2017

As of the writing of this article, three teams in the National League have 33 wins. They’re all in the NL West. The Houston Astros are the only other team in baseball with more wins than any of the top-three NL West teams.

Kiké Hernandez has been swinging a hot bat for the Dodgers during their current streak. By Owen Main

The Rockies and Diamondbacks both had great starts, but the Dodgers have come-on recently, winning 10 of 12 games before losing to the Cardinals on Wednesday night. 

The adage about a rising tide buoying all ships really applies here. We all know the Giants won a bunch of World Series titles recently and the Dodgers have asserted their past, present and future dominance of the division. 

But the Rockies and Diamondbacks have both recently refocused their organizational efforts and it seems to be paying-off through about a third of the 2017 season. 

I guess it’s possible that all three teams keep up their torrid paces throughout the season. They certainly have a head-start. For now, the division that people have scoffed at over recent years looks deep. Colorado and Arizona fans should enjoy it while it lasts. 

I’m not here to be a Yasiel Puig hot take machine. The baseball season is 4 games old. And all four of those games have been against the Padres. I want to have some context.

Expectations were not super high for Yasiel this season. I got him in the final round of my fantasy baseball draft and there was talk of platooning him with lefties in the Dodgers outfield.

But he’s been good in the first four games to the tune of three home runs, including two today off Jared Weaver. He’s talked more about elevating the baseball, and it’s paying off. At least so far. 

Yasiel Puig has been excellent in the early-season for the 3-1 Dodgers. By Owen Main

With Andre Ethier out, the Dodgers could really use a Puig hot streak. Dodger fans have never really seen Puig go on an extended run of playing excellent. Puig has never hit more than the 19 homers (in 109 games) he hit in his first season. Injuries, mentality, and ability to get along with teammates have all be factors. 

But maybe Puig can have some kind of break-out year. His age (26) suggests he might just be entering his prime. His approach on lifting the ball suggests he might be starting to really listening to what the organization is telling him. And his results, so far, have been good. 

However you feel about Yasiel, you can’t argue with the dominant start. If this is a guy at the middle/bottom of the Dodgers’ order providing something like 30 homers this year, then Dave Roberts’ lineup starts to look and feel quite a bit more dangerous. Let’s see how the long months of summer shake out. 

Are you optimistic about Puig yet?

Upon first hearing about the done deal between the Dodgers and Rays today, I was a little underwhelmed. Logan Forsythe, my limited knowledge told me, is a good player who isn’t a star, but is probably an above average second baseman — something the Dodgers didn’t have most of last season.

@DustinNosler @JaredJMassey really though nothing not to like about this totally reasonable if slightly underwhelming trade right?

— Owen (@owenmain) January 24, 2017

Some of Dodger twitter had similar reactions.

Logan Forsythe: Better than what the Dodgers had before. By Keith Allison on Flickr, via Wikimedia Commons

Can I just stop for a minute and say thank you to Dodger Twitter. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll restate my love for Dodger Twitter in this way — if there wasn’t such a good Dodger fan/commentator community (and larger sports fan global community) on Twitter, I would say that the medium is complete garbage.

Instead, there are fans that do exist and, while many of them have been understandably less baseball-centric over the past few months, it’s so awesome to think that in a matter of weeks, we’ll have baseball things to read about again. Hooray baseball!

OK, my love of Dodger Twitter aside, here are a few good/relevant tweets on the trade today:

Dozier 15-16: .818 OPS / 117 wRC+
Forsythe 15-16: .791 OPS / 119 wRC+

OPS counts OBP/SLG equally. wRC+ values OBP higher. (+is park adj)

— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) January 24, 2017

Mike Petriello is the man. Seriously, the former MSTI blogger turned MLB advanced stats gatekeeper always has the most well-informed and logical takes about the team and stays pretty positive too.

This is a pretty rosy view of the difference between the two players. The Dodgers definitely took their single biggest lineup weakness and made it a relative strength today. Some fans won’t be happy, but those people probably aren’t happy with anything. This move made sense already to me and Petriello’s tweet made me happier about it.

Surprised by how attached fans are to JDL

— Mister Doctor (@EephusBlue) January 24, 2017

Me too, though I understand it given how high on prospects positive fans have had to be in order to justify not trading for or signing certain stars in recent years. I’ve talked about 2018 as a target year for a while, but you’ve got to build up to it and the front office is starting to move that direction now. Sorry prospect huggers, the Dodgers are starting to slowly, deliberately, cash in their chips in ways that make sense for winning sooner and sooner.

Dodgers hoard prospects: "Oh god, why won't they build to win now"
Dodgers trade prospects: "Oh god, Delino for Pedro round two"

— Daniel Brim (@DanielBrim) January 24, 2017

Like I said, you’re kind of damned either way, but this move made total sense.

Jose DeLeon is really well-regarded among scouts and prospect watchers. Internally, Dodgers think Urias, Alvarez and Buehler are better.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 24, 2017

So why wouldn’t you do the deal?

Glad the Dodgers found their second baseman but I'm really gonna miss JDL. Hope he has a long and successful career.

— Jared Massey (@JaredJMassey) January 24, 2017

And I’ll end by echoing Jared’s thoughts. Good job Dodgers. Good job Dodger Twitter. Thanks allowing me to open up Twitter and not have to think about… other things… .

Owen is pretty stressed before the Dodgers play the Nationals and he also has something to say about the sliding, the rule, and how he’s basically taking an opposite stance to Dave Cameron’s thinking about changing the slide rule. 

On Tuesday night, Cal Poly alum and former Big West Conference Player of the Year Mitch Haniger made his major-league debut. The 25 year-old outfielder started in left field, batting 7th. Facing Noah Syndergaard, Haniger struck out in his first at-bat and grounded out to second base in his second.

Here’s a second picture of Mitch Haniger that hasn’t been used by everyone and their brother. By Owen Main

In his third at-bat, Haniger tripled toward the pool in Chase Field’s right-centerfield gap. The hit drove in two D-Backs as they tried to come back against New York’s Thor. Here’s a link to a video, though you’ll likely have to watch one of those infernal “Toomgis” AMPM commercials before you’re treated to the sweet Haniger swing.

Later in the game, Haniger roped a hanging breaking ball down the left field line for his second hit — a double. Haniger became the first Diamondbacks player to notch a triple for his first big league hit and also the first to have three RBI’s in his debut.

Two springs ago, Haniger was in his first spring training with the Diamondbacks when I caught up with him for a conversation. After starting that season poorly in AA ball, Haniger was demoted to High A in the California League. This year, he worked his way all the way to Arizona’s Reno affiliate, where he was tearing it up.

Arizona brought him up tonight and it paid dividends.

Congrats, Mitch. You’ve got a whole lot of Cal Poly fans rooting for you.

On this sometimes rambling episode of the Podcast, David Kline joins Owen in the studio. David, a recent Cal Poly graduate, has done some work for that school’s broadcasts online and on ESPN Radio 1280 and has some pretty solid world soccer knowledge at the ready.

Kline is a big soccer fan, and we go on about soccer in this country, the future of it, and Jurgen Klinsmann’s job thus far.

First though, my thoughts in the sports world are really focused on former Cal Poly pitcher Matt Imhof. Last week, Imhof, who was pitching for the Phillies organization in Florida, suffered an injury to his eye when a piece of exercise equipment at a ballpark broke off a wall. After a few surgeries, Imhof had a prosthetic eye implanted and his career seems to be in serious jeopardy.

Of all the guys on the team at Cal Poly that hosted a regional three years ago, Imhof was one of the easier guys to root for. I interviewed him a few times and he always came off as a really good, thoughtful kid who had worked very hard to get where he did (a second-round pick). Every time I think about what happened last week I just get sick to my stomach for the kid.

As one might expect from a guy like Matt, he’s putting his best foot forward.

As many of you know on Friday June 25th I had an accident. A large price of metal hit me in the head/eye resulting in a fractured nose, 2 fractured orbital bones, and most significantly, the loss of vision in my right eye. I was immediately taken to the ER and then transferred to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, the #1 eye hospital in the world. That night, the doctors informed me that the damage to my eye was extreme and essentially that my eye had been crushed like a grape. The doctors told me they were going to do everything possible to reconstruct it but in all likelihood I would never regain sight in my right eye. The first surgery was somewhat a success but overall nothing had changed, so after discussions with my family and my doctors, it was decided that the best chance I had to live a normal life was to have my right eye removed and have a prosthetic one put in. This decision was not an easy one to make but to me it seemed like the right one so on Tuesday afternoon I went forward with the surgery. I’m currently still in Miami recovering from surgery but I’m doing well. This has been the hardest week of my life but I’ve had amazing support from my family and friends to help me get through it. For those who have been wishing me well, your support has not gone unnoticed and I appreciate everyone who has kept me in their thoughts and prayers. I had the best doctors in the world doing their best work on me and for that I am grateful as well. Although this injury has been tough it could have been much worse…I’m lucky to still have vision in my left eye…I’m lucky that i didn’t have brain damage…and I’m lucky to be surrounded my the most loving and understanding people in the world. I just wanted to write this message to let everyone know that even though I suffered some bad luck, I’m not dead. I’m gonna be alright, I’m gonna persevere, and I’m gonna succeed. It takes more than this to bring me down. Again thanks to everyone for the support .

A photo posted by Matt Imhof (@matt_imhof48) on Jun 30, 2016 at 9:44am PDT

That’s some perspective.

Matt now has almost 3,000 likes. On the Instagram post, I mean. One of them is definitely me — and that’s not limited to just social media. Sending good thoughts your way Mr. Imhof.

Enjoy the Podcast.